Minted Strawberry: Crafts

This post has been sponsored by Consumer Crafts. But don't you worry - all opinions and crazy notions are 100% mine. :)

You guys know there's a real special place in my heart for DIY jewelry - there's just something magical about making my own and being proud to say that I made it myself when people ask where I got them. Well, June is Jewelry Month for Consumer Crafts and while the month may almost be over, there's still some time left to grab jewelry supplies on Consumer Crafts - all their jewelry supplies are 10% off until the end of the month.

Furthermore, the folks over at Consumer Crafts have put together a free downloadable e-books for all you DIY jewelry fanatics like me. It has 9 awesome step-by-step jewelry tutorials - perfect for your summer wardrobe. I promise you'll love it so download your copy already! :)

My favorite tutorials in the book are:

This awesome terrarium necklace - they show you the process of making these sweet little things. Mini terrariums are actually a hit these days! I'll be making one for myself in either necklace or keychain form.

And these pretty nautical bracelets. I sure am still not tired of the nautical trend... are you? In any case, these are pretty changeable to the theme that you want, just follow the tutorial. Love these for summer!

Convinced yet? Download your free copy here. :)

$100 Shopping Spree at Consumer Crafts

And yep, there is a giveaway for my US and Canadian readers - $100 to spend on the Consumer Crafts website. That's a lot of craft supplies right there. Whoever wins this will be one lucky person! Giveaway runs through July 14, 2014 so enter now using the Rafflecopter widget below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow Consumer Crafts here (their blog, Crafts Unleashed has a ton of awesome DIYs as well):

Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | Blog

What would you get if you win the giveaway? Lemme know in the comments and enjoy doing the projects in the free e-book! :)

This post has been sponsored by Plaid Crafts. I was provided materials and/or compensation, but all opinions are 100% mine.

Today I'll be showing you how I made these bee coasters using Ed Roth Stencil1 stencils from Plaid Crafts (they're available at Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft stores). I am not lying to you - when I got these stencils from the mail, I squealed. I am obsessed with a lot of patterns - the beehive pattern being one of them (remember this photo wall art?) and I was just lucky enough to get them!

My mind swum with what I could do with it - these stencils are large enough to cover large spaces such as walls or pretty big canvases, but I know I don't have the patience to do something like that yet. So I made a couple of things - a set of coasters was one of them. I wanted to try the bee stencil too - it came with a base stencil and a detail stencil and I just found that so cool (because I'm not really one for free-handing details).

What I used were the following:
Coasters
Ed Roth Stencil1 stencil (the beehive one)
FolkArt multi-surface paint
Gold spray paint
Sponge brush
Small paintbrush

First, spray paint your coasters. I used gold as my base, because I love gold (no surprise there :3). Next, take your bee base stencil, position it on your coaster and fill it in with paint. These FolkArt multi-surface paints can be used for indoor/outdoor purposes and on a variety of materials - honestly I love FolkArt paints, they're what I use for most of my projects.

Next, take your detail stencil and position that on top of your stenciled bee base and stipple with a dry brush loaded with just enough contrasting paint. Tip: spray the back of your stencil with some repositionable adhesive (don't spray too much though or you'll end up with something like the photo below when you pull it off).

Since I was too trigger-happy in adding repositionable adhesive, I got some bald marks when I pulled my stencil off. But no worries, there's a solution for that!

If you ever end up with bald marks, fill them in using your base paint and a small brush.

For added detail, I used the honeycomb stencil to add some hexagons on the coaster- filled it in with a light color without washing my sponge brush (hence the grungy, grey-ish white effect that you see). Don't worry about that messy stencil - it's easy to clean. For a glossy effect, you may want to spray it with some clear glaze.

And there you have it! These bees are just in time for Spring, don't you think? I love that it looks so street-arty. Now all that's left is to package it nicely if you're giving it to somebody - and yes, pun intended :)

Hope you enjoyed this project, and don't forget to pin/share if you did! And also, check out these other projects using Stencil1 stencils - see all the awesome designs that they have!

Don't forget to follow Plaid Crafts for more awesome project ideas, inspiration and more!