Gilded Valentine Embellishment

Christmas 2014 is now just a memory, and we're moving on to the next holiday—Valentine's Day.

We started with Creative Paperclay® and a clay mold. Molds are a great way for young ones to complete successful projects.

Next, we roughly rolled out three large clay logs.

We pressed the logs into the heart-shaped mold.

To get a flat back on our piece, we turned the mold and clay over onto our Teflon mat and pressed to flatten it.

The next step is always the hardest—waiting for the clay to dry. After it was dry, I trimmed the excess away and sanded the edges.

The last step was gilding the embellishment. First, we sealed the piece with an acrylic medium. When that was dry, we coated it with Duo Adhesive. When dry, the Duo is a tacky, sticky adhesive, perfect for applying gilding. 

This is our finished piece after the gilding was burnished and polished.

We're not sure how this Valentine embellishment will be used, but we have some ideas. Perhaps on the cover of a special journal or photo album. Embellishment on a greeting card. Part of a Valentine wall decoration. However it is used, Chloe and I are ready for Valentine's Day.

Carole	Chloe
Table Cell	Table Cell

My Rusted Heart

I believe that giving someone a gift of your heart should reflect who you are. I am a rusty ole broad who has the eternal hope of spring and if you have the right key you can have my heart.

 I come from a fine art rather than a craft background so I approach art differently. I am shooting a video for a class with Artful Gathering later in the year on molds, casting and armatures so this is a sample of one of my project ideas.

SUPPLIES
Paper Maché Mold
Creative Paperclay®
Burnt Umber Acrylic Paint
Tumeric (yes, the spice)
Gold Rub
Lock
Twigs
Stamp

The start was this simple paper maché heart from a craft store.

I covered it with Creative Paperclay® and embossed it with some vintage wallpaper. Then I painted it burnt umber and sprinkled Tumeric on it while it was still wet for a faux rust look. I then added a little gold rub, a keyhole and some twigs from my yard.

What would your heart look like?

Darlene Olivia McElroy

Christmas Peacock Tree Topper By Gloriann Irizarry

 

Merry Christmas to all and have a great blessed holidays!

 

This holiday season inspire me and wanted to share to you a very unique tree topper I created for a very special sister. She wanted a peacock theme Christmas tree and we look everywhere and could not find any tree topper so I say hey why not make a one of a kind sculpt for her to use on her Christmas tree and here it is the full tutorial of how I sculpted this unique tree topper.

 

 

Materials

Delight Air Dry Material 

Glittery Peacock Feathers Pick  3Purple and 2 Green

Blue Pine Needles

Purple glittery mini purple balls

Small Daisy Flower cookie cutter

Small leaf cookie cutter

Hot Glue Gun

Glue Stick Refills

3" Styrofoam Balls

Empty Water Bottle

Scissors

Wire

Wood chopstick and BBQ sticks

Aluminum foil

Knife

FolkArt Acrylic paint Metallic Blue Topaz

FolkArt Acrylic paint Metallic Christmas Green

FolkArt Acrylic paint Metallic Plum

Acrylic sealer Matte

 

 For the bow we used

Fabric Ribbon Roll 6 Yards in glittery teal

Peacock Feather Pattern Fabric Roll 6 Yards

 

 

 

Start by turning  your hot glue gun on so is nice and ready when it is time to use it.

 

 

For the armature I use a water bottle.

Remove the base off and cut it in strips.

 

 

Cut a little off the Styrofoam ball to create the tail of the bird.

 

 

Be careful using the hot glue gun and set it to low heat.

 

 

wrapped some aluminum foil all around the bottle and secure it  with the hot glue gun too.

 

For the birds head use a chopstick. It is a stronger wood and will hold the neck in place.

 

Wrap aluminum foil around the neck area and secure it with the hot glue gun.

 

Use to BBQ sticks to create the wing and wrap the aluminum foil around it.

 Secure it with the hot glue gun.

 

Use the aluminum foil and sculpt a rough shape for the head.

Have in mind the shape size and look you are trying to achieve.

 

At this stage you can add more foil or secure any lose one with the hot glue gun to shape the wings.

 

 

Make sure you secure the neck chopstick  with plenty hot glue.

Fold in the plastic bottle strips and use enough hot glue to secure it in place.

 

 

Now that the armature is ready construction can begin.

Grab your favorite roller, water bottle mist and Delight Air dry clay.

Love this clay it is super lightweight (about half the weight of Creative Paperclay® Modeling Compound by volume)

 

This  super lightweight and it is perfect for the tree toper construction.

Roll a big sheet and cover all the armature with it. No need to worry about details at this stage they will be done in a later time.

 

 

Use the small flower cookie cutter and start cutting some flowers out.

Cut the petals off with the scissors.

Make sure they stay wet and draw or stamp some feather vein on each petal.

 These will be later layer on the bird to look like feathers.

 

Start layering the petals from the bottom to the top.

Wet each petal and pinch in one by one. 

 

Layer and add each petal to look like  feathers one by one.

Don't let the petals dry always keep them wet or they will not attach to the bird armature. 

 

 

For the wings and the tail use the leaf cookie cutter to make the feathers a little bigger.

 

 

You do not need to add feather on the tail portion since that were the artificial glittery peacock feathers will be placed.

 

 

Smooth the feathers around the neck area.



 

Layer the feathers in the wing area.

The feather will go all the way to the neck. Once your done layering feather set it aside to dry.

 

 

 

To complete the bird gather all your fabric ribbons, glittery  feather and blue pine needle picks

 

 

The base color is FolkArt Acrylic paint Metallic Blue Topaz.

 

Water down the paint and apply an even coat all over the bird.

