Heaven's edge: The Candy Sanctuary Blog

Free Chocolate Falls wallpapers

2011-10-20T15:34:00.000-04:00

Hey all, I made this wallpaper yesterday to further celebrate my new theme Chocolate Falls. They again come in two sizes and hopefully will satisfy your chocolate fix. :D Thanks for looking guys!

Blogger changed around a bit and you don't get to see the full size image itself when you click on it. To see it fully view the wallpaper in another tab and right click to save it in your computer.

Big size

Small size

The crafts are back!

2011-10-19T10:48:00.000-04:00

Hey all and welcome back to my blog! Well you probablynotice that I haven't posted anything that I personally crafted in a long time. Ithink I explained this before but it was due to the very hot weather and myroom being just too small to actively work on my crafts everyday.

Now that its Fall the weather have gotten a lot better and Iknew that my passion would come back soon. But it really struck me when Istarted putting all my crafts onto the downstairs dinning room table. That's whenmy dad told me about the shelving unit that we had in the basement and hehelped me put it up. Now instead of having all my supplies on the dinning roomtable while I'm crafting, I have a big shelf to house all my craft materials!

The shelf was finished and I started to prepare mythings on the three selves, that's when I was hit with the most passion and inspiration formy work in months! All the various things that I can make flashed before myeyes and it only made my mouth water with endless creativity!

So yes expect lots of crafts, blogging, pictures, articles,inspirations, and just awesomeness for the months ahead! :D Oh yeah, do youguys like the new design I gave this place? I call it Chocolate Falls tocelebrate the new season!

Thanks for reading and supporting me and I'll see you allsoon!

Miniature Cakes and Inspirations

2011-09-21T11:09:00.000-04:00

As I was browsing my image gallery of fake clay sweets anddecoden I washed up on some old inspirations! I can't remember exactly where Igot the images from since its been some time since I got them, but I think thereare from online stores that produce them.

If your interested in taking your clay cakes to the next level or just need that boost of inspiration or ideas you came to the right place!

I hope you guys just got as inspired as I did, till next time take care!

My favorite tumblrs

2011-09-15T10:54:00.000-04:00

Hey all long time no see!

Tumblr is by far one of my favorite places to "gain inspiration"for the simple fact that you can find amazing pictures, quotes, and people thatlike the same things as you do! In fact I was suppose to do this type of entrybefore but I never got around to it and this was before I joined the site. OnceI dig deeper into the "cute" community of tumblr I was hooked! So now I'm showing you my few favorite tumblrsfrom the day I landed face first into the site.

These places consist of my favorite things: pink, lolita,cute crafts, deco den, fairy kei, and so much more. The more you drive intothese blogs the more awesome you will see. So for anyone that likes the abovethings and/or this blog I 100% recommend these sites for you!

Oh yes and my own tumblr is Here

I hope this helps you find your total sweet tooth! I haveplenty more to show but I will save them for another day ( it give me materialto post about ).

Have a great day and take care!

Free melty bow wallpapers and updates

2011-08-24T15:01:00.000-04:00

Hey all long time no see!

Well, as you can tell I haven't done much on the crafting side of things at all. I haven't even brought anything for my crafts in months! This dry patch is mostly due to the hot weather and the fact my crafting space in the share kitchen have been ravaged from my dad's house projects. -__-0

The only thing I done was make a fairy kei styled cake that I never finished. I admit my morale with my sweets crafting hasn't been the best but my passion for it haven't went anywhere. This long absence only made me flesh out The Candy Sanctuary a bit more. One of my older ideas was actually making free wallpapers and graphics but I never got around to do it. However, I had a great strike of inspiration to make a melting bow wallpaper so I went for it! You can check them out on the bottom of this post!

Besides that I've been working a lot on my angel readings. I've been holding raffles for free angel readings that have been really helpful on getting the word out in the forum I'm in. I also got my first two sales a few weeks ago, I was so excited! I hope the sales pick up again! If you guys are interested in them you can check my blog and the social media sites my readings are on.

Blog

Facebook Page

Twitter

I also hurt my back a few weeks ago too and I'm still recovering from the constant soreness. I had to postpone the last big raffle and spend time off the computer since my back would ache. I'm feeling a lot better but again I still feel the soreness still so I'm hoping I'll recover completely soon!

Last thing is my wonderful wallpapers that I made a few days ago! I try to make the color schemes something that you all will enjoy like the super girly colors as well as cafe-ish colors. Each wallpaper have a small and large sizes so I can accommodate as many computers you all use as possible. :)

The melting bow wallpapers

It took some tries to get the seamless dripping effect (since I made the bows a pattern in Photoshop) but I got it and was really excited! Also the bow sizes are different for some of the wallpapers.

Small wallpaper

Large wallpaper

Small wallpaper

Large wallpaper

Small wallpaper

Large wallpaper

Here are the big bow wallpapers

Small wallpaper

Large wallpaper

Small wallpaper

Large wallpaper

Small wallpaper

Large wallpaper

I really enjoy doing these so I might focus on making more graphics since I'm not super productive in the crafting end of things. I would like your opinions on what you would like to see in the future. More sweets, Lolita, or fairy kei theme things? Would you all like to see backgrounds patterns and icons for your personal blogs, twitters, and such? If you have any ideas just let me know and I'll try to make it happen since I have more ideas on the way. :)

Okay I hope everyone is doing okay especially on the east coast after that quake was felt all over! I was scared s**tless when it happened ! XD I'm still very uneasy that I didn't even sleep last night.

Can't wait to hear and see from you all! Thanks for reading!

Manual of power for the artist

2011-08-01T13:48:00.000-04:00

I put this on my DA as well if you want to read it there... :)

Dear artists of the world,

Where do I even start? I come online everyday and more likely then not I have to hear yet another person's trails and tribulations about "being an artist". Its either in trying to find a style, trying to stay true to yourself, wanting more criticism, telling people to piss off because of criticism, trying to be popular, wanting to live off by doing what they love, and/or thousand other things.

When the rubber hits the road us artists can agree that being an artist is FUCKING HARD. God forbid if you're on the internet trying to make your way because so many of us is left behind in the dust while a select few makes their dreams come true. Tough world, eat it or get out. Don't be an artist if you can't take consist shit and bricks to your emotional face. Don't even start if you can't handle being judged by the world by what and how you draw (or other wise) because that's basically what you're doing from that moment on...

That last paragraph you just read. Is a complete lie... Everything, every single word, your mind just got blown (or not).

Being an artist is NOT HARD, YOU CAN make your own way on the internet, YOU CAN become popular. YOU CAN MAKE A LIVING BY DOING WHAT YOU LOVE. It is all possible and very achievable for anyone that wants it, but there is one thing standing in your way. Yourself and what you THINK you can and can not do aka your beliefs!

What you think and believe directs your outcome of your life as an artist and life itself.

Think about that second paragraph again. Did you agree with one or more statements, did it completely resonate with you because that's the same thing you have been going though? Well, we are about to punch every single one of those statements in the face twice, but you have to promise to have A LOT of patience with yourself because this is just the beginning. The beginning to finding your own magical world where your true artistic abilities are held and everything else that you ever wanted.

First and foremost stop what your doing, for god's sake get off the internet and bust out some lined paper and a pencil to reinvent yourself! Write down every single thing that you want as an artist and just as a person.

This is not the time to be "humble", you can be humble when your dead, if you want popularity then write it down! If you want to make a lot of money by drawing (or any craft) write it in all caps, engrave it in your mind! Write down every single thing that you want to have right now.

How do you feel about all your aspirations and dreams? Does it feel good just to write them or are you nervous because you made the greatest of sins for wanting so much? Either way, listen to your feelings because they are telling you something. Something important about yourself and how you approach the world.

Write those feelings down or just express them. Good, bad, sadness, or depression it doesn't matter just write them down. Don't just write the emotions down, write the "reason" behind the feelings. Does those feelings come from other people's opinions? Did those feelings resulted in what you were told, or what you assumed in the world? Write the whole story down, make it real again and feel those emotions again.

All those icky feelings, opinions, and beliefs you have about yourself, as an artist or just as a person is the very reason why you can't get what you want. You literally built a stone box (aka your feelings and beliefs) around you blocking you from the sunshine that you seek. You chiseled and chiseled at a small part of that wall to invite a small ray of light. Then you go to another part of the wall and try again. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. But out of the "whole world" that is out there the most you get are the small rays of yellow light. Don't down your rays of light, be proud of them that you can chisel through a godly tough stone wall to get them.

But you're craving more light, more sun, and more of "what is out there" in your unique world of talent. Don't down that part either, if you want more then you are a natural non-corrupted human being. Don't let others (people around you, the media, yourself) tell you that "wanting more" is wrong. Wanting more is grabbing what you have and adding more to it, making it bigger and better then what it was before. So if you want more, say it loud and proud!

Okay, so we out lined what we do want and how we felt about it. We focused on the negative feelings and how its trapping us in this "stone box". Now its time to turn that stone box into a "glass box"! Where you can see your full potential, live in front of you. You can see your dreams literally taking shape and playing back to you like you're in a wicked movie theater. The best part of the glass box is that you don't have to chisel at it for god knows how long just to get a taste of it, you can simply tap the glass and watch the barrier fall.

Before we start, all those harsh feelings from before? Let the emotions go, write/draw/paint your negativity on a piece of paper then throw it in the trash. Tell yourself "I am no longer holding these emotions against myself, thank you for telling me what I needed to work on in myself, you are free to go!". Say it as many times as you want till you're ready to throw some positivity in your new artist self!

Take out another piece of paper and write down your dreams (shorten version if you want) and why it is possible to achieve those dreams! This might be hard for some since we were so focused on the "reality" of things but this is where you rewrite "your" reality.
Where you change your beliefs about what can and can't happen in your life. When you are writing your reasons why, make those reasons real, feel that positive energy about yourself. That is key because if you can feel it, then its real to you in some form. The realer you make it, the more achievable it is!

Make yourself feel good about your dreams and how you can easily get to them. Get that huge ego and embrace it because its telling you, you can do ANYTHING and you don't even have to work hard. When you are positive about something, you are making it real and accessible to come into your life. Things come "out the blue" when your positive, things just go smoothly, and ideas just work out when you're upbeat in mood. Where when you are negative about something the opposite happens.

That's because your beliefs and feelings are dictating what you can and can't do. "I can" means unlimited where "I can't" means limited. When you say either you are stating whether you're enabling or disenabling yourself from what you can or can not want, do, or believe.

Its all a state of mind if you can or can't do it. Open yourself to all what life and what your dreams have put together for you and ride that epic wave. Don't let others take that away from you either because "all this", the old and new found artist self was done by you. No one can change your beliefs unless you let yourself believe them.

No one can take your dreams away and no one can block you from your goals but you! Be persistent, courageous, daring, loving, and head strong with what you want as an artist. Whoever doesn't like what you're doing, tell them to simply "piss of" and don't feel sorry to stand for what you believe in.

This is "your life" take control of it and your creative destiny, never let anyone take that power away because its rightfully yours.

Peace, love, and paint brushes ~

Why change is good

2011-07-15T09:21:00.000-04:00

Hey all I just wanted to say how sorry I am for letting this blog collect dust for about 2 months. A lot have happened in those two months that I will go over in the this and in the next post. In this post I used my unicorn cards to explain change and why its so important. Hopefully you won't be scared off my by new agey ways haha! Anyway enjoy and I hope this post helps anyone that is struggling with changes in their own life.

♥ A message from the unicorns and myself ♥

This started a few years back. I was only 18 and was at a cross road on what to do with my life. I always wanted to be a game designer or something of that nature because of my love for videos games, design and art. At the same time, in my heart of hearts I had something else pulling at my soul, being humble in maintaining my life through a self made business. A way that I can work with my hands, be happy and make others happy too. Its was hard to think of this as a career choice because I learned that it was hard to accomplish, and that I had no clue where to start. But over a matter of thinking and believing in the law of attraction I figured it was worth my life to achieve something that I truly wanted.

