Happy Monday! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Inspiration Emporium is at it again. Chelle and Joy challenged the team to create s...

Use friendly plastic for all of your jewelry making crafts. This simple and easy material can be crafted into many things like necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Learn how to use friendly plastic with these great tutorials.

Shrink plastic will always be once of my favorite materials to create with because there are so many different ways to use it! It is also a really fun supply for all crafters, especially kids. Watching that plastic shrink down never gets old! Today I am sharing a simple project that is a fun project for any age. I recently had the idea to create simple ring bowl. I love tiny little bowls. I have them all around the house and use them to hold change, rings, jewelry and small treasures. I started by drawing drawing a circle in the middle of a 8.5" x 11" piece of shrink plastic. TIP: When working with shrink plastic you have to keep in mind that your designs will shrink about 50% so I created a flower big enough to shrink down to a small bowl. I created a circle large enough to fit onto the width of my sheet. Next I drew a flower, cut it out and added details. Following the directions provided, I baked baked my design in the oven. TIP: I've found that when I am creating larger items from shrink plastic they have a tendency to curl up in the oven. I like to place my design on a piece of parchment paper and lay another piece on top to keep things from folding and curling up. Once my flower had shrunk down, I quickly removed it from the oven it with a pair of tongs. At this stage the plastic is very hot and pliable which means you are able to bend it. I set the flower onto the top of a glass to give my design a small curve and to form it into a bowl. At this stage you have to work fast because you only have seconds to bend the plastic before it hardens. The end result is a pretty little bowl perfect for tiny treasures! Looking for more shrink plastic inspiration? 1. statement necklace 2. rings 3. earrings 4. graphic bangles 5. chunky ring 6. heart pins

Art doll necklace is created from shrink plastic and coated to protect it. Torso was hand cut from a scanned vintage label that was printed on shrink plastic as well. Arms and legs are jointed so she moves and dances as you wear her.

I have been playing with shrink plastic since my smallest received a space themed pack last Christmas, at first I though it was a bit tacky ...

Talking with my sister Maryl about the fun she had with shrink plastic yesterday made me want to play with it too. This time I used white shrink plastic and painted it with antique white acrylic paint. I used various punches to cut out shapes. I like using Staz-On black ink because it doesn't smear much. I baked them in my regular oven at 350 for about 4 minutes. Here they are before they went into the oven. Here they are after. I transfered them to this mini baking sheet, just for fun. I filmed the plastic shrinking in my oven. I wish I knew how to make a time lapse of this video so it doesn't bore you, but no can do. Warning: it's 1 min and 43 seconds long.

Learn how to turn shrink plastic into stunning beads and change your mind about what shrink plastic can be, in this fun tutorial from Cloth Paper Scissors.

Light-Up Shrink Plastic Mayhem: I had a fling with Shrinky Dinks when I was little, but that passed... Until the last year, when I rediscovered just how versatile it is as a medium. Shrink plastic is easy to come by (and inexpensive if you know where to look), fabulous for decorat…

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Inspiration Emporium is at it again. Chelle and Joy challenged the team to create something using Shrink Plastic. So here you have it! It's a necklace, I can't wait to wear it and show it off. This Bird Branch die cut is one of my favorites and it's super cute all shrunk. Die cut the Bird Branch using Shrink Plastic, the die is from the Tim Holtz Alterations line from Sizzix. Heat the Shrink Plastic with a Heat tool. As the plastic shrink it will curl up but not to worry keep heating and it will flatten back out. While it's still warm I also like to put an acrylic block on it to help flatten the image back out. Look how cute it is now! The Ranger Shrink Plastic shrinks approximately 50%. Color the backside of the Shrink Plastic with Copic markers. Work on a white surface to help see the color. After you are all done coloring add a layer of paint to the back. Paint the Idea-ology foliage flowers with Ventaj Patina inks. I love how easy it is to paint metal with these inks and clean up is a breeze. Just wash your brushes out with water. Paint the oval Ornate Plate with the Patina Inks then sand with a Sanding block. Assemble your necklace by adding the Flowers with brads through the Ornate Plate. Cut an oval of music print card stock that has been mounted onto chip board to fit the Ornate Plate. Glue the oval into the Ornate Plate. This will be your background. Add the word "friends" from the ChitChat words. Pop dot and glue the Bird Branch to the Ornate Plate. Add a Bauble pearl to the bottom with a jump ring. Ball Chain make the perfect necklace, just attach with jump rings to the top of the Ornate Plate.. Check out what the incredible Inspiration Team has created with Shrink Plastic. I guarantee you will be Inspired to join in and make your own. Thanks for stopping by! I'd love to hear from you before you head over to the Inspiration Emporium blog to see more Inspiration using Shrink Plastic. Richele InLinkz.com

I read about how to use plastic food containers as shrink plastic at Poopscapes Projects web site. I tried it on two plastic food containers that I had, and oh my gosh -- it works.

