Do you remember playing with shrink plastic as a kid? It was such fun to draw, color and cut out my own designs from the sheets of plastic. I loved to watch my creations in that special oven magically curl up and shrink to become tiny, colorful treasures in just a few minutes.It was a favorite rainy day activity for sure! It’s funny that even now I find myself still playing with shrink plastic with my kids and even for my own crafting. I love it just as much, but now what I enjoy is using my Bo Bunny stamps to create an assortment of charms, buttons and embellishments for cards, tags, scrapbook pages and other projects. The plastic shrinks to 1/3 to ½ its original size so these little gems make cute and unique dimensional embellishments. Best of all, I make the most out of using my Bo Bunny stamps!
For this St. Nick card I stamped Santa’s image onto the rough side of plastic. This side is very absorbent so take care to not push too hard to avoid blurring the design. I used a permanent ink that dries quickly and maintains crisp detail of the stamp design that remains sharp even after shrinking.
Next, with the rough side still facing up, I colored in Santa’s suite and beard with colored pencils.
Then I cut out the design with scissors. I used regular scissors but shrink plastic is easy to cut with decorative scissors or even punches. Also, if you intend to create buttons or charms this is the time to hole punch your piece. 1/8” or larger hole punches work well.
I used a toaster oven to shrink my stamped designs. I lined a tray with a piece of paper bag or you can use uncoated parchment paper like you find in the grocery store. Set the piece in the oven and watch it shrink. Be sure to follow the directions provided by the shrink plastic brand you’re using. Most pieces will only take 1 – 3 minutes to shrink completely. Once the piece shrunk all the way, I removed it from the oven to cool. If needed, press flat while it’s still warm.
Notice the size difference between the actual stamp and the shrink plastic embellishment.
Here’s the finished card I made using the Santa embellishment. Since this stamped piece had writing on it, I displayed the rough side out so that the words and date stamp wouldn’t appear backwards. I used clear glue dots to adhere the piece to the card.
Title: St. Nick
Designer: Patti Milazzo
St. Nick Card Supply List: Bo Bunny – Dear Santa Clearly Stamp; Christmas Wishes Rub-Ons; Holly Berry iCandy Jewels; St. Nick Buttons & Bling; St. Nick Home for the Holidays Cardstock Stickers; St. Nick patterned papers: Mistletoe, Noel, St. Nick, Sugar Plum; Double Dot Cardstock - Chiffon Dot
Other: Shrink plastic; permanent or heat-set ink; colored pencils; toaster oven/oven or heat gun
Here’s another card I created where I made the trees from the Merry Christmas stamp set into buttons simply by hole punching 2 – 1/8” holes near the center of each tree. For this example, I applied the buttons with the shiny side facing up. I like the glassy like appearance they have.
Title: Christmas Trio
Designer: Patti Milazzo
Christmas Trio Card Supply List: Bo Bunny – Merry Christmas Clearly Stamp; ‘Tis the Season patterned papers: Treasure, Stripe, Yuletide, ‘Tis the Season; Deck the Halls; Wild Berry Bodacious Brads.
Other: Shrink plastic; permanent or heat set ink; colored pencils; toaster oven/oven or heat gun
Tips:
- You can use a heat gun to heat the plastic but be sure to have some sort of implement (long craft tweezers) to hold down the plastic to prevent the piece from blowing away and to keep your fingers from being burned.
- If needed, you can lightly spray a clear acrylic coat on the rough side of the plastic to set your color. Avoid over spraying as this may smudge your design.
- Besides paper crafts, you can stamp images to create charms and accents for jewelry and other crafts. I plan on making a cute pair of holiday earrings for my daughter using the Merry Christmas stamp ornaments. The possibilities are endless!
So pull out those Bo Bunny stamps and see what fun embellishments you can make!
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