Link to my old freebies blog

I will link this on the side as well so everyone can find it easier. 

http://ravensnestfreebies.blogspot.com/

This is the place I had been posing all of my free graphics, recipe cards and tutorials prior to the WP web site disaster so hopefully you can find some of what you need to make your books. Hope this helps =)

Printable Recipe Cards

I originally moved my blog from Blogger to Wordpress in the hope of having a really awesome web shop and blog all in one but...hackers got me and I couldn't undo the damage they did so it was shut down. So many sleepless hours designing and building my webpages just to lose it all in one night. So

chin up, I am back to blogger and Etsy now. With a little luck I can try and restore some of the more requested printables I had up on the blog and I will start with these. 

(Please remember that these are for personal use only and cannot be sold.)

I will keep looking for more that you may need and please if you think of any you need leave a comment and I will try and locate/repost it for everyone. 

Have a wonderful week!! 

Coconut Orange Peel soap

I waited almost 36 hours to open the soap mold and cut my chocolate/peppermint soap into bars and I must say the patients part to soap making is something I am going to have to work on. Now I have to wait 4 weeks while it hardens before I can try it out so to occupy my mind I have been playing around with some recipes. This one is Coconut Orange Peel soap and I added some Shea butter and loofa to the mixture just to see what happens (I feel like a mad scientist)

Here are my oils, fresh orange peel and loofa ready to go. 

And here it is in the mold and ready to sit for 24 to 48 hours. I wasn't sure if you would be able to see the orange peel in the soap so I took a close up as well.

It looks beautiful!!  I cant wait to cut this up and see how it came out inside.

Patience is a virtue right?

Recipe

10.35 oz coconut oil

12.31 oz olive oil

10.37 oz palm oil

1.94 oz Shea butter

11.55 oz water

5.09 oz Lye

Fresh Orange zest

shredded loofa

I did not add any essential oils to my mixture this time but I may add some Valencia Orange EO next time to just kick up the scent a little. The Zest and Loofa amount is up to you. I used the whole orange approx. 2 tbs and the same of the loofa

I will let you know how it turns out =)

A new adventure begins

I have always been fascinated with beautiful soaps. The colors, smells and textures are to die for! I never thought much about making my own soap until my husband surprised me and said he would like to try and make it! For years I have waited for something we can do together and got so excited I bought tons of supplies without a clue what to do.  Here is our very first soap making adventure =)

This is chocolate / peppermint soap and wow does my whole house smell yummy!

It looks good enough to eat

I am totally hooked on this and with his meticulous and patient manner combined with my crazy creative streak we just may have the perfect combination for our new adventure  =) 

Our Blog and Shops new home

I found I was spending way to much time fixing and researching code for my shops website than I was creating pretty things so....here I am back to blogger and etsy =)

Today I...

Today I...

     Big day for us today. We listed our home for sale and started the painful process packing and throwing away anything non essential. There has been quite a bit of debate over whats is and is not essential. I am winning the fight so far =) The plan is to rent a place until we find our new home 3000 miles away! This will be the adventure of a lifetime and, I will finally get my farmhouse!!!! 

     The good news is my studio will be the last thing to be moved so I can keep filling orders and working on projects until the BIG move to New York. 

     Here is a peek at the inside of my latest creation. The tutorial is almost finished and I think I have most of what I want for a few kits to go with it as well.

As soon as everything is finished I will post a video of the whole book and what goodies will be available to go with the tutorials. Have a wonderful weekend!

Rubber Stamp Storage

I have tried many ideas for storing my stamps and I have found 2 things to be true about me.

1. If I cant find what I am looking for quickly, I waste half my night searching.

2. If its not out where I can see it, I forget about it until its to late.

This Stamp storage is AWESOME!  See for yourself =)

Organized and categorized on thick clear plastic sheets so that I can easily see each and every stamp I have.

Here is how I made them.

clearance at Michaels $6.00 each pack. I bought 3 packs and each sheet made 4 hangers that fit my plastic drawers. 

I made a template of my plastic drawers and then cut my sheets to match.

Each sheet had a section on it with magnets, that was perfect for my die and stamp sets!

All I had to do was stick the rubber stamps right to the hard plastic and place them in the category they matched.  For stamps without printed images on the back (I think it should be standard on all rubber stamps) I used plain white copy paper and my tape gun to make a stamp-able surface on the plastic sheet. 

Next is working on my clear stamps. They stick to em too! I have so many of them thats going to take me a while to finish but well worth it!

I hope this gives you another idea for your stamp storage. Now go attack the clearance isle at Michaels!

Hugs