Saturday, January 19, 2013

New, STADTLER Texture Sheets!

 I'm playing with some brand new toys this weekend.
I'm pretty excited about them too.

Here's a peek.
There are TWO SHEETS in each pack!
I think my favorite one so far is the skin pack.......
Maybe it's really the wood and wicker.....
Oh jeez, I'm not really sure.
I think I'm smitten with all of them.


They are going to help me show off the new colours.
I'll post more as I get things put together.
Can't wait until tomorrow so I can finish playing.
I won't get any sleep......



I'll be dreaming of this.........

Monday, January 14, 2013

Simple Nail Art Bunnies

 It's been beautiful and unseasonably warm here for a few days. I must have been lulled into a false sense of spring because I had a sudden urge to do Bunny nail art.


I used my Joe Fresh polish and as usual I didn't have the patience to wait for the eyes to dry before I clear coated. I got some smudging because of it but I'm pretty happy with the bunnies despite their runny eyes.


It did get a bit chillier today. 
I think the bunnies might need earmuffs before the week's out.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Free Style Fridge Vandalism

We keep our STAEDTLER white board markers on top of the fridge so we have easy access to them for things like appointments and grocery lists.
The kids found them and decided we kept them on top of the fridge for this purpose............

Bet our fridge is way more fun than your fridge!
Silly kids!
:D

Monday, January 7, 2013

Teeny Cute Birdhouses With STAEDTLER Fimo

 I was recently asked to reproduce this STAEDTLER design to use in a advertising project.
I must say I've fallen in love with it.

I've posted the instructions here with the blessings of STAEDTLER's marketing team.
Thanks for letting me share.


They are teeny little birdhouses to use for decorations or place cards. I think I see some pendants in their future. They would make the sweetest little necklaces and earrings scaled down a bit.


I broke open my STAEDTLER fimo soft colour pack. Aren't these great colours? 

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

STAEDTLER fimo soft in a variety of colors
Wooden skewers or dowels
Acrylic paint to match clay colors
#4 flat paintbrush to paint dowels
Clay cutter
Clay roller
Ball point pen housing
20 gauge wire
Wire cutters
White craft glue

1.   Choose a color of fimo clay to make the birdhouse body. Condition the clay by kneading it in your hands until it’s soft and workable. Shape some of the clay into a house shape. Mine were no larger than an inch and a half tall. Poke a hole into the bottom of the house with a skewer.

2.   Condition another color of fimo clay for the roof of your house. Roll this color out to about ¼ inch thick and cut to fit the roof of your house. I used a hollowed out pen to make texture on my roof. Add the roof to the house by gently pressing the two clay colors together. Make a base of the same color you made the roof from by forming a cube of clay a little bit wider than the base of your house. Poke a hole in the base with a skewer.




3.   Wash your hands to remove any of the previous clay color from them. Condition some white fimo clay and make a 1/8 inch thick worm. Cut off little sections of the white worm and roll these into teeny balls. Apply these teeny balls to the walls of your house to decorate it. Use the end of a dowel to push a door way hole into the birdhouse.


    4.   Make some birds to decorate your houses by putting two flattened teardrop shapes together. Choose any color to make the birds that you like. Add a beak of orange clay and add some feather texture with the end of a skewer.


    5.   Cut a 2 inch piece of wire and curl it around a skewer. Add a bird to one end and poke the other end into the roof of the house. Bake all the pieces in a preheated 230 degree F oven for 20 minutes and let them cool. Cut a piece of skewer to fit between the house and the base. Paint the cut skewer with acrylic paint to match the house.  Assemble the pieces adding white glue to the joins.


    6.   Add flowers to some of the houses by making little teardrop shapes and flatten them onto the houses to make petals. The center of each flower is a ball of clay.


    Adorable right?
    I can almost hear the teeny birds chirping.
    Spring time......... come on back!


    You can make these houses hanging pendants instead of standing pieces by poking a hole through the peaks of each roof and threading floss or ribbon through to hang the pieces.

    Hope you all enjoy these little houses as much as I do.
    A big thanks to STAEDTLER for sharing this project from their archives with us.
    I'm honored to have been asked to recreate it in instruction form.

    Tuesday, January 1, 2013

    Coffee Cake and a Camera

    Hope you've all had a spectacular time with family and friends.
    Our holiday celebrations are all done now. Just have to clean up the glitter and baubles.
    Thought I'd share my big gift with you all.

