Organization

I am organizing again.  I read about organizing fabric using pre-made fabric boards which were very expensive.  I actually ordered pink foam board and I was going to make my own.  I ordered the boards from Walmart.  They messed up the order.  Instead of getting two packages of ten, I got two boards.  Two boards would not have gotten me too far with my large fabric stash.  I tried to go into my on-line Walmart account and sign a form for them in order for them to send me the corrected items.  I could not get into my account.  I opened a new account with them and of course it told me that I had not made a purchase in the last 90 days, so the form has not been signed.  After no return phone call, I decided to forget the order, even though it would have made my boards pink.  Pink would be my preference since I am the "Queen of Pink."  Go ahead and ask my co-workers and my son.  They will agree.  LOL  I made an alternate choice using comic book boards.  They were under $10.00 for 100 of them.  I haven't a clue how they are used with comic books, but fabric I figured it out.  Fabric comes folded from selvage to selvage when it is cut off the bolt.  I fold it one more time and roll it around the comic book boards and then pin the end.  I find that anything over five yards does not look as tidy, but it can be done.  I purchased some new storage cubes.  For other storage, I have a few cubes left from a purchase 20 years or so ago.  I found that these cubes are fine, but they do not do well with children or in basements.  Any ground moisture would be wicked up into the particle board and mold and mildew would grow on the bottom and back board of my cubes.   If rollers were placed on the cubes, they would not be in direct contact with the floor, so you should be able to use them in basements.  Children tend to rip the handles and hinges off of the doors of the cubes and the stack of cubes could be moved and out of kilter easily.  I purchased these 4 cubes from Amazon and the brand name is Way Basics.  Each cube was $20.00.  I still have a long way to go and more cubes to buy, but here is the beginning.  Thanks for viewing my blog.  Blessings to you and yours!  Dawn

Blue Balls Soap

I finished making a new soap.  It has a combination of fragrance oils and essential oils, but has mostly a lemony smell.  I used an in the pot swirl of a medium blue color and soap balls rolled in tiny, royal blue, ball-shaped jojoba oil beads.  The soap balls may have a tiny amount of green, yellow, and brown in them.  There are also tiny blue blue jojoba beads sprinkled on the top of the soap.  I think this  soap should appeal to both men and women.  Lemon is a smell that most people equate to as clean.  This is a non-glitter soap, so men do not worry about getting glitter in their chest hair, which is a look I personally like.  LOL  I think this is the last of my ball soap for a while.  After removing the soap from the molds, I found that there some little gaps at the edges around the balls here and there, so I will need to trim some.  Yes, that is a hair on the second bar at the top.  It is in the design.  Did I not say hair was part of the decoration???  LOL  Thank you for viewing my blog.  May God bless you and yours!  Dawn

No hair this time.

More Cheap Gifts

As I was cleaning, I came upon a bundle of green washcloths I purchased this summer.  They are the same green color as my end table in the living room.  When I purchased them, my plan was to make coasters with them.  Well it is  better late than never.  LOL  I made 4 using the pinwheel design I was working on earlier this week.  They go together real quickly. 

Fir Balls.....................Soap

As I was making the last batch of soap I decided to make another batch with a more manly fragrance and humor.  LOL  I had some of the soap left over and I placed it into  a small mold, knowing that I would be forming soap balls later, once it hardened a little.  The soap was mostly medium to dark green with a few white and light colored specks in it.  When this soap was hard enough to stay in shape, I placed all of the soap allocated for soap balls into the food processor and shredded it up.  Then I rolled it into small balls from 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter.  I was not concerned with the balls being in perfect shape.  I like them into a variety of the sizes and shapes since it gives the viewer a more pleasing view.  After that, I rolled the balls into black caraway seeds, using a plastic bag.  What man doesn't like a little extra exfoliation, right?  The extra caraway seeds that fall off of the balls and any extra green shreds would just add to the visual interest.  I left the balls to harden for a few days.
Since the balls were green and the plastic lid I placed the balls on was red, I was thinking about Christmas.  That reminded me of Christmas trees and my co-worker has recently mentioned the hairballs her cat has removed, and another co-worker reminded me that his favorite soap I made was dingle berry, which was a gag gift......and,.........well,......uh, all of this was in my head and I decided to call the soap fir balls and use balsam fir fragrance as the main fragrance.  Now you know how my mind works.  Soon I will see men with a white funny jacket coming to see me.

The Fir Ball soap is made and I tried to pour the first half at beginning trace.  It had a few green swirls in it.  Three silicone molds were placed at an angle so the first pour would be a triangle of soap.  I then placed the balls in randomly when the bottom angle set up slightly.  It was able to hold the balls up somewhat.  The top angle was mostly a white but it did contain a few green swirls.  I also made leaves and a third log mold, but this mold was not placed at an angle.  A soaping friend of mine told me that she makes soap and places it in the refrigerator or freezer and it does not go through the gel phase and she thinks it is creamer and has a better texture.  I was finally able to try that with this soap.  I think I agree, so I may need to tweak my methods and try this more often.  Thank you for that helpful hint Dawn!

I think the soap turned out beautiful.  It is creamy colored and it has a lovely pine smell.  It reminds me of my trip to The Dakotas.  Unlike Kansas, in the densely wooded areas a pine fragrance lingers in the air.  A few men requested a glitter free soap, so here it is.  My new MAN soap.....Fir Balls.

If you are not a soap maker, I do appreciate you reading my blog and I hope you do find it of interest.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I hope you and yours are truly blessed!  Dawn 

Star Singles from Spinning Star Designs in Edmond, OK

Have you seen these paper squares?   You place 2 pieces of fabric together with right sides facing each other, then pin the paper with sewing and cutting guides on the fabric, and sew along the guides.  Then you cut along the solid lines and you have 8 squares made with 2 joining triangles.  Check out this paper piecing technique at your local fabric shop.  Shabby Fabrics has a You Tube Video.  It makes piecing so much simpler.  Thanks for tuning in!  Dawn

Honeysuckle Rose

I am not sure if I should call this soap Honeysuckle Rose or as my son said, "My Heavens."  After that part of the statement, he continued to say, "you have a lot of soap!"  Hee Hee Well, I have sold and given away a lot of soap lately, so my supply is down quite a lot. 

I tried the new red velvet color from Bramble Berry.  It is much darker than I expected, but I do love the color.  I planned a slight color variation, due to not fully mixing all of the soap with color.  I did get a little of that color variation.  The bottom has a rose fragrance.  It came out very pretty.  On the top is the honeysuckle fragranced soap.  I used an oxide to color this green.  It was darker than I expected also.  I usually make much larger batches.  I tried something a little different with this batch.  I tossed rolled balls into the soap, after rolling the green balls in green glitter.  Some of the balls were partially white or lighter green, depending on the amount of  color mix in the soap.  When I said I tossed the balls in, I meant I tossed hard, so they may go to the bottom, or still hang on the top of the soap loaf.  I like the random variation in the soap bars.  Thank you for viewing!  Blessings to you!  Dawn