gimme s'more - cute clay ornaments


    There's this talented woman in the area that makes her children a unique ornament every year. She does this so when they are grown and leave the house, they will have a good size collection of Christmas tree ornaments to take with them. Lucky for us, she shared her talent with others and now we have our very own ornaments for our tree. We had so much fun making them we decided to make some more to give as teachers gifts. Here's a quick recap of how we made our s'more tree ornaments in case you want one, too.

    S'more Snowman Christmas Tree Ornament Tutorial

    Supplies needed:
    Polymer clay (white, brown, orange, and black)
    Wire and wire cutters
    Blocks (optional)
    Butter knife or clay tools



    1. First, make two "marshmallows" by rolling clay in balls and then flattening out the top and bottom. You may want to roll the sides on a flat surface to straighten them out a bit.



    2. Next, whip up a cute carrot nose.


    3. Now, work on the "coal" eyes and mouth. A good way to ensure that your pieces are all uniform is to roll it out into a "snake" and then cut them. Shape them after you cut them off and they should all be pretty close in size.


    4. Using your wire cutters, cut three pieces of wire per s'more snowman. One will be bent and used as the ribbon holder. The next two will be folded in half and twisted. These are the arms.




    5. Next, using some simple tools create the graham cracker and chocolate. We rolled out the clay and used some children's toys to help guide us in making our squares. This is not necessary. You could also eyeball this part.





    6. If you want to add texture to your cracker, you can do so with your tools.


    7. If you want, make a clay scarf and add it to your snowman's neck. Or tie a piece of felt on after step 8. But it's cute with no scarf at all.

    8. Put the snowman on the chocolate and graham cracker and now they are ready for the oven. Be sure to put foil on the cookie sheet. Bake in the oven at 275 for 30 minutes. When they are done and cool, add ribbon and hang on your tree.

Vintage Sparkle Guest Post



    We are excited to be the guest blogger over at Or so she says. Here's a sneak peek at our vintage inspired tutorial. Go check it out!

resin ring tutorial

    Eee! A guest post! My favorite kind of post. Especially when the project is as cool as this one. I LOVE Miss London, and I adore all her amazing art. I wear my Starry Collage ring almost every day. Check out her Etsy shop for rings featuring her original paintings, plus tons of cool chipboard buttons. You'll be seeing her Deck the Halls buttons on an upcoming project from me--I love them! She also sells her paintings in her other Etsy shop, and she has a fun blog. Busy girl! Okay, enough from me. Here's London!

    Hi! London here, from Such Sweet Tierney, Mandy was kind enough to ask me to guest post a fun tutorial! Today I’m going to show you how to make an easy, economic and totally unique piece of jewelry. These resin rings are a snap to make and would make the perfect handmade holiday gift.

    Resin Ring Tutorial


    Supplies:

    1. Blank Ring trays (I buy mine on Etsy, but also eBay is another good source) The ones I use are adjustable and sterling silver coated brass, which means safe for sensitive skin…like mine!!
    2. A resin or epoxy sealer. I recommend Sakura’s 3-D Crystal Laquer because it’s thick and totally clear, Diamond glaze can be substituted.
    3. Heavyweight Gloss photo paper, I prefer HP.
    4. Inkjet Printer
    5. Photos, patterned paper, or other desired images
    6. Display tray for rings or something to hold them level
    7. Mod podge or other decoupage sealant
    8. Paint brush
    9. Scissors
    10. Krylon Matte clear spray (optional)


    Instructions:

    1. Select images, photos or create mini collages for your base. I use photographic images of my own artwork and print them right off a word document. If using a printed image I suggest lightening it more than the desired effect as printing tends to darken such a small image. The square ring images are .87” X .87” but will vary by ring manufacturer. Set your printer to the best photo setting, print images and let dry. If using collage or patterned paper skip ahead to next step!


    2. I prefer to use a krylon clear spray on both sides of the photo paper.


    If you don’t have this, Mod Podge works great. Make sure your image is dry, and apply a thin coating of Mod Podge to both sides of the photo paper. Let dry 5-10 min.



    3. Cut out your image and prepare ring tray by applying thin layer of Mod Podge inside. Working quickly, press image inside ring blank and evenly smooth. I use this handy little rubber tool to press down the corners and edges. I allow the image to crease up into the sides of the ring tray wall to ensure that there will be a tighter seal. A tight seal means less bubbling!



    4. Allow ring to dry for 15-20 minutes.

    5. Once dry, arrange in display tray or surface where the ring tops can sit level. You don’t want them to be lop-sided!


    6. To fill the rings, tip bottle of epoxy all the way up and try to let the epoxy come out naturally instead of squeezing. This will reduce the bubbling. If your epoxy does not come out try cutting the tip wider. Fill each tray until the epoxy creates a dimensional “dome” on top of your ring.




