Past Projects

I have had absolutely no time lately to do anything! The first weekend this month was just crazy and I am still trying to recover from it! However, there are a few things that I have been able to put together with some of my limited time that I am super excited about.

I found these two sculptures that I made in a ceramics class in college. They are abstract figures depicting my husband and I when we got married and they have been collecting dust ever since. When I was cleaning up some of the clutter in my house I also found this "shadow-box-shelf" that I bought a long time for an entirely different reason and never used. Well, I put one and two together and waaaalaaah:

I know that displaying my figurines in a box isn't that creative, but I am really excited that I was able to display them for free. Who isn't excited about the word Free??

Another thing that I am really excited about are these things:

I am not sure what their technical term is but they are party favors (I assume for a kid's party) and they are plastic cones with a textured piece of clear plastic at the end. So you can look through them and see the world in different forms of distortion. I received these as a favor for a bachelorette party that I recently attended and immediately put them up to my camera to see if it would focus through them. And indeed it did. I should also mention that I was using a "pocket sized" digital camera (Sony Cyber-shot) with the front lens measuring about 1/2" in diameter. I don't think it would work with a large camera lens, but it would be fun to experiment. Here are some fun pics of the 2 different "lenses".

So, like a big dork, I am going to be looking for more of these so that I can really play with my pics. And I am definitely going to keep these in my camera bag for all occasions.

And as I have stated before... I have no time, BUT I have even more to share. I recently purchased a mirror from a garage sale for $6 and I LOVE IT. It was originally a brass color, but the frame is plastic and whoever had it before, spray painted it with a high gloss black paint. I think that maybe that person didn't like how it turned out? It didn't look like it had been hung before and looked almost brand new. But as they say, "one man's trash is another man's treasure" and oh what a treasure it was.

So I decided to hang it next to my "Jewelry Box". I also found this frame at a garage sale and it was just a frame; no glass and no picture. It looked like it was made in the 70s and although it was made out of wood, it was painted to look like a more expensive and interesting wood (you know, with painted on wood grain). There was also a part of the frame that was covered in a faux suede that accentuated it's 70s-ness. I think I bought it for $5? and I painted it in a high gloss black and covered the fabric section with a zebra print fabric that I just had laying around the house. Then I had my husband build a shallow box behind it and hinge it to the frame. I cut a piece of Styrofoam to fit the inside, covered it with black fabric and placed it inside. For less than $10 I have a great display for my jewelry and even though it looks like a piece of art on my wall, it is also functional because the frame opens like a door on the front. :-) I used dress maker pins to hang up each of the pieces of jewelry and I LOVE IT. I made this long before I found that mirror and when I saw the mirror, I thought that it would be a perfect addition to my wall... which I am just starting to realize is exclusively yard sale finds.

At the same yard sale that I found the frame above, I also found 4 small framed Norman Rockwell prints. They didn't have any glass in them either and the backing was just cardboard. I think I bought each of them for either 25cents or 50cents. Either way, they were a great deal. So I also sprayed them with high gloss black paint and until recently I was using them as photo frames. I backed them with a stiff piece of black card stock and displayed large wallet sized pics (printed on my home photo printer) inside the frame, held in by black photo corners. I didn't have glass for the frames and by using the photo corners, I could change out the pictures as often as I wanted to.

But, when I hung my mirror, these photo frames weren't quite working. I remember seeing a DIY "recipe" for an earring holder made from a frame, screw eyes and wire. So I changed one of my frames into an earring holder and I really like how it turned out. I used what I had... the screw eyes were too large and the wire I used was a scrap piece of heavy duty picture wire, but I like how it gives more of an industrial look. The frame is small so it doesn't hold a lot of earrings, but I don't change my earrings that often so this size works perfect for my small collection.

I like how all the pieces look together and I am itching to find some more functional ways to transform the 3 other small frames.

