How to make a simple craft hanger

Wondering what to do with an altered CD? Or perhaps with some of your other craft creations?  Here's a simple way to make a hanger for your piece.

To make a hanger for my altered CD, I first took a piece of cardstock and cut it approximately 1/2 inch wide by 4 inches long.  Heavier creations may require plastic or strong fabric, or some other sturdy but pliable material.

See the first strip: I have placed marks after every inch.

Fold the strip in half (see the second example.)

Then, fold the two sides up to make the piece look like the third example.  I am using scrap cardstock, which is strong enough to hold the CD.

Place glue on the inner middle half of the strip to glue it together tightly.  I used a binder clip to hold the strip together while it dried, as shown in the fourth example.

After your hanger has dried thoroughly, using your eyelet setter, set an eyelet in the glued part, as shown in the fifth example.

Using your strongest glue, glue the two end tabs to your CD.  You may want to trim the tab down a bit.  Heavier hangings may require more than one hanger.

Tutorial: Peeled Paint Effect with an Embossing Folder

This effect was achieved completely by accident! I didn't expect the incredible peeled paint effect this technique would create! 

I took a piece of heavy brown board and spread Liquitex Modeling Paste thinly over the entire card with a wood craft stick. 

I then smoothed the paste evenly over the entire card.  If you want to paint over the morter before embossing, do it now.

Then, I let it dry for 30-45 minutes (40 to 50 minutes if you painted it).  You don't want it to be completely dry - but just dry on the top.  Actual time would depend upon the humidity, and how thickly you spread the paste.  Touch the top of the card and push down slightly, and if it feels fairly dry, you can move on to the next step.

Place the card between an embossing folder.  I used a Cuttlebug folder.  Be sure you have placed the card in the folder to result in the effect you want top - raised or indented.  Close the folder.

I then run the card through my Big Shot.  I really think you could do also this with a rolling pin using lots of pressure. 

Carefully remove the top of the folder, the part over the morter.  Some of the mortar should peel off the card, leaving you with a very realistic peeled paint effect. 

IMPORTANT:  WASH THE EMBOSSING FOLDER THOROUGHLY.  I used a toothbrush to get all of the mortar out of the cracks.

Let the card dry thoroughly before using.  And here's what it looks like:

Water-Embossed Paper Tutorial

This is a fun and fast idea to make a really unusual collage material. You will probably have everything you need for this project on hand – except possibly the embossing folder. Embossing folders are fairly inexpensive and even if you buy one just to try this tutorial, it will be money well spent. You might also look around your house and craft supplies to see if you have anything that could be substituted.  Anything that can be pressed into wet paper to leave an impression will work.

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

Bathroom Tissue (toilet paper) and/or paper towels
Embossing folders, or polymer clay embossing plates
Spray bottle with Water

Optional Supplies:

Tissue paper
Paper napkins
Heat gun
Acrylic paint
Spray bottle of water mixed with ink

Mica Powder (Perfect Pearls or Pearlex)
Gel Medium or Mod Podge
Finishing spray or spray starch

I love using Cuttlebug embossing folders to make beautiful embossed paper for greeting cards and Artist Trading Cards. By following this tutorial, you will discover another use for these handy folders, creating beautiful, soft water-embossed paper for collages, Artist Trading Cards, or whatever artistic needs you may have.

I first tried this method using bathroom tissue, which works perfectly. Then, I found that paper towels also work very well.
DIRECTIONS

1. Decide what size you want your paper to be. It can be as large as the embossing plate, or smaller, if you are making an Artist Trading Card. Depending upon your embossing folder, you might also be able to make a larger piece of water-embossed paper by embossing the paper in stages, lining up the edges as you go.

1/2 sheet of Viva Paper Towels

2. Lay the edge of the paper on the bottom of the embossing plate and fold the paper back and forth until you have the desired thickness. I use about eight thicknesses of single-ply toilet tissue, or two or more thicknesses of paper towels. The number of pieces used depends upon the ply of your tissue, or the thickness of your paper towel. I used Viva towels and only needed two thicknesses. If desired, you can cut the tissue or paper towels into pieces the size you want and stack them together instead of folding them back and forth.

1/2 sheet paper towel, folded over makes 2 sheets

3. Spray water all over the surface that you are embossing. Get the paper nice and wet. If your paper is larger than the desired size of your water-embossed paper, then just thoroughly wet the area that you are actually using.

Eight sheets of bathroom tissue

4. Close the top of the embossing folder and press firmly all over the top. If you are using polymer clay embossing plates, place the paper on a cookie sheet, place the embossing plate on the top and press firmly. You may also want to go over the plate with a rolling pin.

