For My Girls

I used to get e-mails from Danielle LaPorte via her website WhiteHotTruth.com. I am not sure why they dissapeared from my inbox, but my best friend reminded me that I need to get back into checking her website daily! It is all about being real with yourself and realizing the things you need to do to live life to it's fullest in a real view way-and who doesn't need that!? This was the post that woke me back up and made me love my girlfriends even more than I do now!

an ode to girlfriends everywhere

 

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girlfriend, i adore you. like, insanely, madly, infinitely, priceless diamond, cosmic shiny adore you. it's crazy how much i adore you.

you told me to dump the chump.
i cut my bangs way too short before a job interview. you told me to wear a low cut blouse to distract from the nasty haircut. i got the job.
you're happy for me. always.
you remember. everything. you're the encyclopaedia of...me.
you made the appointment for me. you waited in the car. we drove home in silence.
you make sure my burritos come with an extra side of sour cream, and you order pizzas with mushrooms only on half.
you took me to the coast when i needed it most.***
when i thought the pain would kill me, you reminded me that i wouldn't die of a broken heart.
you told that bastard to fuck off so that i didn't have to.
you drove the moving van. in your first trimester. while barfing at truck stops. you never once complained.
you very gently suggested that maybe one pair of shoulder pads was sufficient.
you called in sick for me when really, I was partying on the band's bus headed for Buffalo.***
you didn't make me wear taffeta to your wedding.
you lent me $200 bucks that made all the difference between rent and groceries that month. you tucked it into my purse when i wasn't looking to save me the humiliation.
you held my hand when i got my tattoos, and my wisdom teeth out, and my first really expensive pair of shoes.
you babysat so that i could be with my mother when she was dying.***
you dared me and then said: if you don't trust you, trust me.***
my baby was two days old. you came over and scrubbed my kitchen floor, made a lemon loaf, and rocked the baby so that i could take a nap, but i didn't sleep. instead, you and i just stared at the baby on the bed, together.
you bring me trashy magazines and don't judge me for loving them.
you coax me out of my own brain. make me stop working and have fun. and you have no idea what I do for a living.***
you are how i know god is real. ***


you are my heart honey. my harbor. my metric of faith. my fresh water source. my soul sherpa.
girlfriend, i could not, would not do this without you.
not ever.
you, girlfriend. you.

Homemade Crayons

I have seen homemade crayons on various parts of the web, like at KittyBabyLove.com, PlanetGreen.com, and Earth Grown Crayons. They seem so simple to make and who doesn't have old broken crayons laying around?

I have been searching for the right type of mold to put the melted crayon wax in for awhile. I had no success until my recent trip to IKEA. Once we had the vessels to make crayons, the homemade crayon party was on!

Homemade Crayons

You will need:

• An assortment of broken crayons, preferably older, used crayons because no one likes breaking a perfectly good crayon to bits. (Well, maybe kids do, but adults would rather cherish new crayons until the next homemade crayon party!)

• Old tin cans (such as soup cans or canned veggie cans) preferably washed or rinsed out. You can also use glass or ceramic jars (I used old jelly jars because I didn't have any tin cans around). They should be small and something you will not use again unless it is for crayon making or other art projects. *The wax from the crayons may not wash off well after the melting.

• A small pot, you may want to pick one up from a local thrift store on the cheap or be prepared to scrub away or put it away for another art project. *The wax from the crayons also got a little on my pan and didn't come off that well, so just giving you fair warning.

• Long popsicle or craft sticks or old spoon (not plastic) that you might not mind throwing away when finished. *You will use these for stirring the melted crayons so it might be wise not to use any untensils that you may use for eating with afterwards.

• Plastic flexible molds. You can also use tin foil made into shapes as described at KittyBabyLove.com

• Oven Mitt and/or pot holder *Also, something you won't mind if wax gets on them.

• I also had cardboard handy that I put under the mold as I was pouring the melted wax into them to protect my counter.

First you need to gather all of the old and broken crayons that you have laying around the house (you know you have some!). You then take all of those crayons and begin to remove any wrappers that are on them.

The boys going through the crayons.

We decided to do yellow, green, red, blue mixed with metallic crayons, and brown mixed with gold crayons. You will want to also break them into small pieces so they can melt easier.

These are the jars I ended up using. I didn't use the large one, but all of the small ones worked out great.

Start off by putting the pan with cold water onto the stove and let boil. Once boiled set the jar of crayons into the water and let reboil. I found it helpful to keep a watchful eye on it as they are melting and to keep stirring until fully melted.

Yellow crayons in the ceramic bowl as they begin to melt.

Once the crayons are melted, it will be VERY hot! Do not hesitate to use extra caution at this time. I used the oven mitts to hold the jar as I stirred in the boiling water and when I removed the jar from the water. Turn the stove either on low or off and put the jar onto the cardboard so you can get a better grasp on the jar when ready to pour into the mold.

Here are the molds from IKEA. They are originally made for long thick ice cubes, but will now be our new crayon molds.

Try to work quickly, but safely, when pouring the melted crayons into the molds. I tried my best to pour the melted crayons in as neatly as possible, but it didn't matter in the end because you can carve or break off any extra pieces as you please. Let the molds cool as long as needed.

Once cooled, pop them out of the molds (this is where flexible molds work the best) and color to your hearts intent!

