New Things

I've been working away on these very one of a kind face moulds. I am adding them to the many prizes that the Lovely April will be sharing at her 

Fabulous All Things Crafty Retreat.  

April is one of my STAEDTLER Design Team Sisters and her work is gorgeous and full of heart just like April herself. 

The retreat is in March and I hear there are still four spots open for some lucky art types. Read up and if you're in her neck of the woods (Arkansas) and needing a crafty getaway to keep things sane, you should contact her and reserve your spot!

Here are the goods inside the two kits I'm sending along to be given away as prizes. There is also a two page full colour pictorial included in each kit. 

It's going to be a ball. Wish I could join you!

Snow Day Art

I came home for lunch today to find that It was declared a SNOW DAY!!!!!

My dining room held a gaggle of school girls completing an art project. They had to complete a self portrait with colour. One girl picked STAEDTLER Karat pastels and went to town filling in and blending the pastels into each other. Great job!!!

 

 My Maggs decided to use STAEDTLER Karat chalks after she sketched herself out into a mirror image.

Maggs blended the chalks with a dry paintbrush. The girls did a great job. I'm so proud of them. I think STAEDTLER might be helping me be a better Mom. They sure were happy to be able share my gorgeous art supplies. 

 

Thanks STAEDTLER!!!

Valentine

 Here are some simple earrings and a pendant I made with STAEDTLER Fimo quite a few years ago. They're still my favourite Valentine's Day jewellery. I remember the day I made them both of my girls were home with me and making things around the work table. 

Sigh.......

To all the Mom's out there... I wish for you a Valentine's Day filled with squeezes from your own little monkeys. I'll probably over squeeze the one that's still home......

But ohhhhhhh the away one will get hers too. I'm saving all the squeezes up for when I see her again.

Studio Remodel...... whimper.........

I'm about one third of the way through a major studio remodel. I'm putting four rooms of studio materials into one large room. Mom picked me up the cool shelving units at Canadian Tire and they should work perfectly. But sorting through all the years of art and crafting products is a bit of a daunting task....... I'm a little bit overwhelmed. I'll post progress shots now and then to help any of you out there in the blogsphere who are going through the same kind of reorganization nightmares. 

We WILL get through this!!!! 

:)

 

Cuddling with George at the moment......

Maybe some rum and coca cola will help?

Valentine's Day Some Bunny Loves Me Tutorial

Here is a fun character card tutorial for Valentine's Day.

Things you'll need to create this card:

One package of STAEDTLER Fimo air basic in white

STAEDTLER Karat Aquarelle crayons

STAEDTLER Triplus fineliners

Decorative card stock I chose sparklie pink

one standard blank card

lace and ribbon trim

scissors and pinking shears

#4 round sable paint brush

Fabri-tac adhesive

rolling pin for clay

exacto blade or cutting tool

stylus tool or dullish pencil

damp paper towel

I used some parchment paper to protect my work surface.

 I rolled out my Fimo air basic to about 1/2cm thick.

 I printed out the basic bunny design and placed it on my clay face up. I used the large end of my stylus tool to trace the full design onto the clay. You will need to indent the clay enough so you can follow the design when the paper template is removed.

 With the tip of your craft knife remove any clay that isn't part of the design.

 Dampen a paper towel and use it to smooth out the edges of the clay. Let the clay dry overnight.

 Dip you paint brush into clear water and tap off the access. Use the dampened brush to pick up colour from the end of the aquarelle crayons and paint up your clay bunny.

 I started with a pink bunny suit.....

 then I added a peachy face......

 I made the paws and inner ears blue.

 I also added some deeper pink to the cheeks.

 I added detail with the triplus fineliner markers.

 I used a blue to fill in the tummy words.

 I made my bunny look like Mr. Jimmy!

 I put the bunny face down on the back of my decorative card stock and traced around the piece. Then I added a 1cm border and ct the card stock out.

 I also added a border of black felt by cutting around the edge of the piece with pinking shears.

 I used the Fabri-tac glue to stick the bunny to the decorative card stock shape and then to the felt. I also used it to add trim to the card and stick everything onto the card.

 I like my little Mr. Jimmy bunny card. I think I'll make a smaller one and turn him into a pin!

Add your own face to this bunny and create a personalized card for your someone special.

Valentine's Day Giveaway Winners!

Congratulations to the winners!!

Please get your addresses to me asap. Follow the link to my email in my blogger profile.

STAEDTLER Fimo Giveaway Posting Closed.... Winners Announced Sunday February 5th 2010!

It's time for a Valentines Day Giveaway!

The amazingly generous folks at STAEDTLER have been good enough to supply their design team members with mini product kits for not just one Valentines Giveaway..... BUT THREE!!!!!

