Christmas in July Necklace

I have never taken a big interest in the whole "Christmas in July" concept before this year but with school being as hectic as it is and Christmas break being so brief I began to understand why making Christmas presents during the summer is really a great idea!

Before I get into the tutorial, I want to introduce you to a couple of my sponsors:

First up is Cats-Purrfect
She makes molds for resin. She sculpts the original pieces and casts the molds herself and sells them for a great price at her site! She has a lot of different molds available and she even has a YouTube channel display her molds!
You can get your own molds here: http://www.cats-purrfect.com/
And check out videos of them here: http://www.youtube.com/user/catspurrfect

She has graciously provided me with some molds to use including this wonderful Gingerbread Man!

Next on my list of sponsors is Aanraku Glass Studios
They have some wonderful pieces that work great with resin.
You can check their products out here: http://store.abasg.com/mm5/merchant.mvc

For this project I'm using their Large Silver Plated Pattern Bails. They come in a package of 10 with 2 each of 5 different patterns!

Another great thing about the large size is that they can slid over the necklace without using a jump ring!

I'm using EasyCast Resin, Cats-Purrfect Gingerbread Man Mold, Castin' Crafts Opaque Pigment in Red, Green, Black, Brown, Yellow, and Pearl, a Castin'Crafts Jewelry Mold, and some glitter!

I'm going to fill in the deepest areas of the mold first which are the face, bow tie, and buttons.
I'm using black, red, green, and some glitter- you could really use any colors here but I'm going traditional!

Spray both the Gingerbread Man Mold and Jewelry Mold with some Castin' Crafts Mold Release!Mix up a batch of EasyCast Resin!
*Here's a neat tip* Since I only need small amounts of each color and don't want to waste a bunch of cups, pour some resin into the small cavities of the jewelry mold and use them as mixing cups!

Mix the colors and glitter as desired directly in the jewelry mold cavities using toothpicks. Be carefully not to add too much dye because it can affect the resin hardening. When your left overs have set they should pop out just like normal leaving you with a clean mold and no wasted cups!

Use some toothpicks to carefully fill in the little gingerbread man's features and let these set for at least an hour or two before continuing.

Mix up another batch of EasyCast and color this one brown for his body. I used a mixture of Pearl, Brown, and a touch of Yellow to try and get a real "gingerbread" look.

Fill in the body with the brown. Try not to pour directly on the previous resin to avoid disrupting it!

Let the resin set for 24-72 hours to harden completely.

Look how cute he is!!

To turn this guy into a necklace I used a red necklace (from Hobby Lobby), some E-6000, and a Aanraku Bail (I'm using a design that reminds me of snowflakes!)

Apply some E-6000 to the bail...

Firmly press it to the back of the gingerbread man. Let this sit for 24 hours to get maximum adhesion.

Now we have an adorable necklace to spread some holiday cheer! Or to put away for stocking stuffers!

Royal Flush in Resin

I am always on the hunt for projects that can be gifts for a guy. With boyfriends, dads, uncles, and grandfathers one needs a good "man" project.

I used EasyCast Resin, Castin' Crafts Mold Release, a mold, Mod Podge, Glossy Accents, and a deck of cards. Also, some scrap clear packaging, a permanent marker, and some scissors.
*ETI suggests wearing gloves when working with resin for safety* Gloves also help keep your nails nice :)

To make a template for the mold cavity I'm using a piece of scrap clear packaging (this is from a Martha Stewart Mold).

Put the packaging over the mold cavity and trace inside the space using a permanent marker. Cut out the packaging and now we have a template.

I'm using the cards to make a royal flush to go in the resin. You could also do a full house or black jack!

The borders of the cards are too wide to fit my template so I trimmed all the corners down.

Now that it fits I need to hold it that way!

Using some Glossy Accents, I glued all the card corners together. Glossy Accents dries in about 20 minutes but stays wet long enough to move the cards around to fit the template.

Put the template over the design and trace around it with the permanent marker.

Cut this out carefully.

Now is the time to do any trimming or regluing if needed.

Paint a couple of coats of Mod Podge on the card pieces to seal them.

Spray the mold with mold release and mix up a batch of resin. Pour a layer of resin into the mold.



This is a mold from Yaley Enterprises.
They make resin and Deep Flex Resin Molds along with a variety of colorants.
Check out all the offer here: http://yaley.com/SitePages.asp?ID=46
 

Submerge the cards face down into the resin.

Top off the mold cavities with some more clear resin and let set to harden for 24-72 hours.

Very nice man-ly resin!

To turn these into key chains I'm using E-6000, bails, chain, split rings, key chain rings, some key chain hooks, and jewelry pliars.

Apply some E-6000 to the bail...

Press the bail firmly to the back of the resin piece and let dry for 24 hours to get maximum adhesion.

These are my key chain hardware...

Attach the keychain ring to the key chain hook...

Attach a piece of chain to the key chain ring using a split ring...

Attach the resin piece to the chain using another jump ring...

Now these key chains are ready for gifting... I think they'll be a real winner!!!

Glowing Paint Button Bracelet

I'm still going crazy for glowing stuff this summer! I wanted to see how well glow in the dark acrylic paint would work in the resin!

It worked like a charm, or in this case, like a button!

I'm using EasyCast Resin, Castin' Crafts Mold Release, Glow in the Dark Acrylic Paint, and a button mold and a bangle mold.

*ETI suggests wearing gloves when working with resin for safety* Gloves also help keep your nails nice :)

These are  glow in the dark paints that I'm using:

Spray your mold with mold release the mix up a batch of EasyCast Resin. Carefully pour the resin into the mold but leave a little space at the top to add color.

I'm using a toothpick to add some paint to the resin and stir it around. You can ofcourse mix each color seperatly to get a more even coloring before pouring but since I am making tiny buttons I didn't want to waste all those cups!

Once you've mixed the color in to your liking let these sit for 24- 72 hours until hardened.

The paint leaves them slightly translucent and....

The have a great glow!

I wanted to make a button bangle out of these! I usually take my left over resin and pour it into the botton mold- who can have too many buttons!

This bangle mold needs 15 buttons to go all the way around. You can put your buttons into a pattern or just be spontaneous with it!



This is a mold from Yaley Enterprises.
They make resin and Deep Flex Resin Molds along with a variety of colorants.
Check out all the offer here: http://yaley.com/SitePages.asp?ID=46
 

Mix up a batch of EasyCast Resin and carefully pour it into the bangle mold but only about 3/4 full to leave room for the buttons.

Carefully insert the buttons making sure they are fully covered with resin. You can add another layer of resin on top if needed.

Let this set for 24- 72 hours!

Now you have a cute button bangle...

And it can glow too!