Glass Paperweight Finished with a Vintage Thread Card

Last month I purchased a small assortment of vintage thread cards at an antique shop that recently opened a few towns away.  I thought I'd use one in a project to show you just how easy it is to design and create paperweights that display a single object.

These instructions may be followed if your working with other types of objects.  Just be sure the items aren't too thick to fit into the bottom recess measurement of your paperweight kit.

I used the Round Paperweight Kit for this project (available at PhotoWeights.com) because I thought it was just the right shape for displaying a round thread card.  For the background, I chose decorative grid paper because it reminded me of the old cutting board my mom used for her sewing patterns.

After I placed the self-adhesive mounting board (included with each paperweight kit) onto the back of the grid paper, I used a pair of scissors to trim any paper that extended beyond the edge of the board.

The thread card was glued directly to the mounting board, making sure the tail end of the thread was tucked underneath and held in place by the glue.

If you're working with an item that has some value, including sentimental value, you may want to take better care when it comes to affixing it to the mounting board.  If you don't want an item to be ruined if you ever decide to remove it from the paperweight, consider the use of non-permanent glue or mounting tape.  Some items may also be held to the card with wire that passes through holes punched through the mounting board.

To add a little extra touch to the design, I placed a needle through the thread.

After the glue has dried completely, place your design face down into the recessed area on the bottom of the paperweight.

Some types of glue release chemicals during the drying process.  If your glue isn't completely dry before you assemble your paperweight, you may end up with a cloudy film inside the glass.

Apply the self-adhesive bottom pad (also included with each paperweight kit) over the base of the paperweight.

You're finished!

A Guide to Selling Crafts for the Holidays

With August nearly half-way through, it’s time to start planning for the holiday season.  I know it seems a little soon.  Believe me, though, getting ready for the most critical season of the year takes time.

I wanted to put together a simple guide that will help you prepare and plan your holiday strategy.

Branding

There are three things you need to know about creating a brand for your business that will make you stand out:

1. Business is all about relationships.
2. Three seconds are all you have.
3. Perception and perceived value is everything.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What makes your business unique?
• What niche is available that only you can fill?
• What attribute do you have that best fits your clients’ expectations?

Putting the answers to these questions together in one sentence will help you know your brand and develop a successful branding statement.

Visual Design and Marketing

Visual design is a critical part of brand identity.  It all starts with a great logo.

If you don’t have a logo, and you’re not able to design one yourself, many graphic designers offer these services online at a reasonable price.   I would recommend searching the marketplace sites at Etsy.com and Artfire.com.

The fonts, colors, and layout of your logo, business cards, postcards, and other marketing materials should evoke your brand.  Use the same color scheme and fonts so your identity remains consistent.  Your brand image (user icons, banners, and backgrounds) should also be consistent across your social media sites.

Pricing Your Goods

Most handcrafters start their own business because they love to design and create.  Even if your main motivation isn’t raking in large profits, you need to make some profit to re-invest into your business to make it flourish.

When you price an item, you should always figure in the cost of your materials and the time you have invested in each piece.  Make sure your profit makes it worthwhile.

It’s important to offer items in a variety of price ranges. While many shoppers are looking for gifts priced at $50.00 or more, even more are looking for more affordable items for less than $25.00.

Selling Online

If you’re planning to bring in online sales this holiday season, but you haven’t opened a website yet, it’s time to get started!

The fastest way to start selling your handcrafted goods is to open a shop within an existing, online marketplace such as Etsy.com or Artfire.com.   Marketplaces inspire buyer confidence and drive traffic. They also require hardly any investment to get started.

Setting up an Etsy shop doesn’t take very long.  The most time-consuming part is writing copy (information about your store, your store policies, and a background piece about yourself).  You also need to create a banner (artwork) for the top of your Etsy shop.  This can simply be the name of your store or a logo.  (You can pretty it up later).

Etsy offers a great deal of online help to make the process of designing your shop much easier.  Each year Etsy also offers a free Holiday Bootcamp that covers everything you need to know about preparing your Etsy store for the holidays, including tips on taking beautiful photos.

Sell at Craft Shows and Holiday Fairs

Selling your goods in person is the perfect opportunity to meet customers and get their feedback about your products.  It’s also a chance for you to network and get some marketing exposure and leads on wholesale orders.

While you’re selling at a craft show, make the most of your time.  Bring business cards, promotional items, talk to other vendors, and look at other displays for inspiration.

