Finally I manage to make a craft update.

I don't have much followers, but I'll explain why I haven't been updating or anything for ages anyway! I've just finished some major exams (which naturally, involved major studying) so crafts had to go on hold for a while. But now I've finished my exams and don't really have that much to do... Perfect conditions for updating my blog :D Another thing is, I GOT A NEW COMPUTER!!!!! Finally, a computer that works :D (Only problem is, I have no idea how to use Windows 8...)

My Deco-notebook-thing!

So I remember I said a while ago that I'd made a decoden notebook (And now I realise how little sense that makes, as the 'den' part of decoden is a shorter form of the Japanese word for 'phone'). And here it is! After about four months since I did the decoden on it! 

close up of the deco part

Sorry you can't see it very well (the battery on my camera was running out), but it has one blue macaron in the corner and two rhinestone/pearl thing hearts at either side. 

WARNING: before you try doing decoden on notebook, try to do this on one you don't use very often/is full. It's near enough impossible to write inside your book after you do this! Trust me, I learnt the hard way!

Memory wire earrings!

I really love the way these turned out! 

Sorry I took it on my bad ear...

I really like these earrings and can honestly see myself selling ones like these in the future because they look almost like shop bought earrings (well to me, anyway). I think these are definitely one of the best pairs I've made so far. They aren't too hard to wear either, as they feel very light, which is really important because since I have such thin earlobes, I often can't wear earrings like this as they tug and pull on my ears too much and are really uncomfortable. But as you can see, they hardly tug on my ears at all!

Sorry the picture is so bright, I need to install Photoshop again...

Here's a better picture of one not being worn. As you can see, It's basically just memory wire pulled in to the shape of a tear drop/egg, and a head pin with matching beads attached to the jump rings that pull the ends of the memory wire together. It's a very basic design, but it works really well.

A dress for my little sister's birthday! (Not finished yet)

I just need to finish sewing the lace at the bottom. My sister loves lace.

So, a few weeks ago I acquired a very old sewing machine from my Grandma (thanks, Grandma! Even though you don't have connection to the internet and so will probably never see this!). The tension messes up a lot, but still, It's much easier than having to sew the whole thing by hand. I only have one picture of it at the moment, but I'll take more when it's finished as my sister wants to have a picnic for her birthday party. I know that sounds a little strange for a 9 year old these days, but she really wants to have one, and hey, it's HER birthday! (starting to go off topic, are we?)

I also managed to make macarons! For my first try, they don't look that bad. They're strawberries and cream flavour, but the shells are just plain. We tried to make them pink, but they came out more of an orangey colour. They tasted really good though! It's the first time I ever ate macarons too, but they were great :D I bet I'll have to make some more for my sister's birthday!

Decoden! (in the process...)

Well, I decided to do some more decoden. I still had quite a lot of silicone 'whipped cream' from my last box. In this post I'm going to be showing pictures of how it looked as I made it, with a few tips and techniques.

So, I took this box that I got a long long LONG time ago when my dad bought me a watch (that I've definitely had since before I was thirteen because it has leather on it, nowadays leather makes me throw up). I tend to keep boxes like this because they're good for keeping stuff in, I use this one mainly for hair pins.

from the side :) I really like the pattern on this box, it's really
pretty!

Here comes the 3D paint! I'm using Tulip. I suppose this is like icing? I'm not exactly sure what I should call it. I painted some over the top, then painted some dripping down the sides.

As you can see, I didn't make the drips too big! I was frightened that if I did it would become another failure box :( Also, I need to leave some room just in case this box requires a ribbon. No, I don't decide to add a ribbon. The box does.

NOW FOR THE BEST PART!!!! (if you like piping chocolate stuff on your box, that is)

I've Improved lol! It looks a lot better than my last box. (feels proud) I suppose you could just leave it like this, but I'm putting cabochons on it. And rhinestones. Not to forget the pearls. Oh, and cane slices. Maybe even a few beads.

 Now, this is why you DO NOT try to attack Sapphire's crafts. I originally had a bow in the middle, but my sister decided to rip it off! So, she now knows very well why you don't try to destroy my Decoden. I ended up staying up really late to correct it... (yawns)

So this is what it looks like now I've cleaned the paint up a bit. I know very well that I could have waited until the morning to sort is out, but no. Of course not. 

So, anyway, I used all the same things that I used last time, except for one thing. I used some cabochons that I had made out of air dry clay. I used Fimo Air. I haven't tried any other types of air dry clay, but I really like this one. 

