Hawadäre!

101 Crafts # 40 - Googly Eye Shoes!!!

2011-06-24T01:06:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone! I am so sorry that I haven't posted on this blog in such a long time. I have been really busy with my new blog Style Independent and I haven't been doing as much crafting as I would have liked to.

Today I am going to share with you some lovely Googly Eye Shoes that I made.

If you would like to see more pictures of my outfit please go to Style Independent.

These started as a plain pair of gold shoes (scuffed).

I painted them white using Acrylic and a Textile medium.

Next I bought lots of googly eyes!

I used hot glue to affix these to the front of the shoes.

And here you have the most beautiful Googly Eye Shoes in the world!

Naturally you need to leave the paint to dry thoroughly before you affix any of the eyes. Then it is best to let those sit for a while so that they stick really well to the shoes.

What do you think??

Ciao for now!

101 Crafts - #98 Drawer Organizer(s)

2011-03-04T14:17:00.006-07:00

Hi everyone!

Work was super busy this week - I am so thankful it is the weekend now.

Today I am returning again to my 101 Crafts to Make List.

#98 Drawer Organizers

These happen to be some fabric covered drawer organizers, and they work (and look) really awesome.

So everyone is familiar with the standard drawer organizers available at home stores across the country. They do however, cost money and they might not be the exact style that you are looking for.

All you will need for this project is:

- a glue gun and hot glue

- scissors

- a box cut to fit the inside of your drawer (I used a cracker box)

- two pieces of fabric (one will be the lining and one will cover the outside - you can use the same fabric or mix it up a bit if you like)

Basically you will wrap the box in fabric on the outside like a present with the ends glued down inside the box. Then you line the box in much the same manner. Don't forget to tuck all of the raw edges under and glue them down. I Don't have any in between photos but I will work on getting some for you.

One done and one to go.

Ready to use!

I use my organizers to keep my socks and underthings organized but you can use these for pretty much anything. Like I said at the beginning - fun, functional and EASY.

I love trying to find new, creative ways to reuse items around the house. Especially when they look really great once finished.

Hope you enjoyed this one!

If you have been inspired by anything you have seen on my website I would love to hear about it or see it - send me a link or make a comment.

Thanks for visiting,

Ciao,

#29 - 101 CraftsTo Make - Tomato Pincushion

2011-02-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

Good Morning!

Moving on with 101 Crafts to Make I have finished this cute little Tomato Pincushion. These are a classic style of pincushion - I'm sure you've seen one before.

It turned out a little squishy but it works great!

I am considering making a how-to for this project because it is so simple! We'll have to wait until I have a bit more time for something like that.

It is the end of the month so I will see you all in March!

Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to comment and give me your opinions and encouragements - it means a lot!

Ciao,

THE BOOK LIST - 250 Books!

2011-02-26T15:12:00.002-07:00

Today, as promised I am posting the list of books that I made for myself to eventually acquire. Those that are crossed off have already been found. This list does not include all of the books that I already own. If you have any additions I would love to hear them! I am considering maintaining this list (crossing off acquisitions and adding as necessary) - we'll see if that pans out....

1. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

2. The Catcher in The Rye – J.D. Salinger

3. Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

4. The Republic – Plato

5. For Whom The Bell Tolls – Hemingway

6. The Picture of Dorian Gray – Wilde

7. The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

8. Call of The Wild – Jack London

9. Swiss Family Robinson – Johann David Wyss

10. The Dharma Bums – Jack Kerouac

11. The Illiad – Homer

12. ~~The Odyssey – Homer~~

13. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller

14. ~~Walden – H.D. Thoreau~~

15. Lord of The Flies – William Golding

16. Bluebeard – Kurt Vonnegut

17. ~~Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand~~

18. The Metamorphosis – Kafka

19. Another Roadside Attraction – Tom Robbins

20. White Noise – Don Delillo

21. Ulysses – James Joyce

22. The Young Man’s Guide – William Alcott

23. Blood Meridian – Cormac McCarthy

24. Crime & Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky

25. Steppenwold – Herman Hesse

26. The Book of Deeds of Arms & Chivalry – Christine de Pizan

27. The Art of Warfare – Sun Tzu

28. Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

29. Into The Wild – Jon Krakkauer

30. The Divine Comedy – Dante Alighieri

1~~) Inferno~~

2) Purgatorio

3) Paradisio

31. ~~The Hobbit - J.R.R.Tolkien~~

32. ~~East Of Eden – John Steinbeck~~

33. Leviathan – Thomas Hobbes

34. Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain

35. The Politics – Aristotle

36. Cyrano de Bergerac – Edmond Rostand

37. Hatchet – Gary Paulsen

38. Animal Farm – George Orwell

39. Tarzan of the Apes – Edgar Rice Burroughs

40. Beyond Good & Evil – Nietzsche

41. Moby Dick – Herman Melville

42. Essential Manners for Men – Peter Post

43. ~~Frankenstein – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly~~

44. Hamlet – Shakespeare

45. A Farewell To Arms – Hemingway

46. The Stranger – Albert Camus

47. Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Dafoe

48. The Pearl – John Steinbeck

49. Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson

50. ~~On the Road – Jack Kerouac~~

51. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole

52. Foucault’s Pendulum – Umberto Eco

53. Fear & Trembling – Søren Kierkegaard

54. Paradise Lost – John Milton

55. Cannery Row – John Steinbeck

56. The American Boy’s Handy Book

57. Into Thin Air – Jon Krakauer

58. King Solomon’s Mines – H. Rider Haggard

59. The Idiot – Fyodor Dostoevsky

60. A River Runs Through It – Norman F. Maclean

61. The Island of Dr. Moreau – H.G. Wells

62. The Autobiography of Malcolm X

63. The Count of Montecristo – Alexandre Dumas

64. Lives of the Noble Greeks & Romans – Plutarch

65. The Maltese Falcon – Dashiell Hammett

66. To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee

67. Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

68. The Histories – Herodotus

69. The Dangerous Book For Boys – Conn & Hal Iggurdon

70. Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert Pirsig

71. Self Reliance – Ralph Waldo Emerson

72. The World According to Garp – John Irving

73. Lord of The Rings Trilogy

74. King Lear – Shakespeare

75. Othello – Shakespeare

76. Macbeth – Shakespeare

77. ~~A Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce~~

78. The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera

79. ~~Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy~~

80. Lolita – Vladimir Nobokov

81. Siddhartha – Hermann Hesse

82. A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess

83. The Ambassadors – Henry James

84. War & Peace – Leo Tolstoy

85. The Origin of Species – Charles Darwin

86. ~~David Copperfield – Charles Dickens~~

87. ~~The Wind in The Willows – Kenneth Graham~~

88. The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell

89. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell

90. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey

91. Seneca – Letters From a Stoic

92. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden

93. The Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan

94. Aesop’s Fables – Aesopus

95. Sense & Sensibility – Jane Austen

96. ~~Pride & Prejudice – Jane Austen~~

97. Mansfield Park – Jane Austen

98. Emma – Jane Austen

99. Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen

100. Persuasion – Jane Austen

101. Lady Susan – Jane Austen

102. ~~Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë~~

103. Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë

104. Shirley – Charlotte Brontë

105. Villette – Charlotte Brontë

106. The Awakening – Kate Chopin

107. Beloved – Toni Morrison

108. ~~The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood~~

109. Backlash – The Undeclared War Against American Women – Susan Faludi

110. Ines of My Soul – Isabelle Allende

111. Slut! Growing Up Female With A Bad Reputation – Leora Tannenbaum

112. Intercourse – Andrea Dworkin

113. Living My Life – Emma Goldman

114. The Laugh Of Medusa – Hélène Cixous

115. The Diary of Anne Frank

116. Ain’t I a Woman : Black Women & Feminism – Bell Hooks

117. The House of Mirth – Edith Wharton

118. Crescent: A Novel – Dione Abu-Jaber

119. Heartbreak: The Political Memoir of a Feminist Militant – Andrea Dworkin

120. Snowflower & The Secret Fan – Lisa See

121. Reviving Ophelia: saving The Selves Of Adolescent Girls – Mary Pipher

122. How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents – Julia Alvarez

123. The Art & Power Of Being a Lady – Noelle Cleary

124. Harold & the Purple Crayon – Crockett Johnson

125. ~~In Cold Blood – Truman Capote~~

126. A Series Of Unfortunate Events #8 Hostile Hospital – L. Snicket

127. A Series Of Unfortunate Events #10 Slippery Slope – L. Snicket

128. A Series Of Unfortunate Events #11 Grim Grotto – L. Snicket

129. A Series Of Unfortunate Events #13 The End – L. Snicket

130. The Penelopiad – Margaret Atwood

131. Chronicles of Narnia

132. The Cider House Rules – John Irving

133. A Prayer For Owen Meany – John Irving

134. Original Wisdom – Robert Wolfe

135. ~~Tightwad Gazette II – Amy Dacyczyn~~

136. Winnie the Pooh – A.A. Milne

137. ~~Great Expectations – Charles Dickens~~

138. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

139. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett

140. Of Mice & Men – John Steinbeck

141. Black Beauty – Anna Sewell

142. Little Lord Flauntleroy – France Hodgson Burnett

143. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

144. Through the Looking Glass – Lewis Carroll

145. What Katy Did – Susan Coolidge

146. What Katy Did At School – Susan Coolidge

147. The Adventures of Pinocchio – Carlo Collodi

148. Last Of The Mohicans – James Fenimore Cooper

149. ~~Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens~~

150. The Pickwick Papers – Charles Dickens

151. A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

152. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas

153. The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne

154. ~~Les Misérables – Victor Hugo~~

155. The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo

156. White Fang – Jack London

157. Tales of Mystery & Imagination – Edgar Alan Poe

158. Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott

159. Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson

160. Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde – R.L. Stevenson

161. Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe

162. Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift

163. Vanity Fair – William Thackeray

164. ~~Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain~~

165. Around The World In 80 Days – Jules Verne

166. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea- Jules Verne

167. The Importance Of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde

168. Wizard Of Oz – L. Frank Baum

169. ~~The Jungle Book – Rudyard Kipling~~

170. Dracula – Bram Stoker

171. Journey To The Centre of The Earth – Jules Verne

172. The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton

173. ~~The Prince & The Pauper – Mark Twain~~

174. ~~The Whipping Boy~~

175. The Life & Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman – Laurence Stone

176. The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand

177. Cheaper By The Dozen – Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. & Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

