Faux Quartz Crystal Jewelry

I love quartz crystal, but because of it's weight it's almost impossible to wear more than one chunk of it. Well, now you can pile it on by casting it in Glaze Coat (2 part epoxy resin). All you need is one or two pieces of quartz to cast and you can make as much as you want. Color it, add glitter, wrap it with wire and paint it.  No one will be able to tell the difference, I promise.

Have fun! xoxo, Mark

Danielle wearing tons of "Quartz Crystal" jewelry

Wrap a piece in wire and attach it to a ring base..... Easy!

Drill two pieces and hang them from earring wires

Watch the short video tutorial here!

YOU'LL NEED

Flat metal cuffs

Ranger Melt Art Mold-N-Pour putty

E-6000 Glue

Glaze Coat

One or two crystals to mold

Cups, stir sticks and gloves

Tape

 Mix equal parts of the Mold-N-Pour putty

Press your real crystal into the putty and surround it to create your mold

Wait 10 minutes and remove the real crystal

Mix equal parts of Glaze Coat and stir for 5 minutes

Fill your molds with the Glaze Coat

Remove the bubbles with a long arm lighter

Let cure overnight in an unoccupied room or outside

*You can also use colorants and glitter with this process

When cured, scrape of the edges with a craft knife (if you need to)

Glue the "quartz crystals" to a flat metal cuff with E-6000

Tape in place while they dry

Paint some in metallic gold

Drill them and hang them from earring wires

Paper Turquoise DIY

Hands down, this is one of my favorite projects from The Big Ass Book of Bling!  When I was a kid, my mom wore this huge chunk of turquoise and I always thought it was real.  I asked her about it recently and she told me that my youngest brother had made it in 2nd grade from paper!  I immediately tried to make some myself and here are the results.  The great thing about this is that it's light and you can shape it any way you want.  Have fun!

xoxo, Mark

Danielle "rocking" some serious faux turquoise jewelry

I love the colors on this piece.  Try adding bits of brown and black.

Watch the short video tutorial here!

YOU'LL NEED

Blender

Strainer

Americana Acrylic Paints in Turquoise, Green, Red, Black and Brown

Wax paper

White school glue

Paintbrush

Newspaper

Minwax Polycrylic Clear Gloss

 Blend 2 large sheets of newspaper in 1 quart of water to create a pulp

Pour it over a strainer to remove about 95% of the water

Add 1/4 cup white school glue and mix

Create clumps and balls and place on wax paper to dry

*Make smooth balls for beads and bumpy clumps for stones

Let dry under a desk lamp overnight

 Drill holes in your round beads and pendants 

Paint the "rocks" in different shades of green, turquoise and red

When they're dry, paint them with watered down black 

Immediately wipe of most of the black with a damp cloth

*This will leave black in the creases and divits

Try watering down brown to give more texture

Dust the "rocks" again with more color

Coat them with a generous amount of Minwax Polycrylic and let dry

It's #Thurs-DIY!

Tons of colorful fun on this very happy #Thurs-DIY!

We have Easter eggs and Easter tree and an Easter Chandelier complete with chocolate bunnies.

Hop around and get inspired.  Don't forget to tell them I sent you.

Happy #Thurs-DIY, kiddos!

Here we go!

Lia Griffith wows with her beautiful floral Easter eggs! 

 http://liagriffith.com/make-your-own-elegant-easter-eggs/

Who doesn't want a Chocolate Chandelier filled with candy and chocolate bunnies?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-a0YYjhrSk&list=UUt4zycubX8BJZ8pZhZ4w8ow

Cathie Filian decorates Easter eggs with seed beads!  

http://handmadehappyhour.com/2013/03/20/make-this-diy-beaded-easter-eggs-with-mod-podge-and-seed-beads/

Margot Potter makes Peeps cupcakes and I want them!  

http://diydoyenne.com/peeps-cupcakes/

Who wouldn't wear a cute little Easter necklace?  I know I would! Love it Margot!  

 http://diydoyenne.com/diy-easter-necklace/

Aunt Peaches makes a beautiful Easter tree!  

http://www.auntpeaches.com/2015/03/diy-paskris-easter-tree.html

Make beautiful Handmade Bezel Resin Hearts with this easy tutorial:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU0I4ieSCCA

Cathy Attix makes a super fun sweatshirt!  

http://ilovetocreateblog.blogspot.com/2015/03/diy-text-sweatshirt.html

 Stephenie makes a pretty decoupage jewelry box!   

