Change your words. Change the world.

This make me tear up every time I watch it!
Our teacher used showed us this in our Management class

Sophie & Toffee Review: Magical Tray

Sophie & Toffee Review 4#

Disclaimer: this post is sponsored by Sophie & Toffee, but I will give my honest opinion on these products. Thankyou so much for the products!

Some time ago, mailman waked me in the morning with a package from Sophie & Toffee ^^
If that isn't a good start of a day, I don't know what is :D

Here's the loot:

Black Lightweight Paper Clay - Japanese Hearty Brand (click)
Red Lightweight Paper Clay - Japanese Hearty Brand (click) (these are now on discount!)
This is really erally really light weight! I picked up the package with the two and I was like: "Is there anything in here?" Sooo soft to touch and to work with. It doesn't feel damp at all like my other light weight clay. The red colour is lovely! I made a few little items with (no pictures yet) they are relatively easy to mold and make things with. I like them! If the item is dry it's squishy, very funny :D
Some (better) reviews about this clay, can you find at All About Deco,here

Polymer Clay Canes - Daisy Flower in Blue (click)
Polymer Clay Canes - Apple Fruit (click)
Snowflakes Polymer Clay Sticks (click)
First time I'm seeing canes in real life, hehe :D. I haven't used these in any deco projects yet but they are really lovely, and easy to cut through!

Round Lady Gray Cameo  (click)
Big Round Lady Cameo in Gray (click)
Lady Cameo Cabochons (click)
Next to flowers and lace/ruffles, cameos are my big all time love! Sophie & Toffee has 3 designs with a woman's head on (they also have one with a rose) I ordered the right ones before and loved them very much! That big one would be great as a pendant on a pearl necklace I think ^^. 

Realistic Ice Cream Scoops Cabochons in brown & white (click)
Super Big Black Classic Bow Cabochons (click)
I knew the bow was going to be big but this big?! Wow! I wanted to use it on my mobile phone but this size is a bit to large, still I like the design of the bow and I'll find a use for it! The scoops are great, they have a real kind of texture which I can't get making them myself.

Cute Small Panda Bear Cabochon (click)
Japanese Snow Rabbits Cabochons (click)
Fimo Poker Aces (click)
I love pandas so I was thrilled to find a panda cabochon in my package ^^

Exclusive Pink Plated Adjustable Ring Pad High Quality 8mm (click)
I was hoping the pink would be a bit more redish, turned out not to be but that's just me ^^'
I think this works great with some of their flower cabochons which you can see here (click)


Sophie & Toffee have given me this discount code to my readers, If you enter VALERIE10 on your checkout, you receive a discount of 10% of your purchase! 

Deco! Headphones with small tutorial

A while ago I bought a microhpone and a pair of headphones, which meant, new items to deco! The microphones has to wait but the headphone is almost ready. One side done, the other one almost.

I had to do something with music so a simple design of a music note on one side and two little ones on the other side. The big one is finished.

All the supplies used are from Sophie & Toffee (use the VALERIE10 code to get 10% off ;) )

Before we start with the tutorial, a warning. If you want to deco an object which can break like headphones, mouses, mp3's,... make sure you can REMOVE THE DECO!! If it breaks and you want it fixed, your warranty doesn't count anymore! There are different ways to make the deco removable like decoing a case for your mobile phone or use the following plastic.

Firstly, take a piece of clear sticky book wrapping plastic thing (the kind you use to wrap books to protect them but you're still able to see their cover, don't know the English word for this ^^')

Measure your space and trace out on the sticky paper.

Draw your design with a marker.

Get your glue, rhinestones and toothpicks and start applying the rhinestones.

When it's dry, apply a clear coat. (not necessary but I like to do this )

Take the back layer from the paper and apply it onto the surface.

Done!

I really like the result ^^ What do you think?

Sophie & Toffee Give Away

At the moment Sophie & Toffee is having a give away,
they are giving away packs of free cabochons of over 200 pieces to 5 lucky winners who spend more than S$10  on their shop.  (Oh and remember to use the VALERIE10 code to get 10% off!)

