Maggs is at it again! Look Away Those of Faint Heart

Seriously......

This is some great special effects makeup.

Really really good!

Not just saying that because my daughter did it!!!

Maggs' Grandma Judi got her a heap of special effects essentials for her birthday and we wanted to share what she's done with it. 

I've inserted (or attempted to insert) a jump break so those of you with weak stomachs don't need to see all the gory detail of Maggie's incredibly believable Zombie attack effects......

Here's a beautiful picture of our gorgeous and gentle Maggie for you folks to look at instead!

Hi ya Maggs!

STAEDTLER Sweet Summer Giveaway Winner!

And the winners are!!!!

(Why yes, I did make a drum roll sound with my lips.)

Isha Gupta 

won the STAEDTLER Sweet Summer Giveaway Prize featured above!

Yvonne Morentin won the Black Bird Necklace!

Chris Wooten won the Crown Necklaces!!

Kailash won the Blue Glittery Beads Necklace Set!!!

 

Girls please send me an email through my contact page so we can get your addresses and vitals for shipping.

YEAY!!!!

So happy to be able to share!

Video Tutorial for Stampendous Nails

Stampendous Glass Glitter and Mica Flakes in My Nails

Couldn't resist adding some of these glorious glitters from Stampendous to my gel nails.

Here are the results.

Full sun so you can see some of the sparkle.

In the shade.

If you don't do your own nails or aren't a licensed nail tech, you could certainly discuss taking these spectacular glitters into your local nail salon and have them added by your nail technician.

Sooooo sparklie!!

Stay tuned for the winners of our STAEDTLER Sweet Summer Giveaway with Stampendous early this week.

Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing, The Peter Pan Blouse

I bought myself a copy of Gertie's book.

Just got a few seconds to rub together to try it out.

I decided to make the Peter Pan collar blouse.

I unfolded the pattern and traced out the pieces I needed onto craft paper. I used cans of food to weigh down the paper and keep it in place while I traced. There are only three pattern pieces for this blouse. Gertie teaches how she drafts collars instead of just giving you the pattern piece. Brilliant! I spent the whole day playing with shapes and sizes until I had things looking the way I wanted them.

I decided to make two collars in contrasting fabrics. I like the look. I've seen friends post pics of blouses they've found with this collar. (I'm still blaming you Elizabeth Lee!) It feels feminine and frilly.

Here's the front of the blouse..... I really do like the collar. 

Here is the back of the collar.... you can see I need to work on my pattern drafting a bit. The back of the collar pieces overlap, but I don't really mind. I'll know for next time to keep that overlap measurement in mind. I love the little green buttons that I found in the button stash.

Here's the whole blouse on a hanger.....

Doesn't do it justice just hanging there empty like that.

All those roses will take a bit of getting used to.

Feels a bit Daisy the Clown to me right now.

Maybe with a jumper and cardy to break them up I'll like them more.

Just wanted to say thanks to the lovely Gertie. Love this book and can't wait to try out all of the many vintage and retro looks you've recreated in this fabulous and instructional book.

Overwhelmed.

I'm completely overwhelmed by the many talented designers who participated in this weeks STAEDTLER Sweet Summer Blog Hop and giveaway with Stampendous. We got to merge the wonderful products that these two companies offer and I had a blast playing.

Here's a list of links to the many fabulous blogs and their authors. I plan on keeping an eye on each and every one of them and am sure you'll want to visit too. (If I've missed any of the blog hop participants please let me know and I'll add you)

 

April Derrick

 Kim Stewart

 Suzanne Czosek

Lisa Somerville

Stampendous Impressions
Cyndi Bundy 
Jamie Martin
Janelle Stollfus
Jennifer Dove
Krissy Fossmeyer
Kristine Reynolds
Lea Kimmel
Rhea Weigand 

Tobi Crawford

Tenia Nelson

I'll be announcing the winner of STAEDTLER's Sweet Summer Giveaway early next week, along with three of my peeps who will have won some of the pieces I made for the hop.

I'm also flabbergasted by the wonderful comments I've received this week. I hope to see you all in the future.  I've got so many new projects planned for the next few months that I can hardly sleep and I'd love to share all of them with all of you.

You still have time to add a comment and join this site at the bottom of the page for a chance to win.

The comments will be open until midnight tonight.

Deadline extended until Sunday.

Here are some of the great "new to me" toys you'll see me playing with in the near future.

I'm a HUGE fan of the Stampendous product line. 

See you all next week!

Good luck!

Swing Bling Earrings

Last day of the STAEDTLER and Stampendous Sweet Summer giveaway Blog Hop.

Special Announcement!

