Monday, November 24, 2014

Beautiful Photo Christmas Cards



Christmas Photo Globe Greeting Card
Christmas Photo Globe Greeting Card by TDSwhite
Shop for Christmas Cards online at Zazzle.com













Mod Birch Christmas Trees Photo Card
Mod Birch Christmas Trees Photo Card by heartlocked
Check out Christmas Cards online at zazzle


Zazzle Disney and other media items

I love that Zazzle has shops created by movie company's the Disney shop is one of my favorites. I added a few other movie and media items below and links to the shops as well as the Disney shop like harry potter Doctor Who and comics.   


Lots more Disney Frozen Ornaments Here

Find Frozen Shirts, mugs, magnets, cards, lunchboxes, phone cases and more HERE

Sisters Personalized Christmas Tree Ornament
Sisters Personalized Christmas Tree Ornament by disney
Browse through more unique Christmas ornaments at zazzle.com

Olaf Snowflakes Christmas Tree Ornament
Olaf Snowflakes Christmas Tree Ornament by disney
Create customized christmas tree ornaments at zazzle.com.



More Great Disney stuff at the with your favorite movie Folk. Big Hero 6, Monsters inc,
Nemo, cars, up,Tinkerbell.planes. Brave, Muppets, Princesses and so many more   Click Here





Crack in Space and Time iPhone 5 Cover
Crack in Space and Time iPhone 5 Cover by LilBit_O_HarMony
View iPhone 5 cases online at Zazzle



tenth doctor iPhone 5 cases
tenth doctor iPhone 5 cases by TheeFanshop
View another iPhone 5 case online at Zazzle

Harry Potter is a favorite in our house  check out an entire shop of  products here
Marvel Comics shop Here
DC Comics shop Here




Monday, November 17, 2014

Christmas and Pet Safety

Christmas Pet Safety Tips

During the holidays our pets should get a little extra love and attention, but even more so than usual, safety is very important! I have created this lens in hopes to give some info to help keep your furry family members happy and safe this Holiday Season. If you are like me, then your pets are part of your family and you want their holidays to be just as wonderful and special. If you have any more ideas beyond what is here, please let me know. All I want is a happy and safe holiday for all!  



Trees and Decorations 

First off, the lights and decorations look like toys to both cats and dogs. You will want to supervise them when they are in the same room as the tree and close that room when you are asleep or not at home.

What can happen? Well, electrocution from the lights, so please cover the cords; and if using real candles they could pull them down and cause a fire.

In general, candles you have around the house should be put up high and in places cats cant climb up to get to them.

Also on the tree, tiny light covers can come off or glass balls can break and can cause bad injury or choking. Oh and some lights also have dangerous toxins.

Tinsel and ribbons can cause choking and cause problems in the intestines. Many pet owners each year rush cats to the vets to remove yards of these items as cats enjoy chewing ribbons and quite a few cats love playing with the tinsel, batting it around and flinging it with their teeth.

And be sure to anchor the tree so it will not fall over.



Plants 

Pine needles and tree water can cause diarrhea, mouth soars, vomiting, sourness in the throat, and more. Also, if you put an aspirin in the water, as many people do, it can certainly cause even more issues. Never put aspirin in tree water if you have pets.

Mistletoe drops blood pressure & causes vomiting.

Holly & Poinsettias can make your pets very ill and in some cases will kill. Poinsettias have deadly toxins and are not good for humans or pets if eaten.

If giving plants as a gift to a person who has a pet I have Placed a link of dangerous plants to avoid at bottom of this article, Please be sure to check this list if giving a plant as a gift.

Food 

Dangerous food items include holiday favorites such as chocolate, coffee, onions, fatty foods, alcoholic beverages, things with small bones like turkey legs and wings, grapes and raisins.

Alert guests to the household pet rules so that everyone is aware they shouldn't feed them.

Also, too much food in general can make your pet ill, give them diarrhea or cause vomiting. And no sugar, I know they love it, and it probably won't kill them; a bit of ice cream or such items isn't good for them, but with all the excitement and perhaps your child gave him some, then your husband, then you, and don't forget aunt sue. It all ads up and can make your dog very very ill for days. The best gift for your pet is to have him feel well.

Keep wrapped gifts of food out from under the tree, set them on a table or in another room. If you have a gift from others please do the same. The wrapping paper and ribbon, then the candy or food inside the wrapped present can really hurt your pet. Oh and this includes their wrapped bones and such, lol.

Holiday mood 

Pets can get stressed easily a dog will show stress sometimes by heavy panting always have plenty of water around extra water around to prevent dehydration.

