Adding a bit of Irish bling

The celebration of the luck of the Irish is almost upon us and before you sink your teeth into the salty and savory goodness of corned beef and cabbage and peasant bread, you need to frost yourself with a little handmade St. Patty's Day bling. I would hardly call myself a veteran jewelry maker, but with the help of Globecraft and Piccolo's new Shamrock Dreams Embossing Powder and Glastique Gloss, I was able to turn an ordinary ring base and chipboard into a fun piece of wearable art in no time flat. Hopefully this fun and festive ring will pinch proof this Irish lass.

Arin Flynn
A Piece of Life's Pie

Material List:

• Globecraft and Piccolo Shamrock Dreams Embossing Powder
• Globecraft and Piccolo Embossing Powder Adhesive
• Globecraft and Piccolo Glastique Gloss Finishing Glaze 
• Globecraft and Piccolo Easy Grip Tweezers
• Cousin Silver Plate Ring (can be found at Michael's)
• Heat Gun
• Silhouette, die cut machine or punch using a Shamrock Image (or if you can find a plain shamrock book board charm)
• Chipboard 
• Sand Paper
• Harbor Freight Epoxy Mix
• Rubbing Alcohol 
• Toothpick

Step 1: Making the Charm 
Using my Silhouette Cameo, I purchased "Lucky Irish Charms" by SnapDragon Snippets from the Silhouette store. I deleted all but the three sided shamrock and modified it to no longer have the charm bracket. I cut it using chipboard at around 3/4 inches.

Once you have your image cut, apply Piccolo Embossing Powder Adhesive to the charm and dust with Piccolo Shamrock Dreams Embossing Powder. Using Piccolo Easy Grip Tweezers, remove and shake off charm from the excess embossing powder and apply heat from a heat gun. Set aside to cool and set. Once cool and set, repeat process three more times (with each new layer of embossing powder a new level of depth and dimension is added). Once one side is complete, flip over the charm and repeat the same steps from the previous side.

Once both sides are cool and complete add Glastique Gloss Finishing Glaze to one side, let set and dry and repeat on the other side. This will add not only protection to the charm, but an additional layer of depth and dimension!

Step 2: Mounting the Charm

Using sand paper, rough up the plate of the base ring. Once area is sanded, apply rubbing alcohol to the ring to remove any oils or dirt the ring may have on it.

Set aside and mix up a small batch of epoxy. Using a toothpick apply epoxy to the base plate of the ring and then add the charm and position quickly. Apply pressure to set the charm to the ring and hold for a 30 seconds to a minute. Set aside and allow to fully set.

The fun thing about this project is that any type of charm or embellishment can be used. Globecraft and Piccolo has a wonderful inventory of book board charms and embellishments that would make any boring base ring come to life in the form a great piece of wearable art!  Head over to my blog and see what I easily made to pair with this fun project!