Clay and Button Pendants

Materials:

*Clay

*Pretty buttons

*All purpose adhesive

*Needle

Directions:

*Select a button

*Mold clay into a shape you think would work well for your button

*Press the backside of the button into the clay.  Mold the clay around the button until you have a shape you like

*Poke a hole through the clay at the top of the pendant using a needle or another similar item

*Gently pull the button out of the clay.  Take great caution to ensure that you do not distort the clay in a way such that it will not fit back into the clay

*Bake the clay according to the directions on the package

*Once the clay has finished baking, glue the button to the clay

Childhood Crafts

My little "robot" after being freed from the time capsule

     On Sunday, I opened a time capsule with my sister and a good friend of ours.  It had been five years since we had constructed our time capsule, the longest we had managed to keep a time capsule for.  Upon opening the time capsule, I found this little guy inside.  While I have always been somewhat crafty, it was a reminder of just how crafty I was as kid.  As a tribute to my childhood craftiness, my craft this week is my little “robot.”

Materials:

*Wooden bead

*Golf tee

*Pipe cleaner

*Googly eyes

*Thread

*Small piece of clay with a hole through the center

*Small wooden spool

*2 round wooden pieces

*Small nail

*Wire cutters

*Hot glue

Directions:

*Place the hole in the wooden bead over the golf tee.  Glue the pieces together.

*Glue a wooden circular piece to the top of the golf tee

*Trim a pipe cleaner to the appropriate length to form arms for the “robot” and glue on the pipe cleaner arms

*Glue googly eyes to the wooden bead to form the “robot’s” eyes

*Affix a wooden circular piece to the bottom of the wooden spool

*Construct a small, rectangular piece of clay with a hole through it large enough to thread a piece of string through.  Bake the clay according to the directions it comes with

*Cut a length of thread at least 1’ in length.  Glue one end of the string to the golf tee, at the point where the golf tee begins to widen.  Slide the other end of the string through the clay piece and glue on

*Slide the nail into the wooden spool.  The head of the nail should be able to rest flatly against the spool.  If this is not the case, trim the nail until it fits

*Center the nail inside the circular base of the “robot.”  Glue the nail to the circular base, then let dry

*Place the “robot” on top of the spool, with the nail going inside the spool.  Pull the string and your “robot” should spin

My little "robot" in action!

Have any memorable childhood crafts?  Feel free to share them with me at hathaway.amber@gmail.com or describe them in the comments section below.

Card Book

     During the holiday season, I often receive a number of cards.  Having a limited amount of time, I can't always come up with beautiful and unique ways to display each one.  This album provides a simple yet attractive way to display 10-20 cards

Materials:

*12”x12” square of chipboard or heavy cardboard

*2 12”x12” sheets patterned paper w/ the same pattern

*2 sheets 8½” x11” white paper

*All purpose adhesive

*10-20 lengths of thin ribbon, each about 9” long

*Scissors

Directions:

*From the sheet of chipboard, cut one 3”x9” piece of board, then two 6”x9” sections

*Trim about 1.5” off the top of each sheet of patterned paper.  Overlap the two sheets of paper, then arrange the pieces of chipboard on the paper in the following manner:

*Glue together the overlap between the sheets of paper, then glue down the chipboard pieces.  Let dry

*Cut off the corners of the paper, then glue down the edges of the paper. Let dry

*Overlap two 8½”x11” sheet of paper to cover the inside of the book.  Glue down paper, but leave the paper covering the top and bottom portions of the spine of the book unglued.  Let dry

*Arrange lengths of ribbon along the spine (however many you can fit will depend on the width of the ribbon), gluing the tops and bottoms of the lengths of ribbon underneath the paper covering the spine. Let dry

*Hang cards from the ribbon

Much thanks to my amazing boyfriend, Brian, who helped me out with this craft project :)

Family Tree Photo Wall Hanging

Materials:

*15 photo charms

*Small images of yourself, your parents, your grandparents, and your great-grandparents

*Solid colored fabric for the tree

*Fabric for the background

*Ribbon

*All purpose adhesive

*Tree pattern

*Chalk

*Scissors

*Tape

*Wooden dowel (I used a section of an old plastic coat hanger in place of the dowel)

Directions:

*Crop pictures to the appropriate size and place them inside the photo charms

*Design or locate a pattern for the tree.  Here is my pattern, and there are many more available online

*Resize the tree pattern if it is not the desired size.  I resized mine to 250% the original size

*Print and assemble the tree pattern.  My pattern took up multiple sheets of paper, so I had to cut it out and tape the pieces together, but, depending on how large you want your tree to be, you may not need to do this

