Using one of their available screens, you apply an emulsion sheet with water and let it dry in one of the housing spaces within the YUDU. To speed up the drying process, there is a fan inside the machine.

Once dry, you expose the light sensitive emulsion screen to any design you choose and “burn” the image into the screen. Once you rinse away the unexposed parts of the screen and dry it off, you’re ready to screen print.

Using any of the inks – which can be mixed to achieve different custom colors – you print right onto any object that fits under the screen. Fabrics, paper, anything up to about a 2 ½ inch thickness.

The YUDU inks are water soluble so if you’re not happy with your first print out, you can wash the ink off and go at it again. The screens can be cleaned free of any emulsion with the available emulsion remover and be reused, or you can save your screen with the design for printing at another time. When you’re all done you can put up to two screens in the machine for easy accessible storage.

Make sure you check out ConsumerCrafts.com for a full selection of Yudu Accessories, too!

The kit includes:

• Two differently sized spatulas, one larger to remove bigger cut out pieces and one small to help remove finer more intricate cuts without damaging your designs.
• A needle tool, which removes any excess pieces from the design, and using the point of the tool you can also indent onto pie dough, fondant, and gum paste to create texture.
• A pastry brush, which can apply the shortening to the Cricut Cake Mat, and then be cleaned and brush on an egg wash or brush away excess flour from your work surface or dessert.
• A two- sided rotary cutter equipped with a plastic blade can cut away excess fondant, create strips for a lattice design, or even be used to indent texture lines into your decorations.
• A large flat smoothing tool, helps to smooth down and adhere whatever you decide to work with onto your Cricut mat, and later on can also be used to help smooth on your cut out design to the cake, or surface you choose to put it on.
• For cleanup, there’s even a scraping tool to help you scrape off any excess gum paste, fondant, or pie dough from your Cricut Mat.

If you’ve got a Cricut Cake Machine, this tool kit offers a bevy of useful tools!

The different colors available in the 3mm Multi pack

Hot Fix Rhinestones Multi- Value Pack

Hot Fix Rhinestones Crystal – Value Pack

• 1″bottlecaps
• 1″ bottlecaps with magnets – perfect for magnet boards and refrigerator magnets
• minis for fun craft projects
• Large 2″ ones for collage
• Bottle caps with loops for pendants
• There are even colors- red, green, pink, white and black!

There are so many fun ways to use bottlecaps- use them with scrapbok papers, fill them with embossing powders, use them as bezels for polymer clay. Stay tuned, we’ll have some fun projects for you!

You’ll find rhinestone-studded large hole beads, lampwork styles, charms, and crystal beads as well as accessories such as necklaces, bracelets, and pendant blanks. For a fraction of the cost, you can design, collect,and of course mix and match a whole wardrobe of fashionable jewelery!

Stay tuned, you’ll see some great ideas using Mix and Mingle components coming very soon!

So many lovely options!

Signed, Sealed and Remembered features bezels, findings, chains, class slides and frames, and charms that come in fashion- forward finishes such as copper, gunmetal, and antique silver. They are perfect for using your favorite scrapbooking and photos, too, to create truly personal and one-of-a-kind art pieces to wear!

These bezels are perfect for photos, polymer clay, or scrapbook paper!

Stay tuned & we’ll have some eye-catching projects for you using this cool, new line!

PrismaColor Pencils

Packed in a reusable tin, Prismacolor pencils feature thick core leads which are formulated with the highest quality pigments for intensely rich color saturation. Artist grade,and particularly well suited for superior layering, blending and shading.

If you know colored pencils, PrismaColor is considered the “Cadillac” of pencils! And ConsumerCrafts.com has them reasonable priced at $23.94!

I found this video on blending/shading with PrismaColors, and thought you might like to see it:

We’ll have some great projects featuring these pencils soon- stay tuned!

First Impressions of the Glue:

1. I love how the glue is packaged.  Before you can use the glue you have to remove a ring and then pierce the top with the cap.  Nothing burns my bun more than receiving glue in the mail that has leaked or worse, exploded!

2. A little bit of the glue goes a long way!  When I first used the glue I used too much.  Little drops of glue work the best.  For some reason the first time I used it I lathered it on.  Not good!  It took forever to dry and ran over the sides of my project.

3. It has a really good hold.  I felt really confident about the mirrors staying attached to the metal after I had used it for my Valentine’s Metal Art Project.

4. For pete’s sake don’t get it on your skin!  If you do get it on your fingers or skin wash it off right away with warm water.  I found it easiest when working with small items like rhinestones to use tweezers.