On another note, my mum decided to buy all this cereal.

Fortunately, I love cereal. With skimmed milk of course, anything else is just too creamy for me. Yes, I am a little strange, aren't I?

Triple layer bracelet!

Yeah, there's a big story behind why I decided to make this! So, my sister bought a bracelet at her school one day (they were having a Summer fair), and I thought it looked really cool and decided to make one! I searched the internet, in the hope I would find a tutorial, but nothing. I really could not find any tutorials. Obviously, other people had had the same idea, because I was finding pictures that looked very similar to it. So, rather than giving up (I'm just too stubborn!), I had a good look at my sister's bracelet and realised it really wasn't a very difficult thing to make at all. I decided to get all of my stuff together and make one myself! I had to make some of the beads myself, and this of course had a nasty effect on my lovely bead collection (I literally had to use all of them!).

So, here are a few beautiful picture of my arm I mean, my bracelet:

I like the way this angle of my arm looks for some reason...

And one with out my arm:

Sorry for the blurry-ness!

As you can see, it just won't stand up on it's own. I think this is because of the cord I used, but I don't think it really matters. Here's a picture of it next to my sister's bracelet (I didn't steal it btw, she let me borrow it for my blog!):

I love the way they both look together! they are both very colourful. I don't normally wear very bright jewellery, but I love these bracelets. They are very good for stacking bracelets, and I'm definitely the sort of person who likes to wear lots of bracelets at once. However, I haven't really worn this bracelet much. It just doesn't match the sort of clothes I wear. I'll probably be selling it at some point in the future, in fact. Not that I don't like it, it just isn't really me.

Anyway, I do plan on making a tutorial on the pattern for this at some point! I just don't have enough beads left at the moment to make another one. So watch this space! :D

What's New in the Nyan Galaxy?

So I've been trying a bit of Decoden, and I needed a new box to keep all of my stuff in. I got an empty ice cream box (which had been cleaned good of course) and turned it in to a box for my stuff :)

But I'm having a bit of a Nyan Cat phase at the moment!

So, I guess you guys can watch my fail attempt at Decoden as I make it... I've already done half of it though!












Welcome to Nyan Galaxy!!!! (lol, I had to!)

First, in Nyan Galaxy, we come to the Pop tart cat! Wait, is Nyan Cat a girl or a boy?

 S/He is having an amazing time flying whilst pooping rainbows across the box! I made the pop tart part first, by using tan coloured clay to make the shape of the pop tart, then putting liquid clay mixed with pink clay on the top. Then I placed red sprinkles on it. After that I made the body, using wire to keep it secure in the clay. After that I baked it, attached the rainbow, and baked it again. There, one Nyan Cat!

Unfortunately for Nyan Cat, s/he is heading straight for a massive chocolate waterfall!!!

FAIL!!!!!!

So, it started off ok, then it turned in to a fail! It's just 3D paint, beads, and a few cane slices. When I get round to it, I'm going to sort it out by painting over the parts that went all flat and weird.

NEXT TIME ON NYAN CAT GALAXY.... I'll be making more fail decoden!!! If I can, I'll try to get my hands on some whipple cream (Which is fake whipped cream!). I know this deeply offends some people, but I think I'd rather make my own. I have all the stuff I need at home to make it, so why bother buying it? It's a waste of money! (Sorry for offending every whipple fan in the world lol!)

(Edit: I have now made a decoden box that doesn't fail so badly!)

Memory Wire Bracelet

Last year I went to a continental market, and there was a stall there that was selling memory wire bracelets with silver plated beads. They were really pretty so it bought one, it was £8. It took me forever to work out how they made it :)

I eventually worked out that it was just beads on memory wire. It's super   easy to make. In fact, I felt stupid when I worked it out, lol!

Never mind :)

Anyway, as I said, it's pretty simple to work out yourself. All you need is  a few rings of memory wire and LOTS of beads. If you feel creative, you can try making the beads :D.

Shamballa style hoop earrings

In my Millefiori Shamballa Bracelet post, I mentioned that I wanted to make earrings like this. Since then, I've noticed that there aren't really a lot of tutorials like this at all... I haven't seen any at least (so I'm sorry if there are!). So I've decided to make this tutorial.

You can buy earrings like this on the internet. But it's so much nicer to make them :) (Plus it can be cheaper and you don't have to wait as long!) The only problem is, they're VERY heavy... But I suppose that would also be the case if you bought sterling silver genuine Shamballa beaded earrings off the internet.

