Category Archives: Crafts & Hobbies

Snowman made of cans

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I realize this is a little late in the season, but I’ve been under the weather for the last week. Thankfully I’m better now.
I finally finished this snowman yesterday. I want to go ahead and post it. I got the idea from Pinterest seeing snowmen made out of cans.I absolutely adore this guy.
He brightens up the room and
makes me smile every time I look at him.

Wishing you all happiness with your Christmas projects.

Here’s a few highlights of how I made my snowman.

-I used 28 ounce cans.
-I used my old hot glue gun instead of my low temp glue gun. The glue’s slower setting and gives more time for moving the cans into place.
-I ran into an issue with hot gluing the cans together and having a neat seam. I also worried that the cans might snap apart if they got banged around any. I made a cardboard cap for the cans and hot glued it in the top and then hot glued the cans together at the cardboard ends. This worked out really well.
-For the brim of the hat, I glued 3 small paper plates together. I figure that my snowman won’t ever be outside so the paper plates wouldn’t be a problem.
-For the hat, I left the open end of the can up to put flowers and stuff in.
-My husband spray painted the hat black and then spray painted the body white.
-The white paint didn’t cover as well as I liked, so I went over the body with white acrylic paint and a coat of glitter paint.
-I hot glued the hat to the body.
-I sculpted the nose out of polymer clay and hot glued it on snowman’s face.
-I painted the eyes, mouth and buttons.
-I crocheted the scarf.

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Non-Edible Homemade Scented Bakeable Clay

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I made some ‘Non-Edible Homemade Scented Bakeable Clay’ to make a table-setting. It was fun sculpting the pumpkins, acorns and pie. I used cookie cutters for the leaves, hearts & stars. It came together nicely. I use battery operated candles in it just to give it some character.
I made several tiny cookie cut outs of hearts and stars. I put them in a 1/2 pint canning jar with a tea light and made sort of rustic looking candles. For this craft, I used an actual wax tea light candle.Then I thought I should make gingerbread type ornaments just out of tradition. I didn’t do too good of a job on their faces, but they serve the purpose and used up the last of my dough.

I made a short video showing the pieces I made setting together.

A few of my thoughts on making
‘Non-Edible Homemade Scented Bakeable Clay’

One of the most attractive aspects of bakeable homemade clay is that it’s a lot less expensive than commercial clays. I can ‘try to make’ bigger projects and if they don’t work out I can toss them without feeling too-bad for wasting money on clay.

One of the disadvantages to This bakeable homemade clay is that it ‘IS NOT WaterProof nor Moisture Resistant’. It Will Disintegrate if exposed to too much moisture or liquids.
You can paint and/or seal the sculpts with a finsh to help protect them some.
I’ve not painted nor sealed my sculpts, I like smelling them. I think sealing the sculpts with a finish or paint would block their aroma too much.

With all the salt and spices and considering how hard it is when it’s baked thoroughly, I consider this a ‘Non-Edible’ Homemade Bakeable Clay.

As for cleaning finished baked pieces, I suggest dusting with a feather duster or a soft cloth.

I use a basic bakeable recipe and add spices to it. It really makes my home smell like holiday baking. I used ground cinnamon and ground cloves, (but ginger, nutmeg, pumpkin spice or other spices could be used as well.)

I use ‘all purpose flour’ (it’s also referred to as plain flour). I use it to keep the clay from puffing too much and ruining the shape of my project. It seems a simple thing to say, but if you go in search of recipes for bakeable homemade clay many of the recipes will just call for ‘flour’ and not specify ‘plain’ or ‘all purpose’. It makes a huge difference in the outcome of your project.

I find there is some loss of detail in the baking process, so I try to make the details a bit deeper and more defined to allow for that. I don’t always get it right.

Here’s a link to the basic recipe I used:
http://www.ehow.com/how_8536912_make-bakeable-clay.html
I use ‘all purpose’ flour.
To that recipe I added:
3 tablespoons cinnamon
3 tablespoons of cloves.
I kept my dough in the refrigerator between projects.
**Because of all the spices and salt,
I consider this recipe a
‘Non-Edible Homemade Scented Bakeable Clay’

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Wishing you all fun crafting.

 

 

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Homemade canning jar Soap or Lotion dispenser

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My old soap dispenser broke the other day. I didn’t want to make a special trip to the store for a new one, so I decided to make one. I went in my craft room and scrounged around and got supplies to make a canning jar dispenser. As a crafter I hoard keep things on hand for just this type of situation.

