This week is Question Day...
If you're new to the Question and Answer post it's very simple...ask a question (any question at all) and my wonderful readers from all over the world will answer it for you!! Another reason why I love blogging...so many people willing to help and share their thoughts!! Thanks to everyone who asks and for all who answer. I LOVE IT!!
Just ask a question in the comment section. Anyone who reads my blog from all over the world, can answer that question by clicking in the "REPLY " button under THAT specific question.
There are so many helpful people in the world who can share so much...some have blogs, and some do not. I thought this would be the perfect solution for everyone to ask any question and then we can all help!!
Just an FYI...when you are clicking "reply" in any blog comment format, you are not "replying" directly to that person's email address. You are just replying on my blog under the question, so everyone has to return here to see the answers.
Ask questions about cooking, recipes, crafting, sewing, blogging, photography, vacations in other countries or states, decorating, families, babies...anything goes.
Here's how it will work...
- post your question in the comment section
- everyone will read the question
- if someone has a helpful answer, that person will click the "REPLY" button right under that particular question and post the answer!!
- that way everyone can read the answer too!!
- this is helpful for some who don't like to share their email address or who are "no replies" and there isn't an email address to respond to
- just come back to this post to see if your question has been answered!!
If you'd like to read the other Q and A post we've had over the weeks, you can click the Q and A link in the labels section. Today's post will be the first one you'll see, but scroll down for the others.
Have a great day everyone,
~Karen~
I am making my own liquid hand soap from a homemade bar soap and am wondering if anybody knows about this process?
ReplyDeleteI want it to produce more of a lather and can't find any info on what to add??
Any tips would be AWESOME!! thanks! :)
The one I found and made makes a pretty good lather. Here's the link to my blog post: http://www.myblissfulspace.com/2013/04/diy-body-wash-hand-soap-my-review.html
DeleteWOW. Just realized my grammatical error! ;) The one I found makes...not "the one I found and makes...". It's early in the morning. :)
DeleteI do this all the time - here's a good link: http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/03/his-and-hers-no-grate-homemade-body.html
DeleteI do not microwave the bar - I simply grate it and heat on the stove until it's melted. I also use slightly less water than she does, but you'll just have to experiment. I use Dove bar soap, and it's nice and sudsy, even thinned out.
HOWEVER - do not use a glycerin-based bar soap. It won't stay liquid, kind of gels up and is hard to pump. I made this last week using a bar of wonderful smelling soap from a craft fair vendor, and it's almost unusable. I may try to fiddle with it.
I do this all the time - here's a good link: http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/03/his-and-hers-no-grate-homemade-body.html
DeleteI do not microwave the bar - I simply grate it and heat on the stove until it's melted. I also use slightly less water than she does, but you'll just have to experiment. I use Dove bar soap, and it's nice and sudsy, even thinned out.
HOWEVER - do not use a glycerin-based bar soap. It won't stay liquid, kind of gels up and is hard to pump. I made this last week using a bar of wonderful smelling soap from a craft fair vendor, and it's almost unusable. I may try to fiddle with it.
thanks so much ladies!! I sure appreciate the tips, I am doing some research now, hope it works :)
DeleteI'm learning to tat, well trying to learn. Can anyone recommend a really good tatting video, as I am having trouble when I close a ring, to start a new ring. Maybe I am just goofy and not fit to tat. Thanks for helping, if you can.
ReplyDeleteSorry I don't tat and I know you've probably tried youtube, but you can also try the site Instructables. Lots of people sharing their instructions on tatting and lots of other things too like quilting, sewing anything actually
DeleteHere's the main site...
http://www.instructables.com
and here's the tatting...
http://www.instructables.com/tag/type-id/?sort=none&q=tatting
Not sure if you'll find what you're looking for, but maybe in one of the instruction there might be a tip or picture of closing the ring
I wish there had been videos when I taught myself to tat! It took me ages before I finally achieved any success! Here's a good site, with lots of videos which show the process very clearly. Good luck with your tatting!
