Charming Charlie Keepsake Bracelet
By: Judi Kauffman w/Carmi Cimicata
It’s such a treat to shine our Mixed Media Department spotlight on the multi-talented mixed media artist, jewelry designer, teacher, and blogger Carmi Cimicata. She generously offered to create a project for Scrapbooking.com readers and it’s a winner! Her “Charming Charlie Keepsake Bracelet” is so charming (pun intended) – and so easy to make.
This is one project I’m going to make soon, and often. With our godson’s twins as the stars, there will be multiples: Mom, both grandmothers, and one for me. And I think I’ll need a version with Bree and her mom and her puppies – one for me and one for Julie, who gave us Bree. I’ll have to find some poodle charms for those. And that’s just the start.
Who knew that when Carmi volunteered to be the guest designer that she would going to come up with something so irresistible? Carmi knew, that’s who!
You’re in her skilled hands from this point on:
Charming Charlie
The 1st Birthday Bracelet Keepsake Featuring Family Photos and Jewelry Resin
The 1st Birthday Bracelet Keepsake Featuring Family Photos and Jewelry Resin
By Carmi Cimicata for Scrapbooking.Com Magazine
Charlie is such a happy baby. Everyone holding him in his birthday pictures is laughing. I took my favorite pictures and shrunk them to about ½ inch wide. I printed these on regular white paper. I also gathered some silver bezels to work in. These bezels became my finished charms.
My first task was cutting my pictures so they fit into each bezel perfectly. Then I ran those tiny paper images through my X Box to make them stickers. It is much easier to attach those small paper images to the bottom of my bezels when they have adhesive on the back already.
I knew I would be pouring resin into these bezels before my project started. Paper needs to be sealed with a decoupage medium before you pour resin over it. I sealed my images by applying three different coatings of my decoupage medium allowing each layer to dry between applications.
I also applied glitter glue to the edges of my bezel bottoms. I allowed the decoupage sealer and glitter to dry completely overnight.
The next day I made a batch of Jewelry Resin. I poured this into each bezel charm and allowed this to cure for 48 hours. As the author and designer of Resin Crafts Blog I always encourage everyone to read and follow the manufacturers instructions for mixing and pouring resin.
When my image filled bezel charms were cured, I gathered some extra decorative charms, a magnetic clasp, a length of chain and some jewelry making tools.
I attached all my new charms to my bracelet. I have to say, the bracelet already looked really nice at this point.
The addition of the extra charms however finished this piece beautifully. My charm bracelet will always showcase a wonderful family memory. I hope Charlie will want this bracelet some day for his own family.
For more information about Jewelry Resin, sealing paper and the art of resin crafting please visit: http://www.resincrafts.blogspot.ca/
For more information about me: www.carmi.ca
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This is a wonderful idea to commemorate a special event.
great addition to the jewel box
Where did you get those wonderful bezels?
Great idea, Carmi. What a lovely intro Judi wrote about you.
Julie, I can't recall. I know I had them for 4-5 years. They were not in a package.