Kael Mijoy

Try, Try Again

2012-03-02T13:55:00.001-07:00

Okay, so much for not having time to blog. Actually, I really don't have time right now but I love doing it too much to stop completely.

Anyway, I got a request this week for a stand to go with a pen I had listed on Artfire. I can easily do stands for any of the pens but for some reason I don't bother most of the time. Anyway, the customer really loved this pen and wanted to know if I could make a stand to go with it. Of course I told her I

could and I got started on it.

Attempt One: I couldn't find the blue flower cane I used in the pen so I decided to just do without it. Made up some of the green background, covered a ball of scrap with it and proceeded to add the flowers. Not a big deal except that I was just getting over a bad cold and just wanted to get it done. But it only took about an hour so I was okay. Left it sitting on the craft table to bake it later. Later arrived and I went in there to get it to pop it into the oven and I discovered that my 2-year-old (who loves to clay) had arrived ahead of me and "improved" on my work. Holes, cuts and chunks missing.

Lesson One Learned: Bake it immediately or risk the "help" of the toddler.

Attempt Two: Mushed the first one all up into scrap clay and got started on the second one. Used the leftover green clay from #1 and covered scrap ball #2. Meanwhile, I had found the blue flower cane so I was able to put all of them in there. Whew! Got it made and safely into the oven. Set the timer and went to lie down for a minute. Forgot it was there. It was nicely browned all over.

Lesson Two Learned: If I'm not going to stay within hearing distance of the timer, tell the kids in the room why it's set. Dd heard it but said, "I didn't know what it was for so I didn't do anything about it." She's 12. She couldn't ask what it was for?

Attempt Three: Made up some new green and a covered a new scrap ball. I was now almost out of both the light pink cane and the orange cane. So, instead of covering the ball all over with flowers, I decided to just make a ring around the edge. Got it made, safely into the oven, safely out of the oven, and sanded and buffed with no more trouble. Thank heaven!

Lesson Three Learned: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

(lousy photo taken with my phone)

The stand is now finished and, along with the matching pen, is on it's way to its new owner. Hopefully she will love it and make the whole thing worthwhile. I love my customers!

This just goes to show that, no matter how "expert" you are at a skill, there's always room for mistakes!

Enjoy!
Korrina

In Like a Lion and Out Like a Lamb...

2012-03-01T19:40:00.001-07:00

Hi all!

Still in the middle of packing and getting ready to move but thought I'd check in real quick and show off some cool stuff I found on Artfire tonight during my break from all of the chaos. (I noticed a few new followers joined us while I was gone - welcome!)

Anyway, I remember in elementary school doing craft projects in March that went along with the proverb that if March comes in like a lion, it goes out like a lamb - and vice versa. So here is my collection of handmade lion and lamb items.

In like a lion and out like a lamb...

Curated By: KaelMijoy

ArtFire.com

So which way did YOUR March come in?

Enjoy!
Korrina

Taking a Break...

2012-02-23T12:18:00.001-07:00

... from blogging for a few weeks. We just found out we are moving in about a month and there is a ton of work to do first. I may get on here and post occasionally but then again, maybe not! :-)

Stay tuned and I'll be back with recipes, polymer clay tutorials, and more in a month or so.

Meanwhile, explore and check out my past posts. You might be surprised what you find!

Enjoy!
Korrina

Recipe of the Week: Meatball Pie

2012-02-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

This is a really simple recipe that I just made up on the spur of the moment last week.

Meatball Pie

1 unbaked pie shell
1- 24oz bag Italian meatballs, thawed
1 can spaghetti sauce
1 can black olives, drained and sliced
1 can sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Line the pie shell with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and take out the foil. Dump the meatballs, olives and mushrooms in the pie shell and pour the sauce over the top. Top with cheese and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until everything is heated through.

Enjoy!
Korrina

Toys and Dragons

2012-02-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

I didn't get a post up yesterday, so today you get a fun vintage toy treasury from the vintage sellers on Etsy and a gorgeous purple and green dragon collection from the artists on Artfire.

This one is a trip down memory lane - for me anyway. I played with every one of these toys at some point in my childhood. I even still have a couple of them. (Although, I admit, I was in high school when I was collecting the Star Trek action figures.)

I asked my family for theme ideas from this one and after getting suggestions like "pizza" and "necklaces" from the kids, Rock suggested "dragons." I added my own favorite colors and came up with this gorgeous collection.

Purple and Green Dragons

Curated By: KaelMijoy

ArtFire.com

Enjoy!Korrina

Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild Collection

2012-02-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Today's collection is a bunch of awesome stuff from my fellow members of the Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild on Artfire. This really shows how versatile polymer clay can be.

Inspiration from the Polymer Clay Smoosh...

Curated By: KaelMijoy

ArtFire.com

Enjoy!
Korrina

A Week of Handmade Collections

2012-02-07T09:07:00.001-07:00

Since my camera was lost all of last week (found it today BTW), I don't have any photos for a tutorial or recipe or anything so I thought I would share some of the fabulous handmade work and vintage finds from my fellow Artfirers and Etsians. So click on the links and help me support my fellow artisans.

Today's theme is "Black and White Geometry." I hated geometry in high school, but let's face it, this is totally different! I absolutely love the bold angles and strong lines in every one of these pieces from my fellow Etsians.

Enjoy!
Korrina

Paisley Handmade Collection from Artfire

2012-02-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, I still haven't found my camera. Still looking, though, so there might be a chance you will get that football cane tutorial I mentioned.

Today's theme is "Paisley." I looked it up on Wikipedia and this is what I found:

Paisley or Paisley pattern is a droplet-shaped vegetable motif of Indian and Persian origin. The pattern is sometimes called "Persian pickles" by American traditionalists, especially quiltmakers,or "Welsh pears" in Welsh textiles as far back as 1888.

Paisley

Curated By: KaelMijoy

ArtFire.com

Enjoy!
Korrina

ETA: This collection was on the front page of Artfire today (Feb 6)!

No tutorial this week! :-(

2012-02-01T12:21:00.001-07:00

Sorry folks! I know I promised a tutorial this week and I've got it all planned out but my camera has disappeared! (I'm sure it has nothing to do with any of the 6 kids running around the house all day. LOL) So I'm on the lookout for it and as soon as it turns up I will be doing a football cane in honor of the Superbowl!

Meanwhile, stay tuned!
Korrina

Recipe of the Week: Korrina's Tamale Bake

2012-01-30T19:27:00.001-07:00

I'm back! (Finally!) Can anyone say chaos? 7yo dd fell and sprained her ankle last Sunday and has been on crutches ever since. Tuesday, I fell on the ice and bruised up my whole left side (and I'm left-handed). I've been re-vamping one of my websites and designing another one for a client. Oldest dd decided that public high school (even part-time) wasn't worth all of the drama and she's gone back to homeschool full time. We're behind in school and on housework and I'm afraid KaelMijoy has been sorely neglected since Christmas. Did you really need to know all that? Probably not. Hopefully, though, the worst is over (for now). But, all of this means that my blog posts will be off a day this week. Sorry.

On to the reason you're here! :-)

I love homemade tamales! So I learned to make them. Do you know how long it takes to make enough tamales to feed 8 people? I don't either - after looking at the recipe, I decided I needed to find a shortcut. This is it. It's not quite as good as the real thing but it's close enough. If I had to do it the old-fashioned way, I'd never make them. Oh, and plan ahead because the filling is done in the crockpot, the cornhusks have to soak and the casserole has to bake for up to two hours. (You might want to halve this one 'cause it makes enough for my family of 8. Ooh, or you could make two from this recipe and freeze one without the corn husks and before baking. Just thaw, add the soaked corn husks and bake.

Korrina's Tamale Bake

1 2-3 lb pork roast
1 cup salsa
1/4 package (2 oz.) dried corn husks
2/3 cup lard or shortening
4 cups masa harina flour, (mexican corn masa mix)
2 teaspoons salt
3 cups broth from filling, or water
1/3 cup lard or shortening, melted
1 can red enchilada sauce
sour cream
Put the roast in the crockpot with the salsa and cook on high for 3-4 hours. Soak corn husks in warm water for at least 1 hour or until softened and easy to fold. Beat 2/3 cup lard in large mixer bowl until creamy. Combine masa harina and salt in medium bowl. Alternately add masa harina mixture and broth to lard, mixing well after each addition. Gradually add melted lard, mixing until consistency of thick cake batter (masa). Scatter filling in bottom of large casserole dish. Spread masa mix over filling. Lay corn husks over filling. Cover pan with foil. Fill another oven-safe dish with hot water and place in 350 degree oven. Put casserole in oven and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hrs or until baked through. Add water to dish as needed. Serve with enchilada sauce and sour cream.
Enjoy!
Korrina

Recipe of the Week: Linguine A la Anne

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

I know this is a couple of days late but - well when one person in a small house of 8 people gets sick, we all get sick. But I'm back now, and while there won't be a tutorial this week, hopefully I can get back on track next week. Meanwhile, enjoy this yummy recipe that, years ago, I got out of a cookbook that I probably don't even own anymore.

Linguine a la Anne

1/2 pound linguine
3 cups cooked diced ham (1 lb)
1/4 cup margarine
1 can mushrooms
1/8 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
6 fluid ounces evaporated milk
1 chicken boullion cube
1/4 cup grated romano cheese
1 green pepper, sliced
1 cup croutons
Cook linguine and drain. Melt 2 T. butter in saucepan. Blend in flour and salt, liquid from mushrooms, water, milk and boullion. Bring to boil and stir till it thickens. Toss half of sauce with linguine till mixed. Put in 8x8 casserole, pushing up sides. Toss ham with remaining sauce and spoon into hollow. Sprinkle with cheese and bake 20 min at 400. Saute peppers in butter til soft. (I skipped cooking the peppers 'cause my family likes 'em better raw.) Garnish casserole with peppers and croutons.

Enjoy!
Korrina

What I've Been Working On

2012-01-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

I told them to look at the goodies like they wanted to eat them.

What have I been working on? Christmas, Christmas, and more Christmas! I made a black and pink quilt for my oldest daughter and she and I made a playhouse (a fabric thing that goes over a table and they play under it) for the two littlest girls. The kids helped me make about 30 simple clay ornaments to give away and we all spent a day making goodies.

I made this quite a while ago but realized I still hadn't shared it. This was my first real attempt at sculpting a rose.

This will eventually be listed in one of my shops.

I never make stuff for myself so I decided I would make me a pendant to match my favorite black and white skirt. Um, yeah. DON'T bake polymer clay at 400 degrees for 10 minuntes. Unfortunately, I don't own a black and dirty brown skirt.

I wanted to try something new in a flower sculpture. I used pink skinner blend slices for the middle two rows, lace cane slices for the next one or two and black skinner blend slices on the outside. It's kind of unusual but I think I like it.

So there you go... which one do you like best?

Enjoy!
Korrina

Polymer Clay Tutorial: Striped Pen

2012-01-09T23:25:00.000-07:00

This is a really quick and easy way to cover a pen that can be quite striking in the right colors. It's also a good way to use up any strings you have left laying around from your last filligree project. You can find out more about covering pens in this blog post and more about extruding polymer clay strings in this one.

Supplies Needed:

1 Bic Round Stic pen or similar

Several colors of clay strings (about 6-7 feet altogether)

Tools Needed:

Round-nose pliers

Extruder (unless you've already made your strings)

Sharp craft knife (a tissue blade will work but I prefer my X-acto knife for more precision)

Directions:
Extrude your clay (if you haven't already). I'm using strings leftover from a filigree project. You won't need near this much, it's just my leftovers.

Figure out what in what order you want your stripes. (Keep in mind that the two outside colors will be touching each other as well.) Lay the ends together on the table and gently press them together.

Keep arranging your strings and pressing them together until you get to the other end. Don't squish too hard, this is just to make it easier to wind the strings around the pen.

Use your pliers to take the barrel out of the pen. Leaving a tail about 1-2 inches long (mine should have been longer), start winding your striped ribbon around the pen. Try to get all of the strings flush with one another.

If one of your colors runs out, you can add another string. Cut the end of the finished string at an angle.

Cut the end of the new string at an angle as well and put the two together. This makes it a lot easier to not have a gap.

Keep winding until you get to the end of the pen. Carefully trim the excess clay from the open end of the pen. Try to cut in the direction the strings are going. For instance, I cut the excess of this one in a clockwise direction.

Now go to the other end of the pen and wind the excess clay around the exposed part.

Like this:

Now unwind a couple of the strings back to just before they came up above the rim of the pen.

Trim the ones that are still wrapped flush with the end of the pen.

Roll the hanging strings into a spiral and press them onto the end of the pen. (I should have left my end a little longer - had to flatten the spiral a little to get it to cover.)