To find craft shows in your area, go to festivalnet.com or do an internet search.  Craft shows can fill up quickly, so you should register early.

Sell to Local Gift Shops and Boutiques

Selling wholesale to retailers isn’t for everyone because you can only expect to receive half your retail price.  Wholesale may be a good avenue if you’re looking for ongoing sales, as well as the prestige of selling your goods in a popular shop.

Before you approach retailers, be sure they offer items similar to yours that would appeal to the same demographic.

Payment Services

Whether you’re selling online or in person, you should expect your customers to want to pay with a credit card.  That’s why this topic is so important.

You don't need a formal merchant account to accept credit cards these days.  Paypal is an online payment service that’s widely used by buyers and sellers alike.  If you have an Etsy shop, you can also sign up for Etsy’s Direct Checkout which will allow buyers to pay by credit card, debit/bank card, and Etsy Gift Cards.

There are a variety of companies that offer mobile payments using a card reader that connects to your smart phone.  These are essential for craft fairs and other venues where you sell in person.  A few mobile payment services are Paypal Here, Square, and Amazon Local Register. 

Getting the Word Out

Whether you sell online or at craft shows, it’s important to share photographs of your products on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and other social media sites you actively use.  This will allow your fans to share your photos and offer their reviews so you can increase the reach of your message.

If you’re selling at an upcoming craft show, share this information with your followers and post pictures of your finished booth.  If your customers can't come to you, you have to bring your products to them through your photos and videos.

If you have any questions about selling your handcrafted items, feel free to post a comment.  I'm more than happy to be of help.

Six Easy Steps to Pressing Flowers Between the Pages of a Book

Last month I began a blog series on drying and pressing flowers for use in your paperweight designs and other craft projects.  Now that I've covered drying flowers with silica gel (Six Easy Steps to Creating Beautiful, Dried Flowers) it's time to move on to pressing flowers.

There are many different kinds of flower presses on the market that you can use.  My press of choice is a big, heavy book.  Practically everyone owns one.  If you're among the few who don't, you should be able to find one at a local thrift store for a dollar or two.

Here's what you'll need:

     Gift tissue (preferably white or kraft)
     Large "coffee table" book
     Thick, heavy book
     A few sheets of regular printer paper
     Waxed paper
     Patience

Step One:  Arrange the flowers and leaves you'd like to press on a few sheets of gift tissue (preferably white or kraft).  They should be spaced apart and cover an area no larger than the "coffee table" book you'll be using.

Step 2:  Cover the flowers with two more sheets of gift tissue.

Step 3:  Gently place your "coffee table" book over the flowers and allow the book to settle as much as possible.  Don't apply force because this may crush and damage the flowers and leaves.

Leave the book in place for at least a day.

When you remove the book, the flowers will be partially dried and free of surface moisture.

Step 4:  Fold a piece of waxed paper and sheet of plain printer paper in half.  (The printer paper should be on the outside to protect the pages of the book from moisture).  Arrange flowers and leaves of similar thickness on the waxed paper, making sure to leave space between each clipping.

Step 5:  Fold the waxed paper and printer paper over to cover the flowers.

Step 6:  You can place more than one layer of dried flowers in the same book.  Just be sure there are 100 or so pages between your pressings.  Once the book is full, set it aside and place something heavy on top of it.  You can use another large book, a couple bricks from your garden, or whatever else you may have around your home.

This is where patience comes into play.  You should leave your pressings undisturbed for at least two weeks.

There you have it!  Six easy steps to pressing flowers.

Storage Tips:  After you've removed the pressed flowers from the waxed paper, place them on a flat tray or cookie sheet if you plan to use them soon.  For long-term storage, you can keep your pressings in shallow, air-tight containers or between sheets of printer paper within the pages of a book.


Pressed flowers from your garden or florist can be used to create stunning paperweights that will bring a colorful touch of nature to your desk.  We hope you'll visit our blog again soon as we show you how to capture pressed flowers in a variety of paperweight designs.

A Victorian Inspired Paperweight Featuring Dried Baby's Breath and Statice

This paperweight was made using some of the small flowers I dried in my earlier blog post (Six Easy Steps to Creating Beautiful, Dried Flowers).

The supplies I used for this project are shown above.  They include tacky glue, foam mounting squares, a swatch of paper to use as the background, some dried flowers, and a brass heart finding.

