It's December, and in some places (not San Francisco where I live) there is snow and snow people.   Here is a tutorial making a fun snowman ("Mr. Blizzard").  The main ingredient is Creative Paperclay ®.

Ingredients for fun:
Creative Paperclay ® Modeling Material
3 sizes of foam ball
bamboo skewer
glue
wire hangers
hand-dyed bottle brush tree
mini garland
acrylic paint
glitter
wood base
floral tape
3" screws
decorations and trinkets that you already have


First I cut a smidge off the bottom of the largest foam ball so it would sit well. Then I skewered the balls together with glue between them.

Next, I opened the wire hangers up, straightened them and stuck 5 through holes I made in the middle foam ball with another skewer. (I had to then use a chopstick to make the hole big enough for the wires.)

I wrapped the wires with floral tape all the way to the ends and around the fingers to bind the wires together and finish the fingers. Bend the arms and position the fingers as you would like. Paint and seal the arms with browns to resemble branches.


I used a pasta machine to roll the modeling material and used a paint brush to paint glue on the balls right before adding the Creative Paperclay ®.  Keep water nearby (I use an old butter tub) to wet your fingers and tools when blending.  


Cover the entire body with modeling material making eyes, mouth or any other details you want.  I pushed a rubber heart stamp into the wet material to add a nice touch.  Let dry.


[Note: if you get any cracks as the material dries, simply paint some glue into the crack and  add some more paperclay.


When dry, sand and paint (gesso first if you like).  I added a bit of wire hanger pushed into the nose to support the large carrot (also made of Creative Paperclay ®).

I painted 2 coats of white acrylic paint.  I sprinkled glitter in the second coat of wet paint.  I painted the eyes and sealed with a matte finish coat on the arms and eyes.  I used some cut up skewer bits for the coal mouth.


I painted and sealed a wood base like a holly leaf. I pre-drilled 3 holes in the base and put 3 long screws about 3" long each from the bottom into the body of the snowman (with glue)  to secure it to the base.


Now comes the fun of "accessorizing".  I created a wreath from the mini garland, decorated the bottle brush tree and top hat. A piece of an old silk tie is his scarf.

This one took some time and we're keeping him! Hope you enjoyed this tutorial.  You can make just about anything with Creative Paperclay ®.

Steampunk Christmas with Viva Las Vegas Stamps

I'm really not much of a stamp user so this month's tutorial was a bit of a challenge for me. I decided to create a Christmas card with a bit of a Steampunk look. I love just about anything Steampunk and Viva Las Vegas Stamps has Steampunk stamps that are fantastic! I'm using  Item 16006 Plate 1273 and Creative Paperclay®.

(Note - This card was painted with metallics and metallic paint is impossible to take pictures of. The background color is a light gold, not brown. The ornaments are copper, silver and gold.)

Materials:
Viva Las Vegas Stamps Item 16006 Plate 1273
Creative Paperclay®.
Acrylic paints
Water color paper cut to size 5" x 7"

1. I first rolled out my paperclay to about 1/4" thick. I then used my stamps and pressed them into the clay to make tiny gear ornaments for my card. Then I cut out each stamped clay piece with an exacto knife. Let these "ornaments" dry.
2. While the clay was drying I painted a Christmas tree on my water color paper using thinned out acrylic paints. You can paint whatever you want using colors you like. I wanted to stay with a metal look so I first washed the paper with a very thinned out light gold. While the paper was still damp I painted the tree using 3 shades of green. (Actually, I just jabbed and splashed the brush around on the paper till I got a tree shape I liked)
3. I wanted to use the stamps to actually stamp gears onto the tree so I painted the surface of the stamps with my metalic paints and stamped them onto the paper. The gold was a bit light but the copper worked nicely.
4. Once the clay ornaments were dry I painted them and then glued them onto the tree.

I hope you enjoyed this quick little crafting idea using Viva Las Vegas Stamps in a little bit different way.

