Cleaning Containers With Acetone

I have filed this idea under "Things That Are Not Worth The Time And Effort".

Does it work?
Yes.

Is it worth doing again?
No.

I have seen all over the internet (especially Pinterest) that you can clean the paint off of used yogurt, margarine and ice cream containers using acetone.  All you need to do is get yourself some pure acetone (sold with the nail polish removers.  My little bottle was $1.64)  Then you just pour some acetone onto a cotton pad (or ball, whatever you have) and rub the paint off the container.  Sounds so easy.

I started with this:

After some scrubbing, which required more elbow grease than I expected, I was left with this:

That is not what I was I was going for at all.  So I got more acetone on my cotton pad and scrubbed even harder.  That ended up working. 

So I did  end up with a clean, white container, but it took about a third of my bottle of acetone and a whole lot more work that it was worth.  Not to mention quite a few cotton pads.  I was expecting it to be about as difficult as removing nail polish, not to have to press really hard and scrub a lot.

 

So, while it does work, I'd rather have yogurt containers for storage.  Or recycle the container and buy a plain one from the dollar store, if I really need one.

 

I will leave this information with you and you can make your own choice.  As for me, I think I will let my daughter have the rest of my acetone to use on her gel polish.

 

Thanks for reading!

:)

 

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Dimensional Magic Magnets

I have seen this Dimensional Magic in a gazillion posts all over the Internet.  The post I saw that inspired these magnets was this one from Photojojo.  Except I didn't want to make a mosaic, I wanted mine to look like little Polaroid pictures.

So I went to Walmart and picked up a bottle of this nifty stuff. 

As usual, I didn't follow instructions properly.  Photojojo calls for using mat board. I don't have that lying around.  My husband does woodworking for a hobby, so I asked him to cut me some little, thin rectangles out of wood.  These are 1"x1¼".  I took some white nail polish (because it was handy) and painted the edges white, and a little of the border painted as well, just in case it shows. 

Then I glued a photo onto the wood and covered it in a layer of the Dimensional Glaze, and left it to dry.

I learned a valuable lesson here.  Don't use a glue stick.  I am glad that I only made one as a test!

On to attempt number two. 

This time I used a tiny amount to the glaze itself to glue my photo down.  Then I smeared a very thin layer of the glaze over the top and along the edges of the paper to seal it down.  I let this dry before adding my good layer of Dimensional Magic.

I also experimented with adding the glaze directly onto a photo that I didn't glue to anything else. I was wondering if this would work well straight onto paper.

The answer is no.  It curls.



Success!  Attempt number two worked!

So I carried on and made the rest of my little Polaroids.

Here is an idea of the size of the magnets.  And my cat.  I tried to angle it so you could see the glaze layer.

Tada!  I don't know what I am going to do when we eventually get a stainless steel fridge!  Maybe by then they will make magnetic ones.

Thanks for looking!!

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How to Make a Glass Tile Pendant

I have been making glass tile pendants for years.  Above are a few of them.  But I have only made one for myself!  My friend Leah made a cross stitch that I really liked, and I decided that I was going to shamelessly copy her idea, except in glass tile pendant form.  I hope you don't mind Leah!!!!

First I had to find a picture of the lips.  Then download the font. Go here if you want the font.  I had no idea that there even was a font available!  I laid it out several different ways.  I couldn't decide how I wanted the words.  Then I printed out my pictures and gathered my supplies.

I settled on a design and carefully cut it out to fit on my glass tile. Then glued it to the tile using my triple thick glaze.

 I set it on a piece of wax paper to dry.  You can see the glue that seeped out around the edges in this picture, but that stayed behind on the wax paper when I peeled my tile off.  I let this dry for about a day.

Then I took one of the paint chips I had and chose the red colour that best matched the front and cut it out to fit the tile.

Perfect.  I glued that to the back with an ordinary glue stick.  No waiting for it to dry that way!

 Then I put a nice thick coat of the glaze on the back.  I haven't learned the art of getting the glaze nice and even, I've always got brush strokes.  *sigh*

Then after letting that dry.  I glued my pretty little heart-shaped bail onto the back using E-6000, let that dry and put a chain through it.  Sadly, I managed to do a great job smearing glue all over the place.  Luckily it is the back, so we are the only people who will see it.  If it was a gift, it wouldn't do.  But I  can live with it.

Ta-da!!!!!! 

Thanks for reading!  :)

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How I Cleaned My Silver Jewelry

This isn't a craft, but I think it is pretty crafty. See what I did there?  And totally worth sharing.
I know this is nothing new, but it is new to me. 
My silver chain and adorable Lily of the Valley earrings looked like this.

Before

I know, horrible, right?

