Shrinky Dinkys

So I've never ever played with shrinky dinks until this past weekend. I know it has the potential for awesomeness... I'm just not there with it. My first attempt was using the ruff and ready kind. My first pieces just curled up and stuck to itself. I waited and waited for it to come uncurled. I opened up the stove and tried to "help it". Nope. Second attempt they went flat but I didn't do the straightest cutting lines so I was unhappy with them. I decided to cut circles and once I started doing circle designs they went well. Except I was putting them on a piece of cardboard and the cardboard had lines on it which then branded itself to the shrinky dinks. I tried parchment paper but that didn't work either. Next day tried again, and this time I got 1 piece I was semi pleased with and this time I used a paper bag, here is my best result:



I tried the inkjet printer type too and those went horribly horribly horribly wrong. They say to lighten it so I did, but they never got darker and they shriveled up on themselves and I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for them to shrivel. It seems like circles are the only ones that don't do this. I'm starting to wonder if it is because I'm using a conventional oven. So I'm going to try and find my toaster oven and see if I get better results there.

Here is my shrinky dink necklace paired with a pair of my wet felt earrings: