New Tatting Pattern Coming Soon!

This is the cover of mt next tatting pattern. This is the spring pattern in the seasons series. You get 5 tatting patterns as usual plus the directions for the card, basket, book cover, and the clutch. The tote is one I purchased to sew the tatting to.

Once I'm finished editing and ordering photos for the printed versions I'll get them up at my Etsy and Patternmart stores.

SALE on 2 Cloth Doll Patterns!

I've decided that I need to update these 2 patterns so I've put them on sale until I either run out of cover photos or until the new versions are done. You can get the printed versions at my Etsy and Patternmart stores. Since Patternspot doesn't offer printed versions I decided it would be the only place to get them as a PDF.

I'm planning quite a few changes. One will be that there will be only one doll and one shell or seahorse. Faces will be slightly different as will clothing (tail) and hair.

The price will now be $4.00 instead of $7.00.

Nor sure when the new ones will be ready so take advantage of the sale price now!

Some New Tatting Gauges at Etsy Store

Here are the newest tatting gauges I've listed at Etsy. I made shrinky charms and shuttles for the stitch markers. The ones below just have a small shrinky charm. I've got 8 gauges with lanyards to list but it's too cold to get outside to take photos. Guess it's time to make a light box for indoor photos :)

I made the charms below to hang from my purse. There's a cat, bee, butterfly, and sayings I like. I'd like to make them to sell but I'm not sure about copyright info on them. 

I've become a big fan of shrinky plastic. It's a lot of fun but you really do have to be careful when baking it. I'm finding lots of links to tips on Pinterest.

...and now for something completely different - combining lipsticks

I know this is a blog mostly about what I make and sell but I thought this would be a good tip to share.

I bought some lip balms from Avon last fall. I love their Care Deeply lip balm. It goes on smooth and has no scent or flavor.  For the first time I tried Dew Kiss ( which I LOVE!) and the one on the left side of the picture, Slick Tint. I'm not a fan because it's too pink for my lips. It goes on looking like I had pink lipstick on and now it's mostly worn off. My lips are too rose of a shade to wear it so it's been in my make-up drawer till today.

I was tidying my make-up drawer when I got the idea to melt some of the Slick Tint with some of an old lip stick to get a darker color. The result is the tube in the center of the picture.

Here's what I did to get a perfect color for me:

1. I twisted up the Slick Tint half way (1") and cut it into a small glass bowl. 

2. I next added about 1/2" of Care Deeply lip balm. I thought it would make it smoother and it did.

3. I cut about a 3/8" piece of Revlon Moon Drops Very Berry 250 lip stick and dropped it into the bowl.

4. I put the bowl in my microwave and set it for 1 minute. After 30 seconds I stopped it and stirred the mixture with a wooden toothpick. I restarted the microwave and when it finished the full 1 minute I stirred it again. Now your microwave may be strong enough that 1 minute is enough but mine wasn't so I have to do it for another minute.

5. Once it was melted I carefully poured it into an empty clean lip balm container. I save them when I finish a tube of Care Deeply. I used a wood popsicle stick to scrap the bowl. If you are worried about spills put a layer of paper, plastic, or wax paper under the tube.

6. Let it cool and it should firm up. Mine is creamy but as long as I don't over twist the tube it won't break.

7. Clean up was easy. I used paper towels to wipe out the bowl so it would be easy to wash.

Hope this gives you some ideas of what to do with lipsticks you've bought and then found you didn't like them once you got them home. I bet this would also work if you have a lipstick that goes on dry looking. Mix it with your fav clear lip balm some a smooth and creamy lip stick.

Please be advised this worked for me but I'm not a scientist so I can't guarantee it will work for you.