Friday, July 5, 2013

Jess B's - Mirror Mirror in My Purse

Hello everyone - Jess here with another
creation
What I love about Creative Paperclay® is I am able
to create so many beautiful things for the gift of giving

I love to have a mirror handy in my purse
Check - check - check
No lady should be without

POCKET MIRROR 
I you can buy your mirrors at your local craft store
  
Started with Creative Paperclay® shaped into a ball then rolled out the desired thickness
 I placed the mirror in the center and pressed the red rubber stamp 
Once pressed I baked for 30 minutes although if you have 
time you have the option to let it air dry...

 
 With the small mirror I used 
 
 I colored and blended these beautiful colors and happy with the results
Gotta kind of a Moroccan theme going on here

SHABBY CHIC POCKET MIRROR
 I used Tim Holtz Distress Stains Pewter and Antique Gold and Paint Victorian Velvet
Tattered Angels Gold Spray
 Embellished this mirror with pearls
and completed the look with some shabby chic ribbon

Hope you like what I made and hopefully
inspired your to make your own.

Thanks for stopping by


Making Custom Stamps for Cheese and Butter by Rachel Whetzel

Hello! It's Rachel Whetzel today, with something a little different than most of the "crafty" things we share here on the Creative Paperclay® modeling material blog!
Some of you may follow me on my own personal blog, or on facebook. If not, allow me to tell you that I in addition to being an artist, I am a farmer. I raise Nigeria Dwarf Dairy goats, and I milk them. Once in a while, I make cheese with that milk. When I was a little girl, my mom used to make butter, and she bought a butter stamp for her butter. That memory gave me the idea to use Creative Paperclay® to make a custom stamp of sorts for my cheese, using the logo for my herd name and logo.

I thought it would be cool to mimic the way that soap makers use their logos in their soap molds, and apply that idea to the food I make with my goat's milk. My farm name is MigMog Acres. MigMogs are a fictional creature that my husband and his brother made up when they were kids. They pretended that MigMogs make lots of mischief, smell like stinky farts, and have messy fur. We used to tease our boys that they were behaving like a MigMog when they were naughty, and my middle son drew a picture of what he imagined a MigMog looked like when he was about five or six. I used that picture in the creating of my logo.
To create your own butter or cheese stamp,
YOU WILL NEED:
To start, I printed out my logo onto regular paper in a couple sizes. I chose the smaller size for my stamp.
 Next, I rolled out some Creative Paperclay® and cut it into a round shape, since my cheese and butter would usually be made in ball shape.
Then I wet my paper, and wrote over the top of the paper with a ball point pen, onto the clay to transfer the image to the clay.
Next, I carved into the clay with a toothpick, and used a wet paint brush to smooth rough edges that the tooth pick made in the clay.
The ear on the right is how the edges look once the clay is smoothed with the wet brush.
 Once the piece was finished, I set it aside to dry.
Once the piece was dry, I used Amazing Mold Putty to create a food safe mold to become the stamp for my cheese and butter. To be sure that the putty got into all the nooks and crannies in my small carving, I spread small amounts of putty thinly over the Creative Paperclay® piece.
Then I spread the rest of the putty over the top and shaped it.
Once the putty set, I removed the new stamp. When you remove the stamp, your text and image will be backwards. That's OK!!
Last, I washed my new stamp, and tested it out on some butter!
I can't wait to try it on some cheese next time I make it! I made some for this post, but I used basil in it, and the basil obscured the stamp print a little too much for it to show well in the pictures.
I would love for you to let me know if you create something of your own inspired by this post! Leave me a comment, and let me know if you do!! I would love for you to visit me at my "house" too!! Thank you so much for reading!!  ~rachel
 

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Fairy stepping stones

Have you seen the delightful fairy gardens out there?  
They are so playful and imaginative!
My brother in law built a box for my mom to create her very own fairy habitat.
So, she asked me to whip up some stepping stones.


I found this fairy fire pit at a local store for my mom's fairy garden.

Supplies:
Creative Paperclay ®
rolling pin
shape cutter/cookie cutter
stamps to decorate your stones
sand paper
brushes
acrylic paints
gesso
Mod Podge or other sealants
ink
daubers




1.  Roll out your Creative Paperclay ® into a very thin sheet.
2.  I used a circle playdough cutter to cut out my stepping stones. They are about the size of a 50 cent piece...1.25 inches in diameter.
3.  Press a rubber stamp into the clay before it is dry to impress an image.
Here I used some Kanji stamps that mean:  tranquility, wisdom, love, harmony.


4.  Let them dry and then lightly sand them.
5.  I sealed them with gesso before painting them.



6. Paint them with your desired acrylic paint color.
Two coats!




7.  Then, I used ink and daubers to distress the edges. One ink color was a blue grey color and the other was black.


8.  Since this is going into a garden, seal your stones very well!!
Several coats!!




Here is my set of stones.  Remember to make more than you think you need!
I was making them for my mother, but then my DD said that she needed some too!

