LED lights – Jonathan Fong Style

Illuminated Art on Upcycled CD Jewel Cases: Handmade Holidays Blog Hop

admin — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 07:01:25 +0000

It’s the 3rd day of the Handmade Holidays Blog Hop, and what have I made for you today, my crafty friends? I love to find new uses for old items, and one of the things I have a lot of are plastic CD/DVD jewel cases. It turns out they make great easel style frames for artwork. Using Craft Attitude printable film, I applied an image to the jewel cases, and voila, instant art. For this project, I created alphabet letter artwork spelling out the word “JOY.” The great thing about the Craft Attitude is that it’s translucent, so when I put an LED candle behind the artwork, it glowed. This would look great on a mantel or a table on an entryway.

For a great gift, you can also put photos on the CD cases with the Craft Attitude film. Here are photos of my dogs Gershwin and Fosse on the CD cases. LED candles would light up their cute faces, too.

Before I go through the super easy tutorial on this, let me talk about Craft Attitude, because it’s a new product and not a lot of people know about it yet.

Craft Attitude is a line of printable film with various brand names – Shoe Attitude, Jewelry Attitude, Scrapbooking Attitude, Wood Attitude, Decor Attitude, Quilt Attitude, and more. Although there are different brand names tied to different uses, they are all basically the same product, only the directions are tailored to that particular medium. But you can use any of them for any of your projects. The film itself is interchangeable.

Each pack comes with eight sheets of Craft Attitude (I am going to just call it Craft Attitude rather than calling it by the individual brand names.) You put in in your inkjet printer at home. Then you print out any image you want – photographs, stock illustrations, you name it – onto the Craft Attitude sheet. The sheet consists of a very thin film, or skin, and a protective backing sheet that lets you feed it through the printer. After you’ve printed your design, you peel off the film from the backing and apply it to practically any surface – wood, paper, metal, fabric – with a glue stick or spray adhesive. But lo and behold, for this project, it doesn’t even need adhesive because the Craft Attitude sticks to the plastic CD cases with static alone. Gotta love that!

Step 1: First, I created the graphics. I found an images of some blurred colored lights on publicdomainpictures.net, sized them to the dimensions of a CD jewel case, and added an initial on top using Photoshop. Below are the free printables that you can download of this artwork. Just click the names of the files. You’ll notice that I made the J backwards. That’s because you always want to print in reverse on Craft Attitude, because you’ll be flipping the image over later.

J-artwork

O-artwork

Y-artwork

Then I printed the artwork on 3 sheets of Craft Attitude and trimmed the artwork with a craft knife.

Step 2: I disassembled the CD cases to remove the existing artwork, as well as the center panel that has the doohickey to hold the CD. It snaps right off, so don’t be afraid to show it who’s boss. Then I put the CD case back together again.

Step 3: Like I said, I didn’t need to apply any adhesive on the Craft Attitude because it sticks to the plastic with static. It is a little challenging at first to get it on without air bubbles. What I did was just get it on, not worrying about the air bubbles. Then I just lifted it up where there were bubbles and smoothed it out with my fingers. Hint: If you start in the middle and work outwards, it’s easier.

Step 4: Open the CD case and stand it up like an easel. Place an LED candle behind the image so it illuminates. Because the image is on the plastic with static, you can switch out your message or image for every occasion. Sometimes you can spell out words. Sometimes you can just display photos. It’s just a really cool way to make easel frames.

Now be sure to enter to win the Handmade Holidays prize package.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And hop on over to the other projects on today’s blog hop.

