Welcome to my craft and hobbies page.  I hope you don't mind if I share a few photos of my crafts with you.  I know I love to see what others have been up to so I hope you feel the same way.

This is a metal wash tub that I painted for a friend.
 

Bob and I made this cribbage table for his mom and dad.
 

I made this light switch plate to look like my daughter's favorite teddy bear.  I started wondering why these are always so small so I made this guy a good 10 inches tall.  It looks great on the wall of her room.
 

I used this angel to decorate a fall wreath but I didn't have the heart to store her away with the rest of my autumn decorations for the year.  Now she stands as a decoration on a shelf.
 

My kids and I made these maraccas this summer. Click on the picture for the instructions.
 
 

I used to make a lot of things out of dough, Santas, teddy bears, bunnies etc.  I came up with the idea to make these swags to hang over a picture or whatever and they were quite popular at the craft show I went to. I haven't done any dough crafts in a couple of years because it takes so much time but maybe I'll take it up again this Christmas.  Just in case you're interested in trying dough craft, the recipe I used is:
1 cup salt
1 cup flour
1/4 cup water
They had to be baked for a LONG time in a low temp oven.  around 150-200C for maybe 8-12 hours.  Sometimes I mixed acrylic paint in the dough as in the picture above and sometimes I painted them after they were baked.  I finished them with several coats of varathane.  These don't hold up well to humidity so take care.

This is the newest of my many hobbies.  I must say that it surprised me how much I enjoy making soap.  It goes nicely with my interest in gardening because I can use the bounty of my garden in my soap.  Things like calendula petals,  lavender, sage, plantain (ok....so I grow that in my lawn), thyme etc.  I'm still learning about soap making so I thought I'd share some of the sites that helped me get on my way.  Soap makers are very generous with their knowledge and help!
 

Sugar Plum Sundries - A fun soap making forum and good recipes	Soap Craft
Elaine White soap recipes/instructions - excellent soap making instructions. I have a copy handy whenever I make soap.	Majestic Mountain Sage -A great site with a very useful lye calculator and lots of recipes.
Mad Scientist- Making Soap - Here's a little science to help you understand what happens when you mix lye.  It's a kids site so even I can understand it. :-)	Mad Scientist-pH indicator -How about making your own pH paper?

 

Then, of course, there is the wide world of toiletries.  I was very surprised at what could be found on the internet about making your own creams, lotions, massage oils etc.  Here's a really great site to check out:
 

 The Natural Health and Beauty Mailing list FAQ -This is the FAQ page for a very new and interesting email list.  They're a really friendly, helpful bunch.
 

If your interested in buying some hand made soap here are some sites to check out:

 Snow Drift Soaps
 
 

Did you know that some of the worlds best decorative painters are online.  Yes, it's true.  I have learned so much about painting from the internet.  Here is a sampling of what you can find about painting: