Happy New Year… finally!

Well, the new year is here and I  for one, am excited.

I hope you are too.

The year has been interesting.

Thank you so much my dear friends for staying for the year, for sharing your love and your hearts, and for giving me a reason to keep writing.

I am better for knowing all of you!

Thank you!

I have been playing with some new things. New year, new things, I started early.

I thought these were very fun and I thought you might like to try too.

This is like scrapbooking jewelry… woooooooooooo whoooooooo.

I knew my boatloads of fun with Jodi would lead to something like this.

I also like it because it is one of the bib necklace findings I just loaded in to my HoardersCloset Etsy store here for gold,

http://www.etsy.com/listing/88706811/vintage-metal-gold-tone-brass-bib

and here for silver,

http://www.etsy.com/listing/88644235/vintage-metal-silver-tone-plated-bib

That is the finding right there in the foreground above with no decorations on it.

I have had these for years and I have added clay to them and that is fun, but this is cool because I can use all of my newly collected scrapbook and paper supplies on these too.

Here is a pic of some of the things I used on the necklace, plus some scrap book paper.

Yes!

You will need:

1 brass or silver tone crescent

Chain necklace with clasp and jump rings

Scrap book paper

Gel medium- soft gel

1/4″ flat brush

jewels and metal bits

glossy accents

scissors

glue

glitter glue

Distress inks

foam applicator

clay pieces

assorted goodies and beads

brads

Distress ink

paper doilies

Glass rhinestones and cabs

Ribbon

Anything else you think might look wonderful on here

I started with one of the brass crescents

Cut a piece of paper that is bigger than the crescent.

Glob on gel medium, with flat brush, on to the front of the crescent.

Turn over the crescent and place it on top of the paper.

Pick up the both of them and press the paper on.

The gel will squish out around the edges

Set this aside and let the gel dry for a little bit.

Cut off the paper below the loop on the crescent.

Like so. Do both sides.

After it has dried a little cut the excess paper around the crescent.

It should look something like this.

I go around the edges and press the edges to the crescent.

Now I cover a paper doily with metallic ink and let it dry or heat set it with a heat gun.

Now I distress the edges of the paper on the crescent with walnut stain Distress Ink.

This colors the edges of the paper so they are not stark white besides giving the paper on the front a nice soft antiqued look. I love this ink!!

I love the way this looks.

I place the doily over the crescent to see where I want it to go and then cut a section out.

Cut a section to go on one end also, I liked it like that.

I put a layer of gel on to the end where I am going to place the piece of doily and then paint the gel on the back of the doily and place the piece where I want it to go.

Place gel on the back of the other piece and place it where you want it.

Put gel on top of that one.

I set it aside and let it dry on the crescent. Because of the curve of the crescent I lift it upon something (scissor covers) so the edges down.

When dry cut, away the excess doily.

Like so.

With Crafter’s Pick Ultimate or E-6000 Glue on your bits.

I had to throw in some clay. I only use a little glue in the centers of the butterflies the glue seems to press out to the edges when I press them down on the paper.

At this point I just start filling up the base with stuff, rhinestones, flowers, keys and other assorted things.

I haven’t finished this but I will post it when I do.

Have fun with this. I would love to see what you do.

Have a great 2012, much prosperity, health, and peace for us all.

Blessings all over you all.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

May the spirit of Christmas bless you with love, abundance, joy, and peace in your heart!

Wishing you all the very happiest of Holidays with your family and friends.

May your New Year be better than 2011 ever was.

Relax. It is all good.

 

Santa Can Christmas 2011

Marie Segal

Happy Holidays to one and all, that means all of the holidays. No matter what you celebrate, you are important to me. Blessings all over you and yours and may the new year be very kind to you.

2012, how can it get any better than that? :-O

This is my gift to you.

Thank you for following, your kind comments and support, your friendships, and a reason to keep going everyday!

Large focal buttons can be used on handmade coats, purses, bags, and scarves. Or they can be put on factory manufactured things to give them a little individual style all their own.

Easy to make and great for adding a little flair and uniqueness to a special gift.

This is also very basic instruction. You can use a clay machine if you want and if you do, use the thickest setting for everything.

I also love Cernit  for buttons, because it is harder than most clays on thicker settings, yet still quite flexible at thinner settings.

You will need:

Black Cernit

Two accent colors of Cernit, I used turquoise and poppy red

Cocktail straw

Clay blade-SB

Makin’s clay cutters-M36002 set of 3 squares

Pearl-ex powder-658, I used Aztec Gold

Makin’s Texture sheet set- 38003 I used the “weave” one

Button mold, I made my own from old German glass buttons

Rolling pin or dowel

Ball point pen

Condition black clay and flatten in to a pancake shape.

Roll with dowel until about 1/8″thick.

Roll clay on to texture sheet.

Use largest square cutter and cut out square.

With a little of the Aztec gold powder from the lid on your finger rub the gold powder in to the four corners of the black textured square. Leaving the center of the square free of powders. Put the powder only on the top of the black square and keep it away from the sides of the square too, we are going to place a twisted coil around the square.

Wash your hands to remove excess powder.

