Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Happy Hanukkah!

Last night was the first night of Hanukkah and of course I forgot to take a picture of my menorah before turning it off (it's electric). So I'll have to take one tonight to show you, but in the meantime...

Happy Hanukkah!!!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Pointe Shoe Alteration

Just a recent project that I've been working on. I actually have about 12-14 more shoes to decorate and (hopefully) sell. The store where I work is allowing me to sell them in store. There are so many ideas that I'm wanting to try and there just never seems to be enough time. I do have three other shoes that have gotten base coats of paint, but that's it. And I really want to try using fabric dyes on at least one of the shoes.

For this one I used some more pages from an old book that I have, a black floral rub on, silk ribbon in pink and green, some paper flowers that I made and some little crystals to give it a bit of sparkle. I'd love to know what you think about it!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Superfine spinning

Recently I treated myself to a new tiny spindle from Threads thru Time on Etsy and the best way to describe it is amazing! It is a tiny Turkish Spindle that weighs in at .7 ounces and has beautiful coloring. They also sent along a little sample of BFL/silk blend fiber so that I could try out my new spindle and it spins beautifully. The yarn is so skinny right now that even if I do a 3 ply I still don't know if it will be lace weight! And for a size reference
It is 4.5 inches tall and 2.5 inches across. Seems that it will be a nice little travel spindle. I just have to make a little project bag for it. So far I have spun for about 2 hours on it and with the yarn being so thin it looks like nothing. Most of the spinning was done last night, but I did do a tiny bit on Friday.

Also on Friday I tried to 'ply-on-the-fly' with one of my other drop spindles and it was a rather successful experiment though not a technique I think I enjoy. Though it might just be because it is new. I'll have to play around with it some other time. But I did make a mini skein of the test yarn.
I spun thick and thin and love the way it looks plied up

Monday, November 14, 2011

Goodies! And the master plan for the goodies


As a treat to myself for completing the 3 Day I got myself a box full of goodies. Now what goodies are in the box you may be asking. And what are you planning to do with whatever is hiding in the box? Never fear all shall be revealed!

Have you seen the felted rugs that look like rocks? Like this one from VivaTerra

I absolutely love it, but there is no way that I can afford it. The 3' by 5' one is almost $500! As I said I love it and it would make an awesome little rug for in my kitchen area or even in the bathroom, but not as a bath mat. So why not make my own? And while I'm at it I would love for it to have a more organic shape to it. Which as I kept searching I came along some by Ronel Jordaan. You can see them by looking under the products link and then the floor link. It appear to have the more organic feel that I'm wanting! And all of this leads me to the box. And the giggles I got from opening it.

Still all squished in the box, but not for long...

And yep, I've already started this project. It is going to be a more tedious project, but I am determined to finish it. The bases of the stones are made from wool yarn from my stash wrapped in layers of wool roving from The Sheep Shed Studio. The mix I got was the black tones mill ends and I blended some of the mill ends using Tangie's cat brush to get varied shades of blacks/greys/off whites. And if anyone is ever thinking of doing something similar, you can felt the balls in the washing machine! Which is what I am planning for a majority of the rest of my felt rocks. A few of them I will hand to get the shape that I want, but doing it that way takes some time.

After taking it out of the bags it took up a good portion of the bed.
And the assortment of dyesoppers to do an easy kid friendly project with
Some of the mill ends might end up as dye experiment projects, but that will be a story for another day.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Headbands and barrettes

I just realized that I never showed you the finished hair things I wore to the walk. I ended up not wearing the striped bows, but I used some of the extra ribbon in my hair clip.



The hair clip used 7 different ribbons: 7/8" pink and white stripe, 3/8" pink, 3/8" tutti frutti, 3/8" baby pink, 3/8" old rose, 3/8"white and 7/8" white. I wore it the first and last day. I also added some little rhinestones I had in my scrapbook supplies to give it a bit of sparkle.



I had two headband and wore the flowers for part of the first day and part of the second. It was a very simple project with two fabric flowers from my stash sewn onto a pice of 1.5" ribbon. And I wore the woven headband the rest of the second day. The ribbons on it were white, tutti frutti and I think old rose

All of the ribbon (except the 1.5") came from The Ribbon Retreat.

A little peak at an upcoming project

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

I'M BACK!!!

Thanks to my brother for the photo at our first cheer station on Sunday!
I survived the 3 Day and enjoyed sleeping in (in a real bed!) and doing my walk laundry yesterday and taking a hot shower Sunday night night. Though the hot shower thing wasn't something I went without this past weekend. We had hot showers all weekend! And I can now say that I have showered in an 18 wheeler trailer, or at least that is what it looked like. And did you know that there are such a thing as flushable Porta Potties? And they were clean the whole weekend! I still have to get my photos developed and on a disk, but as soon as that is done I'm going to post them.

