Homemade Christmas ideas.. paperclay goodies...

I thought today it would be fun to post some handmade christmas ideas.. in honor of the 12 Artsy Ornaments of Christmas workshop starting today!

Allie and I and a couple of her friends, had a "girls night" at my new art studio.. this last friday. After much thinking, we decided it would be fun to pre-watch the videos for the Ornament workshop, that started today.. and make some of them during our girls night! (which lasted until 4 AM!!!!.. holy cow I am not as young as I used to be.. it took me 2 days to recover from that! Lol)

The two they picked were Chrissy's Clay Ornaments (they also loved Alisa's as well).. and Jamie's Coffee filter wreaths..  You can see them here getting their artsy on..

I gave them the supplies and they went to town and I decided to just make some of Chrissy's paperclay ornaments.

I LOVE paperclay and I had also seen another paperclay idea on pinterest I wanted to try as well.  I wanted to share with you what I (we) ended up making!

 First off, I  LOVE paperclay because it is SOOO much easier to work with than Polymer clay. It's soft and lighter. It air dries.. so you do have to wait overnight to paint them, but it's worth the wait! And usually I get away with letting it dry for only about 30 mins before I paint it and then let it dry the rest of the way overnight.

Chrissy teaches in the class how to make your own paper Airdry clay too, with flour and some other ingrediants. There is a trick to it.. but she shares it, so its  SUPER easy.. which also makes it SUPER cheap!  So I thought it would be fun to not only make ornaments, but also make some "take what you need" hearts.. BOTH as gifts AND for when people come to visit the studio.

If you haven't heard of that idea.. Here is a link to that story. Someone made this simple sign on paper and then wrote words on the bottom and cut them into strips. Placed them around her town as an act of charity. SHe called it the "Word" movement.

  I thought it would be fun to have a bowl of these handmade clay hearts, so when people leave, they can take one with them to not only remember their time there, but also take what they are in "need" of at the particular moment in their life. To remind them to have courage and faith.. to remind them that  they are wonderful and beautiful and life is good!

THIS would also be so fun as a christmas gift. Make 20 or 30  differ nt hearts and put them in a small Pint size canning jar and put a note and ribbon attached to the jar that reads

"when you are having one of those "days", and I can't be there to help or lend you a hand or shoulder to cry on... take what you need from the jar and know I love you and will ALWAYS be there in spirit!" i love you! xoxox" 

You may think 30 hearts sounds like a lot of time. but with the paperclay.. it takes a matter of MINUTES. Seriously minutes. ANd if you don't want to handstamp each one, you can print a paper out with a bunch of words on it and put fun white little word blocks on them instead.  I started with just plain ones.. Simple gorgeous cream ones. OH these would be so cute on a burlap and cream christmas tree! Chrissy's were so beautiful I had to just make some plain colored ones!

But then of course.. you know me. I HAVE to have color! Actually depending on the person I am giving it to.. they will either be in color, or plain. Some of my friends are totally into the vintage neutrals look.. so the cream ones work out perfect for them! But me.. im a color girl myself! lol.

NOt only did I paint them, but I used my Scarlet Lime Doodle Pen to add a little doodling to them as well.

So after I got done with that project.. I realized how much I TRULY love paperclay. Honestly. If you haven't ever tried it.. you TRULY should! I saw on pinterest this cute tutorial on how to make your own bird ornaments out of clay as well. It's from a Couple of years ago.. via Jessica Jane!

Again Hers were polymer clay. Oven baked. But man oh man that stuff is SO hard to roll and manipulate and I honestly am too impatient to kneed it over and over to make it flexible. Paperclay.. yea it's perfect for me! lol.

This is the tutorial on her Website.. (Her other things are AMAZING too! her little clay houses and owls!! oh my goodness so cute!)

So after looking some more on pinterest for a bird shape I liked..  here is what I came up with..

I liked them cream.. but then of course I had to color them. lol

 

I have to say, THESE were a little harder then hearts. I am not very patient as I said, and it does take some patience to smooth out all the sides and make both side symmetrical, etc. SO my bird are a little more "organic" and me. They aren't perfectly shaped all the way around, so they don't sit very well, Some do, Most don't. So if I make them again, I will be more mindful of making the bottom a little  more "even" so they can sit better. These i made for ornaments, so I put holes in them, and plan to hang them, so it doesn't quit matter they aren't so perfect. But still.

 

again just used simple stamps, and printed words. Use my acrylic paints and walla!

