Cupcakes for Cupcakes-a-Go-Go and a Sale on Cupcake Cards

The very generous Lorrie from Cupcakes-a-Go-Go found me and some other cupcake artists on Etsy. After some mentoring from Lorrie, we arranged a wholesale and a consignment order. These cuties in progress and are custom made for consignment in Lorrie's cupcake bakery and shop in Sarasota, Florida. What a cool idea - cupcakes all day, every day. Happiness. I hope my goodies are well-received by her patrons. More cupcake pouches will be headed for my etsy shop soon. And I do take custom orders!

My notecard sets will also be in the Cupcakes-a-Go-Go shop and are also available in my etsy shop. In honor of September being a major birthday month, these babies are ON SALE. Yahoo!

Since cupcakes are the theme of the day, these little cupcake magnet sets are also for sale in the shop. These can also be customized as pins, keychains, pendants. They're chunky, super shiny, and they make me happy.

Fruit Magnets in the House.

Fruit magnets have finally made it to the shop. Essentially, there are two varieties: frosted and glossy. I'm going to tell you about them.




Frosted: The silicone molds I'm using naturally create a frosted finish. It really does look nice; light passing through is diffuse and casts a colorful glow-y shadow.

Glossy: Have a coat of high-gloss glaze on them. Once the glaze is applied and dries, the piece becomes incredibly glossy. It's almost petulant for (fake) fruit to behave so brazenly!

The ultra-powerful magnets are attached via "Goop" craft adhesive. It is a wonderful clear adhesive, but in the right circumstances (when 2 magnets meet at just the right angle and force), the magnets can overpower the adhesive and pop right off. So, I put a word of caution in the magnet listing about this VERY naughty behavior on the behalf of the neo magnets.

These are really fun to make, but from beginning-to-end, it is a laborious and time-intensive process:

1) Condition the molds
2)Warm the resin & catalyst
3)Pour/mix the resin, adding color if desired
4)Pour resin into molds
5) Babysit the molds as long as you can stand it (getting rid of bubbles, placing embeddments, etc.)
6) Wait a couple of hours and pour another layer (if adding embeddments)
7) Repeat # 6
8) Let resin cure overnight, in a covered container to prevent dust and wot-not from getting in
9) Pop pieces out (VERY hard on the hand joints), but extremely satisfying
10)Use dremmel to sand the backs until smooth (uses 2-3 different dremmel bits, goggles, dust mask, enormous mess)
11) If making a pendant, drill hole
12) Treat hole with sealant
13) Add gloss finish if that effect is desired
14) If piece is acceptable, attach findings for jewelry or magnets for, well, magnets
15)If piece is not acceptable, mix a new batch of clear resin and brush on the surface of piece
16) Check again for acceptability in 24 hours
17) Resand pieces if needed (or give the unsatisfactory ones away to unsuspecting family members)
18) Take photos
19) Make super-cute "upcycled" tin containers for presentation
20) List them in the shop!

It really is fun.

Exciting New Resin Batch

I just popped a new batch of resin pieces out of their molds and they are oh-so-exciting. This batch is mostly magnets. Disclaimer: these are rough; they haven't been polished and it's midnight so the lighting is terrible. But H. is asleep, so I have to share it with SOMEBODY.

But I'm SUPER excited about these:
These chunky magnets are a great way to show off my little collection of vintage game pieces:


These hold vintage plastic layering beads which I've been itching to use on something:
These kitchy paper flower on green glitter ones make me think of those old astroturf doormats with the plastic flowers attached to them:

Some new skulls...actually some of the prettiest ones yet:

And finally, the STRAWBERRY MOLD!!
And just for fun, here's the whole gang:
xxxooom

FINALLY. Resin jewelry is in the shop.

More skulls in the shop. Of course. I tinkered with the formula a big to get quite a boost of glowy-ness, so these are called "Super Glow" to differentiate them from the other glow-y pendants. This is a very serious, complicated business.



And more are on the way. Magnet sets, too!

The candy pendants are running amuck on etsy, but out in the world I get compliments every time I wear mine, so I'm making 'em, too. Bargain prices!


The magnet sets are kitchy and unique, fun little presents. They have super-powerful magnets that just fly toward anything metal, no matter what direction you are trying to direct them. Trying to glue on the magnets this morning was an adventure. Hopefully they will be ready to list tomorrow!

I'm working on upcycling mint tins as storage boxes. Decoupage, perhaps?

Fabric, Pendants, Other Fun Stuff

My long awaited order from Pixelbypixel came in: a customized rubber stamp, labels, and these cute erasers with my logo. These are for Etsy freebies.


The first resin pendant is in the shop! More are curing right now. I had a heck of a time getting an image of this one "glowing" in the dark, but there it is.


I'm slowly working on my coloring book project. Here are some prototype sketches. I want the images to be big and chunky, and a little subversive but still friendly for all ages.

My fall fabric order has arrived. Well, most of it...I'm waiting for one more chunk from superbuzzy. Here's what's in so far. Now, all I need is a sewing machine in my possession! Has it only been one day since I dropped it off?!?


Note the SPECTACULAR coated cotton fabric. It's really soft; much softer than fabric with iron on vinyl. I can't wait to turn this into bags.


Thanks for visiting! xxxooo

Today

This little drawing pretty much sums up my day. I'm so sad to be without my sewing machine, but it is getting a much-needed tune up and by the time it's ready, I'll have a VINYL ROLLER FOOT to whip out those vinyl pouches, yahoo! There's a stack of them ready to be stitched up and listed in the shop.

O.M.G. it is a nightmare figuring out how to get things professionally printed. It is totally blowing my mind.

I've been trying so very hard to get the resin pouring thing right. Everyone says it's so easy, but...maybe it's the climate here...they seem to either stay sticky or if not, something else goes wrong. I'm pretty happy with these babies, though. Once I figure out a safe way to polish them, they will be transformed to pendants and listed in the shop, too. NOTE the glow-in-the-dark glitter!! YES.

Before I took my machine to the doctor, I did some experimenting with creating appliques from sketches I did years ago. I am still learning how to get the stitching just right. I am so excited to make these a reality - zip pouches with giant yummy appliques. Did I mention I miss my machine?



Finally, yes, I am radioactive thanks to Iodine pill #1 to treat my thyroid cancer. For the next 10 days, I have to isolate myself...hmmm...not so hard for an obsessive full-time crafter! But let me tell you something: never take any hugs or doggie kisses or kitties in your face for granted! WAAHH! Okay, I'm fine now. Off to lay for an hour in a loud me-sized tube (edit: it wasn't loud) to have my body digitally sliced into a million bits. xxxooo

P.S. I want to make my own coloring book.

My Resin Tips Post on Craftster

This is kind of fun, so visit me here if you like.

A New Bag and a Jar of Whimsies

Here is the latest custom bag for my cousin Jessica. I'm very pleased with how this set of bags came out. I've finally got this design down to a science. I have a new design in the works as well, which will have ric rac trim along the edges. YEAH. Also, a bag similar to the one below is listed in the shop. They are both "Ashleigh" bags.





A few weeks ago, I received my Jar of Whimsies from One Good Bumblebee (a seriously fun place to shop). Here is the whole loot:


I've had lots of interest in a resin pendant that I bought on Etsy. So, I think it's time to give it a go. I plan to use these bits in a resin casting project that will begin today: