Christmas Sale and Free Giveaway!

Hello everyone! I wanted to make a quick post alerting you about my Christmas Sale! From now until Dec 25th get 5% off your entire purchase at my Etsy store by entering the code "XMAS5" at the checkout.

Also, the lovely Jenna at "Momma Told Me" gave my store a great review and is giving away a rainbow cupcake bracelet from my store. There are lots of different ways to enter into the giveaway, head over to "Momma Told Me" to read the review and enter the giveaway ^-^ Remember to follow her to enter future giveaways from other great Etsy stores!

Clay Rainbow Cake Tutorial

This tutorial will teach you how to make a super-popular rainbow cake from polymer clay ^-^

1. Roll out your first color cake layer. You should make it thiner than a regular

cake layer since this cake will have lots of layers.

2. Use a cookie cutter, lid from a jar, or other round object to cut out a circle.

3. Roll out a really thin sheet of white for the icing.

4. Cut the white out of the same circle and cover your

first layer with it.

5. Repeat these steps for the rest of the colors (orange cake, white icing, yellow cake, white icing, etc.) until you get the whole rainbow.

6. Roll out large sheet of white and cover your cake with, cutting the excess off.

7. Cut it into equal slices by cutting it in half, then cutting those halves in half, then cutting the quarters in half.

8. To texture the cake parts, take a pin and stir up the colored clay layers. DON'T POKE HOLES! To get the right texture you need to make little X's or swirls with the pin. This takes some time but it will make your cake look super real!

9. Decorate the tops with fake sprinkles, fruit slices, etc. Add findings to turn them into charms. Bake and glaze and your done!

Clay Lollipop Tutorial

Here's a tutorial on how to make a polymer clay lollipop like these!

1. Take a ball of clay and two snakes of different colors. Using contrasting (light and dark) colors will give you the best effect. The size of your ball will determine the size of your finished lollipop. Today I made a big one but you can use the same method for a miniature lollipop.

2. Take the two snakes and swirl them onto the top and bottom of your ball.

3. Roll the ball into a snake, making sure one of your color swirls is on top and the other is on the bottom when you roll. If they are side to side you will get a snake with half of one color and half of the other instead of mixed like this.

4. Twist your snake by placing a hand on each end and rolling one hand up while the other rolls down.

5. Trim off the ends and start coiling your snake together.

6. Coil it until you reach the end of your snake and smooth the end onto the rest of the clay. Now just bake and glaze it!

7. For the stick you can either hot glue it to the back after you've baked it or stick it in the clay before you bake it. I like to glue mine on afterwards since sticking it in the clay can break up the lollipop. I used an actual lollipop stick that you can find in the bakery section, but you can also use wooden dowels, tooth picks, or a snake of white clay for the stick.

Ta-da! Doesn't it look yummy? And it wasn't hard at all, was it??

Polymer Clay Basics

Before I started posting how to make clay cabochons for your decoden or other crafts, I wanted to give a basic guide for those of you who have never worked with polymer clay before.

1. Where to buy Polymer Clay

You can find Sculpey, Fimo, or other brands of clay at most craft stores like Michael's or Jo-ann's. You can also find it on eBay or Etsy with a little searching, but it's best to buy your clay in person to prevent buying clay that's gone bad. When you're at the store, press your finger nail into the block of clay and it shouldn't be hard to leave an impression on it. If the clay feels too hard, it's gone bad and can't be used. You'll want to pick out blocks of clay that feel the softest. If you're not sure which colors to buy, buying a sampler Sculpey set is a good idea and will last you a while. A block of Sculpey costs about $3 and a sampler set can cost about $12-$30.

2. Basic Tools

You can probably find a clay tool set at the craft store as well, but all you'll really need is an exacto knife and a small rolling pin.

3. Storage

After you open a block of clay from it's original wrapper, you'll want to keep it in a closed plastic bag when not using it. I also suggest keeping different colors in different bags so they don't get stuck to each other and mix up your colors. I've had clay in plastic bags that stayed good for over a year!