178. Perelandra – C. S. Lewis

179. Life With Father – Clarence Day

180. ~~Twilight Series~~

181. Jean Val Jean – Solomon Cleaver

182. The Chrysalids – John Wyndham

183. The Road Less Travelled – Dr. Scott M. Peck

184. The Canterbury Tales – Geoffrey Chaucer

185. The Sickness Unto Death – Søren Kierkegaard

186. Dr. Zhivago

187. ~~Julius Caesar – Shakespeare~~

188. ~~Little Women - L.M. Alcott~~

189. ~~Islands In The Stream – Ernest Hemingway~~

190. ~~Hard Times – Charles Dickens~~

191. ~~Volpone – Ben Johnson~~

192. Romeo & Juliet – Shakespeare

193. A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare

194. ~~King Lear – Shakespeare~~

195. ~~All’s Well That Ends Well – Shakespeare~~

196. As you Like It – Shakespeare

197. The Comedy Of Errors – Shakespeare

198. Cymbeline – Shakespeare

199. Love’s Labours Lost – Shakespeare

200. Measure For Measure – Shakespeare

201. The Merry Wives of Windsor – Shakespeare

202. The Merchant of Venice – Shakespeare

203. ~~Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare~~

204. Pericles, Prince of Tyre – Shakespeare

205. The Taming Of The Shrew – Shakespeare

206. ~~The Tempest – Shakespeare~~

207. Troilus & Cressida ¬– Shakespeare

208. Twelfth Night – Shakespeare

209. Two Gentlemen of Verona – Shakespeare

210. Winter`s Tale – Shakespeare

211. ~~Henry IV Part One – Shakespeare~~

212. Henry IV Part Two – Shakespeare

213. Henry V – Shakespeare

214. Henry VI part One – Shakespeare

215. Henry VI Part Two – Shakespeare

216. Henry VI Part Three ¬– Shakespeare

217. Henry VIII – Shakespeare

218. King John – Shakespeare

219. Richard II ¬– Shakespeare

220. Richard III – Shakespeare

221. Antony and Cleopatra – Shakespeare

222. Coriolanus – Shakespeare

223. Timon of Athens - Shakespeare

224. Titus Adronicus – Shakespeare

225. The Sonnets – Shakespeare

226. A Lover`s Complaint – Shakespeare

227. The Rape of Lucrece – Shakespeare

228. Venus and Adonis – Shakespeare

229. Funeral Elegy by W.S. – Shakespeare

230. And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie

231. Heidi`s Lehr- und Wanderjahre – Johanna Spyri

232. Heidi (auf Deutsch) – Johanna Spyri

233. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson

234. The Girl Who Played With Fire – Stieg Larsson

235. The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest – Stieg Larsson

236. A Brief History Of Time – Stephen Hawking

237. ~~The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini~~

238. Where The Wild Things Are

239. The Old Man and The Sea – Ernest Hemingway

240. Oedipus Rex – Sophocles

241. The Portrait Of a Lady – Henry James

242. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – Washington Irving

243. The Karamazov Brothers – Fyodor Dostoevsky

244. The Aeneid – Virgil

245. Confucius Analects – Confucius

246. Goethe’s Faust – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

247. The Complete Grimm’s fairytales – The Brothers Grimm

248. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

249. Pygmalion – George Bernard Shaw

250. The Road To Serfdom – F.A. Hayek

And there you have it! 250 books to add to my collection.

I hope this list will inspire you to get out and read a book.

Ciao,

NOTE: I realized today that my strikeout wasn't showing up - it has been updated - my apologies! Feb 27 2011

#1 - 101 Crafts to Make - Martinique Charm Quilt Pt. 1

2011-02-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

The end of the week! Thank goodness it is Friday – things are calmer here at work which is nice. I am glad to be able to catch up on all of my work and also have some time in the evenings to contribute to my blog.

Today I am going to start Part 1. of a two part post to be completed at a later date. This is because I had some time in the last week to start on one of my projects for 101 Crafts. This summer I purchased something called “charm squares”. They are pre-cut pieces of fabric in a fabric family packaged neatly to be made into a quilt. My pattern is called “Martinique” and I am really excited to be working on it. I realize that I haven’t finished posting about the other quilt I was making a while back, but this charm quilt is simply too cute not to be started!

I have a few preliminary photos for you to show some of my progress. Once I have time again (March?) I will be posting my progress – so stay tuned for Martinique Pt. 2!

What could be in this nondescript bag?

Charm squares to make a Charm quilt!

Starting to sew.....

Here you can see the three rows I have finished so far. Not much, but I have been top stitching all of the seams so that it lies flat. A bit of extra work but it sure looks nice!

Close up of the top stitched seams.

Well, that was the beginning. I still have quite a ways to go before this one is done. It is going to look lovely when it is completed.

As always I would love to hear about what you are doing!

Ciao,

TODAY! FREE GIFTS! - My Mother The Man-Eater Book Launch - Amazon

2011-02-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

FREE GIFTS WITH PURCHASE!

TODAY is the much anticipated Amazon launch of my mother's new book: "My Mother The Man-Eater".

If any of you lovely readers purchase the book TODAY (February 24th) from Amazon you will be eligible for a plethora of FREE GIFTS.

These gifts include FREE first chapters of newly published books, FREE Art Cards, FREE editing/critiques for your own manuscripts (limited number of pages), FREE short stories from BEST SELLING authors, FREE marketing presentations and MUCH MORE!

Once you have purchased the book on Amazon follow the link below to receive your FREE gifts:

*FREE GIFTS*

. You may choose one or ALL of the FREE GIFTS listed!

Remember:

1: Go to Amazon

2: Purchase "My Mother The Man-Eater" by Tracy Krauss

3: Get your FREE GIFTS

The Author Tracy Krauss with her newly published book "My Mother The Man-Eater".

I hope that many of you will be able to support an emerging author and purchase this book through Amazon.

Don't forget about the many Free Gifts available to you!

If you are unable to do so yourself it would also be wonderful if you would ask your local library to purchase a copy to be put in circulation.

As always have a wonderful day!

Ciao,

FREE GIFTS! - My Mother The Man-Eater Book Launch - Amazon

2011-02-23T06:00:00.026-07:00

FREE GIFTS WITH PURCHASE!

