Art can be as easy as changing light bulbs for each room to accommodate its use. I keep a soft pink light bulb near my bed when I wind down at the end of the day. Dishes can even be considered art as I see people hang pretty garage sale china across or up and down there wall. All you need is a little motivation and to be sure you find the studs! Books can be a form of art. A book with a beautiful cover can be purchased at many discount book stores to throw on your coffee table. With any luck it will be a topic that interests you. The next book I want is all about essential oils and herbs. Food is a form of art. I keep all of my mason jars and dry goods in mason jars and arrange them in a colorful order. Photo's with matching frames may take a while to revamp, but that is a form of art. You can spray paint all wood frames white if you like, and then paint a design on them! A few new throw pillows for the couch or bed, silk flowers that look real, and mirrors when used right can also be considered art. One lady took several different kind of maps and framed them on her wall for decor and the appearance of a map collection. It is my goal to have a mason and apothecary jar collection. Soaps and candles are a form of art. I just had a discussion with a lady today who said making chunk pillar candles with scrap wax does not burn well. I told her they are beautiful if you never intend to burn them. She agreed with that part. The down fall is Wal-Mart has beautiful candles now for decor, but I would not recommend burning them for scent. This year we are using two small white pumpkins as candle holders for the Thanksgiving table.
Silk Petals in Vase You can fill pretty
glass vases with silk flower buds or petals in color's that compliment your room's
decor. We do not recommend you scent this type of decor. You can find silk flowers at real bargain prices just after any holiday! Top Be a Mabel Club Member! Craft Supply Store Mabel Archives Bath Bombs for Your Dishwasher OK, you heard about bath salts for your vacuum cleaner, here is a bath bomb for your dishwasher. I love the Electrosol tablets more than any other tablets, but a subscriber taught me citric acid is just as good to remove hard water stains. Any of us crafters with Citric around can save some money by making our own tabs. I would just use one part citric acid, one part borax and one part baking soda and try to ball them up with a tad of lemon oil. Vinegar can also go in the rise section if it requires liquid only. To make actual tablets that would not back fire on the purpose, I am not sure. I just may have to scrap the idea of pre-made balls by dropping the lemon oil idea.
Click thumbnail to see results. It looks much better in real life and really cheers up the neutral colored room. These are two pieces meant to be side by side and staggered a bit. They have not been framed in glass yet. I really dislike buying artwork to go in rooms when I have a degree from Ringling School of Art. Granted that was 16 some years ago, but I should know how to get around. Still, I was petrified. I went into the Ringling supply store and stared at the canvas and paper afraid if I bought anything I would screw it up. I needed 2 by 4 foot paper for my projects. The canvas was $30 each! I could buy a cheap lithograph for that. I ended up buying the durable paper with frayed edges. This is so that if I landed a design I liked I could THEN pay to have it framed or mount it to a canvas with no border to hang. Total cost? $9 for four big sheets. This job I decided not to perform overnight and have patience for. I did know I wanted big hearts involved and a country folk effect I saw one time at a fair. I cut out a heart shape from a hard paper and then used that to cut out all other hearts. I decided to alternate the bubble art with photos of my family that complimented the colors of the bubble art. I can print anything in landscape as long as it is a normal page size and I can use my heart stencil to cut around the edges so they are all uniform. Once I determined placement, I used serious glue stick all over the back of the heart and slapped it where I wanted it. I decided one set would be bright for my living room and one pastel for my bedroom. I could also glue dried roses over the pastel bedroom one if I like. When I am done I swirled Elmer's glue around and then threw gold glitter all over the glue so it will dry that way. Just a touch and thin lines will do. I had to wait away for the glue to dry before I poured excess gold glitter off the paper. I used plain old side walk chalk to run around every photo border and that gave it a nice country touch. After the complete collage is done I will use a non-acid coat to protect the whole project and most likely have it framed to keep it air tight. Regarding art in general it is OK to splash around and get your hands wet. You will never know until you try.
Peppermint Breath Freshener Recipe: Elixir
Recently I found out that little bottle cost no more then 40 cents to make! What do you need to make it? A dram bottle with a nipple, (the kind we carry our flavor oils in) vegetable glycerin and a just FEW drops of Peppermint essential oil. For long term use buy a glass bottle with a dropper. Mix well because Peppermint oil can deteriorate the plastic. Transfer your potion with a pipette. Highly recommended for kissing. You can even do an off shoot like strawberry-mint. Our
menthol crystals are very powerful and can be heated in any
edible oil base. Just a few crystals will
Blemish Stick Recipe I found this
interesting and it is made via the Lip Balm Stick method. I would use it to draw
or quickly heal a
Solution for Soap Scraps: Recycle Them Into Your Next Batch
The bigger challenge, the one I am now into, is baking my soap after is comes to trace to delete the six week curing time. I discus how to bake soap in the last issue of my newsletter. This weekend I wanted to see if I could bake my soap in a PVC pipe and not just a glass bread pan loaf as I did last time and to see if I could incorporate already baked chucks into the newly traced soap with any success. Trust me it was a success or I would not be writing this article. So the answer, yes, I can use PVC pipe and the pipes had to stand up on the lowest rack in the oven. My pipes are about one foot long. No, the process did not ruin my oven in any way or the new soap. I prepared the lye first, knowing I had a good hour for it to cool to 110 degrees and while doing that I selected my oils, mostly Canola and a little palm kernel oil. I melted those oils together in the microwave knowing they also needed a good hour for the oils to cool to abut 110 degrees. I also set the oven at 180 degrees knowing it would be ready when I had to bake the soap for 2 1/2 hours. Then I prepared the molds by greasing major petroleum jelly all around the inside with my hand and then closing the bottom of each pipe off with two pieces of aluminum foil and lots of duct tape to prevent any leaks. When it came time to mix and trace the soap I alternated pouring soap into the PVP pipe and throwing chucks of already baked soap chucks in. I made sure I mixed colors that were pleasing to the eye and they all came out and sliced great. The aluminum foil only affected 1/4 inch of the entire soap loaf it was touching. I had concerns there also. The first 1/2 inch of the top exposed to the oven never comes out nice so that has to be cut and thrown away first when starting to cut.
