More designs in painting friendly plastic

We played for 2 days! And I gifted them enough friendly plastic to have a couple more parties with the kids.

I think you can start to see that even if you try to get the same design, it's going to turn out different every time. For this, I didn't paint thedesign in rubbing alcohol, I just painted it in ink the first time.

We decided that works best if you have a lighter background

We did some 3D stuff as well

And I don't know if you can see or not, but there is glossy accents just on the dark blue parts, the star and the corners. So we were playing around with different levels of dimension on top of the Friendly Plastic pieces.

I have now decided that Friendly Plastic is a true "babysitter"! Imgaine keeping a group of 11 year olds entertained for this long.....and they never turned on the TV! Pretty cool!

Painting Friendly Plastic

First, do your background with alcohol inks or pinata inks.

Next, dip a paintbrush into 91% rubbing alcohol. Use a fine tipped paintbrush. Paint a design.

Then dip the paintbrush in a solid color of ink and paint over the design.

To make the dots, barely touch down with the tip of a fine paintbrush dipped in rubbing alcohol:

It looks a bit like watercolor paint....but it's not, it's ink! What fun!!!

Color your day....happy!

We made some amazing cards using Friendly Plastic and Watercolor. First, we just put down some color on a watercolor card. Then we took the white strips that we had "painted" and picked the section we liked and we cut pieces and laid them over the area painted.

If you look closely, you can see a very faint star of david in the pink, and a bluebird about 2/3 the way down. What a wonderful card to gift to someone.....and just so easy!

Patience, child.....patience!!!

I had forgotten how impatient kids are! And how much fun! Ali and her friends made wonderful pendants using Friendly Plastic and then we covered them with a layer of Glossy Accents. Of course....they wanted to touch them before they were dry. They wanted to pick them up. They wanted to hold them. LOL! Kids just do not have an ounce of patience these days.....not that I have any myself!

One afternoon we simply "painted" white plastic with alcohol ink and pinata inks. We blew ink on the plastic with straws. We used paint brushes and made our own designs. Keep in mind, these are 11 year old girls. I photographed the ones that I liked the best - they made tons.

We took our scrap plastic and inlaid it into the blanks.

I had cut up a ton of strips before going down and the girls did some great inlay work as well:

And I showed them how to "smooch" ink. It's a little blurry, but I think this is my favorite pendant of all.

If you've lost your creativity, just call a group of 11 year olds over to play. Sooooooo creative! So cute, clever, and just fun to spend a day with.

Friendly Plastic for business gifts

I went with Kerry to Ft Lauderdale last week on a quasi business trip. On Saturday, while he and his staff were out shooting paintballs (no, he didn't shoot!) Ruth, her daughter, Ali, and 2 of Ali's friends and I made 15 luggage tags. 100% Friendly Plastic. In case you don't know, this is called the IBM rebus. Eye, Bee, M. Too cute!

The guys came home and were totally surprised and I think quite taken with these. They all work at IBM.

I know, I'm so far behind on my blogging - but between Kerry's recovery, our trip, genealogy, painting, playing....when do I have time to blog any more? But I do have more things we made in Florida and will try to get them posted in the next few days.

Good to go away. But even better to be back home!

Exponentialism in a different way

Last time, I posted about teaching 1 person who taught another person.....and how you can grow a craft that way.

This blog is about how one person took what she learned here, and made numerous pendants from that same "class" - she is growing her Friendly Plastic skills by leaps and bounds.

Here's what my good friend Shelly made - all done with Friendly Plastic. We're teaching the world, one friend at a time!!!












Which one do you like best???

The exponentialism of Friendly Plastic

You know the old saying, if you tell 2 people and they tell 2 people and they each tell 2 people......pretty soon everyone will know!

So at our Super Bowl party, I taught the moms and kids a few little things to do with Friendly Plastic. This week, I got an email from one of the moms who had a Friendly Plastic birthday party for her daughter. 2000 miles away from here!!! She said that the party lasted TWENTY EIGHT hours!!! OK - bless that mom! Cause that's more than I ever did for my kids!!!

Just take a look at all the fun things these kids made! WOW!!

Perhaps that's why I like teaching art - it's the exponentialism of it - the sharing - the spreading the skills, knowing that it's going all over the world!!!

Just click on the photos to make them bigger:

He's not home yet - contest extended!

Kerry is still in the hospital. Hopefully, he gets to come home tomorrow. So I'm extending the Friendly Plastic contest til at least midnight tomorrow. Thursday, March 18. Now...remember, it can be something decorated with FP, something made with FP, something embellished with FP - just so you tell me what part of it is FP!

I think Friday will be a good day to do the judging. Hopefully he will be settled in as I've been working hard during the evenings to get everything set up for him. Physical Therapy wanted a few modifications like a shower seat....simple things, but it all takes time to go find. Found the blood pressure cuff, thermometer....we have to record everything on a chart and report back to his doctors. Weighing is interesting. If he gains more than 2 pounds in 1 day, we call in. Life is going to be put on a serious schedule for the next 12 weeks - just another interesting leg of the journey we have embraced.

Today, the nurses and staff were literally lined up in the room at the same time waiting to do various procedures. I snapped a photo with my iphone and know I'll have to scrap it. The title is going to be "Next!"

Sort of funny!

OK - 24 more hours to make something with FP, send me a photo and we'll let him be the judge!