Since then things have happened to help support my efforts in my dream of a self made business. I named this new company of mine "The Candy Sanctuary" (the link takes you to the blog) and its been my heart and soul for many years. Everything I did was solely for that one purpose, to see it prosper and to see myself as a self made success. Yet things have been going against my favor for I have gotten caught up in many many opinions over the years. Not to say that everything I did was wrong or that it wasn't meant to be but my heart and brain wasn't in sync. My brain wanted to be the most hippest, different, and cutting edge "clay sweets and kawaii" company of its kind. I fell into the trap of following what I see to steer me into a place where only my heart could take me.

You see, even though I wanted to be the above mentioned things a big part of me just wanted that simple aesthetic of being myself. However my brain told me that I had to fit into certain roles to achieve success like the other crafters I was seeing. I had to have a certain "look" and "feel" that will attract my target market. I also had to think about cheaper prices then I wanted to be paid for because of the economy. All these things and more truly dug into my skin and made the back bone that I relied on to succeed.

In the recent year I woke up a bit to what I was doing and decided to change my style. I made it more "me" but kept in mind what my company was about. I have gotten into communities that did the same things as me and I learned from that also. I learned to be a little more truer to myself but things were still missing, things still needed to change, and I was still holding on the same basic handles of "reality".

The biggest mistake I made in this was being overly personal with my "brand" and "identity". I was like a mother that wouldn't let her child roam free with the other kids. I kept my brand close to me and didn't do anything that might meant failure or a "rocking of the boat" sort of speak. I felt that this was my very blood and flesh, I didn't want to do anything to tarnish its name because it will directly reflect on me. When I made social accounts for TCS like twitter and facebook I didn't do anything out the box. I wanted to go by my own rules and not do anything that I felt like was "trying to hard". I didn't want to seem like a flake and over advertise my brand as well. It all was something in truth that I was deathly afraid of.

I didn't want to fail in someway, I didn't want people to think ill of me or my products, I didn't want to seem like someone that wanted something so bad. So bad that I would run over other people to get it.

This is just my wake up call that its okay to be outwardly passionate about my crafts. Not just show them to other people but to want to get paid for them. To be a true business and to be true on behalf of my heart, to really strive and take "risks" to get there. I made this journey way harder then it had to be because of me wanting something so bad but not going far enough to get there. I also still relied on the handle bars of reality to make me a success where only my true unlimited self can take me. I know this now and its yet again, time for change.

When I say change, I want to start over again and to build The Candy Sanctuary from the ground up again. Instead of changing the shell I'm changing the concept, the soul of it into something that was "me" from the beginning to end. No exceptions, no outside opinions, no compromises for anything or anyone. I'm making this into something I truly love because I know that I will be loved for being true to myself and my beliefs in life. I have to lead so others can see what "being your truth" means. Not disregarding other people but having enough faith in yourself that your not looking for the answers outside of your heart. You must spread your own wings and fly to your true destiny because that is the only way to get there.

Other people's wings won't work for you, those wings isn't your true desire. :)

Unless you want to wonder why things don't work for you no matter how hard you try.

So now I want to personally ask the unicorns about change and why its so important, since they told me my decision of my change was a great idea. (In fact that reading was the very reason I started this article haha)

The cards that I drew was:

♥ Let Go of stress!

♥ Best Friends

♥ Decide

So here is the unicorns perception of change:

The reason why we say that change is so good because it is happening in everyday life. Everything changes everyday, even your body changes every second of every minute. If you're feeling bored, angry, or sad, you need change. A change in thoughts and a change of feelings.

Change is what keeps us moving forward even if it's as sacred as a person's dream. The very first desire that you wanted to achieve maybe very different from the one you get to, simply because you changed. Something didn't work or something better came along and you changed your desire into something better.

Don't not be afraid of change, its a welcoming force that wants to take you in every moment of its moment. It guides us to make better decisions, it challenge us to see the truth and it makes us into the people that we are now.

If your afraid of change of any kind tell the unicorn kingdom that you need help. We are always there for everyone that need a change of any kind. If you want to move then this is your wake up call that its okay to want that and change.

Change is good, change is required and is open to everyone that wants it. If you resist the changes in your life yes, things will get very difficult and more unpleasant but with an open mind you can make these changes in your life work for you and anyone that you want to see as a success.

Trust us, we had to change too and it was the best decision that we all chose to make. Be strong all of you because a lot of change have been happening, take our hands (or hooves) and you will be guided into your own utopia through change.

Take care and lots of love,

The unicorn kingdom

New Hobbies

2011-05-24T14:16:00.000-04:00

Hey there my sweets!

I just wanted to give you all an update on my crafting status. Lately I haven't done any sweets deco but I have been looking at new hobbies that I've been interested in like gel candles and soap making! They recently caught my eye in the last few weeks and I've gotten great beginner books for both. The soap book is called "soapy love" and the other is called "Gel Candles". When they came in the mail I was pretty excited and even more thrilled to see how easy it was to make both gel candles and soaps. I have been more interested in bath and body products so I think this is a great start on a new road for me. So that I can expand my love of sweets into these mediums.

I also gotten a pretty decent watercolor book called "Dreamscapes". I've wanted that book since the day I saw it years ago but I never brought it. When I saw how cheap it was on Amazon I had to have it haha! Having it in my hands and getting a chance to read it, I'm really eager to try watercolor again. If you all don't know, I'm in artist and have been drawing since I was born! I made the blog graphics and that little character down there is myself. If you want to see some of my work you can check out my Deviant Art page! Getting back on track, I've been wanting to try out a lot of mediums in my art so when I saw this book I knew this was the one. I've tried water color before but it didn't last long since I had no clue what I was doing haha. Now that I have a great solid book that can show me the ropes, I know that I can master the great medium of watercolor!

Oh and I have some very thrilling news! The great JesseSaphir on DA so kindly made an edible raver's cake for her family! You can click on the picture to take an better look at it up close. Its so good looking and has layers of flavor, marzipan, vanilla, and peach juice! How good does that sound? Even better the next cake she want to make is my Chocolate Mousse Cake, I can't wait to see how that turns out!

One last thing I want to mention is my new angel reading blog: Follow Your Inner Child Readings. I made another one a while ago but decided to start over to suit my tastes more. If your interested in angels, unicorns and other beings and want to have a reading of your own, come and stop by! :D

Thanks for visiting, take care!

My Birthday!

2011-05-16T23:10:00.000-04:00

After two days of recovering I've finally got enough energy to talk about my wonderful birthday! It was a long day so I didn't put everything down.

This was by far the best birthday I had since childhood! I went to Atlantic city, New Jersey with my friend Brandon. We left out early and got the Grey Hound bus around 8:30AM and got there around 10-11AM. We got off at the Trump taj mahal and got our ticket price (20 dollars) back in casino money.

The first thing we went to do was get something to eat, after plenty of pit stops of course. I got some crystallized ginger from a boardwalk candy shop. Oh my god its SO GOOD! Ginger is my favorite spice so when I finally saw the chance to get some crystallized ginger I hopped on the opportunity! It has the sweetness of sugar with the heat and spiciness of the ginger. Brandon wasn't a fan of it so I had the whole bag to myself haha! Brandon have gotten some caramel covered marshmallow squares for him and I. I haven't tried mine yet since I'm not a caramel nor a marshmallow fan. But Brandon went back at the end of the day and gotten about 5 more of them and ate them all while we were at the beach.

We headed to the mall and I wanted to visit a jewelry store that was like my dream home, its called "Michal Negrin". The window display was so gorgeous and the inside of the store was like heaven to me. Little angels adored on the selves, gorgeous fames, tiny multi colored chandeliers, and jewelry to match. If I could make my house look like anything it would definitely be like this store. The jewelry was expensive but I just love to look at everything and to drink in the aura of the store. When I came there a second time that day I asked the cashier if I could take pictures of inside the store. Even though they were not allowed to, they said yes and I took these awesome pictures of the inside of the store.

I wanted to eat at a restaurant since it was my birthday so we went to the top floor of the mall to check some out. On the way there we went to the BEST candy shop ever! Its call "It's Sugar" and it has every piece of candy there ever was. Candy from the 50's up till now, its amazing. It was crowed every time we went there so we didn't buy anything, however I got some really great shots of the store!

So we were on the top floor of the mall and had some restaurants to choose from, I choose Buddakan, the asian restaurant. The food was amazing! All the food that we had have a natural, earthy taste from the herbs that they garnished the dishes with. Brandon had fried octopus and beef lo mein while I had the lobster dumplings with the hot and sour scallops. Everything was done perfectly and tasted better, even the water haha. Me and Brandon joked about how the water is actually from the mountains like all the bottle water companies claim. The inside of the restaurant was amazing as well! They had a long table leading up to a huge Buddha statue. The ceiling looked like the night sky even though it was the middle of the day. The restaurant was completely cut off from the rest of the world. It was a great place to eat and just have that quiet time in a busy mall.

After we ate we had a seat in the front of the window that overlooked the beach. The little seating area had chairs and sand to mimic the beach. It was so lovely I could of taken a nap in the chair. When I was getting anxious to start moving again, I looked in a hand made soap shop. It smelled awesome in there and I loved the products but everything was really expensive so I skipped out on the thought of buying anything.

We left the mall and walked down the boardwalk to walk off the food. After we made our way back up Brandon spoiled me with ice cream and other snacks. We looked in more stores then eventually made our way to the Ferris wheel which was Brandon's idea. It was pretty fun, though I was scared as crap at first since it was going a bit fast for my liking. The view was awesome and I loved seeing the ocean from way up.

While we were going back up the boardwalk we went back to the beach for the second time. It was so lovely seeing and hearing the ocean waves crash on the sand. It was late, almost sun down so the tides were rougher. Me and Brandon took turns going to the water's edge to get our feet wet. The water was super cold at first but after you got use to it, it was fine. I had the greatest time just standing there connecting with nature. Seeing the ocean's power up close is always awe inspiring to me, this time was not different. Feeling the water going over my feet and ankles was nothing short of awesome. I totally felt at home! One time the water came in so fast and high that it splashed on some of my pants. Luckily it wasn't that cold outside so I was fine. Brandon got some of his pants wet too. It was great just to get out there and really be around the beauty of the beach. I even felt sad coming home later on because I would miss it so much.

After we got our fill of the beach we went into the casino to get out of the cold. I convinced Brandon to play some penny slots with me. We both went on our first slot and won money AT THE SAME TIME. After a mere 3 or so turns I won about 27 dollars while Brandon won 67 dollars and some change. I was so happy because I made a lot of money without even spending anything.

After the first wave of the slots we went back outside to get some get some funnel cake and fries. The funnel cake was SO GOOD. The larger parts of it was very soft and warm. The only part that sucked was the powered sugar went all over my face when I was outside haha. The wind totally blew a whole bunch on me, even my glasses had powered sugar on them! I treated Brandon with some fries that were super yummy without the crappy ketchup that was on them. The old bay seasoning with the thick, warm, and soft insides of the fries was delicious!

I went off to play some more slots and won a little over 20 more dollars overall. Brandon followed suit about 15 minutes after and didn't win as much haha. After we both spend the 20 dollars of the casino money we went on our way home. When we got back to Philly it was raining cats and dogs no sooner we got to our stop. It was late but we manage to get on a special bus that took us to my neighborhood. When we got home it was after midnight and I was greeted with 2 birthday cards and balloons!

This birthday was beyond anything I could of imagine. I barely spent any of my birthday money besides the ticket since Brandon paid for everything. Brandon that day was so kind to give me a My Little Pony toy that lights up that just made my day.

I also got tons and tons of happy birthday wishes from friends and even random people online. I feel like the whole world totally revolved around me and gosh did it felt good! So many people made my birthday the best and I want to thank everyone for that. I hope the rest of my birthday and everyone else's birthday can be the same.

Thank you all for reading!

Take care!

