Read Any Good Gourds Lately? (Fake Pumpkins III)

Another idea we stole from Pinterest. The original instructions are HERE.

~This seems like a perfect way to use those old blades, but it's more work. A sharp exacto works much better, but expect to dull the blade quickly.
~It works better to keep the book closed and use the pages that you've already cut as a guide. If you open the book to move the finished pages out of your way, be sure to use the template as your guide. Otherwise, there is a tendency for each layer to get smaller and smaller as you go.
~You can always trim up uneven edges once the basic shape is done. Unless you like the rough, messy look.
~I used a cheap ink pad to color the edges of the pages. I just fanned the closed book slightly and rubbed the ink pad along the edges from both directions. I don't have the patience to wait for paint to dry.
~Books with supple bindings work much better than books that crack apart as you bend them. If you have a small dowel that you can shape the binding around, it helps the pages spread more evenly. The pumpkin in the photo is the only one that we were able to get to look alright.

Fake Pumpkins I

M has decided that we need to make decorations for this fall. I sigh in resignation, but realize that she is right, too. Even though Autumn is my favorite time of year (at least until Spring comes), I have almost no embellishments for that season. The cinnamon broom that gave me migraines got chucked within days.

Seasonal crafts abound, but we're going to challenge ourselves to use items that we already have on hand, or are cheaper than dirt. And we're going to major on pumpkins this year, but buying real ones is out of the question.

Enter our first Fake Pumpkin project, and quite possibly the easiest craft idea on the planet (unless, of course, you have to crawl all the way to the back, under the basement stairs where the canning supplies are stored, like I did). It requires no special skills, equipment, or even crafting, for that matter.

Zip tie old canning jar rings together and stick a cinnamon stick in the middle. Ta-Da! That's it. You could stuff a piece of burlap or fabric in with the stem for a leaf if you wanted to get fancy. We might add a bit from our bittersweet vine later. I should probably wash the rings at some point too.

I absolutely adore this idea and admit without remorse that I stole it from Pinterest. The original idea is posted here: Junkin' Pumpkin but she got the idea from here: Funky Junk Interiors
I may have to try the wreath another time.

We've already gathered some other fake pumpkin ideas and will be posting them as we get them made. As long as M doesn't force me to make any more candles, we're good.

Shuttle Launch

We interrupt this broadcast (of postcards) to bring you the latest news from the crafting frontier....

 After many, many, many,.....many attempts at learning how to tat with a shuttle, I am pleased as punch to announce that I may finally have it figured out. Thanks to Karen Cabrera and her wonderful instructional videos! The above bookmark is my first real completed piece. Not a needle stitch on it, I am happy to say.

 And in keeping with M's declaration that this is "the Summer of Dragons", I have needle tatted a couple of dragons. The "pestystings" (reference to the How to Train Your Dragon audio books), is Anne Bruvold's "Ringtrim--a microdragon" pattern. Her flying Minor Norwegian Dragon is also in the works, but only after M goes to bed. Shhh! It's a secret!

Next is a rainbow version of Martha Ess' Paprika the dragon.

And finally, just because I had to:

A Netherland Dwarf doodle, complete with visual pattern. =:)

Log Pile

Getting ready for a letterboxing event in October. Over the weekend, I put together 20 logbooks. Paper is cut for more, but my hand was too sore to squeeze the hole punch any more, so the rest will have to wait.

I've been carving like mad too, but I can't exactly show you the stamps yet, now can I? None of the boxes can remain permanently, so I will be able to post pictures later. I will tell you this: I probably will not be carving any more horses for a very long time. :)

Tats for Two

In spite of the seeming inactivity around here, we have been busy. On top of letterboxing, carving, volunteering, mowing, school planning and such, I have also been tatting my little paddy paws off.

This piece is for my cousin, who just gave birth to a long awaited first child, and baby girl. Since I'm pretty sure she is unaware of this blog, I doubt she'll see it before it arrives. The doily measures just under 6" and is made using beautiful hand dyed thread by YarnPlayer. YarnPlayer has a tatting blog with links to her Etsy store HERE. The thread is a 30 weight called Garden Afternoon. The colors are so vibrant, it makes me want to lick it. Don't worry--I've resisted so far. It only took between 9 and 10 hours, so my speed is certainly improving. The pattern is from the book A New Twist on Tatting, by Catherine Austin. It is pattern 34. I have been checking tatting books out from the library to evaluate them before I add them to my wish list.

