Tuesday Tutorial -- More on paper beads

I found a wonderful article on e-how about making Mexican paper beads.  Below I have posted the instructions for making these beads that you will find on the site:

1. 
   
   Step 1
   Tear the old newspapers into long, thin stripes. Using scissors cut the strips of newspaper into small pieces over a large bowl.
   
2. 
   
   Step 2
   Fill a large pot with 4 inches of water (or the amount you feel is needed to cover the paper completely). Bring the water to a hard boil. Once the water is boiling remove the pot from the heated area.
   
3. 
   
   Step 3
   Empty the pieces of newspaper into the boiling water. Stir with a long-handled cooking utensil to help the paper dissolve. Allow the pieces of paper to dissolve for at lest one hour or more before continuing to the next step.
   
4. 
   
   Step 4
   Drain the water from the pot. Use your hands to mash out as much water from the paper as possible.
   
5. 
   
   Step 5
   Remove the paper from the pot, squeezing as much water out as possible. Place the paper into a large bowl. Mix glue into the paper; it's best to use your hands for this task. Add enough glue to the paper so that it will hold together when formed into ball shape.
   
6. 
   
   Step 6
   Knead the glue and the paper with your hands until thoroughly mixed. Add glue as needed till the paper can be formed into round balls and hold their shape.
   
7. 
   
   Step 7
   Roll the mixture between your palms to form round-shaped beads. Squeeze out as much moisture as possible as you roll.
   
8. 
   
   Step 8
   Allow the beads to dry for a few days. Roll each bead every few hours until they are completely dry.
   
9. 
   
   Step 9
   Create a hole in each bead using a drill. Choose a drill bit that is slightly larger than the stringing material that you will use to string the beads.
   
10. 
    
    Step 10
    Sand the rough areas that were left by the drill. Sand any rough areas on the surface of the bead.
    
11. 
    
    Step 11
    Paint the beads with colors commonly found in Mexican jewelry such as turquoise, adobe, brown, black, red or ivory. Use different brushes and colors to create your own unique effects. Set the beads aside to dry for 24 hours.
    
12. 
    
    Step 12
    Coat the beads with a clear varnish. Add repeated coats until you have the desired effect. Let each coat of varnish dry for at least 24 hours.
    
    I think this sounds like fun, but to see how beautiful these beads turn out you need to visit another blog, A Storybook Life.   Here are a couple of the wonderful photos you can find there, but the best part is all the comments where you can get more information about how to make these beads.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

Herbal Shampoo Recipe

Here is a wonderful recipe for making your own shampoo that is less expensive, simple, and better for your hair.  Check this out and then visit the site, Learning Herbs, for even more information on ways to incorporate herbs into your daily life to improve your health and your wallet.

Here's the recipe:

by Rosalee de la Foret

Caring for your hair, inside and out.
One of my favorite aspects of being an herbalist is to incorporate herbs into every facet of my life. Besides using herbs for our health we can use herbs to clean our kitchens, to cook nutritious foods, and to decorate our homes.
This article looks at another aspect of incorporating herbs into our lives – washing our hair.
Walking down the personal hygiene aisle of a grocery store you can easily get overwhelmed at the amazing amount of choices. You can also easily get overwhelmed at the amazingly high prices!
Besides being pricy, conventional shampoos contain many harmful chemicals.
One example is parabens. These chemicals are a common ingredient in hair care products and have been linked to cancer. Surprisingly, shampoos claiming to be more “natural” can also contain harmful ingredients.
In today’s recipe we’ll make affordable organic shampoo with herbs!
But first a word about healthy hair.
Our hair (like our skin and nails) is a reflection of what is going on inside our bodies. Healthy hair comes from within. A diet rich in nutrients will do more for keeping your hair healthy than any fancy shampoo.
Many of us wash our hair daily but this can actually dry out and further damage hair. I have gone through periods of my life when I never washed my hair. Instead I rinsed it vigorously with water while bathing. You might think that I had oily unhealthy looking hair, but I frequently got compliments on my curly locks.
Now that I live in a drier climate I’ve found that I need to wash my hair, but no more than a couple of times a week. If you currently wash your hair daily and would like to experience the benefits of fewer washings I recommend slowly cutting back to every other day, then every two days, etc. You might find your hair to be oily during these transition periods, but once your hair regains its natural balance you’ll notice this less and less.
Another thing to take note of is that the squeaky clean feeling we are used to experiencing with conventional shampoos is actually signaling that we are stripping the hair of its natural and beneficial oils.
The following recipe works well for people with more oily hair. Please see below for variations for different hair types.
To make this shampoo recipe you’ll need:

