Die cut, stamped and shrunk deer Christmas necklace made with inspiration from the book Beyond The Bead

This is my Christmas necklace for this year:

I am still going with the reindeer as my theme (I did reindeer last year too).
I have learned lots of new techniques this year and have been working with lots of traditional and non traditional materials has become one of my passions.

A book that really exemplifies this is
Beyond The Bead: Making Jewelry With Unexpected Finds
a wonderful book by Margot Potter

It is packed full of wild and crazy and cool designs that are made from practically every material under the sun.
Not only that, it includes great step-by -steps so you too can make these fun projects.
I pulled a little from a whole bunch of projects in Beyond The Bead: Making Jewelry With Unexpected Finds and this is what I made.

First I die cut a piece of shrink plastic in the shape of a heart with wings by Sizzix.
Then I stamped the shrink plastic with one of my new deer stamps from www.iloverubberstamps.com and inked the edges a bit.

Then I shrank it.
Then I added some silver with an Elmers Painters pen and then coated the top with some Judikins Diamond Glaze.
Then all that was left to do was link up some chain and beads from my Blue Moon Beads stash and I have some new bling!

More from the Publisher about
Beyond The Bead: Making Jewelry With Unexpected Finds:

"Written in Margot's humorous voice, Beyond The Bead leads readers through a series of techniques for creating unique mixed-media jewelry. Step-by-step instruction is provided for all the techniques including working with glass, resin and plastic, polymer and metal clay, felt and fibers, hardware store goods, paper art supplies and even odds and ends from around the home. A gallery of finished pieces that utilize those same techniques fill each chapter, inspiring readers to create pieces all their own. Focuses on teaching techniques versus the traditional format of step-by-step projects by demonstrating a variety of techniques then showing a gallery of finished projects using them in different ways. About the Author: Margot Potter is an author, designer, TV spokesperson, blogger, consultant and gal about town. Better known as The Impatient Beader, Margot is the author of the very successful Impatient Beader series and her work is frequently featured in Simply Beads. She appears on QVC as a jewelry expert and her blog, www.margotpotter.com, receives more than 6,000 hits daily."