Soy Candles

I have a new craft obsession: Soy Candles!

I looked in my kitchen cupboard one day and realized I had a lot of glass mason jars. I also had a lot of essential oils. What to do, what to do...

So I hopped on Pinterest and looked up how to make soy candles.

It's very easy! Soy is great to work with, because it cleans up so well. I picked up a 4-lb bag of soy flakes from Michael's, using a 40% off coupon. And I had a pack of 10 candle wicks in a craft drawer, so I put them to use.

The first batch was Rosemary and Cinnamon.

I added some hand-written calligraphy labels, to incorporate that craft obsession.

And of course added a bit of yarn to tie it all together.

Done! I gave one to my mom, one to my father-in-law, will give one to Shawna, and kept a cinnamon one for myself. Here it is, in action!

They're very easy and fast to make. I will try and mix scents next time - and there WILL be a next time, so stay tuned...

Essential Oils

Last week when I went to visit Shawna and her cats, we did our Christmas exchange. She got me a bunch of essential oils. I am THRILLED! I have some bottles at home but she gave me tons! I'm so excited to start using them and crafting with them. I started this board on Pinterest for some inspiration.

Cool Cats

Yesterday I went over to my friend Shawna's house, she cooked me dinner. She had been out of town on a 4-month tour, so we were all happy to be back in her apartment. And by "we" I mean me, her and Che and Cosette, her sweet cats. They are immortalized here in a Hey Buster portrait. But last night I got to see them live and in the flesh.

Here are my attempts at taking pictures of these cool cats.

Che is the sweetest!

Cosette is a bit more aloof.

But I got a good one of her, looking rather regal.

I LOVE this one of us!

And Shawna loves this one. Awwww, cats!

East Van Eats

Last weekend Shawna and I were in East Van, eating! I got lucky in East Van, at this brunch spot - Wish List.

Then we stopped at Ernest Ice Cream for a sundae. Oh boy.

Seattle getaway

The past weekend, after Side by Side closed, me and Shawna jetted off to Seattle for a little mini getaway! She bought me this deal on Groopon for my Christmas present. As soon as we got into town on Sunday morning, we rushed over to the Fifth Avenue Theatre and caught their matinee performance of Carousel.

It was a co-pro between them and a dance company and it was absolutely amazing! The performances were SO good, and the design and direction of the show was just beautiful. Then add in the professional dancers and the music - You'll Never Walk Alone - gahh, we were sobbing by the end of it!!

We collected ourselves and then headed over to our hotel, which was very central, only a few blocks away from the theatre and right downtown.

And we had the pool and hot tub all to ourselves!

Which made us very happy! We caught up, had some wine, did some crocheting (well ok, just me), and chatted a lot!

Then we walked about 15 minutes down to the Pike Place Market area and had dinner at an Irish pub named Wells. Then we went across the street to the Pink Door and had an after-dinner wine, and dessert - and caught the last bit of an aerial act! It was so great. Much too short of a visit. We did have the next day to putter around the city, I'll post about that tomorrow...