How great would it be to make a batch of soap that would last you for six months or more. I am pretty sure that not having to buy soap would save money, especially if you where to buy the ingredients in bulk. Imagine sticking it the economy by not having to buy soap.

What I envision is getting a group of like minded friends together every couple of months and having a soap party. Set-up could be in someone’s garage and we could be our very own soap sweat shop. It would be awesome. It would be epic. It would be LEGENDARY!

A fair number of my friends enjoy crafting of one sort or another. I know knitters, weavers, potters and one thing they all have in common is pizza. We all love pizza. Pizza is god’s food. Combine our love of creating with our love of pizza and poof! instant fun.

“But soap is so boring.” you say.

“Not so.” I would say.

Once you start adding dyes and scents the fun increases. Let us not foget about molds. Not the kind that you get on cheese but the type of mold you place the soap in to get the desired shape. From what I read it looks like you can use any candy mold to make your soap. You can also use cup cake pans or for the ultimate in awesome you could use a bunt cake pan and then cut off soap in the desired size. The website said that most people start off using a cutlery tray. Which I guess is cool, if you’re lame.

If you happen to be located in Colorado and want to attempt soap making, let me know via the comments. If you are one of the many who are forced to live in uglier states but are interested in purchasing some soap, again let me know via the comments. When I finally put this soap party together I will attempt to get lots of good pictures to share with everyone.

NOTE: I tried to spell soap soup this entire post. I think I caught them all.

Supplies

1. Scissors
2. Chalk
3. Sewing machine
4. Thread
5. Pins
6. Sewing needle
7. Stuffing
8. Hope

Construction

1. The first step is to pick a fabric. I happen to have a lot of fabrics lying around my house and I choose a 100% cotton fat quarter that wasn’t being used for anything else. I used my chalk to draw out the shape i wanted the creature to be.  I choose a bear since it is a fairly simple shape though sewing on the curves can be a little tricky. Another thing to keep in mind when drawing your creature on the fabric is that you need to draw it at least 1/2″ bigger then you want the finished product to be, this allows for the seam as well as allowing you a little wiggle room. Trust me when I say that there is nothing worse then making your pattern to small.
2. The second step is to carfully cut out your pattern. Since you need to have two pieces to sew together, make sure are cutting two pieces at the same time. That way they are the same size and any errors on one are the same on the other. Once your pattern is cut out place it on a piece of paper and trace it so that you can use it again in the future is you like the pattern. 
3. Now it is time to pin the two pieces together. This is done with the fabric right side together. Right side together means that the pretty sides of the fabric are facing one another. Doing this allows the pretty side to face out when you turn it right side out. If you can’t tell which side of the fabric is the right side because both sides look the same then it dosen’t matter which on is the right side, just pin them together and you are ready for step 4.
4. As you can see from the picture above I was very careful to sew exactly a 1/4″ seam. This will make this bear very full bodied and great to hug. If this is your first time using a sewing machine, be carful!, I don’t want any injuries because of this blog. Remember to go slow and steady, make sure you backstitch and don’t sew all the way around. You need to leave an opening to stuff the bear. I left about three inches in the crotch area for stuffing.
5. The next part can be difficult or it can be easy depending on how you approach it. Turning your sewn bear rightside out is a methodical process and needs to be done in such a way that it looks nice. I am kidding this is really the easiest step. Stuff everything through the stuffing hole so you end up with a empty bear skin. I suggest ironing your bear skin flat so that you don’t have any wrinkles when you start stuffing.
6. The final step for today is stuffing. You do need to plan this step out a little bit. It is important to start as far from your stuffing hole as possible. In my exemple I started by stuffing the ears, once those where stuffed to a satisfactory level I moved on to stuff the head and just kept moving down from there. Always stuff the arms before the chest and the legs before the belly. Once you are done stuffing use your sewing needle and thread to close up the stuff whole.

There you go, the beginning of an Unbearable Bear. I will try to get part to up soon. keep working a put any questions in the comments section and I will do my best to answer them.

Despite our best efforts, Sarah and I have yet to finish our wood floors. It has been a combination of school, work, and laziness. We currently have the bedroom and stairs to finish and should be able to at least get the floors laid over spring break. Once we have the bedroom finished we will be able to order and paint the quarter round molding that will go around the perimeter of every room. Doing the stairs is a little trickier since we will have to do something about the stair facings but we should still be able to get it done this summer.

Also this year I would like to get a more feedback on the stories that I am writing. Since most of them picture books it is a been a little difficult to find people to critique them. The reason I need critiques is that I am planning on starting the submission process in March and would like to have them ready to rock in time to do that. I am waiting until March so that I have time to get my cover letter perfected and also to give me a little more editing time on my stories.

Another thing I would like to do this year is stay in school. This may sound a little strange since I am currently enrolled in school. The problem is that every time I have withdrawn from school it has been in the spring, usually after spring break. This is either because school starts to get hard or that I get lazy as it gets nicer out.

The final thing that I would like to do is craft more. Sarah and I own ten or so books full of projects. One of the things that we have talked about is picking a book and working our way through it and then just continuing on to the next book until we are through them all. Not only would we get a lot of experience but we wouldn’t have to purchase a single present all year long.