Deletehttp://www.tattedtreasures.com/tutorials/
Judy in New Brunswick, Canada
I needle tat but not shuttle. I got the books from Barbara Foster from Handy Hands for the needle tatting. I picked it up in no time following the instructions. Now I have her book and DVD for shuttle tatting. I just haven't tried it yet. Needle tatting is easier to learn than shuttle.
DeleteI've painted my living room a light grey with white skirting and ceiling. I want an accent colour to go with it, to paint a side table. Can anyone give me any suggestions please?
ReplyDeleteI want something lovely and bold but not crazy....definitely not crazy! I feel like if I stick with grey and white and gold then I'm not being bold enough!
p.s. am I the only one not overly keen on Pantone's colour of the year Emerald?
If you love emerald, I say go for it!!! There are also gorgeous shades of aqua/turquoise. Yellow would also be pretty. I'd say go with what color makes you happy!
Deletewww.myblissfulspace.com
No you're not the only one, I'm not crazy about it either. I would use a deep dark teal, not too flashy but a beautiful color that will look wonderful with the grey. I like the paint sample idea too.
DeleteI painted my daughter's bedroom gray and it too has white ceiling and trim work. She want bright yellow pillow and curtains and it looks great.
DeleteMy tip is to go to Pinterest and in the search bar type in "gray and yellow room" or "gray and green room". So many great ideas will pop up. You can add any color you want to the search. I also do this in the Google search bar.
Here's the link to the search for "gray and yellow room"
http://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=gray%20and%20yellow%20room
Good luck, but I think any color will go with gray. It's such a wonderful color.
Thanks girls, I think I will try the paint samples way. We tend to have books of samples here and I've got a couple of those but I could go to the big DIY shop and get some of the cards.
DeleteI quite like the idea of yellow or coral kind of colours now you've said those, something to warm it up although the floor is an oak laminate so I already know it can take the warm colours so that's good.
Thank you all xx
I recently renovated my whole house (almost the whole house, one room left) and the living room and hallway were painted a grey white with white ceiling and baseboards, my accent wall is a pretty subtle green. you can check out my renovation here: Old House Refreshed
DeleteHow about a splash of orange!
DeleteWhat color is your furniture? I would take keys from your furniture and keys from colors that you love. I have used red with grey and white rooms beforehand it brings an element of warmth to a room.
DeleteRaspberry!
DeleteI would definitely use a deep red for the cabinet color. Love that combination of grey, white and red. Judy C
DeleteMy first thought was cranberry. Very classic, not terribly trendy.
DeleteI would choose a red as well - it would pop like a poppy on a cloudy day!
DeleteWhy not go to a hardware shop and pick up a stack of paint colour samples, if you take some in each of the primary colous then put them one at a time on the table it may give you and idea as to whether you prefer a hot colour, Red/Orange or cool Blue/green. Once you pick your colour then choose your shade.
ReplyDeleteI am a new soapmaker and I have had requests for FELTED SOAP. Does anyone know the process for making that? Also, I am learning cold process (vs. melt and pour) and my mom keeps telling me "people don't want soap with lye in it, they won't buy it" I say she is wrong since you can't make real soap without lye (it hardens all the oils into the soap and then as the soap cures, the lye and PH levels drop. So, my question regarding cold process soap is, who is right, me or mom? (you can do so much more with cold process soaps design wise!)
ReplyDeleteI felted around a bar of soap if that's what you mean by felted soap. You taking some wool roving and have some warm water in a bowl and wrap the roving around the bar of soap and wet with your hands and move it around like you are using the soap to wash your hands to agitate it until the wool felts around the soap. You may need to add more wool as it starts to felt. The hardest part is to keep the corner of the soap covered with wool and felt in the corners. If you use dyed wool, the colors tend to wash away and fade as you use the soap.
DeleteI have also made handmade soap and real soap uses lye. The lye changes chemically when you cook the mixture and is only dangerous before you cook it in the soap. I am not sure about the cold process, because you need heat when using lye and mixing all the other soap ingredients together so that it cooks and gets saponified.
