Little Sweetheart Pen Caddy Gift

Surprise your sweetie this February 14th with an extraordinary homemade gift sure to delight as it adorns their desk!

Approximate Time: 1 hour plus baking time

Supplies:

• 1 oz. light pink polymer clay
• 1 oz. hot pink polymer clay
• 2 oz. white polymer clay
• clay cutter blade
• acrylic roller
• 1 foot colored floral wire
• pencil
• Mod Podge (optional)
• oven
• cookie sheet
• wire snips

Instructions:

1. Roll light pink clay into a ball between palms of your hands until warm and pliable. Roll into a long log, about 5 inches long.
2. Roll hot pink clay into a ball between palms of your hands until warm and pliable. Roll into a log about 4 inches long using a hard, non-porous surface.
3. Use acrylic roller to flatten hot pink log until it measures about 5 inches long by 3/4 inches wide and 2 mm thick. Trim edge of hot pink shape into a neat rectangle using your clay cutting blade.
4. Wrap hot pink around light pink log; trim away any excess with blade. This is now your "cane."

 
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5. Smooth seam where long edges meet with finger.
   Use clay cutter to trim off ends of cane.
6. Cut cane into two equal parts, cross-wise. Pinch top half of canes all the way down their length until you have formed tear drop shapes.

   Pinch canes together to form heart shape; set aside for now.

7. Roll white 2 oz. brick of clay into a ball between palms of hands until warm. Split into two equally sized balls. Flatten each ball with hand on hard, non-porous surface, slightly.
8. Use blade to slice thin (2-3mm) pieces off of your cane. When slicing, don't push straight down; rather, use a downward motion of one side and then the other (and so forth).

 
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9. Pick the slices you like best, and place four on each ball, on the top, points together (heart will look upside-down at this point).

 
10. Flip balls over and push down slightly to flatten them with palm of hand.

    Place one more heart on each ball, at the middle of the top.


 
11. Make two small hot pink balls of clay (4-5 mm) from scraps you trimmed off the rectangle in step 6. Place each on the middle of the heart you just placed on top, and flatten slightly.
12. Snip ends off colored floral wire with wire snips at a sharp angle. Wrap middle ten inches of wire around a pencil or dowel rod into a long spiral shape.
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13. Bend remaining 2 inches of wire on each end at a right angle to the long spiral; both going in the same direction to form stems. Insert stems, one into each ball, in the middle of the hot pink dot on the top.

 
14. Bake entire thing on a cookie sheet in your oven at 225 degrees F for 15 minutes.Let cool for an hour.

 
15. Seal with Mod Podge, if a glossy finish is desired.
16. Wrap and give to your Sweetie on Valentine's Day, preferably with a nice pen! :)

By Brianna Southworth from Dutch Harbor, AK