Christmas Shortbread

It's been well over a year since I posted here and I don't expect anyone to actually read any of my blogs, but if you do, thank you.

I've been busy and exhausted and don't have much time lately to keep up to date.

I post occasionally on my other blog in both English and poor Japanese and I think I might transfer some of the posts over here as well. Things like baking, art, drawings, handmade crafts, photography, and just anything creative in general.

I already posted this on my English / Japanese blog, but I've been trying to make some vegan recipes this Christmas.

Starting with one of my favourites - shortbread.

The recipe is ridiculously simple:

- 250g plain flour

- 85g caster sugar

- 175g butter

I tend to use:  90 - 100g of sugar

And a mixture of unsalted baking butter with a little baking margarine

This seems to work really well for me when making shortbread.

This time I tried using a dairy free vegan butter / spread and it definitely needs something extra...

I recommend adding some almond or vanilla extract with this.

I'm still experimenting, but they aren't too bad I think!

Happy Easter!

Hi everyone! HAPPY EASTER!

How ever you're spending this weekend, I hope you have a good one! As for me, I love an excuse to sit down and make something really cute and colourful. Not that I need an excuse (I mean, I do this all the time...) but what I mean is, I especially love a theme. I'm already thinking about Halloween!

Other than the eating extra chocolate and sweets part, Easter traditions have mostly "fizzled out" in our house. But apart from Christmas, I think it's one of my favourite themes for arts and crafts. I'm only sad I didn't get in there sooner. I've been so busy, Easter seemed to just spring up on me out of nowhere and I haven't had time to do much this year...

But I did manage to squeeze in making a polymer clay version of the much loved Easter Bunny, armed with his little basket full of bright and colourful egg gifts to be handed out! :)

Again, Happy Easter everyone!

Feel free to share your Easter arts and crafts, I would love to see what other people are making this Easter! :)

Polymer Clay Winnie The Pooh & Friends!

Hello!
I know I said I would probably do a huge Etsy shop update, but I really wanted to share a couple of things I made recently that aren't listed on Etsy.

(Also, I'm sure if anyone is interested in seeing all the stuff listed in my Etsy shop, they would just head there instead, am I right? :p)

Anyway, on to the pictures!

I have to admit, I'm not necessarily a huge fan of Winnie the Pooh, but once I'm inspired to make something...

They are very different from the jewellery and charms I've always made, but I absolutely loved making them! So much so that I've had a complete re-think about the direction I want to take my work and my Etsy shop.

Quite a step from miniatures, charms and jewellery, these figures I made are a couple of inches tall. (And I felt like I was using up a hell of a lot of clay...!!)

Winnie The Pooh Set

Tigger Set

Piglet Set

All of them have been hand sculpted by me out of FIMO polymer clay, and oven-baked to solidity. I used tiny microbeads for Pooh and Tigger's eyes, but even they were a little bit too big for my piglets, so his are made out of clay too.

Okay so, obviously I haven't made an Eeyore yet, but I've been so busy working on getting my Etsy shop re-opened, adding more listings,  and working on custom orders, that I haven't had the chance just yet.

I look forward to completing the foursome though! :)

Back To Blogging! After a Super Long Hiatus...

Hello!
It's been such a long time since I've written a blog post here, I wonder if anyone actually remembers me?

First I really want to apologize for seemingly disappearing off the face of the internet, way back in 2013.

A lot of things have changed since I last updated my blog! I've made some pretty huge changes to my work and the type of things I make, and am working on filling up my Etsy shop with a whole new style of handmade products.

Although I'm still making jewellery and charms, I feel like I've "grown up" from it a little, and my work has definitely grown with me. :)

I'll keep this short for tonight, but I think in my next post, I'm going to do a huge Etsy shop update?

Before I end it though, I want to say a big thank you to all my followers on Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, etc. who are stuck with me even throughout my absence. I'm seriously grateful to you all! <3

I look forward to bringing my blog back to life! :)

Improvements & New Stuff (Also I Got A Birthday Cake)

I'm a bit behind with this post so there's a chance you may have already seen this on my Facebook or Twitter but...

I ordered some new boxes last week and...

I think they look amazing! I had such a hard time finding appropriate boxes to package my jewellery in so now that I've found the perfect box, I'm just so happy I have to spam my new pictures everywhere.