About the lye, I buy soap from a small business and they do cold process. They use lye. It is what makes the soap have glycerin in it (in a very complicated chemical reaction), and glycerin helps moisturize your skin. So, yes, you are right, people buy soap with lye in it. IMO, it's leaps and bounds above storebought in quality.
DeleteFelted soap is super easy to make, my kids did at at school for mother's day gifts in 1st grade. Not so great for their mother, who is allergic to wool LOL!
DeleteThey used tubs of hot water with roving--the roving wraps around the soap very nicely, and as you agitate it with your hands in the water, the roving felts together around the soap. They used soap bars cut in half for their little hands. You can also do multiple colors, which is very pretty.
you can't actually make soap with out lye in it! the melt and pour soap is made with lye. OR it's made with chemicals to imitate lye. Lye is what makes soap soap!
DeleteI get this from people too, not wanting Lye in their soap, and it just makes me laugh! :)
Homemade cold process soap is so much better for you than the melt and pour, as they add stuff to it just like the store bought soaps. Made at home, YOU get to choose what goes into your soap.
Thank you all so much for your help. Hmm, now to go get some wool, I bought squares of FELT!! lol. learn something new every day!
DeleteI can't wait to master Cold Process, you can do so much more with it than just melt and pour, although I am having great success with my melt and pour.
I have a new follower to my blog. When I went to check out her blog it was posted in a different language (I later learned it was Turkish). She doesn't have a "translate" button on her blog so couldn't access an English translation. When I went to my blog settings, it gave me several obscure languages to choose from to translate but none of the common ones such as French, German, Italian or TURKEY. Hope someone can help me find a way to translate English into Turkish.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if this works on all computers, but if I right click my mouse over some text there is a "Translate to English" I can click on.
DeleteThanks for the suggestion patchouli moon. It didn't work in this situation tho.
DeleteYou can copy the text and put it int a Site like babel fish.com. They have Turkish ..... I think!
Deletehttp://translate.google.com/ or http://www.bing.com/translator will translate a page for you - just copy the webpage address and paste it into the box on the translation page.
DeleteIf you are able to build a relationship with this new follower, you can suggest she put a translation option on her webpage. Most blog hosts (blogger, wordpress, etc.) have options to do that.
I believe Google has a translator I would google it and I'm sure you will find your answer.
ReplyDeleteGo to
ReplyDeletehttp://translate.google.com/
Copy and paste 2 or 3 paragraphs of the language into the first box and click on "Detect Language". Usually it does it automatically. The English translation should appear in the second box. Or click on English so it will.
To do from English to another language, type your English in the first box and click on English just above the box. Then go above that to where there are 2 boxes with 2 way arrows between. Click on the first box for drop down & choose English. Click on the second box for drop down & choose other language. Then click "translate" box.
Noreen
http://craftyjournal.com
this is my first time joining in!! hi all!
ReplyDeleteI want to ask you all if you have encountered a tooth/gums infection that obscured your jaw xray. um.. reason i asked is that i had a bad infection in my gums and went to the dentist's and he said there was a hollow part on my lower jaw that was supposed to be bone, but it's the same area where my infection was, so maybe that was just the infection obscuring the xray? coz he scared me to death saying "something is eating your bone" and referred me to a specialist. i have not gone yet coz all the paperwork has been so slow...
whoa! Haven't had this happen but I hope everything turns out alright!
DeleteHi Mandy,
DeleteA few years ago I had an infection under a tooth. They did a root canal and gave me several antibiotics, but it still did not resolve, so I was referred to an oral surgeon for an apicoectomy (basically removal of infection by cutting the gum and going in under the tooth). The surgeon told me there was a "hole" in my jaw below the tooth. After the surgery removed the last bit of infection, the bone grew back. It all sounded really scary at the time, because I had no idea what to expect, but it turned out not to be that bad. Hope this relieves some of your fears. Good luck to you!
I have been asked to hem a prom dress for a friend's daughter. Even with high heels, she needs about 1 inch taken off in the front, but in the back it's perfect - she has a slight swayback, so it rides a little higher and is the perfect length.