4. Baking

You can bake your clay in your kitchen oven, but I wouldn't recommend this. Since polymer clay is toxic, you'll have to clean out your oven after every time you bake clay items. Otherwise it can get in your food and make you very sick! Instead I would invest in a toaster oven that you'll use just for clay. Not only do you not have to clean it, but you can move your toaster oven into another room than your kitchen or even bake items outside. You'll want to have it in a place where you can open a window, have a fan on, and close the door, since polymer clay gives off toxic fumes that will make you feel sick to your stomach if you breathe in too much. You can buy a new toaster oven for around $20, but you can easily find them at garage sales, thrift stores, or on craigslist/kijiji for even less. Some craft stores carry "polymer clay ovens" but they'll really just a toaster oven repackaged with the name "polymer clay oven" You can bake your clay items on the metal tray that comes with the toaster oven or on a piece of aluminum foil. Don't use a piece of cardboard or paper since your clay may stick to it and leave paper pieces on the bottom. Note: You CANNOT bake polymer clay in the microwave.

5. Time and Temperature

On the back of Sculpey boxes it says to bake clay at 250 degrees F for 25 minutes, but that's way too much! I bake my clay at 150 degrees F for 10 minutes. Each oven is different though, so before you start baking your finished pieces, experiment with small balls of clay until you find what's hot and long enough to bake your clay completely, but not so hot and long that it will burn it. You should let your pieces cool completely before testing to see if they're hard.

6. Glazing

Glazing your clay items will give them a glossy, finished look, and they'll make food items look super realistic. You can find glaze in the same section as the clay in the craft store. A small bottle costs about $5 and will last you virtually forever, so it's a good investment. After they've cooled completely, simply paint the glaze on with paintbrush and let it dry for about half an hour. The glaze is super sticky, so I wouldn't put the pieces on paper or newspaper to dry since they'll stick to the paper. I would let them dry on the metal tray or aluminum foil you used to bake them on.

Now you're ready to start making all kinds of miniature sweets and goodies! Post a comment if you have any questions :D

Decoden Basics

Hello lovely readers! Today I am going to break down the basic components of "decoden" and tell you where you can find all the ingredients to start making decoden yourself!

1. Deco Cream

The real stuff: You can find tubes of Japanese deco cream on many Etsy shops. The downside is that these can be really expensive (as much as $50 a tube!)

The cheap alternative: You can use silicon bathroom caulk or crack filler and get the same effect. All you have to do is buy a star tip from the bakery section of the craft store and pipe the caulk through a sandwich baggie. The upsides to caulk is that it dries fast (totally dry in 2 days tops) it's cheap (about $3 a tube) and you can find it at most department or hardware stores (Walmart, Target, Home Depot, etc.) The downside is that it can have a toxic smell, so open a window and/or have a fan going when you use it.

2. Cabochons

Buy them: You can buy plastic cabochons to decorate your cream from many Etsy stores. Search for "cute, kawaii, japanese, or decoden cabochons" under Supplies. You may also be able to find Japanese Erasers in cute food shapes at the craft store. Or use any beads, rhinestones, charms etc. that you like.

Make your own: You can also make your own cute candies and sweets with polymer clay (Sculpey, Fimo, etc.) You can make them free hand or with molds (this blog will feature how to make several miniature sweets with clay). You can find molds on Etsy shops like miniaturesweet.etsy.com

You can also make your own molds with Scupley mold making clay (found at the craft store) to make your own clay cabs.

3. Hot Fudge

This drippy sauce you see is actually colored hot glue sticks. You can find them in colors on Etsy shops or at the craft store.

4. Deco Sauce

To decorate your cabochons with yummy sauces you can use simple 3D puff paint. You can find them on Etsy stores but they're cheaper at the craft store.

5. Finishing Touches

Sprinkles: DO NOT USE REAL SPRINKLES!!! Real food sprinkles you'd put on cupcakes will melt in the deco cream and ruin your decoden. If you want sprinkles on top, you can make them with polymer clay by making a really thin snake and cutting it into individual sprinkles. You can also buy fake sprinkles from Etsy stores or use really small seed beads from the craft store.

Glitter: You can use any kind of glitter to top off your deco cream. Though you may want to put the glitter on first before the rest of your cabs because the cream could dry and then the glitter wouldn't stick.

6. What to Decoden?

Anything you like! If you want to make an iPhone case like the one in this tutorial, eBay is the best place to find them cheaply. You can also find DS cases, compact mirrors, brushes, boxes, anything you can think of!

Here's a purse that I decoden-ed!

Here are some links to Etsy shops with good decoden supplies:

blissbead.etsy.com

decosweets.etsy.com

miniaturesweet.etsy.com

shopsakura.etsy.com

yippiekawaiiyeah.etsy.com

Please comment and feel free to post your own decoden works!