Makin's Clay® Groovy Flower Earrings

Whenever I’m working with Makin’s Clay® and have leftover clay after I finish my project, I either use that clay with a Makin’s Brand® push mold to make flowers or other pieces for use later, or I roll it to at least a #7 setting on my Makin’s Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine (I roll some to a #8, some to a #9 - so I will have random thicknesses to work with) and let it dry to be die cut or punched for later use.    I love having a stash of pre-prepared Makin’s Clay® goodies ready for use for projects at any time. - Cindi

Materials: 

Makin’s Clay® - Natural 

Makin’s Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine 

Flower punch 

Small hole punch 

Beacon Adhesives 527 Multi-Use Glue
Connie Crystal - 8 yellow, 4 green crystals

Earth Safe Finishes Iridescents by Ann Butler Designs - Sunshine, Limelight, Tangelo, Lilac, Berry

Instructions: 

Punch out several (at least 6) flowers from sheet of dry Makin’s Clay® (any light color - Natural clay rolled to a #7 for these flowers). 

Place onto scrap paper, use fingers to apply Earth Safe Finishes Iridescents by Ann Butler Designs randomly onto front and back of each flower.  I wanted to achieve a bit of a “tie dyed” effect so I let my shades overlap and blend into each other somewhat.  Let dry. 

Punch small hole in end of one petal of each flower.  Add silver jump ring. 

Use Beacon Adhesives 527 Multi-Purpose Glue to add a yellow or green Connie Crystal to the center of each side of each flower.  Let dry. 

Cut two pieces of three links from silver chain.   Add one flower to each link.  Add silver french wires.  

Thanksgiving Votive Candle Holder How-To Video

Makin's® newest Halloween cutter set includes a cute little turkey which was perfect for creating the embellishments for this Thanksgiving votive holder.  Find the full instructions in this edition of Creatively Crafty with Cindi Bisson. 

Trick-or-Treat Bucket

Create this creepily fun Halloween treat bucket with a recycled flower pot and Makin's Clay®! Your little beggars are sure to be surprised by it's glow in the dark elements and it's furry monster accent - Cindi

Materials: 

• Recycled plastic flower pot (10” used for this project)
• Makin’s Clay^®– The No-Bake Polymer Clay^{® -}  Black, Natural, Vintage Tones, Earth Tones, Multi- Neon
• Also from Makin’s Clay^{® :}
• Makin’s Professional^® Ultimate Clay Machine^®
• Makin’s Professional^® Ultimate Clay Texture Set 
• Makin’s^® Texture Sheets 
• Makin’s^® Halloween Clay Cutters, Alphabet Clay Cutters, Rectangular Clay Cutters 
• Makin’s Professional^® Ultimate Clay Extruder^®

• Beacon Adhesives^® Tacky Glue   
• Darice^®  Black & Orange felt, Black Luxury Fur, Chenille Stems 
• Powertex^TM Transparent Textile Hardener 

Instructions: 

1. Remove plant & soil from plastic flower pot.  Remove hanger from pot.  Wash & dry thoroughly. 
2. Roll approximately half a 120 gram package of black clay using Ultimate Clay Machine™ on setting #4.   Cut into long 2” strip.  Repeat this step.
3. Apply thin layer of  Tacky Glue around top outside edge of pot.  Mount 2” strip of black clay over adhesive on outside of pot.  
4. Roll ½” x 1” piece of plum clay from Vintage Tones set using Ultimate Clay Extruder on setting #6.   Continue to roll until you can cut a piece approximately 3 ½” x 3 ½”.  Select Makin’s® Texture Sheet and apply texture by placing onto clay and applying gentle pressure.
5. Apply thin layer of adhesive on side of pot.  Place textured plum clay square on side.  
6. Repeat steps 4 using dark green & plum clay from Vintage Tones set, pumpkin colored clay from Earth Tones set until you have 5 squares (2 green, 2 plum, 1 orange) with assorted textures applied.  Roll black clay using setting #6 until you can cut a piece approximately 6 ½” x 3 ½”.  Black clay was not textured.
7. Repeat step 5, measuring over approximately ½” from first square and apply remaining squares (allow approximately ½” between each, ending with the larger black rectangle). 
8. Roll black clay using setting #6.  Cut four ¾” x 3 ½” strips of black clay.  Use adhesive to mount between colored squares of
   
