Old metal makeover with the help of the new book- Chic Metal by Victoria Tillotson

This book has page after page of the coolest designs!Chic Metal: Modern Metal Jewelry to Make at Home
By
Victoria Tillotson

All that glitters is not gold–sometimes it’s copper, silver, or brass. With Chic Metal, you can design and create necklaces, earrings, and even cocktail rings out of metals that sparkle and shine. Crafting with metal is easier than you might think. You can make many of these 30 inspiring projects with simple tools you already own, such as wire cutters, pliers, a hammer, and a file. If you love jewelry making and are seeking a new challenge, look no further–you’re ready for some heavy metals.


VICTORIA TILLOTSON teaches jewelry making at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her collection and work can be seen at victoriatillotson.com and on the pages of fashion magazines like Lucky.

This is the first design I had to try this disk of holes:

So off to the old jewelry stash to see what I could find. After just a bit of searching I found these disk earrings that I thought would work great.

I simply put different size drill bits in the drill press and just drilled away-no planning!

I then as you can see I polished up the metal to a sparkly finish. I put my new drilled hole disk earring on a chain to convert it into a pendant.

So if you're like me and getting adventurous with your Dremel and drill press, you will love this book!

Craft Safely!

Memorial Day Crafty Blogger Links-Never Forget

This is a beer sweater made from an old my-size sweater. I like this photo because it also includes the shadow of my hand and the beer in the sweater cozy.

Always remember.

Vickie Howell
Create earth-friendly vases out of re-used mason jars & twine. This one's for both knitters and crafters alike!

Aileen's Musings
Get your groove on with Aileen's tie-dyed deli paper background technique. While your at it download her freebie fractal backgrounds!

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner
How do you brand yourself and your business? Alexa shares how she brands herself and offers some helpful marketing and graphic design ideas to help you build yours!

Blisstree Arts
Many of Cyndi's favorite Photoshop tricks!

Cathie Filian
Forget about "gone fishing" signs and "golf anyone" trinket boxes. Grab some fabric paints, freezer paper, iron-ons and get creative making one-of-a-kind fashions for your pop, pal or hubby.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy shows off an oldie but goodie, her old Kenmore sewing machine.

CraftyPod
Sister Diane shares some tips for using Twitter and Facebook to market a creative business.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Connie's Grandmother was a quilter and she's created a special chart to memorialize her. Stitch it up for the quilter in your life.

Naughty Secretary Club
Inspired by Marty Stevens-Heebner’s new book Altered Shoes, Jen gives a pair of white cotton Mary Janes a full makeover.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside has the first in their how to video series, Look, Learn & Create with this week's guest Christi Friesen author of Polymer Clay and Mixed-Media Together at Last, as well as some inspiration and tips for working in series, wordless journaling and a free deer stencil from the new book The Art of Paper Cutting with a how-to for a pattern slider card.

The Crochet Dude
Drew talks about what could be better than a crochet cruise to the Caribbean!

The Impatient Crafter
Madge is giving away a melange of beads from her Bead Board of Wonders and shares a fun mixed media project!

The 7 deadly sins cross stitched in latin with scissor accents

OK my cross stitch peeps, here is my latest finished cross stitch, I love Latin and I am on a mission to bring it back!

This is the seven deadly sins with little scissors on each side with a row of stitching. My letters are just a bit different than the printout (I filled in the serifs) I thought that looked a bit less country.

The translation is to the right and the DMC floss color number out to the side. Feel free to download and use if you like!

Crafty Blogger Links to warm your creativity

About Family Crafts
Discover how you can create your own fancy, garden stepping stones.

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner
Swelldesigner shares with you why you need a mini idea book !

Aileen's Musings
Aileen has a new tutorial perfect for teen birthday parties!

Blisstree Arts
Digital art calls for a creative framing method!

Cathie Filian
Cathie whips up a "no calorie cake" with a few items from the dollar store!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Are you cutting coupons these days? Then make this simple little crochet coupon holder to keep them organzied.

CraftyPod
Sister Diane shows you how to make a quilted fabric pendant.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Connie's been in a Sci-Fi mood lately - check out her Out of This World Patterns.

Naughty Secretary Club
Love the look of the groovy spaghetti string lamps from the 60’s? Make your own with Jen, some yarn, a balloon and a little fabric stiffener.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Inside peeks into the new books: Mosaics: The Art of Reuse and my shotgun and sea shell stepping stones, SKETCHBOOK and a few of my sketchbook sketches and their end result, Re-Bound and the story behind this month's San Metao Maker Faire (30th and 31st) "Makeready" journal we will be giving away in our booth, and a Sweater Surgery Hello Kitty Sunglass case how-to.

The Impatient Crafter
Style Guru Brini Maxwell and The Impatient Crafter Margot Potter want you to join them on their Crafty Cabaret Carribean Cruise in Fall of 2010! Here's the 411!

Vickie Howell
Need a home decor, quick-fix? Vickie shows you how to use fabric scraps to over those otherwise drab, light switch plates!

Sweater Surgery in the Pratt Institute Magazine and Bookmarks You can make at Maker Faire with me!

Yey! Sweater Surgery: How to Make New Things with Old Sweaters is in my alumni magazine The Prattfolio!

Wooo Hooo! How cool is that!

And to celebrate that and my appearance at Maker Faire on May 30th and 31st at the San Mateo County Expo Center. I have a tutorial on how to make a bookmark out of recycled felted wool sweaters that are a perfect accessory to the cool journals that will be given away in our Craftside booth!
Grab yourself a bunch of old wool sweaters and wash them in hot and cold water, then throw them in the dryer to felt 'em up good!
Then I did a combo of free form and die cutting using my fabulous Hello Kitty Die Cutting machine and a variety of dies (that I will have with me at Make Faire so you can play too) to cut out shapes from the felted wool sweaters.

