Updates! Yes, more!

It feels like I am posting an awful lot lately..... but what can one do? Finishing things here and there, trying all sorts of new stuff! It's really fun and I just need to share it all!

Completed is the most recent Christmas Stocking, made from the Fireside Stocking pattern. I DO like this teal and white combo a whole bunch. There have been many admiring comments on the colour.
I already have a red and white one on the go as well. Seriously kids, this is not a chat and knit pattern. I have made more mistakes on these two stockings just trying to knit at lunch with my co-worker. Yikes!

Luckily I am happy to tink until it's right. Thankfully, all I have to do is tink, there has been no massive rip back and I plan on that NOT HAPPENING. Next up is a forest green and white stocking for my BF's baby boy. Yes, I do always pair with white. So far it keeps them looking classic and hopefully will prevent them from looking dated in five or ten years.

Couple of updates for inquiry's. I buy my oils locally at a Voyageur Soap and Candle Company but you could order from them online if you so desire. I have also seen some fantastic oils in town at a health food store, Nature's Fare Market including the peppermint oil (which I believe was an excellent price for the Now brand). The health food shop doesen't sell all the amazing oils that the soap company does, but they have a solid selection.

Updates still to come on the shower puck experiment as well. Hope you have a great weekend!

Hey there, and thanks!

Hi to all the folks who have been stopping by to leave me comments lately.It's so nice to hear from new voices as well as returning ones. Thanks for taking the time to comment, it means I am not talking to myself. LOL

I have been posting up a storm it seems..... I guess I just have so much to say. It seems a bit crazy to do jumbo posts, so I have been breaking things into reasonable size and posting more frequently.

Oh, and if your into the lip balm.... the three main ingredients are beeswax, coconut oil and honey. Check out the blog Frugal By Choice she was the inspiration and directions for that as well as my new experiment. Experiment?

For the moment, I will mention that I tried another DIY recipe that pintrest directed me to. (LOL It's all in there!)

I made shower discs for colds and congestion. The photos are pretty boring, but I will give a overview of what I did.

One cup of baking soda, half a cup of water or so... to make it a pudding-like consistency.

5 drops each of  Tea Tree Oil, Rosemary Oil, Eucalyptus Oil plus 2 drops of Peppermint Oil.
Then I spooned the mix out into the muffin tin that I had ready with liners.

I did put it in the oven for a bit on a low heat (200 F) as they seemed fairly moist. Even today, they are stable and I pulled them out of the tin..... but they still feel damp on the base.With strange indentations and everything! 

As you can see they liked the extra crinkles in the cups.

The idea behind these little pucks is; when you are having a shower and have a cold you drop one on the floor and enjoy the aroma as it helps clear your breathing up. Not tested yet.... so I am unsure what the result will be, but so far the scent is very clarifying. LOL We shall see. I will keep you posted on that. There were other adventures this week...... but I will post about those later.
Tried anything new lately?
Have a great one!

Update on the Lip Balm.....

So far.... it's been great. I handed some out to friends and family (because seriously... a dozen!) and have mentioned that I want opinions. 
One pal has said it seemed a bit hard to her (less beeswax, or more honey would make it softer apparently)
I have mine in my pocket and I am super happy with it. It isn't super sweet, and there is almost no fragrance.
It keeps my lips soft for ages!
If you have considered it, I recommend it. The recipe is linked in the original post, and does not call for mango butter. That was a personal addition based on the properties of the butter itself and the fact that I had easy access to it.
The spearmint is a hit too.
Hopefully I will get some constructive feedback. Personally, more honey may be something I will test.
Thanks for listening...... and thanks to everyone who has visited from other blogs and left comments. That makes my day!

New Obsession

Seriously, Pintrest is a bad thing...... I think.

So many inspiring things, I can hop from person to crafty person and enjoy all the DIY available. There is much "Wow, I can do that?" or "Do we have any tiles I can paint?" and sometimes"My sister and I are working on cracking marbles after heating them in the oven today"

Good times.

One of the first things I found that I decided I must try was Lip Balm thanks to Sarah at the blog Frugal By Choice. It looked so easy...... and yummy........ so I wanted to make it happen for me!

So I did.

A little local Beeswax from my favorite honey farm, Campbell's Gold, a stop to our local soap makers supply and I was good to go! Honey lip balm from my stove! It's still cooling on my counter right now. I think I may have added too much coconut oil.... or mango butter because it seems quite soft. However, this was my first test! Now to hand it out and get some feedback from friends and loved ones.

Super simple, and I still have a TON of my ingredients left!

I grated the beeswax from the block, and heated it in a hot water bath in a thrift store measuring cup.

