Lynda's Flower Cards

Hello everyone,
My name is Lynda Jeffs, and I am one of the newbies here!!! I am so excited to bring you my very first project for you guys - I hope to bring you a lot of different inspiration for your scrapbooks and cards!  I love to alter things - using clay as a great 3 dimensional embellishment versus purchasing my own!  With this clay - I love how I can paint on it, and with my Radiant Pearls paint (no longer on the market) I can emboss on it as well!  
With the cards I create, I use scraps left over from other paper crafting projects that I have done, making them way more cost effective than purchasing them at the store.  I used left over papers from this project to complete the red card using the other side of the papers!   I rounded the corners on the top mat - and embossed the saying on the front of the paper!  For the flower I started with the Creative Paperclay product and a mold I had for the flower.  I used Radiant Pearls paint to create the look I wanted, and though the scan does not show it as well, it has a bit of a gold shimmer to it that matches the flowers in the paper.  I added a simple red bow and I was done!  

For this next card, I wanted to use the clay flowers in the middle of the card but also wanted more dimension for my flowers.  For the clay flowers, they were painted again with Radiant Pearls paint and added to the middle of the flowers and then I turned up the edges of each of the petals to create that dimension I was talking about!!!   For embellishments on cards, layouts - or altered projects...Creative Paperclay is the best! 

Lynda Jeffs

Creative Paperclay Design Team 

Jess B's - Cherry Blossom Ombre Fan

Hello Everyone

Hope you are enjoying spring in

all its splendor

The state of Washington D.C.

just celebrated 

National Cherry Blossom Festival 

last month

The first "Cherry Blossom Festival" was held in 1935 under joint sponsorship by numerous civic groups, becoming an annual event. The cherry trees had by this point become an established part of the nation's capitol. In 1938, plans to cut down trees to clear ground for the Jefferson Memorial prompted a group of women to chain themselves together at the site in protest. A compromise was reached where more trees would be planted along the south side of the Basin to frame the Memorial. A Cherry Blossom Pageant was begun in 1940.

Click HERE for more information

Cherry Blossom Ombre Fan

I used Delight-Air-Dry-Modeling-Compound

 

Mixed acrylic paints from my stash

you can use three colors within the same family Dark, Medium, and Light

 

Colors used Magenta, Dust Rose and Baby Soft Pink

 I rolled it out and used oval shaped cutter

I used Provo Craft - Pagoda cartridge

for my base

I used Wilton's - Nature Fondant Mold

 I finished it off with 

embellishments I received as a gift

which happened to have pink elements in them

INGREDIENTS

 

Thanks for stopping by

see you soon!

May Tip by Rachel Whetzel

Hello!! Rachel Whetzel here. I have a tip for you! That guy above is my newest art doll I created using Creative Paperclay® modeling material. My tip today is about painting. When you paint things with a lot of texture, like Mad Hatter's hair, you can achieve the best dimension by painting in more than one color to add shading and highlight areas. 
For the Mad Hatter here, I used a light blue paint as my base coat, and then added a darker blue. Before the darker blue was dry, I wiped it off to expose the lighter shades underneath, and left the darker blue in the crevices of the hair. For the last layer, I used antiquing stain and then rubbed it off as well, leaving it in the deepest parts of the hair. Using the technique allows you to let your sculpting to the work for you! 

Garden Basket of Flowers Shadowbox

Hello everyone, and welcome to the blog.  I am Barbara Rankin.  This is my first post as a new design team member for Creative Paperclay® and I could not be more excited to be here.  My first project that I want to share with you is a fun little garden basket full of flowers.  I had so much fun making this, and I love how it turned out.

Supplies used:

Creative Paperclay® air dry clay
Silicone Molds (Martha Stewart)
Garden Basket rubber stamp (Impression Obsession)
Secret Garden 8x8 print paper pad (Graphic45)
5-1/2" x 8-1/2" wooden shadow box (Dollar Tree)
Glue n' Seal (Ranger)
Acrylic Paints (Ceramcoat Purple, Tahiti Blue, Spice Tan, Lt Ivory) (Folk Art Spring Rose, Pure Orange, Sunflower, Basil Green, Leaf Green, Glazing Medium)
Peeled Paint Distress ink (Ranger)
Glue gun
Moss embossing powder

I like to first work the clay into a ball and push it into the mold  Allow it to dry a bit, maybe 30 minutes, before removing it from the mold.

In some instances, I prefer to work the Paperclay® into an oval shape, as I did for this leaf mold.  It seems to make it easier to push the clay into the mold and get better coverage.