Tomorrow is the much anticipated Amazon launch of my mother's new book: "My Mother The Man-Eater".

If any of you lovely readers purchase the book tomorrow (February 24th) from Amazon you will be eligible for a plethora of FREE GIFTS.

Once you have purchased the book on Amazon follow the link below to receive your FREE gifts:

*FREE GIFTS*

. You may choose one or ALL of the FREE GIFTS listed!

Remember:
1: Go to Amazon
2: Purchase "My Mother The Man-Eater" by Tracy Krauss
3: Get your FREE GIFTS

The Author Tracy Krauss with her newly published book "My Mother The Man-Eater".

I hope that many of you will be able to support an emerging author and purchase this book through Amazon.

Don't forget about the many Free Gifts available to you!

If you are unable to do so yourself it would also be wonderful if you would ask your local library to purchase a copy to be put in circulation.

As always have a wonderful day!

Ciao,

101 Crafts to Make #43 - Crochet Dish Cloth

2011-02-22T06:00:00.029-07:00

Another easy craft on my list, but at least I am making progress!

My Dad's mother taught me how to crochet when I was young but I have never actually made a dishcloth before. I didn't use a pattern for this one but just made rows of random stitches. It turned out funky with the stripes running from the first row to the last row not quite of the same pattern. No matter, it is quite functional and that is really all that matters with a dishcloth.

I think that if I make more in the future I will make knitted ones instead as my squares of knitting seem to turn out a lot more square than my crochet squares. I may simply need some more practice with crocheting squares. That or maybe I should follow a pattern!

Here we have my first few crocheted rows.

And here, the final product.

Hope you enjoyed! I am working on quite a few of the more challenging crafts on my list of 101 and I am really hoping I will be able to make all of them before my time is up... Only 6 months and 95 more crafts to go.

Wish me luck!

Ciao,

A Belated Happy St. Valentine's Day! & Cheap Books

2011-02-21T06:00:00.001-07:00

So I realize that Valentines Day has been over for more than a week now but I still wanted to post about it. Aren surprised me with some roses that morning. We were planning on going out to do some shopping because I had just realized that all of the old classic novels which I loved didn't belong to me. They were my sister's or my mother's and quite frankly my fiction collection was lacking. Ok, basically it was non-existent.

While I was in the shower getting ready to go out searching for books he snuck out of the house and bought me these really pretty flowers.

I purchased a bottle of champagne this year and we shared a glass while watching a really lame romantic movie. I don't like them very much but I guess if you are going to bother watching one it might as well be on Valentine's Day.

You must think I forgot all about the books .... au contrair .....

We first went to Goodwill on our search because although there is a great used book store in town I figured that since my list was so large (185+) I would need to save every penny I could in order to acquire them all.

I can tell you I am sure glad that we went to Goodwill first. The bookshelves were filled with books on my list as well as others which I had forgotten to add to it. This trip was like hitting the jackpot, especially when the hardcover cost $3.99 and the paperback cost $2.49. The Children's books were even cheaper at $1.49 for hardcover and $0.99 for paperback. Amazing.

In the end we bought quite a few.....

(this is a close up so you can better read some of the titles)

We did also visit the used book store as there were many of the books I wanted which weren't at Goodwill. Of course the prices were a lot higher and I only bought a couple from the store.

Gradually I hope to be able to buy/receive all of the books on my list. I'm sure there are those of you out there who couldn't imagine buying/owning so many books but in our family they are treasured possessions.

When I have a chance I will be sure to post a list of all of the books I am aiming to obtain for my fiction collection. I'm sure it will take a long time though as they will not all be available for $2.50 and the list will be revised as new books are printed/discovered.

I would love to hear about what you are reading or if you have any suggestions to add to my library.

Ciao!

Stained Glass Queen - A Painting

2011-02-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

Recently I have had a bit more time for the creative pursuits. This could be due to the fact that the holidays are over or perhaps because we have settled into a more regular routine here at home. Whatever the case may be, I am quite happy about being able to spend extra time doing what I like to do.
Today's post features a painting that I did these past few weeks. Inspired by stain glass windows, a painting I saw at my cousin's house and old religious artwork - I hope you will enjoy it!

Before starting this painting I drew a sketch of what I wanted it to look like. I find it helps to keep me on track and focused on what the finished product should look like. I don't always do a sketch though.

Here we have all of my paints ready to go. I like to use old lids as paint palettes, they clean off really easily.

Lighter colours to darker colours is the way I like to paint. Here we have the white being painted in. I drew a sketch in pencil behind of some of the basic areas. Normally I would never use pencil as it shows through but because I was lining this painting with black (like stained glass) I knew it wouldn't really matter.

Yellow and light brown.

Here we have some of the outline started and more colour added with light blue and magenta.

Now you can really see the painting coming to life. Lots of colour has been added as well as some of the shading in the background and the face.

As I was working on filling in the colour I couldn't help but notice that I really disliked the shape of the face. The chin appeared much too wide for the face and the lips seemed too high and too red. These things would definitely need to be fixed.Lots of highlights have been added as well as some more shading.

I decided to finish all of the outlining before moving on to fix the face.

And finally - the fix.

Her face looks much softer now, much more serene. I am really pleased with how all of this turned out - I already have it hung up in my home.

I have plans in the near future to paint a very large painting. Most of my work to date has been under 20x24 and it would be a nice challenge to take on a bigger canvas I think.
Don't worry - I promise to let you know how things go along the way.
Ciao,

More Lovely Matryoshka Dolls

2011-02-15T06:00:00.002-07:00

These are the last two Matryoshka dolls that I bought. I actually have had them since the summer, but didn't think to post about them for whatever reason. The black and yellow one even has personalized Birthday greetings painted onto the bottom - how cute!
I am hoping to add a couple more dolls to my collection this year, we'll see how Aren feels about that I guess.......