I wonder how many new fairies are coming to live with us this summer!

Thanks for skipping by today!

Friday, June 28, 2013

Fairy Door

For years, I have wanted a fairy door. 
Hey, I would welcome a fairy for every room of my house. Years ago, my kids would leave notes for all sorts of fairies:  The Pokemon fairy, the gum fairy, the mint fairy.  Yes, those fairies were busy trading cards and leaving treats! 

This week, I decided to create a fairy door!




 Supplies:
Creative Paperclay ®
wood texture stamp (I used Woodgrain from StarvingArtistamps)
rolling pin
various tools for cutting your paperclay
sponges/brushes to apply paint and a finish
acrylic paints
sand paper
Gesso
Mod Podge
embellishments as you wish
adhesive to glue down your embellishments




1. Roll out your Creative Paperclay ® to about 1/4 inch. You will want to keep this width even throughout.  
2.  Use a texture stamp and make an impression into your Creative Paperclay®.


3.  Create a template for your door...or cut it out free hand!
I used a rolling playdough tool, that easily and smoothly cut out my shape.
(Shown in the next picture.)




4.  Because I wanted mine to be a wooden door, I used my rolling tool to create faux planks of wood.
Just be sure to keep your touch light or you will slice your door!!




5.  After it is dry, seal your door. I used gesso b/c that is what I had on hand.




6. Paint your door using acrylic paints.
Think about where your fairy is going to live. Do you want the door to stand out, or blend in with the colors of your home?



7.  I used several browns and caramel colors to create this look of real wood grain!




8.  Now...add a door knocker, a door handle, and any other special touches.
Maybe a few sweet treats will entice a fairy or two to visit your house!

I used Removable Glue Dots © for my door knocker. B/c I think my fairy is going to want to change her door decorations!


Thanks so much for fluttering by today!
Please come back early  in July for a tutorial on those fairy garden stones!  

Dawn Mercedes, of Sunnyside Up





Thursday, June 27, 2013

"Delight"ful Tip For Coloring Clay

Did you know that color can be mixed into the Delight Airdry Clay before creating??  The results can be subtle or bold, depending upon how much color you mix in.  Dab a bit of color onto a ball of Delight clay and mix in by kneading the clay.  Additional dabs of marker can be added and mixed until the desired color is achieved.  Once the clay is colored, design away!

Now for the REAL tip:  Using water color markers rather than permanent will make clean-up much less stressful...take it from someone who had multi-colored hands for a day :-/ 

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Barbara's Tips and Techniques for June


Hey there, Creative Paperclay® fans!  Welcome back to the blog.  I am so glad you decided to stop by today.  I have a really cool technique I want to share with you.  It is a continuation of my last post, which you can view by clicking here.  As I said earlier, I love ancient artifacts, and I am really enamored with ancient Egypt.  I knew I wanted to add a label of some sort to my ancient jar, so I dug out (no pun intended) one of my Egyptian hieroglyph rubber stamps.

Supplies Used:

FolkArt acrylic paint - Seamist, Solid Bronze Metallic
Egyptian Hieroglyph rubber stamp - Judikins
Two 1/4" brown eyelets
Natural twine

I rolled out a small piece of Creative Paperclay®, and then I placed that piece on top of my rubber stamp, choosing a section I thought would be interesting.
Very important tip:  Roll your brayer or clay roller over the clay only once, using steady, even pressure.  Do not try to go back and forth.  The clay tends to move, or stretch, as you roll it, giving unclear images.  However, if you do not get a clear image, just knead the clay again, and start over.
Pick a section of images that you like, and use an oval clay cutter to cut out your label.
Simply smooth any rough edges with your fingers, or sand it after it has dried.

Insert 1/4" eyelets on both sides of your label.  Your eyelet color does not matter.  You will be painting over them.  (If your eyelets fall out, simply glue them in.)
Use an awl to remove the clay still inside the eyelets.
Allow label to dry thoroughly.  You can carefully use a heat gun to speed up the process.  Paint the label with bronze paint.  Use a scrubbing motion to get the paint down into all the crevices.  Allow to dry.
Use a dry brush technique to add highlights the with Seamist acrylic paint.
Run twine through hole on one side of eyelet, around the jar, and back through the eyelet on the opposite side.  Tie off.
Now your jar is labeled.  How fun is that?  And since I cannot read hieroglyphs, I can put anything I want to in this jar.  I really do like how this turned out.  I think the label adds just a bit more excitement to the piece.
Thanks again for joining me on my journey into Ancient Egypt.  I hope you have been motivated to make something fun that really inspires you.  Maybe your preference is Asian, or Greek, or something from the good ole' USofA.  Whatever your pleasure, Creative Paperclay® can help you make it all come true.

So until next month, have fun, and be sure to visit the Creative Paperclay® blog for more inspiration and tips from the rest of the wonderful design team.

Barbara