I then needle felted the elements together and added a scrap of yarn to make the bookmark/ place holder in my journal.

To read all about this cool journal that's made from recycled book paper, pop on over to this post at Craftside.

Oh and in addition to making cool bookmarks out of recycled felted wool sweaters I will be signing and giving away free copies of
Sweater Surgery: How to Make New Things with Old Sweaters

and there will be more make and takes with some of the other uber-cool Quayside Publishing Group Authors so don't forget to come by and MAKE stuff with us!

Magnificent May Monday Crafty Blogger Links

Naughty Secretary Club
Jen shows how she whipped up a coordinating fabric covered photo album to match the curtains and the cushions in her daughter’s nursery.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside's got a cool scratching photo technique, 2 ways to weave an eyeglass case, an interview with the author of Art Doll Adventures: Lisa Li Hertzi, a tutorial on how to needle felt a bird and as always questions of the day that if you answer you're entered to win a free book!

The Crochet Dude
Drew finally announces his latest news; plus video!

The Impatient Crafter
Caution: Madge's new book may cause you to dive into a craft binge. She's created a form excuse letter so you can skip work and craft to your heart's content!

Vickie Howell
In preparation for Summer break, Vickie shows a simple craft for bringing a little magic into your kids' vacation!

About Family Crafts
If you are looking for an almost instant Mother's Day gift or activity, check out these free, printable Mother's Day projects.

Aileen's Musings
Aileen has another blog giveaway! Stop by and enter to win 1 of 3 original hand-drawn ATCs she's giving away.

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner
Make your own mini Moo-like business cards from junk mail postcards!

Blisstree Arts
Cyndi has compiled her favorite posts on creating collages and art quilts

Cathie Filian
Cathie is Mod Podging thrift shop plates to make unique collages and mini works of art.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Even if you missed making this for mom this Mother's Day, the Crafty Princess has a great combo gift idea for your next gift-giving need. Part of it you can make and part you can purchase, but both are inexpensive and perfect for lots of folks on your list.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Stitching on dark Cross Stitch fabrics is challenging for most of us. Do you stitch on dark fabrics? Vote in the poll, read Connie's tips, and share your own tips and tricks.

Plaid Jackalope Engraved Glass Bottle using the great How-to from the beautiful book-Glass Engraving by Sonia Lucano

The designs in this book are just so captivating and inspiring:

Glass Engraving: 25 Projects for the Home
by
Sonia Lucano

Turn everyday glassware into modern, custom pieces perfect for your home. With Sonia Lucano’s Glass Engraving, you can turn any bowl into a conversation piece, design wine glasses to toast a special occasion, or create a personalized vase to use as a centerpiece. All the projects require only an inexpensive engraving tool available at craft stores, and the simple skill of tracing.

The dozens of templates provided will enable you to add florals, modern geometrics, or text and monograms to any glass surface, including mirrors. The personalized pieces you create will also make a perfect gift–one that can last a lifetime! With Lucano’s guidance and advice, you can master this simple craft quickly and transform your home with one-of-a-kind designs.

SONIA LUCANO is a designer, crafter, and author. She has worked in both fashion and design since studying at France’s National School of Decorative Arts. She lives in Paris.

I've done the glass etching with the chemical stuff but I had never broken out the engraving bit for my Dremel and tried it. Well, the beautiful designs in Glass Engraving: 25 Projects for the Home got my creative juices flowing and was just the boot in the but I needed to give it a try!
I am on a mission to make everything I can in plaid and I love the jackalope so I went to my jackalope template and reduced it down 50%. I then followed the directions in Glass Engraving: 25 Projects for the Home for transfering the image.
So here is the outline of the jackalope. It was really easy, although I hve to say the Dremel got a bit heavy so I think I need to go hunting in the garage for the flex-shaft attachement.
Here it is all done with the plaid pattern filled in. I bet that there isn't another plaid jackalope engraved bottle out there.

I can tell no glass surface is going to stay plain long.

Marvelous May Crafty Blogger Links

Blisstree Arts
Cyndi has rounded up all of her favorite posts on making background papers and fabrics for your projects.

Cathie Filian
Cathie volunteered to make 40 centerpieces for an Awards Gala - Check out her trip to the flower district and step-by-step instructions on how to make the arrangements.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Go shopping in style with your own crocheted tote bag. The Crafty Princess shows off her latest finished fiber project.

CraftyPod
In her latest podcast, Sister Diane interviews Sarah Hodsdon about the future of the design profession in a global, digital economy.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with Connie's latest fun, fabulous, and did we mention FREE Cross Stitch pattern.

Naughty Secretary Club
Jen does a little painting, searches for vintages images and boils a pair of eyeglasses all in the name of creating a necklace with a little specs appeal.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside's got a crochet pattern for a pop art roll of toilet paper cozy, a detailed tutorial on how to make a photo based painting, a free dress silhouette template from the new book: Cloth Doll Artistry, and a couple of necklaces made from some very unusual recycled elements.

The Crochet Dude
Drew talks about his latest hook/needle find in an All Boye Review!

The Impatient Crafter
Learn how to make beaded wire circles with Madge!

Vickie Howell
Create customized cards out recycled fabric and keepsake images!

About Family Crafts
Help needed: Looking for creative graduation decorations... Ideas anyone?

Aileen's Musings
Aileen offer's another great Mothers or Father's day gift idea using more bottle caps!