Tip Time: How to fix...

Hi, it's me, Ann , from the Creative Paperclay® Design Team and the blog Annmakes (http://annmakes.blogspot.com).  Today I want to share with you how I was able to salvage some of my crafting mishaps with Creative Paperclay® and turn them into WOW projects!

I sometimes make batches of embellishments to have ready for any project planned or impromptu.  I was looking in my collection and noticed that several of my pieces looked less than appealing.  I was a bit bummed about that and I thought well what if.... and I have nothing to lose anyways...

So here I had this piece which had warped in the drying process, and the corner was chipped, and then it cracked when I tried to flatten the warps.  Normally, this would be discarded but that stubborn streak in me said, try something!  So I tried spritzing the piece with some water and patiently (important part) applied pressure to slowly yet surely flatten the piece.

Some water, a lot of patience, some heavy weight and we are off to the races.  Well at least to my work table.  I also took it a step further and added a generous coat of Decou-Page (glue and sealer) to the back and covered it with a scrap of scrapbook paper.  I find this gives the whole piece a sturdier base.

Once all the repairs were done my piece was ready to be decorated and used in a project.
My goal here is to show you that  sometimes what we see as a failure might actually turn out ok, and even great, with a little or a lot of patience.

Enjoy this tip and all the other tips, how to's and ideas my team mates and I have for you here on this blog.  Come see how I handle other crafty situations over at my blog.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Telling Stories with Creative Paperclay®

I am always trying to do something new and I am always trying to organize my studio. The combination means there is always something I find that I can practice on. I came across an old cabinet card and decided it needed a story. I love making stories for all the vintage images that I have.

SUPPLIES
cabinet card
Creative Paperclay®paint
tape
stamps










I taped off the straight edges wih blue
painter's tape. Then I carefully rolled out Creative Paperclay® on top of image. I trimmed the clay after stamping it and removed the tape.

Decided the boy needed a name so it was Bad Mike. I named it after my brother who is actually a great guy. Since he calls me Mean Darlene, I thought it is only fair to turn it back on him.













I finished it off by painting the background and adding two colors of metallic rub. Then it was framed and given as a gift to my brother. A fun way to make an impression for a birthday or just as a gift. You can find cabinet cards online and at flea markets.

Have fun with art & dream in color!

Darlene Olivia McElroy

Glori's June Creative Paperclay® 2015

 

 

Glori's June Creative Paperclay®

 

 

Welcome back to the Creative Paperclay® Blog

 

Summer vacations are in and kids are out of school. Now if you take some time off during the summer lets make sure our tool are well taken care of. Yes some of the many tools out there are mainly design for the use of polymer clay and the composition of the Creative Paperclay® is way different so the tools will need more care and attention.

 

Polymer clay is oil base and Creative Paperclay® is water base so we need to have that in consideration when you are finding tools to convert to Creative Paperclay®

 

 

 

For example when your using metal items or wires make sure you clean your tools carefully after every use. Wipe it clean and remove any excess clay off the tool.

Dry the tool off and to protect it from any water damage wipe it with some baby oil.

 

   

 

I like to do this to all my Xacto or hobby knifes to keep the sharp and ready for my next projects.

 

 

Keeping the maintenance on your tools will allow you to keep them efficient, free of rust and ready for your next project. Doing this will allow your favorite tools to be use on both polymer clay to Creative Paperclay® and back many times over.

 

When you create tools dedicate only to Creative Paperclay® make sure you do a test on the metal to be use. You want to make sure is water and rust resistant so you don't end up with a disaster once the water base  Creative Paperclay® dry all over it.

 

A well balance maintenance and care after every use any tool can be used with the versatile Creative Paperclay® and last you a life time.

 

I hope this all my Creative Paperclay® crafters and remember if you do have any paperclay project  question you can join us at our Facebook Page by clicking here .

 

Stay tune for more tutorials coming soon

 

Have a great summer and lets keep crafting!

 

 

Sincerely,

Gloriann Irizarry

Shari's Tip of the Month

Hi!,

Today I am going to share with you a tip on fixing a broken ceramic piece with Creative Paperclay®.


I found this ceramic garden art piece at my creative reuse center Scrap Denton. As you can see it is in horrible shape. The film covering it was peeling off and it had a pretty good crack that someone had tried to glue together.

Just like Charlie Brown's little Christmas tree I felt the need to bring it home and give it some tender loving care.

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but probably like myself, I was under the asumption these kind of pieces were hand painted. Apparently I was wrong. It is some kind of shrink wrap.I peeled off the film as much as I could and took a utility knife to scrap off the rest. I then sanded it down and wiped it with a damp lint free cloth.

