Must or Bust: Soap and Santa

Time for another exciting installment of Must or Bust for your viewing pleasure! Please contain your urge to burst into applause. . . the people across the room will think you've lost your mind.

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Upgraded Soap Containers: Must. . . Kinda.


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I've had my eye on this idea over at "The Craft Patch" HERE for many moons but could never remember to pick up a glass oil bottle from the store. Kind of like how I've been meaning to get Hannah bubble bath for the past, um, 6 months or so. But I digress.

About a month ago, I finally bought one. I could almost hear the angels singing when I walked down the wrong aisle at Wallie World and stumbled across the oil bottle selection. I could hardly wait to get home and try it because the soap bottle I currently had kept getting plugged. There's nothing quite like having to squeeze the living daylights out of your soap bottle every time you want a smidgen of soap.

I gleefully poured the whole bottle of soap in and marveled at how wondrous it looked. It remained so until I had used it a handful of times and began to realize that the soap doesn't like to come out of the tiny hole allotted for oil. I had heard from a friend that adding a little water to the soap to help thin it out can make it much easier. . . but that still didn't help.

I tried pulling the top nozzle {the silver pointy part} and black ring off and just using the glass bottle, but after tipping the bottle and pouring out the soap, some remains would ooze down the sides of the bottle . . making it slippery and ultimately crusty-looking. I finally decided to try putting the black ring back in {sans silver pointy part} and it works like a dream to this very day.

So like I said-- it's kind of a must. Kind of not. Depends on how you look at it. All in all, it's looks much better than a regular slimy 'ol bottle and it certainly doesn't get plugged up anymore.

{On a semi-related note, "The Craft Patch" has a whole section designated for testing Pinterest pins. Check it out HERE. . . but then don't forget to come back and check out my humble-and-not-nearly-as-cool Must or Busts. :D }

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Santa Hand Ornaments: Bust


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I fell madly in love with these little Santa hand prints listed on "Blissfully Domestic"'s list HERE and wanted to make one this year with Nanny. Now, as a disclaimer, this could totally be user error. Just like when I tried my hand at homemade kid-safe paint {HERE}, it sounded a lot easier than it was.

The link mentioned above leads you to another link, which in turn leads you to another link. I dutifully tracked my way down to the original and thought, "Hey. If she can do this with a 6 month old, I can certainly do this with a 2 year old! Peace of cake."

I bribed Hannah to stay happy with graham crackers while I mixed up the ingredients {it was almost nap time, see, and she was doggedly determined to rearrange my unlocked kitchen cupboard while my back was turned}.

My first clue to abort while I was ahead was when the recipe she gives you {1 c. flour, 1/2 c. salt, 1/2 c. lukewarm water} resulted in a goopy blob; not dough. It wasn't even anything CLOSE to dough until I added at least 1/2 c. more flour {it was probably closer to 1 c. extra when all was said and done}. I finally thought I had the dough at the correct consistency and rolled it out. I wrangled Hannah from among the wreckage of my previously presentable cupboard and pushed her hand in the dough.

She thought it was great fun and decided to take a handful of it with her when I lowered her from the counter top. That didn't make for such a cute hand print, I assure you. On our second pass, the dough was still too sticky and came up with her hand. On our third pass {after adding more flour and re-rolling the dough}, I didn't make the dough thin enough and so the hand print didn't look anything like a hand after I tried cutting it out and placing it on the cookie sheet.

. . . In fact, I'm quite convinced that transferring the dough from the floured counter top to a cookie sheet while retaining the cute little hand print is much like expecting to lasso a unicorn and ride him to the Bahamas; it's just not gonna happen.

I did find that flouring Hannah's hand before pushing it into the dough helped considerably, but not enough that tries 4-6 were voted as a success.

I finally gave up when try #7 came out looking like this:



and I came out looking like this:



For the record {should you try to follow in my footsteps}-- do this at your kitchen table or at the very least, pull a kitchen chair over to your counter top. Don't try to lift {and then balance} your 2 year old on your knee. It's difficult enough trying to push her little hand in the dough hard enough to make a decent imprint but without crushing her all while keeping her from grabbing a fistful of it and dragging her shirt in all the excess flour strewn across your entire kitchen.

Seriously, folks.

And, uh, yeah. That's the only tip I can come up with because I never succeeded. . . tips coming from a failure are generally not well received. ;)  

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In case I don't get around to posting again before Christmas, have a VERY MERRY ONE!