Bath Bomb BOMBing

I can tell you that most everything I've tried in my life (craft-wise) has been a success. Really, there is a list and I will not bore you. Bath bombs are the HARDEST thing I've tried. Knitting can now take a backseat. Knitting used to be my answer to the question, "What craft don't you do?" 

Not a person to be deterred by failure - I am going to yank my stuff out tomorrow and try AGAIN!!!!!

Really, it seems like the measurements are pretty important? Especially when it comes to the water that you add. My second batch I added more almond oil to the mixture and tried to rely on less H2o which did work a little better - but the forms that I used were chintzy and I hated them (see below). I have since ordered some molds from Amazon which are currently sitting in a storage bin filled with citric acid, baking soda, powdered pigments, fine ground Epsom salt, and corn starch. Everything needed for awesome bath bombs and guess who has been FOILED! Foiled I say!

I hope that the new molds that I got for the bombs work better. The first were plastic with a hang tab. The website said that these could be used as the form as well as packaging for the customer. When I applied pressure to the sides to squish the halves together my thumb would leave an impression in the newly forming round ball. I couldn't seem to get it packed in there enough! 

They fizzed themselves out of the plastic molds and were twice the size they were when I went to bed. It smelled a little like burning hair in there as well. Who knows. Maybe its from the citric acid??

Even if they don't stay in a perfect ball, the fizzing action is super cool when it hits the water! I finally bought myself some rose scented oil and will be making a rose batch. Maybe the second will be coconut. 

Advice from a friend: NO MORE YELLOW DYE IN THE BALM. Because it looks like pee ya'll. 

I am going to visit Soap Queen's Blog and see what all of the fuss is about. I am confident this next time will be THE TIME that I conquer the bath bomb! 

ATC Madness

I have been making ATC like crazy lately, and I love love love to collect them!

Here are some pictures of what I have been working with lately. I have a bad habit of forgetting to take pictures of the cards once I am done and they are ready to send. So, most of these are still in various stages of completeness.

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Halloween Dress... 4 Months Later

I havent been doing much sewing lately... But right around halloween I felt that I needed a really cool dress to wear to work. And so I made this!

I love the way that it came out! LOVE LOVE LOVE! I had so many compliments on the way that it came out I wish that I could just wear it a couple times a week. That would be AWESOME! 

The wig was purchased and so was the hat - but the hat was really plain so I added a few feathers!

More ATC Love

He he he. Can't seem to get enough!

ATC Obcession!

I love making and trading ATC! Just keep forgetting to take pictures before I send them!

Western Dress Pattern ReImagined

I guess I forgot to say something about this when I made them, but here are a couple dresses that I made. Both are from the same pattern. They were supposed to be Halloween costumes, pioneer women dresses or whatever. For the first one that I made I used old fabric I had laying around. Trying out the pattern and all that. Why spend money on something I might not even like? Haha. 

 

So for Halloween I thought it wold be cool to use some of the fabric I had just LAYING AROUND AGAIN (funny how this happens) and made a version of the dress that was on the scary side. I have a thing for hats and bought an awesome pirate hat once upon a time and WA LA I was a pirate wench for the day! The spiderweb pattern is actually black lace sewed over a solid red fabric. I then had to sew a kind of trim over the top of that to make sure it wouldn't distort the images while I was wearing the darn thing. I made it all of the way through a day at work and I didn't even bust a seam.
I was afraid that I would, so I brought a whole separate costume (zombie has always been my fallback) I could change into if there was a "wardrobe malfunction." I think that I like the second version of the dress a whole lot better but that might just have something to do with the colors. Hahaha. The other fabric was quite dated.
I recently found a pattern for a wedding dress and I plan to make it out of anything BUT white. Maybe a purple or something like that. Im not sure. Haha. Thought it would be a funny joke for my boyfriend and leave it laying around the house for him to see... but I don't want him getting any CRAZY ideas, like I would WANT to sew my own wedding dress. hahahaha.
Once the weather turns back to the cold time of year Im sure Ill be sewing more. But until then I will just keep painting and playing around with tie dye.

Jacquard Fun!

Some of the best tie dye that I've made was done using Procion MX dye. I have decided to try using the Sodium Alginate SH and the Synthaprol.

                

Sodium Alginate is a thickener made somehow from kelp or sea weed. This is not what you would want to put in food but it seems to me as if there is some kind of thickener used in ice cream that it like this stuff. I dissolved it in warm water much like someone would with gravy mix or jello. I just kept stiring until it started to thicken up and I put it in the fridge to cool down. I left it in there for about an hour or so. Then, I dumped Procion dyes into the mixture. One I made Jet Black and the other was Fuschia.

I tie dyed a few shirts tonight. And folded them differently from eachother because I wanted to see what this "stained glass" effect was that I had read about somewhere. So, with the stained glass you dye it how you normally would but when you are done with the colors, you take this thickened mixture and paint it onto the outside of your shirt. 

I did that with a few of the shirts tonight. Actually, 5 of the four! haha. Hopefully it looks super cool and not just completely black. I added more thickener than needed but I think that next time I will have to add more. I want it to be thicker than it was.
The shirts are in the washer right now. I plan to wear one a day to work this week, starting with my favorite one! Once the laundry is out of the washer I can report on how I feel the Synthaprol preformed.

Super Easy DIY Magnets Using Recycled Magazines!

Making some cool art for your fridge can be really easy and fun! First, you will need to find some magazines that you can cut images from. These small pictures can be just about anything, for one of mine I used a of scan from a planet and it came out looking so cool! So use your imagination!

 I went to the dollar store for glass "beads" that are flat on one side... I dont know what these are called exactly, but some people use them for doing mosaic work. I think that clear work the best but feel free to go crazy and use colored!
Because I paint I already had gloss medium and that is what I use as the glue to adhere the picture to the bead and then the magnet to the back of it all. Simplicity is the best!
Also, you will need coin magnets. I have found them a few places, but just about any arts and crafts store will have them for sale.

I cut out the pictures that I think will look cool, bigger than I think I might need and then trim for their individual pieces of glass. I do this because the pieces of glass tend to be a bit irregular. One thing that you can do is have a piece of the glass handy and slide it over images you might think will look cool. You can get an idea of what your finished product will look like with little muss or fuss. So, I glue the images face down to the flat side of the "bead" and let them dry. The coolest part is flipping them over and seeing the really cool magnifying effect that is caused by the curved glass. Whatever I put underthere is made to look larger than life. That is why it can be fun to be creative and try different kinds of images. 
Once the gloss medium is dry I put another dollop on the wrong side of the image and gently place the magnet into the puddle. I like to have a bit squish out from around the sides just because I think it will hold better.


Once these are dry they are ready to be used as art on your fridge, locker or desk at work.

This is a highly gratifying project because it is fast, easy and most of all AFFORDABLE!