• 8 oz distilled water
• 2 teaspoons of dried rosemary                                   
• 2 teaspoons of dried rose petals                                   
• 3 ounces liquid castile soap
• 3 Tablespoon aloe vera gel
• ¼  teaspoon of jojoba oil
• 30 drops of pure rosemary essential oil

You can get ALL the ingredients right here.
(HerbMentor.com members, remember to log in to HerbMentor to get your 10% off.)

Place the rosemary and rose petals into a jar.

Fill the jar with boiling water and immediately place a lid over the jar.
Let this mixture steep for a minimum of 30 minutes. Sometimes I just let the mixture stand until cool.

Strain the herbs. Let the remaining liquid cool to room temperature.

Place the liquid into a shampoo bottle. (You can buy a new shampoo-like bottle or simply store it in an old shampoo bottle that has been washed out.)

Add the castile soap to the container

Then add the jojoba oil and essential oil.

And finally add the aloe vera gel.

Shake well and voila! You have your own handmade herbal shampoo. You’ll want to shake this mixture each time before you use it.
This shampoo should last for several weeks. If it will take you longer than that to use the whole content you may consider keeping a portion of it in the fridge to prolong the shelf life.
If you don’t have distilled water (you can buy it at any grocery store), you can use regular water – but this may lead to a shorter shelf life. The distilled water ensures that you aren’t adding any bacteria to the mix.
Variations:
(Feel free to mix and match herbs.  This recipe uses about 3 teaspoons of dried herbal material.)
If you have blond or lightly colored hair you might use chamomile and calendula in your herbal mix.
For a dark blend you can mix nettle, sage, and black walnut hulls.
For dry hair try violet leaf and marshmallow root and possibly add more oil to your recipe.
To strengthen your hair, simmer horsetail, oatstraw, and nettle for twenty minutes. Strain and cool. Use this as your herbal base.
Besides rosemary essential oil you might also enjoy chamomile, lavender, and sage essential oils. If you have an itchy scalp and/or dandruff you might try adding tea tree oil to the mix.
Besides jojoba oil you can try almond oil, sesame oil, or even olive oil. Note that olive oil will leave more of a greasy feeling than jojoba or sesame oil. If you have really dry hair you can add a bit more oil to your recipe. If you have really oily hair stick to the jojoba oil and possibly add less to your recipe.
Once again, you can get ALL the ingredients right here (opens in new window).
Enjoy your herbal shampoo!
- Rosalee

Window Shopping Wednesday -- Wall Dancers

Here's a look at a wonderful polymer clay artist that I truly admire.  Her work is funky, funny, unique, and particularly beautiful.  Just looking at her work makes me smile and feel good.  I have been reading her blog for quite some time and for a short while I thought she had quit blogging.  She is dealing with a health issue and so I worried about her status.  Imagine my pleasure to see that she is back and she is better than ever.

So, with no further ado, I give you Wall Dancers for your visual pleasure.

Great, huh?  Don't forget to visit her blog and maybe drop by her Etsy store to see even more beautiful items!

Tuesday Tutorial -- Felt Dolls

Tuesdays' posting will be some type of craft tutorial that I find as I surf the net.  You'd be surprised at the number and the quality of the tutorials available for crafters on the internet.  As a newbie doll maker, I am always interested in new ways to make dolls, so for this posting we will learn how to make felt dolls.

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This is a posting from SnipSnapHappy.blogspot.com.  I hope you make several of these dolls.  I know I will be trying them out!

