Last Minute DIY Christmas Craft!

Can I squeeze in another DIY Christmas craft!?

These ornaments are made from air dry clay using stamps, acrylic paint, acrylic gloss, fine glitter, and shimmery thread.

Air dry clay is the next best thing to using actual real clay; but much more accessible and there are some really good ones out there on the market now, so play around with different brands to find the one you like best because they all have different qualities. They are getting the mixes of these air dry clays better and better, and some of them feel as though you are using real clay.

I rolled out the clay first then cut out shapes using Christmas cookie cutters as my guide. I traced around them as I wanted them bigger than the cutters I had, but you could also just use the cutters to cut the shapes if the are the size you want.

I used Christmas-themed stamps and various high-tech-tools like a knitting needle and wooden skewer to make impressions into the clay, then I left them to dry.

Once dry, I coated them with gesso and dried that using a hair dryer. Then a coat of acrylic gloss. You want something shiny that will enable paint to wipe away from later. Dry the gloss. Then use some acrylic paint in you choice of colour and paint all over, getting in all the indents of the decorative elements. Wipe back with a damp rag to reveal the texture and bring out contrast. 

Then once the acrylic paint was dry, I painted a final coat of gloss and sprinkled some fine glitter into the gloss while it was still wet.

Make personalised ornaments using an alphabet stamp set

Add some pretty thread to the top for a hanger, and you're done! 

Check out the video below to see in detail how I made this Christmas decoration craft:

And if you're feeling extra crafty, I also recently made this fox Christmas decoration craft into a tutorial for Alisa Burke. You can find that tutorial here.

Really, I want Christmas to go for a bit longer this year, as I haven't made all the decorations I wanted to! Lucky (!?) the years go fast so next Christmas will be here before I know it!

I hope you enjoyed my last minute DIY Christmas craft!

Jules :)

Make Christmas Decorations: Tutorial for Upcycled Marbled Polymer Clay Christmas Ornaments

Hello Creatives :)

Christmas is coming! If you're feeling like a Christmas craft, you can make these Christmas decorations. This tutorial combines polymer clay, old candle lightbulbs (which no self respecting hoarder, ahem, crafter can throw away), and washi tape. And for those of you who prefer the video format for craft tutorials, you can check out my second-in-my-whole-life-youtube-video! (Making videos is super new to me so I totally welcome feedback :))

Upcycled Polymer Clay Christmas Decorations

You will need:

-Polymer clay in various colours (Sculpey III brand is my pick)
-Old lightbulbs
-Glass or tile work surface
-polymer clay rolling pin (I use an even sided glass)
-Scalpel
-2 Pliers
-Wire
-Washi tape
-Silver leaf (optional)

Make:
Roll a selection of colours into snakes or worms or whatever your chosen word is for rolls of polymer clay :)

Twist them together into a happening party;

And get that party pumping by clumping them into a ball! (Permission to roll eyes now omg, I'm sorry- I will stop!)

Then roll your clay into a log once more, then twist and roll into a ball. Do this a few times (I like to do this around 3 times) and your clay will start to marble. Experiment to see what you like. The more you mix, the more marbled your clay will be. Over mix and your colours will all blend and mix together and you will lose the marbled effect. You will see the marbled effect the clay has once you start rolling it out.

Take your rolling tool, like my high-tech even-sided glass shown here, and start to roll out your clay. This is where you get to see the magic of your marbled polymer clay! Roll it out quite thin, about 1-2mm. It's opaque so you don't need to worry about seeing through the clay, you just want to make sure it's not so thin that holes start to tear into it.

Take one of the lightbulbs and wrap the clay around it, manipulating it and smoothing and pressing as you go. Trim the excess clay and use your fingers smooth and disguise joins. 

If you'd like to use the silver effect, press your clay onto a sheet of the silver leaf, gently sticking the leaf to the clay. Do this once you've first flattened the clay a little, then continue rolling the clay and the silver leaf will start to crack and give that distinct look you see below. Keep rolling until it's thin again.

Wrap around another lightbulb then trim and smooth as above.

Once all smooth and done, bake the lightbulbs in the oven according to the instructions on the pack.

Now to make the hanger. Take a length of wire and make two small loops in the ends using two pairs of pliers helps here. Thread another length of wire through these loops and use that piece to wrap around the base of the lightbulb end.

You then take some pretty washi tape and wrap it around the unsightly lightbulb end to make it pretty! It also doubles up it's purpose by holding the wire in place.

I'm pretty pleased with the outcome of this Christmas craft! You can make them in your own individual colours, and they would make great handmade gifts for the festive season too.

So, if you find yourself with some spare time that you just don't know what to do with, and you have a collection of old lightbulbs like I do, then give making these Christmas decorations a go!

