Just to give you the heads up that Fiddle Fart posts will be every other day for a little while …… but with perhaps the odd, occasional extra post thrown in here and there. My life is about to take another turn …. let’s just say, that on Tuesday (yesterday) I handed in my notice at work ….. and I feel ten ton lighter and look a million times younger already, though still prone to slight exaggeration!
Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Pendant Tray Monkey Keyrings
I have been experimenting with the inch pendant trays and keyrings that I treated myself to just before Christmas.
They came from Etsy via China and cost me £13.72 for 50 antique effect silver trays which work out at roughly 27p each. I had bought them initially with the intention of making Christmas Tree decorations and key chains.
With that in mind I will be going through all my stacks take-away boxes looking for suitable embellishments etc. that will fit into a one inch square, and these four Dress It Up monkey buttons (sent to me from Dianne my special friend in Florida) were just perfect. 
I cut an inch square of paper, faux stitched it round the edges and glued it into the bottom of a tray. I then cut the shank off the button and glued it in the prepared tray, using E6000 glue, which is really strong and I know once cured will not budge. 
When the button was set in position and a silver peel-off added to two of the corners, I added “Aleene’s Jewelry Pendant Gel”, to the pendant. This was the first time I have used this product and was curious to see if it was an equal substitute to Glossy Accents or Anita’s 3D Clear Gloss Finish, I have used previously, which indeed it proved to be, setting in approx 4 – 5 hours, however to give the pendant a deep and full look I added a second layer, as one looked a little flat. I also painted a little on the monkeys face to give it glossy, slightly enamelled look.
I am really pleased with the results, I might have to wait an extra two or three weeks when I order from various companies in China, but as I have learnt from past experience if I buy in bulk, I end up paying at least half of what I would pay in UK for the same thing.