Remember These?

My oldest daughter recently bought one of those "tattoo" bracelets at Hot Topic.  When I saw it, I was thinking... wait... I used to wear a choker like that!  I can't believe they are back in style!  I was also thinking... I CAN MAKE THAT!  So, I looked for tutorials online and found a bunch.  Even though the one she bought felt like it was made with some type of fishing line, the tutorials I found all used Stretch Magic.  I couldn't find it in craft stores, they were all out of black everywhere I looked, so I ended up buying some from Jo-Ann Fabric online.  I used black and gold in 1mm, but they have all different thicknesses and colors.

   

I ended up liking this tutorial the best.  The only thing I did differently was, instead of cutting two strands of string, I cut one (6 times the length around my neck), folded it in half, and knotted a loop at the end.  This made it easier to tie it together when finished.  There are lots of ways to finish these off though...

Here's my youngest wearing a gold tattoo choker and a vampire teeth pendant (also made by me and soon to be added to my Etsy shop!!!).

Satyr Costume Tutorial

sa·tyr

ˈsatər,ˈsātər/

": one of the forest gods in Greek mythology who have faces and bodies like men and ears, legs, and tails like goats" -(source)

A satyr is what my son wanted to be for Halloween this year.  He was inspired by the books written by Rick Riordan.  We were even lucky enough to snag a signed copy of his latest book!  Exciting!

Here is the finished costume and how we made it...if you would like to create a similar one yourself.  It pretty much consists of a hat, shirt, pants, and shoes.

You will need a hat, orange t-shirt, sweat pants, slippers, fur fabric, Sculpey Ultra Light Polymer Clay, paint, hot-glue, a strong glue (like E6000), and inkjet iron-on transfer paper.

 1. the hat: My son had the great idea of attaching the horns to a hat, instead of a headband or something like that.  We couldn't find a "trucker" style hat while shopping, so we made one by painting a black hat.  I sketched and painted the word satyr on the white painted portion of the hat to get a graffiti look.  I made the horns using Sculpey Ultra Light Polymer Clay.  It was my first time working with it, and it really is super light!  It felt like taffy!  I made the bottoms flare out to anchor them in the hat.  After I baked the clay, I painted them and sealed them with mod podge.  To attach the horns to the hat, I made an "X" like slit where I wanted them in the top of the hat, pushed them through, and hot-glued them in place.  You can use a stronger glue too.  I also hot-glued felt over the exposed clay on the inside of the hat to make it more sturdy and comfortable.  

2. the shirt: This was easy, and I'm sure there are multiple ways to do it (like using a freezer paper stencil).  We just found an image online and printed it on inkjet iron-on transfer paper, then ironed it on the shirt.  Camp Half-Blood is from the Rick Riordan books.  It's "a state-of-the-art training facility for young demigods"-(source). 

3. the pants: We used gray sweatpants.  I cut two large circles from the fur fabric (purchased at Jo-Ann Fabric), using a plate to trace out the shape.  I also cut long rectangles to wrap around the bottom of the legs, using the pants as a guide.  I cut out a small circle, cut it in half, and folded it to use as the small tail.  I attached the fur to the pants with hot-glue, but also stitched around the edges to hold in place.

4. the shoes (hooves): For the hooves, I also used the Sculpey Ultra Light Polymer Clay.  I shaped them to fit around the slippers we purchased.  The fake ugg type slippers would work well too.  We lucked out and found the perfect slippers in gray to use, so we didn't have to cover the entire slipper with fur, just the front.  I baked the polymer clay hooves on glass bowls, so they would keep their shape.  After they cooled, I painted them, sealed them with mod podge, and glued them (with a strong glue, like E6000) to the front/toe portion of the slippers.  You will also want to rough up the underneath of the hooves, so they adhere better to the slippers.  I used a plate to trace and cut a circular piece of fur fabric for the tops of the slippers and cut a slit down the middle, then hot-glued in place.  They turned out so cool and are really comfortable!

Oh, and we purchased pan pipes for him to carry!  I forgot to get a photo:/

Overall....both my son and I were really pleased with how the costume turned out!  Plus, he has a shirt he can wear after Halloween!  

Feel free to email me with any questions!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Check out my other tutorials...

Polymer Clay Pumpkin Pie: Tutorial

What you need:

• bottle cap
• Unused and flattened type is the best.  You can find them at craft stores, Amazon, or on Etsy.  You can also look at stores that cater to home brewing.
• beige/crust colored polymer clay
• orange/pie colored polymer clay
• I mixed orange, brown, and gold to get a color I liked.  I have also seen people mix in real pumpkin pie spices to make it look more realistic!
• white for the whipped cream
• needle tool or something to crimp the edges of the crust
• liquid polymer clay to strengthen bond between clay pieces

As I mentioned before, I added some brown to my orange to get a more realistic pumpkin color.

I still wasn't happy with the color, so I added some gold too.

