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!!!

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!!!

On today’s craft table…

This REALLY IS what my craft table looks like LOL! I worked really hard one day and cleaned up my office (where my craft table is located) and then proceeded to make an even BIGGER mess. I’ve been having a lot of fun with collage. I’ve been pinning different things I see on the web and am now trying out some new techniques. I anticipate a lot of “fails” but that’s OK, collage is forgiving…you can just paint over it again!

This is one collage almost finished…

I have this hanging over our bed. It’s a reminded that LIFE IS GOOD! What you can’t see is that I’ve doodled lots of important dates all over the picture…just little reminders that LIFE IS GOOD! Do you like how I framed it? heh heh. It’s a happy accident!

I LOVE that I can change it out whenever I make something I like better!! So EASY!

In other news we took Abby to camp again yesterday. She was soooo excited! And last night we had a QUIET HOUSE! Abby was at camp and the boys were each at a friend’s home for the night. It was weird and even weirder to wake up to a quiet house too. Not bad weird…good-but-I-wouldn’t-want-it-to-be-like-this-every-day-weird. It’s so quiet I just want to lay on the couch and watch TV or take a nap…but I can’t lol!

Happy Crafting!!!

Lotsa little stuff…

I’ve been helping out at the Library on Monday mornings sorting books. We are having a giant book sale in August and as we get donations the books have to be priced and sorted. I can’t seem to leave without buying books though. smile. This is what I came home with this morning-

Every Monday I go there with resolve NOT to BUY ANYTHING!!! Then I see something like these books and my resolve crumbles. Oh well, it is a good problem to have! smile.

While I was there I brought a collage I finished over the weekend to be sold in their bookstore-

And I liked it so much I made one for myself – I think I’ll be making more “multiples”, might as well, it’s the same amount of mess!

Sorry for the cruddy cell phone picture. Guess I didn’t take any with my camera. The saying says “delight in little things”. I love that saying. There is a lot going on in this collage – watercolor painting, stamping, embossing, paper cutting, doodling…fun stuff! I had so much fun I started messing around and making more background papers -

The colors don’t translate well but the top couple sheets are brown and blue – one of my favorite color combos. I also used some mica paints and they really add shimmer!

This is what I’m working on today. Done? Not done? Frame it? Use it as a card? I don’t know. We’ll see what percolates in my brain while I’m doing housework. This percolated in my brain as I was trying to fall asleep last night. Love it when that happens!

Happy Crafting!!!