"Tweet" Little Shadow Box by Lucy Reese

Design Team Member Lucy Reese shared this charming shadowbox with Makin's Clay® embellishments here on her blog.   We think it's just "tweet!"

Altered Trading Cards by Erin Reed

Design Team Member Erin Reed is having fun learning how she can add Makin's Clay® to almost any project.  Makin's Clay® is great for paper crafting - it is lightweight and flexible, and can be die cut and cut with craft punches.  Plus, it's acid free when dry so it's safe for memory books.   Erin created this great set of Artist Trading Cards, and used Makin's Clay® to make her dimensional hearts for the green cards.

Zentangle Drop Pendant by Lucy Reese

Zentangle Drop Pendant

Designed by Lucy Reese

Hello everyone! Since its summer, I thought what a great opportunity to break out the Makin's Clay® Neon pack and being that Zentangling is so popular right now, why not combine the two?  If you have seen my previous work on the blog, I'm sure you can tell by now that I absolutely love using Makin's Clay® for pendants. Due to it being lightweight and durable it's a great material to use in jewelry making. Enough talking, lets get to "Makin's" this pendant...see what I did there?😉

Supplies:
Makin's® Clay Roller
Makin's Professional® Cutting Mat
Makin's Clay® Water Drop Cutters
Makin's Clay® - Black, Neon Yellow
Lisa Pavelka Texture Stamp- Cloodlettes
Dylusions Paint- Black
Judikins- Diamond Glaze™
Helmar Glue
Sharpie Fine Point- Black

Instructions:

Begin by taking the your clay from its package. Take what you need and remember to put the rest in a Ziplock with a wet paper towel or baby wipe so that its stays fresh and ready to use. Now, take your neon yellow clay and roll it out to the desired thickness. You can see that I did end up picking up some other colors that were left on my mat, which didn't bother me.  But, you can prevent it by making sure your work surface is clean.

Using the Dylusions Paint in Black Marble ink up the Cloodlettes texture stamp by Lisa Pavelka and stamp onto the clay.

Your clay should now look something like this. If your image has some skipping in it, no worries, we can fix that later.

Take out the Makin's Clay® Water Drop Cutters. Being that they come graduated, you want the 2nd to largest one. Place the cutter lightly on top of your clay and with firm even pressure press down and pull it out. If your clay is still inside the cutter, you can use a tool to push it out..careful not to distort or leave tools dents.  (Tip:  If you lace plastic wrap over the clay before you use the cutters,  then simply lift the plastic wrap, the shape comes free and eliminates the issue of removing it from the cutter.)

To make the base, roll out the Black Makin's Clay® to desired thickness and lay one of the neon cutouts on top and repeat the cut with the largest water drop cutter.

We are now at the touch-up part of the project. This is where we can grab our black fine liner Sharpie and fill in the parts of your image that had skipped during the stamping step. After your finished, take the Helmars and glue your focal to the base. Let the piece dry completely before proceeding to the next step.

For a beautiful shiny finish, use Judikins™ Diamond Glaze™ and let dry. To complete this project glue on a bail..and your ready to add to a necklace of your choice!

I hope you enjoy this project as much as I did. If you would like to see more of my projects visit my blog at tecniquefreak.wordpress.com.

~Lucy

Patriotic Party Favors by Donna Budzynski

Design Team Member Donna Budzynski shares these fun patriotic party favors here on her blog.  Donna used Makin's Clay® and Makin's Star and Water Drop Clay Cutter Sets to decorate her treat jars.  (I want to come to her 4th of July festivities!) 

Under the Sea by Patricia Krauchune

Design Team Member Patricia Krauchune recently shared this "sea-tastic" under the sea mixed-media piece here on her blog.   Pat used Makin's Clay® to create her seashell embellishments, and a Makin's® texture sheet to texture her clay waves.

Stroll Upon the Beach by Steph Ackerman

Design Team Member Steph Ackerman recently shared this creative mixed-media piece here on the Proxxon blog.  Steph used Makin's Clay® and our Sea Shells Push Mold to create her dimensional embellishments.

Catherine's Purple Canes & Seashells Jewelry by Erin Reed

Catherine's Purple Canes & Seashells Jewelry

Designed by Erin Reed

My daughter has been bugging me to play with my "playdoh" again - aka Makin's Clay®, mostly so she could play too (she loves to play with the tools and Makin's Clay® is non-toxic and hypoallergenic so it's safe for all ages).  So when we pulled it all out I asked her what should we make, and her response was a bracelet. Well,  I had to make a necklace to go with it.

So since I got my package of Makin's Clay®, I've had this itch to try to make canes, they look so cool.  But, with air dry clay, and how soft it is, it can be a bit of a challenge - but I was up to the challenge! 