Now onto the real reason behind the weekend's event. There were 2,800+ walker and 450+ crew members (I'm pretty sure that number included medical). The Dallas/Fort Worth 3 Day for the Cure walkers/crew/medics/etc raised $7.1 million for the cause!!!! And I meet the most amazing women (and men) over the course of the 3 days, both walkers, crew members, and the amazing medical team members. They were all great and amazing. But the most most amazing were the survivors and hearing their stories. Some where just finishing rounds of treatment, some where in remission, some were battling it for the second or third time, some for the first, but none of them let it get in the way of walking. In fact one of these amazing, awe-inspiring, stupendous survivors had team members pushing her wheel chair the entire way. Every time I saw her and her team I teared up.

And let me mention the national series sponsors: Bank of America and New Balance. They were awesome. And we had sandwiches provided for lunch every day provided by Panera with chips, cookies, and fruit. Off of the top of my head I can't remember the other sponsors we had, but I will get around to mentioning them at some point when I remember them.

And I'm already thinking about next year's walk. I can't wait to do it all again!

Friday, November 4, 2011

And the adventure begins!

Today, or rather early this morning, the 3-Day for the Cure walk begins! I will see you all in 60 miles!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow...

Ok, so this post really has absolutely nothing to do with the musical Annie other than the fact that the title of the post made me think of the song. Though it is a cute movie. 

No this post is actually about the fact that tomorrow is the first day of the 3-Day for the Cure. I know you are probably sick of hearing about it, but aside from one or two posts about the experience that will be up next week, this is it! In a way I can't believe it, but at the same time I can.  


I know that this is going to be an amazing experience from everything that I've heard, but I will admit I'm slightly nervous. About what? I have no idea.I think it is just one of those things, you know, where you have been planning it for so long and looking forward to it that it is almost unbelievable that it is here. You know? Or maybe not...anyway, I'll end it here since I'm just rambling now.

See you in four days!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

To Mod Podge or not to Mod Podge





I have got some massive, not size-wise massive, but you know like massively time consuming, projects going on at the moment and a large chunk of them need Mod Podge or some sort of decoupage goop.  Ugh, Mod podge-we have a love/hate relationship. And don't get me wrong, because I really do love Mod Podge, but I just don't like the price. I was going to grudgingly go and grab some at the store the other day until I stumbled across this: Homemade Mod Podge. And the inner crafty me demanded that we had to try it right then and there!


A little sneak peak of things to come
Ok, so I didn't really try it 'right then and there' because I was hanging out at my brother's place doing laundry and making mac and cheese using almond milk (it is different) with an unsurprising lack of crafty goodies around me. Sure I had water and a container and ribbon that wouldn't help at all, but I lacked the glue aspect. But I did try it a couple of hours later. And this stuff rocks! Seriously, it does an amazing job and if I didn't know better I would think I had dumped my Mod Podge into a random container for who knows what reason (and it wouldn't surprise me at all if I did one day). Instead of the 1:1 ratio I did end up doing a 2 part glue to 1 part water ratio, to the best of my eye-balling measuring skills. Tell me if you can tell which one of these is Mod Podge and which is the Mod Podge wanna-be






Can you? Are you sure about it? Really? Did you pick the one on the right? Well, then you guessed right and I am massively impressed by your skills. The only reason I can tell the difference is because I wrote on the back Mod Podge one.


And I have to say a big thank you to Bridget over at Babblings and More for sharing the recipe!

Monday, October 31, 2011

Meet Me on Monday

Meet Me on Monday

1. My current weather is ________?
Sunny and 64 degrees at the moment

2. What is my favorite sound?
My favorite sound is rain on the roof and thunderstorms. Which reminds me of a funny story. I sleep with a white noise maker set on a thunderstorm and there have been times when I half way wake up and get really excited because it makes me think there is actually a thunderstorm. Then the rational side of my mind kicks in and reminds me that it isn't. So anyway, a few weeks ago (I think), I was watching a movie before going to be and all the sudden heard thunder. My first thought is, 'Well that was silly turning on the white noise before I started a movie' before I realized that it was an actual thunderstorm!!!! It was so exciting!

3. What is the worst flavor of ice cream?
Personally I can't stand pistachio ice cream, but worst ever would have to be watching Bizarre Foods and seeing Andrew Zimmern eat octopus flavored ice cream.

It looks so pretty, but yuck! No offense to anyone who likes it,.


4. What magazine do you look for when you are stuck in the waiting room?
People magazine if I've forgotten my book or crochet project.

5. What is your favorite condiment?
Either dijon mustard or ranch dressing.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Project 333

Have any of you heard of Project 333? It sounds pretty interesting and I'm going to try an abridged version of it starting on January 1st for the entirety of the month (maybe longer). The idea is that for three months your wardrobe is limited to 33 items. Here are the basics taken from the Project 333 getting started page.