After looking online for instructions and reading many similar sets of instructions (No two alike, either.  That is why I am not linking to any one in particular)  I took a deep breath and jumped in.  Trying it my way.

I started with a glass dish. I placed it in the sink just in case I spilled the water. 

I lined it with tinfoil.

Then I poured about an inch of boiling water in.  Without spilling anything!  You only need enough to cover the objects you are cleaning.

Then I sprinkled a bunch of baking soda in the dish.

I clean my sink with baking soda, so yes, that actually is  my container.  It lives under the sink.  There is another one by the bathroom too. I have a different container in the cupboard for my baking needs.


Then I added some salt.  Roughly the same amount as the baking soda.  But, having said that, I didn't measure any of it, I just eyeballed everything.

Then I placed my icky silver on the foil and set a timer for five minutes.  I forget where I read that, but I read somewhere that you should leave the silver in for "up to" five minutes.

Would you look at that!!!!  It looks so much better!  But still not great.  I got a fresh piece of foil and repeated the process on my chain.  The earrings came clean the first try.

After I took them out of the solution, I rinsed them off and buffed them up with a soft cloth.
Lily of the Valley is my favourite flower.  When I saw these earrings at a craft shop I had  to have them, luckily for me, Hubby agreed!  I am so happy that they came clean.

Awe. Some.

And my chain after the second go looks fantastic as well.  I made the "A" for Angela (me!!), but it could stand for Awesome, or Amazing after the way that the silver cleaned up.

After

As for the foil.  There was a bit of a funky smell when I dumped the water out.  And just look at the ring of yuck  that was left behind!!  This was after the chain was done a second time.  

There you have it.  If you have ever wondered if you really can  clean silver this way, now you know!

Thanks for looking!

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Sock monkey and suckers .. or... A sucker for a sock monkey!

A friend of mine asked me if I would make her a fuschia sock monkey. Since she is one of my biggest fans when it comes to my sock monkeys and her birthday was coming up, I agreed.

Never again will I use these fuzzy socks.

I am sure that they would be soft and cozy on a pair of feet, but my sewing machine HATES them.  However, everything turned out great in the end!

I started with a pair of fuzzy socks.  Only grey worksocks from now on in my monkey making carreer!

I marked out my pattern directly on the socks and sewed them up before cutting.  I use the same directions that come with Red-Heel socks.  They are all over the internet.  The reason that there are pins in the socks is to keep them from shifting.  I find the pins to be very helpful.

Here are all my pieces sewn up, cut out and turned right-side-out.  That little pile on the right is all the scraps.  I am always amazed by how little of the socks gets wasted!

Then I stuffed him up, sewed his limbs on and gave him a scarf.  All my sock monkeys have a scarf or necklace to hide the neck stitches. They also have a red button heart and a numbered tag at the base of the tail that says "Handmade by Ange". I didn't think to take a butt shot.  I think this one is #25.
I almost didn't give him away!!

While roaming the internet one day I saw an adorable quickie-craft that I also did for my friend.  The original (to me) was for a 30th birthday, so I added ten since my friend was turning 40.  I'm two years older, and don't really agree with the sentiment, but it is funny!

Thanks for looking!!

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Party Popcorn is positively pleasing to the palate

 I read how to make Party popcorn and knew that I just had to make some for my daughter's party.  After all, they were watching a movie and what's a movie without popcorn?

It is super easy, very tasty and looks cool too!

First you pop your corn.  I stopped using microwave bags a long time ago.  This $11 microwave popcorn bowl has paid for itself many, many times over!

Ready to pop...

Poppity pop pop!

Times this by 3, and you have what I made for ten girls.  Including me!

The only other ingredients you need are white chocolate melting wafers, sprinkles and a little salt.  And a wax paper covered cookie sheet, but that isn't really an ingredient.

We love sprinkles in this house!  Well, Hubby not so much...

Spread your popped popcorn on the wax paper covered cookie sheet and set aside.  Melt your chocolate.  I boil water in a little pot, remove that from the heat and place my Pyrex cup with my wafers in the pot and stir until smooth.  Every time I try to use the microwave to melt these, I ruin them.

Then you drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn, sprinkle with a little bit of salt (Really!  It makes it soooooo much better!) and shake some sprinkles on.  I mixed this up with my  hands (careful, the chocolate gets hot) and kept drizzling and sprinkling until I thought it looked good.  Your hands will get messy.  That is why I have no photos of this step!  Then set it aside to cool and firm up.

Looks good, doesn't it!?

Then I packaged them up in these cute cardboard containers I found at a dollar store.

We will definitely be doing this again.  I wonder how milk chocolate would taste...... Pin It