About | Contact

How to Make Stamped Candles

December 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Like fancy candles, but prefer cheap candle prices? Here’s an easy project that will allow you to have both.

Stamped Candles

What You’ll Need:

  • Inexpensive pillar candles
  • A rubber stamp
  • A stamp pad

Step 1: Ink your stamp. Then, lay it on your work surface, rubber side facing up.

Inked Stamp

Step 2: Slowly roll your candle across the stamp, until you’ve stamped the entire candle.

Stamping Candle

Step 3: Allow the ink to dry. Then, find a spot for your new candle in your home or give it as a gift.

Stamped Candle

Stamping Ideas

  • Use letter stamps to monogram candles
  • Roll your candle over a glue stamp pad; then, sprinkle fine glitter over the wet ink to create candles with lots of sparkle
Filed Under: For the Home, Homemade Gifts

Homemade Gifts

November 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Homemade Gifts

Sift through this collection of homemade gift ideas, and you’ll find something for every person and every occasion:

Filed Under: Christmas, Homemade Gifts

How to Make Lotion Bars

November 19, 2012 By 3 Comments

Homemade Lotion Bars

Lotion bars are just the thing for thirsty skin, but you can easily spend $8-$12 a piece for them at the store. Crazy! Fortunately, they’re easy to make, and only require three ingredients.

To make your own lotion bars, you will need:

  • Beeswax
  • A solid oil (shea butter, coconut oil, vegetable shortening, etc.)
  • A liquid oil (canola oil, olive oil, etc.)
  • Essential oil (optional)

    Lotion Bar Ingredients

    Step 1: Measure out equal amounts (by weight) of beeswax, solid oil and liquid oil. Grate or chop the beewax to speed up the melting process later.

    Step 2: Heat the three ingredients over a double boiler, until fully melted. (Do not leave the stove unattended while you’re doing this.)

    Lotion Bars - Poured

    Step 3: Pour your melted ingredients into molds. I like to use soapmaking molds or small cake tins.

    Note: If you’re using plastic soap molds, check the mold for a max pour temp. It’s usually 165 degrees. If your melted ingredients are hotter than this, you’ll need to let them cool before pouring.

    Optional: Add five or six drops of essential oil to each bar, and swirl it around with a plastic spoon.

    Step 4: Allow the lotion bars to harden for several hours. Then, pop them out of their molds, and they’re ready to use!

    Lotion Bars

    The lotion bars on the left were made with beeswax, vegetable shortening and canola oil. The bars on the right were made with beeswax, shea butter and olive oil.

Filed Under: Homemade Gifts, Make It

Printable Tea Towel Calendars -2013

November 16, 2012 By 1 Comment

Printable Tea Towel Calendars

Being a collector of vintage linens, I’ve always loved the tea towel calendars from the 50s. I don’t know why they ever stopped making them, but I’ve decided it’s time to bring them back. And so, I present to you – not one, but two – tea towel designs that you won’t find anywhere, but here. Just print them on iron-on transfer paper, and iron them onto a flour sack towel (or a bit of fabric from your stash).

These would make great gifts on their own or as part of a gift basket.

Printing Tips:

  • The tea towels designs are inverted, so they’ll read correctly when transferred to fabric. Don’t be alarmed when they come out of your printer looking backwards
  • Make sure your printer is set to landscape
  • Read the directions that come with your transfer paper carefully, to ensure you’re feeding it into your printer the right way
  • Do a test run on regular paper (in draft mode), to make sure everything is set up properly before you print to transfer paper
  • For the best results, use your iron-ons soon after printing them

Tip: Target has the cheapest prices on iron-on transfer paper that I’ve found. Their prices are about half what you’ll pay at an office supply store.

Filed Under: Homemade Gifts, Printables

Make a Cookie Puzzle

November 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Know what’s better than a puzzle? A puzzle that you can eat after you’re done assembling it. This cookie puzzle fits the bill, and it’s a cinch to make. Here’s how:

1. Make up a batch of cookie dough – sugar, chocolate, gingerbread – whatever variety strikes your fancy.

2. Roll the dough out into a rectangle, and place it on cookie sheet.

3. Bake according to your recipe’s instructions, and allow it to cool.

4. Decorate the cookie with icing. Include a secret message, a picture, etc.

5. Let the icing to harden. Then, carefully cut or break the cookie into several pieces.

6. Wrap the cookie pieces up in a box, and present your gift.

The recipient is sure to have lots of fun assembling the cookie puzzle and even more fun eating it.

Variations:

  • Use cookie cutters to cut the cookie into puzzle pieces
  • Instead of rolling the cookie dough out into a rectangle, shape it into a heart, a circle, a letter, etc.
  • Use one batch of dough to make several smaller cookie puzzles

Give Cookie Puzzles As …

  • Christmas gifts
  • Valentine’s Day gifts
  • Kids’ birthday gifts
  • Thinking-of-You gifts
  • Party favors
  • A fun replacement for greeting cards
Filed Under: Homemade Gifts
«Older Posts