There you go. Now, you can bake it as is or...

You can roll it flat a little or a lot. I rolled mine sort of flat but still with grooves in it to cover up some imperfections I didn't like.

Bake it and use your pliers to put the ink barrel back in the pen and you are finished!

Enjoy!
Korrina

P.S. If you ever make a project from one of my tutorials and want to share pictures, I'd love to see them! Post in the comments or on my Facebook or you can email me: kaelmijoy@gmail.com

Recipe of the Week: Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

2012-01-09T12:04:00.002-07:00

It's been a little over a month since my last post. That's not too long, is it? Okay, so I'll try to do better... :-)

This is my mom's noodle recipe and my own soup recipe. She's been making these for as long as I can remember. When I was little and there wasn't much money, she used to brag about how she could make a whole chicken last an entire week. This is one of the recipes she did that with. I know it doesn't look like much but when my kids saw on the menu that I was making this last week, they all started jumping up and down and cheering. I think I could safely say that this is the most popular dish in our house. It's that good. In fact, I usually triple it so there's enough.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

1 cup flour
1 egg
2 quarts water
1 cup chicken, diced
2 carrots, chopped
2 packages chicken gravy mix
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 tablespoon minced onion
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 chicken boullion cube
1 pinch salt and pepper
2 cups mashed potatoes (optional)
Boil celery, carrots, onion, chicken, and boullion in the water until vegetables are tender. Meanwhile, mix flour, egg, and enough water to make a soft (but not sticky) dough. Roll out thin on a floured surface and cut into noodles. Add noodles and gravy mix to soup and cook 10-15 minutes or till noodles are tender and broth has thickened a little. Serve over mashed potatoes if desired. (We never ate it with the potatoes in my family but hubby's family did, so we always just make it an option.)

You can substitute turkey for the chicken if you are trying to use up holiday leftovers.

Enjoy!
Korrina

What I've Been Working On: 15 years of Handmade Christmas Ornaments

2011-11-29T20:51:00.001-07:00

One year my mom decorated her entire Christmas tree in pink and silver. Another year, she and my sister spent a couple of hours hot-gluing real candy to the branches of their live tree. They didn't even bother getting the ornaments out that year.

My theme, on the other hand, is always the same- handmade eclectic! Every year I make a new set of ornaments to put on our tree. The old broken ones get tossed and the new ones get added. I let the kids put up the tree. The only thing I do is hand out the ornaments so they can't rummage through the box and break things. Our tree will never be magazine-worthy but we love it!

I thought I'd share some of the ornaments we have done over the years. These are sort of in chronological order. (Most of them aren't dated.) All of these are handmade but not all by me. We do have a few store-bought ornaments on there because one year my sister complained that we didn't have enough "sparkle" on the tree and proceeded to buy us a set of ornaments the next year (even after I told her that I only wanted to use handmade ones). I put them up so as not to insult her. It's not worth fighting over...

Anyway, here they are (be warned, this is long):

I'm pretty sure this is our oldest ornament. Rock made this in scouts years ago. It's a coke can. They cut the top off and then cut the sides of the can into strips and curled the strips around a pencil to make a wreath. Hmm, one of these years I might have to make these with the kids... (Yes that's hubby's picture in the middle, wasn't he cute?)

I made this when I was a teenager. One of my few attempts to tole paint. I quit when I decided I wasn't going to get any better!

I worked in a ceramic shop the year after graduation. That's when I made these cat ornaments. There used to be some reindeer as well but the kids broke all of them. I loved painting ceramics...

This one and the next were made of styrofoam balls wrapped in scraps of fancy trim and sequins.

Pompoms and hot glue. What more can I say?

I was a huge Garfield fan when I was young. These were made of shrink plastic, using pictures from a Garfield coloring book. The kids always fight over these two.

When we first met, Rock sent me a dozen roses at work with a poem. (We got married 6 weeks later.) I dried the roses and put them in 3 clear plastic bulbs and added some ribbon trim. I think these are my favorite ornaments.

We were pretty poor after we first got married so I made these origami stars out of wrapping paper and glitter glue. Most of them have been crushed now, but I still have a few.

Mom knew we didn't have money for ornaments that first year so she and my Grandma made me these huge styrofoam and colored plastic wrap lollipops. The kids have destroyed all but this one and it's in pretty sad shape too.

These were the first ornaments I made with the kids. We drew all over some aluminum foil with permanent markers and then carefully wrapped the foil around styrofoam balls. Added a hanging loop and a ribbon and we were good to go.

Ahh, my frogs. My sister loves frogs so I decided to make ornaments for her one year. I loved them so much I made a set for myself. They are made out of craft foam and hot glue.

Mom made these ones. Glazed ceramic, decal flowers and silk flowers on top. They look breakable but they really aren't too bad.

I did an ornament exchange with a bunch of women on my favorite homeschooling message board one year. This one was my favorite. I don't know how she knitted such tiny stuff but I love them!

This one's a little goofy looking but I was in charge of weekly activities for the 8-9 year old girls at our church one year. We made these angels out of the old-fashioned clothespins, wired ribbon, lace, pipecleaners and other stuff. They had a lot of fun making them.

And, of course we can't forget the beaded ornaments. These were actually made over several years. Some of them are woven and some are made with pipecleaners. I made a few, mom made a few, and mother in law made some of them- even my daughters made some!

This one's woven.

Beads, lace and pipecleaner.

Woven

And this one is my son's contribution to the Christmas tree this year. I turned him loose with the box of pipecleaners and some basic instruction and this is what he came up with.

Well, that's it. Are you thoroughly bored yet? Have you ever made Christmas ornaments for your tree?

Enjoy!
Korrina

Polymer Clay Tutorial: Striped Filigree Christmas Bulb

2011-11-29T12:08:00.001-07:00

It's time for a holiday tutorial! This one is a really simple project that can be quite striking. This one is in candy cane colors but you could add green to the red and white or use any other Christmas color combination you want.

I've also included some information in this tute about using an extruder. I use mine a lot and I've mentioned it in a few of my other tutorials so I thought it was about time I showed you some of the hints and tips I've learned. Hey, let's start with my extruder pusher!

So this is what it looks like. There are two 18-inch 2x4 boards. Drill a hole in the top one with a bit a little bigger than the barrel of your clay gun.

Attach the two boards together with a big hinge. (My clay pusher is covered with white duct tape 'cause I was too lazy to sand and paint it but I didn't want slivers.) You can kind of see the shape of the hinge under the duct tape.

Close the boards and stick the drill through the hole in the top board to make an indentation in the same spot on the bottom board. This is to keep the plunger from slipping. You don't want it more than 1/4 inch deep or so.

To use it, you just load the extruder with clay (more about that below), stick the plunger in, stick the head of the clay gun through the top hole, rest the end of the plunger in the bottom hole, and push the boards together to get the clay through the hole. (This photo shows the plunger not quite lined up with the barrel of the clay gun. You don't want that. I made sure everything was straight before I pushed the clay through. It helps if you only load the clay gun 3/4 full or less.)

Now you know how to use an extruder! :)

Okay, so on to the real tutorial...

Striped Filigree Christmas Bulb

Supplies Needed:
about 1 oz red clay, well-conditioned
about 1 oz white clay, well-conditioned
waxed paper
1 3-4 inch glass Christmas ball ornament
ribbon bow and glue

Tools Needed:
extruder with medium round hole disk and optional pusher
tissue blade

Directions:
Make sure your clay is good and soft so that it will be easier to extrude. Roll each of the colors into logs small enough to fit in the extruder and about 3/4 the length. (I needed about 2 1/2 barrels full.)

Cut both logs in half lenthwise...

...and switch them so you have two logs that are half red and half white.

Wrap each log in waxed paper, leaving about 1/4 inch of the log hanging out the end.

Close up the other end of the paper. This is to keep your extruder clean. The paper will kind of scrunch up in there and leave no clay in the barrel. Wonderful!

Extrude your clay.

Take the plunger out of the extruder before you take the end off. Toss the paper, unscrew the other end of the extruder and clean it out. Now you're ready for the next load.

Twist one of your extruded strings on the work surface to give it stripes.

Trim the end of the string and start rolling it into a coil.

When you've gone around a couple of times, press it onto the bottom of the glass bulb. You should be able to see a mark on the bottom of the bulb. This should be the center. If you have trouble getting the clay to stick to the bulb, you can brush a thin layer of liquid clay on there or rub it with one of those glue sticks that kids use for paper and stuff. This will give the clay something to grab onto.

Keep wrapping the string around in circles, twisting as you go. Cover half of the bulb and trim the end neatly. This was one entire string for me so it fit perfectly.

It's easier to handle the bulb if you don't have raw clay covering the whole thing so at this point you need to bake it. I like to hang it on a bamboo skewer and rest the skewer on a glass candle holder with the bulb hanging inside. Bake at 265F for 30 minutes.

When it is cool, pull the cap off.

Get another string and cut the end straight. Lay it on the bulb flush with the end of the other string.

Keep wrapping and twisting. If you run out of string, start another one.

Hopefully, your strings will get to the top at the same time. If you have a bigger gap on one side than another, you may have to tweak a little. The last strand should go about halfway up the neck of the bulb. Trim the end at an angle so it lays even with the rest of the strand.

Carefully put the cap back on. Hang it up and bake it for another 30 minutes.

Add a bow and hook and you are done!

The kids are looking forward to making some of these this week!

Enjoy!
Korrina

Recipe of the Week: Korrina's Carmel Corn

2011-11-28T14:48:00.001-07:00

Quick note before we get into this week's post: I've added the photo for last week's recipe so if you want to see the homemade Almond Joys- click here.

Time for another treat! This week it's my carmel corn recipe. About 15 years ago, I worked at one of those carmel corn places in a mall down in Phoenix and I adapted the recipe for home use. This is that recipe!

Korrina's Carmel Corn

3/4 cup unpopped popcorn or 2 bags microwave popcorn

2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup corn syrup
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pop the popcorn. Mix sugars, water, and corn syrup in large saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring often to melt sugar. Add butter and cook to firm ball stage (245-248 degrees). Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda. Pour over popcorn and stir quickly!

Enjoy!
Korrina

Recipe of the Week: Homemade Almond Joy/Mounds Candy

2011-11-21T09:09:00.001-07:00

This is one of several recipes that my mom has been making for years and years. When I was a kid, we used to make probably 20 different kinds of candy (many of them dipped chocolates). She still makes a lot, but not near as much as back then. This recipe was one of our favorites. The best thing about it is being able to tweak the recipe to your own likes. I love the nuts in Almond Joy and I love the dark chocolate in Mounds. With this recipe I can make "Almond Mounds!" So here it is:

Almond Joys/Mounds Clone

1/4 pound butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
14 ounces shredded coconut
1 cup whole toasted almonds
1 bag chocolate chips (milk for Almond Joy, semisweet for Mounds)
Mix together the first 3 ingredients. With your hands, roll the mixture into 1-inch balls. Stick an almond in each one for Almond Joy. Melt chocolate in microwave-safe dish, stirring after every 30 seconds or so. Dip the balls in melted chocolate and place on foil-covered baking sheet. Chill until firm.

This is another one of those not-so-healthy recipes that I tend to share but then again, we tend to give away most of the treats we make anyway!

Enjoy!
Korrina

Polymer Clay Tutorial: Purple Flower Cane

2011-11-15T15:03:00.001-07:00

This cane is really easy! It would be great for a beginner. In fact, my 7 year old daughter is wanting to learn some flower canes- maybe I should teach her this one.

Anyway, only two colors involved and it only took be about an hour to make (including color mixing and working out the geometry of the thing).

So here it is:

Purple Flower Cane

(I really couldn't think of a more creative name for this one, sorry.)

Materials:

equal amounts purple and white clay

translucent clay for background

Tools:

pasta machine or acrylic roller

tissue blade

Directions:

Make the purple and white clay into a skinner blend, starting with the shape shown below. For more info on making a skinner blend, see here.

Make it into a blended log with the white in the middle.

Reduce the log (see here for reducing info) and cut into 3 equal pieces.

Take one of the pieces, further reduce and cut into 4 equal logs. Cut 3 of these in half the long way. You will have one whole log and 6 halves.

Reshape the halves to fit around the whole. You will need to squish the corners toward one another a little to make them narrower and give the cut sides a little curve. Place the petals around the center. Set aside for a minute.

Take the other two logs from the original three, cut them in half the short way (for 4 logs) and cut them into thirds the long way. Stand the log up on your work surface and make a vertical cut straight down the cane.

Eyeball it a little to see where the next two cuts need to be made. Cut all four logs into thirds. You'll have 12 wedges.

Place six of the wedges in the grooves around the first row of petals. Press them on firmly.

