Himalayan Salt Soap Bars

I made a luxurious-looking batch of Himalayan salt soap bars last night. Soap with salt in it may seem counterintuitive, but it actually makes a fantastic bar of soap. Salt bars draw toxins out and help the skin absorb moisture better, while providing a bit of exfoliation and adding minerals to the skin. They also look like smooth, chiseled marble, making for an excellent gift idea.

This is actually the third time I've attempting salt bars. My recipe is a high-quality one, using 80% coconut oil, and a balance of castor oil for moisture and avocado oil for creaminess, with finely ground Himalayan salt and a light Awapuhi Seaberry fragrance (from Nature's Garden Candles). You can use regular sea salt, but I love Himalayan salt for the gentle pink coloring. The first two times, I didn't get the soap out of the mold quickly enough, and it crumbled when I tried to cut into individual bars:

So I crumbled both batches completely and saved the crumbles in a sealed bag, because nothing here at Sage & Savvy goes to waste. I used these crumbles for half of the oil weight in last night's soap, AND, instead of trying to cut these salt bars, I used individual-cavity molds. In my previous attempts, I didn't have enough individual molds for it to be an option, but I have since built up my stock. (Soap making is kind of an expensive craft..)

So in a month, these bars will be ready for you (and me, because I'll definitely be claiming one of these for myself):

Just call me Jane of All Trades

I'm feeling pretty special this afternoon. I finally achieved the elusive goal of lighting in my living room. My new living room has a tall vaulted ceiling and no lighting whatsoever. It does, however, have two plugs connected to a light switch, with the idea being that I can plug in a lamp or whatever and turn it on when I walk in the door. But seriously, who wants a LAMP in the middle of their living room floor? So I had been plotting for a while to put up some lighting. Enter track lighting. Now I know, track lighting is so 90s, but I needed some lighting that I could mount on the wall and plug in, and also provide plenty of lighting for the whole room, not just focused lighting. Pretty much every wall/ceiling mounted light out there is only intended for hardwiring. But, because I'm super woman, I started researching track lighting. Here is a bit of what I learned:

1) Most track lighting in the US is one of three types: "H" track, "J" track, or "L" track. H tracks are the most common nowadays, but it's always risky to just pick up some random lights and hope they match with a random track.

2) H track lighting has two metal strips on one side and one metal strip on the other. So when you're looking at the light itself, it will have two metal connectors on one side, and one connector on the other side. When you put the light onto the track, MAKE SURE IT'S GOING IN THE RIGHT WAY, two connector side to two-metal strip side.

3) Installing track lighting that plugs in is actually way easy once you figure out that it's easy. The hard part is really figuring that out, because people don't really use the plug-in option for track lights. Or if they do, they're too embarrassed to blog about it. I don't care though, because I DID IT MYSELF!! All you need are: a track section, the plug kit that plugs into one end of the track section, lamps, and lightbulbs. The trick is making sure it all connects. This is why Home Depot has a million track lighting kits, and very few individually-sold components. Because I'm cheap, I managed to cobble everything together on my own for less than the cost of the kit, but generally, it will be a lot less stress to just buy the kit.

I want to brag, so I'll tell you where I got everything:
Craigslist - (7) lamps, Lithonia LTC WRFM Par 30 (I think these are discontinued and probably only sold to contractors, because I found very little information online). An older guy was selling these for $15! Seven lamps for $15?? I couldn't pass it up. These would probably sell for $15 each, normally. They were even still in the original boxes. This is what I started with, so I had to work my way backward to make sure everything matched. I ended up using only three lamps though, so the other four will just go into storage "just in case."

Ultimate consignment - (3) Par 30 halogen flood lightbulbs, $1.33 each. These were ridiculously cheap, at the local step-above-thrift place in Mesa. Also brand new in the box, these things go for a minimum of about $10 each, so I seriously scored. Notice the Par 30 is the same as the lamps.