Next, I inked up the basket stamp with archival black ink.  It is not necessary to ink your stamp first, but if you do, I recommend using a waterproof ink so it will not run.  I rolled out a piece of the Creative Paperclay® to approximately a 1/8" thickness.

I then stamped into the clay.

Using a craft knife, I cut the excess Paperclay® away and returned it to the package.

Here is what it looked like after trimming.  I used my fingers to smooth the edges and my fingernails to make tiny indentations along the bottom.

I wanted my basket to look more realistic, so I allowed it to dry over a piece of sponge.

Paint basket with tan acrylic paint.  Allow to dry.

Make a charcoal acrylic paint wash and cover basket.  Allow to dry.  Dry brush tan acrylic paint over basket, just hitting the high spots.

I continued molding flowers, leaves, birds and butterflies, and here is a picture of my desktop filled with  Creative Paperclay® goodness.  It is so easy and so much fun to play with Paperclay® that I could do this for hours.

I painted each piece of Creative Paperclay® with a mixture of acrylic paints and glazing medium.  This helped blend my colors, as well as making the paint more translucent.  

The reason I wanted my paint more translucent is so that my second layer of paint would not completely cover up the previous color.  It would, instead, go into the crevices and darken the nooks and crannies perfectly. Then, after that dried, I could come back and hit the high spots with a dry brush technique.  

With all of my pieces painted and drying, I found a small wooden shadow box I had purchased from the dollar store.  I sanded it a bit, then painted the sides of box, inside and out, with my acrylic paint mixture of Basil Green, Light Avocado, and Glazing Medium.  When the paint was dry, I sprinkled Moss embossing powder here and there on the sides of the box and heat embossed it.   Then I sponged a bit of Peeled Paint distress ink on top of that to bring out the color variations.

I found just the right paper to use for the background, i.e., the Graphic 45 Secret Garden from the 8"x8" paper pad.  It fit perfectly inside the box with just a bit of trimming off the top and bottom. 
I then adhered printed Secret Garden paper to the inside bottom of box with glue n' seal.

Now that all of my Paperclay® embellishments are ready, I simply arranged them inside the box and glued them using a hot glue gun.  Oh my goodness, this was such a fun project.  Here are a few closeup  photos of the Paperclay® and the dimension I easily achieved with this product.

Thanks so much for joining me for my first project post for the Creative Paperclay® design team.  I hope you have been inspired to try out this fabulous and fun product.  There are so many ways to use it, and you will be amazed at how much fun you will have "playing" with this product.  So, I encourage you to visit the Creative Paperclay® blog often, because the other designers have so many wonderful creations to share with you.

Until my next post, I hope you will find some time to visit my blog to see how I continue to use this product.

Have a wonderful week, and happy crafting!

Barbara

Conversation Talisman Heart Pendants

I absolutely love incorporating jewelry with superstitions, don't you?
I'm Diana and I'm going to show you how I made these beautiful conversation talisman hearts pendants:

You will need:

Creative Paperclay
Acrylic Paint (I used Burnished Copper by Dick Blick)
Shimmer markers
Dictionary or text book pages (or even type and print your own on your computer)
Spray acrylic sealer
glue stick

The process is simple.
You're going to roll a quarter sized bit of clay into a ball, then pinch the bottom, and shape it into a triangle. Once you've done that, you can go ahead and get a toothpick, to shape the top (that will be the shape of the heart).
Make a few if you want, like I did:

Remember to poke a hole in them, for easy jewelry making (you can do this using the aforementioned toothpick).
Let them dry for a bit, then paint them up:

Be generous with your paint, and give them a few coats of paint.
After that, apply some words to resonate your superstitious intentions. You can use some words such as "Dream", "love", "hope".
Once you have applied the words, you can go over the edge of the text with a shimmery marker. I would give you the brand name, but the marker is so old and used that the name has rubbed off, and I my memory fails me. But use whichever you prefer.
Once you've done that, go over them with a generous spraying of Acrylic Sealer. This can be found at the art supply store.
And Voila, you end up with this:

Sometimes clay cracks a bit, and in this case, that is perfectly okay. In fact, it's better that these hearts do not look too "perfect" since I did intend them to be primitive looking.

Thanks for reading my tutorial! Happy Crafting!


Diana

Organic balloons

I thought I'd make an organic art piece, with repetitive shapes,

using Creative Paperclay © as my medium.

