chiptooth

Those are great. I've been telling myself that one of these days I'm going to get to cutting out all the barbie clothing patterns I have and actually get them sewn together, but have too many other projects lined up. My daughter doesn't really play with the 3 barbies she has so I'm thinking I may crochet a barbie bed doll instead and stick to making clothes for her American Girl. How are they doing in your artfire store?

Still don't know when vacation will be. Last year was so rough on us with me being in and out of the hospital so much (why I missed last years gathering) and we haven't been on "vacation" in 3 years so we'll be ready to "run out of dodge" If we go a different day, I may try to meet some of you at the Casino. Not sure about the gathering. I'm trying to get ready for a large 4th of july festival in my town, but am soo behind on the house being kept up from my surgies that I really don't have time to play in wax anymore. I have a lot of stuff made that was done for last year. I'll see what goes and keep everyone posted. Abbie, we may be heading your way...or OC, Maryland. Haven't decided. My husband or kids have never been to OC but I have a friend in Williamsburg that I'd love to catch up with.

Is the link you provided the price with the promotion code. I did a fake order (didn't finish the sale) to see if there was a place to enter a code and didn't see any. I have a large air freshener project to do and this would be sooo much easier and cheaper to do than ordering a bunch of different shapes.

This has peaked my interest as well. I'd love to know if these take the fragrance like the cardboard freshners.

OOh, Abbie...I just caught this thread and my interest has been peaked. I am definately interested (again) and keeping my fingers crossed, knocking on wood. I might make it this year. My husband gets his vacation papers to pick his week out in a couple of days and it is possible that we will be leaving for vacation that afteroon soo I'm on hold for a few days. My SIL and MIL have been to the casino a few times. They went last tues. evening and my SIL hit $354 on a penny machine! I'm hoping to get there soon. I haven't been to the new outlet mall or the meadows as of yet. I am registering for the Ellwood Arts/Crafts/Food 4th of July festival again this year. Talk to you soon.

Carol I always buy my blanks from oak court and was tempted to buy the clearance ones but was a little leary since they weren't "perfect" ones. Are the imperfections non-noticeable enough to sell?

I think that's great. Every once in awhile my 10 and 13 yr. old will jump in and help with whetever project I'm on at the moment. It's my dream to open a shop in my basement (we've been remodeling our new house for almost 6 yrs. now but have made the basement so I can have a shop) and when we get into the new house I want to offer craft classes for kids which will include any kind of craft I can think of. I'm not doing it to make money (which wouldn't be much) I just think kids today need these kinds of outlets not only to keep crafts alive but to give them self esteem and self pride. We no longer have crafts in our Walmarts and the nearest JoAnnis about 45 mins. away. Both of my older kids know how to sew simple seams. They each have their own little singer sewing machine. My son when he was in 3rd grade made fleece blankets for everyone. He is in 7th grade this year and has a health/life type class and the teacher asked if anyone knew how to sew and he raised his hand (I couldn't believe it, thought he'd be embarassed) and the teacher really praised him and explained how much it would cost to have something hemmed....My son was actually bathing in the moment. Look at Tommy Hilfiger.

I've used the iron transfer paper from oak court to apply pictures to the cardboard fresheners and they worked great. I applied the pictures first, let them sit for a day (not sure if this is really a needed step, but did it anyway) then brushed with FO on front and back.

Very Pretty. I've gotten my bear dipping down to a science and mess less and tried once to dip a roll of toilet paper and had nothing short of a disaster on my hands and never tried again. Now that I see how pretty it can be...maybe I'll have to try again. Any hints.

NUTS! That's just a bad of suggestion as the CPSIA bill.

I just read some of the threads on this over at ETSY and geesh what an impact on everything for children under 12....I hope the government realizes what a can of worms they have opened and decide to clarify things to a meaningful, more sense making law. School taxes will skyrocket with all the things kids under 12 might start gnawing on! I'm all for keeping lead and other substances out of the hands/mouths of kids but this law is looking a bit extreme.

I read both articles concerning this rather quickly and didn't really see anything stated about hand-crafted sorts of things. Imagine the impact on the whole country as well as other countries. Seems to me like there are/should be regulations in the plants that manufacture yarns, fabrics, crafting items that clear them of having lead or other substances before we the crafters use them..even though most things are made in china anyway. I too would like more clarification on the logistics of this whole thing.

I love snowmen things...since you can put them out all through winter. Those are really cute. I have "attempting" to paint on my to do list.

I'm thinking that since DH went out and bought himself a new 50" television that I barely watch, I ought to get something for myself and an infomercial about the cricut caught my eye. They have the cricut expressions with a bunch of stuff with it for $33.00 plus $24.99 shipping for a 30 day free trial, if you like it you will be billed 50 something a month for a total of $357. I don't use credit cards so I can't just walk into JoAnns and get it on sale for $299.00 (not sure if this is the price in the current ad or I missed it) so I'm thinking this might be the way to go. I don't scrapbook but I was wanting to use it to cut out appliques to iron on to my scented hot pads and then I can stitch around them. There is a scrapbook store near me that 2x a year has a bag sale. You buy a certain size bag (smallest is $20.00 and about the size of a hallmark bag you get when you buy cards but not as thin) and whatever you can stuff into your bag is what you get for the bag you bought. My friend went to the last one and cleaned up on the cricut cartridges.

I got my start with bluegrass wax and fragrance oils, but got disgusted with the oils always being out of stock. My best seller from them is Hot Blueberry Muffins and Coconut Mango.

