Christine Honsinger/Fidlette

Another one of Ready Set Create's sponsor's for the Dec/Jan issue was Christine Honsinger (aka Fidlette designs). Her designs are different than what I am used to working with digitally. She has a very unique style - lots of vintage and altered stuff that is pure eye candy! When I saw her 1 x 2 Animal Vignettes, I knew right away that I wanted to make a charm bracelet from them.

Keep in mind that I have NEVER made a piece of jewelry in my life, but we were doing a charm swap at the Rusty Pickle retreat, so I decided to give it a go. Here's a little tutorial on how to make them -

1. Enlarge the Vignettes to approximately 1.5 x 3" in a photo editing program (I used Photoshop Elements).

2. Decrease the opacity of the Vignettes to around 50% since the colors will intensify when shrunk.

3. Print them out on a sheet of "Shrinky Dinks for Ink Jet Printers" and cut them out with scissors or a paper trimmer.

4. Use a 1/8" hole punch to punch a hole in the top left hand corner of the picture.

5. If desired, use a corner rounder punch to round the corners of the charms.

6. Follow the instructions on the Shrinky Dinks package to bake the charms. Note: the edges of my charms curled under a bit when I took them out of the oven. I placed a sheet of paper over them and went over them a few times with a rolling pin while they were still hot to flatten them out. Since the charms cooled quickly, I only placed 2 charms in the oven at a time. That way I could flatten them out before they cooled.

7. Spray the charms with a sealant. I used Plaid's Clear Acrylic Sealer in Gloss to give it a bit of a sheen. If you don't want the sheen, use a matte sealer. Allow the sealer to dry completely.

8. Place a jump ring through the hole. I also attached a heart charm to the jump ring.

9. Attach a lobster claw clip to the jump ring. Note: If you don't intend on taking the charms off the bracelet, you could just attach the jump ring to the bracelet itself.

Woolah! That's it!

The finished product (pretty dang cute if I might say so myself)-

I used Christine's Get Creative with Fidlette Kit to create some art work to display in a frame.

This frame was inspired by one Lucy Edison created. She has an excellent tutorial on how to create one at amillionmemories.com. The artwork in the center says, "Art is the only way to run away without leaving home" - Twyla Tharp.

Picture Supplies: All elements from Get Creative with Fidlette Kit by Christine Honsinger, www.scrapartist.com; Frame Supplies: Frame: Michaels, Chipboard: Creative Imaginations; Flower: Prima; Leaves: Making Memories; Lace: Rusty Pickle; Paint: Delta.