Celebrating Craft Month with Shrink & Link Jewelry

Today's post is brought to you by: Emily Feliberty - Klutz Marketing Manager

 
March is National Craft month and as you can imagine it is a serious celebration in the Klutz office. It’s a time when we shake off the winter blues and set aside some time for crafting, or what we like to call “working.” ;) While I’m not exactly known for being the craftiest one in our group, I vowed to honor the festivities and try out our newest product, Shrink & Link Jewelry.

If you’ve never played with shrink plastic, here’s the deal: It’s a sheet of magic plastic on which you draw and color designs. Cut out your designs with ordinary scissors, bake them for mere minutes on a cookie sheet and, through the miracle of quantum plasto-physics, your creations shrink to approximately 44% of their original size! Yes, I know—amazing. But wait, it gets better. Now, with the help of a handy-dandy hole punch and a custom shaping tool, kids can finally layer their creations and curve their teeny tiny plastic art like never before. With more than 50 traceable designs and 55 brads, they’ll be shrinking and linking, over and over again.

Need a visual? Watch me Shrink & Link here:

 
I kept mixing and matching, and before I knew it I had a limitless wardrobe of “did-you-really-make-that?!” jewelry. Check out my designs!

 

Who knows, maybe I’ll be dubbed the Ultimate Klutz Crafter sometime soon. Maybe not. In either case, happy National Craft Month!

Fairy Tale Dress-Up with Fashion Forms

We're welcoming Klutz Marketing Assistant Devin MacDonald to the blog today to share her experience with a Klutz classic. 

While I’ve graduated from the baggy hoodies, baseball caps, and cargo pants of my middle school tomboy-hood, I’m still pretty much the antithesis of a girly-girl. I can’t apply makeup to save my life, I wear the same pair of scuffed boots every day, and I harbour the not-so-secret hope that I will live to see the day when it is socially acceptable to wear nothing but monochrome jumpsuits (think construction worker, not chic and catwalk-ready). But, despite my tendency to shy away from the frilly, blingy, and otherwise fabulous, I will always have a soft spot for pretty princesses.

With a shiny new take on Cinderella hitting the silver screen this week, I found myself with a familiar urge to indulge in a little bit of fairy tale dress-up. So, I grabbed one of the Fashion Forms kits that have been staring at me from our conference room for weeks, and I decided to get my design on. 

What I find so neat about Fashion Forms is that it’s all about combining basic shapes in creative ways. So, with patterns for six tops and three skirts, you can pretty much make any no-pants look that crosses your mind. It got me thinking about which classic princess costumes I could recreate with those shapes, and—after inspiration struck—how I could transform those outfits into modern-day ensembles.

I mean, can’t you totally picture the Little Mermaid roaming the beach in romantic, flowy ruffles and a sweetheart halter on her land-dwelling days?

Can’t you see Snow White rocking a Peter Pan collar and a cute-but-classy pencil skirt while holding court with her woodland friends in a cozy little home?

What about a fit-and-flare number for everybody’s favourite Frozen queen?

It’s amazing how scraps of paper can transform into miniature outfits for a princess with a dab of glue, some imagination, and a few sparkly embellishments. It’s also amazing how time flies when you let your inner little girl out to play; I was surprised to find that I’d been at it for a couple of hours when I finally shook the sequins from my fingertips to check the time, but I enjoyed every second of it. My craving to experiment with adorable attire: satisfied. I feel like I just played the ultimate game of dress-up.

Now, to find a fashion-forward little friend so I have an excuse to crack my kit open again . . .