Although they are a little big for packaging single charms... But that's totally okay because I have cute little bags for those.

Also you may or may not have noticed that the Halloween bracelet and little octopus charms are new to my shop. There's plenty more to come so keep an eye out!

Which brings me to my final point for today. I'm working on improving my shop, products, photos, and everything really that I possibly can this week since I'm probably going to take a break from my shop this weekend as I have quite a few plans!

One more thing... It's my Birthday on Saturday (I'm turning 20) and I just got a really awesome cake! You're never too old to get exited about Birthday cake...!

Anyway that's all so...

See you next time!

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Tutorial: How I make Polymer Clay Beehives

I was asked to make a tutorial on how I make my beehives featured in my little bumble bee & beehive earrings, and I thought why not?

I've never made a tutorial before so I'm hoping it doesn't suck. I would love some feedback on this one.

Anyway here goes...

First of all, here's what you'll need:

• Orange and Yellow Clay
• An eye-pin

Of course you can also use things like chains and jewellery findings if you like, but this tutorial is purely dedicated to the beehives. :)

                                    Step One

To get started, I blend together yellow and orange clay until I achieve the desired colour.

I tend to use quite a lot more yellow than I do orange for these. Too much orange seems to just eat up all the yellow!

To be honest I think either of these colours would work just fine on their own as well.

Step Two

Roll the clay into a ball.

I couldn't even add on that if I tried... Other than saying it's probably better if it's smooth. :)

Step Three

Take your ball and begin to roll it into a long sausage-like shape like in the picture below.

Gradually getting longer...

The length and how thick you make it depends on the size you want the finished product to end up.

For my earrings, mine usually measures around 4cm in length and is 3cm in diameter by this point.

Step Four

Continue to roll each end into a point so it looks similar to the one in the next picture.

Step Five

Now for the fun part! (Well I think so anyway)

Start rolling it up from one end as shown below, and gradually increase the size as you go around.

This part makes me think of a cinnamon bun...

Keep going...

Stop!

Once you reach the point at which you would like to be the centre of your beehive, you should stop increasing it in size and instead, begin to decrease it.

Decreasing in size

Keep going again...

Once I get to the end of my clay, I push it like the one in the following picture to close up the larger hole.

Step Six

Simply add an eye-pin (if you want to of course) and you're done!

The End

If anyone follows this tutorial, please do show me your beehives! I would really love to see how they turned out! :)

Other than that, let me know what you thought of this post!

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NEW - Huge Polymer Clay Update

Hello!

I have a rather large polymer clay update for you today!

I've been making quite a lot of new pieces lately and today I finally got the chance to bake them. So naturally, out came the camera and here goes my next 30 minutes or so.

Anyway, let's get on with it shall we? :p

Bunnies in Top Hats

Now, I know I've made bunnies in little top hats before, but I wanted to make a new and (hopefully) improved version of them. I even added little tiny coloured ribbons and bows!

Multi-coloured Octopus & Bees

Ok so the bees are nothing new, they just invaded the shot of my octopus...

I made 8 colours of these, and as simple as it looks, you would not believe how long it took to add all the legs!

Not that I'm complaining or anything. I mean, I do love it. :)

More Octopus Charms

A better shot of the colourful octopus charms.

Okay next we have...

Peas in Pods & Black Roses

Yet another new and improved version of an old creation, this time with tiny little faces!

And I mean tiny.

(I think they might have even taken longer than the octopus')

There's also my first attempt at roses.
Whenever I expect to screw something up (or test something), I use black so I can always re-use the clay.

I think it kind of worked though!

Oh, and not forgetting the other black swirly things!

I don't know what they are.

Anyway...

Pumpkins & Cauldrons

Yep, I've made a start on some Halloween goodies!
This will be Linnypigs' first Halloween and I'm really exited to get my Halloween items listed!

In fact, I should have them up in my shop at the beginning of August, so keep an eye out for that if you're interested!

More Halloween Charms & Beehives

Again, the beehives are nothing new, I was just running out of space.

But these Halloween charms, I absolutely love how they turned out! I can't wait to get them turned into Jewellery!

That's all for now, but I am by no means going to stop there. I'm spewing out ideas and I'm already dying to get to work on the next one!

See you soon!

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