I was so excited when these new dolls first arrived and couldn’t believe how small the ten piece set actually gets. Miniscule! I still can't believe it.

Of course these dolls were also purchased from Elena Beytane via EBay. Now I need to get some type of curio cabinet to display all of the dolls on.

There Is Nothing Like Garden Fresh Veggies

2011-02-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

I am finding a recurring theme in a lot of my posts - a return to simple pleasures. Cooking, making, doing and above all enjoying every part of these things. The process, the planning, the work and the outcome.

Well, here we have another post on simple pleasures. From the title I am sure you can guess what it is about.

Aren and I have been really fortunate over the years in that his parents have an AMAZING garden and have been kind enough to share the fruits of their labour with us.

Of course, eventually we would love to have our own garden and grow our own food too.

This past summer we were up to visit Aren's parents and it was so refreshing to be able to go out in to the garden and grab whatever it was you wanted to eat at that moment.

Potatoes and tomatoes? No Problem. Cucumber or rhubarb? How about a fresh salad with herbs? All of it is readily available and oh so delicious.

I managed to take a few pictures before wolfing down all of the good foods we ate, although I got a bit caught up in eating and forgot to take photos of our meals once they were prepared.

Freshly chopped rhubarb.

Two varieties of cucumber and a Russian variety of tomato.

Broccoli!

Cooking the Rhubarb. This was soooo scrumptious!

We were even able to find some mushrooms in the woods which were cooked up into a creamy sauce.

Really, truly, there is nothing like garden fresh food.

Ciao,

101 Crafts to Make #67 - Cake Decorated With Regular Icing - Birthday Cake!

2011-02-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

I am back on the 101 Crafts to Make to do list.

Today's post is about my attempt at making a multi-layer cake decorated with regular icing NOT fondant.

Since my dad's birthday was this month and I was going to be out of camp I decided to make a cake for him.

Thankfully he is not too judgmental when thinks don't look their prettiest. :)

I wanted to make a triple decker cake, square/rectangularish in shape.

This was my first attempt at such a cake and I am confident that I learned a few things which will make my next cake look a heck of a lot better.

I baked two 9X13 inch cakes and two 9X9 inch cakes using a white cake recipe. Yes that is right - I made all of the cake from scratch.

The first batch of icing I made myself too, but I purchased some extra icing as well as a tube of blue gel and a tube of yellow icing. The yellow icing was less than spectacular. The tube did not come with a tip and the icing was really firm. It was very difficult to maneuver - I would not buy it again.

The white icing did not cover as well as I would have liked it to. You can see some dark areas where the cake shows through. Perhaps if I had a bit more time I could have left the icing sit overnight and then done a second layer to cover more evenly. Perhaps using a coloured icing would have alleviated this problem as well.

I cut out a bunch of stars and glued them to skewers which gave the cake a festive look. They really contributed to it not looking like a flop! They were also a really easy and fun way to spice up the look without spending a lot of extra time and money.

Overall the cake turned out nice. I think that cake decorating is definitely a skill and takes a lot of time to master. Hopefully my next cake will be even better than this one!

PS. It tastes super phenomenal - the most important part about a cake.

Ciao,

I ♥ Your Blog Award!

2011-02-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

I am quite excited to announce that I was awarded the " I ♥ Your Blog Award" by Violetta of Violet Elephant. I am super happy as this was my first blog award ever! She actually posted about me on her blog quite a while ago but since I haven't been around in a long time I didn't actually realize that it had happened. My bad!

The rules are pretty simple: I need to post the award on my blog, link back to the person who gave it to me (check out her blog folks) and pass the award on to 15 other people. Please please follow the rules when adding the "I ♥ Your Blog Award!" button to your blog and pass on the love.

And now for the blogs that I ♥ :

(these are not necessarily in any particular order except that my Mum is #1)

1~ Expression Express by Tracy Krauss

2~ ScrapArt by Pris

3~Gabrielle's Konga Baeren

5~Sew Ono

9~Effortless Anthropologie

10~Get Your Craft On

11~Somewhat Simple

12~Modish

13~Made

14~Lex at My Mama Made It

15~Happy Together

Spread the love people and have a look at the wonderful blogs listed above!

Ciao,

Crochet Tie Organizer

2011-02-09T06:00:00.024-07:00

Hello all!

So today I am showing you how I took a horrible ugly wire hanger and turned it into a super functional tie organizer for the closet.

You see - I have a problem (as I am sure you can tell from the post about my closet) I love clothing. I also have a lot of it. So it stands to reason that I have many many things which need to fit into a small space (yes I have been reorganizing and trying to declutter my space). I decided that since Aren didn't really have a place to store his ties, and I didn't have a place either, why not store them together?

The result was this crocheted tie organizer.

Plain Ugly Wire Hanger

The Magic - Black wool and a crochet hook.

I began at the bottom and crocheted my way around the entire hanger.

Once I had finished crocheting all the way around the hanger I needed to make loops in which the ties could hang. I divided the hanger up very roughly in my mind and decided that 12 loops across would be perfect. Using a chain stitch I made the crocheted the loops, connecting them to the hanger once each was finished.

Voila! A finished organizer to help me utilize the space in my closet better.

If Aren or I ever get any more ties (which inevitably we will) I will need to make another organizer as this one is now full! Fun and easy to make and it sure freed up some space in my dresser drawer.

