Dangly Episode #5: Sea Animals

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Paperpastels Mascot Contest Entry

In yesterday's post, I told you guys about making my last minute entry for the paperpastels mascot contest. Even though it is slightly sloppy, I'm really happy with the way it turned out- especially at the end. This picture- video was super fun to make and I hope you guys enjoy watching! Bye.

What do you think about the video? Do you think I have a chance against all of the other amazing entries the contest has been given?

Dangly Episode #4: Macarons

It seems like everyone in the clay world has made these, and I have finally succumbed to making these cute french sandwiches. In this video, I will show you my version (I'm sure they're all pretty much the same) of macaron- making. I made these in black and magenta for a special reason- which I will reveal in a Back-to -School special. (I haven't gone back to school yet, have any of you guys?) Let's get to it!

Before you leave, I would just like to say that Paperpastels hosted a youtube 150k subs mascot contest- which I will enter. The contest deadline for submissions is today, and yes, I should be working on it instead of blogging on all three of my blogs. Anyways, good luck to everyone who entered (including myself)! Bye everyone!

Fruit Slices

Watch the video below for charms resembling fruit slices right down the middle!

Bye, and see you next time.

Dangly Episode #4: Expressive Kawii

Hello! Here is a quick video on how to create your very own Expressive Kawii! Please enjoy as the video takes you through three different kawii facial expressions (an annoyed face, a "yeah right" face, and a shocked face) and captures them on charms of a dangly.

Bye everyone, and please come again.

Dangly Episode #: Fruit Plus Pumpkin Dangly

First of all, hello everyone- as always. Second of all, I just want to say that throughout my entire life, I have always overlooked the second "p" in "pumpkin." It took this post and spellcheck for me to figure that out!
For this third dangly, I will show you how to create a three-charmed chain consisting of a pumpkin, pear, and orange. This dangly brings me much sentiments because the kawii orange was the first charm I made when I started making charms. What about you guys? Tell me what your first charms were in the comments below! Thanks and have a great day!

P.S. Yeah, I used to use my nails to open jumprings. Just shows how cool I am. Joking!(:

Giraffe Charm

Hello everyone, today I will be showing you guys how to create this adorable giraffe charm. Here you go. Enjoy!

Have a gobrushes-filled day(: Bye!

Dangly Episode #2: Mostly Breakfast Dangly

For today's Dangly episode, you will see a tutorial on how to make this three- charm dangly (doughnut, lime, egg). These character's were inspired by kidRobot plush toys.

Hope you enjoyed this video, and if you haven't seen the last dangly episode, check it out! Plus, come back in two days because I will post a new charm tutorial for you guys.  Please like, subscribe, comment, tell your friends, be awesome, or all five if you would like- thanks. Bye everyone.

Happy Cat Charm

Today's tutorial isn't part of a series or anything. However, it is  certainly an ADORABLE charm! In this video, I will be making a happy cat charm. Please enjoy, comment, subscribe, and like if you want to. As always, thanks for coming by and have an awesome day!

Dangly Episode 1: Cow Over Moon

Welcome to the first edition of the Dangly series. For a long time, I was obsessed with making danglys! They're so much fun! Danglys are like charms that use other charms to make a kind of scene or story, I don't know. I love this particular dangly because it demonstrates the common saying ("the cow jumping over the moon"). In other news, it is August (yay), and you know what that means! That's right- videos posted every other day! Here's the cow over moon dangly tutorial for you- please enjoy and don't forget t comment/subscribe/ have fun. Bye, and thanks for stopping by!

Simples Kawii Episode 4: Kawii Text Bubble

Season Finale! I was suppose to post this yesterday, but I just got home from a three-day vacation. I forgot to post this episode. Plus, sometime later today, a new series (Danglys) will launch its pilot- so stay tune for that! Anyway, here's the text bubble episode!

Bye!

Simples Kawii Episode : Mischievous Leaf

Here's the latest Simples Kawii episode- the Mischievous Leaf charm tutorial. You know the great thing about this series? No annoying commercials in the middle.

Enjoyed it? Thanks for watching. Please subscibe to my blog for lots more awesomeness! Bye everyone.

SImples Kawii Episode #2: Kawii Cloud

The second episode for Simples Kawii... brought to you by Kim Fruitheads!

Dipped Strawberry Charm

Hello guys! Here is a video tutorial on how to make your very own dipped strawberry charm! Please enjoy.

Blog Announcements- Mark you calendars! Mark your calendars! I'm just kidding, but coming up, after the next tutorial (will be a drink charm), I have a new series of videos. It will contain 4 episodes, and possible more if anyone wants to see them. New Series: Simple Kawiis. These videos will be released until the end of the month, and are super quick (like 2- minutes) and cute. Need quick, random charms to give as gifts? You won't want to miss these videos. Then, as I've promised before about the many videos next month, there will also be a cool series in store for the last month of summer before it's time to hit the books. That series will consist of 6 episodes plus one grand finale! Of course, I'll also post some independent tutorials for you, too! Lots of exciting stuff planned. I'm not sure if I'll keep coming up with new series for each month or not, though. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Bye everyone!

Links:

Youtube-http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOXPLUdSL9HmSIbbyWTS5VA
Pintrest- www.pintrest.com/kimlychee/boards
Beauty Blog- itsratherpretty.blogspot.com


P.S. Yeah, I know I haven't been updating my Pintrest, but I'll get to that (:

Hot Dog Figure

Hey guys- here's a video on a hot dog figure made poptropican style! I really used to be totally obsessed with making poptropican figures. But anyway, here's one I recently made. Pretty cool, right?

