Advent calendar - 16th

Another button made with polymer clay (fimo classic). This time combined with metal leaf / foil and of course a lot of layers of shiny gloss on top! 

I just didn't found the number sixteen I made with polymer clay (oh... I did... but just when the advent calendar was already on its way to spain ^^)...

Advent calendar - 15th

Really simple. So simple I don't know why I never made one of these before....! Just a little twig covered in the very fine gold powder from staedtler (the one to use with fimo). It sticks due to the shiny gloss. The powder is better than acrylic colour because it is so fine it does not add anything to the twig. So even while pure gold you can see the wood underneath as if it was meant to be golden. 

This little twig is even from formentera ^^

Advent calendar - 14th

On the big fair for crafting and play stuff fair we have every year in Leipzig (Hobby & Spiel) I found strange organic / plant decoration material. Of course I had to turn such things into earrings! Sadly most of the things were way to big to use... but this red brown... whatever they are... have such a great texture, colour and shape! And also the perfect size :)

Just one pair, just for my sister Lachafas advent calendar (I had two other of these... but one broke...)

Advent calendar - 13th

Again a little task in the advent calendar: This time to glue something on the hairpins! :)

Advent calendar - 12th

This time real clay ^^ 

I used some lace for the texture like a stamp and a round cookie cutter for the shape. The glaze is a transparent dark green which enhances the structures so great! The cord is made from cotton. It is so sad that I don't find the time to go to the open ceramic / clay studio more often. They don't charge much because they are supported by the town but the opening times are not really compatible with my working times...

Advent calendar - 11th

Do I need do say anything about this? A little skull made out of polymer clay (Fimo classic) and glued on a hairpin :)

You will get a tutorial for little polymer clay skulls soon. Just have to edit the pictures... ^^

Advent calendar - 10th

This is metall foil / leaf on dark brown polymer clay. You don't need any glue because the foil will stick to the polymer clay! I rolled it out a little bit to get the cracked look. I baked the polymer clay (using fimo classic), added a layer of liquid polymer clay (fimo) and baked it again. Regaring how thick the layer of the liquid polymer clay is as well as the kind of metall foil you are using, the metall foil may change its colour! You see that in the middle it has a different shade of gold than around the edges? The effect is reproducible! At last step(s) I added several alyers of shiny gloss to get the transparent effect of the liquid polymer clay. Others are heating it up again with a heating gun... but that is overheating and the fumes which are created are really not the best for ones health. The shiny gloss or lacquer works for me! :)

Advent calendar - 9th

Some time ago I played with pressing leaves into polymer clay and enhancing the structures by adding some acrylic colour (swipe most of it away while before drying!). I already showed you the improved version in black and white with the carved edges (have a look here) but this was one of my first trials. I really like the white with the green. I just added some swirls made from silver wire to add the organic look.. like little tendrils!

Advent calendar - 8th

I used a little glas christmas bauble as basic form. The glas was important because I wrapped it in polymer clay and the material had to stand the baking temperatur for the polymer clay! Wouldn't dare this with plastic.

I treated the surface with stamps and all the tools I had around. After baking it got several alyers of acrylic colours, starting from black going over several metallic colours and of course several layers of shiny gloss for protection!

A little bit of christmas decoration for my sister for her stay in Barcelona! :)

Advent calendar - 7th

For the 7th gift in the advent calendar I put a little collection of rings together. They are made from different materials, pressed paper, rubber gum... I bought these at the hardware store and I really love to use them for crochet jewelery! 

Advent calendar - 6th

These little paper stars are called "Fröbelsterne" in german. As I just read over at wiki was that in english they are quite often called german stars. 

With the music sheets I think they make beautiful little earrings! Especially at this time of the year :)

Advent calendar - 5th

This was for Lachafas advent calendar: A little bit to make your own earrings. I just put in earring studs and wrote the little note (roughly translated from german): 

The following objects could be glued down here: 

Buttons / sea shells / fabric / paper / beads/ fimo (polymer clay)

Advent calendar - 4th

Today a little hairpin made with polymer clay (fimo). I used a mold I made from a sea urchin. I painted the polymer clay with acrylic colour and sanded / buffed the surface afterwards to get the white really pop up! 

Advent calendar - 3th

A little bit of nature. I'll show you more of these! I drilled a little hole in immature acorns. There are always little ones who fall down without being fully grown. Perfect to use as natural beads for earrings!