Cure for Soapers Hands I see all kinds of
soap, for fisherman, hunters, and even gardeners, but no where do I see a remedy
for
If you TRULY have this condition or know someone who does, I am working on a pine tar soap recipe that I think I have just right. I have about 20 samples to mail out and I do expect a serious critique in return of the effectiveness and if it helped the user heal at all. e-mail your request and address to mabelco@tampabay.rr.com, Note: This was a very old article and the soap never really worked, FYI. A recent (2006) trip to London revealed what does. Please click here for that e-book.
Bath Bomb Troubleshooting
Vitamin Buffs We are so in love with the ALL-One powdered program featured in the last edition, we are willing to send samples and information to those who are truly interested in giving it a try and likes smoothies. Please e-mail mabelco@tampabay.rr.com with your name and address and subject title ALL-ONE offer. Click here to see about ALLONE on our Health Page. We are offering a free smoothie book for any 30 day supply order. To see the previous article about ALL-ONE click here title "Morning Blast." See our opinion on Health: Acid Versus Alkalinity
Yes, we are committed to the coconut kick and found a wonderful recipe for coconut rice. No, it does not include shredded coconut which turns most people off. We simply used Jasmine rice in a rice steamer (so you can never burn it) and mixed one part rice with two parts water. Coconut milk or oil can be mixed in and just set back. Most people cannot notice the coconut scent, so my kids just loved it. To make a rice pudding you cannot stop eating simply take the left over rice and mix it with a can of cream of coconut. Heat up and you are ready to pig out. I keep my chai spices in a clear pepper grinder so grind the spices over the pudding was just a great and easy touch. Click here to see the coconut hype. You can also make the nouveaux in style green tea steamed rice by using green tea in the steamer instead of plain water.
Feed Back Requested A request from product development. We all hear about miracle cures, but the best method has always been hands on and word of mouth. If you are going though any kind of ailment, please tell us what that ailment is and what does work for you. We may be able to reproduce a better product and lower cost for you. Please e-mail mabelco@tampabay.rr.com and title Health Issue. One example would be in college I got Mononucleosis so bad and no one could cure it--they only treated it. After DRAGGING myself into a health food store I bought Golden Seal Root to clean my blood, bee pollen for energy and the ALL-ONE product. Those items sure worked for me and I was myself again in three days. A doctor recently told me beer breaks down and prevents kidney stones. Crystal Light Lemonade will also break down kidney stones. Good thing because I do not drink beer.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Most people feel they are not
creative, and/or cannot sell. I feel if they ever got a date, or achieved
marriage they must have been creative and they do know how to sell. The second
issue is the feeling, "I love art, but I cannot afford it." Art is
more than you think, you can do it, and you can afford it. Art inspires our
whole environment and beyond fragrance we always tout, you can get creative.
My old saying is "we may be poor, but we are clean" and that goes into
creating art of we cannot afford Picasso. 
I paid $9 one day for a breath
freshener "Elixir" made by AVEDA. I was at a hair salon and feeling spendy. The
little bottle lasted forever in my purse and really came in handy at the most opportune
times. First was is the definition if elixir? I wanted to know.
do the trick.
This is excellent for those who smoke, or have bad breath for medical
reasons. Very powerful and fresh. You may consider one drop
of clove essential oil for mouth sores and so on. You can also use
a small spray mist bottle.
Whether I am using the melt
and pour or cold process method of soap making, I always end up with mega quality
chips after cutting. Many other soapers have this problem and usually solve
it by making soap balls out of the scraps. I really do not think soap balls
sell as well as soap bars. I saved the chips and chunks in little empty
buckets according to their color to figure out how to use them at a later
date. With the melt and pour you would just arrange the chunks to your aesthetic
taste and pour clear or white melt and pour soap base over them, allowing to
cool. 
soapers hands. Even
though I wear nursing gloves and then dishwashing gloves over my hands, for extra
protection, one way or the other I manage to get raw soap on my hands. I now
keep a bottle of lemon juice nearby, more so if I know I got slimed and after I
have rinsed the area with lots of water. But still, after the event is over
my hands are dry and appear a little boiled. To counter act this condition I
wet my hands with lemon juice when I am done and then use nourishing carrot hand crème
I made myself with castor and Emu oils. It really does keep my hands soft and
supple the remainder of the day. 
A few of my customers told me they use a little melted butter to
keep their bath bombs together. I always depended just on the oil in the
fragrance. Butters mean Shea, Mango, Aloe, Coconut or any of the other great
oil based butters out there. Any water based colors or ingredients would set
the mixture off. So, this weekend I used 1/4 cup of mango butter for every 2
cups of my normal bath bomb recipe and it worked like a charm. In fact, it is
best to melt the butter in the microwave and add your colors and fragrance to that
before incorporating into the dry ingredients. I did not even have to test the
bombs! When I placed the bowl in the sink with the remnants of the
project--the bowl fizzed like crazy. This is NOT good news for me. It
means I have to go back and amend every recipe I ever wrote about bath bombs or
seltzers!