This piece, which I'm dubbing "Spearmint" until something more original strikes me, is 4 1/2 " and is made with a 30 weight variegated Lizette thread. The pattern can be found under the free patterns tab on Jon's Thread Escapade blog. It is the Magic Moment Snowflake. I have no specific plans for it, except to squirrel it away for Christmas.

I am learning to read different types of patterns, and have also discovered that patterns calling for 2 shuttles can still be tatted with a single needle. I also snapped a needle in half. I guess that means my hands are getting stronger, huh?

The Tatting Continues

Over the weekend and the last couple of days, I have continued to work on the tatting off and on. The bulk of my time is going to the Hardanger Tablecloth (which I will post about later), but my eyes can only take about 3-4 hours of embroidery before they start to feel like live coals. The tatting is much easier on the eyes, but I'm still working on the fine motor muscle development to do that for longer periods of time. In other words, the two balance each other.

With such large amounts of time devoted to hand work, I've had plenty of opportunity to think about why it is that I like to do these things. I can sum it up with two thoughts.

So many of the gentle arts are being lost, and that grieves me. "Lost art" encompasses so much more than hand made lace and doilies. It includes conversation and sharing our lives with others. With a majority of the population plugged into technology, the simple graces of relationships and beauty are fading. When we do gather together, it often seems that we gather around the television or computer. Gifts are bought pre-made with little time invested in thinking about the intended recipient. Yes, I know that the different social platforms allow us to be more connected than ever, but I would argue that those connections are more shallow and largely self centered. I don't want this to become a sermon, but imagine how different it might be if more people put down the gadgets and picked up the tools of creation.

The second reason is a little more personal. In my life, I have already spent too much time in the waiting room--waiting for people to live and waiting for people to die. In those times, the circumstances that you find yourself in are far beyond your control. Often, the only thing you can do is pray.* And while prayer is the most powerful thing we can do in any situation, it does leave the rest of your body antsy and fidgety. Having something to do with your hands is a very grounding, calming thing. It soothes the feeling of helplessness, and gives you a steady point from which to focus your thoughts; not unlike a tripod for a telescope.
In a way, it reminds me of the liturgy used in worship. Liturgy itself is not the desired result, but a means to an end (at least, when it's done correctly). Liturgy, in it's simplest definition (a prescribed ritual) can be a framework for worship. Similarly, hand work in times of stress (or otherwise) can be a type of liturgy to refocus our attentions on the Lord, who is always in control.


*Why being in this position is the best thing for us is matter for another post, elsewhere.

Probably not the post you expected, huh?

Tatt-ling

At the insistence of a number of people, and spurred by my own desire, I have taken it upon myself to learn how to Tat. I'm specifically working on Needle Tatting. My youngest has decided that my title as a novice Tatter (which she says sounds too much like 'tater, or potato) should be "Tattling". In her mind, the etymology is similar to gosling and has no relation to the annoying habit of children who are trying to get each other in trouble.

Where were we? Oh, yes. Tatting. After a slight snafu with really horrid needles (Don't buy the Havel brand "economy" needles!), and finding out that the folks at Michael's have no idea what tatting even is, I was able to work through the instructions for a couple beginner projects this afternoon. Romana had recommended a book called Learn Needle Tatting Step by Step, by Barbara Foster. It is very good. The author also has a website called Handy Hands that has instructions and an online catalog.

This is my first completed medallion. It measures just under 2 inches. I need to work on my tension, especially where the different sections are joined. If you want to watch a similar medallion being made, TotusMel has a video on You Tube that I found really helpful. Don't laugh, but the video is less than 8 minutes long and she demonstrates the whole medallion. It took me a full two hours to make mine.

My "tatterfly" has some issues too. (Don't worry, I already told the DD that she doesn't get to name the rest. But she thinks she's sooo funny right now.) I'll figure those out tomorrow. The butterfly is a little smaller than the medallion.

