Tutorial⎪Honey, I Shrunk The Stamps! *Evalicious*

Hello there! Some of you may have seen me posted on Instagram about me making those little charms using Shop Evalicious stamp sets and shrink plastics. So today I am going to walk you through my process of making these cute little charms and also ideas on how I use them on my planner and Midori Traveler Notebook.

So to shrink your stamps (no pun intended) you would need these:
1. Shrink plastics (I have them in white and clear, got them from Art Friend Singapore)
2. Stamp Sets (I used this, this and this) and Acrylic block
3. Inks (My favourite is Staz On here, and I will explain further later)
4. Heat Gun / Oven to bake the plastics
5. Scissors
6. Circle Punch
7. Crop-a-dile
8. Paints and Markers

Firstly, if your shrink plastic sheet is smooth, you would sand one of the smooth side so that the texture will hold the ink / colouring. My plastic sheets come with one smooth and one texture side, so I didn't have to sand the plastic sheet at all. 

Punch various sizes of circles using circle punch - I used 1', 1 3/8' and 2' here.

And here are the inks I tried and I like Staz On the best.

P.S. My Staz On is drying up as I have had it 5 years ago, so it doesn't ink well. But thats okay, we can go over it with a sharpie or Zig marker. But this step is rely optional as the ink will turn out darker once shrunk. 

From left to right: Staz On, Ranger Archival Ink, Brilliance, VersaFine, Verscolor and Prima Resist Chalk Edger.

Close-ups of the stamped image before I heat it up: 

Staz On, Versacolor and Prima doesn't bleed  but the rest bleed, especially Ranger Archival Ink (although it doesn't show here)

Punch a small hole using your crop-a-file before heat up the plastics or send them to the oven. You gotta be careful not touching the stamped image else you would have smudge the inks like mine show below.

I placed mine into a baking tin that I got from Daiso and heat it up with heat gun. I seriously couldn't imagine my life without my heat gun. It might look wonky in the process but don't worry, just keep calm and keep heating it up. You can use a tweeter or craft stick to hold the plastic while heating up. Once done, use something to flatten the plastic while it is still warm. I use a glass jar tand it works well in flattening the plastic.

And here's the result.

• Staz On: It doesn't smear before / after we heat it up.
• Ranger: It bleed and smear badly, even after we heat set the ink.
• Brilliance: It smears a little before heating it up. Once heat up, it doesn't smear and it is perfect.
• VersaFine: It smears a little before heating it up. Once heat up, it doesn't smear and it is perfect.
• Prima: It doesn't smear before / after we heat it up.
• Versacolor: It smear badly before and after we heat up the plastic. But after heat up, you can actually clean up the smudges with wet wipes. The colour will not be as vibrant as we normally stamp on paper.

 I re-stamped all the images with thee three inks that smudge / smear/

And here's the end result! I love how tiny this little charm is! It shrunk from 2 inch circle to 3/4 inch circle. 

The stamped image with versacolor looks perfect after we clean it up with wet wipes.

And now, move on to the advanced part: create a water-colour effect / ombre colour effect on your shrink plastic. I use Tim Holtz Distress Stains and Distress Paints. I prefer Distress Paints over Distress Stains as the paint is permanent once its dry on the plastic and doesn't react to water much.

I draw paint stokes using the mediums below and quickly add water to the paint strokes to make the water less opaque. You gotta work quickly s the Distress Paints dry up real fast.

Then wipe away all the excess colours. Do not worry if the paint strokes look really pale here. Once the plastic shrink, it will look more vibrant.

Stamp and cut the image. Remember to punch hole before heat up the plastic. And use 3/16' hole punch (not 1/8') else the hole might turn out too small.

Once shrink, the colour looks more vibrant right?

I spent hours making these and I had so much fun. And now the fun part is add them to my projects!

I added jump rings and handphone straps to make them into keychains / handphone charms.

 I added it on the front of my Midori Traveler Notebook cover.

And also added another set to my Kate Spade Planner zipper.

These tiny cameras look so cute together <3

I also use my Fox stamp from Typo and added jul ring + chain, hang it on my Kate Spade Planner pen loop.

