Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Snowflake Embellishments

Loretta always taught me the value of making things myself instead of going out and buying ready made products.  Don't get me wrong- I love to shop for craft supplies and do so as much as the budget will allow.  However, I really love making my own embellishments for cards and projects.

And speaking of embellishments,  I recently took inventory of the supplies I had on hand to make holiday cards.  As we head into November, it is now time (and I really should have started in early October) to start making these holiday cards.  I wanted to use some snowflake embellishments on some of my cards and looked at Michael's and Hobby Lobby, but could not find what I wanted so I started thinking about making my own.

I frequently shop the bakeware aisles at the big box craft stores for fondant molds (the silicone molds used in cake decorating).  I use these molds with resin to make embellishments and so went to these stores in search of a silicone snowflake mold.  Since there were no snowflake molds on offer at the stores, I did a search on the Internet and found this snowflake mold (excuse the fact that my mold pictured at left is a little grungy - I have been churning out resin snowflakes like crazy).  The mold did not get good reviews on Amazon.com because apparently some of the reviewers felt like it was a little shallow for using it with fondant, but it is just fine for resin!

I use this resin that you can purchase at Michael's or Hobby Lobby and likely other places as well, but those are the two places where I have purchased it. I use a coupon to make it more affordable (regular price it is about $13.99 - I purchased a few packages over several days this week with the Michael's 50% off coupons). The resin is really easy to use - just follow the instructions on the package.

I mixed the resin according to the instructions on the package, added in a few drops (two or three) of acrylic paint, mixed it all up with a wooden craft stick and poured it into the mold.  Easy, peasy!

Since the snowflake mold is shallow, the resin sometimes overflowed out of the area of each snowflake on the mold (You can see this in the photo of the filled mold to the right).  I just used a squeegee to level off the resin in each of the snowflake mold areas.  If I had some excess resin on the snowflake after I removed the hardened snowflakes from the mold, I just cut it away with some small nail scissors.

I usually pour the resin into the mold in the morning and leave it to harden overnight.  The snowflakes pop out of the mold very easily.  These photos show a few samples of the snowflakes I have been making. The white ones were made using a few drops of white acrylic paint in the resin and the blue ones were made with an Apple Barrel acrylic paint called "Cloudless."  I mixed two drops of the cloudless color and one drop of white into the resin mixture which resulted in the light ice blue color I wanted to achieve.

I started making cards using these handmade embellishments and was really pleased with the results.  The card pictured below was made using Papertrey Ink rustic white card stock as the card base and Recollections Bright and Jolly patterned paper from a pad purchased at Michael's last year. The Merry Christmas sentiment is from a Hero Arts Holiday Cheer Messages stamp set. The card is a 5 inch by 5 inch square card with the corners rounded using the WR Memory Keepers 1/2 inch corner chomper.

The snowflakes were also brushed with mod podge and sprinkled with clear fairy dust glitter by Donna Salazar.

Making these snowflake embellishments is so much fun.  I know Loretta is smiling down at me as I make my own instead of buying them.  This type of resourcefulness is definitely something she taught me the value of.

7 comments:

  1. Absolutely adore your card - love everything about it - especialy the snowflakes! The detail of your resin pieces is amazing & such a great variety of shapes & sizes. I don't know much about resin & what to use for coloring it - the paint you used looks beautiful - also loving the sparkle.Did you add that to the top after you removed it from the molds? It's so reflective - what type did you use?
    You did awesome Colleen - gorgeous card!
    I'm so excited about your blog - it looks so amazing - it's perfect! Your Grandmother sounds like a wonderful & beautiful person that truely blessed your life. Looking forward to making visits to your blog.
    Blessings-
    tabitha grace

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    1. Hi Tabitha - I did brush the snowflakes with mod podge and dusted them with fairy dust glitter in clear by Donna Salazar. Thank you for asking about that. I had forgotten that step in the blog post, but have updated it now. I am so happy you like the card! I was very intimidated about using resin, but decided to give it a go so I could make my own embellishments. It is much easier to use than I thought. I just color the resin by mixing in a few drops of acrylic paint - really easy. Thanks so much for your comment and for visiting my blog! - Colleen

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  2. Such a lovely card. Love the snow flake mold.

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    1. Hi Debbie - thanks so much and thanks for visiting my blog. I really appreciate it!. - Colleen

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  3. Hi Colleen! I believe I get my "pack rat" tendencies from my Granny, I just can't throw something away that might be repurposed.Most of hers was from necessity though, mine by choice.Thank you for reminding me of my craft memories of my sweet Granny. I've wondered about using resin but was sort of intimidated by it for some reason. Is is better than using UTEE?
    I've found that UTEE sometimes breaks and I'm not crazy about the colors it comes in. It has it's place, but not for everything that you can use a mold for. You always explain the things you use so well and I am inspired to try new things. I've used Martha Stewart clay, Sculpey and Fimo, even Crayola paper clay in my molds. I've got the Amazing Mold putty to make my own molds with. Your snowflakes look great. I didn't realize you could color resin. That's a plus. I buy the silicone molds for candy etc. too. Just two posts and you've already enabled me Ü LOL I love the card with the four circles and the snowflakes in them. That was a good die to purchase.Look forward to your next inspiration! Take care, till next time, Iris, Saved by Grace

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    1. I like using the resin better than UTEE because I can color the resin with the acrylic paint which is really cost effective and comes in about any color I might need. The only difficulty I was having was how to make sure I had equal parts of the resin and hardener. I solved this by purchasing two sets of measuring spoons from the dollar tree. One set is blue and the other is red. I took a sharpie and wrote R on one set (for resin) and H on the other (for hardener). I use one tablespoon of resin and one tablespoon of hardener mix them in a paper cup (again purchased at the dollar tree) with a wooden craft stick, mix in a few drops of acrylic paint, stir well, and then pour into the molds. The tablespoon of resin/hardener mix goes a long way - I can make several frames as well as fill that entire snowflake mold to give you an idea. Really easy. I throw the cup and craft stick away and wipe out my measuring spoons with a paper towel and they are ready to go for the next time I want to mix up some resin. The resin is much easier to use than I previously thought. I hope that helps and I hope you will give it a go. I am headed to Michael's today with a 50% off coupon to buy more resin! - Colleen

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