Read more about this give-away here
Be sure to subrscribe to their mailing list 'cause they hold lot's of giveaways for their loyal customers.

Sophie & Toffee Review 3#

Disclaimer: this post is sponsored by Sophie & Toffee, but I will give my honest opinion on these products.

These are the items they sent me. I am so excited to try out their own polymer clay! (which will have to wait for another post though) But first I'll show you the rest of the items.

One of the things I absolutely loved in their stock is their huge variety of flowers. I think almost every girl loves flowers right? I got a selection of some of their lovely designs.

As you can see there are bigger and smaller sizes. The bigger ones are great for hairaccesoires or a big statement ring, the smaller ones are super cute and make a cute ring or if you make a hole in them (as suggested on the Sophie & Toffee website) could be a lovely pair of earrings.

Big Chrysanthemum Flower in pink: click
Big Ruffled Flower in red: click
Rose Flower in black: click
Glitter Rose Flower in white: click
Small Rose & Hydrangeas Flowers in violet: click
Small Asiatic Lilies Flowers Bouquet in tiffany blue: click

They also have a small variety of findings in their shop, not many deco shops carry everything you need to deco. In this picture you see their 2 rings on the right, and one I already had on the left. As you can see their design look more elegant.
I like that they have one with a bigger pad and one with a smaller pad. To be honest I never saw a ring with that design or with a pad smaller than 10 mm in any shop round here.

Sliver Plated Fancy Adjustable Ring Pad ring with 10 mm pad (click) and 6 mm pad (click)

Like I said above, I turned 2 flower cabochons into jewellery. It's really easy, if you don't know how, here the link to my tutorial. One in a cute ring and another one in a hairpin (click)

Something new in their shop. I love glitter and I was very excited to find this in my package ^^ I'm going to try and use it when I use my resin for the first time! So that review also will have to wait :s

Ultra Fine Sliver Glitter Powder for Crafting (click)

There was also a package of dark red rhinestones (click) but I have used them in a recent deco project so you'll see them there ;)

Last but not least, the big Hello Kitty (click) I love it! I don't really have an idea yet what I can do with it but I will find one! It's quite heavy so not a good idea to attach it to your cellphone.
She's visiting my niece at the moment (she's a biiiig fan of Hello Kitty, haha) so no picture but you can see her at the picture from the beginning of this post.

Also because I'm an ambassador, Sophie & Toffee gave me a couponcode to share with my readers, to if you want 10% of your purchase, use the code "VALERIE10".

Show your deco! - Thursday!

A new feature on All About Deco,

Show your deco! - Thursday.

You can link every deco project or review you made or own. 

Rules:

1. Link any project around deco you made, any review about shops, your blog, ... anything as long has it has to do something with Deco.

2. It HAS to be Family Friendly

3. Link up our button on your sidebar or post on your blog!

4. Keep decoing!

<br /> <a border="0" href="http://allaboutdeco.blogspot.com//"target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v736/v1v/Button1.jpg" /></a>

Show your deco! - Thursday!

A new feature on All About Deco,

Show your deco! - Thursday.

You can link every deco project or review you made or own. 

Rules:

1. Link any project around deco you made, any review about shops, your blog, ... anything as long has it has to do something with Deco.

2. It HAS to be Family Friendly

3. Link up our button or our link on your sidebar or post on your blog!

4. Keep decoing!

<br /> <a border="0" href="http://allaboutdeco.blogspot.com//"target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v736/v1v/Button1.jpg" /></a>

Musical Peter Pan

I'll be gone from now until Friday on a musical internship, like last year,
if you remember my posts about Whistle Down the Wind on my personal blog (part 1 - part 2)
I don't have any posts scheduled for this week but here are some blogs which are really interesting to read:
http://www.violetlebeaux.com/ : diy - tutorials - reviews - deco - homecrafts
http://www.rufflesandstuff.com/ : diy - tutorials - homecrafts
http://www.sweetandtiny.net/ : deco - lolita
http://www.studs-and-pearls.com/ : diy - fashion

Hope you all have a nice week!