   clay. 
9. Roll natural clay using setting #2.  Apply texture sheet of choice.  Use ¾” x 1 ½” rectangle cutter to cut 21 rectangles.  Use adhesive to mount textured rectangles around top black border, spacing approximately 1/2” apart.  
10. Choose border from border mold, place black clay into mold and make 7 border strips.  Use adhesive to mount under bottom border edge of pot (beneath natural rectangle embellishments).
11. Roll black clay using setting #2.  Apply texture sheet.  Use Halloween shape cutters to cut 3 cats and 5 bats.  Mount bats onto plum square and cats onto pumpkin orange square using adhesive.  I allowed some bat wings and cat tails to extend off the pot for added dimension.  Use tiny amounts of neon yellow clay to create eyes for bats, and neon green for eyes for cats.
12. Roll natural clay using setting #2.  Apply texture to half of rolled clay.  Use Halloween shape cutter set to cut 3 ghosts from textured clay and one moon from non-textured clay.  Use clay cutters to cut 7 stars in varying sizes from non-textured clay.   Use adhesive to mount moon & stars to green panel, and ghosts to 2^nd green panel.  Use tiny amount of black clay to create eyes for ghosts.
13. Roll pumpkin orange clay using setting #2.  Use Halloween shape cutter set to cut 3 pumpkins.  Use Professional Clay tools to add texture lines to pumpkins.  Cut 3 thin pieces from 3rd pumpkin to mount over 2nd pumpkin to add depth.  Add small amount of brown clay to stem.  Roll small amount of neon yellow clay on setting #6.  Use Professional Clay Tools to cut eyes, nose and mouth for Jack-o-Lantern, mount with adhesive.  Mount pumpkins to 2nd plum panel, adding thin strips of green twisted clay as vines around stems. 
14. Roll out pumpkin orange clay using setting #6.  Use Alphabet clay cutters to spell out “trick or treat”.  Mount as shown to black panel using adhesive.  
15. Mix 3 parts natural clay and 1 part black clay until uniform gray color results.    Place clay into Makin’s Professional Ultimate Clay Extruder, add smallest multiple hole extruder disc, and extrude clay to create spider web pattern on black clay strips between colored panels, and on large black panel with text as shown. 
16. Create dimensional spider using black clay.  Add neon green eyes and wine red pinchers.  Mount to front panel as shown.
    
17. Choose border from border mold, place black clay into mold and make 7 border strips.  Use adhesive to mount under bottom edge of pot (beneath colored blocks). 
18. Cut 7” circle from black felt.  Use adhesive to mount on bottom of pot.  Roll 4 balls of black clay approximately 1 ½” in diameter.  Mount to bottom of pot.  
19. Apply coat of Powertex Transparent Textile Hardener to all clay surfaces on pot to seal.  Let dry.
20. Mount small strips of black faux fur along top outside edge of pot.  Measure, cut and mount orange and black felt for pot liner.  Twist 3 pipe cleaners, mount inside pot where black & orange felt meet.  Repeat.  
21. Fill with candy, use as a Halloween centerpiece, then watch the little ghosts and goblins smile when they see your decorative Trick or Treat bucket!

Makin's® Clay Cutter Sets

Have you seen one of the newest designs of Clay Cutters from Makin's Clay?  These crinkle cutters are  here. - Cindi

versatile enough to be used in a wide variety of projects.   You can see all the cutter sets currently offered

Life with Toby Scrapbook Layout with Makin's Clay®

There are a wide variety of creative project tutorials on the Makin's Clay website - I just love this cute scrapbook layout I recently found in the Netherlands site.  The colors used to create the bird embellishment, along with the texture added make it truly pop!  You can find instructions on how they created it here (they are in Dutch...).   - Cindi

Makin's Clay® Coin Purse

Makin’s Clay® is truly the “ultimate” artists medium.  It can be used for jewelry, home décor, scrapbooking, fashion, and more.  Makin’s Clay® can be textured, molded, stamped, die cut, punched, cut with scissors, sanded, drilled, painted, sewn, and more.  Amazing colors can be created by blending clays, or by mixing in artist grade acrylic or oil paints, pigment powders, and more. One of the most unique properties of Makin’s Clay® is that it remains lightweight and flexible after drying.    Today we are sharing instructions for making a coin purse using Makin's Clay® and Makin's Brand® tools.

