Creative Crafting

Polymer Clay is a fun medium to use because it is easy to mold and it can be cooked in your oven. When making jewelry, and you have run out of beads that you want to use, take out your clay, and make beads. Here are some techniques that will make your bead making more intricate and unique.

I found a technique for making imitation bone or ivory beads using polymer clay. You can also maneuver the clay so that it will take on a wooden look. You start the process by making beads the size you need out of white. Some artist like to use more cylindrical shapes as they claim it enables them to “carve” patterns easier than more rounded beads, for myself I didn’t see a difference. So use your own ideas on the shapes (more fun that way too!)

Got some little elves with time on their hands? Invite them to help out in a special holiday workshop, creating season’s greetings for everyone on your family’s mailing list. Using four super-simple techniques and such kid-friendly materials as glue dots and stickers, they’ll be turning out festive, personalized cards in no time.  These would also make cute Thank You cards from the kids.

You will need:
# Ink pad with nontoxic brown or bronze ink
# Plain notecards or card stock
# Craft glue
# Googly eyes
# Mini pom-poms, brown and red
# Brown marker

Use a thumb or fingertip to stamp 3 reindeer heads on each notecard. Glue on googly eyes and pom-pom noses (including a red one for Rudolph, of course). Finish by drawing antlers.

Courtesy of Family Fun.com

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There are some wonderful tools available for the Polymer Clay artist.   One of these that I have used quite extensively in my projects involving fairies is the flexible mold.

You can purchase them at your craft store.  There will be a wide variety of molds for you to use, everything from feet, emblems, leafs, flowers, hands, faces, even body molds.  These molds are made of a flexible rubberized material. However, I have learned there are some tricks to using these molds to your advantage.

First if you have never worked with Polymer Clay the first thing you should learn is to condition it.  That means take a small amount of clay off of the block and knead it with your fingers until it becomes very pliable.

As many of my readers know, I have become a huge fan of Polymer Clay.  I like making yard gnomes, fairies, and little scenes to go with them.   Over the winter I made a lot of flowers, little houses, and some new fairies and gnomes.  All of which will find a spot in my garden this summer.

Here are two of my newest creations.

I hope you enjoy these little creatures as much as I enjoy making them.  In weeks to come I have some ideas on what to do with the miniature birdhouses I made..Stay Tuned.

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It is a little early in the season for flowers to be blooming in my gardens.  The daffodils are blooming of course, and the tulips are starting to bud.   But I am anxious.  I love flowers, they make me feel happy.

Polymer Clay also makes me happy..so why not combine the two.   I made Roses, Tulips, Dahlias, Canna and a few that I am not sure what they are, but flowers are free flowing, so I used my imagination.

Now that I have this veritable garden sitting in my hobby/computer room I am not sure what to do with them.  I will put some in little vases to either give to friends or sell at my yard sales this summer, but I think I will make a few more and make them into jewelry!

Each of these flowers is between a dime to a quarter in size, just to give you some idea.

It isn’t often I am overwhelmed by the vast scope of someone’s artistic talent.  I live in a household of talented individuals. So when I went to check out my favorite flicker page, that I haven’t seen in months, I was very overwhelmed and proud of the accomplishments of this lovely young woman, who also happens to be my daughter.

Our children are our greatest gifts.  I hope you enjoy  looking at these one of kind artwork as much as I did.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23205417@N03/

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Easter is almost here and I have been looking for simple, easy to do crafts for kids of all ages; especially a couple of friends of mine in Colorado.

I have a couple that I will post in the next week or so to keep the little ones busy and decorate your house at the same time.

• Oval box with lid (7-1/2 x 10 x 5 inches)
• 12 x 18-inch sheet of pink stiff felt
• Stapler
• Crafts glue
• Double-sided tape (optional)
• 5 sheets of blue paper
• White, black, purple, and yellow paper scraps
• Thin white wire
• 1-1/2-inch pink pom-pom
• 2-1/2-inch white pom-pom
• White crafts fur scraps
• Hole punch
• Orange curly ribbon

1. Cut two 4 x 18-inch ears from felt. Staple ears inside the box along top edge.

I have been getting bored since Christmas. There is only so much you can do in Michigan in the middle of winter. I don’t ski, I don’t ice fish, I don’t tobaggan. I do like the snow though and I love Michigan. It is a great state.

In the winter I have to find things to keep me busy. The months between January-end of March are particularly nailbiting for me!

I have been collecting for the last 10 years, birdhouses. The kind that you don’t hang outside, but are purly decorative. You find them at store thoughout the midwest that cater to folk art, country decor. So I have about 20 of the life size birdhouses hanging around the house (not literally).

So I decided with my love of Polymer Clay, why not make miniatures of them! So I have been busy. Each one stand about 2″ high and 11/2″ deep. The width depends on the style of the house.