Homemade Bathtub Crayons

Today I made homemade bathtub crayons for Madeline.  I admit it - I'm a TOTAL Pinterest junkie!!  Here's what I did:

I bought a 32oz. bag of glycerine soap at Hobby Lobby.  It was $9.99, but I used a 40% off coupon so it was $6.00.

I bought this sports bottle ice cube tray on Ebay for $6.98 (with free shipping).

I took 1 bar of the soap and melted it in the microwave for 30 seconds using a Pyrex glass measuring cup.

I bought liquid coloring at Hobby Lobby (right by the soap making supplies).  You get 3 colors (red, yellow, and blue or purple, green, and orange) for $3.29.  These colors do go on sale from time to time for 50% off, so if you live near a store, and can wait to buy your supplies on sale, that's the way to go.  Since I live an hour from the city, I'm really not ahead making a trip all the way to Des Moines just to save  $3.29, so I ended up paying full price for them.

I added 30 drops of color to the melted soap and mixed it well with a spoon.  From the info I'd gathered on Pinterest, it was said that adding more color was better than less so that the crayons show up when they're used in the tub.

Next I poured the colored soap in to my ice cube tray mold.  My mold holds 27 cubes, or crayons in this case, so I just kept doing my process over and over making different colors of crayons until my mold was full.

I put the mold in the freezer so it could solidify.  Next, I took the blue rubber bottom off my mold, and ran hot water over the whole mold to loosen the crayons.  It didn't take long and, Voila! the crayons slid out!

My first time making homemade bathtub crayons was a success!!  Total cost was in the neighborhood of $20 for 27 crayons (compared to $4 for 8 ($.50 each) when you purchase the thin Crayola ones in stores).  Next time, though, since I already have the mold and colors, my cost should be more like $6 for 27 crayons ($.22 cents each) - CONSIDERABLY less than buying in stores!! 

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That...

Today has been a great Sunday!  Had a great time celebrating at our annual God and Country service this morning at church.  For those of you who don't know, Brian, Madeline, and I attend First Federated Church in Des Moines.  It's a WONDERFUL place of worship and a place where we've met many great people and have made many wonderful friends!  We're so blessed to have a church home and family as great as what they are!

Today has been one of those days when I've had tons of thoughts and emotions flooding my mind.  Either I've heard a song or have seen a friend's post on Facebook that has started some kind of rambling in my head.  So, in this blog entry, I'm going to share some of those random thoughts - hopefully something you read will resonate with your own experiences or circumstances and you can find comfort in the fact that you're not alone.

A sweet young lady from church, who is also one of our baby sitters during our Life Group meetings, posted this on Facebook today.  She said, "2 months ago right now, I was working with no idea what was to happen at 8 that night. Life can change in a heartbeat, literally. I love and miss you, dad."  You see, this little gal lost her father to a heart attack 2 months ago.  My heart has really ached for her today.  I can't and don't want to imagine loosing my dad at 31 years of age and I can't even imagine being a teenager - let alone a teenage girl, and not having your daddy any longer.  Memories of my wedding day came flooding to my mind - of my dad walking be down the aisle and placing my hands in those of my husband to be - memories and experiences this little gal won't get to know.  I just can't imagine.  I just want to scoop this little gal into my arms and hold her tight and bear the burden of that pain for her just to give her heart a rest from the ache.  But the truth is that although she is hurting now, her father is rejoicing in the presence of his Savior because he had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  He had put his faith and trust in Christ Jesus and had claimed His promise that "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved," Romans 10:9-10.  How awesome of an opportunity we have to know a living God - one who created us, loves us, and even died for us so that we may one day spend eternity with Him.  What a comfort - what a blessing!  

If you're reading this entry, it's not by accident.  Whether you're nosy about the happenings in my world or you're just plain bored, something brought you here.  If you don't know Jesus Christ as YOUR personal Savior, let me encourage you to get to know Him.  If you'd like to know how, message me or go to www.firstfederated.org.  Hover your mouse over the "About Us" tab at the bottom of the screen and click on "What We Believe."  From there, click on the "How You Can Know God" link that will download a Microsoft Word document that further explains what a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is all about.

That's all for now.  Good night!