Designed by Cindi Bisson - Behind These Eyes™

Materials:

120g package Terra Cotta Makin’s Clay®
Makin’s Clay® – Ultimate Clay Machine TM #35054
Makin’s Clay® Cutter wheel & hand roller from Roller & Cutters Set TM #35001
Makin’s Clay® Sand Texture Sheet – Makin’s Texture Sheet Set A TM #38001
Makin’s® Pinking decorative edge scissors
Non-stick surface
Rubber stamps – Cat and verse stamps designed by Cindi Bisson
Stewart Superior Noir Black Palette inkpad
Earth Safe Finishes Copper Shimmer Opaque
Regular edge scissors
Paper trimmer
Embroidery needle
Fibers of choice
Crop-A-Dile punch or hand hole punching set
E-6000 Adhesive or any brand strong permanent adhesive
Black Sharpee marker or any brand black permanent marker with bullet tip
Krylon Matte Spray Finish
Magnetic closures
½” Wide faux “cheetah” print furry trim

Instructions:

Back of coin purse

Begin by using scissors to cut an approximately 2”x 3” piece of Makin’s Clay®.  This is approximately ½ a 120g package.   Remove from clear packaging.

Gently kneed in your hand to form a 5” tube of clay. 

Place 5” tube of clay onto Makin’s® Ultimate Clay Machine™ set on #5.  Roll clay through machine. 

Place rolled clay onto non-stick surface. 

Lay Makin’s® Texture Sheet™ over rolled sheet of clay.  (Sheets are double sided, debossed and embossed, just select which texture you want for this project).  Use Makin’s® Roller tool to gently apply pressure to Makin’s® Texture Sheet™ and transfer texture to clay. 

Gently lift one edge of texture sheet, while holding clay down with opposite hand, and peel off texture sheet.   Trim any excess clay around the transferred textured image using Makin’s® cutting tool.

Cut a 2nd piece of terra cotta Makin’s Clay® approximately 1” wide and roll into a 3-4” tube.   Adjust Makin’s® Ultimate Clay Machine™ to #6 and roll through clay.  Set on non-stick surface and allow to dry.

Allow rolled clay to dry for 12-24 hours.  24 Hours is recommended to assure clay is completely dry, but clay rolled this thin is workable in approximately 12 hours.

To create the coin purse, using a template if desired, or free cut, rectangular shape from dry sheet of textured clay using decorative edge scissors.  For this project, I used pinking edge scissors to cut a 4”x6” rectangle.

Fold down top (4”) edge of clay approximately 1” to create fold-over cover.  Fold bottom section of clay up to meet fold line for cover.

Fold flat again.  For added pizzazz and iridescence, use your fingertip or a paintbrush to apply a thin layer of Earth Safe Finishes Copper Shimmer Opaque over entire textured surface of clay.  Allow to dry for approximately 5 minutes.

Refold purse to closed position. Use smaller hole punch (3/16”) of a Crop-A-Dile to punch a row of holes along both outside edges of coin purse.   Holes should be approximately ¼” apart.

Thread an embroidery needle with fibers of choice.  Tie a small knot at one end of threaded fibers.   Begin on bottom hole on one side of coin purse, and using an over/under stitch, stitch side through punched holes.   Tie off using knot at end.  Repeat on 2nd edge. 

Ink stamps with permanent black ink.  Stamp onto smooth sheet of clay.  Allow to dry for approximately 1 minute.

Use scissors or paper trimmer to closely crop stamped images into square and rectangular shapes.  For this project, I used the pinking scissors on two edges for added interest. 

Using a black permanent marker, apply a thin black border around outside edges of stamped pieces. 

Using a strong permanent adhesive, mount stamped verse to folded over cover portion of coin purse.  Mount stamped cat image to left side of front of coin purse.  Allow to dry.

Cut strips of furry faux cheetah trim to same width as coin purse.  For added strength at fold lines, use E-6000 adhesive to mount strips of fur trim over fold lines.  Let dry.

To ensure your coin purse stays closed in your purse, use a strong permanent adhesive to add magnetic closures to the inside cover/flap.

If desired, spray finished project with a clear sealant such as Krylon Matte Spray.

Makin’s®  Push Molds are perfect to make embellishments for your coin purse or other artwork.  For

this pink coin purse, white and bright pink clays were blended using the Skinner Blend method, then rolled and textured.  The floral embellishments were made with the Makin’s® Florals (#39005) push mold.  Once dry, the finished flowers were coated with Earth Safe Finishes Shimmer Opaque.  Other embellishments such as covered chipboard accents, faux flowers, gemstones, and more also work well.  The monogram coin purse features 2 shades of clay blended, texturing, and Shimmer Opaque.  A covered chipboard monogram colored with alcohol inks, then sealed with a clear lacquer serves as the accent.  The third sample is blended clay, textured, also with Shimmer Opaque, with a faux flower embellishment.