Factory Direct Craft Blog

FDC

Scrabble tile pendants have been all the rage in the craft world for a while now, and making your own couldn’t be easier. But add the silhouette of your child or grandchild to the mix and you’ll end up with more than just a pendant, you’ll have an heirloom. Somewhere between a cameo and a locket, these little pendants can be worn as necklaces, made into bracelets or hung from charm bracelets depending on where you attach the bail, get creative and see where you can wear them!

Things you need:
Scrabble tiles
Camera
Typing paper
Dark construction paper
Scissors
Craft glue
Diamond glaze
Small paint brush
Superglue
Jewelry bail

Things to do:
1. The first step here is to take a good, profile shot of your subject. Take several shots with their head tilted at different angles. For little girls, ponytails make the best silhouettes.

2. If you are computer savvy, you can upload the photo into Photoshop, add a dark background in the color of your choice and fade out the face so that you have a sharp, white on black silhouette. But if the mention of Photoshop makes you break out into a cold sweat, never fear! Print out your profile shot on white cardstock and cut carefully around your subjects face, making sure you include stray hairs and as many details as you can.

3. Once you can the face cut out, flip the photo over to the white side and mount it on the construction paper. Use a copier or scanner to reduce the size of the image to fit the tile, approximately 3/4 of an inch square and trim to fit your tile; You can also paint the face black and mount it on white or light colored paper. Get creative!

4. Brush a light coat of glue onto the backside of the tile and smooth on the silhouette, working out any bubbles with your fingertips.

5 .Once the glue has dried, use your paintbrush to apply a coat of diamond glaze over the silhouette, taking the glaze just to the edge of the tile. Pull out any bubbles with your fingernail or the tip of a needle as soon after you have applied it as possible.
6. Allow the glaze to dry for 24 hours before attaching the bail to the top (or sides if you are making a bracelet) with superglue.

Yarn Block Stamps

FDC

Stamps have long been a great way for crafters to add decorations and details to their paper crafts but they are also an excellent way to add texture to any kind of project, from scrapbooking to fabric crafts. Change up the texture by using thicker or thinner yarns or different sized blocks, make the pattern orderly with straight lines or abstract with criss crosses.

Things you’ll need:
Small wooden blocks or wood scraps, about 1 inch by 1 inch
Scrap yarn
Inkpads

Things to do:
1. Loop the yarn tightly around the block near the middle and tie tightly on the backside of the block. Leave the tail!

2. Wrap the yarn around and around the block, keeping the yarn tight, until you have covered the wood and created the texture you want.

3. Tie off the end using the tail from your tie on.
4. Clip the tails and stamp, turning 45 degrees with each application to create a basket weave pattern.

Silhouette Scrabble Tile Pendant

Yarn Block Stamps

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