Once again, I'm using the Heirloom Dome paperweight kit from our shop at PhotoWeights.com.  This is my favorite of the domes we carry because of the beaded design that frames the display area.

The paper I chose for the background came off an old scrapbook cover I purchased to salvage for my craft projects.  If you prefer, you can use decorative scrapbook paper.

TIP:  If you like to go to flea markets and antique shops as much as I do, look for items you can use as backgrounds in your designs such as album covers, tattered books, embossed document folders, and other things covered in leather, textured paper, and fabric.

Place the adhesive side of the mounting board (included with each paperweight kit) onto the reverse side of your background paper.

Using a pair of scissors, trim any paper that overlaps the edge of the mounting board.

Place a double-sided, foam mounting square in the center of the background.  (If you're using old paper, make sure the adhesive will bond to it properly.)  Leave the protective paper over the top surface of the mounting square to keep the adhesive clean.

Apply glue around the perimeter of the mounting square.   The width of your glue pattern will be determined by the length of the flowers' stems and the size of the decorative piece (brass heart) you place over the flowers.

Begin arranging your flowers around the mounting square, making sure each stem is placed directly in the glue.

Layer your flowers until you're happy with the pattern and coverage.  Make sure the flowers aren't thick enough to apply pressure to the back of the decorative piece (brass heart).

After the glue has dried completely, gently tap the edge of the mounting board onto your work surface to remove any loose particles from the flowers.  You can also use a few puffs of air from an air canister.

To finish your design, remove the protective paper covering the adhesive on the mounting square.  After you've cleaned the back of your decorative piece (brass heart) with rubbing alcohol or glass cleaner, gently position it onto the mounting square and press down to secure.

Center the finished design over the adhesive side of the bottom pad and gently press down to secure.

After you've cleaned your paperweight with glass cleaner, place the bottom pad face-down onto the base of the paperweight.

The brass heart I used for this paperweight has a fairly flat back which provided the perfect surface for an adhesive mounting square.  If you'd to use something that has a textured or curved back, such as a piece of costume jewelry, you could glue one or more small wood or plastic cubes to the back to act as risers which would allow you to secure the item to the background while providing enough space to tuck the flowers underneath.

Capturing a Single, Dried Rose in a Dome Paperweight

This is my second blog post in a series that's all about working with preserved flowers.

Last week I showed you how to dry flowers in six easy steps.  Now I'm going to show you how to capture a single, dried rose using our Heirloom Dome Paperweight Kit.  (Available at PhotoWeights.com)

For most dried flower arrangements, with the exception of pressed flowers, you'll need to select a hollow dome because they have the extra ceiling height you'll need.  Something I really love about these domes is the fact that they magnify whatever they display.  This will add a lot of interest and dimension to your designs.

For this project you'll need the following supplies:

Heirloom Dome Paperweight Kit
Dried rose (or other flower)*
Swatch of background paper (any color you like)
Tacky glue
Small paint brush

* You'll need to select a flower that will fit within the display area of the paperweight. The thickness of the flower must fit the bottom recess.  The bottom recess is the ceiling height of the hollow area within the dome.

Step 1:  Place the adhesive side of your mounting board (the round disc shown above) onto a scrap of colored paper.  This will act as the background to apply the flower to.  I used some textured, black paper left over from another project.  I thought a black background would really bring out the color of the orange petals.

Here's a tip!  If you don't have any colored paper available, search the pages of a magazine or catalog for small sections of color you can clip out.  You can also print some color on a sheet of white paper using an inkjet printer.

Step 2:  If the flower has any loose petals that need to be secured, gently apply glue to the underside of the petal and lay it on the petal below.   (I used Aleene's Original Tacky Glue.)

Step 3:  Apply glue to the bottom of the flower, making sure to cover the lower petals (not quite to the edge).

 Step 4:  Glue to the flower to the center of the mounting board that was covered with paper in Step 1.

Step 5:  Once the flower is secured to the mounting board, center the board onto the adhesive side of the bottom pad and press into place.  This will frame the mounting board with an adhesive area that will bond it to the bottom of the glass paperweight.

Allow the glue to dry for 24 hours, or refer to your glue's instructions.

Step 6:  Place the flower (face down) into the recessed space on the bottom of the paperweight by centering the bottom pad over the base.



That's it!  In just a few steps you can create a flower paperweight that looks like it was purchased from a high-end boutique or museum store.

