Posts Tagged ‘decorations’

Polymer Clay

Has added a whole new dimension to my Christmas Village collection. I have always like Christmas Villages, I have collected a few items over the years, made a few when I was involved in Ceramics and bought some pieces here and there, now I am adding to the collection with a village made of Polymer Clay.

I have absolutely no idea where I will put it, but it small enough that it will fit anywhere.  The largest house is only 1″ x 2″ so space isn’t going to be a problem.  Also these little house don’t necessarily fit the Christmas theme, but could be on display all year round. The decorations will include candy canes, gumdrops, various flowers, Christmas ornaments all made using my imagination and Polymer Clay.

To make these little houses all you need to do is make patterns out of card stock the size you want the houses, then use the same pattern for each house.  You will notice one of mine is a Blue and Maize one…a tribute to our Michigan Football team.  Not to be outdone I am in the process of making one out of Michigan State colors.  Most of these still have to be decorated for Christmas…so going to my favorite craft shop today to look and see what I can find in miniature that will fit my needs. I have texture plates that I use to make patterns on the side of the house to resemble bricks, lap siding, log cabins are made by rolling clay and stacking one on top of the other. All very simple that children will have a lot of fun helping you make them.

Making mini designs for the dollhouse for any holiday is fun for the whole family, and with a little imagination you will come up with a wide variety of craft ideas for these miniatures The following paragraphs will talk about methods to create 3 mini Halloween dollhouse decorations created by using polymer clay.

Pumpkins are a vital dollhouse mini decor for Halloween, plus they are very easily made from polymer clay plus a knife. You’ll need orange clay and green clay. Basically begin by creating a rounded ball from orange clay. Crunch the ball a little bit to create an dimple on opposite sides of the ball. Now create a little tube of green polymer clay for the mini dollhouse Halloween decor.

Include depth on your dollhouse miniature Halloween design by developing portions within the pumpkin. Work with a knife and begin near the top of the pumpkin and rotate the knife straight down the side of your pumpkin and continue around the pumpkin. Repeat this many times to make segments in the pumpkin and crunch again. Use the green tube as the stalk and push the stalk into the pumpkin using the knife. You can decorate this pumpkin the same way you would a real pumpkin using paint. This one of a kind mini dollhouse Halloween design is fun for the whole family to make.

Ribbon Candy has always been a Holiday staple as far as I am concerned.  So this year when I found a way to make decorations out of polymer to look like ribbon candy, I couldn’t wait to try it.

I am using these on the tree, to decorate packages and a bowl of “fake” ones on the table in a candy dish.  I have no small children coming to my house, so I don’t have to watch for anyone wanting to eat them!

Click on picture for more instructions

So much for my 21 days of Christmas Crafting…my only excuse is shopping.

Design by Marie Redmond

Last year around this time I was just starting my exploration of Polymer Clay. I knew from the start that this was something I would enjoy for years to come. One of my favorite aspects of clay is the miniature scenes, characters, and villages one can make. I like doing things in a small size.

I ran across this on my favorite Polymer Clay site Sculptey.com. The complete instructions for this and other crafts are there for both novices and experienced alike.

Happy Holidays!

Polymer Clay will not be left out of this holiday craft run.

This cute little guy was so easy to make, a child could do it. I am going to give you a link to a site that I use quite often for my ideas. Normally I would write down the instruction and then put them on here, but they have everything laid out so nice and simple. I figure it would be better just to send my readers there.

Santa Penguin

But be sure and come back for more ideas on holiday crafting right up until Santa time!

Happy Holidays

It is cold and rainy here in Michigan; a typical Halloween day for the Midwest. I have been trying to find a fun recipe for cupcakes this morning and I ran across these.
You are probably wondering what this have to do with crafting.

Look at this picture. These would be so easy to make out of Polymer Clay. All you would need is a small clay pot. You can purchase them at your craft store for pennies on the dollar. Then you would take the clay color of choice and drape them over the upside down pot. Add eyes, noses, hats, even card holders which can be made out of wire, and you have the perfect, inexpensive Halloween table decoration. You could even blend the clay to make varied color combination.

Why not carry this idea into the next season. Use the pot, some green clay and make a Christmas tree with ornaments. Oh! the ideas keep flowing!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Decorating your house for Halloween does not have to be expensive. Most of the materials you need are laying around the house anyway, so why not “recycle” them. I never thought of doing this, but will this year.

CRAFT MATERIALS:
Corrugated cardboard
Pencils or markers
Craft knife
Glue stick
Orange tissue paper
Painter’s or masking tape
Lamp

Time needed: Under 1 Hour
1. Measure the inside of an appropriate window and cut corrugated cardboard to fit tightly. Draw a face on the cardboard, then cut out the pieces with a craft knife (a parent’s job).

2. On the interior side of the cardboard, use a glue stick to cover the openings with orange tissue paper.

3. Set the cardboard in the window and use painter’s or masking tape to hold it in place. Place a lamp near the window to light your house-o’-lantern.

Decorating can’t be easier than this…so why not start thinking up ideas for the holidays, that the kids can do.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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.

2. Cover box and lid with blue paper.

3. Have an adult cut a 1/8 x 4-1/2-inch slit on each side of the lid and slip over ears.

4. Cut out face pieces and glue to front of box. Add wire whiskers, a pink pom-pom nose, and white pom-pom tail. Glue a small piece of fur to top of lid.

5. Punch two holes at the top of each ear. Thread one curly ribbon through each ear. Knot ends together to create a handle.