MINNESOTA SHEPHERDS HARVEST

We hit the great Shepherds Harvest Fiber Festival over Mother's Day weekend.  Lots and lots of fun things too see; angora rabbits & goats, llama, alpaca, and sheep.  We ate fried pickles dipped in horseraddish sauce and fried walleye.  The Shepherds Harvest and the State Fair are the only two places I'll eat fried anything. LOL!
Here is Aiyana learning how to spin.

One of the many angora rabbits.  This one is a french angora just like our bugs.  I never let buggsies coat get that thick though which is why I don't have much angora to knit with.

Lots of fiber supplies.

Middy enjoying the animals.

How sad is this.  I've dreamed of having an alpaca farm and yet I can't tell you if this is an alpaca or a llama.  That's ok though.  After learning about all the work involved with these little creatures I won't be buying livestock anytime soon.

This is called skirting.  I'm not entirely sure what that means since we missed the demo but there was a sign on the side that said "skirting."  My fiber lingo, unfortunately, is very limited but... I'll get there some day.

I'll blog about what I purchased next : )  Lots of fun stuff.

Read More

ALL I NEED NOW IS AN ALPACA

Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to learn how to spin. When I was about 7 my school took a class trip to this pioneer camp, possibly Murphy's Landing, and it was the first time I experienced the world of spinners. I knew instantly that I wanted to be one of those ladies dressed in period garb completely engrossed in their fiber. It looked relaxing and fun at the same time. It wasn't until years later that I learned what those women were actually doing. 

So as the story goes, I had big dreams of spinning but no dream of learning to knit or crochet. Mom taught me the basics of crochet when I was around 8 more as a way to keep me from bugging her while she was knitting or crocheting and not because of my desire to learn. As for knitting, that came much later. I broke down and took a class last year; still haven't finished a complete project. Knitting is NOT for perfectionists. It is quite painful to find flaws that can't be corrected without a complete tear out :(

Anyhow, now that I've learned the basics of knitting I decided it was time to spin. I chose the drop spindle as my introduction into the world of fiber and spinning. I wanted to jump right into the wheel but they are expensive and I needed to be sure I enjoyed spinning first. Well, it turns out that I love love love it! It wasn't easy and I'm still fine tuning my skills but I enjoy how relaxing it is. I'm also finding I have a new appreciation for all the fibers I can work with. The only negative is and always will be is the product I waste learning. I've not been happy with my first bunches of yarn and therefore tore it all apart. I keep hoping the perfectionist side of me creates something fantastic and hopefully I'll even knit it into something awesome :) for now it is all practice, practice, practice.

For anyone contemplating learning to spin I say go for it. The spindle is great cuz it can be taken anywhere and I only paid $19 for mine. I like spinning when I go to my sisters house or when I'm waiting in the car to pick up my kids at school; couldn't do any of that with a wheel.

All I need to learn now is how to set the yarn and how in heck I go about incorporating my rabbits fur. Who knows, maybe I'll buy a herd of alpaca some day. So much to experience and so little time. *sigh NOTE: Teresa, we're still going to have that alpaca farm ;)

Read More

BLOG GIVEAWAY: BEESWAX CANDLE

When I took my beekeeping course two years ago there were a few beekeepers on hand to show us treasures from the hive. One man and his young daughter had a tiny beehive candle that I fell in love with. I asked if they sold the mold, which they did not, but they said I could purchase one from a bee supply company and make my own once my bees started giving me some wax to use.
Well, I've waited ever so patiently for my honeybees to create a surplus of honey and beeswax for me to take but we've gone another year without any extras. Am I sad? Not really. Our bees know what they are doing and why they do it so I just have to make do with other people's extras :D

The other day I drove over to Natures Nectar, our honeybee supplier, and picked up 4.5 lbs of beeswax to make candles with. There is nothing better than beeswax straight from the hive, except, of course, HONEY! Beeswax from a local beekeeper is the best! I have to keep my kids from pawing all over it, wanting just one last sniff because it smells so amazing!

Here is our lovely slab of beeswax:



But... beeswax in slab form doesn't do me any good when I'm about to make candles so I had to break it into chunks.



Once the beeswax was cut up I had to get my mold ready. I purchased this cute little beehive mold from Mann Lake, the same company we buy most of our bee equipment from.



I heated up the wonderful beeswax in a double boiler.



