Putting Things Away

My goal today is to put 100 things away. Blogging about it makes it a little more fun. I'm carrying around a tote bag and filling it with things that don't go in this room.  Then I go to each room and drop off what goes where and then I start over. I've done about 40 things so far. I needed a break.  This kind of cleaning gives me an instant headache.

Collections for Home Dec

I was sick for a week. Now I'm on antibiotics. In the meantime, all my uncluttering has come to naught and I have to start over. Things really piled up. I did a sink full of dishes at least. And I fixed up a display of old bottles in the bathroom. I'll share some photos. I think glassware and pottery look great together.I made the ceramic bottle with the candle wax, and the cylinder years ago in pottery classes.

What do you have laying around that you can arrange in an artful way?

Home Dec Ideas

I will definitely have to try some of these http://www.squidoo.com/diy-wall-floor-art-tutorials-roundup-of-fun-decorative-craft-projects I'm re-doing my patio right now.  My budget isn't even a shoestring.  It's even less than that. Or as Nate said, "Shop your own home." Go through your own items, and rearrange them to give your home a new look without spending any cash.

Fixing Earrings

It stands to reason that any possession that is not useful in some way will clutter up the place. I had a jar of junk jewelry I bought at a yard sale, meaning to re-purpose it into arts and crafts projects. I've gone through it from time to time but never got any further.

So today I went through it and found two matching metal hoop earrings. The only thing wrong with them was that an ear wire was missing from one. So I removed the old ear wire, and put new ear wires on them. So viola, I had a 'new' pair of earrings. And one bracelet just needs a clasp repair, so I pulled that one out of there too. And then I found a watch in my nick-knack shelf.  It evidently needs a new battery because it's running slow.  So if I wear it I might remember to get a battery. 

Other parts of the jewelry will be useful for embedding into resin, if I get time to get into the new hobby of resin pouring. But for now they went back into the jar for another day.

Removing Old Wax From Glass Votive Candle Holders

Here you can see the wax that came out of the holders. The bottom paper shows that votive had 2 candles in it, and the top candle had 7 or 8 candles before it got too full to use again. If you make candles you can even reuse the wax if you filter out the clutter.  You can also see the leftover chopsticks that the candle holders were balanced on.

Two candle holders I rescued from being pitched into the trash. That's about a $6 savings right there.

I didn't want to be wasteful and throw out old votive candle holders once they are filled with wax and no wicks.  So they've been piling up cluttering up the place.
So I asked my boyfriend to help me come up with a way to get the old wax out. First I dusted the candle holders off. Then we got an old pie tin, lined it with foil, and then put a few broken wood chopsticks on the bottom to keep the candle holders off the bottom.
We set the oven to the lowest possible setting.  Then we inverted the votives and rested them on the chopsticks. In twenty minutes the old candles had slid out of the containers.  I carefully removed them with oven mitts and set them on a paper towel to cool off. I did not try to take the pie plate out of the oven with the liquid wax in it at this time, I just turned off the oven. An hour later it was solidified enough to remove the pie pan with a pot holder.

If I need to get further wax off of the glass I can do it with a hot hair dryer.  I'm happy I'll be able to use my pretty candle holders again now.

Obstructionist

I found out my boyfriend is an Obstructionist.
Definitions of obstructionist on the Web:
someone who systematically obstructs some action that others want to take

Every time I try to clean, organize, or straighten out the apartment, he pouts, complains, stops talking to me or grouses around that I moved something of his. So I'm just going to have to move my own stuff and as much as possible work around his. Today's goal is to get to my drawing table so I can start using it again, because crafting on the couch is just not efficient, fun, or good for my posture.