I Made It Monday: Decorative Apothecary Jar

     It is summer break for me and so I have more time to do things that I want.  I've done a lot of surfing around the Net, looking at crafty type things and recipes because for some reason this undomesticated goddess has gotten the urge to create.  So, I'm going to try to post something that I made every Monday, at least for the summer.

    This week, I'm starting out with an apothecary jar that I made.  These things are so cool and can be used for so many different things.  Making this first one (yes I plan on making more) has given me so many ideas for the uses and designs of other jars.  This was very simple and did not cost much to make.  I made this one as a smelly good decoration for our front bathroom.

What is needed?

• Glass candlestick
• Glass jar with lid
• Decorative rocks
• 5 Minute Epoxy 
• Silk flowers
• Scented oil
• Ribbon

     I made sure the candlestick and jar were clean and free of all stickers.  The epoxy I used had to be mixed.  So, I took a sheet of aluminum foil and put some of the epoxy on it.  I mixed it with a large flat toothpick that I just happened to have on hand from a party.

     I used the stick to apply the epoxy to the candle stick.  I then sat the jar on top of the candlestick and let the epoxy dry for a few hours.

     When I was sure the epoxy was dry and the glass parts were securely attached to each other I filled the jar about 3/4 full with the decorative rocks.  I took some of the individual flowers off the stems of silk flowers and placed them on top of the rocks.  Then, I sprinkled some scented oil over all of that.  I also tied a ribbon to the stem of the apothecary jar to match the color of the flowers.  Finally, I put the lid on the jar.  And, there you have it, my decorative apothecary jar.

     When the lid is removed the aroma of the scented oil fills the room with good smelly scent.  It will have to be refreshed every now and again, but that's no big deal.  I really love the way it turned out and cannot wait to make more.  I'm thinking my daughter needs one for something in her room.  I'm sure.  

Back to Basics

     I love to write with a pen and paper.  For some reason I really seem to be able to keep my thoughts flowing when I write long hand.  It also feels like I'm really accomplishing something.  I like the way the letters form on the page and the feel of the words flowing together in ink.

     I think we're losing an art with the loss of teaching cursive handwriting.  It used to be valued so much that you could actually buy a typewriter that had a cursive font.  The first electric typewriter my parents owned was such a machine.

     This typewriter was a two tone blue Smith-Corona machine that came in a hard black case.  It smelled of hot ink and had such a gratifying hum when it was running.  This was before the days of the round ball typewriters.  It was the type of apparatus where the mechanisms could still get stuck together if you got over zealous and hit more than one key at a time.  You could feel the vibrations of the letter arms smacking the paper as you typed out each letter of each word.

     There was no back space key.  There was no cutting and pasting to rearrange what you had written.  You could not go back and insert a more developed thought.  If you made a mistake or needed to edit in any way you had to use correction fluid or tape or start over and retype the whole document.  Your editing had to be done before you began retyping.

     I brought that very heavy, beautiful blue machine with me into my marriage.  At some point it was given away during a house purge along with my husband's manual typewriter.  I kind of miss it.  I'd like to hear the hum, smack, smack, ding, buzz of an old electric typewriter again.

     I'm not sure if you could still buy the ink ribbon for those machines anymore, but it would be fun to work on one again once in a while if for no other reason than to have another option to just get my thoughts down as with writing by hand.

     Somewhere around here I still have some of the poems, papers and stories I typed with that cursive typewriter.  I have to wonder if my improved typing skills that have come with years of working with computers would translate to an electric typewriter.  It would probably get hard to get used to the fact that I cannot just backspace when I make a spelling or other typo error.

     The thing is there is just a strong type of satisfaction that comes from hand writing or old fashioned typing that doesn't come with word processing.  It just seems to take more care, more thought, more concentration.  It seems to create more of an atmosphere for deep thought.

     I may not have a typewriter to use anymore, but I did hand write this post before I typed it.  It gave me time to really think about what I wanted to say and to switch things up and develop thoughts a little more while I was transcribing my written words to word processed words.

     The thing is I had no idea really what I was going to write about when I first sat down with my pen and notebook.  but once I started putting pen to paper it just started flowing out of me.  This doesn't happen as often when I directly type on the computer as it does when I sit down with a writing utensil and paper.

     Maybe it has something to do with the lines on the paper.  Or maybe it is just the feel of the pen gliding across the paper.  In any case I feel more gratified in what I've created today than I have in anything else I've written in a while.

     I just really think it is important that sometimes we go back to the basics in some things.  I feel it helps us to reconnect with our creative side.  It slows us down so we can really put ourselves into what we are creating.

I'm joining in on the gossip blog hop this week!