St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Hair Clip

Hey, y'all!  Happy March!  (Can you believe it's March?!)  This month I was lucky enough to get to participate in a Mystery Box Challenge again.  Just like last month, I received a box of goodies in the mail.  I had no idea what was in the box until I received it, and I had to use some of the supplies in the box to create a project.  This month I created a St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Hair Clip.  (I've learned that technically it's a four-leaf clover, but I like the word shamrock better, don't you?)

Before I begin the tutorial, let me show you what was in this month's mystery box full of products I received from iLoveToCreate.com.  (And make sure you stick around until the end of the post to enter for the chance to win your own iLoveToCreate crafty stash and a Starbucks gift card!)

In the box I found two sheets of felt in different shades of green, three different glues, green Tulip slick paint, some small lengths of ribbon, and what looks like a green and white popcorn box.  I decided that since St. Patrick's Day is coming up soon,  a shamrock hair clip would be the perfect project to create with some of these products.

Since shamrocks have pretty heart shaped leaves, I knew a heart template would be helpful to cut my leaves from the felt.  I found a heart shape I liked by doing a Google image search.  I pasted the shape into a Word document and sized sized two hearts at 1" and 1 1/2".  I printed the heart document and cut out the printed hearts to use as templates.

I pinned the templates to my felt and cut four small hearts from the dark green felt and four larger hearts from the lighter green felt.

I then used Aleene's Quick Dry Fabric Fusion to attach the small hearts to the large hearts.  (This glue came in last month's mystery box.)

I then used a metal snap hair clip as a template to cut to shapes from felt just a little larger than the clip.  I cut a small hole near the end of one.

I opened the clip and stuck the bottom through the felt piece with the hole in it.  I snapped it shut and used glue to cover the top with the other felt shape.

Then I used my hot glue gun to create the shamrock.

I put a small dab of glue on the end of the heart shapes and pinched the sides together like in the picture above.  (Be careful not to burn your fingers!)

I then attached all the pinched hearts to the clip in a shamrock shape.

To finish the clip, I glued a sparkly green button from my craft stash to the middle of the shamrock.  Isn't it cute?

I want to give the clip to one of my nieces to wear for St. Patrick's Day, but since I have two nieces, I will probably need to make another one, don't you think?  I don't want them fighting over a hair clip, and I definitely want them both to be "pinch proof." Do you want to see what the other bloggers who participated in the Mystery Box Challenge created?

An InLinkz Link-up

Before you go, take a minute to enter for the chance to win your own iLoveToCreate crafty stash and a Starbucks gift card!  (The giveaway ends March 8th.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck! Related Posts:

 Simple Shamrock Art

 Puppy Hair Clip

February's Mystery Box Challenge: Watercolor Heart-Embellished Pillow

Marbled Polymer Clay Statement Ring

Hey, y'all!  As promised last week, today I'm sharing another polymer clay jewelry tutorial with you. Last week when I was playing with my clay, I ended up mixing some colors and creating a fun marbled clay that I used with some molds to create a pretty statement ring.  I'm calling it my Marbled Clay Statement Ring.

 To create your own ring, you'll need the following supplies:

• Polymer Clay (several different shades)
• Clay Mold (I used a Mod Melt Mold)
• Clay Knife
• Clay Glaze
• Paint Brush
• Super Glue or E6000
• Ring Blank
• Oven Safe Dish for Baking
• Oven

I have a huge pack of polymer clay that I bought a bajillion years ago.  Whenever the mood strikes, I pull it out to get my craft on.  To begin creating my ring, I selected a few different clays from the same color family.  I also pulled out my one of my Mod Melt molds.  Mold Melt molds are great for clay because they're rubber, and you can easily remove your clay from the mold without messing it up.

I used my clay knife to cut a bit of polymer clay from each block.  I cut the most clay from the emerald block and added little bits of the different colors on top of it.  I rolled all the clay up into a tube.

I then rolled the tube into a clay snake.

I cut the snake into a few different pieces and stuck them together.

I then held the clay perpendicular to my hand, smooshed it down flat and kneaded it until I got a pretty marbled consistency.  (Please note that this is not an exact science, and it's supposed to be fun, so mix your clay anyway you'd like.)

Once my clay was sufficiently marbled, I put the side with the prettiest marbling face down into my mold and smooshed the clay into the mold to make sure that it filled all parts of the mold.

I carefully removed the clay from the mold by peeling the mold away from the clay.  (If you try to dig the clay out of the mold, you'll mess it up.)  I had a little excess clay around the clay gem, so I cut it off with my clay knife and smoothed the edges of the clay with my finger.  Because I hate to waste clay, I used my excess clay (not pictured) to create a few more gems.  I then put them on a glass dish that I have designated my "polymer clay baking dish" and baked them in the oven according the clay package directions.

Once the clay gems were cooled, I used a paint brush to apply a couple of coats of Sculpey glaze to them to give them a little shine.  I had to let them dry for 24 hours after I applied the glaze.  The it was time to make some jewelry!

To make the statement ring, I simply used super glue to attach a ring blank to the back of my clay gem.  I let the glue dry for about a day.  (You could definitely use E6000 for this project, but that glue has so many warnings on it, I'm scared to use it much.)

Isn't my new statement ring fun?!

It's big and chunky and full of marbled goodness!  And guess what?  I even made myself a pair of matching earrings using the pearl-shaped gems, super glue, and earring posts.

