"Thankful" Autumn Cards

"Thankful" Autumn Cards by Bea Grob

Fall is around the corner, I did spot already some colorful leaves. That and because I need some cards anyway inspired me to make some “faux fall leaves.”  Embellishments from Makin's Clay®are easy to make and once the Makin's Clay® is dry it is acid free, so perfect for going onto cards, scrapbooks and what not.

Supplies

About 40 gr (1 ounce) of white Makin's Clay®

Makin's® Push Mold Leaves SKU 39001

Cutting Matt

Several colors of mica powders

Materials

I started with a rolled ball of clay approximately 1 cm diameter.  Push it into the mold.

Make sure that the backside is flat, by smushing excess clay away from the leave. Continue to make as many leaves as you would like. 

While the clay still is fresh, right after you have made the backside flat, pull the leaves carefully out from the mold. Sometimes it is helpful to bend the mold a bit which can be done, as the mold is flexible. Make a bunch of leaves and make sure that they don't dry. I sprayed mine with a little bit of water, while working on some more leaves. For the next step the Makin's Clay® still needs to be damp.

 

Grab several colors of mica powders you like. I have chosen greens, golds, copper, yellow. I also added a hot pink. I added them in different spots onto the leaves with a brush. Simply dip into the powders and then dabb it onto the leaves.

I let them dry overnight.

The next day I grabbed some papers, ribbons and card bases to make two cards.

On some craft colored card stock I have printed on my computer the word thankful and then I cut it to size. I mostly always add some black outline with a permanent marker. 

For the card base and the mat I use some glue, but for the word and the leaves I use some foam tape to raise them up a bit.

Now you have some beautiful fall themed cards which would also work well for Thanksgiving day.

Thomas the Turkey - Altered Thimble

Thomas the Turkey Altered Thimble - By Patricia Krauchune 

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I decided to make a little Tom Turkey finger puppet. The little guy is built on a sewing thimble.

Supply List:

Makin's Clay®: Brown/Peach/Straw/Olive/White/Red    
Amazing Quick Hold® Contact Adhesive

Glove with Texture                                                              
Leaf Silicone Mold                                                            
Beacon's™ Tacky Glue                                                      
Krazy® Glue

Golden® Gloss Polymer Varnish

Recommended Makin’s® Tools:

Makin's Professional® Clay Tools

Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®

Instructions:

Roll out some brown Makin's Clay® on the #3 setting on the Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®.

Apply a thin coat of Amazing Quick Hold® Contact Adhesive to the thimble.

Cover the thimble with the rolled out brown clay, trim. I then used a damp paper towel to smooth the surface.  Let dry overnight.  When dry, I added another layer of clay, the same thickness as the first layer of clay.

I immediately added texture using an old garden glove.

I used the small leaf on a silicone mold and made three leaves in the colors of olive, peach, and straw.

I next cut the leaves in half. Place the leaf halves in a fan like arrangement.

The leaf halves where then glued to the back of the thimble using Beacon's™ Tacky Glue. Smooth the leaf halves to blend into the thimble base.

I had some left over dried clay pieces that I used to form eyes, a beak, the waddle and little feet.

The eyes, beak, waddle and feet were then glued to the body using Krazy® Glue.

When the glue was dried, the puppet was sealed using Golden® Gloss Polymer Varnish.

There you go, Tom Turkey finger puppet is ready to entertain!

Autumn Leaves Napkin Rings

Materials:

Makin’s Clay® White 120g

DecoArt acrylic paints: Golden Brown, black, Craftsmart paint - Hunter’s Green and Lush Foliage  Art-C Gold paste, or Inka Gold paste, Empty Toilet paper roll, packing tape 

Makin’s Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®

Makin’s® Push Molds - 39001 Leaves 

Scissors, needle tool, paintbrush.

