Back in Business!

Alas, my poor little blog's been sadly neglected again, this time because of being in a state of perpetual transition all summer--moving back and forth between places, packing up one on the weekend, spending the week in another, moving everything to a totally different third place at the end of the summer. The joys of being a military girlfriend. :)

Thankfully, internet has been blissfully restored to me! Lacking anything better, here's a peek at what I was up to while I was in internet hiatus and unemployed in September.

Tada!! I made these from empty and cleaned jars (pickles, tomato sauce, etc...) and some scrapbooking paper. I buy a lot of things in bulk, and instead of storing my stuff in plastic bags that can be torn and are difficult to store, I put my stuff in jars.

I ran into a little difficulty when I realized it was almost impossible to tell the cornstarch, baking soda and baking powder apart without opening them up and feeling them. So I made pretty labels! They were super easy to make, and are covered with packing tape so I can wipe them clean if they get dirty. If I need to change the labels, I can just peel them off. I save the bags in a safe place and reuse them when I need to purchase more stuff.

I've also been doing a fair bit of crafting. Here is Dora the Fail Cat posing it up beside the black eyed susan flower and start of a stem I was making for my bouquet (it's not finished,  but I'll share when it is!)

I'm almost through making the hexagons for my hexie granny blanket. I'm so excited! I have all 240 I planned to make, and though I may need a few more to even things up, it's near to finished! You can see all my hexies hiding in the basket under my yarn balls, beside my ones in progress there.
They look so cool all together!

See? And naturally, Dora needs to be on top of everything. It's a scientific fact that cats need to be on top of things. Bizarre compulsion they have. :)
The blanket will be a little bit fatter than it seems in the picture, hence needing the extra few hexies.
Oooohhh, how I am dreading the task of stitching all those hexies together. Next time, it's definitely join-as-you-go.

This is just some additional proof that cats need to be on top of everything. I don't have my things spread out here, so she's settled for being on top of my crochet hook case (you can just see the black and white checks peeking out from under her belly)...

I have a little plan for something forming,  but I am not quite ready to spill the beans, so I think I'll keep it to myself just a bit longer...

Thanks for reading! :3

Bags, bath bombs, hats...oh fun!

Over the holidays, I got down and dirty with the crafting stuff. I even made myself a whole new batch of deodorant and shared it with my family (although my mom insisted she didn't need deodorant because she doesn't normally wear it...I think she's just suspicious of my natural stuff).
The first thing I did, actually before the holidays, was crochet my first hat! It's not the best hat in the whole world, but I am pretty pleased with it. I'm currently in the process of making one for my mom now, although I am playing with a different texture.

Once I was all done my placement (which went well!) I set to work finally sewing together the tote bag I have been prepping to make slowly. I don't have an actual school bag and thought that making one would mean I get everything I want, for a fraction of the cost. All of my fabrics were on special, so the bag probably cost less than $10 total to make (including EVERYTHING). I was pretty pleased with the final product.

That said, I will NEVER make a bag like this again. Perhaps similar in appearance, but I would never go through the same process to make it that I did this time. It caused a lot of complications and made things more difficult than they needed to be.

 Gathering supplies for the bag and cutting out parts...

Measuring for the pocket that I didn't make big enough anyway.

This is the inside of the bag.The pink patch is actually a large pocket for smaller books.

There's also a pen-holder pocket (the blue patch under the pink)

This is the front of the bag. There's the large purple pocket and the small blue.

A view of the pocket flap. It now has a snap to keep it shut.

Ready for the finished product?!

You can see my crocheted hat in the last picture...the yellow blob with the purple flower. It looks huge, but it actually fits over my monstrous hair. The bag is also larger than it seems to look in the pictures. It'll be a good schoolbag, and when I am all done school, it will make the most wonderful yarn bag!

I also made some delicious smelling bath bombs! I think they smell like orange creamsicle, but others thought they smelled a little different. The general concensus was it was a good stench, not a displeasing one.

To mold them, I just used a silicon ice cube tray that I got from the Goodwill for $0.50. I also used a silicone mini-cupcake pan and mini-cupcake wrappers, but they didn't turn out as pretty as the hearts did.

The recipe was really easy:

1 C baking soda

1/2 C Citric Acid

1/2 C Cornstarch

2 1/2 tbsp sweet almond oil

3/4 tbsp water

1/4- 1 tsp of essential oil

molds

squirt bottle with water (or witch hazel if desired)

Mix the dry ingredients together first, making sure they are well mixed. In a seperate bowl or container (a clean jar with lid is best), blend the wet ingredients (if in a jar, you can shake it!). Combine the two carefully, mixing with your hands. The citric acid will fizz a little bit. If it is too dry to shape, spritz lightly with water until it is damp enough. Don't pour water directly in or it with trigger the fizzing reaction with the citric acid and your bombs won't go "boom" in the tub. Pack into the molds of choice. Once packed, leave for a couple hours. Once they have dried out a bit, remove from the molds and wrap in an old clean towel or tissue and store for about a week to make sure they are completely dried out. After that, spread the love!

The recipe actually makes a LOT of small bath bombs. If you need help finding citric acid, let me know.

I haven't tried these out yet, but I am hoping to soon!

I would love to source my recipe, but I can't seem to find the link anymore! I adapted it a little bit, but there are similar recipes on Cut Out & Keep if you want to check them out (see the link at the right hand side of the page). I will post the site as soon as I can track it down again.

Happy making stuff!