Tuesday 28 August 2012

soy candles

 Sept 11 UPDATE:  I've added 4 new containers!

I started making soy candles recently because I love candles and wanted to be able to choose from a wider variety of scents, while adding my own flair by using a variety of containers.  I have a lot of British teacups and saucers that make great candle containers.

If you are interested in buying a candle, please let me know.  I use only 100% pure soy wax, which I prefer because it burns cleaner and longer than regular paraffin waxes.  I don't normally use dyes, so my candles are a natural cream color.  I have dyes if you are interested.  I can't guarantee the color, as I mix the color from the blue, red and yellow dyes I have.

You choose the scent and the container, both shown below.

I currently have the following candle scents.  If you prefer a different scent, you can choose from hundreds of scents here.  If you have a container you would like to use I can do that as well.  I can also order more plain glass or tin containers if interested.

Note:  I can't mail these overseas because they might melt in transit.

Amish Harvest
Blackberry Sage
Cinnamon & Balsam
Clean Cotton
Coconut Lime Verbena
Cranberry Apple Marmalade
Georgia Peach
Lilac
Macintosh Apple
Pumpkin Souffle
Spiced Cranberry
Spruce Christmas Tree
Stormwatch


Here are the current containers I have:


4 ounce candles:

 4 oz. candle: $6.00


4 oz. candle: $6.00


4 oz. candle: $6.00

8 ounce candles:


 8 oz. candle:  $10.00


 8 oz. candle: $10.00

8 oz. candle: $10.00

 8 oz. candle: $10.00

8 oz. candle: $10.00


8 oz. candle: $8.00 (2 containers in stock)


8 oz. Coconut Lime Verbena candle: $10.00


10 ounce candles:

10 oz. candle: $12.00

16 ounce candles:

 16 oz. candle: $15.00 

 16 oz. candle: $15.00 (3 of these in stock!)

16 oz. candle: $15.00

20 ounce candles:

 20 oz. candle: $18.00
 

Thursday 16 August 2012

I've unleashed my inner Martha Stewart!


I’ve unleashed my inner Martha Stewart!

I’ve had this ugly, black and white painted wooden chest of drawers for a few years now.  It was a cheap Craigslist find so Zach and I hauled it home from this lady's house, hanging out the trunk of our Honda Civic.  We just wanted something for our guest bedroom and never thought much about it.  Well, when we moved to England we put our bedroom set in storage and this humble little chest of drawers became one of my main bedroom pieces.  I still never thought much of it… until recently.  I was inspired by my friend Calli’s creativity in bringing new life out of worn out pieces of furniture by painting them.  Light bulb moment: I can paint my wee little chest of drawers!  Give it a make-over!  Unleash Martha Stewart on it!  A ha!  … but how to do it?  That’s when I asked Calli for help.  I knew she’d be excited about it so I was tickled pink when she offered her help and her handy sandblaster!

I didn’t quite know what I wanted to do with the chest of drawers; just that I knew it desperately needed some color.  I kept thinking in the back of my mind what colors would look good, and of course I needed some nice new drawer knobs.  I know our area isn’t known for its craft shops (oh Michaels, how I miss thee!) so I considered buying some snazzy drawer knobs online.  I was hesitant though, because this just seemed like something better bought in person.

Fast forward about a week, and Zach and I are in Normandy.  We decided to spend one afternoon in the nice harbor village of Honfleur.  We were just wandering the streets taking in all the sights when we came across a tiny shop filled with drawer knobs, door knobs, drawer pulls!   Wow!  I was instantly drawn in.  As I pondered over the array of colors, designs and sizes of the knobs I cast my eyes on some beautiful rose shaped knobs, and instantly was drawn to them.  Oh, but which colors?  Blue, orange, pink, white or red?  In an instant, my vision of how I wanted my chest of drawers came to life!  I decided on a few pink rose knobs with two white ones as well.  It was quite entertaining to try to communicate with the man in the store, as he knew about as much English as I knew French, which, if you know me, isn’t much more than Bonjour and Merci beaucoup!  But I walked out of the store giddy with my purchase and the idea that came to life before my very eyes.

I couldn’t wait to get started on this project so one day shortly after we returned from Normandy Calli came over and we sandblasted and primed the chest of drawers.  To be on the safe side I ended up doing two coats of primer, and then two coats of the color.  I was so giddy upon seeing the citrusy green color bringing my chest of drawers to life!  It was so easy to do, and as soon as it was dry I put the knobs on and it was brought together exactly how I envisioned it.  It’s amazing when you can envision something and have it actually come out how you planned! (Instead of a horrible mess that you leave in a dark corner to collect dust…)  I then took a piece of sandpaper and sanded the corners and edges a bit to give it that shabby chic look.  Beautiful!  

 say goodbye to the black and white!

