jingle balm- DIY

Here's a fun little idea for handmade gifts for friends. I originally thought this idea would be great for my friend's daughter to make. Kate is eleven and perfectly capable of doing the entire project by herself.  

But then I had so much fun making it myself, I thought if I had co-workers, I'd make these for them. I'm going to give them to girl friends as a party favor at a Christmas brunch.

Supplies needed:

Natural lip balm base
Flavouring (optional)
Glass container to melt base in
Tins or tubes
Colorant (optional)

Everything you need for this project is available here.

 

There are plenty of recipes online for homemade lip balm. Its a fairly easy recipe. You will just need to find a few special ingredients.

But to make it even easier, you can buy premade lip balm base and add your own flavor and color.  Once your supplies arrive, it's just a matter of melting the balm base in the microwave and then adding flavor and color.  You can mix flavors to make gourmet balms. The sky is the limit. I ordered creme de menthe flavor because I thought that would be Christmasy.

Plastic lip balm tubes are super cheap. I opted for tins because I think they are cute.  Each tin was .50 but if you are making a lot of lip balm, you could buy them bulk and get them for much less.

I didn't spend a lot of time creating a great lable for the tins because I knew I wanted to put them in little felt pockets. But if you have some graphic design skills, you could make some really great lables. I printed my labels on water proof paper so they don't wear off as fast.

I told Birdie to pucker up to model our lip balm. This is what I got...

 Once you are balmed, it's time to find some miseltoe. You are ready to kiss someone.  Unless you are a little brother.

Merry balm making!

picture perfect

Annnnnd Christmas is underway.

I took attempted to take the family photo for the cards this weekend. Tell me. What is it about photo taking that makes children turn into raucous fiends?  My children behave better when getting their inoculations. No kidding.

So of about 30 pictures that I fired off in rapid succession before the whole crew mutinied on me, I got one. One messily photo. And the Bird isn't even looking at the camera. She's taunting her brother.  And Frankie looks all disproportionate and weird with a pumpkin coming out of his neck and fruit snacks in his hand.  And the Boy, well... just look.

But I was over perfect a loooong time ago. And just like last year, I'm sending out this photo in hopes that people will see us for who we really are and love us anyway.

peace on earth

The children that live with me seem to like to fight. A lot.

The babies are the main culprits.  There is screaming and hitting and pulling hair and yes, unfortunately, even biting.  The problem seems to be that they are both of the age where they believe they own the world and everything in it. And nobody is allowed to touch or look at anything they own. Or look directly at them while they are carrying one of their possessions.

It's really quite exhausting.

Now the boy, he's a teaser. A heckler. An instigator.  He knows allll the right buttons to push when it comes to the babies.

Like I said before, there's a lot of screaming.

So out of pure desperation, I have declared this Christmas to be the year of "Peace on Earth". (Read Peace in the Meeker House.) I'm also for world peace and all, but it's baby steps people. Baby steps.

So far it's not working.

They have fought over ornaments. They have fought over who gets to open the advent calendar.  They fought over Christmas music lyrics. They even fought over the baby Jesus in our navitity. Baby Jesus!

Oy.

Here's the DIY details on the mantle:

The trees are just foam cones covered with felt. I don't use cheap felt. Ever. It's just not worth it. Find good felt if you can!

I used a Sizzix machine to cut the circles of felt for the garland. I ran them through my sewing machine to join them together.

The peace dove felt cut outs and jingle bell wreaths are from Target $1 Spot. I made bows out of felt to top the wreaths.

The letters are from Paper Source. They are paper mache that I painted silver and then used pattern craft paper to embellish.

The wreath is made from two pool noodles. I used one noodle to create a circle. I duck taped the ends together. Then I used the other noodle to make the inside lines of the peace sign.  Again I used duck tape to secure the pieces to the outside circle.

I spray painted the noodle peace sign silver.

From Target $1 Spot, I bought tubes of small plastic Christmas bulbs.  My wreath took about 450 bulbs. I cut the top hanger part off the bulbs and hot glued them to the noodle wreath. I wasn't able to get all my bulbs in silver so I had to then spray paint all the bulbs silver. I highly recommend Valspar paint. It covers really well with very little paint. I glittered some of the bulbs for dimension.

I cut up a strand of tinsel and filled in the small gaps between the bulbs.

The end result is one super sparkly peace wreath.

The mercury glass pieces are all part of my collection. I found the vintage strands of beads on Ebay. I got the blue trees at Home Goods this year. I was so excited to find them.

So there you have it.

Even if it does nothing for the children, it inspires me to try to be the peace maker instead of screaming at them for screaming at each other.

********************************

Okay! The winner of the Mindy Gledhill "Winter Moon" album is Katie Johnson who told me about the She and Him Album, that my husband also recommended, that I love love love.

Katie send me your address!

do you love doilies like i do?

DIY instruction here

buy here

 martha stewart

martha stewart

winter moon

Thanksgiving is over. The flood gates are open people.

Christmas music will fill my house until December 26th.  My husband doesn't understand it. I can't say I really understand why I love Christmas music so much.

I guess if I really think about it, I'd have to say that music has a huge impact on my life. It sets the tone. It can cure a nasty mood. It can make me cry. It can lift me out of myself into higher realms.

It makes it feel like Christmas.

