Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Holiday Gifts

Stamping...it's not just for cards anymore! Stamps can be used to create so many things now; home decorations, such as candles and coasters, wall art, tee-shirts...the list goes on and on. One of my favorites has always been jewelry and once I saw these 7Gypsies bracelets on Deb Olson's blog, I knew I had to try them out!

The bracelets come in an unassembled kit, they are a breeze to put together! You stamp the image you want on your bracelet, attach the clear pebble sticker over your image, cut away the excess, and glue each finished circle into the empty holes. Then, using needle nose pliers, you link the pieces together, attach the clasp and you're done!

To create my bracelet, I used some beautiful paper from Stampin' Up! The design went so well with the antique look of the bracelet. I really wanted a stamped image that I could color and it's not easy to find something that will fit such a small space but I looked through my stash of stamps and found a SU! set that was retired years ago. It has a floral image that was perfect. I only had to stamp the image once and then cut out different areas for my four stamped sections. The images are colored with Copics.

The bracelets comes with eight circles, I only needed seven, so taking a clue from what Deb did with her kit, I created a pendant with the left over circle. Adding a piece of SU! grosgrain ribbon made a perfect necklace and although it's not that visible in the photo, I added a crystal brad to the bottom of the pendant to cover up the hole where the link would go. (Sorry for the fuzzy photo...didn't realize the blur at the time and I have since given this gift set to a friend!)
I used one of the Papertreyink round tins to hold my bracelet (check back tomorrow for my necklace box...). I filled in the tin with a piece of coordinating paper and used stickers to create the inside design. This makes a great gift and the bracelet is really beautiful on...I really like the antiqued finish of the metal pieces.

Get yourself one of these nifty bracelets and have a grand 'ol time! Hope this has inspired you to try creating some hand stamped gifts for your friends and family!

Check back tomorrow for packaging ideas...

Happy Gifting!

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