My little find at the Store

Last night I went to the local grocery store to pick up a few things for the week and I ended up going to where the magazines were.  I often check out the different beading magazines and I'm not sure why but I hope that for some little miracle theres a polymer clay magazine... but there never is... so I settle in on checking out those beading magazines.

I ended up picking up a magazine with some very awesome ideas and I'm hoping to get a few of these on the go for Christmas gifts.  I know, I've got a lot to do already if I plan on getting things done, but I am just excited!

Best of Bead Style was a little gem in the beading magazines this month and there are as it says in the title 64 projects to look at and make your very own.  I've got a couple that look like they wouldn't be to hard - and I really like that the layout makes it easy for those of us who aren't trained in jewelery making to be able to follow and understand.  LOVE IT.  So I'm planning this weekend to take a bit of time and try one or two projects and see how they turn out.

Mellow Monday: Warming the Heart on a Rainy Day

Here I thought I would be chalk full of inspiration with what I find online during the week... and this week has been one of the most bizarre weeks ever.  I couldn't get inspired to save myself.  But today has been one of those rainy, miserable, windy sorts of days... and I think I'm craving some sunny days and gorgeous sunsets.  Here's a little bit of what I find that makes me happy...

These lovely creations from let to right, top to bottom can be found at the following sites:

• Orange Crush
• Real Butterfly Wing Necklace
• Carnelian in a Stirling Silver Net
• Circles
• Burnt Orange Chunky Hat
• Tropical Escape

Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Yup, I'm crazy.  After making the Santas I kicked it up a knotch and decided to try making some Christmas Trees.  They are made out of Fimo Polymer Clay and I added some little sparkly beads to give it a little sizzle.   They aren't too big, they can be placed on a mantel or a Christmas tree... the choice would be yours to make.  But I thought they were fun... my only worry when I was making them was if I would have enough clay.  Luckily I had both a plain red and an "effect" red that had the sparkles in it.  So I tried one tree of each. 

Here's how they turned out...

I rolled them out... it took about 3 rows of the Fimo Clay to get
my trees to the right size.  I honestly thought it would take
more clay to get the desired look... happy it didn't!

My two trees are ready to be decorated!

My completed little trees.  One with just swirled white Fimo
clay and the other with dots of Fimo and my little jewels
for that added "OH LA LA"

I have to say that I am really happy with the way the little trees turned out.  Now just to add a ribbon on the top so that they can be added a  Christmas ornament... or not, depending on what you want to do with the little ornaments. 

Having just taken the Christmas tree ornaments out of the oven.. I don't recommend baking them with the jewels.  Even though it's a low temperature, it still make the jewels cloudy and they fell off.  So I put some new ones back on with a bit of glue and they look pretty fab-oosh!

Santas, Santas and more Santas

 Well with my new cutting board to use to make my little creations on, I decided to start with some Santas since it's getting closer to Christmas.  I had debated on how many to make and what they might be used for.  Do I create a little Santa character, do I make some charms, do I make some jewelery?  I wasn't too sure, but yesterday I had picked up some earring backs and figured they'd be cute and maybe someone might want to wear them. 

I decided to give it a whirl...

Starting out with my clays for my Santas

I decided I should make them pretty small... but with the detail I planned on giving the Santas I couldn't get too small.  It was a bit of a toss up now as to what I wanted to do, but I decided to stick with earrings.

Santas faces are coming together... slowly!

Now a little personality... faces are done

Here's the completed pair.... HO HO HO

Excuse the dirty finger nails...so full of clay!  But these are
the backs I picked up at Michaels on Friday and I figure
I'll make a pair of earrings and see how they fit on the ear.

After making the Santas... they may be a bit big, as I wanted them to fit well on my daughter's ears. I'll let her try them on and see how she likes them.  If they're good to go I'll put the backs on the other 2 sets I have and she can give them away at Christmas time to her friends if she wants.  I really enjoyed making them... I wonder what I should try next???

** Update **

I had added the earring backs to the Santas last night and now the glue is dry... here's what they look like when I put them one.

Don't look too bad...eh!

Something new to work on

I had been reading that some people who worked with Polymer Clay worked on a Tile.  I went out today in search of a nice smooth tile to work on and I couldn't find one so I decided to by a cutting board instead.  It's great to get away from working on some paper so I don't get clay on the table.  SO NICE TO HAVE!  I wish I had thought of it sooner.  Tonight I made some Christmas-y do-dads and I have to say it was so nice not to have to worry about the paper and colour transfer and getting holes in the paper.  It's a nice smooth surface... and I can't complain!

Cat Baby

I was on a bit of a roll after making my Shadow box and though I would give my try at a little character.  I had fun making my little cat baby.  Yesterday I had picked up some clays and some sparkles and throught I'd try them out on this little guy.  I had thought by adding it to a little brush that I could brush on the sprinkles nicely over the little fella.  Well, it didn't really work out as I had planned... the sparkles kind of stuck and clumped... not as awesome as I had thought but it's a learning process and here's the result.  I ended up scratching off some of the clumped up sparkles with my finger nails and I don't think it's so bad.

I am looking at getting something more together for Christmas and I'm hoping that I'll have a chance tomorrow to work on some ideas I have.  I guess I'm getting into the mood as it's started to snow last night.

Since heading into Michaels on Friday to take a look at what I could get my hands on for my clay projects I am looking forward to trying some new things... like sparkles, liquid clay, and I picked up some beads to add to my Christmas decorations... oh and some earring backs so I can add some polymer clay designs to them... it should be interesting... and hopefully I'll have a bit more to show you later on.

A Shadow Box with a little Name

With the new arrival of my nephew in a few weeks I figured I should make something for my brother and his wife for the upcoming arrival.  Now I'm really hoping that they stick with the name... since it fits pretty darn nicely in the shadow box I picked up.

I think I must have spent about 4 hours working on this little project and I have to say for the first time I went with a combination of Fimo clay and Premo clay... I'm not sure I'm loving the new Preemo clay I picked up.  Not as easy to get soft... and it really took a while to make it maliable... and my hands hurt!   But this was the only white soft clay available at Michaels when I stopped in there today.  I think it's really the season of Christmas knick-knack making because there sure wasn't much in the way of clays.  Which sucks because I was hoping to pick some more up... but really stuck with only a few, as I had to delve into the world of Premo and I didn't really know what that clay was like.