Home Depot - 4' track section and plug kit. After trying in vain to find a track section for cheap on Craigslist or any of the discount hardware stores in town, I finally broke down and bought it at Home Depot. Of course, because my luck is what it is, the store I went to was the only one in the valley that was sold out of the white tracks. I really wanted to get this up though, and I knew I'd lose momentum if I didn't buy this RIGHT NOW, so I got the black track section. It was $10 for the track section and $10.50 for the plug kit.

Total: $30.92 plus tax. (and $3 for cord clips)

So, onto the pictures:

Assembling everything:

The wall.

When I was measuring where to drill, I measured the full length, then subtracted the 36" between the two drill holes in the track section, and divided the remainder in half. The remainder was what I measured from the end of the wall in, for the first drill hole. Then I measured 36" from that hole for the second one. If that didn't make sense, comment and I'll scan in my drawing/diagram.

Track section. Can you see how one side has two copper strips and the other has just one? That means it's an H track and your lamps should similarly match.

The part of the plug kit that plugs into the end of the section. The end cap has a little screw that you just unscrew and remove. The plug will be white side up, and metal side down (against the wall/ceiling), so make sure the track section end you use matches up. I at first unscrewed the wrong side because the side with the two copper strips didn't match up with the plug kit.

It's up! This CAN be done with one, awesome person, but trust me, it's a lot easier with two people. You definitely need a drill. The track section came with toggle bolts for mounting to the ceiling and anchors and screws for mounting to the wall. I had to google "how to use a screw and anchor" to figure out how it worked though because the instructions didn't cover that. Yay google.

So it's not the prettiest thing out there, but I could really care less. Light is light.

I did, however, need a way to keep the cord against the wall on its way down to the outlet. so I grabbed these cord clips for $3. 

Naturally though, it couldn't all go smoothly. I ended up about two feet from the outlet, go figure, so I grabbed an extension cord. I'll try to find a shorter, less conspicuous one later, but I was too eager to see my creation.

I attached the lamps. As noted above, make sure you're aligning them with the correct side of the track. You put the light in and twist it a quarter turn clockwise. You can see the beginnings of tacking the cord down. I still have a few to tack down though (my arms got tired so no pic of the as-yet unfinished section yet). Don't the lamps look fabulous though? They're kind of an industrial look because they only have a wire frame, instead of a full cup surrounding the lightbulb.

And presenting...(cue hallelujah chorus please...)

They work!!!!!!

If you are a single woman and you think you can't do basic hardware/repair projects (and/or the handyman doesn't think you can do it)...you absolutely can. Just study, study study. I'll be the first to admit I couldn't have done this project without the internet. But we have it, and you can do it!

I wanted cinnamon rolls...

Yesterday, my project was cinnamon rolls. It was kind of spontaneous, because I really wanted the cinnamon rolls from IKEA, but it was 5am and IKEA was closed. I found a recipe from another blog (HERE) and decided to try it out.

(I had preceded this with a marathon kitchen cleanup, so I had my laptop playing Gilmore Girls on top of the cinnamon toast crunch cereal box. Don't mock, you all do it.)

I got the yeast at Costco for about $4.50, which is the best deal out there. And the shelf-stable whole milk of previous posts returned (from the fridge).

I hate using bare counters to knead my dough, so I laid down parchment paper. I often use wax paper, but my current roll was buried in a box.

My hands were covered in dough and butter so I didn't get a picture, but the recipe recommends for a square of 14x8" to be measured and cut. This was crap. I had indeed cut it (with a pizza cutter!), and I ended up with a lot of dough left, and the 8" was fine, but I like having one extra layer in the rolls. If I were to do it over, I would skip the "measuring" and cutting, and just roll the dough as square and rectangular as I can. But I will probably test out another recipe next time. This one called for melted butter to be spread on the dough, then a cinnamon/sugar mix to be sprinkled over it, but I feel like there's a richer way to do it. It felt a little thin once the rolls were baked.

To cut the rolls, I used baker's twine, which I always have lots of because I use it for packaging. But floss works just fine if you have that. Don't bother with a knife to try and cut a cinnamon roll loaf, it will be a disaster. Any type of string, even yarn, is better than a knife!