Sophie & Toffee Review 2#

And here's another Sophie &amp; Toffee review.
Disclaimer: this post is sponsored by Sophie &amp; Toffee, but I will give my honest opinion on these products.

First up,
Rhinestones, pearls, 2 cups, a little cabochon sweet and clay.

Grace clay (click), after using it one time

The explanation on the website says "to either warm the clay in hot water or with a hair dryer before use". I'd recommend using a hair dryer, it goes much faster to heat up the clay and won't make a mess (I spilled water everywhere ^^') And make sure it's warm enough or you'll have trouble piping it, or even getting it through the piping tip and make a mess (again).
After using this, it dries nicely and it has a great finish! I can't show you an example of this though, as my niece got the result and I forgot to take a picture ^^'. Here's a link to All About deco's website where you can find reviews about this clay: click

Chocolate cake cabochon (click)

It's cuter than the pictures ^^

Clear Scallop cup (here and here)

And lastly the pearls (I love pearls!!)

Cream White Oval Faux Pearl (click) and Pink Half Pearls Cabochon (click)

Some of the pink ones have dark spots on the back but they aren't noticeable when used.

Cream White Half Pearl Cabochon (click) and Pure White Half Pearl Cabochon (click)
The cream ones are really small! Perfect to fill up spots in your design. Some of them are stuck together but are easily broken loose.

Red Half Pearl Cabochons (click) and Black Half Pearl Cabochon (click)

The colours of these two are wonderful, especially the red ones, it's even more cherry red in real life than on the picture.

Sophie &amp; Toffee  gave me a code for my readers, so if you like to order from them, fill in VALERIE10 and you'll get 10% of your purchase. Oh and they also have a mailing list where they organize different sales and discounts so be sure to subscribe to that too if you like

This post is crossed posted to riechanster.blogspot.com.

Deco!

Remember the items I received from Sophie &amp; Toffee?
Well I deco-ed something with them, quite a while ago but I recently took some pictures to show them to you guys.
This used to be a white old smudgy mirror from my mum which was laying in her bedroom as long as I can remember. I took it, cleaned it, sanded the outside and painted it black.
Then I deco-ed it, the big button and the white rhinestones are from Sophie &amp; Toffee, the flowery things are scapbooking supplies where I pulled off the white sticky thing in the back and applied them with two component glue. This will be a gift for my mum.

And another mirror, this one began as a silver piece but also painted it black after sanding it. The sanding is very important 'cause else the paint won't stick to the plastic or metal you're about to deco. And it will result in stripes of the underlaying colour coming through and your paint will be gone after a while.

(I took this picture just a minute ago, as you can see it's a bit dirty, I took it with me to sea so sand everywhere :D)

Sophie &amp; Toffee  gave me a code for my readers, so if you like to order from them, fill in VALERIE10 and you'll get 10% of your purchase.
This post is crossed posted to riechanster.blogspot.com.

New commentsystem!

I installed a new commentsystem so it will be easier for me to reply to your comments or answer any questions you might have.
Hope it works ^^

Recycled newspaper into clay?

Yes please ^^ It may sound as I'm talking about Papier-Maché but Kerous from the blog Tangerine Taiyaki didn't use any glue, instead she used a blender and flour.
If you want to read her whole tutorial,
take a look on her blog here: Recycled Newspaper into clay!

Re-Ment collection

RRcherrypie posted her Re-Ment collection on youtube. All the pieces aren't available anymore but they are fun to watch!

I know that Sophie & Toffee carries some of the Re-Ment collection here but I haven't seen it anywhere else yet.

Featured: Mini Mo - Sweet & Tiny

Second one in our Feature serie is Mini Mo from the blog Sweet and Tiny. 

I wanted to feature her because she makes such lovely miniatures, not only the regular ones but she also uses deco on 'not your usual items' like clocks and plates. Mini Mo tries to discover new and unusual materials to use for deco. She makes lot's of reviews for all the different tools and materials she uses. Read her blog to found out more about this ;).

