gift

What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God.

-Eleanor Powell

 Clay prezzies baked & then glued onto clothespins as ornaments--a gift, along with the above quote, to my worship band at church. We had a rather semi-spontaneous gathering of cookies & cocoa & coffee & games this evening. I rock the Guesstures. Another favorite: Scattergories.

Holiday parties have begun!

♥

Clothespin Ornaments

I recently purchased an ornament for my mom at a local shop. After bringing it home, I realized, "Hey, the girls & I could make these!" Ours are much more juvenile, but the concept is the same: a clothespin base.

These were soooo fun to make! All you need are clay & clothespins. I bought two different sizes of 'pins at JoAnne's: a regular size & a smaller 1 1/2" size. I also gathered up whatever tool-ish things I could find to help us in our clay molding efforts.

Wreath by Zoey (age 8)

(A word about clay: The girls & I have clay around to play with on occasion. I am not a clay expert. It is not my medium of speciality. I purchased this giant package of Sculpey III clay because it was on sale or I had a coupon or something. But, it's horrible to work with. Surprisingly my 6 year old was steadfast. But my 8 year old had many fits. Basically, it's really hard to work into a smooth consistency & it is very crumbly. Crumbs everywhere. Takes so long to knead into something you can work with. Although, because of its firmness, I do like the way it holds its shape when you are putting your pieces together. We've had other brands of clay that seem to work better for us. This is just my opinion & I'd love any tips or advice from clay experts out there!)

Snowman by Pazely (age 6)

Here is the cup of hot cocoa that Zoey made.

She inspired mine.

After creating our miniature pieces, we baked 'em in the oven, following the instructions. (About 15-25 minutes depending on the thickness.) While the pieces were baking, we decided to paint our clothespins. They can also be stained. Or left plain.

Once the clay pieces have cooled down, glue to clothespins with E6000.

Pazely's ornaments are pink & purple. She made a tree, a candy cane, a s'more with red graham crackers (to make it more holiday-ish--hee hee), a snowman, a melted ice cream & 2 cookies. Zoey made a cup of cocoa, a ball ornament, a tiny gift & a wreath.

Clip 'em on your tree or on a gift!

♥

Clay.

With my no-clay-knowledge know-how I sat down & had some fun pretending like I knew what I was doing with this slightly squishy stuff. The fact is, I had no idea what I was doing. But here's another fact: I had TONS of fun! I'm working on an upcoming project for my MOPS group (Mothers Of PreSchoolers). Guess what we'll be making? Terrariums!! I was immensely inspired by Made by Mavis & those oh-so-cute ceramic mushrooms by mudpuppy. I have temporarily stepped into the world of miniature gardens & wee clay creations.

As you can see, I've thumbed my way through making some mushrooms, a faceless gnome (I was too afraid to add a face & make it look all scary) & other whimsy-like clay creations. I'm quite pleased & terribly excited about sharing this project with all the other moms at the meeting! They'll each get to choose a clay figure to add to their tiny enclosed handmade green world. (The gnome is mine. Hands off.)
Unfortunately the baking time takes too long for the moms to make their own little clay creatures at our meeting.

As I gather supplies & make a sample terrarium, I'll be sure & share pics with you.

Oh, & speaking of clay...I was asked to be a part of the Big Button Challenge by Lisa of Polka Dot Cottage! Lisa is quite the clay mistress. Her work is AMAZING! Her buttons are like candy. I've never been a part of any crafty challenge so I'm very happy to do this! I received my button in the mail yesterday. I love the pinks & greens & stripes & that's why I chose it. (I think my old vintage buttons are jealous of this new shiny handmade button.) Now, I have to come up with a clever creation for my button. I will reveal all in due time...

Sunshine Clay

This is called "sunshine clay" because you can literally bake it in the sunshine.

So, get ready for a super easy, super cheap craft that your kids will LOVE doing with you! You'll need 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of salt & 1/2 cup of water. I doubled my recipe since I wanted to make lots of fun stuff.

Mix the ingredients together in a bowl.
When the dough starts sticking all together, you can take it out...

...& start kneading it.

My dough was a little too sticky. I'm not sure why. Maybe the humidity that day? I added more flour.

In the end you should get a nice smooth ball of dough like this.

Now gather up some cookie cutters & other play-dough sculpting toys & get creative!

I made this little blueberry tart.

To make the tart, you'll need to form some dough into a ball & then squish it into a nice round thick pancake shape. Form another piece of dough, long enough to go around the pancake, into a snake shape. Connect the two until they form a "bowl" shape.

With your thumb & forefinger on one hand & your forefinger on the other hand, pinch the dough so it forms these scalloped shapes all around the edge.

Now roll small "blueberries" & toss them into the tart.


After all our creations were formed I had a small ball of dough leftover. I pressed a leaf into it to make this little nature biscuit.

Now, set your pieces outside to sunbathe. Or, if you're like me, you can pop them in the oven for 2 hours at 200 degrees. I set my pieces on parchment paper. Now, I will admit that after 2 hours my pieces weren't hard & solid all the way through so I let them air dry for a long while. That didn't seem to change them. I painted 'em anyway & they seem just fine. I'm just letting you know this in case you have the same problem.

Gather some paintbrushes & acrylic paint. I used wax paper to protect the table & my trusty foil for a paint palette. If you need to smooth down any rough eges, sandpaper works great.


The girls loved how the faux foodies turned out. I think I may let them have these treats to play with in their wee play kitchen center.

When the paint is dry, coat them with Mod Podge or some other clear sealer.

Do you like my blueberry tart paper weight?

My little dog lover helped me make this pooch & a giant dog bone.

A pencil holder was crafted for my soon-to-be Kindergartner. To make it, just form some dough into a ball. Then, stick pencils into the dough & bake. (Take the pencils out before baking!) Take the pencil holder out a little past half way through the baking process & re-poke the holes with the pencils--the holes start to close a bit while in the hot oven.

I made a little disc of clay, painted a cupcake on it & glued a magnet to the back.

The cool thing about this project is that the possibilities are endless!! You can make ornaments, jewelry, small trinket boxes, initials, ANYTHING! Enjoy this Summer Fun Idea!!!