Some of them I plan to leave as birds and just tie to the top of gifts. Others I plan on putting around my studio.  We had a lot of fun making clay stuff. The next day, Ben and I had some errands to run and so we took the boys over the studio and let them hang out with Allie and her friends (who had slept there and were STILL there making stuff).. and when we came back with movies and snacks for a family night.. Noah, preston and ethan had all made their own clay things! Noah made two hearts, Preston made a number 8 ball, and ethan made a bunch of hearts as well. THen allie surprised me with an ADORABLE owl she had made for me (she knows I LOVE owls)..

SO CUTE!! so I asked her to make me two more. so I could have an owl family..I will have to share when she gets them all painted!

if you want to do MORE with clay.. I show you how to make THIS adorable Nesting Ornament.. in the 2012 Artsy Ornaments of Workshop.. (you can still sign up!) It's with clay and a light bulp! AND SO easy!

Anyhow.. just a fun post I had to share. THursday I have a post planned to share with you some of the personalized gifts I am giving my friends and family this year.. All that I purchased on etsy.. LOVE buy handmade if I can't make it myself. So check back for that!

Happy Tuesday!
xoxox

 

 

Comments

[fitness4fit]

I always was concerned in this topic and stock still am, appreciate it for putting up.

[Leslie]

Hello, do you have a link to the paper clay recipe? I would love to try my hand at making some and do some crafts with the kids. Thanks!

[Michelle Geoffroy]

I wanted you to know that I used this post as inspiration for a necklace I made. It was great fun! Thanks for the inspiration!
http://www.thecreativehealingstudio.com/2013/01/outside-my-creative-box.html

[andrea]

i love having you in my life, Christy xxx

[Elizabeth]

Is there a "recipe" for paperclay?? Thanks in advance. :)

[Melissa Kelley]

Please Please dont get me wrong Love the 12 Christmas Ornaments but when you print the supply list for future projects as i know I will only have time to dabble with a few. I find the print on the supply list to be very light , next time could you use bold to help the 4 eyed people :) Thank you for each and every thought that went into these very creative Ornaments. The only thing being tight on a shoe string it was hard to pay for that extra kit , i would rather there be another homemade that was simple products. Thank you so much !

[Donna P]

Those look like so much fun. My girls would LOVE to make the birds and hearts :)

[Tabitha]

Hey! Love the clay heart idea. I may just have to do that at the high school I work at for an art project. On another subject, last month I subscribed to your multi-media kit and am really excited to see what you put together with the November kit. I have been waiting to use my goodies until I get some of your wonderful inspiration.=)

[Chantille]

Lovely way to spend an evening. What a beautiful idea Christy for those visiting the studio, to take a word that need with a heart or as a gift with such a loving note. Love this idea and am now interested to try the air dry clay.

Allie's owl is too cute!

[Juliana Hall]

I am loving the Artsy Ornaments work shop and will have to try this for sure. Thanks for sharing.

[Cheryl Waters]

I love. We've made similar things before. I totally would have offered a coupon too for chipart letters. :) Fun. Love and miss you friend.

[karlene]

i am inspired!! <3 thank you.

[Cassandra]

Oh how fun! So exciting to see all the beautiful things they made.

I know what you mean about the all nighters. I'm wanting to be in the bed by nine. hahah!

[Trish Duncan]

How sweet Miss Christy!!!! I knew you grils would have fun... What a wonderful space to create in and what a special gift to share with us the JOY that night and a tutorial... <3

[Shahrul Niza]

Hi, Christi. THESE ARE AMAZING creations!!. I LOVE to make some of these. Paper clays are wonderful. You are such an inspiring artist! Hugs.

[Lynda]

What a wonderful blog post...I have a bunch of this clay in the kids craft pantry...we're going to make something like this for our neighbors...xxoo

[Stephanie]

I am in love with the idea of the hearts in a jar!!! I'm totally doing that for my trues for Christmas! Thanks for sharing!

[Marsha]

Such great ideas! Love your colorful style :0)

[Carol M]

So cute! Loved the owl. Earlier today even before I saw this post, my three year old grand-daughter & I made air dry clay ornaments. She cut them with cookie cutters, sprinkled with glitter, put buttons and beads in the center and a hole for string. They are drying now. She made them for her Christmas tree and had a blast. You are right, air dry clay is so much easier to work with and dries quickly.

[Liane Townsend]

So delightful Christy ! I work for a non profit counseling agency. I have planned to paint stones with love words and give them to the social workers for the holidays. My thought is that their clients could take one at the end of the session. Then I thought they might take one as a reminder of what they wanted to work on and they could put the stones back in the bowl for the next person who might need that same inspiration. NOW, I am thinking that it might be easier to make them from this clay than to paint stones. I have never done either, so I hope it is not too difficult, because we have many social workers and clients. Hearts and birds are wonderful for my project!!! So excited, wish me luck and I would appreciate and tips or tricks to guide me with this holiday surprise! Loving you... Liane