Archive for April, 2009

I finally got my soap shop up and running.  I only have 6 soaps listed to start, but – hey – that’s a start!

ctdesigns.artfire.com

Hop on over and take a look. I wanted to offer All Things Hold Together readers 10% off any order, but I am not sure how to process that. There is not a coupon option on Art Fire. If I am not able to adjust the sale amount, I will refund your 10% via paypal, if you let me know that you came from here.

(I know, I am such an amateur.)

Update: Okay, I figured it out. If you want 10% off any purchase at my Art Fire shop, here’s how to do it:
-Choose your products and put them in your cart.
-Checkout.
-When you come to the screen with payment options, send a “note to seller” telling me that you want the “ATHT 10% off.”
-Be sure you click send.
-When you choose your payment option, you will be brought to the paypal screen. Do not pay yet. Just exit. I will receive your order and contact you with my paypal address and the adjusted payment amount, so you can pay me and I will manually mark the order paid in Art Fire.

I know it’s more complicated than just entering a coupon code, but, hey, it’s 10% off!

I guess not.

I didn’t post the deodorant tutorial video this weekend.  But, you probably knew that.

I decided to wait.  While the deodorant itself works amazingly, the product is too soft and this heat wave we just had made it even more so.  I am going to tweak the recipe with some of the goodies in my stash (probably beeswax, among other things) and re-film it.

Plus, this will give me a chance to make this recipe my own, instead of someone elses.  I will still credit the original sourse, of course.

I hope to get that done soon, but I am not going to make any promises as to what day I will post it.

In other news, I am trying to get my online store up and running by the end of this month.  Yes, that is Thursday!  I gave myself that deadline.  The thing that is holding me up at this point is the shipping policies and pricing.  I am trying to work that out, so I can have a professional looking shop from day one.

Does anyone want to be a test case and receive a free bar of soap in the mail?  All you have to do is tell me how it looked when it got there, and give me any other feedback you can think of.

I realized the other day that I take lots of pictures of the stuff I make, but almost none of my children.  I’m going to have to work on that.

Anyway, here are some of the things I made for Easter.  (Better late than never, right?)

I made this cute little bunny plush for my sister using the free embroidery pattern from Orange You Lucky.  I embroidered the pattern onto white felt, then stitched it together with another piece of felt, leaving a small opening through which to stuff it.  I sewed the opening closed and cut away the felt, leaving a small, even seam allowance.  I ended up ripping out part of the stitching and redoing it in order to get it so symmetrical.

I frosted my Carrot Cake to look like an Easter egg, with Cream Cheese Frosting, of course.  In order to save time, instead of piping each color, I mixed small amounts of frosting in different colors and spread them on with my offset spattula.  Then, I piped the plain white frosting in between the stripes and around the border to give the cake a finished look.

This cake has become an Easter tradition in my home.  I make the Angel Lush cake from kraftfoods.com, using a yellow cake, instead of angel food.  I also use regular vanilla pudding (not fat free sugar free) and substitute real whipped cream for the cool whip.  The cake is topped with whipped cream and fresh strawberries.

Last, but not least, are these adorable Easter Bunny cake pops by Bakerella.  Mine are no where near as cute as hers, but the kids loved them.  (Yes, the noses are on upside down.)

I also made homemade Easter baskets using brown paper lunch bags and construction paper, but for some reason I didn’t take any pictures.  I thought I had.

Even though I have no pictures of any people, everyone had a wonderful Easter.

Except for this guy.

Did I say I was going to post more?

I don’t know what happened.  I thought it has been like a week (which is still too long), but it’s been just over two since I posted last.  I lost a week somewhere.  The other day, I thought the finale of Terminator:SCC was last Friday, but it was actually the Friday before.

Things are getting better around here with the D.  He’s coming out of his depression, which is great.  He’s kind of wound up, though, and wants to go somewhere all of the time.  I mean, he wants me to take them somewhere.  It’s not like he will just jump on his bike and go off, like I used to when I was a kid.

Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem, but we are moving in 2 months and I have SO MUCH TO DO!  I have lived here for 8 years and I have a lot of stuff that I need to get rid of.

I am so glad that he is not waking up mopey and depressed and wanting to lay around all day watching TV.  That is awesome.

So, as I said, we are moving.  It is so stressful.  We don’t even know exactly where we are going yet; we just know that it is time to get out of this apartment and probably this area, too.

Yes, I said we do not know for sure where we are going, but we are moving in 2 months when our lease is up.  Talk about stressful.

I guess that’s how a week got away from me.  I have a lot on my mind.

I did make a video of how to make deodorant, though.  It should be ready to post this weekend.  I still need to do the final segment where I reveal the final product and test it out on my arm.

That’s all for now.  Thanks for stopping by!

I just had to tell someone that!

My old oven was ancient.  I live in an apartment, so I couldn’t replace it, but it has always been lousy.  I couldn’t even think about making cupcakes because they would burn.

Today, I was making chicken nuggets and tater tots for lunch and it just stopped working.  It is a good thing that it happened before Easter!  Can you imagine if it had died as I was making Easter dinner?  That would have been a real winner.

