Hi everyone!

It's finally here--summer! And, to celebrate the season, I've got a couple of free projects for you: fun summer-inspired tags. These are mixed-media tags that you can use in multiple ways. Clip them on a beach bag, hang them around a vase, use them as a pendant or glue them into a collage. They're easy and I'm not going to give you exact amounts on the materials. But, I will have links to everything in case you can't find them where you live. The rest, I leave to your creativity!

First of all, paint a large wood tag. The seahorse is on a 5" tag, and the fish is on a 3" tag. I painted them with some acrylic paint in a turquoise blue.

Step Two: Trace around the tag onto the back of the adhesive-backed fabric. This beautiful blue and green aquatic print is from Batik-It by Princess Mirah. I just love the colors! Cut out the fabric, peel off the backing and apply the fabric to the tag. I only covered one side, but you could cover both if you like.

Step Three: Condition some polymer clay. The seahorse is a green clay; the fish is a little more complicated with a couple of blue colors kneaded together for a marbled look. Knead a small amount of two colors together, then slice into the ball to find the marbling that you like. Slice a piece of clay about the depth of the mold and press it into the mold. Carefully, remove the excess. With these molds from Krafty Lady Art Moulds(C), you don't have to take the clay out to bake it. Isn't that cool! I don't play with clay much, but I think that is a great idea. I have a tendency to mess up the molded piece if I try to remove it from the mold. Follow the directions on the clay for baking times.

Step 4: While the clay is baking and cooling, wrap the tags with wire. This wire is Fun Wire(TM) from Toner Crafts. It's easy to work with--you can use your fingers, although a pair of round nose pliers is helpful in starting the coils. Wrap the wire around the tag and connect it to itself once or twice. Coil the ends. To get the jogs in the wire, grab it with a pair of pliers and give it a little twist. This adds an interesting look and also tightens it around the tag.

Step 5: Glue the molded clay piece on top of the wire with hot glue or a jewel glue. Glue on a few jewels or charms. Glue an eyelet in the hole of the tag. Add highlights with a paint pen. The seahorse has gold paint pen highlights. String the tag as you wish depending on where you want to hang it.

Here's where you can find some of the materials I used in case you can't find them locally:

Wood tags: http://www.larascrafts.com/

Wire: http://www.tonercrafts.com/

Clay molds: http://www.kraftylady.com.au/

Batik-It squares: http://www.joggles.com/

I hope you enjoyed this fun summer craft!

Happy crafting!

Terry

PS Watch for some new summer projects at http://www.amatestudios.com/.

Father's Day Key Ring

Hi crafters!

Here's a project for Father's Day that I created for Amate Studios. It uses one of their pendant forms in copper. I wanted to do something a little different for Father's Day--something that a guy might use more than jewelry. So, I combined the pendant with a binder ring, layered in some painted Grungeboard(TM), added some letters and a charm and made a key ring.

If you don't want the word "keys" on the ring, put dad's initials or a short name. You could use any type of letters for the ring; I think typewriter key letters would also look great. It's a quick and easy gift for dad or hubby. Don't you love that? They are so hard to shop for!

Happy crafting!

Terry

PS Take a look at all the other great projects from the Design Team for June and July at www.amatestudios.com.