When: Every three months
What: 33 items including clothing accessories, jewelry, outerwear and shoes
What not: these items are not counted as part of the 33 items- wedding rings or another sentimental piece of jewelry that you never take off, underwear, sleep wear, in-home lounge wear, and workout clothing (you can only wear workout clothing to work out)
How: Choose your 33 items, box up the remainder of your fashion statement, seal it with tape and put it out of sight.
What else: consider that you are creating a wardrobe that you can live, work and play in for three months. Remember that this is not a project in suffering. If your clothes don't fit or are in poor condition, replace them.

Here is my list as of right now, though it may change and if it does, I will update it. I'm planning on taking a picture of my outfit everyday for the month and posting a slideshow of it in the end. When I have a chance before January I'm going to pull out all the items and get a photo of them. I am allowing myself the possibility that if I am finding that there is something that I never wear and there is something that I find out that I am needing that I can switch them out. I'm also not counting my two work shirts because, as they have the logos on them, they can really only be worn to work.

1.     Shirt- Black spaghetti strap
2.    Shirt- Light blue spaghetti strap
3.    Shirt- White spaghetti strap
4.    Shirt- White button up
5.    Shirt- Maroon short sleeved shirt
6.    Shirt- Pink 'Walk' short sleeved shirt
7.    Shirt- Blue long sleeved shirt
8.    Shirt- Green long sleeved shirt
9.    Dress- Black/floral print dress
10. Dress- Purple knit dress
11.  Dress- Black infinity dress (if I get around to finding/making one)
12. Dress- Blue knit dress
13. Skirt- Pink/yellow silk wrap skirt
14.  Skirt- Blue/purple/green print long silk skirt
15. Pants- Jeans
16. Pants- Denim shorts
17. Pants- Denim capris
18. Pants- Grey sweatpants
19. Pants- Black dress pants
20. Pants- Black leggings
21. Shoes- Tennis shoes
22. Shoes- Leopard print flats
23. Shoes- Print lace-ups
24. Shoes- Flip flops
25. Shoes- winter boots
26. Bag- cream grocery bag
27. Neutral purse
28. Tan striped scarf
29. Grey wrap ballet sweater
30. Blue-grey winter coat
31. Black sweater
32.  Jewelry- Silver earrings
33.  Jewelry- Pearl-like necklace



Monday, October 10, 2011

A to Z of me

So I've seen this on a few different blogs over the past week or two and I figured it was a great way to share a bit about me. So enjoy!


A. Age: Older than a year, younger than 100 that is all you get

B. Bed size: Queen, I'm pretty sure. Both where I live and at my parents' house. Though Tangie seems to take up more space than me which it pretty impressive.



C. Chore that you hate:  What chore don't I hate? Though if I had to pick the one that I dislike the most...cleaning the bathroom


D. Dogs: At the moment, no. The family dog, Rita, had to be put down this past summer


E. Essential start to your day: Hitting the snooze button a few times and then having cuddle time with Tangie.


F. Favorite color: Green!


G. Gold or Silver: Silver or white gold. I'm just not a fan of yellow gold as it doesn't look all that great on me.


H. Height: 4'11" or 5"ish in my walking shoes

I. Instruments you play: Once upon a time I played the violin, but as of 11 years ago I play nothing


J. Job title: Which job? I'm a nanny, a shoe fitter/sales person at a dance wear store, a seamstress and a registration worker as needed for conventions

K. Kids: A four legged friend, but that is it.


L. Live: Somewhere in Texas


M. Mother’s name: Cindy (Hi mom!)


N. Nicknames: When I was small there was peanut, pumpkin, and Ruthie. Now there is SR for emails/texts or SAS from my brother  


O. Overnight hospital stays: I spent the first week of my life in the hospital, but I don't remember it. Does it still count?


P. Pet peeves:  Rude customers. I'm sorry that for whatever reason you can't make it during the store hours, but getting mad at me does nothing because I don't make the store hours. And people who don't use blinkers when turning/changing lanes.  


Q. Quote from a movie: "Me? I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of what I saw, I'm scared of what I did, of who I am, and most of all I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I'm with you." ~ Baby in Dirty Dancing.

R. Right or left handed: Righty

S. Siblings: Older brother Ben, and two younger half-sisters


T. Time you wake up: 7:30 am on most days, though I will be a lazy bum and lounge around until I absolutely have to. So weekends even though I'm up cuddle time lasts until about 9-ish.

U. Underwear: My favoritess are from Soma


V. Vegetable you hate: Bell peppers. Not too bad when they are raw, but cooked ones are just gross


W. What makes you run late: Getting sidetracked by a book. The worst habit of mine as, 'Oh I'll just read for 5 minutes' quickly turns into, 'Dang it!' while running out the door.