I say, we did a pretty good job sanding, considering it's such a tedious and messy job

We could’ve just left it like this for an extremely shabby chic look…but somewhere you cross the line between shabby chic and ass-ugly.

One coat of primer done -just need one more coat to be safe
 

First coat of color!  Love it!
 Completely transformed!

Sanded it down a bit to give it the shabby chic look.



 Aren't they the prettiest?


I also decided to get creative with the décor on the chest of drawers.   I saved a few bottles aside (one was a wine bottle we got in Cyprus and two more from the thrift shop).  I painted the wine bottle white, using the primer paint, so it dried with a nice matte effect.  Then I tied a ribbon around the neck and voila!  Instant decoration! (thanks to a craft book had been collecting dust on my bookshelf for a while).  I decoupaged the other two bottles with bright pink and blue paper.  Oh, and then, there’s the sheep… because, well, I like sheep!



Happy chest of drawers sitting back where it belongs

This could get addicting!  I need to get thee to a yard sale or thrift shop or auction to find a hunk of junk in need of a make over!

Sunday 12 August 2012

Seaglass

My aunt Denise introduced me to seaglass when I was a little kid.  I remember combing the beach with her in the hopes of finding a few precious gems to proudly stuff into my pockets and bring home.  I have many memories of us wandering and digging around in the hopes of finding a few pieces to be proud of. 

I had no idea upon moving to England that I would only be just over an hour away from Seaglass Heaven...also known as Seaham.  I only found it last year in preparation for Denise's visit here.  I was searching online to see if there were any beaches known for their seaglass, and I got some results popping up of this quiet, unassuming beach in Seaham.  We found our way there for the first time with Denise and were completely awestruck by all the little gems hiding amongst the stones and pebbles.  They looked like jelly beans, some of them.  So beautiful, so perfectly tussled from the powerful waves of the North Sea.  The excitement of the hunt, contrasted with the beauty and serenity of the crashing waves, is a perfect combination for a day at the beach.




I've only been back to Seaham a few times since we first found it, but will definitely need to make more trips to stock up on seaglass before we move back to MD.  We went yesterday just for a few hours.  We were hoping for decent weather, seeing as it was in the mid-60's here.  But, alas, even though it was in the lower 60's in Seaham, the wind was whipping around so hard you would've thought there was a storm a brewin'.  But that was just Seaham on a nice day!

Zach and I made our way down to the beach with some blankets and a snack.  We were so glad we remembered to make a thermos of nice, hot tea because we definitely needed the warmth!  We enjoyed our tea with a container bursting with British berries - strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and my favorite - humungous raspberries.  Oh, and of course some biscuits that we had picked up from our trip to Normandy.






After snacking, I decided to make my way around with my seaglass bag while Zach hunkered down under the blanket to read his book. 

 That's Zach under that orange blanket

The wind was relentless and my nose was running like a faucet in a marathon but I didn't care.  There were so many gems to be found! 









In just over an hour I had collected a huge lot and we decided to call it a day.  But it was a good day indeed!




Tuesday 5 June 2012

Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?


Zach and I wanted to do something special for our 5th anniversary so when I saw a Groupon deal for a balloon ride, I thought, perfect!  What could be more beautiful than a balloon ride over English countryside? 

We scheduled the balloon ride for Monday, May 28 in the evening in the Lake District.  We were to call the weather line in the afternoon to make sure it wasn’t cancelled.  Since the weather was so gorgeous, we decided to make a day of it and drove out to the area to have a picnic lunch and to stroll through Windermere and enjoy the day.  






We were good to go; weather line told us to go on and meet outside of a nearby hotel at 6:30pm.  As soon as we parked in the specified lot, we were approached by an old man who shared an uncanny resemblance to my Grampy Arey.  Oh boy, I thought, this should be interesting.  After all 12 balloon-riders were accounted for, we waited for the Land Rover carting the balloon to come get us and pick us up.  Only the old man, Matthew, and the other guy, Graham, didn’t realize that they couldn’t fit all 14 of us into the Land Rover, so some had to ride with Matthew.  After probably about a half hour we finally arrived at another pub, so Graham parked, mumbled something, and jumped out of the car.  When 15 minutes had passed with no sign of Graham we all started wondering out loud…”Maybe he nipped into the pub to get some fish and chips and a pint?” 

He finally emerged, jumped back into the car without a word, and started maneuvering the Land Rover down this path into a field.  Since we couldn't all fit into the Land Rover, some had to jump on the cart carrying the balloon basket and hold on tight.  We bumbled for a good 15-20 minutes into this cow field with probably 15 gates that poor Matthew had to jump out and open and close each time, while the bumbling idiots tried to find the departure field.  They finally went so far into the field, we came to another street.  Hmm… must’ve missed it… so they called back to their bosses who told them that the field was there, that it was right at the beginning by the cows… so we bumbled and bumped our way in the Land Rover another 20 minutes to get back to the starting point of the field, this time noticing the cow gate that clearly read, “WARNING: BULL IN FIELD.”  Umm, say what?  We’re going to set up a balloon in a field with a bull??  Graham confidently stated that there were no bulls in the field, although there was one cow with just a single udder and a pretty impressive bowling ball bag behind, so you tell me.


 mooooove!