We will be giving away one of the STAEDTLER Sweet Summer packages on Monday to a lucky reader who has joined in and commented on this weeks projects...

See the bottom of this post for details.

But there will also be three bonus giveaways!!!

I will be picking three names from the followers who have commented as a thank you to my peeps.

The prizes will be the finished jewelry sets you've seen posted this week.

The Crown Necklaces

The Blackbird Necklace

and

The Blue Glitter Necklace and Earrings

Good luck and thanks so very very much for reading!

To complete this project you will need:

STAEDTLER fimo effect clay
STAEDTLER fimo liquid gel

Stampendous charm collection perfectly clear stamp set

Stampendous glitters and embossing powders

Clear ink pad

jewelry findings, chain, jump rings, lobster claw,head pins, 22 gauge wire, 

Tools you'll need to complete this project:

Home oven

Parchment paper

Water in a spray bottle

Rolling pin for clay use only

Craft knife

Medium grit nail file

Drill with fine drill bit

Three in one jewelry pliers, double round nose, flat and wire cutters.

Roll out your STAEDTLER fimo effect clay to a thickness of 1/8th of an inch and spritz with water. Stamp with the small cameo frame hard enough to make an impression in the clay.

Use a craft knife to cut away any un-stamped clay and a toothpick to make a hole in the top of each piece to later hang them. Bake the pieces in a preheated 230 degree oven for 20 minutes and allow them to cool. Load the small cameo frame stamp with clear ink and stamp the pieces again. I used Stampendous Detail Capri embossing powder on the clear inked pieces and re-baked them for ten minutes in the 230 degree oven. I allowed the pieces to cool again.

I coated the center cabochon of each piece with STAEDTLER fimo liquid gel and then sprinkled with a variety of Stampendous glitters and embossing powders. I re-baked the pieces again in the preheated 230 degree oven for ten minutes and let them cool.

They were interesting but I wanted even more bling.

I added a drift of STAEDTLER fimo liquid gel onto each middle section and sprinkled glass glitter onto the uncured liquid clay. I re-baked the piece a final time at the same temp for ten minutes and let them cool completely.

I used the jewelry findings and pliers to assemble the earrings. They're very swishy and will add a little pop of colour and glitz to my summer wardrobe. Seriously loving these products together. Hope you all get a chance to try them all out!

Don't forget to join this site by clicking the link at the very bottom of this page and leave a comment on this post for a chance to win this wonderful STAEDTLER Sweet Summer Giveaway collection at the end of the week.

Giveaway open to residents of Canada and the US only.

GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

 The “Sweet Summer” Giveaway includes the following:

1 Set of 6 Triplus fineliners, pastel assortment

4 blocks of FIMO soft oven-bake clay in vanilla, peach, lilac and mint

1 Mars plastic eraser

1 Double hole metal pencil sharpener

1 Mars Lumograph sketch pencil

1 Pigment liner sketch pen

2 Creative idea brochures

Visit the other Blog Hop artists by following the links below for a chance to win a Stampendous gift too!

Visit and leave comments on this Friday's Blog hop posts for a chance to win even more:

April Derrick

Lisa Somerville

Stampendous Impressions 

Cyndi Bundy 

Jamie Martin 

Janelle Stollfus

Jennifer Dove

Krissy Fossmeyer 

Kristine Reynolds

Lea Kimmel 

Rhea Weigand 

Fit for a Queen Two... The Dark Side.

The Sweet Summer Blog Hop

With 

STAEDTLER and Stampendous

Continues!

I re-vamped Monday's project in a darker pallet.

I like the darker base clay with the embossing powders.

To complete this project you will need:

STAEDTLER fimo soft in #9 black

Stampendous Vintage Crowns Perfectly Clear Stamp Set

Stampendous Encrusted Teal Jewel kit embossing powders and glitters

Opaque blue ink pad

Clear ink pad

Rhinestones

Super glue

jewelry findings, chain, jump rings, lobster claw, head pins, 22 gauge wire, crystal faceted beads, 

Tools you'll need to complete this project:

Home oven

Parchment paper

Rolling pin for clay use only

Craft knife

Medium grit nail file

Drill with fine drill bit

Three in one jewelry pliers, double round nose, flat and wire cutters.

Flatten your STAEDTLER fimo soft black clay to a 1/4 inch thick sheet and load your Stampendous crown stamp with opaque blue ink. Lightly stamp the clay without leaving an impression. Use the craft blade to cut around the inked image. Bake the piece in a preheated 230 degree oven for 20 minutes and allow the piece to cool

I re-stamped the piece with clear ink and dusted it with detail capri embossing powder. Re-baked the piece at 230 degrees for another ten minutes and let it cool. Then I drilled holes in either side of the crown to hang the piece and added the jewelry findings to make the necklace.

