Perfume Sticks and Lockets

This week I was digging around looking for some other supplies for another project and...I got side tracked. As a crafter this happens a lot. Just go with it. I didn't find the supply i was looking for in my crafty stash, but I did stumble across my perfume sticks supplies.

For this project it's rather simple. Finding the supplies is a pain.
You need a scent which is usually found as an essential Oil.
 Technically the walmart oil can work, but always do a skin test. If you feel even remotely itchy don't use them. For me I haven't had any reactions to them yet.
Most of my oils come from a web site designed specifically for making these. http://rusticescentuals.com/
The other item you'll need is something to make the solid base. Some use coconut oil and cooking wax from what I've heard, but I use the base from the above site because I trust it.

Beyond those ingredients you'll need a container of some sort. I had a bag of tubes so I'll be using those but anything can work. I use two lockets as well.

YOu'll need a microwave safe container. I used a pyrex measuring cup.
An optional item is small pipettes to make transferring the melted perfume from the pyrex to the tubes easier, but it isn't necessary. Just keep some rags on hand to clean up the mess if you spill a bit.

Here are the scents I chose to use this time around. I have about 20 scents, but that's due to the web site doing a batch scents sale so I kinda splurged them. These little bottles go a long way. You don't want to add too much to a batch or it'll be over powering. that being said, I followed my old instructions to the letter. I only used a pipette or two full of scent per batch, but it wasn't enough.  I got quite a few comments about not smelling the perfume. So the ratio of scent to base is up to your own preferences really. 

 These are two of my containers. The small tube to the left is a basic lip balm tube. the clear one on the right is a bigger one. I like varioation. these can also be found at the web site linked above.

I chose this base from the web site because it was listed as all natural. With more and more people shying away from things that have weird chemicals in them I figured it would be a good idea to choose something natural just to be safe. Theoretically you can use coconut oil but I haven't used it yet so I don't know how it reacts. I do know coconut oil has a lower melt temp than this, so hot days will cause it to melt. This stuff wont.

What it looks like on the inside. it feels like well oil really, just hard. As you can see I'm almost out. For this project I used up what was left.

 YOu don't need to use a lot for one tube to be honest. This is...maybe one spoonful? Maybe just a bit over. I microwave this in intervals starting with 40 seconds. This round that was enough but some of my other batches required multiple rounds of time. Be careful, the cup will be hot.

 I didn't get any pics of the pour stage because this stuff has to be done fast. What you do is pour your scents into the melted wax and stire for about a minute or so. It's up to you. Then you need to pour these into tubes. This was the first batch and because i chose to do the bigger tube I didn't quite have enough. It's ok since this was one I was keeping.

Blurry image right after a pour. Someday I'll get a better camera. :P

These were some other containers I wanted to use. They're lockets. As I said you can use anything. These will allow someone to wear the perfume without having the get the oils on them if they wish. 

Another option, if you don't want to make a solid perfume stick, is to take a little bit of your essential oil and put it into a bottle with a cork. The cork sucks up the scent and you can wear it around. However I'd suggest diluting the oil. Oils have a high potency without diluting them.

These are all of the perfumes after I ran out of base. My last batch ended up with quite a few tiny tubes.

Overall, this is a lot of guessing. Have fun with it. You can get exact measurements if you want, but I sort of just winged it after a while because the exactness was giving me very mild scents and i have quite a few friends who like more powerful scents.

Feel free to ask questions, leave comments, etc. I"m always up for a chat!

Winter is Coming Glass Pendants

In this post I'm trying something new. I keep seeing those focal pieces with the picture behind the glass bubbles. I have a big batch of them so I plan to make a few Game of Thrones House pendants.

What you'll need:

Round glass focal
Your design to be placed on the back
Cork for magnets
Moleskin for necklaces
Bails
E6000 glue
Modge Podge
necklace or cord for necklace


The first thing you need to do is print out your images. I used some Game of Thrones pictures. You need to size them to the focal you are using. The easiest way to do this is to place the focal over the image and trace around the focal as closely as you can. Once you cut out your circle glue it to the back somehow. Depending on your printer the image shouldn't smudge when you put Modge Podge over it.