I used a 1/2 pint canning jar for this soap dispenser. I think it’s small size gives it a bit of rustic charm.
Here’s the basics of how I made my rustic canning jar soap dispenser.

Gather your supplies:
1 canning jar with with ring and lid
1 dispenser pump (I saved mine from some old soap dispensers years ago)
A tube of silicone
1 hammer
1 nail
1 pair of needlenose pliers
1 small wooden board to use as a support board so you don’t put holes in your floor or table.

Place the jar lid on the board.
Using the hammer and nail, make a close circle of holes.
Using the needlenose pliers snip the holey metal out of the lid.
Using the needlenose pliers, round out the hole.
Place the dispenser pump in the hole and measure the length the feeder tube needs to be and trim it.
Place a bead of silicone around the cap edge securing it to the lid.
Let it set for a few hours or until dry.
Flip the lid upside down and put a good coating of silicone around the pump and lid.
Allow to set overnight or until dry. I let mine set for 24 hours.
After the silicone is completely dry, fill the jar with soap or lotion and use as needed.

 

I hope you all have a great week!

 

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Updates: cornbread flats, basil, parsley, rose, Shelibean

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I made cornbread flats in my whoopie pie pan. We really enjoyed them. I figure I’ll make cornbread flats a lot in the future.I’m adding this photo of my cornbread flats to my ‘Different Kinds of Flats’ post.

My basil that I transplanted and brought in for the winter, is still doing okay. It’s not a deep green, but it’s still green so I’ll settle for that. I keep it in the window, but for this photo I set it where I could get a better focus. Thankfully, it’s growing slow. I’m planning on keeping it pinched back after it grows another few inches tall.

We’ve been having some nice weather during the day, but cold and even freezing weather at night. I’m amazed at how green and healthy my parsley is staying.

Every evening I cover up my little rose cutting. And every day I uncover it when it warms up enough.
I’ll do this until it gets consistantly cold, then I’ll cover it til Spring.
Meanwhile my accidental rose cutting is thriving.

This isn’t really an update, it’s more like a bonus,
Sheli-bean is so cute with our Christmas decor.

I hope all your updates are followed with happy bonuses!

 

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Random Few For Friday

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Talk about late bloomers, my snowball bush has produced
one lovely fluffy pretty bloom.
It’s odd, I think, but pretty neat too.My herb garden has came a long way from when we first started it back in 2016.There’s nothing like homegrown tomatoes!
Yep, that’s the mantra this gardener gardens by. I’ve finished my ‘Joy In The Journey’ cross stitch.
I’m thinking I may make it into a wall
hanging instead of a framed wall picture.
I’m going to leave it on the frame until I decide.

I was surfing around for movies and surfed upon a 70 episode set of ‘One Step Beyond’. I’m familiar with the series from watching a few of the episodes on a video site. I didn’t realized it was based on true stories and was even aired before ‘Twilight Zone’ came along. That impressed me and as it was reasonably priced, I bought it. I’ve not watched but a few of the episodes on the first disc. I plan to watch through the episodes in order. I really enjoy the stories. The stories do give one cause-for-pause to ponder the odd events that happen from time-to-time.

Have a great weekend!

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Wip Wednesday – Joy In The Journey, Potato Bloom & Chrysalises

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Only one of these are truly my work-in-progress and the other two is the wip of Mother Nature.

I’ve started working on my ‘Joy In The Journey’ cross stitch that I strung on a frame last January. I used regular sewing thread and gridded the fabric off in 20×20 stitch blocks to help me with the count. I like the look of the grid so well that I’m going to leave it. I think the grid gives it a sort of nostalgic look. It’s slow going, but it’s coming along.My potato plant in the bucket has started blooming. I think potato blooms are so pretty. This experiment is moving along pretty well so far.We ended up with 7 Black Swallowtail Butterfly Chrysalises. We brought in 5 caterpillars that are now in the chrysalis stage. Then the other day after a storm we found two chrysalises in the top of our fennel plant. They’re the ones on the left side of the photo. We brought them in because where they were in the fennel they were too tempting to birds.
I’ll take the individual twig of the chrysalis outside as the butterfly start to emerge. I look forward to seeing the lovelies emerge.

Wishing you all a success with your works-in-progress.

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