ReplyDeleteI can manage the hemming part. I'll just need to taper it from front to back, and I have a serger so the small hem will be easy. Its the tulle overskirt that has me scared. It's two layers of very fine tulle, and I'm worried about cutting it evenly. It would be easier if I had to cut 3 or 4 inches off, but we're talking 1 inch down to nothing, from front to back.
Any thoughts on how to do this without creating ragged ends? The tulle is not finished with a rolled hem, it's just raw. Should I cut the tulle while she's wearing the hemmed dress rather than trying it while it's flat on my cutting table? Thanks for your help!
I would just cut it. I don't work with garment sewing anymore, but is use tulle in art quilts a lot. I never ahem it. I just cut it!
Deletesince the tulle is just raw, and this material doesnt fray, i'd say no need to add a finish to it, so all you have to do is cut right?
Deleteif that's the case, and if you already measured how much you need to cut off, i would just very slowly and carefully cut while using ur tape measure, small section at a time. if it's a really fine tulle, it should not become ragged too much as other not so fine tulle. just make sure how much exactly you need to cut off, so measure real good while she has the dress on.
LOL, don't you just love the comment setting? I guess I need to proofread better! And that you get the word hem from the fact that I ahem it! LOL
DeleteThanks for the replies. LOL QuiltSwissy!
DeleteI should have been more clear - it has a satin underskirt that will be cut and hemmed, and a tulle overskirt that will not be hemmed - just cut. (I'm very grateful that the petticoat and lining don't need to be hemmed - they are both two inches shorter than the rest of the dress - phew!!)
Do you think I should pin the tulle to the hemmed underskirt before cutting it so it doesn't shift? That's my biggest worry, that it will shift as I cut and end up uneven. The worst part is that it's an expensive dress and it's for a friend - I'm probably psyching myself out.
That pinning would be a good thing to do, especially if the skirt is full. That way you will know what length it should be where.
DeleteCould you try using some painters tape on the part of the tulle that needs to be cut away? That way you can lay it out and put the tape on the part that needs cutting off and you will have a guide to go by. I'm thinking that the tape shouldn't come through to the satin but then again the satin will already be hemmed away by then. Just a thought that came to me. Good luck!
DeleteI recently finished a quilt for our bed. I typically don't put labels on my quilts, but this is special. I started it in 09 and then in 10 I was diagnosed with cancer and everything stopped. I'm finally full of energy and back to myself and I'd like to put a special label on this quilt. Can anyone tell me how they do quilt labels and put them on the backing of the quilt. I'm guessing labels is the wrong term, but for the life of me I can't think of the right term. Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteif you have an embroidery machine, that would be easy, just embroider what u want to say on the "label" then add it to the back of the quilt, maybe with a pretty border around it. but with no embroidery machine.... i don't know lol
DeleteI take a square of muslin or light fabric and use a permanent marker like a gel pen to write what I want. You can also take the fabric and iron it to a piece of freezer paper and send it through your printer. I would heat set both.
DeleteThen I sometimes fuse it and hand appliqué it to the back. But I totally HATE to put labels on, so now when I build my backing I incorporate a piece of muslin in the back piece. When I finish the quilt I use my gel pen to write on it!
That way I know the recipient will not take the label off.......
I enjoy making a label featuring an aspect from the front of the quilt such as a block or a fabric theme. My favorite label was on a quilt featuring coffee themed fabrics where I made a coffee cup with the quilt's name, date, and my name embroidered to look like a diner's info. I usually do hand-embroidery on my labels, but a fabric marker would work just a well. I usually use wonder-under on the label and do a few hand stitches to attach the label to the back of the quilt.
DeleteI have been making my labels with a solid color fabric (usually light color and often coordinating) and a fabric marker pen. I fold my fabric in a triangle with the fold being the longest side. The short sides I match up with a corner and baste in place. It gets stitched in as I apply the binding. After the binding is stitched, I hand stitch the fold as well. I like the triangle shape, and I think since it is stitched in with the binding, its less likely to be 'removed'.
