Textured Droplets Earrings by Kim Hale

Design Team Member Kim Hale created these textured droplet earrings with Makin's Clay®, our texture sheets and our water drop cutters.  Find the on her blog here.

Makin's Clay® Turtle Tac Toe Game by Cindi Bisson

Yesterday we shared Designer Laura Bray's Fairy Tic Tac Toe game.  I thought it would be fun today to share another fun Makin's Clay® Tic Tac Toe game idea - TURTLE TAC TOE!  I created this project for display in the Makin's Clay® booth at CHA several years ago.

Turtle Tac Toe 
Designed by Cindi Bisson

Materials:

Makin's Clay® - Green 120g, Olive 120g, (2) Blue 120g, Neon Green 120g, Grape Leaf 120g 

                         - Ultimate Clay Machine™

                         - Texture Sheet Set A 

                         - Bugs Cutter Set

Grass patterned paper 

Foam board 

Beacon™ Tacky Glue

Craft knife, paper trimmer

Blue twill trim 

Dragonfly stamp 

Instructions:

Use the craft knife to cut foam board to approximately 10" x 10". 

Cut piece of grass patterned paper to fit foam board.  Use Tacky Glue to mount to one side. 

Use Ultimate Clay Machine™ to roll enough blue clay to a #2 to cover foam board (if hand rolling, roll to approximately 1/8").  Apply small amount of Tacky Glue to surface of foam board, add rolled clay.  Use fingertips to smooth and blend edges where clay sheets meet.  Tip - if needed, wet fingertips to help blend seams in clay. 

Before clay has dried, randomly stamp blue clay with un-inked dragonfly stamp, pressing to create imprinted pattern in blue clay. 

Mix approximately 30g Green and 30g Grape Leaf clay until colors begin to marbleize and blend slightly.  Roll in Ultimate Clay Machine™ to #7 (if hand rolling, roll clay thin, to slightly less than 1/8").  Use craft knife to cut random sized lilypad shapes, cutting notch in each leaf a shown.  Create 9 of these and mount on your board and serve as the grid for the game.  If blue clay is not dry, lilypads will stick without added adhesive.  If blue clay has dried, use Tacky Glue to mount lilypads.  Let dry 24 hours. 

To create turtles, roll Grape Leaf and Green clay on Ultimate Clay Machine™ to #1 (if hand rolling, roll to a little over 1/8").  Place Cobblestone texture sheet over each sheet of rolled clay and press to transfer texture so that texture is raised on clay.  Use turtle shape from Bugs Cutter Set to cut 5 Green and 5 Grape Leaf turtles.  

Roll 5 balls of Neon Green and 5 balls of Olive clay approximately 1/2" in diameter.  Place Cobblestone texture sheet over each ball and flatten (with texture raised) until they are the right size to fit over the turtle bodies to create the shells.  Apply shells to turtle bodies (if bodies are not dry, shells will stick without additional adhesive.  If dry, use Tacky Glue to adhere).  Let dry 24 hours. 

Use Tacky Glue to mount blue twill trim around outside border of game to hide white edge of foam board.  

Your child (or you!) now have a fun Turtle Tac Toe game to play - the perfect size for travel, with a grassy area on the back for imaginative play with their turtles instead of the tic tac toe game if desired!  

                        

Gorgeous Guest Book by Candice Windham

Design Team Member Candice Windham shared this absolutely lovely wedding Guest Book on her blog this weekend - and it features some beautiful little peach Makin's Clay® heart accents.  Candice is a master artist when it comes to her combinations of mixed media elements - and this gorgeous book is just another example of how perfectly she integrates a touch of Makin's Clay® into her work.   Find her full instructions here .

Fairy Tic Tac Toe Travel Game featuring Makin's Clay®

Makin's Clay® is a sponsor of the WCK All-Star Designers Spring Series - This week Laura Bray is sharing an idea for a fun fairy tic tack toe travel game.  Laura used Makin's Clay® to create the unique faces and hair on her fairy game pieces.  View the video via this link.