Simples Kawii Episode 1: Kawii Sun

Hit that play button for the Simples Kawii pilot(: Enjoy.

Next edition of the Simples Kawii series will be posted on the 22nd of July! Cn you believe we only have a week left of July? Summer flies by like flies!
Bye everyone, have a cool day.

Bubble Tea Tutorial

Here's a bubble tea -strawberry flavored- drink charm video...

Bye everyone!

Cupcake and Ice Cream Charm Tutorial

In this video tutorial, I will show you guys how to make cupcakes in three different styles and ways. As a bonus, I also snuck in an ice cream tutorial as an alternative to the last of the three cupcake how-tos.

Personally, I love the nearly naked cupcake tutorial the best- you don't really see that many cupcakes without liners out there, now do you? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the video- and if you want, please take a minute to subscribe, comment, like, and be fun! Bye everyone!

Links:

Youtube-http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOXPLUdSL9HmSIbbyWTS5VA
Pintrest- www.pintrest.com/kimlychee/boards
Beauty Blog- itsratherpretty.blogspot.com

Clay Wars

Remember last month, when I told you guys about Clay War between Carie Shott and myself? Well, here is a quick slideshow on most  of the charms I made (this was the first round- Chocolate Desserts was the theme). The second round was on fruits. I'm hoping to snap some shots of those to share.

Thanks for watching! Check back frequently for more fun charm videos- especially this summer!

Despicable Me: Kevin Minion Tutorial

Guess what? The second Despicable Me movie comes out (USA) today! By the looks of the trailers, it's going to be as interesting and cute and funny as the first masterpiece. In honor of this excitement, I'm oing to share with you guys a tutorial on how to make a Kevin Minion from the movie. (Kevin and Minions are a registered trademark of Despicable Me and its creators. I don't claim any of the design or ideas- I only make the figure and video.

Tell me what you think below in the comments. Thanks for coming by, and have a wonderful day!

Links:

Want to see my new owl charm bracelet? Of course you do!
http://itsratherpretty.blogspot.com/2013/07/owl-charm-bracelet-blog-announcements.html

Bobbing for Apples Charm

Here's a tutorial on a barrel of apples- like the one you would use in a game of bobbing for apples! Enjoy. Please subscribe and comment if you do so desire. Bye everyone!

Blog Announcement: It's Summer- and I have a lot planned for Gobrushes! This month (July) is going to be filled with lots of random charm tutorials. Next month, all month, I'll be posting many tutorials on charms and cute paper accessories for school.

Sock Monkey Tutorial

I have already posted a sock monkey charm, but here's the official tutorial! Hope you like it! Have a fun day everyone!

Finally- the Perfect Recipe!

You may or may not know that I am too...um, let's say, "frugal," to buy deco sauce. I make my own instead. When making sauces for drizzling on my charms, I mix glue and food coloring. It's pretty effective and very very price-friendly. However, more often then not, I need to make chocolate sauce. Sounds simple, right? Well, it is, except brown is a really difficult color to concoct. Add too much of one color and you might end up with a muddy  green or orange or purple. Here's a video on how to make the perfect color brown (chocolate- courtesy of Carie Shott and her awesomeness). There will be cases when you follow the recipe, and the mixture ends up green. All you have to do is shake it some more to make the brown. You may double/triple/half the recipe as you wish. Please enjoy!

Plus, exciting news- I recently opened up a Pintrest and Youtube account. You're welcome to check them out!

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOXPLUdSL9HmSIbbyWTS5VA
http://pinterest.com/kimlychee/boards/

Bye everyone!

Mustache Waffle Sandwich Charm

Here's a video on how to make your own Mustache Waffle Sandwich Charm. I made mine a little bigger than I usually do, so I think I'll turn mine into a necklace charm with a chain necklace.

Did you notice? I finally have new background music! Plus, I tried to cut out all of the parts of the tutorial where I was out of shot and boring, but there's probably still some. Bar with me guys! This is my 4th post today. It's like I've been holding off on video tutorials on so long, they all have to release at one time.(: Anyways, as always, I hope you enjoyed my novelties, and please take a moment to subscribe or give me feedback/comments. Thanks everybody. Have a fabtabulous day- this is my last post today.

Clay Wars Charm Update #1

Here are a few charms that I made during the aforementioned Clay Wars, well, except for the pseudonymous charm- I made that in January(: Hope you enjoyed this quick video, and please check back for more fun or subscribe to keep updated on my crafty fun. Have a terrific and cool day.

Smoothie Charm...WIneglass Base Follow Up

Here's a sample drink charm that I made, using the wineglass as the base. Back to good old step by step instructions! Here we go...

Yeah, sort of sideways there.

1. Roll a piece of pink clay out. Roll a thinner piece of white and coil it to emulate a "whipped cream topping" look. 
2. Hotglue one end of the pink cord into the top of the wineglass. Use your thumb to roll the pink stuff and the wineglass to fit the smoothie onto the glass. Hotglue the fitting whipped cream. 
3. Take a rectangle of tape, and cut off the ragged edges. 
4. Wrap the tape around the smoothie kind of snugly to form the cup. Cut off excess tape- do not just keep wrapping around the smoothie with the extra tape or you will end up with a messy cup!
5. Stick in an eyepin and a jump ring to finish off your amazing charm!

How were your experiences with this new (or old) technique? Leave much appreciated comments down below!

My Charm Essentials...Video and Extra Stuff

I know I already made a post on my ultimate craft kit or something, but this time, it's in video format and has my complete list of everything I use! Check it out, and please enjoy Please take a minute to subscribe and comment for more fun videos! Thanks so much everyone.