Now use the remaining 6 wedges for the outer row of petals. Use your fingers to pull and stretch each wedge to make it wider and thinner. Place them in the grooves around the flower.

Roll out several sheets of translucent clay and wrap the flower 4 or 5 times with it.

Trim the excess background so that the cane is round and not flower-shaped.

Reduce and trim the ends to see your finished cane!

Enjoy!
Korrina

Recipe of the Week: Super Easy No-Cook Fudge

2011-11-14T20:57:00.001-07:00

You don't want to miss this one!

The holidays are upon us and in our house, holidays mean goodies! I may be jumping the gun just a tiny bit but I want to make sure I have time to share all of my favorites.

This recipe has been a favorite in my house for many years. I think my mom originally got it off of a product label, but I'm not sure. (We memorized it the first year and never looked back!) The variations, however, are entirely mine.

So, without further ado, here it is!

Super Easy No-Cook Fudge

1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Melt chocolate chips in microwave-safe bowl for a couple of minutes- stirring after every 30 seconds just until melted and smooth. Quickly stir in the milk and then the nuts. Spread the mixture in the bottom of a foil-lined and greased 8x8 inch pan. Chill for a couple of hours. Cut it into pieces and leave out for an hour or so. (This step will keep the pieces from sticking together when stored. Of course, if you live in my house, the fudge won't make it past the first hour after I make it!)

Try other variations-

Mint Fudge:
Replace the milk chocolate with mint chocolate and leave out the nuts.

Coconut Fudge: (this one's Rock's favorite!)
Replace all of the chocolate with white chocolate, replace the nuts with coconut and add 1/2 teaspoon coconut flavoring.

Cherry Fudge:
Replace the nuts with chopped maraschino cherries and add 1 teaspoon cherry flavoring.

Peanut Butter Fudge:
Use all milk chocolate, replace the walnuts with chopped peanuts, and add a 1/4 cup peanut butter with the milk.

Enjoy!

Korrina

Polymer Clay Tutorial: Orange Star Flower Cane

2011-11-09T10:41:00.000-07:00

I know I've been promising this tutorial for a couple of weeks now but with one thing and another- it didn't happen. Part of the problem was all of the trouble I had making this cane. It just didn't want to come together. I was also fighting some really soft clay and, instead of leaching it, I just decided to go with it. That was a mistake. Hmm, maybe my next tutorial needs to be some basic polymer clay vocabulary and techniques for those of you who are new to the medium.

Okay, moving on... This tute is for the

Orange Star Flower Cane

Supplies:

Polymer Clay in

orange,

white,

deep purple,

light brown,

black,

translucent or other color for packing

Tools:

pasta machine or acrylic roller

tissue blade

Step 1: Let's start with the petals today. (You'll see why later.) Make a skinner blend with orange and white clay. (For detailed instructions on a skinner blend, click here.)

Make your blend into a long strip and fold it accordion-style into a block.

(Don't know why I took this photo... but here's another view.)

Compress and roll it into a round log.

Cut the log in half the long way and perpendicular to the folds and set aside.

Now make a skinner blend with your deep purple and white. (It looks black but I didn't like the pure gray with the orange so I mixed some purple into my black.)

Here you can see the purple in the black. Make your long skinny strip and fold it up accordion-style. The narrower the folds, the more gradual your blend will be. I wish I had made this one narrower...

Compress and flatten the block into a flat strip. Try to make it the same size as the cut side of your orange log. (If you made this too big, you can make it longer and cut the end off.) This is going to be the stripe in your petal so the thicker it is, the fatter your stripe will be.

Put it betweeen the two halves of your orange log (white sides together). Compress and roll the log to make it round again. Reduce to a long skinny cane.

Cut the cane into equal 12 pieces. Next I'm going to share a little more detailed info on how to shape the cane pieces into petals. Skip the next few steps if you don't need this and just form all of your logs into long, skinny petals.

Okay, we want the white side of the cane to be the point of the petal. Look for a faint line along the white side of your cane. You can barely see it here. You are going to pinch the log all along this line.

If you can't see the line on your cane, pinch the each end of the cane where the purple line tapers off.

Twist the cane to line up the pinched parts and pinch a straight line between them.

Your log will probably end up curved like this. Flatten the round side of the cane a little.

Keep shaping, squashing, pinching and stretching until you have a long skinny petal. Do this for all 12 of your segments. Stand them up on the work surface in a circle with a hole in the middle. This is why we did the petals first instead of the center. Now you can see about how big your center needs to be.

Step 2: Now let's make the flower center. Make an orange log about 1/2 the diameter of the hole in your petals and the same length. Wrap the orange log in a thick sheet of clay so the log is about 3/4 the diameter of the hole.

Reduce this log and cut in 7 equal pieces.

Arrange the pieces in a flower shape, compress and reduce.

Cut the cane into 7 equal pieces and arrange into a flower shape again. Compress and reduce to the length of the petals.

Now make a white log about 1/2 the diameter of your brown and orange center. Wrap a thin sheet of black clay around it. Reduce and cut into 12 pieces.

This is where you can really see the trouble I was having with the soft clay. Reduce the pieces as needed to the length of the center piece and arrange them around it. I gave up on getting them all the same diameter and just settled for getting them on there.

Compress the black and white logs onto the center a little. Arrange the petals around the center. You may have to make some of the petals a little skinnier to get them all around. Kind of try to arrange them so the round base of the petals sits sort of in the groove between the black logs. This will turn the logs into triangles when the cane is reduced.

Make wedges of translucent clay and pack in between the petals. Trim off the excess and let it rest overnight. For more information on packing, see the last three photos in another tutorial.

Reduce your cane and cut into it to see what you have made!

If you want more definition between your petals, you can wrap them in a slightly darker orange or something before reducing and cutting. I forget that step a lot but I think in this cane it worked out pretty well without wrapping the petals.

Enjoy!

Korrina

Recipe of the Week: Tater Tot Casserole

2011-11-07T08:25:00.000-07:00

I know, it's been a couple of weeks but I am back again with yet another great wintertime comfort food! I'm starting to sense a pattern here. (Hmm, this might require a little investigation on my part...)

Anyway, just about everyone has their own version of tater tot casserole. I started making this back when Rock and I were first married and it has evolved a lot since then. It's really rich, not very healthy and tastes wonderful! If you want yours to be less rich, leave out some or all of the sour cream. I buy the low-fat or no-fat versions and that helps too.

Tater Tot Casserole

about 1 lb frozen Tater Tots

1/2 lb. browned ground beef
2/3 cup sour cream
2/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 - 4 oz. can mushrooms, drained
French fried onions
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9x13 casserole pan. Place frozen tater tots in bottom of pan. Sprinkle beef over tater tots. In a bowl, mix sour cream,cheese, soup, and mushrooms. Pour over beef. Top with French fried onions. Bake for 50-60 minutes.
It's been even more weeks since I've done a poly clay tutorial. But I have been working on one and I promise I will have it up for you tomorrow! :)

Meanwhile,
Enjoy,
Korrina

Recipe of the Week: Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings

2011-10-31T07:57:00.002-06:00

This is a recipe that is adapted from a recipe I found online. Another great comfort food!

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings

(Yes that is a "Hello Kitty" bowl!)

2 chicken breasts, cut up
1 T butter
1 T minced onion
1/2 T curry powder
1 bay leaf
2 cups chicken broth
1 cans cream of chicken
1 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup sour cream
1 can potatoes, diced
1 tubes refrigerated biscuit dough
Put all but last three ingredients in crockpot. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours. Remove bay leaf and add potatoes and sour cream and stir well. Squash the biscuits a little and cut into quarters. Lay on top of stuff in crockpot. Replace the lid and cook for one more hour. Do not lift the lid until done!

Yummy!

Enjoy!
Korrina

I'll Be Back on Monday

2011-10-22T08:56:00.000-06:00

Sorry I've been gone for a while...

Last week (the day of my last post), we found out that our middle daughter has type 1 diabetes. So, needless to say, it's been a hectic week and a half. But we are starting to get the hang of things and schedules are gradually getting back to normal so I'm hoping to be back with a recipe of the week on Monday.

See you then!
Korrina

Polymer Clay Tutorial: How to Cover a Pen with a Translucent Flower Cane

2011-10-11T08:21:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I showed you how to cover a pen in my tutorial here. And I showed you how to make my blue flower cane tutorial here. (For more tutorials, click here.) Today, we're going to put them together. (I'll get back to the caning next week.)

I decided that if I'm going to show you how to make all of these canes, maybe I'd better show you what to do with them as well. So here's the first one.

Supplies:
~1 oven-safe pen- I'm using a Bic Round Stic (they're actually transparent black now); there are other brands that will work, I'm just not sure which ones
~1 flower cane with translucent background, about 1 inch in diameter and 1.5 to 2 inches long
~translucent clay
~"mud" clay- scrap clay that's been all mixed together so you get a solid (usually muddy) color
~white acrylic paint

Tools:
~small round-nose pliers
~pasta machine or acrylic roller
~tissue blade
~small paintbrush
~bamboo skewer

Directions:
Now, some of the instructions for this pen are exactly the same as in my previous "covering a pen" tute so I will provide a link to it and gloss over them here. If you know what you are doing, you may not need the link. If you don't, you will have a place to refer to for more information.

Step 1: Get the pen ready.
Use the pliers to pull the ink part out of the pen as seen in the first photo here.
Roll a medium-thin (#4 on my Atlas) sheet of "mud" and cover the pen with it, trimming the seam flush. (Sorry, I accidentally deleted the photo for that step.) Smooth the clay over the back end of the pen and trim the clay at the opening. Roll everything smooth.

Stick the pen on the skewer so you have something to hold on to while you paint. Use your paintbrush and white acrylic paint to paint the "mud" (yes, raw clay) white. This will show through the trans clay a little and we don't want a yucky brown background. Now, you could just paint the pen white but I've found that the paint doesn't like to stick to that kind of plastic very well. Also, the mud underlayer makes a thicker layer of clay that is easier to roll the cane-slice seams out of later.

Step 2: Prepare the cane.
You need a fairly short fat cane for this because it will make it easier to add clay to it to make it square. If you've read the other pen tute, you know that I prefer to make my pens with square canes. Well, most flower canes are round and you could just squeeze and pinch to make it square but that would distort the flower. So I came up with another way to do it that I will show you here. So, stand your cane up on the work surface:

Roll out a thick sheet of translucent clay and give your cane a couple more layers. Make sure you cut the ends flush so they butt up against each other and don't over lap. I've used two sheets- you might want more, depending on how much background you want. Don't worry if you don't get it thick enough, you can always add more later.

Score the top of the cane with two parallel lines on opposite sides of the flower.

Lay your cane on it's side and make a mark from the end of each score (on the top) straight down the sides of the cane as shown. You will have 4 marks around the sides of the cane.

Using your sharp tissue blade, make a cut straight down, using the lines you made in the top and sides of the cane as a guide. Go slowly and watch those side lines to make sure you are cutting where you need to.

Do this on both sides. Now score the top and sides again, just like before, only on the other two sides of the flower.

Make the cuts as before. If you find you didn't put a thick enough layer of clay around the cane, you can add a wedge of trans clay to each corner and trim again. Reduce the cane to about 5/8 inch across. (Check out this tutorial if you don't know how to reduce.)

Step 3: Cover the pen with cane slices.
In my other pen tutorial, I said to make the cane about 1/2 inch across. Here, I said to make it about 5/8 inch. Anyone know why? Anyone? Anyone? Okay, it's because of the mud layer. (You already said that didn't you? Sorry, I couldn't hear you.) The extra layer makes the pen thicker and so you need a bigger cane slice to go around. So I probably didn't need to explain that...

Anyway, so start slicing your cane and adding the slices to your pen, butting them up against each other. You should be able to fit 2 slices around on each row. If they're too big, squeeze the sides toward one another so they fit, too small, stretch them.

Now, another (very talented, might I add) polymer clayer and I got into a mini-debate a while back over whether it's more important to have your slices thin or to have them even. She said that thin is better because you don't use as much clay. I said even is better so you have less distortion when you roll it out. Really, if you can achieve thin, even slices, go for it. If you are new to claying or have trouble with thin slices, just concentrate on getting them as even as possible. It really will make for less headache later on.

Keep adding cane slices...

...until the entire pen is covered except for the tip. Go here (starting at the 8th photo- the one with the funny-shaped cane slices) and follow the intructions to finish covering the pen and smoothing it. I've included a few extra photos for those who know what they're doing and/or who just follow the pictures anyway. :)

Bake the pen on a sheet of paper at 265 degrees for 30 minutes.

Here it is, all ready to be sanded and buffed:

Enjoy!
Korrina

Recipe of the Week: Beef Stroganoff

2011-10-10T06:00:00.002-06:00

This is my own personal version of beef stroganoff. It's one of my favorites, but then again, I'm a huge fan of mushrooms.