At this point it was almost 8pm.  Here we were, thinking, ok, we’ll fly on the balloon at 6:30, maybe land at 7:30, and then stop in a pub for dinner by 8.  Well, that clearly was not going to happen.   They started setting up and there was a little wind around, which is not good for ballooning, so I started feeling a little anxious.  They had to enlist the help of about half the people to set up the balloon, which was kind of ridiculous because those poor people had no idea what they were doing.  Maybe the company should have sent more people out to set the damn thing up?  Poor Zach was trying to help with the balloon when they were filling the balloon with air, and he ended up running through loads of stinging nettle, which he said still stung his legs when he got up the next morning!  All of us were complaining and making jokes at this point.  One old lady quietly joked that she wondered if we would end up on Candid Camera.  After what seemed like forever, they finally got the balloon going and hooked up to the basket.  There were 12 of us, so that meant 3 people per basket.  Zach and I were the last ones on, so we weren’t in the same basket, but close enough.  I was sat with a couple also celebrating their anniversary who were hilarious and were cracking jokes most of the time.  I was really nervous sitting in there waiting for the balloon to take off, hoping this Graham guy was better at flying a balloon than he was in finding the take-off field. 




 check out that fire!



 is that grampy Arey? haha  
Zach in the background trying to hold ground while holding onto the balloon ropes!

Before I knew it, we were off the ground!  The feeling was surreal as I watched the cows in the field getting smaller and smaller.  Luckily I don’t have a fear of heights, and was enjoying looking all around and even right below us.  (My mom’s probably having a heart attack reading this!)  Once we were up high enough, the views were stunning.  We could see the mountains of the Lake District and Lake Windermere, the largest lake.  Even though it was probably around 9pm the sun was still out and it was gorgeous.  It was really peaceful up there; the ride was really smooth, and when the flames were turned off it was really quiet.  Our highest altitude was 3,500 feet!  We couldn’t believe that we were actually up that high!  We attracted a lot of onlookers as we passed over a town.  Mostly we just passed fields of frightened sheep, running away from the big floating basket in the sky.  We could even see the Irish Sea!  



 still slightly nervous...can you tell?




 there we are!




 wow!  3500 feet!





 coming over a little village - they were all waving

 the sheep were not so happy...they were trying to run away





 Lake Windermere


 the trees look like broccoli

 the Irish Sea!

 Lake Windermere again


 the sun was so bright that Zach looked orange



 the bumbling idiots' high tech way of taking a photo of all of us

 ah, there's the moon



the sun just about down - probably almost 10pm

We were right on track to land in a field nearby to where we parked our cars.  We assumed the landing position (seated) and started floating down, down, down.  Then, bump, bump, bump, we landed in the field… then floated up a few feet again, then bump, bump, bump, we hit ground again.  The guy next to me joked to his wife, “This is kind of like your driving!”   

 two curious horses watched our whole landing ordeal

When the basket finally stopped moving, we thought we were home free, but we had to wait until it was safe to get out, meaning they had to get the balloon under control, which it was not.  Before we knew it the basket was tilting, tilting, then CRASH!  The basket landed on its side with all of us still sitting in it!  After a few seconds, and realizing the basket was not going to be lifted back to its upright position, we all took in the situation… we were all sitting in our seats, laying parallel to the ground, mostly laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.  I felt bad because there were a few older couples with us!  After sitting there for a few minutes, I took a few pictures to remember this and laugh about it later, and then Graham told us we were all going to have to crawl out!  Say what?  We were squished in there like sardines facing the sky – how was that going to work?  The row under us got out first, and I decided I should try to get out of my compartment first, by holding onto the basket part above me and doing a sort of pull up move to get out.  TA DAAAH!  On solid ground at last!   







We still weren’t done when everyone got out because we had to wait for the bumbling idiots to pack up the basket and balloon, which took another half hour.  Graham was standing in the field like an idiot texting on his phone while Matthew and some of the other people packed up the balloon (customers, mind you, who shouldn't have had to do anything!)  When the balloon was all packed up, Graham came over to them and was like, Oh do you need any help?  It was almost 10:30pm by the time we found our way back to the parking lot to enjoy our glass of champagne.  We were so hungry but nothing was open, but luckily we had some leftover fruit salad and some biscuits to tide us over till we got home, which wasn’t until almost 12:30am!!  Ridiculous!  We had some food (I had beans on toast - am I becoming British?) and crashed into bed. 

It was a crazy experience but it was worth it.  The views were incredible and I got lots of great photos, and how many people can say they’ve been in a hot air balloon?