Tutorial – Decopatch Friendship Heart Pendants

Over Easter I shared with you all some crafts inspired by Polystyrene eggs. While shopping in the town centre when enjoying a recent holiday to Butlins in Bognor Regis, I popped into the ‘Works’ Where I uncovered these cute little polystyrene hearts.

Having recently used polystyrene miniature eggs to create Egg pendants with the children, it gave me an idea for a crafty project for these hearts.

The idea… Heart Friendship Pendants!

If you fancy a go at these yourself, they are relatively easy to make just a little fiddly if anything. Its the perfect craft to do with bigger kids. Alice who is 10 had lots of fun making hers.

Here’s what you’ll need to make two pendants like ours…

2 designs of decopatch paper (your choice of design and colours)

Decopatch Glue

Mod Podge Shimmer (gold)

Glue/Decopatch Brush

Tiger Wire/Craft Wire

fishing Wire

Tiny Gold Beads

Glass beads

Glass crystals (colours to complement Decopatch paper)

5 x 4mm flat backed crystals (colours to complement decopatch paper) I used white and blue.

Jewellery Findings (couple of crimping beads and crimp covers, 2x pendent attachment, jump hoops, 2x clasps & catches)

Tools…

Crimping tool
Brushes
Scissors
Nail (to pierce a hole through hearts)

Here’s how to put it all together to make your heart pendents

1) Use a sharp nail to pierce 2 small holes opposite one another, right at the top of your hearts in the centre, like so…

2) Cut papers into small manageable pieces. Decopatch your hearts using your paper pieces and decopatch glue. This is done by simply adding glue directly to the heart and over the top of the paper. Cover one side of pendants, allow to dry for 30-40 minutes before doing the other sides.

When it comes to covering the sections of the hearts where the two holes are located, do this using the nail to locate the holes and piercing the paper.

3) Once these are dry use a clean brush to apply a thin layer of Mod Podge gold shimmer. Apply to one side of the hearts, leave it to dry for 30 minutes before adding the shimmer to the opposite sides and again leaving to dry.

4) while the pendants are still wet, secure your 3 4mm flat back crystals in a row down the centre of one side of one of your pendants and the remaining crystals onto your remaining heart pendant in the same way. Now leave to dry.

5) Now take your two tiny gold beads and insert into the two holes with the holes facing up.

6) next take your pendant attachments and fit them to the hearts via the holes on the gold beads.

7) Next, take some fishing wire (enough to make desired necklace length) and thread it through each of your pendants hoops

8) Now thread on your glass beads and crystals like so. Five on each side looks nice. Do the same for your second necklace in a different style.

9) Make a knot on both ends of the wire while you prepare your findings.

10) Finally connect your crimps and covers, jump loops and catches. Sit back and admire your work.

We made 2 heart necklaces as Alice-Sara wanted to make these for herself and best friend as friendship necklaces.

The thing I love most about this project is the endless possibilities it brings. You can make a different heart for each day of the week just by changing the paper style or beads and crystals on your necklace.

What’s more, with the magic of Decopatch glue and Mod Podge your polystyrene heart is now stronger and much more solid, but still super light to wear.

Why not try it yourself, experimenting with different papers and beads as you go.

Hope I’ve inspired you to get creative with Decopatch papers… Enjoy.

Shabby Chic Hand Painted Heart and Twinket Set

Valentines day, another reason to get all creative and crafty!

Yes… I know we’ve only just done Christmas and New year but Valentines day is just weeks away and if you’re planning on handcrafting items for loved ones or creating valentines gifts with the kids then Now’s the time to get going… After all last minute is so not fashionable.

I’m actually hand decorating a paper mâché large hanging heart and matching small twinklet box for my bedroom dresser. Its actually not a valentines gift for anyone other than myself (if that counts) but this would make a lovely gift for that special day! Plus, it wouldn’t seem at all right to not share it with you guys.

I’ve made some beautiful heart twinklet boxes covered in pink rose Decopatch paper and posted them here on the blog last year. My initial plan was to cover both my heart and twinklet in shabby chic inspired Decopatch papers but I changed my mind at the last minute and decided to try something a little different.

I instead decided to paint my heart and twinklet with antique white and jet black acrylic paint. To give both heart and twinklet a really good finish I opted for Mod Podge gloss lustre as this would give it a great shine and strong protective seal.

What I Used…
Large Paper Mâché Hanging Heart
Small Embossed Paper Mâché Twinklet
Antique White Acrylic Paint
Jet Black Acrylic Paint
White Lace Paper Trimming
Mod Podge Gloss-Lustre-Lustre

Tools…
Medium size paint brush
Small brush (for detailing)
Sponge Applicator
Glue brush (for mod podge)
Scissors

What I did…

1: The first step was to use my medium size paint brush to cover both heart and twinklet in a coat of antique white paint. One coat isn’t enough, so leave items to dry then apply a second coat of paint. I found that this paint dried really quickly (30 minutes at the most) which was great as I had to work on one side at a time allowing drying in between.