Bye! Oh wait! I forgot that I occasionally use hot glue and my Silhouette Portrait! (:

Tastykake® Kandy Bar Kakes

http://www.tastykake.com/ is the Kandy Bar Kakes' official website.

Products reviewed below (S'Mores Kandy Bar Kakes) courtesy of Influenster.

TastyKake claims the following: Let's see if it's true.

Kandy Bar Kakes are the best of both worlds. Light and fluffy chocolate enrobed cakes come in a unique kandy bar shape with a delicious créme filling made with your favorite candy flavors. Available in S'mores, Peppermint, and Peanut Butter flavor.

Let's see if it's true. My sister and I ate a S'mores flavored Kandy Bar Kake right after coming home from a beach trip, so we were horribly starving. Even then, I noticed some of the cake's flaws. First of all, the bread parts enveloping the creme were a bit dry. Secondly, the bread was mega sweet! TOO MUCH SUGAR! I couldn't really taste any of the cracker bits on the top of the cake. I like the creme- it was very light and fluffy. Plus, the snack was amazingly soft and easy to digest. The thing that struck me the most about this cake was how similar tasting it was to Twinkies! In my opinion, Twinkies and similar assorted cakes from the Little Debbie brand are much more yummy in terms of sugar and flavor. My final say about the product is that it needs to work on the recipe a bit before selling more. I give the snack cake from TastyKake a C.
My recommendations for the devouring of the cake is to eat only one forth of it a time. Plus, have some milk nearby so you don't have to suffer ts dryness...read more read more read more read more read more!!!!

Make Your Own Wineglass!

Yah me for finally making this video- I've been meaning to since last year! Anyways, are you guys- talking to you charm makers- ever tired of not being able to make those really pretty drink/dessert charms that are in a clear glass? Well, I was! In this video, tutorial, I'll show you how to create that glass and overcome your charm fears and obstacles! Maybe not the last part, but... The drink itself/the yogurt/ice cream/fruit toppings will come later in newer Summer tutorials!

P.S. The glass color depends on the tape and hot glue you decide to use. You'll understand once you watch the video below.

On a completely irrelevant note, I have been promising a big bunch of scrapbook pages but haven't done any- if any- paper crafts this year. OK guys, the good news is that I finished the pages (all 40), and the scrapbook is sitting on my desk right now. However, it was the first time I ever attempted to do such a big project- I usually stuck to cards. I was trying to make an overview video, but then I thought if I go back and post pictures to make separate "instructional" type posts, that would be boring. I haven't done anything about the scrapbook yet because, I don't know what to do. Hmm...
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the tutorial (was this the first video on this blog? If so, YAH. I lost track because I posted a bunch of videos on my beauty blog) and have a cool day. See everyone next post! 

Fish Charms

My younger cousin needed a bunch of stuff to fill his treat bags for his class party. All he had in his bags were some mismatched Pink Pearl erasers and random mints- you know that last minute scramble for gifts when you have nothing kid-friendly in the house! So, in like an hour, I managed to make a few charms (aquatic ones at that) to add some color to his stash. Here they are!

Here's my quick lobster and long fish- I'm not scientific and picky with fish names at all! People who can do that are amazing! And yeah, photo bomb by that random thermometer in the back that I was too lazy to remove.

Three mini green fish. All I did for these was roll out eye balls, flattened the eyeballs, made larger green balls, flattened them, and sort of press my nails into the butt of the ball to form lazy tails (: I drew the eyes with a black felt tip marker, but anything will work.

I love these easy to make fish. I made blue balls, then flattened the back to make a kind of tail that taper towards the end. I made three, but apparently the third was hiding when it came time for a photo.

 These larger fish are made from large balls with Mohawks- as you can see.

 Snails- they have shells (which I created from rolling a thick piece of cold porcelain). The eyes are held up by wire pieces. One of the snails is leaning on his friend because it can't stand on its own, yet.

 Trio of fish- complete with semi- translucent fins, eyes, and the things on the tops of their heads (I was too lazy to mix any white coloring into the fins and head thingies and eyeballs).

Group photo! Yeah, that thermometer is still there!

Random peach ice cream drink charm I made a fw weeks ago. I made the drip effect with white glue drizzled over the ice cream.

Love cold porcelain-dries to a hard enough texture in 5 minutes! By everyone.

Reusing That Dull Xacto Knife

I have spent many frustrated days trying to peel die cut images off their sticky mats! They stick to the mat ad the images rip! I hate that! It's annoying and makes any project suddenly a chore and a bore! Luckily, I recently discovered that any dull craft knife can work as an amazing shape scraper. Instead of having to buy those 10$ scrapers at the Cricut or Silhouette store, you can get one practically free. I'm pretty sure the knife should be well-worn out and dull to be able to savage it as a scraper, because otherwise, the knife might accidentally cut through an image you're trying to pick up. I've been using this nifty tip, and it works wonders for me- keeping my mat and images clean and neat!

*****Extra tip- when your is no longer sticky, run it under a school (or other not- strong glue stick) gluestick. I find that the less you apply the better the results because, then, its easier to pick up the image. Plus, after a few cuts, the glue on the mat dries out anyways.

Happy crafting, and see everyone next time...

P.S. That scrapbook I promised is almost finished! Can't wait to post further updates!

Miss Kate Cuttables! How to Cut SVG Files Without Designer Softwares!

I swear these are the most adorable shapes in the entire world! Create an account at misskatecuttables.com to download all of the best shapes for your fun-themed projects. Plus, all of her files are fully colored, so you can print them out before cutting them.

