Wednesday, March 13, 2013

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.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

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!

Sunday, March 10, 2013

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!



Thursday, February 7, 2013

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!