On to the questions:

1. Who are you and what do you do (decowise)?

My name is Monika but I use Mini Mo as my nickname (I am usualy called Mo by others and I'm realy short person! :D ). I am Polish and currently live in UK.
I love to make fake, deco sweets from clay and decorate various things with them. I'm also interested in other types of crafts, like jewelry making, sewing, resin etc, and I try to incorporate them into deco sweet items. I used to use polymer clay but since I discovered air dry clay I totally fell in love with this medium.
I try to use wide variety of air dry clays, like Fimo Air Light, porcelain clay and translucent clay, because from my experience I can tell that it is impossible to achieve real looking sweets with only one type of clay.

   

2. When did you start working with clay/ to make little desserts and things?

I discovered polymer clay about year and a half ago, but I started properly learning how to make deco sweets in September 2010. I remember this date so well because it's the same time when I started blogging too! :D
Therefore I still consider myself a newbie to deco sweets and I'm still learning new things.

3. Where do you get your inspiration?

At the beginning I was gettin my inspiration from internet and blogs, trying to learn basics and simple things like how to make cookies, ice creams and so on. Everything was new to me and I was surfing through the Internet and passionately reading tons of blogs. I also learned that deco sweets are acctualy inspired by French desserts and patisserie (how amazed I was when I discovered that there are REAL macarons in France!) and after that I became searching for inspirations in real desserts.
I am also a fan of shabby, girly country style and I try my deco sweets to be in this style too.

4. You have a wide variety of things you make as we can see on your blog, what are your favourite things to make? And what is your absolute favourite?

I don't think I have a favourite thing I like to make. For me it's more of a question what I can or can't make. Most of people say that they like or hate making certain things, but I think that in
reality they can or can't make them. When they can, they love making it, but when they struggle, then this thing is propably one of the things they hate making. And for me it's all about challenge.
It's not fun for me anymore when I know how to make something and then I search for more things I want to learn. It's exciting when you learn and then you see the first results of your hard work! :D
Propably that's why my blog is full of different things! :)
But if I would realy had to choose, then my favourite thing to make would be fruits made from translucent clay, only because they can look so real when made properly :)

5. And lastly, do you have any tips/tricks that you want to share with our readers?

As I said before I still consider myself a newbie to deco sweets, but the thing I could share with everyone is to not to let yourself think that you're worse than someone else who makes deco sweets
(or different things). Sometimes when I make my clay sweets and at the same time I browse and read other blogs/websites, I look at my creations and think that they are not as good as I thought they are.
I get frustrated and sad, and I think that maybe I should stop because I'm not good enough. And when this kind of mood gets you, thet it's the best to turn your computer off or just watch anime or something else,
and stop comparing your work to others. Everyone has their own style and that is the most important thing that differs deco artists. I noticed that some of the most known deco sweets creators on Internet is not
that good at making certain things, but it's their original style and enthusiasm that makes their work so popular. Therefore you shouldn't compare yourself to anyone else but try to put the best of yourself into your work and that's how
you will create your own original style, because everytime you make someting you put a tiny bit of your personality into it. And that's why it's unique :)


You can follow her on her blog Sweet & Tiny, she also has an etsy Sweet & Tiny where you can find her items for sale.

Blog about deco?

I'm going to make a list of different blogs about deco so you'll can find inspiration or other people who like this hobbie. Do you have a blog where you post your deco projects? Or do you know any blogs about deco?
Let me know in the comments and I'll add it to the list!

Making jewelery with cabochons: easy and quick!

I haven't done a tutorial in a while and getting those cabochons from Sophie & Toffee, made me wanted to craft. Making these jewelery is very easy and quick, you can pop a thing up in 5 min. and than wait for the glue to dry =D

So last week I took an evening off and made a few things. 

Now for the tutorial,

You'll need:

Findings: ringpads with small or large pads depending on how big the cabochon is, ear-studs, pendant bails, ... I forgot to include hair clips but you can use those too :) You can get these at your local craft store if you want to try it, but from my own experience, you can better buy these online 'cause they are cheaper there, for example on etsy, dawanda, Sophie & Toffee.

