Sarah Jane's Craft Blog

I've made quite a few necklaces for the blog. One of my favorite necklace projects is decorating glass gems from the floral department with alcohol ink. I've revisited this project several times ( glass gems ). The last few times I've decorated glass gems, I've been testing various application and sealing methods, so I didn't even end up making the gems into anything. I had a pretty big stash from the last few projects ( flaming ink on glass gems , dripping ink onto glass gems , and sealing gems with enamel paint ) that I hadn't done anything with. So, when my sister messaged me and said: You make a lot of necklaces, why not make some pins. I said: Sure!  I decided the best way to seal the gems was to use aluminum foil tape . It provides an opaque background which makes the colors pop and adds a bit of shimmer. It's also pretty easy to work with. I used a round toothpick to trace around the gem and cut it out with a scissors. If your gems are on

I recently read a comment on one of my several attempts to perfect washer necklaces. The comment said they used embossing powder to seal their alcohol ink washer necklaces. I thought that was a fantastic idea--one definitely worth trying. So I got my alcohol inks , a craft mat , and an applicator with felt out along with a few washers from the hardware store. I grabbed a lime green ink (limeade), a teal ink (clover), and the blue from the pinata ink set (baja blue) and put a couple drops of the blue on one end of my felt and mixed the two greens on the other end of the felt (a couple drops of both). Then I stamped the washers by alternating the sides of the felt that I was stamping with until I got a nice cover of blue and green on the washers. Then I came back in with other colors to add contrast. I added denim blue to this washer. I added the purple from the pinata set to some of the other washers. I then added a bit of indigo blue and used that color as t

A few years ago, I used a batch of Tim Holtz acrylic charms that I picked up on sale somewhere and made some necklaces using alcohol ink . The charms worked great with the ink, but like most alcohol ink projects on glass or plastic, the ink remains translucent. This is really pretty in a candle holder or vase, but in jewelry it means that whatever shirt you're wearing suddenly becomes part of the pattern. I found a pretty easy solution for this issue with alcohol ink decorated glass gems : aluminum foil tape  (it's the tape that's actually used on duct work and is available at most hardware stores). Adding foil tape to the back turns the gem both opaque and shimmery and it covers and protects the ink. And, the foil comes in rolls with a sticky back with paper--it's basically a tinfoil sticker. You can cut it with a scissors, and it's pretty easy to work with. So, when I found my stash of acrylic charms, I knew exactly what project to try with them next.

I love Dollar Tree's white glass altar candles. They are the largest and cheapest jar candles you can get just about anywhere...and I have shown them my love in several different projects over the years ( altar candle projects ). I have accumulated a nice sized stash of washi tape  (decorative paper tape--it's masking tape with designs on it) that I have picked up at various sales and discount stores, and it occurred to me that washi tape and my favorite dollar store candles were a match made in heaven. I went through my stash and decided that I had plenty of black and white tape and that it would look cute stacked with all of the various patterns. So I dug out all of the black and white tape rolls--eliminated a couple because didn't look sticky enough or had a little bit too much off-white in them and then started sticking it to the candle jars. The great part about washi tape (on glass at least) is that if you don't like it, you can just peel it off.