In my life experiances, I have found the secret to making the best and biggest bubbles lies in the pharmacy! A simple bottle of glycerin will strengthen and increase bubble size for maximum giggles! Here is one special recipe below..
Big Bubbles Recipe
1 Cup Slightly Warm Water
2 Tablespoons Liquid Detergent
1 Tablespoon Glycerin
½ Teaspoon Sugar
Stir together all ingredients.
Use bubble wands, toilet paper tubes, etc. to gently blow large bubbles!
Happy Crafting!
Kim
Check out my crafting books, patterns and more
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Simple Sacred Acts...Cooking
To be sacred is to hold reverent in your life; a special importance and connection within your life.
Why shouldn't you make simple acts special and uplifting? Create spiritual and uplifting experiances instead of just dull, every day must do's. You can incorporate these everyday acts with any faith, religion or set of beliefs. Today we will look at: Cooking
Cooking is a sacred act. Cooking is not just creating nutrition for the body, but nourishment for the soul. It is an opportunity for creativity and love, as well as a practical skill that most people use! If you are making a quick stir fry with precut veggies or a four course turkey dinner with all the trimmings, just remember your goal. You are creating nourishment for the mind, body and soul.
Paying attention to what kind of fuel for mind and body is being created and consumed can make a positive difference in both spiritual and physical existence. Try to spice up your culinary tastes with new fresh or frozen vegetables and tastes. Try to be creative to fuel the temple that is your body. Change cooking from a chore, to an opportunity to expand your well being. Challenge yourself to try a new dish. Work with a new vegetable. Revel in the culinary wonder of variety that is around us. Be thankful for the ability to try a bounty of different fruits, vegetables and other taste sensations.
The act of cooking itself can easily infuse love, calm and serenity into the food. Think of all the cutting, stirring and mixing to be acts of love. It is something you are doing for the wellbeing of you and your family’s mind, body and soul.
Make your cooking area special. Adorn it with items that make you happy and bring calm serenity to your mind. Some individuals like to light a small candle before beginning the process. This sets the tone that a special event is taking place.
No matter what, enjoy yourself while cooking. That bright attitude will help bring you closer to your inner self and all of those around you. It will also bring you a closer connection to your spiritual self. That self needs nourishment as well!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Limitless Living: Beating I'm Not That Creative...
One statement I hear over and over again is "I am not creative enough to do that!"
Never limit yourself by that statement! You are creative enough to try any project. If the instructions you have found are not clear enough, ask questions of the author or search around for someone else who has better ones. Crafty and creative people are usually overjoyed to share the passion of their crafts. Find all the information that you need in order to compete your project and find success!!! A little digging can bring you a lot of satisfaction.
Its a lesson that can be learned and applied to many aspects of our lives. Just dig a little deeper and anything is possible.
Happy Crafting!
Kim
Check out my crafting books, patterns and more
Never limit yourself by that statement! You are creative enough to try any project. If the instructions you have found are not clear enough, ask questions of the author or search around for someone else who has better ones. Crafty and creative people are usually overjoyed to share the passion of their crafts. Find all the information that you need in order to compete your project and find success!!! A little digging can bring you a lot of satisfaction.
Its a lesson that can be learned and applied to many aspects of our lives. Just dig a little deeper and anything is possible.
Happy Crafting!
Kim
Check out my crafting books, patterns and more
Clean Home 2b - Steam Room Deodorizer
Steam Room Deodorizer Additional Info:
A wonderful person asked if apple cider vinegar could be used... Here is my experience...
White works the best for a fresh clean scent..
Apple leaves a bit of a sharp scent..
If you want really, really nice sweet scent and can afford it, use a red wine vinegar..
Experiment and find what works best for your home.
Kim
Check out my crafting books, patterns and more
A wonderful person asked if apple cider vinegar could be used... Here is my experience...
White works the best for a fresh clean scent..
Apple leaves a bit of a sharp scent..
If you want really, really nice sweet scent and can afford it, use a red wine vinegar..
Experiment and find what works best for your home.
Kim
Check out my crafting books, patterns and more
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Luxurious Smoothing Skin Bath Recipe
Luxurious Smoothing Skin Bath Recipe
1 Cup Powdered Milk
1 Cup Corn Starch
½ Cup Oatmeal, Finely Ground in food processer
To create baby smooth skin that is amazing to the touch, start with some regular oatmeal. Pulse in your food processer until it is a very fine powder. Combine together with powdered milk and corn starch.
Add ¼ cup of the mixture to your bath.
Happy Crafting!
Kim
Check out my crafting books, patterns and more
1 Cup Powdered Milk
1 Cup Corn Starch
½ Cup Oatmeal, Finely Ground in food processer
To create baby smooth skin that is amazing to the touch, start with some regular oatmeal. Pulse in your food processer until it is a very fine powder. Combine together with powdered milk and corn starch.
Add ¼ cup of the mixture to your bath.
Happy Crafting!
