French fries that are totally not fattening

Finally, something yummy that won't increase my waistline LOL! I found the pattern for this French fry container on the Fairies with 'Tude blog and just had to make one for my mom to celebrate her 60th birthday. The best part was that I got to deliver it to her in person last week! (She's in Florida so I don't get to see her as often as I'd like.)

For the box, I created my own paper by tearing scraps of different black and white printed papers and such and gluing them to a piece of freezer paper, overlapping as I went (I used Modge Podge). Then I painted an acrylic colorwash of yellow. Next, I stamped some images onto a thin paper napkin and randomly glued them on top of the paper. Then added two more colorwashes of purple and deep red ... love the antique look I ended up with! The flower is a fabric pin that I colored the petals with watercolor crayons. The inserts are cardstock that I balled up and then smoothed out, stamped with brown ink and then rubbed brown chalk over. Then I glued the images, words and flowers (with a bead in the center of each flower) to both sides of the inserts. Too fun!

Red, red, red ...

Dawn posted a challenge to the CompositionArtJournals group over the weekend to do a grid page. At first I wasn't planning to join in, but, as I usually do, I kept thinking about it and thinking about it and this morning I finally had to just do it. Besides, I had this spread already painted in black and hadn't yet come up with something to do to it, so it worked out perfectly. I decided to thumb through a couple magazines and pick out as many red things that caught my eye. My daughter had fun helping me with that part! In fact, she added to it by coloring on a scrap of paper with a red crayon ... it's the one in the bottom row, third from the right ... love it! After gluing the squares down, I doodled with a metallic marker ... very simple, but I think it added just the right touch. This was such a fun thing to do! I just might try it again someday ... maybe a different color, or a certain shape or ... well, who knows! Thanks, Dawn, for the challenge!

Calendar journal -- January

This one was okay, but a bit darker than I was trying for. That's what happens when I don't dilute the acrylics.Background done with acrylics, boxes outlined with silver marking pencil (the kind usually used for quilting!), title and snowflakes are metallic marker.

Weekend fun

We spent Sunday night at a nearby Sheraton that has a new waterpark ... too fun! This is the page I put together about it.

Calendar journal -- December

Background is watercolor pencil, squares are acrylic paint, "December 2006" is Sharpies, and the red words are pre-inked stamps.

A Crocheted Christmas

Oh, boy, it's been awhile since I've blogged, hasn't it? I didn't post much in December because everything I was working on was for Christmas gifts LOL! But now that the gifts have been opened and life is finally settling back into a routine, I can finally share some pics.

This fall, I picked up my crochet hooks again (thanks to my friend Dana's encouragement ... it gave us something constructive to do while our girls were in dance class together). I'd forgotten how fun and soothing it is to wield a hook and run yarn through my fingers. At first, I worked on an old afghan I'd started many years ago. But then I started checking out books from the library and browsing through the books Dana brought with her, and I just had to start something new. I picked out a simple single-crochet pattern for placemats for my dining room ... found a gorgeous variegated yarn and I was on my way. Then I started thinking about making something for Christmas gifts. I decided to make a scarf for my Dad (which, unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of before wrapping it up). I picked a simple basketweave pattern using a wool blend in a yummy dark green ... I got the pattern out of this book. I loved working with the wool blend ... so soft! Then I made a fun purse for my mom ... found the pattern in this book. Here are some pics of the finished purse ... I love how it came out!














Then I decided to make something for our niece, Amanda. She's really into skulls right now, so I thought it'd be fun to crochet something with a skull on it. I finally found a skull sweater pattern in this book. However, I didn't want to make a sweater because I knew I would have a hard time making something that would actually fit a body LOL! So I decided to use the skull part of the pattern to make a purse/tote. A purse in the same book gave me the basic plan ... I combined the two patterns to draft my own pattern, making the purse a little bigger to make the skull pattern fit. I incorporated some skull beads into the sides of the purse, too. I had fun working on this one ... learned a few things along the way, too.















I also attempted to make a cap for her using some of the leftover yarn from my Dad's scarf. I can't remember which book I got this one out of. It was a book specifically about crocheted hats that I got from the library. It turned out okay, I guess. My problem is that I crochet very tightly ... I have to automatically go up 3 hook sizes when checking gauge, and occasionally have to go up a fourth before it works. And even then, when the stitch gauge matches, the row gauge might still be off. That's why making stuff that has to "fit" is hard for me. But it was fun and quick to make. Oh, well, live and learn ....

