Bottle Cap Stamp Craft

I'm always looking for ways to keep Marley occupied during the day. She could sit and watch tv or play her DS all day if we let her.  Saw this idea on pinterest and thought she would enjoy it since she loves to paint and draw. My aunt actually had the bottle caps, but they're just off milk and gatorade. Then I picked up the foam stickers at Wal-Mart for $1. At the time I wasn't really thinking, but I can't use all the letters because once you stick them on the caps and stamp with them, they are backwards- oops!  I did the letters I could and just let Marley play with the rest of the letters. 

Very easy, just stick the letters on the caps and voila! 

It's for the birds

Marley and I did a quick little craft project today after she brought home some bird food from school. (She had a field trip last week to Chesterton Feed & Garden and they gave each kid a bag of bird food).

First, you need some used toilet paper rolls, peanut butter, bird food, something to spread peanut butter with, and something to lay the bird food out on.

I spread the peanut butter on the t.p. rolls first. I did it pretty thick for a few reasons, one- because I wanted the bird food to stick good, and two- I knew I wouldn't be using this jar of p.b. again so I figured I wouldn't waste it.

Next, I passed the roll off to Marley and she rolled it all over in the bird food. Making sure to smoosh it down good so the food sticks. 

That's it! Then we just bundled up and went outside and slid them over tree branches. We put them where we could see them from inside so Marley could watch them if a bird does come.

It took us about 10 minutes from start to finish and was free since I already had p.b. and t.p. rolls. 

Wax on, Wax off part 2

So now that I had my jar all clean it was time to make a "new" candle. (See how to clean your jar here)

First, I boiled some water. Once it was boiling, I just carefully set my old jars in the water and waited for them to melt.

I took my clean jar and my new wick and rigged up this little system to hold my wick in the middle and straight up while pouring the hot melted wax in.

After I poured the hot wax in, I placed it in the refrigerator so it would harden and started over with melting another candle.

I did this process for each old candle I had. My new candle has a nice stripey pattern to it and the house smelled really good from all the melted candles.

But now, I have a bunch of empty glass jars and I don't really know what to do with them. Does anyone have any ideas? Or should I just scour pinterest like I do for hours every night?

Wax on, wax off

I saw on Pinterest a few different ways to get that last little bit of wax out of your candle jars. I finally made it out to Hobby Lobby to buy some wicks, so I decided to give it a try. 

Here's all my "used" candles. My goal is to melt all the wax and combine it and make a new candle. 

First, I needed a clean jar. I had this one and it was pretty good size so I went with it. All you do is boil water on the stove. Once it's boiling for a few minutes, carefully pour it into the candle jar. Almost immediately you will see the wax on the bottle start to melt and float up to the top. It's pretty neat looking. 

Once it had all floated to the top I used a piece of metal to reach in and get the wicks out. And I stirred it a little just to help the remaining wax make its way to the top of the jar. (Be careful, it's very hot)

After a few hours, the water was cool and the wax on top was hard so it was time for the next step.

See how cool! (I was very excited that this actually worked)

I used a pencil to poke two holes in the wax so I could pour the water out. Then I cut the wax in half and pulled it out. I saved the wax to melt to use in my new candle. 

Cleaned the black stuff off the jar and made sure all the old wax was out and now it's like new and ready to become a candle again! 

Check out Part Two- making a new candle. 

Anyone have any other methods? I've heard of putting them in the freezer too, but have never tried it. Have you?