Sunday, June 21, 2009

Soap Making Class


June 20th, I went to a Soap Making Class


We had lots of interesting supplies to use.


My "RESTORE" essential blend in a bar.


We chose; colors, scents, & additives.


These are soaps being made at my table.


Soap bar making in progress


Sharon's class was easy to follow & FUN!


First layer of soap has been poured & is firming up.


Every bar was a real delight to see unmolded.

From melting pot to unmolded bars.

Every Bar had the "Wow!" factor.

We all enjoyed this class immensely!
Check out the almost edible looking designs.
Eye CANDY!
They smelled so great too!
More Eye CANDY!
The yellow/blue one is my favorite scented.
We got to see soaps Sharon had made.
Soaps and clothing matched.
We shared our soap creation techniques.
Wonderful explanations how they were made.

The first stages of cutting up the soaps.


Each loaf was cut into 9 ~ 1 inch bars.


Repeat this important rule with me...


Gloves keep the bars hygenic.


YAY! My soap is done !

It was a really fun and informative day!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

A TRUE One of a Kind Crafter!

or....
A TRUE ONE of a 'KIND'er'?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is how much of a ONE OF A KIND person I am. I have always had an extremely difficult time making 2 of anything!
~
I love to create new designs, and bringing new color combinations together is exciting.


BUT, whenever it involves having to make a second one of anything,....

I just DO NOT want to do it.

It's a major struggle for me to recreate a second of the same.

Actually it's really, really boring when the excitement is gone.

The creativity is gone. Now it becomes repetition.



~Also I find it extremely annoying having to recall what I did on the first design, if I didn't write it down somewhere. This takes away from the fun too. I get a lot of enjoyment from making little fun tweaks to designs so they are bit more unique and to my liking.
I'm not really good at following patterns, as I find them rather boring and actually a lot of the time down right frustrating to try to understand. I usually like to make up my design as I go. That holds the excitement for me in the newness of the project.
~
I'm sure this is why so many craft projects of mine get left undone, and this is probably true of a lot of other people too. Projects started with enthusiasm, are then left and for the most part forgotten. Depending on how big a project is, it seems the bigger ones with more time involved to complete them, somehow lose the freshness, fun, and excitement of tackling a new design.
~

I usually have to look at those almost forgotten projects of mine as a challenge. My challenge needs to require me to finish them so that I can check it off my list of things accomplished.

And let me tell you, that can be a real challenge. But that is something I've grown to understand in myself over time. I love a challenge! Which can be really cool! It helps me to stretch outside my comfort zone most times. And that can be good for me.

My solution for my dilemma of not wanting to make a second of a design is now....
I make 2 at the exact same time!

{~ by the way, did you check out the beautiful colors in the blanket we brought back from Mexico in the top photo}

Sometimes, it can be a bit of a challenge if I only have one ball of a color that I want to use. But I can do it by using the

~~~~~ inside end and the outside end ~~~~~

of the ball and it goes along not too badly. Though I'd rather use separate balls of yarn for each project.

These gloves I'm working on now are for my bead lady.

We spoke about handwarmers for her and she said she'd like purple ones. So hopefully I can get these delivered to her and maybe pick up some new supplies when I am there.

(now do I really 'need' more supplies?, yeah, like a cat needs fleas)


Check out this GREAT GIVE AWAY from an Etsy Artist!

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http://smutopia.blogspot.com/2009/06/bluebell-dangles-earring-giveaway.html



Wednesday, June 17, 2009

GARDENING 101 at our house


UXCRITTER ~ How Does Your Garden Grow?
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My garden grows just fine!

Stages of Growth from starting my garden May 4th

Jesse washing the car by the garden June 12th
~the peas are doing wonderful as they are a cool weather crop and it's been nice and cool here most days.
~ the tomatoes aren't doing that well as you can see they are still quite small next to the row of peas
~ the 3 rows of corn are really trying to make a statement to show they are there.
~the beets (seedlings were started in a planter that a gust of wind blew over) are trying
~the squash plants are really thriving well, but are so far away at the end of the pic they can't be seen well


Justyce got into her bathing suit and was soaked in no time as she tried to help Jesse wash the car and managed to soad Jesse really well too.


Oh, oh, bubbling paint on the bumper of the car. Oh My Gosh! Who put that there?


Now to show off some of my new CRAFT projects :-)
~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
This is the cotton yarn I recieved from the Destash/ Swap on Etsy/Flickr.
I've made a bunch of dish cloths
and
sweat bands for wrists
and headbands
~
~
SOLD






UXCRITTER ~ How Does Your Garden Grow?






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My garden grows just fine!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

~ SUMMER DAYS ARE BUSY DAYS! ~



The busy days of SUMMER.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So much to do now that warmth has returned to my little corner of Canada.
I am a happy but busy critter when the temperature rises enough to get out into the garden and enjoy Mother Earth.


Here is a photo of our garden in it's first stages of growth.