Craft Lightning Scout Crafts

I was a Girl Scout and so was my daughter.

I actually spent a summer in college as a Girl Scout Camp counselor.

It was a great summer.

I made friends from all over the world since we had international staff from countries such as England, Australia, Greece, and Denmark .

I recall learning more that summer than I suspect each of the campers did.

So I was totally on board with this Craft Lightning of Scout Crafts.

Let's make a Paint Dot Pendant.

Gather your supplies:

Paint

Q-Tips

toothpicks

cork circles

drill

Piece of scrap wood to drill on

paper plate

Squirt a little paint out on the plate and begin to make dots in a pattern on your cork circle.

I started out with the Q-tip to make bigger dots as bases so I can add smaller dots on top when they dry.

If you want fairly even concentric circles, start in the center and as you add the next round, do your dots at the 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock positions first and then fill in the rest.

Next make dots between the dots you just made.

Continue to add colors.

Set aside to dry.

Time will vary depending on your humidity level, the temperatures and the sizes and thickness of you dots.

Add more smaller dots on top of your first dots.

Set aside to dry again.

Drill hole in the top of the pendant.

Add silk cord, leather cord, ribbon or a chain.

Ta-Da!

This could be done on rocks instead or you can cut a slice of a cork from a bottle for a smaller pendant.

Hope you are going to give it a try.

Head over to see all the other great projects this week.

Thanks for stopping by...

Metallic Lustres On Polymer Clay

As you know, I love to play with finishes on white clay.  

In some ways it is silly, really.

I could start with a color then play with it, but NOOOOOO!

I will start with white, paint it a color and then mess with it again.

That is what happened with these pieces.

I used white as the base...

Painted them black and then rubbed them with Metallic Lustres paints from DecoArt.

I love the way they turned out.

But i am thinking down the road to make my life a little easier, I will start with black clay, then use the Metallic Lustres.

Work smarter not harder...

In all fairness to me, when I make polymer pieces, I never know how they will be finished down the road.

I do things in stages....

I make beads and components for a week.

Bake them all.

Then I divide them into groups for how they will be finished and start working on them in those groups.

Lastly I seal them.

Once they are sealed,  they wait to become a necklace, bracelet or earrings.

Anyway, Metallic Lustres are one of my favorite ways to finish beads.

I love rubbing them into the pieces.

Have you ever tried them?

Thanks for stopping by....

Father's Day Craft Lightning

Time for a Father's Day Craft Lightning.

I loved coming up with an idea to honor dad that is fast, easy and great looking.

Here's what you can make:

This great stamped leather key chain.

You will need:

Leather Scrap

Leather Cord

 Stamping Alphabet

Sponge

Water

Hammer

Sand Bag

DecoArt Metallic Lustres Paints

Heavy Duty Scissors

Sharpie Marker

Tin Can

Leather Hole punch

Let's get started.

You may use whatever leather you want.

You can buy bags of scrap leather at many craft stores.

You can use a piece of leather from a discarded item such as an old coat or pair of shoes.

Decide on a shape.

I used a tin can to trace a circle.

Cut the circle out.

Wet the sponge and squeeze out the excess water.

Dampen the leather where you will stamp it.

Stamp your message one letter at a time.

Place the letter stamp on the leather and give it a forceful blow with the hammer.

Try to hit it hard enough to make the impression with one blow.

If you hit it several times, you risk having the stamp move and getting an unclear impression.

Continue to spell what you want to say.

Allow it to dry.

Use the Metallic Lustres Paints to add some color to the key chain.

I prefer to use my fingers to rub the color where I want it.

Allow it to dry and buff it with a soft cloth.

Use the leather hole punch to add a hole.

String a piece of leather cord through the hole.

Ta-Da!

The perfect usable gift for dad.

Head over to The Country Chic Cottage

Busy Mom's Helper and 

30 Minute Crafts 

to see other great Father's Day Craft Lightning projects.

Thanks for stopping by....

Workbench Wednesday...making soap

Happy Wednesday.

The project I am sharing today you can find in the Spring 2016 issue of Willow and Sage.

I figured I better share it before the summer issue comes out.

Last summer I spent a morning making melt and pour soaps.

Looking at the pictures, I can almost smell them.

Complete recipes and directions are in this issue of Willow and Sage.

The great thing about melt and pour soaps is how easy they are to make.

And you can use just about any container for a mold as long as you treat it to release the soap.

Once the soap is made, the best part is the packaging.

I wanted my soaps to have a rustic look.

This is the Gardener's Delight bar.

Off to the woodshed for a log....

Then to my husband's garage to use his saw.

I ended up using his drill press too for the holes.

His suggestion and it made the process much easier and faster.

All the rest of the packaging details came from my studio/garage.

Sometimes the prettiest pictures take in the tiniest details.

I gave a bunch of these soaps to my dear friends at work at Christmas time.

Looking at these photos makes me long for summer days.

They will be here before you know it.

In the summer, anyplace is a work area for me, especially outside.

Our days are getting longer.

It is not warm enough consistently to feel like spring is definitely here to stay.

But there are other signs...

Our grass could use a cutting.

In the morning I can hear the birds singing.

Some flowers are coming out and blossoming.

And the fish in our pond come lazily to the surface and swim about.

We are almost there...

To finish the packaging, I made tags for each kind of soap with polymer clay.

I love the way the tags turned out...

I used the silicone molds from a former workbench Wednesday.

And then I just stamped them with tiny alphabet stamps as well.

I used a bit of watered down black paint in the letters to make them stand out.

 And rubbed the tags with some DecoArt Metallic Lustres.

They are among my favorites because I use my fingers and get dirty when I use them.

So, before it is no longer available on the newsstand, run out and pick up ma copy of Willow and Sage Spring 2016 issue to see how to make these and many more fabulous bath and body products.

Linking up with these great blogs.