The recipe told me to place eleven equally-sized rolls into a round pan. Well, I ended up with nine rolls, and I still had extra dough from when I had cut the 14x8 size, so I quickly mashed up and rolled out the remaining dough and made more rolls. I ended up fitting it all into the cake pan, but because it was early in the morning, I forgot: Pack the rolls LOOSELY in the pan, so they have room to rise!

I even had a small cake pan (I make two-layered cakes) that I could have put some rolls in, but I didn't think about it. So when my rolls rose, they kind of fell back into themselves. They tasted fine when I baked them, and still tasted rather fluffy, but the rolls were small, so it just wasn't the same as storebought rolls.

Verdict: I have some improvements to make in the next round. This recipe is very good for cinnamon roll newbies, but having made cinnamon rolls before, I know there's a more sophisticated recipe out there.

Pancakes from scratch? Sift the flour!

So I had an unpacking frenzy in my kitchen and got a ton of stuff put away in my newly-lined shelves. One of the things was my bottle of syrup. Which of course made me think of pancakes and french toast. I don't have bread, so I decided to make pancakes, then I realized I didn't have pancake mix either. But it occurred to me that people must have been making pancakes long before Krusteaz decided to make life easier. So I found a recipe on Allrecipes.com and decided to try it out. (Recipe here)

I read some of the comments first and made a few modifications to the recipe: I added a half teaspoon of vanilla, and reduced the salt to 3/4 a teaspoon.

I sifted the flour twice as advised by a commenter, then added the other dry ingredients, and sifted again. I only intended to sift once, but I was tired and just kept sifting. It happens. Also, you don't need a flour sifter, just use a sieve or even a colander if you're desperate. I measured out a cup and a half (which is what the recipe called for), sifted that, then measured out again after the first sift. I had some left over because it fluffs up, so I just put that back in the flour canister.

My flour was soft and fluffy:

I created a little well in the middle and set aside the dry mix. Next was the wet mix. I never have milk in the fridge, but luckily I had gotten some shelf-stable liquid milk at Winco last month, so I dug that out from my cabinet. If you've never had shelf-stable milk, get some. It keeps for a year or something and doesn't need to be refrigerated until it is opened. Super glad I had it, because I was really craving pancakes. AND it happened to be whole milk, so I knew my pancakes would be delicious.

So I beat the egg for a moment with the mixer, added 3tb of melted, unsalted butter and the vanilla, beat for another moment (and I really mean that, like count one-mississippi and turn off the mixer. You don't want to overbeat the egg). Then, I added the milk, beat for a bit longer, and poured it into the well in my dry mixture. It was wet enough to stir with a spoon and it was a nice, smooth texture. Then I dug out the griddle. I got this griddle for ten bucks last Black Friday, and never used it because my counters in my old place were all too small (yes, seriously). So this was an exciting moment for me.

I am a horrible pancake maker. I can never get it to pour right or thin enough, no matter how thin/thick the batter is. I am also a terrible pancake flipper. I chase the things all over the pan and usually end up smashing three of them together into one big super pancake while I'm trying to flip one. So there are no pics of that particular adventure. Anyway, after a few minutes, I was finished, and sat down to my table to eat.

The problem with cooking from a full recipe when you're a singleton is that there are always leftovers. Sigh. And reheated pancakes never taste the same, but oh well. I'm not winning a medal anytime soon for pancake aesthetics, but dang it if these pancakes weren't the softest, fluffiest pancakes I'd ever had. Sifting the flour really works! I swear, it was like eating fresh Wonder Bread.

If you have never made pancakes from scratch, I highly recommend trying it out sometime!

Measure twice, cut once...

In this new place of mine, the one thing that desperately needs updating is the cabinetry, both in the kitchen and the bathrooms. Yesterday, my focus was on the kitchen cabinets, putting in shelf liner. Shelf liner/contact paper is the stuff I remember my mom putting into the silverware drawers when I was little, so it's rather amusing to find myself doing this same ritual like a grown-up.