I love the Silhouette store- tons of great shapes at only a dollar each. If you think that's great, wait until you find out that all of the files at Miss Kate Cuttables are only 50c. each! Plus, the great thing about all of the is that they're usually multi-layered! You have to love that dimension! Plus, if you totally live by Silhouettes' weekly free shape (new one tomorrow), you love that Miss Kate Cuttables releases a free shape DAILY! Cheers, right?

When you download her files, you get four. A jpg., a png., an svg., and a pdf that gives you instructions on how to assemble the shapes after they're cut. The bummer thing about the png and jpg files is that even though you can open them up on your regular Silhouette Software, the shapes are already assembled, so unless you want to cut only the finished outlines of shapes, delete these useless files! This leaves us with the svg files. Of course, we all know that you can not open svg files on the Silhouette Software...actually you can! Here's how:

1. Open the svg. file. Copy the entire image collection (only one webpage will open up) and paste into Paint or other photoediting software that can save files into png./jpg. forms.
2. Save.
3. Open up the file in your Silhouette Software. 
4. Select trace area. Adjust the threshold slider of the trace window until all of your desired lines in the images are highlighed. Select trace.
5. There are usually extra lines/missing lines. Fill in empty lines with the "Draw Freehand" tool. To delete extra lines, select the them, press "Edit Points" and delete all of your unwanted points!

Save your image to your project library! Happy cutting. 

See everyone next post.

P.S. I you have additional tips on any more crafting, be sure to share! Thanks!

Super Charms Kit

Hello everyone! I've taken a long time to write this post because, I wanted to make my cold porcelain first (white bag near center). Cold porcelain is made from 1 cup cornstarch, 1 cup white glue, 1 tsp. vinegar, and 1 tsp. petroleum jelly (the thing you use to moisturize). Once everything is mixed up (it will be lumpy), pop it into the microwave 6-7 times for 15 seconds each. Once you've finished, lay the solution over a surface with lotion all over it to prevent sticking). Knead for a bit. Then, roll out a small ball. If when flattened, and it has cracks, add more glue and knead. Repeat until you have a lump of cold porcelain that you can use to make charms and stuff. Refrigerate over night. Store in lotioned, airtight bag at room temperature afterwards.

Here are a few discoveries I've found about cold porcelain:

• My mixture is very nonsticky, so every separate piece that I make, I have to glue together.
• Other people say that when you color cold porcelain (not that much of a pain in the butt, since most f the time I have to mix colors in my air-dry clay anyways), use eye shadow/ chalk/paint/markers. I've found that the best results lay within food coloring! Of course, you can only get the colors that you can mix from regular food coloring colors (rd, yellow, blue, green), however, the color provides darker coverage than the other choices faster. 
• To color cold porcelain with chalk pastels, rub the piece you want colored over the chalk stick! To give pieces shading, go about as you normally would with a soft brush.
• When making jewelry beads, I love using the Folk Art Extreme Glitter Gold and Silver paints from Plaid. I wait for the cold porcelain to dry (about a day) before painting it. I choose this paint because the color with glitter is crazy sparkly and pretty- just like any piece of jewelry you would find!
• I have a black felt tip marker to draw faces on my kawaii charms.
• The white glue is for attaching pieces.
• The clear glue is for making special charms (tutorial on itsratherpretty.blogspot.com to be anticipated).
• The Mod Podge is for sealing in glitter on my charms.,
• The metal icing tips are for dessert charms (I have tips 18,16,5, and 3- circles and stars)

I've made a key lime pie, european bead bases, and the first ghost in my collection of ghosts. I think cold porcelain is great fro making ghosts because of its translucent color!

itsratherpretty.blogspot.com

Visit my new beauty blog at itsratherpretty.blogspot.com! Happy Announcement: I have finally figured out how to use my camera and to upload my photos onto my blogs. Now, the photo quality will greatly improve! Bye!

Silhouette Tip

As we all probably know, SVG files cannot be imported into the basic Silhouette Software. However, you can cut it out! Here's how:

1. Open up all of the SVG files in your shape. 
2. Copy each into a Paint file separately. Save each file separately.
3. Open them up in the Silhouette Software.
4. Trace (outline only) them. You can trace the entire shape if you want, but in my experience, there were always missing lines/extra lines. Stick to the basic shape outline.
5. Put all of your traces into one file for easy reference.

There you go!

 Read more for a secret giveaway!

Links: www.misskatecuttables.com

SVG Cuts

I recently visited the SVG website, and found a ton of intricate, multi-layered cuts for free! Whew- just finished downloading them all, and categorizing them into organized folders on my desktop. There were some pretty great finds there, so I suggest you take an hour or two to download all of their goodies! Plus, Silhouette America's about to release their Shape of the Week tomorrow, so remember to check that out! I know I haven't been posting anything in a long time- no paper craft posts yet this year- because, I've been working on this huge 40- page scrapbook! When I'm finished, I will post each page, with highlights on the new techniques I learned while making that page. Plus, there will be lots of scrapbook "LOL"s (if you don't know what they are, Learning Our Lessons)! Lots of exciting things coming ahead for the spring and summer- including some fun tags and journaling tips. Can't wait for the summer, when the work load relaxes, so I can do more crafting! Don't you guys?