Have holiday treats and toys set for the giving during the holiday party or gathering to keep them busy and happy.
keep an eye on children and the pets so as they are not given food or get to excited around kids. when kids open toys put tiny toys away or up high as soon as possible so pets do not chew them up or choke on them.

During the days around the holidays and the holidays themselves pay extra attention to your pet keep there feeding schedule and potty schedule as normal as you possibly can.

Excitement and nervous makes for a sick pet in many cases causing diarrhea and vomiting for days.
loud noises poppers champaign balloons yelling and cheering please pay attention to your pet these things can really scar them and can cause vomiting diarrhea your pet to charge the tree hide all kinds of stress.

Make sure guests know rules for your pets. you maybe in some cases need to have other pet owners as guests or perhaps have a gated area near the activity's where your pet feels safe from guests and you feel good about your pets safety. but remember extra attention from you and new chew toys and water in this area is important.

Car trips some dogs tend to get car sick more stops to walk about the better a open window in the car do not feed dog before you go put the dog in the front seat might help. vets do have medication for dog car sickness. be sure to have plenty of water so the dog wont get dehydrated.

Pets as Gifts 

Pets as holiday gifts are not the best idea puppies and kittens need a lot of care training attention I do not recommend this for friends lovers even relatives and even your child unless you have all you need for the puppy or kitten most important being time & care.

pups and kittens need 3 meals a day at first need potty training and constant care until they are adult trained and ready to be home alone.many pets are brought to the humane society after the holidays that where given as gifts because the person doesn't have the time .

also adopting a dog from humane society is saving a life in some cases as well the person getting the special gift should be aloud to choose themselves often a connection is made right there at the human society a love connection between owner and pet.

be sure you can afford the pet food toys pet proofing the home and vet bills
researching breeds are very important.




Toxic and non toxic plants from The ASPCA site
and from  Humane Society dot org
also both sites can use contributions please give if you can.



pet memorial ornaments are in my shop if you would like to take a peek here is the link


Place your pet photo on the back of this rainbow bridge ornament 

Thursday, September 4, 2014

DIY Candles and Recycling Wax

DIY Candles

Updated March 2020
I love candles, and so many around me know it so I often get jar candles as gifts. I must say it is a favorite gift to receive. I enjoy crafts that are almost free or from nature, recycling, and so on. I always wanted to make candles, and now I do with wax from my old jar candles that are so low I can't really use them. So, I use that wax then clean the jars to use them as well. I didn't realize how easy it all was. Here you will find many ideas from filling, to dipping and dripping, painting, stamping, and shimmering. If you want to try candle making these are some wonderful, great ideas to get you started.


(I wrote this a few years ago for squido0 and it was added to so crafty magazine within the site this article is copyright me. LJR-Lisa)








Recycling Wax

I take my Yankee candle, or other jar candles, that are low into a small pan of water. I let it rapid boil then turn it down to medium and watch until the wax is fully melted. You can use this wax in molds, seashells, acorns, and more items, you will see a lot of ideas in this lens. What I also love is that the label peels right off of the jar and it cleans up pretty easy. I fill with bath beads, seashells, with treats, etc, and use them for gifts as well.

You can also save a clean candle jar to melt any broken candles you have and melt the same way






Wonderful Candle Making Craft Ideas Links


Pumpkin candles
Pumpkin candles
Cup cake candles
Cup cake candles
Ice candles
Ice candles
Candle snowballs
Candle snowballs
Printed candles with stamps
printed candles with stamps
another rubber stamping idea
Rubber stamping idea
Stamping letters romantic look candles
stamping letters romantic look candles
Beautiful Shimmer candles
Beautiful Shimmer candles
Another print on candles tutorial
Another print tutorial
Halloween Drip candle
Halloween Drip candle
Painted candles for fall
Painted candles for fall
shimmer effect for the Holidays
Shimmer effect for the Holidays
Halloween dripping candelabra
Halloween dripping candelabra

Fire Starter Candles Made From Pine Cones and Acorns


Fire starters are great fall and holiday season decorations and gifts. What is a fire starter, it is an item you place under kindling to start your fire place or wood stove. Two of my favorite decorative fire starters are pine cones and acorn caps. Here are some I made recently, please watch the great "how to" on pine cone fire starters here. Below are acorn caps, you do not dip these, instead you fill them like the seashells I did below.

Warning - fire starters are only to help start your fire in fireplaces do not use these as regular candles, when lit they can be dangerous!


Seashell and Acorn Cap Candles


Acorn caps and seashell candles are easy and fun. The acorn caps are done the same way. Here are some seashells I made recently.