And here I am with a good friend like Mindy Gledhill who just released an entire Christmas album.

Well shucks. That just makes the whole season more merry.

Do you know much about Mindy? She's lovely.

Mindy and I have done projects together here and there. I did illustrations on her Anchor music video. She has sung at Spark the last two years. She came to my house and did a concert in my backyard for a benefit party. And then there is Morocco next year. That's going to be, well, a dream.

I have a Winter Moon album to give away to kick off the giving season!  Leave a comment, and your favorite Christmas song (I'm building this year's play list and I'd like new songs). I'll pick a random number on Friday and ship it out to you!

one finger cannot lift a pebble

Our family is back in Sedona, Arizona. It feels good to be here. The leaves in Oak Creek Canyon are ablaze with Fall color.  The air is crisp but not too cold. We are happy to finally get to wear sweaters and boots and drink hot cider in the morning.

The Native American jewelry is spectacular as always. I have procured a few choice pieces that make my heart sing.

I love to come here and be reminded of all the customs that the very first Americans have.  I love their beliefs and wisdom.  I love that so many Native Americans hold fast to the religion of their ancestors.

It seems like in the world today we like to conform religion to fit our lifestyle instead of the other way around.  

I love that Native Americans honor their ancestors in so many ways. That they honor every living thing in life and in death.  That they acknowledge the strength of the family.

What a place to have Thanksgiving!  

I know it is cliche', but again, this year I am thankful for my family.  They are my harbor in stormy seas.  They are my everything.  Alone, I am nothing.

One finger cannot lift a pebble.  -Hopi Proverb

make a joyful noise

I gotta tell ya.  Sometimes I am reminded why I don't sell ad space here on Suaviloquy. There are several reasons, but first and foremost it has to do with my crazy unpredictable life.

Quite frankly, I don't want to be beholden to a bunch of sponsors.  Sometimes I have to disappear for a bit. Sometimes my kids need me more than others.  Sometimes my work over takes everything. Sometimes I'm just lazy. You know how it is.

This week we are on vacation.  I might post. I might not. 

Can't say for sure.

But I will be sharing the projects I'm working on this week.  Fun fun holiday crafts.

And I will be grateful this Thanksgiving for you, the people who read my thoughts here on Suaviloquy and sometimes leave comments that make me believe that, maybe, just maybe, I'm not as wacko as I think I am.

busy busy

Oh life just gets so busy this time of year.

The Sugar Daddy thought he had another week before our Thanksgiving trip. He blinked his eyes in disbelief when I told him that in fact we are leaving this Saturday.

But, you know, busy is good. I think busy people are generally happy people.  Having things to do beats having nothing to do anyday.

There are lots of things I have to do and a long list of things I want to do. I just need to find a way to merge the two.

Balance. It's the Holy Grail for all mothers.

Here's a little something fun that has kept me busy this past week:

I finally got our final itinerary brochure together for Marrakesh. If you are interested in coming, here are the details!

my mayflower

Okay so maybe my Mayflower isn't architecturally accurate or structurally sound or even historically correct, but it will make a dang cute centerpiece for my Thanksgiving table!

If you'd like to make your own Mayflower, you will need a cereal box, tape, scrap paper, modge podge, paint, hot glue, X-acto blade, an old bedsheet or some other fabric, some twine and dowels and a few notions like buttons and wooden beads.

Directions:

Cut the silhouette of the hull of the ship from the cereal box. I just free handed my shape. Look at ships online to get ideas. Cut another to match.  Tape the ends together. Bow the sides out to make the ship as wide as you want and trace the bottom onto more cereal box cardboard. Cut a second bottom shape.  Tape one of these to the bottom. Cut some rectangles from the cardboard and tape them vertically inside the hull of the ship to create "ribs" for stability.  Lay the second bottom shape on top of the ribs and tape into place creating a "deck".  Tape over any places on the ship that are open that you want closed. Masking tape or scotch tape both work for this project.

Modge Podge pieces of scrap paper all over the entire ship.  Do one layer, let dry, and do a second layer. Let it dry over night.

Paint the hull of the ship as you desire.

Use an X-acto blade to cut crosses into the deck of the ship to fit the dowels down into.  Pump hot glue down into these holes before you place your dowels. This will help secure the bottom of the dowel to the bottom of the ship.  Use smaller dowels to create the cross beams that will hold your masts.

Look on the internet at the different masts found on ships and decide how many you want. Decide if you want to add decorative elements to the masts. Cut your masts and sew a hem on the top to case the cross beams.  Use twine to secure the masts to the tall dowels.

Glue wooden balls onto the top end of each tall dowel. Run twine through the corners of the masts and around the ship in various places.  Use buttons to secure twine ends.

Fill the hull of your ship with treats! I used root beer barrels.

Remember, this is just for fun! You don't need to worry about making your ship perfect. Improvise and make it up as you go along. Handmade is what it's all about!

For place names, I sewed little linen flour sacks and stamped them with Staz-on ink.  I filled them with nuts and goodies.

a study of the natural world

I am a girl, like many girls, that loves all things beautiful. I try to make beautiful things to fill my life. 

The master teacher, yogi and offical authority on beauty is, of course, Mother Nature.

For my most recent art project, I tried to copy the vast and alluring diversity of one small part of Mother Nature's grand work.

Animalia Arthropoda Insecta Lepidoptera