Odds and Ends

I've been trying to finish up some projects that I've had milling about both in my head and on my worktable.  This first one was headed overseas to my blogging friend Sabrina and since I know that it got there all right I'm going to share it.  

It's made from a domino.  I had previously soaked a set of dominoes in a light bleach solution overnight to take the shiny finish off of them so that I could stamp on the backs.  I used Stazon Ink to stamp the bird image and let it dry overnight so that there wouldn't be any chance of smearing.  The image and the background are colored with Sharpie markers.  For the background color I dabbed on the colors that I wanted to blend and then chose the lightest color to blend them all with.  I let that dry overnight also and then gave the domino several light coats of spray sealer. 

Then I drilled some holes from top to bottom with my little dremel tool that hasn't been used in ages.  If you don't have a drill bit that's as long as the thickness of the domino you have to be very precise when marking the holes to drill one side to the next.  I was lucky enough to get my drilled holes to match at the first try.  I took some silver foil tape - the kind you would use for stained glass - and wrapped the perimeter of the domino to give it a finished look.  You could also use a gold or silver paint pen, but mine had dried out and the tape happened to be handy.  (If you don't have a drill I've seen necklaces like these made by adhering a long thin bead to what would be the top so that you could string a cord or chain through it.)

I got out my beading supplies and found some beads and the bird charm to add to this.  I left the cording long enough so she could either knot it where she wanted or in this case, I think she is going to finish the ends with a clasp herself. 

The second project below went to a co-worker in my school district.  She has been diligently working with a new software package that our district instituted last year and has become the go-to person with our problems and questions.  While I think that she likes doing this kind of thing, I think that at this point she is being taken advantage of as they are not compensating her for all her work (a lot of which has been done after hours).  So this was supposed to show her that I appreciated all her help and to make her laugh, and I think it did.

I had asked our tech guys for a couple of old keyboards that were going to be discarded and they were all too willing to accommodate me, bringing me a box of 10.  Well, that was back in May, at which time I did sit and pop off all those keys and then I promptly put them aside to use for a couple of summer projects.  This necklace is not my original idea - the credit for this goes to Mich L. in L.A.   Check out her post here to see what genius things she's done with keyboard keys. 

Of course the necklace had to be boxed up, so I used the matchbox die and Pool Party cs - almost the shade of a Tiffany box.  I used the new lacy border punch to make a belly band in Whisper White cs.  The flower was made by punching 6 scalloped circles, scrunching them up real good and then using a sparkle brad to hold them all together.  The flower is popped up on the belly band (there's an Island Indigo scalloped circle under the lace).

This card has not been sent yet - no surprise.  I'm perpetually behind on things it seems.  But I included it here tonight for Pink Saturday along with the flower angel below that I finally finished.

I had the pieces for this little darling all ready to be strung together, and after I found the large pearls that I had purchased for "heads" I was able to finish this up.  Of course, I think that this stamp set is now retired like the Fabulous Flower did after I originally put together my first ornament like this.

She will get a bow at her neckline I think.  I plan on trying this with another current set and there might even be a die that I could use.  Something to look forward to!