Pot Head!

Oh Amazon, you have so many thing to inspire me!  I've been admiring trendy plant pots with a face on them; the plant sticking out the top of the pot is the hair.  The terra cotta pot holding my aloe vera has split, so I need to repot it.  Unfortunately, it's a big pot, 8 inches in diameter!  I haven't found a pot head on Amazon that is so large.  So, I thought I'd try my hand at painting my own.  Here's what I did.

1) I ordered a plain terra cotta pot, 8 inches in diameter from Wal-Mart.  It cost about $3.50.  Then I wiped off any dust, inside and out, with a damp paper towel and removed the bar code. 

2) After the pot dried, I used some masonry sealer on the pot, inside and out.  I believe the brand I used is Drylok.  We had it left over from a repair job at out old house.  I needed 2-3 layers to get it sealed and I had to wait at least 3 hours between each coat.  This was a pretty time consuming step.

3) The sealer has some grit in it.  I thought about sanding the grit off, but it gave the pot a nice texture.  Just make sure you are not using a foam brush because the grit pulls pieces of the brush off.  You could sand it at this point if you don't like the grit.

4) Next I applied 1-2 coats of white, acrylic, craft paint.  The pots in my window are white, so I wanted this one to match.  Of course, you have to wait an hour between each coat.

5) I'm not the most confident painter, so I pencil sketched the features of my pot head's face.  Then I used acrylic craft paint to paint her features.  I recommend thicker paint.  The paint for the red lips was really liquidy and ran when I set the pot down.  It took a few coats of white to cover up the error.  Most of the features took two coats to get the color intensity I desired.  I used a cotton ball to get the blush for her cheeks and a q-tip to get the black pupil in her eye.

6) I did not attempt to paint the outlines of the facial features.  I used a black paint marker instead.  

7) Once the paint was all dry, I covered the entire pot with clear polyurethane.  

8) After the polyurethane cured for a day or two, I planted my aloe vera inside the pot.  

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!  If you make one, post a picture of it.

Fleece Blankets

A few months ago the ladies of our church did a fleece blanket making party.  We made several lightweight, single-layer fleece blankets to distribute to homeless people in our area.  In the middle of summer, we thought a thin blanket would be perfect.  I promised the ladies to make a few videos for them to use as a reference for later.  Well, I still haven't gotten around to it!  But here are some great instructional links to help.

First question: How do you get the holes in the fleece?
I use a Skip Stitch Blade in a rotary cutter.  I cut the edges of the fleece nice and straight with a regular rotary blade.  Then I use the Skip Stitch Blade to make the holes.  You need to make the holes about 0.75-1 inch from the edge of the fleece.  Here's a great tutorial video.  I do the crocheting a little different than this tutorial.  She does a single crochet in each hole and then chain between holes.  I do two single crochets in each fleece hole (no chains).  I do four single crochets in each corner.

Second question: What fancy edging should I do after I single crochet in the holes?
The tutorial video uses a lovely shell.  I often do the very same edging.  It looks a little femine, so sometimes I do a crab stitch border, it's a little more masculine.  It reminds me of rope.  I recently learned this cathedral border.  It's a little more fancy.

Third question: How much material does it take to make a blanket?
Good question.  For an adult, I used about 2 yards of fabric.  That makes a blanket 56 inches wide by 72 inches long.  Plenty big!  For a baby or toddler, I use about 1.25 yards to get a blanket 44 inches wide by 58 inches long.  I like to buy my fleece at Joann's when it is on a 50% off sale.  Look for large remnants to save even more!  One large skein (Red Heart Super Saver) is usually enough yarn to do the edging.

Fourth question: How long does it take to make?
I don't really know.  I crochet while we watch TV.  Maybe two movies.

Thanks for reading.  Happy Crocheting!

Getting Soapy

On October 17 I did a little soap making demonstration for the Great Plains Church Women's Ministry.  I told them I'd leave directions on my blog.  So here it is! 

Before I start with any directions, I need to do a little safety warning.  We will use lye to convert the oils into soap molecules.  Lye needs to be treated with respect.  If it gets into your eyes, you might go blind.  Wear your safety goggles when handling lye.

