Ribbon Angel

by One Happy Bird

Thanks to Crafterwannabe who is the one who originally shared this project idea with me!

Okay, first off, buy some pretty wired ribbon with the wider "edge" to them. It will work much better when folding the ribbon and you won't have the problem of wire "popping out" at the end.

*Pic 1

Secondly, fan fold a piece of ribbon to make 7 pleats in the front. Staple the top and cut off the top edging. See how I did it in the pictue below?

*Pic 2

Thirdly, fan fold another piece of ribbon, just like you did the first time, only make 5 pleats in the front. Now, fold the ribbon in half and squeeze. You can see a faint line where you squeezed your ribbon in half, so now you know where the center is. staple it right on that faint line.

*Pic 3

This is the fun part! "Open your fan folds. Use a low-temp glue gun and hot glue the wings on top of the dress. Hot glue a bell for the face. You can string some ornament thread through the top of the bell, to hang on a Christmas tree or package. Add a little rose, flat back heart rhinestone, cross or some other embellishment on the "waist line" of the dress. This covers where you hot glued the two pieces together.

*Pic 4

Now, wasn't that easy?!

(((Big Hugs)))

Lori Jean :o)

Fireflies in a Jar Light

By wishujoy

Materials:
Plastic or glass jar (the one I used was the size of a large pickle jar)
Plastic or silk plants and/or flowers
Short string of mini lights (I used a 10 light string of battery powered "Wedding Party Lights")
Styrofoam for the bottom of the jar (to insert the plants in)
Felt or acrylic paint to cover the Styrofoam
Glue: Aleene's tacky and E-6000 are good
Large paper clips or floral picks
Misc jar decorations (I'm using plastic bugs and lizards)
Tall floral picks for the lights cut to length needed
Rubber bands and one large rubber band to fit around the jar

Step 1: Prepare the lights (fireflies). For the wings I cut some of the leaves from the plants that was shaped like an oval or kind of like a blade of grass, then glued two leaves to the outside of each light socket (the part that holds the bulb) just don't get the glue in the socket or on the bulb. I used Aleene's tacky glue for this. While the wings are drying you can start on the jar.


Step 2: Poke several small holes around the outer edge of the jar lid. (your battery pack will be in the middle of the lid.) This is to let the heat out from the lights. If you're using a plastic jar, I used my wood burner with the small pointed tip to make the holes. For a glass jar with a metal lid, I used a nail to punch the holes.

Step 3: Cut your styrofoam to fit inside the jar, to get a snug fit, cut your styrofoam the size to fit in your jar and cut it in half to get it to fit down in the bottom. Now you're ready to cover the styrofoam. If using felt: cover the sides first so that the top piece will cover any overlap. Fit it down snug into the bottom of your jar, adding glue to the bottom if neccesary. Now glue on the top piece of felt to your styrofoam.
If you're using acrylic paint: paint the whole thing and let dry before placing. Before gluing my styrofoam down I added a few small rocks between the covered/painted styrofoam and the side of jar.

*Pic 3

Step 4: Next you need to straighten out your paper clip (I used needle nose pliers) or if using floral pics skip that step. Slowly push it into the bug (being careful not to push it all the way through or it may get your fingers.) Now you're ready to place/insert your bug in the styrofoam. If you want a critter or two crawling up the side of the jar you can either place a small amount of glue on it's feet and tummy and glue it to the jar or use a floral pick and place him against the jar then hide the pick with plants.

*Pic 4

Step 5: Cut plant stems to the height you want them but not so tall that your lid won't go on the jar, now you can start inserting a few plants.

*Pic 5

Step 6: Okay, it's time to start placing your lights (fireflies) around in the jar, start with the end light wrap it on a pick and insert it in the styrofoam, I cut the first picks and placed the lower lights first then worked my way up hiding the string as I went, you may want to more plants to help hide the string as you go. The last and highest lights (fireflies) will be at the end with the battery box. I put a rubber band around the jar to hold the battery pack up close to the top, this made it easier to work with the lights.

*Pic 6

Step 7: Secure the battery pack to the lid. Glue a piece of velcro to the lid and the other piece to the bottom of battery pack. This is so you can remove the lights and replace them if you ever need to.
I used my wood burner to put a small hole in the open end of the battery pack and on the lid. Then I stuck toothpick in the holes and put a small bolt and nut through them to hold the pack on the lid. (this was before the velcro idea and I'd already taken the pic)

*Pic 7

Step 8: Decorate the lid to hide the battery pack, making sure not to cover the vent holes. I covered mine with an easy ladybug.