Three inspirational sweets deco den blogs

2011-05-05T13:29:00.000-04:00

Hey all, I just wanted to show you my favorite deco den blogs. I bookmarked a lot of blogs over the year. Yet, there are a few that I love to look at for inspiration, ideas, and just to lift my mood. All three sites are in Japanese but have pictures and crafts that are just to die for! The colors and materials they use is nothing short of amazing and I would love to be as good as them one day!

The first blog is the one and only Sweets Circle! The number one reason I love this blog is not only the great fake sweets but the tutorials and advice given on them. When I first stumble upon this blog I was amazed at all the tutorials and tips this person gave you. A lot of which is hard to find since deco den not overly popular in the states yet. Time and time again I found this blog not just inspirational but very informative as well, my favorite combination in any blog!

Candy Colored Ticket is my most recent favorite! If you want to see great sweets deco den work with resin then this is your blog. It never cease to amaze me how wonderful and creative her work is. It really pushed me to work with resin and other materials along with clay. The way she uses the clear resin to show off the bright colorful sweets in her accessories is nothing short of amazing! I'm always excited to see what she makes next and I follow her on twitter for her updates. Unique, colorful, and sweet is just the tip of the ice berg with it comes to this blog. You will be on her site for hours on end looking at her creations!

Last but definitely not least Rainbow Cream! If you love looking at those small realistic details in sweets deco then look no farther. This is by far one of my top 5 favorites! It combines everything that I want to see in my work, detail, realistic look, and drop dead color! I didn't know such sweets deco exists till I saw this blog. The first time I saw the blog I was looking through it for hours, I couldn't even help myself, I just had to see more! The part that I love most about Rainbow Cream's work is the realistic detail in it. The ice creams looks amazingly good as well as everything else. I was floored to know that it was fake and it was possible to achieve that level of realism! This is definitely the type to level and skill I want to get to in my own work. Making my sweets as real as possible was always on top of my list since I first started. Now seeing this blog gave me even more inspiration and respect for the sweets deco craft.

Rainbow Cream also has a twitter which you can follow here.

This was just the few of the many sweets deco blogs that I love to look at. I hope that this will bring even more inspiration to your crafts as it did mine. Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a great day!

Polymer Clay Icing for Donuts!

2011-04-26T21:27:00.000-04:00

(edit: if the text formatting it wonky near the bottom then blogger must of exploded on me. I tried to fix it with no solutions)

Hey there! Another week has passed so that means a new posting. Before I go into it you will notice that I changed the design of my blog! This super pink design is to celebrate the cherry blossoms and the coming of spring! I decided to "simplify" my graphic design style and do something more simple and clean. I loved how it turned out so I hope you all enjoy it to!

I want to show you my experiments with donut icing. I don't make donuts often or often enough, but I know there are several way to make icing for donuts. I'm a perfectionist so I always want my clay food to look as real as possible. I want to achieve that icing that's smooth, thin and well, perfect haha. I never went through all the ways I knew how so when I was looking at all my naked donuts I thought "This is my chance!".

The three donuts that you see are the three ways that I did it. I wanted to find a sure fire way that I can make that donut icing perfect all the time. That and just expand the ways I can make icings and glazes.

Before I go to the method that obviously worked I want to talk about the other two. The first method that I tried is what I normally use. I took a bit of some already made white icing made from white polymer clay and TLS. I revived its "icing" texture again since it was like a super soft clay texture from not being used and being dried out. From there I used a brown chalk pastel to color it, I didn't want to thicken it up again so I didn't use brown clay to colorized it. I used a small knife to shave as much pastel as I wanted in the clay then mixed it up. After the color was completely mixed in, I got a tooth pick to start laying down the icing on the donut. By the time the whole donut was covered with the icing I noticed that the icing was too "stiff" and I added more TLS to thin it out. It was easier to try to smooth over but again the icing was too stiff. So I did what I could to make it look nice and called it a day haha. Needless to say unless you like the "cake look" icing on your donuts I would skip this method for donut icing.

The second method was a really out there one that I wanted to try for about a year. This is more of a chocolate "glaze" look rather then an "icing". I took some Liquitex Gel Medium and added the same chalk pastel to it. I mixed it in really well since it got a little lumpy. After I mixed it all in I put the gel on top of the donut and try to smooth it out with a tooth pick the best I can. The end result when it dried was pretty good! It wasn't the perfect icing look that I wanted but I love how nice of a glace it turned out. Doing this specific experiment have open my eyes to the gel medium!

The last and best way to make donut icing is the same method I explained in the first process. But instead of using old icing clay, I used all TLS with "maybe" a tiny bit of clay to thicken it up. I just got some TLS and added the pastel. Then I mixed both up till I had the shade I wanted. Then I used a tooth pick to lay it on. I spread it around to all the areas till I had it the way I wanted. Since this was my second technique at the icing, I had the unbaked donut sitting around. So I the icing dipped down more while I was working on the other methods. So my tip here is once you get the icing the way you want it throw it in the oven asap! Or the icing will pour down onto the surface of whatever you got it on.

Overall, I learned a lot from this experiment and I'll definitely will be using my last method to sweeten up my donuts every time. I hope this was useful to all of you as well.

Before I go I want to give you all a sneak peak at some new rings that will be on sale soon. I like to call them "Yummy Rings" haha. I used some unused waffles and other clay pieces and made them into rings!

I hope you all enjoyed this post, take care!

Blog Shop Grand Opening! Plus Resin Test Charms!

2011-04-19T17:25:00.000-04:00

Hey all! This post is a special post because now my blog shop is open!

I just posted all the ordering details, pictures, prices and everything that you can possibly imagine! Just check the TCS shoppe page on the top left of the blog. Actually I'm pretty scared and very excited for this all at the same time! Its been my dream for a long time and now its in the flesh!

As far as what's in the shop I only have my cake cell phone charms but as time moves on I will post more items of all kinds! If you have any questions you can comment here or e-mail me at candysanctuary@hotmail.com! I also just posted a feedback page as well.

I'm really excited guys, wish me luck!

Besides that I have some really great pictures of the resin charms and a upcoming post about icing on clay donuts. For now you can take a look at the first resin charms I made a month ago!

All of them in their glory! My favorite is the lollipop!

If you look closely you can see the blue sparkles!

For this batch I use a bigger blue glitter. I love all the colors that you can see from it!

I added too much pigment to the pink resin so if you warm this charm with your hands enough it will become flexible. Live and learn right haha?

I love the blue blotches in the back of the heart! I wish more of those showed in the front!

This one reminds me of a nebula

I really like this one, it reminds me of a fancy chocolate!

Thanks for looking and don't forget to check out the shop in the TCS shop page! Tell all your friends about it. See you all soon!

The Feedback Page

2011-04-19T16:01:00.000-04:00

Hey all, you can place all feedback of your orders here!

Thank you!

Sakura Sunday!

2011-04-11T22:38:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went to my city's sakura festival! It was kinda last minute and I almost didn't go because I didn't get much sleep that night before. But I got my lazy buns off my bed to go, my older sister as well!

The park was beautiful and full of sakura trees!

My very favorite picture!

After we got in, a huge group of lolitas came together to have their pictures taken. Of course I run right up to the group and start snapping shots as well. They all look so wonderful!

Me and my sister pretty much watched all the performances. The first one was a drum group, then a geisha group, and finally a really cute all girl pop(ish) group. After wards we took pictures with them.

After that when the event was over me and my sister walked around. I met up with old friends, staff from Zenkaikon, and con goers. Then I saw the most beautiful wood umbrellas and got one. I don't have a picture of it but its bright pink with flowers and birds painted on it.

It was a pretty fun day and I'm really sore from holding the camera up to take the pictures of the performances.

Take care everyone!

New Design Suggestions?

2011-04-09T18:19:00.000-04:00

Hey my loves!

Spring is here and that only mean one thing. Time for a new blog face left!

Now I'm not overhauling the blog like I did a few months ago but changing the banner and the blog's background. I've had a few ideas but I want to know what you guys think. The ideas I had was a spring sweets magical girl design. Or even a cute pattern like the ones below. The pictures are some of the inspirations I have about the new blog design.

This one is my favoirte of the bunch, I'm thinking about a pattern like that!

So don't be shy, throw out some ideas!

In other news, I'm still working on the charms for the Blog store. I just gotten my package of new gold head pins so I'll be able to make more cake charms without worrying about the screw in head pins. I'm also adding icing to some donut charms that I made a while ago. They look good even without the icing so I can't wait to see the finished project! I'll take pictures post them as well as my resin charms that I made a while back.

Thanks for reading everyone take care!

Cosplay Pictures

2011-04-01T14:16:00.000-04:00

Hey all!

After a billion years I'm finally posting the cosplay pictures from the con I staffed a few weeks ago. My posts have been kinda slim but don't worry I've been doing a lot involving my beloved Candy Sanctuary Shop! Maybe I'll throw a progress shot or something later on. In any event here's all the cosplay pictures I took at the con.

A super cute Fullmetal alchemist (maid?) cosplay!

Ah yes, the three Black Butlers and Grill that was having a ball before my Gofer ops table!

A random loltia that I saw on the elevator, the picture came out well!

A resident evil and Full Moon cosplay, I love the combination!

Bridget from Guilty Gear, I have to admit. This was one of my favorite cosplay of the whole con. *q*

FF13 Lightening except with no pink wig.

Len from the vocaloid series.

Hahahaha, when I saw this I totally flipped out QUAIL MAN from Doug. So many memories.

A lot of people here, the first two from the Final Fantasy series, the one in the middle is from Homestuck and the last one is Beauty and the beast.

Agito from Air Gear

Really random Naruto and Organization 13 cosplay combination. XD

WOOT Shugo Chara Amu and Haruhi Suzumiya cosplay!

Chi from Chobits in that lovely pink dress that I always adored!

Sailor Mars from Sailor Moon!

Hetalia cosplay, I don't know who is who since I don't watch that anime. XD

Epically cute guy is freak'en CUTE. Me and the gang hung out with him and his crew and GOSH I loved staring him down. *w*. Then at the rave on Saturday night I totally gave him one of my glow sticks when we were dancing. I felt so awesome *explodes* His chest was out then too. The only problem was that his was 17! I'm going to be 22 next month. *cries in corner* Damn it, there isn't any cute guys where I live AT ALL.

I've seen a lot of Black Butler cosplay at the con. On Saturday morning there were 3-4 Sebastian's hanging out all morning doing their antics (see the other BB coplay near the top). It was awesome.

Thief Bakura for the win! I really like this cosplay a lot!

Pretty much a guy in some epic punk clothing. Its a shame that his hiding his gorgeous face under the gas mask. He was at the rave too and he took his mask off and had the pretties hair ever. *swoons*

Resident evil cosplay! The girl on the left we hung out on friday with the epic cute guy. It was a lot of fun!

UHHHH I'm not sure who he was cosplaying haha.

Pokemon gijinka cosplay

DBZ! I love the posing. I took a picture of it randomly when I saw them doing it.

FF13! I was happy to see more then one lightening through the con. I loved them both. Lightening is such an awesome character. I can't say that about Snow, his just..UGH. But I do love this cosplay, he looks just like him!

And me before I went to the rave. I threw on a zillion glow sticks on my tripp pants!

The most ADORABLE card captor Sakura I've ever seen! The outfit is perfect and gosh she's just so cute!

F yeah sweet lolita's FOR THE WIN!

Another of my favorite cosplay's is this Mew Mew Pudding from Tokyo Mew Mew. I love that show and I love Mew Pudding!

I got a single picture of the Pokemon gijinka's, I really love both of them. I want to do that in the future if I ever cosplay!

I hope you enjoy all these pictures! They are really huge too if you click on them since I was too lazy to size them down.

Take care everyone!

Stuff I got from Zenkaicon

2011-03-27T11:37:00.000-04:00

Hey all!

After a whole WEEK since coming home from the con I'm finally posting the pictures of stuff I got. Would you guys like so see cosplayers too? I didn't want to post a zillion pictures so I'm just posting the stuff I got from the con this time around. Maybe I'll post them next time. Any way enjoy the pictures!

For whatever reason this picture wanted to be on its side like a tard so yeah... The Book mark I got from Marc and a donation picture to help Japan.