2: Once both coats have been applied and items are fully dried its time to add the detailing to both box and heart. I started with the heart twinklet box first. With the jet black paint and small paint brush I applied black paint to the embossed areas on the twinklet. This is a little tricky and fiddly as the embossed area is rather hard to see. I had to be careful not to overdo it but also decided to add additional pattern to make the design more bold and appealing. If you decide to do this, my tip would be, not to rush the process. Remember your applying extremely dark paint to a very light colour. Mistakes would mean a re-paint in the lighter colour and it would likely mean a number of coats to cover such mistakes.

3: While waiting for the twinklet to dry I started work on my heart. Again I used my jet black paint to add detail to the heart. The heart isn’t embossed yet I wanted to add the same type of design & effect as that on my twinklet as to create a matching set. With this I very carefully applied the paint to the heart doing my best to create a similar pattern as to that on the twinklet. As I had already needed to add extra pattern to the twinklet in a freestyle way, this actually wasn’t much different and therefore turned out to be easier than first expected! With this I was lucky to escape any mistakes that needed painting over.

I decided to apply the black painted design to half of the heart on each side. I felt this would look much better than covering the heart entirely in the pattern… Sometimes less is more! Note… If you would like to try this idea, you will need to first apply the pattern to one side of your heart, allow it to dry for at least 30 minutes, before turning over and painting the pattern on the opposite side.

4: I then brought forward the lid of my twinklet box and hand painted a similar pattern around the lids edges. I then left the lid to dry for around 30 minutes or so.

5: I then took my dried twinklet lid and with my mod podge I applied my paper lace trimming around the edging of the Twinklets lid, as shown below. I used the Decopatch technique to apply the paper trimming and again left to dry for around 30 minutes.

6: Once my twinklet was dry I painted the paper trimming in the same antique white paint (a second coat can be applied if desired)! I then left my twinklet lid to once again dry. (Good job this stuff is fast drying or I’d be here for months!)

7: Once both items had there detail applied and were fully dried, it was time to apply the Mod Podge. First you must give the mod podge a good stir (remember a little mod podge goes a long way). I covered both my items in a coat of Mod Podge with my sponge as an applicator. Remember as this stuff dries it gets really tacky and you will need to be careful not to apply more stokes of mod podge as it dries or this will make your items look bumpy and untidy. More Mod Podge can be applied once the first coat is fully dried.

8: Once the first coat of Mod Podge is dry (I’d give it an hour though it is likely to be touch dry much quicker) You can then apply a second coat. I applied my Mod Podge with a sponge as opposed to a brush because brush stokes can often be seen when using Mod Podge. A sponge looks more even and the end result is much better. Finally, I decided to leave it for a few hours to ensure my items were fully dry. Tip: To save time apply the Mod Podge to both sides of the heart and then dry by hanging your heart on a metal pole or similar! Just remember that your heart needs to have room to hang freely, not making contact with any other objects or surfaces as to allow it to evenly dry.

9: To finish I tied some pretty white ribbon to the hanging loop of my heart and some foam to the inner section of my twinklet (i did this by using my twinklet lid as a template on some self adhesive foam).

So… here it is…

You can use other colours to create any look you desire. These colours work really well for me though I think something like a striking hot pink pattern against a black background would look pretty amazing. Note to tell self… “Create hot pink heart & black heart for daughters bedroom!”

These would also make perfect Valentines gifts. Maybe adding a piece of jewellery inside the twinklet or maybe a few homemade truffles… Yummy.

Thanks for reading and would love to know what you all think.

Easy Handmade Luxury Gift Tags

There is nothing like a gift given with them little personal touches to show that its bearer has put real thought into it.

I think that gifts should always be wrapped with tender loving care and I therefore like to wrap my Christmas gifts to friends and family in a homemade style.

To do this I simply wrap in pretty tissue paper and tie with beautiful coordinating ribbon, before finishing with my very own handmade gift tags to give it that extra special personalised magic touch.

Here’s what you will need to make any of the styles I’ve created for this post.

