Think Crafts Blog - Craft Ideas and Projects - CreateForLess

I answered a question from a crafter who dropped me a line at our Ask A Question page and I thought I’d share my response with everyone.  The crafter wanted to know how to clean seashells picked up along the beach while on vacation.  Shells are a great keepsake from the beach, but can end up stinking up the house if not cleaned properly.  The first step is to remember never take a live shell from any beach.  Check for life, including small hermit crabs that often use stray shells for new homes. It’s not worth the headache to clean a shell that still has a “body” in it so leave the little animal where it belongs.

To clean sea shells grab a bucket and fill it with one-cup bleach and at least 4-8 cups of water.  Drop your shells into the mixture to soak overnight or for at least 12 hours.  Remove and rinse (take care with your hands and wear a glove or use a large spoon to remove shells).  You can use this mixture several times if you have lots of shells, but do not store.  Pour the mixture down a drain. Bleach will remove algae and barnacles. You may have to use a brush to scrub too.

Some shells are naturally very shiny while others are not.  If you want to add some shine to your shells you can do so with a few light coats of clear finishing spray.  My favorite clear finishing spray is Krylon Crystal Clear Spray Gloss. Lay dry shells on newspaper and lightly spray.  Allow to dry completely and keep repeating the light coat of finish until happy with the shine.  I’ve also used spray furnish polish to shine shells, but this is only temporary.  Some experts also use mineral or baby oil to add some shine. You can brush on a clear sealer, but it’s harder to get an even coat.

Found shells are great to include on wreaths, in potpourri, centerpieces, and so many crafting projects.  We often find tiny shells on our diving trips and I’ve made several pendants that I hang on simple chain necklaces.  If you aren’t lucky enough to live near a beach or vacation near the shore, you can always buy seashells (often I prefer purchased sea shells because of the abilities to match up sizes and keep informality).  I also love to buy shell assortments since I will get a variety of shells in different sizes without having to find them in nature.

I have displays of seashells all over my house including a shore themed guest bedroom and our patio. I’m not sure if my love of seashells comes from living in Florida or my overall love of everything ocean! We get to visit our cousins Frank and Jean every year in Sanibel Island, one of the most famous shelling beaches in the world.  Each year is unique as to what shells you find and Frank is the expert when it comes to shelling and shell crafts. It’s kind of fun to talk shell crafts with a man who has been making shell gifts for his friends for over 15 years!  Here are some of my sea shell finds:

This platter serves up a nice display of my sea shell finds!

Simple terra cotta pots and glass are perfect to show-off sea shells. Shells in pretty bowls add height to this bookcase.

A large shell adds the perfect touch to this display.

I get very inspired when I travel.  I take in sights and sounds that are different from home and I think that makes your mind open up to creativity.  But one’s brain can’t really remember all it takes in each day so I use a few different tools to help remind me of all the exciting things I see and experience.

The first is a digital camera.  I take photos of all kinds of things from people to plants to signs to store fronts.  Some are candid and close up.  Others abstract.  I try to see shapes and colors.  Digital is wonderful since you can see right away if you got the shot you wanted and you can delete any that just don’t make the grade.  I’ve also learned to use the “video” mode of my point and shoot camera.  Sometimes motion and sound are important elements of the idea or emotion I’m trying to capture.  Nature is probably what I take most of my photos and video of since I learn so much from Mother Nature’s color sense!

The second is a notebook or journal.  Sometimes I make a special journal for a travel destination while other times I just use my handy purse notebook, but I’m never without paper and pen!  I doodle, sketch, draw, and write down things that catch my attention.  So many things happen and I know I’ll never remember half of what I see!

The third tool isn’t really a tool, but more a purchase!  If I see something I think is unique I invest in the artist or craftsperson who made the item.  I do not ever directly copy another person’s work since I respect copyright laws, but often one artist’s interpretation inspired my own abilities.  On my last trip I fell in love with an ankle bracelet and matching earrings.  I loved the medium- glass.  I loved the technique- etching or aging the glass to look like sea glass (glass tossed by the ocean and etched).  I loved the motif- fish. And most of all I loved the color combinations.  I want to try cutting my own pieces of glass and using a rock tumbler to get that sea glass feel and also see how cream etching will turn out since it’s a faster method.

This set was available in several colors (blue, clear, rose), but I just loved the green.