Americana DuraCoat Matte or Gloss Varnish

Cornstarch 

Directions:

Fig 1 – Open one half of a 120g package of white Makin’s Clay®, divide this into two sections and add a small puddle of Golden Brown paint to a section and Lush Foliage ( pale green ) paint to the other section, and mix thoroughly.  Then, take one third of each mixed color and mix them together, creating a third color. Place all the mixed clay in a plastic bag while you prepare the napkin support. I used clear packing tape to cover the toilet paper roll, which makes removing it from the napkin ring easier. Then I marked one inch sections and cut them with scissors.

Fig 2 – Condition the remaining white Makin’s Clay® and roll a narrow, 1 inch strip on the #1 setting of the Makin’s Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine® The strip should be as wide as the paper roll sections. Place the clay around the paper roll, blending the seam. You can trim the excess clay with scissors.  Add texture to the white strip if desired, not much of the base strip will show when you are done. Use a soft brush to add cornstarch to the Makin’s Leaves Push mold, and using one color at a time make leaves to add to the ring. My favorite way of using the push mold is to push a small amount of clay, letting it squish past the mold, then use scissors to trim the leaf to the size and shape I want.  I find the leaves are more realistic that way, as the edges can be trim with scissors on an angle to make them appear thinner.  So my aim is not to fill the mold, but to have just enough clay to get the impression from the mold. I used many different leaf shapes from the mold, and make at least four of each color for variety. 

Fig 3 – Make as many Napkin Rings as you like, you should have enough clay to make 6. Let them dry over night, then remove the cardboard ring, and allow them to dry for another 24 hours before antiquing them. To antique, I used Hunter’s green acrylic paint mixed with Black paint and painted the whole ring, including the inside. Then I used a slightly damp baby wipe to remove the paint from the high parts of the leaves, as well as the inner ring. Change the baby wipe when it gets too dirty to remove the paint, you need a clean edge for best results. Let them dry for a bit, then add gold highlights with Art-C Gold paste if desired for a bit of sparkle. I used the gold paste on the inside of the rings as well. The last image shows one ring with the gold added and the bottom ring without. Let this dry for an hour, and then seal your napkin rings with your favorite varnish. I used Americana DuraCoat Gloss.

These are fun, easy napkin rings to make, perfect for your Holiday table!

Wooden Spool Turkeys

Cindi McGee recently shared these little wooden spool turkeys with Makin's Clay® details.  They can be used as seasonal decorations, or as place card holders for your Thanksgiving table.   Find her tutorial here on her blog.

Fall Place Card Holder

Fall Place Card Holder by Lisa Haney 

Supplies:

Makin’s Clay®

Earth Tone Colors – Olive and Straw

Vineyard Tones Colors – Brown, Merlot, and Plum Wine

Recommended Makin’s® Tools:

Makin’s Professional® 

• Ultimate Clay Machine®
• Cutting Mat

Makin’s® Push Mold - Leaves

Other Materials:

20 Gauge Copper Wire

Aluminum Foil

Pliers

Ruler

Wire Cutters

Method

Use the wire cutters to cut 12” of the 20 gauge copper wire.  Fold the wire in half.  Hold the loop with the pliers and twist the wire ends together.

Roll the loop into a spiral.

Tear off a 6”x18” or 12”x12” piece of aluminum foil and wad into a ball.

Roll the olive Makin’s Clay® down to a #4 setting using the Ultimate Clay Machine®.  Cover the aluminum ball with the olive clay sheet.

Insert the twisted wire into the ball.

Marble equal parts of merlot and straw clay and immediately press it into the oak leaf of the Leaves Push Mold.  Scrape the clay from around the edges of the leaf.  Smooth the edges once the clay is released from the mold.   Repeat this step with brown and straw clay and then again with plum wine and straw clay.

You should have at least three leaves.

Arrange the leaves around the base of the place card holder.

Insert a place card into the wire.  Now you are ready to add these beautiful place card holders to your table to impress your guests!