To make the lady bug:

One 5 inch styrofoam ball cut in half ( you only need one half)
One 1-1/2" Styrofoam ball
Black acrylic paint
Small foam brush (any brush will work, but the foam brush seems to work better)
2 wiggle eyes
Red felt for wings
Black felt for dots
Aleene's Tacky glue

To make the body cut the 5" ball in half. Place the battery pack on the flat side (the tummy of the ladybug) & mark the outline of the battery pack onto the styrofoam. Hollow out a place for the battery pack to fit in, you can use a knife or a spoon, but take small amounts at a time so you don't break it.
Now take the small styrofoam ball (the head) and cut a slice of it off so one side is flat then cut a small slice off of the top of one end of the body.This creates the flat surfaces needed to join the head and body together. Paint the head and the body black, let dry.
Once the two pieces are dry, Cut your red felt circle in half and put glue on one side of the felt, place the glue side on the body so that the wings show some of the black in between the wings and carefully press/smooth the wings down on the body working from the top down. Let dry. Then glue your dots onto the red wings.To connect the head to the body, break a toothpick in half and stick them in the flat part of the head, put some glue around the picks and on the flat part of the head, now place head with the picks on the flat part of the body and push to two pieces together. While that is drying you can glue the eyes on the head.

After placing your ladybug over the battery pack when dry, your firefly jar lamp is finished!

Some other material options:
Instead of painting Styrofoam, paint the inside of the jar so the styrofoam won't show, glue a single layer of small rocks to the side of the styrofoam and cover the top of the styrofoam with moss.

Paint the floral picks or paper clips green to match so they aren’t noticeable

If you can’t find the mini lights on green “strings”, (thanks to Mamo for the great idea) you can paint your light string green and just glue some leaves to the string of lights

Other jar theme ideas:
Small toy cars, dinosaurs, fairies, butterflies, miniature tea sets. The possibilities are endless!

I used these when making mine:

Patriotic Gingie

Patriotic Gingie

Presented by: craftymouse

Here are the supplies needed for the polymer gingerbread man.

For the Gingie you will need:

Polymer Clay – Brown (2), Red , White, Blue

Black seed beads

Toothpicks

Knife

Brayer

Baking sheet

Batting

Something to cover your work surface

Something to wash your hands with (I use baby wipes)

For the ‘firecracker” you will need:

Empty container (Mine was a Poppyc*ck from Costco)

Gesso

Acrylic paint – white, blue (2 shades), yellow, red

Sea sponge

Craft knife

Gold braid

Paintbrush

Gold star garland

Wooden spoon or pencil

Clip in light

The project that I am going to try to share is a patriotic gingie in his “firecracker” house. The size of your gingie will be determined by the size of your can you are using for the firecracker. My can is from caramel corn that I got at Costco. You can make a taller firecracker from a Pringles can but you will need to adjust the size of your gingie. This figure could easily be adapted to be a snowman by using white clay.First of all, let me say that I am no expert in this medium and my technique is probably not the “right” technique but it works for me. I just have two notes as we get started. Devote whatever knife, tools, etc. that you use for polymer clay to polymer clay and retire them from food preparation. Secondly, wash your hands between colors. This is what happens when you don't! I picked up white after working with red...oops.

See PIC 1

Okay, let’s get started. There are various specialty tools that can be used for clay, but I tried to stick with just basics with this project.You will need to condition the clay before you start forming your gingie. Just play with it. Roll it in your hands. Knead it until it is soft and pliable.First you need to make a ball of clay 1 ¼ inches in diameter. This will be the body.

See PIC 2

Roll it between your hand to give it a slight cone shape. Set this aside.

See PIC 3

To make the legs you will roll a 1 ¼ inch ball of clay into a log. Push up slightly on one end to form the foot. See PIC 4

Clean your hands and take a small piece of white clay and roll it into a thin snake. Put this on the foot in a zigzag design to form the “icing”. Press gently so that it adheres but does not flatten. See PIC 5

I break off a small piece of toothpick to serve as a joint stabilizer. Put two pieces on the bottom of the body and join the legs to the body. Be careful not to mess up the “icing” on the feet. See PIC 6

Place the feet like this... See PIC 7

Next you will need to roll ¾ inch balls of clay into logs to form the arms. I roll the clay gently between my thumb and pointer to form a hand. Add icing to the wrist just like you did to the feet. See PIC 8

Again you will use toothpicks as stabilizers for the arms. You can roll “buttons” from the white clay if you desire. See PIC 9

To make the bow tie I rolled three ropes of clay. One each from red, white and blue clay. I twisted these together and rolled the twisted snake until I had a thin piece. Then I flattened it with a brayer. See PIC 10

Put your “neck” toothpick on first and then place a small circle of the red, white and blue clay on the body. Cut two pieces and attach them now to form the “ribbons” that hang from the bow. See PIC 11

To make the actual bow, take a piece of the red, white and blue clay and form a figure eight with it. Wrap a small piece of clay at the center of the eight.

See PIC 12

Press this on to the body. See PIC 13

Now we’re ready to give this little guy a head. Roll a 1 inch ball of clay into a ball.Take a toothpick and make two small holes where you want the eyes to be.