This is better yet! Did you know that soy candles have a memory? This is very important to know. When you light a soy candle for the first time it remembers how far across the surface it melted. For best results and longest enjoyment of your soy candle let your candle surface completely liquefy before extinguishing it. This will result in a longer lasting soy candle without the occurrence of tunneling down the center. Remember, keep your wicks trimmed to 1/4" I don't remember reading anywhere that soy candles have a memory. Maybe I better "jog my memory" and read into his article and check out his store more thorough so I can do better with my candles!

all are melts

With all my health problems I've been sort of absent and not doing much lately but finally got around to taking some pictures of the stuff I had left over from an early November craft show to put in my etsy shop.

I love to sew and can't wait until we get into our new house, my sewing room is already set up just waiting. I am going to sit this afternoon and cut out some patterns and fabric to make clothes for my daughter's american girl doll for christmas. Both of my kids (son age 13 and daughter age 10) have their own simple sewing machines and have learned the basics. My son for christmas one year made everyone fleece blankets. He was the only one in his health class who raised his hand when the teacher asked if anyone knew how to sew. I thought he'd be embarassed but he said no mom 'cause the teacher explained to us how expensive it is to have someone hem something for us. Anyway, there is a lot of help online. I saw a couple of places had basic sewing machines on sale reasonable on Black Friday. I have a few machines, mostly bought at auctions but aspire to buying a good one, one of these days. Mostly have fun.

They look terrific. Where did you find the boxes to put them in. I've been looking for just the right size.

A co-worker of my husbands is a mustardaholic and loves candles and I thought it would be a great gift for her if I could make a mustard fragranced candle but have no idea if there is such a thing or anything remotely close.

Did my last one of the year this past weekend and it was awful. I made $38.00 (table was $30.00). It was a show sponsored by the school's band and I was told in years past it was all through the halls and they usually had a really good turn out, so thought I'd try it. The application also stated that a separate area would be designated for non-homemade craft vendors, which I thought was great 'cause I hate going to craft shows seeing Mary Kay, Avon, etc. The school is under construction so they changed the main entrance from the cafeteria to they gym. They were charging $1.00 per person (even kids) to get it in. I heard the lady in charge say they took in $352.00 at the door. The traffic flow was way off because there weren't enough crafters in the gym...it looked very empty (gym was $40.00) and of those "crafters" one was Cookie Lee jewelry, Tastefully Simple and some kind of "Green" cleaning stuff that was shown on Oprah. There was also a candle vendor who took up 3 spaces. He was selling mug candles and I knew I had seen them somewhere before, but thought maybe at a different show. As I was setting up this guy came up and asked how long due my jars burn and I told him that I get approximately 30-40 hours out of the 8 oz. if it is burned correctly and they were soy. His response was "Oh really, that's just amazing" and walked off, I should've known he was the vendor. As I was taking my stuff out of the gym, I noticed his boxes had a upc on them....then I heard him saying to another vendor that he buys them at a craft store wholesale and resales them...UGH! He was selling tons of them and he didn't have anything but the 16 oz. in the mason jar mug, no melts, no votives, etc. The other soy candle person was way at the other end of the show from me and her labels were typed on a plain white rectangular label that had company name, her name, address, phone, email and fragrance all on the one label that wrapped alomst around the whole jar, wicks were crooked, wax was dripped down the side of the jars and the votives looked like they had gone through the war. Not sure if she sold anything or not. There were no tables set up in the hallway right outside of the gym so you had to take a left then another left and go up a ramp and then turned right to get to the other tables. There were signs hanging but a lot of people commented on that they didn't know we were up there and there was a side door open that people were scooting out. The ladies in charge were a bit disappointed in the chinese auction as well, they had it at the end and it was set up in a hallway that was sort of dark so it was hard to really see what all was there. They should've had it at the beginning before people spent all their $$. I also felt that they could've had some holiday music playing and thought that since it was band sponsored that maybe the band should've been set up to play sometimes during the day...even if it was just their jazz band or a small sampling. People were buying 'cause I saw them carrying around bags of stuff, just not off of me or the people on either side of me. Oh well, the rest of my stuff will go to my sister's friends xmas store when they open the christmas tree farm in a couple of weeks and the rest will go into the archives for next year.

Pinking shears work great but you could also use some Fray Check or when I am in a pinch I use my glue gun...let a little bit of glue come out and then run the fabric edge along it.

Have one this weekend that I decided to do last minute. A lady I work with said it has been a really nice one in all the past years so encouraged me to do it....however, the application info said that a seperate area would be provided for non craft vendors which in one way I'm glad 'cause I hate doing a craft show along side Mary Kay, Home interiors and flea market quality die cast cars, then again I was thinking they are desperate for vendors so let these types in. I was also thinking that since tables are still available this late...hmmm. I'm not putting any new money into what I'm making, just using up supplies. I also have a bunch of stuff left from the 2 day fall festival I did in beginning of October which I did do okay with it considering it is a very small festival. I'll be sure to post results provided there are any. I plan on having a lot of cheaper things since sometimes people really want to buy something but might not have $$ to purchase much.

Thanks everyone. I forgot to mention that I thought white would be the most logical but I was trying to stay away from white other than my vanilla bean. I guess when I think of sleighbells I was thinking of the bells on the sleigh. I think I might go with a red on the bottom and a golden on the top to simulate the gold bells on the red sleigh reigns. Maybe the different appearance will get them sold.