Hope you all enjoyed this project!

Ciao,

Pudding From Scratch

2011-02-07T13:56:00.001-07:00

Isn't it amazing how different things are nowadays? Small things like instant chocolate pudding. I have a cookbook that I purchased at a thrift store or garage sale (I don't remember where) with a recipe for chocolate pudding. I am sure that most people my age grew up going to the grocery store and buying (or not buying depending on your parents) JELL-O chocolate pudding. It isn't inconceivable that pudding can be made from scratch at home but it sure would be a stretch for a lot of people. I wonder how many mothers in this day and age would send their children to school with pudding if they had to make it from scratch?

Naturally I made some pudding of my own to see how difficult it really is. Surprisingly easy AND delicious. It has no weird "homemade-y" taste and is just as good if not better than store bought. Not that we ever really bought pudding anyways....

Aren certainly enjoyed it.

If you have any fun suggestions for normally store bought things that I could try to make at home let me know! I always like a good challenge.

Ciao,

101 Crafts to Make = Sewn Coasters #70

2011-02-04T18:37:00.000-07:00

I have been away for far too long and for that I apologize! Things have been super busy this holiday season - I got a promotion and had the inlaws down for Christmas. Busy Busy!
I thought I would start out my year on the blog with one of my 101 Crafts to Make - since there are still so many to go before the year is up.... enjoy!
Project #70 on my list of Crafts to Make are Sewn Coasters.

I made these coasters using a fun missoni-esque fabric that I picked up a few years ago. They are three layers - batting sandwiched between two layers of fabric. Sewn together, turned inside out and then topstitched all the way around. Pretty cute if I do say so myself!!

Ciao for now!

101 Crafts to Make = Sewing Machine Cover #86

2010-12-08T23:05:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I posted one of my 101 Crafts to Make. I haven't been slacking off in the crafting department, just in the posting department.

Here is the Sewing Machine Cover that I made for my Singer. I used to have the plastic cover that it came with but somehow lost it over the years. Needless to say this one is 10x more stylin than the plastic one ever was!

I had this cute fabric lying around and finally knew what to use it for. You will need to measure your machine (height, width and length) and then add for seam allowances. The top edge is on the fold and the sides I serged together.

Divide the width of your machine + 1 inch in two. My machine was 4 inches in width so 4 + 1 / 2 = 2.5.

Now cut out a square from the corner using that measurement, mine was 2.5 by 2.5.

Repeat this for the other corner. Now you will need to sew these edges together.

Fold the fabric in half so the side seam matches with the fold line. Sew across. Now you can topstitch the side seams down (of you want). I serged the bottom edge of my cover and then hemmed it up neatly.

The Finished Sewing Machine Cover!

I love the way this turned out and it was super super easy to make!

Hallowe'en 2010 - Starcraft Nova Costume

2010-12-06T15:13:00.003-07:00

Hey everyone!

Last time out I was consumed with making my Hallowe'en costume from scratch. I hope you will enjoy these pictures! WARNING: This will be a long post as there are a lot of pictures. : )

I found out that I would be out for Hallowe'en only two weeks before the date, so I didn't have a lot of time to construct my costume. I decided that I wanted to go as Nova (Ghost) from Starcraft (a computer game).Tthe costume ended up being a lot more work than I thought it was going to be.

First I have a whole bunch of photos of the finished costume. I borrowed Brendon's Air Soft gun for the pictures but didn't take it out with us as it looks too much like a real gun.

In this one you can see a lot of the lights that we incorporated into it.

Aren told me I wasn't supposed to smile because people with guns don't smile. I'm not very good at looking serious for pictures.

Now on to the construction phase of the costume:

What a huge mess!!

This is my original sketch for the bodice armour. I decided afterwards that having the shoulder pads point downwards was going to be much too restrictive.

These are front and back flat sketches for the one piece. All of the style lines are included, although modifications were made in the final garment.

I drafted a pattern for the bodysuit and initially I was going to make it all out of PVC. Well that turned out to be a horrible idea as it pulled and bunched all over the place. Luckily I had some bamboo stretch fabric at home that I could use. I drafted the pattern and made two different prototypes before I finally made the suit itself. All of the piping is black PVC, tricky to sew!

I constructed the body armour with PVC, tape, glue, papermache and LOTS of time. It took me forever to get it properly formed.

Nova's suit lights up so of course I had to have LED's and EL wire in it. The store only had 6 blue LED's though so I am hoping to work on the costume more and add more lighting to it.

Yes folks, ALL of the piping was hand made by moi.

Piping and sewing part of the bodice.

Piped in the middle and piped around the outside. PVC is sticky when it sews so I had to buy a roller foot.

Inside of the outfit.

Outside of the outfit.

The foam served as pattern pieces for the PVC as well as gave the bodice extra shape. There were battery packs hidden inside here and the backpack as well.

While We Were Out:

Me with Master Chief. You can see the lights better in the dark.

Aren and I. He didn't have as much time as I did to make his costume but he was a Nintendo controller and SUPER proud of it. He made the whole thing on Saturday before we went out. He said he is going to do some more work on it and make sides and stuff too. It was super sweet either way!

Did I mention he was Super proud of being a Nintendo controller? This is us with two of our friends.

I hope you enjoyed these pictures of our costumes.

As I said earlier, I plan on putting more lights on mine and reworking some elements. I had no idea it would be quite as much work as it turned out to be and would have liked a bit more time on some parts.