Well here it is as promised.A step by step on shrink plastic.I love having a play with this.It is so versitle.It reminds me of when i was little,when we used to shrink Seabrook crisps packets on a safety pin and wear it as a badge,though somehow I could never get it just right. Below I have made embellishments and buttons,to coardinate with the stamps I have used on my cards.The easiest way is to do lots in one go then store away with the rest of your embellishments.I have used both white,black and transulcent shrink plastic. Step 1:Stamp images on shrink plastic.Here i have used a black stazon ink pad.On the japanese doll, i coloured them in before I shrank it.But dont forget to colour lightly as the colour intensifies when shrunk. Step 2:Cut out each shape and punch two holes in centre.(only do this for the ones you want to use as buttons.) Step 3:Use heat tool to shrink each piece down.I also use a wooden stick for this part just to hold in place. Step 4:On these particular pieces i have coloured with alcohol inks.The colours were Wild Plum and Gold.Let dry thoroughly. The finished result.Lovely vibrant embellishments to coardinate with your projects. Please call back to see these pieces being used in up and coming projects.

if you haven't been able to tell by now...i love me some shrinky dinks!...i never played with 'em as a kid...so i guess i'm making up for lo...

With Easter being so late this year, Mother's Day seems to be sneaking up on me a little faster than usual. It's just a week from this Sunday which means it's time to start gathering my cardmaking supplies, and, lucky for me...we had an influx of gorgeous card samples from our stores to inspire me. Although it's easy to run to a store and grab a ready-made gift or a bouquet of flowers, I decided to go DIY for Mother's Day this year and turn to something a little more meaningful, budget friendly and something that will actually provide me with some entertainment while I wait for the sun to come out (hopefully this Sunday)! We already taught you how to use Shrink Plastic a few weeks ago in this post. I thought it would be super cute to take photos and print them on the paper to make personalized charms and jewelry for Mother's Day. You will need Ink Jet Shrink Film - each pack comes with six sheets (I was able to fit about six photos per page). I used an embossing heat tool, but you can also just pop these in your oven. Start by picking your photos and printing them on the the shrink paper, then cut the image down to size. You can use a punch to create different shapes (like the circle and tag punch I tried below), you can round the edges, or even use decorative paper edgers to make a scalloped border. Finally, punch holes in your image where you would like to place the ring to hang your pendant. Now...the fun part! Using your heat tool, point the heat at the image until the edges start to curl up. Keep doing this until the piece shrinks up completely and starts to lie flat. You can take the back of a rubber stamp to flatten it out completely. If you'd like, this step can also be done using your oven (bake on parchment paper or cardboard at 300 degrees for 2-3 minutes). Now, using jump rings, attach your pendant on a pretty ribbon or chain to create your personalized necklace. These would also make really cute earrings or a key chain charm (see the key chain I made of my daughter, and yes - my daughter is a dog!)I like to host wine tasting parties for my girlfriends, and I came across this picture of Golden Girls wine charms made of shrink plastic - how funny are these? I am now inspired to take pictures of my friends, turn them into wine charms and have them ready to hand out next time I host a wine tasting party - my friends will love it, and no one will ever wonder whose glass is whose. There are so many fun things you can do with shrink plastic, play around with it and get creative! I came across these cute project ideas below - you can make rings, stamp pretty images on the paper and color them in with copic markers, create cute magnets for the fridge - the possibilities are endless. Happy {almost} Mother's Day! --Lauren

I have been playing with shrink plastic since my smallest received a space themed pack last Christmas, at first I though it was a bit tacky ...

