How to Make a Ribbon Name Bracelet

How to Make a Ribbon Button Name Bracelet 

By Rowinn and Stephanie Myers

First a little about the author.  My name is Rowinn.  I am 10 years old.  This is me with a paper doll that I made.  This bracelet is the best gift ever!  I made it for my best friend for her birthday.  I was inspired by this bracelet by  Hope Studios. 

I changed it up because I wanted bright colors and I wanted to add letters to make a name.  Follow below and I will show you how to do it!

Materials

• 4" of 1/4" white polyester ribbon*
• 6" of 1 cm cotton (or similar) patterned ribbon*
• Letter beads
• Mixed size buttons of different colors
• 32" Embroidery Thread**
• Large eye needle
• E6000 or similar clear drying craft glue

* Depends on the size of the buttons you use.  You may need larger or smaller lengths of ribbon.  To determine how long your ribbon should be, lay out the buttons and then measure the length of ribbon you need.  For the white ribbon, the loop should be just large enough to wrap around your last button.

** Makes a 7" bracelet.

Instructions

Underneath/back of cotton ribbon

Front of cotton ribbon

Step 1: Cut ribbons to length.  Make a loop out of the small white ribbon and then sew to the underneath end of the large patterned ribbon using the embroidery thread and needle.  The thread should end underneath the cotton ribbon after sewing the knot to secure the white ribbon.

Step 2: From underneath, sew the thread up through the middle of the cotton ribbon and through one hole of the button.  

Step 3: String your letter bead onto the thread making sure the letter faces the right direction.  

Step 4: Bring the thread down through the 2nd hole in the button and through the middle of the ribbon so that you are ending underneath the ribbon.  This should complete your first alphabet button.

Underneath of cotton ribbon

Step 5: Continue for each letter and button until you reach the end.  The thread should end underneath the cotton ribbon.  Tie off.

Step 6:  Use the E6000 to glue the all ends of the ribbons and the knots to keep from fraying or untying.

To wear the bracelet, wrap around your wrist and then hook the last button on the bracelet with the white ribbon as shown.  Gift to your friends and you will be the best buddies ever!

DIY $3 Wedding Card Book from upcycled Old Books

For 11 months now, our wedding shower and wedding day cards have been sitting in boxes on a shelf collecting dust.  I really wanted to be able to look through them and display them because they are the most beautiful cards I think I have ever seen and there are so many of them!  I had seen posts on using binder rings to hold them all together and using cardboard to create a cover so I thought, why not use a real book cover?  

After: $3 Wedding Card book 

Before: used books

For a few dollars you can make this beautiful display book to preserve all of those amazing wedding cards you received from your loved ones.  They will stand out on a shelf and be wonderful to share. I made two, one for my wedding shower and one for the actual wedding.  I also used two different techniques to decorate the covers.  I use a Silhouette Cameo/Portrait to make the cover, you can also paint it by hand if you do not have a plotter.  Here is how I made the books:

Supplies:

2 old used books

2 paint colors of choice (or only one if you are doing the vinyl cover)

Vinyl (only needed if you are not painting the cover)

Contact paper (only needed if you are using a Silhouette)

2 pieces of scrapbook paper

Mod Podge or Gloss Medium/Varnish

Ribbon

Binder rings

Plotter (Optional, I use a Silhouette Cameo)

Hole punch

Drill

Exacto knife

To start, you want to use an old book that is 2 inches larger on all sides than the largest card.  I went to the sale section of a used book store (don't forget your tape measure!) and bought these two books for $1 each.  These two were from 1976 and 1993 (in case you were curious).  The first thing you want to do is take out the pages.  Using the Exacto knife, separate the pages from the cover.  Before you can paint, you need to prime it so the paint will stick.  You might be able to get away without this step since many of the older books have cloth hardbound covers that the paint should stick to...mine did but I primed it just in case.  To prime it, paint a layer of Mod Podge over the outside of the cover.  If you have a book that has the lettering indented in the cover like one of mine, you will want to do several layers thick in those areas to try to fill the indentation as much as possible. 

Once that dries (it will dry clear) you want to paint at least 2 coats of color.  It took 4 coats for me to cover all the lettering and for the original cover color not to show through. Once that dries, flip it over and get all of the edges, and about 1 inch around the edges of the book (no need to do the whole thing because you are just going to cover it with scrapbook paper next).

Measure the sides of the cover from end to the fold and cut your scrapbook paper to size.  For one book I chose to have the scrapbook paper go end to end and for the other I chose to have 1/2" edge where the cover showed through.  Apply a thin layer of Mod Podge  across the entire inside of the book (you will still apply to the spine even though you will not be putting scrapbook paper here because when dried, the Mod Podge give it a shiny finished look). Stick the two scrapbook pages to the front and back inside cover.

These next few steps I did not take any pictures during the process so I apologize.  Using your plotter/Silhouette cut your design from the contact paper.