Beef Stroganoff
1 lb beef stew meat
2 cans mushroom soup
½ can milk
½ onion, sautéed
½ lb sliced fresh mushrooms
2 T flour
2 t salt
2 T beef bouillon granules
dash pepper
1 c sour cream
1 bag egg noodles, cooked
Brown meat; drain. Add onion, salt and pepper. Add soup and milk and sprinkle with flour. Add mushrooms, bouillon and pepper. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer on low 30-60 minutes until meat is tender. Stir in sour cream and serve over egg noodles.

Enjoy!
Korrina

My 100th Post: A Gorgeous Artfire Collection!

2011-10-06T10:16:00.000-06:00

This collection was inspired by one of my newest items on Artfire. I wanted everything to have both zebra stripes and green leaves but I guess that's not a particularly popular combination.

My item in here is the pen in the upper right corner. It kind of reminds me of a zebra hiding in a leafy tree.

Zebra Greens

Curated By: KaelMijoy

ArtFire.com

Vintage Fashion

Enjoy!
Korrina

Polymer Clay Tutorial- Red Lilyish Flower Cane

2011-10-04T06:00:00.003-06:00

I wanted to make a flower cane that was like a lily but I didn't want to go through the hassle of trying to get it to look just like one. (I'm a perfectionist. If it doesn't look like a lily, it's not a lily.) Anyway, so I decided to just do the petals and then let the rest take care of itself- hence the name. I also wanted this cane to coordinate with last week's cane so that I can use them together. Eventually, I will have several different canes that all coordinate. To get the colors to go together, I just added a little bit of last week's blue to some plain red.

Red Lilyish Flower Cane Tutorial

Supplies:
red clay
white clay
black clay
translucent clay

Tools:
pasta machine
tissue blade
clay extruder
needle tool

Directions:
Make a skinner blend using the photo below as a guide. You want some plain white on one end so make sure it hangs over the red. If you've never made a skinner blend before, see here for a really great tutorial. Stop when you have a long, thin strip.

Lay your blended strip out on the work surface. Trim the white end so it is straight across.

Extrude some skinny black strings.

Lay a few strings across the white end of the blend as shown.

Fold the strip back over itself about 2 inches from the end (less if your strip is smaller). Add a couple more strings.

Keep folding the strip back and forth, accordion style, adding 2-4 black strings between layers, until you run out of strip.

Carefully compress the stack from the middle out on all sides to expel air and get it into more of a square log shape. Reduce it until the ends are about 1-inch square.

Cut the log in half...

And re-assemble with the red sides in the middle. (Or you could reverse it to have red petals with white down the middle.)

Compress the two halves and reduce into a long, round cane.

Cut it into 6 equal pieces.

Pinch the pieces in petal shapes.

Add a really thin sheet of black clay to one half of one side of each petal as shown and set aside.

Make a small white log and cover with a thick sheet of black clay.

Reduce to about 1/4 inch or smaller. Put all of the pieces together as shown below.

Roll out a medium-thick sheet of translucent clay. Wrap it around the cane, using a needle tool to press it into the creases.

Add wedges of translucent clay between the petals. Make them big enough to stick out beyond the points of the petals.

Trim the wedges so that the whole thing is as close to a cylinder shape as you can get.

Reduce your cane. Let it rest at least a couple of hours (if you can wait that long) before cutting into it and seeing your work.

Enjoy!

Korrina

Recipe of the Week: Sour Cream Salad

2011-10-03T09:51:00.000-06:00

This is a really simple recipe that, once you've made it, you really don't need a recipe for anymore.

I got it from my mother-in-law last summer when we were up at the hunting spot (camping). If you have a garden, this is especially nice with veggies you have grown yourself.

Sour Cream Salad

2 tomatoes
1 cucumber
2-3 tablespoons lowfat sour cream
Cut the veggies up into bite-size pieces. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and serve immediately.

Told you it was simple!

Enjoy!
Korrina

Polymer Clay Tutorial: Blue Stitched Flower Cane

2011-09-27T06:00:00.001-06:00

Sometimes, when I start a project, I carefully plan everything out with sketches and color chips and recipes. Sometimes I just grab some clay and start creating.

Whenever I can't decide on a color for a project, I gather all the little bits and pieces of one color family and just mix them together, using whatever color I end up with. (I am a little more careful with the coordinating colors.) That's what I did with this one. It's a good way to use up all of those bits and pieces of pretty colors that I just can't bring myself to add to the mud pile- just make sure you don't get rid of any solids that you might need to go with other canes.

Anyway, on to the tutorial...

Blue Stitched Flower Cane

Materials:
polymer clay in tan, white, black, blue, translucent (I didn't keep track of amounts very well. Just keep in mind that you'll need about 8 times more blue than tan.)

Tools:
pasta machine
tissue blade
needle tool or thin knitting needle
extruder with tiny round disk (optional, but highly recommended)

Step 1: The Center of the Flower
Use equal amounts of tan and white to make a skinner blend (if you don't know how to do a skinner blend, click here for a great tutorial).

Roll it up with the lighter end in the middle. (I'm going to have a lot of leftover center cane!)

Make a log of black clay and wrap it in a medium-thick sheet of white. Reduce it and cut into a bunch of pieces. Arrange them around the blended log. (The less space between the black logs, the rounder they will stay. Mine will be fairly flat.)

Pinch and squeeze the black and white logs around the blend until the cane becomes round. Reduce and cut into seven equal pieces.

Put the pieces together as shown below and squeeze together.

Reduce cane and set aside.

Step 2: Building the Petals
Use the blue and some white to make another skinner blend, about 8 times bigger than the first one.

Roll it with the light end in the middle.

Roll or extrude some tiny black strings. (I rolled mine by hand. Only do this if you have plenty of time. :) I probably should have used the extruder.) Make them smaller that the ones shown here. (You'll see in the next photo.)

Cut the blended log in half the long way.

Lay one of the halves, flat side up, on the work surface and lay several tiny strings along the length of the half log.

Put the two halves of the blended log back together and press firmly.

Make two new cuts in the log as shown and repeat with the strings. Only do about 3/4 of the cut with strings, leaving the top without strings.

Put it back together firmly and make two more cuts as shown. More strings in the cut- this time only go about halfway up. Put it back together and reduce a little.

Add a thin sheet of black about 1/3 of the way around, centered over the point where all of the cuts met.

Reduce the cane and cut into 6 pieces.

Step 3: Putting it All Together
Pinch each log into a petal shape, going down the middle of the black sheet (I can see now that I wasn't too careful about that on one of these- but I'm not telling which one.) Arrange them around the center cane. Resize the center as needed to get the petals to go around with enough space between each petal for a thick sheet of translucent clay. (I was right, I've got enough center left to make 3 or 4 more canes.)

Add a thick sheet of trans clay between each petal and place them around the center cane. Make sure the trans hangs out a ways so you can trim it. (See the next photo.)

Trim the trans clay at an angle along each petal so it tapers really well. The more gradually you taper this, the less distorted the petals will be after reducing. It's really hard to tell in this photo.

Roll a long thick sheet of trans clay and start wrapping it around the cane. Use a needle tool to press the sheet into the creases.

Cut the end flush with the beginning of the sheet and butt them up against each other.

Make 6 shallow wedges of trans clay and press one into each crease of the cane.

Looking straight down on the cane, trim away the excess clay of the wedges. Shaving off a little at a time is better than trying to get it all at once. If your blade is flexible, you can curve it a little to help with the shaving. The idea is to get the cane as round as you can before you start to reduce. (I didn't get a photo of that step.)

Reduce as needed for your project.

I haven't made anything with this cane yet but I'll likely be making a pen from it soon. When I do, I'll post a photo here.

Enjoy!
Korrina
P.S. I know it's been a while since I've shared a clay tutorial. Sorry. I hope this one was worth the wait. ;)

Recipe of the Week: Baked Mac and Cheese

2011-09-26T07:39:00.000-06:00

My husband spent two years in South Africa before we were married and this was one of his favorite recipes. I rather suspect the dish is more English than African, but then again, most of the food was...

Anyway, while he was there, he bought a South African cookbook in the hopes that his mom could replicate some of his new favorite foods. It never happened and not long after we were married, I discovered the book and found some really great stuff inside.

This is almost straight from that cookbook. Of course, all of the measurements are metric so I had to do some converting and, over the years, I've tweaked it to fit our family's tastes better.

So, here it is:

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

My 12 year old daughter made this.

1 lb macaroni
6 eggs
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 t mustard
4 c milk
3/4 lbs shredded sharp cheddar
2 T butter
1 tomato cut into wedges
Preheat oven to 325. Cook the macaroni until done. Drain. Beat eggs, add seasonings and milk. Add the macaroni and the cheese and spoon into a large greased oven dish. Dot with butter. Garnish with tomato wedges. Bake for 60-90 min until middle of casserole is set.

Although I have cut this recipe in half, it still makes quite a lot. Feel free to halve it again...

Enjoy!
Korrina

What I've Been Working On

2011-09-21T06:00:00.002-06:00

I haven't been able to get into my clay studio for a couple of weeks so I don't have any new clay to share. But that isn't to say that I haven't been doing anything at all. My sister-in-law and I started a new business a couple of months ago that involves creating community websites for small towns near us and family members. We have 3 of them so far and hope to eventually expand to 50 or more websites. Anyway, I'm doing the technical/design stuff and she does pretty much everything else. So that's what I've been working on. Here are a few of the banner and button ads I've created in the last few weeks:

Most of these are placeholders for our websites but one is for KaelMijoy and two of them are for other businesses.

Links to our three websites are on the right side of this page. If you live in one of these areas, hang around and check things out. All of them include a ton of valuable information.

Enjoy!
Korrina

There's a Budding Novelist in My House!

2011-09-20T07:46:00.001-06:00

It's Tuesday- the day I am supposed to post a tutorial. A tutorial! Are you kidding? I haven't been near my studio in at least 2 weeks! Hopefully I'll be able to get in there in time for next week's tute.

Meanwhile, when I got up this morning and sat at the computer as usual, the word document that was open on the screen caught my eye and I started to read. I realized at once what it was, and as I read, my mouth fell open in wonder.

My oldest daughter, Kjerstin, who is 14 years old, has been making up stories her whole life. When she was 4, I remember going to the grocery store and having to stand next to the car with the door open for several minutes so her imaginary ducklings could all (it varied, but there were usually about 20 of them) get out of the car. If we closed the door too soon she would get upset because it wasn't safe to leave ducklings alone in the car. At about the same age, she started telling us her dreams. Okay, so we weren't dumb enough to believe that she could remember hour-long dreams in minute detail- but we did realize that for her it was a good excuse to tell stories. I admit, I got sick of hearing about them before she was done, but I just let her keep talking.

A couple of years ago, she started writing her stories down. She now has 5 (I think) notebooks entirely full of stories. There are several short stories and 2 novels. I've never read any of them. She says she wants me to wait until she has them typed because I won't be able to read her handwriting. She has, however, read them aloud to her siblings and they absolutely love her stories.

I've read bits and pieces of her work now and then so I knew she was good. But I didn't realize how good she was until I read the document on the computer screen this morning.

In her last drama class, the students were assigned an essay. They were to write about their personal experience on the stage. I imagined the assignment to be a lot different than what she came up with, but maybe I missed something when she told me about it.

Anyway, as you've probably guessed, the word document I read this morning was her drama essay. I haven't edited anything here- just copied and pasted and added the title. I think it's safe to say that, if she continues writing, someday you'll all have heard of the the famous author, Kjerstin Robinson.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kjeri's Drama Essay

On stage the lights shimmer in white brilliance. It is empty for now. A soft murmur of voices came from the rows of seats lining below the anxious actors. The soft music starts and the velvet curtains slide open with a heavy swish. As my fellow actors and actresses step on stage I can smell their fear, see them with shaky hands as they step up to take their place. Not me. I hear my queue so I gently walk onto center stage. With confidence that only I could produce I delivered my lines perfectly. No fear came through my voice and that confidence permeated the air around me, influencing my fellow performers into a sense of comfort. My acting partner and I swept off the stage. I was born to act, nothing could stop me. I quickly changed into my next costume. I stood behind the red curtain and peeked into the crowd. They all laughed at a joke from on stage. “Our turn.” My actor whispered in my ear then we marched on stage. I felt happy and content up there on stage. I could do this forever. I fall onto the ground, but not before being caught by an actor and carried off the stage. I leapt from his arms and turned to watch some more of the play. “Go on Ian, get out there.” our play director said, pushing him back out. The performance was finished with much applause and cheering as all the actors and actresses stood in a line and bowed gracefully. It was over and I was tired but I could not wait for the next time I was in the spotlight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Enjoy!
Korrina

Recipe of the Week: Meatballs with Mushroom Gravy

2011-09-19T08:30:00.000-06:00

I made up this recipe last night out of stuff I already had in the house. This is the kind of recipe I used to make a lot when Rock and I were first married- when we were poor and I really had to work hard to provide variety on a budget. The ingredients are simple as is the food- nothing fancy here but the family really liked it.

