Thursday, August 30, 2012

Worry Stones

Another counselor in my district brought these great Worry Stones from worrystone.net to share at one of our district meetings. I loved them but Pinterest must be influencing me more than I realized because I immediately thought how easy it would be to make my own rather than fork out the $1 each plus shipping.

So I did.

Admittedly, they aren't as cute as the originals due to my decided lack of stampage. But I thought they turned out pretty well. :)


Here's what I needed...

Crayola Air Dry Clay (White)
Stamps (or Paper Clip)
Acrylic Paint
Paintbrush
ModPodge
Sponge brush

Here's what I did...

1. I rolled several 1-inch clay balls and gently pressed them into the position they would be as in if I "worried" them. (That was one of the things I liked about the originals--that they felt somewhat molded to my hand.)
2. I used a paper clip to poke or draw designs. You can use stamps if you have them.
3. I let them air dry over night, then painted them with a wash made with water and acrylic paint.
4. I let them dry over the weekend since they were still a little bit squishy.
5. I sealed just the tops (painted area) with ModPodge using the sponge applicator and let dry again.

The whole process took a total of about 1 hour over the course of a week. And since I can make many, many more, these are turning out to be very cost effective as well. I think it would be great to have the students make their own to keep too. Can't wait to give them to my little Worry Warts and see if they help.