No-Filter Friday – Ice Faucet

2017 WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge – Temporary

2017 WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge
~Temporary~

“This week, show us something you appreciate
despite —or even because of — its short shelf life.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I appreciate snow and icicles as long as they’re temporary.
We haven’t had a major snowfall in awhile, so
I went through my photos in search of snow and ice.
These 2 photos are a couple of my favorites from 2010.

 Wishing you all fun with the WP photo challenge!

 

.

Wildlife Wednesday – Mockingbird

IMG_9006
This is our resident mockingbird.
It’s like a round glowing like when the sun hits it’s chest feathers.
IMG_9042
Sorry about the low quality of this photo.
I tried to take a photo through our kitchen window of our
resident mockingbird sitting in an ice covered tree 2-17-2015.

Wishing you all a warm & happy Wednesday! b0626.jpg

spflwrsln

Distracted – ice & snow

IMG_9095Let me start off with a disclaimer: I realize that there’s regions snowed totally under and you are free to snicker at my snow & ice photos. My warm postive thoughts are with you all. cloudhug Please remember though, that for us, this below zero icy cold snowy weather is still miserable, dangerous and beautiful.

IMG_9068It iced earlier this week and it’s snowed for a couple of days. I find it a bit ironic how I started buying seeds and posting about deciding to have a garden this year and then this crazy weather hits… ~bummer~

Our electric and internet has been blinky, I’m working on crafts and trying to keep myself distracted from not being able to blog or surf and stuff. 

I wanted to try and make a post to let you all know that I’m still around. I’ll be by to visit and comment whenever I can.

I hope you all are keeping warm and safe during these freezing days of winter.snowmanspflwrsln

 

 

Cool looking craft – DIY Fake Ice

Updated 7-14-2017

IMG_3021I learned how to make ‘fake ice cubes’ by melting clear pony beads.
The tutorial I followed was on flickr.
Unfortunately that tutorial is now gone. However, I’ll look around and see if I can find another tutorial that is easy to follow… or I may make one myself. Either way, I’ll update this post in the future.

It took a few tries for me to get the hang of it. I really like the results.
I’m amazed at how real the fake ice cubes look.
I can think of several projects to use the fake ice cubes with.
IMG_3037

Have you ever made fake ice?
I hope you all Have a cool day!
icsmilemo

~*~
IMO – This craft is Not for children!
~*~

0-isesteps
The tutorial I used is now gone. But here are a few things I did that made the process easier.

There’s a few things I adjusted, added or did different.
*I used balsa wood to make my ice cube form.
*Keep the area well ventilated: I opened my windows and turned on ceiling fans and ran the stove-hood fan.
*Apparently my oven doesn’t heat as hot as the author of the tutorial’s does.
I had to bake at 400° to get the beads to melt successfully.
*I also had to bake them longer: I’d put half the beads in the form and bake them for 15 minutes then put the rest of the beads in and bake for another 15 minutes.
*Keep a close eye on these as they bake to make sure they don’t burn.
*Let the cubes cool before trying to unwrap the aluminum foil.
*To give the cubes a shiny finish, after I peeled the aluminum foil off my ice cubes, I trimmed off the shards and rough edges and then put the cubes back on the pan and in the oven for about 3 to 5 minutes.  I was careful to watch so they wouldn’t melt too much.
*I took them out of the oven and let them coolicsmilemo

egglight4Using a battery operated tea light
I made a fun little icy temporary tea light.

1-IMG_30112-IMG_30053-IMG_3007icsmilemo

edited in 6-11-2014:
I made this tea light by gluing the fake ice cubes together with E6000 glue.

01-IMG_3122
end of edit…

icsmilemo

There’s a few tutorials on the web on how to make fake ice by melting beads in metal ice trays.

icsmilemoI apologize for the missing links to the tutorial.
I’ll try to do an update soon. with either my own tutorial or a link to one.

.