Well there are my goals for my 29th year. Hope I get it all done.

Our wood floors where supposed to be in last Wednesday, turns out that they where back ordered and won’t be in until tomorrow or so. Of course the floor people didn’t bother to call us to say “Hey your floors been back ordered.” instead I had to call them on Friday and be like “Where our floors at?” and they where like “I don’t know let me check.” then this other guy was all “They where back ordered.” and Sarah was like “I bet they forgot to order them” and I was all “Yeah what bastards!” and Sarah was like “Yeah, bastards.” It was awesome.

We have dropped some art off at the frame store and are trying to figure out what to hang where and where to get what we want. We also hung a new light fixture over the eating table and installed a storm door. A full glass storm door. We got the storm door for our cat Reno so he can see out. Apparently the glass was extra clear compared to out windows because Reno made a run for it and into the glass, much pants peeing ensued and he was one mad little kitty. The problem was that he likes to make a break for it and normally does it when the door is barely open. So his fun has been foiled proper like.

I have been making about one a night since we got back. Last night I took a night off because I need to get some old neckties to add to some of them. So if you need a strange and yet

awesome gift for a loved one or coworker or boss, check them out.

I have shaved off the facial hair, I do have an image as an entertainer to uphold and I have a problem with clowns that have facial hair. I didn’t want to be one of them. I do how ever have some really nice pictures of my self with a moustache. Basically with a moustache and the right sunglasses I look like Goose from top gun. I enjoyed my foray into the world of Facial Hair and hope to venture back next Xmas with mutton chops. Oh yeah.

Overall the trip to Japan was full of fun and good times. We ran around like crazy people in Tokyo the first couple of days and then took a train and ran around Hiromi’s hometown scaring the natives. We (Harper, Hiromi, Sarah and I) stayed in Hiromi’s Grandparents old house. With no heat. They had a neat heated table that kept us warm and electric blankets for the sleeping. On the way home Sarah and I where bumped to business class which was ridiculous. Pictures here.

Third: Buy Super Mario Galaxy and beat it, enjoy it and trick Sarah into enjoying it as well.

Fourth: Design a WordPress for this sight so I can stop using other people stuff so much.

Fifth: Redesign Clownsareawesome.com so it is truly awesome. Add Pics, Videos and more information in general.

Sixth: Continue to be awesome.

Table of contents for Cat HOuse

1. Going to the Cat House
2. Collecting Supplies
3. Phase 1: PROJECT CATITAT

Tonight when I get off work I will start the basic putting together of the frame of the Catitat. It is basically going to be 1″x2″s nailed\glued into four 4′x6′ squares.

I will then attach three of the sides and make the third attach with three hook and eyes. This will allow us to remove a whole side for rescue\cleaning operations.

After the frame is built we will go get the wire netting needed to cover this bad boy. What we are looking at getting is a .5″ square mesh that will allow for a good view for the cats and a feeling of scurity for Sarah and I.

I am also going to get a bunch of the bricks to put down as a raised floor. This will allow for the water from the rain gutter to flow by without getting the cats area wet while also allowing for a solid foundation for the house.

Table of contents for MAME

1. Old Purple iMac MAME Arcade Machine
2. Stupid Linux or Stupid iMac
3. Here is the Idea for the MAME Cabinet
4. Slight Change of Plans

I have been trying and trying to install Ubuntu and DSL to the purple iMac of death with no luck at all. I have basically given up and am thinking of using one of the busted up laptops instead.

I will probably use Tommy Sunshine’s and a 22″ CRT monitor then build the cabinet around it. I am hoping to figure out a way to add a file cabinet into the overall design so that I can weasel it into the den\study area, since it wouldn’t just be video games.

I think a file cabinet MAME player that plays Ms. Pacman will go a long way to convincing Sarah that it is necessary to have in our house. Sure….that will work.

I will try the Linux nonsense on the laptops tonight.

Table of contents for MAME

1. Old Purple iMac MAME Arcade Machine
2. Stupid Linux or Stupid iMac
3. Here is the Idea for the MAME Cabinet
4. Slight Change of Plans

I have been trying to get this imac to boot from a cd for a while now and it keeps hating me. I put in the cd, push the power button, hold down ‘c’ and all it does is flash the folder ‘?’ nonsense and then loads the normal OS. Why?

So I thought maybe I had made my disk wrong. So I re burned another copy, no luck. I am now downloading Damn Small Linux to try that tonight. Stupid iMac.

Table of contents for Cat HOuse

1. Going to the Cat House
2. Collecting Supplies
3. Phase 1: PROJECT CATITAT

I was able to aquire most of the wood we need from scraps at work. Wednesday afternoon I cut it into the pieces needed:

• 8 6′ pieces
• 12 4′ pieces

All the wood we need now is to build either a cat tree for them to climb on or a method to install shelves in to the inside of the cage structure.

I also found Hardware Cloth. This material has .5″ square opening in the wire mesh. i figure this will allow a good amount of visability to the cats while preventing them from injuring themselves by getting an arm caught.

While at the shop I also collected an air compressor, a brad nailer, wood glue and a staple gun. I am hoping to start getting the frame together early next week and then pick up the hardware cloth on tuesday to fit on the outside of the frame.