Monday, January 28, 2013

snowflake soap

easy to make snowflake soaps for gifts
The idea of one-time-use soaps has been intriguing me lately. So I decided to try my hand at making some snowflake soaps. With Christmas right around the corner, I am in need of some inexpensive, thoughtful gifts to give my coworkers and these just seem to fit the bill.

For this project I used:

Felt pre-cut snowflakes
Clear Glycerine Melt and Pour Soap
Peppermint Soap Scent
I found the pre-cut snowflakes at the Dollar Store. They were a bit too big for my purposes, so I trimmed them down to a size that seemed appropriate for soaps.
My original plan was to cut my own felt, but I found out rather quickly that I apparently don’t own a sharp enough pair of scissors and the proper patience to do it. So the Dollar Store came to the rescue.
Clear Glycerine Melt and Pour Soap can be found at any craft supply store. It is rather inexpensive and even more so if you are armed with a 40% off coupon, so this project ended up costing me under ten dollars including all supplies. I also purchased peppermint soap scent to make the soaps even more Christmassy.
Put some of the soap into a microwave safe dish or measuring cup and microwave for 30 seconds at a time. Stir and microwave another 30 seconds. Repeat until most of the soap is melted.
At this point, remove it from the microwave and stir until the final pieces have melted. This is important as you do not want to overheat the soap. The residual heat after removing it from the microwave will melt the rest of the soap.  Add five or six drops of scent to the liquid soap and stir. Try not to go too overboard on the scent. You don’t want to overpower things.
Now dip the felt snowflakes in, one by one and lay them on wax paper or foil to dry.
easy to make snowflake soaps for gifts1
Here you can see the sheen of the soap on the felt. Just enough soap for a good hand washing and the felt inside makes a little disposable washcloth.
easy to make snowflake soaps for gifts2
This project took very little time and I ended up with some great little gifts. I wrapped a few snowflakes in a cellophane bag, tied it with a pretty blue ribbon and will be giving them to my coworkers along with a Christmas card.
And cleanup was so easy! Just allow the leftover soap to harden in your container and pop it out. You can store it to reheat for your next project! My kitchen now smells like peppermint soap. Not too shabby.
Now that I have completed the project, I have thought of a few tweaks that might make it more interesting. Maybe use white soap instead of clear or blue felt instead of white with the clear soap. There are so many possibilities!

Ice Candles

Ice Candles


This tutorial is a re-run from 2010.  Enjoy.
My family didn’t have tons of money when I was growing up. Oftentimes, mom would scrimp and re-use things when she had a decorating project in mind. I imagine that is where I got knack for looking at things and imagining what I can make out of them. And it is one of the biggest reasons that the Dollar Store is one of my favorite places to shop. While being thrifty is not totally out of necessity any longer, nothing makes me happier than putting together something beautiful out of inexpensive things. And I can spend hours in the Dollar Store, embarrassing my daughter by periodically asking loudly, “I wonder how much this is??” (Embarrassing my kids is kinda a hobby of mine).