The Josephine chain is pretty easy and reminds me of  the macrame we used to do in Jr. High. I'm used to working with tiny things and embroidering for hours, but right now, my hands ache! DD saw the part in the book where it recommends covering a Christmas tree with icicles made from this chain and I think she has big plans forming. I, on the other hand, am envisioning adorable note cards, bookmarks, and funky collars for the cats (HA!), and wondering about using wire to make jewelry.
There will most certainly be more to come on this topic. I'm wondering what happens when I'm no longer a Tatt-ling. Do I become a Tatt-spert?

A Batty Birthday

Yesterday was our oldest daughter's 11th birthday. We try our best to treat each of the girls equally in every respect. My heart will never be able to look at J's birthday like any other birthday, however. I cannot help but remember sitting in the NICU and watching her crash over and over again after the doctors had done everything humanly possible to extend the limits of her birth.
Last night we watched her and her sister standing at the fridge, laughing and playing with the magnetic poetry she had just opened. The fierce joy of that moment cannot be described. I only know it was possible because of God's powerful grace.
Yes, I think her birthday will always be different.

This year's party is different in another way too. We couldn't get a single idea out of her. Her only response was "maybe you could surprise me." All of her presents were a success last night, so that's a relief. I hope our theme for the family party will pass muster as well. (Now that the party is over, I can tell you that it did.)

She loves bats. Do you know how hard it is to find bats during February when all the stores are selling hearts, kittens, and roses? Even if this were October, the theme is not Halloween or Goth bats. It's just cute, happy bats. So we made our own.

We photo shopped clip art bats and used spray adhesive to attach them to the bottom of clear plates. The table clothes were dark blue and we scattered silver stars on them to mimic the night sky.

We made little clothespin bats to clip on the side of the plates as a party favor. By the end of the evening, people were wearing them on their clothes, hair and jewelry.


I am not and never will be a professional cake decorator, but here was my attempt at creating a bat cake. J was pleased, and that is all that counts. I used the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake and frosting recipes, so it tasted fantastic regardless of how it looked.

Of Wax and Wicks

*warning: mild educational science content ahead

M and I have finished our adventures in candle making. Well, at least I'm done. Combining our experience with some of the knowledge that I gained from a previous job, I'd like to share some tips with you.
Before DH and I were married, I worked as a dental assistant by day and as a candle consultant for an MLM company nights and weekends. My only advice to anyone considering direct marketing is this: Run Away.
Still, physics applies whether it's a pyramid scheme or not. I learned a few things (and stopped biting my nails), so something good came out of it.

Here is our wax mess setup--electric skillet for melting wax inside tin (with pour spout crimped this time), candle molds, wick centering tool (which doesn't make it as fool proof as you might think), and foil for easier cleanup

When candles are well made, the size and type of wick is in proportion to the amount of wax as well as its melting speed and rate of consumption. That means that a good candle will burn without running because the wick absorbs and burns off the wax appropriately. If the wick is too large or burns too hot, then the wax will melt faster than it can be absorbed and dissipated, causing excess liquid wax, puddles and a big mess (like our lovely star and heart candles below). Air currents can also effect how a candle burns, which is why you should try to keep them out of a draft and also place them in a candle holder that can contain any run off.
If a wick is too small or weak, it will either drown itself out or not be able to melt the wax all the way to the rim of the candle. This will create a well in the center and waste a perfectly good candle.
If the wick to wax ratio is correct, then candle burning becomes predictable and controllable--with only a little work and planning. (Hang in there. The boring science stuff is almost done and you'll be glad you stuck it out.) From here on out, we're going to assume you have candles with wicks that are proportionally correct.

The heart candle couldn't decide what color it wanted to be. The blue mold looking stuff on the round pillar is probably from improper heating or cooling, but I'm just guessing.

Most people just light a candle and never consider how it works. A candle consumes wax out from the center first and then down the height of the pillar. Even tapers work this way. But it takes time to melt the wax out to the edge; usually at a rate of one inch per hour. That means that a three inch pillar needs to burn a minimum of three hours every time it is lit in order to be consumed the way it was intended. The same goes for those expensive Yankee jars. You can't light them just for dinner and then get upset when 2/3 of the wax is left over and the wick is gone. You have to burn a candle until the pool of wax reaches the outer edge. Then, if the candle was properly made, something magic happens. Just when you think it is going to well up and run everywhere, enough of the wax is burned off to maintain the balance. Provided there are no drafts...then all bets are off.
It should be obvious that a six inch three wick is a commitment in time then. You have to plan on being home at least six hours in order to burn it properly.
Pillars that have a dome on top need a little extra attention to get them going right. The first time you burn it, only do so for one hour. Let the wax re harden and then light it again; this time for two hours. Increase the burning time at each lighting until the dome on top is gone.

