A Key to #Cre8time... DIY Key Holder by Brenda Burfeind

Good day all! Brenda here from Creativity is a State of Mind and today I'm hoping to inspire you to make your own skeleton key holder.

My inspiration comes from a key holder our son made when he was in middle school many, many years ago... and we've used it ever since. While this has worked for us for many years – it never hung straight depending on how many keys we had. I honestly don't even know what all these keys are for. Maybe I'll make something with all the extras – LOL! 

Last week my hubby said, "we should get a new one and give the old key holder to our son since he owns his own home now. I'll put a new hanger on the back before I give it to him (or maybe not)". But that's when inspiration started to form in my creative head!

At the time, I was actually in the middle of pouring some molds for another project. Whenever I am pouring molds, I usually mix more resin than I need, so I'll pull out some extra molds out to use up any remaining resin (you can see mixing instructions here). I started with these molds made from some vintage skeleton keys I own. You can view a YouTube video HERE to see how to create your own molds using Amazing Mold Putty. 

This batch of keys cast with Amazing Casting Resin and Alumilite Dyes are not exactly skeleton key colors, but...

with acrylic paint anything can be transformed!

I also used a little bit of the copper Alumidust just by simply putting my finger in the jar and rubbing it all over the keys. Voila!

I used E6000® to glue the faux resin skeleton keys in the shape of a "K" onto a reclaimed wood board painted with black acrylic paint. I used picture hangers as the hooks for the real keys and distressed them with some of the black acrylic paint mixed with a little bit of copper Alumidust. 

I sprayed a couple of coats of clear acrylic over the entire board to seal it and give the resin skeleton keys a little shine. This also helps the acrylic paint stay on the hooks. 

After that was dried my Silhouette Cameo came in handy to cut out the "eys" in a copper colored vinyl, then transferred them to the "K" made with my resin skeleton keys.

Now we have a new key holder and my son

can now enjoy the one he made in middle school.

I hope I've inspired you to make something useful

for your home and I hope to see you again soon!

Until next time, Happy Crafting! ~ Brenda

I invite you to stop over to my blog,

Creativity is a State of Mind

to see all that I've been making. 

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GREEN with #Cre8time Envy... AMAZING #Polymer Jewels by Tracy Alden

Hello! Tracy here with another Amazing Casting Products project! Following in the footsteps of my last Polymer Clay and Resin project, I wanted to try more ways of doing resin coats on clay to highlight detail and to give a more finished look. This time I thought about creating the look of glazed porcelain, perfect for a series of Garden themed jewelry. 

Supplies:

• Amazing Clear Cast Resin
• Alumilite's 4 Piece Carver Set
• Alumilite Dye
• Polymer Clay – oven cure or air dry, both work well for this project
• Small clay or cookie cutters
• Emery Board 
• Baking Parchment Paper 
• Toothpicks 
• Chain and Glass Beads from Fiona Accessories
• Small Hand Drill

I started with conditioned polymer clay, tinted a pale green. I stacked two pieces of conditioned clay to create the base for the pieces and used an acrylic roller to blend the layers.

Using small clay cutters, I cut oval and circle

shapes to create the jewelry pieces.

Using Alumilite's 4 Piece Carver Set, I created thin lines that looked like reeds, being careful to press into the clay deep enough to act as a mini reservoir for a resin pour later on.

After creating reeds and small lines to look like branches, I used the Alumilite's 4 Piece Carver Set to press in little indentations to look like stylized leaves and blooms. I then baked the clay as per the manufacturers instructions. *If you use air dry clay make sure to let them dry overnight.* 

Once the pieces are fully cured, I lightly sanded the edges

and made sure any loose bits of clay or dust was removed.

I mixed a small amount of green Alumilite Dye with Amazing Clear Cast Resin, making sure to fully stir the dye into the resin and let it sit for 10 minutes. By letting the resin sit for 10 minutes, the resin will be thicker and stick more to the polymer clay pieces. I carefully applied the resin to the front of the pieces with a toothpick, making sure to get in all the carved elements and popping any air bubbles that formed.

I carefully removed any drips and excess resin with a cosmetic sponge, careful to blot the excess lightly as to not soak up the resin filling in the carved details. I let them cure completely, as per manufacturers instructions.

Once all of the pieces were fully cured, I carefully drilled holes with a hand drill to be able to thread cord or wire through each piece.

With the addition of chain and glass beads

from Fiona Accessories the pieces are ready to wear!

What AMAZING arts and crafts can you create?

Please share them on the user GALLERY on the Amazing Crafting Products Website!

Visit my blog Art Resurrected for more craft tutorials!

Until next time, safe travels! ~ Tracy

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Home is Where the Cat Is... by Maria Soto

Hi there, this is Maria and today I want to share a fun project I created using some of my extra resin castings. I have a box full of pieces I've created and I wanted to work on a photo frame for my son. He just finished putting together his home office and I thought it would be nice to make a photo frame that would hold his baby kitten's picture. 

I have made other projects using this cat head mold that I created using Amazing Mold Putty and  Amazing Casting Resin – please CLICK HERE to jump over to my blog to see how I created this fun mold with another mixed-media cat themed creation.

When making molds using Amazing Mold Putty you have to keep in mind it's going to last you a very long time, so chose fun things to mold – things that you know you can use in many different ways. That's the fun part about making your own molds... you can use them in any way you chose to.

I used a wood photo frame I had on hand, painted it and used some stickers to mask the bird and branch with flowers on the top of the frame. I then used some letter stamps to add a phrase to the frame "Home is Where the Cat Is", which is perfect for us – we have three cats and they have made our home a better place to be.

I added Amazing Clear Cast Resin on the entire frame once the paint was completely dried. I used it to adhere the resin cat's head to the frame and the little yarn ball and piece of yarn that goes around part of the frame. I thought the yarn would add a nice dimension to the frame. The resin looks like glass on the frame. I tried taking lots of photos indoors and outside to try and capture how the Amazing Clear Cast Resin looks amazing on this frame, but it's pretty hard to photograph. I took this frame to work, and everyone loved it. 

The cat's head was made using the Amazing Casting Resin. I can't say this enough, but I love using this resin to cast most of my molds – because its not only fast and easy to use, but you can use just about any type of paints to add color after the resin is cured... or you can add color to the resin when mixing. It really is a great product to use. 

I hope that I have inspired you to go and bring out your old molds and see how you can create new ideas with them... please be sure to share them with us via social media. We love to see what everyone creates with #AmazingCastingProducts.

What would you cast in Amazing Mold Putty

to customize your keepsake frame?

Thanks for visiting! I invite you to stop over to my blog "What is Creativity"

at http://chuy-creativity.blogspot.com to see more of my creations. ~ Maria Soto

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