How I Make Seashell Candles
I recycle wax regularly, you know how you have just a small bit at the bottom of those glass candle jars left after the wick has burned out. What I do is I half fill a small pot with water, let it come to a boil, and then turn it down to medium. I put the jar in and watch and let all the wax melt, I then make a new wick by dipping household string in the melted wax and soaking it. I then pour the melted wax into my new container, the seashell, and stand the new wick in the wax. I hold the wick in the center and in a minute it will stand on its own, and in 5 minutes your candle should have hardened enough that you can clean edges if needed and you have a beautiful seashell candle. I love using the old jars of wax because once I am done and emptied the wax, the heat also allows me to peel off the label easily, and now I have a beautiful jar and lid i can use for bath beads, or shells, or food treats, or gifts. You can do acorn caps the same way as seashells, just fill and let sit, they make great fire starters.

Other ways to hold wicks up are clothes pins and straws lay centered across the top above the wax.






What else can I fill with candle wax -Links 


Here are some fun Ideas
Apples
Apples
Tea Cups
Tea Cups
Jelly mold
Jelly mold
aluminum foil candle
aluminum foil candle
using pavers for interesting design candle molds
Using pavers for interesting design candle molds
cute pumpkin candles
Cute pumpkin candles
Try wine and Champagne glasses
Try wine and Champagne glasses
Pumpkin, lemon, and try oranges as well
Pumpkin, lemon, and try oranges as well
Very cool sand candles
very cool sand candles
Great glass goblet candle gifts
Great glass goblet candle gifts
bottle caps
bottle caps
coconut shell
coconut shell













Fills, embedded, & decor Links.


Coffee bean candle
Coffee bean candle
seashells
seashells
Fall Leaf
Fall Leaf
bird bath centerpieces
bird bath centerpieces
newsprint candle jar
Newsprint Candle
Easy sand candles
Easy sand candles
Glitter pumpkin candles
Glitter pumpkin candles
candle in corn
candle in corn
Another drip Bottle idea
Another drip Bottle idea













Types of Wax


Paraffin wax
Bees wax
Soy wax
Palm wax
Gel wax
There are so many types of wax, and so many ways to use these types of wax.
Bees wax is a natural wax which is thin and easier to mold and cut.
Paraffin wax is what most candles are made from.
Soy wax has a lower melting point and is used in container candles mostly.
Like i said I mostly recycle old candle wax but if you want to make candles from scratch you may wish to find out more information on what kid of wax would best fit your needs.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Pine Cone Crafts



Craft ideas for pine cones. a recent winter was the worse I ever saw for pine cones. I Live In RI and my aunt lives in NH she said the same thing, she has seen nothing like this before. So with pine cones filling our yards why not collect some for crafts. I picked up a couple of hundred the other day I suppose, the ones from my deck were a bit cleaner than my muddy winter yard. This lens is full of craft Ideas for pine cones. As well as the possible reason for so many fallen cones this particular year.

(Article is by me Lisa Roy created for squidoo and added to so crafty magazine a few years back, I added this article here when squidoo went down for good)

First How To Clean Pine Cones For Crafts 

When making things with pine cones you have collected you first need to clean them. So when you get home with you freshly gathered pine cones and are ready to clean them, you have a choice between 2 methods. You can soak and wash them or you can bake them. The washing method will remove the sap, and the baking method will glaze the sap. In either case, it will get rid of any stickiness so they can easily be used in crafts.

Line large baking pans with foil. The foil protects your pans from the sap. Heat your oven to 250 degrees and bake the pine cones for at least 30 minutes. This should take care of removing the sticky sap as your pine cones will become glazed where there was any. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you do not leave the kitchen when you bake the pine cones because you want to keep checking on their progress. They may need a little more time or a little less depending on pine cone size and how your oven generates heat. You may even decide to raise the oven heat for a few minutes, but not by much and only when completely supervised. This baking kills any bugs or spider mites that live in them. This also allows the seeds to fall out and sap to dry up. If you want your pine cones to close up tight, try plunging them in ice cold water after baking. This should make them close up tight, they will later re-open when dry.

If you choose the wash method, the best way to clean them is in a double sink. A large laundry tub type sink works great. You will place the drain stop in your sink and lay the pine cones down inside the sink. Then you will squirt some antibacterial dish liquid soap over the pine cones and begin filling the sink with very warm water. Be generous with the soap. Let the pine cones soak for at least 20 minutes, then return to the sink and let the water out. Now you can begin rinsing them. When the pine cones are drained and you can see they don't feel sticky, then give them a good rinse. If they are still sticky, then repeat the procedure, this time using some all purpose non toxic or disinfectant household cleaner. When you are done washing the pine cones, lay them on some plastic garbage bags or grocery bags on the floor to dry. Be sure it is in an area where children or pets won't tamper with them.