I dampened the cracked area slightly. I added paperclay being sure to work it deep into the crack. When all the cracks are filled I will then smoothed it out with my damp fingers. Let this sit for several days before you attempt to sand the area. Once it's ready I can truly give it the hand painted finish it was meant to always have.

I hope you enjoyed my tip of the month. Sadly, this will be my last post for Creative Paperclay®. I have been asked to be a blogger and outside artist for DecoArt ®.

I have so enjoyed being on this design team with such lovely creative artists. Creative paperclay is a product that I will continue to create with. Thank you for believing in me and allowing me to join the team. I will miss you all!

I would love you all to continue to follow my creative journey at My Altered Life's blog and My Altered life on facebook.

Shari

Lynda's Frame - AND Tip

Hello everyone - I am so excited to bring you today's project and absolutely love how it turned out!!!  I seriously can't wait to make a few more, let me tell you!!!!  This can be used either as a wall hanging, or on a small easel on your desk - depending on what YOU want!    

Supplies used for this project:
1 package Creative Paperclay
Flower molds
Xacto knife
Ruler
White 8.5 x 11 sheet of cardstock
Flower paper
Sheet of chipboard 
Ribbon
Scrap paper
Saying
White paint
Twinkling H2O's - African Jade and Rose Gold
Sandit's 

Directions to complete the project:

Flatten out the clay to the thickness you want.  I usually do mine fairly thin - but not paper thin.  

Taking your ruler and Xacto knife, make a square that is larger than the picture you are going to use.

  

Using your photo as a template, cut the inside of the frame first, and then cut the outside of the frame shown below.  

**Tip**  Cut the inside of the frame before you cut the outside piece.  This will assure you have a straight piece cut.  Also, try to use a ruler such as the one shown above, so you know the piece is straight.  

After the piece is complete dried (at least 24 hours, or in the oven for faster dry time) - paint the frame the color YOU want.  I chose white for my frame, but you can choose any color you wish.  

Paint the flowers - 2 are in Rose Gold, 3 are in African Jade.  Let dry.

After the frame and flowers have dried, starting with the chipboard, add the white sheet of cardstock to the chipboard, and then the patterned paper.  Add the photo, then the frame.  Finish up by adding the flowers, and the simple saying if you want to the bottom. (See picture above)

If you want to to hang it up, add the ribbon to the top right and left corners of the back - as shown below!  

Great project you can do for any person, as a gift, or just for yourself!  I am so happy with the finished result, I can't wait to send it - and make one for myself!  

Thanks for stopping by, and for more paper craft ideas, you can check out my blog here!

Lynda Jeffs

Creative Paperclay Design Team 

and Memories in Tyme

Delight™—ful Bookmarks

In our house, we love books!! I think we have enough books to open a small library. Chloe could shelve the children's section with hers alone. She's always enjoyed pretending to read, telling a lively story, turning the pages of the book much like the library's story hour reader. Well, now she is beginning to read, and books have a whole new fascination.

Together we decided that a new reader ought to have bookmarks to go along with her books. We started with a ball of Delight™ modeling medium about the size of a golf ball. Chloe flattened it a bit and rolled it through our pasta machine (the one reserved for crafting). With every pass through the machine, we adjusted the settings to produce an increasingly thin strip of Delight™.

We set the strips aside to dry overnight. They curled a bit, but were easily flattened with a warm iron.

I used a paper cutter to trim the uneven sides, but you could as easily cut the strips with scissors. We decorated them each in a different way. This one we embossed using an embossing folder and Cuttlebug, then sponged acrylic paint over a stencil.

These we decorated using border punches. 

This bookmark was stamped. 

We also colored some of the Delight™ with acrylic paints before processing it through the pasta machine. Just knead a few drops of paint into the modeling medium for clay the color of your choice.

I think making your own bookmarks is a great way to encourage a child's interest in books and reading. 

Carole	Chloe
Table Cell	Table Cell

Dimensional Lettering with Creative PaperClay®

Well, Summer is upon us and the school kids are dancing for joy with the teachers leading the parade!  Yes, it is that wonderful time of the year where we have no need for setting the alarm clock, flip flops are the shoe of choice, and "noodles" can be found in the pool....SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER(does anyone else hear music playing?)!!!

Why not make a sign to help declare our freedom?  Using Delight® Air Dry Modeling Compound, super lightweight lettering can be created.  And it only takes a few steps:

Take your Delight® Air dry and roll it flat (this can be accomplished with a rolling pin or a pasta machine).  Lay the flatten clay on your work surface.

Next choose the letters that you wish to use.  I found this wonderful set of alphabet letters in the Wilton aisle of my local craft store.  Cut the letters out and set aside.  Squish any excess clay bits back together and reroll.  Repeat until all the letters have been cut out.  Letters can air dry or be popped into the oven to quick dry (I think you know what I chose to do).