You can use purchased meatballs (as I did) or you can make your own. I don't have a recipe for that but I'm sure a quick Google search will provide you with lots of choices (probably too many).

So, on to the recipe:

Meatballs with Mushroom Gravy

1 1/2 lbs turkey meatballs
1 pkg mushroom gravy mix
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cups water
1 can sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon Kitchen Bouquet
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
salt and pepper to taste
cooked rice or egg noodles
If the meatballs aren't pre-cooked, fry them in a little hot oil until cooked through. If they are the frozen kind, just thaw them. Mix the gravy mix and soup together in a large saucepan until smooth; add the water gradually to keep it from going lumpy. Stir in the mushrooms and seasonings. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Keep cooking until gravy thickens. Add the meatballs and heat through. Serve over cooked rice or egg noodles.

Enjoy!
Korrina

Recipe of the Week: Stuffed Shells

2011-08-29T06:58:00.001-06:00

I've only made this a couple of times 'cause stuffing the shells takes a little more work than usual but my kids really prefer it to spaghetti and meatballs. The ingredients are almost exactly the same as for lasagne.

Stuffed Shells

15-20 meatballs, quartered
1/2 box of jumbo shells or manicotti
1 jar spaghetti sauce
3 c. Ricotta cheese
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 egg
2 tbsp Parsley
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
16 oz. Shredded Mozzarella cheese
Cook shells according to package directions. Mix ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, egg, salt, and pepper. Stuff shells or manicotti with cheese mixture and place in a 13" x 9" baking dish coated with non-stick spray. Scatter meatball quarters over shells. Spoon spaghetti sauce over each shell and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes at 350°F.

Enjoy!
Korrina

Friday Finds: Etsy Treasury

2011-08-26T06:00:00.000-06:00

We went camping last week and found a ton of wildflowers but none of my favorite- columbine. So I went searching for them on Etsy instead and I found some gorgeous examples:

Enjoy!
Korrina

How to Teach History (my way)

2011-08-25T06:00:00.002-06:00

We are starting our homeschool on Monday. (My oldest is going to public school part time this year and that starts tomorrow, but that's really beside the point.)

I know I haven't shared much about homeschooling on this blog. It really hasn't been as high a priority as it should have been the last several months. (It's amazing how much kids learn even when there isn't much formal education going on... also beside the point.)

Anyway, I thought it might be nice to share some of my thoughts and ideas about how I homeschool. I'm not trying to convince anyone to do it themselves; I've just found that a lot of people are curious about how it works. I've been homeschooling for going on 10 years now (wow, really?) and if I'm not an expert on the subject... well, I probably never will be.

So, I thought I'd start with my favorite subject- history. I know, I know, for most people that's near the bottom of the list. It's a miracle I don't hate it. I probably had the worst high school history teachers in- well, history. Except one, I can't remember his name but he was the football coach at New Plymouth High School. I loved his history class.

Anyway, I digress (again). History is one of the easiest subjects to teach. Why? Well, because all it is is a bunch of true stories all strung together. It's the textbooks and the teachers that make it boring. Be honest with me, is it really that important to know the exact date Columbus reached the Americas or would it be better to know why he was out there wandering around in the ocean. Of course, it's important to know a general timeline for major events- it's probably a good idea to be aware that he sailed in 1492 and not 1942. But isn't it the adventure, the excitement, the wonder of the event that a child will remember? They can learn the dates later, when they've got the stories down pat.

Have you figured out where I'm going with this? The best way to learn history is to read about it. And get this: The books you read don't even have to be non-fiction! Of course, you have to be aware that the historical fiction is not completely factual but in most cases, the people, places, and events give a pretty good picture of what that time was like.

The first of the Tennis Shoes books.
I read this for the first time when
I was about 12.

Most of you have probably never heard of my favorite historical fiction writers because they are both LDS (Mormons, which I am). One is Chris Heimerdinger and he wrote a series of books called the "Tennis Shoes" series in which characters travel back in time to various Book of Mormon and Bible locations and times. They meet incredible people from history and witness events that we can only dream about. The first book is for 11-12 year olds and each book in the series is a little more advanced reading than the previous. By the 11th one (so far), they get pretty deep. I understand many of the scripture stories way better than I ever would have had I not read those books.

My point here is not necessarily to sell you on Chris' books (although I highly recommend them) but to illustrate just how great an impact good historical novels can have on one's understanding of history. Of course, reading some of the non-fiction is a good idea as well, just to clear up any question about whether certain events really happened.

Now, all of this isn't to say that I just pick up school books that take place in another time at random. There actually is a series, written for homeschoolers that we use that took me 8 years to find. It's called "Story of the World." The history of the entire world has been broken down into 4 years worth of lessons. Each year is broken down further into major events, and those are broken down into individual stories.

We are studying Ancient Times this year...

A couple of times a week we read aloud one of the stories together. They are easy enough for the youngest kids to understand but have enough "meat" to keep the older ones' attention. I check out books from the library for more about the time period/place we are studying. (Everyone reads those on their own time.) We have activities for the little kids, supplemental (required) reading for the middle ones, and research assignments for the older ones.

Of course, my enthusiasm for the subject probably helps a lot with being able to keep their interest but all in all, I think we've finally found what works for us in history. Now, if I could just learn to love science...

I hope this wasn't too long-winded and that you were able to get something out of it.

Enjoy!
Korrina

What I've Been Working On...

2011-08-24T06:00:00.002-06:00

Once again, not my blog. :)

I actually haven't done much claying either because we went camping with all of the kids and my mom and dad and sister last week.

We were at a place called Warm River where the river is never more than a few feet deep (in most places not above your knees) and has a hot spring running into it so it never gets below 51 degrees. The kids take their tubes and walk upriver a ways and then get in and float back down to their campsite. It's gentle enough that even the smallest children can ride on it.

For those of us that find the water too cold in spite of the hot spring, there were service berries everywhere just begging to be picked-- we filled 2 5-quart ice cream buckets with them and could have gotten a lot more. We're hoping they make good pancake syrup. (They make really good eating!)

Now, for the pictures I took. (Grandpa got tons of pictures of the kids floating down the river but I haven't gotten copies of those yet.)

Berries weren't the only things we picked. I know you're not supposed to pick the wildflowers but there were just too many women (and girls) in the group to not pick a few. :) Mom wants to recreate some of them in embroidery and I (of course) want to recreate them in clay. So we picked one or two of each, put them in my juice pitcher, and brought them home where I took photos of all of them. It gave me some good photography practice, too!

I probably should have paid more attention to the background...

Something ate part of this flower before we got to it.

Enjoy!
Korrina

A Blogger Bug

2011-08-23T07:00:00.000-06:00

For the last several weeks, I have not been able to comment on blogspot blogs because of some sort of bug in the system. Google doesn't seem to be doing anything permanent about it but, in case you are experiencing the same problem, I thought I'd share with you a couple of solutions. (BTW, this only seems to be affecting those using Internet Explorer.)

1. Log out of your Google account and then log back in without checking the "stay signed in" box. Annoying solution for me as I never log off my Google account.

2. Use a different browser. I've been working as a web designer the last several months and so I have several browsers installed on my computer for testing purposes. I tested the problem in Google Chrome and in Safari and both work fine. I'm sure others will as well.

Hopefully one of those things will work for now and hopefully Google is trying to come up with a solution to this problem (although I, personally, am not holding my breath).

Korrina

Recipe of the Week: Broiled Shrimp with Parmesan

2011-08-22T06:00:00.004-06:00

We love shrimp in our house... 'nuff said. :)

Broiled Shrimp with Parmesan

1 lb cooked shrimp
1/4 cup melted butter or margarine
1/4 cup shredded fresh parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
I remove the shrimps' tails before cooking to make it easier for my little ones to eat but this step is optional. Preheat broiler to 450 degrees. Toss everything together in a mixing bowl or large plastic bag. Spread it all out on a broiler pan tray and put it in the oven. Broil for 5-10 minutes until everything is hot and cheese starts to melt.

Enjoy!
Korrina

Recipe of the Week: Macaroni and Cheese

2011-08-01T07:00:00.002-06:00

It's that time of the week again! Recipe day! This is one of my family's favorite recipes. My 14-year-old doesn't usually care too much what she puts in her mouth but she had seconds and thirds the last time I made this. It tastes absolutely nothing like any of the boxed varieties (and that's a good thing).

This recipe is a really basic one for me. I wanted homemade mac and cheese one day so I just started making it. I really don't have it written down anywhere (until now). You can also eliminate the macaroni and use the sauce for fondue- it's wonderful on cubed bread or toast and fresh veggies!

It's not the healthiest recipe but at least when you make something from scratch, you can substitute healthier ingredients- and you know you're not getting all of those chemicals. Use whole-wheat pasta (I used the rainbow kind here), skim milk, lowfat mozzarella (for the cheddar), and, well, there's not a lot of substituting you can do for the butter but you can use a lower-fat margarine (don't try to brown it like the recipe says-just melt it). I'm more worried about avoiding chemicals than fat and sugar (for right now, anyway) so I just use the butter.

Macaroni and Cheese

Sorry for the lousy picture- I had to use my cell phone...

12 oz bag macaroni
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
3 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded fresh parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Boil the macaroni in lots of water until it's done, drain it and set aside. Melt the butter over fairly high heat, stirring often, until it starts to brown. Add the flour all at once and whisk until smooth. Lower the heat to medium and slowly add the milk, whisking constantly. Continue stirring until mixture has started to thicken. When it's about the consistency of a nice, thick cream gravy, take it off the heat and let it sit for 5-10 minutes to cool a little. Put the sauce back on the heat (low this time) and add the cheeses and salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, over low heat until the cheese has melted and the sauce is nice and creamy. Add the sauce mixture to the macaroni and serve.

I usually serve it as a side dish with pork chops or salmon. It's also great with a baked ham!

Enjoy!
Korrina

P.S. If you ever try one of my recipes, come back and comment. I'd love to know what you think!

My First Artfire Collection!

2011-07-29T07:00:00.000-06:00

On both Etsy and Artfire, members can create lists (usually following a theme) of their favorite items to share with others. On Etsy, these are called Treasuries and on Artfire they are called Collections. While I have done quite a few Etsy Treasuries in the past, this is my first Artfire Collection!

There's nothing like a cold, creamy ice cream on a hot summer's day. Since I can't really share the real thing with you here, I thought I'd share some fun stuff I found on Artfire this week.

We All Scream for Ice Cream!

Curated By: KaelMijoy

ArtFire.com

Craft Tutorials

Enjoy!
Korrina

What I've Been Working On...

2011-07-27T09:19:00.001-06:00

...obviously not my blog. :)

I didn't have time to post a recipe or a tutorial this week but I did take a few minutes to photograph the beads I have been working on for the last week or so.

These aren't done. I have sanded some of them and plan on buffing all of them. The ones that haven't been sanded won't look much different from how they look here- just a little smoother- a nicer texture I think.
These first four are made from canes with translucent backgrounds. It's amazing how different the various brands of trans clay look when they are done. The cores of all of these are white so the yellowish color is just the trans clay. I kind of like the way the yellowish trans makes the beads sort of antiquey.

These ones were made with Fimo.

These are Kato trans and Fimo colors.

These are made of Kato.

These are all Fimo.

I made the cane for this last one many years ago when I was just starting. I saw a picture of an extruded cane (not knowing how they did it) and decided to try the design on my own. This cane was the result. It's hard to tell but there is a little orange in there with the brown and black.

Enjoy!
Korrina

Tutorial: How to Add a Charm to a Clay Pen

2011-07-19T06:49:00.001-06:00

This is the third tutorial in a series showing how to make a polymer clay charm pen. The first shows how to cover a pen in clay and can be found here. The second covers sanding and buffing/glazing and can be found here.

So this week it's adding the charm to a clay-covered pen. Let's get started.

Supplies:
1 clay-covered pen, cured, sanded, and buffed or glazed
2-3 charms- clay or otherwise
1 headpin
5 or more jump rings big enough to fit onto the charms

Tools:
Hand drill with a small bit (mine is about 2/32" I think)
Round-nose pliers
Flat-nose jewelry pliers
Wire cutter

Step 1: Putting the loop on the end of the pen.
Drill a hole in the end of the pen with the hand drill.

Drop a headpin into the other end of the pen, head last. If your hole is too big and the head can go through, bend the end of the pin over so it can't go through the hole.