I’m just back from a surprise vacation to Grand Cayman!  I thought our trip had to be cancelled due to some hurricane activity, but my husband surprised me and off we flew! When I travel, I can’t help but try to check out what the locals are crafting or what’s popular in different parts of the U.S. and world.  However, this time I didn’t have to go looking for crafts since within an hour of arriving at Ocean Frontiers at Compass Point, Britta Egrid was putting down some plastic covering on the picnic table in front of our room.

Britta was going to show us how to make driftwood signs to post near the dock.  I’ve seen this type of signage at many tropical locations and I just love it.  Driftwood is found along the shore, dried out, and then painted with mileage to a location.  For example, my town of Palm Bay, FL was exactly 600 miles to the south of our Grand Cayman location. 

I’m going to be very honest.  The paintbrushes were very primative!  I’m spoiled by delightfully smooth paintbrushes from Loew-Cornell and we were using kid’s brushes with stiff bristles that were a little uneven, but I just loved it!  Outdoor acrylics are used since these signs must stand up to tropical sunny (and sometimes very wet!) locations.

My husband and I were inspired to come home and finally start a sign post with locations we’ve been lucky enough to travel too (Chuuk, Palau, British Virgin Islands, Key Largo) and places we hope to visit one day (Belize, Turks & Caicos, Galapagos Islands).

Britta (far right) gives some painting tips to my husband (far left).

I put some finishing touches to our sign!

Our sign was added to the sign post (beside left dive flag).

Our guest blogger, Jana Ewy shares her insight on the tools she uses for her wonderful designs…Welcome Jana!

Here are a few of my favorite Friendly Plastic tools.

For Cutting: quilters cutting mat, quilters clear acrylic ruler, a mat knife (or utility knife) and a pair of scissors.   Since I use small strips of plastic in most of my designs, using the ruler, mat knife and cutting mat, allows me to measure and cut perfectly straight strips. Since I am a bit of a perfectionist, I prefer this process better than hoping for a straight cut with my scissors. Once my strips are cut, I will use the scissor to cut them into smaller pieces.

For cutting any other shapes, that do not require a perfectly straight cut, I use my scissors.  Friendly plastic can be cut into just about any shape using scissors. I will trace my pattern onto the back of the plastic and then cut it out. If you notice from the photo I prefer a scissor that is easy on the hands.

For Heating and Softening: griddle, nonstick baking sheet and a heat gun.  I came up with the griddle method of heating and softening the plastic a few years ago. This process has opened the door to so many new techniques and has allowed me to design in a whole new way. I never loose my excitement and fascination of watching a design happen. By placing a non-stick baking sheet onto the griddle and keeping the temperature at a constant setting of between 200 and 250 degrees, the plastic can be softened, fused together, inlayed, swirled and marbled.

I use a heat gun to fuse two pieces together, softening the edges and for free form designs. It can also be used instead of the griddle for small projects and abstract designs. Just remember that the flow of the air can easily move your pieces around.

Creating Swirls and Marbling: the needle tool and the marbling comb.  The needle tool is great for creating spirals and swirl patterns in the softened plastic. I also use it to pierce a hole through beads and to help to lift the cooled plastic from the baking sheet. You can never have enough needle tools around if you ask me.

The marbling comb, another one of my bright ideas, was designed to create basic marbling techniques, from the cascade pattern to the octopus pattern, or a design of your own. My favorite is the wavy chevron pattern.

Cutters: cookie cutters, craft cutters, clay cutters.  Whatever they may be called… collect as many as you can. They come in so many shapes and sizes, and are perfect for cutting out jewelry components. I use a cutter for almost all of my components. They are quick and easy to use. Keep them in a dish of ice water with a few drops of oil added to it. This will keep them from sticking to the warm plastic.

Craft Knife: I use a craft knife to cut around shapes cut with the cookie cutters, that don’t pop out on their own. This happens quite often, so count on using your craft knife most of the time.

There you have it … my favorite tools to use.  There are so many unique and fascinating tools out there that can be used with Friendly Plastic, I hope you discover a few of your own.

You can visit Jana’s website at: www.justbananas.com.  For some great project ideas using Friendly Plastic visit AMACO’s website at: http://www.amaco.com/projectcat-friendly-plastic-6.html.

I’m pleased to introduce our guest blogger for the week: Jana Ewy!  She’s a top art and craft designer, who happens to be a leading expert for Friendly Plastic, a fun craft medium that creates some amazing results.  You can see more of Jana’s work at her website: www.justbananas.com.