I hope you enjoyed my my DIY Christmas decorations tutorial!

Jules :)

Creative Life Round Up

Hi there! My creative-life-round-up posts are just a round up of random creativity that's happening in my world at the moment. 

Christmas is a-coming! I have just finished this little elf for a special little niece in my life. Her mama has extremely good taste and loves all the same fabrics and colours I do, so basically I made this with her in mind! I got the pattern from Wee Wonderfuls. 

I chose to make the elf on the left, and I used real wool felt for the felt components. Real wool felt is SO much better than the acrylic stuff.

Aren't they just so cute!? I really would like to get this animal pattern and make each of these cute little animals too! They are smoochalicious!! 

Food. Food is always happening here, and no, it's not always this pretty! This was for the girls' birthdays not too long ago. Right now I'm starting my Christmas cooking. My first project was shortbread cookies which I just burned. *Cry*

The husband-man and I recently took a trip... BY OURSELVES... no kids!!! Into Melbs. (Melbourne.) We saw a show, had some dinner, strolled around the streets, saw a couple of celebs, and basically felt like teenagers again. We went on our first dates as youngsters together into the city, so it felt strange to be walking around there for fun again together post having children. We don't often do things without the kids, but I could really get used to more of these outings! I like some of the creative laneways that are covered in art. Should've taken more photos!

Here's a landscape painting I started that is really not my style but was compelled to do it from a photo I took when out walking the dog. I have to say it's quite refreshing trying out a different style and I'm happy with where this small painting is heading. 

And another painting I've started! I had an image in my head of a pegasus painting, it's not turning out quite how I imagined, but I'm happy with it all the same. Maybe I'll have to keep painting pegasus paintings until I get it right!? A whole series perhaps??

And here's a terrarium I made for a good friend!

Hope you enjoyed my latest creative life round up. 

Jules :)

DIY Christmas Craft: Fabric & Glitter Christmas Tree Decoration

Time for a DIY Christmas craft!

We are staying home this year for Christmas, and I'm excited not to have to get up and rush all around trying to fit in all the visits to various family members. That may be a tad selfish, but it's been a busy year and just want to see out the end of the year moseying around my home.

Lots of sucky things happened this year, nothing terrible, but I got to the point of being over the constant flow of problems. I'm really hoping 2018 will be the opposite of this year! I'm not going to dwell on the negatives and list them all here, I must try and think positive thoughts and perhaps that will help bring some more positive experiences into my life :)

I did get to the point of everything compounding and I dropped my bundle! My blog slowed down, and I've hardly been able to seem to find the time to be creative. It's slowly coming back and I really need to make art and creativity a priority. I have been creating here and there but I haven't been sharing a whole heap here or on social media. Not deliberately, just because of shifting priorities, and my time was taken up elsewhere. 

Consequently, I've been thinking about where I want to be next year, and what form I want my creative business to head towards. I'm planning on doing a fair bit of work around this house decorating, so I can blog about my progress and share other things I'm getting up to creatively. I'll add new products to the shop when they eventuate. But I'm going to slow things down a tad and just share when I can. That may mean a lot if I'm going through a phase where I seem to be able to fit it all in, and others times it may slow down a bit, depending on life. 

So I'm going to forget all the negative stuff that happened this year and enjoy the heck out of this Christmas!! A lot of ace stuff has happened too! So I am going to focus on those things. 

Enough of that, let's get into some craft! I created this tutorial for Alisa Burke's wonderful blog, but I like to share them here for my readers too :)

I just love super colourful decorations. So I delved into my fabric scrap collection (I can never throw out small pretty pieces of fabric- the always have a use!) and came up with these christmas tree decorations. I then accentuated them with glitter, because it’s the perfect time of the year for an excuse to use the sparkly stuff!

You’ll need:

Stiff card
PVA glue
Assorted fabric scraps
Silver glitter
Toothpick
Masking tape
Baking paper or sheet of plastic
Tiny amount of stuffing

First, we’ll make the cone out of the card.

Start by making a centre point (top anchor point) at the top of your card and measure 27cm (10.5”) straight down (bottom middle point), then mark again. Then, using your top anchor point, swivel your ruler to the sides and mark with dots using the same length. Join the dots up and you will have created a curve for the bottom of the cone. From the centre bottom point, measure an equal distance straight out to both edges. I chose 16cm (6”). Draw lines from your top anchor point down to those side marks for the outline of the cone shape, adding a flap to the side that will be used to glue the cone together. Cut out.

You can see using this method of creating a cone that you could make play around with different sizes.

Curl the card around so the flap lines up to the other side, glue, and use masking tape to hold in place.