This jewellery uses shrink plastic to create both the pendant and earrings. Firstly I lightly sanded a sheet of shrink plastic and then painted a thin coat of gesso (this makes it easier to stamp on.) I stamped Lost Coast Designs winged girl with archival ink and gently heated to dry the ink. Then I used spellbinders lacy ovals to die cut into the shapes. I coloured the images using zig photo markers and then used my heat tool to shrink. I used a Krylon silver pen around the edges. Then glossy accents to finish, but this needs to be left overnight to dry, a quicker alternative would be Lisa Pavelka Magic Gloss Resin. Earwires and amethyst drops are from my stash. Haven't forgotten about the blog candy as woo hoo, now101 lovely followers, sorting it out at the moment. I managed to get the last one of the small fabric purses from my local garden centre so will be adding that to it. Take care & will be back later in the week with the blog candy, till then. Happy Crafting XXX

Well here it is as promised.A step by step on shrink plastic.I love having a play with this.It is so versitle.It reminds me of when i was little,when we used to shrink Seabrook crisps packets on a safety pin and wear it as a badge,though somehow I could never get it just right. Below I have made embellishments and buttons,to coardinate with the stamps I have used on my cards.The easiest way is to do lots in one go then store away with the rest of your embellishments.I have used both white,black and transulcent shrink plastic. Step 1:Stamp images on shrink plastic.Here i have used a black stazon ink pad.On the japanese doll, i coloured them in before I shrank it.But dont forget to colour lightly as the colour intensifies when shrunk. Step 2:Cut out each shape and punch two holes in centre.(only do this for the ones you want to use as buttons.) Step 3:Use heat tool to shrink each piece down.I also use a wooden stick for this part just to hold in place. Step 4:On these particular pieces i have coloured with alcohol inks.The colours were Wild Plum and Gold.Let dry thoroughly. The finished result.Lovely vibrant embellishments to coardinate with your projects. Please call back to see these pieces being used in up and coming projects.

hi, Mini day today and a stunning mini teeny weeny shrink plastic album: LOVE it! love the shape, the colours... everything. And it's such a lovely gift idea... lucky friend who will receive this. As she does every single week, Gio did a very detailed step by step to show how she achieved her project. Thanks Gio. ********* This time I made two minibooks with shrink plastic, containing a minialbum with mini mini pictures inside it : a nice gift to a friend to remember a wonderful day spent together. I cut out two rectangular shape from a sheet of clear shrink plastic, tracing out a chipboard frame from Crafty Individuals - A4 chipboard die-cut sheet (Mini frames & swirls) I made three holes on both covers. I stamped them using Black, Purple and Copper StazOn and the plate by Hobby Art Clear Stamps: Decorative Backgrounds. I shrank the plastic using the heat tool ( you can use the oven as well). I coloured the two covers using several Distress Inks ( because the surface had become porous). I cut a strip of white cardstock and coloured it using different Distress Inks and then stamped it using the same plate from Hobby Art. I glued the strip to the cover along with a ribbon, to close the mini album. I also added some micro beads. I made the second mini book using white shrink plastic. white - clear shrink plastic Hobby Art Clear Stamps: Decorative Backgrounds Crafty Individuals - A4 chipboard die-cut sheet (Mini frames & swirls) Jet black- Purple - Copper StazOn inks Distress inks Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick, Tea Dye Archival Ink: Emerald green Judikins micro glass beads: rose and Silver Woodware craft wire: Copper Remember that we offer 10% off all shrink plastic this week. Click here to find it on our website.

I just can't seem to stop ... I'm in love with this darn shrink plastic. Check out some of my recent projects ... this sweet little 'Art Saves' brooch. Or this oh, so cute necklace ... And why not ... on a simple white card? Or ... glue it on to a card and embellish it with pearls and wire....

Introduced in 1973, Shrinky Dinks are craft-friendly shrinkable plastic sheets that you can color with permanent markers, color pencils and acrylic paints. After completing your design, you bake the plastic, which reduces its size while increasing its thickness.

I haven’t said hello in person in a while, so wanted to do a video entry today. Keeping it casual this Friday ;-). Such fun new materials to share, and you can look for them to be included in tutorials and kits in the coming weeks. Thanks as always for stopping by!