There.....

Now I want to try a pink one!!!

:D

Don't forget to join this site by clicking the link at the very bottom of this page and leave a comment on this post for a chance to win this wonderful STAEDTLER Sweet Summer Giveaway collection at the end of the week.

Giveaway open to residents of Canada and the US only.

GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

 The “Sweet Summer” Giveaway includes the following:

1 Set of 6 Triplus fineliners, pastel assortment

4 blocks of FIMO soft oven-bake clay in vanilla, peach, lilac and mint

1 Mars plastic eraser

1 Double hole metal pencil sharpener

1 Mars Lumograph sketch pencil

1 Pigment liner sketch pen

2 Creative idea brochures

Visit the other Blog Hop artists by following the links below for a chance to win a Stampendous gift too!

Visit and leave comments on this Thursday's Blog hop posts for a chance to win even more:

Suzanne Czosek

Stampendous Impressions 

Krissy Fossmeyer 

Kristine Reynolds 

Lea Kimmel 

Rhea Weigand 

Blue Glitter and Embossing Powder Meet Translucent Fimo

The Sweet Summer Blog Hop

With 

STAEDTLER and Stampendous

Continues!

Products used to make this project:

STAEDTLER fimo effect clay translucent #014

STAEDTLER fimo varnish

STAMPENDOUS Glitters and embossing powders

Jewelry findings, headpins, lobster claw, chain, jump-rings, 20 gauge wire, earring wires.......

Tools you need to reproduce this project:

Polymer clay rolling pin

Small circle cutters (mine are a 3/4 inch and a 1 inch)

Three in one pliers or... double round nose, flat and wire cutter pliers

Clay cutting blade

Parchment paper

Round tooth picks

Block of styrofoam

Soft round paintbrush

Plastic sandwich bag

Roll out the STAEDTLER fimo effect translucent clay to 1/4 inch thick and sprinkle the glitter and embossing powders onto the flattened clay sheet.

These glitters and embossing powders are gorgeous! I want to try them all mixed with my favorite STAEDTLER translucent clay.

Fold and re-roll the glitter into the clay over and over until it's dispersed throughout the clay evenly.

Sprinkle some Stampendous glass glitter onto the mixed glitter clay and re-roll and fold the clay again until you're happy with the mix.

Use the sandwich bag plastic to cover the mixed clay sheet and push the round clay cutter into the clay to make smooth edged rounded discs.

Sandwich wire between two of the smoothed mixed clay discs and seal the edge seams by gently smudging with your fingertips. The wire will make a hole for stringing the bead.

I sprinkled some glittery embossing powder onto one edge of each bead. I couldn't resist.

I rolled the extra clay into little balls and skewered onto a piece of wire. I baked all the beads in a preheated 230 degree oven for 20 minutes and allowed them to cool off before handling.

I removed the beads from the baking wire and put each bead onto the end of a toothpick and dipped them into the STAEDTLER gloss varnish.

I poked the other end of each toothpick into a large piece of styrofoam to dry. I came back after a few minutes and dabbed off the extra varnish drips.

After the beads are dry, load each onto a decorative head pin and make an eye using the three in one pliers.

Follow this tutorial if you need it.

These beads turned out spectacularly!

I love the STAEDTLER fimo effect translucent clay as a base for these glitters.

I added some chain to a couple ear hooks and linked some round beads evenly to these chains with jump rings to make some sweet dangle earrings.

I really love these beads!!!

I added a bead and a lobster claw to each end of a 20 inch length of silver coloured chain to make a necklace.

I hung the beads from the chain at even intervals. I started in the middle of the chain with the largest bead.

Don't forget to join this site by clicking the link at the very bottom of this page and leave a comment on this post for a chance to win this wonderful STAEDTLER Sweet Summer Giveaway collection at the end of the week.

Giveaway open to residents of Canada and the US only.

GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

 The “Sweet Summer” Giveaway includes the following:

1 Set of 6 Triplus fineliners, pastel assortment

4 blocks of FIMO soft oven-bake clay in vanilla, peach, lilac and mint

1 Mars plastic eraser

1 Double hole metal pencil sharpener

1 Mars Lumograph sketch pencil

1 Pigment liner sketch pen

2 Creative idea brochures

Visit the other Blog Hop artists by following the links below for a chance to win a Stampendous gift too!

Visit and leave comments on this Wednesday's Blog hop posts for a chance to win even more:

Kim Stewart

April Derrick

Stampendous Impressions 

Jamie Martin

Janelle Stollfus 

Jennifer Dove