The last volume of DoD FUUUUUUU


The rest of the manga I brought. I need to buy the rest of Monochrome factor. ;__;

This is an adorable chibi Asuka, Brandon was nice enough to buy it for me.

The free Sacred poster I got when I brought both volumes of Lizbeth's manga!

A donation picture for Japan I got from "Juri the dreamer". When I saw it I had to have it its so beautiful and all he profits go to help Japan.

A small poster of my favorite character taokaka from the fighting game Blazeblue.

Some buttons I got, the two on the top Brandon got for me. Damn I just noticed the glare on Sora's face son of a-

BEFORE

AFTER: yet another item that Brandon bought for me. When I saw it I went banana's. I wanted another wall scroll for a while now.

Where I hung the Taokaka poster that KEEPS FALLING THE HELL OFF GAAAHH!

I hung this where one of my super old picture was. It looks so nice.

BEFORE

AFTER!

I love that picture. I was instantly drawn to it when I saw it at the con.

Lizbeth's autograph I'M SO HONORED

YYYAAAAYYYYYY

Hopfully you guys enjoy the pleasures of an otaku like I do since this is a sweets deco site.

Thanks for view guys take care!

The Zenkaicon Wrap Up

2011-03-23T23:45:00.000-04:00

"First off I wanted to say that I'm sorry for the long gap between my last post. When I heard about the disaster in Japan I just wasn't in the mood for posting and was feeling really depressed to make a long story short. However after going to my local anime convention I'm feeling 100% better. I still plan post my finished resin charms too after the con posts. Also I never mentioned it here but I was staffing at the anime convention Zenkaicon this past weekend."

Hey all!

Its been 3 days since Zenkaikon and I feel amazing! The con was amazing too and I met many wonderful people!

The first day (Thursday) me and Brandon (my best friend) went to the con since we were apart of staff. We basically started working that day rather then Friday when the con started because people were coming in a day early to get their badges. When we went down stairs to go to the Gofer Op's station we were greeted by the cutest boy cosplaying as the asian spider man. His name was Danny and he ended up volunteering the whole weekend so we saw him a lot. Basically what I did was direct regular gofers (go•fer (gō'fƏr) n. Slang – one who performs minor or menial tasks such as running errands. [Alteration of "go for"]) to places where people needed them. Other departments would call in through walkie talkie and ~~demand~~ ask for them and I would report back if I had some or not. If I did I would tell the gofer/volunteer to go the place they needed to go. I also signed off on their hours, give them food vouchers, check on them and etc. It was pretty fun and I didn't have to do much as far as labor. Saturday was INSANE though, we were expecting more volunteers to come in but NONE SHOWED UP so all the departments were scrambling to get things done. They kept asking for gofers where there wasn't any and if there was they would be sent out immediately.

That same morning I came in earlier and got on break later since it was so crazy. It was all really fun though and the area I was in had a lot of actively so I was entertained for the most part. There were a lot of cosplays, my favorites was the Lightning from FF13, Sue from shugo chara, renamon from digimon, and the pokemon gijinka's. The most memorial part of the day was meeting the lovely Sisero, Giname, and Einlee in the dealers room! I actually talked to Sisero on all three days of the con, Saturday was probably the longest since I was on break. She's the sweetest thing in the world as well as her fiancé Marc! I was really surprised to see them since I only know them on DA and didn't even know who was going to be in the dealers room. So I was really excited to met them since I've been fans of theirs for years. Me and Sisero talked a lot on Saturday and it was really fun and encouraging hearing her personal story. I brought also both volumes of her manga "Sacred" and one of Marcs awesome sailor moon bookmarks. Oh and Brandon was smart enough to have the idea to have her autograph both of her mangas that I got. He even did it for me when they were waiting for the Rose Noir concert. She was totally sweet and excited through the whole thing. I hope I get to met hear at another con soon.

After I talked to her I went and bought stuff and pretty much was DEAD TIRED (being around 6 PM). The funniest thing was the hardest part of the day haven't come yet. When I got back on duty things have calmed down a lot so I was able to relax some. However on the last hour of my shift (my shift ended at 11PM) the person at the info desk ( the info desk was right next to the gofer ops where I was stationed) was gone or was done his/her shift so I was doing that as well. I was pretty much handling two stations, giving people directions, giving out the 18+ wrist bands, and other miscellaneous things. Then within 30 minutes 2 cases of missing items turned up and a seller had to get something really important from the dealer's room which was locked. It was INSANE because Kiwi the head of security was on break for hours. Luckily she just came out of it when all three cases came out of the blue. Oh I almost forgot that Brandon helped me in the insaneness since he was done with his shift (at 10PM). I have no clue what I would do without him haha. At the end two of the three cases ended well.

After that fiasco me and Brandon went to the rave! Brandon stayed about an hour while I was there for 3 hours (2A.M when it was suppose to end). I've once again gotten an ass load of glow sticks and threw them on all over my pants and body. When I was at the rave there was another person who had a chain of glow sticks around her body attached to her arms wrists/hands. While another person had the same shirt as me. The rave was so freaking awesome because there was a SUPER AWESOME CUTE BOY there that me and my friends had hung out with before. He had is chest out (again) which was perfect beyond words. He was dancing a lot and I gave him one of my glow sticks, GOD I FELT SO AWESOME. Then through out most of his time there we would be within each other spaces. It was just.... EPIC. One of the best parts was when I started randomly square dancing with people. It was so much fun even though I had no clue what I was doing at first. We just spun around then went on to the next person haha. I love raves so much, I live to rave. The rave was overall just awesome because everyone was really friendly and open. If my room was big enough I would rave every night and learn liquid dancing. XD

Okay I don't want this post to go any longer since its super long. I must of explained only 30-40% of what happened. I didn't even mentioned the crap bathroom we had after we FINALLY got our own room. The hotel screwed up me and Brandon's room so we had to sleep at in a volunteer's room. She and her son was super sweet though, I couldn't ask for better room mates! EVERYONE had a uber big ass bathtub while we had a pitiful walk in shower for OLD PEOPLE. We also had a toilet with railings on both sides, so it was hard to whip yourself. Its as bad as it sounds, really.

Okay thanks for reading and I'll post all the stuff I got next time! Take care!

Playing with Resin Part 2!

2011-03-09T21:09:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

Thank you for all the wonderful comments yesterday! They made me feel warm and fuzzy inside and out. :D

Today I'm showing you the second part of the making of my test resin charms. I added a second layer to the molds and tested out more of my pigments for resin. Once again, the making of the resin was pretty easy, though I was a tab nervous haha. After I made my small batch I divide them into two cups so I can test two pigments and glitters with them. The first divided batch I decided to test out my red pigment with the pink glitter. Oh my goodness, the color was phenomenal! I absolutely loved it, it turned into this beautiful sparkly bright pink. That formula that I mixed for it I have to write it down because I will be making a lot with it haha. The second batch I used my blue pigment with the white glitter and its just as phenomenal. The different hues and colors from both the glitter and pigment got me addicted to them. I think you have a resin crazed person on your hands now. But that only means good things for you guys because I would be posting everyday with plenty of charms I can show and sell haha.

For those who are wondering and weary of trying resin, I highly recommend just taking a deep breath and dive into it. Honesty, as paranoid as I am about its toxins as long you have a respirator for the fumes (even though the resin I use is low odor), gloves for your hands, and the cleaning supplies cooking spray and alcohol, you'll be fine. Just find a room or space that no one frequents at. Of course you'll need to gather the supplies for it and a good tutorial, but that's easy to find a book or an online tutorial that shows you how to do resin casting. Seriously consider doing it, its like the ultimate medium for the creative mind because there is unlimited ways you can use it. :D

Okay that enough chatter from me. The next post should be the finish products, wish me luck that they come out okay! Take care all!

Playing with Resin!

2011-03-08T19:10:00.000-05:00

Encased in sweets!

Hey all! Thank you for all the wonderful comments on the last post, I'm glad that it touched on a lot of peoples hearts. I'll be more then happy to continue posting ways to have a happy and joyful life!

Today I'm proud to show you all my first time making resin charms. I had the materials for a long time but due to my fear of the unknown (and its toxins) I never used them. But then a flash of inspiration stuck me yesterday giving me the strength to just get up and go! So today after watching some T.V I went through my resin book and went on to create some test pieces! They are still curing now and I hope that they can cure properly since I can only make them in the share kitchen, it can get really cold at night so cross your fingers for me! I did take pictures of the WIP when I added my lollipop charms in some of the thickening resin. I also used the left over resin to test out the mica I brought to color the resin. Its called Blackstar Blue and gosh its PRETTY. Its black but has a gorgeous blue highlight to it. I can't wait to see those when they cure completely.

The process wasn't as bad as I thought, the thing that freaks me out the most is the toxins of the chemicals and the precautions you have to make like a respirator and such. After going through the whole process I'm quite delighted! Its the same thing I do when I use silicone as far as the safety goes, respirator, gloves, and a careful eye haha. If this batch comes out well I'll be so excited! I had so many ideas for charm ideas and such but didn't have the guts to ever try resin. I'm pretty sure this will change things!

Also I have some really exciting news! If you see the tab on the upper left corner you'll see it reads "The Candy Sanctuary Shoppe" which only means that I'm close to start selling. I'll use this blog to sell the my charms while I make the official site for them in the mean time. I'm hoping to build a following and cliental through all this, after all it is my dream and passion! :D

Thanks for reading and viewing, take care everyone!

When Your Princess is in Another Castle

2011-02-27T16:43:00.000-05:00

How to feel good in time of stress or depression

Its hard to feel good when your seriously down on your luck. I've just had a rough patch myself yesterday and it sucked. I didn't have any energy in my body and I couldn't muster up much creative energy either. Everything just blew monkey butt and I felt sucked dry. All my magic inside me that I had just disappeared and I was left immobile.

I think back on how my emotions can get the better of me and how I make myself feel better. Its really hard because when I'm so down on myself I can't hear any positive things. It just rolls off me like water off a ducks back, when I'm usually very receptive to it. I really have to get there on my own. And even then its a struggle to feel from anger to hopeful. Its such a huge jump I end up falling on my face more then I want to, which adds insult to injury.

"I want to feel good!, I don't care if my surrounding sucks, I just want to feel good!" Is all that I could think to myself yesterday. It was really hard because I did feel trapped because of my emotions. I just felt like there was no way out because I felt so bad when I'm usually not a gloomy person. I can see my way out of things and my life getting better, so when I feel like crap and trapped, I feel like a completely different person. At the same time my wanting to feel good lead me to different ways to make myself feel better.

Depending on how bad I feel, I use different techniques to help me. The one being my favorite is distracting myself and forgetting what's bothering me. Even though its better said then done at times, it really helps me to feel better at an even pace. Rather then trying to jump from one extreme emotion to the next like "powerlessness" to "happy with everything". Instead, its good to get a step up from powerlessness, to "I know I can do this" or "things isn't that bad, everything happens for a reason". Just anything to lessen the pain little by little.

Some of the activities I do to distract myself include:

Playing video games: Usually mindless games or something I have to focus on.
Watching anime: Watching someone else's life can give me that lift I need.
Collecting cute pictures: One of my favorite things to do really, I can never feel bad when looking at cute, girly images on the internet.
Make a custom wallpapers for myself: I love doing this because it gives me that creative thing to do and that positive focus.
Reading manga: Depending on my mood, it can really serve me and inspire me to draw or look at the better things in life that's happening now.
Playing with my pets: I swear petting your beloved cat or guinea pig melts away the harsh feeling you my have. There should be a prescription for it in drug stores.
Taking a nap: One of my favorite things to do because it give me a chance to start over. I tell myself "When I wake up things will be different" and when I wake up I feel better and more suited to have my spirits lifted.
Full on ranting: This should be done when your on the bottom of the emotional totem pole. Just that something to get that initial anger and resentment out.