*Lay out the tree pattern on the solid colored fabric.  Trace the outline with chalk, then cut out the tree shape

*Arrange the tree shape on the background fabric, then glue the tree to the background fabric.  Let dry

*Arrange the photo frames on the tree, then glue the photo frames down.  Let dry

*Glue the top of the wall hanging to the wooden dowel.  Let dry

*Glue on some ribbon to use to hang up the wall hanging.  Let dry

What to do if you don’t have a picture of one of your ancestors:

*Do you have some idea of what your ancestor looked like?  You could try constructing a picture (which is what I did).  Alternately, if you have pictures of their parents, siblings, and/or children, you could use photo morphing software to create an image of what this individual may have looked like

*If you have no idea what this individual looked like, you could write their name on a piece of paper and put it in the charm or use an image of a favorite hobby or pastime or something that you feel represents the individual

*If you know nothing about this individual whatsoever, you can always leave off this branch of the family tree or use very generic imagery about the family as a whole or the family name or something like that

Multi-Strand Pendant Necklace

Materials:

*Pendant

*Wire, fishing line, or other bead stringing tool

*1 or 2 strands of chain

*Fake pearls, enough to make one strand

*Beads that coordinate with the pendant, enough to make one strand

*Multi-strand necklace clasp (one with enough loops for four different bead strands)

*Crimp beads (if working with wire)

*Wire cutters

*Round nose pliers

*Jump rings

*Flat nose pliers

Directions:

*Cut a section of wire or string slightly longer than you would like your longest chain to be

*Place pendant in the center of the wire or string.  String coordinating beads on either side of the pendant

*If you are using string, once the desired length of string has been beaded, tie the ends of the string to either side of the necklace clasp, or attach to a jump ring and then attach the jump ring to the necklace clasp

*If using wire, once desired length of wire has been beaded, curl over the end of the wire to form a loop.  Slide a crimp bead over the loop and clamp at the base of the loop.  Open a jump ring and slide the loop and one end of the necklace clasp into the jump ring, then close the jump ring.  Repeat procedure for the other side of the chain

*Attach strands of chain to the necklace clasp either directly or by attaching to a jump ring and attaching the jump ring to the necklace clasp

*String pearls onto wire or string and repeat the procedure used for the pendant strand

Patterned Paper and Bookmarks

Patterned Paper

     There are a number of different ways of making patterned paper, but this one is relatively easy and inexpensive, as long as you have access to a computer and a black ink printer.

Materials:

*Solid colored 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of scrapbooking paper

*Paint or similar drawing program

*Computer

*Printer

Directions:

*Draw black and white images using your drawing program.  I drew stick figure zombies for a Halloween page

*Print them onto the solid colored scrapbooking paper

Bookmarks

Materials:

*Patterned paper

*Small images

*Scissors

*Adhesive (such as mounting squares)

*Ruler

*Pencil

*Laminator (optional)

Directions:

*Determine the size you want to make your bookmark

*On the back of the sheet of patterned paper, trace out a section of patterned paper that is the right size for your bookmark, then cut it out

*Arrange the images on the section of paper, then adhere the images to the paper

*If you have access to a laminator, you can laminate your bookmark

Suggestion:

*To further personalize your bookmark, use patterned paper you've designed yourself

Easy Chandelier Earrings

     Got someone on your holiday shopping list who would love a pair of earrings?  These chandelier earrings look great and are simple to make.

Materials:

*2 ear wires

*2 jump rings

*10 head pins

*10 imitation pearl beads

*Round nose pliers

*Flat nosed pliers

*Wire cutters (some pliers come with built-in wire cutters)

Directions:

*Set aside 2 headpins.  Take four of the headpins and cut off ¼” of metal from the top.  Take the remaining four headpins and cut ½” off

*Slide imitation pearl beads onto the head pins.  If you are using three different colors like I did, place beads of the same color onto head pins of the same length

*Using the round nosed pliers, begin curling the top of one of the longest head pins

*Loop the curled part of the head pin around the jump ring

*Clamp the curled part around the jump ring using the flat nosed pliers

*Repeat the process with the other long head pin and the other jump ring

*Take the medium length jump rings, curl their tops, and affix them to either side of the long head pin

*Take the short jump rings, curl their tops, and secure them to the left and the right sides of the clustered head pins

*Using the round nosed pliers, unbend the loop at the bottom of the ear wires

*Slide one jump ring onto each of the ear wires, then close the ear wire loops using the flat nosed pliers

    

     Chandelier earrings made with white pearls look more formal and elegant.  My sister wore this pair I made to her prom.