Domino Ornaments

DOMINO ORNAMENTS: To do PICTURE ORNAMENTS, you need a picture that is 1 inch by 2 inches. There are two programs that I have used: Microsoft Image Pro 9 or Microsoft Image Suite 2006 Editor. There is also Photoshop. The pictures are applied by putting a light coat of white glue with a foam brush. The picture ornaments are sprayed lightly with a clear acrylic sealer to seal. To do the STAMPED ORNAMENTS, you must use a stamp pad called Stazon, which is permanent and can be purchased at any craft store, I find it easier to ink the stamp and lay it on the table and push the domino onto the stamp for the best placement.

TO FINISH BOTH DOMINOES: Lay 1/4 inch of "Tacky Tape" around the edge of domino - it has a pink protective cover. Peel off the pink cover, and use that to measure the amount of velvet ribbon you will need. The ribbon is 5/8th of an inch wide. Lay the ribbon around the double sided tape - meeting at top - do not overlap, as your bead will not have a level surface to adhere to. Glue long silver bead on top with either Fabric Tac or "Mighty Mendit" and shape an extra-long ornament hook as the hanger, bending the ends in slightly to stay in the bead.

WHERE TO BUY: Dominoes can be purchased at Wal-Mart, 1/4 inch "Tacky Tape" and 5/8th of an inch velvet ribbon at Hobby Lobby, The large, long Silver Beads were purchased at Hobby Lobby in the Jewelry making department, and the extra-long ornaments hooks at Hobby Lobby in the Christmas ornament area. Fabric Tac is at Hobby Lobby and "Mighty Mendit" at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Handmade Soap

Hand Made Soap

You can learn about more about soap making on soapcalc.net. You can also go to this sight and come up with your own recipes using different oils. Another good spot for recipes is thesage.com.  Basic soap is a combination of oil, water, and lye. You can’t make soap without lye. Lye causes the chemical reaction that turns the fat into soap.

In this instruction set you will find a basic recipe for soap using ingredients you have on hand or that you can purchase at a grocery store. Lye can usually be purchased at a hardware store. I have found it at C&S. Make sure you buy 100 percent lye. It will be in the plumbing department next to the drain openers. You can find fragrance oil at Super Walmart next to the candle making supplies. I found these fragrances work great but be aware that any vanilla scent will turn your soap brown, which is okay if you want brown soap. You can find colorants at Michael’s in the soap making section. All of these items can also be purchased on line at thesage.com or southernsoapers.com.

Along with the recipe ingredients, you will need to gather some basic soap making equipment. You will need a basic scale to weigh out the oils, lye, and water. You will need a small plastic pail for the water/lye mixture. You will need some newspaper to line all of your work surfaces. You will need some rubber gloves and safety goggles to protect your hands and eyes from the lye. You will need a plastic pail that you can put in the microwave to melt the oils. You will need an instant read thermometer to measure the temperature of your oils and your lye water. You will need a hand blender to mix the oil and lye water. You will need a spoon and a rubber spatula. You will need some molds for your soap. The mold can be as easy as a Velveeta box lined with parchment paper or a silicone pan.


Ingredient                                    Ounces                
Water                                               24.32           
 Lye - NaOH                                      9.245
         
# √ Oil/Fat                 %              Ounces               
1
Crisco                       50                     32              
2
Milk Fat (Butter)      37.5                  24                 
3
Coconut                    12.5                    8              

The first step is to line your work area with newspaper. You should even line the sink. Put on your goggles and gloves. Weigh out the water. You can use ice as part of the water. This helps the temperature to cool to the correct temperature more quickly. Put your water pail in the sink. Weigh out the lye. Add the lye to the water and stir. Step away from the lye/water. You can take off the goggles and gloves for a time. Weigh out the oils and put them in the plastic microwavable pail.
Put the oils in the microwave just until everything is melted.

At this point you need to take the temperature of the lye/water and the oil. Wait until the temperature is between 110-120 degrees F for both the lye/water and the oils to proceed to the next step. This is important! If the temperature is too high your soap will turn into an oily mess! Believe me, I have made a few too many oily messes before I discovered this.

Put on your gloves and goggles. When the oil and lye/water are at the right temperature add the lye water to the oil pail. Use a hand-held blender to stir this mixture. When the pioneers did this step it would take several hours to get the soap blended.  With the miracle of a handheld blender this step only takes about 3 or 4 minutes.  Blend the mixture until it becomes the thickness of a thin pudding or gravy. This is called trace. Add 1 1/2 to 2 ounces of fragrance oil and incorporate with the hand-held blender. Add any colorant, incorporating with the blender. Carefully pour the soap into the molds.  Clean up is pretty easy because you have just made soap.  Use plenty of warm water.