http://www.hazelandruby.com/blog/chic-and-elegant-jewelry-box-makeover/

Megan makes a gorgeous knotted fleece blanket! 

 http://www.ehow.com/how_4662261_knot-fleece-blankets.html

Handmade Bezel Resin Hearts

Lately I've been obsessed with the work of an artist named Terri Brush.  She makes beautiful soldered jewelry using all kinds of bits and bobs and her work inspired me to make some resin filled heart bezels.  Sadly,  I was too lazy to do the soldering work, so I figured out an easier way to make heart bezels with super easy to find supplies.  Much easier than I thought it would be, too!  When they were done, I filled them with broken jewelry pieces and extra things I had in my bin and then covered it all with Glaze Coat.  I have to admit, I can't stop making these!

Danielle wearing a cluster of resin hearts

 Special thanks to www.ChainGallery.com 

for the beautiful chain they sent me!

I went a little nuts making these....

Learn how to make them here!

YOU'LL NEED

Aluminum flashing (any hardware store)

Serrated edge scissors

Glaze Coat (2 part epoxy resin)

18 gage wire

Flat plastic (top of a takeout container will work)

Aleene's Tacky Glue

Jewelry pieces

E-6000 Glue

Clothespins

Needle nose pliers

Book pages or music sheets

Latex gloves, plastic cups and stir sticks

Chain to hang your hearts  (www.ChainGallery.com)

Make sure to check out ChainGallery.com for 

an amazing selection of beautiful chain!

Chocolate Chandelier

Ok, every once in a while I just feel like making something crazy, nutty, kooky, bananas.....and here it is.... An Easter candy chandelier. Truth be told, I really just needed an excuse to buy chocolate bunnies and then gorge on them. No worries, my terrific assistant Danielle helped me. Nom nom!

Happy Easter!

 I had quite a few peeps while making this, too!

This concept would also be really fun for Valentines Day!

Watch the short video tutorial here!

YOU'LL NEED

Recycled cardboard

Americana Decor Chalky Finish Paint (I used Remembrance)

Peeps

4 chocolate bunnies

Jelly beans

Plastic eggs

(8 small, 4 medium, 6 large)

Ribbon

Easter grass

Glue gun

Paintbrushes

Craft knife

Hole punch

 Trace your pattern on cardboard

*You'll need two single pieces and one piece cut on the fold

Cut 8 quarter circles about 1 1/2" each

Paint everything with Americana Decor Chalky Finish

Hot glue the pieces together

 Add hot glue to a cardboard disk and glue on plastic Easter grass to make a small nest

Add a large plastic egg to the center and surround it with jelly beans

*You need to make 4 of these nests

Take 4 small plastic eggs and glue Easter grass to the base of each

Make a large nest with hot glue and Easter grass with a large egg in the center

*This large nest will be for the center of the chandelier

Embellish the chandelier with a matching color of paint if you want

Add the nests with the large eggs to the arms of the chandelier

Glue the small eggs with Easter grass to the curve on the chandelier

*Refer to the beauty shot for placement

Glue 8" long pieces of ribbon to 4 small, 4 medium and 1 large egg

Punch holes in the bottom of the chandelier

Hang the eggs from the holes

Glue peeps on the chandelier with a hot glue gun

Add the large nest to the center of the chandelier with more hot glue

Hang from ribbon

Open the large eggs on the nests and fill with chocolate bunnies

Chandelier pattern

*Mine was 18" high

Ready for my egg hunt!

Inspiration and Easter Cheer!

Happy #ThursDIY everyone!  When I say we have tons of inspiration, I mean it!  Everything from beautifully decoupaged eggs to peep bouquets.

Hop around (like an Easter bunny) and get inspired, OK.

Make sure to tell them that I sent you.

xoxo, Mark!

 Sewforsoul makes beautiful decoupage plastic Easter eggs! 

 Light up your night with tiny lights in these Twinkling Flower Hair Combs!

Make some Mexican Tin Folk Art with a simple item from the hardware store!   

 Cathie Filian makes crackle finish Easter Eggs! 

 Margot Potter shows you what you need to make metal stamped jewelry!

Marvelous Margot also shares her DIY Peeps Bouquet (so cute)!

 Stephenie Hamen is teaching a mixed media class on CreativeLive on 4/9/15.....Join in! 

 Stephenie is also sharing her recycled party poppers! 

 Cathy Attix glams up a plain easter basket with faux flowers!  

 Laurel makes bunny chalk with her silicone mold....So fun! 

Lia Griffith does it again with these super cute farm animal Easter eggs!