Fall Sparkly Snail Leaf Decor

             

 Fall Sparkly Snail Leaf Decor

         Hi everyone! In the spirit of fall, today I will be showing you how to make this adorable little snail sitting on a leaf. I don't have much time, so let's jump right in. 
You will need:

• Orange or yellow clay
• Translucent clay
• Metallic clay in a shade of your choice
• Yellow or orange sparkles
• TLS (translucent liquid sculpey)
• A ball tool
• Black acrylic paint (not shown)

First, take your orange or yellow clay and shape it into a teardrop shape. Make sure that it it is thinner at the tip of the teardrop.

 

Then, take your ball tool, and using the metal part of it, press into the leaf to make a line that starts out thicker at the base and is thinner up at the top.

Your leaf should look like this.

Now, take your metallic and translucent clays and roll them into snakes like so.

Roll your metallic snake into a swirl-like shape.

 

 

Apply a little TLS to the shell and press it onto the snail's body.

 

Use your finger to rub TLS all over the leaf-shape you made earlier. This will help the glitter stick when we apply it.

 

After that, sprinkle glitter all over your leaf until it is fully covered.

 

 

 

Take your TLS and make a line down the bottom of your snail. After that, press it onto the leaf. Optional: Take your acrylic paint and dotting tool and make two dots on the face for eyes.

 

Bake, and you're done!

You can make these for any season, but I find them extremely convenient for fall.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.
Bye! 

Hack Your Heart Out: Hack Series Part #1

Hi guys! This is a new series that I'm doing on some of the semi-helpful tips ad tricks that I have learned over the years. This is less a How-To, and more descriptive post. This is the first part out of three, so lets get started!

Hack #1: The Glue to Resin Hack
I am definitely not the first person to think of this hack or any of the other hacks, for that matter, but I used this hack a lot before my parents allowed me to get resin. I've tested this out with a lot of glues, but I have found that clear glues work best, such as Aleene's Clear Gel Glue, but you can experiment a little bit on your own.
    
       Resin is a little bit more effective in this case, but there are pros and cons to this situation.   
 
Pro: You have easier access to glue; it is easier to find

Con: Glue is a lot less economical than resin, as it sinks when it dries

Pro: You have more of a window in which you can put in stickers and such because glue takes longer to dry.

Con: Glue takes waaaaaay to long to dry (2-6 days)

Pro: Glue is non toxic

Con: When the glue dries it is super soft and sticks to other things.

As you can see, there are plenty of reasons not to go with this option, as well as many reasons this may be a good substitute for you. Glue is much more easy to use than resin, as bubbles are less likely to form, and there is no mixing of A and B or any chemical process. There is one more major Con, depending on what glue you use: Sometimes, you end up with large dents and holes in the surface. As for why this happens, I have no clue, but all I know is it is super annoying. I mentioned this earlier, and I'll say it again; The one glue that has worked for me without fail is Aleene's Clear Gel Glue. The dents do not occur, it doesn't smell as bad, and it stays hard and doesn't stick. If you are going to try this out, then I whole-heartedly recommend this glue.
      Another thing I would like to address about this method is event though it works, as I mentioned before, resin tends to work better for these types of things. Also, since I discovered this hack, I have gotten resin, so it is unlikely that I will use this for any of my How-To posts.

    I hope this helped you in some way, and if it didn't, I hope I can satisfy you next time.
                             XOXO, 
                                    Via
 

Amazon Creative Supply Haul!

First off, I want to apologize for the lack of posts; I think the last post I did was back in June of last year, and I'm  really sorry that I have not been able to post. There really is no excuse; I had a large hunk of the summer left before school started and I went to see my grandparents in South Africa. I also want to say that I've been going through some of my older posts, and have been adding things that I would do to make it better in a section marked " Author's Note" at the bottom of all my old posts. I also noticed that in my older posts, a lot of my work has dust in it, so I'd like to apologize. Recently I've been trying to start creating more, so I decided to suck it up and break in the bank a considerable amount. I decided that instead of hunting all around town, I would go on Amazon.com check out what I could find. In this post I will be showing you what ended up buying, and the reasons why I bought them.      

In total I ordered nine items for $73.84 

The first thing that I ordered was  

Polyform Sculpey III Multipack, Pastel Colors.

I've bought this before, and I really 

liked the colors it came in, so I decided

to buy it again. All the colors are 

either pastel, or sparkled.  

The next item was a package deal, so 
I got them all at a reduced price.

Corked Vials by Tim Holtz Idea-ology, 9 Glass Bottles, Various Sizes

Package of 24 Small Mini Glass Jars with Cork Stoppers

Moxx Small Silver Tone Eye Screw Eye Bail Finding 8mm.

