Helmar Creative Team

Dr Who Celebrations - Weeping Angel Doll Decoration

I decided earlier this year to create more fun in our lives.  At first I thought about doing themed days for their educational, cultural and awareness raising value, I also realised making the decorations and food could be great for fine motor skill and sensory activities for myself and the boys.

With this in mind I have been trying to think of themed things we could do and Dr Who is just perfect for this need, and we could get 3 days out of it.  Dr Who Day could be the season premiere, the anniversary aka my Granddaughter's birthday and Boxing Day (our favourite Dr Who Day each year).  So I picked out a few ideas that would be things myself or the boys could do and one thing I have wanted for a long time is a Weeping Angel decoration so I decided to make a Weeping Angel decoration that could either stand on the table or be a tree topper.

I found a few tutorials online for converting a barbie into a Weeping Angel and I asked my friend that lives in the town that has my closest Kmart to pick up one of their $4 barbies for me when he was next in Kmart, as I couldn't get to the op-shop at the time.  About a hour later he sent me pics so I could choose one.

All the tutorials either melted the elbows and wrists or used hot glue, I didn't want to melt plastic as this releases toxic chemicals into the environment and I prefer using Helmar glues over hot glue as I tend to get glue all over me when I craft and Helmar doesn't burn.  So I planned out what glues I would try for which part and set to work once my friend dropped off my $4 knock off barbie.

Items needs

Cheap barbie type doll

Craft Foam
Gauze

Thin ribbon scraps

Sheet of cardstock for cone underskirt

Pewter Spray Paint

Helmar Fabric Glue

Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive

Helmar Foam Glue

Stanley Knife

Cutting mat

Scissors

Embossing stylus

Marker for drawing your wing outline.

 

I decided to try using the doll's hair to create the Angel's hair instead of the method used in all the tutorials and absolutely love the finished look, it was certainly much easier than the other method.

I simply put her hair into a ponytail at the right spot on her head (her original style was too high), then I wound the hair around into a bun shape and gluing with fabric glue as I went.  I finished it off by trimming the hair and using fabric glue to kind of seal the shape where it was trimmed.  I thought that once it was painted you wouldn't be able to tell.

I finished it off by adding a skinny ribbon around her head with Helmar Fabric Glue.

  

Now for the arms I simply cut them at the elbow with a stanley knife and glued them at a right angle using Quick Dry 450, as the edges don't meet very well I let it have a long drying time and then used some polymer clay to fill in gaps and sort of stabilise the joint.

  

I didn't need to do anything to the wrists as the plastic is a soft plastic so her wrists and fingers were bendy and a small amount of glue where the fingers need to attach was all that was needed.

For the dress I started by making a cardstock cone, I simply wrapped some cardstock around at her waist into a cone shape, glued it at the seam with Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive as that is what was on my desk and open.  And then trimmed the base of the cardstock level with her feet.

I then cut some white tulle and cut head and arm slits in it.  Put this over her and tied some ribbon around her waist.  I added in sections of tulle to cover her cardstock base.

I eventually realised that because I had bought Pewter Paint not Stone or Granite the tulle would show as tulle so after putting her wings on I added some gauze by selectively gluing pieces over her and then tieing another skinny ribbon around her waist.

For the wings I used some 1mm (2mm or 3mm would also work) white craft foam.  I cut a rough angel win shape and drew in the feathers on both sides with a embossing stylus. 

I also cut 2 small bits for the tops of the wings.  I glued these onto the base with Helmar Foam Glue, and let dry.

 
I attached the wings to the doll with Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive.

I took her outside and spray painted her with the Pewter Paint, taking her upstairs to dry on the railing of my back landing.  
The Gauze definitely was the better choice of fabric.   
I like how the polymer clay gave her a more hand carved statue feel.

I love how she turned out and since I used Helmar I know she will last.

Check out how cool she looks on my Dr Who themed table :)

A,B,C and More

I have an 18 month old granddaughter who lives far away from Michigan in Phoenix. We maintain contact through daily facetiming and visits as often as we can, but I am always trying to think of ways to strengthen our bond.  Lauren recently got a playhouse which has a mail slot. I thought of the perfect way to stay in touch by mailing her Alphabet Postcards. 

I made the cards from Watercolor paper cut to a 4 x 6 size. I kept them simple by writing the Capital and small letters and adding a picture associated with that letter. I wanted to make sure these would make it through the post office and be protected in case they got wet. I seal each card with a coat of Crystal Kote Gloss Varnish. This spray which dries clear will protect them from dirt and moisture. 

Lauren enjoys receiving this mail from Grandma!

 

It is important to seal your projects and I highly recommend Helmar Crystal Kote Varnish!

Please be sure to visit Helmar on Facebook for more inspiration.  Click on the button at the top to order your Helmar supplies!

 

Thank you for visiting today and I look forward to sharing an other project with you next time. 

 

 
 

Which wedding card do I choose?

Hi its Bridget here again. 

