We have a shop!

Hey! Long time no posts! Just stopping by to tell you guys that over the months of silence this is what I was working on: cute things to sell!

We're using Etsy to list dragon egg necklaces, pretzel brooches, poison apple chokers among other things. I'm hoping to put up a variety of things including old DIY projects and whatever else I feel like making and not keeping. For now though, it's mostly little charms I've made from polymer clay. Click through for the item listing and visit the shop page for more items! Let me know in the comments if you're interested in tutorials on any of these! I'm down to tell you guys how I made this stuff.

-lisa

Polymer Clay Faux Stone

Back from the dead! Monica and I both got suuuuuper busy applying to schools and transferring and working and focusing on finals that we completely neglected this blog. We were honestly really unmotivated and uninspired. But we're back! I can't promise weekly DIYs, but I do promise to try to post whenever I make something. Hence! Faux stone polymer clay!

Monica and I both started working with polymer clay recently and I love it. Like a lot. I accidentally created a collection of miniatures I made with it. But that's for another time. While looking for a good tutorial to make faux crystals/stones I stumbled on this one from Julie Sweeney at Juliespace. I decided to try it out since her purple pieces turned out so pretty.

You'll need: translucent polymer clay and acrylic paint in any color

1. Condition the clay (mix it all up with your hands) and then chop it into pieces. I tried some big pieces and some little pieces. 2. Paint the pieces with your paint. I painted the bigger pieces with gold and the little pieces with a metallic taupe. 3. Let "dry." (See tips) 4. Use plastic wrap to gather all the pieces together. Don't mix it too much, just mush it into each other. 5. Cut it! Shape it! Bake it! You can see below what it looks like when I cut into it before baking. Already cool.

Tips!
>>Acrylic paint on unbaked clay won't actually dry. Just let it sit until it's not runny.
>>When putting the pieces together, don't blend too much. You want to see the lines of paint in the clay. I smashed the pieces together, turned the clay, smashed again, repeat. I ended up with a cube shape.
>>Don't burn your clay! Full disclosure: I'm not sure whether my pieces are burnt or not. You can see the gold color turned the translucent an orange-y pink color but the taupe looked clean before baking. I sort of forgot about them in my toaster oven :/ so just make sure you follow the directions on your clay. Different brands recommend different baking times and temperatures.
>>I use a separate toaster oven in my garage to bake my clay. It's recommended to keep polymer clay and any fumes away from food. If you do bake it in your regular oven, make a little tinfoil "house" for your pieces to keep in the fumes.

-lisa

DIY (Hobbit) Wall Decal

So, living in southern California makes it impossible to hang anything on the walls by my bed, as I could be murdered by a picture frame in the middle of the night when an earthquake hits. As I was brainstorming what to do instead, I came up with wall decals! After Googling whether I could paint the excess contact paper I had (I swear one roll lasts a lifetime), I tried it out and it works! It's still clinging to my drawer and the paint hasn't peeled at all. The possibilities for this are endless!

I chose a super simple design to start out with: Gandalf's mark on Bilbo's door in The Hobbit. If your doors aren't white (like mine) I highly recommend sticking it there. Or you could go around and stick them on your fellow Tolkien fans' doors. Gandalf-bomb?

You'll need: contact paper, acrylic paint

1. Paint the symbol (or what-have-you) 2. Cut it out 3. Stick it!

-lisa

DIY Moon Phase Wall Clock

Something about the new year always reminds me of moon phases. I had the idea to make a lunar phase piece of art similar to the lunar plaque Lisa made here. This time I wanted it to have some kind of functionality, so making a clock was the perfect thing! I searched around the web and couldn't find anything like this so I am pleased with this concept, hope you like it as much as me! Although, I came across this full moon clock diy which is really cool too from hellobee which I really love as well! Take some "time" and make a clock today!

Materials:

• black and white acrylic paint and paintbrush
• clock mechanism
• clock surface ( I used a wood clock surface but you can make your own)
• wooden circles (optional)
• wall mounting supplies

Directions: 1. Prep the clock surface: you can make one out of cardboard or wood if you'd like, just make sure to drill or punch a hole in the center to fit the clock mechanism. Start by painting the clock surface black. 2. Paint the circle shapes to look like moon phases as shown in the photos below by painting the black and white parts first and then adding dabs of gray to build up the moon shadows. (I painted a layer of glow in the dark over the moons so it glows now, too!) If you don't have circle shapes just draw out the circles on another piece and cut them out or paint directly onto the clock surface. 3. Mark where you want the moons to go in place of numbers on your clock. I did this by finding the center using a protractor marking every 30 degrees around. Glue the circle pieces onto the clock. 4. Follow the directions on package to install the clock mechanism. (Note: I ran into a couple problems with my clock mechanism not fitting onto my wooden clock, make sure you purchase the right sized clock mechanism for your project!) 

If you have any questions feel free to ask me! I know my photos and instructions are a bit all over the place.
- monica

POW! BAM! Shrink Plastic Stacked Rings

What's your favorite Batman movie? If you said the 1966 Adam West Batman movie then, hey, we could probably be friends. Those onomatopoeia graphics from the Batman tv show are so iconic that when I saw some BAM! earrings at Forever21, I immediately thought of Batman. So, naturally, Monica and I decided to make some of our own!

You will need: shrink plastic, spray paint, glue (preferably some kind of jewelry glue), rings, and this template

1. Print template and trace onto shrink plastic (or print directly onto the shrink plastic). Cut out the shapes. They'll shrink to about 1 1/4 inches so resize as necessary. 2. Shrink in the oven and paint. I used gold and black spray paint. 3. Glue the pieces together. 4. Glue a ring base to the back.

-lisa

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! 2013 was our first whole year as a blog and we just want to say thanks for sticking around! To celebrate the end of the year and the beginning of a new one, we put together our top DIYs of 2013. Click the picture for the tutorial. Here's hoping 2014 has lots more in store!

1. Sharpie mugs

2. Lipstick made from crayons

3. Game of Thrones inspired dragon egg cakes

4. Foam board light box

5. Legend of Zelda Hyrule flats

-monica & lisa