Herald Angels Tutorial

 I decided to post a tutorial on how to make these cute angels made with shells.

You'll need:

 1. Flesh colored clay or salt dough ( if you use salt dough the dough will already be flesh colored, you'll need to color it for hair. That might be tough. If I was using salt dough I would stick to blonds and redheads.)
2. White clay, or regular salt dough
3. Hair colored clay.
4. White clam shell(s)
5. Black seed beads
6. Knife
7. Toothpick or needle tool

 Start by shaping the white clay into wings. Some people would smooth out the fingerprints, but I think it gives it a more personal touch if you leave them.

 Use the needle tool to create a sort of feathered look. I do this by creating overlapping triangle shapes.
Position the shell over the wings were you think it should be. DO NOT PUSH IT INTO THE CLAY!

 After that roll the flesh clay into a ball and figure out were you want it. Adjust if necessary.

 Take off the head and roll the hair colored clay into a long snake. Position the hair how you want it. I do this by placing the end of the snake in the middle of the wings and then making big loops, always coming back to the middle of the wings. Then cut the ends of the loops. Create wavy or straight hair according to your liking. If you're using salt dough you can use a garlic press to make the hair.

 Then make hair on top of the head, using the same technique as the rest of the hair except for starting in the middle of the head.

Insert two sead beads for eyes. When you're done slightly depress the shell and then take it off. This creates a groove so you can glue into the exact spot after baking. Bake and glue the shell back on.

Finished! Now you have your own choir of angels.

I'M BACK!!!

Hey!

Let me just tell you guys how sorry I am about not posting for such a long time. November was a crazy month. I got sick a couple times, we had family over for Thanksgiving, plus my grandma shattered her shoulder. Like I said, crazy.

Aaaah! I'm soooooooo excited about Christmas! I love the winter, and Christmas is always the highlight of the month during December. Can't wait to go chop down a christmas tree in the mountains!

Anyhoo, I made some stuff  things (sorry Mrs. Dodds). I'll show you now.

Hark the Harold angels sing!

I made these yesterday and today. I got the idea from this Christmas idea book. The options were pretty limited on what i could do since the book was puliched in 1985. This was the best option.
I also made...

since my brother didn't get to be here with us during Thanksgiving and didn't get my mom's Turkey. I'll be sending this to him in our Christmas package along with a letter. That's pretty much it. You can find the tutorial for the angels here.

Being Sick is so Horrid...

Had to miss two days of school. Yuck.

Anyhoo, Duct tape is really awesome! I found the best duct tape wallet ever!!!

I wish I had come up with the idea first. : (

Duct tape juggling balls. We learned how to juggle in my drama class for some reason that I have yet to figure out what it has to do with drama.

And the reason I'm talking about duct tape today . . .

Duct tape prom dresses!!!!! Well, actually it's Duck Tape prom dresses. The Duck Tape brand of duct tape hosts a contest for prom dresses made of duct tape. The winner gets a $2000 (I think it's 2000) scholarship. I know it's a bit early to actually start ( I don't even think I'm 5 feet tall yet ) on the dress but it is about the time I should start thinking about how I want to make it and start practicing my skills with duct tape.  This girl was the winner for 2009 and it's super creative. If you have any ideas please tell me in a comment.



This one is awesome too!

While we're still on the subject of Duct Tape . . .

I was so excited when I picked this up! My friends all know that I'm a big fan of classic vintage so when I saw checkerboard I couldn't resist!



Wish me good health!

My dad's chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe

Dedicated to the Eastmonds...

 Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

You'll need:
2 cups of whole wheat flour
2 cups sugar, one white, one brown
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups butter
4 eggs
4 squares of baking chocolate, semisweet
1 cup of chocolate chips, 1/2 milk, 1/2 semisweet
1 cup of chopped nuts, I used walnuts
a pot
a wooden spoon

 Melt the butter and chocolate.

 Add the sugar and vanilla You can turn off the stove after you do this. The sugar doesn't need to be dissolved!.

 Add the eggs one at a time.



 Mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder.

 Add it to the chocolate concoction.

                    Stir!

Add the chips and nuts and stir again, but not too much or else the chocolate chips will melt. Chill it IN THE FREEZER for one hour.
Then....

 Shape them into golf ball sized balls...
Melanie and Lindsey know why I'm laughing my head off while I write this : )

 Bake them at 350 degrees ( is there a degrees symbol on the keyboard?) for about 13 minutes. You'll probably want to preheat the oven while you are making into balls ( laughing again). Put them on a cooling rack as soon as they come out of the oven.

 Vwaa laa! You're done!

mmm...super delicious!  (Kid History episode 2 : )

Hope you enjoy!

Halloween!!!

Ray Villfane is really fun.... I love the way he puts emphasis on the teeth of his pumpkins.

This is my favorite of his pumpkins. I also like the Medusa one, he made it on an extreme food network challenge.  The top two snakes on it move.

Tee hee...
Better not let small children see this next one...

Visit his website if you want to see more.  I hope to make something super fantastic for Halloween! I'll post some pictures when it's done.

http://villafanestudios.com/gallery/the-pumpkins-2

So I started a blog...

Let's start at the beginning. The wizard at the top is the first guy I ever made out of clay.  OK that was a lie, he was the first guy I ever made out of polymer clay (or bakeable, which ever you prefer).  He's made out of sculpey clay with a wire and bead for his staff and this cool lumpy yarn for his beard.  His head broke off a little bit later.  : . ( Instead of just gluing the head back on I made the guy in black.  The Executioner.

I first started making clay things after I saw these little clay figures at my friends house.  These cute little figures of a the statue of liberty and a mummy.  He told me that he had made them.  ???? I was confused. How could he have made them?  They were all hard and storeboughtlookingish.  He told me that this guy had helped him make them.  You can imagine what happened next. 

So the guy helped me make a wizard.  Then I bought some clay and made my executioner.

I figured out that you could do a whole lot more than just make figures with the clay.

For instance...

This is a little owl that I made.  It sits on top of an artificial candle.

Now here it is in the dark with the candle on.

What am I working on now you may ask?  My brother's in France on an mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka the Mormon church) so I'm making a little Paris scene.  It's a bridge in a park and will have the Eiffel tower in the background.  The bridge is made out of the bridge of a cello.  In case you're wondering I play the cello.  The pieces I make will sit in a wooden box (a small wooden box)  and the back round will be painted black and I will add in the Eiffel tower.

Here's what I have so far.  The little black things are people.

 

I keep them in that Altoids case. Anyway, the scene includes a hot dog vendor, a cellist (hence the cello  bridge), an artist (me again (: ), and a couple sitting on one of the benches.  On the bridge there is a guy reading a newspaper and there will be a couple.  I'm also going to make a lady walking her dog through the park.  I used a sharpie to stain the bridge.

Found this on my camera while I was getting the other pictures.  I used toothpicks for the vertical supports and wrapped the clay around them to make the basket.  I made this when I was craving a peach smoothie. Mmmm... peaches are good.