DIY : Beaded Garland with Air dry Clay

Hey All, If you have some clay at hand and a small stick to poke holes and some craft paint at hand with patience (the only tough part) this is easy, too easy.

Making beads out of clay, polymer or terracotta is nothing new. The jewelry made out of this cheap and flexible material is kind of rage now, isn't it? The technique is the same, only the purpose is different here.

Supplies :

• Air Dry Clay
• Craft Paint
• Twine

How- To:

Make small beads with the clay by rolling a bit of clay with your hands. Once you have desired shape with a skewer or needle make small hole through the beads. Make sure the hole you make is big enough to thread a relatively strong string. Make a batch with as many number as you need the garland to be.

Next is the most difficult step, to let the clay dry properly. This will take minimum a day based on temperature and humidity around. Once thoroughly dry , paint it in preferred color and thread and use where you want.

Now, using polymer clay makes the whole process faster and since you get them in variety colors you can even skip the painting part.

I prefer air dry clay for two reasons though. For one it is cheaper, for around $4 (after coupons) you get a large tub at Michaels Stores. Polymer clay is costlier at that. For second, polymer clay has "poly" that is PVC in it which makes air dry one better for us with my little helper having a helping hand in everything that goes on here. But if you have polymer clay available, go for it.

I have mixed wood beads here with my clay ones, for one I had them in hand, for two I love the look of wood tones mixed with the beads, for third I am lazy.

Happy Crafting,
Anima

DIY : Gold Tray for Golden Season

OK. I admit I have one too many trays here. Yet every time I see a new one at a place like Target or an old beaten one at a thrift store I have this urge to get them. So each time I see an interesting tray, I would grab and keep in my cart and walk through the store finding an excuse to buy it (you know that guilty conscience!). I fail miserably most of the time because in a 700 sq ft house there is only so much space for new and newer trays.

But not a few weeks ago in Goodwill. This one is special because it is very well designed, for people like me who like to tweak things, change things every now and then which most of the times is not the case. This one had a detachable bottom and a glass top. You know what it means right! I don't have to use mod podge or a glue or a staple gun neither have I got to paint it to change the look and feel. Simple cutting of paper or fabric in size would do the trick. I would love to give a hug to the one who designed this tray. I am so in love.

Since it is holidays season in town, I gave it a gold treatment. When spring & summer comes I would love blooms and colors just like I change photo in a frame. How cool is that?

So here you can see the winter/holiday version. In my enthusiasm I forgot to take the step of spray painting the frame. Bad blogger example. Anyways you get the point. Spray paint the frame in gold first. Why gold? Because it is a classic color and almost every design (now and later) would go with it never having to change the frame color (never say never - breaking another blogger rule here).

Most of the steps here is self explanatory. Only one other thing for you to do here is to decide on a gift wrap/paper/fabric that would make the base of the tray and cut them in size and pop it into the frame (like any other photo frame). It doesn't matter what the quality of the material used is, because of the glass top. Not that it is such a big deal to cut a piece of Plexiglass sheet to use as topper for any tray.

You know what comes next right? Filling it up with whatever you need. On the coffee table I mostly have a book and vase and random stuff me/Girish/Akshara is using at the time. Normally there would be a remote too (I have a basket to keep it, but it would end up on the table anyways), today I can't find it because it also acts as phone for Akshara.

Here are some close up shots.

My point here is a tray is a great thing to have on the table ( any where ), because any junk would look better if corralled and organised.

So happy organizing, happy crafting.
Anima