I decided today was the day to try the recipe I have for dog soap.  I haven’t used the melt and pour soap for at least ten years so wanted to make sure I didn’t make any big mistakes on video.  I put the soap into a plastic dish and thought it would be fine to microwave in, since I was only using it for maybe thirty seconds.  It did work ok, until I tried to stir the soap (to remove any lumps), and the molten soap splashed over the top and onto my thumb.  You know how melted wax adheres to your skin?  Same thing happens with soap.  It really hurt and unlike wax, didn’t come off the same way, so I had to literally wash it off.  Left a pretty nice burn that I failed to mention in the video, as I didn’t want people to see how clumsy I can be.  I will be discussing safety measures today when the soap is set.  I couldn’t believe I made such a rookie mistake.  I’ve made this soap so many times, well not the dog version, but people soaps.  It was frustrating and a mistake I won’t be making for at least another few years (until I forget about it again.)

Besides the thumb mishap, the soap smells really nice and unlike ten years ago when I had bubbles on top of my soap, I know now to spray the top with alcohol to remove them.  I found the recipe on a soap site and the woman who made it did not have any measurements for the essential oils, so I kind of guessed.  Ok, I guessed and then the bottle that I bought from Amazon has a defect  The spout that normally allows you to only drip into your project is stuck in the lid, so doesn’t stay in the bottle but rather in the cap when you open it.  Long story short, the essential oil is now a “pour spout” and I “poured” some into the soap instead of putting a few drops.  I’m a little bit concerned about the scent being too strong, but figure with the rest of the ingredients being in larger proportions, it still should work well, just a little more lavender”y”.  That was funny.  I typed in lavender with a “y” at the end and was going to ask if that was a word, and the system corrected it repeatedly, so no, it’s not a word.  The soap has a distinct lavender smell.  Much better.  The soap maker also recommended tea tree oil in her soap and I refuse to use it as I really don’t like the smell at all.  I’ll make sure to give her recommendations at the end of the video.  All in all, a typical Sandy project.

We are going to finally put the garage sale behind us today when we take everything that didn’t sell and donate it to our local family charity.  I have to say that it will be a huge relief to get it done.  I’m not a saver, so anytime I have things that I need to get rid of, I’m thrilled to do so.  I have a lot of boxes of things that need to go and I’ll feel a huge sense of relief once I’ve done it.

I’m also going to start working on the album for my girlfriends’ wedding and am looking forward to pulling out a lot of stash to make it look cute.  I think I’ll use a lot of different things for embellishments.  I have a ton of old pearls and want to use them in some way. I’m using paper roses I bought at the Dollar Tree that should really work well with the other items I’m thinking of using.  I may use gold chain and definitely lots of lace.  It should be a lot of fun to make.

I also bought a new video camera and am crossing my fingers that it will work with Rich’s software, so that he doesn’t cut out the first sentence on every video.  I know it’s a problem with the software, but I keep thinking it has to be something else.  It was the main reason I thought I needed to buy the camera, that, and the camera has an internal battery so I won’t have to keep replacing rechargeable batteries at every turn.  I’m hoping to give the camera a whirl with the videos I’m going to be recording today.  Cross your fingers for me, this could be the answer to our audio issues.

A couple of months ago, I was at a church rummage sale and found a really unusual piece and had to buy it for a quarter.  It was an old expense tracker for a business.  It had twelve small envelopes, one for each month, inside a long (but not tall) three ring binder.  The binder was fabric covered and was housed inside a fabric covered box that has an open end to slide the binder in and out.  At the time, I just thought it was interesting.  Now with my girlfriend getting married, I’m thinking I can convert it into a photo album for her.  The envelopes would be terrific for tags and the small envelopes are the perfect size to cover with a photo.  I thought I would put some longer pages between the small envelopes for more photo space.

Her wedding theme is denim and lace so I thought I would use denim style paper for the album.  I found one pack of paper from Die Cuts with a View called Denim Stack.  Unfortunately, it’s been discontinued so I had to buy it from Amazon and pay full price for it, which didn’t really thrill me.  The paper came today and I’m getting ready to start working on the project.  I have three weeks to finish it and I’m sure that will be plenty of time.  Her wedding is for the immediate family and we will be going to the reception.  I think it will be a cute project and will be a great first video to take something old and make it new again.