All of these activities are great when you're feeling blue or whatever the case may be. The best part of all of them is that it distracts you from what is annoying you. It gives you a chance to let that emotion go and focus your energy on to other things. Freeing your mind of mental poisons that can really effect you if you dwell on the bad for too long. All of us have things worth getting mad about or just feel "this isn't right" but when those things start taking control of us, we need to step up.

Its up to us to feel what we want to feel rather then let our surroundings decide for us. It might seem strange to do but ignoring common things that get under your skin is a sure fire way of easing them from your life. Even though they very well might be there, you won't react to them making those annoyances invisible to you. Even better when you can find the good in those annoyances, it could make them not as bad as once thought. :)

Everyone deserves to feel good so if your not, don't beat yourself up. Take it one step at a time and get to know that happiness is our natural way. Happiness is always going to be there no matter what's around us. We just have to get up on our paths again and remember how great each and everyone of us are. :)

Thanks for reading, take care!

Earphones Sweets Deco Completed!

2011-02-19T21:23:00.000-05:00

Okay this is the moment that we all been waiting for. My sweets deco earphones! These are the pictures that gotten my approval and are the best pictures that I took of them out of the MANY that I took. The pictures really speak for themselves so I hope your just as delighted to see them as I were through this whole process. Enjoy everyone! :)

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and talk about the "story" behind the pictures. It doesn't really relates to a character but me myself. I love fantasy, dreams, magic, sweets and anything that involves those subjects, its like coming home in a way. The thing about dreams and magic is that they always seem out of reach and far away by some means. Even though there are physical limitations you can still bring that energy here in the real world. I want my whole life to be enveloped with that magic and have that dream fantasy reality here, right now. One of the reasons why I'm so creative now is because I want to bring that magic energy down here in the real world that always seemed to be locked away in books and imagination. This is my personal way of bringing my home to this reality and journey. Life wasn't meant to be hard so when people stopped believing in magic, it surely did. The meaning of life (for me anyway) is to enjoy it and make it your mission to live it out exactly what you want it to be. No matter how stupid, impractical, or childish it may be, its yours and you deserve to live it the way YOU want to. Its probably why I am always stubborn and defiant towards life by social standards. Its engraved in my personally and can't stop that trait by any means, Its just who I am as a person haha. But getting back to the "story" my way of bringing that magic energy into my life and others is making sweets deco, drawing or anything I create with my hands and imagination. Its my passion and what keeps me going pretty much. :)

My sister took the pictures of me wearing the earphones and they came out so great. Special thanks to her!

I really hope this opens some imaginations out there and shows how magic is real out there, even if its in your imagination. Thanks for viewing guys!

Pancake Ring wip

2011-02-17T23:23:00.000-05:00

Hey all!

I just got finished making my pancakes or a least most of it. I still have to add the syrup on top. I decided to make it a ring too, since I haven't made one in a while. I added a heart shaped piece of butter on top because as you know, I can't resist making anything cute. Everything is made from polymer clay and liquid clay. Here's the picture of it before I baked it.

Which was a pain in the butt because the camera was completely dead and I had to use one of my t.v remote batteries just to take this one picture. It probably did more good then bad since I'm a photo taking manic anyway, which means less pictures to sort and edit haha.

I should have the ring done tonight but I'll probably sport it at the mall tomorrow and take pictures then.

Thanks for viewing guys!

Earphones update and Cute Can Kill Feature!

2011-02-16T15:07:00.000-05:00

Good afternoon!

Just another update on my earphones deco but with no pictures because I want it to be a surprise when its done! It looks great but I had the most irritating problem near the end. The container flipped up when I opened it and some of my flat back pearls splashed all over the table. I was so pissed and dropped a good amount of F-bombs. D:< Luckily though, most of them were on the table and salvageable. So I had to get my mind together from the shock and gather them up. Despite that, everything went fine and I treated myself to some dark chocolate fudge popcorn. Now I have to wait for the deco sauce and glue to dry so I can do the other side of the earphones. Then I'll be flat out done and ready to have a photo shoot for them. I really want to show these babies off so I want to take pictures of them on. As well as take them to a mall outing with me. It should be fun, I wonder what people will think since I live to be different, even when I was a kid. In fact I might take the photo shoot at the mall since its a pretty amazing place and the weather will be beautiful!

Besides that I wanted to show everyone this amazing online store called Cute Can Kill. This is what my dreams are made of, sugar, cute animals, sparkles, and covered with pastel colors. With my latest fashion obsession with fairy kei, I was instantly impressed with all the candy coated handmade jewelry and accessories. Their clay pieces are amazingly simple yet detailed and truly inspiring! I wanted to try my hand at making a carousel horse before but now seeing how wonderful these pendants are, I want go forward and try my own. There are so many wonderful pieces that I can't go through them all. See all the sugary goodness yourself here on their web shop and their facebook!

Thanks for viewing guys!

Earphones Sweets Deco WIP 2

2011-02-15T20:11:00.000-05:00

I just got done the other side of my earphones and they look fantastic!

All I need to do now is let this side dry and add all the fun embellishments! The next picture should be of them completed, if I don't crack and post some wips of them anyway haha. Thanks for viewing!

Earphones Fairy Kai Sweets Deco

2011-02-15T10:43:00.000-05:00

Hey all! I just wanted to show the wip of my earphone deco I did last night right after I added the crystals.

I love it so far, I'll do the other side today and show you the wip of that. Thanks for viewing guys!

Happy Valentines day!

2011-02-14T14:34:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentines day my lovies!

As promise I have made some sweet sweet necklaces to celebrate Valentines day. I absolutely LOVE how they came out. The bow on them was a last thought before making them. I was hesitant at first but I'm so glad that I took them to the next level. They are by far my favorite piece so far this year!

The official Valentines picture from The Candy Sanctuary, effects done in photoshop.

Here are most of the pictures that I took of them this morning. I was concerned because it was really cloudy this morning but it cleared up completely! So I had tons of great lighting to play with in these pictures.

What I love most about taking and looking at pictures is the "story" behind it and that fairy tale feeling that some really give off. I was trying to capture that in these pictures and I think I've done well. When I was taking them I was thinking of my own fairy tale that these pictures called upon. The story that emerge was a girl that had no love ones or lovers, but cookies all around her during Valentines day. In hopes to get that feeling of closeness and happiness she dress the cookies in bows. Surprisingly, the dressed up sweets looked so good and stunning it made her smile with merriment, making her forget all her troubles. Thus making it one of her favorite holidays where she can make friends with sweets and share them with others to make them smile... I know, cliché as hell but I'm totally digging the story. I have to draw a picture to match it soon. I love stories like that, it just makes my day! I hope I gave some smiles to people with the story as well.

I hope you all enjoy this post! I know some of you probably dislike this holiday for obvious reason but I say turn that frown upside down! Believe me, if your pissed at this holiday because of lacking a partner (or whatever your deal is), tomorrow won't change. Because it all starts on the inside and what you project out. If your negative and projecting that out to the world your going to get it back in some way. Just be happy of what you do have and all the love that's available in this world. Love is by far the most versatile emotion because it can apply to just about everything! Plus it can bring you so much positivity in all forms. Spend some time with your love ones even if it is cookies. Its the time for love of all kinds, even yourself! :)

Take care everyone!

Headphone deco tutorial wip and updates

2011-02-14T00:37:00.000-05:00

Look time no post huh? Well a lot has happened since the last post. I gotten more commissions on latale. I started taking free angel card readings on a law of attraction forum that I go to with HUGE results. I decided to make my own website for my online store instead of Esty, and started the design the layout. Then I started getting stressed out by everything and took a break. My friend Brandon came over and after he left I got into a huge rut with everything I'm doing and such. Luckily, I didn't stay stuck there for no more then two days. Today I woke up like a totally new person! I'm back on track with everything and being positive again. The thing that helped me most get out of that rut was forgetting everything that was pissing me off and simply distracting myself from the world.

With better news, I started (well set up is more the word) on my headphones deco and will do a tutorial on it! That and I made two cookie necklaces to celebrate Valentines day! I will post those sometime today. They are quite lovely too, here are wips for both projects.

Don't they look good! *3*

These are pancakes from the left over polymer clay.

So through the troubled days I've been having a lot came out of it! I hope everyone enjoyed the post, take care!

Welcome to the new The New Candy Sanctuary!

2011-01-25T11:08:00.000-05:00

Like the new look? Tell me what you think!

All the time (or mostly) that I wasn't here or doing crafts I was working on my new blog design! I should of been done this last year but I got seriously burned out and abandoned anything related to my blog and sweets deco pretty much. But since then things have been getting better and better. I have tons of updates and progresses to tell you starting with the blog design.

Overall the design itself and the time it took altogether (not counting the huge gaps between the work sessions) only took about a week or two. Mostly because I'm new to custom blogs and editing its html so after that huge learning curve things got a lot easier! That and troubling shooting and finding alternatives if a certain method doesn't work. Google is forever your best friend when it comes to blog customization. No matter what the problem is you will find plenty of ways to solve it. Seriously, most of the technical credit goes to the many people that post about blog customization. So my number one tip for anyone wanting to make their own custom blog is to go to Google for all your needs! The graphics and art is made 100% by me in Photoshop and Sai. My fursona on the right was made in Sai to give her a vector look.

If fact I was thinking about opening a commission shop for anyone that wanted a personal drawing or mascot for their blog. I already opened an art shop over at the Latale (an online MMO) forums with some pretty good results. One person wanted two drawings from me. The first part I've already posted here:

The second part I'm 80% done, all I need to do is to fancy up the line art and then I'll be finished! But getting back to my original question, would anyone would be interested in commissions? If you are just comment here and we'll set something up. I'll also ask at the deco den forums to see if anyone would like one there as well. Since I'm done working on the blog design my creative free time has opened up a lot so I can fit more projects.

I'm yet again one step closer to selling my charms, in fact I might make cookie brooches and sell them soon. I listed all the clay and materials that it takes to make some of my most common charms that I like to make out of polymer clay. Even though I want to make so many more items out of polymer clay I got the hang of its measurements so its easy to list down how much it might take to make. I have yet to do this with my paper clay charms but it should be easy. Once I have a decent idea of how much everything will cost I'll be that closer to selling! I've had so much motivation lately that have been helping me 10 fold get all the things that I needed done.

As far as any personal deco den projects I haven't' really done any. I still have to make my headphone deco but its been so cold that I've decided to wait till it got a bit warmer. That and the share kitchen where I do my silicone work is crowded with pots and kitchen wear that I need to clean up. Hopefully though I can find a great time slot where I can do it all in one big session and get it over with. I need more practice with fake whip cream haha.

Okay thanks for reading, I'll make sure I'll post pictures of everything I made so you guys have something to look at. Bye for now!

Angel card reading livesteam

2011-01-16T12:58:00.000-05:00

Hey all my sweet sweet followers!

I have no crafts to show but I have something even more exciting to talk about, angel cards!

I recently got the archangels oracle cards and been practicing with them with great results, so I want to give readings to as many people as I can haha. I'm thinking about doing a live stream session with them for people who have questions or just want to see them in action.

Would any of you would be interested? Tell me what you think.

I can't be positive for you

2011-01-04T12:08:00.000-05:00

When positivity isn't enough

I can't be positive for you and no one else can be for me either. When your desperate for something to happen whether is to find a job or something as simple as getting that book your really wanted it can hurt when it doesn't happen.

Often when I really want to be there for someone that's in despair there's nothing I can do or say. I think back to the times where I was in the same position and remember how nothing could possibly pick me up. No amount to words could comfort me, all I wanted to do it is be angry, blame, and be by myself. In fact someone saying "its going to get better" only made things worst. I was at rock bottom or so I felt at the time, it was the end of the world and nothing could get better. So now when I see another hurt or in total pain all I can do it be there and let them vent if they chose.

I can't say be positive, things are going to be okay, or even things have been worst. I feel like I'm giving them a rope that they can't reach to get out of the hole that their in. I can't put myself in a state of despair either to lower the rope because it won't help anyone. The one thing I can say is to have faith and keep fighting for the better days. You might not like it but life does move on and the world isn't going to stop on your feet because you're having a bad day. Take the anger, rage, and blame then channel it to move forward so you can see the better days.

