Materials needed:

• Sweetbrier Studio Flexible mold #1012 Lullaby Time
• Choose a pretty heavyweight paper in an appropriate pattern and color of your choice. For this project, we used a light blue geometric paper appropriate for a boy.
• Vellum – can usually be found at hobby and art stores.
• Standard small envelope size 3 3/8 inches by 6 3/4 inches.
• Fancy decorative scissors to cut paper.
• Approx. 18” of 1/4” white ribbon (or color of your choice)
• Polymer Clay: White, blue, & flesh color for the baby bottle nipple. • Before starting to mold the parts or mix the colors, condition all of the clay. • After conditioning and mixing, store the clay in plastic bags.• Make pastel blue by mixing very small amounts of the blue color with white.
• Optional Air Dry Clay: Paperclay® or Delight™ air dry modeling compound by Paperclay®. If you use air dry clay, you will also need acrylic paints.
• Acrylic Paints: very light blue or any color you need to match your fancy paper.
• Brushes: small brush for water based glue (and for paint if needed.)
• Glue: White, water based glue. Strong glue like E-6000®.
• Optional: If a release agent is needed, you will need to dust the openings with baby powder (or corn starch) or lightly mist with water depending on which is best for your molding material.
• Optional: Pasta maker to condition the clay.

1. • Cut a rectangle from the heavy, fancy paper to these measurements. 6 1/2” by 3 1/4” .

2. • Very lightly, draw a rectangle on the vellum to these measurements. 2 3/4” by 5 1/2”.

3. • If you have a computer or typewriter, type your announcement using an appropriate font into a box that is 3 3/8” by 4 1/2”. Keep the type about 1/4” from the edge. • If you are making a number of announcements, put multiple copies on the document. • Print on the vellum, cut out the announcement.

4. • You may also hand write the announcements. • Stay within the border suggested above.

5. • Center the vellum from side to side and 1/4” from the top edge. • Punch two holes, one half inch apart in the center, 1/8” from the top edge of the vellum.

6. Thread the ribbon through the punched holes from front to back, cross the ribbons in the back and thread back through the holes to the front. • Pull the ribbons out to the side as shown. • Twist once or twice and glue the ribbon to the vellum and paper.

7. • Mix pastel blue by adding a tiny amount of blue clay to the white clay. Do not add too much at first. You can add more if it needs to be darker.

8. • Test the mold with a scrap of the clay you will be using. • If the clay sticks a little you can use a mist of water as a release agent, or a light dusting of baby powder or corn starch.

9. • Mold the following: One each of BO-1 and BO-2 using a marbled mix of white clay and pastel blue. (or you may mold the booties in white using 9/16” ball of clay and paint the booties or ribbons solid blue after baking.) • Mold one Bt-1 using white, pastel blue & flesh color. (or, you can mold it in white using 13/16” ball of clay and paint the nipple and ring the same color as the trim on the blocks after baking.)

• To Marble clay: When two or more colors of clay are mixed completely, they become a solid color. But, if you only partly mix the clay, the colors will be ‘marbled’.
• To marble the clay by hand, roll the various colors into separate ropes. Lay the ropes side by side and then begin to twist the ropes together, roll into a ball, roll back into a rope and twist again. Repeat until you get the effect desired.
• To partially mix or marble clay, some people use a pasta machine, rolling the clay into thin sheets, stacking the sheets, putting them back through the pasta machine and twisting, or streaking the sheets to marble the colors.

10. • Flatten the back of each piece before de-molding.

11. •De-Molding: Bend the mold backwards first one way and then the other to loosen. • Bend mold backwards and gently remove the part. • Avoid touching the soft, molded part with your fingernails. Use the pads of your fingers to handle the molded parts..

12. • Place all parts on a baking surface. We use a smooth ceramic tile to bake on. • Bake following the manufactures instructions. • Allow to cool.

13. • Using strong glue, glue a bootie over the ribbon. • Trim the ribbon just beneath the bootie as shown. • Repeat for the other side.• Glue parts to the invitation as shown using strong glue like E-6000®. (Or, if you painted the pieces, glue after the paint is dry.)

14. • Using the cut ends of the ribbon, form a small ribbon in the center as shown. • Glue the baby bottle over the glued ribbons using strong glue.

15. • If desired, use white paint to make small dots in the corners of the vellum.

If you want a lighter weight invitation, use an air dry clay like Paperclay®. When it dries, it is very lightweight.

1. Mold the parts using air dry clay.

• We dusted each opening with baby powder before molding to prevent sticking. • Dust well after each molding if doing more than one part, like the bow. • After molding, bend backwards first one way, then the other. • Bend mold backwards and remove the part.

2. • Place molded parts on a smooth surface. • Be sure the part is flat. • Allow to dry thoroughly, about 24 hours.

3. • Paint the parts to match or complement your fancy paper. Allow to dry.

4. • While the parts are drying follow the directions to prepare the paper and vellum.

5. Glue the parts onto the paper and vellum as shown using white glue.

We did a test mailing of these announcements, both the ones with air dry clay and polymer clay. •We put the announcements into the envelopes with the smooth back facing the front of the envelope. •These announcements will require a regular stamp plus an extra 13 cents postage as they are “Nonmachinable”.

An original design from SweetBrier Studio™
A subsidiary of Miss Martha Originals, Inc.
P.O. Box 5038 - Glencoe, Al. 35905
Telephone 256-492-0221 - Fax 256-492-0261