My love for the Plastic 

I began working with Friendly Plastic in the late 1980’s. I was fascinated by the vibrant metallic colors and by the process of heating it in hot water into a soft pliable medium that could be manipulated into beautiful free form designs. Big and bold they were… and the embellishments, well enough was never enough.

Working with Friendly Plastic NOW, is more creative than ever before. With new techniques and new heating methods comes a unique new style. Gone but not forgotten is the hot water method. Although it still can be used for certain applications, using a heat tool and a griddle offer infinite opportunities to create exciting works of art. 

Every day I discover something new or find a way to update one of the techniques from the past. Here are a few photos from my technique Collections.

Fracture and Fusion

Marbled

Inlay

Cylinder

Look for Jana’s tool tips on September 18!

Hello there, I’m Jennifer the Marketing Manager here at CreateForLess.  Every once in a while, we thought we’d give Maria a break from blogging and give you a little inside information to the world at CreateForLess.  We like to keep things fun in the office, we’re a craft company, so having a super serious workplace would be a sure way to kill our creativity.   So a brilliant idea came to us one day at lunch after a discussion of the recent Olympics, The Office (our favorite TV show) Olympics and the intern Olympics I participated in during my days as a marketing intern.  It was decided that we needed to have our own intern Olympics!

The only problem was we didn’t exactly have any interns, but we do have Ashley, our customer service representative for the summer.  Perhaps you’ve chatted with her on the phone or via email?  Technically she’s not an intern, but she’s a college student, so close enough!  The “Summer Seasonal Employees Olympics” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.  The competition would be against Cooper, the intern from Dry Cleaner’s Secret, our office building neighbors.  Since Ashley is a University of Oregon student and Cooper is from Oregon State, we decided to make it a Civil War (the name of the big in state rivalry football game) theme too.

Some creativity was a must for the event, so the “interns” were instructed to design their own t-shirts for the big day.  Of coarse Ashley’s “Team Craft” shirt was creativity designed with touches of fabric paint, glitter, ribbon and rhinestones.  And Cooper (the non crafter) went with an OSU Beavers themed orange shirt, puffy paint and as you can see below, had the pencil lines still on it.  Apparently it was very important to him that it be perfectly straight!  The first event was the pipe cleaners fashion show. Ashley designed very fashionable chenille stem glasses, a necklace, crown, hair bow, earrings and bracelet.  And Cooper is sporting glasses, a watch and necktie.

The other events included a basketball waste basket shoot out, a text messaging contest to test the super speed of college students’ texting ability, packing sample boxes of Dry Cleaner’s Secret and an office supply scavenger hunt for items such as expired food from the fridge, decorative birds, and a CreateForLess mouse pad.  The final score was close, but Ashley was declared the winner by a slim 2 point margin! But prizes were awarded to everyone, which included college student staples - a supply of ramen noodles and macaroni and cheese, plus a gift certificate to their school’s bookstore.

Congratulations Ashley!  I asked her how it felt to be the winner of the Inaugural Intern Olympics…”It was really great to represent CreateForLess.  I hoped I showed enough crafting skills with my pipe cleaner creations.  And I’d like to thank my coach Kim and all the CreateForLess employee judges for leaning their votes my way”.  Today is Ashley’s last day at CreateForLess and then she’s heading back to school.  We’re all sad to have to say good bye to our favorite intern/seasonal customer service representative.  Go Ducks!

My second thought when bad weather is headed our way is how will all the people that must evacuate and ride out the storm in shelters do under such stressful constraints. I wonder if anyone thought to bring crayons, paper, or other creative activities for the kids and the big kids too.  I’d go nuts if I had to go to a shelter and not have anything to do with my hands.

I have an emergency craft box in my studio. The plastic container holds a set of watercolor pencils, crayons, markers, coloring sheets, a stack of rubber stamped images (using watercolor or permanent ink), 2 skeins of yarn, a knitting loom, and a small pair of sharp scissors. 

All of the items are placed in large zip-lock plastic bags, then into the box. I use the zip lock bags to help me keep everything organized within the container. I can grab them quickly and throw it into the car if we ever need to evacuate from our home for any reason. You can do so much with those basic supplies and there is something for all age groups. This type of kit is helpful on rainy days, snow days, and times when it’s not practical for children to go outside to play.  I don’t have to go searching for this or that; it’s all in one place.  I sometimes take this kit on long car trips too.

 Here are some of my favorite sites for printable coloring pages:

Let Me Color

Family Corner

The Kidz Page