Mini Muffin Crayons!

Max loves crayons.

Max also loves to dump out the bin FULL of crayons.

Broken crayons suck.

I decided to "make lemonade" and took all the little broken crayon bits and melted them into chunky little round multi colored crayons. These are much more difficult to break and there are so fewer little bits for me to pick up/make Max pick up when he dumps them. Win-win. :)

Step 1: Peel all the paper off your crayons. This is not as easy or fun as I seemed to think it was when I was little. Definitely the most annoying part of the whole process. If your kids are old enough to help, for sure enlist their services.

Step 2: Break crayons into bits small enough to fit in your mold. I used a mini-muffin tin sprayed with non-stick vegetable oil spray. It would be super fun if you had cute shapes like stars or hearts and what a great little party favor (or activity!) that you could also use as a class gift or just about anything. This is one awesome kid craft in my book. I thought the melting process was really pretty. Heat your oven to 275 and leave them in there around 7-10 minutes depending on how fat your crayons are- just keep an eye on them.

I chose to group mine by color (some mixing is fine- (silver in with your blues, white with just about anything). With as long as I felt they should stay in to melt properly it seemed like there was just too much mixing going on to really have different color families within one crayon, but you see what works for you.

You might be able to see some little chunks on top here- I left them in longer after this was taken to get those melted but I think I filled my cups a bit too full. You want them up to the rim and a little over but not a lot or you'll spill wax in your oven like I did.

Step 3: Let them cool!

Make sure you let them cool entirely on their own. The first time I tried this I popped them into the freezer to speed things along and nearly all of them split down the middle from the temperature change.

I was actually pretty jazzed with all the cool marbled overflow however and made some prints

by laying paper on top. This of course made me start to wonder about dabbling in encaustics, but I've also been thinking of learning to bellydance and that's better for me and probably cheaper.

How delicious are these little finished crayons? I adore them and Max seems to be enjoying them as well. If I have any critique it's that so far it seems like you might have to press harder to get the full color but Max doesn't seem to mind.

Step 4: Remove them from the mold.

So easy and fun! Once they are entirely cooled they are simple to get out. I placed the tin upside down on the counter and gave each cup a little whack with the handle of a knife and they came out like a dream.

Max got right to work doing something very busy with these as soon as he had access. Later I discovered he'd been sorting them. That'll do, Pig. ♥

Big Crazy hair Tutorial: Nature Mama version

Alright, when a friend invites me to an impromptu-all-craziness-welcomed-yay-gays-function I feel the need to tart it up a bit. So many folks asked me how I did this look that I decided to do a tutorial.

!!Please take note!! the following photos are a little wonky because:

1. Most of these pictures were taken after nearly 4 hours of dancing.

2. They were all taken with a video camera because I dropped my real camera :(

3. The after pictures were also taken without my contacts in so I couldn't see the display very well to double check the images. (hence the hairpin stuck in my bra strap that I didn't notice until all the photos were taken)

Here is the finished look:

Excited yet? Good.

Thinking you'll never be able to have fantastikal big hair like this yourself? Think again! It is dead easy folks.

I worked with what I had on hand because I wanted a totally free costume- but you could come by all these parts for not too much, especially if you're willing to wait and hunt around a bit.

Said parts consisted of:

1. Quite a few artificial flowers and leaves leftover from another big hair endeavor.

2. a few yards of some interesting tasseled trim

3. brown nylon cord/rope

4. a vast supply of false eyelashes

5. various makeup supplies in mostly green tones

I knew I wanted big hair, and I knew I wanted to include my flowers for a Nature/Planty look.

In addition to all the flora I wanted to stick into my hair I also wanted to make some falls for volume. These may not even technically be able to be termed falls, because they are so low-key, but that's what I'm going with. All I did was cut lengths of the brown cord (about 8 inches or so) and then tie a bunch of various lengths of the trim and the cord to those pieces. The trim is fat enough that you just tie it roughly in the middle (different lengths are better) once and it will stay. You want to tie your knots basically in the middle of each piece so you don't end up with weird sprongy bits that are too short- make that trim work for you twice! The cord I felt needed two knots, but that's it folks, no glue, no sewing, nada, easy as pie. Actually, much, much easier than pie. Get creative- you can make falls out of so many things- yarn, ribbons, tulle, tubular crin, leather, felt, foam, paper, lace, scarves, the possibilities are nearly endless. I think it's nearly always good to include at least two different textures/colors in your falls for more visual interest, so think about fun combos! Bonus!: with my method you don't necessarily have to destroy whatever it is, so you may be able to still re-purpose your supplies. I like to keep my falls-but you do what you like.

As you can see from the photos (hopefully) instead of taking the ends of the 8" length and tying them around my ponytails, I decided to tie them together making a loop at the end of the fall for fastening into my hair.

I made two of these roughly identical to each other- you can tie them around ponytails, but they slip around a lot and it can be difficult, I'm liking my new method better.