X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth, knees/ankles, and chest to check for TB (negative yay!!!)


Y. Yummy food that you make: Baked goods


Z. Zoo animal: Koalas, the small monkeys and all the jungle cats.

Friday, October 7, 2011

101 in 1001

I saw this idea on Anita's blog Sew, Vintage, So Fun! and though it was a wonderful idea.


Start Date: October 7, 2011
End Date: July 3, 2014


001.  Grow a plant from a seed
002.  Sew a quilt 
003.  Grow my own herbs
004.  Go a week without chocolate
005.  Ask 5 friends to suggest a book and read all of them
006.  Try 20 new recipes
007.  Cook a three course meal
008.  Watch all 6 Star Wars films in one day
009.  Make croissants from scratch
010.  Take a trip on a train
011.  Leave a note inside a book for someone to find
012.  Make a birthday cake for someone
013.  Hold a koala
014.  Go sky diving
015.  Go to a pilates class
016.  Complete a coloring book
017.  Complete the 200 sit ups challenge
018.  Buy the perfect little black dress
019.  Complete a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle
020.  Try surfing
021.  Get another stamp on my passport
022.  Rekindle an old friendship
023.  Learn another language
024.  Knit myself a scarf
025.  Make pasta from scratch
026.  Ride in a hot-air balloon
027.  Grow my hair to my hips
028.  Make a recipe book from my favorite recipes
029.  Buy a nice pair of sunglasses
030.  Eat at five new resturaunts
031.  Complete the 3-Day for the Cure
032.  Make a list of 25 things I like about myself
033.  Work out six days a week for a month
034.  Start an art journal and work on it every day for a month
035.  Make a 50's style dress
036.  Make a circle skirt
037.  Make a crinoline for under the circle skirt
038.  Reach my target weight
039.  Ride a ferris wheel
040.  Write a letter to myself to open in 10 years
041.  Make 3 reusable grocery bags
042.  Make 8 reusable produce bags
043.  Make fabric napkins
044.  Work up to being able to do center work in ballet en pointe
045.  Put change in someone's expired parking meter
046.  Bake a giant cookie
047.  Decorate some cookies
048.  Read 50 new books
049.  Spin bamboo
050.  Spin cotton
051.  Go on a cruise
052.  Go to Disney World
053.  Meet my birthfather
054.  Go on a road trip
055.  Renew my first aid certificate
056.  Complete a 2000 piece puzzle
057.  Complete a 5000+ piece puzzle
058.  Go paintballing
059.  See every Disney movie
060.  Be able to do the splits
061.  Swim with dolphins
062.  Read 'The Hobbit'
063.  Read the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy
064.  Read 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
065.  Read 'The Long Dying of Baby Andrew'
066.  Watch 'The Godfather'
067.  Make my own beer/wine
068.  Can jam/jelly/fruit/something
069.  Learn how to juggle 3 balls for 5 minutes
070.  Avoid fast food for a month
071.  Fold 1000 paper cranes
072.  Wear clothing I've made everyday for a week
073.  Bake a rainbow cake
074.  Bake a 10+ layer cake
075.  Update my blog at least 2 times a week
076.  Watch a sunrise and sunset in one day
077.  Go see a movie by myself
078.  Go on a date
079.  Send a postcard to post secret
080.  Spend an entire rainy day watching movies in my pj's
081.  Spend an entire rainy day reading in my pj's
082.  Teach myself to write with my left hand
083.  Swim in the ocean
084.  Bake a souffle
085.  Save $5 for every item on the list I complete
086.  Create a 101 in 1001 list to start after I finish this 1001 days
087.  Buy a 'Wreck This Journal' and finish it
088.  Picnic in a park
089.  Take a cooking class
090.  Buy a cake pan
091.  Watch 26 movies I've never seen starting with the letter of the alphabet
092.  Make a list of my 50 favorite books
093.  Make a list of my 50 favorite movies
094.  Wear my hair in a different style every day for two weeks
095.  Improve my posture
096.  Create a budget and stick to it
097.  Start a sentence a day journal
098.  Kiss someone at midnight on New Year's Eve
099.  Make a corset
100.  Finish my regency dress
101.  Donate all items that I no longer need or use

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Mad Hatter Day!

Today is Mad Hatter Day! So let us celebrate the character we have all come to know and love. So act crazy and have a Mad Hatter tea party if you would like. Or make a hat. Or just wear a crazy hat!


And just a little tidbit of trivia: The term mad hatter doesn't have a definite origin. It is thought to refer to the fact that hatters used to use mercury in the making of felt used in hats which led to nervous system problems causing hatters to tremble and appear insane. Thus mercury poisoning was also called 'Mad Hatter's Disease'.