The weird thing is that I never make that for lunch.  We usually have leftovers or cold lunch.  I rarely, if ever, use the oven for lunch.  Good thing I did!

I can’t wait to use it to make all kinds of stuff.  Just making popcorn on the stovetop today I could see a difference.  It took less than half the time and it even has a puffier texture.  Who knew the stove made such a difference?  I can’t wait to see how everything else comes out!

Okay, the other day I said I wasn’t the housewife type, but who else gets this excited about a new stove?  I want to run around and do a happy dance!

I came up with this really fun idea for a treat to make for or with the kids. (I did not get this idea from anyone, but I am sure someone else probably thought of it. I refuse to Google it because I want to pretend I am the only one with this brilliant idea.)

Gather your ingredients: Graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate candy melts (or other chocolate to melt), lollipop sticks.

Put the graham crackers in a bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Pour crumbs into a small bowl.

Melt the chocolate using your favorite method. I am lucky enough to have children who thought to buy me a chocolate melter for Christmas one year. (I can’t imagine why they would do that!)

While your chocolate melts, push a lollipop stick about half-way into each marshmallow.

Once your chocolate is ready, dip a marshmallow in, tapping off the excess. Then dip the chocolaty marshmallow into the prepared crumbs.

Set the pops in a glass to dry. (Or stick them in a styrofoam block.)

Voila.

You can also make them stickless.  (Place on waxed paper to dry.)

However you make ‘em, your kids will love ‘em!

(That picture really should have been cuter, but Little E did not want to stop eating to pose for multiple shots.)

I finally updated my March blog banner with an April/Easter one.  I have been so bad about this blog.  It’s not that I want to neglect it.  It’s just that things have been hectic lately.

The end of winter is always a really tough time for the D.  His emotional issues really act up and he can be kind of out of control.  I need to be “on duty” all the time.  I have had very little time for anything else.

The other day, someone referred to my political blog as a “weekly,” which was devastating because the little time I do have, I put into that and I still can’t seem to get it up to a daily status.

I also had to put my web store launch on hold.  I don’t have enough products for a full launch yet.  I still need to make the lip balm and more bath bombs, as well as some more soaps.  A couple of the ones I made are not up to my standards for selling.

It has always been a struggle for me, since I started staying home with the kids, and even more so since I started homeschooling, that I do not have the time/ability to fulfill all of my ambitions.  I never wanted kids or a family when I was growing up.  I always wanted to be a single career woman.  So, being a mom/homeschooler/housewife is a job I have to work at being happy about.

It’s not that I don’t love my kids.  And I really hope that I don’t get anyone criticizing me for sharing this.  It’s just that I’m not, by nature, a mom person.  Some people were born for this role.  I was not.

Add to that the fact that one of my kids is, in the words of one professional who has worked with us, “emotionally disturbed,” and, yes, I struggle with being happy.

I was a go-getter when I worked outside the home.  I could be a great blogger, if I had the time.  I could have a successful bath and body business, if I had the time.  I could be something, someone, anything other than what I am, if I wasn’t what I am.

But, to paraphrase that famous sailor, I am what I am, and that’s all that I am.

And that’s okay.  I mean, this is where I find myself, partly due to my own choices, partly because of where God led me.  And I know that He has used these circumstances in my life to make me into the person I was created to be.

It has been painful.  It has been mighty painful.  And I have the World constantly pulling me astray, feeding my desire to be something more, with constant reminders that “just” being a mom is not enough.

Just.  The other day, my husband called that a deadly word.  The great minimizer.  We use it to make things seem inadequate.  It’s such a seemingly innocuous word, yet it has the power to rip your heart out.

No one wants to be “just” anything.

I have to constantly remind myself that I am not just anything.  I am doing a job that I was called to do.  I am making a huge difference in the lives of three very important people.  And this is only a season in my life.  I will have many years to do and be other things.

These moments of doubt and discontent are the lies of Satan, meant to keep me from enjoying life.

Things are actually beginning to turn around.  The D is doing better.  The nicer weather helps.  I also got some great ideas from his therapist that have worked wonders.

Most importantly, I have been leaning on God – HARD – during this time.  He is so amazing.  The difference between trying to do this on my own and doing this while walking with the Lord is, to turn an over-used phrase, like night and day.

I was brought to my knees before I came running back, but it was such a good thing.  I was in a period of being very lukewarm in my faith until my whole world came crashing down around me and I needed God to get me through it.

I am like that.  You can’t gently nudge me.  I need to be hit upside the head with a wrecking ball.

Unfortunately, the wrecking ball also took a toll on this blog.

The good news is, I want to make this a priority during my free time.  This is so much more important to me than having a daily go-to political blog.  This blog is about the stuff that makes life worthwhile.  As the tag line says, cooking, crafting, faith, family…you know, the good stuff.

It is good stuff.

And I intend to focus on all of those things.  The blog got kind of craft-heavy.  Crafting is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but faith and family, and of course cooking, are good things, too.  A gal’s gotta have balance!

Well, this turned into a long out-pouring of some pent up emotional things.  It just kind of came out.  Thanks for listening, er, I guess reading.  And thanks for stopping by my blog.  I appreciate that you do.  And I look forward to bringing you more posts.