Wait for 24 hours before you cut the soap. Allow the soap to dry for 3 weeks before you use it. It needs some time to complete its chemical processes and to dry out.

So, what happens if you have a big oily mess? Don’t panic. Just wait a few hours and take the oily mess out of molds .   Use a mixer and mix it up just like whipping up mashed potatoes.  If the soap is too thick put it in the microwave for a few minutes.  Put the soap back in the molds and bake it in the oven at 200 degrees for a couple of hours. Take it out of the oven and let it sit over night.  Cut the soap the next day.  You can use this soap 2 or 3 days after it is cut because the oven processing has speeded up the chemical process. I’ve never made a soap mistake that I could not redeem by this method.

After you learn to make basic soap you can get artistic!  Good Luck.

Family Picture Pillow

From Hobby Lobby Joanne Poulsen purchased TransferMagic Inkjet Transfer Paper. This paper is located near the fabric paints. Joanne found a decorative pillow at Tuesday Morning which had a stain on it so it was discounted. Joanne just placed the picture over the stain and sewed it on.

If making a decorative pillow, follow the instructions below using a light colored piece of fabric to transfer the image onto. Afterwards, cut image to size and sew onto deocrative pillow. If making a picture pillowcase, transfer the picture image directly onto the pillowcase. Either way use trims, laces, cording, etc. to border the image and add decoration to the pillow (pillowcase).

Printing & Transferring Instructions using an Iron:
1) Printing and Preparing Image:
*The white/non-glossy (without purple line)is the print side of the paper.
*For top loading printers place paper in tray with the purple line away from you. For bottom loading printers, place paper in tray with purple line up.
*Print design on the paper as a MIRROR IMAGE (reverse image).
*Prior to printing, print a test on economy grade paperfor layout/design.
2) Cut Out Design
*Cut out design leaving a narrow margin around edge of the image.
*Round off edge to avoid corner liftoff after washing.
3) Preparing for Transfer:
*Empty water from iron. Preheat iron to cotton setting. NO steam.
*Fabric should be 100% cotton or polycotton blend.
*Lay fabric on HARD SMOOTH SURFACE. NO ironing boards.
*Iron fabric first, if necessary to ensure flatness.
*Let fabriccool before ironing transfer images. You may use a thin pillowcase to protect your ironing surface. NO towels.
*Place transfer paper with printed image facing down (purple line up) in desired position on fabric.
4) Ironing/Transferring Image:
*Apply hot, dry iron and apply pressure while ironing over paper. The trick is in the pressure applied and the ironing time.
5) Peel:
*Allow fabric to cool completely, then smoothly and evenly peel away backing paper.
*To faciliate peeling, gently fold the fabric near an edge of the transferring image.

Decorative Christmas Plates

Supplies for the Project:
*Mod Podge or other decoupage sealer/glue
*Foam Paint Brush
*Clear Glass Plate -- note: I find these at yard sales, the dollar store, and other discount stores for very little
*Print cotton, or poly/cotton fabric
*Razor Blades
*Newspapers
*Coffee can or other object with a large diameter

Directions:
1) Wash and dry the plate.
2) Lay the plate on your fabric and move the plate around untilthe pattern you see see through the plate looks good.
3)Cut out the fabric. Leaveabout one inch of fabric beyond the edge of the plate.
4) Over newspaper, "paint" Mod Podge on the FRONT of the fabric. Make certain to coat the fabric well.
5) On another sheet of newspaper, lay the plate face down.
6)Spread the fabric over theback of the plate. You should pick up the plate and look through it to make sure you have the fabric positioned the way you want it.
7) Smooth out the bubbles in the fabric. Along the edges, smooth the fabric over the rim of the plate.
8) Once you have the fabric smoothed and you make certain it is adhering to the rim, place the plate face down on a coffee can, or some other object with a large diameter, to dry. The Mod Podge will dry in a few hours, but if you can leave it overnight the excess fabric will be easier to trim.
9) Once the fabric is dry, trim the excess fabric from the rim with a razor blade.

If you have gotten Mod Podge on the front of the plate, you can scrape it off with your fingernail or rub it off with a dry, plastic dish scrubber.

The plate can't be submerged in water to wash it, but you can wipe off the face with a damp cloth.

Genealogy News & Events

If you are considering going to the Great Family Search genealogy conference, hosted by several area Stake Family History Centers, the pre-registration deadline is October 1st. After that date you will not be able to order the $2 syllabus CD, or a boxed lunch. There is a limit of 500 people to the event, and you don't want to be turned away if you're not pre-registered! Download the registration form at www.GreatFamilySearch.com

Unfortunately, due to some scheduling conflicts (plus my having been out of town for the past 3 weeks) the FamilySearching interest group will not be meeting in September.