Until next time,

Grey Cup 2010 -Saskatchewan Roughriders!! (and my New Camera)

2010-12-05T22:01:00.003-07:00

So today I post about the 98th Grey Cup (late I know) and my new Camera!
The day I got out of camp I received a message from my dad asking if I wanted to go to the Grey Cup - of course I did! My family are all HUGE Saskatchewan Roughriders Fans. In the end my Mum, Dad, Aren, my Sister, my Brother and Myself all went to the game in Edmonton.
Our beloved Riders didn't win but we sure had a lot of fun cheering them on!

My Brother and I all decked out or the game enjoying some Timmy's.

Here we all are pre-game (Aren is taking the picture). Luckily it wasn't minus 25 or anything, I think it was only minus 10. We were bundled up for sure once it got underway!

My Sister and I with more crazy Roughrider Fans. The Mad Hatter, Gumby and an all Green Joker!!!!!!!

It was a sea of green in the stadium, Rider fans are the best fans around.

Go Riders Go!!!!!

Our new camera took amazing photos of the game, you can't even tell how far away we really are.

Did I mention it was cold? My Sister and I all bundled up with Mum and Dad in the background.

Can you believe the stadium? Something like 60,000 people were there!

Now you can tell how far away we are......

It was sad that we didn't win the cup but like I said it was super fun to be there. Originally we only had 4 tickets in a row so all 6 of us wouldn't have been able to sit together. I devised a plan though whereby Aren and I bought slightly better tickets than the ones my sister had bought and then traded them with two people who were sitting in the same row as my family. It worked!!! And we actually paid slightly less per ticket than my sister had because we got them pretty last minute.

Go Riders Go!

And this is our lovely new camera! Aren bought it for me last month but I was unable to take it out to camp as I didn't have a proper protective case yet. I am super excited to try taking some sweet pictures outside at camp - Northern Lights!!

Coming Soon : Hallowe'en Costumes!

Ciao,

Gingerbread House! (and Addicted To Plastic)

2010-12-04T18:23:00.001-07:00

So I know that I promised I would tell you all about the movie I was watching (Addicted to Plastic) and I will in just a minute - I just got distracted by these pictures from my Gingerbread house! I love Christmas and I adore Christmas baking. I didn't actually get to bake the house myself since it was made while I was out at camp - I did get to decorate it though! Isn't it the cutest little cabin you ever did see? It is actually the Domco retreat office (I know the close up is blurry - I apologize... I didn't have the new camera yet). I had so much fun working on this and thanks a bunch to Trudy who took the pictures for me!

I made the windows out of melted candy and the trees are ice cream cones covered in icing. I plan on taking some new pictures when I get back out at work this month, then I will be taking the *NEW* camera with me! Hurray! The baker also told me that they will be creating a village with all of the houses that people made and that could be finished when I get back in. Exciting!

These last two pictures are a couple I took off the balcony tonight - the colour was just amazing! Nothing like a sunset to brighten (darken??) the evening.

Now then - about that movie. So I watched Addicted To Plastic (among other documentaries) the other night and I must say - very interesting. Okay that is an understatement.

For those of you who know me, I am already a bit of ... hmm.... how to put this kindly..... an earth loving nut? Okay maybe not quite that extreme, but I do care a lot about the Earth and the way people treat it. I guess you could say that I feel that we were given the Earth as a gift and should be good stewards of what God gave us.

Sooooo on to the movie: it talks about how plastic surrounds us in our daily lives and how we have basically taken it for granted. Instead of treating it like a valuable commodity we treat it like garbage. The filmmaker brings up a very valid point however: plastic doesn't go away! There was a really crazy scene in the movie where they use this "manta ray" trolling system that skims the ocean for plastic pieces (small pieces). The water they bring up is a veritable soup of plastics in all forms. The craziest part is that they are miles and miles and miles away from shore.

The film also talks about the toxic effects of recycling, manufacturing and disposing of plastics and the effects it has on the developing world. While some of the information was stuff I already knew I found it quite interesting and also thought provoking.

The movie got me thinking about a project concerning garbage production that I had done for the Science Fair when I was a child. People produced a lot of garbage then and I bet it is even more now. I had to sit and think about how much garbage I produce in a year (it's a lot) and what I could do to reduce that amount.

I would recommend the film to others because it will get you thinking. The movie doesn't propose that we get rid of plastic completely but rather that we treat it with more respect. I hope you have a chance to see it! (Family - you can borrow it from me anytime!)

What are your garbage production reducing strategies?

Ciao!

Cooking, Reading and Watching Movies

2010-12-02T19:22:00.002-07:00

Hello all of you in cyberspace!

I took the vehicle in for servicing and had a chance to do a little reading while I waited. I am not near to being finished the book but it is a really good read and I would recommend it to anyone who feels that they are rushing through life too fast. I bought it at the thrift shop yesterday for $3.99. Awesome.

For lunch today I made a panini sandwich - amazing! I used french bread with a bit of butter on the outside and some mayo on the inside. I sliced up some Roma tomato and mozzarella cheese and fried some onions, garlic and fresh mushroom to make it delicious. Naturally I chopped up extra onion and garlic for tonight's supper and I am glad I did - that turned out to be a particularly potent onion and I had tears in my eyes (this hasn't happened in... oh .... a long time anyway).

Grilling grilling grilling! Thanks to my Mum who bought us the panini press a while back.

It makes good food!

My Lunch.

Sliced apples, Panini, Water and Glogg.

Glogg is basically Swedish spiced (non alcoholic) wine and since I can never find Gluhwein (German spiced wine) at the store I bought a few bottles when I found this. You can add wine to it of course and I do have a recipe to make my own Gluhwein from scratch but decided to try this. It is really sweet so I have been mixing it with water to keep it from being too overpowering.

