Transferring Images onto Candles

I read about transferring images onto candles and thought I would try it out.  I bought dollar store candles because I thought for sure I would make a mess out of them, but in actuality I am very pleased with the results.

Here is what you will need to create your own designs:

Rubber stamps

Ink pads

Wax paper

Tissue paper

Embellishments of your choice

Heat gun

Candle  ( The candles I used are 3" tall x 2.5" wide)

Stamp your design on the shiny side of the tissue paper. Cut the excess close to the design rounding out all the corners.  Because the candles I bought were white and cream, I used white tissue paper. 

Place the design on the candle with the tissue paper right side up.  I used a dab of glue to position the paper so that it wouldn't slip.

Cut off a large piece of waxed paper so that you have plenty to hold onto in the back of the candle,  you don't want to burn your hands.  Make sure that you do not have any wrinkles on the tissue or the waxed paper.

Use your heat gun and go quickly over the design. You will see the tissue paper melt into the candle. You do not want to overheat your image.  

Once the tissue paper has melted, you can remove the waxed paper and you will have a beautifully decorated candle.

You can then add ribbons and bling to embellish your candles.

Something Old and Something New

This is a Garden Angel which has been out of my Etsy shop for about four months. She needed a new background and I used Picmonkey (an editing program) to do just that.  I love the magical look of the background. I have now re-introduced her back into my shop.

This new creation was a fun one to do.  I had this little book that I bought at Michaels and wanted to incorporate it with a figurine.  I found that paper products can be put in the oven with the clay because of the low heat which makes it easy for placement. No fussing with glue afterwards.

Here is another creation that I re-introduced into my Etsy Shop.  A customer ordered two of these (without the jump rings) to put in her terrariums.  She wanted them to be peeking out among the leaves.

Another new item I created is this sewing bug who is being very helpful by holding a spool of thread.  I used 20 gauge wire for the antennas and glass beads for the eyes.  She is only an inch and a half tall.

Felt Hat Tutorial

I tried something new a while back and was very pleased with the outcome.  I saw a tutorial on making hats for dolls out of felt and thought maybe I could do it.

What you need:
1 - One piece of 8x10 felt
2 - White glue
3 - A form to mold the hat
4 - Lots of patience

I had the doll, the glue and the felt so they weren't the problem,  The form was the problem, but I quickly remedied that by looking in my Grandson's toy box.  There it was, the perfect form for a dolls head sitting there among his most loved items.  It was a small bowling ball (you know the kind) that come with the plastic pins. It fit perfectly in one of my drinking glasses.  I covered it with plastic wrap and was ready to go.

Now you mix the glue  and water, half and half in a small bowl.  Mix it well so that it is milky white.

Cut the felt however you like.  I placed it on the dolls head and fooled around with it until I liked what I saw.

Next, dip the piece of felt in the glue mixture, give it a good squish a few times, making sure that all of it has been soaked well, then squeeze thoroughly.  Now for the patience part.  Keep molding it and smoothing it out on the form until you like what you see.  It will be very pliable at this point, so make sure you smooth out any wrinkles.

It does take a while to dry, so don't fuss with it until it is good and dry.  Once it is dried, you will find that the hat is stiff.  Remove it from the mold and embellish it with whatever suits your fancy, you will be very pleased with the outcome.

This is the first hat that I created, which I am pleased to say sold quickly in my Etsy shop. When I took the picture, the dolls dress was blue which just wouldn't do for the pictures, so I changed the color in my editing program to match the hat.  After slitting the hat in several places, I wove a purple and pink ribbon through it, then added pink petals in the front.

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This was a fun hat to make and much simpler that the first one.  I had this great flower embellishment to give it a bit of pizazz.

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Here is another simple hat, which is more about embellishment.  Molding this one was easy.  I wanted an 1800s look so I added a big black bow and wide ribbon to finish it off.  

 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on my hats.  If you do make some, send me pictures, I would love to post them on my blog.

Mice Run in the Family

My daughter, Trina, and I have been creating polymer clay mice, among other fanciful creations, and having such a fun time coming up with new ideas.  My daughter lives in Michigan and here I am in Texas, but we talk constantly on the phone about our newest creations.

My newest thought was to create sister mice sharing their love of ballet.

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Trina created this marvelous rendition of Cinderella's mice and carriage.

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My idea of a mouse peeping out of a spool of thread and it's an actual spool 

of thread.  I love the tape measure bow and his fancy ears.

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Trina's mice wedding cake topper, so sweet with the heart entwined tails.

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Here I go again to the sewing room with this little mouse 

holding some thread.

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Strawberry anyone?  Trina must have found her raiding

 the strawberry patch.

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Love says it all and this little mouse is carrying her heart around.

You can see Trina's mice and her other creations at her Etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/trinasclaycreations

You can visit my shops at:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Sandyscreationinclay

http://www.etsy.com/shop/NoveltiesAndNotions

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SandysBanglesAndBows

Ichabod the Imp

Fancy my camerawork on this one.  He actually looks like he is sitting on the tree branch, but noooo that is not the case.  It is a page out of a book and I found that if I placed my little Imp in just the right spot he really looked as if he were sitting right there being part of the picture.  

Let me introduce you to Ichabod; who by the way, is a very industrious chap.  He is in charge of the garden and always has it in tip~top shape.  He has his friend, Cornelius Snail, help with the heavy work. Although it's slow going, Ichabod doesn't mind. For one thing Imps live a long, long time, so he is never in a hurry about anything. He just whistles a happy tune and thinks happy thoughts.  You should see his flower beds. Rainbows of colors are everywhere delighting the bees and hummingbirds.  Fairies are frequent visitors to this magical garden and one has even made her home there.  

I finished creating Ichabod yesterday and he now resides in my Etsy Shop. 

You can visit him at:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Sandyscreationinclay

Trinket Boxes

I came across these marvelous little boxes and wondered what I could do to decorate them.  My thinking was that they needed something rather large to top them off. The first one I sewed a running stitch to gather the eyelet lace into a circle. Then I created a rolled flower out of blue felt and added felt leaves and a pearl button to the center. 

This one is my favorite, because I just love the little face on this polymer clay mouse. I love polymer clay and have been creating with it since May of 2010. Thinking that she needed some color, I adorned her with turquoise flowers and a turquoise skirt.  She is very happy showing off a pretty pink rolled felt flower.  I also edged the box with pink felt.

This is a smaller box and I gave the top a Victorian look with it's lace, felt flower and ribbon.  I love using felt because it is such an easy medium to work with. Again, I decided to edge the box with felt using the same color as the flower.

You can view more of my creations at:

   http://www.etsy.com/shop/NoveltiesAndNotions

Pin Cushions

My newest endeavor is creating pincushions. I have been having such a fun time making these. Yesterday I covered a tin which is perfect to make up a sewing kit for traveling.

A sewing tin ~ perfect for travel.

A little mason jar filled with sewing goodies.

This eyelet lace pincushion is filled with buttons for decoration.

The saying on this little pincushion is "Don't Needle the Seamstress"

Hand painted glass jar with a pincushion top.

You can find these and more of my creations at my Etsy Shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/NoveltiesAndNotions