In retrospect, maybe I should have used less paint when coloring the caulk to fill the molds. Or maybe it was a case of impatience killing the project.  Regardless, the caulk did work well when using re inker and with no coloring, but the molds that had caulk with paint mixed .in, weren’t really a winner. I had a really difficult time getting it out of the molds and tore the caulking to the point they were unusable. It did still feel tacky when I was removing it, so if I had maybe waited another twelve hours, they might have been savable.  The caulk does make really interesting lacework when used in the molds and I will continue to practice until I have a system that definitely works.  A weird side note.  I must be really truly and completely out of shape because my arms are killing me from scraping and scraping and scraping to ensure all of the holes are filled and there is no excess on top of the molds.  Isn’t that kind of pathetic? I need to start lifting weights and by weights, I mean the puppy.  I’m not giving in on this project as I see real potential for it.  It does really look great when used on a stencil.  I know the paint works for this.  it does make the stencil really hard to clean, but it’s a small price to pay when you get such great texture.  Back to the craft room for another round of how many coloring agents will I need to try before I get the right mix?

I was inspired to try a new project today so I went crazy with latex caulk and some cake decorating molds to make lace looking embellishments.  They aren’t dry yet, but it was extremely messy and much more labor intensive than normal texture paste.  I had more caulk on me and my trowel than I had on the project.  I’m not really sure if the consistency I had was correct.  From the information I have gathered, you can color the caulk with acrylic paints or re-inkers, just about anything.  I chose to try both paint and re-inker on separate pieces. The paint required more product than the re-inker to change the color of the caulk, so it made it runnier.  I’m not sure if this will negatively impact my end product, but I’m hoping it doesn’t.  I used a regular stencil with it and it was really hard to clean, even though I cleaned it immediately after taking it off of my cardstock.  I have to say, I was really impressed with what it looked like directly after taking off the stencil, but I’m not sure how things will change once it dries.

Every new DIY comes with it’s own unique quirks and we’ll have to wait to see what the finished product looks like.  The molds might be really terrific, but they are very shallow, and I had a lot of problems with air bubbles so I’m hoping I was able to fill the air bubbles and that they won’t impact our final result.  Time will tell.  This might be a really great video, or end up as a deleted fail much like my Perlier bead fiasco. You didn’t know about that?  That’s because it was deleted like all really huge fails.  It’s a rule of nature.  If the end result is so bad that it makes my hot glue embellishment video look good, it gets deleted.   Some things are too embarrassing to be videotaped.

I’m really excited about my latest video endeavor.  I’ve seen so many people make small note pad covers and post it note covers and I thought, geez, I can do those.  So I made one.  It came out great so I made another one. Ok, I thought, I’m ready to make one on video.  And then things went bad.  I’m not very mechanical and when I have to explain things like fold on the last score line then tape it then fold on another line, all of a sudden I have no idea what I’m doing or how to explain it.  I feel really foolish and actually started the video over.  That lead to another confusing explanation but the end product is really cute.  Isn’t that all that matters?  I’m not sure if someone else can follow my directions but I did try to explain it more than once so the viewer could hopefully, follow it.  I’m seriously not sure if in the end I ever explained it without backing up and re explaining it.  I wish I was one of those people who had some modicum of mechanical aptitude, but I make up for it in my total MacGyver way of being.  Maybe that’s why I have my MacGyver mentality, because it helps me overcome my total mechanical ineptitude.  I’m great with a match, a glue stick and some hairspray.  Just think of what I could make!

I really liked the card video that just went up but you can tell it is out of order from the DIY video because my bone folder still looks like it barely survived a war.  I wish you could see it as it truly looks today, clean.

I have missed playing with paper and found a bunch of notes in my journal about videos on how to make covers for legal pads, post it notes and little note pads you’d get at, wait for it, the Dollar Tree.  Not only are they small, but they are in coordinating colors with the little gel pens that they also sell.  How great is that?  I’m thinking of all the people I can give one to.  Rich already turned me down, so I’m not really sure who will be the lucky recipients.  The absolute best part about this tutorial is that I won’t end up with paint or ink or glue or anything on my hands.  It could be the first video I can remember where I haven’t gotten stained from something.  Even the DIY video had me bathed in olive oil.  Of course it’s good for your skin, but not when I’m trying to work on other projects with it all over my hands.  Still, my hands were pretty darn soft when I wrapped that video.