I have no natural texture to my hair- it is straight as can be and although it is reasonably thick, is pretty fine and blousy. So I used hot rollers and hair spray and a bit of teasing to get texture into it to make it easier to work with. It was all curly and fun when I put this look together, this is what it looked like once I'd taken it all down, but you get the idea.

Also I have three pairs of eyelashes on- some sort of spidery ones on the bottom, then some with long black feathers at the corner on the top, with another longer pair of spidery ones over that. I was very happy with the effect and will definitely be repeating this combo.

Next I made a twist of the front part of my hair (which has long layers) and poofed it into a pretty front and clipped it in place:

Then I made two ponytails behind that clip and two more as close as I could. You can do this with fewer ponytails, but more adds stability and may help keep your scalp from getting quite so sore. My ponytails are a bit sad here after all they've been through, you want yours as close to the top of your head as you can get them. Also, if you don't want any of your natural hair blending in with the falls like I did you could make little buns on top instead of ponytails.

Then I took bobby pins, two big ones for each fall, and pinned the loops that I tied close to the ponytails, you should try to get your bobby pins into the ponytails as sturdily as you can. There's one:

There's two:

I didn't want a ponytail aesthetic so I started to experiment and ended up taking wads from each fall, (including my real hair peeking through) tying them together loosely on top of my head and sticking more bobby pins in for stability. I did about two knots I think, I wanted hangey downs. I also ended up making a wad and just tying a string of leather around it because I needed bigness where I had none. You could also use a ponytail holder if you end up doing this, again, bobby pins are your friend.

After I got it shaped into my desired silhouette I started to cram flowers and leaves in. I also tied a few knots in my longer bits of trim to make them look more like moss. Now most of my flowers happen to be outfitted with hairpins, (which isn't hard to do) but you could make do without that if you just have more bobby pins. Just stick the flower in firmly and then find the stem with your fingers and secure a bobby pin around it. This will work well with most artificial flowers. Arrange your accessories to your liking and then you're done! I had my dear husband hold a mirror up for me so that I could get the back of my head arranged as well.

I also "made" my shoes which I was pretty excited about. I ripped the uppers off some old Franken-goth boots from Hot Topic that never fit right so I could have the giant foam soles and then I discovered that my simple black Croc sandals fit perfectly atop them.

(Heating and A/C technician Husband arrives home....

Excited Me: "Hey, do you have any industrial strength glue in your truck that will work with rubbery surfaces and dry really fast?"

Him: "Yeah, is permanent okay?"

IS IT?!?!? :D

Color me delighted! They worked really well for an impromptu shoe- I danced and bounced and shimmied and did little quicksteps and they held together. I was very impressed.

So, I guess that's it, please, please, please ask questions if I haven't been clear about something- I'm more than delighted to answer them.

Fairy Plant-Mother!

My new friend Dana (check her and her admirable costuming skills {among other things} out at only-zuul.com if you like) was unable to come to my housewarming back in October? and she was going to give me some babies from her plants, so she harbored them all these months so they would survive the winter and just recently was able to bring them to their new home with me!

It was a glorious day made even more glorious by finally getting to meet this wonderful lady that I had bonded with for months and months online. She and her lovely little family dropped by my home with a bounty of planty wonder.

I knew that she had some succulents to give me and when she came out of the car (looking exactly like her lovely photos by the way) carrying this amazing bowl of splendour I was as pleased as I thought I could be that day.

But lo, I was in store for even more delights as she brought pot after pot out of her car with the help of her nice husband. Here, Max checks out our new airplane plant and a lamb's ear succulent (I'd never heard of these before, they apparently sprout new little planties all along the ridged edges of their leaves- neat!)

Also, a super fat aloe which we promptly split and repotted:

Here's a shrimp plant which I was vaguely aware of before now. I'm trying to figure out where best to plant it.....

Dana called this a Giant Monkey Plant and it does indeed look like a giant version of the monkey grass my sister and I gleefully yanked out of the ground as fast as my mother could plant it when we were wee. I've since moved this pot out by my mailbox, testing the sun there before I plant it.

This is an Arrowhead fern, looks a lot like an elephant ear (astutely pointed out by Dana's cool daughter) and it has this airy light green freshness to it that I am loving right now. I don't know whether to plant it or leave it potted though...

Dana thought this was a Japanese or Oriental primrose? It looks to me like what I have always called yellow jasmine and it gets big and tall and bushy with yellow flowers all over it. It is trying out the sun on the side of our house where I hope it will add a bit of style to a fairly nondescript un-used area.

Max was having a great time checking out all the new plant friends and being outdoors

Plus I finally got a chance to bust out some of these plant stands that have been hanging around virtually useless for a while! I am loving the way my front porch looks right now. It's a huge improvement and I just have to sincerely thank Dana- these plants have brought so much more enjoyment into my home and yard for me- more than I would have guessed. It was an overwhelming and wonderful gift and a real treat to finally get to hug this super lady.

