Tis the Season for Kid Craftin', Fa la la la la....

Well, despite the freezing weather (a whopping 2 degrees below zero--NOT counting the windchill!) my girlie wanted to mess with polymer clay today! Clay does not like the cold temps, so it took some effort to get it soft enough to work with. A Twitter pal later gave me the tip she had heard from professionals, to warm it up inside my bra!! Hey, it just might work!!

I think it is just great to give the kids some extra clay and see what they come up with. It is so good for them, and it makes a lasting item since it gets hard when baked! We worked together to make this kitty cat, which she has decided to give to her brother for Christmas.

This is my favorite polymer clay item made by my son when he was 4 or 5 years old. The arm broke off, so I had to hold it up there for the picture! It just makes me happy to look at--this funny dancing guy! It also reminds me of good times spent together with him.


We have worked on other Christmas gifts together. These are shrinky dink pins made by my son. I should have gotten the white shrinky dinks instead of the clear, since you can see the pins right through them!

This one (below) was a big hit with the kids!!! These are just bottle tops which they filled with white glue then added little toys, shells, whatnots and etcetera. They sprinkled with glitter. I added some clear resin just because that is my thing, but it wouldn't be necessary. They really had a good time doing it. I glued scrap magnets (sales, etc, that get sent in the mail, etc) to the back. I was worried they would be too heavy for those magnets, but it worked fine--although I did glue the magnets to the entire back, not just parts.
My girl loved the Pikachu (from Pokemon) pin that my son made from Shrinky Dinks for the pin shown above, so he made her a smaller one for a necklace in secret. I punched a hole (use a regular size punch, as the hold will shrink, of course!) and added a jump ring and ball chain. I think she will love it, and he is proud.

Part of the fun of Christmas is making gifts for each other, so maybe this will give you some ideas--leave comments if you have ideas of your own to share! I am *always* looking for new ideas to keep these guys busy!!

Craft Fair Hangover

Well, it is the morning after--the morning after the craft fair, that is!! My friend and I had a nice set-up, I think. Our work really complimented each other's. If you want a closer look at her items, check out http://www.tronsgirl.etsy.com/. That's her in the picture.

Unfortunately--she had a slip on the ice during the week, so I felt so sorry for her. She would sit, she would stand, but was having severe back pain. Not nice to have to sit all day at a craft fair with that kind of pain!

...Especially such a SLOW craft fair. There were MANY tables selling jewelry, and it was a slow fair in all. Perhaps the economy, perhaps people finished with their Christmas shopping already? (wish that was me!!) It was slow all over, so we decided not to take it personally! :-) My mom and sister came by to support us, which we both fully appreciated--they were our best sales, we sheepishly admit. But we will admit it so they realize how much their visit meant! I saw my aunt and my cousin's wonderful girlfriend, and that was really great, too.

We saw some good points--there were two instances where we helped parents trick their kids--they bought items on the sly while their kids were looking away, so that was really fun! A little boy that reminded me of my son kept coming by and petting the lizard pin I had out. I told him to just take it, but he turned up his sweet little boy face and said, "Oh no, I'll pay for it!" So the lizard went to a happy home where he will be treasured. Plus, my friend gave me a pin that looks SO perfect on my winter coat at the end of the fair when it didn't sell!!! YAY!!

Best of all, I got an uninterrupted (we joke that being MORE interrupted at a craft fair would have been beneficial!! ha ha!) day with a dear friend whom I don't get to spend a whole lot of time with on a regular basis.

Though we feel discouraged (quite! at least me!), we'll try again. I heard another crafter mentioning a fair in March that we will check out. But for now, with the fair over, I get to spend some time focusing on Christmas and my family. My etsy shop is full, my ArtFire shop has enough items, I'm going to scale back on "pimping" my shop on Twitter--it is time to enjoy this season of family, friendship and love! The sales, well, they'll wait.