A lot of people like the sticky or rubbery shelf stuff, but I hate that, actually. When I slide my glasses into the cupboard, I want them to slide, not get caught up on the rubber! So I found some adhesive, smooth-sided shelf liner at Walmart. It was absolutely the only semi-attractive print. I say that with complete seriousness. I don't understand why the masses would be interested in beige gingham or fake granite. If you went to Walmart, saw the selection and were overwhelmed by the great choices: I'm judging you. So. Hard.

 So the first step was clearing a large counter space. The paper roll is 20" long so you need at least that much to spread out. Then, I set up Independence Day on my laptop, and grabbed a measuring tape and sharp scissors. I recommend getting a yardstick as well. Mine was packed and I was too lazy to dig it out, but as the night wore on, I wished I had taken half an hour to find it.

 

Many of the cabinets and drawers already had a lovely shelf liner that made me feel like I was living in a camping cabin. Plus, it was pretty gross and covered in stains and spills. If the shelf liner were in good condition, I probably would have just wiped it down or applied the new liner over the top, but this stuff had to go. Tip: if you have trouble peeling off old liner, use a hair dryer on low heat for a few minutes to loosen the adhesive. Mine was easy though as the particleboard was shedding pulp like mad. Here's hoping my landlord will install new cabinetry while I'm still living here.

As I did each drawer, I pulled it out and shook out the loose particles, then did a quite wipedown. I measured and cut, then peeled the backing off a corner of the liner, stuck it into the drawer, and then held the corner down as I peeled the backing away from the rest of the piece. It was pretty easy. Really, the hard part was measuring and drawing the cut line onto the paper before cutting. Like I said, get a yard stick, they're a dollar at the hardware store.

I still have three more drawers to do, so once I find my yardstick, I'll do those. Overall, it was time consuming, but really not that challenging once I got started.

Making a ceiling lamp: The creative way

So I just moved into a new place and I love the size and the bare bones of it, but there are some areas that need my special touch. Case in point: There are no overhead lights in any of the bedrooms, only a light switch that connected to one of the outlets. BUT, because every hardship is an opportunity in my book, this actually made me excited because I had an excuse to hang my own ceiling lamps! After checking with my landlord that I'd be okay with installing a few ceiling hooks, I started researching. And researching. And researching. My first one (which will be the subject of another post when I get it hung up) was an old hanging lamp that I found on Craigslist, which I repurposed.

I apologize for the lack of as-you-go pictures, I didn't decide to do this blog until I put up this light and realized how awesome it looked. Future projects will have more pictures!

The focus of this post though is the light in my study. I found a lamp shade at Goodwill for $2 and removed the fabric. Then I found a light cord kit and light from IKEA, added some Washi tape, and voila.



Materials:
$2 - Lamp shade
$8 - IKEA Sekond cord set in white
$1.50 - Washi tape from a craigslist seller destashing their scrapbook supplies
$4.50 - IKEA Ledare light bulb (you can use any standard-sized lightbulb with the cord though)

Additional supplies that you may not have on hand like me:
$0.79 - Acrylic craft paint
$1 - Small paint brush
$5 - Krylon Triple-Thick Crystal Clear Glaze

BEFORE the project: I just want to make a few notes when you're searching for a lamp shade: Make sure it is a full stand-alone frame and not just a top and bottom wire, which is the case for many straight round lamp shades. The one I used is a square bell shape, and I felt to make sure there were side wires under the fabric. Also, make sure there is a larger hole inside that is big enough for the base of the lightbulb to fit into. Many shades will have a tiny little circle at the top, which is for use with a harp and bulb clip thingy when you are placing it on a table lamp, I think.

Step one: Remove the fabric from the lamp shade. At first I tried to delicately remove the glued edging pieces one at a time. Then I got tired of it and hacked into the middle of the fabric with a knife. Took a few more minutes to rip the glued parts off the frame and then it was bare. (insert picture here, if I had taken one).

Step two: Paint the frame. I have a ton of paint, so I just chose a cheery blue color and started painting it. I set the frame on a garbage bag and just kind of worked it over, letting coats dry before I flipped it over and around to get all parts.