Silhouette Blade

Just a few days before Easter, everyone. Just thought I'd release some Silhouette tips in case you haven't started on your Easter projects yet. O.K., so there's this thing on that's seriously seems unnecessary until you  need it on the Silhouette software. It's called thickness- you can find this when you click the "Send to Silhouette" button. It's on a scale of 1 to 30, with 30 being the default. Recently, I was doing some heavy-duty blade experiments and set my blade to 10. After I did this, I had some other regular projects to do, and need my blade set at 3. Unfortunately, the blade was stuck. I tried countless fruitless attempts to turn the dial back to 3- heating, oil, water, rubber bands...none of them worked. Finally, I broke down and contacted Customer Service. I never expected them to return my email- much less return it within 2 days! I explained to them my situation, and they asked me for my mailing address to replace my faulty blade. Man, I was thrilled!

An hour after my celebration, I realized how long it was probably going to take the blade to arrive. So, I did some more blade experiments. The Silhouette team suggests that you set your blade at its minimum blade exposure to prevent blade chipping. I found that even at a blade setting of 10, I was still able to cut regular patterned paper without damaging the mat! For pattern paper, set your thickness at 3. For regular copy paper, set your thickness at 1. The thickness controls how hard the blade is pushed down into the paper.
P.S. I found that the setting of 10 with a thickness of 3 on a speed of 1, cutting Colorbok's patterned paper so far yielded the best results for cutting font. I was able to smoothly cut Lucida Handwriting- font at a 14 fnt size! Wowzers.

My blade just arrived an hour ago- it came within a week. Super happy to have my new blade- which spins in its dial perfectly! However, I'm even more glad that I now am armed with the knowledge of maximum usage of faulty blades!(;

Note****Silhouette Customer Service rocks! It replaced my blade, no questions asked and no blade inspection required! However, I think you have to request your replacement during your machine's waranty- they ask for your machine's serial number.

Happy Easter- or Happy Sunday to those of you who don't celebrate Easter.

Chocolate and Strawberry Cupcake With Sprinkles

Hi everyone. As I promised, I improved my cupcake charm from the previous cupcake charm post. I am really proud of this charm, and am thrilled to be able to share it with you guys. If  you've been following my Spring Break Dessert Charm Spree week, then you've seen all of my different techniques and step by step tutorials on how to make different charms. By now, you must know enough about charm making for me to skip the tutorials. I'll just give quick step throughs. If you have a particular question on any of the steps, please leave a comment or go look at the other dessert charm/dessert charms posts. I would also like to thank Fairytailslilangel for providing extremely helpful videos on how to make cupcakes! Following her video,  made the cupcake liner (that's what it's called!) out of clay, a blade, and tweezers to magnify the creases in the liner. In her video, she tells you to have the liner and the cake itself start out as the same piece of clay that will later be separated. However, I find that making the liner, then adding a pressed circle on top for the cake  to be more fun. I then got twirled four strands of icing and attached  vanilla and chocolate sprinkles. Oh- don't forget the white dots on the liner or the charm pin either! Have a terrific day, and see everyone next post!

Green Cupcake with Vanilla Sprinkles

      Here's anther pretty cool cupcake charm that I made. Hope you've enjoyed all of my charm posts.

Mint Oreo With Toffee Ice Cream

                                    Here's a double dose of daily sweetness- cookie and ice cream!

Sock Monkey Charm

When I first started making charms, I molded fun characters. Here's a photo of an ADORABLE sock monkey charm I made from Model Magic. Let me spare you the boring list of how-tos (unless you'd like one) and just pick out some of my favorite techniques when making such character charms.

1. When making mouths- especially big ones- lay the shaped cord on the face. Then, use tweezers to stretch the mouth out. I also find metal tweezers very helpful in situations like mushing/pushing/flattening little details into the charm (ears!) Picking them up by their hooks with this tool is also easier than doing it by hand.
2. To join two pieces of clay together, the best attaching method is to roll them together.
3. Arms are generally 3/4 the size of legs.

Bye!

Chocolate Bar

I really like taking photos of my charms without the protective covering- its a shame that I only thought of this  on the last day of my Perfect Polymers Spree week.

                                                                      Chocolate Bar

Ingredients:

• Model Magic in Black and Brown
• Aluminum Foil
• Staple
• Flathead
• Blade
• Scented Oil
• Clear Glue

Instructions:

1. To make the chocolate bar, mix black and brown in a ratio of 3:5. Make a rectangle base, and a smaller rectangle for the top of the chocolate.
2. Center the smaller rectangle on top of the larger one, and glue. Use the Flathead to make 2 rows of 3 mini squares on the chocolate.
3. Glaze with a small amount of glue. Let dry.
4. Poke the hook into the top of the smaller rectangle. Do not try to poke through the head of the larger rectangle because, calamity will strike when you realize that your chocolate bar head is wilting.
5. Dip chocolate bar through scented oil.
6. Wrap bottom half of chocolate bar in foil. Cut into the foil and unevenly fold downwards to finish wrapper.

P.S. I just got a new crafting table, and am gushing at how large it is! It fits all of my writing tools, polymer tools, drawing tools, laptop, Silhouette, papers, ribbons,and, beads/jewelry and glitter kits! I like to be able to have all of my things in one area, where I can see them. When organizing your own crafting areas, I recommend getting a table that fis everything, and still have space left over for you comfortable work on! Bye, and see everyone next time!

Better Lemonade

Better photo quality+ better looking! May I present to you the "Better Lemonade!"

