Craft Week: Paw Print Ornaments

If you're a regular here, you know that my cat Calvin is dying from kidney disease. This is probably his last Christmas with us, so I decided that I need to make paw prints. I pulled out the Super Sculpey and ink and got to work.

I started by conditioning the clay. I warmed it up in my hands, rolled it out a bit, then ran it through the pasta machine. The pasta machine isn't necessary, but it does help to get the clay nice and even and unlumpy.





Next I pulled out the cookie cutters and cut a large circle for the ornament.




The next step involved instructing my husband to put on something that he doesn't mind getting inky. He grabbed a really ugly jumpsuit he keeps in the garage for when it's really cold out and he needs to do messy work.



I asked him to grab our first unwilling participant, Doogie.



We headed to the bathroom where we could corral the cat and easily clean up inky paw prints should he get away from us. Which he did.



Initally I tried to do a white paw print. I was wanting to do the cats' ornaments in their coat colors, so Doogie got silver sculpey, and Calvin got brown. The white ink didn't show up well on the silver sculpey, so I wiped it off and started over with black. Be sure to use pigment ink since the sculpey will be baked. Pigment ink sets with heat.

Doogie cried and fought and acted like we were killing him. Apparently, making paw prints is cruel and unusual.



After Doogie was all cleaned up (further torture), we let him go and grabbed Calvin. He was much easier. He's our laidback cat who was just happy that we weren't shoving pills down his throat while in the bathroom. He was more concerned with drinking water than anything.




Their paw prints reflect their personalities and attitudes perfectly. Calvin's (the brown one) came out beautifully. Doogie's (the silver one) is a little messy and unclear, which just shows that he was fighting.



As we were already in the bathroom getting kitties all inked up, I decided to have them autograph their story. They put their "pawtographs" (my husband made up that term) in my copy and another copy that I bought as a gift for their vet. Doogie's print is red; Calvin's is blue.




I wanted to put their names on their ornaments, so I got out my small alphabet stamps for that job.




I used a straw to make a hole for ribbon for hanging the ornament.




The ornaments went into the oven according to the sculpey packaging's instructions and baked. When they were finished, I brushed some sculpey glossy glaze on top to give them a finished coating.




If you're wondering about those other brown ornaments in the back of the picture, that was a little Star Wars something I decided to do while the brown sculpey was out. I used my Chewbacca rubber stamp. This one can go on my husband's little Star Wars tree. I intend to make more with other Star Wars stamps, but it was getting late, and I wanted to finish things up for this post.



Finally, thread ribbon through the holes and hang ornaments from the tree.



I'll be the first to admit that these aren't beautiful, perfect ornaments. But they are very precious to me, even in their messy-looking state. Our cats' paws are immortalized to grace our tree in all our future Christmases. A lovely reminder to us of our sweet furbabies.

Craft Week: Creating Your Own Scents

If you're a regular reader, you likely already know that over the summer I made my own perfume. I wrote about it here and here. (For some unknown reason, all the pictures in that first post are blank, so I'll tell you that the book I used for recipes is Home Made Best Made.) I hadn't posted the recipes before because of copyright stuff, but then I realized that I completely changed the recipes. I wanted my own choice of scents, not the ones the book used, so with that in mind, here's what I did.

The basic supplies needed:



For both eau de cologne and eau de toilette (the book calls it toilet water, but I'm now officially making it sound better by calling it by its French name), you'll need vodka, distilled water, the essential oil(s) of your choice, and some sort of glass container(s) to keep the concoction(s) in. Eventually, you'll also need your permanent container, such as a perfume bottle.

Here's the one that only takes 2 weeks from start to finish:

Eau de Toilette

3/4 cup vodka
30 drops of essential oil(s)
3 tablespoons distilled water
food coloring

Pour vodka and essential oil(s) into a sterilized glass bottle with a tight-fitting lid. Shake well. Add the water and food coloring. Let stand for 2 weeks, shaking frequently.

When I made this, I created 2 batches. In one I used French lavender essential oil, and in the other I used peppermint. Both wound up smelling quite nice, but neither has any real staying power on the skin. That was fine with me because I actually made these to use as room sprays. They work beautifully in that regard. If you're wanting to make something scented as a Christmas gift, there's time for this recipe. I decanted these into inexpensive plastic atomizers. Nothing fancy here.



And now for the one that takes 6 weeks total:

Eau de Cologne

2/3 cup vodka
130 drops essential oil(s)
3 tablespoons distilled water

1. Pour the vodka and essential oil(s) into a glass bottle. Let stand for 1 week, shaking daily.
2. Add water, shake, and leave 4-6 weeks.
3. Strain through a paper coffee filter into a bowl, the pour into a bottle. Keep in a cool, dark place.

The following photos are of Step 3 above:







For my versions of eau de cologne, I used lily-of-the-valley essential oil exclusively in one bottle, and a mix of lily-of-the-valley and French lavender in the other. I think I did equal amounts of essential oils in the mixed one. These came out very nicely, and they stay on the skin as cologne or perfume should. They're softly scented and do not give me migraines, which was my key reason to try making my own scented products. (Most commercial perfumes either give me headaches or set off a bout of sneezing.)

For bottling, I ordered some tiny glass atomizers from a seller on Amazon. (The colored stuff in the plastic bottles is the eau de toilette, not the the cologne.) The larger bottles with the crystal-topped stoppers were from Tuesday Morning and very inexpensive. Overall, this is a fairly inexpensive project. The cost of the vodka, essential oils, and bottles may seem a lot if all purchased at once, but one bottle of vodka made all of the jars in the second picture. It's a lot of scented stuff! Best of all, you can customize this totally to your own liking.