hi, Mini day today and a stunning mini teeny weeny shrink plastic album: LOVE it! love the shape, the colours... everything. And it's such a lovely gift idea... lucky friend who will receive this. As she does every single week, Gio did a very detailed step by step to show how she achieved her project. Thanks Gio. ********* This time I made two minibooks with shrink plastic, containing a minialbum with mini mini pictures inside it : a nice gift to a friend to remember a wonderful day spent together. I cut out two rectangular shape from a sheet of clear shrink plastic, tracing out a chipboard frame from Crafty Individuals - A4 chipboard die-cut sheet (Mini frames & swirls) I made three holes on both covers. I stamped them using Black, Purple and Copper StazOn and the plate by Hobby Art Clear Stamps: Decorative Backgrounds. I shrank the plastic using the heat tool ( you can use the oven as well). I coloured the two covers using several Distress Inks ( because the surface had become porous). I cut a strip of white cardstock and coloured it using different Distress Inks and then stamped it using the same plate from Hobby Art. I glued the strip to the cover along with a ribbon, to close the mini album. I also added some micro beads. I made the second mini book using white shrink plastic. white - clear shrink plastic Hobby Art Clear Stamps: Decorative Backgrounds Crafty Individuals - A4 chipboard die-cut sheet (Mini frames & swirls) Jet black- Purple - Copper StazOn inks Distress inks Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick, Tea Dye Archival Ink: Emerald green Judikins micro glass beads: rose and Silver Woodware craft wire: Copper Remember that we offer 10% off all shrink plastic this week. Click here to find it on our website.

Textured friendly plastic cuff

Hi Sassy Fans, Now I know everyone has started off by saying how nervous they are doing tutorials, and I'm no exception, so take it easy on me please. I thought I'd show you how I stamp with shrink plastic. You should alwasy use stazon ink when stamping on shiny or slippery surfaces so this is a must for shrink plastic. Above is what you will need. StazOn ink, your stamp, some shrink plastic, hole punch if fixing as a charm, file and your heat gun and of course whatever colouring medium you are using. I have previously used copics, chalks and pencils. I have also shrunk it without using colours and added different colour glitters, which worked well with shrunk christmas baubles. Will you look at my heat gun, I decided it looked boring in white so I added some alcohol ink to make it more exciting. Although it's starting to wear off on the handle, that's down to how much I use it, lol. Using your StazOn ink stamp your image onto the shrink plastic Cut the image out or into the shape you require. I then flipped over to the back and gave it a little file. This just helps the colour medium grip onto the surface. I wanted my shrinkie to match my main image of the card. When you heat the shrink plastic the heat intensifies the colour so you can see here I have had to colour the shrink plastic a few shades lighter. I used copics and prismas to colour. I am going to add her as a charm so if you are doing this don't forget to punch a hole somewhere so you can add your jump ring to afix to your chain. I used some tweezers to try and keep her on the mat as once you start the heatgun if your image is small it may want to blow away. Move the heat gun around and you will notice that your image will curl up. This is correct. It will probably curl right up into a ball and then it will then start to uncurl. As soon as it straightens again I usually put something heavy onto it to make it completely flat as it cools very quickly and becomes hard and you don't want a banana shaped image, well I don't think you do, lol. I used my acrylic block, but it could be whatever you have handy, like a wooden stamp etc. I know my photo is a little organey, please tell my husband I neet an ott light or daylight saving lamp, lol. Anyhow you can now see that after heating the colour intensified and it now matches my main image. And here's a reminder of the finished card, Skater Girl and mini Skater Girl. I hope this tutorial has been of help. If you would like to leave a comment as to what you would like to see in a tutorial we can try and accomodate where possible. See you Monday.

