Autumn Leaf Wine Charms

Let's kill two birds with one stone this year and make personalized wine tags that can double as place cards!

Supplies:
A leaf template
Shrinky dink plastic
Scissors
Hole punch
Colored pencils
Sharpie
Toaster oven
Hoop earring blanks (found in any craft store)

Print out your template and place the shrinky dink plastic over top, shiny side up. Trace the shape with your Sharpie, then print the guests name in the center.


Using the hole punch, punch a hole for the hoop to slide through later.


Cut out the shape then color the rough side with colored pencils, acrylic paint also works for a more intense color (water it down a bit)


Place onto a piece of parchment and pop into a 300 degree oven for about 1 minute as it shrinks then let cool. You can press it flat with the bottom of a drinking glass if you'd like, but I like the edges curling a bit for this leaf shape.


Thread the hoop earring into the hold and place onto the stem of your wine glasses before you set the table. Cheers!


Cheers!

Shrinky Dink Love

Several years ago I was in a nostalgic kind of mood and wanted to save everything childlike from my boys when I saw them growing up too fast.

I was also in a shrinky dink kick at the time.  I came across the little charms the other day and thought I would share.

I used the kids drawings and signatures to make a necklace, charms, a cuff bracelet, and some little embellishments for scrapbook pages.

Shrinky dink plastic shrinks to about 1/3 of the original size, so you can size the photos at your local copy shop accordingly.  I found that an ordinary paper hole punch works out to be the perfect size for fastening charms.

So, this is how I did it.

Find a cute drawing...

Place Shrinky Dink paper (rough side up) over drawing and trace...

Punch hole if needed...

Bake 325 degrees, rough side up,  2-4 minutes...

Sometimes, the picture comes out better if you draw on the shiny side.  In this case, just lay a piece of parchment paper on the cookie sheet before baking.

You could do all sorts of things with these little charms!  What would you do?

Have you seen my other Shrinky Dink projects?  How about the personalized Wine Charms I made for Thanksgiving?  Or the fun Cupcake Charms I made for my friend's birthday?  And finally, cute Coffee Cup Charms for a fun coffee break with friends?  Have fun!

Tutorial Tuesday: Cupcake Charms (and Giveaway)

Do you have a friend? Does she love cupcakes? Is she having a birthday? We do.

You could make some cupcake charms and turn them into cute gifts. You and your girlfriends could take her out to dinner to give them to her. We did.

Let's make some cupcake charms!

Supplies:

Shrinky dink plastic
sharpie marker
acrylic paints
scissors
hole punch

Instructions:

Begin with a sketch of a cupcake, (or a print out of a cupcake). Mine is about 1 1/2 x 3 inches.



Lay the shrinky dink plastic, rough side down, on top and trace with the sharpie:



Paint the cupcake on the rough side, use imperfect swirls and leave some spaces uncolored (I just think it looks cooler, dude) If you want sprinkles, you better paint them first, remember to do this backwards since the smooth side is "up":



Cut it out, baby!



Punch a hole...think first...Do you want earrings? Better punch the hole at the top. Wine(coffee, hot chocolate, juice) charms? Better punch a hole at the bottom. Bracelet charms? You decide:



Shrink 'em girl! Just follow directions, use your toaster oven...no biggie. Have a dish handy to set on top of them when they come out to flatten them good. This is cute stuff:



Add them to earring hoops to wear as jewelry:



Attach the earrings to a wine glass (or coffee cup, or hot chocolate, or juice):



Use the extras to make a book mark (slip it between the pages of a leftover book from your book party):



You could pick her up in a car decorated with her name and covered in cupcakes:



You could decorate the inside with banners and streamers:



You could make her smile when she realizes how special she is to all of you:



You could take her to the Big Italian Throwdown (or Smackdown as we began to refer to it) at Enrico's.(highly recommended)


(GirlInTheSticks, Joybeadworks, TheTreatGirl, JenniferJuniper, MarzipanMom)

You could make her a special frame, just for your Treat Girl. It could have a cupcake on it.




You could win some cupcake charms for your own girlfriend (or yourself)...want some? Leave me a comment and tell me about your posse of girls. I will draw a random winner for a set of 6 cupcake charms.

I'll give you until June 11th (in honor of my kids' last day of school). So, let's have it!

Coffee Charm Tutorial

Every time I get together with my girls to load up on estrogen for the month, we have coffee together (with Pumpkin Spice creamer, yum!). We talk and laugh, and work on projects together all morning. Inevitably, someone asks "Is this my coffee?" and the confusion begins as we retrace our steps and try to remember where we last saw our own cup.

One of us jokingly mentioned that we should start using wine charms for our cups from now on to cut down on the confusion...and an idea was born. That is how it usually works with me, an innocent comment can stick in my head, growing, for weeks. Pretty soon, I need to get it out and do something!

So, here you are - Coffee Charms for you and your girls...

Supplies:

Shrinky Dink Sheets
Sharpie marker
Acrylic paints
Wine Charm hoops
Hole Punch
Toaster oven

I sketched a picture of a coffee cup onto a sheet of paper to use as a template. You can find inspiration in your computer's clip art. I used a coffee cup shape measuring 5 1/2 x 4 inches.
Placing the shrinky dink sheet over the picture, smooth side up, trace the shape with a sharpie. I like the rough look of the edges when I go over the shape several times. You could trace it carefully with a solid line for a neater look.


Cut out the shapes you've traced. Then, using a hole punch, punch a hole in the middle of the handle.

Using acrylic paints thinned with water, brush a few quick strokes over the rough side of the coffee cup. For a neater look, fill in the cup carefully with a uniform coat of paint.


Let dry then pop into the toaster oven on a piece of parchment paper. I baked at 300 degrees for about 10 seconds.


You will see the plastic bend and curl as it shrinks. When it flattens back out, it is ready to come out of the oven.


See how much the charm shrinks? You will end up with a coffee cup measuring about 1 1/2 inches or so.

To neaten up the edges and finish your charm, go over the edges with the Sharpie then add your wine charm hoop (or a hoop earring, like I used).

The possibilities are limitless, I think I'll make some hot chocolate charms for my boys.