Clearsnap http://blog.clearsnap.com

Craft Attitude http://www.jonathanfongstyle.com/blog/

Smoothfoam http://www.smoothfoam.com/blog/

Donna Salazar Designs http://donnasalazardesigns.blogspot.com/

Walnut Hollow http://walnuthollowcrafts.wordpress.com/

100 Proof Press http://www.100proofpress.com/_blog/Blog

Graphic45 http://g45papers.typepad.com/

ICE Resin http://iceresin.com/icequeen/

Stampendous http://stampendousblog.wordpress.com/

Sizzix – Eileen Hull Designs http://eileenhull.blogspot.com/

Jamie Dougherty http://jamiedoughertydesigns.blogspot.com

Nathalie Kalbach www.nathaliesstudio.com

Jen Goode http://www.100directions.com/

Kathy Cano-Murillo http://www.craftychica.com/site/

Tanner Bell http://www.craftteen.com

Jennifer Priest http://hydrangeahippo.com

Jen Cushman http://jencushman.wordpress.com/

Adrienne Ford http://bry-and-i.blogspot.com/

Joanne Fink http://www.zenspirations.com/home/

Vicki O’Dell http://vickiodell.com/

Liz Hicks http://blogerisms.blogspot.com/

Denise Hahn http://inmyblueroom.blogspot.com/

Courtney Chambers http://www.alittlecraftinyourday.com

Tami Mayberry http://tamimayberry.blogspot.com/

Norma Rapko http://normarapko.blogspot.com/

Cheryl Waters http://blog.artsyfindings.com/

DIY Wine Glass Votive Lampshades

admin — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 07:02:33 +0000

I have a singer friend who is giving a small concert in my home, so I wanted to provide some mood lighting that could accentuate the room. I came upon this idea for wine glass votives because they’re very cabaret-like, and they’re so easy to make. The lamp shades are made with Rowlux® Illusion Film and Craft Attitude, with help from my Sizzix die-cutting machine. The great thing about the Rowlux film is it has a 3-dimensional quality, and the one I chose looks like cut crystal. Then when I add the Craft Attitude film, it appears as if the the image is etched on the crystal. Fancy schmancy, but easy schmeezy.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

1 12″x12″ sheet of Rowlux® Illusion Film, preferably clear color

1 sheet of Craft Attitude printable film (Any of the Craft Attitude films will work, e.g., Shoe Attitude, Wood Attitude, etc.)

Sizzix Scoreboards XL Vase Die

Super 77 Spray Adhesive

Decorative brads

Hole punch

Step 1: Decide what design you would like on your lampshade. Since I was decorating for a cabaret night, I chose some vintage French images from the Graphics Fairy and made a collage out of them. Size the artwork to 8 1/2 x 11 inches, repeating the pattern so there’s one on top and one on bottom. These will be the two sides of the lampshade. Then print the design on a sheet of Craft Attitude film with your inkjet printer.

Step 2: Spray some Super 77 spray adhesive on the printed side of the Craft Attitude and place it face down on the Rowlux film. Burnish with your hands, and peel off the protective backing of the Craft Attitude. (Note: I trimmed the Rowlux film to 8 1/2″ wide because that’s how large the Craft Attitude sheet was. That way I didn’t use the whole sheet of Rowlux and could save it for another project.)

Step 3: Cut the Rowlux/Craft Attitude combo into the two halves. To create the shape of the lampshade, I used the Sizzix Scoreboards XL Vase die by Eileen Hull. I ran both halves through the Sizzix Big Shot to make two sections, since just one would make too narrow of a lampshade. The die is a teeny bit wider than the 8 1/2 sheet, so the sides cut out a little bit, but that’s okay, because we’ll be trimming those in the next step.

Step 4: If we were to combine both sides now, the lampshade would actually be too big to fit around a typical wine glass. So trim one scalloped section from each of the ends, as shown in the photo. Then the finished size will be perfect.

Step 5: Punch two holes at the edges of both pieces.

Step 6: Connect the two halves with decorative brads. But wait! There’s one little trick here I want to share. Put the Craft Attitude side on the inside, so the lampshade is in reverse. That way, the 3D design of the Rowlux film will be visible on the outside. The Craft Attitude image is almost hidden, but when the votive is lit, the design is revealed!

Step 7: Place a battery-operated LED candle in a wine glass, and rest the lampshade on top of the glass. Now that’s mood lighting.

As you can see, even though the Craft Attitude film is on the inside, you see the image beautifully through the Rowlux. And doesn’t it look like crystal?

Disclosure: I was sent Rowlux Illusion Film to try, but they did not pay me for this post. I am a designer spokesperson for Craft Attitude, and all links to Craft Attitude on this post are affiliate links. However, I would use Craft Attitude anyway; I was using it before I was their spokesperson.

Lighting Your Christmas Tree in Style

admin — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 10:03:49 +0000

Back in October, I was putting up my Christmas tree and lights two months early because I was doing a tutorial for eHow sponsored by Home Depot. We were in the middle of a heat wave, but getting out the tree and all the shiny ornaments put me in the holiday spirit. For this eHow Spark board, I showed how to add lights to a tree, and how to place the ornaments for maximum sparkle. For the first time, I used LED lights. The lights are bluer than incandescent lights so they’re not as warm, but they use up far less energy, and you can string a lot more sets together. See all the step-by-step photos here.

My Christmas tree

Stringing the lights vertically