DIY: How to Make Faux Starfish

Hi guys!

As some of you may know, last year at around this time, I gave birth to a second beautiful baby boy. It's been a true blessing to be surrounded by so much pure joy and love. Alas my return to work was inevitable, and so a new life has begun.

Other than my return to full time employment, a lot has happened since I last posted. We planted our garden and worked on our yard a lot. We visited the zoo and spent some quality alone time together as a family. I also had to slowly integrate my 1yo to daycare (my heart just shattered right there), we took turns being sick (ugh!) and dealt with loss. It's just been a rough few months and we're not out of the woods yet.

On a happier note, both of my boys celebrated their birthday this month, so I spent a lot of time in decor & food projects. As I'm sure a lot of you can relate, not all of my projects worked out quite as planned.

First, there was the beach look-alike cake I tried to make. I made a white cake and crumbled it so it would look like sand. I put the pieces in a cake mold to cover half the space, then I added a cookie sheet to put blue jello on the other side (you know... water). The cake ended up super dense because I pressed it too much, and the jello ended up soaking the edges of the cake. Anyway, it was a complete failure, but we ate it anyway!

Then there was the fire mantle which I thought would look awesome painted gold. It does not. I mean, it doesn't look bad, per se, but it sure as hell don't look like I thought it would. It just looks too gold. You know? Anyway, it's going to stay like that for a while because with my full time job, among everything else, I just don't have time for the details.

I also made a kind of starfish/flower birthday crown for my baby. It looks OK, but it's not fabulous. To be honest, I probably tried to be too fancy with my ideas. Sometimes simple is best.

I made a ton of other things with random materials and props, like fabric, cardboard, flowers, paint, shells, faux starfish, glitter, glue... and I will be sharing those which I had time to photograph.

For the projects that didn't plan out, I'll be posting some of them anyway since they technically still are good ideas. I might give them an update in the future, see if I can make it work better. Who knows, it might inspire someone!

Without further ado, here is how I made faux starfish with polymer clay for my littlest's beach themed party.

Materials

Polymer clay (I used Sculpey, but I prefer Fimo)
Acrylic paint

Tools

Exacto knife
Toothpicks
Cookie sheet
Paint brush
Paint palette

Steps

1. Warm up you clay by working it with your hands.
2. Make a ball then flatten it.
3. With an exacto, make 5 triangle incisions & remove the extra clay.
4. Round off the edges with your warm hands.
5. Using a toothpick poke little holes over the surface of your faux starfish.
6. If you plan on hanging them, push a hold through one of the arms. (Optional)
7. Bake according to the manufacturer's instructions.
8. Paint as you see fit; I mixed white and orange together to make my starfish a pale orange-y color.

There you have it! Beautiful starfish using clay.

I used these in a number of projects so stay tuned, in coming posts, I'll be showing you a few things you can make with your beautiful faux starfish!

DIY: Clay Animal Head Succulent Planter

Ok guys. I'm so proud of myself right now it's actually kind of sad. How adorable is this animal head succulent planter I made?

DIY - Make this adorable clay animal planter for your mini succulents. Click to tweet.

Quite some time ago, I saw this super cute felt planter on Etsy and I really wanted to try making one with polymer clay. Last weekend, I finally found a plant, or succulent I should say, that resembles hair and I just knew I wanted to give the clay pot a shot.

So last night, I took out my polymer clay (which has been sitting around waiting to be used for much too long...) and made this super adorable bear head planter.

Have you ever tried making your own planter?

I also have some good news... I made my first Etsy shop sale this week! Yay! I'm so happy right now. I'm in the process of making more prints, some more elaborate than others so keep your eyes open and keep checking back. I'm really excited about this new development and it makes me want to branch out even more... so many possibilities!

Materials

Polymer clay (I used Sculpey original)
A little spoon (to scoop out excess clay)
Bake & bond (clay glue)
Acrylic paint
Gloss glaze

Steps

1. Warm up your clay by working it with your hands.
2. Make a large ball; slightly bigger than the pot you want to put in it.
3. Using a small spoon, lightly scoop out the excess clay from the top. I tried pressing and sculpting a hole into the ball but it got all squished and weirdly shaped. I strongly suggest scooping. Yes, it takes a bit longer, but the results are much nicer.
4. Roll a small ball of clay, flatten it and cut it in half. These pieces will be the ears of the bear.
5. Apply a bit of glue to the edge, place in on the vase and lightly scrape it in place.
6. Bake according to instructions.
7. Paint, seal with glaze and add your plant. Voila! c:

Maple Buckwheat Crepes

Buckwheat is such an interesting and nutritious ingredient. Did you know it's packed with iron? In my books, it's a super food.

When I was little, my grand mother often made us buckwheat crepes. As children, we didn't really care for them so she would drown them in maple syrup. Growing up, I developed a finer taste in things, and so buckwheat has become on of my flours of choice.

You make the buckwheat crepes, add a bit of salty butter, a drizzle of maple syrup, and you've got yourself a little party in your mouth. Maple syrup is just so out-of-this world delicious that I want to spread it over everything I eat. Oh wait, I already do. That's a fact.

Oh, and this crepe recipe is egg free! So if you need to make some for a person with allergies, this is a perfect choice. :)

Do you like maple syrup or are you more of a honey person?

INGREDIENTS

2 cups of buckwheat flour
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup of Oil (I use canola)

This recipe makes about 12 small sized crepes or 6 big ones.

DIRECTIONS

1. I use the my Kitchen Aid blender to mix everything together. I just dump all the ingredients in and blend. I find the mix easy to pour into the pan that way.

2. Before I start making the crepes, I make sure the pan is already hot (heat on medium). I don't know why but when I pour the mix into the pan as it's heating up, my first crepe always ends up sticking to the pan. Annoying. Trust me.