I have three big dogs so we go through a lot of toys.  Here’s an easy toy that takes seconds to make.  You can use white socks if your dog eats toys like this.  I take a women’s knee sock or a man’s tube sock or longer white sock of any kind, and place a water bottle with the top of the bottle facing down, into the sock.  Pull it as far as you can until it can’t move and then tie a knot.  You should have enough room to tie at least one more knot and possibly two.  This toy is great for one dog to chew and two dogs to pull. It is also long enough for you to pull with your dog.  I found my knee socks for a quarter at a garage sale and the water bottle costs almost nothing, so you’ve got a really inexpensive toy.

Happy 4th of July!  I had a terrific day.  I saw one of my college friends and gave her the coloring “books” that I had made for her and our other good friend from school.  She said she had been thinking of buying herself coloring supplies so I was really glad that she hadn’t.  It was great to spend time with her and we went to an art gallery/pottery store that’s in a refurbished old barn.  There were a ton of different types of arts there and it gave me some really good ideas for YouTube videos.  One project in particular that I really liked, was a jar that had layers of different beads inside, as well as a leather strap wrapped around the top of the bottle with a few charms on it.  The jar was a diy bracelet, and I thought the idea was really terrific.  And so easy to make!  I’ll have to keep this idea in mind at Christmas time, because it would make a sweet little present for a pre-teen or teenager and would be something that they could make while they are off for Christmas break.  I hope I don’t forget about this project and do try to keep a list of things I plan on making on video, but currently, don’t know where I put my journal of YouTube video ideas.  It’s not really a great idea if you can’t remember where you keep them.

We went to dinner with close friends and then tried to go to Hobby Lobby, but they were already closed, as were Michaels.  Oddly enough, Kohls, The Dollar Tree and Target were all open.  Sadly, we didn’t get to do any craft shopping, but I did enough of that a couple of days ago.  I really wanted to go to Michaels to pick up a pack of their white 110 pound cardstock.  It’s a really heavy paper and much nicer than the Georgia Pacific 110 pound cardstock that you can find at Walmart.  I’m not sure how they determine 110 pounds, but the Walmart paper is really flimsy compared to the Michaels version.  I just used the last (finally) of the Georgia Pacific paper and although I have some Neenah 110 pound, I like the Recollections paper better.  I have it in cream, but would really like to get the white.

All in all, it was a great 4th of July, I always enjoy spending time with the people I love and I hope you had a lovely day as well.

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I’m spending tomorrow with a very old college friend and am really looking forward to it.  She has a stressful job and I’m going to make her a small gift.  I know I referenced this before, but I  thought it would be fun to make her a small coloring set.  She and another friend from school work very close to each other in Pittsburgh and are able to get together often and I’m sad I don’t get to do the same.  They are both in stressful positions and I thought they would both benefit from a portable coloring collection.  I bought them both a set of dual tip (very inexpensive) markers from A C Moore.  I’m going to stamp on some small paper that I’ll include with the marker and using an O-ring (I’m pretty sure that’s what they call those circles that hold papers), I’ll attach the stamped papers to the markers so they can color on the go.  I thought it would be nice since they both ride the bus for thirty plus minutes and this should give them something to de-stress along the way.  By the time they get home, they should feel a little better about their jobs and life in general.  I’ve never asked them if they like to color, but you never know until you try.  I hope they like the gift and give coloring a whirl.

Sometimes when I blog, I can’t remember if I thought of something I want to talk about on the blog or if I’ve already talked about it.  If it happens that I am repetitive, I really apologize as it’s definitely not my intent.  I’m hoping this stays as fresh as possible, considering I try to write on it, in it?, daily   Isn’t it strange that I don’t really understand the terminology for a blog.  Am I writing in it like a journal, or am I writing on it, like when someone posts something on Facebook.  I’m kind of confused by this.  Whichever is the correct terminology, let’s all assume I’m using the correct version and go with it.  I hope it’s a plan we can live with.

