Faux Brick Heart Bowls

Did you ever feel there was something missing from your life? Obviously the answer is yes because until now you didn't posess a single heart shaped faux brick bowl. Well worry not dear friend, for I have the solution to this most common of problems.

You will need:

Air dry clay

Brick impression mat

Acrylic paint or watercolour pastels

Cookie cutters

Rolling pin (I just use the inside of an old foil tube)

Roll out the clay, lay the embossing mat over the top and roll over it a few times.

Cut shapes out using cookie cutters. Use a wet finger to smooth the edges out. To curve up the edges lie the shapes inside a small bowl or lid and gently press into shape. Leave to dry for 24 hours (I turned them over once).

Paint with a thin coat of brown acrylic.

Before the paint dries, dab the excess of with tissue or kitchen roll.

I then used watercolour pastels to add more details. You could just use acrylic paint instead.

Brush reds, oranges and browns on randomly.

 Use a wet brush to mix the colours together.

 All done :-)

I have literally no idea what I'm going to use these for.

Valentines Crafts Using Air Dry Clay

Valentines Day is just a few weeks away so here's a couple of easy gifts you can make using air dry clay.

You will need:

Air Dry Clay
Silicone molds (or stamps or lace - anything you can make a pattern with)
Heart shaped cookie cutters
Rolling pin (I just use the cardboard tube from a roll of foil)
Clay modelling tools (I just used a toothpick instead)
String or thin ribbon
Acrylic paint (if you decide to paint them)

Heart Bunting 

Roll out your clay. If you're using a mold lay it on top then roll over it a few times. Peel it off the mold.

If you don't have a silicone mold you can put lace or leaves or whatever you like over the top of the clay and roll over it to leave a pattern.

Position your cookie cutters over the clay. I put them randomly so each heart would have a different pattern on it.

Use a toothpick or straw to cut out holes for the string.

Leave to dry for about 24 hours (less if you live in a hot country). Turn over once or twice so both sides dry out.

You can paint them with acrylic if you want, I couldn't be bothered ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Heart Hanging Pocket

I love these hanging wall pockets that are all over Pinterest. I especially liked these ones by A Shade of Teal

To make some heart shaped wall pockets, you will need the same tools and materials as for the heart garland.

Roll out some clay. I wanted a faux wooden effect so used a wood effect embosser for icing cakes. I can't remember where I got mine from (it's probably in an earlier post) but you can buy something similar here.

Cut out a heart shape using the largest cookie cutter. I then used this shape as a rough guide to cut out the top piece.

Lay the top piece over the heart shape and using wet fingers, smoosh the edges together. I sort of pinch and smooth to get the edges to meet neatly.

Keep smoothing and smooshing until the sides are completely joined.

Use a straw or toothpick to poke two holes for the string.

I wedged a rotary cutter in mine to help it keep the pocket shape as it dries.

 I painted it with some watered down green acrylic then wiped off the excess with some paper towel.

Thread some string through and put a tiny faux plant in it (or whatever else you can find that fits).

I painted a few hearts I had left over from making the bunting too. Haven't decided what to do with these yet though. Let me know your ideas!

7 Foil Crafts To Try Out Now

 

Foil is freaking awesome as a craft tool. Here's 7 reasons why.

1. Sculpting
I use cheap kitchen foil as a base for most of my air dry clay and paper mache sculptures. It can be squished into pretty much any shape and holds its form really well. It can also be used as a sculpting material in its own right. Check out Axel Luther's video tutorial on how to make a foil hare.

2. Foil Relief Christmas Tree
Head over to Craft Passion and try out their Christmas Cone tutorial. 

3. Christmas Decorations
Nike at Thrive cleverly recreates the look of expensive metal decorative stars using cheap foil trays.

4. Faux Antique Foil Letters
Eff from Whatchaworkinon uses shoe polish and ModPodge to create these amazing embossed letters.

5. Faux Tin Tiles

Pop over to Suzyssitcom to try out their take on making faux tiles from disposable cookie sheets.

6. Demonic Horns
Chrix Design has an amazing and easy to follow tutorial for making these incredible costume horns.

7. Leaf Relief
Check out Cassie Stephens' excellent lesson on making relief art work using foil and glue.

Turn Old Christmas and Birthday Cards Into Gift Boxes

Instead of dumping all your old Christmas or birthday cards in the recycling bin, you can easily turn them into gift boxes instead.

You will need:

Old cards
Blank card (optional)
PVA glue or double-sided tape
Paperclips (optional)
Scissors
Ruler

Choose a card that has a central or reocurring image as the edge of the card will form the sides of the box.

Cut the front piece of card away from the back. You can use the back piece as the bottom box (if you don't mind there being writing on it). Otherwise you can use the front piece from another Christmas card or just use a plain piece of card instead.

Turn your card over and on the back of the card, pencil in a box shape in each corner. My boxes are 3cm square. The size of the squares will determine the depth of the box. Adjust to suit the card you have and/or the gift you want to put in the box.

Lay a ruler across the lines and use scissors to score all the way across the card (I've drawn them in below but you don't need to).

Cut the lines where indicated below.

Fold the scored edges.

Tuck in the tabs and secure with glue or tape. Use a paperclip to hold the pieces together until the glue dries.

Repeat the steps for the bottom box.

Done!