two paper projects

i made these two things yesterday. the "h" was suppose to be my first experiment with embellishing letters. but i had to do Harry's first. the "h" is paper mache. i just torn pieces of scrapping paper and mod podged them on and sealed them. very easy. the address book was a kit i got at papersource. love that store. this was also very easy by just mod podgeing (is that a word?) the paper on the cardboard for the top and bottom of the book. then sandwich the actual address book between them. i've also been working on a lot of cards, will post them soon.

P.S.- notice in the top picture (upper right corner) some little beagle feet and legs. she just had to get in the picture somewhere.

Christmas in March

My Grandma is selling her house.
It's the house that she and my late Grandpa built 50+ years ago. I love this house and wish I could teleport it to Silver Spring. But NASA and the Army aren't returning my calls, so I guess that's not going to happen. It's a very large house, not in a McMansion-y sort of way--very comfortable and cozy, but big enough for me to have plenty of space to do gymnastics in the living room when I was (much) younger.

I went up on Saturday to help go through things and I just have to share a bit of the treasure that I returned with.
Most of this is her Christmas ornaments. Grandma hasn't had a tree for a number of years for various reasons. I've always loved her ornaments andI was not about to say No when she said I could have them now. I was a little afraid that reality wouldn't live up to my memories, but for the most part I wasn't disappointed.

These were given to my Grandma by her mother-in-law.
These you put over the lights (those old, big ones--I've got those, too) and they spin.
I was only disappointed by these.
You're supposed to stick them on the lights and they look like glowing snow. At the moment, they kind of look like matted cotton and I'm pretty sure they're made of fiber glass. These might go away.

A box of bulbs for the outdoor lights. And yep, they're as big as you think they are.
A postcard of my grandparent's restaurant.
A crock.
A cactus. Have I ever told you about Grandma and her cacti? That's another post.
I'm now ready for any entertaining emergency with tablecloths and napkins.
And the coup de grace---The Chicken.
Yep, ugly as sin. But if I remember anything from my Grandma's house, it's The Chicken. Grandpa was in the chicken business, so there were lots of random chicken things in the house, but everyone knows which chicken is meant by "the chicken". Funny how your memory tricks you bit. I would have sworn that this was made of tin because the tail feathers are sharp, but it's ceramic. One of the tail feathers broke in transit, so some repair will be necessary.

Rob and I haven't had a Christmas tree for 2 years--I can't wait to have a truly special one this year adorned with Grandma's treasure.

here's harry with the adorable hat and shoes that patti made. sorry you can't see the hat too well. i focused on the shoes 'cause they were too cute for words. enjoy!!

Long time coming

A little while back my good friend Erica sent me a treat -- out of the blue sky! The best surprises are the ones you never see coming. And since I'm not going to be able to post any of my own creations anytime soon (unless you want to see the pile of papers and used coffee cups that is my desk) I thought I'd share a picture of the treat. I should have posted it long ago! That E -- she takes good care of me. Power to the super crafty women! (And yes -- sometimes tea does turn into cocktail hour! But there's also that risk at coffee break, lunchtime ...)

A Manageable Yo-Yo project?

Check out this bracelet! I think I could manage enough yo-yo's to do something like that. Hmmmm.....

A tisket, a tocket...

...an Erica-blue smocket...

Many thanks to Mayfly for providing the pattern for this adorable little smocket. This one is for my dear friend Deb's daughter, Kayla. It was fun to make and really pretty easy. The patch on the front is a pocket.
Though you'll note a small flaw. Despite my brain constantly saying "Erica, pay attention to the direction of the fabric", the Dick and Jane fabric ended up upside down on the inside. My brain then said, "well, that way if she wears it reversed, Kayla can read the print."
Sure, whatever.

Now that I've made one, I think I'll be making a lot more. See, they don't take much fabric, so I can actually use up some of my stash. Which means I'll have to do more stash augmentation! Woo hoo!

Whilst I was posting, I though I'd also show you the curtains that I made for the office/studio, which I'm really loving and I think make the room. As always, the effect is much better in person.

Another gift for Harry

Here is the crafty thing i made for my baby nephew. I took some wooden letters and embellished them. i used scrapbooking paper, tags, stamps, ribbons, stickers and buttons. The colors are blue, green, brown and yellow. I've seen this letter idea in many magazines and blogs so i had to try it. I'm off from work tomorrow and spending the day with baby harry so we will see if he likes his letters.

