TMP Week #2: Teacup Candles

Apparently, I'm on some sort of candle-kick. Sorry for the candle posts two weeks in a row!

Ok! It's time for TMP (or The Martha Project) Week #2 (I know, I know...I'm a tad late getting this entry posted. Maybe next week I need to make myself a calendar or something so I can remember.... ha!)

Anywho, I decided to try out Martha's Teacup Candles this week. Quite honestly, this was a super easy project and one that I am still amazed at how well it turned out.

Sister and I ran to the local Hob Lob last week while I was up in Lafayette helping her pack (boohoo). The 10lb slab of candle wax is hard to make out in this picture, but there it is. I also opted for two scents: Midnight and Cappuccino. (yum yum) I also purchased some candle wicks and wick holders. Tada!
The next step was to break down this massive slab of wax. I felt a little like I was in a Hitchcock movie with my giant (pink) knife, just hacking away at this wax. But alas, I did it and broke up the wax as best I could.

Ok here's where it got a wee bit tricky. Martha calls for a double boiler to melt your wax. Wellllllll....I do not have a double boiler, nor do I want to spend the money on one. So I improvised. What you see here is water boiling in a pot, with a Pyrex dish just hanging out on top. Oh and I used a slow cooker liner inside the Pyrex dish for easy clean up (thanks Dad for the suggestion...he's so smart!)

The heating went pretty well. It's a slow process. I actually crocheted and watched some NCIS while the wax was a'melting.

After the wax was completely melted (sorry I forgot to take a picture of this part), I squirted in some of the scent and mixed it up.

Then, I *delicately* poured the melted wax into my teacups, empty jars and a Valentine's Day coffee mug (PERFECT for this time of year). I used the paintbrushes to keep the wick from falling into the mass of melted-ness.

After about an hour and a half of cooling (I actually went to the gym during this part), my candles were done and ready to burn!! I LOVE the way they turned out!

The next day, I took my little blonde self over to TJ Maxx on my lunch and found these teacups. They turned out so cute and they are going in my gift closet for when I need a quick little gift! (Unless I burn one of them later!)

Gosh, I love me some Martha Stewart. She is slowly turning my apartment into a haven of awesomeness! :)

Side note--a little bit of melted wax goes a long way. I made 6 candles and probably only used about 2 pounds of the 10 pound slab. Looks like I have more candle making in my future.

Oh and I am making Week #3 tonight--and it's of the food variety. No more candles!! (for now)

readmore»»

stashbuster goods!

If you remember, one of my New Year's resolutions was to use up some of my stash of yarn before buying more of it. I was only going to do this for January, but I think I'm going to carry it on through March. I don't even feel like I've made a dent in my yarn.

Anyway, here's a picture of what I had made out of my stash through last weekend.

I'm not sure you can see this but I'll give you a breakdown of what's here:

3 sets of fingerless gloves (2 black and 1 gray)

2 owl hats

2 newsboy hats with flowers

8 earwarmers

I've also made 2 additional earwarmers that aren't pictured (because they were sent to a client) so that brings my grand total up to 10 earwarmers. Are you kidding me? I still have sooooooo much yarn left! UNREAL!

I've made more stuff since taking this picture, so I'll post this each week. Hopefully, I can get this yarn stash to go away!

readmore»»

TMP Week #1: Glittered Candles

Alright kids...it's official. The Martha Project (TMP) has officially begun!!!!!!!!!!!!

(is anyone as excited as I am? ok, just checking.)

It's week #1 and I was searching through my daily emails from good ole Martha and I came across this lovely project. Glittered.Candles. Hello??? Is this not perfect for me??

Luckily, I had these plain jane candlesticks hanging out on my little table...just looking like they needed some glitter.
So, I got out my supplies. Now Martha says that you should use spray adhesive, and I'm sure that would probably be easier to work with.