Makin's Clay Mixing Ruler™

This month, our Design Team has been sharing projects made using our Makin's Clay Mixing Ruler™!  This useful, easy to use tool enables you to create custom colors of clay by mixing 2 or more shades with uniform results every time.  There is a color chart included.   Find it here on our website.

Embellished Mirror by Kim Hale

Design Team Member Kim Hale embellished this little mirror with Makin's Clay® push  molded flowers and punched leaves - Love the unique shape and the combination of elements!  Find it on her blog here

Serbian Folk Candleholder by Andrijana Katavic

 SERBIAN FOLK CANDLEHOLDER 

Designed By Andrijana Katavic 

Hello everyone! I am Andrijana Katavić, a polymer clay artist and instructor from Serbia, and owner of Studio Artesania. This is my first project as a Makin's Clay® Design Team member. At the same time, this is my very first project made with Makin's Clay® ever.

In my country we celebrated Mother's Day earlier than in the US (we celebrate it in beginning of March), but since I will always find an excuse to cheer my Mom, I decided to make something for her. She loves candleholders, and have a large collection of them, but I promised her long ago to make one especially for her. So, I decided to experiment with Makin's Clay® and finally make my promise true. Guided by the logic that if something goes wrong Mom will not be mad, and if my candleholder turns out great she will be very proud on me, I indulged in my first adventure with Makin's Clay® ever. By the way, the patterns and colors on the candleholder were inspired by Serbian folk costumes. I had so much fun making this candleholder, and love the final result. Mom is very, very proud of me, just so you know. So, here it is step by step tutorial.

MATERIALS:

Makin's Clay® Red 60g, White 60g, Orange 60g, Black 60g 

Makin’s Clay® Mixing Ruler™
Makin’s® Roller & Cutters Tool Set

Makin’s Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®

Makin’s® 3 Teardrop Paisley Cutters

Cardboard candleholder
Beacon’s™ Premium Tacky Glue

Glass or ceramic tile

White acrylic paint

Silver acrylic paint
Red acrylic paint
Sandpapers
Wide hard painting brush

Thin soft painting brush

INSTRUCTIONS:

STEP 1.

Cardboard candleholders in various sizes can be found in every craft store. Search for it in the decoupage or/and scrapbook section. Measure the candleholder in order to know how long the Makin's Clay® tiles will need to be later. Each side of my candleholder is 5.5 cm wide and 6 cm high. After the measuring, calculate an additional 2 to 3 millimeters since the clay will shrink after drying. I needed a 22 cm long Makin's Clay® tile, plus additional 1.2 cm for drying. This means that I need Makin's Clay® tiles about 23.2 cm. Later , I’ll cut a Makin's Clay® strip 25 cm long. You’ll find out why I do this soon.

STEP 2.

Place glass or ceramic tile on your work table. Open the white acrylic paint and squeeze greater amount on one corner of a glass/ceramic tile. Take hard painting brush and dip it in the paint. The brush must be dry and it should not be soaked in the water. Moving the brush always in the same direction - vertically, apply the first coat of white acrylic paint on cardboard candleholder. Let it dry for about 15 minutes, and apply second coat of acrylic paint, again with vertical strokes. Leave again to dry for about 15 minutes, and in the same way – with vertical strokes - apply a third coat. Allow to dry for about one hour. In the meantime, clean brush and work surface.

STEP 3.

Open silver acrylic paint and squeeze smaller amount on one corner of a glass/ceramic tile. Take the same hard brush and dip just the tip

in the paint. Brush must be dry and it should not be soaked in the water. Moving the brush always in the same direction – this time horizontally, apply one coat of silver acrylic paint on cardboard candleholder. Let it dry for 30 minutes. Use that time to clean brush and work surface.

NOTE: Painted in this manner (with dry brush and stokes in same directions) the surface of the candleholder will be textured and will look like it is covered with fabric.

STEP 4.