It will look like this:

Make a loop with your round nose pliers...

... and trim off the excess with your cutters.

Step 2: Preparing the charms.

Open a jump ring. Make sure you use a twisting motion rather than just pulling it open, otherwise you will weaken the ring.

Add the charm. These are just a couple of slices from the same cane I used on the pen. I just baked them between two layers of glass to make them shiny so I wouldn't have to sand/buff/glaze.

Close that ring and add another one to it.

Now add three rings to your other charm. (Don't want them to hang at the same level.)

Step 3: Attaching the charms.

Open up the top ring on each charm (if you closed them before) and attach them to the loop on the end of the pen. (Photo only shows one ring on the charm- I added another one later.)

All done!

Step 4: Finishing
Now use your round-nose pliers to put the ink barrel back in the pen. DO NOT push on the metal tip of the pen as this could cause it to not work, or worse, leak ink all over.

Finished pen!

Enjoy!

Korrina

Recipe of the Week: 10-Grain Pancakes

2011-07-18T11:11:00.002-06:00

So here's a recipe entirely my own. I wanted a healthy pancake mix that didn't cost a fortune and that I could use my food storage in. This recipe fits the bill- almost everything on here can be stored a long time. Your almonds and brown rice have to be stored carefully as they will go rancid if not treated right and you can substitute egg powder for the egg and water or powdered milk for the cranberry juice (although it tastes better with the juice). You can leave the commercial pancake mix out of the recipe and just do it with the other ingredients but it will make a heavier, crumblier pancake that the kids won't like as well. I like it.

Oh, one other thing- you may or may not be able to find the various flours in your local store. Ours has a huge variety of health/organic foods. If the local health food store doesn't have them (or you don't want to pay the price- that's me), you can grind them yourself. If you do food storage, a wheat grinder is something you should have anyway, and it will work for all grains. Don't grind the flax seed- just put it in a baggie and pound on it with something heavy. You only want to break down the shell a little so your body can absorb the fiber better.

Okay, so enough with the commentary- on to the recipe...

10-Grain Pancake Mix

3 cups commercial (just add water-type) pancake mix
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/8 cup barley flour
1/8 cup garbanzo bean flour
1/8 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cups white flour
3/4 cup finely ground cornmeal
1/4 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder
2 tablespoons flaxseed, slightly crushed
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
1/4 cup millet
2 tablespoons cup slivered raw almonds
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt

Mix everything together. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 6 cups of mix.

10-Grain Pancakes

(this makes about 4 med-size pancakes- multiply as needed)
1 cup 10-Grain Pancake Mix
1 egg
1/2 cup cranberry juice
2 tablespoons veggie oil
Beat everything together until smooth and cook on medium-hot griddle or skillet.

Don't expect to make as many of these for your family as they normally eat- they are really hearty and very filling.

Enjoy!
Korrina

Recipe of the Week: Chicken and Mushrooms

2011-07-11T11:31:00.000-06:00

Here's another recipe that I have no idea where it came from. This was my first time trying it and it turned out really well. The kids liked it too.

Chicken and Mushrooms

2 tbsp olive oil

4 boneless skinless breast halves

8 oz mushrooms, quartered

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup green onion, chopped

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

3 teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons cold water

Place all ingredients except the cornstarch and water in a large heavy skillet with a lid and cover. Heat to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until chicken is done, about 10 - 15 minutes. Mix the cornstarch and water together until smooth. Push everything over to one side and add cornstarch to liquid on the empty side. Mix well with juices. Return all ingredients to an even place in pan, simmer for 5 minutes. Serve over cooked rice or egg noodles.

Enjoy!
Korrina

What I've been working on... 4th of July Weekend

2011-07-06T18:00:00.002-06:00

Once again, my blog is getting neglected. I promise you will get a recipe and a tutorial next week. For now, see photos of the craft fair I did last weekend...

Oh, my, gosh! It was a busy weekend. On Friday, I went and set up my fixtures for my booth at the park in preparation for the craft fair on Saturday. Then ran home and got everyone ready to go to my Grandma's wedding (yes- grandma, she's 80-something, in a wheelchair, lives in a nursing home, and just got married) an hour away.

Rodney and Grandma!

Rodney's a great guy and I'm very happy for them both!

So we got home from that about 11:00 pm and went straight to bed.

Saturday morning, we had to be up at 6:00 to get to the craft fair and finish setting everything up. My canopy is new and I don't have wall for it yet but I hoped the booths on three sides of me would help shade things. No such luck. There was only another booth on one side of me. The other two were no-shows. I had to put up the blue half-wall that came with my canopy so the breeze couldn't blow over some of my lighter stuff. (Next step: canopy walls- white) That also kept the sun from making all of my creations soft and saggy.

My "artwork" table. That blue tarp made the booth quite dark...

Holiday clay, paper dolls, and stuff made by my mom and my kids.

My flower pendants and my daughters' yarn dolls.

The entire booth- you can see clear over to the next aisle.

At 6:00 we packed up and went over to the local golf course where they were having a huge street fair/show thing. Anyway, at 7:00 the symphony from the local college played and we (me, hubby, our six kids, my parents, hubby's parents, hubby's brother (and his wife and son), my sister, her boyfriend, and a stray nephew) sang along with the songs we knew, ate junk food (including funnel cakes and parmesan corn on the cob), played with the kids and just generally hung out until it was time for Glen Beck to go on stage. There were thousands of people there. I know that's probably not very impressive to most people but in a town where the entire population is around 1,500... Well, you see my point. Wait, I have video:

(The three kids getting in the way were my nephew, AJ, and my two oldest daughters, Kjeri and Emmy.)

So, after Glen Beck was the fireworks show and it was AWESOME! Needless to say, it was another late night.

Sunday we went to church and then over to my BIL's for a barbecue and cards. We weren't real late but I had to get up early again on the 4th for the last day of the craft fair. (We don't do business on Sunday, so my booth just stayed empty that day.)

So early Monday morning found us out in the park setting up my booth again. (That is, after the scout breakfast.) However, before I could start selling, I had to go advertise our other business in the parade. Yep, we had a float in the city parade. Okay, so it was my father-in-law's truck with banners on each side and our family (minus Kjeri, who was watching the booth) dressed in green t-shirts with goofy headgear. It was fun anyway, and lots of people liked our "hand hats."

"When's the parade going to start, Mom?"

Then, we went back to the craft fair and I hung out there all day with my two oldest daughters while everyone else went to Uncle Tony's house. The wind blew all day. By 3:00, I was fed up with fetching things off the ground and packed up and went to Tony's house as well, where everyone celebrated the real 4th by having leftover barbecue, playing more cards, water fighting, and lighting our own fireworks. Once again, it was a late night but we all got to sleep in the next day.

And that was our 4th of July weekend...

I think I'll go take a nap now.

Enjoy!
Korrina

Polymer Clay Hints and Tips: Making a Clay-Covered Pen Shiny

2011-06-29T13:15:00.000-06:00

Okay, so last time I showed you how to cover a pen in polymer clay cane slices- this week it is sanding, buffing and glazing. Let's start with sanding.

There are a couple of important keys to sanding polymer clay items. First, get the clay as smooth as you can before you bake so you don't have to sand as much. Second, don't skip grades of sandpaper. I usually start with 220 grit, then move on to 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, and 2000. Sometimes I don't go all the way to 2000, depending on how shiny I want it and whether I will be glazing the piece. Use wet/dry sandpaper (the black kind) and cut the sheets into quarters for easier handling. If the piece you cut doesn't have the grit printed on the back, be sure to write it on there- you can't tell what grit it is by looks or touch. :)

I use a dremel minimite drill for sanding my pens. I just happened to have a bit for the dremel that looks like this:

I don't know what it is called or what size it is but it's just a shaft with a wood-screw-type end on it that screws into the end of the pen just perfectly:

If you don't have this stuff, or can't figure out where to buy it, you can just hold the pen in your hand and sand longer.

You're also going to need a place to work and a bowl of water. (I usually have mine lukewarm. Hot will soften the clay and cold will freeze your hands.) For a work surface, I usually settle into my easy chair with the TV remote handy, lay a towel on my lap, add one of the glass panels I clay on, and add another towel on top of that, with a third towel under my elbow to catch the water that tends to run down my arm. (Although that usually only happens when I'm not using the drill.)

Dip the sandpaper in the water:

Hold the drill in one hand and the sandpaper in the other, kind of curved to the shape of the pen. (I'm a lefty so I won't even try to tell you which hand should hold what- I'll get all confused.) Don't turn the drill on until you have the pen against the sandpaper. If you aren't (gently) holding on to the pen, it could wobble all over and stretch the opening of the pen until it doesn't fit on there anymore. Move the sandpaper back and forth as the pen spins around, holding the sandpaper lightly against the pen. Every so often, stop and feel the pen with your fingers to find places it needs more sanding. The first grit will need a lot more sanding than the others. Use the first grit until you can't find any more dips or bumps with your fingers. Rinse your sandpaper in the water every so often to keep residue from building up on it and to keep it wet. Then move on to the other grits for about 30 seconds each. (A minute or two if you are not using the drill.)

After you have gone through all of the grits, buff the pen on a dry part of one of your towels:

You can stop there or you can buff or glaze the pen- read on:

Some people own an electric buffer but I just couldn't afford one so I came up with my own alternative using stuff I already had on hand. So here's my method:

You need a vise. This one suctions on to the table.

You also need a buffing wheel. I made mine out of a white felt and old jeans denim. I cut a bunch of 5-inch circles from the felt and the denim and then glued them together in a stack about 2 inches thick. I put a hole in the center (can't remember how, but I'm sure you'll come up with something...) and stuck a piece of threaded metal stuff (had to cut it down to about 6 inches) I found at the hardware store through the hole. I added a washer and a nut to each side of the fabric and tightened it down good to hold it in place.

Now you need an electric drill. Stick the bar of the buffing wheel into the drill and tighten it down:

Make sure your vise is securely attached to the table and clamp the drill upside down in the vise:

Don't forget your earplugs- this is gonna be loud. Safety glasses are probably a good idea too.

Now, I don't know if all drills have this button but hubby says most of them do. When you hold down the trigger on the drill, there should be a switch or button somewhere that you can use to hold the trigger down when you let go. On mine, it's the little black switch above (below) the trigger. Now you'll have two hands to hang on to your pen:

Make sure that the bottom of the wheel is turning away from you. Hold the pen GENTLY against the buffing wheel, making sure that you are holding it near the bottom of the wheel so if it grabs the pen, the pen will go flying away from you and not toward you. Keep the pen moving constantly so it doesn't get to warm anywhere.

And there's your shiny pen all ready for its charms!

If you don't want to mess with the buffing (and even some of the sanding) you can glaze your pen instead. I like the feel of a buffed pen the best but sometimes you don't have time or equipment for sanding and buffing, or you've used metal foils or surface treatments that need to be sealed.

Here's how I glaze a pen:

You need a way to stand the pen up while it is drying. I use a piece of foam packing material. You can use a bamboo skewer or you can use toothpicks inside the pen to stand it up. I usually use the toothpicks. Hold two of them together and stick them about halfway into the end of the pen:

Stick a third toothpick in the opening next to the other two. Hopefully, it will create a tight fit and stick out beyond the other two toothpicks. If it's too loose, try a fatter toothpick, or push it up level with the others and add a fourth toothpick.

Stick it in your foam thing. Here you can see my glaze of choice. Don't use a spray as most of them will react with the clay and keep it sticky forever. The same goes for any oil-based varnish or fingernail polish.

Wet a makeup sponge and wring it out thoroughly. Dip the corner of the sponge in the glaze and scrape the excess on the edge of the container:

Apply the glaze to the pen with the sponge, re-dipping as needed:

Let it dry for a 2-3 minutes and then look for air bubbles. You can see one here:

Use the corner of the sponge to gently wipe away the air bubble. You can also try a sharp pin to burst the bubble but I haven't had much luck with that.

Let it dry for at least a couple of hours. If you want, do another coat or two.

Next time we will add a charm to our clay pen...

Enjoy!

Korrina

Recipe of the week: Chicken Enchilada Casserole

2011-06-27T09:58:00.003-06:00

The second week in June at our house has been dubbed "birthday week." In one week we have 3 birthdays within our household and 2 more outside the immediate family.

On our birthdays, we get to choose anything we want for our birthday dinners (or any restaraunt when we can afford it, which doesn't happen very often). Eli wanted crab legs, asparagus, cheetohs, pigs in a blanket, and mashed potatoes. (We split it up into lunch and dinner.) I had steak, grilled stuffed mushrooms, green peas, and french fries. Emmy chose chicken enchilada casserole and corn.