To Paint the Words on the Cover:

This book has the letters painted on... for the most part it did great.  I had issues with the paint peeling up a little bit in places so I had to touch up and it wasn't perfect. I found the paint I had used was really old and extremely thick and even though I thinned it out some with some gloss medium, I'm pretty sure I should have just thrown it out and started fresh.  If you follow the correct process you shouldn't have an issue.  Once you cut the stencil and weed out the pieces you don't need, lay another piece of contact paper over top of your stencil to transfer and place it on your book cover.  Make sure you tack it down good by rubbing it with your fingers or the edge of a credit card.  To keep the paint from bleeding through, paint over the stencil first with Mod Podge (don't worry the contact paper will still come off if you do this).  This process seals the edges of the stencil and keeps paint from seeping through...don't skip this step!  Once the Mod Podge is dry, paint two coats.  While the paint is still tacky, peel off the contact paper and use an Exacto knife to get the little pieces.  Once that is dry, paint a layer of Mod Podge or Gloss Medium Varnish (if you don't like it shiny, you can get the varnish and Mod Podge in matt).

To Use Vinyl for the Words on the Cover:

This was my favorite way.  The lettering came out so crisp.  The only reason I even tried paint first was I thought the Vinyl wasn't going to stick but it did fine.  Follow the same process to make and place your stencil as in the instructions for the painted words.  Once you place the vinyl on the cover, paint a layer of varnish/Mod Podge over top.  If the vinyl doesn't stick to the paint you used, try painting a layer of Mod Podge over the paint color, the vinyl should stick to the dried Mod Podge.

The Cards:

Prep the cards by punching holes (I used both a 3 hole punch and a single hole punch), one at the top and one at the bottom of each card making sure to place the holes in the same spot on each card.  Use the drill to drill two parallel holes in the spine at the top and the bottom of the spine to match the location on the cards.  I used two different ways to attach the cards to the spine.  One way was to use the binder rings and just put the rings through the cards and then through the holes in the spine.  I used some leftover ribbon from the wedding (and some that I saved from the gifts) to wrap around the spine and make a pretty bow at the top of the spine and (if it weren't sheer) it would completely cover the binder rings.  The other way was to use ribbon instead of binder rings.  Just loop the ribbon through the cards and then through the holes in the spine. You want the ribbon to be fairly tight so the cards don't flop around but loose enough so that you can still open them flat. I accidentally pulled too tight and actually ripped a hole in the spine.  Double knot and then tie a bow.  

When you open your book, you will be able to flip through your cards like a regular book!  Notice in mine, I put the shower invitation at the front of the Wedding Shower book.  You could do the same with your wedding invite (I made mine and forgot to make myself one!)  I would love to see pictures of yours when you make one, please feel free to include a pic in the comments section.

Multistage Sandblast Etching Tutorial

Hello all!

It has been a while since I've written a blog however I have had a lot of requests to show how I multi-etched these pieces of glass.  Let me preface this with the fact that I myself searched and searched for tutorials and never found one that showed the basics of the technique.  I pieced together several bits of information that I found and basic trial and error to get where I am.  Hopefully this helps you too.

Supplies:
-Clear glass coasters with rubber feet (I got mine from www.etchworld.com) or any flat piece of glass.  You need to etch the bottom so make sure it a clear surface and a bottom you can reach.
-Size 4 mil etching vinyl (size 6 mil may have been better, I had to double tape mine and the vinyl still pulled up once)
-size 6 and 7 clay spray nozzles
-cutting blades (I use a Silhouette Cameo and Exacto knives)
-transfer tape (I use contact paper)
-blast cabinet (I used 80 grit Aluminum Oxide blast material) Any course lower grit blasting sand will do.

Silhouette Cameo:

In order to multi-layer etch, you need a multi-layer image.  The easiest way using the Silhouette is to use the offset option and do a wide trace of your image.  If you are writing words, you need to reverse the image first.

This is the original single layer image.

Using the offset option, add a large trace around the outside of the image

I usually then draw a square box around my image which will cut the entire thing out of the vinyl and give you straight edges which help you lay the vinyl.  Cut the vinyl.

Flip the glass upside down  (feet side up).  Do not weed until after the vinyl is stuck to the glass. Lay a piece of transfer paper over your vinyl, peel off the vinyl backing.  Place the vinyl and stick it to your glass, peel off the transfer paper.  At this point, your glass should look something like this...

If you look closely, you can see the cut lines.  I have not yet pulled off the transfer tape in this image.

Note, you may want to cut your square larger than the glass, here I had to tape the edges with masking tape twice because I didn't make my square big enough.  Using the vinyl to cover the whole thing is stronger than using masking tape.  

Next you are going to weed the first layer.  Pull off the original image first that you had before you had offset the image.  This is what you will blast first.  

The black is what you should weed out. 

