Don't you just love little things?

Show of hands, who remembers Shrinky Dinks? I loved making these when I was a kid. And I was so happy to find a little kit at the craft store which included a few pages of the magically shrinking plastic.

Today, my crafty buddy and I had some time and a craft date planned via webcam. My inspiration was this cool umbrella mobile. I drew and colored and cut and punched and ended up with this: (Please ignore my scratched up pan, lol!)

 

I'm now old enough to pop these babies in the oven without an adult's help! After the joy of watching them curl up and shrink (and letting them cool) I used some jewelry findings to create a tiny mobile of my own.

There's a lot of fun tutorials out there with great ideas for Shrinky Dinks! You can make pins and necklaces and magnets and more. My buddy and I ended up making rings using this tutorial. It is a bit tricky forming the ring while it's still hot, but I love how it turned out.

If you want to make your own shrink jewelry, etc. you can find paper (you can even print on it) here. Or check out these cool Etsy sellers who have already done the work for you: Dillon Designs has great rings, LizzyJD has beautiful earrings, and Passion Flower has a variety of cool items.

While we're on the subject of small things, let me introduce my new little friend:

For a long time I've enjoyed looking at pictures of Blythe dolls. (Never heard of them? Do a search. And get addicted.) The real deal is a bit expensive and I'm not quite ready to spend so much on a doll... BUT there's a brand new series of Littlest Pet Shop Blythe dolls! They are apparently the same size as petite Blythe dolls. While they aren't quite as fancy, I think they're pretty cute and a good starter Blythe size at a good price. The one I picked out was Buckles and Bows. I'm still thinking on a name for her (yes it's a Blythe doll, but everyone always names them something else) and I'm looking forward to sewing tiny outfits for her. 

One last thing, I'm so excited to report that my TARDIS mini quilt was featured on Geek Crafts AND the Craftzine blog and now Nodwick! Woo hoo! Let's hear it for small things bringing a lot of fun and smiles. :-)