Materials: 

Makin's Clay® - White 

Makin's® Sea Shells Push Mold

Makin's® Clay Tools

Makin's Professional® Cutting Mat 

Piercer tool 

Acrylic paint - light blue, light purple, bright blue  

Stretch cord, hemp

Coordinating beads 

Cane and Bead Creation

1) Color your clay to your choice with paint - I picked blues, purple, and white (daughter's choices.)  Simply mix the paint into the clay until the clay returns to it's original consistency.  I made two shades blue and two shades of purple.  Roll into tubes - about 2 of each color.  Cut in half and start sticking them together in a tube shape to make the cane.  Cover the outside with a thin sheet of rolled out clay - I used purple.

2) Let cane set for about 1 hour to begin to harden/dry, it is too soft to cut at this point.  After the hour, go down the length of the cane while it is it still a bit soft and use a piercer to place a hole for the string to go through to make your bead.

3) Using the leftover clay make seashell shapes using the push mold, some solid colors some blended colors of what is left over.  Also use the piercer to push a hole to make these into beads.

 

4) After letting the cane dry for another hour, cut into beads.  Now apply a clear coat to make the beads shiny, I used Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze in Icicle.

We think Catherine's adorable in her fashionable Makin's Clay® jewelry! 

In the video below you will see how I made the clay canes and also how I turned them into beads along with some seashell beads to make it all about the beach and summer.

https://youtu.be/cGQlzuQepRo

5) Let all beads harden for a least a day.  Lightly sand the flat sides to remove any rough edges from where you cut them, and then string them on to stretchy string for the bracelets and hemp for a necklace.

Here is the full video and some tips and trick to string the beads to make the jewelry.

https://youtu.be/Xu-QZBR1ex8

Tool Time Card by Martha Lucia Gomez

Design Team Member Martha Lucia Gomez recently shared this masculine Father's Day card here on her blog.    Martha used Makin's Clay® and our Hand Tools push mold to create her embellishments.  While Martha's card was for Father's Day, this would also make a great masculine birthday card.

Patriotic Pinwheel Pins by Donna Budzynski

Patriotic Pinwheel Pins

Designed by: Donna Budzynski

Materials:

Makin’s Clay® VINEYARD TONES

Tac Pins

Tools:

Makin’s Clay® Cutting Mat

Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®

Makin’s® Cutters - Square, Stars

Makin’s® Roller

Beacon Power Tac Adhesive

Instructions:

Gather all supplies needed.

 Using Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine® roll out Makin’s Clay® beginning on setting #1 and ending at setting #3.

Cut Concord Blue clay using Makin's® large square cutter from 3 piece set. 

Roll Merlot and Natural clay in Ultimate Clay Machine® to setting #3.  Cut into strips approximately 1/4".  Cut stars from Merlot clay.  (Hint:  Strips are small and will begin drying quickly, cover with a damp paper towel to keep your work from drying out before you are finished).

Use Merlot and Natural strips in an alternating pattern to cover the Concord Blue square.  Fresh clay will stick to fresh clay without additional adhesive.   Let dry for a couple of hours.  

Once the clay has begun to dry, find the center and cut as shown (this picture is my first attempt, not great.  Things don't always turn out as planned!) 

At alternating cuts, fold to center.  I used Beacon Power Tac adhesive to adhere to the center.  Adhere the stars to the centers of each pinwheel. 

Adhere the pin backs with Power Tac.

Foiled Disc Bracelet by Cindi McGee

Foiled Disc Bracelet 

Designed by Cindi McGee

Materials:

Makin’s Clay® - Black 

Makin’s Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine™

Makin’s® Circle Cutter Set 

Makin’s® Cutting Mat 

Clearsnap® Designer Foils™ - Seaport, Lagoon, Goldmine, Silver Fog, Irish Eyes 

JudiKins™ Diamond Glaze™ 

Square black beads in 2 sizes 

Silver chain, silver head pins, silver jump rings, jewelry pliers, silver closure 

Instructions: 

Roll Black Makin’s Clay® in Ultimate Clay Machine™ on setting #1. 

Randomly apply Designer Foils to rolled clay.   

Roll clay with foil to setting #2, then setting #3.  Foil will begin to crackle. 

Use smallest circle to cut several small discs.  

Make hole in each disc for jump ring.  Let dry 24 hours. 

Apply Diamond Glaze™ to each clay disc.   Let dry and apply glaze to back of each disc.   When dry, add jump rings, assemble bracelet with square beads alternating with foiled discs on alternating sides as shown. 

Gift Card Envelope by Irit Shalom

Design Team Member Irit Shalom recently shared this colorful gift card envelope here on her blog.   She used Makin's Clay® to create her charming fairy embellishment.   Makin's Clay® is ideal for paper crafting as it is lightweight and flexible when dry, and acid free when dry so it is safe for memory books also.

Clay Octopus & Coral Pendant DIY Video with Cindi McGee

In this DIY video, Cindi McGee shares two techniques for molding with Makin's Clay® to make this "Beneath the Waves" pendant.    Makin's® has a wide variety of push molds, but Makin's Clay® also works wonderfully in silicone molds, and in custom made molds too.