Well, that is all for now... maybe the next time I am super busy, I will have equally as much to share ;-)

Necklace

I am attending a wedding in a week and a half and I decided it would probably be smart if I bought a dress. Since I have to get a maternity dress, the selection is pretty minimal. Luckily this is an outdoor wedding and not super formal attire, so the selection for summer day dresses is a bit larger than for formal maternity dresses. Anyway, I found a dress that worked (which is VERY red) and for some reason I decided that I needed a necklace to go along with this dress. I found a necklace on Etsy.com that I really liked but it was orange and lime green, it would have worked if it was red and lime green so I was on a quest. I bought a few things and ended up using the least expensive beads that I bought and a silver necklace from my jewelry box that I was never going to wear. I used red coral beads, lime Jade beads, and Lucite flowers. Unlike the Etsy necklace, this one I decided to make asymmetrical. It is the first necklace that I have that isn't symmetrical and I really like it. I think it turned out great and I really like it with the dress... the flower might be a bit much with the pattern on the dress but OH WELL.

I was also thinking about making either earrings or a bracelet to go with this. I don't normally wear bracelets, so I thought earrings. I can't decided between the one on the left and the one on the right. But now I am thinking that the earrings might be a little much?? I am probably thinking about this way too much!

Bravery

I decided to make my own Sushi last night. My mom makes sushi all the time and I thought, if she can do it, then I can do it. I found this really great recipe from Martha Stewart.com and I mainly used the recipe for the sticky rice. I don't have a rice steamer but this recipe worked perfectly!!! I also made a few veggie rolls just like the recipe, and they turned out o.k., but I also made a Philadelphia roll that was EXCELLENT!!!!!! I know that this was a very brave (and very time consuming) feat... but it was well worth it!!!

Garden

For the past few weeks most of my time and energy has been spent on building a garden. That might sound like an easy task to most people, but I had to (or I should say my husband had to) build a fence to keep out the animals that live in the treed area behind my house. Ever since I planted the veggies in the garden, I have been on the lookout for a nice way to mark my rows. When I was in Target today, I found these plant markers in the dollar isle... a package of 5 for a dollar to be precise. They had some that were silver and some that were copper, I picked the more classic copper ones to use in my garden. Each package came with a black marker to write out the plant names, but I ended up getting out my trusty alphabet punches and they turned out great!!!!

Garden:

necklace

I went to a bead show this weekend and found Water Buffalo Horn that was sliced, polished and drilled for jewelry. I thought that it was so unique that I bought a strand to make a necklace for my Mom for Mother's Day. I knew that I wanted to hang something in the center of the horn but I really struggled to find anything that worked. I ended up having a piece of Jasper that looked pretty good in the center so I found some beads that matched and threw it together and here it is.

Small Projects

Things have been CRAZY around here. I haven't had the time to do anything!! I was working on the afghan a while ago and had to put it down. I don't know if it is my posture or what, but I was experiencing pretty severe back pain so I stopped working on it and the back pain went away. We will see how long it takes me to pick it back up again. And since then, I have been so busy I haven't had any time to create.

Last night my sis-in-law brought over a 1 pound Chihuahua puppy that was whining because it was cold. So, I hurried up and knitted her a sweater before my sis-in-law left. The sweater turned out o.k. but I made the arm holes a little tight and because the sweater weighed more than she did, she had some trouble walking. Regardless, she was super cute... I guess you can be the judge of that.

I also made a cake today. I felt like some chocolate and found the first recipe that I could that had chocolate in it. It is a Kraft recipe called Chocolate-Covered Oreo Cookie Cake... and it turned out great! I made one change and that was instead of the chocolate mixture they suggested for the topping, I made a simple chocolate ganache. That is all for now.... hopefully more to come soon.

Current Project-Afghan

The knitted dolls are done and shipped to their intended owners!!! I LOVED knitting the dolls and my favorite part was stuffing and assembling them. I think everyone finds that to be the best part about making any kind of stuffed animals, because that is when they actually come to life! And even though I loved making them.... I am really glad that they are done!