Inspirations: Critters (Leipzig)

At one of the last beautiful sunny autumn days Rumpel and I went to the botanical garden. And guess what we found: Little mice! Yes, both pictures are something like a search / look puzzle! In the picture above you can find two mice and in the below one! ^^

Advent calendar - 2th

For the second day: A little polymer clay button! Stamped, coloured and overlayed with liquid polymer clay (Fimo)... and a lot layers of shiny gloss! 

Advent calendar - 1th

For Lachafa! Little earring studs made out of polymer clay, stamped and coloured. I used acrylic paints as well as powder they sell for making your own eye shadow. Ever seen how fine it is? With a wonderful metallic / glitter effect! And it is really quite cheap compared to the scrabbooking powders you ca buy.

Bird ornament card

I cut some card board elements to create ornaments... and thought I should draw myself a template for the future. Like the one I used for my felt birds (have a look here and more birds here). 

But then I thought... mh... looks cute as it is, why not make a postcard out of it? So here is my bird ornament card! To make your own little bird ornament ^^

My will go on its way tomorrow!

If you want to make your ow: Feel free to print my bird :) 

Inspirations: On the streets (Leipzig)

A cat at night on the streets in leipzig...! I didn't want to light the image up. It was taken in the dark with this umbra shade and I like it just as it is!

Polymer clay leaves black and white

I made the leaves for a challenge. But knowing me (and the fact that I wanted to take part in one of their challenges for months... and never did it) it is quite possible that I won't be able to make it the next days. 

But still I want to show you the leaves. There were not intended this ways but developed while creating them. I used polymer clay (Fimo classic white and translucent). I used some with tiny bits and little bit of dirt, you know, the polymer clay leftovers. I thought it is not necessary that the clay is perfectly clean. On one side the clay should be painted... and also it would create more depth into the structures and shades.

I pressed real leaves into the clay and then cut lines around it for an oval shape. They were nice... but after baking I thought something was missing... 

...so I started carving the little leaves. You see the borders? All cut with a sharp scalpel! 

You see the tiny dots where the clay was not perfect anymore? Especially with the translucent... which is not perfect translucent therefor.... but for the leaves a really good effect!

The little yellow brown spots you see here were from the leaf! Somehow they also changed the clay... you can see it in the painted leaves. At some spots the acrylic paint coloured more intense than in the rest...

Cutting the edge makes such beautiful leaves! If it just wouldn't be so much time intense work!

Several trials, some straight, some a little bit curvy...

Just a thick layer of back acrylic paint at the and and taken away before it could dry...

Now I should start working with them...

Structures and colours - earrings

There is something about the shape of these earrings that really works for me. Not straight edges, not really curves... 

The surface of the structures I painted with my finger tips and copper and bronce acrylic colours (Reeves again, most of the avaiable acrylic paint metall colours don't work so well but these ones are great!). Then I covered it with white aqua acrylic colours, it works like a kind of wash and the paint flows in the deep structures.

...and how the sun light plays at the surface! 

Inspirations: Destruction and numbers (Leipzig)

It was such a strange view... somehow with its own beauty! So I had to take some pictures :) This is the old exhibition center in leipzig... or rather exhibition grounds because it covers a huge ground and a lot of buildings... or rather covered... 

Advent calendar 2012 - ongoing process

For a long time now I make advent calendars. It started with my sister and my brother when they were really small and I just a teenager... and I just added people which are dear to me on the list. Our parents get one together and a friend of mine gets a special advent calendar with the one and only theme in all the years: pink! 

While collecting stuff and sweets, stamping and glueing the tags... I realized that one person is missing on my list: Rumpel. We started our relationship in january this year, so this is really a first one ^^ (the one above is the one for him! Already hanging at the wall in the kitchen)

Old book pages (the colour is due to real age! No way to get this by any painting!) glued on card board, stamped card board...

You see the beautiful silver in the black? First I put a little bit of silver ink on the stamp and then went over with black ink.

I also stamped black on pink cardboard or silver on the old book pages. I like the vintage look. 

For my brother (tophino) and our parents I made little paper packages with old music sheets from rumpel. He had some printed on white paper and some on recycled paper.... I hung them at the key just to keep them out of the way and safe. Now they are already in the kitchen at my parents home! Just forgot to take pictures...

...more tags...

...music sheets...

...you see how great the silver ink is? It really reflects the light!

I also packed the advent calendar for my sister Lachafa. From five advent calendars for six people... four are finished! 

Wrapping is really time consuming!