Lavender Frost Daisy Catchall Dish

One of the best things about springtime is seeing all the pretty spring flowers blooming everywhere! So why not bring a pretty touch of spring to your home decor by making a super cute spring Lavender Frost Daisy Catchall Dish out of polymer clay! It's a  perfect addition to our Creative Craft Hop hosted this month by Sara @Birdz of a Feather! Welcome! We are so glad you're here! If you're coming over from Carol @ Blue Sky at Home, wasn't her recovered outdoor bench cushion fabulous! At the bottom of my post I'll tell you the next stop on this hop! But be sure to visit all of the creative crafters who join this hop for some amazing inspirations! 

I recently came across a picture of a flower called Serenity Lavender Frost ‘Balserlavosim’ daisy that I really loved. Just take a look:

Can you imagine seeing something like this in a dish made out of clay? I had some left over polymer clay from a few months ago when I made a heart shaped dish that I needed to use before it got too hard to make anything. So I was going to try to make a dish with this lovely daisy as my inspiration! 

Materials:

• Sculpey oven-bake polymer clay - white/purple 
• Parchment paper
• Silicone mat
• Rolling pin
• Flower template
• Scissors
• Craft Knife
• Old plastic card
• Oven safe bowl
• Aluminum cookie sheet
• Sandpaper/sanding block
• White acrylic paint/paint brush
• Sculpey satin glaze 

Disclosure I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! The affiliate money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

How To:

First, I needed to find a free twelve petals (rays) flower (daisy) template online which I did. Then I copied the template, printed it using a laser printer and then cut it out! 

Next, I got out the left over oven baked clay and laid it out on parchment paper.

Next, I tried rolling it into ball and .  .  .

after much kneading to soften the clay up, I was able to make a ball.

Then, used a roller pin (Dollar Tree) to roll the clay out into a round shape .  .  . 

about a 1/4" thick.

Once I had a round shape that was big enough for the template, I placed the flower template on top and .  .  .

started cutting the flower design out.

I know .  .  . I didn't do such a great job cutting the flower template out, lol! You can see I had trouble going around the petal tips.

Never the less, I removed the access clay around the flower.

Then I started kneading a small amount of lavender (purple) clay to make the center disc. 

Rolling the clay into a cylinder shape to .  .  .

coil into a disc to .  .  .

place in the center of the flower.

Then I used the edge of an old plastic ID card I got from a cruise to define the petals.

The flower is really beginning to come together, don't you think!

Carefully lay the flower into a oven safe bowl. One that would allow the petals to curl up a bit and not lay flat.

Pre-set the oven at 275 degrees per package instructions and place the bowl on a metal cookie sheet. 

Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes per instructions. Once the fifteen minutes were over, I let the dish stay in the oven until the oven cooled. 

Once the flower was at room temperature, I used a nail file to smooth out the edges of the petals.

Then I painted the bottom of the dish using white chalk paint - which didn't seem to brighten the clay, so I painted on a second coat of an acrylic paint called snow white. That looked pretty good, so I painted the top, too.

Once the white paint was dry, it was time to paint the disc, lavender purple. I had a time painting on the rays from the disc using the tip of a toothpick. Oh well! Once all of the paint was dry, I painted on a coat of Sculpey Glaze to seal. 

I must say that I love how the Lavender Frost Daisy catchall dish turned out!

It looks really cool and it certainly does compliment my decor! Just perfect for Spring!

I hope you enjoyed how I made my Lavender Frost Daisy Catchall Dish!  Welcome once again to our Creative Craft Hop! 

Up next is Terri @ Decorate and More with Tip sharing her awesome Repurposed Old Window! You will be amazed how she did that! And be sure to check out all of the talented bloggers sharing their awesome creations below:   

Jenna @The Painted Apron - Glue Gun Caddy

Carol @ Blue Sky At Home -  Easy and Quick Way to Recover an Outdoor Bench Cushion

Gail @ Purple Hues and Me - Lavender Frost Daisy Catchall Dish

Terri @Decorate and More with Tip - Repurposed Old Window

Sara @ Birdz of a Feather - Word Art Design

Donna @Modern on Monticello - DIY Painted Rocks For Grandkid's Garden Area

Cecilia @My Thrift Store Addiction - Fragrant Honeysuckle and Rosemary Luminary

Ann @ The Apple Stree Cottage - Easy Inexpensive Swing Frame Art

GriffWorld Travel Map Letters DIY

Oh, the places we've been!

Years ago - and what seems like a life time, when the hubs came up with the idea of naming our travel adventures, "GRIFFWORLD VACATIONS" Did I say, hubs loves to travel! In case you're wondering, our last name is Griffin and the hubs goes by the name, "Griff" to all of his friends. He even came up with a logo like this one pictured below:

And he also mapped out our trips by way of Google, too:

So all of this gave me an idea for our Sustainable Craft Challenge Blog Hop hosted by Julie @Sum of their Stories! This month's theme is TYPOGRAPHY!  Simply put, (btw, I had to look up the meaning), typography is the style or appearance of text or the art of arranging a message in a readable and aesthetically pleasing composition - like GRIFFWORLD, lol!

