This amazing plastic transforms any graphic or design into a hardened piece of plastic 1/3rd its original size and the plastic becomes 9 times thicker making wonderful 3 dimensional embellishments for your pages and other projects. These are lots of fun to make and aren’t just for your scrapbook pages. You can also make your own magnets, buttons, keychains, earrings and much more.

Materials you will need:

Shrinky Dinks (I prefer the frosted sheets), slick pen or equivalent, heat tool or oven, pencils or chalks, baking tray or heat proof surface, scissors, craft knife, sandpaper block (required only if using unfrosted shrink plastic).

Step 1

Choose a design or create a design to shrink, I have used a word. Whatever you are drawing or choose for design, don’t make it too small remember these are going to shrink to 1/3rd its original size. Trace/draw the design using a black permanent ink marker onto the frosted side (sanded side) of the shrinky dink. If using the unfrosted shrinky dinks then you will need to lightly sand prior to drawing your design. If you are going to use lettering you will need to make sure that you trace it back the front to ensure it can be read from the shiny side. I have used a font from my computer, flipped the letters then printed out to trace.

Step 2

Use chalk or pastel pencils to colour in the detail of your image/design. It’s best to keep the colours vivid and bright, as they will appear muted when viewed through the shiny side of the shrink plastic. Next, cut around the image with scissors but leave a little edge, don’t cut too close to your design or you won’t see the black. If you want to use as a tag ensure you punch a hole at the top now. Remember that the hole should be quite large as it will shrink too.

Step 3

Place your coloured shrink plastic rough side up on either a heat-proof surface or a baking tray, depending on your heating method. Use the heat tool to shrink the image. The plastic will curl up as it shrinks, but keep heating throughout the process as it tends to flatten out again. If you remove the heat throughout the shrinking process it will stick to other areas and won’t flatten out.

Step 4

Allow the shrink plastic to cool then adhere to your layout. If you punched a hole, thread ribbons or cord.

Shrinky Dinks with Stamps

You can also use your stamps for a design. Carefully ink up your stamp using a permanent dye-based ink pad – you can use pigment pads if you like, but the colouring can be more difficult with these. Stamp the image onto the rough side of the shrink plastic and leave it to dry before colouring it. Then follow steps 2 through to 4. Remember though that the small stamps will probably not be suitable as the image will be too small as a finished product.

Colour your stamped image

Carefully cut around the image if desired, as I’m making a buckle I’ve cut the middle out but leaving 1 piece for ribbon to thread.

Watch how your shinky shrivels up and then folds out flat.

Now you’ve gone from your original stamped image to this cute little buckle.

Thread your ribbon through and adhere to your layout or other project.

For the frame below that I used for a cover of a mini book, I used a doodle template for design, cut out the middle with a craft knife, coloured the rough side with permanent markers, punched holes along the bottom before shrinking (to fit the jump rings). Using a flower punch and heart punch for the dangles at the base of the frame, coloured with permanent markers, punched holes at top of each before shrinking (to fit the jump rings). Gave me a lovely 4×4 inch frame.

You can now also buy Shrink plastic for your ink jet printer. So now you can print your photos onto the shrink and turn your photos into embellishments, keychains, necklaces and more.

Have you ever needed a special transparency and struggled trying to find it?

Living out here in the sticks with no scrapbooking shop, sometimes we have to make do with what we can get locally. So in the past, I have made my own transparencies. I thought I would share it, it might come in handy for you one day…

In the above layout, i made my own angel wings.

I purchased some Overhead Transparencies – ones that can be used in a printer. With the wings, I searched on the internet for patterns for wings. I found some great wings at Tattoo sites. I printed the winds out and then enlarged them to the size i required. I then traced them onto the transparency using white gel pen. I highlighted around the wings with silver kindy glitz. Quite easy for a great effect.

In the past, i have also printed direct onto the transparency – hence the need for ones that can go through the printer. In the above layout, I printed to quote.

In the layout below, I search the internet for a pirate compass and printed that out. The transparency has been placed over gold painted chipboard and under the skull and cross bones.

I also printed out the “Map to adulthood” on transparency….

You can’t see the map that well behind infront of the photo…. but in places you can see it.

So thats a little idea from Jodis House of Scraps….. Hope you can find some use for it…