Step 1: Collect your materials.
12-14 oz filtered water
7 oz lye
15 oz olive oil
15 oz coconut oil
15 oz vegetable shortening
3 oz cocoa butter
1-2 oz fragrance or essential oil
10 capsules vitamin E oil
0.5 oz additional olive oil
kitchen scale
silicon or enamelware pots, pitchers, and bowls.  Use silicon, enamel, or wooden utensils because metal ones can chemically react with the lye. 
wooden spoons
spatula
immersion blender
rinsed cardboard milk carton

Step 2: Mix up lye solution.
I prefer to weigh out the ingredients instead of measuring them with cups.  Remember to zero or tare the scale after you put the bowl/pitcher on it.  Measure out 12 oz of filtered water.  The dissolved minerals in regular tap water will make the lye solution cloudy.  Use filtered water to avoid this. 

Measure the lye out in a separate container.  For this particular recipe, you need 7 oz of lye.  If you change the amounts or types of oil, you will need a different amount of lye.  Use a lye calculator to determine the exact amount necessary for any mixture of oils.  Wear the safety equipment while you work with the lye.  You can find lye in the plumbing supply section of your local hardware store. 

Carefully add the solid lye to the water while stirring.  This will create a lot of heat.  Don't put your head over the pitcher as you stir.  Avoid breathing the vapor that rises from the hot mixture.

Step 3: Mix up the oils.
Weigh out 15 oz of olive oil.  Remember to zero out your scale after you put the bowl on it. 

Pour the olive oil into an enamel pot.  Heat the pot on low.  If you prefer, use a crock pot on low instead of the enamel pot.  Just remember, once you use it for the chemical reaction that makes soap, you shouldn't use it for food anymore.  This will become your crafting pot/crock.  The same goes for the wooden spoon, spatula, and immersion blender.

The coconut oil might be a solid at room temperature.  If it is, heat it in the microwave for about a minute to melt it.  Then measure it out just like you did the olive oil.  Pour it into the pot with the olive oil.  The shortening is a little different.  Scoop it out as a solid to weigh it.  Then heat it in the microwave to melt it.  Finally, pour it into the pot with the coconut and olive oils.

The last oil to add, cocoa butter, is a pretty firm solid at room temperature.  Weigh out 3 oz of it, then heat it in the microwave to melt it.  This might take a few minutes.  Pour it into the pot with the rest of the oils.  They all need to be melted and well mixed before you can do the next step. 

Step 4: Prepare for the emulsion.
The oil mixture and the lye mixture both need to be at 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit before you can mix the two together.  If necessary, cool the lye mixture by adding a couple of ice cubes. 

 

While you are waiting for the perfect temperature, measure out your 'goodie' ingredients.  These are the ingredients that make the soap special: vitamin E for skin health, fragrance or essential oils, and a little extra olive oil to prevent separating. 

 Once the oil and lye are at the correct temperature, you can create the emulsion.

Step 5: Reaching trace and pouring.
Wear your safety great!  Pour the lye solution into the mixture of oils.  To create an emulsion, you will need to stir a lot.  You can stir by hand with a wooden spoon for about an hour OR you can use an immersion blender for about a minute.  Mix until you reach trace.  What is that?  Well, it's easier to show than tell.  Check out this awesome video that I did not make.  When you reach trace, quickly mix in the 'goodies'.  Then pour the mixture into the milk carton mold.  I'm using a special soap mold, but when I started, I used a milk carton.  Use a spatula to get the soap out of the pot and smooth the mixture into the mold. 

Cover the soap with plastic wrap.  I like to get the soap to the 'gel' phase, but some soap makers prefer to avoid this.  Let the soap sit for a day or two before you un-mold and cut it.  I cut it with a wavy soap cutter to get a decorate edge, but you can cut it with a knife.  The soap has to 'cure' for about three weeks before you can use it. 

Happy Saponification!

Painting Party

We had a painting party at our house this week!  I picked up these 8 x 10 inch canvases on sale for only $1/each.  It was too good of a deal to pass up.  Each kid got to paint their very own master piece, myself included. 

Phoenix went with a princess theme, of course.  Greg experimented with a splatter paint technique over the Bat Signal.  I made myself an important reminder to hang over the doors to the kids' bedrooms.  It's inspired by 1 Samuel 1:27 " I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him."  These are the words of Hannah, mother of Samuel.  Samuel was one of the High Priests, but he was also a prophet and the last judge of Israel.  At God's command, he anointed Saul and later David as king.  Prior to the conception of Samuel, Hannah suffered with infertility.  You can read about her struggles in 1 Samuel 1:1-20.  She was so distraught she refused to eat during her family's yearly sacrifice at Shiloh. Instead of feasting she fervently prayed, asking the Lord for a son and promising to devote him to God all the days of his life.  When the child was weaned, Hannah presented him to High Priest Eli so Samuel could serve the Lord in the temple.  You can read about that in 1 Samuel 1:21-2:11.  Why do I tell you all this?  Hannah asked God to give her a child.  Toby and I asked God for both of our children.  We struggled with a season of infertility before the birth of Phoenix.  I can relate to Hannah when she said "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him."  Since I so desired these two beautiful children, you'd think all my days mothering them would be like a dream come true.  NOT!

