If You Like It, Then You Better Make a Ring Out Of It!

Aah vacation. As it draws to a close, it's just now getting to the point where I can do some fun stuff. 

The first three days I spent shoveling out my craftastrophe. What's funny is it doesn't really look that different. But I spent most of the time on the closet. I threw away three huge garbage bags full of old class notes from conventions past, some old cards that were ugly and I was never going to mail to anyone, and a whole lot of random scraps of things or half finished projects that weren't worth starting. 

After I got rid of the trash, I had a lot of stuff that was brand new or gently used that needed to go. I boxed these up in flat rate boxes (35 pounds across three boxes!) and mailed them off to friends. That felt good. 

I did so much of this that I'm actually sore from squatting in front of shelves peering at ill advised purchases from bygone years. I have lots more to go but it's a start! 

My goal for 2012 is to have exactly HALF of the possessions I have now. I only want to keep things I really love and use. The rest should go to people whole will love what I'm not using. 

I've also decided if I win the lottery I will build a large, one-story home with NO closets, NO drawers and NO attic. Everything will have to live in the space it's used in, so things will have to be useful and artfully displayed. So put THAT in your hat and smoke it. 

So today was the first day I've gotten to the point where I could be crafty. And it was SO fun!!

I used a tutorial I saw earlier in the year to make fake faceted jewels from floral stones!!

LOOK how sparkly and fun they are!! Here's the white one. 

SQUEE!!!

And you KNOW I did a blue one!!!

Don't they just make you happy????

Okay - here's what you do. I started with this fried marbles tutorial on Craftster. However, I tried it with her temperatures three times and it didn't work. So after a lot of failed experimentation, this is what I did.

• Start with these flat bottomed marbles. 
• Preheat your oven to 500.
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 
• Fill a stainless steel bowl with ice water - lots of ice.
• Spread stones out on parchment paper in a single layer. 
• Bake for 20 minutes, and when finished, take the cookie sheet and dump the marbles directly and immediately into the ice water, where they will make a satisfying sizzle and crack. Leave them there about 15-20 minutes and dump them out onto a paper towel. 

Some will crack better than others. They are SO fun!! I made a squillion of them. 

Then, take some of this glue and glue them to these ring blanks. 

VOILA!! Ring bling!! 

How fun is THAT?

And for a few Christmas gifts, I bought these stacking espresso cups and some candle making supplies - a little hot pot (nice because it's easy to pour the wax out of), wicks and some unscented wax and I filled the cups with wax. When they were cool, I added a circle of stamped tissue paper and heated it with my heat gun to melt it into the candle. The stamp is the retired background stamp - Musical score. Aren't they sassy?

Now after I gave them away I was left with the holder the cups came in:

What ever shall I do with it? Got any ideas? Lay em on me, stringbean!! :)

Loveyameanitbye.