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 & Toffee review.
Disclaimer: this post is sponsored by Sophie & 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 & 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 & 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 & 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 & 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.