Resin Charms My Friend Made!

I purchased these super adorable resin charms from a friend I met on a craft facebook page. Mind you, I rarely buy resin pieces from people because I have the mentality of "why buy it when I can make it myself?" lol! Plus, the ones I have bought in the past were not made very well, so I just stopped buying them and started making them myself! But these are different! They are well made by a very talented girl named Angel. Here is the link to her shop! http://angelsresin.storenvy.com/ Definitely worth checking it out because she makes some awesome jewelry!

I just wanted to share these to the whole world because I love them so much! My favorite is definitely Stitch (genetic experiment 626)!

I also want to say I'm glad I met so many awesome people that I share the same passion with through facebook, blogspot, and youtube. Yay for internet!

So Colorful, They Make Me Smile!

These are some of my newest creations! They are sparkly and very colorful!

Blow Pop! With real candy sprinkles!

Hello Kitty under the sea with real sand and sea shells.

Stitch with colorful confetti that reminds me of fireworks!

I love them so much, I want to keep them all! But these are all listed on my etsy store, so please come visit! Thank you and have a great week everyone!

Floating Heart Pendants

I absolutely love these pendants! I love the idea and I love the look of it. The  resin hearts are incased in clear resin, so they look like they're floating. They turned out exactly how I envisioned, so I'm very happy :-)

These are available at my etsy shop 

Thank you for stopping by and have a great holiday everyone!

A Special Gift

My boyfriend and I went to a wedding a few weeks ago and I decided to make a gift for the bride using the invitation card we received. I used an antique style brass bezel I already had and cut a piece from the invitation to put into the bezel. Then, I used resin to create a beautiful dome to incase the image. The bezel finding had these holes for stones, but since I didn't have any, I improvised and used some micro marbles and glue! I think it turned out beautifully!

This will be a perfect gift for her to remember her special day!

I Got Some Custom Orders!!

As you may know, I've been venturing out in resin crafting and I absolutely love it so far. I even sold some of my creations on etsy, which I'm very happy about. I even got some custom orders in ! Here are some of the orders I've made which were all hello kitties! I'm so amazed how Hello kitty is SO popular now!

Hello Kitty Pendant

Hello Kitty Rainbow Pendant

Hello Kitty Pin

I have also added new items in my shop with a lot of hello kitty and Tim Burton themed jewelry. Please come visit! etsy.com/amysdelights

Also, I haven't been posting here that much since I've started a craft vlog on Youtube, so if anyone is interested in following me there, please subscribe to me at youtube.com/crafterzdelights

Thank you for reading and following this blog, even though I haven't been posting much. And I want to welcome all of my new followers! Hope you all have a great week!

Tim Burton Inspiration

Tim Burton is one of my favorite artists! He is well known for his movies, but he is truly an amazing artist. I had a great opportunity to see his exhibit in Los Angeles, California last year and I absolutely loved it! It was by far the best one I've been to. I spent a good three hours to see all his never before seen sketches and art work. What was amazing is that I got to see how his style evolved through his career.

I absolutely love his dark and whimsical style.

With that being said, I made a pendant with Tim Burton in mind. This is my Tim Burton inspired resin necklace. I drew the image onto a blank white resin piece using a paint pen (because I can't use a brush to save my life). Then, I glazed the artwork with resin to seal it with a shiny finish. I absolutely love it! I hope you guys like it too.

My Resin Jewelry

Still having issues with resin, but definitely getting better....geez about time, after all the fails! Check them out in my etsy store!  http://www.etsy.com/shop/AmysDelights

Since I've been spending way too much on craft supplies, I've decided to put a one month shopping ban! This is going to be a challenge for sure! It's going to be hard when I get bombarded with craft store coupons! Must resist the urge! aaah! I need all your support! Lol, I sound like a drug addict!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Finally! I Win the Battle with Resin!

Finally, after many many failed attempts, I ran out of resin, and had to buy a new batch of resin. This time, from a different manufacturer I found on etsy. I believe the reason why I was failing is because I measured my resin and hardener 1 to 1 ratio by weight rather than volume, thinking that it was more accurate. Turns out I was wrong.

So with my new awesome resin and correct measurements, I was able to win the battle with resin! FINALLY! Here are the pieces I made that I'm truly proud of! All of these turned out rock hard and super shiny. I love them! I still need to turn them into wearable jewelry. I will probably list these in my shop!