Decorative Embellishment

1. Take a piece of Creative Paperclay and roll it into a small ball.

2. Press the ball of clay into a mold of your choice.

3. Let it sit overnight to harden.

4. Once clay has hardened, paint as desired.

I created a tag to go along with the box. The stamps are from Viva Las Vegastamps. I've used Singing Trio and Church in Winter.

What you will need to create the decorative embellishment:

Creative Paperclay

Mold

Paint (Optional)

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Robyn (A.K.A. InjoyStampin')

Bottle Doll Tutorial

Over the summer, I made a doll out of a glass iced tea bottle. This started a deep interest in building other dolls out of bottles of all kinds. Lately, beer bottles and root beer bottles are my favorite body armatures. I am currently working on a series of holiday inspired dolls. Here’s a tutorial on how to build a doll with Creative Paperclay and a glass bottle.

What You’ll Need

Creative Paperclay

Cup of water for sculpting

Beer Bottle or Root Beer Bottle…or any glass bottle you like!

1.5 inch or 2 inch Styrofoam ball

20 gauge jewelry wire

Wire cutters

Needle nose pliers

Pottery sharp tool or long wooden skewer or toothpick

Acrylic paint (not pictured)

Cup of tea for sipping!

What To Do

11.  If you are using a bottle with a label on it, you may soak the bottle and remove the label. I prefer not to as it makes it easier for costuming later.

22.  Cover the Styrofoam ball in a layer of Creative Paperclay.

33.  Place the ball on the bottle top and press slightly to help the ball stick.

44.  Take a small lump of clay, roll it out a bit in your hand, and flatten in. Place this clay directly below the ball on the bottle neck. Blend in with your fingers…use dabs of water to help you sculpt. Make this nice and smooth. Add more clay to the neck if necessary.

55.  Continue to cover the bottle neck in Creative Paperclay. Creative Paperclay adheres remarkable well to glass. 

66.  Take a quarter-size ball of clay, cut in half with a butter knife or pottery sharp tool. Add one half to either side of the bottle neck…these lumps of clay will become the doll’s shoulders.

77.  You made need to make slip to fill in crevices and cracks and to also adhere the clay to itself. To make slip, take a small bit of clay, dip it in water so that it is paste-like.

88.  Once your shoulders are applied, feel free to use your fingers to sculpt the body shape you desire. Don’t be afraid to add many layers of Creative Paperclay!!!

99.  Take your sharp tool or toothpick and make holes from the top of the shoulders to the bottom in a diagonal fashion from front to back. Dip the tool in a bit of water and twist the tool inside the hole to make it smooth.

110.  Take your wire and measure out two 10-12 inch lengths. Fold each wire in half, hold the loose ends with your fingers or needle nose pliers and twist the loop end with your hand. Do this until the entire length of the wire is twisted to your liking.

111.  Place these wires into the holes you made through the shoulders. Keep the wire straight for now. Determine how long you want your doll’s arms to be and cut off any excess with the wire cutter.

112.  Roll out a snake of Creative Paperclay…about 10 inches long. Fold in half and cut. Make one end of each snake a hand, round the other end for a shoulder. Let dry for 10 minutes and then place over wire you’ve placed through the shoulder holes. 

113.  I always shape my arms in a round fashion…sculpt your arms in any way it suits you!

114.  Add facial features and hair to your doll. I use my thumbs to make eye socket, a lump for the nose with a couple little nostrils, round bits of clay for cheek bones, leaf shaped lump of clay for lips, and twisted strips of clay for hair.

115.  Allow your newly sculpted doll to dry for one to two days depending on your climate. It takes at least two days here in New England!

116.  Once dry, paint your doll and have a blast. Visit my blog (http://marissartdolls.blogspot.com) Sunday, December 11^th for a tutorial on how to dress your doll! Or feel free to figure out your own technique!!! (Decoupage perhaps?!?)

Wishing everyone very HAPPY AND HEALTHY HOLIDAYS!!! Thanks for reading my tutorial!!!