Last week I finished off another felted hanging storage bag and I need an awful lot of buttons to sew into the middle of my flowers. I was going to buy some, but I thought it might be more fun to try to make some out of shrink plastic instead. I absolutely LOVE shrink plastic - it's one of my favourite things to play with, so this would be the perfect opportunity to have a play and design exactly what I wanted at the same time. As I wanted so many, I used my Cuttlebug Machine to cut out the shapes, but I imagine any die cutting machine would do the trick. I could have cut my shapes with scissors, but it would have taken many hours longer to make the number of buttons I wanted. Materials needed Die cutting machine or scissors to cut the shrink plastic. Cutting dies. Again, not essential. For reference my shapes started off at about 4cm wide and shrank down to about 1.5cm wide. White shrink plastic. Chalks for dusting - Light coloured pencils would work too. VersaMark watermark stamp pad if using dusting chalks. Rubber stamp if using a Versamark ink pad. Light coloured Sharpie pen for optional decorative touches. Crop-A-Dile or hole punch Clear embossing powder to protect the surface colour. An alternative varnish or glaze would also work. Heat gun if you're using embossing powder. Oven. You could also use the heat gun to shrink your shrink plastic, but I always find an oven far more consistent and much easier. This is the first time I've made buttons using my Cuttlebug, so I wasn't really sure which ones would work best. The shapes weren't cutting out perfectly to start off with, so I put through an extra sheet of cardstock with my plates and die, which thickened my cutting sandwich enough to get a nice clean cut. I marked my button holes in pencil and then used my Crop-A-Dile to cut out the holes. To start off with, I used the smaller 1/8" hole, but after shrinking my first batch I started using the larger 3/16" as the smaller hole was just too small to be practical.  To shrink them I set the oven to 175 degrees C (or 350 F) and just watched and waited. This is my favourite part of using shrink plastic! As they are quite small they only take a couple of minutes in the oven. I just stand excitedly, watching them curl up and roll around on the baking tray and then they suddenly gain their shape again and settle back down on the tray. Small things! Above are the shrunken buttons next to their originals to show just how much they shrank by. Those holes are tiny... I'll be sewing these ones on with a beading needle! After shrinking the first ones and playing with the results, I decided to stick with just the 4 Cuttlebug die cutters. The Creatables flower was just too small to put 2 large holes in, as was the Sizzlits star. The Creatables poinsettia was still a nice size, but when it shrank down it became too weak at the base of the petals and would break very easily, so I discounted that one too.  When you colour shrink plastic and then shrink it, the colour always becomes darker and more intense. As I wanted very pale colours, I used my Dovecraft Shimmer Chalks. I chose only the lightest pinks and greens and dusted over the frosted side of my white shrink plastic to get just a hint of colour. I then shaded the edges with slightly darker colour. To get the flower patterned ones, I stamped onto the shrink plastic first with my VersaMark watermark stamp pad and then rubbed over the whole button with my chalks. This gives a lovely two-tone effect when the chalk brushes over the Versamark ink. Here they are before shrinking. The heart one has been lightly dusted with pink powder and then dotted with a light pink Sharpie pen. ...and after shrinking. To protect the colour and make them a little more hard wearing I embossed them with 2 layers of clear embossing powder. Unfortunately the embossing powder has yellowed the colour slightly, but I can live with that. I accidentally used some holographic embossing powder at one point, which was interesting, but not exactly the look I was going for. I love the ceramic look you get with putting a glaze over the white shrink plastic buttons. These buttons are made out of frosted shrink plastic, but they are still quite plastic looking and for some reason, the shrinkage wasn't nearly as even as with the white shrink plastic - my squares are now rectangles and my circles are ovals... hmmm These buttons are hopefully going to be sewn onto a storage bag next week, but they could also be used to embellish cards, scrapbook layouts and many other decorative objects. I'm not sure just how well they'd stand up to the rigours of regular laundering. I'll have to run a few tests and let you know... Similar Related Blog Posts Making Fridge Magnets out of a Child's First Drawings Shrink Plastic Teacher Gifts Shrink Plastic Craft Fail DIY Shrink Plastic Stitch Markers ---------- Please be sweet and share the love. Leave a comment, subscribe to my YouTube channel, like my Facebook page for regular updates or follow me on Pinterest, Bloglovin' or Instagram

