2017 #9 Aqua: Summer Accessorizing {by Lucy Edmondson}

2017 Topic 9: Aqua

I am always drawn to jewellery in shades of aqua. This project is not only pretty but a lot of fun too! Its exciting how a smakk portion of a larger stamp works so well on shrink plastic! 

Hi everyone, it's Lucy here from Lucy's True Colours.

I've always loved Lynne Perrella's stamps and so I wanted to find a way to incorporate a stamp from each of her three recent releases. I love wearable art too, and aqua is one of my favourite colours to wear, so I thought that shrink plastic would give me the opportunity to reduce down some of the largest images and make a bracelet which would work with summer dresses.

When I was working with a couple of the new stencils recently, Kim Dellow's PS048

and Tracy Scott's PS054 

I thought how well the inner shapes would work as templates for shrink plastic, and I'm really pleased with how this has worked out, so I traced and use the shapes as templates.

I just adore Kay Carley's new stencil, PS061. (currently only available from a PaperArtsy Stockist - see here for details)

The leafy fronds were just perfect for the wooden beads on my bracelet, and the Aquamarine Treasure Gold around the edges was a luxurious touch. I know I will use this stencil again and again.

I used a selection of images from Lynne Perrella Collection LPC035

LPC036

and LPC037

...onto my shrink plastic charms, adding a touch of colour with alcohol markers. One little tip you might find helpful is that although the beads looked flat, I knew they wouldn't be completely so, and therefore I might have a probably gluing the pieces on. So just before the charms finished shrinking and were still warm, instead of flattening with an acrylic block as I normally do, I pressed one of the beads into them. This worked perfectly and they moulded around the bead.

This white Sharpie was great for adding white paint behind the faces etc to help them show up more clearly after shrinking! A good discovery! A touch of Brilliance in Peacock added to the Aqua theme, and some Fresco Finish Crackle Effect on the wooden beads gave some visual texture.

You can see the my chosen charms before I fastened it together. I love the frilly edge created by the flower stencil. 

I do hope you like my bracelet as much as I enjoyed making it! I have enough left overs to make another one but I am thinking that the shrink plastic fronted beads would make pretty knobs for a jewellery box. I'd love to hear any ideas you might have!

Blog: Lucy's True Colours
Twitter: @CraftyLuce

Such a delightful project Lucy! That tip with the white paint is fantastic to make the face stand out perfectly! You have paid so much attention to the fine details ! Absolutely beautiful ~ Leandra

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