DeleteI am getting tons of Anonymous comments (just gibberish). They appear on different posting going back to the beginning of my blog. Evey morning I have anywhere from 5 to 15 comments. Is this happening to any one else? ... is there anyway to stop it? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteOh yes it happens alot. But I have spam comment turned on where any comments from anonymous posters will stay in the spam box.
DeleteMandy is right, they are spam! You need to delete them!!
DeleteWhat kind of blog do you have? Word Press has a Add On that takes care of those for you.
turning on the 'enter code' option for commenters will put an end to that. Some people think it's inconvenient to have to enter a code just to comment, but those people just haven't been over-spammed yet. Most folks don't mind
DeleteThis was happening to me all of a sudden and once the buggers find you the only way to stop it is to not allow anonymous comments. Once I turned off anonymous comments no more of this nasty spam. Unfortunately that eliminates legitimate people who want to comment anonymously but I don't think there are too many of those compared to all the spam and the trouble it causes you.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of buying a cover stitch machine - does anyone have any suggestions as to what brand they have used and liked? I've looked at both the Brother and the Baby Lock, there is quite a difference in price but maybe not quality? I don't know anything about Janome but see the brand often recommended. I have a Baby Lock serger and love it so am leaning towards that brand. Thanks for any recommendations or advice.
ReplyDeleteHow many hours a week do you spend blogging? I spend way too many hours maybe 10-15 and I work full time outside the home, is this the norm?
ReplyDeletewww.theaccidentalmilitarywife.blogspot.com
Wow, that seems a lot to me I spend maybe five writing, editing and replying. Are you using your blog to generate income? The most time for me is editing photos to get them blog worthy. If it's a hobby and you enjoy it what's the problem? If you're counting blog surfing in that total well that's another number all together :0
DeleteNot for income, but, yes surfing is in that number lol.
DeleteI'm with you Quana...many many hours blogging, but I love it. I'm in a good place in my life though, so I do have the time. Our 2 daughters are away at college, it's just my husband and myself at home and I work only 3 days a week.
DeleteI agree with Patricia too...picture editing takes a lot of time. Taking the picture, editing, choosing the right ones, renaming them and putting them in order for ease of loading them into the blog post. I do have it down to a science now LOL !!
Sorry Patrica, not Patricia
DeleteHas anyone switched over to bloglovin? If so,how do you write a post,edit and so on in bloglovin?
ReplyDeleteBloglovin is not for writing blogs, it's just a "reader" for blogs. A reader will keep track of all the blogs you follow, so you don't have to keep checking to see if a blog has updated with a new post. A reader will automatically show the the most recent updated post from a blog that is on your list. There are many readers out there to chose from, but there has been a lot of discussion lately because Google Reader (the most popular) is shutting down this July.
DeleteHope this helps
I tried bloglovin but found I was reading posts but not bothering to then click through and comment and so I stopped. I have a list of blogs that I check, (in my side bar, see following question) and as that gets updated I went back to using that
DeleteI'm sure the blogger logs used to have a [follow] button. I could click on it and follow, say, Karen. My icon thing would appear on Karen's follower list, and her count would increase by one. This button doesn't seem to exist any more.
ReplyDeleteAs I manage my own list of blogs to visit, in my side bar, It's not a problem but I think it's polite to show that I'm a follower, and we all like to see that number increase over time! So how does "following" now work?
If the blog has the followers showing - where our wee photos are - above that there is a blue box with "join this site" written on it. Click on that and it brings up a page where you can sign up to be a follower of that blog.
ReplyDeleteI hope that makes sense! :o)
Great Post! But you might just want to try having the holidays in cork , it would be really interesting!
ReplyDeleteI recieved some laminated fabric. They are all so cute. But not much of any of them. Then it hit, some outdoor placemats for summer. My question is, because of the laminate, do I need to sew a hem? Or can I just sew around the edges? Any help would be wonderful. Thanks so much
ReplyDeleteI hope someone can help me with this. I want to put a youtube video on my blog but don't know how to transfer it there. Any ideas?
ReplyDelete