So grab all of your pretty materials in one place.Arrange them together how you’d like, I prefer to have one main piece of interest, a couple of  smaller things and then ribbon and lace dangling down.So this is going to be the main part…

And then dangling ribbons and lace behind it…

Glue the pieces together one by one.

Then the ribbons on the back.

Add a little metal link to the back so you can attach it to a strap later and cover all of the back with a piece of felt.

And that’s all there is to it!

Pretty phone/bag/whatever strap for a girl who likes pretty things and it look all of around 10 minutes to make.

This is a fantastic way to use up old things from your craft stash too so it’s win/win!

Start by rolling a heap of small clay balls in various sizes. You want small ones for the middle and large ones for the outer petals.Use a finger to smoosh the edge of one of the balls.It should form a thin side and a thicker rounded edge which will end up being the round part of the petal.

Repeat with all of the petals so they are ready to work with. If you want you can dip your finger in water and smooth down any cracks in the edges but I prefer to leave them or even exaggerate them as it creates a really interesting effect.

To for the rose, start with a small petal and roll it between your fingers like this:

Roll the bottom of the petal together a little harder so it forms a stem:

Now add a slightly bigger petal and roll it around the other side so it encases the edge of the first petal.

Add another petal so it’s edge is in the middle of the second petal. As you go, roll the petals with a little bit more force at the bottom so the clay squishes together between your fingers to form a stem. Be careful not to disturb the petals when you do it though.

Continue adding petals this way going around the flower in a circular pattern starting the edge of each petal 1/3rd of the way across the previous petal.

Just keep going until you think you’ve got a good size and let it all dry!

If you want you can clean up the stem and roll it a bit more evenly, I generally cut it of so the flower sits flat in whatever craft I’m doing.

Do you guys have something you automatically make? I seem to just make these on auto pilot whenever I get clay in my hands XD

You need:

• Cheap baubles, I got mine in a pack of 30 for $5
• Puff paint
• A gel pen to draft designs

Use a gel pen to draw the outline of your design on the baubles. This step is optional but I didn’t want to ruin any before I got the hang of working with the puff paint.

Pipe on your design… DONE.

Leave them to dry overnight, I used an ice cube tray and some egg cups to make sure they didn’t roll over during the night. It’s easier to actually paint them if you use egg cups as stands too because I can’t tell you how many I screwed up accidentally dropping them and smooshing puff paint everywhere. Luckily if it’s still wet you can just wipe it off and start again.

Yay for the best Billy Idol Day tree ever 😀

So what you need:

• Paper
• Hot glue gun
• Paint
• Scissors
• Sharpie
• Some plastic hard surface you can glue to
• nail file or plastic wrap

So flipping it over you create the design using the glue gun to draw it. Where you draw will end up raised so the paint sticks to it and forms a stamp.

Now here’s the tricky part glue guns don’t tend to leave a uniform stream so some parts might be taller and bumpier that others. If it’s not even then your stamping will come out icky and patchy.

So the two options I thought of to prevent this was waiting for the glue to dry and then using a nail file to smooth it all out or putting plastic wrap over it while it’s still pliable and pressing into a flat surface. The second is harder to do because the glue dries quickly but it would provide a lot more even results and probably would be less effort than using a nail file like I did. If you’re going to do a lot of them then I would suggest taking time to get the design right.

Either way once you have your design finished paint over the top of the plastic.

And stamp it on to the paper.

Taadaa very childlike but a nice way to have something personal without taking a huge amount of time doing it. You could make it much more intricate or do something cute like your name. If you didn’t mind waiting for it to dry you could also use PVA glue for the design so it evened out and provided a completely smooth print image.

Cut out the paper into a card shape, fold in half and you’re finished. I like the stamp a bunch of these as thank you cards and then personalise each one with some mini drawings before I send them. I usually draw little faces in the hearts or O ^_^

So there’s one idea and more on the way. I’m pretty much making everyone’s presents this year so lots to share ^_^