Mom originally made ice candles in the 1970′s and she got the idea from a magazine. So they have been around a while. But the simplicity of making something with thrifted containers, old crayons and wax and turning it into something amazing is what crafty life is all about. So, I returned to mom’s kitchen with an armful of dollar store items and mom and I went to work…
For this project we used (project list is enough to make one candle):
2 boxes of wax
Various old crayons for color
Cardboard container of your choice (suggestions would be milk cartons or chip containers)
Spray oil
Double boiler (or a small pot and a larger pot)
Scrap cardboard
Crushed Ice
One candle taper
Various small Christmas decorations
Hand mixer and bowl
Empty your container (if it isn’t empty already) and spray the inside with spray oil to help prevent the candle from sticking. We tried a selection of containers that I purchased from the Dollar Store including chip containers, ramen noodle soup containers and a salt container. Milk cartons actually work quite well for this as they have a wax coating on them that does not require spraying with oil. I wanted to go round, though. So we went with these. After experimenting, mom and I do not recommend the salt container. For some reason, the container absorbed the wax. It was difficult to unmold and I had to pick cardboard off the finished candle. Just FYI.
Cut your candle taper to the height of your container. We recommend that you use the bottom end of the candle, shaving the top so that the wick shows.
Choose what color you would like your candle to be and prepare some crayons. We used cheap dollar store crayons for this project and it actually took quite a bit less crayon than we thought it would. The average candle needed approximately 5-6 crayons for color. Just peel the crayons and set near your work for when you are ready for them.
Using your double boiler, your next step is to melt the wax. If you do not have a double boiler, fill a larger sauce pan about 1/3 full with water. Place a small saucepan inside and add your wax to it.
We found that it took about 1 box of wax to make one candle. Break your wax into pieces and add to the small saucepan. Allow the water to boil. This will start your wax to melt.
Add your crayons one at a time until you have the color that you would like.
Center your taper in the middle of your container and fill around it with crushed ice. (Crushed ice gives a better look than cubed). Fill the container with crushed ice up to 1″ from the top.
Now pour your melted wax over the ice, filling the container all the way to the top.
Patience, my dear. We now have to wait for the wax to get solid. Give it about an hour so that there will not be any “incidences”.
Hold your candle over the sink and gently peel the cardboard container off of the candle. Ice candles are fragile, so hold it gently as you peel. The melted water will run off into the sink.
At this point, you should already have a pretty awesome looking candles. But wait! There’s more! But again, we have to be patient. There is still ice inside your candle that needs time to melt. Sit it on some paper towels and let it stand overnight before you go to the next step.
Now we are ready to decorate it. Cut a scrap of cardboard for your candle base. I cut mine about 2 inches wider than the diameter of the candle. This leaves about an inch of cardboard showing on all sides. At this point, set the decorations that you would like to use near your work station.
Using your double boiler method, melt 1/2 box of wax. Once it has melted, pour the wax in a small bowl and using your mixer, beat the wax just like you would beat egg whites. (Start off slowly at first so as not to splash hot wax on yourself). As the wax starts to cool, it becomes white and frothy. When it has reached the point where it is just beginning to hold its shape, spoon the wax around the base of the candle.
Mound it like snow. We also added some to the top to look like drifts. Working quickly, while the wax is still not set, push your decorations in. If the wax sets before you get them all in, add more melted wax to the decoration and re-apply. Believe me, it sets quickly. Clean up Tips:  Be sure to scrape off as much wax as possible before running under hot water.  This could clog your sink!!  You may want to consider cleaning your utensils in boiling water and then pouring the hot water outside.
These candles make wonderful gifts. When you burn them, they will burn from the inside, pulling from the taper in the center. As they burn, you will be able to see all the variations of light through the holes in the candle. It is actually quite beautiful.

bottle cap candles TUTORIAL

how make tiny candles using old bottle caps! fun easy diy tutorial.
how to make candles with bottle caps
these tiny candles are a really fun to make and come together quickly. AND you can up-cycle several materials in the process, which makes this a fabulous Earth Day craft :) {Earth Day is April 22}
to make these colorful tiny candles, i used several materials that usually end up in a land fill: bottle caps, broken crayons, and empty soup cans. the only thing i bought to make them was the pre-waxed wicks which cost me $1.50 for a set of 12.
these make a great kid craft {with supervision, of course!} and would add a fun element to a wedding, romantic dinner, or even a fab conversation piece in your front room!
How to Make Bottle Cap Candles
supplies: bottle caps, crayons {or wax}, pre-waxed wicks, soup cans, wax paper {optional}, small cooking pan, scissors, and water

remove paper from crayons. you can also use candle wax if you wanted.
put crayons in clean, empty soup cans.
take your pre-waxed wicks and…
bottle caps
put wicks inside the bottle caps. i placed my bottle caps on wax paper in case i spilled some wax.
then using a small cooking pan filled with a couple inches of boiling water, place the can in the pan and melt the crayons. {you could also use a candle warmer to do this}the crayons melt pretty quickly. *note: it only takes a few crayons to fill a bottle cap!
pour the melted crayons or wax into the bottle caps.
let cool for 1-2 hours. then trim the wicks and you have some fun tea light candles to enjoy!
**added later: crayon wax does not smell that great when burned. if you plan to burn these candles, you may consider adding a scent to them**
happy crafting!

