peep!

I need to learn how to crochet. Stat!






Berroco chicks, out of Plush yarn

(via CraftZine)

a moving bean

Even with my new camera's "kids and pets" photo-taking mode, I can still barely get a photo of him. Here is my dog (forgiven since the iPod incident), trying on his Christmas present, a doggie backpack. My goal is to load it up so he has to work harder on his walks, consequently wearing him out. Maybe he'll be less likely to eat everything I own!!



(again, the green walls make for some crappy photos).

more on the bathroom front

I finally touched up the ceiling in the bathroom- when I painted the walls I got quite a bit of green on the ceiling back in September. It was time to fix it! Also, you can see my shiny new camera in the new mirror.



The angle of this is a bit strange (why didn't I just stand in the bathtub to take a straight on photo?), but I hung a grouping of white frames on the wall to cover up some poor plaster work (by me, ahem). I wanted to hang some beautiful artwork, but I don't really have any pieces, so instead I went the thrifty crafty route and used scrapbook paper! I chose several different designs from Archiver's, and then picked what looked best against the wall. I cut the pieces to fit, stuck them in some cheap frames from Target, and voila! Instant artwork! Nevermind that the sticky hooks I used to hang them up fell off the walls last night...looks like I'll have to bust out a hammer and nails after all.



On a side note, green walls are really hard to photograph against.

clean it out!

I deep-cleaned the bathroom today, top-to-bottom, floor-to-ceiling. I also did a quick cleanout of the medicine cabinet, which was desperately needed. Some of this stuff expired in 2004! I moved in 2006, so I can't figure out why I didn't throw it away then. There were two unopened bottles of cough syrup and one of aspirin. I remember buying the aspiring because my other bottle had expired...but I found both in the cabinet.

Now that flu season is upon us, it's a good time to clean out all that stuff!

high on envelope glue

I started making Christmas cards back in November. I collected last year's cards from several friends, intent on remaking them into new cards. It got a bit tedious, so I finished up the cards for my office with regular old scrapbook supplies and blank white cards.




a somewhat blurry closeup of one of my favorite cards. Most of them use the main image from the card, scrapbook paper, and some silver-inked stamps. I scored the stamps last year at Michael's after Christmas in the 75% off sale. I definitely got my $4 worth this year, as I used them in some form on every card!!

iPod, i heard knew ye

While I was out running six miles in the freezing rain/snow Saturday morning, this is how my dog was occupying himself:

favorite scarf

for the Handcrafter's Holidays at SewMamaSew

I love handmaking gifts for the holidays. When I was younger, it was often ornaments with my school photo in them. Now, they are more often than not knitted scarves. My first attempts were simple all knit-stitch scarves for my sister, made out of Homespun. I've graduated to many finer yarns and more difficult patterns.

One I enjoy making, and knits up fairly quickly (I am a slow knitter) is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, and is basically *K1,P1*K1, however wide you want to make it. I have made it with Malabrigo and a coordinating kidsilk/halo-y yarn. The one below is for my friend Steph, and was made for her last year for Christmas. I love the variations in Malabrigo, and with the right coordinating yarn, it looks great!