I hope you'll return to my blog as I add more paperweight design projects made with preserved flowers.

Six Easy Steps to Creating Beautiful, Dried Flowers

Because the art of drying and pressing flowers has become more and more popular, I wanted to create a series of blog posts to walk you through the steps involved in drying, pressing, and using small bouquets of color in a variety of paperweight designs.  You'll see how flowers and floral accents can be used as focal points or to simply lend a touch of natural elegance.

If you're drying flowers for a paperweight (available at PhotoWeights.com), it's important to choose flowers that are small enough to comfortably fit within the paperweight's display area (length, width, depth).  I'll explain more about this in my design posts.

Here's what you'll need:

     A variety of small flowers and greenery
     Silica gel crystals
     Air-tight containers with lids (at least 3-4" deep)

Be sure to read and follow the safety information and instructions that come with your silica gel.

Step 1:  Pour at least 1-2" of silica gel crystals into your container.  The silica needs to be deep enough to gently sink the base of your flowers into so they'll remain upright.

Step 2:  When preparing flowers for drying, remove the stems by cutting across the hip.  This will reduce the thickness of the flowers and create a somewhat flat bottom, making it easier to lay them on a background.

Step 3:  Place the flowers into the silica, sinking them slightly into the crystals so they remain upright.  Be sure there is separation between the flowers so they don't touch.

Step 4:  Cover the flowers with the silica by slowly sprinkling the crystals over them.  When the petals are nearly covered, gently tap the container on your work surface to help fill in any voids or gaps.  Slowly sprinkle more silica into the container until the flowers are completely hidden.

Step 5:  Place the air-tight lid on the container.  For small roses, store the container in a cool, dry place and allow them to remain in the silica, undisturbed, for at least 5-6 days.  Larger flowers and flowers with thicker petals will require additional time.  (Refer to the directions that come with your silica gel.)

Be sure to clean up any silica gel that may have been spilled in your work area.

Six days later...

Step 6: After the right amount of time has passed, slowly pour the silica gel from the container into a large bowl.  Gently remove the flowers from the silica and shake each one gingerly to remove any excess crystals.

The silica gel is reusable, so place them in an air-tight container for future projects.

Again, be sure to clean your work area to clean up any silica gel that may have been spilled.

Your flowers are beautifully preserved.  


Small Accent Flowers and Greenery

Small accent flowers and greenery can also be dried using the same process.

I hope this project will inspire you to pick a few flowers from your garden, or visit a local florist, so you can create dried flowers of your own.  They're perfect for paperweights, shadowboxes, and a number of other decorative crafts.

My thanks to Connie at Black Tie Floral in De Smet, SD, for providing me with the beautiful flowers I used in this post.

DIY Retro Telephone Dial Dome Paperweight

The idea for a rotary dial paperweight came to mind last week when I was going through a box of old, forgotten things and found a rotary dial phone I purchased years ago.  I thought it would be the perfect throwback design for the modern desk.

If you'd like to use the .jpg image I worked with, you can download it here from our website.  The artwork may be sized to fit the paperweight style of your choice.

I used the Large Dome Paperweight Kit for this project because I thought the magnification qualities would bring a lot of interest to the design.  In the photo above, you can see how the Large Dome magnifies our instruction card.

The Large Dome has a mounting board that measures 3 1/4" in diameter.  Because of the shape of the paperweight, there is an area toward the edge that will not be visible.  I sized the dial smaller than the mounting board and added a black background in the "void" area.

My artwork was laid out in MS Publisher and printed onto quality photo paper using my inkjet printer.  If you don't have a publishing program, a word processing program with drawing capabilities and an image editing feature should work nicely.

The adhesive mounting board (included with each paperweight kit) was placed on the reverse side of the printed artwork.

Tip:  Holding the artwork up to a bright window is an easy way to see the image from the back, allowing you to place the mounting board in the perfect location.

Any areas of the paper that extended beyond the edge of the round mounting board were trimmed with scissors.

The mounting board (with artwork attached) was placed face down onto the bottom of the paperweight.

To finish, I covered the base of the paperweight with the adhesive bottom pad (also included with each paperweight kit).

Tip:  To keep a dome paperweight level while applying the bottom pad, place the paperweight on a bag of dried beans or popcorn kernels.


I hope this project will inspire you to create your own designs, turning ordinary photos into extraordinary accessories for your desk.