Once it had melted I added coconut oil (which I buy in solid form) and some mango butter. My measuring was less than accurate in this area which is why I think it may have been a bit overboard.

Let those melt in and then added two tablespoons of honey (as I didn't want the solid to be too soft)

Prepared the containers (the egg carton trick was from another blog that mentioned lip balm..... smart!)

Then I poured the mix in...... added some spearmint to two of the tubes. I marked those, you can see it in the top photo. All done! The hardest thing was grating the beeswax, but I think it was worth it. I hope they turn out well, I want to move on to lotion bars next! 

It was seriously fun to try something so new and easy. I just love the fact that it all only filled half of that measuring cup, but I have a dozen new lip balms! LOL
Well, I guess the fact that I have plans for more just makes it obvious that I had fun. Have you been up to anything new lately?

Tatting... who knew?

I know a few tatters, they make beautiful work.... and it just flies off their fingers.
Sound familiar? It's true. Apparently it's fashionable now......

Check out this article from Macleans. It even features a LYS. Awesome! Go Tatters!

Can you tell that I am feeling refreshed and creative? I am honestly very happy painting, sketching, writing, knitting, working with pencils, beads, fabric whatever I can get my hands on! I am embracing my inspirations, letting myself make things that I may not have before and moving with the feelings that my art is giving me. I missed this, the rush of the possibilities.

I was very disappointed in my dry spell some months ago, what creative soul wouldn’t be? I barely touched my knitting, Ravelry, this blog, or any of my other crafting supplies. What changed? I can’t really say. What brought it back? Patience and embracing rest. I made a small effort to push myself and was NOT rewarded for my efforts so I decided that frustration was something I didn’t want hanging around and went with the flow. Reading, music and some video games made an appearance. Along with that I made an effort to be good to myself and relax as much as my body said I needed. No I am not pregnant! LOL

I organized a bit and worked as things caught my attention……

An Ornament Wreath I have been planning for years.

Now I’m back to the familiar feeling of “so much to do, so little time” So it seems like a bit of determined organization is in order so that I can lay out all the goodies at my disposal and see what I have been hiding from myself. More on that as it progresses though, I have no storage plans or even organizational ones, and just think I have too much stuff that is left out of the loop of possibilities because I have forgotten that I own it!

The year of owning my things and embracing them! LOL

Vistiting for Inspiration.

Hello Holiday Knitters and crafty-types!! It is a winter wonderland here and we may have a white Christmas after all! That is not something that happens alot here in the Fraser Valley!

I am well into knitting my gifts..... in fact tonight I stop by the post office to pick up a box of supplies for myself and a pal. Yay!! More wool..... yikes. Luckily now that I have a few patterns that I like, I think the gifts that I bought the wool for will be knit up reasonably quickly and I will have no stash addition after all is said and done. I am hoping to have some pics of "Safe" gift FO's here for you...... as I have given my wish list for family and friends on this blog, I have a few more people that I have to hide stuff from. Sorry gang, I know that at this time of year, we all want to see the knitting!!

LOL

Today I wanted to quickly turn you on to two podcasts that I find help with my creativity and get me inspired, hopefully to get you in the same frame of mind!

First is CraftyPod. A podcast and blog about ALL things crafty, from knitting and scrapbooking to making ornaments and macaroni art! Seriously!!

So I have not caught up to all the episodes of the Podcast, but the topics vary so greatly, and the shows can be as short as 20 minutes. My favorite lately was the #79 Episode, Crafting with Neckties!! My brain felt like it was on FIRE!!!

Right now if you pop over to Sister Diane's Blog then you will get a mass of all thing Christmassy from years gone by, and not all of it is fantastic, but it is kitchy and fun!

My second creative inspiration podcast..... is Craftlit. "A podcast for crafters who like books"

Heather Ordover is a former English teacher who runs a literature class through a podcast and also loves to knit and craft.

I am unsure what exactly about this I find so inspirational specifically, but I enjoy having someone discuss the literature that she provides, I did so love English Lit class..... and here it is for me again! The book currently begining is "The Curious Tale of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde" which I have read recently in a literature class, but I am very keen to hear what Heather has to say. I am currently listening to episode 58, which is "A Tale of Two Cities" which I have never read, and honestly am plodding my way through....... and finding out intresting things through. (You may ask yourself WHY I would be listening to a piece of literature that I am not enjoying...... when I don't HAVE to...... because sometimes what you gain from literature has very little to do with how much you like it.)

Any way I hope that you will all catch a few of these podcasts, you can listen from the blog sites in both cases. At least I hope you can. ( I checked both sites, they have the widget...)

Or just pop into the blog and poke around. I have also left another link in the title of this page.... a good site for inspiration. Happy crafting and see you soon!