Steampunk Polymer Clay

Buckle your seatbelt and get a cup of coffee, this is going to be a long post! Let’s start with the crafty stuff.

I’ve been playing with polymer clay and having a blast!!! This entire pendant is polymer clay…except for the wire part that is used to hang it from a necklace.

 

I attach them to a necklace like this…this way I can have one necklace and many pendants…saves a snarly mess in my drawer lol!

Some I like more than others…I’m not terribly thrilled with this one. I can’t wait to see if they sell at the Spirit of Christmas Bazaar at our church. Might not be what the people around here are looking for…we will have to see!

Also my husband just got home from an elk-hunting-trip in Colorado. Lucky boy!!! (I was going to craft the whole time he was gone but ended up sick and didn’t do much at all – what a let down!) While he didn’t get an elk another hunter in their party did so we will be able to try it out. They divided the meat evenly … that’s a nice way to do it! We will be cooking some up tomorrow. Here is a view he had while sitting on the mountain waiting for the elusive elk…

Because of his job he doesn’t get to have a beard…but this is what he looked like when he got home! Full beard!!! Doesn’t he look like his brothers Mary!!!!

Here is the horse he rode from time to time out there. Another in the party brought two. They use them to get the elk back to camp once they process them a bit in the field. Otherwise it would have taken them all day…we (me and the kids) wish there was a picture of hubbie on the horse because we just can’t picture it. He is not a “horsey guy”.

Here is a picture of camp. That’s one of two wall tents they had out there along with our Rhino. Still love that Rhino. They used one tent for cooking and hanging out and the other for sleeping.

Here is another view from camp. So peaceful! He had no cell reception up there so we didn’t talk to each other for around NINE DAYS! That’s the first time that’s happened since I’ve been 17! It was strange, didn’t like it. I told him the “no girls allowed” rule is dumb. I’m coming with next time! lol. I think the next trip will be in five years or so…one of our boys will be 21 by then and the other 16. (weird to think about!!!) Next fall I have my sites on Montana. I want to take the kids there and camp through Yellowstone…I just can’t get that place out of my mind. We had such a good time when we went a couple years ago. It just made me awestruck…

I’ve also been busy with some household crap stuff. I finally put the end to a quest that began about two years ago with this stuff -

I’ve been asking around for something to remove caulk in hardware stores for a couple years. I’m not kidding you when I say the salespeople would look at me like I was crazy. I even had one laugh at me. Well, while in Home Depot I asked again and the THIRD person to help me in this store plucked this stuff right off the shelf and said “This is what you’re looking for” like it was no big deal. Over the years I’ve asked dozens of people…just had to find the right one.  My bathroom caulk had gone black, probably mold. And it wouldn’t come off. I scrubbed and scraped and it was stuck on for eternity…until I got this. I still had to use plenty of elbow grease as it isn’t magic, but IT CAME OFF!!! Oh happy day! My bathtub doesn’t look all cruddy anymore. It drove me nuts that I’d clean it and it would still look dirty. NO MORE – it looks CLEAN!!!

I also cleaned the carpets with my carpet cleaner. I use Melaluca laundry detergent he to clean them and nothing works better. You can’t buy it in the store, only from an at home person…like Avon. I get it from my mother-in-law. (thank you!!!) Full disclosure: I had a tiny Chihuahua who came to live with us untrained. She never did get the whole “pee outside thing” completely down pat.  grrrr. Well, this stuff gets the stain and stink out. And it doesn’t smell while drying. (Other cleaners would get the stain out but then the house would smell like pee while the carpet was wet and anytime it was humid) I just use around a tablespoon in my carpet cleaner. It even works on old stains.

I’ve also been baking again. I’ve made dinner rolls a couple times and cinnamon rolls a couple times and I’ll be processing a couple laundry baskets of apples today. That kinda takes care of any crafting time. By the end of the day I’m so tired I want to send the kids to bed by 7 so I can go myself.

Take care and Happy Crafting!!!!

Beeswax and honey soap

Here is one thing I did with the processed beeswax. I made some beeswax and honey glycerin soap. I poured the soap into a little honey hive candle mold I had – perfect! (Why I don’t get rid of things!) I packaged this little soap and a few others to give to the people who gave me the wax and the most beautiful honey you’ve ever seen. I used a recipe similar to one of these.

(Cell phone picture – my camera batteries are currently powering a wii controler!) Isn’t this little bag cute! I got a pack of 10 at Michael’s for a dollar! This is the easiest way to wrap something…I love using little bags.

I’ve also been mending. Darning. Here is one example. These are my husband’s boiled wool hunting pants. He’s HARD on them! I’ve spent about 2 hours darning various holes all over the darn things. And the holes aren’t in convenient places…not getting in there with the sewing machine! This hole is right under the pocket and along the (super bulky) seam and then goes a little further down. Argh! Well, I’ve done the best I can.

At least I have the proper tools. I keep all my darning supplies in an old treadle sewing machine drawer. I purchased the darning egg at a local antique store for about 10 dollars. It has a metal cuff that holds the socks in place. All the darning yarn I’ve picked up at thrift stores for pennies, and my Grandma has been giving me hers. It’s becoming quite a collection! I’ve also been darning socks. We all got new socks and then my dryer ate them! Brand new socks!!! The dryer tore holes in several pairs so I’ve been darning them up. It’s actually kind of fun.

Well, that’s it for now. I have a whole crafting palooza planned soon – I’m going to really make a mess around here and hopefully finish up some old projects and start some new ones. I plan to take a week and really tear into them.

Happy Crafting!!!