Calendar journal -- November

I used Sharpies to outline the squares and the pumpkins, and colored pencils to color everything in. The attempt to make the squares look transparent was inspired by TracyU's August and September layouts. I tried to make them look like vellum by coloring them in lighter. Next time I will try different colors instead ... and maybe paints instead of colored pencils. The pumpkins look too flat and boring. Oh, well, better luck next time LOL!

I left plenty of room for bits and pieces to add in, but then the month ended up being one of the worst ... my girls were sick quite a bit, back and forth, during the month, and dh even got sick with food poisoning one weekend ... ugh! And then towards the end, we were in a hurry to re-shingle the back half of the house and I actually spent a lot of time up on the roof (never would have dreamed of that!) What a month! So I never found much time to embellish ... I'm hoping December will be more laid back ... but with the holidays and all, ha! If I can just hang on until January ....

Booking through Thursday 11/09/06

Booking Through Thursday
Mary wants to know...

1. Do you keep a list of books to read? Yes.


2. Where do you keep your list (computer, PDA, paper, etc.)? I made a small book to hold my lists of books to read and videos to see (you can see it here). I keep it in my purse.
   


3. How often do you refer to your list? Every time you go for a new book to read? When book shopping? Or? I refer to it whenever I'm at the library (which is about once a week).
   

Calendar journal -- October

Acrylic paint around the squares, a touch of colored pencil on the background and Sharpie markers for the writing.

My new sewing table!

Well, I haven't posted any progress on my updated sewing room since August. The next step was to start on the sewing table, but it took a little while for my husband to decide just how he was going to make it. He's used to working with iron, not wood, so he really wanted to do some research and to think it through before starting. And I'm so glad he took his time ... it turned out fabulous! He found a piece of wood that has the most amazing grain ... it looks like a topographical map ... love it! First, he cut it to size and then worked on the hole for the machine (that took some time to plan right ... darn machine has sloped sides and he wanted it to fit as close as possible ... thank goodness for scrap wood LOL!) Then it was time for the fun part ... color! We tried a water-based stain (in my favorite color, green, of course!) that did not work very well the way the instructions said to do it. After a couple layers of the stain and then a layer of the polyacrylic, my husband did not like it and actually took it back outside and sanded it down again to start over. Yikes! Talk about a happy camper ... NOT! The second time around, we did it our own way and it turned out much better.

Then came the crucial part ... making an acrylic piece to fit. It was a bit tricky since the machine has areas that slant in a bit. But he did such a wonderful job there, too ... after much walking up and down the stairs for fittings and trimmings, it's done! We're both so pleased with how it turned out ... we keep catching the other taking another peek at it LOL!

Now to find time to actually sew!!!

Booking through Thursday 10/26/06

Booking Through Thursday
Christine wants to know...

1. Do you make notes in books as you read them? Very rarely.


2. Why or why not? Most often, the books I read are library books, so they're not mine to write in. Also, most of them are fiction which I read for pleasure and not for note-taking. If I ever want do find myself wanting to take notes, I usually jot them down in a spiral notebook instead.


3. If you do, do you make notes only in certain kinds of books or all of them? The few times that I have taken notes in a book, it was making notations on recipes in cookbooks ... if I change ingredients and like the results, I'll jot it down so I won't forget. The only other time in recent history that I've written in a book was when I was going through one of my homeschool books and the author mentioned various resources to use in planning unit studies ... I went through the library catalog and jotted down the call numbers for those books so that I can find them easily without having to look them up every time.

Booking through Thursday 10/19/06

Booking Through Thursday

1. Do you read in bed? For how long? Do you fall asleep reading? Will a good book keep you up all night? Occasionally, but not too often because usually my husband is in bed first since he gets up very early for work. As for how long, it's hard to say, but it's usually longer than I tell myself I will LOL! I rarely fall asleep reading ... usually only when I'm not feeling well. And, yes, a good book has kept me up until the wee hours of the morning.
   


2. Where do you keep your nighttime reading? Do you have a special table next to the bed? Are there many books there? Do you keep books there that you aren't reading (finished or unread)? My nighttime reading is usually the same book I'm reading off and on during the day, in which case I grab it from it's last location and bring it in to read. Then I just leave it on my nightstand until sometime the next day when I've got time to read some more (usually while the kids are playing outside after our schoolwork is done). As for other books on my nightstand, I don't keep any unread or finished books there ... they go back on the shelf when done.
   

Booking through Thursday 10/12/06

Booking Through Thursday

1. Do you read short stories? Yes.


2. Why or why not? Like I said in an earlier BTT post, I read just about anything so if I come across some short stories, I'll read them, too!
   


3. What do you like and dislike about short stories? I like being able to read through the whole thing quickly to find out how it ends, but if I enjoy the characters very much, I sometimes don't like that it ended so soon. Hmmm ... does that make sense?