2 different colour card scrapes) as to create two square embellishments for your tags)

Pic-Tixx 3D Glitter in gold and silver

Some small gold bead balls

Selection of ribbon to complement tag colours (I used cream, black, pale blue, orange/gold)

Small length of thin black ribbon (enough to tie into a bow)

Hole reinforcers

A5 Silver card or another colour of you’re choice (A5 will give you 4 tags per sheet)

Silver card for the tags star unless you wish to use any other colour or patterned card (half of A5 size works fine)

A5 Gold card (or colour of choice)

A5 Shimmery cream card (or colour of choice)

A5 Glittery patterned blue & white card (other colours are fine but be sure the pattern contains that of small flowers or even better, snow flakes)

A5 Glittery leopard print card (for heart tag)

Tag Template (or draw & cut out your own)

Heart template (or you can draw this free hand like myself)

Glue dots

Glossy Decopatch Vanish or Mod Podge

Tools needed

Scissors or precision knife (I use the latter)
Hole punch
Glue Brushes
Pencil
Rubber

Firstly select your card which should be of reasonable good quality in a medium thickness.

Use your tag template to draw around and transfer to whichever card designs you have opted for. I used gold, silver, shimmery cream and a piece of blue and white glittery patterned card as listed above. Tip… Use a pencil to do this as it allows you to rub out any lines later on. Note, all my card was pain white on one side making it easy to trace the template and later write your message. Lastly don’t forget to make out where the tags hole will need to be.

You will then need your leopard print card or other! On the plain side, draw a heart shape. You can draw around a heart template if you have one or like myself, draw it free hand.

Now using either scissors or a precision knife (which I used) cut out all your gift tags.

Once complete, use a hole punch to punch a hole in each of your tags. For your regular shaped tags punch a hole at the top centre of the tag a cm from the edge. As for the heart tag, punch your hole a few cms from the edge on the top right hand side.

Decorate each tag using the different instructions below for each.

Sliver Tag

Use two different designs of card to cut out the shape of one small and one big square. Be sure to ensure these are no wider than your tag. See the silver tag below for a visual idea on required size.

Use glue dots to Secure the squares to the centre of the tag ensuring they are at a slight angle with the smaller square slightly over lapping the larger squares top left hand corner (see image for further clarification).

Now use gold Pic-Tixx 3D glitter to boarder around the hole of your tag as well as to create a cross on one of your squares. Now use silver Pic-Tixx for the remaining square. This should now resemble two ribbon wrapped gifts.The Pic-Tixx should be shaken and tested first as to make sure it isn’t coming out too watery. If this is the case keep applying pressure to the tube in till it thickens up.

Take two tiny gold beads and place in the centre of each square pressing gently into the Pic-Tixx glitter. Now place your tag to one side to dry.

Gold Letter Tag

For the gold tag use gold Pic-Tixx glitter to boarder the tag all the way around its edges. Now boarder the hole like you did for the silver tag. In the centre of your tag write the letter of the gift recipients first name in the Pic-Tixx silver glitter (the Pic-Tixx precision nib makes this simple to achieve).

Use four of the tiny gold beads to decorate the four corners of the tag. The Pic-Tixx glitter boarder will act as the glue needed to hold the beads in place. You can now place your gold tag to one side to dry.

Blue & white Glitter Tag

For this tag you should have selected any patterned card featuring small flowers or better still snow flakes.

Use the silver Pic-Tixx glitter to randomly draw around some of the flowers or snow flakes (see pic for clarification).

Now use the gold Pic-Tixx to boarder your tags hole (as you have done for previous tags).

Now take some of the gold beads and place them in the centre of the glittered Pic-Tixx flowers or snowflakes. If any of your Pic-Tixx flowers or snow flakes are located at the edge of your tag only exposing small areas of the design then reframe from adding beads. As you can see I just added three beads to the pattern in the tags centre.

Now place with your other tags to dry.

Shimmery Cream Tag

Cut two similar sized triangles from your silver card, ensuring they are no larger or wider than your tag (see image of mine for visual instructions).

With glue dots secure the triangles to the centre of the tag as to create the symbol of a star (one triangle is placed upside down on top of the other to create this effect).

Use the gold Pic-Tix Glitter to write the the first letter of your gift recipients name In the centre of your star and again boarder your tags hole.

Place one gold bead at one of the letters edges allowing the Pic-Tixx to secure it in place.

Place your tag with the others to allow to dry.

Leopard Print Heart Tag

Bring forward your leopard print heart tag and with a precision knife with a small tip cut out two tiny oval shapes at the centre top of tag (see precise location in the image of this tag)

Once you have taken the above step, use the gold Pic-Tixx glitter to boarder the tags edges and that of the oval shaped cut outs and tags hole.

Now randomly add the tiny gold beads around the tags boarder (see image)

Lastly, place your tag with all the other decorated tags and allow to dry.

Tags will normally be fully dry in around 3 hours, in some cases quicker depending on the drying location. Mine took around an hour but I left a little longer as to be sure.

Once all tags are dry cover the designs in Decopatch glossy glue or shimmery Mod Podge. If using using Decopatch Glue add some ultra fine silver glitter dust (just a pinch). Glue will dry clear giving the tags a professional and durable finish.