These were so easy and I feel like I really liked doing it more than the kids! The boys got a little bored with the beginning of the project because it took awhile to take all of the wrappers off the crayons and break them into small pieces. But once we got into the actual part of melting the crayons they were very interested! All I had to do was explain to them that we were doing a science experiment and making something new from something old and they were hooked! They couldn't wait for them to cool so they could create some art and to be able to call themselves scientists!

Warm Thoughts On a Cold Day II

I love snail mail! When I signed up for the Creative Color Challenge in November, I knew I would be getting some cute ornaments in the mail-but I didn't know they were going to be this cute! Here are the last two I received in the mail this past week.

*Sorry if it is blurry, still waiting for my camera to get fixed!

This ornament and cute stamped card were sent to me by Dyan Whyte at Dyanwhyte.com. She is a beautiful and artist and has a great website. Check it out.

 This ornament was sent in this charming, little tin.

When opened, it revealed an upcycled bottle cap ornament.

View of the back of the ornament.

I hope that I will be able to catch another one of the Creative Color Challenges. It was really fun!

I love me some thrift shopping! I came across thethriftshopper.com, You type in your address and it guides you to thrift stores in your area! I feel some road trip planning coming on!!! *Focus, Steph, Focus!* Well, once in awhile when I go, I find a certain item of clothing that I think is just too cute to pass up. Even if I know I will not wear it more than once, I still keep it in my closet for another date or just to admire again. I wore one of these finds to a wedding this past weekend, and I got a lot of compliments on it. More than I expected! A good friend of mine was saying "Hey, you have a lot of these types of dresses in your closet. You should really think about selling them or having a vintage store." She got the light bulb in my head to go off with that comment!

I have always wanted to have my own thrift store. I feel like I have an eye for certain clothes and maybe there are people out there who would buy those clothes from my store and I would be doing something I love. In my mind, I was thinking more of an actual "store". But after browsing the vintage part of etsy.com, I think I might just be able to do this! If you don't already know what Etsy.com is, it is a place to buy and sell handmade items, vintage, and supplies. I am recruiting two of my vintage divas and we are going to work on starting our first vintage online store! I am pretty excited!

But before I just dove in head first, I needed to do some research. Etsy had tons of information on starting an online store. And Great information on starting a vintage store! First things first, I learned that you need to do some background checks on your vintage items. I was never really a label checker before reading this, but every resource I looked into said this is the best place to start. I am still working on a few items, but it was so interesting seeing when these items were made! A few of my dresses are 30 years old! For an item to be considered vintage on Etsy, it must be at least 20 years old. Which means I have a good start on an etsy store!

The internet has very few resources for looking up labels, but one I found was TESS (Trademark Electronic Search System). They do disclose that they are not 100% exact on a lot of the items, but it really gave me a good place to start.

I also found a lot of information on different types of labels from Ebay member ikwewe. I actually found an International Ladie's Garment Worker's Union tag. A label I have never seen before. After doing some research, I found out that this Union was made up mostly of woman and started in 1900. It went thru many ups and downs from a major strike that almost shut it down, support from woman such as Alva Vanderbilt Belmont-a prominent multi-millionaire American socialite and a major figure in the women's suffrage movement, a fire that killed most of it's union workers, years of internal struggles, The Great Depression, and in 1995 it was sold to form UNITE. The tag on my dress looks like this:

1974-1995

Thanks to funkoma for this image from an 80s glittery prom dress.
In 1974, ILGWU decided to change the colors of its label to red, white and blue. This is recorded in the records of the 35th annual convention, archived at the Kheel Center at Cornell. The Report of the General Executive Board to the 35th convention in Miami Beach, Florida, May 31, 1974 mentions the change in colors to "an all-American red-white-blue and the addition of the line 'Made in USA'" on page 79. (emphasis added) They explain it in part as a result of the need to support the fight against the competition from low-wage imports, particularly to strengthen the nation-wide anti-imports campaign. All label material prepared in conjunction with the campaign used the slogan: "Buy American: The Job You Save May Be Your Own."

Thanks to never*ending*search and Patrizia Sione, Reference archivist, Kheel Center for Labor Management Documentation & Archives for this key information

All of that information on one label on one dress sparked a fire! It was so interesting. I definitely have to do more research as to how they should be priced and more exact origins. I hope to go to the library and look for some books to help me on my journey. I will keep you updated as to when our store will open! Hopefully it will be soon!

For my party this weekend we are going to our local skating rink to bring back some fun memories of days of old! But we are bad-assing it up and wearing Roller Derby Outfits! *I LOVE dress up parties!* The above outfit is a sneak peak as to what me and my girls will be wearing Saturday! Well, you can't be a roller derby girl without a roller derby name! Find yours at Rollergirl Name Generator. Mine is

Olive N. Kickin'!

I came upon the website galadarling.com. This the creator of the website above. Isn't she well...darling? Her website has such a variety of content in it that I could look for days and still not be full! Some of things that caught my eye are:

The Ultimate Gift Guide: 50 Picture Perfect Presents For The Playgirl In Your Life

100 Ways You Can Start Loving Yourself Right now!

100 Things To Do When You Are Upset

She dresses excitingly, speaks her mind, and isn't afraid to be herself. Who doesn't love that?!

P.S. As I am writing to you, my husband and I are watching a movie that some of you might not know about.

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins.

Now, I know this isn't an ultimate classic, but there aren't many movies I can watch over and over again. This is one that I don't get sick of watching over and over. It is so hilarious! I grew up watching Martin, and Martin Lawrence is the main character in this movie. Monique, Mike Epps, and James Earl Jones are also in the movie. If you have a chill night and see it on I suggest maybe check it out.