We are going to Rich’s brother’s house for a fourth of July party and I’m really excited to go (for all the wrong reasons.)  There is a brand new really large Hobby Lobby within five minutes of his house and I’m going to leave Rich with his brother and spend some quality Sandy time at the craft store.  There’s nothing more relaxing than browsing around a huge craft store and I rarely get the chance to do it.  Our closest big stores are an hour away and I’m not (in my opinion), the best driver on highly travelled four lane streets.  It’s best that I avoid those driving situations and stick to ones less congested.  So I’m going to have some Sandy fun and am excited for the opportunity.

I forgot to mention I was at a garage sale a few days ago and found a lady getting rid of her soap making supplies. She uses the kind you melt and pour.  I used to make soap bars for co-workers a really long time ago and thought it would be fun to get back into it.  I was looking online for recipes and found one for a dog shampoo and thought that would be fun to try and it works well with my “going to the dogs” series.  I’m looking forward to playing with soap again and think I even have some of my old molds. Several molds were included with the supplies I acquired at the garage sale as well.

I’m not sure if every crafter knows what to do when their alcohol markers start to dry out,  so I thought I’d do a little tutorial on it.  All you need is 91% isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) and a eye dropper (that you only use for this purpose.)   Using a pair of tweezers, remove the larger nib and then using the eye dropper, squeeze 4-5 drops of alcohol into the opening of the marker where the nib was.  Replace the nib and let the marker lay on its side overnight.  It should work fine.  If it’s still not working, I’m not sure what else you can do beside buying a re inker for it or a new marker.  Lindsay, the Frugal Crafter recommends denatured alcohol because it is stronger with less water which is why I use the 91%.  Other crafters have use the cheap alcohol and it’s worked for them.  I thought by using the highest concentrate of alcohol, I was close enough to Lindsay’s recommendation and I’ve never had a problem using it.

I had my garage sale today to get rid of the rest of my scrapbooking things that just needed to go.  I did pretty well with the crafting supplies but of course, the bigger items are still lingering.  I think I’m going to be living with that Cuttlebug forever.  I’m proud of what I did get rid of though, and am glad that it’s finally over.  I packed up everything (except the Cuttlebug) to donate to a local family charity and have virtually de-cluttered some of my mess.

First thing in the morning, Rich put up the signs and it started to sprinkle.  Within thirty minutes, it was a total downpour and we were freezing from the temperature change.  I had dressed for it, but it was still really cool.  The people kept coming throughout the morning and then about noon, the people just stopped.  We waiting another hour (still raining) and then took down the signs (which had already fallen), and packed everything up. The minute we took down the signs, the rain stopped  and the sun was shining, naturally.  As soon as everything was packed, people started coming.  We actually had people going through the bags and boxes we had packed because apparently, they were in need of a deal.  I’m glad we had the sale, but Lynn and I agreed that they are a lot of work and we end up donating about half of the items anyway.    We should just skip the garage sale step and go right to donating in the future.  It was a sound idea.

Our two older retrievers needed to go to the groomers for their summer hair cuts.  Our old groomer moved out of the area, so we have a new groomer.  I spoke with her on the telephone and she wanted to know exactly how to cut their hair.  I said I thought I wanted their hair to be short, but I didn’t want it shorter than a Labrador Retriever.  (There’s a reason I’m writing this blog, trust me.)  So after our conversation she was completely confident that she knew what I wanted (as was I.)  Unfortunately, when our dogs got home, Honey barked at them because she didn’t recognize them.  They got a buzz cut (like in the military.)  The groomer didn’t cut the hair on their heads or the lower parts of their legs or some of their tail.  Since I’ve been doing the “going to the dogs” series on YouTube, people might not even realize these are the same dogs.  They look a little bit unusual to say the least.  I guess the next time they go to the groomers I’ll tell her to cut their hair as short as the hair on their faces, and maybe they won’t be bald.  Poor things, they aren’t very attractive, that’s for sure. They remind me of sheep after they’ve been sheared (I’m pretty sure that’s what it’s called.)  Anyway, I think we’ve all had a bad hair cut in our lives.  I remember one bad hair cut and hearing my mother say that I shouldn’t worry because it will grow. Poor dogs, don’t worry, it’s going to grow, unfortunately not before they’ve been videotaped on several occasions for the whole world to see.  Some bad hair cuts live forever.