Cold clay gift tags

I had my first attempt at cold porcelain {also known as cold clay} this week.  And I'm going to share my "cold clay experience" with you. :-) I bought a packed of clay, if you search, all over the internet you'll find recipes  to make your own clay {cost wise it's not that much of a difference and just seem to be so much more trouble, but i suppose if you are in the mood and you want to make it from scratch, you can give it a go}

FYI...

• You do not bake it, it's air dry only and takes at least 24hours to dry... but it is best to leave it two days for it to dry out properly {the time it takes to dry also depends on the thickness and the size of your piece}
• Do not refrigerate {finished or unused}
• Once the pieces are dry it is hard, but don't wet it {thus you need to made things that don't need washing, or have to hold liquid}
• If it is too sticky you can dust the clay with corn starch.  You can also use cornstarch to dust the mold so that it doesn't stick {but it's not needed}
• Just pinch off a small bit and work with that, as it dry's out very fast.  If you have a piece that you still need to work on, you can leave it under a damp cloth to prevent it from drying out too fast.  What's left in the packet, seal it well and store at room temperature
• You can paint the finished piece with watercolour or acrylic
• Cold clay can be stamped, molded, rolled, cut anything you want to do with it... here you need to use your imagination.  {I used things around that house, but I'm sure plastic icing molding utensils will work very well}
• Before using it work the clay with your fingers a bit to eliminate cracks and to make it a bit elastic.  But not too much that it dried out
• When making jewellery, seal the piece with a clear acrylic sealer spray lacquer {or Sculpey sealers} before wearing it to protect from sweat and getting wet. 
• When using a stamp, don't stamp too hard, as the stamp sticks to the clay and when pulled off it deforms your piece.  But experiment, you can always work it through the fingers and start over again. :-)

So my "theme" was gift tags.  {and by the way you can write on the gift tags with a permanent marker it works well and then the tag is for keep sake} So this is what I experimented with...

firstly = the stamp

Roll out your clay on a flat surface.  Before doing anything, lift your clay from the surface that you have rolled it out on.  If not you will damage your creation when trying to lift it when done. 

Stamp...

And cut out around the stamped part.  if you want to use it as a gift tag you can make a hole with a straw {works well and is a good size}

Secondy = rolling {of a textured object}

See what you have lying around the house, and roll it out over your rolled out clay.  Experiment with different textures, I found this doily that I have used.

Thirdly = Cutting

I used an old gym card to cut out a form that can be used as a gift tag, to write a lovely message on.

Lastly = Molding

Using my hands I molded a little bird. I then used the heart cutter and lightly stamped the tummy if the birdie on both sides.  I then used a skewer stick to make two eyes as well as a little hole through the tail to put the twine through when putting it on a gift.

I really enjoyed working with this medium... and I have LOADS more ideas that I will try out soon and share with you.

Happy crafting :-)

origami heart bookmark

Something to put a smile on your face when reading.

Use pretty paper, and make sure the paper you use doesn't split when folded (you often get that with scrap booking paper that is double sided. And make a test run on a piece of scrap paper before you start folding your pretty paper :-)

What you need:
A piece of paper 20cm x 10cm

To start off you must first fold a few guide lines

The first one fold the the paper in half, lengthwise, then open.

Then fold each half, in half lengthwise and open.

Last guideline, fold the top right corner in to the first line, and open.

No the folding starts...

Fold the top strip back on the line where the corner guideline ends.

Then fold the corners in, with the mid lines touch each other on the mid-line.

Fold the top corner backwards.

Now open the bottom square on the mid-line and fold the outside 1/4 in to the middle and flatten, repeat on the other side.

Fold the top four corners in.

Turn around and you have your origami heart bookmark!

:-) Enjoy reading!

"Kondensmelkkoekies"

This recipe makes about 90 cookies. They are easy to make and you can get your kids to help you cut the cookies and decorate them. 

FYI:
The temperature of the ingredients has a lot to do with how the cookies turn out. If you put a warm, melty dough into the oven, your cookies will spread before they begin to set up. Too often they'll run into one another, becoming a single crisp, crunchy mess on your cookie sheet. The cooler the dough when it goes into the oven, the less it will spread. (http://www.ochef.com)

The Cookies
What you need:

450g           butter (not marg it's just not that nice)

1 cup           castor sugar

1t                 vanilla essence

1 tin             condensed milk

5 cups         cake flour

4t                 baking powder

½ t              salt

Heat the oven to 180°C

Cream the butter and the castor sugar together
Then add the vanilla and condensed milk and mix well

Sift the flour, baking powder, and the salt

Then mix with the butter mixture until it forms smooth dough

With your hands form dough into a ball and cover with plastic
Put the dough in the fridge for about 30min or more

First remove half of the dough and roll out, leaving the rest of the dough in the fridge till you are done with the first half

Cut out different forms and place on baking tray

Bake for about 8 min or till golden brown

Put on cooling racks and allow to cool down

Now for the fun part :-) here you must use your imagination and enjoy.

The icing

What you need:

2            egg whites (room temperature)

500g     icing sugar sifted (you will only need some of it)

1t           lemon juice

Combine the egg whites and the lemon juice in a bowl

Add some of the sifted icing sugar to the eggs and start the mixer

Keep adding icing sugar little at a time

When you can pull out small stiff peaks of icing it’s ready

Cover icing with cling wrap or wet cloth and put it in the fridge till you use it

If you want to make runny icing to flood the cookies add a drop of water and mix till you get thinner liquid  (if full of bubbles allow to rest for a few minutes)

This icing is called "royal icing" and hardens up after it's dried, and looks very nice!