Friendly Plastic Contest

One of my internet pals suggested this (thanks sasha!) and I'm going to run with it - all on my own!!!

Kerry is going to have 5 bypasses done and I need to find ways to cheer him up. So how about I sponsor a little Friendly Plastic contest called:

Make him feel better soon!

You simply make something/anyting out of friendly plastic, and send us a photo of it. I will show him the photos and the one that makes him laugh the most will be the winner. I'll happily gift you a generous set of Friendly Plastic sticks and/or pellets!! And if he laughs really hard, I'll double the prize!!! And if Amaco wants to get involved, I'll send you whatever they send me! Hmmm.....this could turn out to be a pretty good contest.

Just remember - the whole idea is to make him smile! So if you've never made a thing with Friendly Plastic - you probably have a better chance of winning than the pros!

How much Friendly Plastic do you have to use in your project? I think at least 25% - I have to be able to see the plastic. But you could make it 100% Friendly Plastic.

Hint - hint - he's a guy, so it could be fun to make tools out of pellets, medical equipment - a nurse? I'm sure someone could even fashion the entire surgery unit out of pellets! He loves our chihuahuas - so an "altered" puppy would be a good idea. Better yet - a cat that was altered by a puppy......LOL!!

Contest starts today and the deadline will be on March 15. Now since there's no mailing involved, let's just say midnight that night on anyone's time zone!!!

If you don't know my email address, go to the blog's website and click over on the right just below the copyright line.

We don't know yet when his surgery will be, but let's say that the winner will be announced on March 16 and if that happens to be the day surgery gets scheduled, I'll post a different day here.

Feel free to share this contest with your yahoo groups, friends and family.

Can't wait to see what you create!

Come to my house for the superbowl game.....

and there will be a separate party in my studio! What else? Today, we'll be playing with Friendly Plastic and "chewing gum" wrappers! Yep, something for both adults and kids. So I made some samples. A take-off on Jana's fracture n fusion....this is inlaid work. The blanks are really big. About 2 1/2" so you can cut tiny strips of plastic and inlay them into the blank and have them melt. I find the plastic will shrink up inside these blanks. so this way is better for me.

My blogger friend, Shari, gifted me these blanks. I just love them. You can get them online at the Bally Bead Company. They are so cheap! Only $2 each! And check out the huge heart, rectangle and other blanks. Great little company - order tons!!!

This is a large K&Co finding. We have a lot of these, bracelets, and blanks from Patera and Amate to play with today. So I'm hoping we make loads of fun pendants!

Remember chewing gum wrapper chains? American Girl Doll has these kits at Michaels for only $6.99. Figured it was worth it - I don't have to cut tiny little strips of paper!

Such bright cheerful papers! And I've got butterfly charms the kids can tie onto theirs.

I'm going to guess that the mom's will be doing a lot of paper folding this afternoon! LOL! Well, we will be busy if nothing else!

And when we're all done with these, I have the cricut machine set up and we'll cut out cards and they can embellish cards with glitter. Figured I'd save that one for the very end of the day. Nothing better than falling asleep with your face and fingers covered in glitter!

Hope your superbowl Sunday is as much fun as mine. Sure beats the "old days" when all the men were in the living room watching the game and the women were in the kitchen cleaning out the pots and pans. I'm having everything catered! No cleaning here.....just a lot of playing in my "dining" room!!!

and the winner is......

Remember Amaco had a butterfly contest? Look at the digital display on one of the walls in the booth - I just loved this design!!!

I think the booth was 30' long. Huge. The actual butterflies were on the center panel, shown here to the right.

Ambrose won for under 15. His sister made this one and it looked so stunning on the black velvet background.

Here's a better display of the project's wall:

Ambrose made this one as well, I like how they put them in nice wood frames:

And this is the butterfly he won with. He also made the dragonfly. Totally talented kid!

So huge congrats to Ambrose for making butterflies and a huge congrats to Amaco for sponsoring such a wonderful project. Ambrose gets a crystal etched trophy (I got to see it at the show!) and a $100 check! Wonder what next year's challenge will be!

CHA - Booth 2409- The party at Amaco!!!

Am I ready? No,not really!

Am I packed? Well sort of.

I leave about 6:30 am to fly out. I may be up all night long again. WHEN will I ever learn? LOLOL!!!!

It has certainly been a last minute whirlwind flurry around here. I decided to simply make up ATCs for all the techniques. Under the gun, so some I like, others I would re-do later on or put into the trash!

First one - FP in a mold, the bear, FP scraps, ironed, sizzix....love it!

FP strip embossed in a cuttlebug folder.

Quickutz die in pewter, some repousse, alcohol ink, glossy accents

Pewter, same as above:

FP strip stamped, inked and heated:

Pellets colored and set in a mold made from a charm:

Spellbinders envelope die, with bird aperture. Insert is FP pellets, melted, rolled, and cuttlebug foldered, then copic marker refill inked

whew!

Can you even find the FP on this one? It's my "table top" - FP with fantasy film over it, stamped.

Pellets, melted, rolled, embossed, then copic refill inked, under a fragment, wrapped with metal tape.

Linda made this and tossed it! Cute frame!

Pellets in a mold of a very tiny "frozen charlotte" - just love how she came out!

Metal embossed and sanded:

This is just a sampling! Come by booth 2409 to see the rest....I have an entire 7Gypsies rounder full of ATCs. Forgot to count them all, no time to even photo them! You'll just have to see me at the show!