While I was knitting the dolls I decided to watch my entire collection of Harry Potter DVDs (during nap time of course). And that is when I saw Mrs. Weasley wearing the coolest sleeves on her housecoat.

I searched the Internet for a pattern for the sleeves and I found them in this book:

However, the sleeve pattern that they have in the book is not even close to the ones that Mrs. Weasley wears in the movie. In Charmed Knits, they have a poof at the top of the shoulder/base of the "epaulet" and the bells at the end of the sleeves are much smaller than the real ones. I did find this pattern that looks very accurate but I think that I am going to take a stab at making my own pattern. In order to do that I decided that I should probably brush up on my crocheting skills. I haven't crocheted anything substantial in a while so I found this afghan pattern and that is what I am working on right now.
I have more than half of the Granny squares crocheted and I just started on Monday... so I think it is moving along quite nicely.

Completed Project-Knitted Doll

My cousin just had twin girls last week and in addition to getting them some useful things, I decided to make dolls for the babies. I found the cutest knitted doll in this book:
It kinda reminds me of a doll that I had when I was little, my mom made it and the head of the doll had different faces on each side and it spun around so that you could show different emotions on the same doll. It sounds a bit possessed but it was fun when I was little.

The doll that I made is called the "Upside Down Dolly" and the best part is that it is two dolls in one. The doll is a take on Cinderella, where one side of the doll is Cinderella pre-fairy god mother, and the other side is Cinderella after. One doll is completely done and it turned out GREAT! Mine turned out to be 15" high, which is a bit bigger than the pattern, but I think I like the bigger version better. It was really easy to knit because everything was knitted flat and then you sew up the parts to make it 3-dimensional. I didn't do as much embroidery as in the pattern, but I think that is o.k. too. I also thought that this doll is perfect for twins!!! Now I just have to get the other one done.

Never say never.....

I went to an auction this weekend and I was pretty much just along for the ride. My husband was going to look for coins for his and his brother's collections and that was about it. While he was trying to look at the handful of coins that they had, I walked my 2 year old around just to see what else they had. It wasn't until the second time around that I found it!...... An antique sampler hidden behind glass, jewelry and other more sought after items. So I quickly signed up to bid and realized that it was in lot # 411, which means there was 410 items to be auctioned before the sampler. Well, to make a long story short it was 4 1/2 hours into the auction before the sampler was sold and it actually worked to my advantage because at that point there was only 1/4 of the people there. AND it is mine!! I only had to bid against one person and I got it. I am not quite sure how old it is because there is no date but I think that if I wanted to research it I could probably get an estimate ( I am too worried about that). It is also not in the best condition, but I think that it looks great and I am still in shock that I actually have an antique sampler!!

Completed Painting

The painting is DONE!!! WOOOHOO. Sally really wanted a pinup in the picture and I think that it turned out to be more of a naked cowgirl than a pin up, but I still think she is going to like it. I still feel as though there is more that could be done on this painting and things that need to be improved. But if I do that it will be over worked and I will have to spend even more time getting it back to where it was.... so I have learned the hard way that this is my stopping point.

I have done my fair share of life drawing (and at the risk of sounding like a prude) this painting was pretty racy for me... my usual subject matter tends to be a bit more 'G' rated. I am not the best at portraiture, but since this portrait was abstract, I think that it turned out o.k. I did really enjoy painting her face, so I think I might end up doing more portraits after all. And even though this painting is a decent size at 24"x36", I tend to work a lot larger than this. I think that I am going to really challenge myself on my next painting and paint super small!!!

