Designers + Sparklers =

One Accomplishment

So I had a week off from work and my to-do list was about 300 miles long. I pretty much did none of it, and it was spectacular. I did however manage to cross one thing off my list. Make a cover for Jack's crate. Since he's still a puppy, he isn't allowed to roam the house (we let him do that a few times, and have been finding little poops hidden in various locations ever since). So he's confined to the kitchen and living room, with his crate in the kitchen. Up til a few days ago, his crate was covered with various towels and blankets to keep the light out and give him some privacy. But it's been like a million degrees here, and I worried that the blankets and towels were making his crate too hot and he was going to have a heat stroke or something in there. Enter, the crate cover:

I'm terrible at measuring. The little lines on the ruler mean nothing to me, and trying to fold a flat shape into something 3D is near impossible. Long story short, it took forever, and I think I measured 14 times before I cut anything. It's basically a three-sided box with a flap and little ties on the front, to roll the flap up and tie it when Jack is awake. I have been making everyone I know come in my house and look at it. Oh. Before any of this started? My sewing machine broke and I went on a craigslist rampage searching for a new one. I ended up with this:

1964 Singer that folds down into a little table when you're not using it. I might actually be glad the old one broke?

Furry Fury

Meet Captain Jack Sparrow. One of the many reasons I've been so busy lately. When I told my next door neighbor Jack's name, he informed me that his 6 year old niece named her hamster the same thing. Clearly that girl's got good taste.

Things to do in 2010

This list will grow as I think of more things

1. Sew a dress (may require help of fashion-minded sister)

2. Take web classes and get Tim's site up. It's designed, but coding... is another story.

3. Update portfolio, you never know who's looking.

4. Make my Europe scrapbook. A page a month sounds reasonable.

5. Finish at least most of the projects I've already started. Chopped up pieces of fabric waiting to be sewn, pictures looking for frames, you know how it goes.

Catch up!

Here is what's been going on.

Here's a shot of our living room fireplace/bookshelves. Mandy has some great before shots that I'll post as soon as I can get ahold of them. The flowered trays on the top shelf were a thrifting with Colin find.

I used the directions I found ages ago on Crazy Mom Quilts and made a sweet checkbook case, to encourage myself to keep track of my finances. Yes, the inside is bright orange. I love it too. Clearly sewing is not my calling (the seams on the edges, yikes), but it's still fun.

Again thrifting with Colin and found this awesome 70's lamp. It was $2! I am in love with how giant the top is. Also, I already accidentally yanked the cord and flung it down from a shelf onto my desk, and it lived! Hooray for old things that are made well. In the background you can see the top of a chair from my table set. It was a Christmas present from my parents and I love it. It needs some serious work to fix it up. But it's giant, so that's a summertime project.

so Italian...

This might be the crown jewel of my Italy black and whites. Here for you now. Yes, they actually do this. Mostly for tourists, but who cares? Some day I will have to go back and ride in one.

i am still alive

is a totally amazing web site. Here is an example of just one of the prints that I wish was not sold out, because I would hang it in my house right now. Go see the other amazing things here.

Winter Wonderland

Wow, it's been a while. Holidays and moving were CRAZY, but things are finally settling down just a little bit. We had a massive storm resulting in a half inch of ice on my car, but look at the trees! I will be posting before and after pictures of the new house soon. As soon as I finish painting the entryway to my room, actually. The goal is this weekend. So watch for those pics mid next week! Here's a link to all the sizes of the wintery picture up there, in case you want to make it your desktop background like I did. 

From Cute to Tragic

Kat and I finally had cupcake making day. We lamed (or awesomed) out and used confetti cake mix, and tried to combine two fantastic things: cupcakes and mini ice cream cones. They started out with so much potential, but somehow... fell short in the end. We're thinking we should have baked them at a higher temperature, or that the mini cones didn't have a lip on them the way larger cones do, so instead of poufing up and staying on, the cupcake tops just slid off the side. Also, we may have overfilled the cones. Le sigh. Don't worry though. We still ate a lot of them and they were delicious despite their sad appearance. 

Before and After

Who remembers scary doggy lamp from about a month ago? Well, he's finally made his way back, only this time, he's pretty. Top pic is the lamp as I got it originally, spiderwebs and all. Second and third are shots of the completed lamp, and last is an in progress shot. After the yucky fur was removed, but before the painting began.

If you're wondering how this transformation took place, don't you worry, I'm about to tell you. 

First I used acetone and a toothbrush to remove his old fur/paint combo. He's made of plaster so I had to be pretty careful not to scrub too hard and damage the actual shape. Then I used a really pointy knife to get into any places a toothbrush wouldn't reach, and to pry out the eyes (which turned out to be ancient metal tacks). I sanded the rod that the cord went through to remove the old fuzz and paint from that. He just sort of came off the base as I was doing all this, so removing him from it wasn't a problem. The base I scraped with a razor blade to get off the glue and junk.