    7. Watch over your rings for about an hour as they start to harden. Use a toothpick, needle or bobby pin to pop bubbles that form in the epoxy. Epoxy will be hard to touch in 24 hours. Let harden for 5-7 days before wearing.

    8. If you discover a large bubble or other imperfection after the initial 24 hours, the epoxy is still soft enough inside to easily remove/peel from the tray so that you may re-use the ring base.



    Thanks for joining me in this fun project! Don’t forget to show and tell!

pumpkin chocolate chip bread recipe

    A few of you asked for the pumpkin chocolate chip bread recipe that I used on this post. I actually got it from the King Arthur Flour web site (LOVE their site and blog!), but I did add one thing. Just 2 tsp. cinnamon makes a HUGE difference in the flavor. I thought it was rather bland without it. I couldn't tell if it was pumpkin or banana. With the cinnamon it tasted like the pumpkin chocolate chip bread from Great Harvest Bread, one of my favorites!

    Yum!

    Emmy's Pumpkin Bread (from KingArthurFlour.com)


    2/3 cup shortening or 1 cup vegetable oil
    2 2/3 cups sugar
    4 large eggs
    2 cups (or one can) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
    2/3 cup water
    3 1/3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
    1/2 teaspoon baking powder
    2 teaspoons baking soda
    1 1/2 teaspoons salt
    1 teaspoon nutmeg

    2 teaspoons cinnamon (Mandy's addition)
    1 teaspoon vanilla
    1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
    1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

    In a large bowl, cream together the shortening or oil and the sugar. Beat in the eggs, pumpkin and water. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and vanilla, stirring to blend, then mix in the chips and nuts.

    Spoon the batter into two lightly greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven for 1 hour, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a wire rack. When it's completely cool, wrap it well in plastic wrap, and store it overnight before serving.

    If desired, just before serving, drizzle with an icing made of 1 cup confectioners' or glazing sugar, 2 tablespoons melted butter, and 1 tablespoon milk.

Zhu Zhu Giveaway Winner!

easy pumpkin bread wrapper




    In case you're still looking for a good Thanksgiving hostess gift, I have one more. I made King Arthur Flour's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip bread last week and wanted to dress it up for a gift. This is a yummy recipe, but I strongly recommend adding 2 tsp. of cinnamon to the recipe. I made two batches of the bread, one with cinnamon and one without, and the difference was amazing. With the cinnamon it was heavenly. Anyway, this is not a recipe post--I'll let Jess handle that later this week.


    First, did you see these mini loaf pans at Michael's for $1? So cute! But you don't need a cute loaf pan to do this. You could wrap it after removing it from your pan. After baking the bread and wrapping it with plastic wrap, I simply secured a 12" x 3" piece of patterned paper around the loaf. Then I tied a pretty ribbon around that. For the center I added a button. Thread one hole of a button with linen thread, pass it under the knot of the bow, then thread it back up through the other button hole and tie in a double knot. For some reason that button makes it look so much cuter, don't you think?

fall flower tag

    It's almost Thanksgiving, and if you're going to someone else's house for dinner, maybe you should think about bringing a hostess gift. For example: a jar of homemade jam and a Fall-ish dishcloth. Your host will think you're so thoughtful! Even if you're not thoughtful, here's a cute way to dress up a simple gift: the flower tag. We showed you tons of flowers during Flower Week, but this is one we didn't have time for. So here you go!



    Paper Flower Tag Tutorial



    What you'll need:


    *Patterned paper
    *Scallop punch or die cut
    *Brad
    *Adhesive (I used Tombow's Mono Multi Glue)
    *Stamped or handwritten sentiment

    1. Punch or die cut 4 scalloped circles (or other flower shape).


    2. Scrunch up your flowers. If needed, spritz them with water to make the scrunching easier.


    3. Un-scrunch and fold flowers in half with patterned side on the outside.




    4. Layer folded flowers, turning flower 1/4 turn after each addition.




    5. Put a dot of glue or adhesive on the back of each petal to hold them all together.


    6. Punch another circle out of the same or a coordinating paper. Glue on back to finish the flower nicely.




    7. Insert a brad through the center of the flower and open prongs. I used a fabric-covered brad from K&Co.



    8. If you want, stamp or print a sentiment and glue it to the flower. That's it! Now attach it to a ribbon on a jar of jam or around a loaf of bread and everyone will think you're such a thoughtful guest!

Blog Archive

Total Pageviews