Friday, July 17, 2009

Making Charms and Embellishments with Bread Dough

Many of you probably remember the craft show Aleene's Creative Living
that was on tv about 15 years ago. They made flowers, especially
roses out of bread and glue. 1 slice white bread, crust removed to 1 Tbsp.
Aleene's Tacky Glue. Well I've revamped their recipe just a bit and add
aproximately 2 Tbsp tacky glue to one slice of bread. I have incorporated
the Cuttlebug and found a fun way to make charms and embellishments for your
cards and layouts. I know this would probably be better portrayed in a video,
but I'm not prepared to do that so I'm going to do the best I can with pictures.

Are you ready to go from this


To this?


This is an example of the roses they made on the show.
They too will work great on cards and layouts. Sorry I
forgot to add the little green leaves.
Pull up a chair and let's have some fun. To
begin remove and discard the crust from your bread.
Tear bread into pieces and place in a plastic cup or old
pan. Add tacky glue and stir with a craft stick or
your fingers.

Once you start mixing the dough it will begin to
take shape.
Once it starts holding together knead the dough
in your hands.
Continue kneading until it becomes smooth and
pliable. If you need to you can add a little more
glue.
Once you have accomplished this you will need to
decide how you want to color the dough. The original
recipe colors it with acrylic paint. Just make a well in
the dough and add paint. Knead the dough until the
paint is all mixed in. The roses above were colored
this way. I find this method a bit messy and prefer another
method that can be done after they are cut. You can also add
alcohol ink rather than paint, but the color will not be as intense.
Now the fun begins. Get your Cuttlebug and your favorite
Spellbinders or any other metal die. I am using the Garden Delights
Shapeabilites set.
Flatten the dough in the palm or your hand or you
can use something to roll it out. Just don't get it too
thin. Place your A plate on the Cuttlebug, then your B plate,
your die face up, the dough, and your 2nd B plate. When placing
the die and dough on the plate be sure to put it at the top of
the plate as the dough is going to move downward. Then run it through
the CB. If your dough is not flattened enough to fit in the CB just keep
flattening until your sandwich fits.
TIP: Make sure your CB plates are clean. Any fibers or bits of paper that
are on the plates will be impressed into your dough. Sometimes I run a bit of
dough through just to clean up the plates. The die does not have to be covered
in dough. Just place it at the top of the die and it will move down.
To get a better impression after I run it through the first time
I add a chipboard shim under the bottom B plate and run
it back through. Since it's already flat it will fit in the machine
much better this time. The key is not to get the cuts too thin or once
they dry they will break easily. You just have to find a happy medium.
This is what it will look like after a 2nd time
through the CB.
Then you just start pulling the dough away from
the cut or cuts.
This is what you should end up with. At this point
you can try and clean up the edges a bit. Once it's dry
you can knock off any dough that's sticking out and probably
could give the edges a very light sanding.
Now you need to let the dough get good and dry.
To start with you will want to lay something on top
of the dough....I use my B plate. This keeps the dough
from curling. Just leave it for several hours. Then you
can remove the plate and let it get some air. It's ok to turn
your cut over to dry the back too. If it starts to curl just put the plate
back on top for awhile. Once it's dry it will no longer try to curl.

Cuts drying under my B plate.


If you did not color your dough, you can now color your
image. For the watering can I used my Bic fine tip markers and
inked the edges with Cat Eye Chalk. Copic markers would probably
work great, but I don't have any yet. You can also use your ink to
color the image. The possibilites are endless and I'm sure you all will
come up with lots of methods to color them.
Another fun thing to do is the embossing folers. Below is an example of a
folder that looks like crocodile skin. I cut a croc out from the Animal Kingdom
cartridge and covered it with the dough. Actually this was just a scrap of dough
I had and did not quite have enough to cover the croc, but you get the idea.
Again, just be careful not to get the dough pressed out too thin or it will
crack and break once it's dry.
Hopefully this gets you started in the right direction to making
your own embellisments with bread and glue. I've not tried using
this method with any of the compounds you can purchase, but they
might work too. With all the folders and dies that are available
the possibilites truly are endless. Have Fun!

13 comments:

  1. Neat!! Thanks for sharing this!!!

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  2. wow this looks fantastic and a lot of fun, I may have to try this out. Thanks for the directions.

    hugs
    Kaye x

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  3. What a great idea. Thanks for sharing!!!

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  4. Wonderful idea! I'm gonna have to try it!

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  5. Wow! How did you ever come up with this great idea! Well done!

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  6. Great Site, it is the first time I saw the bread and glue technique, think I will have to try that with my Cuttlebug. Just love to follow these boggs, fantistic ideas on all of them.

    http://chirpingalong.blogspot.com/
    Cindy

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  7. Great Idea...you never stop...always a new way to create...love you site and your work...so much talent...you go girl!!!

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  8. This looks like a lot of fun. TFS x

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  9. I use to watch Aleenes show all the time. Thanks for bringing back a fun craft project. I haven't seen this since then. :)

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  10. Super! I loved Aleene's Creative Living....I wish they would bring it back in syndication. Great idea to bring this back and remind us.

    Hugs,
    Tracy

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  11. This looks very interesting. Once I remember how to use my die cutter I will have to try this out.

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  12. this is great, i love how you thought to do this in the cuttle bug!! the alligator is awesome!!

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  13. How cute. I remember doing this as a child with wonderbread and elmers glue. FYI if you use a ziploc type baggie to do all the kneeding and color mixing there is zero clean up! Thanks for the great idea, I'm going to try cutting this on my cricut cake.

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