See PIC 14

To make the eyes I roll a very small piece of white clay into a tiny ball. Use a toothpick to pick up a seed bead. Gently pick up the white clay with the bead. Now carefully place it in the hole on the clay. Press it on gently. See PIC 15

To make the mouth roll a very thin piece of while clay into a rope. Make a small U shape and press it on gently. Roll two tiny pieces of white to place at the corners of the mouth.
I found this part to be a little tedious. An alternative would be to form a mouth with a small canapé cutter or cookie cutter. I frequently use the angle of triangle or the edge of a circle cutter to make my mouths but decided to try the “icing” look on this one.
Roll out a thin rope of white to make the “icing” around the head. Now put the head on the body. See PIC 16.

Now he looks like this…See PIC 17

And with the head on the body…See PIC 18

I added a hat to my gingie, although I don’t think it was necessary. To make the hat I took some “junk” clay (the pieces left over from the bow and a piece where I change colors without washing my hands) and formed a small cylinder. You can continue like I did or make a solid hat rather than a striped hat. Roll out sheets of red and white and stack them one on top of the other. The thickness of the sheet is up to you. The thicker the sheet, the wider to stripe on your hat. The width of the clay should be the same as the length of the cylinder. You will cut slices of the stacked clay and place them side by side with the edges touching. You will need enough to go around the diameter of your cylinder. Use a brayer to roll over the clay just enough to “join” the slices. Roll this around you cylinder. See PIC 19

And around the cylinder…See PIC 20

Cut a circle of clay to place on top of the hat. This will hide the rough edges. Roll a snake of blue clay and flatten it. You will place this around the bottom of the hat to form the band.Roll out a sheet of red clay and cut a circle slightly larger than the cylinder. This will form the brim. I used to top off of a large glue stick for my cutter. Use a toothpick as a stabilizer and gently press your hat on the gingie’s head. You can place it on straight or tilt it slightly.
Take your flag pick and push it through the gingie’s hand. Now remove it before you bake it. The hole will remain and you can put the flag back in once the gingie is baked.

See PIC 21

Bake it according to the directions for the kind of clay that you used. Mine said 30 minutes per ¼ inch thickness. Place a piece of batting on your baking sheet and sit you gingie on it before baking. This will prevent him from having a shiny behind. After your gingie had cooled, place the flag back in his hand. A couple of notes…My gingie did not want to sit up. He seemed to want to lean back so I added a bit of brown clay to his behind and built him up a little to help him lean forward. I just blended it in to his legs. I sometimes use blush on the cheeks of my figures but it doesn’t really show up well on the brown clay.

To do the firecracker:

I first cut a door in the can. Make it an appropriate height for your gingie but don’t go too tall or you will see the light. See PIC 22

And with the door cut…See PIC 23

Cut a hole for the clip in light. Make this high enough that you don’t see the light through the door. Since this is made from a cardboard type can I would not leave the light on unattended! I am assuming that since lampshades don’t catch fire this light is okay, but I would not take chances. See PIC 24

I painted the can with gesso and then acrylic paint. You could probably spray paint the can but I would paint before cutting if I were going to do that. After the paint was dry I sponged on some blue pain in a slightly different shade of blue. I just like the more textured look.

See PIC 25

Using a liner brush paint some fireworks on the inside of the can. This is tricky. I found that I my paint was watered down then the paint tended to bead up a bit. I made three very simple “bursts” with simple lines and dots. See PIC 26

Paint some white stars on the outside of your can. Just freehand them. Or you can paint swirls. Or stripes….Once this is dry spray with an acrylic sealer.

See PIC 27

I used a glue gun to add gold braid to the edge of the door.

See PIC 28

Cut three pieces of gold star garland for the “flame”. Twist them around a wooden spoon handle if you want them curled. See PIC 29

Push them through the lid of the can. I made a little twist on the inside of the lid and again on the outside of the lid to help hold the “flame” in place.

See PIC 30

Put the lid on the can and clip in the light. Put your gingie inside. Now your gingie has a home! See PIC 31

Polymer Snowman Hat:

This gingie can be changed to a snowman since the body shape is generally the same.

See PIC 32

To make the snowman hat I rolled a ball of clay and formed it into a bowl shape…

See PIC 33

Next roll a snake of clay that will be the cuff and put it on the bowl…

See PIC 34

Use the back of a knife or a toothpick to "rib" the cuff…

See PIC 35

I would put it on the snowman before adding the pom-pom. Just roll a ball of clay and put it on the top. Use the knife to cut diagonals on the pom-pom (like you would be cutting a pie). This just adds a little texture…

See PIC 36

I hope I was clear in my instructions. I can't believe how nervous I was doing this!

Phyl

*DO NOT take photos/directions from this site and post elsewhere without permission from the author!! You may link to this site, but please don't take credit for another person's work. ALL lessons are the author's copyrighted property and not intended for mass marketing.
Thank you, & have fun crafting!