Again tags can take anything from an hour to three hours to dry. You will know when the process is complete as the tags will look shiny and the glue would have dried clear. I like to do this part before bed so I know my tags will be fully dried by morning.

Now add hole reinforcers to the back of your tags hole to ensure its extra strong.

Finishing touches

Use the thin black ribbon to thread through the two oval cutouts on the leopard print heart tag. Then to finish tie the tread into a bow cutting off any excess.

Now thread your chosen ribbon through the hole of all your tags. You can make a loop by securing ribbon to the back of the card or leave ribbon hanging so it can be attached, allowing tag to dangle from gift.

Messages written on gift tags look extra special when they have been wrote in glittery or metallic gel pens.

Would love to help about everyone else’s festive craft ideas, so feel free to share.

Reference

Pic-Tixx – Baker Ross Ltd
Card – eBay
Tiny Gold Beads – HobbyCraft
Ribbon – Baker Ross Ltd

How Too Make Shabby Chic Style Christmas Decorations

I love these hanging Christmas tree hearts. I brought the paper mâché hearts with a set of paper mâché decorations from eBay (see earlier post where I use Decopatch and paint to decorate the paper mâché stars for our tree).

Again, I used both paint and Decopatch to decorate the hearts.

Here’s what else I used…

2x Decopatch Paper mâché heart decorations
Baby pink metallic pearlised acrylic paint
Fine baby pink glitter
Pearlescent pink tissue paper
Small white paper doyley
Strip of black lace
Small self adhesive crystals
Hot pink ribbon
Gingham baby pink ribbon
2 Medium baby pink buttons
Tiny hot pink button
2x small white bow embellishments.
Decopatch glossy glue
Glue dots

Tools…
Scissors.
Paint and glue brushes

How to Make Acrylic Pink Christmas Heart.

First apply two coats of the baby pink pearlised acrylic paint to both sides of your heart (leaving to dry in between each coat).

Once dry take your strip of black lace and cut into small pieces. Now use Decopatch glossy glue to apply the lace to your heart. Stick the pieces of the lace to the heart leaving spaces In between. Make sure you glue over the top of the lace as well as the bottom. The glue dries clear so don’t panic. Now just leave to dry for an hour or so.

Next stick some self adhesive crystals to the floral sections of the lace.

Now add a white bow embellishment to either side of the heart using glue dots.

Lastly tie a bow to the stars tread with the hot pink ribbon.

How Too Make The Decopatch Heart decoration…

Cut or just rip an A5 size piece of your pearlescent pink tissue paper into small pieces. Now glue the pieces to the heart using decopatch glossy glue. Do this by overlapping the pieces and applying glue to both the heart and over the top of the paper. Add two layers on each side.

Leave for around 3-4 hours to dry, however if you can leave over night this would be best.

Once dry cut 2 small pieces from the outer section of a small sized paper doyley (no bigger than the length of your heart). Line up the piece of doyley on your heart so that it goes down at an angle starting at the top right hand side and finishing at the bottom left hand side.

Now glue it in place with the glossy Decopatch glue. Add the glue both to the body of the heart and over the top of the doyley just as you did with the tissue paper (only don’t rip it up). Do this for both sides of your heart.

Now hang someplace safe and leave to dry for around one hour.

Once dry carefully brush a little glue over the top of the doyley so that the glue falls between the holes. Then sprinkle your fine pink glitter over the top before shaking off any excess. Do this for both sides of the heart.

Next use a glue dot to add the medium pink buttons to each side of the heart. Add the buttons to the centre of the heart on top of the doyley.

Lastly tie a bow to the tread of the heart using the gingham pink ribbon before finally adding the tiny hot pink button to the middle of the bow.

Now all thats left to do is hang your decorations. These can be hung from the Christmas tree, over a fireplace or anywhere else you like! What’s great about these shabby chic Christmas hearts is that they can actually be used to decorate the home all year round. They look awesome hanging from a dresser or bedpost.

Where to buy materials…
Patterned and pearlescent tissue paper (PoundLand)
Fine glitter (PoundLand £1 for 4 pots)
Hot pink ribbon (HobbyCraft)
Gingham pink ribbon (Baker Ross Ltd)
I got my buttons and Lace strips from eBay but you can buy from most craft stores.
Baby pink metallic pearlised acrylic paint (Baker Ross Ltd)
Decopatch Decorations eBay (but Decopatch sell similar online)
Self adhesive crystals (PoundLand)
Doyley (30 pack PoundLand)
Bow embellishments (PoundLand)
Decopatch glue vanish (Decopatch Place online store) Note this may seem expensive but it last forever.

#Silent Sunday