Lip Balm

So on to a project that was successful!  So one of the many things that I thought was a cute idea came from the Martha Stewart Website to make your own lip balm.  Her product list includes beeswax.  Now that I'm incredibly lazy I had been solely using Amazon.com for all of my purchases, to take advantage of Amazon Prime, which I love an wholeheartedly endorse.  So I started to get nervous with the idea of picking out beeswax and the quality of it until I came along a comment on the Martha site that recommended this website for getting supplies.  So this is what I ended up using:

Supplies

Lip Balm base (I used the  Macadamia and Jojoba Lip Balm Base and the Soy Lip Balm Base w/SPF 15)
Lip Balm Tint (I bought blue and rose)
Lip Balm Flavor (Cherry and Blueberry)
Containers (Oval and small tins)
Plastic Pipettes
Kitchen Scale
Candy Thermometer

Things I wish I had:
My Mettler Toledo scale from the lab

So this project was easier than I expected.   I measured out 60g of base and melted it in a glass container in the microwave.  I started on high and then later moved to 50% power since it heated up so quickly.  I read that you needed .03% of tint and that you couldn't add that if the base was more than 120 degrees Fahrenheit.  So I used my candy thermometer (that I have yet to use) to take the temperature of the base (much higher than 120 degrees!)  let it cool, then I hit tare on the scale and attempted to add the base.  My scale, while displaying the correct number of significant figures, could not register the tint amount.   So I used what I thought was appropriate for the tint, it was a little more risky with the flavors but I figured if I got it wrong, oh well.

While filling the containers (sorry no pictures of the conventional lip balm tubes) I noticed that I needed to zap the glass dish in the microwave for about 30 seconds max to heat the mixture prior to filling the containers.  When I didn't do this the mixture cooled too quickly and the pipette clogged.   When I used the tubes, I used a rubber band to bind the tubes upright which made it easy to fill.  As long as the mixture was hot, the mixture would cool so you would get the nice looking meniscus that you see in lip balm tubes normally.  

 So this project turned out really well.  It was a last minute (I have 30 minutes, will this work?) project, and wow, was this easy. My big changes would be to use different tins, since the metal ones were a bit tough.  Also labels!!!  I bought waterproof labels that I (of course) lost before making the containers.  I had planed some super cute holiday labels that I never added.  I think that these would be great for bridal/baby showers, etc.  I will post again if I add labels, because I feel like it will be a bit interesting with coming up with sizes.  I also found a really interesting website which may be my source in the future.

Christmas Cookies and Holiday Post-Mortem

Ok, it has been quite awhile since I posted.  Part of that was my enthusiasm for this new craft phase of mine.  I planned TONS of new projects and I executed only a few of them.  So my lessons learned from this holiday period:

1) Start early.  REALLY early.  I'm thinking I'm going to have to plan many of my holiday projects around Halloween and start no later than Thanksgiving weekend.  I got many things done, however I definitely felt rushed at the end and didn't put the effort into packaging that I had planned.

2) Budget!  I think I blew my entire Christmas budget and didn't buy a single gift.  Oops.  It was all for a good cause!

So here is a project that didn't go off as planned:

Recipes: Heather Chittum's Sugar Cookies via The Washington Post
                 Royal Icing Recipe via Sweetopia

So the plan was to bake ice and wrap sugar cookies for gifts this holiday season.  I had these wonderful visions of creating different colors of icing and getting comfortable with using a pastry bag.  Well, that almost happened.

The cookies:

I followed the recipe exactly.  I sifted the flour with the other dry ingredients (minus the sugar).  It was a little weird not letting the butter go to room temperature, but I guess made sense.  Next time I may let the butter soften since it's so much easier to use that way and it's going in the fridge anyway.  

Finished product!

After

Before

 So something I noted, I put the dough in the fridge/freezer constantly.  Sometimes while I was cutting the shapes I had to chill the dough.  I would definitely be more conscious in the future of that.

Done!

The Icing:

The next step was the icing which I did the next day.   I purchased a Wilton tool caddy that seemed to be a good starting place for using a pastry bag and piping tools.   So I followed the icing directions, no pictures because I do think the icing issues I had was a matter of viscosity.   According to the detailed directions on Sweetopia's site, there seem to be two types of people in the world.  People who like to outline their cookies and flood them with icing with the same viscosity and people who like a thicker icing for the cookies.  I realized that I am in the latter category.   Also, the directions said to use a #2 or #3 tip.  I started with a #2 tip, but when I used the runny icing, the icing was so thin that I realized I needed a thicker tip for the outline to compensate.  In the end decorating the cookies was a complete mess (see above) because I had no handle on the viscosity issues.  So a future post will be fully dedicated to icing cookies.  I plan on practicing for all minor holidays so I can be ready for next year around the holidays.  Also, I couldn't find a photo, but not only did the icing did start to bleed but my kitchen and my hands were pink from the food coloring.  My next attempt will involve rubber gloves!

Wine Bottle Decoration

Idea from:  A. Party Style via Pinterest
"Cooking" Wine:  Bordeaux 2009

Items needed:
Ribbon (your choice)
Wire (I used 26 gauge silver)
Jingle Bells (I used 1 3/4" and the rest are 1/2" bells)
Wine (that you aren't drinking)
Wire cutters (though scissors could work with a high gauge)
This wire tool thingy (I'm sure someone can tell me what's it's called, but to me it's a thingy)

Things I wish I had and will probably will buy later:  Glue gun

So I have way too many jingle bells around the house.  The reason will probably be the subject of a future post.   So I was on pinterest doing a jingle bell search to see what in the &$#! I could possibly do with all of these bells.  DCguy and I were invited to a holiday party this weekend, and one of the ideas I liked on pinterest was from A. Party Style for a wine bottle decoration.  I figured it would be a good use of the extra bells and wire.  

Let the games begin!

Ok, so this blog is not about me trying out my deceitful side!  I have a scientific/technical job that has gotten a bit stressful as of late (and will be that way for awhile) so I have turned to cooking, baking, and crafts as a stress reliever.  Oh and wine, I drink a lot of wine!  I have never been good at art, even my stick figures leave something to be desired, so I hope no one expects Martha Stewart here!   What I will do is post pictures of "experiments" in the culinary arts and craft projects.  I am getting my ideas from the internet, so when I do each project, I will post the website so you can see where I found everything.  I hope this will be interesting to someone other than me, but maybe not.  I also hope to have some guest bloggers to show me what they are up to, but it may take some convincing!