SoapZone Community Message Board

- Reese's caramel peanut butter cups - Normally I'm kind of a purist when it comes to my preferred candies; I tend to like the original and roll my eyes when they bring out a new spin on an old favorite. But Dad accidentally bought a 12-pack of individually wrapped Reese's peanut butter cups with caramel (he wanted some of the original pb cups for himself) and doesn't like caramel, so it fell to me to eat them. SOOOOOO good! They taste almost exactly like Butterfingers candy except no sticky stuff stuck in your teeth afterwards.

- making jewelry from the drippings of my pour paintings - In the past, I tried pour painting and generally enjoyed it But it's a messy hobby and can get pricey, especially since you have so much paint running off the sides of the canvas and not actually being used in the final product. I saw an artist at a craft show who made new artwork by painting a canvas a solid color and then cutting out the remains of a pour painting; she collected the runoff paint on wax paper and then just peeled it off and cut into new shapes to paste on the new canvas (the peeling isn't as easy as it sounds!). So the last few times, I've put wax paper under my pours and then cut out the best parts of the run-off to add to a bezel and top with a cabochon I've done about a half dozen pendants so far, plus I found some cheap adjustable rings you can top (no cabochon though, just a clear coat of gloss to protect the colors).

-attending Cleveland's annual Asian Festival - Possibly my favorite part of warmer weather in NE Ohio is the fairs and festivals that spring up (no pun intended) when the weather warms up. Big or small, I want to (eventually) attend them all. I've never been to the Asian Festival, held in Cleveland's Asiatown for the last 16 years, before so I decided to go this past Sunday after church. The weather was cooler than I was hoping for, since almost everything was outdoors. Parking was an absolute nightmare; Asiatown is near Cleveland State University, and CSU generously opened up several lots to park in for free (the festival was also free to attend) but it felt like millions of people were in attendance Sunday so I circled the lots for quite a while before finding a space. I also made the mistake of not eating beforehand; though there were at least two dozen food trucks and tents, each one had lines at least 50 people long--no cap. I wound up getting crab rangoon and sesame balls from the Li Wah tent, not because that's what I desperately wanted but because they'd set up a cafeteria-style line that was moving pretty quickly. Both items were really good though (but I slightly prefer the sesame balls at Koko Bakery in Cleveland Heights). I did enjoy going between the two stages set up for performances and seeing a number of different dance troupes from different Asian countries perform. I also enjoyed just how diverse the crowd was and how much everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. That being said...I probably won't attend again, solely because of the pain of parking and the sheer number of people milling around in a rather small space.