Matryoshka Doll Tutorial

After all the fun I had making my matryoshka style dolls a couple of weeks ago I thought it would be mean not to spread the fun a little. So I am going to do my first ever tutorial and try to share with you how to make one!

I have tried to be nice and clear, use lots of pictures and not to over-explain things (as I have a tendency to do) but do let me know if anything can be improved. When I was first starting out with mosaics and sewing and crochet I was desperate for free simple tutorials that made sense so constructive criticism will be most welcome and I promise not to sulk ;)

Right, lets get started…

Snipsnaphappy’s matryoshka doll tutorial

You will need:

• 1 A4 size (about 21x30cm) piece of felt in the colour of the main body of your doll
• 1 A4 size piece of felt in the colour of the hood of your doll
• Some small scrap bits of black or brown felt for the hair (or red, yellow, green or whatever colour you like!)
• Fabric for the face – I use a lovely light canvas hemp fabric (which I buy from Hemp Fabric UK) but some plain cream cotton or linen would do just as well
• Paint for the face (I use acrylic)
• Ribbons, trims, buttons and bits for decoration
• Stuffing (not the sage and onion kind)
• Embroidery threads for the visible hand-sewing
• Plain thread for hand or machine sewing your finished pieces together
• Scissors
• Fabric glue if you intend on gluing your embellishments.

First you need to cut all your pieces. I have done a PDF for you with the shapes you need.  As I can't work out for the life of me if it is possible to somehow upload this to Blogger I have popped it on Scribd.  Click here to go get it.  This pattern is hand-drawn and a little rough round the edges but it should help you get the job done :)  Do let me know if you have any problems retrieving this.

For the front hood, fold your felt in half then pin the pattern piece with the dotted line along the fold…[...]

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My Prayer Dolls are almost done

Here's the bunch so far, just a few things to do to complete them.

The one with the hat still needs the box part.  Her's shrunk when I baked it!

I cannot wait to give these away to my friends.  When I made each one, I concentrated on the attribute I wished to send to them.  Now all I have to do is add the word, so it will be doubly potent.

More on my prayer dolls

I have been working on my prayer dolls and they really are looking pretty.  I stayed up until after 1AM the other night painting on them and I have to say I had a ball.  The next morning, I took pictures to show my progress.

Here they are:

I still lack painting their hair and adding collage items so I can cover them entirely with a sealer.  I think they are really cute and I plan to make many more.

 For my friend, Rebecca

 For my sister

 For my friend, Kenita

 For my friend, Elizabeth

and hopefully, this one will be for me!

I love spa treatments as much as the next girl (perhaps more).

Here's 3 lovely spa recipes I found that are wonderful and decadent.  These come from the-coveted.com and I have to tell you I am in love with the sugar body polish.

I hope you enjoy a spa day on your next day off!


If your skin needs a little rejuvenating, try one of these ultra-easy D.I.Y. skin treatment recipes and let the pampering begin.

Sugar Body Polish

1 1/2 cups raw or brown sugar
1/3 cup real maple syrup
1/3 cup olive oil or sunflower oil
Drops of your favorite essential oil (Optional)

Prep: Mix ingredients together and put in a closed container.

Use: Apply scrub to wet skin in a circular motion to exfoliate. Remove thoroughly with water and a wash cloth.

Refreshing Cucumber Toner

1/2 large or 1 medium cucumber (unpeeled but washed)
2 tablespoons witch hazel

Prep: Puree cucumber in a blender or mixer. Next, strain the cucumber pulp into a bowl. Mix the liquid from the cucumber only with the witch hazel.

Use: Soak a cotton ball with the toner and apply to face, neck and chest.

Calming Oatmeal Mask

2 tablespoons oatmeal (regular, not instant)
2 tablespoons full fat plain yogurt
2 teaspoons honey

Prep: Mix ingredients together in a bowl.

Use: Apply mask mixture to clean skin and let sit for 10 or 15 minutes. Rinse thoroughly with warm water.

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