Fimo toadstool tutorial.

Hi all :)

I know there are many crafters out there who have spare Fimo polymer clay hanging around the craft room. A real easy little project is a Fimo toadstool, these can be used for displays, or as a great addition to a fairy garden for the kids. So i have done a basic tutorial with some pics to get you there.

First you need some Fimo, i used the Fimo Classic here....this was a light flesh colour, but any of the lighter colours will do.....



Cut off 1/4th of it, that's all you need for a toadstool of this size...

.

You now need to make two balls of equal size. To do this, just cut your piece in two before you start rolling the balls......cheers for that tip Maddy! :)



Then roll the two balls......one will be your stem, and the other your top.



Take the first ball, and roll it into a sausage shape.....



Then taking an end in each hand between the fingers, twist it alternating ways (one end forwards whilst the other twists backwards......apologies if that sounds like i'm teaching anyone to suck eggs, believe me when i say i need to make it clear so that I can remember it!!! :)

Now you have your twisted stem. You don't have to have a twist in it, in fact i'm not sure that real toadstools do at all.....i just like it!



So that's your stem done. Put it to one side and take your second ball of clay. Flatten it with the pad of your finger/thumb until it's quite flat, about 3 or 4 mm.



Now to mark the underside with the toadstools gills....i just marked a dot in the middle as a guide, then pressed with the blade of a craft knife to get the markings. Tip, if you find it hard spacing the lines out properly, mark a cross, then half the segments in that, then half the segments again......and so on. It doesn't have to be perfect though......have you ever seen a toadstool that was?



Turn it over, then for added effect, i cut small chips into the edge of the toadstool...



Next take the toadstool roof, and press the edges slightly to thin out the rounded edges. You can use two hands for this, one to hold, one to press. I just couldn't as i had to take a piccy!



That's the roof done......now push the stem up into the centre of the roof. Do this firmly enough to make it stick, but gentle enough not to go through the top. Hey presto....one Fimo toadstool!!!



Please do not fret if you think it looks rubbish at this stage, once it's gone hard and you have added some colour later, it looks so much better! Really brings out the realism to it.

Now go and stick it in the oven. I did mine for 30 mins at Gas Mark half, or 110 degrees F/240 degrees C. Once done, let it cool thoroughly.

Time to give it some colour. Below are the colours i used. A Dark Moss and charcoal Colourbox ink, and a Fired Brick and Tea Dye Distress ink pad. These were applied with a standard 1/2in paint brush i found in my shed. Oh yes...only the best tools for Calv! :)



First off, i applied the Dark Moss to the stem. I just jabbed the brush into the ink pad, then flicked the brush around the stem rather than "painted it. This ensured any little nooks and cranny's were coloured.



Then i turned it over and did the underside in Charcoal ink...



I just gave the edge a little ink too......



Lastly, colour the top. I used two layers of colour on this one, Tea Dye first then after a quick dry with a heat gun, i brushed it with Fired Brick to give it a reddish hint.
So there you go.......one finished toadstool!



The underside......



Thanks for taking a look at this, it is on my blog here too. It really is a simple piece to make, even my ten year old made one to this standard with only verbal input from me. I would love it if you could pass this method on to anyone who is new to Fimo, and if that someone was a little one, it would make it all the more special. :)

"Box" Card

I added this to my blog tonight and thought I'd share it with you :) I find these little 'boxes' addictive once I get going :)



Is it a card or is it a box? Well it's both.....
This card looks like a regular card until you open it and then 'surprise' there's a little box attached.





I made these cards last year to hold school pictures of my boys I was sending out, so thought I'd take the time and share the instructions with you :)

You can use them for gift card holders or sending flat type embellishments to fellow carders as a little surprise :)



Materials:
Bone Folder
Text weight paper (sheet of computer paper)
Cardstock
Patterned paper
Embellishments


Instructions:

1. Cut the text weight paper to 8 1/2" x 11"



2. Fold your paper into 3 equal sections and score with your bone folder for nice sharp creases.





3. Open up your paper and take the left side and bring it to the middle and fold the edge back, do the same on the right, you should have what looks like 'french doors' now. Crease well!





4. Keep your paper folded and FLIP it over, fold the tips back BUT not t he 'door' flaps to make points at both ends.






5. Unfold tips and FLIP your paper over again. Pull the 'door' flaps down towards the bottom and do this for all 4 corners.









6. Keep everything folded and FLIP your paper over again, fold down the flap at each end.






7. FLIP your paper over again and UNFOLD everything, tucking the last fold INWARD at both ends.







8. Take the LEFT 'door' flap and fold it over the RIGHT 'door' flap, then pull the top LEFT section downward and fold, now do the same with the bottom section, then fold the 'door' flap back over. Repeat this for the other side.