Hi Bloggers! I'm so excited to be a part of Melt Art Mania! The projects have been amazing!! And Ranger is giving away prizes, see the details at the end of this post. There are so many different ways to use Melt Art. Wether you're a mixed media artist, a jewelry maker, a card maker, scrapbooker, or make home decor pieces, Melt Art makes it so easy. You can use UTEE, embossing powders, Bees Wax and so much more in the Melting Pot. There is something for everyone! Melt Art embellishments are the focus of my card today. I've used UTEE, HeatIt Inks, Shrink Plastic and the Melting Pot of corse. Using a Sharpie to trace around your hand onto a piece of Inkssentials Shrink Plastic. Cut the hand shape out with scissors. Be sure to cut the Sharpie all the way off. Working on a non-stick Craft Sheet, turn your Melting Pot onto the UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) setting. Pour a good amount of UTEE into the pot. Place the lid onto the pot and let heat/melt. Don't forget the Melting Pot and it's contacts get very HOT, so be careful! Now to shrink the hand! I know the hand is huge compared to the pot put as soon as the hand hits the UTEE is will shrink. As the hand shrinks it will curl up, no worries, be patient and the hand will flatten back out. Once the hand shrinks and flattens back out grab the hand with your tweezers. As you pull the hand from the pot drag it on the side to remove the excess UTEE off the bottom side of the hand. Place the hand onto the Craft Sheet. Work quickly for this step as the hand will hardens as it cools. Working on the back side of the hand scribble Glossy Accents all over the hand. Place the hand onto a piece of card stock. As you set the hand on the paper swirl the hand to spread the glue out. Pick up the hand and press the card stock onto the uneven parts of the hand. Let dry then trim around the hand with scissors. Now for the Heart! Add several drops of Garnet Heat It Ink to the melted UTEE. Stir gently. It's normal for the ink to bubble. The color should be red in color and should still be translucent. As the UTEE heats the bubbles should disappear. You can use a HeatIt Tool if necessary. Die cut the heart from fun foam! Adhere dictionary paper to the back of the heart with a Collage Glue Stick. Lay the heart onto your Craft Sheet. Make sure it lays flat. Gently pour the red UTEE into the heart shape. TIP: Be carefully not to over pour. Let the UTEE harden. Peel back the fun foam template and the dictionary print. If necessary trim off any excess paper. Now for the card portion of our project. Ink the edges of the background print and the Love ticket with Vintage Photo Distress Ink on an Ink Blending tool. Sand and ink the card and card pieces with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Assemble the card then adhere the Hand and Heart with Red Line tape. Tie twine around the hand with a bow. Use the Tiny Attacher to attach the ticket. Add Glossy Accents to the Signage Alpha Parts letters. Let dry. I LOVE ART! Here's a peek at the inside. Love this saying! Here's the best part! Leave a comment here before midnight PST on June 2nd for a chance to win this fabulous prize pack from Ranger. I'll announce the winner on June 3rd. Thanks Ranger for inviting me to participate! Love your products!! They're the BEST! Thanks for stopping in and good luck! Richele Find all the fabulous products below at Inspiration Emporium!! InLinkz.com

A pin I made from the shrink plastic scraps.

As many of you know, I LOVE shrink plastic! There are so many different ways to use it and one of my favorites is using it to make funky rings. There are so many different things that you can create from shrink plastic and I thought butterflies would make super cute little statement rings. I started by drawing butterflies on a sheet of shrink plastic. While shrink plastic comes in many colors, I used black shrink plastic and a white paint pen. Keep in mind that you will need to use permanent pens on that shrink plastic. Next, I cut out the butterflies and then I baked my designs in the oven for about 1 minute at 350 degrees. Shapes and designs will shrink a lot- like 50%. While they were still warm, I softly bent the wings up to give the butterfly a little bit of dimension. Once the butterflies cooled, I glued them (using a heavy duty glue) to ring backs. The result are really fun and whimsical rings! Looking for more ring projects? wood burned rings shrink plastic rings stone statement ring faux turquoise ring colorful clay statement rings flower rings shrink plastic eye ring wooden bead ring marbled statement ring

So way back in 2008, one of the first big “experiments in craft” I did for Dabbled was what I called the Shrinky Dink Test Lab. I had run across the idea for using #6 plastic to make h…

Hi Bloggers! I'm so excited to be a part of Melt Art Mania! The projects have been amazing!! And Ranger is giving away prizes, see the details at the end of this post. There are so many different ways to use Melt Art. Wether you're a mixed media artist, a jewelry maker, a card maker, scrapbooker, or make home decor pieces, Melt Art makes it so easy. You can use UTEE, embossing powders, Bees Wax and so much more in the Melting Pot. There is something for everyone! Melt Art embellishments are the focus of my card today. I've used UTEE, HeatIt Inks, Shrink Plastic and the Melting Pot of corse. Using a Sharpie to trace around your hand onto a piece of Inkssentials Shrink Plastic. Cut the hand shape out with scissors. Be sure to cut the Sharpie all the way off. Working on a non-stick Craft Sheet, turn your Melting Pot onto the UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) setting. Pour a good amount of UTEE into the pot. Place the lid onto the pot and let heat/melt. Don't forget the Melting Pot and it's contacts get very HOT, so be careful! Now to shrink the hand! I know the hand is huge compared to the pot put as soon as the hand hits the UTEE is will shrink. As the hand shrinks it will curl up, no worries, be patient and the hand will flatten back out. Once the hand shrinks and flattens back out grab the hand with your tweezers. As you pull the hand from the pot drag it on the side to remove the excess UTEE off the bottom side of the hand. Place the hand onto the Craft Sheet. Work quickly for this step as the hand will hardens as it cools. Working on the back side of the hand scribble Glossy Accents all over the hand. Place the hand onto a piece of card stock. As you set the hand on the paper swirl the hand to spread the glue out. Pick up the hand and press the card stock onto the uneven parts of the hand. Let dry then trim around the hand with scissors. Now for the Heart! Add several drops of Garnet Heat It Ink to the melted UTEE. Stir gently. It's normal for the ink to bubble. The color should be red in color and should still be translucent. As the UTEE heats the bubbles should disappear. You can use a HeatIt Tool if necessary. Die cut the heart from fun foam! Adhere dictionary paper to the back of the heart with a Collage Glue Stick. Lay the heart onto your Craft Sheet. Make sure it lays flat. Gently pour the red UTEE into the heart shape. TIP: Be carefully not to over pour. Let the UTEE harden. Peel back the fun foam template and the dictionary print. If necessary trim off any excess paper. Now for the card portion of our project. Ink the edges of the background print and the Love ticket with Vintage Photo Distress Ink on an Ink Blending tool. Sand and ink the card and card pieces with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Assemble the card then adhere the Hand and Heart with Red Line tape. Tie twine around the hand with a bow. Use the Tiny Attacher to attach the ticket. Add Glossy Accents to the Signage Alpha Parts letters. Let dry. I LOVE ART! Here's a peek at the inside. Love this saying! Here's the best part! Leave a comment here before midnight PST on June 2nd for a chance to win this fabulous prize pack from Ranger. I'll announce the winner on June 3rd. Thanks Ranger for inviting me to participate! Love your products!! They're the BEST! Thanks for stopping in and good luck! Richele Find all the fabulous products below at Inspiration Emporium!! InLinkz.com