For your chance to win one of these three STAEDTLER Fimo kits featuring Fimo polymer clay and a cutter, Fimo air basic, Fimo microwave, and Fimo air basic natural, follow these simple steps.

The winners will be drawn on 
Sunday February 5th 2012, 
and announced in the evening.

Good luck and watch the STAEDTLER Design Teams blogs for some cool Valentines tutorials. The link is in my sidebar to each of the team members blogs.

Sally Hansen's Salon Effects Test

  I found these cool nail polish stickers at the pharmacy downtown on the weekend. They were about $9.00. There are 16 different sized nail sticker inside the pack along with a nail file and a cuticle pusher and a full set of instructions. I thought I would give them a try.

 

  The package claims they will last up to ten days! I can't wait to find out if they do!

 I used some other Sally Hansen products to enhance the design a bit. I coloured one flower on each nail with some of their insta dri nail polish. I also gave the stickers a couple coats of Sally Hansen's Xtreme wear for good measure. I plan on re applying the clear coat every two days or so.

 Left thumb

Right thumb

They were pretty easy to apply. I cleaned my hands well before applying them and used the buffer stick as they suggest. I even wiped my nails off with some nail polish remover to de-grease them before I applied the nail polish strips. I really like this design because I can add what ever extra colour I want. It was kind of like when I was a kid and got one of those colour it yourself velvet poster and marker kits. It was fun. They had loads of different designs. I'm already on day three and there isn't even a chip yet. I'll add some more pics with dates as the wearing continues so you can see how they hold up.....

So far they're a whole bunch of fun and well worth the money.

*EDIT*

I wanted to add some shots of how these guys are wearing. I'm pretty impressed!
I use my hands and nails constantly to open hundreds of boxes a day and I'm always doing heavy work like picking up heavy wooden skids from a concrete floor. I also do the dishes the old fashioned way. We don't have a dishwasher. We put the dishes in the sink with water and suds and scrub them up and rinse them and dry them with a towel. This doesn't even count the abuse my nails get in the studio, all that clay and paint and wire...... gahhh...... Considering all of this abuse, this nail decorating sticker thingie from Sally Hansen is holding up like a trooper!

 

I'll keep you posted on their longevity, but I'm probably going to become bored and change them before they actually wear out.

*EDIT # 2*

OK.... I give!

These nails are NOT going to wear out before they grow out.

I can honestly say this is a pretty acceptable nail art option. 

Sally Hansen..... well done!

Bacon Praline Pecan Butter Tarts

 I've been craving these for a while now......

Bacon and pecans just seemed like such a good mix of flavors.

I used this recipe from the Joy of Baking for pecan butter tarts and added my own flair with some candied bacon bits. Here's how I did it.

I lightly buttered a piece of parchment paper and placed it onto a cookie sheet. Get this ready before you make the bacon praline because there won't be time to do it after.

 I diced up some regular bacon and fried it until it was crisp. I soaked up all the bacon fat by placing the cooked bacon onto a few folded up paper towels and then blotted the rest of the fat away by patting with another paper towel.

 I made some caramel by adding some sugar and a wee bit of water to a pot and boiling it until it dissolved and then started to turn light brown. Watch the cooking sugar closely and turn the heat off the instant it starts to turn colour.

 As soon as it turned colour I speedy quick added the reserved bacon bits. I carefully swirled them around to coat them in the sugar.

 Next I added a tsp of good vanilla and stirred it in.

 Work quickly and carefully, this is molten sugar we're dealing with folks. It causes some pretty nasty burns if you don't respect it. Pour the bacon sugar mix onto the buttered parchment and smooth it out so the bacon bits are separated. Let these guys cool off for at least a half hour before you try one.

 I made my dough following the recipe from the joy of baking.

 I made my butter tart filling using the same joy of baking recipe.

 I reserved 24 half pecans for the tops of my tarts and chopped up some pecans to go in my tarts.

 I also chopped up half of my bacon praline.

 I added about a tsp of pecan and bacon praline to each of the tart shells.

 I filled the tart shells with the butter tart filling and baked them up.

 Butter tarts are magical. They rise up while they bake and fall back down when you take them out of the oven. Check to make sure the tart shells are all golden brown before you take them out of the oven.

I finished up each tart by adding a half pecan and a chunk of praline bacon to the top of each tart. 

These guys are pretty yummy. I was expecting the sugar coating to keep the bacon crisp inside the tart. That didn't happen but it wasn't a failure..... as a matter of fact I think it worked out better that way. The pecan bits gave the right amount of crunch and the bacon gave a familiar salty flavour that I think makes the butter tarts more satisfying.

I think we have a pretty successful new recipe here. What do you think? Will you try it?