Personalizing Paperweights With Names, Monograms, and Text

Many of our customers have asked for a little guidance when it comes to personalizing paperweights with a name, monogram, or other text.  These basic, step-by-step instructions are an excellent starting point.  They can be also be modified in several different ways. In most cases, the first step in designing a paperweight with text is to create a layout using a desktop publishing program.  If you don't have publishing software,...

A Vignette of Antique Sewing Notions Displayed in a Glass Paperweight

My blog post from yesterday (Glass Paperweight Finished with a Vintage Thread Card) walked you through the steps involved in placing a single object in a paperweight using a decorative paper background.  Today's project will show you how to display a few different items in your paperweight.  There are more steps involved.  However, I'm sure you'll find each step is just as easy, depending on the complexity of your design layout. For...

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...

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: Business...

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...

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...