MIA

Busy busy busy. I'll be back soon .............................................. promise

Waste not, want not.

I've been doing a spot of recycling and have come up with a way to use the left over wax from all those scented candles in glasses.  I must admit I do stock up on them when they are on special offer as I burn them in my workroom when I'm in there.  You always get wax left in the bottom though, and being a crafter I never throw anything away that might be useful.  I always keep the glasses they come in and used to melt the wax and pour away.  Not any more though.  While I was having a tidy up the other day I came across some small glasses that had had small candles in and this got me thinking.  I then remembered I had some wicks, so now I've made my own little smelly candles from the leftovers.

I put the glass with leftover wax in the top oven while my Sunday roast is cooking in the bottom oven. By the time the roast is ready all the wax is melted.  I  pop a wick in the small glass and pour the melted wax in.  There may not be enough to fill the glass but that's fine, just put it to one side until the next one and pour that on top. Carry on till its full.  You can make some really lovely striped smelly candles that will change scent as it burns down.

I was also lucky enough to be sent some of the gorgeous new Wink of Stella pens by Kuretake (launching very soon).  Oh my what wonderful pens they are.  The effect they give is similar to Sakura's Stardust pens, but these are even more sparkly and the nibs are much finer so you can get some beautiful fine lines with them.  I have used them on the image below, but it's hard to get a good photo of them.  I stamped the Polka Doodle image onto watercolour paper using Zig Art and Graphic Twin pens directly on the stamps, I then bled the colour out with a damp brush.  And finally drew over all the lines with the Wink of Stella pens.  I love the The Art and Graphic twin pens, they are jam packed with rich pigment and when using them directly on the stamps the ink does not pool like other makes.  I've used a lot of different pens and they all tend to pool when applied onto the stamps so I was very impressed indeed.

Below is my DT challenge card for Polka Doodles.  All the backing papers and paper elements are form the Love and Cherish CD.  I overstamped the main backing paper with some lovey dovey sentiments and the hearts with heart flowers.  I added some clear dewdrops to the centre of the flowers for some added dimension.

And last but not least I have a happy tale to tell.  I learnt of a 10 year old cat that needed a new loving home.  The owner had gone to Chili and left the cat with her sister.  We were told that the previous owner had said to her sister that if she didn't want it to chuck it out, WTF!!!  Well we heard that the sister had done just that as she was in rented accommodation and was not allowed animals (we did find out afterwards that she was feeding it at least).  Anyway I was very upset by this and so were my parents, so they went over to Addlestone and picked the cat up.  They are big cat lovers but really didn't want another cat so we went to work looking for a new home for her.  I posted a message on Twitter to say we were wanting to rehome the cat.  The message got re-tweeted by many people and a lovely lady called Ali contacted me to say her dad had been thinking of getting an older cat.  I sent Ali a couple of pictures of Socks (the cat) and told her as much as I could regarding her temperament etc.  Ali's dad liked the look and sound of Socks, so yesterday they travelled up to Guildford to collect her.  She's now in a lovey rural village with a new owner who I've no doubt will spoil her rotten.  It will take her a while to settle down after all the upset, but once she has she will love it there.  A really happy ending for Socks the cat don't you think?