Craft Week: Scented Candles

I know you're going to be shocked by this, but this craft project idea came from Martha Stewart. It's in the December 2009 issue of Living. Her instructions say to use soy wax, but I used what I already had, which was a box of wax I'd bought at Albertson's last year on sale for $1. I'm fancy like that.

Here are the supplies needed for this project (and yes, that is a box of crayons you see):



The instructions said to melt the wax in the microwave, and that may work with soy wax; I don't know. But my box of wax said to melt it in a double boiler, so that's what I did. I have an old measuring cup that I use only for crafty pursuits, so I just set that in a pot of hot water and poured the wax in. I also cut a bit of crayon off in the color I wanted. The original instructions say to use colored wax chips. Crayons fit the bill without costing anything extra.




While the wax is melting, wrap the wick around a skewer (or a pencil or whatever) and center it in the container you're using for your candles.



Once the wax is melted, use a dropper to add the essential oil for scent. The instructions say to use about 40 drops for 3 cups of wax. Just divide accordingly for lesser amounts.



Next, pour the melted, scented wax into the candle container, coating the wick in the process.



Let it all cool and harden, and there you have it. Your own scented candles.



A few things from my experience:

1. Don't drop your glass containers in the sink while washing them. I started with 5 and ended up with 4. Good thing they were only 79 cents each at Tuesday Morning.

2. Check your supply of wax ahead of time. I wound up with only enough wax to make 2 candles instead of 4 (or 5 if I hadn't broken a glass). I'd have preferred to have them all made at once, but now I'll need to do it again after I buy more wax.

3. Now that I've actually burned one of the candles, my suggestion is to add more scent. The green candle is the first one I made, and I used lime essential oil in it. I followed the recipe's proportions for scent, and it's very faint. I used a bit more in the pink candle (peppermint), and I can smell it without even lighting it. The recipe's proportions may be geared towards the type of wax they used. My wax was of lesser quality, I believe, and that may make a difference, for all I know.

Craft Week: Decoupaged Barrettes

If you have anyone in your life who wears barrettes, this is a pretty little project that can give them some original hair accessories.

Here are the materials you will need (not pictured are a pencil and a paintbrush--you'll need both):



Choose papers with an interesting pattern that is small enough to go on a barrette:



You'll need to make a template for cutting out your paper to fit the barrettes. I used cardstock and traced as best I could around the barrette. It's not easy, as it's rounded, but it doesn't have to be exact, as long as it's not too small.

Once you have a template, place it on top of your paper and trace around it.



Cut out your paper, then paint some Mod Podge onto the barrette.




Press the paper onto the Mod Podged barrette and really press it on to make sure it's glued and without bubbles or wrinkles.



Let that dry, then come back and cut off any excess paper from around the edges with an exacto knife. This is where it's really important for the glue and paper to be dry. If it's still a little wet, the paper might tear, and you'll have to start over. Admittedly, this part is tedious, but necessary.



Once the paper is cut and properly fitted to the barrette, you're ready for the easy part: brushing Mod Podge on the top of it to seal it. I've been doing 3 coats. Be sure to let each coat dry before adding another.



The finished barrettes:



For a more polished presentation, you can cut some black cardstock, cut slits in it, then slide the barrettes into the slits.

Craft Week: Stamped Velvet Ribbon Bookmarks

This is an old Martha Stewart project, but it's an easy, yet lovely one. Martha's instructions say to use real velvet made of silk or a silk-rayon blend, but let's be honest: it's expensive and hard to find. Most craft stores carry nylon velvet (or maybe that's "velvet"), which is affordable and easy to find. Just make sure that the back of it looks like ribbon and not plastic-y.

Here are the tools you'll need for this project:



I used alphabet stamps to make ribbons with the initials of friends. You can use whatever rubber stamps you want, as long as they fit the ribbon and will make a clearly-stamped image.

My recommendation is to cut some little test strips to try things out. Because I was working with nylon ribbon, I started out with the nylon setting on my iron. I didn't know if the ribbon would melt or not, so I started low and worked my way up. I eventually wound up using the cotton setting on my iron. Be sure to leave the steam OFF. The hotter iron created a sharper image. Play around with the time. The original instructions say to hold the iron on the stamp for approximately 30 seconds. I found that I needed a full minute.



Once you've figured out the right temperature setting and time for stamping, go ahead and cut the length of ribbon that you want for your bookmark. I used a hardcover book to gauge the length I wanted. I didn't measure, just freehanded it all. Once you have your ribbon cut, choose your stamp, place the ribbon on the stamp where you want it, then press with the tip of the iron (where there aren't any steam holes).





Lift the iron after the proper amount of time, and examine your stamped image.



If you're happy with it, then cut the edges in whatever decorative manner you want, then you're done! Easy peasy.




I used up my entire roll of ribbon making 11 bookmarks. I bought the ribbon on clearance for only $1.70, so each bookmark came to approximately 15 cents. Super cheap, yet pretty.

I enjoyed this project so much that I went out and bought more ribbon. I've only had a chance to play around a bit with some more detailed stamps with bible verses on them, but they turned out nicely. Because the stamps are bigger, the tip of the iron doesn't work for this. Instead, I placed the very center of the iron (again where there are no steam holes) squarely on the stamp and pressed. I intend to make more bookmarks with these, as they'll be great as bible markers.

Next Week Is Craft Week

If you want serious crafting projects, there are a ton of great blogs out there for that. If you want simple projects that aren't hard and take minimal skills, then this is the place to be next week! I plan to have a new project every day with tutorials for simple but nice projects that could even make nice little gifts for people. Christmas is coming, after all!

Hope to see you here next week!

Happy Thanksgiving

I so totally am.