These flowers were mostly made from left overs from various Create Your Own kits but if you want to do it properly, I highly recommend the new Fimo Pastel range, which has been hugely popular with our regular buyers recently.

I’m lucky that I have lots of Makins Icing cutters at my disposal which make it easy to create fast flowers and other shapes. We sell cutters on CraftMerrily too and it is an easy way for kids to enjoy making quick but detailed shapes. I made a range of flowers, dots, leaves and shapes and arranged them on card to explore different designs, adding scrapbooking card pieces for additional detail.

I did some pottering about on my blog with the results.

I keep meaning to learn to hand make flowers really well, but for an experiment I tried out making simple flowers from blobs of Fimo, much as a child would, to see how accessible this would be as a craft for people with no cutters or experience. All these flowers were made by hand in a minute or so – speed polymering!

The kids loved having a box of bits to play with – they’ve gone into our embellishment box now and I daresay I shall see a few of them again next weekend.

This turned out to be my favourite thing though. I photographed the image I made, edited on my phone and ended up with what I reckon could pass for the front of a real card if I printed it out nicely.

Below are links to the reviews that our bloggers did – I sincerely hope I did ask everyone for permission to use the photos and am sorry that it took so long to do my thank you post. You are all FABULOUS!

First up is 2 Stars & a Swirl who made robots and sheep. I was seriously impressed at what so small a person could achieve. The fold over create your own kits are great for learning but this is a real testament to how easy the instructions are to follow.

Over at Rollercoaster Mum it was Unicorns – and in what becomes a bit of a theme – mum took over to get them JUST RIGHT Along with many other plus points, this mum really liked it being a good, quick craft that was nearly mess free – and I agree

Dinosaurs were the order of the day at Seasider in the City where a small person did a very creditable job of making a formidably frightening  fella.

While similarly scary sea monster appeared over at Egg Dip Dip where, to her credit, mum managed to hand over the goods to the kids

The basic starter kit was a big hit at Red Rose Mummy‘s house and I think I spy some Angry Bird inspiration in amongst all that. This review really shows how quickly kids will seek out their own ideas with polymer clay and start to create all on their own.

I absolutely love that The Cheetah Keeper has done video reviews of their Fimo exploits. Dinosaur aliens – now there is a combination!

T-Rexs and Tiaras tried out a bead roller and was very pleased to be able to make lots of uniform beads with it while over at the anamumdiary they had a go at millifiori and although they found it a bit of a challenge, they managed to make a great beaded decoration with it.

I think I was most impressed of all with the models made by Maxi and Mini at Mum in the Madhouse. The elephant and lion really caught my eye but I also loved the lion. I think they are fabulous!

Fimo really comes into its own for kids at Christmas I think. Alyson, with added pasta machine and cookie cutters, had fun making Xmas decorations with her kids and at school. It’s just such an easy way to keep kids entertained with something they can take home and show off afterwards.

There were bears and Cbeebies characters made over at The Gingerbread House. They said they didn’t dare show us any pictures – but I bet they were fab

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This year I drew (snort! the organiser made sure I was doing her!) a family who have just spent an off grid year travelling the country, working on organic farms and trying out some versions of alternative lifestyles along the way. I’ve been completely awed by their experience – there is no way I could live such a varied year but it has sounded amazing. As I know them really well, it did make it very easy to do a polymer clay round up of their year, plus they are a family who are hugely good sports at having a bit of fun poked at them, so I knew I could really let rip

The blog they have kept in their year on being the Wondering Wanderers has been fascinating, I really recommend it!

The full model, which was roughlyA4 sized.

Nic, mostly known for her ability to consume vast quantities of wine and meat while loathing all vegetables, blogged the year with laptop, 3 Mifi and phone, with the Kindle we gave them as a leaving pressie for company. We are confident her toenails were polished at all times.

I couldn’t resit putting our PuddleChick family in for company along the way along with fish and rod and copious wood to chop

An allotment appropriate to the family eating requirements

We holiday together lots; Ady is rarely seen without a vacuum cleaner in hand. I like to think of him keeping the edges of the allotment spic and span.

Star loves hens and ducks and all things animal.

Dragon tends the fire while peeling carrots.

Be afraid pig, be very, very afraid.

Nic, on the other hand fear lentils and all who wield them! As pompoms are my other great crafting love just now, I added one of them in too!

I had a ball making this; it was naturally last minute, needed to survive some journeys and so was a slightly naive style but I had so many ideas. I might have to ask to do them again next year!

I recently made these cake toppers for my penguin mad daughter, who was born on Bonfire Night. Combining penguins and fireworks is no mean feat, I can tell you! I was inspired to have a go at a Christmas penguin and here is a tutorial so you can try too!

I’ve made a list of Fimo colours on CraftMerrily which are great for Christmas but for this penguin you just need polymer clay in:-
black
red
white
yellow

It’s really important not to discolour your white, so I recommend very clean hands and working with one colour at a time, as I have done in the pictures.
I tend to have baby wipes on hand too.

1. First roll a ball of white Fimo into a circle/egg shape/oval. The exact shapes will alter the character of your penguin and different shapes are great to experiment with.

Before you move on, also make two small eye dots and flatten slightly, a large hat pom pom and a long thin sausage for a hat trim.

2. Make two yellow tear drops for feet and flatten them slightly; then make a thick yellow triangle for the beak. Again the shape of this will alter your penguins look and is fun to play about with. I marked a groove around two sides of the beak to give it a slightly open mouthed look.

3. Make a red ball and then shape it into a hat shape with your fingers. I also made a long red sausage, flattened it slightly and used a knife to cut tassels into it but you can leave that bit out if it feels too hard.

4. Next, roll a black ball as a head. It will look best really circular so take the time to shape it nicely between your palms. The wings are two tear drops flattened out and then given a pinch to shape them. They’ll look just fine as a simple shape too, so don’t worry if the wiggle is too hard to achieve. It takes practise!

5. I make my penguins with ‘coats’ on, rather than trying to make a moulded, all in one, body shape. Make a large ball of Fimo and then flatten it into the shape in the picture. The dent at the top becomes his collar.

6. Time to dress him! First clean your hands thoroughly as the red and black will have discoloured them. The gently drape the coat around the body so about 2/3 of the ball is covered.

7. Pop his head on to the top of the ball and press it gently so the coat, body and head stick to each other, add his eye whites and bead, leaving enough space under his beak for a scarf to go round.

8. Gently lift your penguin and sit him down so he is on his feet, with about 2/3 of them sticking out in front. Use a knife end to gently press 2 toe dents into each foot.

9.Take two tiny pieces of black and make eye dots. When I’m making lots of characters I pre make eye whites and put the dots on and bake them in batches to save squishing them when I put them on. The direction of the eyes will alter the penguins expression, so take care to have them a similar size and pointing in the same direction – or he may look a little confused! If the dots are scary, wait till afterwards and draw them on with a black indelible pen.

10. Put his wings on each side, pressing firmly so they are attached at the shoulder and near the front of his coat. I tend to leave the tips not pressed down to give them a little movement and realism. Don’t worry about blending them to the coat unless you want to; the scarf will cover the joins.

11. Finally, tuck his scarf around his neck and put his hat on. The hat will look best if you gently press your thumb into the underside so it is concave and fits his head. Add the white trim, with the join at the back and texture it if you wish using a cocktail stick. Add the pompom.

These penguins will look lovely on a cake, or on a mantelpiece or, if you put a hole through the hat, hanging on the tree.

I’ve been making more dragons; this lot are all now safely in their own homes, except for magpie with his hoard of gold. They turned out very different to the first batch; I definitely think they have a life of their own.