Well, That Didn't Go As Planned..... And a Bookmark Tutorial.

 I took last week off from the Salon so I could get some Christmas gifts made. We make almost everything. Usually we get a couple of purchased things but the  majority of our gift giving is home made. So.... I was all excited to start making..... And then..... The flu!!!

I'm almost caught up. We have heaps of things made (that I can't show you yet), but I have LOADS more to do. Mostly at the sewing machine. So I guess it will be between clients this week rushing to get it all finished. Really...... Every year I say I'll start earlier next year.....

Wanted to share this gift we made with Beastie.

It's pretty fast and easily made with things you probably already have in the house already.

Here goes...

Beastie Bookmarks:

You'll need:

Cardstock

colour printer

computer to manipulate photos

Photo of child reaching

Packing tape

sharp scissors small

white glue

Embroidery floss or string or ribbon

gauzy fabric

thread to match and hand sewing needle

bead

I took loads of pics like this. I had Momma Beast hold a string WAY up above Beastie's head and told her to reach for it. I wanted a shot that had her face up and arms up with a straight back. If you can get them to jump a bit for the string that works too.

I loaded the pic onto my PC and then onto a site called Picmonkey. Then I got rid of most of the background and made a frame around the pic. I flipped the framed pic so I could have a two sided bookmark. Then I printed it out in a couple of different sizes. Some folks like big books and some like little ones.

I cut out the images along the frame lines. This is helpful for keeping the images lined up. I glued the two mirror images together and let them dry flat. Once dry, I covered each side with some packing tape to make it more durable.

Then I cut those things out! I cut a tiny piece of fabric and gathered one edge with a running stitch and then I used the needle and thread to sew the tiny capes right onto the backs of the Beasties!

These are the beads that we made last year. We used FIMO Kids clay and had a HEAP of fun! I sewed a bead onto the hands of each bookmark using embroidery floss but you could use anything. Thread, ribbon, dental floss...... seriously! Whatever you have is great.

Beastie was thrilled with these!!! She wants to keep them all. I had to wait until nap time to put them up out of harms way..... I left her one so she could fly herself around the house like a tiny superhero.

We've been cookie baking too! These are the tiny tots creations. We added a bit more spice than the recipe suggested. We added cardamom and anise and ginger to the cinnamon and nutmeg. We also used a cookie mold shaped like an acorn leaving an indent in the middle of each cookie. Beastie wanted to fill 'em up with walnuts and chocolate. She is onto something here I think!!!

Wanted to share this recipe. It's from a very, very old out of print cookbook. Hope your Holiday plans are going smoothly and you're avoiding the flu!!!

So Many Nails

 A quick nail post to let you know I'm still kickin'.

These are some of the nails from the last month or so. I've really been enjoying the requests from my nail girls. Every time a different technique or colourway. 

Window nails accented with some metallic striping tape.

These are mine. I did a bit of a tutorial on 3D gel flowers for my Nail Nerdz.

So soft. a pretty mini baby boomer fade with a mandala accent nail stamp.

Hello Kitty Nails!!! With an embedded 3D bow. Hard to photograph. I'll have to do a bit more research on capturing the depth. I used acrylic paint under a gel topcoat to detail these.

Some natural looking french extensions for some wonderfully talented musical hands.

My eldest's fingers. I LOVE it when she comes home and I can spend time just her and I. So good to pamper her a bit.

Some wintery nails with my first go at a 3D sweater nail and a hand painted jeweled snowflake on a custom blended blue.

WOW!!!! Rainbow Chrome with a hand painted red rose. These babies have some bling!

Subtle accents over a natural looking french. These are very beauty and the beast. Love the rose stamp. I hand painted some swirls on there too just to fill it in.

Halloween 2017

Here are a heap of pics from our Halloween this year. I'm still recovering from a seasonal overindulgence of spiced whiskey laced apple cider so I'm going to keep this post very, very quiet.

No words. Just pics!

Hope your Halloween was AMAZING!!!

Ouija Planchette Cookies and Halloweenie Nonsense

I promised more shenanigans were to be had using the bird skull molds I made HERE.

We've used the molds to make whiskey filled chocolate bird skulls for some Ouija board pointer cookies!

I used the non polymer clay use mold to make our chocolates. I coated it with a thin even layer of white melted chocolate and shoved it into the freezer to set. It only took two minutes each time. We made about a dozen in all.

After the chocolate hardened, I filled the mold with spiced whiskey soused chocolate pudding. Just enough to fill below the top of the mold.

Next I used my tiny very clean paintbrush (I use this one for food only) to put a layer of melted chocolate over the top of the mold. I pushed it in a bit at the edges to make sure it sealed.

I made some sugar cookies in the shape of the planchette using a stretched out heart and an icing tip for the hole.

After the cookies were cooled and I had enough tiny skulls, I decorated the cookies with royal icing.

Each one was a bit different.

The most wonderful part was I got to spend the whole time with my bestie! She came to make cookies for her own birthday party. So she made her cookies and I made mine and we got to chat and catch up. I think Christmas cookies need to be made with the same plan! Never enough girlie time!

I managed her a cake commissioned by her hubby. First time for a rosette cake here. I really enjoyed it! It was chocolate and vanilla with chai flavouring and lemon icing.

We didn't get many pics of our costumes this year. Too busy having fun! We went as munchkins from the Wizard of Oz. We got to the party and who showed up? Dorthy, the Tin Man, the Scare Crow and Cowardly Lion! No one planned it! Just happened!

We made James' hair from wool roving stuck on with spirit gum. We coloured it by spraying it with orange hairspray. It was Sooooooooooo easy!!

These are the nails I made for myself for the munchkin costume. I was a Lullaby League girlie and James was a Lolly Pop Guild boy.

Beastie and George have been busy decorating this week.

She has decided that our house needed some very frightening Halloween Ducks!

Beastie is also recently very fond of being a unicorn.

Happy Halloween Week!!!

Bird Skull Jewlery

I sculpted some bird skulls to make molds of for different projects.

I used Fimo effects night glow and Fimo professional 02 in equal parts to sculpt the originals and to cast the reproductions.

This little skull has been coloured because the brush I used to finish off the sculpt had a bit of powdered pigment in it.

I made the simplest of shapes for the skulls. Not too detailed or undercut so that the raw castings would be easier to work with.

After I baked the original sculpts, I mixed up some EasyMold two part mold making medium together as directed until I had a consistent colour throughout. I then made two balls of mold making medium (one for each piece) and pushed the soft balls gently over and around the bird skulls. I waited about an hour before I unmolded the originals, and another two hours before I cast some copies. 

Here is a batch fresh out of the oven. I let them cool and then used some STAEDTLER acrylic paint to add some detail and age to the skulls and let them dry.

These sure are fun to play with. I didn't want to stop! 

I was falling asleep at my work station until George came to remind me that I should probably go to bed.

I think I liked these pieces the most! With their blood red crystal drop beads.

This was the most simple design. Very wearable I hope.

A wee bit of milk glass and a frosty tear drop crystal to finish this one off.

This piece took the longest and uses the most dear supplies. That bottom lace is soooooooo old! I sewed it to some modern lace ribbon and ironed it flat before adding all the drops and features.

I made a few more too. Mostly kind of like this guy in various lengths. I still have the second mold to play with. This one stays in my polymer clay studio though. 

I cast a batch for my oldest to take home with her when she was up. 

I can't wait to see what she does with them!

I'll be back soon with more experiments!

Happy October!