Now you're probably wondering if you can rescue all of those pillars with the hole in the middle. The answer is Yes, but it will be ugly at first. Use a knife to cut the candle level with the current wick. It was only designed to burn the right amount of wax and not all of the extra you have now. From this point on, burn the candles a minimum of one hour for every inch of width. For the jars, burn them until the wick is nearly drowning and pour off the excess wax. Repeat this until your candle is level again.
Some odd ball candle tips:

• Store your tapers in the fridge (not freezer) to help them burn longer.
• Buff smudges and small scratches from your candles with an old pair of nylons.
• Trim wicks on tapers and small pillars to 1/4" before burning to prevent smoking.
• Don't trim three wick candle wicks. After extinguishing, point them gently toward the center of the candle.
• Hug your candles. If a slight rim forms, gently hug the soft wax in toward the middle after extinguishing the flames.
• Use a snuffer. Especially on pillars.
• Candles burned inside decorative chimneys will burn faster and run more than those in open air.

Our own candle making efforts were marginally successful--after the learning curve. They'll burn at least. The wick materials available at the craft store were not the best quality. The zinc core wicking is overkill for even large pillars. It would probably be perfect for dynamite fuses though. The fragrance and color additives weren't the best either. Wax can only absorb a small amount of additives--too much and it will seep out when the wax hardens. So, any additives need to be super concentrated. Ours weren't. If we were to do this again, I would probably purchase supplies from a candle making specialty store-online or otherwise.
The star and heart molds were fun, but tricky, especially for first timers. They are open at both ends, which takes some extra prep to keep them from leaking. Also, the odd shapes made the wick centering tool harder to use. If you are going to try this on your own, I would recommend staying with simple shapes like round or square until you get the hang of pouring. I would also recommend molds that are only open at one end (except for the wick hole). Finding some good tutorials online is a good idea too.

Have fun! I'm going back to my comfort zone now.

Ugly Fire Starters

Our very first Project of the Week* is the much anticipated (on our part if not yours) Ugly Fire Starters. When I was relating the not so successful attempt with the pine cones to my brother, he gave me this idea. Since they aren't supposed to be pretty, I figured we could handle it.
1. Fill the holes of a cardboard egg carton with dryer lint. DH works at an industrial lumber supply company, so our dryer lint is usually full of saw dust; which I figure makes it superior quality for fire starters. Aren't you jealous of my dryer lint now? Notice the foil covered counter top this time. Now when the wax dribbles all over the place I can just peel it off and put it back in the melting pot. (Thanks for the tip, Brother!)
2. Fill the holes with melted paraffin wax.
3. When it hardens, cut the egg carton apart.
4. To use the fire starter, light the cardboard edge and place under kindling.

These would be great for camping, cookouts, etc. Supposedly they are waterproof, but we haven't tested that aspect yet. I imagine that even if the cardboard were to get wet, you could still light them by melting off some of the wax and exposing the dryer lint to use as your wick.

The best part about this project? We have actually found a practical use for all of that cat hair. The irony though, is that I have spent the last week sorting, organizing and throwing away stuff we don't need and now I'm saving lint.

*I have tried my very best to come up with a clever acronym by which to identify our Project of the Week in the post titles. POW seems offensive. Got any suggestions?

New Year's Ambitions

Every year thousands of people, myself included, make resolutions for the New Year. They may include weight that will be lost, bad habits to be broken and new habits formed, or other goals that will be reached. Somewhere around June (or long before for some), the song changes to "Well, maybe next year", and the resolution resolves into memory.

This year, we have decided to have ambitions instead of resolutions. I have no idea if changing the name will actually help us complete them any better, but it sounded good.
I'm not going to burden you with the whole passel of them, but rather share the one that might interest you.

It is our ambition to complete one craft related project in each of the 52 weeks of this coming year. It might be an embroidery piece, or a hand carved stamp, or something we've never tried before. Whatever it happens to be, we'll post the finished product, good or otherwise, here; complete with pictures. We have already deemed January to be our Family Project Finishing Month and hope to catch up on all of the little odds and ends that have been patiently waiting for our attention.

