Petri Dish Resin Hearts

This is the easiest project for someone who is just starting to dabble in resin.  The results are beautiful and you can use them for everything from paperweights to suncatchers.  I have a bunch hanging in my kitchen window and a few strewn across my coffee table.  The fun part of this project is that you won't know what they'll look like until you take them out of the molds.  Go bold with color and experiment with different glitters for some terrific results.  I promise you'll be pleasantly surprised!  Try something new, my sweet friends, and always Make Your Mark!

Catching the sun...

Pools of color

Just keep dripping the Marabu inks until you're satisfied

Everything I used for this project:

Famowood Glaze Coat Resin: https://amzn.to/30GJc4P Marabu Alcohol Inks: https://bit.ly/3dcKlrR Silicone Molds: https://amzn.to/2Au94tt & https://amzn.to/2YDN4nH MY AMAZON STORE: https://www.amazon.com/shop/markmontano

Watch how to make these Petri Dish Hearts here OR watch the video on my 

                                     YouTube channel here:  https://youtu.be/SoIfrRvWO38 

                                                                I HEART YOU!

Hanging Glass Lanterns - Faux Blown Glass

Ever since I got my bottle cutter last year, no glass bottle in my house is safe.  I'm constantly slicing and dicing them to create whatever comes to mind!  I was recently at an Italian restaurant (love pasta) and saw these small hanging lanterns around the bar and wanted to replicate them in some way.  This is what happened and I LOVE THEM!  They look like blown glass and the glow is just beautiful.  Experiment, try using thing you normally toss and always Make Your Mark!

Beautiful when the sun starts to set 

Use battery operated tea lights if you're worried about open flames

Should I hang them in my living room?

Watch how to make them here!

Happy UPCYCLING, my friends!

Faux Malachite Tile Table DIY

I finally got off of my butt and made another coffee table for my living room.  The last one I made (also malachite) was lovely, but just too big.  I started playing with shapes and finally decided that a hexagon tile table might look interesting.  Little did I know that I'd be up for 3 days cutting hexagon tiles out of cardboard! The minute I thought I had enough I had to make more.  That's what happens when you jump into something blindly.  Still, all of the effort and time paid off and to paraphrase Clairee from Steel Magnolias,  I LOVE this table more than my luggage!  Take the creative leap, my friends, and make sure to see it through to the end...It's always worth it on the other side!  Now get out there and Make Your Mark!

My new coffee table.  Thinking I'm needing a new rug now, too!

 It's much bigger than it looks!

Made with my Gel Press and my MANY Amazon boxes!

Watch how to make this here!

Just right with malachite!

Resin Filled Spoon Jewelry

A few weeks ago I made spoon jewelry by gluing beads and jewelry pieces in the bowl and it looked great!  This time I thought I'd kick it up a notch by adding some Glaze Coat resin to the pieces.  After the resin cured, it looked kind of like the pieces were floating in a spoonful of water.  I used stainless steel spoons from the 99c store, but I'm sure you could find some amazing vintage spoons at a flea market or yard sale.  Grab that box of broken jewelry pieces, mismatched beads and keys and you'll have almost everything you need to make these awesome pieces!  Use what you have, my sweet crafty friends, and don't forget to Make Your Mark!

 My latest collection of spoonery!

Beads, broken jewelry pieces and tiny keys

Watch how to make them here!

Famowood Glaze Coat is perfect for this project!

Fun to wear!

Pour Painted Rock Rings

I've been obsessed with polished rocks my entire life.  On every vacation my dad would let me grab a few at the local trading post for my collection and to this day I still buy them when I'm in a fun mountain town like Big Bear here in Cali.  If you're too impatient to make your own in a rock tumbler or you're too far from a trading post, you can always pour paint your own and then coat them with resin.  The effects are amazing and they make beautiful jewelry, too.  Rock out & rock on, my crafty friends, and don't forget to Make Your Mark!

Rock out with these glossy rock rings!

Mix in metallics to make them marvelous!

 These look like huge turquoise stones

Rock and roll!

STUFF I USED

Americana Acrylics

River Rocks

Ring Blanks

Glaze Coat Epoxy Resin

DecoArt Pouring Medium

E6000 Plus

Watch how to make them here!

 Truth be told, I've been wearing these around the house, but they

look much better on Julie!

Pebble perfect!

Mermaid Sea Glass Mirror

I've been making my own sea glass for a while and have quite a stash saved up. I wanted to tackle a huge project using the wine and sparkling water bottle glass since that's what I have the most of right now.  Yes, I'm a wino and I love sparkling water, too.  Isn't it amazing what you can do with recycled materials?  I absolutely love this mermaid mirror and can't wait to put it up in my house.  If we all work together we can save this planet one beautiful craft project at a time, don't you think?  

Recycle and repurpose and don't forget to Make Your Mark!

STUFF I USED

Sea Glass

E6000 Plus

1" x 4" Lumber

Famowood Glaze Coat Resin

Pearls

Cut mirror

White-Ning Unicorn SPiT

Watch how to make it here!

 Come join me by the sea this summer!

Harlequin Stained Glass DIY

I had the awesome luck of meeting the folks from Shardworx (www.Shardworx.com) a few months ago and have been obsessed with their beautiful glass ever since.  When I ran across these window panes on Craigslist, I knew exactly how to use their amazing product!  For a while I was totally stumped at how to make the harlequin separations and thought about using thin trim from the hardware store but didn't want to have to cut all the pieces.  Yup, I'm kind of lazy that way.  Instead, I used wood clothespins and I think they look amazing!  Remember possums, use what you have and always Make Your Mark!

Such beautiful colors!

Watch how to make it here!

STUFF I USED

SHARDWORX.COM glass in different colors

Famowood Glaze Coat Epoxy Resin

Wood Clothespins

E-6000 Glue

Old Window Pane

White Spray Paint

HERE'S HOW

1.  Cut paper the size of the glass

2. Fold the paper on the diagonal both ways to create an "X"

3.  Draw your harlequin pattern evenly using the "X" as your guide

4.  Tape the paper under the glass so you can see it on the side your working on

5.  Take the wood clothespins apart and spray them white

6. Glue the clothespins along the harlequin lines with E-6000

*You can trim the clothespins with heavy duty scissors if you're careful

7.  Fill each diamond with a different color of Shardworx glass

8.  Mix the Famowood Glaze Coat 2 part epoxy resin according to directions and then

drizzle it over each diamond until all of the diamonds are coated.

9. Pop any bubbles with a long-arm lighter or small torch and then

cover and cure overnight

 Gorgeous!

Love it so much!