Anyway, all you need to make these awesome earrings is memory wire (preferably bracelet sized), round nose pliers, wire cutters, Shamballa cord, jump rings and beads. I used left over cord from Shamballa bracelets.

You can enlarge the pictures if they're too small (which they probably will be!)

First you need the 'base' for the hoop earrings. Cut one hoop off of the memory wire and use your pliers to curl one of the ends of the wire inwards, so it makes a hoop shape like on the picture above.

Now for the fun/hard/artistic part - the square knots :)

Click to enlarge!

If you can't read what my writing says, basically what you have to do is thread your cord underneath the wire, bring the right side over the wire and under the cord on the other side. After that, you need to bring the thread on the other side under the wire and over the thread on the side we started with. It should make a sort of upside down pretzel shape, like in my picture. If you don't get it the first time, don't worry and DON'T give up. Once you learn how, it'll be super easy XD

Pull on each side of the thread until it makes this tight knot :)

Now we have to go in the opposite direction. Don't worry, it's loads easier than it sounds :)

Click to enlarge

I think you'll probably be able to understand it from this picture. It's the same, only in the opposite way. So rather than going over the cord, you go under the cord etc. 

Now you have to repeat these knots in the order I taught you them. Keep going until you think it's ready for the beads to go on :) (If your knots are twisting around like mine are, see the tips below. It's nothing to worry  about, it just makes the earrings look a little different)

You can either put all the beads on at once, or one at a time. 

As you can hopefully see in the pictures, I add each bead then tie a square knot. I don't pull too tightly, just enough so it looks like the bead is in a pink cage. If you want, you can add a bead, then make several knots, then add another etc. It would look good :) but I don't have enough cord...

When you come to the point where you don't want to add any more beads, tie several more square knots and cut off the excess cord. I find it's better to leave a tiny bit of cord at the end so you can glue it down and it won't come undone.

I hope you can see what I mean in this picture :)

OK, now we need to make it so we can attach a fish hook :)

use your pliers to curl the other end in to a hoop shape. Now open a jump ring and thread it through both 'hoops'. Close it, and it should look like the picture at the end.

Now all you have to do is add another jump ring and an earring hook.

And now finally... You're done :D Well, after you make one for your other ear, of course lol!

Tips

I'm not exactly sure why the knots tend to twist around when I make them... It seems to look nice to me, but I think most people would make it so it doesn't twist around. As I said, I don't exactly know why it does that, I'll definitely make a post about it if I find out :D

Remember, you can use whatever colours you want :) Try out different colours to find out what combinations  look the best. You can use as much cord as you want, too. You don't have to make it exactly how I made mine...

'Millefiori' Shamballa bracelets

I don't know if anybody's come up with this idea, but I've basically come up with another scrap clay idea :)

I love shamballa bracelets, they're really easy to make, the only problem is that they take a long time to make.

I used a thicker cord than usual because the craft shop only had this cord. But it looks really good, and it's so smooth :D


Another thing is, as I was making the square knots, I noticed they were twisting around. I think this was because the cord was too thick. But it looks really cool, I think XD It makes it look more unique!









The beads

I made the beads out of scrap polymer clay. I put slices from canes I'd already made on them and rolled the beads until they were completely flat. I used quite thick wire to put holes through them. Also, if you make these, remember to make two smaller beads for the end of the cord. Make sure you make them out of the same scrap clay so it all fits together :).

I baked them on gas mark 1 for 15 minutes. It might be better if you bake them on gas mark 1/2 because if you're not careful, the clay will darken. (Lol, why don't they just say what gas mark you need to bake it at on the packet?) I glazed them with Studio by Sculpey glaze this time (You probably won't be able to find it anywhere in the shops because they don't make it any more... Even though it's the BEST glaze ever!)

The pattern

The pattern is very simple once you get used to it, all you need to know is how to make a square knot. I used this website for the pattern at first: http://www.beadbarmy.com/2012/01/the-bead-doctor-tutorial-shamballa-bracelet/ It's a very simple tutorial on how to make the bracelets. When I was first starting out, all on the other websites I found seemed pretty complicated... But this was the one that finally taught me how :D

Another idea I had was to use memory wire to make hoop earrings that have this technique in them. Shamballa bracelet earrings! But it seems some people have already had that idea:

http://rumorsaccessories.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=1&products_id=171

Note: I'm only making this post for people to use as inspiration... If you want to make something like this just do it :) Same goes for all of the ideas I put on here, unless I say otherwise.