To start with you want to use your glass cabochon to make a circle on your paper. Once you get that circle cut out (and may scavenge the rest of the image for more cabochons like i had to) you'll have to put Modge Podge on the back. I used a paint brush. Place the cabochon to you paper and use more Modge Podge on it to glue it in place. If you're getting a milkiness in your image place the whole thing paper down before repainting it and press, that'll push all the bubbles out and give you a clearer image. 

The back will look something like this once its glued down and re-glued. It'll feel a bit plastic-like on the back, don't worry about it. If you have edges that didn't stay flat clip them with tiny scissors and do another gluing.

This is how they should turn out if you did everything right. How the image sits is up to you. It's all a matter of preference.

This is what you'll get if you scavenged the rest of the images. I made ones with the house sayings and ones with the house names. I have plans for another post on how to clear up the blank space, but really you can do anything there.

Other examples of images that came be used. I had some glass cabochon's left so I filled them. Then I discovered some of my metal backs left with their glass so I made a whole set of Sailor Scouts! I think I like the glass ones better because the glass magnifies the picture.

The last thing you'll need to do to these before finishing the backs is to attach bails so you can hang them on necklaces if you'd like. Bails are little metal pieces with a loop that you can use to make these into necklaces. They look like this. And a good, non-asian market, seller with a good price can be found here: https://www.etsy.com/transaction/208041901

You'll want to glue these on with E6000. In some cases it might have been best to glue them on first, but I'll have to experiment with that to say one way or the other. Give them a day to fully dry.

This is what mine looks like once I glued the bail on.

After you're happy with you pieces and your bails are glued on tight you can cover the backs with moleskin so nothing rubs on your skin. I've seen other do this with cork or regular cloth, but over all moleskin fabric or even scraps pieces of mirco suede is nicer on your skin.

This follows the same process of construction as the circles. Trace your glass cabochon, cut, and glue the piece on. Don't do a second outer layer of glue though. That'll take away the nice feeling of the fabric.

These glass cabochons can be anything from necklaces to magnets to whatever you want. You could even decorate an entire table with them, resin it over, and have something fun to look at. It's all up to you.

Feel free to ask questions, leave comments, etc. I"m always up for a chat!

Treasure Boxes

This weeks little craft is Treasure Boxes. I made a few of these for my brides maids a while back and decided I wanted to make a few more.

What this will require is:
Paints. I use the cheap Acrylic paints you can find at any craft store
Wooden boxes. I got mine from Craft Wearhouse.
You designs for the tops can be anything you want.
Spray on sealer of some sort.

The batch of blue ones will have people names in gallifrayan written on the tops. I use a program I downloaded from the internet for this.

You need to paint the boxes blue first.

Then when I get a name I put it into the program, print out the image. Use carbon paper to sketch the image onto the top of the box and trace that sketch with a sharpie. Once the sharpie dries I'll seal it.

The other colored ones I have will have the sailor moon emblems drawn onto them. These ones will have pictures.

These are what the little boxes look like before paint.

After paint, which you may need to do a few coats of, they look like this.

Now for the harder part, or the detail work. If you want an image on the top you'll need to find a way to get it on there unless you can draw. I can't. It's as simple as that, so I use things that help me get good images on the tops, like carbon paper. For those who don't know, carbon paper is black paper with one side coated in a fine dust. When you trace the other side this dust gets transferred to the surface of the item you are tracing too. Just put and image over the top and trace.  

Option 2 is to carefully paint on the design. If you have a steady hand and can draw you're good to go.

Option 3. Wood Burning, but that takes a lot of tools and patience.

Option 4. Modge Podge. Everyone loves Modge Podge. In a sense its a quick cheat for projects, but don't use it on anything that's going to get rough treatment.

This is after the modge podging. I'm thinking at some point I'll design better toppers, but for now they'll work.

Beyond this point it's up to you if you want to seal this with something else like resin, or a clear spray, or whatever you choose to use. I"m thinking I might do some more with these with glitter or whatnot and then either resin the tops or spray seal them.

Here I went ahead and added some glitter.

Really you can add anything just make sure you do another layer of sealer. I've sealed the tops of these but still plan to do another layer all over later.

Feel free to ask questions, leave comments, etc. I"m always up for a chat!

In the Name of the Moon

Shrinky Dinks.

