I am getting ready to join the EK Success Brands staff at the upcoming CHA Winter Trade Show in Anaheim, California this week, and am in the frantic mode of packing and mentally preparing to be gone from home for a week. It is always an exciting time, whether you attend as a vendor or as a retailer/customer. I was employed at a local scrapbook store in my area for five years before they closed their doors, and was able to go to a few of the CHA events on behalf of the store. Once I started working with EK as a member of their Creative Artist Team, I have had the honor of being present at many of the shows to represent them as a demonstrator and an educator. This time around, I have been asked to teach a class using the Jolee’s Jewels Line of products. Can I tell you how excited I am!
Last fall, I was introduced to the Jolee’s Hotfix Jewels, and have since been in love with them. Lucky for me, much of the class I am going to be teaching at CHA includes the hotfix jewels! Although it can be time consuming to create a project with them, it is well worth every minute as the outcome is to die for!
The hotfix jewels are flatback jewels with heat-activated glue on the back. They are placed on a fabric item in a design of your choice, and then a Hotfix tool is used to adhere them to the fabric. Any fabric pieces work; some examples are t-shirts, tote bags, bandanas, blue jeans, ribbon, or even fancy napkins or handkerchiefs. The hotfix tool is perfect for small details, or small to medium sized designs, but a regular home iron can also be used on larger areas or bigger designs.
Because I am so crazy about these fun little jewels, I decided to blog about them and show some fun examples I have done using them. The first piece is a mini tote bag for my daughter, Kalyn, who is almost 3 years old. It is the perfect size for her to carry her miscellaneous treasures along when we go places. I used a combination of three colors of jewels to spell out her name, add a line border, and decorate with flowers. As a finishing touch I added a variety of ribbons on one of the straps.
The second project I did was a canvas covered photo frame. It is a simple design to show that the details don’t have to be extravagant in order to spice up the project. The sparkly crystals shine and draw attention to the two small hearts in the lower left corner. Working with the tools and the hotfix tool are very simple, and it’s fun to personalize items with these fun crystals!
Hopefully this will give you a fun change to try when you need a break from paper crafting. If you are interested, use the following link to see some sneak peaks of the new products the EK Success Brands are introducing at the CHA Winter Show. http://www.scrapbook.com/blogs/189901/view/160143.html .
Visit the EK Success Brands website to see all of the jewelry and hotfix products.
Happy Crafting!
Karen (Kabby)