This month is a very exciting month for my family.  My brother in law is getting married!  So this month I decided to go out of my comfort zone and make a wedding card for them.  I very rarely make cards, I am not sure why that is but I think I need to start making more. I could not quite decide what style I wanted to do, so I did two. Here they are.

What I used:

Helmar Craft Glue

Helmar Fabric Glue

Colourblast paste in Bling

Charm creations heart

D-lish paper flowers

Victoria spencer lace

Celebrations ribbon

Doliey

patterned paper

Plain cards from kmart

 

First fold Doily in half slightly off center. Fold again, also slightly off center. Fold tip back. Folding the Doily off center gives the skirt a layered look.

I ripped one of my pieces of patterned paper down on edge before adhering using Helmar's Craft Glue, to give a bit of texture to the card.

Again using Helmars craft glue, adhere the doily.  I also added a little ribbon and using the inside part of another doily I added the top part of the dress.

To finish off the card I added some pearls.

For my next card, I started of using colourblast paste in Bling.  I roughly scraped it on. Then using a heat gun I dried it. It ends up such a bright shimmery gold.

Using Helmars Craft glue, adhere a Doily to the side of the card.

Add a ribbon, using Helmar's Craft Glue.

So the card is not so flat, I used Helmars fabric glue to bunch up the lace before I adhered it to the card.

Lastly I added a Charms Creations heart and some D-lish paper flowers using Helmars craft glue.

Here is card two.

So which card would you choose?  

Thank you for joining me today.  Happy crafting!

How to paint with glitter to make a glittery layered elephant that sparkles!

Hi all of you Helmar fans, it's Kristina again with my first project for November.  I am really excited to show you how to create this awesome shaded glitter elephant on wood canvas using Helmar products.  I absolutely loved doing this project because it has a similar concept as painting, and I really love painting!!  Here is a picture of the finished piece, with background glitter, and without.

 

The products used in this majestic elephant piece are:

Helmar Tacky Craft Glue

Helmar Crystal Kote Gloss

Helmar Gemstone Glue

Two beads for the elephant eyes

White Glitter

Black Glitter

Pearl ex black powder to colour the white glitter into different shades of grey

Back gound glitter colour

Wooden Painting board (canvas can be used)

Gesso for priming the board/canvas

 

To begin with I got a picture from the free photo sharing website Pixabay, these are able to be used freely with no copyright issues.  This is the picture I chose.  I wanted only grey tones in the picture so this one was perfect.

I got my wooden canvas and covered it in two layers of white gesso, and when it was completely dry I traced the parts of the elephant that I wanted onto my canvas.

This next part sounds tricky but I promise it isn't.  I got seven plastic cups and I put approximately 3cm high of white glitter in six of the cups, leaving the last one for the pure black glitter.  The first cup you just leave pure white, the second cup has a tiny bit of black pearl ex added to make it slightly darker than the white, the next cup has a little more black pearl ex added to make it a little darker than the previous one and so on until the sixth cup is filled with white glitter that is almost black.  Basically making the different grey tones that the elephant requires.

 

Now for the messy bit, I poured Helmar Tacky Craft Glue over the whole of the elephant (in sections so the glue didn't dry before I got to the last part), and I put a base coat of glitter along the whole elephant.  I chose the fourth cup of glitter as my base coat (that would be the third cup after the white glitter). 

 

The next part is the layering, which adds the POP to the elephant.

 

So we will say that the plain white glitter is 1, the next darkest glitter 2, and so on until we get to the plain black glitter.  With that in mind I have drawn a basic diagram indicating the places to put the different colour glitters.  You can do as much or as little as you please, or even take it further and do more layers!

 

 

If you follow these colours and approximate spots for them you will have an amazing glittery beautiful elephant that will be the envy of all your family and friends.

 

I used a popsicle stick to carefully drop the tiny bits of glitter in the smaller spots.  It made it easier than using my fingers, which tend to make a mess.

 

 

 

 

 

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using a paint brush that I didn't mind having glue on it, I brushed the Helmar glue only on the spots I wanted the glitter to be.

 

After all the glitter is done, and you are completely happy, it is time for the eye placement.  I chose some red beads so they would stand out in between the greys of the elephant.  I used Helmar Gemstone Glue to ensure that the bead eyes stuck perfectly well to the elephant.

 

This is the time that you decide whether or not you want a background glitter colour.  I decided on turquoise.  Cover all the spots you want to put the background glitter with Helmar Tacky Craft Glue, and then sprinkle away with your chosen colour.

 

Once all was completely dry I got out the Helmar Crystal Kote Gloss Varnish spray to seal everything in, and to make sure the glitter was not going to escape all over my house lol.  I love the Gloss Varnish spray, it is the perfect finish for any project. 

I truly hope you give this glitter elephant a go, it was so much fun to do, playing with all the sparkly glitter, and experimenting with Helmar products.  I shall be back soon with another Helmar project.  Until then.....

For all of the Helmar products mentioned in this blog you can buy them at the following websites:

If you are in Australia make sure you visit https://www.helmar.com.au/shop/manufacturer/

If you are in USA make sure you visit https://www.helmarusa.com/shop.html