Condition and roll out turquoise clay to about 1/8″ thick.

Cut out medium square from set of cutters.

Put turquoise square on top of the black textured square off-center from the black square.

Condition some of the poppy red clay and roll in to a coil about 1/8″ in diameter and then do the same thing with some of the turquoise clay.

Twist the two colors together.

Roll the colors together on the work surface.

Roll down to about 1/8″ in diameter.

Place the twisted rolled out coil around the large black square.

Roll out a smaller coil of the poppy red, about 1/8″ in diameter, and place around the smaller turquoise square.

Make a button from your button mold or some other decorative center.

Powder the top of the molded button.

Place powder on your finger from out of the lid.

Rub your finger around a couple of times to smooth out the lumps and then brush on to the clay lightly and in circles.

You can also roll the whole ball in powder. Make it a little bigger to begin with , press into the mold and then cut off the back so it is flat with the mold.

This insures that there is fresh un-powdered clay on the back to attach to the turquoise square.

Press gently on to the turquoise square.

You could leave the button like this, but I am going to add a couple more things.

Roll 4, 1/8″ or smaller balls of black clay and place in the corners of the turquoise square.

With a ball point pen tip make a little mark in each of the black balls.

With one end of the cocktail straw cut a hole on the right side of the button top.

Turn the straw over and use the other side of the straw to cut another hole on the left side of the button.

I have cut my button holes so the button will sit and be sewn on diagonally.

Like so.

Bake for 30 minutes in a pre-heated 275 degree F oven, shut off the oven, and let cool till you can touch it, in the oven.

Happy Holidays Ya’ll, all  of them!!

Winter Solstice

Happy Solstice ya’ll!

Happy Hanukkah

Got this awesome pic from

https://www.facebook.com/Dogspired

Happy Hanukkah!

Heart rocks

Madi and I found this while we were walking and I thought of you.

My heart to yours.

Have a magical day!

Holiday update and aftermath

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday in the US.

This time of year is starting to be a very interesting time and I feel that with a pair of fresh eyes (Madi, 2 years old), I am starting to see things in a new way again.

She sees things in such a lovely way, everything is brighter, everything is new, and we “ring around the rosy” everyday.

Last night we went and looked at a wondrous sight. Christmas on Knob Hill. Wow, it is so much better to look at something like this with the eyes of a two-year old.

Thank you dear Madi for bringing a fresh outlook to my life, you rock, baby!!

Sorry not to be around lately, I have been feeling a little out of sorts the last couple of days and now I have a bad kink in my neck.

I have listed some new things in the Hoarders Closet.

Diamond shaped clip back earrings.

There are 14 pieces, 7 pairs, you can see them here

Necklace Chains with the clasp, split ring, jump rings, and extension chain.

Everything you need, except your art, to make a necklace.You can see them here

Oval Pendant Drops or earring drops

Great pieces for adding polymer clay or for working with resin,you can see them here

As always, thank you so much for looking.

On Sunday I am going to be, with my friend Tina, at small craft fair in the area.

It is at Poway High School.

Come on by and say HI!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in the USA.

And to those friends that aren’t in the USA…

May the spirit of Thanksgiving grace your heart and tables.

Let’s talk Turkey!

Gobble, Gobble!!

I thought it would be fun to have a tutorial on a simple turkey.

This could be made in to a magnet or pin.

You will need:

Caramel Cernit

Opaque White Cernit

Poppy red Cernit just a pinch

Orange Cernit

Black Cernit just a pinch

Clay Machine

Clay Slicing Blade

Bamboo skewer

Sun like cutter from Flowers and leaves Makin’s clay cutter set

5/16″ Kemper Kutter flower

3/4″ Kemper Kutter Round

Condition Opaque White clay and roll out in the clay machine on the 4th thickest setting. You can roll through the machine several times to get a nice smooth sheet.

Cut out one of the sun “like” shaped cutters and lay on work surface.

Condition and roll out the caramel on the 3rd thickest setting. Cut out one of the sun “Like” shapes.

Place the caramel one on top of the white one and off set it so the whites points show between the Caramel points.

Flatten the two together with the palm of your hand, preferably the rounded cup of your palm.

Cut out two circles of Caramel out of the round 3/4″ cutter. Put them together and roll into a ball. Then using your forefinger roll on one side of the ball and rolling in to a bowling pin shape.

Like so!

With the back of the clay blade (careful now!) Make a mark about 1/8″ to 1/4″ down from the top of the small end of clay bowling pin shape.

Bend the tip over at the mark.

Place the bowling pin caramel shape on the  two cut out sun “like” shapes and press the thicker end to the shapes like you see in the picture.

Make marks with the end of your blade around the turkey body where the indents are around the outside of the sun points in the brown flower/sun are. This step is optional, but does add a little more to the turkey.

Roll out the orange clay on the 2nd thickest setting and cut out two of the 5/16″ flower.

Push them out of the cutter and pinch two of the petals of the flower together.

Place the flowers that are now feet, with the pinched petals in the back,under the thick flattened end of the bowling pin caramel shape.

Cut out another flower shape.