If you want to use natural unpainted pine cones in your crafts, you can spray them with a multipurpose polyurethane spray. Be sure to do that outdoors, and wear protective gloves and eye-wear.


Pine Cone Air Fresheners / Potpourri 


You will need ground spices, glue, and a sponge brush

Allspice,
Cloves,
Apple Pie Spice
Cinnamon,
Nutmeg

Paint pine cone edges with glue using the sponge brush and sprinkle with any combination of, or all of, the spices listed and then let dry.

Another way to give scents to pine cones is by using essential oils. This can be expensive, but a has a longer lasting effect, and there are many scents you can purchase. Use any oil you like, cinnamon is the type used most. Spay cones and place in sealed bag or add a few drops in a sealed plastic bag with cones and shake several times, and then let set over night.

Ideas for scented pine cones:
Add a small ribbon or twine and hang them as decoration.
Or, place in baskets with some cinnamon sticks and greens to decorate or even use as centerpieces.
Also, you can pin or glue to items. I placed and pinned some to on an old straw hat and also to my straw hanging basket in the kitchen.
Or, you can simply lace into any kind of jars as gifts or to decorate.

And click here for an air freshener idea.


I make these fire starters as candle  decorations 




Gnome, Sheep, Glitter Cones, Christmas And More 

As far back as I can remember we would collect pine cones for the holidays to make tree ornaments, the way we chose was to completely paint them either gold or silver, or to paint on glue and glitter them some, only lightly glittered to keep a natural look on tree along with the festive cones. You can see some of these done below in videos...





Fun Ideas for Pine cones 

Pine cone owl
Pine cone owl
Pine Cone Elves
Pine Cone Elves
Pine cone Turkey
Pine cone Turkey
Pine cone Reindeer
Pine cone Reindeer
Pine Cone Photo Holder
Pine Cone Photo Holder
Pine Cone Angel
Pine Cone Angel
Pine cone squirel
Pine cone squirel
Pine cone light
Pine cone light
Simple Centerpiece
Simple Centerpiece
pine cone Centerpiece
pine cone Centerpiece
Apple candles and pine cone dressing
Apple candles and pine cone dressing
Another pine cone angel
Another pine cone angel
Pine cone fruit vace
Pine cone fruit vace
Pretty pine cones and candles
Pretty pine cones and candles
Pine cone tree
Pine cone tree
Place cards
Place cards
Snow people
Snow People
Pine Cone Easter Tree
Pine Cone Easter Tree
Christmas tree cone
Christmas tree cone
Pine cone craft Ideas
Pine cone craft Ideas

Bird Feeders 

A wonderful activity to do with children.




Pets And Pine Cones 

Vet Answers

Are pine cones OK for pets?

Pine cones are not toxic unless trees are sprayed with chemicals. Some animal bedding and litter is made from shredded pine cones, and the Cat Fancier's Association recommends decorating Christmas trees with 'nontoxic' decorations such as pine cones.

However, fallen pine cones CAN harbor insects that you don't want your dog ingesting or being bitten by. They can also pose a choking hazard if your dog swallows large pieces. And a big problem is there being able to pass them if the pieces are too big. In ending as long as you supervise the pet playing with them, check for bugs, and not allow the chewing of them, then short pine cone play is OK.




Decorating not just for Christmas. A country look for your home 

Pine cones can be used to decorate your home or parties all year, whether it is place settings, hanging items, or other craft ideas. I love the country look they give to my home, just use colors that go with your home's color palette rather than Christmas ones. You can use many craft ideas, can you imagine a pine cone wreath with fresh cut seasonal flowers, roses, lilacs, etc. Use small water clips on back of the wreath to keep them fresh or perhaps use crafty items like flags on the Fourth of July, or tiny country dolls, or fruit. There are so many possibilities.

found this Great Window dressing
Click Here





Gnome, Sheep, Glitter Cones, Christmas 

As far back as I can remember we would collect pine cones for the holidays to make tree ornaments, the way we chose was to completely paint them either gold or silver, or to paint on glue and glitter them some, only lightly glittered to keep a natural look on tree along with the festive cones. You can see some of these done below in videos

.Love pine cones how about some art on items ?
Single Pine Cone Coasters
Single Pine Cone Coasters by natureby_lornakay
See other Tree Cork Coasters at zazzle