Homemade Playdough!

I finally found a homemade playdough recipe that I love!  I've tried several, and you're probably thinking, she's never posted anything about homemade playdough.  And you're right, I haven't.  Because I didn't like any of them.  Some come out gooey, no matter what, some are grainy, some smell gross, some go bad in a few days, but this one meets all my requirements.  I love the feel of it, the scent, and it's super easy.  When I showed it to the Hubby, his response was, 

"Hey, that actually looks like Play-Doh."  

I heard about it from Meg, she got it from Marina, and she got it from Tiny Bird Organics.

If you don't want to follow the links, the ingredients and instructions are at the bottom of this post.   

 Whenever a recipe calls for oil, I generally use Olive Oil.  Unless it very expressly states to use a specific type.  I had bought Walnut Oil for a food recipe, and this big bottle is all they had.  So I used it for this, thinking that perhaps it would add a pleasing nutty aroma.  Honestly, I can't tell.

 It has to sit after you cook it on stove.  I didn't think to take a picture of the concotion while it was on the stovetop-the instructions say stir constantly, so I was too busy for it anyway.

Once there was enough for everyone, I lost my helpers.  Ahh, well, that's okay, I understand.  I really enjoy this stuff-very nice to mold and smash.

The orginal recipe made a pound, but I halved it, since I didn't know if I would like it or not.  I'll save you the trouble and give you both sets of measurements.

To make one pound-
1.5 cups of flour
1/3 cup of salt
2 teaspoons cream of tarter
1.5 cups water
1.5 tablespoons oil
Food Coloring


To make 1/2 a pound
3/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons & 1.5 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cream of tarter
3/4 cup water
4 teaspoons oil
Food Coloring

Mix dry ingredients in stove-top pan.  Add wet ingredients, including food coloring, if you want.  Cook over medium heat, sitrring constantly until thick.  It takes about 5 minutes for it to turn into a single mass, the longer you cook it, the more solid and less sticky it will be when you take it out of the pan.
Set dough on plate/countertop/whatever and let it cool for 3 minutes.  Knead it into a ball.  If it's to sticky, add flour and cook a little longer next time.
You can get really organic with this if you use natural food dyes, which I didn't b/c I didn't want to take the time and effort.  Remeber that it takes 3-4 times as much red dye to make anything truely red and not pink.

Happy Thoughts Everyone!

Rearrangeing difficulties

I mentioned before that I was going to be cleaning out and organizing the sewing room.  And I have been, it's mostly consisted of taking things out of the room, putting them into some sort of storage, and then putting that into the attic for future use.  I'm down to the last bit.

 I've discovered that I have an obnoxious amount of stuff.  The really sad part is that much of it gets used, at the very least weekly.  However, I don't have room for all of the things I use to be out all the time.  As I've been sorting, it's occured to me that I might work more effieciently and finish things faster if I get rid of some of the distractions.  Flylady says never get out more than you can do in an hour, and she also says you should set a timer.  She suggests working in 15 minutes increments, which I've found works really well with little children-stop what you're doing, spend a few mintues playing, go back to work for 15 minutes. Lather, rinse, repeat.

 I'm also hoping that if I have less available, I'll use moreof what's out.  Which is where the difficult decisions are.  What to keep out?  How to decide which idea to work on next?  How much of this or that should I have handy?  Once I've gone through everything, I have to decide where to put it.

I have to consider a few things when I get to that point-

I don't work well in clutter, and I have to keep somethings out of the reach of little hands.  I also want my space to be inspiring, a space I want to work in-no point in setting aside a 9' X 6' space if you never want to do anything there. 

Suggestions are welcome!

Happy Thoughts, Everyone!

Demoliton Day!!

The Hubby & I moved into this house in the fall of 2003.  And I have wanted to take out the island from the first year we moved in.  However, it took until now to convince Hubby that this was a good idea.  As soon as he sort of agreed, I set a date and called in the troops.  Sorry the pictures are blurry, we were laughing quite a bit.

The Troops-The Quilter(right side) & S'up Girrl(left)

The Quilter immediately declared herself project manager due to carpel tunnel issues that prevented her of being any use otherwise.  She did bring the necessary tools, but I guess she didn't want to be called the

go-fer-girl.  Her hubby, The Deputy, loaded the vehicle and made sure she had safety glasses.

 First thing, I popped the counter top off-a few strong hits with the sledge hammer

 Then the project manager tried to use her cordless drill.  Thankfully, the union rep stepped in.

 This was sort of a (belated) birthday present for me, so they decorated the wall before knocking it down.  Or maybe no matter how old you get, coloring on the walls is always fun!