 I flattened the clay, then used a 1 1/4 inch circle cutter to cut a piece of beige and orange.  I used a tiny, about 1/4 inch, circle cutter to cut a piece of white to use for the whipped cream.

 Center and place the piece of beige/crust colored clay in the bottle cap.  I added some liquid polymer clay between the two to secure the bond.

 Roll the orange/pumpkin colored clay in a ball.

 Place the orange ball in the center of the beige piece of clay.

 Press and flatten the orange clay ball.

 Press the side of the needle tool in increments around the pie to crimp the edges of the crust. 

  Try not to indent the orange portion of the pie.

 Roll the white clay into a ball.

 Pinch the top of the white ball to form a teardrop shape.

 Add a drop of liquid polymer clay to the center of the pie.

 Place the white clay in the center of the pie with the pointed side up and squishing it down a tiny bit.

 Bake according to clay directions.

 And...your pies are finished!

You can use them as festive hair bow centers, to decorate napkin rings, as magnets, or even glue on a bail to create a pendant!

My 6 year old daughter helped me make the pies and made two of her own.  She likes to use them to feed her Lalaloopsy doll!

Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!

Friendship Bracelet: Tutorial

Here is a really easy friendship bracelet tutorial!

They are easy enough for kids to make too!

Getting started...

#1. You will need:

•  a long piece of t-shirt yarn in any color (you can also make by cutting a long strip of t-shirt about an inch wide and pulling the ends to stretch and lengthen)
• embroidery floss/thread in as many colors as you choose
• a safety pin

#2. Tie a loop at one end of the t-shirt yarn with an overhand knot

             

The Knots...

#3. Safety pin the looped piece of t-shirt yarn to your knee

Cut the embroidery floss in long pieces (around 40 inches in length of each color, depending on wrist size and the amount of different colors used)

Tie (with a double knot) the group of embroidery threads to the top of the piece of t-shirt yarn as close to the knot of the loop as possible, leaving a couple inches of length on one end and the bulk of length on the other

#4. Hold down the long portion of the t-shirt yarn and all pieces of embroidery thread, including the short ends, except for length of embroidery thread in the color you want to show up

Take the chosen color and cross over everything else, making a 4 shape

Wrap around everything else and come up through the loop created by the chosen color of embroidery thread and pull the thread up towards the safety pin/ top loop to tighten the knot

Repeat this way of knotting (a forward knot) until you want to change colors

The entire bracelet is made of forward knots in alternating colors

Knotting Continued...

#5. Continue knotting, alternating colors as desired

#6. Once you have knotted about an inch or two down in length, you are free to cut off the short ends of the embroidery floss

Do not cut the long pieces of thread or t-shirt yarn off!

Finishing Up...

#7. After you have reached the desired length of your knotting, you split the amount of embroidery threads in two and tie a triple knot around the t-shirt yarn

Trim the ends of the embroidery thread

#8. To tie onto your wrist, slip the left over length of t-shirt yarn through the top loop and knot

Cut off excess length of t-shirt yarn on both ends (near the top loop and the end piece)

And...you are...FINISHED!

The good thing about using the t-shirt yarn is that it has a bit of stretch to it, so the bracelets are easy to slip on and off....making them easier to share and give to friends!

These look so cute worn in bunches!

Have fun and feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

On the Front Page!

Yay!  My Polymer Clay Decorated Pumpkin Tutorial made it to the front page of Instructables!

Polymer Clay Decorated Pumpkin

We made a polymer clay decorated pumpkin!

And...I'll show you how to make one too!

This project kind of reminds me of a Mr. Potato Pumpkin Head:)

 I made mine look like a bat, but really...the possibilities are endless.

You can even just make a bunch of teeth and add to a carved pumpkin (like this).

First...make all of the parts.  

You will only need polymer clay and either toothpicks or skewers.

You will want the toothpicks to be thick and of good quality.  

The toothpicks I used were thin and flimsy, and I did have some break when pushing into the pumpkin.

For the bat in my example, I made (pictured above):

#1- teeth

#2- ears

#3- eyes

I also made (pictured above):

#1- a heart with a scar

#2- bat wings

Bake according to clay directions.

I baked the parts with the toothpicks in them.  Remember how the parts will be attached, so you put the toothpicks in the appropriate places.  You also could poke the hole for the toothpick, bake the clay, and re-attach the toothpick after the clay has been hardened.  Another option would be to drill a hole for the toothpick in the hardened clay, but remember you do want the toothpick to fit snugly in the hole, so you don't have wobbly parts!

To attach the polymer clay parts to the pumpkin, I poked a guide hole using a needle tool.  This will make it easier to push the toothpick into the pumpkin.

Pictured above:

#1- poke the guide hole

#2- gather your parts

#3- attach the polymer clay parts to your pumpkin

...and that's it!

Another super simple polymer clay project!

 Even kids can do it!

My 6 year old, Sienna, made the pumpkin below (except for the little top hat):

Hope everyone has fun with this project!