Open white and black Makin’s Clay®. Make larger ball of black Makin’s Clay® and put it in the I hole of the Makin’s Clay® Mixing Ruler™. Cut the excess with cutter from Makin’s® Roller & Cutters Tool Set. Use large ball tool which is included in a Mixing Ruler™ set to push clay out. Repeat the process with black clay two more times. This way you’ll get precisely measured amount of black Makin’s Clay®. Then on same way measure the white clay. You’ll need two balls of white clay measured in I, and one in H hole. Then measure one ball of red Makin’s Clay® in I, one white in G, and one orange in C hole. Use smaller ball tool from set to push clay out of C hole.

STEP 5.

Mix black (3xI) and white (2xI+1xH) clay to get dark grey clay, and red (1xI), white (1xG) and orange (1xC) clay to get bright red clay. Roll separately both colors of clay on # 4 setting on a

Makin’s Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®. You need two long strips of clay. Width of the strips is not essential, but it is important that they are broad enough to cover most of the candleholder. Using the Mixing Ruler™ and cutter from Makin’s® Roller & Cutters Tool Set cut a straight line on one edge of the clay strips. That will be at the bottom of candleholder. With Mixing Ruler™ measure the length of the stripe, and use cutter to cut side edges. Remember, it is necessary that clay strips are longer than what you need. As you see on Step 1, I needed tiles about 23.2 cm long, but I cut strips 25 cm long.

STEP 6.

With Makin’s® Paisley Cutters create a wavy edge on that side of clay strips which remained uneven. In the package are cutters in three different sizes, so use all of them to get the edge with unusual waves. During cutting make sure that the clay tiles are lower from one another, and that the gray clay stripe is lower than the candlesticks (in my case less than 6 cm). If necessary, repair the appearance of waves by cutting clay with scissors.

STEP 7.

Turn dark grey clay tile and apply on it thick coat of Beacon’s™ Premium Tacky Glue. Place clay tile

(side with glue) on candleholder such way that you will start from one corner and with a gentle finger pressure wrap clay around. Make sure that on bottom of the candleholder you have a few extra millimeters which will shrink after drying. Also, be sure that the both side ends have at least a centimeter of excess clay. Press both ends of clay with fingers trailing edge of candleholder. Cut excess clay with scissors, making sure to leave at least a few millimeters for drying. Repeat the process with light red clay.

Texture both clay with wavy cutter from Makin’s® Roller & Cutters Tool. Do not press hard, because you only need to stamp waves, and you don’t want to cut the clay. Let your project a side to dry for at least 24 hours.

STEP 8.

After drying, with thin soft painting brush apply silver acrylic paint in textured wave on red clay.

Clean brush, and then apply red acrylic paint in textured waves on grey clay. Do not worry if you paint outside of waves.

STEP 9.

Allow to dry for about one hour.

STEP 10.

Use dry sandpapers to remove excess paint which is outside of the wavy texture. Varnish Makin’s Clay® and leave to dry according to the manufacturer's instructions. 

STEP 11.
Put silver or red tea candle in the hole and enjoy your new

candleholder.

http://www.studioartesania.com/2017/12/15-diy-projects-makins-polymer-clay.html

For Mom! Card by Martha Lucia Gomez

Design Team Member Martha Lucia Gomez shared this beautiful card with Makin's Clay® accents on her blog - http://stampartpapel.com/mama-de-pelicula./

Beautiful Budgie Treehouse by Candice Windham

Beautiful Budgie Treehouse

Designed By Candice Windham

The first thing my grandmother taught me to draw was a bird, and I’ve been drawing them, designing with them and collecting them ever since. I’ve had this idea in my mind for quite some time, and Makin’s No Bake Polymer Clay and their wonderful tools just make it extra special. This is not a small project at approximately 24” tall, but, in my opinion, well-worth the materials and time it took to create it.

Be sure to go to the website, www.makins-usa.com for tips on using these versatile products.