There were many times where I had make the decision after a shit load of BS that tomorrow will be a better day. I had to pump myself up and hold on a small pocket of hope and tell MYSELF that things will get better. I probably won't wake up the next day in a perfect world but I can start feeling like I'm worth something. Its better then crawling under a rock and pretending your life is over. Life truly starts with you and how you feel. If you really want to see the better days you got to climb over your negatively and grab hold to whatever good that comes your way. Grab that good, hope, faith, that fighter in you and keep it moving even if things seem like they are not getting any better. Seeing through the eyes of hope and great expectation is better then seeing in "everything bad happens to me" and hardship.

That's why I can't be positive for you, if you can't see the good, I can't take it out my pocket and show it to you.

How I learned to follow my dreams

2011-01-02T17:47:00.000-05:00

How to follow your dreams

I was just playing one of my favorite games called pasty passion. Its hard not to be happy when your lining up ingredients to make fanatic looking 2d sweets. I was thinking about how wonderful 2011 is going to be because of all the magic and positively I'm pouring into it but I'm also thinking how I got there. 2010 has been an awesome year but its only because I followed my instincts, changed my attitude, and continued followed my dream.

Despite whatever happened, I never let go to that once small flame that made a world of difference for me. It really showed me that you can achieve anything despite what's going on around you, what people say or believe. I know for a fact that this year will be the best year yet because I learned so much about "chasing" dreams. Its not about chasing them at all because its all inside, you just have to look for those small "stepping stones" to go forward with them.

Before I really held a good grasp of how to achieve my dream I went out of my way to make things happen. Things that I can't even control. I knew I wanted to have my own business, selling things that I made so immediately start checking out similar businesses/ my idols and thinking of ways I can get ahead of the competition. Each business had their own style, identity, and unique products. I would be drooling all over the computer screen because I wanted what they had so bad. I in fact was very jealous and envious too, I can only see where I was at compared to them.

So to make up for what I thought was having nothing, I try even harder to chase my dream. Which made things harder for myself. There were so many obstacles I felt like I had to get over in a day because I thought it was the only way I can do it. No pain to gain, only hard work can get results but it only burned me out numerous times. Only till I start following advice from some good friends that told me to "relax" and "enjoy life" was when I start seeing results. I still did things that would help me to start a better business for the future but I did it out of joy and not "keeping up with the competition". Not only that but I was much happier with following my dream rather then worried if everything is going to be in my favor because I was going off the beaten path. Once I enjoyed myself and only done things that was fun for me was when the road lit up and I knew the steps that I needed to take. Its like magic when you hear, see and read the exact thing that opens that next stepping stone for you. It never stops either unless you rush ahead of yourself, and believe me I've done that for years.

I know saying "don't work hard" might seem idiotic but it works if you let it. Give it a week or two, just start doing things that really mean something to you and let the other things go. You will see the world change around you and work with you.

5 Ways to jump start your sweets deco and crafts for 2011!

2011-01-01T16:23:00.000-05:00

How to jump start your sweets deco and crafts for 2011!

Hey all! Its a new year and that only means another year full of crafting! I know 2010 was a shaky year for my sweets deco because of life in general but I got back on track. My skills are getting better and I can't wait to improve them in this new year. If your deco year was less then desirable never worry because each day is a new day, a better opportunity to kick start those creative juices!

1. Get inspired!

It might be better said then done but it the best way to get the drive and kick in the butt! Go to your favorite deco den site, start listing small goals or even take some clay and start playing with it in your hands. Anything that can give you that fire back! When I got in my bad hiatus, being inspired was hard to come by, or more just the "drive" to do it. When I looked in my drawer to see my paper clays had harden into a clay rocks it really got me down. Only when I took some action and decide to revive my clay rocks into beautiful piles of usable clay was when the fire got back into my belly. It was like I was reborn again and ready to pick up where I left off!

2. Make some sweets deco space!

So your inspired and ready to go right into deco but your room says different. Clean that sucker up! Just enough that you can make something and still have some clay and main tools around at your disposal. My room is the only place I have to make any sweets deco (besides the share kitchen that I use to work with silicone). I only have one table and that table have one spot I can work on, and I use that one spot for drawing as well. I have a lot of junk and stuff on the table so when I wanted to work with my deco, the thought of my table turned my stomach. It was way too much of a pain because I always have my drawing supplies and tons of papers around. I changed this around by doing simple things so I can work on small projects. I cleaned up the papers, moved my drawing stuff, cleaned my table and just got enough deco materials to make macaroons. It helped a ton because I was able to do my craft again but not stress myself out at the same time.

3. Start small!

Are you an over achiever? Do you like to make a dozen cup cake charms but find yourself burned out afterwards or even procrastinating future projects, start small! One of my biggest problems especially in the beginning was "I was doing way too much". I would want to start whole collections of three different things. By the time the second or third day came around of making charms, I would want to work on something else or be completely uninspired. Mix it up a bit and try small different things that won't take a life time to complete. You'll find that you will get much more done and you will be happy at the skill that you will farther develop!

4. Make personal projects!

The very thing that had me addicted to sweets deco again was making the cutest and very first bag charm. I wasn't worrying about if people will like it because it was mine. I didn't even care if it looked good or not because it was mine. It made me really open my mind to the inspiration I needed to come up with something I loved. Without the noises in my head telling me to go this way or that way, I was able to get in tune with myself and my creatively. No matter what you want to do with your sweets deco like selling or even making a gift for friends, always give time to make something for yourself. You won't believe the untapped resource that will come of it.

5. Try something new

This ties in very will with getting inspired. When your inspired it feels like you can do anything so why not try something different. It can help you branch out your skills and even improve old ones. Its always a nice feeling that you decided to try something new even if it didn't turn out the way you imagined. I never tried making fruit with air dry clay, so the next time I get down on my sweets deco I'm going to try to make some strawberries!

I hope everyone found this insightful and a way to start of their deco new year right! I can't wait to see everyone's projects. Take care!

Also if you happened to just starting with the craft here are my tutorial posts to help you make ploymer clay charms!

Chocolate charm tutorials

Ice cream tutorials

Clay whip cream tutorials

Cupcake tutorials

Lollipop tutorials

strawberry tutorials

My Christmas and New Year plans...

2010-12-30T10:50:00.000-05:00

Hey all and welcome to my blog once again! Unfortunately I have no sweets deco to show you. I haven't even completed my ear phone deco since I've been busy with X-mas and friends. And now I have my room to clean out to fit my new brand new computer that I got a few weeks ago. I actually got the parts on X-mas eve installed them, (on my own for the first time ever) and started working on putting all the programs I needed on my new computer. I got pictures of everything I got in fact...


My new computer! I only got the tower up and running right now

So pretty!

My new web cam, it works great and I even tested for live stream!

The new monitor that came with my computer I'll install it once I have it in my room!

Some really cute hello kitty slippers that my sister got me. I love them they really keep my feet warm!

Since I started working on my new computer (I call her gate, yes I name my stuff) everything has been a breeze to do! Its so fast and quiet I've been doing so much that I wasn't able to do before. I'm so in love with my baby! I have so much art I want to work on and so many programs I want to learn.

As far as my new year plans I have a ton! The first one is getting my new blog design completed. I've been working on it and its coming along and with my html knowledge I've been able over come some obstacles and even add a few things! My second and most significant plan is the start of my business and start selling my stuff. I've started my business plan for the new year and I'm excited for the journey ahead! I have so much in store for this coming year I hope you guys will still be following and new comers will be drawn here as well!

Thanks for reading, I'll see you all soon!

Sweet pastel Biscuit cookie hair pin

2010-12-15T09:54:00.000-05:00

Sweets Deco Hair Pin

Hey all! I’m back again with more old work sorry! But you’ll love this one; it’s a cookie hair pin with strawberry syrup and swarovski crystal.

I used window paint for the syrup; the nozzle was perfect to get that “drippy” look just right. I tried to pick more up from the last Michaels trip I had but they didn’t have the brand I wanted (boo). So I guess I will have to make another trip to my Michaels that is two hours away. A long trip indeed but I always come out with a bunch of new things to experiment with!

I have yet to wear it, my hair is messy and I wouldn’t want my hair to get caught up in the pin. As soon as I get my hair done, I’m going to try it out.

Among other things I just got done my favorite picture of the year! I love the style I have it in and I will make my Candy Sanctuary waitress in this style. It just exudes cuteness and girlyness, perfect for my new layout. I will also order the computer parts that I will need for my new computer. My tech savvy friend didn’t get back to me but I’m confident that I found the pieces I needed.

Oh and before I forget if you have Twitter or Face book you can add me! I don’t really use either except for updates from my blog.

I hope you all enjoy this sugary sweet post. Have a good day!

Sweets deco Cookies

2010-12-12T20:56:00.000-05:00

Hey all!

It’s been a while since I last posted. Nothing much has been happening in my sweets deco adventures but I have made some new cookies.

I made some of them from molds and I also tried to make my own custom shaped cookies. You can tell which one it is, the shooting start one. I’ll make some icing and decorate it like a real cookie. I want to practice it more too since it was a lot of fun.

I just got done a really huge picture for an awesome calendar project here. It was really fun and the picture will be apart of a calendar that will be sold all around the world! As soon as it’s released I’ll send you all link!

Now that I finally got that picture done I want to continue my ear phones sweet deco. I have to make more cookies because I want it to be pastel colored. I’ll probably do that some time soon like tomorrow morning. I also just got some new icing tips and acrylic paint! I can’t wait to try them all out.

Besides that nothing new has happened deco wise. I got a new computer and waiting to buy the parts to add for it. Once that done I can do all the multimedia things that I love to do and not worry about the computer lagging! :D

I hope everyone is having a great month. I’ll be sure to post again soon about my sweets deco projects!

Sweets Deco Macaroons Tutorial

2010-12-04T13:03:00.000-05:00

How to make sweets deco macaroons

I love macaroons hands down. They are by far my favorite things to make in sweets deco so far. They just have this cuteness like no other pastry or sweet. Short, tiny, colorful and ever so sweet the macaroon!

Another reason why I love making macaroons so much because they are super easy to make and decorate! Great for any decoden project from sweet frames to sweet hair clips. Whatever sweets deco adventure you’re on count on macaroon to get the job done! Top them with syrup, whip cream, crystals, cookies just to name a few things you can do the macaroon!

If you want to be super adventurous with the macaroon try a macaroon tower! Who can deny such sweet awesomeness? Each one laid out one by one to create something beautiful, you can’t beat that.

I got all kind of tutorials some for air clay, polymer clay and even a video tutorial on macaroons.

http://community.livejournal.com/egl/11224061.html

http://gaiamini.deviantart.com/art/tutorial-3-french-macaroons-118741576

http://karen117.blogspot.com/2009/03/macaron-charm-tutorial.html

http://skookyspry.deviantart.com/art/Macaroon-Tutorial-Method-1-118680408

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWPH2fwD4CE&feature=player_embedded

http://www.miseducated.net/?p=2166

And a Japanese tutorial I found on Google while on my search!

Happy crafting!

Thanks for visiting my sweets deco macaroon tutorial post!

Sweets deco cream puff necklace

2010-11-29T11:03:00.000-05:00

My new sweets deco cream puff necklace

Here is one of my favorite recent pieces that I made about 2 weeks ago, my beloved cream puff necklace!

It was the first time I made a cream puff so making it was really exciting! I think my favorite part about making it was adding the “whip cream” and the spoon sticking out of it. It looked pretty good till my damn glove touched the cream and messed up the perfect look of it. When I added the top part of the cream puff, the cream started to squeeze out a bit, among other unwanted things that happened. None the less I love it and it looks absolutely delicious!

Once the cream cured I added the toppings and polymer clay sparkles on top. That’s when I started falling in love with my necklace.

I got some gold chain and hooked the cream puff to it but it looked like it could use a tune up, so I added the whip cream and Eiffel tower to the chain. Thus completing this cream puff necklace journey. I showed my family and they love it. I myself want to make smaller cream puff necklaces in the future.