These are essentially just corked vials 

and some screws to put in the corks. 

You can use the vial for anything you please, 

there really is no specific use for them.

Polyform Sculpey Mold Maker, 8-Ounce, Cream

You use this to make silicone molds, 

but you can also use it to soften polymer clay. 

Sculpey 12-Piece Premo Metal Clay Cutters, Mini, Geometric

I needed some clay cutters, 

and these seemed to be just what I needed. 

They're so tiny!

Non Toxic Soft Pastel Set of 64 Assorted Colors

These are AMAZING! 

All the colors are so pretty, 

and they are so great or shading. 

These were by far my favorite item. 

The picture below is the cover view.

 

Aleene's Jewelry Pendant Gel 4oz

This is a very good replacement 

for glaze and resin. I will have more 

on this in a future hack series.

Studio By Sculpey Glossy Glaze

The name is pretty self explanatory; 

you use it to glaze clay once baked.

Polyform ALSB02 Sculpey Transparent Liquid, 2-Ounce

This can be mixed with soft pastels to 

use as frosting, or an liquid, really 

(Sorry for my horribly worded explanation)

Well, I hope this  post helped you figure out what the best choices are for you to buy if you are interested. I hope to be posting again soon, maybe using some of my new toys ;)

Ciao,

Via 

Super Cute and Sophisticated Mustache Necklace

In this post, I will be showing you how to make a super cute and sophisticated mustache necklace. I know that I haven't been posting much lately, but now that is summer break, I will be posting as much as I can.This necklace is an absolute show-stopper.you can make it the traditional black, like I did, or you can brighten it up with colors like neon pink or yellow.
You don't need many materials for this project.

Here's what you'll need:

• one relatively large ball of clay (any color. I used sparkled black)
• two eye pins (one cm in length)
• one necklace chain
• one pair of wire cutters or strong scissors
• one pair of pliers

First, lay out your chain.

Use your wire cutters to cut it in half at the middle. Set aside for now.

Take your ball of clay, and roll it into a ball if you haven't already.

Roll your ball into with smaller tips than middle.

Curl in the edges of the snake a bit.

push in the middle of the snake so there is an indent in the middle. Set aside your mustache.

Take your eye pins and open them with your pliers.

Hook up your eye pins to each end of the chain, then close your eye pins up again with the pliers.

Take your mustache and push the eye pins into each side. Put in the oven at 112 c (230 f). and bake for 15 min. Take out to cool. If you want to speed up the cooling, pour a little water on the tray.

Now you are done, and i have to say, they are "mustacular"(; these necklaces are spectacularly sophisticated, no matter what color you make them. In this post, I also want to thank my father, because he is my cameraman, and when I get stuck on something, he shows me how to do it properly. He is such a big help. Thank you Dad!

DIY Enormous Turtle Charm

In this post I will be showing you how to make a turtle necklace.This little charm was inspired by a necklace that I saw at Claire's while I was browsing through for inspiration. It has been quite popular with some of the girls at my school, so I decided to see if I could make it myself. I was able to make a pretty good (slightly huge) version of it. Instead of putting a flower on the shell, I decided to leave it blank, so you can decide on your own what to put on it. (You can also it on a keychain. I did this prior to publishing this post, and it worked better with the very LARGE turtle, instead of a necklace chain.)  These little turtles look fabulous,and make great gifts or party favors for girls.

You will need:
1 large ball of blue or green clay
1 necklace chain 
1 relatively large ball of blue and white clay (mixed)
1 eye pin 1\2 an inch long
1 relatively small ball of black clay 
1 small fake flower or leaf (optional)

Divide your  large ball of  blue or green clay into two pieces: one ball slightly bigger than the other.

  

Now take the bigger ball...

...and press down the top of the ball on a flat and smooth surface, so that it will be flat on the bottom, but round on the top.

It should look something like this.

Now, take the smaller ball,

And roll it into a snake about 2 inches long, with the head a little thicker than the rest of the body.

It should look somewhat like this.

Then, take the ball of mixed white and blue, and divide it into 4 small balls of the same size.

Mold each ball into a leaf shape.These will be the arms.

They should look like this.

Now, press the shell to your snake, being very careful not to squish the head.

Flip the turtle's body over and add on the legs, making sure that the legs point outward.

It should look something like this.

Now take your black ball of clay, and divide it into two equal pieces.

Then press the eyes to the turtle's face.If you want to have nostrils, you can use the tip of a blunt pencil to poke them onto his face.

Finally, you can take the eye pin and push it in right about where the mouth would be.

You're done, your turtle is complete.Just bake and let it surf around your neck, splash around your wrist, or even frolic around your fingers on a ring.                                     XOXO, Via