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Wednesday 18 January 2012

...a cuppa sweet


Good morning! Happy Wednesday! I made this little clay tag for yesterdays Blog Party and I thought I'd pop up a wee 'how-to' here today.

First though, a wee word about yesterday's Blog Party times - we will be reviewing the timing of our blog party for next month - my hand is right up in the air, I done picked a wrong time - I must have been somewhere in a giggly cloud of mulled wine when I decided on yesterdays times as it was pretty much impossible for anyone on this side of the pond to participate if they were at work yesterday...doh! My apologies for that!

So, what I'm proposing for the next blog part in February is this - I think I'd like to kick off the party link at around 6:30PM my time, and close it at around 4:00AM the following morning - I'm thinking that this will be between lunchtime and bed time in US...how does that sound?

So, our schedule for Feb would be something like this:

UK - 6:30pm 17th Feb - 4:00am 18th Feb
USA (New York) 1:30pm 17th Feb - 11:00pm 17th Feb
Australia (Queensland) - 4:30am 18th feb - 2:00pm 18th Feb
Canada (Alberta) - 11:30am 17th Feb - 9:00pm 17th Feb
Malaysia - 2:30am 18th Feb - 12:00pm 18th Feb
Norway - 7:30pm 17th Feb - 5:00am 18th Feb

OK, let me know what you think of the proposed times, and we'll try to take it into consideration, thanks ladies!

Back to yesterdays party and I must say tho, that the folks who were able to take part were on fire!! We'll be doing a little round up post on the 20th to point to a few that especially caught our eyes!! Outstanding stuff!

How-to

In the meantime, I have a couple of these little clay taggies to show you. Super simple, once these dry you can use them time and again, decorative ornaments, place setting ornaments as in my pic above, napkin tags...whatever tickles...

Can I just mention those delicious chocolates in the pic, they were sent to me by a friend in USA - I only just opened the package yesterday, I'm in caramel heaven!! Divine Caramel creations by Ellie...and they are!!


Here's what I did:

I made them from Fimo light, air drying clay. It is white when you purchase it and all you have to do is roll it out to the desired thickness and stamp it!


In the pic you can see a piece of it rolled to - I stamped it with the heart from Seasons of love tags. I used Stampin' Up cherry cobbler ink and just inked up as usual and stamped right onto the clay, I pressed it down a little all over and I was very happy to see that it held the colour really well. You will get a little hairiness in your impression and if you press too deep then you might find that other parts of the stamp also leave a trace of ink, but you only have to try it once to get a feel for it.



Next I set my Spellbinders heart tag die template on top as if i were going to trim it out and then I used a scalpel to simply trim away the excess clay.


When I removed the die I had a ready made guideline into which I pressed an embossing tool to create a row of dots around the edge. That was pretty much all I did, the hard part is waiting for it to dry...OOh and don't forget to make a hole for the ribbon if you are making an ornament to hang.


For the second ornament I simply trimmed the heart as before and then added some dots around the edge as before and stamped an unlinked sentiment and a scroll (Seasons of love tags) into the centre.


Once dry, I sponged it with Ink, the indented sentiment stayed nice and white, putty...I thought! And easy peasy!! Hope it tickles!

35 comments:

  1. Claire - they are simply beautiful! Such a cute idea for valentines day.
    Tara
    x

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  2. These are so gorgeous Claire! And a huge thank you for looking at the times for the blog party, I will be looking forward to next months now :)

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  3. Thanks for explaining how you made your fabulous tag Claire. It's a great idea and very striking when inked.

    On the timing of the blog party's....I think those times make it virtually impossible for any of us Aussies who work to participate unless we rise very early to create before leaving for work.

    Can the party not go for longer...or is there a particular reason it only lasts for 8.5hrs?

    Just my thoughts.....
    xxx

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  4. Gorgeous tag Claire! A great way to get more out of your beautiful stamps!

    Time changes sound fab to me, as 8am is mad school rush, and as you say folk have to go to work, and on the other side of the pond to sleep!

    I also love the fact we can see the entries with the thumbnails in the inlinkz list, I enjoyed the hopping yesterday, and can't wait for the next one!

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  5. This is amazing, Claire. I would have never thought about stamping into clay, but what a nice keepsake it makes. Thanks for the info on how you accomplished this.

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  6. Oh now that is clever :O) thank you so much for sharing

    Ali x

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  7. Fabulous project, and thanks for reviewing the times, I would've been good if I'd posted the card before I went to work, but got side tracked and then missed the window, oh well, still made a card :)

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  8. This clay project is beyond clever and sounds like so much fun to make! I'll have to give it a try ... thanks for the instructions, Claire!

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  9. Oh yes, the new blog times sound great! LOVE this clay stuff...must buy some soon, because I love what you did with it. What a fun and special way to tag a gift!

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  10. PS...Just read above about our Australian friends' time connundrum...could the blog hop last for one whole day 17th through the 18th??

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  11. Absolutely love these projects - I seriously thought they might be edible!! Me and my tummy ;) But they might work in something edible - wanders away to think about it!!!

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  12. I also meant to add my thoughts about the times. Why not a whole day for the party? That should give everyone time to link up their creations. My suggestion would be 00.01 in the morning of 17th January to 23.59hrs night of 17th January. Hope this helps.

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  13. Thanks for re-configuring the blog party!! I missed it by just a few minutes, but it will be nice not to be rushed.