Other then that, I’ve been working on my new blog design. Just looking through tutorials on how to make it better and adding personal touches to it. It’s so much fun going through the html and altering it to your liking. I want to study up on html more so I can know more about it and hopefully make my own full design one day. I have a really good book on it from college but I might just look online for tutorials so I can have that “hands on” experience. Well that’s all for today, I’ll make sure to update soon!

Thanks for reading about my sweets deco cream puff!

Fairy Kei Sweets Deco Macaroon DS Charm

2010-11-26T11:50:00.000-05:00

Do you like sweets deco with your gaming, I sure do! This next piece is my newest DS charm. The colors where inspired by the fairy kei fashion. I love love LOVE the pastel colors of the fashion and just the old vintage feel of it all. A lot of fashion reminds me of my childhood the fashion is drawn from the 80’s and 90’s after all.

Anyway, since my “Chunky Macaroon Charm” was way too big to loop in the small charm strap I had to make a smaller one, thus my fairy Kei macaroon charm was born!

My favorite part of making the macaroons was adding the very glamorous sparkles to the clay! I had brought a few different colors of sparkles earlier this year. I was going to use them for my resin, but since that never happened I thought I should experiment with them in my clay crafts. Before I made the shapes of the macaroons I just added some sparkles in the clay and kneaded it in the clay. If I didn’t see enough sparkles then I just add more. The end result was really nice though you can’t see the sparkles very well. Here’s a picture where you can see a sparkle haha.

Really exciting, but next time I’ll add more sparkles in the clay so it will show more. I want the charm to blind me!

Another reason I love this project so much because it was my first time adding swarovski crystals to my charms. Well actually the second, but it wasn’t messy and a total pain. The crystals look great in the light and just add to that girly cuteness to my macaroon charm!

I have to admit out of all the sweets I can make in sweets deco, macaroons are probably a close number one.

NEW SWEETS DECO OMG

2010-11-25T12:54:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my sweets deco blog!

After a much needed hiatus and break I’m back with plenty of sweets deco for everyone to devour!

After a break from my sweets deco I decided to give it another go and fell in love with it all over again. I was so stressed out doing them that I just didn’t want to bother with it. But I got my “groove” back and ready to start over… again.

My break out piece is my chunky macaroon bag charm. I finished it weeks ago and was my first bag charm ever so I’m really proud of it.

This is my favorite picture of it which I posted on TheO.

All my family and friends loved the piece, so much that my mom requested one!

I have more finished pieces but I don’t want to show them all in one day.

Besides that I’m still somewhat stressing over this blog design. The one I was working on before the break I don’t like anymore, so I’m pretty much back at square one. I do have one idea that I’m going to go with just to get it out the way, a sweets menu theme! It should be fun vectoring the sweets and naming them.

Since I’m talking about art, I started working in illustrator and making vector images. It’s really fun and different from what I usually do. My art have been getting better and I have a lot more confidence in it. So much that I joined the Manga Bullet Calendar project. So you will be able to buy a calendar with my art in it!

Going back to my sweet deco adventures, I decided to deco my Sony earphones! They are small so the work space is perfect for me. It’s going to be the first time I did this kind of deco but I know it will go well. I will also make one or two x-mas macaroon towers! I brought some foam cones for the project and everything. I’m really excited to start those soon but I will need some more caulk before I start. I’m down to my last one right now.

Thanks for reading about my sweets deco and a happy thanksgiving to you all! See you next time!

Blogger Design Secrets

2010-08-05T17:06:00.000-04:00

So we all want to know so of those blogger design secrets, you know how to make your blog look neat and unique!

I actually found this very useful website in the Esty forums its called The Cutest Blog on the Block, Its has tutorials on how to make a custom background to how to make your blog a three column blog. I went through some of the tutorials myself and they are easy to understand. I’ll be using them to change up my own blog. I just have to create my own little character that well be hanging out in my blogger background.

They also have great free backgrounds and resources that you can use in your own blog!

Happy designing and make good use of your new Blogger design secrets!

Where did The Candy Sanctuary go?

2010-08-04T16:23:00.000-04:00

Wow, how late am I? I haven’t updated this place in months, haha sorry about that.

None the less I was working hard on The Candy Sanctuary. I’ve updated my accounts, made new friends, made a fan page, and gotten more followers on twitter. So things have been going well with me.

On the crafting side things have been great also. I’ve made more charms and cakes that gotten a lot of positive feedback where ever I posted them so I’m excited about that.

The first cake is my favorite: My chocolate mousse cake

My second cake the “rave cake” has gotten a lot of attention. I think it has something with the angle I took the picture in.

Then lastly my Nintendo DS donut charm, I want to make more of those..

If you want to see more pictures and charms take a look at my new fan page for The Candy Sanctuary. I update there and I post pictures on my fan page first before any where else so you can view new creations before anyone. Don’t forget to become a fan too!

Also, I’m relearning HTML so I can edit and custom design my blogger page. I want the design to be very sweet with plenty of pastel colors. I also want to make a random girl for it too to complete the look.

So that’s about it. I’m going to try to post everyday about different things so this place won’t collect dust again.

Thanks for reading!

I'm back!

2010-05-19T10:18:00.000-04:00

Long time no see!

A lot has happened since my last post! One all my packages have arrived.

Second my birthday was on the 14th, and lastly I entered the New York Anime Fest mascot contest! It was the whole reason I wasn’t here or focus on my business. My entry too almost 2 weeks to do and I’m proud of the result. You can check out my entry here.

I put everything else on hold for the contest so I’m back on track with my business again. To start I’m going to finally add my blog and links to the websites I’ve joined so everyone can see what I’m up to. After that I’m going to continue to design my mascot and other logo designs.

I haven’t made anything either for a while. So I’m going to make some donuts and cakes and finally turn them into cell phone charms and goodies. You should see all the crystals and charms that I have at my disposal now. I’m so excited I’m over loading with ideas!

I am going to go to my huge list of things to do so I’ll see you later!

New packages and ideas!

2010-04-30T22:56:00.000-04:00

Happy Friday!

I’m happy to say that a lot of my packages have been coming in this week. Including my glow in the dark paints, resin mold, glitter, and respirator! I have about 4 or 5 more things ready to come in. One of them is containing all my jewelry making supplies. Once I get that package I can truly make my cell phone charms and trinkets, I can’t wait! I have been also making sketches of the things I want to make. A lot of them are sweets but I also have been designing pictures for my resin pendants.

Lately I’ve been checking my list of things to do and seeing that since all my materials are coming in I should focus on designing my logo and brand. I had the very rough sketch in my note book so I finally gave the time to refine it this morning. I really like the way it came out!

I like to read about design especially for a company and branding so I decided to look in one of my graphic design books. A lot of it really expressed that the design should be able to translate what the product is about with out too much design clutter. Not to mention it still have to look nice. I was absorbing everything and looked at my own logo to see how mines stand against what I was reading. I think my logo might be busy and cluttered haha. Before I had my current logo idea I had no clue on what I wanted to look like at all. I wanted to express so many things to like candies, café, rave, and the Lolita fashion that it was hard just to narrow it down to a certain genre. Then one day at work I just saw the perfect logo! It just flashed before my eyes. I sketched it down so I could remember what it looked like. Only till now I decided to draw out the logo completely. I’m planning to finish it in Photoshop too. Even though I really like the logo I’m going to play around with other ideas I have.

With my designing frenzy I wanted to sketch out my original idea of having different types of Lolita for each kind of product I had. Like for my sweets a sweet Lolita, the more tea time goodies would be represented by a gothic Lolita and so forth. For some reason I couldn’t really get a design down that I really like. Or even enjoy the process barely. It just seem like I was trying to get a blood out of a daisy. So then I decided to sketch a different mascot idea I had at while I was working. It was just a more generic girl in a “sweet punk” attire.

To my surprise I really like it. I don’t like her face or hair but the overall I enjoy the idea. Just a regular girl in really cool clothes wanting to stand out. I feel like I can identity with the character so that really tells me I should pursue this mascot design more.

Besides that I made a few ad designs, played Final Fantasy 13, and leveling up my pokemon in soul silver. XD

I hope you enjoyed my ramblings see you guys next time!

Saturday morning thoughts

2010-04-24T11:42:00.000-04:00

Good morning my loves!

It’s a Saturday morning and I’m feeling pretty good (and tired).

Yesterday I continued shopping for my supplies for my business. I got tons of pearls, a resin book and mold set, last but not least a cameo resin mold. I always wanted to work with resin; I see so many amazing pieces being made form it. You can be as creative as you want and boy do I have some ideas! Since I put in the order, my mind been formulating with plans. I’m thinking of putting my own pictures in the cameo piece, or some clay sweets. All the possibilities are endless!

While I was shopping on etsy, I was checking the price on 100 pack crystals instead of 75. I contacted the seller but she has yet to get back to me. I was thinking about getting acrylic rhinestones but I like crystals better. It really sparkles and adds a nice touch to everything it’s on. I really like them on macaroon charms and such. It adds such a cute factor to it.

The last things I need to get now are glow in the dark paint, pigments, a respirator, and sparkles. Then I might have enough to buy a subscription in the sites I’m in. So far so good though. That reminds me, I have to edit my latest craft photos and post them on my websites. I know people have been asking me about them so I want to make sure I give the people what they want!

On a more artistic note I’m finally starting the line art of my latest picture. I did most of the body and clothes. I’m on the shoes now and changed them a bit from the original sketch. I pretty much added an extra long sole of the shoe. I really like the change and it adds the more punk-ish style to the outfit. I should have that done today as well. I really have my work cut out for me today.

Thanks for reading! See you soon!

Huge craft shopping!

2010-04-21T12:43:00.000-04:00

I’m finally on my way to getting much needed materials for my decoden and crafts. I was shopping at Mybeadjoy and got tons of supplies. Since my order was over $100 dollars it had free insurance. I asked if they do combined shipping and they took $15 dollars off my whole purchase! Then paypal started acting weird so I was up all night trying to get the payment through! Luckily, around 12-1AM it worked and went through so I could rest easy. I should be expecting that package around next month.

I also went over at Jo-ann’s website and they had a sale on Hearty clay. This will be perfect for my deco den molds! The molds I have will work much better with the hearty clay then the creative paper clay. I think because the hearty clay is more marshmallow like. In any case I just hope it works! I made sure I got a lot of the colors I needed. Which they only had pink, blue, black, and white but its fine. I also got a pasta machine for polymer clay that will be very useful for my clay cakes. The icing can be even and less of a hassle to put on and roll out by hand.

The last things on my list is to get some resin molds, flat pearls, rhinestones, crystals, and a respirator. After that I might look into getting a deco den book but I’m not sure.

Now the fun part begins… Thinking up all kinds of stuff to make! I know I want to make all kinds of cakes and pasties but I’ve been thinking about making Tokyo mew mew weapons. I wanted to make them before but I wasn’t as skill with the clay as I am now. I really want to make the strawberry bell; I have an idea to actually add a real bell that tinkles. X3

I might look into that more. Thanks for reading!

Polymer clay ice cream tutorial

2009-09-28T11:40:00.000-04:00

How to make polymer clay ice cream

Soft served or out the container ice cream is surely one of my favorite treats. There nothing like making a charm of your favorite sweet cold pleasure! Better yet, a beloved flavor like cookies and cream (my fav) or what ever you want. They make really cool pendants, hair clips, and charm bracelets.

You can make the ice cream in bowls or cones. Add whip cream, fruit, cookies anything you want. The sky is the limit!

The clay store

Link

Video tutorials!

Link

Link

Thanks for visting cute clay tutorials!

Polymer clay strawberry tutorial

2009-09-27T11:26:00.000-04:00

How to make a Polymer clay strawberry

Polymer clay fruit can be hard to make so when I saw a fellow blogger’s tutorial about making a strawberry I jumped at it! I never did make a strawberry before but know my confidence in making one has sky rocket seeing how easy it is to make! Now if only I can get my hand on making the cranes…

Anyway you can use this tutorial to enhance any jewelry accessory or charm you have in mind.

