One of a Kind Card for a One of a Kind Person by Linda Hess

Along life's path you will encounter many people: some good, some "challenging"...all weave the cloth that is our journey on Earth.  One of the special people in my journey is a girl named Annie.  I have known her since she was small, watched her grow from an adorable redhead with spunk and musical talent into a beautiful woman.  Now I watch as she enters her next chapter in life as a Catholic nun!  To say I feel blessed to have watched her grow and develop would be an understatement. 

Tomorrow I will go to a shower for her as she prepares to enter the convent.  Her wishes and needs are simple: yarn, instruction booklets, oboe & piano music...I lucked into a couple of crochet books from "Annie's Crochet" (I thought that so appropriate!).  I want to create a special card for her to go with the gift and you get to be a part of the design process.

For the base of my card I start with a white "linen" piece of 12"x12" from Recollections®.  I cut it to 9"x12", folded it in half, and used a corner punch to curve the corners.  The edges were rubbed along a black stamp pad to add an extra touch (NOTE: Be carefully when rubbing...less is more in this case).

For Annie's love of music I chose another Recollections® paper "Music Notes".  I cut it down to 6"x6" and then carefully tore the edges. It is glued in place on top of the white...perfect so far.

I found vellum paper strips on my table from a previous project.  I wove them together ("Our lives are forever woven together")...nice.

But when I placed the woven pieces on top of the music it basically disappeared :-(  Bummer

Not to be deterred, I went to my stash of paints and pulled out a few Twinkling H2Os (Pretty Peridot, African Jade, Sapphire on Ice, & Boysenberry) from ColourArte (http://www.colourarte.com/).  I quickly learned that Vellum doesn't like water and curls,

but I was able to lightly paint the back of each strip. As the strips dried, they magically opened back up. 

A few minutes under a book flattened them enough to re-weave for the card front.

Time to pull out the Creative Paperclay®.  I worked a bit in my hands, then rolled it through my pasta machine to flatten it (NOTE: clay can also be flattened with a rolling pin or acrylic roller).  I like rough edges rather than clean cut straight edges, so I tore the edges (towards me).  I am not patient enough to wait for the clay to air dry, so into the oven it goes (275* for 15-20 min.) with a piece of glass on top to keep it flat.

Once cooled, the piece is stamped with a beautiful scrolled cross (Rubber Stampede© #0403)

and then painted using Twinkling H2Os. 

Pearl dots complete the cross details. 

It is glued in place with The Ultimate! glue from Crafter's Pick™ (http://crafterspick.com/)

It needs a little something else.  I found this saying in my stamp box.  PERFECT for the occasion!   Stamped on a piece of the leftover white cardstock, edges torn, and rubbed over the ink pad.  Glued in place...exactly what it needed! 

One final touch.  A shimmery ribbon and a couple of appropriate charms (Bead Landing™)

 

 

 

 

Kid-Friendly Worry Moon

Hello out there in blog land! It is Susan from TheBoredZombie.com with a family friendly project suitable for all skill levels.

When I was a kid, I remember coming across some worry people. They were small people that you carried around or put under your pillow. You can whisper your worries to the little people and they carry the weight of the worry. I did a little research - and they exist as tiny as I remember! They are probably OK in the hands of a 10 year old, but a little small for the younger ones. When I saw the moon face silicon mold in my stash - I instantly thought of a worry charm!

For you or your little one to make one of your very own, you'll need:

• Creative Paperclay® Modeling Material
• Glow in the Dark Paint
• Silicon Face Mold
• Small scrap of fabric

I wasn't sure which face I wanted to use, I went ahead and molded them all!

I pulled out the ones that were way too small or awake and was left with the biggest one as my favorite. I sanded him smooth and added several layers of glow in the dark paint.

For my moon, I went simple and painted a marionette tattoo inspiration. You can go wild and decorate him anyway you wish! I bet some rhinestones would be fantastic! I will tell you -I struggled painting over the glow in the dark paint a bit. The glow in the dark dries almost plastic-like and the black really didnt want to play with it. My lines aren't as solid or consistent as I would like, but I think it is worth it when you turn off the lights!

It seems to me that a worry charm you can't find isn't very useful! I made a simple pocket for mine that is completely suitable for little hands. I cut a piece of scrap fabric to roughly .75" larger than the charm on the two sides and bottom and 1.5" larger on the top with a fold on the bottom.

On each of the "tops", I folded the fabric over 1/4" twice and sewed them closed.

One the tops were sewn down, I folded the fabric right sides together and put a quick seam down each side.

Turn the pocket right side out and the Worry Moon should slide right in there. My daughter and I are going to pick a place on the flat sheet or the pillow and sew the pocket on. Now if she wakes in the middle of the night or has trouble going to sleep, she can grab her Worry Moon and transfer all that bad stuff to him for the night. No worries, he will sleep right through it!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and taking a look at my project. Don't forget! The Valentine's Day Link up is February 8th! I hope you're thinking about your project!

details: https://www.facebook.com/events/213247485529968/

Headwrap Charms

Good morning and welcome to another Creative Paperclay® post.  Today I am showing you a follow up from two weeks ago when I created some paperclay charms from "non" molds.  If you don't know what I am talking about go here.

So I started with one of the charms I created while it was still a bit wet.

When the clay is not yet hardened all the way

I took the original charm 

and laid it onto the clay and gently pressed

it into the clay 

it gives the clay some definition 

see. 

After the clay piece was completely hard

I painted it with Metallic Pure Gold

Acrylic paint. 

Then I used the Shimmering Garnet from 

Terri Sproul's Mixers and you can get 

those here.  Not only does this give the

crown a glitzy effect, but it also seals the

piece when you mix it with the 3D 

Crystal Lacquer.

I wanted to add some glitz to my crown and remembered a purchase 

I recently made from my favorite "Dollar Tree". 

In the health and beauty aisle I came across these

nail art bottles.  I knew I needed them for

my altered art projects and they came in

handy for this project. 

I added some rhinestones and these itty bitty

pink balls from the nail art with the 3D Crystal Lacquer 

and covered them again with it to seal it. 

Then I took an unfinished crown, (yes I

usually make more than 1 piece at a time

in case of mishaps) and traced it onto a scrap

of soft faux leather. 

I cut it out just a bit bigger than the piece itself. 

I also bought these elastic headwraps at 

the Dollar Tree that day, (but not knowing

what I would be doing with them).

I might have a buying problem lol.

I added some glue to the backside of the crown

and glued a part of the headwrap to it.

Then I glued the faux leather piece on top

of the elastic ribbon onto the crown. 

and now I have a gorgeous headwrap charm. 

Close up (it's hard to take a picture of yourself)

So...what do you think?  I think I might be making some of these for my granddaughter for Christmas.  

Thank you for joining me again today and I hope I've inspired you to use some Creative Paperclay® and make your own hairwrap charms.  

As always, have a great day and God Bless.

Brenda