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  14. These are absolutely gorgeous - I never would have thought that stamping with ink on Fimo could work so brilliantly! They really are lovely keepsakes - can just see one for a wedding or new baby...fab! I would love to try this. I agree with Deb and other ladies above - like the idea of prolonging it a bit and giving plenty of time for othrs to link in :-). I really enjoyed the "party" yesterday - love all things WMS anyway - but it seemed over too soon!! Thanks for organising it all xxx

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  15. This is such a great idea! I don't have any Fimo but I do have some air-dry clay. I have been wanting to do something with it for a while. I think you've inspired me to action.Thanks for sharing.

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  16. These are absolutely gorgeous - I never would have thought that stamping with ink on Fimo could work so brilliantly! They really are lovely keepsakes - can just see one for a wedding or new baby...fab! I would love to try this. I agree with Deb and other ladies above - like the idea of prolonging it a bit and giving plenty of time for othrs to link in :-). I really enjoyed the "party" yesterday - love all things WMS anyway - but it seemed over too soon!! Thanks for organising it all xxx

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  17. Thanks for the tutorial. It is such a lovely tag. Re: the hours, definitely these are better for me, but I am also wondering why the short window. I think a 12 hour window would probably be better if you want to maximize party attendance - which I imagine is the goal. The more partiers the better! Thanks, Claire!

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  18. Ahh, so that's how you did it. Thanks so much for sharing your creative process with us Claire - LOVE the tags!!
    I think the new times that you suggested seem quite good....they work for me anyway.

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  19. Oh and one more comment, after reading the comments above. I think folks may be forgetting that they can create their projects and post their blog posts/gallery posts ahead of time. Then the only thing that they need to do when the Party post goes live is to link up the URL, which should be a fairly quick process. Just a thought.

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  20. What an awesome project Claire. I had never thought of stamping on clay either, but is definitely going to try this too. Thanks so much for explaining it all soo well, your heart looks stunning, I just love it.

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  21. These are great, Claire, I think I'll have to give them a try! I haven't even started to party with everyone yet - so far behind!

    As for the times, how about a 24 hour link up on say the 16th - midnight to midnight your time and then we can all party on the 17th? Or at least 24 hours to party on the 17th? The window was during sleeping time here on the west coast but Lynn was super gracious and linked me up! :)

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  22. Your Valentine's Day tags are just os sweet!
    As for the timing of the blog party, I'm loving the new time but the old time was good for me too...

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  23. The time is SOOOO much better!!! THANK YOU!!!

    I LOVE these ornaments... Heather Nichols posted a similar idea before Christmas, and I thought it would be the perfect craft for my girls for next year to give as gifts... and your version seems even easier (I didn't know there was air dry Fimo). I'll be surprised if I manage to wait until Christmas to try this!

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  24. Thanks for the instructions. You make it look so easy. Blog Party times look OK to me, doesn't mean I'll remember it's the 17th but I don't suppose there's anything anyone can do about my feeble memory. Have a great day!

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  25. Your tag is simply gorgeous! Thank you so much for the how-to, I'd love to try!

    And thank you for reconsidering the blog times! I was in a state of shock yesterday when the truth that I'd *completely* missed it by 10am hit me! :0)

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  26. Amazing Claire - love what you created with the air drying clay.

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  27. These are fabulous and oh, so clever!!! The new times would be great for me as I am a working girl!!

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  28. Your clay hearts are WONDERFUL! A tag like this would make absolutely anything into the most perfect Valentine's gift. LOVE them! Also the new time sounds great (the old time was OK too if I just had planned better - the 17th came so suddenly this month 0-:!) Hugs, Karin

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  29. Claire--I love your tags, they are so creative and they look fabulous! As for the blog hop times--the new one works much better than the old (had to stay up to midnight to link it up, knew I'd never get it done the next morning getting kids off to school), but it sounds like a 12 hour window might work better for people in different countries!

    Thanks for a great hop!

    Chris L.

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  30. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the tutorial!
    LOVED this yesterday when I saw it...
    and now can't wait to try for myself!
    And I absolutely love the new Blog Party...
    so much fun and inspiration!
    I'm good with any decision you come to about times but I do like the idea of a little more time to link up...
    so maybe the full day idea may work well since we're so scattered across the globe...
    which is the most fabulous thing about the party!
    I get to travel across the globe and never leave the sofa! :)
    Can't wait for next month!

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  31. Wowza Claire! Thanks for the tutorial - I never would have thought of that!

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  32. Thank you .. thank you, Claire, for spotlighting my high tea project!!

    I loved that you gave us a heads up that the event would be held on the 17th and gave us the theme ahead of time. This way everyone can create at their leisure and then link up on the day of the party.

    I think the link should be open for 24 hours on the actual day of the party to avoid confusion and give everyone time to link -- especially those that are away from the home for work most of the day.

    This was one of the most fun parties that I've 'attended' in a while ... thanks for the awesome inspiration and all that you do :)

    Hugs, xoxoxoxo

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  33. Meant to say those times sound fab to me :O)

    Ali x

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  34. Love your idea, Claire!! The clay piece looks really cool. I haven't played with clay for a long, long time. I'm tempted!
    The blog party went really well and the time slots look pretty ok to me. I just have to prepare my post ahead of time :D and catch up later in the day. Thanks for organising this!!

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  35. OH, Claire! these are just superb.

    just a thought on the link times: what about just giving everyone a chance to link when is best for them and leaving it open for about 24 hrs or would that take away from the wms blog party intent? that way everyone can find a slot to post... :)

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