Life is fascinating!

Can a person ever learn enough? The fascinating part is that there is always something new to learn and explore. I was doing a good job cleaning my house and just “researching” on the computer in the evenings…darn pinterest! Well a pin about water marbling your nails caught my eye and next thing you know I had all my nail stuff out and was playing.

Not bad if I do say so myself!

Then I noticed my beeswax was starting to mold so I thought I better process it right away. (A friend has bees and the best tasting honey ever! They give me the wax.) I started with this -

And some really grungy combs -

And am now in processing mode. I found a couple helpful articles that I’ll share if this turns out – lol! Basically you boil the comb in water with low heat and let it cool. The bee legs and other debris settles to the bottom and the wax rises to the top. It shrinks when it cools so it’s easy to lift out of the pan and then throw the water out the window. Do this a few times until your wax is clean. I’ve also been experimenting with boiling the wax in a nylon to strain it the first time but I didn’t like how much was stayed caked to the nylon…this stuff is precious! I have some projects planned to do after I have clean wax. See…always something to learn! Again I get “I don’t have time to do any of that…” well, I’ve decided I don’t have the time either…but I do have tremendous DRIVE to do this. And DRIVE trumps time. Something else has to give…like my messy basement. (Upstairs is done) I just won’t invite anyone to the basement any time soon. lol. And, while the wax is cooking I’m going to be cleaning my kitchen…gotta keep an eye on the wax anyways. So I’m crafting AND cleaning!

Happy Crafting!!

Polymer Clay

Whoa summer is going too fast!! And that makes me feel like I have to go faster to get everything in and done…and I’m feeling overwhelmed. The mess in my house has also exploded – like it does this time every summer and that makes me feel even more overwhelmed. I haven’t crafted but a little bit last week. That makes me sad – but what I made makes me happy -

I saw a pin on Pinterest and fell in love with the leather looking technique using polymer clay! Well, amongst all the chaos around here I had a birthday. Another one – it’s a good problem to have lol! My mother-in-law sent me some mad money for a present and I purchased a pasta machine thing Like this one to be used for polymer clay. Love it! And it’s an easy technique – I want so badly to play with it again! I keep telling myself later, when you have time…darnit!

Here’s another one I made for a peace-loving-friend who has a birthday next week.

Well, to address the chaos in my home/life I’ve made a decision to limit my time volunteering for the next couple weeks and to limit my time crafting and to clean up the house! I decided to tackle the problem (house) from top to bottom front to back. Yesterday I spent 6 hours cleaning my daughter’s room and the hallway upstairs. And. I’m. NOT. Done! Still have hallway to finish and two boys rooms upstairs. We are wiping down baseboards and walls and purging toys and clothes. My poor little guy had to try on a lot of clothes yesterday to see if they fit and we have two garbage bags of clothes to donate now…and room to put his school clothes once we buy them. I figure if I do a GOOD JOB it should last awhile. I hope that’s not wishful thinking. Fall will bring school and heavy volunteering at the church – time will be limited. And every time I think I have a full day to do something someone tries to schedule me for something or I have an appointment. Argh!!!! After cleaning and cooking all day yesterday I finally sat down at around 9 PM and thought “OK what should I do…clay? felt?”…and decided to read a book instead. There was nothing left in me energy-wise.

Oh – yeah, I also walked/ran a little bit in a 5K race last weekend. You can read Julie’s story of the day here. The ONLY reason I did it was because Julie asked me to. It sucked. I gave all of myself to that race and almost died. (and then felt strangely proud of myself for a few days! I like that feeling!) Julie has done this before and likes doing it. I think she’s nuts. But…when I got home my husband was saying how he could be faster…long story short – we are doing it again in October, and my husband is going to race me. And I’m gonna whoop his butt!!!!!! So I have to train. What is this world coming to? I’m going to try to jog a race? Oh boy. I don’t know how…but I can’t let him beat me can I? lol!

Happy Crafting!!!

Getting white pillowcases white again!

Remember when I made these pillowcases? It was in early June. We’ve used them everyday since then. Of course I wash them, but then put them right back on the pillow. Well, they were starting to look dingy. Really dingy. Not only does our head transfer oils to the case all night but I use moisturizer and sometimes don’t take my makeup off like I should. (Cause I don’t use makeup very often and forget! lol) We also live in an area that has a lot of iron and all our whites end up looking dingy really fast anyways. This bugged me. A LOT! These pillowcases are sooooo soft and smell so nice when washed I want to use them for a long time…just don’t want them looking dirty even when they are clean. Well, somewhere in my brain I remembered they used to boil clothes a long time ago and decided to investigate. I got on the internet and spent waaaay too long learning about boiling clothes. I’ll make it short and sweet for you – I filled a large pot with water got it on the stove and added a healthy squirt of blue Dawn dish soap, put in my pillowcases and made sure they floated freely, put the cover on and got it up to a boil. Then I just poked at them for a bit with a long wooden spoon and turned off the burner and let them sit for a bit. I rinsed them like crazy in the sink and hung them to dry. They are once again SNOWY WHITE!!! No bleach needed!!!! (I don’t care for bleach, I think it smells and breaks down the fabric, also can cause yellowing…probably because of all the iron in our water)

After I washed these cases I used the same water and boiled all my micro-fiber cloths too – they smelled so much sweeter. Then I used the boiling water to clean out my slow sink drain. It was a good morning!!!! I think the blue Dawn dish soap is the key. I’m gonna start buying it by the gallon lol! FYI - I’ll probably boil them a few times a year to keep them nice and white…

Happy Crafting!!!

Collage for the library…

I made this collage for the library – it was supposed to be a “quick craft” and ended up taking me several days! It went through many UGLY stages before I was finally satisfied. My hope is that they frame it and sell it with the understanding that I will add a quote if the buyer wants one. I’m so bad with quotes! And, they are personal…so this way they can pick what they want.

I think it’s the final details that bring a collage together – I liked it a lot more once I did some pen work -

It’s hard to catch it on camera but this collage glimmers with different pigment powders and paints. I was inspired by this pin on Pinterest. I started with a piece of cardboard and mod podged torn up magazine pages over the entire thing – then traced the bird and branch and painted around them…it gives it all a nice texture.

It was also Abby’s birthday this week – I made her a couple new pillow cases and put some new pillows in them.

I got the fabric at a garage sale for one dollar!!! The fabric on the cuffs was from my stash – a gift from a friend of a friend.

She likes them! (And Grandma Mary we did get your phone call and card – thank you!!)

Well, that’s it – got a new project on the craft table right now – here’s a peek -

It was a wooden tray that I’ve started painting and papering… Happy Crafting!!!