Decorative letters are quite trendy these days! I had the idea of making cardboard letters using recycled cardboard from a box and transforming them with maps of the places we've traveled.

And repurposing maps onto letters is a creative and eco-friendly way to give maps new life especially if it shows the places you've traveled!  Plus, it's an artful memento of your trips - you're reminded of those special destinations and a sense of adventure every time you look at them!

It's easy to make letters out of recycled cardboard! And then transform them into traveled map decor! Here's how:

Materials Needed:

• Cardboard flaps - from a very large and thick cardboard shipping box
• Letter templates
• Pencil/scissors/utility knife/small sharp scissors
• Cutting mat/board
• Mod Podge (Matte)/paint brush
• Laser lever
• Masking tape
• Command strips 

We recently ordered an outdoor water fountain for our patio and it came in a very large and thick cardboard box. Great to recycle/upcycle!  

It was easier for me to just remove the flaps (8) from the box and save the rest for another project.

Then I found large clipart 8" letters online to print out and use as templates to spell the words, GRIFF WORLD. 

Once I had all the letters printed out, I started cutting them out.

And once all the letters were cut out, it was time to place each letter on the cardboard flaps. I was able to put two eight inch letters on each flap.

And then, drew around each letter using a pencil.

Once that was done, it was .  .  .

time to cut each letter out. From here on out, I will use the letter G to show you how I made the map letters. It would make for a very long and perhaps boring post to show how each letter was done.

Since there were ten letters in GRIFFWORLD, I wanted to divide the Google Map into ten groups - going from left to right on the map - to cover each of the ten letters to print out. 

With each group representing places we've traveled.

The first map is of  Australia. I found it a bit difficult to actually get the visited places lined up with the letters. I would actually hold up the map on top of the letter facing the sun so I could see where the places hit the letter. And while holding the paper map on the letter, I would lay the letter down with the map on top of the cutting mat. Then lift one end of the map up to add mod podge over the letter, smoothing it out. Then lifting the other side to apply the mod podge on the letter and smoothing the entire map out on the letter. Once the map was dry, started cutting the map out around the letter using both a utility knife and .  .  .  

small sharp scissors.

Once the map was cut out on the letter, I dipped my finger in the mod podge and smooth the paper edges down around the letter, then I applied a light layer of mod podge to seal and let dry (not shown).

Here are all the finished map letters with some, but not all of the traveled places listed:

G - Australia - Sidney, New South Wales

R - New Zealand - Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland

I - Hawaii - Lahaina, Kahului, Honolulu

F - United States - California, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oxnard, San Francisco,         Seattle, Colorado, Grand Junction, Denver, Las Vegas, Nevada, Dallas, Texas,       Fort Worth, Pittsburg, Bridgeport, Connecticut, New York, DC, Wildwood, NJ,         Ocean City,  Williamsburg, Virginia Beach, Leland, North Carolina,                         Washington,  NC. Columbia, South Carolina, North Myrtle Beach, Key West           Florida, Islamorada, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando, Florida Dallas,         Texas, Forth Worth,

F - Alaska - Skagway, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Victoria British Columbia

     Canada - Vancouver, British Columbia

W- Mexico, San Miguel de Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Cancun 

O - Jamaica Montego Bay, Ocho Rios

R - US Virgin Islands, St Thomas, Charlotte Amalia  Cruz Bay 

L - Nassau, Freeport, Bahamas, Haiti, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Barbados

D - Florence, Rome Italy, Madrid, Spain, Paris, France,  

Next, it was time to hang them on the wall in the hub's mancave. First, he applied masking tape where he wanted the wording centered and spaced, while I added Command strips to the back of the letters.

Then he used a laser level so I could place masking tape across the last line of wording (WORLD). Then we guesstimated where the center letter R would go, lol!

And added the other letters going before and after the letter R. Sorry about the lighting and shading of the photos. 

Once WORLD was up, it was time to add GRIFF, starting with the letter I. Using the same method as before, centering I,  and .  .  .

adding the R and G, and finally the last two Fs. Since the hanging strips were applied near the top of the letters, it was easy to remove the masking tape lines from the wall. 

The hubs really loves how GRIFFWORLD looks in his room! And I do too!

We have a trip planned to visit Dubai and parts of Africa in 2025. I guess we will start adding the word VACATIONS next! Stay tune!

                   

Welcome to our monthly Sustainable Craft Challenge! As I mentioned before, this months' theme is Typography! The challenge is all about sustainable crafting with a different theme each month!  The projects must have some sort of a sustainable element to them. This could be an upcycling or recycling element, or something that reduces waste, uses leftovers, etc. 

Be sure to check out all the creative Typography Sustainable Craft projects from my fellow crafters listed below:

Julie @Sum of Their Stories - Turn Leftover Alphabet Stickers Into Fun Bookmarks

Mel @Decor Craft Design - DIY Spring Tin Bucket Vase

Gail @Purple Hues and Me -  GriffWorld Travel Map Letters DIY

Terri @Our Good Life -  Quick and Easy Handlettering on Glass

Christine @Christine's Crafts - Dementia Fidget Blanket - Easy to Make and Adapt!

T'onna @Sew Crafty Crochet - Rae Dunn Inspired Cutlery Placemat