Note to self, make more videos with olive oil.

I’m back to considering cleaning my craft room again.  The DIY household cleanser video made quite an impression on my craft room.  I have spray bottles and white vinegar and a big ammonia bottle as well as a funnel and all of the accessories for creating a DIY video.  The one thing that none of the DIY projects did was clean up after themselves. You’d think that I could have used one of the sprays on my desk, I didn’t.   I have to admit that it was easier to bring everything into the room than it was to put everything away.  Thus the problem when crafting.  In the midst of a project, we are so focused on getting it just the way we want it that we keep pulling more and more things out of their assigned spots.  When the project is done, we don’t have the same enthusiasm for putting anything back.  We are finished working on it and are tired and leave things wherever they landed.  If only we could be as ambitious about clean up.  I did a little research on the saying “cleanliness is next to godliness” and it seems no one can agree on exactly where the term comes from or what it means. Ok, I only researched it long enough to witness bickering about it’s origin and decided I really didn’t care about it that much.

I guess the bottom line is this.  If I am going to use a product, I need to put it back.  Not later, but right after I am done with it.  That way I won’t have a lot to put away when I am finished with a project and my room will look like a non-hoarder works there.  I really can’t see myself doing that though, because it will interrupt the flow of the crafting process.  I’m not really sure what my crafting process really is and I already struggle with finding a good working relationship between my craft accessories and their storage.  I guess we’ll back burner this cleaning idea for another day.

I’m addicted to DIY.  I never realized it before, but more and more of the things I use are DIY.  When I first started watching YouTube, I watched DIY videos, and now it’s my go to place for how to do almost anything.  I watched a couple make a year’s worth of laundry detergent and thought it was hysterical, but eventually I made a much smaller version of their recipe and it did a great job on my clothes.  I absolutely love finding things that work better, are less expensive and less toxic.  I don’t use DIY projects just to save money because if the product doesn’t work, why bother?  Now I realize so many of my spray bottles that originally held one product, now hold a DIY.  I really like the bathroom cleaner I made, but Rich isn’t crazy about the smell of vinegar so I’m compromising and only using it on the toilets and in the bathtub and not as a daily cleanser in our shower.  The carpet spot cleaner I made didn’t look like it worked at all until it dried and I couldn’t believe how well it cleaned our  outdoor carpet.

I hate to iron.  That’s not entirely accurate.  I don’t iron.   Neither does Rich.  When he worked and wore those shirts that are impossible to iron, they went to the dry cleaners so I knew he would look like a professional and not like a wrinkled mess. Until recently, our idea of ironing was throwing water on the front of our clothes and hoping for the best. I found the greatest DIY that is easier than anything and works unbelievably well.  It involves white vinegar (what doesn’t) and a spray bottle.  You put in three cups of water and one cup of white vinegar and spray it onto the wrinkled mess.  I couldn’t believe it.  I used it on one of those shirts that I forgot I owned because it ended up behind everything else in the back of my drawer..  I hung it on a hanger and sprayed it and thought, good luck with that.  A few minutes  later the wrinkles were gone. GONE!  I’ve bought wrinkle removers from Downy and others and never got any results.  Unbelievable!

My favorite DIY’s are the ones that seem crazy, but work like a charm.  There’s a saying that makes no sense.  Let’s do some research.

work like a charm

Meaning: If something works like a charm, it works very well.

Origin: Probably related to the fact that one of the meanings of the word “charm” is “magic spell”, so if something “works like a charm” it works as well as magic. Whether magic actually works or not appears to have no bearing on the meaning of the idiom, with the assumption being that charms do, in fact, work very well.

Well ok, then.  I’d have never made that connection, but it makes sense.  With my DIY addiction firmly in place, I made a video on my favorite DIY cleaning solutions.  I wouldn’t put them in a video if I didn’t really believe in them, think they are a good value and are less toxic to everyone and because they “work like a charm.”