This recipe is one of my family's favorites. Although, my oldest daughter complains that she doesn't like it and then proceeds to eat seconds. I call it a casserole instead of just "enchiladas" because everything is just layered in there like a lasagne- I don't have time to fill and roll individual enchiladas for eight people. If you want to put it together in individual enchiladas, go for it. You'd just roll the beans, chicken, and olives up inside the tortillas and add the sauce and cheese over the top.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

2 lbs chicken breasts
12 corn tortillas
2 10oz cans red enchilada sauce
2 cans black beans, drained
1 can black olives, sliced
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
sour cream

Cube chicken and cook in a little oil over medium heat. Spread 1/2 can sauce in bottom of 9x13 pan. Arrange 4 tortillas over sauce. Top with half of the chicken, half of the olives, 1 can of the beans, 1 cup cheese, and a half can of the sauce. Add 4 more tortillas, remaining chicken and olives, another can of beans, 1 cup cheese and a half can of sauce. Top with remaining tortillas, sauce and cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until heated through. Serve with sour cream.

Enjoy!
Korrina

What ever happened to "plain" food?

2011-06-24T17:34:00.002-06:00

Every so often I run across an article or story online that I just have to comment on. Since most of these already have a gazillion comments, I prefer to share my thoughts here.

So just now I found a link to this article on the Yahoo! home page (go read it, it's short, I'll wait):

The Rise of the Super Donut

I know that most of those probably look "yummy" to many people but all but two of those turned my stomach. Ginger, peach and molasses doesn't sound bad and a donut on a cupcake- well, I'm just indifferent to that one.

I was "taught" (unintentionally) growing up that cheese pizza was boring and to get your money's worth, you had to get as many toppings as possible. Vanilla ice cream was gross unless you were making a sundae or root beer float, and so on. Apparently, the more garbage you can pile on your food, the better.

It wasn't until I grew up and left home that I discovered that my favorite pizza has only two toppings (mushrooms and sausage) and cheese pizza comes in a close second. Most of my kids like "plain" cheese pizza the best.

I also discovered that vanilla is actually a "flavor." I used to think that "vanilla" and "plain" meant the same thing. Not so. I love vanilla ice cream! Sure, it's great with root beer or hot fudge, but sometimes less is more. My kids' favorite flavor of yogurt is vanilla. If they want fruit in it, they add their own.

As far as the donuts go... my favorite has always been a boring glazed one. In fact, the other day, while walking through the bakery in our grocery store (where everything is made from scratch) and I could smell the donuts frying, I wondered aloud to my husband, "Do you think they would sell me some plain donuts right out of the fryer, no glaze or sugar or anything?" I didn't ask, but maybe I should have- but then again, maybe I should just make my own, then I could have them any way I want.

So, what plain foods do you love that the industry has messed with too much? I'd love to hear your comments...

Enjoy!
Korrina

P.S. Oh, and something else I thought of after posting this: What's wrong with "plain" M&M's. I remember when they changed them from "plain" to "milk chocolate." Even as a kid I thought, "Well, duh, they're all milk chocolate." (Of course, that was before dark and peanut butter and coconut and pretzel and...)

What I've been working on...

2011-06-23T12:23:00.000-06:00

I keep promising myself that I'm going to start blogging more often and then things come up and I just can't get to it as often as I'd like. Now I'm getting ready for the next craft fair on July 2nd. I don't have as much inventory as I'd like so as soon as a craft fair starts to get closer, I start to panic and clay like crazy. You'd think I'd learn and try to work more steadily, but I'd probably still panic during the last two weeks 'cause I still don't have enough stuff.

So, here's a quick post about the projects I've been working on (almost all of these photos will have to be redone before I can post them in my Artfire and Etsy shops, so you probably won't see them there for a while):

I wanted to do one of those "variations on a kaleidoscope" canes... All three canes in this bracelet were made from the same elements- just put together in different ways. I also came up with my own method for making a bezel out of clay. The small disk beads are clay and the bicones are czech crystals. They're all strung on stretchy cord so I wouldn't have to figure out how to do a clasp. (I really don't have many jewelry parts.)

The rest of the photos are things I've been developing for my "Christmas in July" section in my booth:

This one and the next three snowflakes all measure about 4 inches across. They are entirely made of strings and balls of solid white clay liberally coated with iridescent glitter. I used a picture of a real snowflake under a glass work surface to provide a template for each snowflake. None of them look much like the real snowflakes they represent except for the basic structure. I really enjoyed doing these. There will probably be more in the future.

These three are some filigree bulbs I did. They each took 2-3 hours to make so I probably won't sell many of them 'cause the prices will be fairly high... They are all made with extruded clay strings in red, green, and gold clay and then brushed with metallic powders to make them really shine.

This one's my favorite. Unfortunately, it also took the longest to make.

Hopefully you'll see another new post soon!

Enjoy!

Korrina

Clay-Covered Pen Tutorial: How to Cover a Pen with Polymer Clay

2011-06-21T07:00:00.024-06:00

I decided it's about time that I do a pen tutorial since I've only done about 120 of them (pens, I mean)...

This is a very simple method of doing a pen. The size and shape of the cane makes it really easy to line everything up well.

You may notice that the cane I used in this tutorial is the one in the cane tutorial that I did last time. I didn't plan it that way. I actually made the cane a year or so ago and I just made this pen yesterday. Anyway, here it is...

Supplies:

square cane

Bic Round Stic pen (some other brands will work but some will melt in the oven so be careful if you choose another brand)

Tools:

needle-nose pliers

sharp tissue blade

tiny circle cutter or sharp craft knife

1 sheet white cardstock

clay-dedicated baking pan

Step 1: Take the ink out of the pen. Use a pair of needle-nose pliers to gently but firmly pull on the black part of the pen until it comes out of the barrel. (Don't pull on the metal part or you will have a mess.)

Step 2: Prepare your cane. For this tutorial, you need to use a square cane sized to as close to 1/2 inch as you can get.

Step 3: Slice your cane. You'll need about 20 slices. Try to get them as even as possible. The thicker they are, the easier it is to roll the seams together but the thicker the pen will be. So keep that in mind when you cut your slices. Some people say to slice as thin as possible but I don't agree with that for pens. It's really up to you.

Step 4: Start covering the pen. Start at the top of the pen and put two slices of cane side by side around the end of the pen. (Sorry this pic is blurry.)

If the bottom edges don't quite match up, use the flat of a tissue blade to gently press the lower edge up a little to even things up.

Continue covering the pen with cane slices, evening out the edges as you go.

Don't cover the end of the pen where it narrows yet.

The two slices on the end need special treatment. Squeeze two adjacent corners toward one another to make the shapes shown below. Press the slices onto the tip of the pen, lining up the wider bottom edge with the slices already in place. If the other sides don't line up with the end of the pen, don't worry about it as long as they are close.

For the top end of the pen, cut a small circle out of the center of a cane slice, either with a tiny circle cutter or a sharp craft knife.

Press it over the open spot on the end of the pen. Smooth the edges down the best you can with your finger. (We'll come back to this later.)

Step 5: Finishing. Lay the pen on your work surface and roll it back and forth with your palm a little.

(Not pictured) Using a really sharp tissue blade, shave off raised areas to prevent too much distortion. Then roll it on the work surface again to smooth everything out.

Hold the top end of the pen lightly in your fingers and roll the bottom end of the pen on the work surface to smooth the seams out there.

Tap the top end of the pen on the work surface to get rid of the seam. Smooth it out the rest of the way with your fingers.

Rolling should have made the two cane slices at the end extend out beyond it a little. If it didn't, add a couple of slivers of clay from another slice. Trim the end neatly with a sharp blade.

Lay the pen on your work surface and run your fingers lenthwise along the pen to smooth it out even more.

Step 6: Bake it on a piece of accordian-folded cardstock. I usually bake a pen at 265F for 30 minutes. Here's the pen with a couple of others I've done as well as some beads my 6-year-old made.

Next time I'll share some sanding and buffing tips...

Enjoy!

Korrina

Recipe of the Week: BBQ Beans

2011-06-06T08:13:00.003-06:00

Summer is finally here! Yesterday was our first really warm day and it was gorgeous! (Three of my kids slept out on the trampoline.) All of this sunshine has gotten me thinking about picnics and cookouts so I thought I'd share one of my favorite summertime recipes. I don't like green bell peppers or onions (which a lot of bbq bean recipes have in them), so there are no peppers and only minced dried onions. If you want one with those things in it, you can saute some up and add them or go find another recipe that does include that stuff.

On a side note, I am a really picky eater. I won't touch onions unless they are chopped so fine and cooked so thoroughly that I can't tell they are there. I also won't eat broccoli, carrots, spinach, cauliflower, tomatoes and probably some others unless they are raw. And there's a bunch of veggies that I won't touch at all unless, like the onions, I can't tell they're there. The one veggie I will eat no matter how you cook it (or not cook it) is potatoes. (Although from a dietary view they are considered a starch.) I am from Idaho, after all. Also, the only fruits I will eat are apples and bananas and occasionally an orange or a canned pear. I will eat berries if they are super sweet (especially huckleberries, which we go pick in the woods in August/September).

Why am I telling you this? Just so you know that most of my recipes will not contain the stuff mentioned above. And if they do, chances are I've never tasted it. Just so you know...

Anyway, on to the recipe. I don't have a photo of them but they look a lot like this photo I found in a Google search (except I can see an onion in there):

Korrina's BBQ Beans

3 cans pork and beans
1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/4 cup barbeque sauce*
3 Tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon mustard
2 Tablespoons dried minced onion
liquid smoke to taste
Mix everything together and warm over low heat until heated through.

*I usually use my mother-in-laws bbq sauce recipe so here it is as well (you get two recipes in one this week):

Linda's Barbecue Sauce

24 ounces ketchup
3-7 drops liquid smoke
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoon worchestershire sauce
2/3 cup brown sugar

Mix everything together and pour what you don't need back into the ketchup bottle. Make sure you label it so you don't confuse it with the ketchup. (They are very similar in color.)

Actually, I remember eating this sauce in high school. Linda was a school cook at my high school and I'll bet that's where she got this recipe. Anyway...

Enjoy!

Korrina

My oldest daughter- KjeriAnne

2011-05-29T19:10:00.001-06:00

Okay, so my oldest daughter wanted to know why all I talk about on my blog is my baby and my clay stuff. She reminded me that I have 5 other kids I can brag about. I always tell the older ones that when the cuteness wears off, I quit bragging about them.

Let me tell you though, that there are a lot of good things to say about Kjeri. First of all, she is an awesome big sister. A little moody but that's to be expected from a teenager. She is always the littlest kids' favorite (when they're not scared to go near her...).

Kjeri is also a writer. I've only read a little of what she's written because she's self-consious (hmm, I've been slacking in teaching English apparently), but what I have read has been great. She's written a couple of books (novels) and she has read them all aloud to her younger sister, who loves them. She's saving up for a computer so she can get them typed up and start revising. I'm hoping to talk her into submitting them for publication eventually. If that doesn't happen, maybe I can get here to start her own blog...

There are a million more things I could say about her- she's gorgeous and smart and helpful (sometimes) and, funny and, and, and... But instead of going about her, I'll just share some photos:

This one was a year or two ago but is one of my favorites. She seldom wears her glasses anymore...

An example of what a good big sister she is (eyeroll). The one in front is 4yo Josie and the one next to Kjeri is 6yo Miri.

Occasionally she lets me take her picture.

All of my kids with my Grandma DeGiorgio last Christmas. Clockwise from upper left. Josie, Kjeri, Emmy, Sarah, Miri, Grandma, Eli

Okay so this one is about 6 years old (she was 8), but it's another of my favorites. It's actually hanging on my living room wall.

Self-portrait. This is one of her favorites.

Showing off the huckleberries we picked that year. (No, we won't tell you where our spot is...)

Kjeri was in the delivery room when Josie was born. They've been really close ever since.

Maybe I need to spotlight one of my family members every week...

Enjoy!

Korrina

Big messes and sticky kisses...

2011-05-22T13:38:00.002-06:00

I used to read those stories about moms trying to keep up with "those" kinds of kids. You know, the ones where the kid makes a huge mess somewhere, usually destroying something in the process, and while the mom is cleaning up that one, the kid goes on to destroy something else. I always thought, "Boy, am I glad none of my kids are like that." It wasn't sarcasm, either. I was truly grateful I had never had to deal with that kind of situation.

Well, I can no longer say that. My youngest, Sarah, is one of "those" kinds of kids. I know she's not trying to destroy the house and everything in it. She is just curious. Really curious. I'm just relieved to know that life with one of "those" kids is not like "that" all the time. Most of the time, it's all good.

