Blog Hop-with Gina K Designs "Flutter By" Shrink Art Earrings

Welcome Designer Crafts Connection Blog Hoppers! 

My mom loved daisies and butterflies, especially Monarch butterflies. So whenever I see a Monarch butterfly I think of her. Imagine my surprise when I was sent the Gina K Designs "Never Lose Hope" Mini Acrylic Stamp Set to create with for the Designer Crafts Connection Blog Hop! It seemed like it was meant to be. 

"Flutter by"-Shrink Art Earrings

Supplies- "Never Lose Hope" Mini Acrylic Stamp Set-Gina K Designs, Grafix Shrink Film, Permanent Markers, white gel pen, Staz-On ink pad-Black,  acrylic stamp block,  2-3" long pieces of chain, jump rings (3mm,6mm), fishhook earring pieces, small glass beads, headpins, round nose and needle hose pliers, wire cutters, oven, parchment paper, scissors, hole punch, cookie sheet. 

Using the Staz-on ink and an acrylic stamp block,  stamp your butterfly image onto the shrink film and allow to dry. When dry, color in image using the permanent markers. I like starting with the darker colors and blending with the lighter ones. Accent with the white gel pen. Allow to completely dry before cutting out.  Please note your colors will shrink "more intense" 

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F. Cut your designs out of the shrink film. I like to use larger scissors to cut out the basic shape and then use detail scissors to get the tiny parts. Using the hold punch, punch holes in the corner of the images.

 Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper. Lay out your shrink art stamped images.  If you are concerned with your images not shrinking "flat" then cover them with another piece of parchment paper. Place in oven for 2-3 minutes to allow images to fully shrink.  They will be about 20% of the original size when finished. Allow to cool before handling. 

 

To create your earrings. Thread your beads onto your headpins. Using the round nose pliers, loop the end and snip off the excess. Repeat until you have the desired number of beaded head pins.  Thread larger jump rings through the holes punched in the butterflies. Use the smaller jump rings with the head pins. Attach the butterflies and beaded headpins with the attached jump rings to the chain alternating between the two. Because the shrink film is clear you can see your image on both sides. This allows you to hang your butterflies going either direction. (See photo.) Attach the chain to the earring hooks. 

 

Bonus Card "Spread Your Wings and Fly" 

Since I had some extra shrink art butterflies to play with and some gorgeous Gina K Ephemera, I set out to make a card. I used the same butterfly stamp from the Gina K "Never Lose Hope" set  and watermark ink to create a subtle (and matching) background. After wrapping twine around the cardstock and tying on the butterfly, I layered the Gina K Ephemera using foam dots, and added the sentiment.

 

Supplies used: "Never Loose Hope" Mini Acrylic Stamp Set-Gina K Designs, Watercolor Floral Ephemera Pack-Gina K Designs, Cardstock, Trimmer,acrylic block,  black ink pad, watermark inkpad, bakers twine, extra shrink art butterfly, adhesive, foam dots.

Thanks Gina K for providing the stamps and ephemera to play with! I LOVED THEM!

Want to see more gorgeous Gina K Design Projects? Check out the rest of the Designer Crafts Connection Blog Hop Designer Crafts Connection-Gina K