Here’s how I did it:

Supplies:

Bird House (Hobby Lobby #637594)

Heavy Candle Stick (Thrift Store)

Makin’s Clay®: Terra Cotta, 2 packs {120 G each), Brown, 2 packs {120 G} , Earth Tones, 2 packs, Vintage Tones 2 packs and Multi-Color, 2 packs, plus scraps of leftover clay in any shade for push mold flowers

Makin’s® Professional™ Ultimate Clay Machine™

Makin’s® Texture Sheets - Woodgrain, Curly Beard, Dot and Eyelet

Makin’s® Push Molds - Floral and Borders

Makin’s® Ultimate Clay Extruder™ and small circle disc

Makin’s® Cutters, Square and Flower

Beacon® Quick Grip Adhesive 

DecoArt® Americana® Multi-surface Metallic Paint, Chocolate 

DecoArt®  Americana DécorR Crème Wax, Espresso 

Circle embellishment, ¾”(Nostalgiques)

Grapevine Wire (Hobby Lobby)

PearlEx Powders, assorted colors (Super Bronze, Super Copper, Flamingo Pink, True Blue, Misty Lavender, Duo Green-Yellow, Duo Blue-Green, Pearl White) (Jacquard)

Foil keyhole and vintage bird die cut (Paper Dreams Factory)

Black card stock scrap, 2” square

Heavy twine

Masking tape

Tools: Foam Brush, Craft Knife, Scissors, sand paper, pencil, ruler

Instructions:

Cut chipboard patterns for the door, front/back and sides of the house.  

Tip: Use cheap printer paper to fold each piece along the parts of the house you need, then use the paper to trace your shape onto the chipboard.

Sand away any rough edges on the bird house and paint the entire house with Chocolate Metallic Paint. Set aside to dry.

Flatten two packs of Terra Cotta Makin’s Clay® in the  

Ultimate Clay Machine™ on setting #1. Run it through again on setting #2. Press the Woodgrain texture plate into the clay, rubbing it with your fingers, pressing it with a roller or running the clay and texture plate through the Ultimate Clay Machine™ on setting #1.

Tip: If you have trouble with the texture plate sticking to the clay, dust it lightly with cornstarch. The clay will release and you will be able to wipe away any cornstarch residue with a damp cloth.

Place the front pattern on the clay with the woodgrain pattern top to bottom and cut two pieces for the house front and back. Use the plain cutter from the Makin’s® Professional™ Clay Tools set to cut each piece into one-inch vertical strips. Repeat with the house side pattern and set aside to dry overnight.

Mix two packs (.7 oz. each) of dark blue clay from the Vintage Tones Pack with two packs  (.7 oz. each) of green clay from the Earth Tones packs. Mix with your hands until the clays are almost completely blended, then begin running it through the Makin’s Professional Ultimate Clay Machine on setting #2, folding it before you send it through each time.

Roll out the resulting color clay with the clay roller. Press the Curly Beard texture plate into the clay, then cut it into 20 squares with the middle size (1 ½”) Square Cutter. 

Use a small amount of green clay (about .3 oz.) from the Multi Color Pack with the Makin’s

Ultimate Clay Extruder™ and circle disc to create a long vine that will wrap top to bottom on the candle holder. Create additional pieces make shoots to come off the large vine if desired. 

Use several colors of to place pieces in the Floral Push Molds to create flowers and use white clay for the door ornament. Press green clay into the leaf molds to create leaves and push brown clay into the twig border mold to create 14 pieces (Some are extras for extending the trim pieces) of trim.

Roll out red clay from the Multi-Color pack and cut flowers with the smallest Flower Cutter. Wet the center of half of the flowers and place the remaining flowers on top, lifting the petals up on the top flowers. 

Roll small pieces of leftover clay into balls and flatten into a rectangle. Roll the clay to make small roses.

Roll the black clay from the Multi-color Pack. Texturize with the Dot Texture Plate and cut a 1 ½” square with the Square Cutter.

Roll out the blue clay from one Multi-Color Pack into a rectangle.  Apply the Eyelet Texture Plate to the clay, then place the door pattern on top and trim with the Makin’s® Straight-edge cutting wheel. Punch a  1 ¼” circle in a piece of scrap cardstock and use it to mark the placement of the hole in the door. Carefully cut the hole with a craft knife. And remove the excess clay.

Allow all pieces to dry overnight.

Roll out the blue from the remaining Multi-Color Pack into a long rectangle. 

