Never Too Early for Christmas Ornaments

I my book, it's never too early to think about Christmas and holiday decorations. And right now there are fewer than 100 days until the big event!! So, Chloe and I started making ornaments for our tree.

We began with a ball of Creative Paperclay® that we rolled out to a thickness of about 3/8".

We placed this slab of clay in a snowflake embossing folder. 

When the clay was between the leaves of the folder, we gentle pressed on the top to emboss the design onto the clay.

After transferring the embossed clay slab to our work surface, we outlined the simple shape of a Christmas tree, and cut it out.

Next, was making the ornaments for our tree. We traced and cut out a star, and rolled small balls of clay for ornaments.

To make the ornaments easier to paint, I inserted a pin into each one. Now, all the pieces were set aside to dry.

Before painting with acrylic paints, we sanded the rough edges of the tree with Sandits. These are the handiest sanding implements!!

After painting, the last step was to glue a bezel on the back for hanging. 

Here's out finished ornament, all ready for our tree.

Carole	Chloe
Table Cell	Table Cell

Kid's Project: Easter Egg Necklace

This is an easy-peasy project for kids of all ages. With a little help from the grown-up, even the youngest artists can create a OOAK Easter egg necklace.

Chloe and I used Creative Paperclay® to make several small eggs. Try to get them as smooth as possible when forming them in your hands, but don't be too concerned with small surface imperfections. They will magically disappear later in the process :)

After the eggs were formed, I inserted an eye hook in the narrow end of the clay egg.

Egg and eye hook

Inserting eye hook

Egg with eye hook inserted

Next, the eggs were set aside to dry. As the eggs dry, they may shrink a bit and the eye hook might loosen. If this happen, just use liquid adhesive to hold it in place and reinsert it. Allow the adhesive to dry thoroughly.

Now, to take care of those surface blemishes. We painted the eggs with slip to achieve a smooth, finished surface. Allow the slip to dry, then paint your eggs. We didn't even have to sand the eggs. The slip left a magically smooth surface.

The last step is to add the eggs to a chain, and enjoy!!

Finished Easter egg necklace

Carole	Chloe
Table Cell	Table Cell

Kid Friendly Paper clay Kitty Cutie with Creative Paperclay ®

Creative Paperclay ® Anime Kitty Cutie

Design Samantha Ellard.

Hi my dear friends this is Gloriann Irizarry creating a new tutorial that will be kid friendly. 

So friendly I had my 13 years old making her own design of this Cutie paper clay kitty.

The Creative Paperclay ® Anime Kitty was designed by Samantha Ellard and she completed this project all by her self. We both had so much fun making this critter. I will be describing each step so you or your little helper can complete this easy to sculpt cute cat friendly  project.

Material List

Delight Air Drying compound

1 Styrofoam ball

Acrylic paint (Gray, Pink and Black)

Water mist bottle 

Plastic sheet

Air Dry Ascent Black liner

School Scissors

Paint brushes

Plastic Cake decorating tools (safer for little hands)

 And my trusty roller.

  

Roll a clay sheet to a 1/4 thickness. 

Mist the clay lightly with water.

Place the Styrofoam ball in the middle 

Now grab the clay sheet and pinch it to close it tightly. 

Cut away any excess of clay.

Moist the clay ball. 

 Smooth so it look like a nice sphere.

For the ears you are going to create 2 triangle shapes.

Place the triangle on to of the paper clay ball.

Blend the triangle to the now kitty body.

  To make the little paws cut 4 pieces  and create 4 drop shapes.

Lightly water mist the drop shapes.

 Attach the drop shapes in the opposite direction from the ears to make her little paws.

Blend the leg unions to make a nice smooth piece.

To create the little tail is so easy. 

Roll a little clay into a worm shape.

Water moist to attached to the kitty body.

 

 To make sure your little round critter do not roll away from you.

Let's roll a little ball.

Water moist the ball.

Place it were you want you kitty to be standing.

Press the clay ball against a flat surface.

Since Samantha decided this cat is a little cat will be a girl she will be making a nice bow.

Cut  4 even pieces about 2 to 3 inches long depending how big you want the final bow to look.

Roll the clay in little worms.

 Bend two to create the one U shapes and stick them together.

Use the other 2 worm to create to the little draping down ribbons.

Choose your favorite position and moist to stick it safely.

Let the whole piece dry over night.

 Use a pencil to draw the face details. 

Paint 2 coats of the gray acrylic paint.

Detail the little cheeks with pink acrylic paint.

 Also paint the bow pink.

Use the back acrylic paint to create the cute eyes.

Oppsy!! We got some blue paint all over her hands. 

Sam wasn't too sure if her kitty would have a blue or pink bow. 

Well my friends it seem pink some how always end up winning at my house. 

We were looking for a 3D effect to the whiskers and mouth so we decided to use 

Air Dry Ascent Black liner to paint them up and create the look we were looking for.

Here is the little Kitty Cutie final piece after shes been seal with a Glossy finish.

Cutie Showing off her little tail.

Many other animals variations can be achieve using the same technique show above. 

Feel free to explore and exercise your imagination were everything is possible once you put your mind to it.

 If you have any questions feel free to email  me at Gloriann@byglori.com.

I hope you had fun creating this cute critter and remember my friend to have a bless day and happy crafting. 

Sincerely always.

Gloriann Irizarry and Samantha Ellard 

Gloriann @byglori.com

www.byglori.com

Snowman Finger Puppet

Hi!! Carole here with a quick and easy project that you can do with kids!! A clay finger puppet!!

You can vary the complexity of the project depending on the age of the child. Let the child do as many of the steps as they can/want to.

Start with a ball of clay.

Flatten the ball of clay. An older child could use a rolling pin, but this four year old just pressed in down with her fingers.

Mold the clay around the child’s index finger. Try to use a small amount of clay, so the puppet isn’t too heavy, especially for those pre-school fingers.

Shape this base as desired. We decided on a snowman. Simple and easy for my four year old grand-daughter. An older child might want more detail.

Gently lift off the finger and set aside. Next we made a little carrot nose.

Now the hard part—waiting for it to dry. Set expectation about this at the very beginning of the project, so your young artist doesn’t expect a finished product immediately.

Next, we embellished our snowman. We painted the carrot nose and while it was drying, we painted the snowman body with thinned down water-based adhesive and sprinkled with fine clear glitter. We glued on his googly eyes, nose and rhinestone buttons. (Yes, you'll see blobs of glue around the eyes, nose and buttons. The form isn't as smooth and refined as it could be, but

There are lots of ways to embellish this basic form to get a whole cast of characters. Paint it brown, add a red pompom or rhinestone nose and chenille stems for antlers, and you have a reindeer. Paint the lower two-thirds green and the upper third flesh-toned. Add button eyes and a nose, use a Sharpie to draw a mouth and you have an elf.

Visit my Create & Craft blog to see what else I'm working on.

Carole