 My cake is bursting into flames, but she did put butterflies on it.  I also got a present, and I'm not sure if that says snort or short.

 SA-WING!  Must say, that was fun! 

 She's all ready and dressed appropriately with her jammies, boots and safety glasses-I mean, she is the union rep, after all.  Look closely, I tried to open my present, but no luck- union rep jokes that there must be to much tape on it.

 Project manager did a couple one arm swings, if you look, you can see that she did manage to dent the island.

 Then we loosened it from the floor

The Hubby wasn't really aware that this was going on, so they wrote him a note.

 And the best part of the demolition came when the project manager put her foot at the top of the island and pushed it over!  Yes, we were ridiculously happy about it!

 It was a quick and relatively easy job, even with clean up.  The union rep and I came up with possible responses from The Hubby when he came home to find that part of the house was missing.

 Going to have to play around with where to put the furniture.  We still have remodeling to do-new lighting, a functional island in the kitchen, lastly new floors.  However, this change gives me a great deal of satisfaction.

Happy Thoughts, Everyone!

Why did I decide to do this?

I had this great idea.  A recycling combined with using my stash o' stuff idea.  But well, it's turning out to be more difficult than I thought, and I have some actual, real work to do.  Can you see where this is going?  I'm trying hard not to shelf this, not to set it aside into the big heap of unfinished great ideas that pile to the ceiling around me.

Here's the idea.  A couple of years ago there was a wonderful white wool sweater in the hand-me-down bag for Eliz.  Unfortunately, it had been felted, and was very scratchy.  I set it aside, knowing that I could come up with a use for it.  I've used the sleeves to make cozies for the Thermic Bottles, and it got put back in the pile.  I few weeks ago I went to a party @ a friend's house and one of the other guests had this wonderful felted tree bottle cover/cozy that she had gotten, of course, from Etsy. I wanted one.  Badly. As I began cleaning out the sewing room, I found the sweater, and saw a butterfly needlepoint pattern from years ago that I knew I wanted to put on the sweater, and turn the sweater into a waterbottle cozy.  Problem is, felted wool is really not ideal for satin stitch.

 See, from far away, it doesn't look bad.

Really, even in this picture, it looks pretty good.  But it is not a good example of satin stitch.  I still love the idea, but as it's going to take longer than usual to get this done.  I've never used anything this thick to embroider on, but I'm convinced that the textural contrast of the wool and the (sort of) smoothness of the satin stitched butterflies will look beautiful.  Maybe it's just my love of butterflies that makes me think that.  I'm going to give this project a good deal of time for the next few days, maybe I can get to the point of no return, then I'll have to finish it. 

By the way, that whole cleaning out the sewing room thing?  Got it cleaned out, but getting it put back together has me stumped-now that I have room for things, where should they go?  I'll sit in my chair and work on my bottlewarmer while I figure that out. 

Happy Thoughts Everyone!

Last year, this year

My goals for this year are the same as my goals for last year.  That's because I gave up my goals for my business and personal life to gain some order in my home.  I really did spend the past year decluttering and reorganizing my house.  And now, it's done, except for my favorite room.  The sewing room.  I had sort of resigned myself that until I got some big project done, it was just going to be a cluttered mess.  But I've had an epiphany.  I have a fabric closet as well as a supply closet, I could take all the fabric I'm not going to use in the next few weeks and store them in the attic!  Yes, that was something i had never thought of!  Move stuff I'm not using to make room for stuff I am using!  It's so basic, I must be insane not to have thought it before!  I plan to start this tonight after the kids are in bed, and in a few days show you pictures of my beautiful, organised sewing room!  Be looking for it!  Happy Thoughts!

Ice Wreath & Ornaments!

 I aged last week. By a whole year. Hubby bought me a bouqet; green roses, white daisies and pink carnations. E went with him and got rainbow carnations. I wasn't deligent about changeing the water, so they were fading fast. I wanted to find a way to make them last, but I didn't want to dry them or press them. Then I visited The Artful Parent and found the way to combine a winter activity and saving my birthday flowers!

The roses were to far gone to use, but most of the others were just right. 

 We used a bundt and jumbo cupcake pans, start with just a little bit of water.

 Put in the freezer for an hour or two

Add more water and a piece of ribbon or string to hang them with.

Put back into the freezer for a few more hours, then take them outside and hang them up!

Less than I wanted

I was really hoping to have $500 in products by now, but since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and the Bazaar is Saturday, I'm going to have to settle for what I've got.  These are some miscellanous things I've finished, and I have close to $350, which isn't bad, just not as much as I'd like.  Ah, well, we'll see what happens, won't we?