Now do you want to play with polymer clay too?  Buy yourself some (or take out the clay that you haven't used in forever) and make yourself some pretty jewelry.  If you do, please share it with me via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.  I'd love to see your creations! Related Posts:

 Pink & Gold Polymer Clay Earrings

 Faux Agate Clay Earrings

Mold Melt Rings

DIY Pink & Gold Polymer Clay Earrings

Hey, y'all!  I have been wanting to play with polymer clay again ever since I made my Faux Agate Polymer Clay Earrings.  Since I had a day off this week (well, actually two days because of bad weather), my wishes came true, and I made a few new pieces of polymer clay jewelry.  I want to share one of them with you today.  I made some new polymer clay earrings, and they're SO Pitter & Glink!  :)

To make these earrings, I used the following supplies:

• Polymer Clay: Neon Pink, Pearl Pink, and Gold
• Clay Circle Cutter
• Craft Knife
• Mod Podge
• Glitter
• Clay Glaze
• Jump Rings: 8 in total
• Earring Hooks
• Jewelry Pliers
• Baking Dish
• Oven

Begin by mixing some of the pink clays together to create a subtle marble look.  I mixed enough to create a quarter-sized ball.

Knead the clay and roll it flat.  (I used my craft knife as a rolling pin.)  Then use your circle cutter to, of course, cut a circle from the clay.

Repeat the process with the gold clay.  I put glass glitter in my clay, but I soon realized that was a bit unnecessary.  It worked best to carefully smoosh the glitter into the flattened clay.  You live and learn, right?

Once you have a pink and gold circle, cut each circle in half carefully with your craft knife.  Then use  something like a toothpick, paintbrush end, or small nail to put holes in each circle half as you see in the pic above.  You need to put an extra hole on the edge of each pink circle half as seen in the pic above as well.  Then bake your clay according to the package directions.

After I removed the clay from the oven and let it cool, I decided that my gold clay wasn't glittery enough.  I added more glitter using sparkle Mod Podge.

After the Mod Podge dried, I used a brush to apply glaze over all my clay pieces.

Once I let the glaze dry for 24 hours (yep, that's how long the instructions say to let it dry), I put my earrings together using my jewelry pliers, jump rings, and earrings hooks.

The earrings turned out cute!

I'm sure they're not for everyone because they are pink and glittery, but I like them.

If pink and glitter is not your style, you could always make a gold and white pair or any other combination your heart desires.  I can't wait to show you the other polymer clay jewelry I made, so stay tuned for more next week. Related Post:

Simple DIY Leopard Earrings

DIY Photo Pendant

DIY Etched Metal Songbird Necklace

Hey, y'all!  I recently received a new jewelry tool from Sizzix: the Vintaj BIGkick.  The machine can etch and emboss metal blanks, and I couldn't wait to try it out.  Y'all know how much I love to make jewelry!  For my very first jewelry piece using the BIGkick, I made an Etched Songbird Necklace, and I can't wait to show you how to make your own.

To create the necklace, I used several supplies sent to me by Sizzix and a few other supplies as well.

Supply List:

• Sizzix Vintaj BIGkick
• Sizzix DecoEtch Die (I used Tulip Garden by Vintaj.)
• Vintaj Natural Brass Blank-Songbird
• Vintaj Natural Brass Chain
• Vintaj Brass Findings--Lobster & Eye Clasp
• Vintaj Natural Brass Findings--Head Pin
• Brass Jump Rings
• Beads
• Metal Punch
• Jewelry Pliers (Round & Needle Nose)

To begin making my necklace, I selected the Tulip Garden DecoEtch Die to use with the BigKick.

I chose the Songbird Blank to etch.  Using the machine is very easy.  You simply place the blank on the area of the design you'd like etched onto your metal.

Sandwich the blank and etching die between the cutting pads and feed them through the BigKick following the manufacture's directions.

When you remove the pieces from the machine, you'll have an etched metal blank.

Since I knew I wanted my songbird to hang between chain instead of from a chain, I used a metal punch to punch a hole opposite the hole that was already pre-punched.  (I could have done this step before etching the blank, but when I make jewelry, I'm normally a "fly by the seat of my pants" designer, so I didn't think about punching the hole until this point of the process.)  Once my songbird was how I wanted it, I decided to make a dangly (that's a word, right?) charm to hang from it.

I threaded a pearl and a Swarovski crystal onto an head pin.

I bent the excess head pin at a 90 degree angle and cut off a little more than half of it.  I used my round nose pliers to bend the rest of the head pin into a loop.  Once my dangly charm was finished, it was time to put together my necklace using chain, my songbird charm, my dangly charm, four jump rings, and a lobster clasp.

I cut a piece of chain the length I wanted my necklace to be, and then I cut that length in half.

I attached the songbird to each piece of chain using a jump ring.  I attached my dangly charm to the jump ring on the head of the songbird.

I then attached a jump ring to one end of the chain and a jump ring and the lobster clasp to the other end of the chain, completing my necklace.

I love the way my necklace turned out.

The etched metal has such a cool look to it.

It gives my Songbird Necklace subtle texture that makes it a really unique piece.  I can't wait to combine an etched metal blank with a stamped blank for a totally new unique piece of jewelry, so, of course, this isn't the last you'll see of my new BIGkick on the blog. Thank you Sizzix for adding a new jewelry making tool to my arsenal!!!