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Book Review and Giveaway: Polymer Clay Mixed Media Jewelry

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Polymer clay is a fantastic median for creating your own jewelry. The materials are inexpensive and you can get such colorful results! Polymer Clay Mixed Media Jewelry by Shirley Rufener is a great resource for this craft, even for beginners. The book will teach you how to correctly use the materials and also gives you step-by-step projects. Homemade jewelry makes a very special gift. We are giving away a copy of the book to one lucky winner. Read the full review and enter to win here!

Contest ends September 1, 2009. You can enter once daily, so return often to improve your chances of winning!

More on Polymer Clay:

Mokume Gane Polymer Clay

Polymer Clay Tools Review and Giveaway

Mokume Gane Polymer Clay

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Mokume gane, literally translated as “wood-grain metal,” is orginally a Japanese technique of creating layered patterns in mixed metals. A fantastic artist and crafter Korinne Zimmerman of Crafterella sent over this amazing project for creating the look of mokume gane with polymer clay and gold silver leaf. The technique is really quite easy and the look is absolutely gorgeous. You can make a jewelry pendant, a Christmas ornament or anything else your heart desires. Check out the Mokume Gane Polymer Clay Tutorial.

Garden Fun For Kids

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Well, there’s only one week left until June, which means now is the perfect time to start your garden if you haven’t already. The sun is shining bright and the rain keeps feeding those plants and veggies. Your kids want to help you in the garden but you just don’t want them ruining anything, well now they can help. I came across this really cute garden marker your kids can make. You might be wondering what a garden marker is. Well, it’s a little sign that can help you organize your garden and label what vegetable is what and the same for plants and flowers if you’d like. Your kids will love making them. All you need are some popsicle sticks, foam and a few other items. They can be made in two to three easy steps.

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I think this is a great idea to get your kids involved, show their crafty side and keep your garden clean and organized. If you like this craft for your kids you should also look at farm veggies. It’s another cute craft for your kids to partake in gardening. Give them something to do this Spring and start gardening! What other fun crafts can you think of for your kids this Spring?

For more great garden craft ideas, check out our FREE garden crafts eBook.

Things to Avoid When Crafting (with kids)

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I have nieces and nephews who are just the cutest. I love hanging out with them and doing different crafts with them. It gives them a chance to use their imagination and be creative. Sometimes it’s hard though to keep my patience with them, in a general setting and while doing crafts. I know a lot of parents who like to craft with their kids, but get frustrated easily. The key is to NOT. I found this great article that gives 10 great tips on how to avoid certain things while starting a craft. Some of the tips include beginning a project that’s too difficult, trying to control everything and worrying too much about neatness. I for one am a neat freak so when the kids don’t do something perfect it irritates me. When you’re doing crafts though, these are some of the things you need to avoid. This smiley face beaded bracelet has a lot of materials and steps. If this is something you’re going to work with your kids on make sure you follow the tips listed in the article. Some other fun, but semi difficult crafts for kids to do might be a photo holder or fuzzy critter crafts.

Product Review and Giveaway: Lisa Pavelka Signature Series

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CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNER

#75 Jenny!

The Lisa Pavelka Signature Series JHB International includes a variety of tools for polymer clay: Border Molds, Texture Stamps, Craft Foil, Magic Gloss, Embossing Cutters, and Claying Around DVD.

Product Review By Maria Nerius

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At least one member of the testing team has had the pleasure to watch Lisa Pavelka in action demonstrating her signature series product line. Lisa has made it easy to create designer pieces with polymer clay. The tools are efficient and easy to use. The Border Mold makes impressive boarders that are thick and well detailed. The cutters are some of the best the testing team has every tried. The Texture Stamps are richly detailed. Magic Gloss is pretty cool and again, so easy to use. This is a very complete product line. If you’d like to learn more about working with polymer clay the Claying Around DVD is done in a fun and informative fashion.

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Tester Feedback

•    Great product line, anything you need is there for working with polymer clay from start to finish of any project.
•    Excellent detail on the border molds and texture stamps. Fresh and fashionable patterns.
•    Magic Gloss adds a shiny finishing touch. Easy to use and no mess with the tip.
•    Foil was interesting to use and results were perfect.
•    Claying Around was fun to watch and there was a ton of great information on technique.

WIN THE POLYMER CLAY TOOLS AND DVD !

We are giving away one set of  the Lisa Pavelka Signature Series polymer clay tools and DVD to a lucky reader. Just post a comment on this blog and you’ll automatically be entered to win. The deadline to enter is April 3, 2009 at 5 pm CST. We’ll send an email to the winner so please check to make sure your email is correct. You’ll get an extra entry for EACH of the following (if you comment and do all four things, you’ll be entered FOUR times):

  1. If you blog about this giveaway at your blog, we’ll give you an extra entry. Contact us with a link to the blog post.
  2. If you twitter about this giveaway, you’ll get an extra entry. Again, contact us with a link to the tweet.
  3. If you add a link to us on your blogroll or website, we’ll give you an extra entry. Again, contact us!

Craft Giveaway Summary

Prize: 1 set of Lisa Pavelka Signature Series polymer clay tools and DVD

Deadline: April 3, 2009 5pm CST

Good luck!

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