If you don't know what these are you're possibly too young for quite a few things, or you spend too much time on a phone/computer/electronic device and what are you doing on my blog? I'm kidding. I live on my computer too. Don't worry. I assume if you are here you're looking for a craft. A simple one at that.

Well you can't get any simpler than Shrinky Dink charms. Seriously it's very simple. However it does take a little precision.
For the record this is a new craft to me. I had no idea what I was doing. Be WARNED: DO some research first. I'm still perfecting this as I go because I didn't look things up.

I had to learn the hard way:
to lighten up the brightness of my images or they bleed and get really dark when they shrink.
that if I want a certain size charm then I may need to make my images bigger.
that my printer hates the shrinky dink papers size that comes in the little Joann's craft refill packets.
touching the image will smudge it.
finding a proper sealer or it'll fade

Anyway, lets begin. Find a picture that maximizes your sheet of plastic.
I used a rip from the sailor moon games so I'd have little 8bit figures.
I then opened them in gimp cuz I'm too poor for photoshop lol and brightened the image. for me my chosen number was 111 but it might be different for you.
After brightnening the image I resized it till it looked like it would print. This might take some work on your part. Everyone's printer is different and I can't figure out how to set my margins for mine.

Once it was set to a decent size and I didn't feel like my printer would cut it off in a weird place I sent it to print.
A lot of people online will say you can only use this or that type, but I use the generic refill packets from Joann's crafts cuz it was the easiest to get a hold of. I'll be looking into finding bigger sheets though.

After it's printed you'll have to trim it. Make sure you hole punch first or your might make a mistake like I did and cut your edges too short leaving no room for a punch. With the punch already in it'll be easy to cut around it.

After all the trimming is done the heating can begin. Lay your pieces out on a baking sheet. For now I'm using a pizza sheet. Not such a great option really cuz the edges curve but it works. A flat sheet is best. Put a piece of paper on it and make sure your put your cut pieces with the rough side down or the plastic might stick to the paper.

As the pieces go in the over at 350 degrees you'll notice they'll curl in on themselves and even flip. Don't freak out this is all how it works lol.

When they look as flat as they'll get or they stop shrinking pull them out and try to get something heavy on top of them quick. I haven't managed to perfect this yet so mine still curl a bit. The baking part takes me about 1 maybe 2 minutes? However all ovens differ so play around.

When they are done a cooled then you can put little o rings on them for necklaces or what not.

Have fun!

As always, Feel free to ask questions, leave comments, etc. I"m always up for a chat!

My Extended Absence

I apologize for being gone so long. A whole month more or less. You see, my plan when I started this was to do at least one post a week. I do still intend to meet that goal by the end of the year and to keep posting as much as possible but May was one hell of a roller coaster ride for me; physically, mentally, and emotionally.

In truth it began with a lot of Joy. I got married to a very wonderful man. I'll be calling him Squishy from now on. (Someday I"ll explain that pet name.) May 3rd was a lot of fun. That was what all that wedding crafting was for too. I had a lot of wonderful helpers and it was the most stress free I'd been in a long while.

After that my husband and I spent a week in Hawaii; a very generous gift from his grandmother. It was a blast. I might post some pics on here later. It was the first time I'd been in a plane, the first time out of the states, and the first time in a long time my allergies weren't going nuts. I loved every minute of it.

Then we came home and did a quick trip to Dystopia Rising. It was all going great with only a few minor bumps until all that good energy dropped away and I sprain my ankle just before the weekend started. I spent the whole weekend limping around and generally being miserable. I ended up begging my friends and staff to let us going home early. The reason for this oddity is that D.R. has a few rules. Two being that you must serve a shift as the bad guys and you must help with camp clean up. I was dead by the end of the weekend. Thankfully the staff was amazingly considerate and let us go. But the month wasn't done being unkind to me.

I got home and a few days later got a call that my grandfather had fallen, was in the ER, but was fine except for some pain in his hip. Literally the day after he left the hospital he feel into a sleep and passed away. This hit me really hard. I spent most of the day crying, but it's what comes after that so hard. I won't go into those details. I'm just giving you the reasons why such a young blog has stopped all of a sudden. I will post. I will keep this going.  I just can't do it right now and for that I'm sorry.

You still get the hanging dragon that never was though. Apparently theres a type of clay that just doesn't liek to bake right.