Some of the specific projects that we have planned:

• The sock puppet kit M got for Christmas
• The pop up scrapbook kit M got for Christmas
• The beeswax candle kit M...
• The knot a quilt M... (sensing a trend here?)
• Ugly firestarters (Yes, I know we already made ugly firestarters. This is a different project. They are ugly on purpose.)
• A second crack at pouring our own pillar candles
• Seeing how many different variations of one Hardanger pattern we can come up with
• Krumkake!
• My first attempt at a layered stamp
• LTCs with the Qat stamps I've carved
  
• Brown Bag cookie mold projects (including making our own butter)
• and many more

I also plan to do some serious letterboxing with my new knee once the snow clears. And I have a book to edit, and others to write, and read. With all the plans we have, you can expect some delicious, but quick recipes as well. There will be positively no time for laundry.

So, where shall we start?

Bookmark

This "Iced Cranberries" bookmark works up very fast, 2 1/2 hours tops, partly because there is no open work on it. It makes a great last minute present because it is more personal and takes about the same amount of time as shopping.

Cream Soda

Working on Norwegian Hardanger Embroidery is one of my complex pleasures. It's complex because of the many types of stitches and myriad ways that you can make mistakes. It forces you to concentrate; allowing you, for a time, to block out other distractions. It also forces you to sit still; something that I'm not always capable of doing.
This is one of the pieces that I worked on as a Christmas present. It it identical to Ginger Ale, but uses different materials. I've made this one enough that I have the pattern memorized, which makes it work up a lot faster than you would think. The finished size is 6 1/2 x 8 inches and took about 12 hours (an hour less than last time).
I've been experimenting quite a bit lately with using different fabrics and threads in various color combinations, but this one is as traditional as it comes: tone on tone in either white or ecru.

Slacker Gingerbread House

Being a self proclaimed Slacker Extraordinaire, I thought I'd share my Gingerbread House instructions with you.

1. Make a pot of strong coffee to sustain you through the process.
2. Wander around the house looking for cardboard, scissors, tape, exacto knife, ruler and cutting mat.
3. Put on Christmas music for inspiration.
   
4. Clear off the breakfast table so you have a place to work.
5. Eat a Snickerdoodle.
6. Trim all but two flaps opposite each other from a nice sized priority mail box. (fig 1)
   
7. Answer the phone.
8. Mark the center of the two remaining flaps and draw a diagonal line from the center down to each corner of the flaps and trim off the resulting triangle. These will form the peaks of your roof at the front and back of the house.
9. Measure the distance between front and back of the house as well at one of the sloped sides of the peak. These will be the height and width of the two panels you need to cut to finish the roof.
10. Cut remaining roof panels.
11. Eat a Chocolate Snowball.
12. Use masking tape to secure the additional roof pieces in place.
    
13. Eat another Chocolate Snowball.
14. Cut four long, narrow strips of cardboard, slightly taller than your house and tape them together to form a chimney.
15. Secure the chimney to the side of the house.
16. Let the dog out.
17. Let the dog in.
18. Cut a large rectangle out of strong cardboard for your base.
19. Use masking tape to secure the house to the base on all sides. (fig 2)
    
20. Eat a Thumbprint cookie.
21. Gather all of your decorative candies, unwrap them and arrange them in separate bowls.
22. Sample each kind of candy for quality control.
23. Mix up one batch of ornamental icing at a time (4 c. powdered sugar, 3 T. meringue powder, 1/3 c warm water--whip until stiff peaks form).
24. Taste icing.
25. Find soda to get rid of icing taste.
26. Apply icing to one panel of the house at a time and stick your candies on in the desired patterns.
27. Stop after two panels to make lunch for the kids.
28. While you're eating lunch, take a look at Ryan's Gingerbread Barn (hereafter to be known as the RGB).
29. Decide that your project is a poor cousin to the RGB, but hey, you've got three little girls helping you and by gum, you're going to finish anyway.
30. Console yourself with the fact that yours will be done in a matter hours, whereas the RGB has taken days.
    
31. Make new batch of icing to replace icing that has hardened in the bowl.
32. Give child instruction to hide the jelly bellies from you before you eat them all.
33. Frost and decorate 1 1/2 panels.
34. Answer door and sign for last package you needed for presents.
35. Frost and decorate remaining panels.
36. You are 18 gumdrops short of finishing even though you swear you didn't eat any of those.
    