I, however, did not have any at home, so I just used her glitter glue.
I had all of this Martha glitter in my craft stash--and I'm always looking for fun ways to use it. (P.S. I lovelovelove glitter. Just an FYI.)
And here's the final product!!! Don't they look so awesome!!
Seriously, why have plain candles when they can look so freaking fabulous with a little Martha glitter!

And then I decided I needed a candle for my bathroom (which is in a bunch of different colors), so I went with an orange glittered pillar. Love it!

Oh my gosh, I LOVE this Martha Project idea!! Week #1 was so fun! And my house is going to look so fantastic!!!!

readmore»»

does 30 suck??

So....2011 is the year. For all of us who were born in 1981.....2011 is the year we all turn 30.

Yikes! 30. Wow. My life is soooo not where I thought it would be when I turned 30...but more on that later.

Last night, the girls (Nicole, Val, Etter and myself) went out to dinner for Nicole's Dirty Thirty!! Nicole is preggo (with a sweet baby boy due in May) so we had to keep the festitivies G-rated, so of course, we headed to Scotty's Brewhouse for some delicious-ness.

I wanted to do something fun to help her celebrate turning the big 3-0. (And I honestly feel like I may have seen this idea on a blog somewhere...but for the life of me, I couldn't remember where. Maybe I didn't. Ahhh, I don't know!)

Anyway.....I decided to give Nicole a "flower bouquet"!This was super easy and super fun to make!

I just took a piece of styrafoam and painted it green. That is what is holding up the Blow Pops.
And viola! Nicole LOVED it!!!

Happy birthday sweet Nicole!! Thanks for letting me celebrate with you!
Love you long time friend! :)

readmore»»

the martha project.

Ok so yes, I love Peacock Feathers, but something else that I lovelovelove is Martha Stewart. Seriously. She's the MacGuyver of crafting. She's amazing. She's fantastic. She's awe-inspiring. She's pure genius. I want to not only shake hands with her one day...but craft with her (at her house of course). Hellllllooooooo, bucket list entry!! :)

Sister and Mom love Martha (almost) as much as I do too. Mom's all about presenting things as Martha would (for example...over the weekend, Mom made a Hicks family staple--7 layer Taco Dip--and served it in margarita glasses. Just like Martha would!) To fester my love for Martha, Santa brought me this book (yeah!)

and a subscription to this!
to go along with my current Martha library of this

and (my favorite) this.

So all of this got me thinking. And yes, I have to give Sister credit here because this was mainly her idea last year...but homegirl got pregnant and well, the idea never took off.

Sooooo, new to 2011, I would LOVE to introduce The Martha Project! This project is my attempt to be more like Martha...and beautify my life with her awesomeness.

What is The Martha Project you ask? (and I'm so glad you did).

The Martha Project is my Julie/Julia.
The Martha Project (or TMP as it will hereby be known as...until I can come up with a better title) is a 52 week long endeavor.
One Martha Stewart project every week for 2011.
Between the books listed above and her daily emails (which, I of course subscribe too), I have plenty of inspiration.

52 new Martha projects for 2011. That's one heck of a New Year's Resolution.

Sister will be joining in on the fun when her schedule/babies/sickness/moving allows it. We will also be doing some of the same projects in the same week to show our different spin on it.

Seriously, we're so excited for this! (And secretly, I hope Martha stumbles across this little bloggity blog...a girl can dream, right??)

Here we go!! Week #1's project will be posted in the next day or so!!!

Happy 2011!!!

readmore»»

peacock feathers make me happy.

There are many things in life that I love. And while I could go on and on with a list of "Kelby's Loves", I digress. I'll just mention one in this post.

Peacock Feathers. lovelovelove them. Everything about them. My best friend's sister got married this summer and had a peacock feather theme. I was in heaven!

So it should come as no surprise that I decided to make a (long-overdue) peacock feather necklace. I felt totally inspired on New Year's Day and whipped this bad boy out in a few hours.

I think it has an Anthropologie feel do it. And it's supposed to be off-centered when you wear it...with more feathers on the side. Seriously, I'm so in love with this. It may just be one of my most favorite things that I've ever made. :)

readmore»»