Inspirational Necklace "When Doors Open" By Sherri Welser and Proxxon Tools!

Inspirational Necklace "When Doors Open"

Create this beautiful inspirational necklace by using Proxxon Tools!

Wearing inspirational pieces always helps to reinforce that feeling of joy and hope. In this necklace I used a metal embosser ( Vintaj  Big Kick) to get the lovely texture on the  copper metal pieces and the  Proxxon Bench Drill Press TBM 115  . I have had these 2  metal door pieces for awhile and was waiting for the right project to use them. Below please find the supply list and instructions!

~Supply List~

Proxxon Bench Drill Press TMB 115

Vintaj Big Kick

Rose patterned embossing folder

2 copper metal "door" pieces

Verdigris paint

Brass or copper wire ( 24 gauge) about 6 " long

Seed beads 8/0 or 15/0

WeldBond adhesive

Type setting  paper word phrases or letters 

jump ring~ 6mm

Copper or brass chain ~Approx 24" long

Lobster claw closure ( copper)\

Small copper piece for "window

Small metal clip

I began with the copper metal doors and even though there were holes, they wernt big enough for attaching the wire and still being able to open the doors freely. 

1) Paint the verdigris paint on the front of the door and the small square metal piece~ let dry

2) Set up the Big Kick and place your metal door and window pieces in between the folder and pass through the Big kick to create the  embossed pattern.

3) Re-drill the holes a bit larger with the Proxxon Bench Press in both doors

4) Cut to size the words for the inside of the door

  5) Glue in place with the WeldBond

6) Next glue the small "window" piece to the front of the door and secure tightly to dry with a clip

7) To connect the front to the back doors take your 24 gauge wire and put it through the first hole from back to front 

8) Add several seed beads and twist the wires together.

9) Weave through the bottom wire , adding beads and twisting for a fun effect. Making sure you can still open and close the doors.

10) Attach the chain by adding the jump ring to the door and then putting the chain through the jump ring.

The door may tend to open so if you want add a tiny piece of velcro or something similar to keep the door closed until you want it to open.

Have fun Creating!

"Find Your Happy Place" Vintage Wooden Houses~ Proxxon Design Team Project

"Find Your Happy Place"

Creating with PROXXON Tools

I Love to work with wood and making little Vintage houses is so much fun! For this project I used the PROXXON Scroll saw and Delta Sander to create these lovely little houses. The supplies I used are listed below

Supplies

 5 Random sizes of 2 x4 

(the sizes I used were from 6" to 12" tall- 4 houses and the base)

Crackle Paint ( I used Tim Holtz Distressed Crackle Paint)

Antique Glaze

Glue Gun

Glossy Accents

Assorted pieces of metal and paper ephemera,trinkets, charms and small doorknobs, anything that you feel would be a fun addition to your houses!

Acrylic paint

Gold Gel Pen

4 large Screws

Cooper wire for beading on the roof

1) I began with finding some random sizes of lumber.. 2x4s and some small scraps of thinner wood for the roofs. I cut the 2x4s

 ( with the scroll saw) into misc heights and sanded ( using the Delta sander)  the rough edges.. but still left some rough patches  to to give the appearance of weathered wood. I then cut the smaller pieces of wood into several triangular pieces for the roofs.

2)I wanted the look of old worn wood so I then painted the 2 x 4s that would be the houses with the crackle paint.

3)Here you can see the pieces all painted with an antiquing medium finish.

4)I set all the pieces in front of me with all the fun items to get an idea of how I wanted to design the houses.I used the glue gun to adhere most of the items to the houses.

5)I used the glossy accents to fill in some of the metal trinkets after adding vintage papers. I also used the gold gel pen to add doodles.

6)The final step is to screw the 4 houses to the bottom base piece.

 I had so much fun decorating these sweet little houses with all sorts of metal trinkets,paper ephemera and inspirational words!

Here you can see why it is called "Find Your Happy Place"

Here I thought it would be fun to use a funky wine cork for the chimney!

  Here I added some copper wire and beads on top to add an interesting element and bring your eye upwards.

I love this little bird in flight and adding that fun whimsy!

PROXXON makes creating these interesting and fun creations so much easier with their wonderful tools! 

Happy Creating!

Sherri

Proxxon Design Team~Free Spirit~ Gypsy Style Buffet

~Free Spirit~

Gypsy Style Buffet

I just love Bohemian and Gypsy inspired pieces as I am a total "free spirit" and just the uniqueness that the Gypsy style brings! I am so happy to be a new Design Team member for Proxxon tools as I love creating all types of projects with wood . I was in the middle of redoing this vintage style buffet  when my order arrived from Proxxon. I chose to use the Delta sander to be able to quickly sand down the areas to give it a worn look.

 I just love the Delta sander and was surprised that it was so well made and felt so comfortable in my hand. I used it to sand down the piece around all the edges (using a medium grit sand paper) and the top of the buffet and the drawers. It took no time at all and it was wonderful to sand these areas with such ease! The paint base is chalk paint ( Folk Art)  in the color "Savannah" . It was a blue color previously and I thought it would be fun to have some of that peek through to add more of a "story" to the piece.

  I used a large wall stencil to decorate the top and sides as well as the drawer fronts. I used a plum color acrylic paint. 

I  then decided to add gold acrylic dots to adorn the pattern

 The goal for this piece was to have an antique finish on it and I used an antique wax medium. It made the piece a bit darker but I love the fact it looks like it is an old well loved piece!

Being able to use the Delta sander for part of this project made that tedious part of the task so much easier and faster! I love the way you can easily attach the sandpaper triangles with the velcro base! I was pleasantly surprised at how well the velcro sandpaper triangle held on!! It didn't budge at all while sanding!

 I Hope you all have some fun creating a little Vintage Gypsy piece for yourself!
Happy Creating!!
 You can find a full selction of PROXXON tools here