Tuesday, May 23, 2017

More Crafty Hobbies Pt 2

Last week I shared a few crafts that I tried and liked because I was kinda good at them and they were fun. This week I'll share with you some of the crafts that I tried and failed miserably at or just didn't come out as I had hoped. 

A few years ago when we painted the bathroom a nice bright green color, I decided to try making a few accent pieces for the walls. The little planter box that I painted came out really nice but then I tried making a replica of the white mouse on the right out of sculpy clay. Mine is the brown mouse on the far left and it looks nothing like the white mouse.

I ended up buying the tiny teddy bear and chipmunk because I after the mouse and then a couple of other sculptures that went in the trash, I didn't try the sculpy clay again. Mary from Evolve With Mary, asked to see some of the clay sculptures I made. So here ya go. :)


About 20 years ago I tried my hand at making pewter sculptures. I bought a kit with the molds, pewter blocks, heavy gloves, hot pot, pewter patina liquid, Swarovski accent crystals, and mold clamps. I had to remelt my sculptures about 6 times before I finally got one without bubbles which make holes in the sculpture. Back then I bought the entire kit for $39.99 and when I looked today a smaller kit is almost $90. I was able to make 4 sculptures with the kit I had and it was fun to do but as years went by the supplies got a lot more expensive so this was one craft I only did once. They are a lot of work and it's dangerous because that melted pewter is hot as hell and if you spill it on yourself, well it would be bad. 


A few years ago I saw a magazine with some Pine Cone crafts in it. I thought, well that looks easy enough. While my pine cone christmas tree's came out kinda cute, they weren't anywhere near as cute as the ones in the pictures. 

I also tried to recreate a pine cone mouse and while I liked it, my family thought I was nuts. lol 



I wanted to try my hand at making and decorating cakes. I can make a good tasting cake, that's not a problem but they were never pretty. So I bought a cake decorating kit like this one. I also bought some fondant icing and my first try with it was a hot mess. LOL Let me tell you though, my neighbors loved me because I was always foisting cake on them. Even if it looked funny, they liked the cake. My older next door neighbor came back and said, "I don't think you're supposed to eat that Play Dough type stuff on the cake." I forgot to tell him not to eat that. My bad. 


This was my first try using spray color mist and trying out a couple of new decorating tips. Again, the neighbors enjoyed cake too. *chuckles*


I didn't like the fondant at all so I never used that again. But I wanted to try making chocolate buttercream and it tasted really good. The cake was also chocolate. I was just having fun trying out the different decorating tips. My neighbors weren't surprised to find me at their doors with a piece of cake. 

When Easter rolled around I saw an Easter Basket cake that I wanted to try and make. So I bought all the supplies and colored the shredded coconut, baked the cake and scooped out the middle of it. I added some Easter egg looking candy to it and even though it didn't look like the picture and I might have added too much candy to the top of it, my daughter loved it. 

*Excuse the back of the stove, we were getting a new stove that week and the kitchen walls were about to be painted blue, so they were a bit of a mess.*

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the other crafts I've tried. Have you ever tried a craft that you ended up not liking?

39 comments:

  1. Craft disasters, yeah, I could do several posts on that one. Oh hey, I forgot about my cake decorating phase. My mom dragged me to classes with her and then I decided to do it myself a few times. Not pretty. :)

    Wow, that pewter molding project does sound hairy, but you did great.

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    1. Cake decorating is fun, especially if you like cake. lol

      The pewter making was a bit scary. That melted pewter gets hot!

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  2. That Easter Cake idea looks fabulous. The Eggs of the cake really stand out. What did you use for the handle? I thought to myself, you could have used those twisty colored licorice that they have now days, but I'm not sure if that would stay up unless you used a wire as well.

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    1. I used modeling chocolate and just poured it into mold that shape I made from aluminum foil and then wrapped a ribbon around it before putting it in the cake.

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  3. First, I had no idea you don't eat fondant??? I think all your crafts look great! And the Easter cake is really nice!

    I tried crafts with my kids over the years, often to make Xmas gifts. The easiest and best looking were the beeswax candles where you just roll a sheet of beeswax around a wick.

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    1. I used to get craft kits to do with kids when my daughter was little and there was the beeswax candle kit in one of them and that one was easy. You can eat the fondant but most people don't because it tastes bad. lol

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  4. Sure wouldn't want to get any hot as hell pewter on me. You sure have tried a lot, turned out great too.

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    1. Thanks! I like trying things but don't usually stick with many crafts.

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  5. Most of my craft projects don't look like the pictures... These look good to me.

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    1. and any cake filled with chocolate candy sounds good to me!

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    2. Thank you so much. Cake filled with chocolate candy sounds good to me right now too.

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  6. Better than anything I could do

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    1. I'm sure you could do some of these if you tried your hand at them.

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  7. They're all so cute! I love the pewter sculptures. I didn't realize they had kits that let you make stuff like that at home...I would have thought you'd need a forge.

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    1. Thank you. No, no forge needed since it comes with a metal post to melt the pewter down. There are kits to make all kinds of things.

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  8. Mine would look so much worse I assure you! I actually think a few of these turned out really well!

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    1. Thank you. It was fun trying them out.

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  9. We did enjoy those especially since there is no crafty talent here!

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    1. Thanks. I like trying new things even if they do turn out awful. lol

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  10. Look at you all crafty and working with pewter. I adore the pinecone mouse!

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    1. Thanks. I still have him packed away with my Christmas ornaments.

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  11. The basket things looks awesome. I can't even make a pretty cheesecake

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    1. Thanks so much. It took me about 3 hours which was waay to much time but I liked how it came out. Most of my cakes look not so great but taste good. lol

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  12. My goodness Mary, it sure looks like you've been holding out and hiding all these really neat talents. Very cool! Hugs

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    1. Thanks, Ro. I've tried a lot of different things over the years.

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  13. Hi Mary! Nice to meet you. This post made me giggle. I can so relate to doing craft projects and having them not turn out like the picture. Especially if you are trying to do a Martha Steward one. Hopefully though, you had fun no matter the outcome. I really like your pine cone mouse.

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    1. Hi Heidi, nice to meet you too. I did have fun with them and that's what counts.

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  14. You've tried your hand at a good few things which I think is brilliant!

    All the best Jan

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  15. You're better at crafting than I would be. I just don't have the patience for it. As for the cakes, I think yours look just fine and I'm all about taste anyway. :-)

    Melanie @ Hot Listens & Rabid Reads

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    1. I have patience for some crafts but things like crocheting I tried one time and even made a blanket but never again. The same thing over and over for hours..yeah not for me.

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  16. The metal sculptures are SO cool! But holy cow yeah I'd say that price jumped a bit too much to keep that one up.

    I love cooking but baking is my nemesis. I cannot frost cakes either. My mother though is a master baker and can do amazing wedding cakes. She just looks at me like...really? lol

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    1. Thanks. I loved making the metal sculptures but the price is outrageous now and I don't even know what the pewter costs now. I love baking when I can get it right. You have to be so precise with measurements when baking.

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  17. Wow, Girl. You've got all kinds of talents. Amazing at the price difference from then to now.

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    1. Thanks. I couldn't believe the price difference.

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  18. Most of my attempts are "fails" - you trying stuff is important!

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  19. Love that pine cone mouse!

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