Monday, December 11, 2006

What makes me freak out.

After yesterday's slightly sentimental singing heart...

I'm freaked out today. Girl Scout Meeting Day.

Eight girls. One hour. This time - multiple crafty crafts.

We're working on "Colors and Shapes."

So far - Cinnamon Clay Ornaments, Foam Gift Tags, Stamped Card, and Paper Weaving.

Should be a laugh-riot.

I also picked up some little things to make them a Christmas goodie bag.

The beauty of doing colors and shapes? I already have most of the stuff at home. I did have to go to Sam's and get the industrial vat of cinnamon - I can get 8x more there for the same price as the supermarket. I found $1 craft kits for the gift tags. The stamped card and paper weaving? Out of my basement craft crap. I have all the stamps - they're pretty small, but I'll show them how they can use a green shark stamp multiple times to make it look like a Christmas tree, or a smiley face into a star. For the paper weaving: the warp will be construction paper and the weft will be wrapping paper. Had that brilliant idea - make it look interesting while getting rid of the ends of rolls.

I picked up enough stuff to make a couple batches of the cinnamon clay - I'm going to make some now, to make sure it works...

Cinnamon Clay

1 1/2 cups ground Cinnamon
1 cup Applesauce
1/3 cup white School glue (like Elmer's)

Mix cinnamon, applesauce, and glue together in a bowl.
Remove from the bowl and knead the mixture until it turns into firm clay.
Let sit for about 30 minutes.
Clay is best used at room temperature. You may need to dust your rolling pin, hands, or working surface with cinnamon, or use wax paper as a working surface.
Roll out clay with a rolling pin to approximately 1/8 of an inch thick.
Use cutters to cut out desired shapes. If you are going to hang your shape, use a straw to cut out a hole near the top of the shape.
Place shapes on a non stick cooling rack or wax paper. You will need to keep an eye on them and turn them over occasionally so that they dry evenly and dry flat.
Dry shapes for approximately 5 days.
When dry you may put a ribbon through the hole for hanging on the tree or adding to a package. You may add puffy paint to decorate your shapes, if you wish

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please let us know about the cinnamon clay - I was wondering if it is easy to shape, holds the shape well, stains the hands - I am really interested in the craft but have been too chicken to do it.
-Erika

Gretchen said...

Highly recommend... Doesn't stain hands, but leaves them smelling like cinnamon!

I have some left over I could send you...

Anonymous said...

I should just make some? I am going to do it this weekend and add it to gifts.
-Erika