Make a template out of some card for the scollops using the diagram as a guide. Place onto the wrong side of the fabric, outline and cut out. You can keep placing the template side by side to get longer lengths. As you go, check by wrapping your fabric strips around the cone to make sure you have enough lengths.

Lay fabric strips out over baking paper or plastic. Mix some PVA glue and water with a ratio of 1:1. Paint it on to the back and front of the fabric strips and leave to dry.

Once they are dry and stiffened, use your fingers to curl up the edges of the fabric.

Start by gluing a strip of fabric along the bottom of the cone before you start with your scolloped pieces.

Run glue along the top edges of the scolloped fabric strips and start wrapping them around the cone. Make sure when you go up a layer that the cone is covered by the fabric so that you can’t see the card underneath. Continue until the cone is completely covered.

Using 2 small scraps of fabric, place wrong sides together and lightly draw a star shape. Sew all around the star leaving the bottom two edges open. Lightly fill the star with some stuffing, and then sew the two remaining edges closed, leaving a small gap in the bottom middle. Trim around the star close to the stitching. Pop some glue onto the end of a tooth pick and insert it into the base of the star, and then place some more glue onto the other end of the toothpick and poke it into the top of the tree. (If there’s no hole there use your scissors to snip off the very tip of the cone so that there is.)

Using a brush, paint PVA glue onto the very edges of the scolloped fabric and the edges of the star and sprinkle silver glitter all over, tapping off the excess.

Then enjoy your colourful christmas tree decoration! I’d love to see yours if you make one!

Jules :)

DIY Christmas Craft: Paper Mache Lady Ornament

Hello!

I'm back with another free Christmas DIY craft tutorial for you all. We are getting so Christmas-y around here!

 Gather your supplies:

-Cardboard

-Newspaper

-Plain Paper

-Scrapbook or Decorative Papers

-Acrylic Paints & Water Based Gloss Sealer

-PVA Glue

-Craft Glue

-Fancy Wool & Threads
-Decorative Trim
-Mini Pom Poms (I cut mine off those pom pom strands you can buy)

Tools:

-Printer
-Paint brushes
-Scissors
-Greylead Pencil
-Scalpel
-Large Wool Needle
-Scissors
-Drill with 3.5mm (.1378") drill bit

Download and print out your template at 100%. Download the template here. Cut out the template and trace around the cardboard. Cut it out then paper mache the first layer, front and back, with torn pieces of newspaper using PVA diluted with a little bit of water. Do a second layer of paper mache with white paper, so you can see what you've already done. Let dry.

Take your decorative papers and cut a dress a little larger than the body shape. Round the neckline with scissors and glue it on using PVA. I always paint PVA onto the back of the paper and then press the paper onto the shape. If you paint the PVA onto the body first, your paper is likely to wrinkle.) Cut a curved smaller piece of paper for the bottom of the dress and glue in place. Apply some firm pressure to the papers to help them stick in place. Let dry.

Once dry, turn your piece over and trim the excess paper away using your scalpel.

Next, transfer your arm shapes onto your lady using your template. (Rub grey lead pencil over the back of the template, then place directly onto the lady and trace over the lines which will transfer the drawing.) Paint the arms white at first. Then once dry, paint the arms and the head skin colour. I used white with a smidge of yellow and red added. 

Once this is dry, you can transfer the facial features and hairline to the shape using the same method as when you transferred the arms. Carefully paint in the features using a midtone colour, then use a darker colour, such as black, and a tiny paintbrush to paint the eyes, nose and mouth, and the lines in the hair. Dilute a bit of this darker paint with water and paint around the arms a little to make them stand out. 

Paint the sides & back of the ornament with your choice of colour, and then once that's dry seal your piece front & back with a water based sealer.

Take your drill and drill holes in the top of the ornament, and along the dots at the bottom using your template as a guide. You may need to clean up some of the holes a bit with your scalpel. Cut your fancy wool or threads into 6 1/2" (16cm) lengths. You'll need 3-4 lengths per hole, depending on how thick your threads are. Double over a selection of  3-4 threads and poke the folded bits through from the front to the back and hook the ends into the loop and pull tight. In one of the photos above I used a piece of cotton threaded onto a wool needle to get through the hole and then used that thread to pull the lengths through. Fill all the holes with threads and then trim to 2" (5cm).

Lastly, Pull a doubled over and knotted length of thread through the top hole for the hanger, and glue your two pom pom buns onto the sides of the head using craft glue. Glue your fancy trim onto the neckline and the bottom of the dress... and you're done!

I hope you enjoyed that tutorial. Let me know if you make one! She looks quite happy on our tree :)

Jules x