Calendar journal -- September

Oops, almost forgot to upload my September calendar:For this spread, after putting down the post-it notes, I pounced a brown ink pad all over, then used a spiral rubber stamp randomly in a dark green. I used a metallic gold pen for the lettering and also added little dots around the page for a little added something.

Booking through Thursday 10/5/06

Oh, dear, I'm late LOL!

Booking Through Thursday

1. Tell us about a book that you had to read, but didn't want to, but that you ended up liking. Something for school, perhaps? A book from your Mom for Christmas that she insisted on you reading? Something from a bookclub? But ultimately, a book that--against all expectation--you ended up liking, respecting, loving.... And, of course, why? What made this book resonate with you? Hmmm ... that's a tough one ... I can't think of any books that I didn't want to read but ended up enjoying ... I'm sure that must have happened to me at least once, but I just can't think of one. But ... I sure can think of several I was dying to read and ended up hating LOL!

Quilt show results

Well, my guild's quilt show was this weekend and the quilts were fabulous! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera!!! Ooh, I was so mad at myself for that ... especially because I got 2 ribbons and couldn't take pictures of the quilts hanging with their ribbons ... aaargh! But I took a pic of one of the ribbons as soon as I got home. I got two of these 2nd place ribbons for the first two quilts pictured in this previous post. It was wonderful to find the ribbons attached to the quilts ... of all the quilts I entered, these two are the most special to me personally. Actually, my 8yo daughter found them first and came running, saying, "Mom, Mom, you got ribbons!!" Made it even more exciting LOL!!

As soon as I got home, I pulled out all the comments I got from the judges ... this was the first time I'd had my quilts judged in any way, so I was very curious as to what kinds of comments my quilts would receive. Overall, the comments were very positive. The only "areas of improvement" were that I need to work on my machine quilting stitch length and on thread tension. Stuff I already knew LOL! But it was nice to see that those were the only problems. I got nice comments on color, quilting designs and overall workmanship. Yay!!

I saw so many wonderful things at the show and now I'm inspired to go make something. I can't wait for my husband to finish my sewing table so that I can get my sewing machine out again. I miss it!!

Bobbin Magic

Oh, my! Other than some Booking through Thursday posts, I haven't posted about any creative ventures in 3 weeks ... need to change that right now! Earlier this week I was able to take a workshop with Pat Nelson called Bobbin Magic. She taught us how to fiddle with the bobbin cases on our sewing machines so that we could make really neat stitches with wonderful threads. This is the sample I made in the class. The trunk is a whipstitch and the flowers and leaves are done with 2 variations of a feather stitch. I really enjoyed the class and look forward to playing more with these techniques. As for the tree, not sure what I'm going to do with it ... I'm thinking of adding a few more flowers around the base of the tree and then maybe using it for a pocket on a tote or something. Or maybe I'll just trim it and tack it to the design wall for a little inspiration ....

Booking through Thursday 9/28/06

Booking Through Thursday

1. Do you own any bookends? If so, how many sets? If not, do you need or want any? I don't have any actual bookends on my shelves ... instead I use other things as bookends, like interesting, large knick-knacks or sturdy vases. And sometimes I arrange a stack of books as a bookend.


2. Which are your favorites? How long have you had them? My favorite is this large iron jack. It used to be on my mom's bookshelf and now it's been on one of my shelves for over 15 years.

Booking through Thursday 9/21/06

Booking Through Thursday

But, enough about books. . . what else do you read?? Magazines? Newspapers? Professional journals? Cereal boxes? Phone books? Purchase invoices? Homework? (Please be specific. There may be a test later.) I read just about anything ... if it has words on it, I read it. And sometimes I read things 2-3 times! Seriously, though, I read magazines (quilt mags that I subscribe to and other mags that my mil gives me from time to time), our curriculum stuff (and I'm also currently rereading my personal library of homeschool help books), lots of internet sites (mostly about homeschooling, lapbooking and notebooking at this time, with a little art thrown in), and just about any stray papers that I come across. On top of all that, I read lots of kids' books to my girls ... at least 2 (and often 3-4) each night before bed. Whew!

Booking through Thursday 9/14/06

Booking Through Thursday

1. Do you tend to read more books written by one gender over the other?


2. If so, which one? Men? Or women? Is this a deliberate choice? Or just something that kind of happened?


3. And (without wanting to get too personal), is this your gender?

I don't prefer one gender over the other when it comes to authors ... if they write well, I'll read their books, that's the bottom line. However, these questions made me notice that most of the darker, more mysterious stuff I read is written by men, and most of the lighter, funnier stuff is written by women. Not sure if that's because of them or because of me!