Friday, August 8, 2014

How my house helps me create!

Or sometimes "helps", lol. This is a longish one, so bear with me. First up, how I make enamel dots at home - and then a card.

1. Preheat your oven to 375F, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. You can re-use the parchment paper several times if you remember where you put it afterwards!


2. Gather your minions! Connor's on the left, Riley on the right. They actually argue over who gets to help with making these :)


3. Have your minions lay out plastic pony beads on the cookie sheet. You can buy these just about anywhere that sells kids' craft supplies - I got a bag of 1000 from *koff* Wal-Mart for about $8. 
They should be laid out about 1/2 inch apart, but when the minions do it I try not to be toooooo bossy about it. 


4. Put the tray in the oven & set the timer for 20 minutes. My oven normally takes about 30, but I like to check partway in case something goes wrong. 
It will stink. Don't hang out in the kitchen while they're baking. I leave the windows open & a fan going, and the smell dissipates within a half hour, but PU.


As you can see, if they are too close together you'll have some conjoined dots - they don't break apart nicely, so I just leave them like that & have a little collection of odd dots. It doesn't take long for them to cool or set - I normally take the parchment off the cookie sheet to speed up the cooling, and ten minutes later they're ready for step five:

5. (not shown) intervene when the minions fight over who gets to sort them by colour into baggies.

Since I've done it a number of times I may have missed a step thinking it's obvious - let me know if you need any clarification!

I wanted to include a card using enamel dots with this, and I was instantly inspired by the photo at The Pink Elephant this week - and that's where the second part of "helping" comes from.

The culprit:


Maggie, also known as Maggie Mittens, Twinkle Toes, Trouble, Whiner, and a variety of other names. Don't let that innocent sleeping face fool you - she is TROUBLE. I'd made my card, and put it (and others) in the little box I use for finished cards that aren't photographed yet. When I got up Wednesday morning, she'd been on my desk in the night (she's the only one of the three cats who's ever been caught up there) and knocked a bunch of stuff over. She also left footprints on the paper I use as my crafting surface - and somehow got her chubby clumsy butt into that tiny box, leaving smudges on the cards. So lucky for me that I had used a lot of white the day before.... one of the other cats is also a polydactyl, but hers look more like a 'thumb' sticking out than Maggie's. Plus, dirty feet? Definitely Maggie. 

So here's what she did to that card:


Yeah, can't really disguise those smudges. So I made a new one:


Supplies: lanterns stamp from Flourishes; sentiment from Paper Smooches; dots from PTI; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Spectrum Noir markers; Mod Podge Dimensional Magic; Distress inks in Squeezed Lemonade, Spun Sugar, Tumbled Glass; home made enamel dots


I really loved the polka dot lantern, so I dug the scraps out of the recycling bin & had enough to piece it. The others are coloured twice, and all the lanterns were rolled around a pencil for dimension before adding them with foam dots. Then they're coated with Mod Podge Dimensional Magic for gloss. 


As I said twelve paragraphs ago, this was inspired directly by the photo at the Pink Elephant! The lanterns, colours, and neutral background :)




xoxo,
Jessi

14 comments:

Colleen Dietrich said...

Fantastic post, Jessi! First off, thanks so much for teaching us how to make these dots. I do believe you when you say it stinks. Not sure if it's good to breathe that air! Glad you had windows open/fan on.

Love the card you made with it, er, both of them. ;) Don't ya HATE when the smudges ruin the whole thing?

I'm a Little Teapot said...

This was an awesome post, Jessi. Great tutorial on making the dots (how cool!!!) and then your helpers (and furry non helper) comments were classic.

Great card!

Have a good weekend!

Andrea W said...

Your minions are very handsome! It's great that they help you to make the enamel dots. Thanks for sharing the process.

Oh, Maggie is adorable! The card definitely looks better clean but her smudges were artfully placed. I'm sure she thought she was helping. The lanterns on your card are awesome! Have a fantastic Friday.

fairyrocks said...

Wonderful post. Stunning card work with your results. Do the minions work for free? LOL I think its great that they get involved too. Keep smiling and creating

Annette Allen said...

so very cool... love this idea and love your card

jimlynn said...

Looks to me like you have some very good helpers.......kitty included! Great tutorial and I've been wanting to try that. Thanks! Love your card too and the enamel dots look great on it.
Lynn

Donna said...

Hee hee, that is a super great picture of the minions! Good lookin' fellas that they are!
This post made me giggle, first because I got so see a cute pic of the boys, second because your cat walked on your card (sorry). Gordon, yellow dog #2 is ALWAYS stealing / eating / squashing things in the craft room.

Karen Petitt said...

I asked another blog buddy how she made the enamel dots and what she used - thank you Jessie! I now know what beads she was talking about and will be buying a bag asap to make these - they are so expensive in the UK!
Why do our pets feel it is okay to walk across our stuff and pinch bits of paper/card/twine/ribbon or is that just my JR terrier that does that!
Your minions are very well trained and your finished card is stunning! Thanks for the tut and for the inspiration Karen x

~amy~ said...

awesome post...great team project:)

Love your fantastic card...love the dots and the lanterns!

Lindsey said...

This post brings back so many *fond* memories of my calico. :) I'm glad you were able to recreate this card so perfectly, since it's really quite awesome!

newfiecrafter(Marilyn) said...

Love your card and the tutorial on how you made the pops ---so cool . Also tks. For the idea of using Mod Podge Dimensional for giving shine to you lanterns. They look awesome .

Melissa Craig said...

Thanks for the tutorial Jessi. I really need to try these. I've heard this can be done with perler beads, too. I might have to make these when the weather cools down and the kids are away for the weekend. I'll never hear the end of it about the smell or the house being hot.

Greta said...

Oh that naughty kitty! Made me giggle!

Dana said...

Awesome tutorial!!! Now i'm kind of glad i don't have a kitty to get on my cards!!! I'm glad you did it again! Its a lovely card with the latterns, stamped dots and enamel dots!!!