The Makers' Box :: project one

I've just had a quick look through my blog posts so far this year and I think I have forgotten to tell you about some exciting news - I'm part of the Makers' Collective Making Team for 2015! I'm so thrilled to be working with Mikaela and the Makers' Collective - if there are two things I believe in they are craft for everyone and local Canberra events/businesses, so I am super excited to be able to help spread the word about both.

One of the really cool products that the Makers' Collective offers is the Makers' Box - a subscription based service where you receive a project per month as a kit in the post (they are sent quarterly, so you get 3 kits at once). The projects are really varied, and the best thing is everything you need for the project is right there in the box, so it's the perfect way to try something new without having to run around after a bunch of different supplies - and of course you can add in bits and pieces from your own crafting stash to really customise the project and make it your own.

I was really excited when I saw one of the kits was for air dry clay magnets - I had a bit of a look around for air dry clay for ornament making at Christmas, but decided to use fimo instead - so I couldn't wait to try it out. You can see in the picture there that the kit came with a little instruction book that has loads of photos and all the info and templates you need to make a cute little cloud and raindrop set of magnets. I decided to try a something a little different, and embellished my clay with stamps and ink from my stash instead. (You can probably also see that there is plenty enough clay in the kit for both!)

And there are my finished magnets. I found the clay a little bit hard to get smooth when I was cutting it out, but gave it a sand it after it dried, and am happy with the result. In terms of the stamps and ink, I was so impressed with the level of detail that came out - I really thought the stamps might be a bit intricate! I tried a few different inks - some were a bit watery and rubbish, but others worked really well (a reflection of the quality of the inks, not the process!). I gave these a layer of Mod Podge to seal them a bit too. Over all I think they came out pretty cute - I think if you had stronger magnets they would make cute needle minders for your stitching, and if you felt confident about the seal you could probably also make some cute brooches! I think next I might try to make some little jewellery dishes - either stamped like these or textured with lace imprints or something.

My fellow Making Team member Natalie made the cloud magnets with her daughters - pop over to One Scrappy Doctor to see how they turned out (spoiler alert :: they painted theirs and they turned out super cute).

You can find all the info you need to subscribe for the Makers' Box here.

And here are a few other exciting things going on at the Makers' Collective:

I'm excited to have made a little Eastery quilty project & tutorial for the launch issue of MAKERS magazine! MAKERS is a quarterly online magazine which is launching March 24 - you can find out more AND sign up for a FREE subscription here.