On Tuesday, I played around with hot glue, and created a cup of lemonade. My sister suggested that instead of making a cup from hot glue dots, I should chop off a piece of unused hot glue! That was such a great, time saving idea! Thanks Carie (to see more of her great ideas visit her blog at www.craftables.blogspot.com)! Warning: It des take some arm grease, and you could end you cutting yourself- so be careful. Anyways, when I cut out the piece, the bottom of the glass wasn't "perfect', so I made like another bottom out of yellow Model Magic. Then, I made a lemon slice from yellow and yellow and white clay. I glue down all the parts, and poked a hole with a needle through the cap before sliding the hook in. I guess you could make a straw. but I can't see how you could make it look like the straw is also inside the glass. Do you have any suggestions? Please leave me a comment blow to let me know! Thanks so much and have a fun day!

Yah Blog Themes!

As you may have noticed, GoBrushes underwent another wallpaper change! I went to http://www.bthemes.info/crazy-monsters/ and downloaded the theme template to my computer. They say that the file is in a .zip format or something and that you have to extract it, but I didnt do anything but directly upload it to my blogger template. Happy with the new wallpaper- I really think it's so adorable! Let me know what you think! I;m off to explore new blogger templates- there's so many new possibilities! Don't be surprised if the wallpaper changes by tomorrow!

Green Cupcake- Act One

OK, so in today's Dessert Charm post, I created a green cupcake.  There will be no ingredients or instructions list yet, as I know my cupcake making skills are a work in progress. In short, however, I rolled out a cord for the icing, made green sprinkles, and used a blade to texture the cup bottom. I'm going to try out more cupcake techniques, and possibly consider buying some deco gels. Have a great day, and see everyone next post!

Peanut Topped Brownie

Alright, slightly better photo quality. I started out by making a simple brownie with fudge cream. However, then I realized how cute peanuts (or whatever those nuts are called) and decided to add some to the top. I then soaked the charm in a scented oil, and wrapped t in saran wrap until it was time to sell or gift!

                                                       Peanut Topped Brownie

Ingredients:

• Model Magic in Black, Brown, Orange, White
• Toothbrush and Needle
• Staple
• Blade
• Clear Glue
• Hot Glue Stick
• Chocolate Scented Oil

Instructions:

1. To make the cream on top, no mixing is involved! I used the brown right out of the package! Roll the clay into a ball, and slightly flatten into a slab using the hot glue stick. Mix black and brown in a ratio of 4:5 for the brownie part. Flatten into slab like with the cream. 
2. Use a blade to cut the brownie part into a rectangle remember to leave some dimension as a real brownie would have. Put the brownie on top of the cream. Use the blade to cut the cream under the brownie- using the brownie as a guild.
3. Use the needle and toothbrush t give the brownie texture- do not touch the cream, as cream is smooth. While you're texturing, the cream and brownie conform into each other. If it does not, press the cream into the brownie on all sides. 
4. Put some glue on to the cream. Use your fingers to smear the glue all over it. This will make the cream shiny. 
5. To make the peanuts, you should only use  1/4 the amount of clay used for the cream top. Mix white, brown, and orange in ratio of 15:4:2. Roll out about 12 to 16 little spheres. Use the blade to individually press into the middle of each peanut so that it will look like a real nut. Put the nuts onto the cream.*
6. Stick in the staple hook. 
7. Allow glue to dry before dipping into scented oil, ad allow oil to dry before wrapping.

*I recommend having the creased sides visible so that charm viewers know at all times that you didn't just stick random pieces on the brownie.

I know I've gotten a little lazy with making name tags for all of my charms, but I swear I'll make themm when the requiring time comes! Bye!

Lemonade

Sorry for the poor quality picture. Also, sorry for the lack of theme. This probably isn't a dessert, but still should count as one in my defense! Anyways, I really wanted to experiment with the charming capabilities of hit glue. In this super small charm, I made a large dot of hot glue, waited for it to dry, made a second- slightly smaller dot on top, and repeated the steps for the last dot. Once every dot has dried, you can peel the "cup" off the mat and look at your semi-claer cup. To make the light yellow tinge that lemonade always has, I poked a hole with a needle for where the straw should be, and "needled" it with yellow food color. Then, I got a metal staple, made the straw, made a hook, and finished the charm off with a slice of lemon.

Day Two: Strawberry and Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich

Sorry that I forgot to post a dessert charm yesterday! I was picking strawberries with some friends and completely forgot about posting until midnight! anyways, I woke up early today to make this ice cream sandwich. Looks so yummy- makes me hungry...and hungrier still because I haven't had any breakfast, yet.

Ingredients:

• Metal Staple-Straightened
• Skewer
• Model Magic-Black and Brown
• Play Dough- Pink and White
• Needle
• Xacto Blade
• Strawberry and Vanilla Extract*

*I actually was too lazy to go downstairs to get these extracts so I just used a berry pie scented oil (says on the bottle that it was a mixture of cranberry, orange, and vanilla). This goes to show that you can do any type of flavoring that you want.

Instructions:

1. To make the chocolate bread slices, mix together black and brown Model Magic in a ratio of 3:4.
2. Use the cylinder side of the Xacto knife to gently flatten the hun into a slab. Remember to leave some thivkness as a real ice cream sandwich would have. Cut out two rectangles of matching size. Lay out the slabs. Use the side of the blade to go around all of the bread's edges to soften them up. Use a needle point to mke two long rows of evenly spaced dots on both bread pieces.
3. To make the ice cream, get a ball of white and and a ball of pink Playdough. Press together. Roll into a cord until the two colors line up with each other perfectly. Shape the cord into a rectangle with slightly smaller dimensions than the chocolate breads. Carefully dip the ice cream into the scented oil, and then sandwich it between the two bread slices.
4. Shape a hook from the staple- follow steps in the Chocolate Mint Cone post- and stock onto the top of the ice cream sandwich.
5. Dip the whole charm into the scented oil. Allow time for the oil to dry- the scent will still be in the charm- before packaging. See tips for packaging in the Chocolate Mint Cone post.

