Thoughts of a Grasshopper

A friend invited everyone over to make candles at her house.  I was excited to go and do something new.  When I walked into the dining room I saw their table filled with different colored chunks of wax. They have a dozen molds.  It was an afterthought to snap a picture after others had already started. We started by dropping the wick through a hole in the bottom of the mold and inserting a rubber "chocolate chip" in keep the wick secure.  I had already trimmed the wick by the rubber piece before I took the picture. We then tied it around a metal rod to keep the wick tight and in the center of the mold. Then we put some black putty on the bottom that held the "chocolate chip" in and kept any wax from leaking out. We filled our mold with wax chunks. They had clear wax that we could tint with a waxy color and they had about 30 different scents to choose from.  The wax was heated to 160 degrees.  I used vanilla in all 3 of my candles. ...

I have to tell you that this is the coolest thing ever!!  We were away for a few days visiting my mom and the way we schedule it, we would be getting home late at night.  The 3 girls needed to leave before dawn for camp.  One of the items on their list was a sit-upon.  They haven't needed a sit-upon in years.  Usually they are told to bring a camp chair, which is more comfortable but I'm guessing space was an issue for transportation.  I was entertaining buying an outdoor tablecloth and cutting up, putting newspaper between the layers and stitching up the sides.  Then I came across this idea.  Score!  So easy and cheap. As you can see from the picture above, it is a store bag and duct tape for the sides.  You really don't have to even stuff it with anything but I opted for some foam so they could have a little cushion from the rocks.  I think if you put newspaper inside, the weight of the paper would cause the handles to lift up...

I wanted to jazz up the mantle a little with something patriotic for Memorial Day.  If I can, I prefer to use what I already have rather than buy more things.  I was on Instagram and saw jars that were painted through Michael's.  I'm loaded with jars and I have a lot of acrylic paint so I made a mental note to do this sweet little project.  It took about an hour and half to get the three jars painted.  Add some flowers and it is a nice decoration that brightens up that area.   I will seal the jars before I put them away because the paint will scrape off easily since I used acrylics.  Hopefully if I pack them away carefully I will get many more uses out of them.  Then again, distressed is still a popular look.