Current Project-Painting

I was encouraged today to paint more, so I decided to complete my Sister-in-law's painting that I started months ago. My objective behind the painting was to give her something colorful to hang behind her couch. She has decorated her apartment with very colorful accessories and I thought that a really large, colorful painting would bring everything together. The painting was supposed to be a surprise but then I got stuck, so I decided to show her the painting and see if she could direct me into any sort of direction. And that she did... Sally is really into vintage pinups, infact her next tattoo is most likely going to be a large pinup. Since the painting has taken on a "tattoo" like quality, I thought that a pinup would look great! I was trying to get it done for Christmas present, and I was SOOOO busy before Christmas that I just didn't have the time. Actually, I don't really have the time now either, but I am super motivated so I am just going to have to make the time! Here are a few pictures of my progress (not much right now but I am pretty confident that I will get this painting done soon). I am also thinking about making prints of several of my paintings and selling them on Etsy!

Completed Project- Invitations

O.k. here are the baby shower invitations!!! I used Paper Source cards and envelopes that I bought at Urban Arts + Crafts. The 4 Bar folded card in strawberry, the 4 bar flat card and coordinating envelope in blossom. The scrapbook paper on the front is a 12x12 by My Mind's Eye which I cut to size. I also used acrylic stamps from Autumn Leaves.

Resolutions

One of my New Years resolutions is to be less of a space case and finish some of my projects. I have about 10-15 projects that are in some stage between conception to completion. According to Feng Shui a cluttered house is a cluttered mind, and even though those projects are organized nicely in their respective places, it is still clutter that I need to get rid of in order to maintain my sanity. One of those projects is my "antique" sampler. I have always been extremely attracted to very ornate antique samplers, but since I seem to share that attraction with a lot of other people... a real antique sampler is WAY out of my budget. So, I decided to make my own. I don't have a specific pattern that I am following. Some of the text and borders I have seen in books and magazines, and the house is a pattern that I made up to look like my house. Anyway, I have been working on this sampler for about 2 years, off and on... more off than on. So I decided to just work on it until it is done!!! So far that has been going pretty well, but we shall see how that goes!!! Any new projects are going to have to take up space in my sketch book until I an get this completed.

Completed Project- layered cake

So, I have been in this baking mood lately. After the Christmas season, I didn't think I would see the day that I would want to do that much baking again... but that day has come. I am throwing a baby shower for my sister-in-law next month, I know that I want to make the cake, so I decided to do a test run. I used a cake recipe that I have never tried before so I just needed to make sure that it wasn't a flop. I made this white cupcake recipe from Martha but I made it into 3-8.5" layers for 1 cake.

I cut the tops of each layer off so that each later was flat. I cut each of those 3 layers in half. The fist layer, I pipped a white chocolate mousse that I made, around the edge and filled the inside with raspberry jam.

The second layer I pipped the white chocolate mousse around the edge and then filled the inside with the same mousse. I continued to do this until the cake was complete.
I also found a really great use for my Pom Tea Jars. It is great to hold your pastry bag when you are filling it.
I ended up icing the cake with a very basic vanilla buttercream that I colored pink. It turned out sooooo hideous that I didn't even take a picture!!!! For the actual baby shower cake, I found another Martha recipe for a white chocolate buttercream, and I might just forgo the pink food coloring. I found some pink fondant, that I don't have to make, and I was considering using that for decoration... but I haven't made my final decision yet. The cake was delicious!!! The icing wasn't quite up to my standard as far as taste as well as its appearance and I think that when I make this cake the 2nd time, I am going to put less jam in between the layers. I think that the jam make the cake a little too sweet, and I think that if I just use less, it will turn out perfect. I will take pics of the official cake and post them after the baby shower.

Completed Project- Candy

I lovelovelove to make candy; I like cooking in general, but my favorite thing to make is candy. I recently stumbled onto Amy Karol's blog; Angry Chicken and she had made homemade marshmallows dipped in Chocolate and sprinkled with hazelnuts. I thought that was GRREEAAT!

I usually make hard candy or peppermint patties, but I have never attempted marshmallows. Sooo... I did it and they turned out wonderful. I am not a big fan of hazelnuts so I sprinkled mine with Heath Bar pieces and they were superb!!!

I also used some of them for a S'more concoction that Martha had on her website. They were very rich, but very good!!!!

My next project: Baby Shower invitations.