4. Raise the top of the embossing folder, or lift the top of your embossing plate and there’s your embossed paper! At this point, you can gently lift the paper up and place it on a drying rack to dry. You can use a heat gun to speed the process, but hold it fairly high because the tissue will dry rather quickly and you don’t want to start a fire. I use a drying area that I have set up in my craft room and use a small fan to dry all of my work.

5. When the piece is dry, you can paint it, emboss it with embossing powder, run an inkpad lightly over the embossing to highlight certain areas, etc.

6. Instead of spraying with water, you might want to spray with an ink-water mixture. You can also add mica powders to the ink-water mixture for a sparkling finish.

Some examples of paper sprayed with ink-water-mica powder mixture

7. Cut the finished pieces carefully. Depending upon how many layers of paper you used, the paper may want to split. You can add a slight touch of gel medium, Mod Podge, or glue to keep the edges in place.

8. Experiment with placing items in between the last two pieces of paper before embossing. I tried using glitter, but was disappointed that the glitter was really not visible under the top layer.  You can lightly coat the top of the paper with gel medium or Mod Podge and sprinkle glitter on it.

9. Other types of paper to experiment with making this paper are paper napkins, tissue paper, or wrapping paper.

10. If you have made glorious brayered paper, you can cut some finished pieces to fit the embossing folder, re-spray with water and close the top to emboss.  You can also paint the brown paper while it's dry and then when the paper dries, wet it and emboss it with this method.

There are so many variations of this method!  I have only mentioned a few.  If you think of more, please email me or put a comment in this section.  Have fun!

Picture Back Template for ATCs

To make a back cover that folds out into a free-standing picture holder:

- Use a piece of chipboard or the thickest cardstock you have.

- Use the template to draw the outline, and to cut the stand and optional hanging pieces.

- Use a punch to punch holes for vertical hang, or horizontal hang.

- If you have a scoring device, you can score the top of the fold-out stand.

- Before gluing the back to your ATC, fold up both hanging tabs and the fold-out stand so that adhesive does not get on them.

- Apply adhesive to stand, and attach to back of ATC.

- Let dry completely before trying to use the stand.

Here's my first tutorial!

Hope you enjoy!

Bread Dough Clay Tutorial

by Jeanie Callaghan

This versatile clay does not need to be baked – it air dries.
The non-toxic dough keeps in the refrigerator for a long time

INGREDIENTS

4 tbs. PVA glue (like Elmers – but not school glue. I use Allene’s Tacky Glue, gold bottle.)
4 slices white bread, no crusts
4 tbsp. corn starch
2 tbsp. face cream that comes in a jar (cold cream is the best)
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp. white acrylic paint (I used DecoArt Dazzling Metallics White Pearl paint, for a pearly finish.

Food coloring or Tempera paint for coloring dough (optional)

Mix all together in a bowl until the clay begins to stick together.

Knead dough ball on a board as you would bread dough. Humidity may affect the amount of ingredients needed. I live in Georgia, where it's very humid, so you may need to adjust the amount of the ingredients.

If dough is too sticky, add another slice of bread and knead. If still too sticky, knead the mass into a teaspoon of cornstarch. Repeat until dough is smooth.

If dough is too dry, add one teaspoon glue, and knead. If still too sticky, add 1 tsp. white acrylic paint. Repeat steps until dough is smooth.

If you want to color the dough, divide it up into separate smaller bowls and knead the color in until you have the color you want.

Place dough in ziplok bags. Press air out before closing. Or, you can wrap the dough in plastic wrap. Store in the refrigerator. Use this just as you would modeling clay, or polymer clay – except you don’t have to bake it! Shape it as desired. Let dry. This may take a day or so, depending upon the size of the item you made. I let pieces dry on a cookie cooling rack and use a small fan to hasten the drying process.

I like to use the dough in its original, white state. This allows you to paint your finished items any way you like. Don’t paint until the item is thoroughly dry. Thinned water color is not recommended. I use the same type of acrylic paint that was used to make the dough.

IDEAS

Christmas Ornament Cut dough with cookie cutters, cut a small hole in top. Paint and embellish after drying.

Flowers Pinch off small amounts of dough and shape into petals. Wrap petals around each other until you have a rose, or other flower.

Make beads Be sure to poke a hole before drying.

Make embellishments for ATC Cards.

Roll dough thin and use to cover an ATC Card.

Press dough with rubber stamps.

Use non-flexible or flexible molds used for polymer clay to make shapes before drying. Dust a bit of cornstarch into your molds and then dump it out before pressing clay firmly into molds. If you see cornstarch on the unmolded item, use a small wet brush to remove it.

Embed things into the clay before drying Be sure to seal with a decoupage product, or acrylic sealer after clay is completely dry.

Hope you have fun!