Supplies:

Creative Paperclay ©

waterballons

mat, rolling pin

plastic wrap

Finishing supplies:

Matte and Gloss Mod Podge

brushes/sponges

acrylic paint 

Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive

1.  First, roll out your Creative Paperclay © into a thin slab.

2.  Wrap your balloon as pictured.

If you want a larger piece, try using larger balloons.

3.  Wrap with plastic wrap and smooth and shape your paperclay to the balloons.  

4.  Unwrap...set out.

Patiently wait for it to dry.

**Note, my every trusty frisbee!!**

5.  When the paperclay is dry, cut the balloons with a pair of scissors.

Then...it's up to you to arrange and decorate them!

I wanted mine to have a contrast of rough and smooth.

This inside of each form was painted with gold acrylic paint...two coats.

The outside was painted in blues and creams.

After the paint had dried, I coated the inside with Gloss Mod Podge...two coats.

Then the outside was coated in Matt Mod Podge...again two coats!

I then stacked my forms in a tripod shape with the 4th, and smallest, on top.

I found that Helmar's 450 Quick Dry Adhesive worked best in securing my sculpture.

I found a large glass platter...lined it with Spanish Moss.

I am planning on burning tea lights in side...or getting the battery operated tea lights!

Thanks so much for coming and commenting on my Organic Art piece.

I thought that it would look sea-like. But with the grasses, it's more egg like.

What do you think?

Dawn Mercedes, of Sunnyside Up!

Mixed Media Journal

Hello all!  I am excited to be posting my first ever blog entry for the Creative Paperclay Design Team.  I am having a great time with this product and finding that it works well with other mediums that are available in my studio (clay, powders, paint, paper, rubber stamps, glitter, markers...I could go on & on).

Last week I attended (as a teacher and demonstrator) a polymer clay retreat in Florida called OrlanClay Fandango.  What a perfect venue to work with the Paperclay!  Many of the ladies were interested to see what could be done with Creative Paperclay, a product that many had never seen before, so I was happy to be able to introduce them to the possibilities.   One thing that seemed to amaze them was the way I mixed color into the off-white clay to color it rather than paint it afterwards!  You can see the mixed media project that wowed them below:

 

Mixed Media Journal

Materials: Creative Paperclay, Prismacolor markers, acrylic roller, small glass surface, texture sheet, Pearl Ex powder, rubber stamp, Ancient Page ink, "The Ultimate" Glue, polymer clay flowers, blank journal, acrylic paint

Step 1: Paint the cover of your journal with acrylic paint.  Set aside to dry.

Step 2: Roll a 1 1/2"-2" ball of Creative Paperclay.  Flatten slightly and dab with chosen color of marker (Note: I used Prismacolor markers, but any brand will work).  Fold sides of clay over color and mix in.  Additional color can be added until the desired color is achieved. 

Step 3:  Use the acrylic roller to flatten colored clay on glass surface.  Be sure to create a large enough piece for your rubber stamp. 

Step 4: Roll another ball of Paperclay slightly larger than the first.  Flatten with the acrylic roller (on glass surface) making sure it is larger than the colored sheet.  Press texture sheet onto the clay and remove.  If desired, Carefully rub a bit of Pearl ex powder over the raised texture.  Cut edges straight if desired.  Tap the corners to curve slightly.

  Step 5: Allow the pieces to dry thoroughly...or (if you are like me and are impatient) bake your pieces at 275 degrees for 10 minutes, flip the pieces over and continue baking for 10 more minutes. Let cool before continuing. (Note: If the sheets of clay curl during baking process they can be flatten by placing a weight on top)

Step 6: Use Ancient Page ink and rubber stamp of choice to stamp the colored sheet of clay.  Be sure to press firmly or the stamped image may distort (Note: I have to admit I stamped this one twice because I DID NOT  press firmly enough the first time!  that is okay...you have 2 sides to the sheet :-)

Step 7: Smear a bit of "The Ultimate" glue on the back of your textured sheet of clay.  Position and press firmly onto the painted journal.  Smear glue onto the back of the colored clay sheet.  Position and press firmly onto the textured sheet.  Glue polymer clay components into place (Note: If you don't have polymer clay components buttons, sequins, or any findings will do to decorate the cover).  Bank edges of cover (if you have them) can be detailed with spirals, dots, squiggles, etc. using the Prismacolor markers.

Step 8:  If desired, ribbons can be added to the spiral edge with additional clay flowers, beads, sequins, etc tied onto the ends. 

Until next time, Clay on!