I let him dry for a few days, since some of the acetone had sunk in, then painted with regular old glossy red rustoleum paint. I did 2 thinner coats and then a final touch up. The base and his eyes I used a rustoleum satin black. Replaced the old cord with a slightly newer cord that my dad had laying around, and then glued the doggy back to his base using an epoxy. I used the epoxy on his eyes and nose as well. The shade is new from Target. 

All in all the entire thing took about 5 days. Not too shabby.

Finders Keepers

I was at the bike co-op the other day (surprise surprise) digging through a box of nuts and bolts in search of the size I needed, when I came across these tiny gears. I have no idea what they go inside, but I really like them on my necklace. 

Adorable things I need to make

The short list

Who doesn't want a cloth CD cover with wrap around wiener dog? 

Or the most amazing Halloween wreath ever? Understated, yet still a touch creepy.

A place to keep all your charge-able electronics WHILE charging them! I feel like this one could use a little redesigning, but the thought behind it is brilliant. I have a lot to keep me busy...

Halloween Thrifting

Whoapics. I know. I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist multiple shots of my two favorite finds. I went thrifting this weekend with Mandy and Colin. I was supposed to be looking for an All-American track suit... which I did end up piecing together. But I could not resist the amazing mixer, straight out of the 50's and it still actually WORKS! I made cake (from a box of mix) with it this morning. Totally awesome. And for serious, where other than a thrift store can you get something that cool for $15? I also couldn't leave behind the doggy lamp. It's going to take some serious love, cleaning, sanding and repainting (I might redo it red... or dark teal, I can't decide), but when it's done, it's going to be sweeeeeet. So I've come to the conclusion that I either need to go thrifting way more, or way less.

The only bad thing about cookies...

...is buying all the ingredients. For families, not so bad. You'll probably use all those things some time or another. But just me? It's going to take me 3 years to use that giant sack of flour. So for some friends that are moving into a new house, I'm giving them housewarming presents of cookie mix in a jar. Just add butter and an egg. Homemade cookies without an excess of ingredients!

And it goes!

With the exception of a slightly broken pedal, this is the final product. I'm not sure about all the little noisemakers just yet, they're beautiful and a rainbow, but also fairly annoying to listen to when you're not traveling at top speeds. So the jury is still out on those. Otherwise... here it is. My finished fixed gear bicycle!

The elusive "Lumpy Bird"

This glorious creature has evaded photograph for several weeks now. Finally, thanks to a Friday where I arrived home before dark, I was able to capture him on film in his natural habitat. Or, on digital in my roommate's palm tree. Either way. He was a gift from Kat and usually he sits on my desk at my real job. He's good company. Doesn't talk much, just sits and looks good. I like that. Also, he is not actually lumpy at all, it's just a strange naming convention. Welcome to the blog, lumpy bird.

It's finished!

Just a quick FYI. My bicycle is FINISHED. There are still some things that need fixing up, but it's fully ride-able. I in fact rode it yesterday, and nearly died trying to make it up a hill. It's been a while. Pictures to come this weekend when I'm home and it's light outside. More pictures of Kat's (adorable and not lumpy at all) cloth birdy to come this weekend as well!

In the business of birthdays

This is the second part of the birthday present. Tim does MMA fighting. He thinks he can make the cash money by renting himself out as a ninja for hire. Well now he's a legit businessman with a card and everything. He can write in the phone number himself because what kind of ninja keeps a permanent phone number? Or gives the same number to all his clients? That would be an unwise little ninja.

A Very Merry Un-Birthday

Birthday present part one. It was my boyfriend Tim's birthday the day after mine. I've been trying to convince him that Charlaine Harris is the best vampire novel writer there is, so he got Dead Until Dark as a gift. But it would be lame and very un-crafty to just gift a book. So I made 6 little origami bookmarks from instructables. 6, because he reads multiple books at once. The bookmarks are super easy to make and a really great way to use up some little paper scraps. I can't stand to throw them away, but what on earth am I going to use a 4x4 inch piece of paper for? An origami bookmark, that's what.

Happy Birthday Mom!

First, and most importantly, happy birthday mom! Second, I haven't been home when it was light outside in like 3 weeks. Between working two jobs, quitting one job and starting school... things have been completely busy. I've still been managing to work on the bike though, and hopefully it will be finished next Wednesday. Here's a quick photo of the visible progress. a front wheel! All that's left is putting the wheels on and doing the chainline. And handlebar tape, but that's not really essential for bicycle function. It is yellow, however. I wanted red tape, because it would make my bike go at least 15% faster, but they were out. So red next time, yellow this time. In case you were wondering, I went with an 18t cog on the back and a 52t on the front, fixed, not freewheel. I overhauled the bottom bracket, putting in a new spindle and ball bearings which was pretty intensely old school. and awesome. So. full pics of the finished bike *knock on wood* next weekend. woohoo! More projects will be posted as i get my life under control. :_)