Kim
Check out my crafting books, patterns and more
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Clean Home 2 - Steam Room Deodorizer
It is easy for a room to get very stuffy in the dry, closed in weather of winter. Don't buy an expensive bottle of air freshener, just use some simple pantry ingredients to not only moisten and revitalize your air, but freshn as well!
Steam Room Deodorizer
1 Cup Vinegar
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
1 Teaspoon Nutmeg
Combine the ingredients in a microwave safe dish. For safety, add a wooden skewer to the dish to avoid over heating the water. Warm in the microwave until nearly boiling. Place in the room that is to be deodorized. The steam from the hot water will quickly deodorize the room.
*** Optional - throw in some citrus rinds or splash of lemon juice for extra freshening!
Kim
Check out my crafting books, patterns and more
Steam Room Deodorizer
1 Cup Vinegar
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
1 Teaspoon Nutmeg
Combine the ingredients in a microwave safe dish. For safety, add a wooden skewer to the dish to avoid over heating the water. Warm in the microwave until nearly boiling. Place in the room that is to be deodorized. The steam from the hot water will quickly deodorize the room.
*** Optional - throw in some citrus rinds or splash of lemon juice for extra freshening!
Kim
Check out my crafting books, patterns and more
Clean Home 1 - Grime Cutting Glass Cleaner
Cleaners that you create yourself have many advantages over store bought combinations of mystery chemicals. As the consumer, you have control over the quality of the contents as well as the exact mix to suit your needs. It is super inexpensive and each bottle can be made for pennies on the dollar with ingredients you already have on hand.
This is a simple one to start you out with. This one will work better then your standard bottle of window cleaner! Fill a spray bottle from the dollar store (or empty bottle of window cleaner) with the following recipe:
Grime Cutting Glass Cleaner
3 tbsp. Ammonia
½ Cup Alcohol
¼ tsp. Liquid Dish Washing Detergent
Water
Mix the ammonia, alcohol and dish detergent together in a clean spray bottle. Fill the rest of the bottle with water. Use just like commercial window cleaner.
Kim
Check out my crafting books, patterns and more
This is a simple one to start you out with. This one will work better then your standard bottle of window cleaner! Fill a spray bottle from the dollar store (or empty bottle of window cleaner) with the following recipe:
Grime Cutting Glass Cleaner
3 tbsp. Ammonia
½ Cup Alcohol
¼ tsp. Liquid Dish Washing Detergent
Water
Mix the ammonia, alcohol and dish detergent together in a clean spray bottle. Fill the rest of the bottle with water. Use just like commercial window cleaner.
Kim
Check out my crafting books, patterns and more
Fun Soap Crayons
Fun Soap Crayons
1-Cup Soap Flakes
Food Coloring
2 Tablespoons Hot Water
Note: Soap Flakes may be purchased or created by finely grating
a bar of a mild bar of pure soap.
Get one big bowl to mix the base mix in and one smaller bowl per color that is to be made. Also, gather clean ice cube trays or other containers in the shape that the soap crayons are going to take.
Pour all of the soap flakes into a bowl. Add the hot water to the soap flakes. Stir until the mixture has been thoroughly saturated with the water. The mixture will be very thick.
Place a few spoonfuls of the soap base into coloring bowls. Place several drops of food coloring in the smaller bowl over the soap mixture. Stir to combine. The mixture should be the consistency of a thick paste, not runny. If the mixture gets runny, add a pinch or two of soap flakes and stir until the desired consistency has been reached.
Spoon the mixture of soap into the molds. Place in a dry place to harden. This can take anywhere from 2 days to 1 week to happen. When the soap is hard enough to handle, remove from the mold and place top down onto a hard surface. Allow the soap crayons to harden for 1 – 2 more days before using to ensure that it is completely dry.
Kim
Check out my crafting books, patterns and more
1-Cup Soap Flakes
Food Coloring
2 Tablespoons Hot Water
Note: Soap Flakes may be purchased or created by finely grating
a bar of a mild bar of pure soap.
Get one big bowl to mix the base mix in and one smaller bowl per color that is to be made. Also, gather clean ice cube trays or other containers in the shape that the soap crayons are going to take.
Pour all of the soap flakes into a bowl. Add the hot water to the soap flakes. Stir until the mixture has been thoroughly saturated with the water. The mixture will be very thick.
Place a few spoonfuls of the soap base into coloring bowls. Place several drops of food coloring in the smaller bowl over the soap mixture. Stir to combine. The mixture should be the consistency of a thick paste, not runny. If the mixture gets runny, add a pinch or two of soap flakes and stir until the desired consistency has been reached.
Spoon the mixture of soap into the molds. Place in a dry place to harden. This can take anywhere from 2 days to 1 week to happen. When the soap is hard enough to handle, remove from the mold and place top down onto a hard surface. Allow the soap crayons to harden for 1 – 2 more days before using to ensure that it is completely dry.
Kim
Check out my crafting books, patterns and more
Friday, January 1, 2010
Thrifty Scrapbooking Ideas
Thrifty Scrapbooking Ideas
There are lots of products out there to aid us in our scrapping pursuits. There are stickers, metal pet tags, commercial 3D embellishments, patterned paper and vellum quote books, decorative scissors, much more. If you can imagine it, it probably is out there!
