Easy Picture Pendant Tutorial

I almost had a heart attack today when I opened my computer armoire to write this post.
It was ALL CLEAN!.  No stickies anywhere, no notes, no cd's all over the place, no memory cards, no lists of things to do, no project samples for future blog posts.......NOTHING! as I gasped and stared in bewilderment at my empty space, I faintly heard a little voice behind me saying, "mommy, mommy, I cleaned your desk for you, aren't you happy?"  the words sounded to me  like this, "mommy, mommy, blah blah blah TRASH blah blah blah TRASH blah blah".  Such scary words coming out of a little angel's lips.  He cleaned out my desk alright, my little trooper, by throwing everything away......yesterday.......on trash day.....sigh.  I was going to run out to the landfill, but then I remembered......... I'm not a crazy person.  All this happened while I was out.  How did my husband not notice, is beyond me (between you and I, I think he was napping on the sofa while all this was going on).
Gotta love those special moments.  Once I came out of my coma, I hugged the little one and said thank you! and tomorrow......I'm buying a lock and key! LOL.

I have this cute little pendant tutorial today that I made.  This is a perfect gift and it's so easy to make, you won't believe your eyes.
Here's what the finished pendant looks like:

Isn't that cute?

 Here's what you need: Scrapbook paper, silver plated bail, one inch glass pendant, light grit sandpaper

you can find the bail here and the glass pendant here

scissors, Glossy Accents (arts and craft store),

E6000 Glue (Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart)

First, cut the paper to size one inch by one inch.  Apply Glossy Accents to the flat side of your glass and spread with finger.  Place your scrapbook paper face down on top of the Glossy Accents and burnish (press) the paper with your finger so that it lays flat on top, this way you won't get air bubbles.Let this completely dry for a couple of hours.

Once  it's dry, take your sandpaper and carefully rub your four sides on the sandpaper:

Once that's done, you'll have clean edges.  

You can color the back of the pendant with a Sharpie or leave it as is.  The one on the right in picture below has been colored in with a black Sharpie:

  Once that dries, give it a couple of hours, squeeze some Glossy Accents on the back of your pendant.  This protects the back of the paper. 

The back will look like this once you squeeze Glossy Accents, it stays in place, it doesn't run:

Here's a side view of the back with the Glossy Accents:

Let it dry over night. 

Once it's dry, take your silver plated bail and add a little bit of E6000 glue to adhere to the back of your glass pendant:

You can also use pictures but you'll need to print them on a laser printer first.  Here's some more I made in just a few minutes time: On the one below, I used scrapbook paper and a rubber stamp:

This next one was from a post card with dozens of little Frida Kahlo pictures:

Scrapbook paper, copies of photographs minimized to one inch by one inch, your own art work, rubber stamped images....the possibilities are endless!

Stay tuned for a special giveaway coming this Friday June 10th!

Miniature Book Pendant Tutorial

I'm publishing this tutorial once again because I've had such a great response from bloggers.  I've added several samples towards the bottom of this post too.
 
This is a very easy tutorial, don't get turned off by all the steps below, trust me, it's actually quite easy.
 

 Is that not the cutest little book pendant?

I saw these pendants for sale at the library gift shop and, of course, I had to make my own.  Besides, they were selling them for $30 dollars!!!..... I KNOW!!!.... Luckily, they are very easy to make and will cost an average of  a dollar or two provided that you have most of the supplies on hand.
 
Here's what you'll need:
Scrapbook card stock,  regular white copy paper 8 1/2 inch by 11 inch, ribbon, gold leaf pen, glue and some paper glaze (or embossing powder), an eyelet and eyelet setter.

some jewelry finding and jump rings and a cord:

Create the pages that go inside the book:
First, fold your white copy paper in half, turn 90 degrees then fold again and turn 90 degrees, do this a total of four times and you'll end up with a 2 3/4 inch by 2 1/8 inch folded paper.....sorry lots of measurements.  Cut the corner with scissors to measure a piece that's 1 inch by 3/4 inch.  See picture below, it shows the corner that was cut (also shows the measurements of the pieces):

Next, cut all the folds all the way around:

You will end up with 16 little pages that are 1inch by 3/4 inch:

Gather your pages and place them inside a clip.  Drop some hot glue gun on a mat and dip your pages in to coat the back side with the hot glue (binding):
This will allow your pages to stick together like a book

Next, take your gold leaf pen and run it all around your pages:

Next, cut a cover sheet out of scrapbook card stock paper by using your pages to measure the area you need.  Run your gold leaf pen all around your cover sheet:

Fold your cover sheet in half.  Add some glue over your pages and spread, do top and bottom and place them inside your cover sheet:
essentially you are gluing the first page to your front cover and the last page to your back cover.

Close your book and allow glue to dry.
At this point, add Paper Glaze to the front and back covers and let it dry over night so that it will  give it a nice thick shine and protect it from the elements.  If you don't want to use the Paper Glaze, you can emboss the front and back instead.  To see an embossing tutorial, go here.

Punch a hole on the back page to add your eyelet.  With your eyelet setter (I'm using a Crop-A-Dile) set your eyelet on your back cover sheet:

It will look like this:

Add some jewelry finding and run a cord through to hand your pendant from.  My cord is made of leather and it's 9 inches long, just long enough to fit comfortably around my neck. 
Here's what it looks like opened:

To add a clasp to your necklace go here.
 
Here are other versions of this miniature book:

Thanks for coming by.  Hope you have an awesome week!

Pink Roses for a Pink Lady

For my post today, I decided to finally make a glass pendant I have been wanting to make for a long time.

Here's what it looks like all finished:

I used the graphic below from the Graphics Fairy you can find here

I apologize in advance, some of my pictures are a bit blurry.  I forgot my camera in San Diego last night and only have a rinky dink camera for now.

Here's what you'll need:
a copy of a graphic, old pair of eyeglasses

 Glue gun, ribbon, scissors

Mod Podge and a brush or you can use your fingers

 a wooden bead, pink acrylic paint, Aleen's Stop Fraying:

First, cut out the picture and pop the glass out of the eyeglasses

Apply mod podge to the inside (concave side) of the glass with a brush or finger. 

 Once fully covered with Mod Podge, place picture face down so that it will show through on the other side (convex side).  Press graphic down gently to get rid of any bubbles. 

 

Once dry (about half an hour), use small scissors to trim the paper around the glass

 

Paint the back of your pendant with acrylic paint, I chose a pink color

When paint is dry, use hot glue gun to glue the ribbon around the pendant.  Fold your ribbon in half and start gluing at the half way point onto the bottom of the pendant working your way up.  This will ensure your ends will be equal.  I used 15 inches of ribbon for mine. 

Next, paint your wooden bead with the acrylic paint to match your pendant, I painted mine pink.  Let dry a few minutes.

Pull ribbon through bead

And wah-lah! a new pendant, just tie the ribbon on the back and you're good to go.

Here's what it looks like from the back:

For my Pink Saturday challenge, I'd like to mention a lady who is spectacular.  She crafts and blogs and has a passion for making very special things for other people, Denise Marie of Bloomin. Go visit her and see for yourself how wonderful she is. 

Also, don't forget to visit and enjoy other posts at Melissa's Looking For A Creative High and Beverly's How Sweet The Sound and Cindy Atkins Whimsical Musings 

I'm linking to the following parties; thank you Melissa, Beverly and Cindy  for such sweet and fun linky parties.