 

 

With the acrylic paint still wet use a damp wash cloth or paper towel sheet

 and remover some of the excess paint off. It will reveal the feather vein detail.

Set it aside for the paint to completely dry.

 

 

Add the second coat of paint in FolkArt Acrylic paint Metallic Christmas Green.

Use a dry brush technique by applying a little acrylic paint on a soft brush and removing any excess paint off. Use the almost dry brush and apply a green layer to the bird to enhance the feathers.

  

 

For the crown cut 3 purple glittery balls off the stem picks.

Paint the stems FolkArt Acrylic paint Metallic Christmas Green. Set to dry.

 

Drill 3 holes on top of the Peacock head and glue the purple glittery balls to the head.

 

To give the Peacock a magical glitter use Martha Stewart purple Glitter paint and let it completely dry. Then seal the paint in with your favorite acrylic sealer matte.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pre drill 3 holes for the feather tail placement.

 

 

Place and adjust the 3 purple peacock glittery feathers in place.

 

 

 and secure them tightly with the hot glue gun.

 Repeat the same attachment process for the entire tail for the  green feathers, the purple glittery stems and the blue pine stems. 

 

 

And now the Peacock Tree Topper is done and ready to be hang.

 

Now for the Bow I follow this video tutorial by GoodKintKisses

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/uDcvdYQWOaw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

I just added extra long tails to create the cascade flowing ribbons for the tree topper.

 

I hope you enjoy this peacock tree topper and feel free to email me or leave us your question on the comments below

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Feliz Navidad!

Happy Holidays!

 

 Sincerely

Gloriann Irizarry

www.byglori.com

Beginner Tips by Lynda

My last project - Sugar Rush - was done using a large pickle jar (recycled of course), along with Stampin' Up supplies and Creative Paperclay for the letters and flowers!  I had just got some mold's, and wanted to create a few flowers with it! They have different sized flowers included in the mold, but the smaller sized are harder to work with for me because of my hands.  
So, when you have intricate pieces like this that you are trying to paint, simply get a straight pin and poke a hole in the under side of the piece - and paint the top part while you are holding the pin! With the flowers shown here - I painted 2 coats of white paint - let dry...and then sponged on Strawberry Slush and Crisp Cantaloupe ink by Stampin' Up on top, after the white had dried!   It was easier to use the pin, paint and then set down to dry!  
A another thing you can try - along with using the pin, put a pop dot on the underside of the piece, and then put the pin through the pop dot to the Creative Paperclay piece!  This helps for the pin to not move around while holding the piece, and the pop dot, which is already in place when you put it on the piece you are working on!  
One thing I am starting to really love - molds!  You can use the same mold many different times, just painting them different, or using different techniques to create them with! When paired with Creative Paperclay, you are sure to create one of a kind things every time!  

Thanks for stopping by,

Lynda Jeffs

Creative Paperclay 

and Memories in Tyme

  

Photobooth Prop Phrenzy with Rachel Whetzel

Happy HOLIDAYS, Creatives!! Rachel Whetzel here! I've been a busy elf this season, helping with some projects for the Christmas Party at my husband's work. One of the larger projects we're doing, is creating a photobooth area. Employees can get dressed up, and be silly while taking their pictures at the party! We've made a TON of the props, some signs, and fun festive frames, but I wanted to do more than the usual paper cut outs on a stick for a few of them. I got busy making THESE using Creative PaperClay® Modeling Material. After our party, I'll share more of the projects that weren't Creative PaperClay® related on MY BLOG.

This is my last post here on the blog for a while!! I'm taking a break from some design team commitments, and spending HUGE amounts of time at basketball games. Thank you all so much for your support, and for the love you show each of us designers here! I have enjoyed being here so much. Of course, I won't stop creating, farming and generally misbehaving, so if you'd like to keep up with me on my other interweb haunts, I would love that. (links at the end of this post) Now, ON TO BUSINESS! 

WHAT YOU'LL NEED to make your own photobooth props:

• Creative Paperclay®
• Paints and Brushes I use Folk Art acrylic craft paints and Krylon Spray paints
• Foil
• Empty and clean large can
• Headbands
• Various decorations... (holly, berries, hat band ribbon, metal pipe cleaners, bells
• Sturdy small dowels
• Drill (I use a hand drill) 
• Glue (I used E6000) 

Gather your supplies for your creations, and get cracking smooshing and shaping your foil into shapes! I created the core for my carrot nose, rudolph's nose, and Frosty's pipe. 

Wrap and twist your foil around a headband to create the core for your antlers.

Cover your pieces with Creative PaperClay®, and place them in the oven to speed up your drying time. I usually put mine in at about 190 degrees F. 

To add stability to my pieces attached to headbands, I added a layer of Creative PaperClay® to the underside of the headbands. Here they are, complete with paint. 

Once your pieces are dry, sand them, and paint them, and add your decorations! I put some holly, berries and a hat band around the hat:

Some orange spray paint, and shading using stain to bring out the "carrotness" of my carrot nose:

Some red paint and glitter to Rudolf's nose:

And some bells and pipe cleaners wound into coils to his antlers. I also painted the headband red, to imitate his halter. 

Once everything is painted and decorated, add your dowels by drilling a hole into the pieces that will need a dowel, and glue them into place. Now you're READY FOR ACTION!! 

Thanks for reading! I have loved every second of my two years here as a Designer for Creative PaperClay® and I hope to be able to return in the future!! In the mean time, if you'd like to keep up with me, and see more of what I'm up to and keep up with me, I'd also love it if you'd visit MY BLOG and Subscribe! You can also find me on FACEBOOK!