37. Call husband to have him pick up more gum drops on his way home.
38. Save glob of icing to finish gumdrop border later.
39. Pass out on living room floor in Sugar Coma.
40. Blog about it.

M's idea was to build a new piece each year until we have a village. Needing to save them from year to year is part of the reason we used cardboard instead of gingerbread. I'm also working with kids who don't have the patience or delicacy to work with real gingerbread. My college roommate and I made gingerbread houses in our dorm room without the aid of any kitchen facilities using the cardboard method. I have been sold on it ever since.

fig. 1

fig. 2

The gingerbread boy and girl have been part of our decorations for years. They fit perfectly.
My rosemary trees are pretty pathetic. At least I had the presence of mind to install short straw sockets for them before I frosted the base so I can replace them easily.

Snow Machine

The Slacker in me loves to decorate with snowflakes. Sure they're pretty and festive, but they are also easy to store and you don't have to take them down until some time in March or April.
A number of years ago I stumbled across Dave's Snowflakes, bought the disk and have been cutting snowflakes ever since.
They cover our tree, hang from a huge mobile in our two story foyer (which the girls think is funny because it's a snowmobile) and are sprinkled throughout the rest of the house. When we're done with them, the whole stack stores easily in a manila envelope.
Another benefit is that the project is easily transported. I have a ziploc with a stack of pre-printed patterns and some scissors handy and can take it with when I know I'm going to be sitting in the dentist's office or riding in the car. Just fold and snip away, dropping your scraps into the bag.
Every year I try to add a couple dozen new flakes to the mix. It's fun to curl up in front of the fireplace and make snowflakes with the girls will we listen to books on tape or watch favorite holiday movies. And the best part? If you make a mistake, it's only paper.

Candlemaking for Dummies

After the not so successful attempt with the wax earlier this week, we decided that we needed to find a project that we could do. Ta-Da! Button Candles:

This project was also in the Gooseberry Patch Christmas books (book 3, p. 39) and I am happy to report that they were easy and fun.
What you need:

• Pillar candles
• buttons
• glue dots (the book recommends hot glue, but neither I nor my 7yo are allowed to use a hot glue gun)
• wire cutters

We already had a jar of buttons that we found at an antique store a while back. That jar has provided hours of entertainment for us. It is so fun to sift through them and make up stories about where they might have come from and the people that could have worn them. I highly recommend trolling the antique stores for collections of old buttons. They have so much more character than the newer ones.
The rest is simple. Put glue dot on button and then put button on candle in a random unpattern. M made the green and red one without any help from me.
Some of the buttons had a raised loop or hook on the back. I used a pair of jewelry wire cutters to clip that off so that they would be flat. If you do this, please be careful and take the proper precautions. I don't want to hear about anybody shooting their eye out with a ricocheting button.


**Wake up call**
On a personal note, the GBP comment yesterday made me curious and so I did some digging via Google Analytics, etc. I made a startling discovery too. People do read this blog. And I'm not just talking about my mother and a couple of letterboxing friends. While I'm not sure why, a surprising number of people are paying attention.
That is both thrilling and terrifying. No author writes in public and prays that no one ever reads it. This humbling realization means that I need to be more responsible though. So this is me...being responsible. Over the holidays I have posted a number of recipes that were not mine to post. For that I apologize. I have removed a number of posts and will be more careful in the future. The last thing I want to do is go to jail for an appetizer.

For those of you who really wanted those recipes, but didn't write them down in time, all I can say is "Buy the Gooseberry Patch books. They are completely worth it!" I have been disappointed occasionally, but it is almost always my own fault.

How NOT to Make Candles

Yesterday I mentioned that we made the tags in the middle of another adventure. That was our first attempt at candle making. I think I have recovered sufficiently enough to be able to talk about the experience.
What didn't work:

• Buying the 10# glacier of paraffin at Hobby Lobby. My attempts to break it into manageable chunks with a chisel and hammer would have given Martha Stewart heart palpitations. I was considering the reciprocal saw at one point.
  
• Using the wax dye to color the paraffin.
  
