Project #2: Polymer Clay Buttons

My mother-in-law knows how much I love to craft, especially when books are involved. I can take an old book and make beautiful things with it's crinkled, yellowed pages. That's how I gave my wedding its vintage feel, by making paper roses out of old books. It was awesome (in the most humble way possible). So back to my MIL. She is working on taking old sweatshirts and making cute jackets out of them, a post for another day, I'm sure. She asked me to make giant buttons for our cute jackets out of polymer clay. Here is the pin that inspired this project...

 

                                                                       Source: snickerdoodlecreations.blogspot.com via Heidi on Pinterest

Super cute, right? Simple and adorable! Now, I know this pinner used white clay. I had other plans for my buttons. I wanted to make a big circular button with a book page in the center. I figured I'd use translucent clay, so it would bake and become completely see-through. Sounds simple enough! Just sandwich the paper between two pieces of clay! Ta da! Adorable button. I also figured that baking buttons is similar to baking cupcakes...they must be cuter with sprinkles in the center! Now...this thought wasn't exactly rational. I get that, but it had so much potential!

After much fussing and rolling and sculpting to no avail, here are my buttons:

 

Okay...so for the most part my shapes are right. The big button is adorable. But what the heck happened to the color!? It was supposed to bake clear! And now it's this ugly brownish white color. I also had to bake these for close to 45 minutes, while the package said that 15 would be enough. At 15 minutes they were still soft. That was definitely not right. I tried the book page project on the rectangular button. It could have been so cute! Obviously I did not work. The center button is an imprint of a pin that I had attached to my wedding bouquet. That one has some potential. But the rest? Yikes. 

Helpful hints for the brave few who still attempt this project: Use colored clay. It's much more satisfying. You can also blend colors and get really cool effects. Or paint the buttons. This color is an eyesore. Next tip: Baking clay does not equal baking cupcakes. Look at the horrible sprinkle button. It's almost too gross to lay eyes on. Finally, the thinner the button the better the bake. The small, circular button turned out the best. It was the simplest to make and the thinnest of the bunch. Experimenting isn't a bad thing, but don't expect the normal results. As you can see...this was not quite the outcome I wanted.

Until next time, best of luck pinners! Keep crafting!

Project #1: MDP DIY Haircomb

Source: tumblr.com via Brianna on Pinterest

 It seems simple enough, an adorable haircomb! All you have to do is select a few different colors of embroidery thread and wrap them around a plastic comb. Yeah. Right. When you follow the link to the blog this photo came from, there are somewhat detailed instructions for creating this cute hair piece. Here are a few things that got left out:

     1. Make sure you leave plenty of thread on the end of each comb. The directions don't tell you that you have to use a needle to weave the leftover thread under the wrapped thread on the comb. Without doing that crucial step, you have to glue the tread into place. Not only is this ugly, it doesn't hold. Haircombs have to be made from stronger stuff than that.

     2.  Make sure you really secure the starter threads to the comb. This is where glue would come in handy. If you do this, threading the actual comb is WAY easier. Make sure you leave plenty of time for the glue to dry!! If you don't, everything will turn into an icky mess.

     3. Lastly, these little plastic combs are surprisingly hard to find! Rite-Aid is really the place to go. I went to Target, Walmart, the grocery store...nada. For the starter clips you have to go to a drugstore.


The final product: If you click on that photo, it will bring you to my Pinterest boards, and the blog that this project is from so you can try it yourself. Here is how mine turned out:
From the front: Not so bad!

From the back: What happened there?!?

As you can see, ladies and gentlemen, this is what happens when you don't leave yourself plenty of thread to work with. Those puny strands were glued onto the back of the clip, looking ugly and already falling apart! Whoo! So learn from my mistakes! Use a needle to thread the remaining string under what you've already wrapped around the comb. It will look beautiful and actually stay in place.

We all know that the website, Pinterest has taken over the lives of many women(and some men!), young and old. I am a member of this elite group. I could spend numerous hours looking at lovely photos of art projects, recipes, room decor...and I do! A huge part of my day is spent getting ideas for awesome things to do with my house, with my clothes, or with my poor cats. But that's just it, these are really only ideas.  Have you ever tried to recreate these projects? Have you ever been so excited to do something that seemed so easy, and yet went so terribly, horribly wrong?? I have. So I'm using this blog to document every moment I have spent fostering my love/hate relationship with Pinterest.