Like presents...I thought my neice was going to be in town (she was actually on her way to Chicago so it was just a quick visit), but I've been meaning to make her a dress out of some smocked tinkerbell fabric my mother-in-law gave me a year ago, so I did that this week.
I also have realized that I've been hoarding a tube of clear liquid lipstick base I have from obsessive compulsive cosmetics because it's around $13 a tube and i don't want to have to re-purchase. Knowing the ingredients list is really short and simple, I finally decided to give it a go and make it myself. I bought castor oil, liquid vitamin e, hemp seed oil, and peppermint oil for about the same price as a tube of clear liptar, but in quantity to make a whole tub of it. To start out, I only made about 2 tablespoons (which is still 2 tubes of clear liptar and didn't even dent my ingredients supply). It's a sort of clear yellow color, slightly sticky, supermoisturizing, and holds color extremely well. I would say mine came out just as good as theirs.
Here it is with a coral powdered mineral blush thrown into it to make it a lipstick. For more opaque lipsticks, you just add some white mineral foundation base (zinc oxide/titanium dioxide) and it'll make your color pack even more of a punch.
I really love it- it's especially great for nude-ing out your lips with foundation. You can put any powdered mineral makeup into it that doesn't contain ultramarines or ferric ferrocyanide (those are mostly greens, blues, purples which most people aren't into putting on their lips anyway, and you can still find those colors without those ingredients if you really WANTED green lips). It's great for costuming too. It's basically conditioning oils and mineral colorants. I don't know if I want to come up with a standard recipe and put it on etsy or not. First off, I wouldn't want to be considered in some sort of infraction on OCC though all i'd really have to do is add another conditioning oil for the ingredients to be different and I could change the flavor, and they probably wouldn't care so long as i don't dupe their whole mixing system (they sell you primary brights like red, orange, yellow, black, white and then you mix a drop of this and a drop of that to get the color you want. But at $13/tube that's a really expensive lip system even if you do get an endless amount of colors from it. I personally, don't want to mix that much). There's also all kinds of rules about the conditions of the environment you make things in, and i'm sure my kitchen doesn't constitute as up to code being that i own a dog and she's allowed in the kitchen and all. However, if you currently read my blog and would like this clear liquid lipstick base, I will happily find a way to package it and sell you some through a custom listing on etsy.
This week's doodle was kind of me playing at a design for a tattoo (no, mom I am not planning on getting a tattoo anytime soon and am very aware of how you feel about them). It consists of my dog's pawprint(in theory, her actual pawprint), a symbol that I created for Bob in college, and the traditional filigree vines that I seem to love so much. Sorry the picture isn't great, but i didn't go over it black pen.
On a side note, i finally got a battery charger for my other camera (because i lost the adapter that charges it through the camera) and in theory, i should be taking some much clearer pictures of my jewelry than previously achieved through my other camera.
Oh! Also this week, I ordered some more custom-art products from vistaprint with one of my doodles on them. It was one of their big everything free sales, so i just paid shipping and $2.79 to upload my photo (which was also half off from the regular $4+). I got custom business cards, business magnets, postcards and notecards (which will be listed in the original art and stationary part of my etsy site)
Also...I sealed teabags this week with loose teas i have in the house which was way easy and very convenient. I did it mostly because I wanted to be able to take my favorite teas to work (which i did, made myself a little variety pack), but also because i cut my finger on a loose edge of the screen in my tea- diffuser pot this week and i was annoyed.
I did start on a magic wrap dress this week, but i made several stupid mistakes which are fixable but kind of sucked the fun out of it for me and i abandoned it for the time being.
On the veggie garden front...I have so far harvested: 2 zucchinis- there's a 3rd on the vine, 2 cucumbers with a 3rd on the vine, 3 very large radishes with more in the ground, lots of peppers, and 1 red tomato with lots of green ones on the vine. My pumpkin seems to be recovering and i finally have a lettuce plant big enough for a salad. We moved Bob's strawberry plant out of its topsy turvy (dumbest thing ever) and into a strawberry pot, and it FINALLY has strawberries.
The dog is angry with me because i replaced the end table and now she doesn't fit under it anymore. Her new living room cave is apparently behind my chair...
Edit: After posting, I decided to make a new copper feather pen for my etsy store. Completed right around midnight-ish.
I'm also working on some smaller feathers to go on hairpins, but the section of copper sheeting i used has some kind of glue/sticky backing. I tried pickling, soap, scotch brite pads, and brass wire brushing it. None of it worked so i lit it on fire. I *think* the pickle should take it off now. I'm leaving it in there overnight so we shall see. I made one into a feather while it was still sticky. I guess worst case scenario, they're not sticky anymore but they'll be heat patinaed. I also revised my method to get rid of the extra space in the middle of the feather. I was folding and then cutting (which is easier) but if i cut first i can go all the way to the channel and then fold the channel- it's more difficult, but prettier.