Added a clasp to the plastic and add it to my Swaroski crystal pen. You can also do the same and add it to your bag charm or Thomas Sabo bracelet.

I have fun making these cute little charms / shrink dinks. Hop you enjoy my step by step process too!

Thanks for looking.

Evalicious Product used:

• Oh Snap! Clear Stamp Set
• Photo Op Clear Stamp Set
• My Favourite Stamp Set
• Conversation Stamp Set

XoXo,

Tutorial⎪DIY Your Own BookMark for Your Planner

Hello all! Recently I am really obsessed with dolling up my own planners (yes, I have 3 planners and a Midori Traveler's Notebook now), so i decided to share a tutorial on how to make a cute seal bookmark or page marker  for your lovely planner!

I actually made this in 2 different versions, no sew version and the other sew with backstitch. Which one do you prefer?

 So this is a quick glance on how to do a no-sew version, remember to pin this on your Pinterest if you like it! And also, share your work with me on Instagram, has tag #happiescrappie @happiescrappie =)

And if you are just too lazy to make your own, I do make and sell them on my Big Cartel. Check them out!

And now I am going to walk you through on how to make these cuties, in a naggy  errr…I mean in details. So firstly, you would need to download this template and print & cut it out. (To save this template, right click the image and save as…) If you print it 100% on an A4 paper, it measures approximately 2 inch x 1.5 inch. You can definitely print it bigger to make a plushie too!

P.S. I am a total noob in using computer to draw shapes, so I traced this out from a Japanese pattern nook and scan it for ya. The uneven line would not affect your seal-making process ok?

And now, here are the supplies you would need for making your own seal, definitely applicable for making other felt clips too!

1. Felt (any colours + white) 

2. Paper clips

3. Printed Template

4. Scissors

5. Scotch Tape

6. Black embroidery thread and needle

6. Liquid adhesive (for the no-sew version)

7. Polyfil stuffing, thread and needle (for the sew version)

Okay, let's get started. Trace out the template - so you would have a seal and its muzzle.

And this is how I cut out the felt using my template: scotch tape the template on the felt and cut it out.You can also trace the outline on the felt using water erasable marker for fabric. 

Do the same for the white muzzle part.

You would need two pieces of felt for the body and one piece of white muzzle.

Glue the muzzle on the body.

Use pen to mark the eyes and the nose and sew them with a piece of black embroidery thread, using french knot. I used 3 strand of the embroidery floss here.
Do not know how to do a french knot? >> Check out the youtube tutorial here, I wrap twice for the eyes and thrice for the nose.

Once you ar edone, the front and back would look like this. And you are almost there!

Take another piece of body and glue the paper clip down. Apply glue generously then put the piece that you have sew eyes & nose and place on top.

And now you are done! I personally prefer the no-sew version because sewing is really not my forte ;)

And now, let's move on to the Sewing plushie version of bookmark. You would need to do the same for the eyes and the nose form the front piece.

Then you would need to take another piece of the body, sew and secure the paper clip as show below.

Then stack both pieces together, sandwich the paper clip. sew the border using blanket stitch.  Again, totally clueless about making blanket stitch? Check out the tutorial here.

Remember to add a bit of stuffing once you have sew half of the seal. Use tweezer to push the stuffing into the tail and the limbs. Lightly stuff it =)

Continue sewing and stuff your baby seal 2 cm before you reach you first stitch. You might need tweezer (or pen / scissors) to help pushing the polyfil in.

And now you have a cute little seal plushie as you page marker!

I didn't like how the sewing was shown behind the seal after we sew the paperclip, so I die cut small pieces of heart using felt and my eBosser and glue it on the stitching.

It looks so cute with a little heart on the back <3

I actually made a few of them in different colours.. Rainbow seals look so cute right? So which version is your favourite? Comment below and do remember to share your work with me!

Before I go, I just need to make a quick announcement:

For those who are in US, mar your calendar! Craftwell eBrush is coming to HSN on 14th of May! Check out this blog post on how you could use it on your project.

Thanks for looking!

XoXo