So... what is friendly plastic? It's a craft-specific material that comes in plastic strips (and pellets but I'm not using them at the minute) which is malleable when heated. It comes in a wide range of metallic and foiled finishes. See the picture below. Friendly Plastic & tools. Having spent a couple of hours getting a feel for the material and heat required I needed more. Specifically, its a product I don't have any literature on, anywhere. After a couple of hours I also came to the conclusion that this particular material would benefit greatly from the use of some bezel settings although sadly I don't have any. Early Efforts Early efforts kinda look like a 5 year old has went mental with modelling clay and metallic paint. So some refining neccessary... Completed componants I did a fair amount more. It's not growing on me particularly. It's kinda like a very limited version of polymer clay (which is all kinds of awesome). Sure it has a speed advantage - poly clay needs to be over baked - but while polymer clay is incredibly versatile, friendly plastic just isn't. You're stuck with the colours it comes in, EVERYTHING sticks to it when it's hot and needs coating in oil to prevent this - which also means after it needs washing in soapy water, it's thinness means making items with embedded components (like loops to form drops or pendants) isn't terribly practical - you'd need to double up sticks and relatively speaking that works out rather costly. Textured and made into a brooch Also you can texture it - it does take textures nicely, subject to coating everything with oil - but the minute you need to heat it up again (I've found that late heating for re-cutting and for adding a backpiece are both frequently neccessary) you lose the bloody texture. Silicone stamps / texture plates work well, plastic ones do not - even with the oil as a release agent they stick. What can I say about it that's nice...? The colours are cool and it makes nice brooches and it IS pretty fast to work with. I might have found it more palatable if I had some bezel settings which I suspect would work very well with it. Finished Jewellery - Other Brooches Ring Pendants & Necklace Either way, it's reasonably well suited to jewellery and so jewellery is what I turned the shiny bits into and I think my main problem is that Friendly Plastic is, well, plastic. It feels cheap and from the back, at least, looks cheap. Polymer clay is plastic as well but doesn't have that cheap & nasty feel to it (and poly clay can imitate just about any material that isn't transparent). Cheap-looking back While I've made these bits into jewellery, I actually see me having more use for it incorporating bits into mixed media artwork which among other things, firmly hides the back (as would the bezel settings I wished for earlier). So all in all this week was disappointing. Next week... fabric fusing. Largely a mixed media art experiment although I'm curious about the necklace / bracelet making potential as well.