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Lalaloopsy Costume Tutorial

We finished Sienna's Lalaloopsy costume!

Everything came together really easily...except for the wig!  

The wig was quite a pain, but I'll try to explain how I did it!

 1. the wig:  Here are a couple tutorials that didn't work out for me, but look great and might work for your Lalaloopsy costume.  Peanut Big Top has pig tails, which made it a bit more difficult. I'll try to explain how I did mine, which isn't very difficult or time consuming.

• Lalaloopsy Hair Tutorial by the owlchemist
• Easy Raggedy Yarn Wig Tutorial from Ucreate

I started out my wig using the Easy Raggedy Yarn Wig Tutorial (which will show you how to cut the yarn and tie the sections together), but ended up doing something different.  I wrapped a bunch of yarn around a piece of cardboard to get the desired length.  I cut enough to gather 5 groups of yarn.  Then, tied each group of yarn together with another piece of yarn off-centered, like where the part in the hair would be.   Peanut Big Top has a side part.  Next, I hot glued the yarn, while twisting, to a knit beanie, but later cut it out.  If I were to do it again, I would glue down to a piece of purple felt (the color of the yarn hair) and cut out.  Then, I just gathered the yarn on the sides, like pig-tails, and tied together with a piece of yarn.  To get the twisted, ringlet shapes, I just twisted and hot glued the yarn together.  I also trimmed the pigtails to make the ends even.  So, really, you just have the front part of a wig.  I hot glued red bows to each pig tail and glued the whole piece to a soft headband.  It's much more comfortable that anything else we tried and won't be too hot, like the beanie.  Plus, the beanie wouldn't stay on her head!  Oh...and everything else we made looked so bulky!  This was definitely a test of my patience!  But, we have something useable, and it's pretty cute...especially with the rest of the outfit.

 2. the shirt: I used a shirt we already had and used a pencil eraser dipped in red fabric paint to make the polka dots.

3. the gloves: We bought these on eBay.
4. the tutu: I used this tutorial with gold organza.

5. the tights: I bought striped tights and painted a heart on one of the legs with red fabric paint. I made a heart stencil by cutting the shape out of masking tape.

6. the boots: They are just pink Crocs boots I found on eBay.

Anyway...

It's a semi-handmade costume...my favorite kind!

Oh, and we painted her face to look like Peanut Big Top too!

Please feel free to ask any questions you might have!

A Cake Topper and Instructables

What's black, white, and red all over?

My most recently completed cake topper!

I just love how it turned out:

 

And...

My Polymer Clay Notebook Paper Ornament made it to the front page of Instructables!  Yay!  

It's had lots and lots of views too!

Thanks Instructables for helping me share my tutorial!

Tutorial: Polymer Clay Notebook Paper Ornament

 This polymer clay notebook paper ornament is SUPER easy to make and is the perfect way to display memories on your tree!  It would also make a really cute gift tag...especially on a teacher's gift!

Supplies: 

white polymer clay

playing card

x-acto knife or steel blade (like shown in the picture below)

small round cutter or straw

ultra fine point sharpies in blue and red

 Roll out the clay.

You can do this using a pasta machine

(I used the thickest setting)

or 

you can roll by hand with a rolling pin.

Just flatten the clay!

You do not want it to be too thin and fragile, so pick a thickness that feels sturdy.

 I used a playing card as a template for the paper shape and used an x-acto knife to cut it out.

 I also liked the rounded edges the playing card template gave.

 Use the small circle cutter or a straw to cut the three holes.

I centered the first hole, then placed the other two closer to the top and bottom edges.  Look at a real piece of notebook paper as a guide.

 Bake the clay piece according to the directions on the brand of clay you used.

You could probably use an air dry clay also, but just make sure to use a thickness that is not too fragile or breakable.

 Drawing the lines.

To do this, I looked at a piece of notebook paper as a reference.

I left a bigger space on top (about 5/8 inch) then, with a ruler, marked increments of 1/4 inch.  You want to have enough space to write, so don't put the lines too close together.

 I marked all of the lines with a pencil and ruler first, so I could erase mistakes.

 Mark the vertical line also, using the same technique.

 Using a straight edge or ruler, go over the horizontal lines with the blue ultra fine point sharpie.

 Yay!  It's looking more like notebook paper!

 Draw in the vertical line using a red ultra fine point sharpie.

 Finished!!!

How easy was that?

I think I will have my kids write their Christmas lists on them, so I can keep them forever...

and remember what their handwriting looked like!

 Lastly, I added some hemp string to hang it with, but you could use ribbon, yarn, or anything you think would look best.

 There are so many memories that could be saved on these ornaments!

They could be used as a baby's first Christmas ornament, listing name, birth date, weight, height, etc...

What about writing a love note?

Or the year's highlights...like, "Sienna lost her first tooth in September"?

You could also write your kids' teacher's name, their grade, and their favorite book or game this year...

Seriously!  So many uses!  I could go on...and on...

(for more notebook paper fun)