Create a chipboard pattern: Measure the length of the roof cap and add  ½”. Measure the width of the roof cap and add ½”, then draw and cut out the chipboard rectangle. Cut the length flush and trim the width with the Makin’s® Wavy Cutter. Place the clay on top of the roof and carefully mold it to fit the roofline shape. Let dry overnight in place.

Divide the remaining brown clay into thirds. Roll out 2/3 of the clay and texturize with the woodgrain texture plate. Wrap it around the largest part of the candlestick you want to cover and trim away the excess with a craft knife. Repeat

with the remaining clay and apply it to a smaller portion of the candle stick. When you have the clay in place, use the woodgrain texture plate to press into the clay to hide the seams. Allow to dry overnight.

Assembly

House

Use Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive to attach the front, back and side clay pieces to the bird house. 

\Wrap heavy twine around the house to hold the adhesive until it sets, about ten minutes.

Place two trim pieces on each corner and again wrap heavy twine around the house to hold the adhesive until it sets, about ten minutes.

Adhere four pieces on the roof front and back, adding pieces as needed to cover the roof line and top of the woodgrained clay and adhere with Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive. Hold the pieces in place with masking tape if necessary.

Remove the roof cap from the roofline and set aside. 

Beginning at the bottom of the roofline, draw a line side-to-side on each side of the roof at 1 ½”, 2 ¾” and 4”. Start at the bottom and line up four of the green squares side-to-side, adhering with Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive. Cut one square in half to begin laying the second line of tiles, overlapping the row below by about ¼”, and ending with the other half of the cut tile. Repeat both for the last two rows and repeat on the other side of the roof.

Replace the roof cap and adhere with Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive.

Paint the entire house with Espresso Americana Décor® Crème Wax, being sure to get into all the crevices and wiping the excess away with a paper towel as you go, to give the piece a vintage appearance. Allow to dry and then apply assorted PearlEx powders to all of the surfaces to accent the textures.

Apply PearlEx powders to the door. Attach the foil keyhole with Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive, wrapping one edge to the side. 

Attach the bird die cut to the back of the door and place

the black card stock scrap behind it. Apply Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive to the back of the door and attach it to the house.

Apply PearlEx powders to the square of black clay, then add the circle embellishment to the center with Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive. Lay the birdhouse face-up, apply Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive to the back of the square and adhere it to the roof peak, leaving the house face-up until the glue dries.

Tip: If you didn’t have enough trim to cover the roofline all the way to the peak, place any small dried clay scrap beneath the square to stabilize it.

Apply Super Copper and PearlEx to the door ornament and attach it to the house with

Beacon Quick Grip.

Wrap any bare sections of the candlestick with heavy twine, applying Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive as needed. Paint the entire candlestick with Espresso Americana Décor Crème Wax and wipe away any excess on the clay. Allow to dry, then apply PearlEx powder to the clay portions of the piece.

Cut enough of the Grapevine Wire to wrap around the base about eight times. Wrap the clay vine around the Grapevine Wire and adhere it at the beginning end with Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive. Apply Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive at the base and place the wire/clay vine near the base bottom, holding it in place with a small piece of masking tape. When the wire is secure begin loosely wrapping it three times around the candlestick. Clip off any excess clay vine when you get to the top. Wrap the remaining wire around the top and slip the end into the last wrap to secure. Add Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive beneath the wire/clay vine any place the wire touches the candlestick.

Flowers

Paint all flowers and leaves with Espresso Americana Décor® Crème Wax.

Tip: To save time, place duct tape, sticky side up, on your work surface. Place all the small pieces on the sticky side and quickly paint them all, wiping the excess away with a paper towel as you go. Allow to dry.

Use a dry brush to apply PearlEx powders to the flowers and leaves.

Beginning at the base, adhere flowers with Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive over the beginning of the wire/clay vine, adding leaves as you go. Repeat adding flowers and leaves randomly all the way to the top. Adhere flowers all around the base of the house with Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive.

Place Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive on the candlestick top and adhere the house to the base.

That’s it. I think this is one of my all-time favorite projects. I hope you like it as well.