That's it for now, Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

My New Line of Pendants!

Available in my etsy shop! Come check it out!

My Battle with Resin

Hello everyone! As promised I'm showing you guys my finished Scrabble tile pendants. I'm sorry it took so long! I was waiting to receive my parts to make them into pendants and I had to take all the photos. All of these pendants are available for sale in my etsy shop!

Since I finished making the Scrabble pendants, I've been playing around with resin a lot, and it's been quite a roller coaster ride. There were a lot of bumps I hit along the path...

Working with resin seems very simple; you just mix part A and part B, and pour!....No way! I wish it was that easy. Resin is challenging for many reasons. First of all it takes 24 to 72 hours to cure which leaves a lot of time for errors to occur. For me it was the battle with dust particles and air bubbles. I had to constantly check for these before it was too late. Secondly, there are many factors that can affect the curing process. These include the age of resin, incorrect mixing process of resin and catalyst,  and weather. Resin will not cure properly if the resin is more than a year old, so be careful when you buy it off the shelf at a craft store. Inaccurate measurements, cold and humid weather can also result in uncured resin.

I'm still learning the wonders of this medium with trial and error. Recently I made these pieces using a mold, and I've been having issues with the resin bleeding into the image, even after sealing them. The bleeding makes the paper look wet and you won't know whether you sealed it properly until you pour resin on it.  You can't really tell unless you look very closely, but me being a perfectionist, it bothers me! I also had issues with some of the pieces not curing properly...

You can see the blotchy wet spots on Snow White's face and skirt :-( This would've
been a cute, usable piece if it wasn't for the spots!!

Here are some more pieces I made using candy sprinkles. They turned out ok so I turned some into key chains.

Resin and candy sprinkles.

This is my favorite. Combining resin and miniatures.

I definitely need more practice and more patience. Anyway I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! Thank you for visiting and reading this post!

Happy Crafting!

Playing with Resin!

I've always wanted to try working with resin ever since I was a kid. I was especially fascinated with the bottle cap resin magnets. Being a naive child, I though they were made by pouring a load of white Elmer's glue to get the clear resin appearance. Obviously it never worked and I didn't go any further since I didn't have much resources to learn how to. Plus I was too young.

Fast forward to years and years later, I've decided now is the time to learn! I researched on how to make resin charms using a mold. The method seemed very simple, but when I actually tried it, I totally failed. I was ill-prepared and impatient, so I did everything clumsily and messy. I think I was too ambitious making my first resin project using a mold.

Hard to see but there's a lot of air bubbles and the inclusions turned out weird.
The clear ones are the ones I gave up on...

I will re-visit this soon! Meanwhile...

Scrabble tiles!

Using Scrabble tiles, I started making some charms and used resin to get a doming effect on the surface. This will magnify the image I use on the tile. I used vintage inspired images which I glued and sealed onto the tiles.

The resin

Poured the resin carefully to get a dome effect and it worked!

They are covered to avoid any dust getting into the resin as they cure.

Please stay tuned because I will show you guys the finished pendants once I turn them into wearable jewelry. Thanks for reading!

Happy Crafting!

Sister time!

My little sister is home for spring break and since I didn't have work yesterday, I got to spend quality time with her. We took our dog out to the park to walk and play, which was a lot of fun. In the evening, we did some crafting together! She had a bunch of bezels and glass domes left over from her past projects, so we decided to make some pendants together.

We each painted our own artwork on a paper circle we cut out. I'm no painter, so my sister helped me through the process since she deals with this stuff everyday in school. She's very talented and she's studying graphic arts. Here is her website if you would like to see her work: maikn.net

Here's mine, the beloved Totoro.

Totoro Pendant

...And my sister's pendant that she made for her friend.

Shark Pendant

I really enjoyed the day and I'm happy that my sister is home... :-) Have a great week everyone!

Happy Crafting!

Antique Style Lace Earrings

Another tatted earrings I finished using a pattern I bought. This pattern was difficult and frustrating for me because I kept messing up! Literally, I restarted the pattern 10 times. I almost went crazy.

After all, the earrings turned out beautifully. and I'm very pleased with them. The pale pink and the bronze findings go perfectly with the antique theme. I ironed and stiffened the lace for more stability. I love how these earrings are light weight! These are available for sale in my shop!

Tatting is a Challenge!