Stay tune for today's charm post!
Link to Chocolate Mint Cone post for reference: http://www.gobrushes.blogspot.com/2013/03/chocolate-mint-cone.html

Silhouette Software Cool Things...

Hi there peeps! After a few months of exploring the Silhouette Portrait and the Silhouette Software, I've come across an exclusive list of cool tips and tricks. Before buying the Silhouette, I spent two years researching its properties. Actually, I was looking at the Cameo, but luckily the Portrait came out last year...so... Anyways, one thing that I noticed was the lack of software information availible online. I had hands brimming with questions on malfunctions and things to type on Google, but the searches that pulled up never completely assuaged my qualms. You don't need to go through all of that! I prepared a whole long list to answer all of your questions. Plus, if you have any additional questions, you can leave a comment on my blog. I frequently check Go Brushes, so you can rest assured that your comments will always be answered quickly and accurately. For a payment of just 25.99, you get the complete list mailed directly to your e-mail account! This list included virtually everything I went through and discovered on the software. No longer will you have to waste precious time, money, and not to mention PAPERS because you weren't made aware of tiny details. Of course, the list itself may not include everything... for just an addtional 10 dollars, you get to schedule one hour long chat with me. During this session, you can ask anything you want to! We'll chat privately or publicly (based on your needs) in the comments section. Yes, comments can be private. Easy! With simple payments, you'll get the best answers on all of your crafting questions! Yes, this is an exclusive offer availible only to GoBrushes blog readers. Interested? Email me at ImjustkiddingIllgiveyouthelistoftricksforfree@dontworry.com

Hhaha! Just kidding! My discoveries are to share with the community of amazing crafters world-wide! However, feel free to comment me any questions!

Here's tip #1: When cutting font on the Silhouette store or typed directly, set your blade depth to 3 or 4. Adjust your cutting speed to 1. Doulbe cut. Choose a paper at least as thick as the cover sheet of a magazine. Do not make your letters less than 3/4 in tall and 1/2 in. wide. I've tried slightly smaller, and the cut never comes out without triggering a whole bunch of frustration. Sticking to these guildlines will almost guarantee perfect font cuts everytime. Good luck!

Chocolate Mint Cone

Happy Spring Break everyone! Starting today, I will be posting once everyday with a new dessert charm until the end of Spring Break. It feels so fantastic to have a whole week where I actually have enough time to have some polymer fun! As you can see, today, I made a Chocolate Mint Cone charm (scented). Doesn't it look yummy- what with Summer steadily approaching and all!
                                                       
                                                Chocolate Mint Cone
Ingredients:

• One metal staple
• Crayola Model Magic in White, Brown, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Black
• Pure Peppermint Extract
• Tweezers
• Skewer
• Circle Cutter
• Something with a Cross-hatched Texture (A Xacto Knife)
• Toothbrush

Instructions:

1. To make the ice cream, mix together blue, green, and white Model Magic in a ratio of 2:3:14, respectively. Roll into a ball-shape. Set aside.
2. To make the cone, mix brown, yellow, and white in a respective ratio of 1:1:9. Roll into a ball. Flatten with the textured Xacto-Knife into a flat slab. Using the circle cutter, cut a circle. Roll into a cone shape. (Tip*It's easiest to start by folding the bottom of the circle inwards, then curling the entire circle into a cone shape.)
3. To make chocolate chips on the mint ice cream, mix small amounts black and brown Model Magic together in equal proportions. If, when you've finished blending the colors, you find the color to be too light, add a smidge of black. Remember that black is a very very strong color. Roll out into the thinnest-sized strand possible, and use knife to finely "chop" into small chips. Gather chips.
4. Slightly flatten the bottom of the ice cream by pushing down towards work surface. Fit onto ice cone's mouth. Roll ice- cream in prepared chocolate chips. Use tweezers to adjust spacing of chips if you desire.
5. Use one side of a tweezer to smush the bottom lining of the ice cream scoop into the cone to form a rim. 
6. Use toothbrush to dab at ice cream for added texture.
7. Straighten a staple. Line up staple's middle with the skewer. Wrap the staple around the skewer twice. Twist the remaining staple ends together. Push down into the top of the ice cream cone for the char hook. 
8. Allow three days for charm to "dry-" though it still will be squishy. 
9. Clamp lightly inside tweezers, and immerse in peppermint extract. allow for a second for the oil to vanish.

Yields one perfectly scented ice cream cone.

*You can stop here if you just want to play with the charm for a few days (the scent will wear off eventually.) However, if you're planning to give the charm as a gift or sell it, put it on saran wrap. Make a name label for your charm. Place the second layer of saran wrap over the charm's top. Press around the charm for a greater seal. This wrap will prolong the scent of the charm. Remember to get a cello sleeve to ut the charm in when it is really time to give or sell the charm- as well as any other scented charm. Good luck ad have fun.

P.S. Tell me about your experiences with the charm in the comments section below. I look forward to reading them!

I Love Kits!

Whenever I get partcularrly obsessed with a crafting opic, I absolutely have to make a kit for all of its essentials! Here's my list of eerything you need in your charm making kit!