    Mr Jimmy scouted me this beautiful camera!
    It's a Fujifilm finepix HS25EXR
    I'm still trying to figure out everything it does!


    I took these pics with the new fuji.
    Almost no editing here. I'm pleased as punch with how the pics come out.



    James and George take a post gifting nap on Christmas day.



    Very close up shot of the beautiful gift Aunt Janet and Uncle Alan sent.



    It takes panoramic shots.



    Maggs has begun work on another needle felted project supplies courtesy of Auntie J and Uncle A Man.
    It's been a spectacular year!
    I'm excited to see what 2013 will bring.



    Saturday, December 29, 2012

    Maggs Makes Festive Samosas

    Maggs made these delicious samosas and I thought we should share the recipe.
    They were so good!
    Just the right amount of spice and sweet.
    She's written up a recipe card for you.
    She used STAEDTLER triplus colour fiber tip pens to do the food graphic.


    Hope you're having a wonderful winter so far.

    Wednesday, December 26, 2012

    Rainbow Bright Bread

    Today Maggs and I decided to make some bread.


    Here's what we came up with.

    Looks like cake, but it's just plain white bread.


    Here's the dough pile before we baked it.


    Here's the loaf in the pan before it proofed and rose.


    It's going to make the cutest sandwiches ever!
    How are you spending your extra free holiday days.
    I hope you get some extra time to try new things and play with the family.

    Tuesday, December 25, 2012

    Merry Christmas


    Happy Holidays


    Thanks for a fabulous year my crafting friends.
    Here's wishing you a joyous and wonder filled next year.

    Thanks for playing with me!

    Sunday, December 23, 2012

    Decorating Shoes With Style

    We like to decorate shoes at our place.
    We came up with this design for  pair of plain red micro fiber shoes for Mercy.

    and used the new owl mold I made to showcase the new line of STAEDTLER fimo effect colours.
    I also found some red rhinestone bling and made a couple of gingham rosettes. 



    Here's a pic of how we arranged everything on the shoe. We used Fabritac glue because it remains flexible. 




    What do you think? Do you like decorated footwear?
    I think these guys would be super for a new years eve party.

    Tuesday, December 18, 2012

    Snowman Place Card Holders

    I made these little guys for a friend who was overworked and didn't have time to make her own table decorations for the holidays. 
    They went together lickety split and we had a ball making them.

    Here are some of the supplies you'll need to make some of your own:

    acrylic craft paint in black red and green
    tiny twigs for arms
    a bit of festive wool
    card stock
    iridescent glitter
    white glue
    hot glue gun and glue sticks

    Tools:
    clay roller
    craft blade
    detail paint brushes
    parchment paper
    scissors
    2 inch star shaped cookie cutter used for clay not food



    Roll the clay out on a parchment paper protected surface to about 1/4 inch thick.


    Print out this little snowman shape to the size you'd like. Mine was about three inches tall. Cut around the snowman shape with scissors. Place the cut out snowman shape onto the rolled out clay and use the craft knife to cut the shape out of the clay following the edges of the template.



    Add some twig arms to the front of each snowman cut out and set them aside to dry overnight.



    Use the star shaped cookie cutter to cut out some 1/4 inch thick stars and set those aside to dry overnight as well.



    after your snowmen and stars have dried you can use the acrylic paint and detail brushed to paint on some faces and a hat. I used the other end of my paintbrush to make dots for a smile and buttons. I also used the tangerine fimo soft to make little cone noses. I baked the noses for 15 minutes at 230 degrees. After they cooled off I glued them on with white glue.



    Use the white glue to glue the snowmen to their star bases. I propped mine up until they dried.
    After they were able to stand on their own I used the hot glue gun to really glue them on. I added a big glob of glue to the front and the back of each base. Then I covered the bases, glue and all with white glue and dusted them generously with iridescent glitter. Set them aside to dry for a bit. 



    I cut out little flags and wrote names on them with the STAEDTLER triplus fineliners. I used festive colours and had fun with it. I put the flags onto a stick and propped it up onto the snowmen's base. You could also just put the place card name onto the base of each snowman.



    Here they are with their little woolen scarves. 
    Hope they don't eat too much!