Luckily, it's temporary. I just keep reminding myself of that fact. Someday I will look back on these days and just be glad that I (and the house) survived them. I'll probably even laugh... eventually. But I'll also look back and really miss all of the sticky kisses and the goofy antics. That's when I'll call one of my kids to bring my grandkids over to play. And as soon as I see any sign of trouble, I'll send them all home to cause it.

For now, let's just say, I'm extremely grateful for naptime...

Enjoy (them while they're young),
Korrina

I won again! Second place this time.

2011-05-03T08:00:00.001-06:00

Just wanted to quickly let you know that I won 2nd place in the Polymer Clay Central Challenge for April. The theme was spring flowers and I entered my golden blossom candle. Thanks if you voted for me!

I'm thinking it would have done better if it had been in spring-ier colors. Oh, well, you create what you feel...

Enjoy!
Korrina

Polymer Clay Central Challenge: Go Vote!

2011-04-26T10:05:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to quickly let you know that the April Polymer Clay Central Challenge is now open for voting and, although I wasn't originally planning on it, I entered again. The theme was flowers and there are a lot of gorgeous entries!

Enjoy!
Korrina

Taking a Break

2011-04-16T08:42:00.000-06:00

Hi all!

Just wanting to let you all know that I'm not abandoning my blog. I just need to take a break for a couple of weeks while I get caught up on some other stuff. I'll still be checking in occasionally so don't hesitate to comment on my other posts!

See you later!
Korrina

Victor PTA Craft Fair

2011-04-13T08:00:00.001-06:00

On Saturday, I did my first craft fair in several years. It was at a local elementary school and I really didn't have high hopes for sales but I wanted to promote all three (yes, 3!) of my businesses. While it was horribly slow, I did make back my booth fee and a little more. We really didn't have any travel expenses since this one was only 30 minutes from home. So, I supported a local school and made a little money into the bargain.

Our booth was two long tables lined up along one end of the gym. They left a ton of space between booths so we felt a little disconnected from the other vendors but at least we had plenty of room to spread out. :)

I drew these paper dolls and quiet books several years ago for my kids. I copied them so I could make more when they wore the first batch out. Then I decided they would be a good thing to sell as all of the time that was going to be invested in them was already spent. The binder in front is a sample that shows all of the pages in each of the sets. I plan on having a little table set up with some finished paper dolls and folder games on it for kids to play with at the next craft fair. Hopefully that will help with their sales.

This is the kids' section of the table. My 11yo made the goodies and my two little girls made some of the bracelets. (I made the rest.) My 14yo was going to paint faces but pulled a ligament in her right wrist and was in a splint. The 11yo did not do well at the craft fair and when I suggested gourmet-style cupcakes she told me she hates baking. Okay, I think we need to re-think her product. She and her older sister are doing yarn dolls for the next one.

This is the section for my hubby's business. Can you guess what he does?!? :) You can also see in the background where I was working on some new Easter Eggs while we sat there.

Half of my polymer clay stuff. Most of this stuff is listed in my Etsy and/or Artfire shops. (If you see anything in this photo or the next that's not listed that you'd like to see listed, let me know in the comments below and I'll see what I can do.)

The other half of my polymer clay stuff. I plan on a completely different setup for the next event.

And this is the third business that I was advertising. It's a local informational website that my sister-in-law and I started recently.

For a while, I was the only one in our booth and so as the customers were walking along in front of it I was answering questions about the paper dolls, then telling them about my daughter making the goodies, then giving them information about the computer repair, then talking about polymer clay, then giving information about our website. I guess it's a good thing we weren't real busy. I wouldn't have been able to keep up with more than one customer in our booth at a time.
Enjoy!
Korrina

Polymer Clay Tutorial: Inside-Out Jellyroll Cane

2011-04-12T08:31:00.000-06:00

My camera disappeared yesterday so I wasn't able to write a new tutorial. This is one that I wrote several years ago (so forgive the photos, I've learned a lot since then). :) It's a nice, simple cane that I have used for covering pens. (Ooh, maybe I'll do a tute about that next week, if I've found my camera!) This tutorial also assumes that the user has a basic knowledge of working with polymer clay, conditioning, rolling, reducing canes, baking, etc. If not, here are a couple of great resources to get you started: Polymer Clay Central and Glass Attic. Anyway, here it is:

First, condition equal amounts of two colors and roll them out on a fairly thick setting. Lay one on top of the other and trim one narrow end straight.

Trim the other narrow end at an angle so that the bottom layer stick out beyond the top layer a little. Start rolling from the other end (not the angled one) to make a basic jellyroll cane. Make sure you roll slowly and firmly to keep air bubbles out as you go. Roll it all the way up and then roll it back and forth on your work surface to seal everything together.

Now, cut the whole thing in half lengthwise.

And cut each of those halves in half lenthwise.

Next, get some more of one of your colors and make a log a little smaller than one of your quarter jellyrolls.

Square it up with your fingers and your work surface.

Now place the quarter jellyrolls around the squared-off log with their insides facing out. Use your fingers and your work surface to square it up a little as needed.

Roll out a medium-thick sheet of the same color and wrap it around the cane, trimming the sheet so the edges butt up against one another (not overlapping).

Do the same with a sheet of your other color.

Use a roller to smooth out all of the edges and reduce as desired.

Enjoy!
Korrina

Recipe of the Week: Marshmallow Bird Nests

2011-04-11T08:50:00.001-06:00

I know this recipe has been around forever but it's one of my favorites for Easter. Of course, I love cereal treats any time of year but this is when I get to put jelly beans with them.

Marshmallow Bird Nests

*3 tablespoons margarine or butter
*40 regular marshmallows or 4 cups mini marshmallows
*6 cups chow mein noodles
*jelly beans

Melt the butter in a big saucepan over low heat. Add the marshmallows and stir until melted and smooth. (I overheated the marshmallow in the batch I photographed and they did not mix up well, but I'm sure you get the idea.) Add the chow mein noodles and stir well. Spread some foil out on the counter and spray it with cooking spray. Butter your hands and grab a small handful of the marshmallow mixture. Working quickly, form the handful into a nest shape and lay on the foil. Put a couple of jellybeans on the nest while it is still warm so they will stick. Repeat for the rest of the mixture. Wrap the nests in plastic wrap and put them in your kids' Easter baskets so you don't eat them all yourself. :P (That's the only problem I have with these!)

Enjoy!
Korrina

Spring Treasury

2011-04-08T08:00:00.010-06:00

I know for most of you it's spring but here we still have 3 feet of snow in our front yard and it snowed the last 3 days! This is my subtle way of telling Mother Nature I'm ready for spring already! These are based on the Pantone colors for spring 2011. See more here.

Enjoy!
Korrina

Thought for the Week: Chris Heimerdinger

2011-04-07T08:30:00.002-06:00

If you're LDS and you like to read, you already know this author. If you've never heard of him, he's worth checking out (as long as you don't mind stories geared toward one particular religion). The first book of his is called Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites and is about some kids who accidentally travel back in time to Book of Mormon times and places. They have many adventures there and eventually manage to get home. That was back in 1989 and I don't think he planned on making it into a series. The 11th book just came out. :) Anyway, the third one is my favorite because that's the one where the characters get to meet Jesus Christ when He visited the people in the Americas after He was resurrected.

Okay, enough rambling. This quote is from the beginning of the 3rd book. One of the characters was captured by bad guys and has been traveling with them for several weeks.

This was the first day that I began to appreciate in some small way the beauty and wonder of the land around me. Though I continued to mourn my circumstances, it was hard to ignore all the colors, so bright and brilliant, particularly at midday when the sun was highest. Ther fiery golds and emerald greens and turquoise blues almost seemed alive and breathing, ready to scatter like birds if we came too close. But of course, the colors never scattered. They blazed in the sun like newly opened chests of treasure. The midday light turned ordinary boulders and rocks and pebbles into precious jewels- diamonds and opals, topaz and amethysts.

Enjoy!
Korrina

New Blossom Easter Eggs

2011-04-06T08:00:00.036-06:00

So here's what I've been working on the past week or so.

I showed you this one...

...a couple of weeks ago, saying that I wanted to experiment a little more with this style and so that's what I did.

Well, here are the results so far:

This is the first one I did. I tried to make it look like curly vines holding the egg upright but they wouldn't cooperate very well.

So on this one, I just did little balls of green clay, strategically placed.

This one's petals are a little different from the others.

On all of the above eggs, there is a different texture for each layer of petals/leaves. I also used a generous amount of pearl powders on all of them. I enjoyed making them and I loved the way they turned out so I will probably be making more of these.

The other eggs I've been working on, I call my Feather Eggs. My kids say they look kind of like painted pine cones so I guess that would have worked for a name as well. I just think they look sort of like layers of feathers so that's where I got the name.

I'd really like to do these in some other colors as well.

Leave a comment and tell me what you think!

Enjoy!
Korrina

Polymer Clay Tutorial- Bead Basics Part 5- Impressed Beads

2011-04-05T08:00:00.141-06:00

This tutorial is going to be more of a list of ideas than a real how-to. These beads are all based on shapes that I posted in other tutorials: Covering a Bead Core, Bead Shapes, More Bead Shapes, Covering a Mud Core.

The photos in this tutorial are not the best but you should be able to see enough to understand what I'm talking about. The lighting was just terrible in the room I was working in. It's really a good idea to have decent lighting.

Let's get started!

Idea #1:

First is the melon bead. Start with a round bead. Pierce it with your needle tool and leave it on there.

Use a fat blunt needle to make marks from the hole to about halfway down the side of the bead. To make the lines even, make a mark and then do the next one straight across, then do marks halfway between the others until you have divided your bead into 8 sections. Then work from the other side of the hole to make the marks go all the way from one end of the hole to the other. (Somehow I ended up not getting a photo of the finished bead. But I'm sure you get the idea.)

Idea #2:
The next bead doesn't have a name but when pressed to call it something I just call it an impressed cube. You could make dice using this method and then painting the dots. Start with a cube.

Use the head of a sewing pin to impress dots in each side of the cube. If you embed the pointy part of the pin in a chunk of scrap clay and bake it, you won't stab yourself and you'll have something to hang onto.

Make them shallow or deep according to your preference. Pierce the bead from side to side through to of the indentations.

Idea #3:
This next one is an impressed barrel that I made up a long time ago. Somehow this one didn't turn out as good as the original. Make a barrel bead and lay it on your work surface. Use the needle tool to press a groove all the way around the bead, rolling it back and forth on the surface.

Like this:

Use a fat needle to make round indentations in a row around one end of the bead.

I should have made these farther apart and shallower but you get the idea. Pierce the bead the long way.

Idea #4:
Next is an impressed round bead. Make a round bead and pierce it, leaving it on the needle. Use the head of the pin to make indentations as desired.

Take it off the needle and roll it lightly between your hands to reshape as needed.

Idea #5:
This next one I call a caterpillar bead. (Make sure the outer layer of clay is thick enough to keep the core from showing through. I didn't make it thick enough and you can see mud peeking out.) Pierce the bead and roll it back and forth on the work surface to start forming a long tube bead.

Take it off the needle tool and flatten the ends a little to neaten things up. Stick it back on the needle tool.

Take your fat needle and use it to make a groove in the middle of the bead.

Then make two other grooves, one on each side of the first. Take the bead off the needle tool.

Bend the bead between two fingers to bend it slightly.

Idea #6:
You can also use other craft supplies to make impressions in your beads. I prefer starting with a cube.

I'm using a piece of lace for this one. Lay the lace on the work surface and place the bead on the lace. Fold the lace over the bead and press down so you impress two sides at once. Turn the bead and do two of the other sides and repeat for the last two sides.

It's hard to see the effect in this photo but I probably should have used a finer lace. Pierce the bead any direction you want.

Idea #7:
You can use flexible texture sheets in a variety of ways. Make a round bead and roll it around on the sheet for a random design.

Pierce the bead.

Idea #8:
Make a cube and set it on the edge of a texture sheet.

Bend the edge of the texture sheet over the top of the bead and press to impress two sides. Turn the bead and repeat two more times until all sides are impressed.

Pierce the bead.

Idea #9:

Make a barrel bead. Pierce it and leave it on the needle. Roll the bead across the texture sheet without overlapping the impression.

Idea #10:
Here's another one using a found object. This is one of those baby combs you get free from the hospital. I have several (five hospital births!) so I keep one with my clay stuff. Make a round bead, pierce it, and carefully roll it along the teeth of the comb from hole to hole. Turn the bead halfway and repeat. Then do it again halfway between each of the other lines.

Idea #11:
This one's cool. Make a barrel bead and pierce it. Take your stripe texture sheet and roll the bead on it at an angle to make diagonal lines.

Turn the bead halfway and roll again.

This will make new lines going the other way to make diamond shapes all over the bead.

The possibilities are endless so use your imagination to see what you come up with. Feel free to share your ideas in the comments below!

Enjoy!

Korrina