 Glue: best is Epoxy glue or 2 component glue. Hot glue (like with a glue gun) isn't going to hold your cabochons on your findings (been there, done that). When using epoxy, you'll have to mix up the 2 components so you'll also need some toothpicks and a scrap of paper, use an old magazine or some cardboard from an cereal box (don't use a white piece of paper, reuse is better!)

And off course your cabochons, you can find these things on etsy, dawanda, in beading shops, Sophie & Toffee, just look around you, if it has a flat back you can use it! In this picture you also see some fabric roses, little diamonds which they use in scrap booking, you can also use buttons, broken earrings, and so on. 

Now onto the 'how to',

prepare your glue, mixing the components and take a toothpick to add your glue to the ringpad or the cabochon. I like adding the glue to the ringpad so you won't use to much glue but it will hold. Hold it in place and than let dry. Finished! Yep, it's that easy!

Here are some backs of rings I did.  

 And the result, the black/orange thing are 2 buttons stacked on each other.

 You can also turn these things into ear-studs. Remember the fruit cabochons I got? I turned them into earrings ^^ 

 The strawberry things you see were shanked buttons, I simply removed the shank with a plier or wire cutter (be sure to cover your eyes if you're doing this 'cause the shank will fly everywhere)

 I love these apples ^^

That's it for today. In the next few days I won't be posting much as I'm very busy for school. I'll post an update from time to time how I'm doing and such.

Have a nice week and thanks for reading! 

This post is crossposted to riechanster.blogspot.com

Sophie & Toffee Review

Disclaimer: this post is sponsored by Sophie &amp; Toffee, but I will give my honest opinion on these products.

Shop: Sophie &amp; Toffee

url: http://sophieandtoffee.com/

Location: Singapore

The package arrived here quite fast, in 6 working days.

Everything was very tightly wrapped with bubble wrap and came in different little packages.

  

Now onto the items, I forgot to add a coin in my close-up pictures so here's an overview:

Some of the items aren't here anymore 'cause I took a evening of from schoolwork yesterday and did some deco ^^ Post is coming this weekend.

 Now onto the close-ups. 

I actually never heard of Anna sui ... after a quick trip to wiki, I found out she is a famous American fashion designer. I really like the rose on the emblem though ^^ This item also has glitter! The butterflies you see here are also very glittery, especially the black. And glitter = win! ^^

I think these flowers are really adorable, they are very glittery and I think one of these would be very lovely as a big ring.

 Another type of flowers, while the above ones are plastic and aren't movable, the petals of these white and black flowers are movable. The petals are each attached with fish thread (I call it this way, don't know the real name, it's clear plastic thread used in jewelery making)

Next are another type of flowers, which are made from clay. A flower with different coloured petals, butterflies with golden edges and 2 poodles and a purse. I'm not such a fan of poodles

 flowers

And here are the backs of the 3 types of flowers, you can see the glittery flowers has a very wide back, the black one has the petals attached and the clay ones has a smaller back.

I love these fruit pieces! Although the only downside is that the apple slice and apple halve aren't in the same colour. But I don't know it that's for all the pieces or that it differs.

fruit

And last but not least, a bag charm which I added to my mobile. At first I thought it was clay but it turns out to be plastic/silicone, which I think is a good thing because my mobile get kicked around in my bag and coat and such and when the charm is clay and has little parts sticking out it's sooo likely going to break off :( But with this one, the little pocky sticks are bendable so won't break ^^ The glass to hold the icecream is plastic.

Reading from the site, these usually get sold in surprise packs but they let you pick the design you want ^^

And it also says it comes with an edible chewing gum, ..., I have yet to find that XD

link

Conclusion: I think they have really nice products, in very different sizes and styles which is great to deco. Hope this review was useful to you!

(The products shown in the pictures are linked for easy access under each picture, items not linked are not available yet on the website but will be linked after they are available )

This post is crossed posted to riechanster.blogspot.com.