St. Patrick's Day 2010

This was the best St. Patty's ever! I really enjoyed having a plan that didn't just focus primarily on booze and we had lots of fun and learned some new things. It was a great family day- though smaller than we had hoped because my sister and her family couldn't be there because of a feverish baby girl (who is better now- yay!). It was still good green fun! Plus it gave me a wonderful reason to bust out with my green flower hair toys again, I was delighted to discover that they included bells of Ireland! Woo-hoo!

I actually had clover or false clover (I'm not certain which) growing in my yard quite beautifully this day so I wanted to get some photos of Maximus in it- I was pretty pleased with my results, though Max was a little grumpy as this was directly after his nap.

He perked up some and I got sunshiney green pictures which were just what I was hoping for!

He was really exceptionally well-behaved about my fascinators- I think he's finally learning to be gentle- which is awesome.

I had fun finding a bunch of stuff around the house the decorate the mantle with- I actually intended to put up a wooden snake that we have, but I didn't get around to it. If you can see it, there's a photo right above those beads of my sister, best friend and her husband at a St. Patty's day parade where they were very festive and very much in their cups. I wish I could have been there but it happened right before my wedding so I was too busy.

The rest of our celebration involved our version of an "authentic" Irish feast- I did some internet research and this seemed pretty accurate- plus I'd always wanted to make a colcannon. What's a colcannon? you might ask. Well- here you go. You peel, cut, boil and mash some potatoes. Meanwhile in another pan you need to cook a mixture of shredded cabbage, diced leeks, milk, butter, salt, pepper and a little nutmeg.

Once that's soft but not browned you blend it with the potatoes and then you make a well and fill it with butter, stick it in the broiler until it's slightly browned on top. Then you're supposed to eat it from the outside in, dipping your bites in the butter well as you go. It was fun, and tasty, quite mild, I never would have guessed how much cabbage and leeks were in this.

This was just our side dish though- and that drink is a shandy- which can be any kind of non-stout Irishy brew- (I guess lagers mostly) mixed with anything from ginger ale to lemonade. There's apparently a lot of wiggle room with this drink and it was tasty, just like a lighter, sweeter more refreshing beer. ( I went with ginger ale as it seemed more accurate than lots of recipes that called for sprite). Our main dish was salmon with leeks which was super easy and quite tasty. All three bears enjoyed it. You just bake some covered leeks, dill and lemons in a pan, then once they're soft, add some salmon and scoop the stuff over it and put it back in to finish cooking. It was nice- I enjoyed the leeks combined with the fish quite a bit.

Jack made sure to bring me home something green for dessert- pistachio gelato with some green sprinkles for fun. Thanks Jack!

Once Max went to sleep Jack and I watched our Netflix movie: Darby O' Gill and the Little People- which I believe is Sean Connery's very first role. Lord is he cute in this flick- it's almost too much to handle. Plus, he sings! I was really pretty impressed with the small vs. big effects for such an old movie- they were really quite believable except for a few really obviously constructed big hands and the like. I think this would be a fun movie for kids to watch, I know I would have liked it when I was little.
And now I leave you with another cute pic of my boy. I made these little sticky appliques for his outfit and I'm still working out some kinks, but they sure made my pictures turn out better- I'm so glad I did this- I think it's the beginning of yet another "little hobby" for me. We'll see if it turns out to be any more fruitful than the myriad of other things I like to do. :)

Red Barn Nursery

I'd been seeing this charming nursery off the highway close to our home for a while now and had been meaning to go. We finally got around to it and were totally delighted! Firstly it is HUGE!!!! This picture is maybe a fourth of the whole space? All the plants were happy and healthy and the selection was great. What a pretty place to even just go and take a walk with your family- plus you can give a good home to some gorgeous little planties too if you like.

I had fun putting Max up on the big tables to check out the fleurs- he was pretty gentle actually- so that was nice.

There was this gorgeous hanging wandering jew- this has got to be one of my all time favorite plants- there are so many lovely varieties.

Max had grand fun when we got to the shrub area- he kept grabbing the pots and trying to run off with them. This first one that he's holding is a type of Nandina, (I don't know how to pronounce that i) but I'm glad to know the name because I want some of these for our front yard. They are evergreen, fine in sun or shade and they have every color of fall foliage in one bush all at the same time! They are just amazing.

He was also pretty jazzed about this hose on the ground.

Still in productive-sunshiney-day-happy-plant-mode I saw this lovely tree on our way home and had Jack stop so I could get a quick picture. I've heard many names for trees like this one and I just adore them. SO pretty!

We got home with our new little plant friends and set to work getting them into some larger containers - Max was very excited about playing with our collected rainwater.

We got a purple variety of sage, some sweet basil (yum!), catnip and a sweet 100 tomato plant. Very excited about all of these. There were so many different kinds of herbs there. I'm particularly interested in the lemon basil and the CINNAMON basil!!! Both smelled divine. They have some really nice mint variations as well. I have never had an herb garden and have always wanted one. I'm really hoping that it does well. Advice welcome!