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!