The problem with most commercial scrapbooking embellishments is price. It is not uncommon to pay $1-5 for just a couple of embellishments. Especially with these economic times, it can be difficult to justify spending that much. We can still enjoy scrapbooking while not spending much or any money! There are simple ways to embellish your pages for pennies on the dollar! Here are just a few.
Rubber Stamping
Pull out those rubber stamps! You know, the cute one with the paw print you bought a while ago. That chicken you couldn't live without. What about that butterfly one that was too cute to resist? Dust them off and start decorating. The possibilities are endless. You can take a plain background page and stamp, stamp, stamp your way to a festive background. Use a little embossing powder on cardstock and you have instant custom embossed paper. Or stamp your image on scrap paper and cut out, adhere to the page with a pop dot for a fun dimensional embellishment! Create borders with stamped images. Create picture frames with stamping an image into a square and cutting it out. Ink, Paper, Scissors and a good stamp or three will leave you with endless possibilities.
Paper Piecing
Ah, my favorite. Paper piecing is one of the most inexpensive ways to add a lot of wow for pennies. Find a pattern that you like, or create your own, cut and assemble. Many times you can create a paper piecing with scrap paper! Add embellishments to your paper piecing such as ribbon, gems, glitter, pen lining, inking, or fiber for that extra flair. Again, most of the time you only need a small amount of the embellishment, so you can use a scrap!
Acrylic Paint
Most of us have bottles of craft paint around the house. Mostly gathering dust since our current obsession is scrapbooking. Pull out those paints and get stroking! Create dazzling custom colored pages with just a few brush strokes. If you take the time to learn Donna Dewberrys One Stroke Painting Technique, it will make your creations even more brilliant with much less time (or talent!) required! When your paper has dried, you can die cut it, cut it into frames, use as background paper, cut into strips and use as a boarder and anything else your imagination can come up with.
Found Items
Open your eyes and look around your world. Onion bags can be used as mesh or net; a fake credit card that come in the mail can be altered for amazing embellishments; hinges from old jewelry boxes or the hardware store can make books or hidden journaling on your page; The possibilities are endless.
Scrapbooking is only limited by your creativity. Just about anything can be put into a scrapbook or be used in a way never intended by its original creator. You just need a little creativity, patience and an open eye to the world around you.
Happy Scrapping!
Kim
Check out my crafting books, patterns and more
There are lots of products out there to aid us in our scrapping pursuits. There are stickers, metal pet tags, commercial 3D embellishments, patterned paper and vellum quote books, decorative scissors, much more. If you can imagine it, it probably is out there!
The problem with most commercial scrapbooking embellishments is price. It is not uncommon to pay $1-5 for just a couple of embellishments. Especially with these economic times, it can be difficult to justify spending that much. We can still enjoy scrapbooking while not spending much or any money! There are simple ways to embellish your pages for pennies on the dollar! Here are just a few.
Rubber Stamping
Pull out those rubber stamps! You know, the cute one with the paw print you bought a while ago. That chicken you couldn't live without. What about that butterfly one that was too cute to resist? Dust them off and start decorating. The possibilities are endless. You can take a plain background page and stamp, stamp, stamp your way to a festive background. Use a little embossing powder on cardstock and you have instant custom embossed paper. Or stamp your image on scrap paper and cut out, adhere to the page with a pop dot for a fun dimensional embellishment! Create borders with stamped images. Create picture frames with stamping an image into a square and cutting it out. Ink, Paper, Scissors and a good stamp or three will leave you with endless possibilities.
Paper Piecing
Ah, my favorite. Paper piecing is one of the most inexpensive ways to add a lot of wow for pennies. Find a pattern that you like, or create your own, cut and assemble. Many times you can create a paper piecing with scrap paper! Add embellishments to your paper piecing such as ribbon, gems, glitter, pen lining, inking, or fiber for that extra flair. Again, most of the time you only need a small amount of the embellishment, so you can use a scrap!
Acrylic Paint
Most of us have bottles of craft paint around the house. Mostly gathering dust since our current obsession is scrapbooking. Pull out those paints and get stroking! Create dazzling custom colored pages with just a few brush strokes. If you take the time to learn Donna Dewberrys One Stroke Painting Technique, it will make your creations even more brilliant with much less time (or talent!) required! When your paper has dried, you can die cut it, cut it into frames, use as background paper, cut into strips and use as a boarder and anything else your imagination can come up with.
Found Items
Open your eyes and look around your world. Onion bags can be used as mesh or net; a fake credit card that come in the mail can be altered for amazing embellishments; hinges from old jewelry boxes or the hardware store can make books or hidden journaling on your page; The possibilities are endless.
Scrapbooking is only limited by your creativity. Just about anything can be put into a scrapbook or be used in a way never intended by its original creator. You just need a little creativity, patience and an open eye to the world around you.
Happy Scrapping!
Kim
Check out my crafting books, patterns and more
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