Happy Thoughts!

My new friends, The Mouse Family

I'm feel like I'm doing okay getting ready for this craft bazaar.  It's the day after Black Friday, so time is short.  For those of you that are local, it's at Southport High School.  My Mom and I will be in the cafeteria, Booth 1.  Oh, yes, it's called "That Something Special"  Arts & Crafts Fair.  8am to 3pm.  On to what I've just finished, The Mouse Family.  I made them because they remind of a mouse family my mom made for me when I was a little girl.  I let E hep me with them, mostly holding them while I stitched or braided something, but she felt very important.  Here they are with their portable Swiss cheese house

 Daddy, Mama & the kids.

 Found out you have to be careful, the babies are small enough to tumble out of the front window!

Happy Thoughts!

Lord Of The Rings Costumes

You are your own worst critic.

So true.  My mom has always been very critical of her work.  It used to get on my nerves, b/c her work is so amazing, why can't she see it?  And now, I understand.  When you start a project, you have a vision in your mind of what it will look like when it's finished. 

 And usually it's a vision of the perfect finished project.  Really, how often do we start out saying, "I'm going for mediocre here"?  So, once finished, we inspect our work, and no matter how wonderful it is, it rarely exactly matches up with the vision we started out with.  Which is why my mom would respond with a "Thank you, it's just not quite the way I wanted it."  She can see all the things that aren't the way she wanted it-whether or not anyone else can.  And now I'm the same way. 

If I had two or three months to work on these dresses I would maybe have ended up with exactly what I had envisioned.  However, I had a couple of weeks to make them.  They did turn out very nicely, however, I still wish I had had more time to tweak them.  It helps that the girls wearing them are beautiful.  And tall.  Obnoxiously so. 

Happy Thoughts!

Stuff for sale

I mentioned before that I've been working on sewing things for a Craft Bazaar, it's coming up soon, wait, shouldn't I be sitting at my desk, working?  Nevermind. Well, so you know I'm not just saying that, here's some finished product.  My favorite is, well, all of it.  Call me biased, but I like them all. 

  

Happy Thoughts!

Here's what I've been doing in my absence

Of course, as usual, I had every intention of updating, b/c there are plenty of people who would like to know what I'm doing.  However, I took on way to much and had to give up all sorts of time consuming(but unnecessary) things, like grocery shopping, cleaning, showering, blogging, etc.  It started out making stuff for school and a Bazaar happening the day after Black Friday. 

Then I added a Dorothy costume for one of E's friends, as well as E & A's Halloween costumes.  After that my little sister, The Nurse, set her wedding date for Oct 30, this year.  The Quilter took on making the 3 Bridesmaid dresses, and since I have a gathering foot, I took on making the 6(later changed to 4) Flowergirl tutus. 

That's alot to do, right?  Well then two girls that babysit for me asked me to make them Lord of the Rings dresses for Halloween.  In the midst of all this I added a serger to my arsenal, as well as a new/used sewing machine.  I did get the costumes(except for A's) and flower girl outfits finished on time, but it was a challenge.  A challenge I hope I never forget when accepting projects.  Have lots to get done for the Bazaar, and I still haven't given up my goal of a totally handmade Christmas, so we'll see how I do. 

I hemmed a shark!

My neighbor, Jeff, is an entertainer.  He puts on educational shows for pre-school aged children.  His newest show is about Great White Sharks.    He bought some black fabric and with a little help from me turned it into an actual size shadow/outline of a Great White.  He had come to me at first about how to keep it from fraying.  I offered to hem it for him, however he had enough shows that it took awhile to get it to me.  I'll get a picture of it all rolled out and post it for you. This was by far the most indepth hem job I've ever had. Not even Gramma could top it. There was lots of fold, iron in place, fold, iron in place, sew in place, Pick really big piece of fabric up and turn. Find sewing machine, figure out where the heck the I left off.  If I forgot to gather the excess fabric up it pulled, and when I turned it, it didn't always end up where I thought it would.  If he asks me about an elephant I'm going to move.

  WOW.  They are BIG.  Like, really big.  My sewing room is 15X10, and it's not big enough to open the whole thing up!  22 feet long is very long.

Sorry I didn't take more pictures, it was a big black wad of fabric most of the time to make it easier to move 

around.  The tail fin is the width of my sewing desk!  As I was sewing, I kept looking at the size of this thing and finally came to the conculsion, I'm no longer comfortable with the idea of swimming the ocean.