Blasting with a Blast Cabinet:

You want to leave the offset layer in place for now and only blast what you see in black.  I did not change the pressure of my compressor, I have it set to the same settings I use with the cabinet and AO for single blasting.  (this pressure will probably vary for you depending on your setup.  I am happy to tell you my specific setup if you need it).  When blasting, use the smaller nozzle, for me the size 6.  I use a quick back and forth motion, turning the piece about halfway through.  You want to etch deep enough to make an edge around the image that you can feel.  Another way to tell is to use an Exacto knife to run across the edges of your image, if it catches and doesn't feel smooth, then you know it is done.  You can also turn the piece over and see the curves start to form from the other side.  

Peel off everything in red.  The black should be etched.

Next you will peel off everything in red, just leaving the outside square. The black will already be etched and you will be doing a very light blast over the whole thing.  Use a larger nozzle, for me #7.  use a quick once or twice over the surface, a little slower than before.  Be very careful not to over etch.  If you do, that deeper layer will be lost.  You only want to etch just enough to color the surface white, nothing more.  If needed stop and check after each 1-2 swipes to see that it is covered.  You can also flip it over to check that you aren't losing the deep layer.  

Voila you have a beautiful and easy multi-layer etched piece!  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at colorfulcreationsbysteph@gmail.com or message me on facebook: www.facebook.com/etchableme 

Here are some others I've done to practice:

This is just a practice piece of scrap glass. Learned the hard way to reverse the words!

Craft Room Overhaul

All the junk piled up in my craft room. 

My complete lack of organization.  The carpets are destroyed too.

To say my craft room is a disaster is an understatement.  We just bought our house about 7 months ago and before we bought it, it had renters living in it who did a lot of damage which was not aparent until we took posession of the home and it was finally empty.  Previous owners/renters threw darts and knives or stars or something at the walls, ceilings, doors and wood trim throughout the house, but it was the worst in my craft room. 


Hundreds of holes from darts, throwing stars or knives (we guess) on walls, ceilings, trim and doors throughout the house.

Also, gross alert (sorry, I don't know how else to describe it and not be completely disgusted by it) their kids wiped boogers all over everything...there were even words written on the walls of my craft room.  SO GROSS!  I think we need a biohazard team to come in just to paint.  Not to mention the carpet, lets just say I won't walk around without my shoes on even though we had them professionally cleaned 3 times.  Ok, end of grossness, enough said. 



Previous owners had painted over stained trim throughout the house without priming it first...which means all of the door frames, floor trim and window trim looks like this and must be scraped, sanded and primed 3 times before we can paint 2 more coats. 

Someone had painted over stained trim throughout the house without priming it first...which means all of the door frames, floor trim and window trim looks like this and must be sanded and primed 3 times before we can paint 2 more coats.  Anyway the room became a complete dumping ground and without shelves in the closets or walls, it was really hard to put anything away. 

Finally I decided how to tackle the room.  I masked up and used heavy grit sandpaper to sand the grossness off the walls (easier than washing with bleach).  Since there was so much damage to the walls from the darts/knives and some of the drywall was pulled out, my husband taught me a cool trick to fix it without having to mud multiple times.  You take the rounded side of a ball peen hammer and literally hammer a dent into the damaged part (not too deep, just deep enough so all of the sticking out parts are knocked in).  This seems counter intuitive, like its going to do more damage than good, but bare with me.  Then you take a spackle knife and drywall mud and fill the hole with mud.  Don't be afraid to use too much, more is better, you can always sand off the extra.  Every once in a while if you had a large hole, it may sink in a little and you may have to do a second round of mud once the first has dried, but usually not.  This makes the entire thing flat and you just sand the rough edges with a sand block and it's ready to prime!  I used a primer like Kilz to neutralize any biohazard and cover up all of the stains/muck on the walls.  It took two coats.  Finally its ready to paint.  I chose this pretty yellow as a base coat.

Becuase I had so much junk in the room and I'm trying to craft in it at the same time, I am doing two walls at a time so that the stuff can be stacked up against two walls and then moved to the other two walls when I'm done. 

I then used plastic folders and designed my own stencils in my Silhouette Cameo software.  Tutorial to come when I am finished.  I cut the folders down so I had two large flat 8.5x11 sheets and two smaller sheets out of the flaps.  I loaded them into my Silhouette and had to put them on the highest setting to cut the stencil.  It cut about 3/4 of the way through the stencil and basically scored it and then I used a dull exacto knife (a sharp one accidently cut through the stencil where it wasn't even scored) to cut the rest of the way through the stencil.
 

I made one stencil out of the big one and will be making one out of the small one for the walls in a pretty coral orange color. Then I made a different stencil to make curtains.

For the curtains I bought two 6'x9' cloth drop cloths and will cut them in half  to make two panels for each window in the room.  I plan to stencil them with the coral paint also.  Separate blog post to come for this process when I'm done with it.  I am currently washing the cloths (I tried ironing them and they were too thick).

My husband is also going to build me a large work bench for the center of the room, floor to ceiling shelves, and a wrap-around counter top on two walls with storage underneath.  We are going to pull up the carpet and either just paint the wood floor or install cheap vinyl so it can get crafts spilled on it and can easily be cleaned up.  I can't wait to show you when it is all done!