..the rest

Baby Harry's gift is done and will be mailed in the next day or two. The hat pattern is called umbilical cord and was very easy and so much fun to do. I used TLC Cotton Plus yarn from Jo ann's. I really liked working with this yarn. It is 51% cotton and 49% acrylic and just feels nice as you knit.

The Bitty Bootie pattern was from a blog I like. I used wool felt and although not hard, I did struggle a bit due to the diminutive size but they are very cute. Hope everything will fit and that I left a little room for growing. Maybe if we asked nice, Amy would post a picture???

Patti

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This was my weekend project. I had so fun much doing it. What you can't see in the picture is that all the papers and ribbons are sewn on (remind me to get a new needle for my machine). The letters were traced from a stencil and then glittered. I am working on a couple more little surprises to add to the gift and then off it goes to Amy's brand new nephew.

Anyone want to come and vacuum up all the spilled glitter?~~~~~Patti

7 Degrees!

What does one do when it is March and the high for the day is 7 degrees?

I grumbled and moaned and decided there would never be a better excuse to bake. Oatmeal cookies came to mind because oatmeal is good for you right?

Next I decided to do a little crafting. I fooled around with my computer and some old book pages and managed to print some images right on the pages. I am sure there must be an easier way but it's a start. Once the images were printed I made them into tags. I used stamps and markers and made a lovely mess. Oh so satisfying.

The mailman brought me a special treat. ( I should have given him a cookie.) Last week I bid on this item and I WON! Yes, it is a paper peanut. Take a peek inside. I couldn't resist it since our expected babe is nicknamed Peanut. It required a bit of glue to get it back into shape but is tip top now.

It was getting close to 5:00-somewhere- and I really felt a tropical drink might lift my spirits. Not having to much available in the house and deciding that I was not going to venture out, I scrounged around. Champaigne and strawberries worked quite nicely. Put on my favorite Jimmy Buffet CD and for a few moments-until I had to go put on a 2nd pair of socks- I could almost believe.

Somewhere between my 2nd and 3rd glass of bubbly I remebered the stew I had put in the crockpot earlier and was so happy I had the foresight to make sure we would eat on such a cold, cold day.

Today it is still cold but I am going OUT. Anywhere, somewhere but out! Much as I loved my day in hibernation I am stir crazy. Think I'll make an appointment for a facial or go and augment my stash. Who knows, if I have enough clothes on maybe I could do both.

Patti

The weekend of a domestic goddess

I felt like being domestic this weekend, so I turned to Nigella. I love Nigella. I've never watched her show, but I love how she writes in her books. For example, "While the icing's still soft, smear messily over the cooled and waiting cupcakes." I think I could like this woman.
I got up first thing Saturday morning to start baking. I like having the kitchen to myself with some good music on. However, I wasn't entirely alone:
My first task was to start the dough for a few loaves of bread. Mmmmm...not much smells better than getting the yeast started before adding all of the other stuff.
All of the other stuff.
(The coffee was for me, not the bread.)

Then I started making cupcakes to take to Paul's house warming party. I tried two that I'd never made before: Burnt Butter Brown Sugar and Dense Chocolate, both from Nigella. So yes, I was using Paul's guests as guinea pigs. They all survived, as best I can tell.
Here they are, all finished, in the Cupcake Courier that Kristen sent to me out of the blue. Isn't it great?! I see alot more cupcakes in my future.
The verdict on the experiment: the chocolate ones were fab, the BBBS were a distant 2nd. Ah well.
The cleanup crew:

I had enough of the kitchen yesterday, so today I decided to start in on the stash that was augmented on Thursday (we were NOT shopping). Here's what I got:
The task was to make a small quilt for the opening in one of our new walls. In the addition we had these two openings put in the walls that look out from the 2nd floor into the new room. These are great--they look neat and they let more light into the upstairs. At some point there will be sandblasted glass in them, but we haven't reached that point yet.

So what's the problem, you may ask? Well, the problem is that the one on the left opens into the upstairs bathroom. No big deal if it's just Rob and I, but things quickly become slightly more awkward when anyone else comes over. Thus the small quilt.
Here's a closeup of the final product.
And a further-away shot.
I think the rest of the day I'll go for a walk and take a nap. All this domesticity makes me tired!