Orange Peel Candle

Happy Imbolc.


Today the boys had a friend over for some Imbolc crafting. We made orange skin beeswax candles, painted terra cotta pots and planted crocus bulbs, baked sugar cookies that the boys rolled in golden sunny sugar, and celebrated the returning sun.
"Fire and purification are an important aspect of Imbolc (St. Brigid's Day). The lighting of candles and fires represents the return of warmth and the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months."
Tonight we will have dinner by candlelight, burning our sun shaped orange citrus globes to light our way into the coming spring, read some poems, and have a cozy evening at home.


It is easy to make orange skin beeswax candles. Our friend brought the oranges - the tops cut in a zig zag pattern, and then all the fruit center removed (yum), leaving a perfect shell for the beeswax.

I melted beeswax in a double boiler we use just for candle making.

We then put 2/0 cotton wick into a wick holder, and pinched it closed with pliers. I dipped the wick into the melting beeswax to coat, and dripped a bit of beeswax into the orange to secure the bottom wick tab in place. We then wrapped the wick around a chopstick balanced on top of the orange...to hold the wick straight.


Once the wax was melted, we chatted with the boys about wax safety, and then with me holding their hand over the handle and guiding the pot, we poured the cooling beeswax slowly into the oranges. We left just under an inch of space of headroom at the top of the peel. We let the candles sit to harden/dry. When they are hard, we unrolled the wick, and trimmed it down to 1/4 - 1/2".


The candle is ready to burn - the orange ball is so sunny and inviting and the smell of beeswax is amazing. We will burn these tonight, and continue to use the candles until the peel is no longer fresh, and will then peel it off and use the candles in a heat safe dish or canning jar until they are done!


Happy Imbolc to all of you...to the return of the sun!

candles with ink

Transferring Ink to Candles

Making personalized candles is easier than you think.  Today with some help from the kids we made some candles to give to my parents on Valentine's Day. 


You will need some regular paper, tissue paper, tape, sharpies or markers, a candle, wax paper, and a heat gun. 


First, I taped a piece of tissue paper, about the size of my candle, to a piece of copy paper.  Markers will bleed through the tissue paper pretty easily so you will need something to protect your table, and it was easier for the kids to draw on the tissue paper when taped to the "paper".


When your little artist is done, remove the tissue paper from the copy paper.  Cut out your design, and place it on to your candle.  It is important to cut away as much of the excess tissue paper as you can.


Next, you are going to take a piece of wax paper that is larger than your candle.  Pull it tight around your candle, and use your heat gun to melt your design into the candle.  Moving the heat gun in a back and forth motion for about 30-40 seconds.  Be careful of your fingers, the heat gun will be hot. 

Once you have heated the entire design gently peel back your wax paper and make sure the entire design is adhered to the candle.  If not just repeat with the wax paper and heat gun.


A very cute gift for the Grandparents.  Don't you think?

It got me to thinking .... wouldn't it be cool if you could use images from the computer and do the same thing?  Just think of the personalized candles you could make. 


Guess what, you can! 

I very carefully taped a piece of tissue paper to a piece of copy paper, making sure there were no edges and the tissue paper was completely flat.  Then I crossed my finger and sent it through the ink jet printer.  Seriously, my husband would not have been happy if I had jammed up the printer.  So, I didn't tell him until I was finished and it had worked.  :)