9. Now you should have your little box!









To make up the card:

Base: cut your cardstock 4 1/4" x 5 1/2", put adhesive on the bottom (back) of your box and place it centered on your base.

Flaps: cut your cardstock 4 1/4" x 5 1/2", and then cut this in half and adhere the flaps of the box to the center of each flap.

You add patterned paper at this point if your wish to cover your flaps as well.

The center panel on my card is 3" x3" and you only adhere half of the panel to the left side flap.

Embellish as you see fit :)




Happy Carding!
Tamara

Side Accordion Album Video Tutorial

More pictures
and details of products you can check my blog

Enjoy !
Jana

SPOTLIGHTING WITH PUNCHES

I thought I'd share this tutorial with you - Spotlighting With Punches.

1. Stamp your desired image on two pieces of card stock. Set one aside to serve as the background for the spotlighted image.

2. On the first piece of card stock punch out the piece you want to highlight, then colour with markers or watercolours. Alternatively you can colour the area first and then punch.

3. Line up the punched, spotlighted piece with the previously stamped image on the second piece of card stock. Mount on coordinating card stock if desired.

4. There is no need to discard the second piece of cardstock, the hole can be covered with an embellishment - giving you two completed projects.

Here are my examples:

Fiona

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A note from Julie : This is such a cool idea ~ For further inspiration you can check out Fiona's blog HERE

Colouring with a difference !

Now this is just a quick plain card to show you the colouring i have used ...

I have been itching to show you this ! but needed a little practice myself first !
I can't say im great at colouring in - i struggle with blending and light and shade , i think most people can relate to that at some point !

Whilst trying to get a different look to my colouring , i started experimenting and came up with this ... now my friends at craft club have seen these colouring comparisons and they said there was a big difference in depth and vibrancy .

Theres also a special little tool you use to get the effect as well - more about that later !

So im gonna show you a few comparisons first ...

here are some images i had started to colour.....




here we have whisper pens on the left and prismas on the right
although i try to imitate the whisper colouring with the prismas - there is still a slight difference.
now then ... look at this one .
.



you can see the difference and ive only been practicing a few times with this .

How did i do it ?
Well i started off with a great little find ..... these little beauties !These are an absolute must and my special tool !


cut and dry pens nibs - these where brilliant for this AND also just for blending in tricky areas that are too small to blend with paper stumps and prismas. You still need paper stumps for large areas - but i wouldnt do without these now .. You get 10 in a pack - but you can sharpen the other end , then snip it to a point , which means its really 20 your getting. They last alot longer than paper stumps and theres no having to file to a point everytime. A little snip after many colourings would bring the point back.

First start as you normally would with you prismas.
draw heavily around the outline of the image and shade alittle in the middle lightly.

2. blend in the colour with a paper stump and sansador.Use small circular movements with the stump.



3. Next take a darker shade and go around the outline again and also where it would be shaded..
This time use the Pen Nibs , it is much more precise .

Now the special part !
Take your whisper pen ( pic 1) - chose a slightly darker shade than the prisma colour.
outline a small part , this is important - only do small areas at a time and work quickly

dip your cut and dry nib into sansador , and spread the whisper colour this time with strokes AND circular movements - sliding the ink away from the edge - the ink should sort of slide on the card. (pic 2) This is because you have used prismas and sansador first.
dont colour or go into the the lighter parts of the image.



Pic 2.



Do this again - building the depth up deeper with this layer and dipping the pen nib in sansodor - dont rub card as this will make it too wet.

TIP .. If colouring with blue - rub some red onto a piece of plastic ( or acrylic block) and lift off the colour with the blue whisper pen - add that to the final outline and shading to jeans and wow if gives it a beautiful violet blue overtone !

So after your third layer of dark blue , take your white prisma pencil, and lighten all the parts that catch the light now because the vibrancy is strong with whispers colouring the white really does show up well.


continue in this manner until all the image is coloured .




Now i am going to show you how i made the little decorative brads in the middle of the flower stamps on the card.


In the middle of the flower there is a brad in fimo.


Right ... first thing is to roll two small balls of fimo and flattern with the pad of your finger
.

Next roll two smaller white balls of fimo and again flatten each one
.

Place ontop of the larger flattened balls .
Using a straw , push into the middle and twist out, do the same with the other end of the straw on the next flatterned ball. This will be your hole for the brad.

bake in the oven as per instructions on the packet ( very important to have right temperature !)
When baked push a brad into the middle .

next i stamped a mini stitchels flower stamp and cut the image out .coloured the image and then i outlined the image with a white pen -
I cut some flourishes from some paper and outline this with white pen again . I attached the brad and fimo to the flower image and then attached to the flourish.



Now throughout this tutorial - i was interupted by something with pink ears ... to find out please take a visit to my blog ...It also has the supplier of pen nibs and fimo .
madimaginations