We are just going to use this for the size, so roll that flower in to a little ball.

Roll on one side of the ball  to shape it in to a shape it in to a little teardrop.

Just like this.

Place this little teardrop thick end first on the end of the bowling pin caramel top of the bowling pin.

You will able to see it in the picture after I put the eyes on.

Roll out a very small coil of black and cut off a tiny, tiny section.

Cut two of them and roll them into balls.

They a will be very small, like a 1/16″.

Here is the placement of eyes and beak.

Now we are going to make the pieces for the waddle. Roll out a small coil of the poppy red.

Cut off  two short pieces and one long one.

Roll them all in to balls and then roll them in to elongated teardrops.

Place one of the two small ones on top of the head.

Then place the other.

You can see where the red pieces go, here.

Looking a little like a turkey now.

Poke two holes in the beak, so he can breathe.

With the side of the flower cutter mark the chest with marks for feathers.

Like this.

 Use the flowers cutter and cut out four flowers  out of the caramel sheet that is rolled out on the 3rd thickest setting.

Put two together and roll in to a ball.

Do that with the other two.

Roll those into teardrops.

Flatten those teardrops.

With the back of the blade mark both wings on the tips.

Now mark the wings with the flower cutter and mark horizontal marks on the tips too.

Place the wings on the thick end of the body.

Your turkey is done.

I thought it would be fun to have a tutorial on a simple turkey.

This could be made in to a magnet or pin.

You will need:

Caramel Cernit

Opaque White Cernit

Poppy red Cernit just a pinch

Orange Cernit

Black Cernit just a pinch

Clay Machine

Clay Slicing Blade

Bamboo skewer

Sun like cutter from Flowers and leaves Makin’s clay cutter set

5/16″ Kemper Kutter flower

3/4″ Kemper Kutter Round

Condition Opaque White clay and roll out in the clay machine on the 4th thickest setting. You can roll through the machine several times to get a nice smooth sheet.

Cut out one of the sun “like” shaped cutters and lay on work surface.

Condition and roll out the caramel on the 3rd thickest setting. Cut out one of the sun “Like” shapes.

Place the caramel one on top of the white one and off set it so the whites points show between the Caramel points.

Flatten the two together with the palm of your hand, preferably the rounded cup of your palm.

Cut out two circles of Caramel out of the round 3/4″ cutter. Put them together and roll into a ball. Then using your forefinger roll on one side of the ball and rolling in to a bowling pin shape.

Like so!

With the back of the clay blade (careful now!) Make a mark about 1/8″ to 1/4″ down from the top of the small end end of clay bowling pin shape.

Bend the tip over at the mark.

Place the bowling pin caramel shapeon the  two cut out sun “like” shapes and press the thicker end to the shapes like you seeinthe picture.

Make marks with the end of your blade around the turkey body where the indents are around the outside of the sun points in the brown flower/sun are. This step is optional, but does add a little more to the turkey.

Roll out the orange clay on the 2nd thickest setting and cut out two of the 5/16″ flower.

Push them out of the cutter and pinch two of the petals of the flower together.

Place the flowers that are now feet, with the pinched petals in the back,under the thick flattened end of the bowling pin caramel shape.

Cut out another flower shape.

We are just going to use this for the size, so roll that flower in to a little ball.

Roll on one side of the ball  to shape it in to a shape it in to a little teardrop.

Just like this.

Place this little teardrop thick end first on the end of the bowling pin caramel top of the bowling pin.

You will able to see it in the picture after I put the eyes on.

Roll out a very small coil of black and cut off a tiny, tiny section.

Cut two of them and roll them into balls.

They a will be very small, like a 1/16″.

Here is the placement of eyes and beak.

Now we are going to make the pieces for the waddle. Roll out a small coil of the poppy red.

Cut off  two short pieces and one long one.

Roll them all in to balls and then roll them in to elongated teardrops.

Place one of the two small ones on top of the head.

Then place the other.

You can see where the red pieces go, here.

Looking a little like a turkey now.

Poke two holes in the beak, so he can breathe.

With the side of the flower cutter mark the chest with marks for feathers.

Like this.

 Use the flowers cutter and cut out four flowers  out of the caramel sheet that is rolled out on the3rd thickest setting.

Put two together and roll in to a ball.

Do that with the other two.

Roll those into teardrops.

Flatten those teardrops.

With the back of the blade mark both wings on the tips.

Now mark the wings with the flower cutter and mark horizontal marks on the tips too.

Place the wings on the thick end of the body.

Your turkey is done.

My little Foofa!

Madi did Halloween as Foofa! She was so cute.

Foofa is a character from Yogabbagabba, one of her favorite shows on TV.

We sing all of the songs and even I, know most of them by heart.

My little Foofa patiently waiting to go!

We visited some scary places.

Met some scary people!

Loved this house.

I loved this fence.

Cool, Huh?

Another great place!

This house was the best and the people very nice!

Madi said “can I come in?” LOL!

My little Foofa was quite a trooper and walked the couple of miles by herself.

She got lots of goodies and was only scared once by a talking skull, as long as they do not talk she was fine with them, LOL!!