• Using a pyrex bowl to melt the wax in since we didn't have a metal coffee can. (Do they even sell coffee in metal cans anymore?) Pyrex bowls don't pour very well. In fact, Pyrex bowls pour just about everywhere except where you want them to.
  

What did work (or would probably work):

• Buying the smaller packages of Gulf Wax. It would likely cost more, but be much easier to work with and involve less bruising.
  
• Lots more dye.
• The metal coffee can. Crimping a pour spout in the rim first would be a great idea too.
• The pine needle essential oil smells great. In fact, my kitchen floor will smell good for a long time to come.
• Allowing about four times longer for the project then you think it will take.
• Buying your candles from Pier One.
  

Our first project was Pinecone Firestarters. Tie a wick on a pine cone and dip it in melted wax several times. How hard could that be?
No comment.

These were the pinecones we made.

These were the pinecones in the Gooseberry Patch Christmas book. I'm going to go out a limb and guess that I don't have much of a future in candlemaking. It remains to be seen if they will start a fire or not. And will the wax leave residue in the fireplace?
My biggest question however involves the warnings on the paraffin. They went to great lengths to inform you that you should not, under any circumstances, not ever, no we mean it, never use the paraffin near an open flame (which we didn't). And yet the product is labeled for use in making candles; which by their very nature involve open flames.

I think I'm going to stick to sharp, pointy objects from now on.

Tag It!

In the middle of another adventure today, M and I made lots and lots of gift tags using the snowflake stamps (and about every other craft media that we could drag out.) Here are a few of the successes:
We stamped a silver snowflake on dark blue paper, mounted that on a kraft brown square and covered it with a piece of shimmery vellum. The curls are pipe cleaners.
The tag in the center is much cooler than the photo can show. We used a large snowflake punch on the blue paper and then mounted that on white background paper. We filled the center with an iridescent powder and embossed it. Since the center of the snowflake just had glue stick gel in it and not embossing ink, the result looks like tiny drops of wet mist.
The tag on the left is the snowflake punch cutout on white stamped paper on tan background. We took an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet and stamped a random pattern of different colored flakes on it and then cut it into squares with decorative scissors.
The tag on the right is the same stamped paper mounted on blue card stock and embellished with cute little snowflake buttons that were in a mixed bag that we found by sheer serendipity the other day. I asked the lady restocking the shelves at Michael's if they had any Christmas buttons and she handed the bag to me out of her cart. It was the only one in the store.
See, more of those buttons from the accidental find. For all of the tags we stuck to a color scheme of dark blue, light blue, silver, white and kraft brown.
These are my favorites. We stamped a silver flake on some paper scraps that we had (they have dark blue felt-like patches) and mounted them on slightly longer strips of dark blue. Then I used the same five stitch binding technique that I use on my logbooks and attached tiny jingle bells with silver embroidery floss.
These were our warm ups this morning. A silver stamp and a fun button on white and dark blue paper.

Now I'm wondering if it would be tacky to ask the recipients if I could have these back after they open their gifts so that I can use them again next year. ;)

Bag It!

One of M's first projects with the snowflake stamps was to create some gift bags. While we have an overabundance of wrapping paper, the only bags we have are for girlie baby showers. So, we made a few to use for packing our Christmas baked goodies.
Blue, white and silver snowflakes finished off with a dusting of light blue spatter painting (which doesn't show up very well in the photo) and the bags are ready. The surprise was that my messy little crafter did not like the spatter painting.

*On a stamping note, we had purchased a super cheap silver embossing ink pad from Michael's to use on the bags (Craft Smart pigment). While I have not tried it for embossing, it did not work very well for our purposes. The ink is very oily and the oil bled into the paper around the stamp image. It also never completely dried in spite of my taking a heat embossing gun to it. The pad was very juicy however and the ink cleaned up nicely with the Staz on stamp cleaner.

Project Blizzard

The books by Laura Numeroff in the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series are some of our favorites. They are perfect illustrations of the Sequences that I mentioned earlier. Our own edition began when I made the mistake of giving my crafty child the Gooseberry Patch Christmas books some weeks ago. She now has a list for me that will take until August to complete.
At the top of that list was her desire to make our own wrapping paper this year. To that end, I began carving...
In the meantime, about a dozen rolls of Christmas paper were discovered in the basement. No worries though. We have already dreamed up several other messes that we can make with the stamps. Stay tuned...