My "Growing in Unity" Week (Day #1) - Fun with Paper Clay

Good morning, friends of Unity Stamp Company! I'm honored to be the GIU Girl, for my first time ever - for those unfamiliar with GIU, we get to share our projects throughout the week and while readers have a chance to win two free itty-bitties by leaving comments for each day. Unity Stamp Company has hundreds of wonderful and adorable Itty-Bitties (you can check them out here), so it would be hard to just pick two!

Last week's GIU girl was the phenomenal Heather Hoffman, who provided a week of incredible water coloring. She's an amazing artist, so it's impossible to follow that act! Instead, I just wanted to remind you how versatile Unity stamps are, and that you don't just have to stamp on paper or canvas or paper to have some fun. :)

Today, I'm going to show you how easy it is to make simple crafts with paperclay and Unity stamps. You can purchase this paperclay (Creative Paperclay) at Joann's or Michaels for $10 (before coupon discount), but if you don't live near a crafts store, you can order it at Amazon here. Paperclay is very light and perhaps best of all, it air-dries within a few days - you just need some patience. After your items are dry, you can sand them, paint them, or use them as they are.

The process is simple. You simply roll it out to about 5 mm thick (if it's too thin, it will start to crack), stamp what you want, and then use a cookie cutter to cut it out. You don't have to, but I chose to ink my stamp before I stamped the paperclay, just to help define the impression.

Here are some paperclay ornaments I made, using the Gossip, Hot-Flashes & Crazy kit. I glued two strong magnets to the back (E6000 adhesive) and now they are "fridge-ready".

Here is another example of a magnet stamped with Beauty of Dreams - I subtly colored it with some green and silver gelatos (I was going for a "moss-covered" look).

For this ornament, I added an eyelet screw while it was "fresh" and later threaded some ribbon for decoration. This was colored with Spectrum Noir markers (thin black Sharpie for the "Mother Teresa" though). The stamp is called Small Things, Great Love. I sealed this with a light coat of Mod Podge.

I made door hanger ornament for my little girls... I punched the holes out with a drinking straw (while the paperclay was fresh) and threaded knotted ribbon through it to hang. This sentiment is from the You Will Shine kit.

This ornament was a little difficult to stamp, just because it was larger than the others. Because I have zero confidence in my painting abilities, I colored this with markers (Spectrum Noir) and sealed it with Mod Podge.

So, as you can see, you make make many different projects from paperclay. I purchased a one-lb package and was able to make all of this - plus more (not shown) - AND one of my girls got some pieces to make her own creations (see, it can help you keep the kids busy so YOU can craft!). When the time gets closer, I'd like to make some Christmas ornaments with this material. :)

I'm almost done! I simply couldn't leave you without a card or two! So, before I leave you today, I wanted to mention that Suzi Blu and her wonderful stamps are BACK at Unity. I had actually received Chickadee & Me in a grab bag a few weeks back and thought it was a great time to play with it. In fact, I had so much fun, I made two variations based on the same sketch (Freshly Made Sketch 134).

This card uses the complete image (angel), whereas the one below, it looks just as sweet without the wings. 

Some of you may recognize that gorgeous doily stamp, Half of Her Doily. That image really *pops* when it's embossed (bottom card). These images are colored with both Copic and Spectrum Noir markers.

Thanks for visiting my blog today and hope to see you here tomorrow again. Don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win two free itty-bitties! I'll pick and announce the winner next Monday.