Some days are difficult.  Some days they do nothing but bicker.  Some days one of them throws screaming tantrums in public places.  Some days they refuse to pick up after themselves.  Some days they completely overlook all the cool activities I plan and focus instead on one or two things that they cannot do.  Some days I wake up cranky and exhausted because one (or both) woke me up a couple of times in the night.  It's not always a walk in the park.  On those days, I need a reminder.  Something to help me shift my focus from the annoyance to the blessing.  Something to remind me that I did indeed ask for this and I really enjoy being Mom.  So I painted my canvas to serve as this reminder.

Here's how I made my painting.  I must warn you, I am not an artist.  I'm probably using some very poor techniques.   But if you want to make your own little 'reminder painting', you might be able to follow these steps and get similar results.  

1) Cover the crafting area with newspapers.  You'll thank me for this later.  Whatever color you want to use for the letters, paint the entire canvas that color.  Even paint the sides of the canvas, but don't paint the back.  The class I recently attended by Paint the Towne instructed us to paint using criss-cross brush strokes.  

2) Allow this layer of paint to dry completely.  The brush I was using continually shed bristles into my work, so I threw it away and got a new one to use.  Using a ruler to create a straight line, arrange letter stickers on the canvas to create the desired message.  I didn't draw a line on the canvas.  I just laid the ruler across the canvas while I placed the letters on top.   

3) In theory, when you paint over the stickers they resist the new layer of paint.  This keeps the canvas concealed by the letters the original shade of paint.  It doesn't work perfectly, but it does work.  I painted a purple-blue over the entire canvas, letters and all.  Again, I used those criss-cross brush strokes. 

4) When the top layer of paint dries, you pull of the letter stickers to reveal the underlying paint.  I peeked before the blue paint was completely dry.  From my experiences, the stickers came off easier when the paint was slightly damp.  The stickers that I left until the paint was completely dry were more difficult to remove.  I also painted a little red heart.

  

5) I peeled off all the little stickers and put a second layer of red paint on the heart.  As you can see, the stickers do not repell the top coat of paint perfectly.

 

6) I decided to touch up the yellow paint on the letters.  I used a very tiny paint brush with a very fine point.  Some places I had to go over twice.  It was tedious, but worth it.  Kind of like raising kids sometimes!

Happy Crafting! 

Craft Tutorial: Upcycled Candles

I just love candles, but there's something unlovely about candles.  The wick often burns away before all the wax is gone.  What do you do with all the leftover wax?  Here's what you do: you make a new candle!

Supplies:
Collection can
Old saucepan
Taper candle
Candle wax
Candle mold or a paperboard milk container

Directions:
1) Collect the wax to upcycle.  Old candles and wax melters are great sources.  I keep a coffee can around that I collect the spent Scentsy melts for later use.

 

2) Find the candle mold and taper.  The taper candle (long thin candle) will go down the center of your upcycled candle as the new wick.  I purchased the mold at a craft store.  You can also use a paperboard half gallon container, like the ones that hold almond milk.

 3) Pour a couple of inches of water into the old saucepan.  Put the collection can with wax in it into the saucepan.  Slowly heat on low.  My burner is set on 2.  This will take 30 - 60 min depending on how much wax is in the can.  Don't get impatient.  If you heat it too quickly you run the risk of getting to the wax's flash point and creating a fire.  Keep a close eye on the wax as you heat it.  Safety first!

4) Once the wax is melted, carefully pour it into the mold.  Try not to make it splash the sides of the container. 

5) After the wax has cooled slightly but not solidified, put the taper into the center of the mold.  Allow the wax to solidify.

6) Continue this process until the taper is covered with layers of wax.  You might need several weeks to collect a sufficient amount of wax.

 7)  Once the wax has cooled, it is normal for the surface to dip towards the center of the candle.  When your candle is almost done, add one more thin layer of wax to make the top flat.

 8)  To remove the candle from the mold, put the cooled candle into a bath of warm water.  The metal mold will expand faster than the candle.  Remove the mold and candle from the water.  Dry off the outside of the mold.  Turn it upside down, and shake the candle out of the mold.  

9) Enjoy your upcycled candle!