Everyday Crafty Goodness

This is what I did last night … 22 soap dishes glazed and ready to be fired this weekend!  I remember when I glazed for the very first time in college, I was confused to see that the celadon glaze (a pale green glaze after it’s been fired) is actually pink in liquid form (like the 2 pink ones toward the end of the table).  So these will look quite different when they come out of the kiln on Monday.

A woman at the studio was SHOCKED to see that I’ve been making my soap dishes because I normally don’t start making stuff until a month before the Show and Sale.   I told her that I will be selling these on Etsy so I’ve been going to the studio and making things on a regular basis.

So hopefully around the middle of April, I will have enough soaps and dishes to sell on Etsy.  Before then, I’ll try to list some of my vintage stuff on there for practice.

I took the soaps out of the molds last night.  I’m going to let these hang out for a day or two before I cut them.  The one on the right is the scrubby version with ground lavender and blue cornmeal and the specks you see are the ground lavender flowers.  These smell so good!

Woohoo, I finally made some soap this weekend!  I’ve been going to the studio for the past 3 weekends to make soap dishes but I have been really dragging my feet on the soapmaking.  This is a shot of cold process soap at trace, right before it gets poured into the molds.  This batch is called “Lavender Sunrise” with essential oils of lavender, lime, and tea tree.  It’s one of my most popular soaps.  The little dish near the top left of the kettle is a mixture of ground lavender and blue cornmeal I put in for the scrubby version of the soap. 

Last night’s jia jian mien (a Chinese noodle sauce traditionally made with pork and chili bean sauce but I made it with ground turkey, chili bean sauce, spaghetti sauce, and shredded carrots) … would’ve been today’s lunch if I hadn’t left it on the counter this morning!  Arrrgghhh!!!!!

I’ve been cooking more and bringing my lunch to work for the past 3 months or so.  I also started eating breakfast on a daily basis and as a result I lost 5 pounds (I wasn’t trying to lose weight on purpose).  I didn’t change my exercise routine (which consists of walking the dog and that’s about it) and I still eat until I’m full so the weight loss is really from NOT buying breakfast and lunch from the cafeteria and ordering Chinese and pizza once or twice a week for dinner.  So there Hollywood, this is the secret to losing weight … cook your own damn meals!

Anyway, this noodle dish is one of my favorite dishes to make and the sauce freezes well.  Damn it, I really wish I hadn’t left my lunch at home…

I have 2 fitted sheets and they both have big “T” shaped tears in them.  Instead of chucking these and buying new sheets, I’ve decided to mend them.  I’m sure there are people out there who thinks it’s a waste of time but I think driving to the store and waiting in line at the cash register is a waste of my time (not to mention money) and I choose to spend my time living consciously, creatively, and simply.   I actually really enjoyed mending the sheets and now I like my sheets even more than before!  Here’s what I did:

Iron the sheet where the tear is and tape the tear with masking tape on the wrong side of the sheet to stabilize the fabric.

Cut out a piece of fabric that’s bigger than the tear with pinking shears.

Baste the fabric patch onto the right side of the sheet over the tear.

Zigzag stitch all around the patch.

Cut out the torn part from the back of the sheet with pinking shears to prevent further fraying of the tear.

Ask your dog to pose on the patched sheet.

And here’s the second sheet I patched.  The tear is huge because I kept on putting my foot through it when I’m sleeping.  The patches are so cute that I wish I didn’t have to cover them up with my comforter.