Author Archives: karlakrafts

A Great Girlfriend’s Weekend!

A Great Girlfriend’s Weekend!

Laura Sheaffer and I have some good girlfriend’s get togethers, and this one was no exception. We know how to party, and by party, I mean feast, craft and laugh!

We ate at our favorite restaurant from college, twice, and found a new cupcakery! We worked and played in polymer clay, we took a quilling class from my sister-in-law, Pam McLean, and made new friends!

Oops, I almost forgot, we shopped!










I didn’t like the first set of mirror images so I sliced one again and made another bead that I sliced into two beads.

The other half I played with, rolling and cutting cabochons and different sized beads.

The last one, lower center, got smushed and rolled too many times. It started to get “muddy.”

Laura’s Natasha bead looked like a wolf!

That was Friday. On Saturday, we traveled to nearby Elkin to take my sister-in-law’s quilling class. This is my multi-talented sister-in-law, Pamela McLean. You should hear her sing!







Laura made a new friend, Babette.

Did I mention, we shopped? Michael’s had their green label beads 70% off, and I couldn’t resist, as usual. That makes them ~ $1.80/strand.Those big wooden beads will hopefully be bases for polymer clay “veneers!”

I also bought some cookie cutters and a fondant mold to use with my clay!

Giveaways

Giveaways

I have decided to give away a lot of my handmade jewelry. I’m giving this away, tonight. 

I have a shop page through facebook and Shopify. It’s also called “Karla Krafts.” It doesn’t get much traffic, and there have been order notification and payment processing problems, but I think, hope, that’s fixed. 

Making Molds

Making Molds

I got to work at Mama’s House, again, yesterday. I did some glueing, sorting, and made some molds from stone beads and a drawer knob.I also planned and announced a giveaway.

The contest for my, “Tree Hugger” bracelet can be found and entered at facebook.com/karlakrafts. 

Gluing and Glazing

Gluing and Glazing

I’ve been all down and out over needing to give up my studio,  Mama’s House. If we move to Charlotte to be near the grandkids, it makes no sense to have a studio in N. Wilkesboro.

I’ve barely set foot in the place for the past two months, but I went down for a few hours the past few days.

I glued some Czech glass buttons and cabs into frames. 

I painted and glazed some polymer clay pieces.




This is the liquid piece I tried. I left it in the mold, and baked abd baked and bake. Mostly that was a waist of time, but it tirned out pretty good: 

I felt better those days, my spirits lifted. When a fellow Beady Bunch member posted this, I related:

Polymer and Paint

Polymer and Paint

Today’s experiment:Remember the black butterfly I cast in Sculpey Soufflé polymer back in January?

Its been baked, and today I painted it with Lumiere paints. I used a dry paint technique with angled bristle brushes. I used a liner on the body. 

I had lots of paint leftover, so I brushed some gold on a red piece I had molded, cast, and baked.

The Lumiere paints have lots of shine, so I think I’ll finish these with a satin glaze.

Proud Grandma! 

Proud Grandma! 

On a recent visit to see my grandchildren, I took along some wire, cutters and pliers. Peter James, age nearly nine, made me this “fringe” necklace.

I explained the basic technique, and away he went!

He engineered the closure, too.

The fringe sort of forms a heart!

(The sticker is a reward from my granddaughter for completing a fairy puzzle while she was teaching. I was Pre-K Karla!!)