Stawberry charm Tutorial

Thanks for looking at Cute Clay Tutoirals!

Polymer clay whip cream tutorial

2009-09-26T11:30:00.000-04:00

How to make polymer clay whip cream

So if you saw my last post “polymer clay cupcakes” I think you know where going over.
“Polymer clay cream”

One the biggest challenges for beginners when it comes to making clay pastries are the icing/whip cream. I know when I wanted to start making cupcake charms I wanted to look realistic but really cute and the whip cream look is right on top of that list. But once again I have no clue how to make it; people want to keep it “secret” which makes looking for tutorials and ways to make it super hard. Do not fret; there are easy tutorials on making polymer clay whip cream and icing. Which I will show you and have links to.

First and foremost you will need TLS, Translucent Liquid Sculpey. TLS is just liquid clay that turns clear after its cured. You can use for a lot of things like.

Use is as a glue to mount clay pieces together.

Make clay whip cream/icing/syrup out of

Use it on your head pin before sticking it in your clay and baking it so the head pin it won’t fall out easily.

Transfer images on to clay (we’ll go over this later on)

The second thing that you will need is white polymer clay. A small container to mix it all in. last but not least some kind of thick stick or something to mix and mash the clay into the TLS.

Here are the steps.

Take some TLS and pour some in the container as much as you think you will for your cupcake.

Take some white clay (a nice equal amount to the TLS) to and soften it up as much as you can by shaping and molding it with your hands. The warmth of your hands makes it softer.

Break it up into small pieces and throw it in the TLS.

Now take your stick object (something that can smash and stir the clay up) and still smashing the clay into the TLS. It’s a little hard at first but you have to keep smashing till it turns into a creamy texture.

Depending how thick or thin you want the cream to be you can add more TLS or clay in it.
Take your stick or a tooth pick take some of the clay cream and start wrapping it on to your cupcake.

Play with the cream to make it a swirly shape farther till you’re happy with it.

Congrats you’re done! Easy stuff…

Now on to the video tutorials!

misslove889’s tutorial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQG9JnqXLo8

GentlemanBunny’s tutorial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG8YbRoXOqg

Who knew making whipped cream out of polymer clay was so easy!

Polymer clay cupcake tutorial

2009-09-23T12:38:00.000-04:00

How to make a polymer clay cupcake.

Polymer clay cupcakes are one of my favorite things to make. There are countless ways you can make them and just as many styles. You can make them cute, creepy, silly, Japanese deco style, just about anything. Not only that but they make very popular charms for cell phones, bracelets, necklaces, and pendants. So if you’re planning to make cute jewelry to sell, cupcakes are a way to go.

On ways to make a cupcake it’s pretty simple. There are tons of tutorials and methods to make them. These are great for the beginners to start out and it’s easy to follow. After you master the basics of these you can move up to making better looking cupcakes and different ways on making them. Then I will show you something that all beginners what to learn, “how to make polymer clay whip cream!” But I will leave that to the next post. ;3

For now here are the polymer clay cupcake tutorials that I promised you

The clay store

http://tutorials.theclaystore.com/miniature-food/polymer-clay-cupcake/

E-how

http://www.ehow.com/how_4908064_polymer-clay-cupcake.html

Video tutorials!

MsKreant’s tutorial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcpatZx5Td0

I hope you find these polymer clay cupcake tutorials useful and goodbye for now!

Polymer clay lollipop charm tutorial

2009-09-22T10:45:00.000-04:00

How to make a polymer clay lollipop

Clay lollipops are super easy to make and makes the cutest charms. You can make them any color and add anything you want to them. I’ve seen a lot of clay artists and Jewelry makers do awesome things to lollipops. Add cute animal heads make cute hair clips, and so on.

The best thing about these lollipop tutorials is that it’s awesome for beginners. Also it’s easy to make charm bracelets, necklaces, and cell phone charms out of!

Video tutorials!

marianne1586

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oSDDaTxr_M&feature=related

alleycat1694

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-ZkRSGiKEE&feature=related

I hope to see some pretty clay lollipop charms out there.

Thanks again for visiting Cute Clay tutorials!

Polymer Clay Chocolate Charm Tutorial

2009-09-21T11:58:00.000-04:00

How to make a chocolate clay charm.

Its time to make a cute chocolate charm! Since you got the ideal things to start making some cute jewelry out of polymer clay, its time for the good stuff.

These chocolate clay tutorials are great for beginners and you learn great but simple techniques that you can use later on. One of my first clay charms was made from these tutorials and it loved making them. You can make necklaces, bracelets and rings out of these cute chocolates. Just about any kind of cute jewelry.

Chat noirs tutorial:

http://chat-noir.deviantart.com/art/Chocolate-Charm-Tutorial-80693342

Keigylf’s tutorial:

http://keigylf.deviantart.com/art/Chocolate-Bar-Charm-Tutorial-125512929

Some clay video tutorials!

GentlemanBunny Chocolate bar tutorial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MvWd2xT-C4&feature=player_embedded#t=192

Garden of Imagination tutorial chocolate bar tutorial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qumSWBv6ZdQ&feature=player_embedded

I hope you guys are as hungry for cute clay chocolates as much as I am. Thanks for stopping by Cute Clay Tutorials and I will see you tomorrow!

Cute clay tutorials: More tools

2009-09-20T11:25:00.000-04:00

The essentials on making cute jewelry

Welcome back to cute clay tutorials! I hope I’m not going too slowly for some people that want to get to the good stuff. Please bare with me ha-ha its all will be fast and painless. So now you know what polymer clay is, the next step is to get some tools to help you sculpt, paint, add effects, and glaze your cute clay creation then finally make some jewelry out of them!

First you’ll need some cheap acrylic paint to paint your cute clay charms after its cured (meaning baked). These go around 50 cents a bottle depending on brand and size. What a treat! Any brand will do its all pretty much the same. Here are some brands of acrylic paint: Folk art, Apple Barrel, and Delta. The brand I use is the Craft Smart.

Some cheap set paint brush to paint with. Get the ones that have numerous sizes it will make it easier to paint bigger and smaller charms. When I started making my clay charms I already had a paint brush set. Originally for using watercolor but that never happened so they were perfect for painting charms with! If I remember the set cost around 10 and 15 dollars. I’m sure that got kids set too I you’re a cheapo like me so just look around at what’s available.

Some glaze to protect your charm. This is very important to have if you want that glossy shiny finish to your piece also. If you’re in the clay section and see that Sculpty brand of gloss, DO NOT GET IT. The kicker with this is that it’s WAY over pieced for such little quantity. You can get much bigger sizes of gloss for a much better piece. Just get a glossy interior varnish from the brand “Delta Ceramcoat” or anything of the sort. Another gloss you can use is the Krylon triple-thick crystal clear glaze. Get the jar kind so you can just paint it on. They have the spray on kind as well but in my experience you have to use it outside because the strong fumes that is harmful to you. I use to get head aches because of the smell and that scent stays on your cute clay charms for a long while too. Not fun if you’re making these for a friend or business. There are more kinds and brands out there just make sure the kind your using won’t ruin the paint or clay and is safe to use.

Jewelry Findings for attaching your charms on to bracelets, ear rings, pins etc. There are dozens and dozens of brands that sell these but the kind of findings that you want starting out are head pins, ear rings, jump rings, eye pins, and clasps. If you can’t find a set that sells these together at a good price, you can simply get head pins and ear rings to start.

Jewelry chains that you can make necklaces and bracelets out of. Once again there are many kinds and brands so just shop around. Also, I would recommend a jewelry making tool set. So you can cut and bend jewelry wire as well as chains to make bracelets and necklaces.

Whew, that was harder then I thought but I made it through. All these items can be found at any craft and art store. And everything I listed here I’ve gotten for no more then 10-15 dollars. I will go over more tools of interest later on. Remember, I’m starting at the very beginning for the beginners as well!

Thanks for visiting cute clay tutorials and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Cute clay tutorials: What is Polymer clay?

2009-09-19T12:49:00.000-04:00

The basics on making cute jewelry and charms

To start making cute clay charms you’ll need polymer clay. But what is it? It’s a type of clay that you can sculpt and mold then throw into the oven to bake and harden. You can find polymer clay in any art and craft stores. Its really cheap around 2 bucks depending on brand you use. Speaking of which there are a few you can test out. People use different brands depending on personal tastes and what they are making.

The best brands for beginners and the one I use personally was Sculpey III. It comes in 44 colors, shades, and special effects. It’s easy to handle and mold, perfect for a beginner like yourself. It comes in a block that you can break off into 4 rectangular pieces also. Doing research on the brands and such they say that’s its more brittle then most clay brands and likely to break especially when you’re making thin sheets and extensions. But in my experience it held up pretty well so I think that should be the least of your problems.

Another really popular brand to start with is Fimo classic. It comes in 24 for colors. It’s much firmer and tougher to soften up but it’s harder and sturdy after it’s baked. If you want a softer version they have Fimo soft. It comes in over twice as many colors then Fimo classic and even has special effects kinds. I never used the Fimo brand because it costs a bit more and the tougher quality of it. Still, a lot of crafter used it with great results.

There are more brands of clay out there and both brands holds a lot of other types of clay as well, depending on what you what to do. But as far as making cute clay charms and jewelry, Sculpey III as well as Fimo does really well.

Another thing I want to point out is the translucent and pearl kinds of clay. Those are really useful in getting awesome effects like using translucent for making sundae glasses and cups. The pearl is great for mixing so that your cute clay charm has glittery effect. We will go over this more as time goes on but I just want to get the bare basics out there.

All in all, polymer clay is the kind of clay you want to use for making clay charms. Try and test out many out to see which one you like best.

Thanks for taking the time to visit cute clay tutorials. And I will see you tomorrow!

Cute Clay Tutorials: A little more insight

2009-09-18T12:46:00.000-04:00

How to make cute jewelry

I made Cute Clay Tutorials so that I can help people who have an interest in making such, cute things! I remember how I started getting into the whole charm thing and really wanted to start making my own. All the necklaces, bracelets, and cell phone trinkets , it was all so creative and I would do anything to start making my own. So did a little research or what was on the web at the time (about late 2008/early 2009) got my last 20 bucks and spend it on everything I could buy to get started. I got down and made a little charm of a chibi devil character. Cute yes, but I wanted to make some of food charms like cakes, ramen, ice cream, etc. I made one of those square chocolates but it didn’t out as well as I wanted. Not to mention I wanted to make a whole stock of candies and sweets like the ones on the net like.

http://notmaggot.deviantart.com/art/Pretty-Rose-Cookie-Pendants-96522988

http://oborochann.deviantart.com/art/February-Charms-47913634

http://blackmago.deviantart.com/art/Cute-Food-Paradise-charms-124155319

The only trouble was that I wasn’t skilled or knowledgeable enough to just start making them on my own, not enough tutorials and surly artists wasn’t going to tell you their methods right off the bat. Since then I searched up and down in books, websites, and forums to get all the details of making cute foods, charms, and jewelry out of ploymer clay to make my dreams come true in making a business out of it too.

I came a long way since then and I’m not a master yet, but I’m surly getting there. And with more and more valuable info finally getting shared in the internets I can only get better and I want to share them with everyone who felt the same as I did. Searching all over the web to get a little piece of info.

So now I want to put all the pieces in one place where anyone can come and get all the info they need to start this exciting adventure!

That’s how Cute Clay Tutorials came to be.

I’ll go over the basics on what you need to start like the polymer clay, paint, findings etc. Some simple beginner tutorials like cookies, candies, sweets, and beyond! I enjoy what I do and I love sharing the info so I hope you’ll give me a chance to show you step by step how to get there! :) So get your tools, creativity, and hands ready for an awesome ride.

Cute Clay Tutorials opening.

2009-09-17T13:11:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Cute Clay Tutorials! This blog covers tips, techniques, and tutorials on how to make cute jewelry and charms. If you have questions that isn’t covered in cute clay tutorials feel free to email your question at cutefoodtuts@hotmail.com