PLEASE NOTE:  Popping Delight® clay in the oven will cause the letters to puff up!  What a surprise when I opened the oven!!

Any rough edges can be cleaned up quickly with the SandIts® tool

After the letters cool, they can be detailed with acrylic paints or permanent markers.

Letters can then be glued onto a fabric banner, a wooden plaque, a box top, or into a tray.  Or add magnetic strips to the back and hang a sign on your refrigerator.

Enjoy your time in the sun or getting that extra sleep...Me?  I am singing along with Alice Cooper ;-)
Happy Summer! 

Tori's Tip for June - Create Your Own Sculpting Tools

This month I'd like to share with you some of the ways you can make your own sculpting tools -

• Craft sticks can be whittled, sawn, and sanded in many different configurations.  These simple tools are some of my favorites for working with Creative Paperclay® modeling material
• Dowels can also be used in a number of ways; the wooden dowels shown above, from bottom to top, are; dowel with large needle inserted and glued into the end (drill hole first, then insert with pliers), dowel with sewing needle inserted so that the eye of the needle can be used as a tiny gauge, hardwood dowel turned on a lathe, with a small scoop carved onto the end, craft dowel shaped into large rounded sculpting tool.
• Next up is a piece of hard plastic tubing, with stainless steel shapes inserted.  Small pieces of sheet metal from the hardware or craft store can be cut with a jeweler's saw into any configuration that suits your sculpting needs.
• Plastic erasers can also be cut down to shape when you want a soft touch (works really well with soft material like Delight™ Air Dry Modeling Compound)  adjust the flexibility of the tip by making the shaft longer or shorter.  The tips can be made to fit in a pencil extender, as shown.
• Bent plastic coated wire is another easy tool to make for scraping away clay

Have fun creating your own tools, they are often better than purchased tools since they're created just to fit YOUR needs!

I'd love for you to join me for more projects & art adventures on my personal blog

Find me on Facebook, or peruse & ponder pics with me on Pinterest

Art Doll

Hi, it's Ann here today with a new project, a Creative Paperclay® Doll.  I call her Wanda and she tends to get lost just like Waldo!

I am pleased to say that Wanda is made with some recycled pieces such as an empty pill bottle, some foil, and a new styrofoam ball.  Here she is:

To make her I started with the head which is essentially a styrofoam ball covered with a layer of clay. I rolled out several different sizes of balls to make the eyes, nose, lips, and ears.

I used a spray bottle filled with some water to adhere the pieces of rolled clay together.

The body of the doll is an empty pill bottle that I also covered in clay.

I formed the clay into a cup shape at the top.  By crumpling up foil I was able to insert that into the cup part to solid the neck and shoulder part.

I attached the head to the clay over the foil neck with extra rolled coils of clay and water.
I also usem spritzes of water to smooth out the doll as much as possible.

Once Wanda was dry I used a sanding sponge and some Sandits tools to even out any rough edges.

I used a collection of craft paints to colour Wanda.

For her hair I used ribbon and a hot glue gun.

Supplies:
Creative Paperclay® Modelling Material
Empty pill bottle (from recycling bin)
Styrofoam ball (Dollar tree)
Aluminum foil (Recycled pieces from my kitchen)
Sandits (thank you)
Acrylic Craft Paints "Craft Decor" from Multi Crafts:  Christmas Red, White, Flesh.
Pigma Micron pens in black and green.
Brown Ribbon Stamping' Up!

To look and find where Wanda has gone please stop by my blog : http://annmakes.blogspot.com, and try to spot her!  Also stop by for more FREE project how to's.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Dreaming in Creative Paperclay®

Cleaning out my studio allowed me to rediscover an old painted background and a cast figure. Since the figure was cast with Creative Paperclay® I thought it was a perfect start to a project. I have always love the odalisque or reclining figures you see in Baroque art. They made lying around look good. I think a contemporary reclining figure would be on a couch watching TV. Not quite the same.

 

SUPPLIES
Creative Paperclay®
background
polymer medium
paint
brushes
Sand-Its 
platinum rub
silver leaf

First I used a small wad of paper clay to attach the figure to the background. Next I added a pillow and a snake-like ribbon.The story was finished with clouds, small cast flowers and a moon. Detail was added to the pillow and all the clay edges were smoothed with a little water on my finger. When it dried I filed some rough areas with Sand-Its.

After this picture was taken, I added one more cloud.

I decided it needed some small details so I used dimensional paint. What a difference it made. 

I finished it off with a stain, some platinum rub and a little silver leaf. 

Dream in Color,

Darlene Olivia McElroy