I love shrink plastic! There are so many different ways to put it to use and one of my favorites is using it to make jewelry. Creating simple statement rings from shrink plastic is an easy way to create one of a kind creative rings (that make perfect little gifts). I start by drawing circles and then I draw and doodle inside of those circles. Keep in mind your shapes and designs will shrink a lot- like 50%. I bake my designs in a regular oven for about 30 seconds at 350 degrees. The directions typically say to bake anywhere from 2-5 minutes but mine always seem to shrink up within 30 seconds. Once I remove them from the oven I glue my disks (using a heavy duty glue) to ring backs. For more shrink plastic DIY projects check out my bangles, chunky rings, earrings and statement necklace

Last week I finished off another felted hanging storage bag and I need an awful lot of buttons to sew into the middle of my flowers. I was going to buy some, but I thought it might be more fun to try to make some out of shrink plastic instead. I absolutely LOVE shrink plastic - it's one of my favourite things to play with, so this would be the perfect opportunity to have a play and design exactly what I wanted at the same time. As I wanted so many, I used my Cuttlebug Machine to cut out the shapes, but I imagine any die cutting machine would do the trick. I could have cut my shapes with scissors, but it would have taken many hours longer to make the number of buttons I wanted. Materials needed Die cutting machine or scissors to cut the shrink plastic. Cutting dies. Again, not essential. For reference my shapes started off at about 4cm wide and shrank down to about 1.5cm wide. White shrink plastic. Chalks for dusting - Light coloured pencils would work too. VersaMark watermark stamp pad if using dusting chalks. Rubber stamp if using a Versamark ink pad. Light coloured Sharpie pen for optional decorative touches. Crop-A-Dile or hole punch Clear embossing powder to protect the surface colour. An alternative varnish or glaze would also work. Heat gun if you're using embossing powder. Oven. You could also use the heat gun to shrink your shrink plastic, but I always find an oven far more consistent and much easier. This is the first time I've made buttons using my Cuttlebug, so I wasn't really sure which ones would work best. The shapes weren't cutting out perfectly to start off with, so I put through an extra sheet of cardstock with my plates and die, which thickened my cutting sandwich enough to get a nice clean cut. I marked my button holes in pencil and then used my Crop-A-Dile to cut out the holes. To start off with, I used the smaller 1/8" hole, but after shrinking my first batch I started using the larger 3/16" as the smaller hole was just too small to be practical.  To shrink them I set the oven to 175 degrees C (or 350 F) and just watched and waited. This is my favourite part of using shrink plastic! As they are quite small they only take a couple of minutes in the oven. I just stand excitedly, watching them curl up and roll around on the baking tray and then they suddenly gain their shape again and settle back down on the tray. Small things! Above are the shrunken buttons next to their originals to show just how much they shrank by. Those holes are tiny... I'll be sewing these ones on with a beading needle! After shrinking the first ones and playing with the results, I decided to stick with just the 4 Cuttlebug die cutters. The Creatables flower was just too small to put 2 large holes in, as was the Sizzlits star. The Creatables poinsettia was still a nice size, but when it shrank down it became too weak at the base of the petals and would break very easily, so I discounted that one too.  When you colour shrink plastic and then shrink it, the colour always becomes darker and more intense. As I wanted very pale colours, I used my Dovecraft Shimmer Chalks. I chose only the lightest pinks and greens and dusted over the frosted side of my white shrink plastic to get just a hint of colour. I then shaded the edges with slightly darker colour. To get the flower patterned ones, I stamped onto the shrink plastic first with my VersaMark watermark stamp pad and then rubbed over the whole button with my chalks. This gives a lovely two-tone effect when the chalk brushes over the Versamark ink. Here they are before shrinking. The heart one has been lightly dusted with pink powder and then dotted with a light pink Sharpie pen. ...and after shrinking. To protect the colour and make them a little more hard wearing I embossed them with 2 layers of clear embossing powder. Unfortunately the embossing powder has yellowed the colour slightly, but I can live with that. I accidentally used some holographic embossing powder at one point, which was interesting, but not exactly the look I was going for. I love the ceramic look you get with putting a glaze over the white shrink plastic buttons. These buttons are made out of frosted shrink plastic, but they are still quite plastic looking and for some reason, the shrinkage wasn't nearly as even as with the white shrink plastic - my squares are now rectangles and my circles are ovals... hmmm These buttons are hopefully going to be sewn onto a storage bag next week, but they could also be used to embellish cards, scrapbook layouts and many other decorative objects. I'm not sure just how well they'd stand up to the rigours of regular laundering. I'll have to run a few tests and let you know... Similar Related Blog Posts Making Fridge Magnets out of a Child's First Drawings Shrink Plastic Teacher Gifts Shrink Plastic Craft Fail DIY Shrink Plastic Stitch Markers ---------- Please be sweet and share the love. Leave a comment, subscribe to my YouTube channel, like my Facebook page for regular updates or follow me on Pinterest, Bloglovin' or Instagram