5. The glue works great on metal to metal!

6. Stellar results for rhinestone to metal!

7. Glass beads to metal gorgeous!

8. Overall, I am very happy with my experiences with Aleene’s Jewelry & Metal Glue.  I used the glue to add embellishments to a silver frame.  This is one of my favorite pictures; it is picture of my father and I!

disclosure

Sadly, I never invested in such a machine since I only created played with dough once a year. Then Consumer Crafts offered to have me review their Pasta Maker by Darice (Item 97340) and I jumped at the opportunity.

When you first open the package, you’ll see the large pasta machine, the table clamp, the crank handle, and the instruction booklet.

Straight out the box

The instruction book tells you how to assemble the machine, how to create eatable pasta, how to prepare the pasta, and how to maintain the machine.

Pasta machine put together

It’s best to place the machine on a sturdy table. If, however, you use a TV cart like I do, it’s important that you place your foot on the bottom bar of the cart to keep it stable as you turn the crank.

When using the pasta machine, it’s important that you do a little kneading and conditioning of the clay (or dough) before you run it through the pasta machine.

Unwrap Polymer Clay

Squish clay together.

Knead clay

Flatten clay

Once the clay is pliable, place it on the top of the machine so that the edge of the clay can pass through the machine.

Run clay through machine

Crank the handle, and watch the clay come out at the bottom of the machine.

This is where things can get a little tricky. If you do not pull the clay with your other hand it will fold and the folds will stick together. Gently pull the clay straight, allowing it to lay across your table, or fall towards the floor, as you crank the handle.

Once the last of your clay has passed through the machine, fold the clay over and run it through the machine again. Continue to fold the clay and run it through the machine until you get the desired effect you’re looking for.

Clay is ready to go

Here are a few tips for the pasta machine:

1. Do not use the same machine you use for dough or clay for creating edible pasta. While polymer clay is non-toxic, you don’t want to eat it!
2. If your clay isn’t conditioned running it through the machine may cause tears in the clay, the edges may appear very frayed, or the clay may completely shred and fall apart. If this is the case, just squish the clay back together, flatten, and put it back through the pasta machine. Let the machine help you condition the clay.
3. Do not wash the pasta machine with water as it will damage the unit.
4. If clay gets stuck inside the unit, use a wrung out baby wipe to help force the clay through the machine. (Avoid using wipes that contain lotion or moisturizers.)
5. If clay gets stuck on the outer edges of the machine, use a soft toothbrush to  brush away the clay bits.
6. Running objects other than your clay through the machine can scratch and damage the rollers.
7. Start conditioning your clay at the widest setting, then readjust the setting to your desired thickness when the clay becomes more pliable.

The one thing I dislike about the pasta machine (and they all are like this) is the fact that the crank handle constantly falls off. If I crank too fast then let go of the handle, the handle jumps out of its spot and falls to the ground. To combat this issue, I’ve learned to slow my cranking down when I get to the last of the clay.

Editor’s note: The Pasta Machine is a great tool for creating, too! The fact that you can get smooth, flat sheets of even thickness is wonderful, and even essential for some polymer clay crafts. There are also some techniques for blending clay that are almost impossible to get without a machine. And later this week we’ll have a follow-up post on how to use the Pasta Machine to make perfect polymer beads. Stay tuned!

Disclosure

I experimented with the tips on scrap wood for several hours and this is what I learned:

1. The wood you are working with really needs to be sanded down.  The rough splintered wood is very hard to make a design on.
2. The thin pointed tip works great for outlining.
3. The larger rounded tip works great for shadowing almost like a crayon.
4. It is best to sketch your design with pencil on the wood before you burn it.
5. Do not press the tip into the wood but slowly run it along the wood.
6. Mix wood-burning techniques with paint for a fun effect.
7. Wait for the wood-burning tool to fully cool off before you screw another tip onto the tool.

I used a princess cut-out provided by Consumer Crafts to practice some of the techniques I had learned.  I had read somewhere that ivy was an easy technique with a wood burning tool and I wanted to give it a try.

I began by first tracing the inside of the princess cut-out with the fine tip attachment.

Then I wanted to add little leaves.  There is an attachment that is shaped like a leaf that I thought would be perfect for the job.  Turns out it just makes scorch marks.  I wasn’t really a big fan of this applicator and was glad that I tried it out on practice piece.

Lastly, I tried the larger rounded tip to make little leaves and I loved out those turned out!

The biggest thing I learned while working with Darice’s Wood Burning Tool is not to press too hard, but too work slowly and methodically creating my image.  I am a crayon snapper, I am a high-stress person and I press down really hard on everything, whether I am using a pencil, pen, or even a paint brush.  Using the wood burning tool was a wonderful stress release for me.  There was something very calming about knowing that I had to do it slowly and lightly or I would ruin the piece.

The final and most important thing I learned is; if you don’t like it sand it off and start again!