Step three: Add glaze. If you're not using a super high-quality paint, the end result will probably feel a little chalky. Because you don't want to have to take your whole design apart and repaint it after the original paint starts chipping away, you should get an acrylic glaze of sorts. This was a little difficult because glaze can take up to 24 hours to really set in, so the sprayed part cannot touch the ground/surface at ALL or the glaze will stick to the floor your object is on and you'll wind up with something like a melted crayon on the bottom of your object. (Next time I spray glaze something, I'll try to get a picture of this.) So because this is a frame, I had to really take my time. You may not be as compulsive as me, but I just sprayed this in sections over a week as I worked on other projects

Step four: Wrap the cord in washi tape. This is a great project to do while you're waiting for coats of the glaze to dry. The Sekond cord is 15 feet long, so it took a while. There are a lot of designs you can make with washi tape, so do some research (This is the project that initially inspired me). I love white, so I spaced my wraps about the same width of the tape. I wrapped two times over because I noticed the tape would start to peel otherwise. Washi tape is tearable, but it was cleaner to just cut.

(taken from my phone before I had the sense to dig out my nice camera)

Step 5: Piece together the cord, shade and lightbulb. One thing I discovered is that the white Sekond cord end (next to the scissors) didn't fit inside the shade's opening, so I just stuck the bulb up through and screwed the cord end over it, removing the little plastic washer-thingy that you normally screw over the white part of the cord. Don't you love my labels? Insert a pic if I had taken one, but these will have to do:

 

Step 6: Hang the ceiling hooks. I measured my room lengthwise and widthwise and found the exact center, because I am compulsive. You may want to just eyeball it and I'm sure it will be fine. The Sekond kit comes with two ceiling hooks, so I used one in the middle, then one at the corner of the wall and ceiling, before draping the cord down to the outlet. I also used another small hook to pull up the middle of the cord, but you might choose to just lay the cord flat against the ceiling.

And voila!

Parting thoughts: The IKEA bulb isn't the most aesthetically pleasing, and a round or Edison-style bulb might be more in line with your style, but it is absolutely the best one if you want a crisp, bright light. Since this will be my study/burning-the-midnight-oil room, I wanted as much light as possible from a single bulb.

I may also play around the the cord. If I had a normal ceiling instead of popcorn, I probably would have just kept the cord taut along the ceiling. I may still do that later, but we'll see. I may also use some cord secure thingys to pull the cord in a straight diagonal line from the top of the wall down to the outlet. But it works just fine for now!

Loving the colorful life,

L

The very first post: Introduction

Hi everyone! I'm the owner of Sage & Savvy Soap Co., and I started this blog to share all of my many creative pursuits, both soap and non-soap related.




I am a law student, but have always been a very craftsy person, so with the pressure of classes and homework, doing my crafts has been a way to keep sane. With my recent move into a townhome, my student budget has given my an opportunity to think outside the box and create/upcycle/repurpose old furniture into new, chic expression pieces. A list of things you might find featured in this blog at one point or another:

Soap making (though admittedly not as much as other projects)
DIY home decor and furniture projects (anything from building a jewelry holder to recovering a coffee table)
Painting and other traditional methods of artwork
Graphic and/or web design
Jewelry making
Beadwork and Lakota/Native American regalia making
DIY clothing and accessories
Photography
Cooking
Organizing
Possibly some writing/poetry/lyrics and related rants on grammar usage
Music, though that tends to be difficult to express online

Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing in law school with these myriad projects, but really, a lot of what I learn to do is a means to an end. I learned beadwork while I was learning more about my heritage (I am an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe); I learned about cooking when I was working as a nanny; I learned how to operate a drill when I needed to attach knobs and handles to my cool jewelry holder (stay tuned for a post on it); and so forth.

I often get an image in my head and then do what I need to do to make it come to fruition. I was listening to The Who's Baba O'Riley, which is more commonly known as Teenage Wasteland, and immediately got a painted image in my mind with this words dripping across the front. So I bought some canvases with a Michaels coupon and picked up some acrylic paints on Craigslist, and started painting.

I could go on about these random bugs in my ear that I feel the need to bring to life, but I'll save them for future posts! Welcome to Sage & Savvy: Creative Journals.