1. Crayola Model Magic Clay- much less expensive than polymer clays, but acts exactly like them. Also, cheaper than Martha Stewart's version. You should keep in mind to keep these things in airtight containers, because thy are pretty sensitive to the air. However, on the plus side, if a piece of clay is still spongy but too firm, water it down to soften it. (Colors will come out!)
2. Craft knife-about 2$ at most hardware and craft stores. This tool provides for clean and easy trimming of excess clay.
3. Staples-Ok, if you want to buy eyerings for each of your charms, try curling staples first. I got a pack of 1000 free with a mii stapler at the 99c store! You can curl the staples with a chopstick, leaving a bit of stick to stick into the charm of course!
4. Hot glue- as I've mentioned in the previous charm post, hotglue can be used to make great plastic-like charms and pieces!
5. Elmer's Clear Glue- I always use this as aa varnish for my charms, plus, if the coat is thick enough, I can even make it have a plastic coat effect, dries much clearer than hotglue, but can be applied half as thickly at one time.
6. Screwdrivers and Flathead-Minis- these tools will help will a lot of the deeper texxtures that you might want to make.
7. Toothbrush-helps with make a piece of clay look like the inside of a cake.
8. Food Dye and Elmer's School Glue- even though Elmers claims its school glue dries clear, it doesn't. Luckily, we can use it's solid color to our advantage. By mixing different food colorings in, you can make your own deco sauce!
9. Non-stick Craft mat- saves all of your surfaces from the troubles of working with glues, colorings, and staining clay.
10. Make-up brush- brush used to apply tints and shades to clay for more realistic affects.
11. Colored Powders- you can use chalk pastels or anyother sticky colored powder. I use the colors of blush and eyeshadows that I never use.
12. Pipes- to pipe out ribbons of "cream" from the clay. Use with different pipe tops.

That's what i have in my kit. I'll keep you posted with more of the essentials. Bye for now!

Back to Crafting!

Welcome back everyone! I've used the 2 and 1/2 month crafting break to really organze my crafting and supplies. I even got a closable notebook to plan out any projects that I want to tackle for this year! In the last hour, I took out and adjusted a few polymer clay charms that I made.

This is a close-up of the mascara brush charm that I made. Using Crayola Magic Model Clay for all the following charms... (The kit I got was 20 dollars for 16 packs of all primaries, black and white, orange, green , and purple.) First, I made the little grip, and poked a large hole through the center of it through the top (not all the way though). Next, I made the stick thing. I rolled out six smaller segments to stick onto the top of the stick to quickly emulate a brush end of a brush. The eye ring was made from a curled staple.

This next charm is a capless lipstick. I made the black holder part first. then, out of red clay, I formed a cylinder with the closest matching circumfrence as best as I could. The gold part was actually made from 2 thin rings of yellow that were later colored gld with a gold Elmer's Painters opaque paint marker (1.75$). the eye ring (plus all of the following charms) will be made from curled staples.

This green apple charm was made with green and white clay. The ratio was like 1:4. I rolled the clay mixture into a ball. Then, I used a dotting tool to poke a little hole (not completely through) on the top and the bottom. Next, I used the pointy end of a cone-shape-tipped pencil to make both apple depressions more realistic and spreaded. The stem was made from brown and white clay, with the ration being 1:5. After the charm "dried" (still very spongy texture), I used the silver Elmer's Journaling pen to make the ring around the apple. I finished the charm by poking a staple-eyelid into the side of the fruit.

For this fruit charm. I used red clay and orange and yellow clay for the fruit part. I first made the easy part- the slice. I made tthe middle part with very thin strands of red. For the peel, (I had to make several attempts) I rolled out a thin piece of red and stuck it on the slice. I trimmed the excess peel part with a knife. I later stuck an eyelid on a side.

This is the first time I make a "glass" charm. I used hot glue to make the semi-clear cup. I first made a flat dot from hot glue and made a spirally pattern up to make the cup's stem. I then made the cup part out of hot glue. I attached the cup part to the stem with a bead of hot glue after both parts dried. Then, I made a spiral-piped ice cream shape with two cinnamon sticks and a bunch of truffles!

 

And now, for my favorite one...

 

 

This was my second charm that put hotglue into consideration. h, in cas you can't tel what this is, it's a clear tube of peach lotion with a silver cap attached on the side. The first thing that I did was I made a kind of bowler hat shaped piece out of black clay. I cylindered a piece and made the top's circumfrence a bit smaller than the bottom's. I used a rounded chopstick to make the opening. When the piece dried, I colored it silver and attached it to the side of the peach lotion tube. The second thing to do is to make the peach lotion. I used orange to white to red (the ratio is 4:10:1) to form the sort of tube shape with the top like a circle and the where the end tapers to a flat point. When it dried, I made a puddle of hotglue on a nonstick craft mat. While it was still hot, I dipped the tapered end of the peach piece in and pulled upward. Pull up only until the hotglue that gets pulled up alongside hints thinning. In other words, you want to have the hot glue on the "tube" end to be the same length and similar thickness. Hold it like in this pulled position until the glue dries. When dried, use a scissor to cut off excess hotglue. For the mouth of the tube, turn off/take out the wire of the hotglue gun. This way, the gun will start to cool and squeeze out less amounts of glue at one time while still being able to squeeze it. Make a flat dot on the circle end of the tube. wait about 20 sec. to dry. Afterwards, make another slightly smaller dot on top of the origninal. Wait 10 sec. Use a flat side of the glue gun to shape the second dot into a lipstickslant shape. Let dry. Insert an eyering and hang on a jutting needle. Apply a thick coat of clear glue over the tube's surface to emulate the look of lotion inside a plastic bottle. I use Elmer's Clear glue. Let dry. If some glue drips off, you can use your fingers to "smooth" it back into place. I had to do this once!

 

Check back later for more charming updates and projects! Have a creative day, and see everyone next post!