Thanks to all the encouraging words from my followers, I was able to finish my miniature stationary set, which I made 100 sets. I worked my butt off and made about 20 sets per day. Crazy I know, but I'm done, it's in the past now and I'm not looking back lol. Now I can dedicate my free time with some enjoyable crafting! Yay!  :-)

I've been practicing my tatting skills religiously for some time since my first tatting post. I do have a confession to make though! Please ignore what I said about how tatting is not that difficult. I take it back! I think I meant learning the basic stitches is not too bad, but making the actual tatted pieces correctly is very difficult! Apparently, the motifs I made earlier from my last post were wrong...

It's been a frustrating process because I was having a hard time with consistency and making them look neat. After much practicing, making many mistakes and wasting a lot of threads, I finally accomplished my first project.

Tatted lace earrings.

Tatted lace earrings! Making two motifs exactly the same was difficult, but I did it.  They turned out beautifully.  I've always been fascinated with tatted lace earrings. They're dainty and elegant, but can be worn casually. I stiffened the laces and added Swarovski crystal elements.  They're for sale in my shop! :-)

I've also added these cute cherry blossom earrings to my store. They scream, "Spring is here!" I just adore the pink and green color combo.

Cherry blossom earrings.

Thanks for reading everyone and happy March!  Spring is almost here!

Happy Crafting!

Black and Gold Lace Bracelet

I have a bunch of rhinestones and rolls of embroidered lace from the time I was dancing since I used them for costumes and accessories. They resurfaced as I was organizing my room, so I decided to use them to make a lace bracelet.

Black and Gold Lace Bracelet with Jet AB Rhinestones

I had some black lace with gold threads woven in and jet AB Swarovski  rhinestones size ss 16. I used E 6000 to glue the rhinestones onto the lace and put a clasp finding to turn it into a bracelet. I love how it turned out; it's trendy, elegant, yet casual....the rhinestones sparkle a lot under dim light, so it's perfect to wear for a night out, yay!

Happy Crafting!

Tutorial: Beaded Earrings

They are cute, simple and easy to make! You don't need special tools and expensive findings to make these. All you need is some beads, beading string, and earring hooks. These make great gifts, so start making some now for christmas!

Turquoise Beaded Earrings

Purple Beaded Earrings

I used:

• metallic seed beads
• 2 (6x8mm) teardrop glass beads (find them here). I used aquamarine in the Video.
• 8 (4mm) round polished glass beads (find them here). I used lavendar coral (FP1972)  and turquoise (FP2380) in the Video
• beading fishing line
• Earring findings

This is my first video tutorial so if you have a hard time understanding my instructions, let me know! 

It's so weird listening to your own voice! I don't like it...ewwww. Haha!

anyway...Happy Crafting!

Tutorial: How to Make Recycled Paper Beads

I remember making these in my 5th. grade class for mother's day present and I got so hooked, I went home and kept making some more. I totally forgot about them until I saw some at this trendy store in Orange County, California and they were selling it for like $10 for a bracelet!! whaaaaa.....???  lol. I'm sorry, but I would never buy a paper beaded bracelet when I can make my own. It's super easy and cheap! Here is a basic tutorial on how to make these beads.

You will need:

• Magazine papers
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Glue/Gloss ( I used Mod Podge since it acts both as a glue and as a finish gloss)
• Toothpicks
• Small Paint brush/Q-tip
• Pen

Take out a page from a magazine and using a ruler and a pen, you're going to mark this pattern onto the magazine paper.

This 8.5/11 inch paper makes 15 triangles strips.

Basically, bunch of long triangles. Measure the base of the triangles to 1 inch; which will be the size of your beads.

Cut out the triangles. Take your toothpick and start rolling the paper from the base of the triangle. Make sure you're rolling it tightly. 

As you get close to the edge, apply some Mod Podge with a brush or a Q-tip onto the paper and continue rolling to finish. Apply Mod Podge to the bead to seal and gloss.

Stick the toothpick with the bead into a foam to let it dry. You want to apply 2 to 3 coats of the gloss to securely seal the bead.

You wanna make beads like these??

Easy! All you have to do is use a longer magazine paper. Just glue together the ends of two magazine papers to make a long one, and make the base of the triangles to 1/2 inch.

Glue the papers together like this!

Use an elastic beading string, spacer beads and voila! A beautiful recycled paper bead bracelet!

This is a great project to do with your kids! Have fun and happy crafting!