have a little merry x'mas!

being downunder, we were ready for a hot hot hot x'mas...
instead, the very english weather descended - including bucket loads of rain for the farmers (yipee) & a gloom and doom overcast (best reserved for video / hot chocolate days)
no matter... we did think of having a steamboat, but instead, had something deviating just a little from the tradition - i repeated the 90-degree slow fillet of beef roast...
which was yum to the max...
fillet was $30/kg and tasted much better than the $150/kg wagyu...
we had christmas pudding, custard and all (with too much brandy)...
we also opened our pressies!
this year... i got from santa(s)...
(as i have requested... excellent read, i am only on pg 10-15 or something... but v v good!)
something comfy for the feet...
something to make more cards / packaging with...
much needed software for my little and med laptops...
cookbooks from the fareast...
chocolates chocolates and more chocolates!
this is not a chinese new year red packet... it is a "golden packet" for x'mas!

what to do with too many pairs of shoes?

in reality i only ever wear about 4-5 pairs of shoes... that goes with mcduck & snowflake too...
we don't wear most of them all the time... which means they end up moulding in the dungeon (not a good thing esp if you are leather & $$$)...
so one fine day in near 40 degree heat... i took them all out for an airing - hoping that the intense radiation from the bright summer sum would obliterate the mould into nothingness...

the methol and essential oil srpay concortion i prepared did help alittle bit...

so did the ziplock bags and toxic mothballs...
b4 i housed each pair inside the ziplock bag with mothballs, i took mugshot of each pair...


we just had too many pairs! in the hundred +
how on earth were we going to house them, mould-free, but easily accessed (for more frequent future use)?
2 months later... i got to work finally...

back into the fabric shelves they went, but individually ziplocked with photo displayed...



next thing would be to finish the "shoe catalogue" - for flicking through when deciding what to wear...
snowflake said the whole set up is very SATC... but i don't think so... i wished i have kept all the shoe boxes and took polaroids... then it could be shoe storage SATC style...
this way is not bad though... lets hope the mould stays out...

the making of the x'mas pressies

wishing everyone a merry fizzily fragrant x'mas!

my little gift of x'mas - Lush bath ballistic - DIY style

recently, the karma fragrance has once again drifted in the suburb of the north after several years of absence...
it has been v diff to restrain myself - in not lugging bags of Lush back home...
so far i have stuck with it and only took a Lush catalogue home - the Lush X'mas catalogue!
i have read numerous blogs / sites re: how easy it is to make one own's bath bomb... with all my essential oil sitting in the cupboard... i thought, should give it a go...
so i gathered all is needed...
(i even have citric acid sitting in the baking cupboard! and epsom salt in the laundry! the "moulds" i bought in japan for sushi (fish, car & rice ball moulds have been instrumental in the success of this experiement...)

the recipe:
240g baking soda
75g citric acid
80g corn starch
100g epsom salt
2 tsp or there abouts essential oil (i had 3 types - white, pink & purple with diff combo of teatree / lavender / chamommile / jasmine/ sandlewood / rose/ ylangylang)
5 tbsp grapeseed oil (i used normal, but i think waterdispersible will be less oily on the bathtube after the bath, hence, much better)
1 tbsp glycerine
colouring - tiny drips of
a Lush catalogue for inspiration (essential oil combos and packaging etc...)

to make --> easy as pea... mix all dry ingredients, mix all wet ingredients, combine wet and dry, the resulting mix should be sandy and clumb together when squeezed in one's hand...


the key to forming the bomb is to line the mould with glad wrap - for easy dislodgement from the mould once the mix is compacted into the mould...




peel off the clingfilm...

done... now it needs to be dried - a day or two in a cool dry spot will do... and it will firm up and become more easy to handle (ie - not disintegrating into bits of chalk on compression)...
my "whites"
my "purples"

of cos' it needed road testing b4 mass production...
and i am happy to say it did fizzzz
and once it was wet, it kept fizzing...
it was most fragrant when it was fizzing away in the bath tub... my batch was abit oily (leaves oil in the bath tub) but v moisturising... i think a water disperable oil will be more bath tub friendly... but there are some doubts about the oil being sulfonated... i wonder if it will be ok if one has a sulfur allergy to use water dispersible oil) my very own bath ballistic stash...
now i have to brainstorm on the ways of making them presentable as little x'mas gifts...

my little gifts of x'mas - DIY bath bomb packaging

now i have bath bomb in hand... i need to package these little fragile bursts of fragrance safely and attractively... worthy of being part of the gift display under any x'mas tree...



first they have to be individually wrapped to seal in the essential oils - both the fragrance and the oiliness of it...
i need oil proof paper - baking paper is the answer
after much experimentation with the paper shape... i finally settled on the pentagon...






the neatly packaged triagular bath bombs are each sealed with a cardboard name tag... much has to be improved on the tag-graphics...

then it is time for the box/ bag holding the bath bomb trio... after much experimentation (again)... this is the template i came up with...

this will be how the sides are to be held together... 2 slits on 2 triangles...



it works...
a ribbon for the handle and to make it look gift-like...

bombs are in...


"may all your worries of 2009 melt away..."
"wishing you a happy & relax 2010!"

now i just have to make a dozen or more or them...