Poured them into molds.



and what did I produce?



The cutest little beehive candle ever :D

Now for the giveaway. I've not been the best "blog giveaway" person but all of that is about to change. I'd like to start 2012 off right by sending one of these cute candles to someone in the blogosphere to say THANK YOU for reading my blog. The only thing you have to do to qualify is post in the comment section on why the survival of the honeybee is important to you.

The winner will be determined by random number generator (online) and announced on this blog February 10 :)

Read More

LET PROPOLIS CURE YOU: TINCTURE

Last year I read the book "Bee Propolis: Natural Healing from the Hive" and although I was eager to make a propolis tincture after reading the book my bees weren't cooperating. They weren't making much propolis. This year I bought another package of bees and they are propolis crazy. I was able to go into the hive a couple days ago and scrape a generous portion off the side of a hive body. 

Read More

ORGANIC SOAPNUTS

I have decided to give organic soapnuts a try. If they are as great as the literature says, I may have to order in bulk next time. I am curious if others have tried these as a counter cleaner or for their dirty laundry and what you thought of the results.

Read More

CUPCAKE BATH FIZZIE HOLDER TUTORIAL

Can you tell I'm feeling paper crafty lately?

I have my phases and this months phase is paper. I was trying to find a small box pattern when I came across a blog with this box holding a a washcloth cupcake (very cute). 

Read More

LIPBALM HOLDER TUTORIAL

I was walking through the MOA this afternoon when I saw this cute itty bitty bag holding a lip balm tin. I thought the bag was uber cute so I bought it, took it home and disassembled the bag so I could make the template. I'm not a big fan of lipbalm in tins but I do make natural perfume oils that I put into flat tins and therefore, I'm turning these into stocking stuffer gifts.

Read More

HOW TO MAKE CORNSTARCH BEADS

While at the bookstore recently and flipping through a book I saw a picture of cornstarch beads. I thought it would be a fun project for the girls and I to do together so I searched online for a recipe, gathered the supplies and got busy.

Read More

CHRISTMAS IN OCTOBER

It feels like Christmas anyway. I bought my first soap stamp and with the snow outside recently, it almost feels like Christmas. Especially since I felt like a kid on Christmas morning opening up my goody box with my soap stamp inside. I purchased my stamp from Soap Impressions and I think they did a really great job. The stamp is excellent quality, the base being solid wood and the impression made of metal. I'm pleased. What do you think? Diane from Soap Impressions provided excellent, fast customer service. I'd definitely do business with them again.

Read More

I FEEL PRODUCTIVE

I rarely feel like I get anything done. I keep doing and doing and doing but have nothing to show for it. No, this isn't a whine fest, just seriously feel like I get nothing done. LOL!

Read More

LIVING GREEN

On Saturday I was really fortunate to sneak in some time at the Living Green Expo. This years goal was to find a local beekeeper where I could start getting my beeswax from. While I was there I picked up the LivGreen Magazine and they had some really fun recipes for children inside. Since I probably can't copy word for word what they have in the magazine I decided to search on the net for the equivalent.

Read More

SOAP BOX TUTORIAL

On top of being a soapmaker I love love love papercrafting. I'm a colors and creativity junkie (although I really can't color coordinate anything to save my own life - thank the God's for Stampin Up!) The more color and the more creative someone is, I'm totally there! I always google random things like "soap chunks" or "trifold cards" to see what cool things people are making. Yes, it can be quite addicting. My head and my eyes are hurting for it.

Read More

CHECK OUT MY NEW CARDS

I finally finished a few cards. Working on these has kept me sane the past few weeks. Don't ya love how crafting can be almost meditative when ya need it.

Read More

I DID IT!

As if being a soapmaker and selling the soap wasn't enough. I took the leap and have become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. I'm actually very excited about it. A friend and I have been going to other peoples stamping classes for a while now and like with soap, I love experiencing other peoples ideas and work but I really love the creative side of making cards and stamping as well. So, my friend Donna and I have decided to combine our cardmaking skills (she's a fantastic cardmaker) and all of our tools (we buy what one another doesn't have) and create some fun cardmaking classes of our own. I will still attend my host/friend Kelly's classes, because I enjoy her company and want to support her business also but I'm really going to enjoying tapping into my creative cardmaker side even more to share with other people. Please wish me luck, I'm going to need it! LOL!

Read More