Panini Close-Up

I am still hard at work on my button covered pillow. It is definitely a lot more work than I thought it would be, but so far it looks wonderful.

And last but not least two pictures of my supper :

Tomato Zucchini Tart and Swedish Potatoes. Yum Yum.

Hopefully I will finish the button pillow soon, but for now I have plans to watch a movie entitled:

"Addicted To Plastic: The Rise And Demise Of a Modern Miracle"

Movie Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daSFXZT-HYk

I'll let you know how I liked it tomorrow.

Ciao!!

Lydia

December 1st 2010

2010-12-01T20:31:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Can you believe that it is already December 1st? I am having a hard time believing that it is reality.

Anyways, this is a quick post to let you know that I am still here and that I am still creating things. Currently I am working on a button pillow which is taking me WAY too long. I had no idea it would take this much time to sew on a few buttons........

I took a trip to the craft store and also to the thrift store today. The thrift store always has the best stuff.

I found this awesome and amazing wool blend blazer for $6 and a whole pile of amazing books. Can you believe they sell softcovers for $2.50?? It is insanity.
I got a few new paintbrushes since some of mine mysteriously got covered in spray paint...... and a bit of new paint. Also a free pattern for socks, some white wool and the cutest little robot necklace!

Now I have to get started on some of my holiday baking and holiday gift making..... lots of work to do yet.

Look forward to some projects being uploaded in the next few days.

Ciao!

My First Published Interview with Lily Vanilli!

2010-10-03T22:12:00.001-06:00

Hello dear readers! I am so very sorry that I have been away from my computer for such a long time! I have some exciting news to share with you though. Recently Cut Out + Keep Snippets (online magazine) Issue #21 came out and my interview with baker Lily Vanilli was published!

I am really excited about this and hope you will enjoy reading the interview as much as I enjoyed talking with Lily. In other news I was also featured over at Totally Tutorials again!

So some super exciting stuff happening for me right now.

Things here at work have been crazy busy what with the weather delaying a lot of the flights and creating mayhem and extra work for everyone. I've had a few 16 hour days in the past few weeks and sure hope things get better in the near future.

This is a sampling of Lily's wild and wacky, sometimes gruesome edible creations.

I promise I will be posting again soon with some awesome new creations and projects.

Until then - ciao!

How To Make Canned Jam

2010-09-15T20:47:00.000-06:00

Hi guys! I have been busy for the last couple of days but wanted to share a How To from my sister's blog with you. I have been bugging her (for a long time now) to show me how to can things. Well there was no time this year - we are both uber-busy, but instead she decided to make and post a How-To! I am super stoked about this one myself. Please check it out.
Here are a couple of photos I swiped from her post:

Check it out and make some home made jam for yourself!
Scrap Art by Pris

New York City Grit - Two Tutorials

2010-09-12T02:29:00.002-06:00

Hello Everyone!

So as you may or may not know, it is currently NYC Fashion Week. Well, this outfit embodies to me New York cities grittier side. The street mixed with the posh, leather, denim, cotton and studs. The perfect combination.

I was really inspired a lot to make some pants with leather inserts. In particular there was a spread in Nylon magazine recently that I found really interesting. Of course, being me I decided that I needed to try my hand at making some of these must have pants myself. This is the 2nd project that I have finished from my 101 Crafts to Make Challenge.

The following were my results.

This was my inspiration spread. Lots of leather, lots of denim.

So for starters, if you want to make a pair of these pants yourself, you are going to need some jeans and some leather. I had a pair of skinny jeans that I never wear anymore and a pair of leather pants that I had picked up at the thrift store. I decided to draw out my design before beginning. I really wanted to make sure that I liked the way my vision looked in "real life" before committing to it with fabric.

Old Jeans.

Old Leather Pants.

Next I tried on the jeans, and measured how high up I wanted the leather to come. I wanted to make a diagonal leather insert. I laid the jeans out on my cutting mat and measured the diagonal line on both sides making sure that it was even.

I used the portion that I had removed from the jeans to measure how much leather I would need length wise and width wise. If the jeans you are using are too long for your legs make sure you take a proper measure or the pants will end up too long. Also I made the leather part slightly wider than the jean pieces I had removed as leather that is too tight is really tough to get into.

As you can see the leather above is WAY wider than the jean. I did not make them exactly the same width but left the leather slightly larger to make it easier to get into.

Now came the sewing. It is important that you make sure you have the pieces aligned properly before you begin to sew. Double, even triple check them. You don't want to be resewing through leather as this will weaken it and cause it to rip at the seam over time. Sew through all of the layers and be sure it is secure.

Turn inside out and enjoy!!!

To go with my New York leather and denim I decided to make a tank top. Something simply but still a bit edgy. Since I had never tried it before I decided to use a technique called reverse applique. It looks really awesome and was really quite simple to do.

I started with an old white t-shirt but you could also use an existing tank top. I traced out the shape of one of my favourite tank tops being sure to leave a seam allowance.

Tracing the Tank Top.

All cut out. Make sure you have a seam allowance too!

Next I traced a pattern that I had made onto the front of the shirt. You will also need a piece of contrasting fabric. This should be a stretchy material (like another old t-shirt) as well.

The contrast needs to be as wide as the whole tank top and tall enough to cover your designs.

Position the contrasting fabric under the design that you have traced onto the front. Pin it securely in place. Now sew around the design you have traced. You should leave about 1/8th of an inch between the tracing and the sewing line.

Pin the fabric together securely.

Sewing.

Sew 1/8th of an inch away from design.

Once you have finished stitching around the design you will need to cut out the shape you have traced. Cut on the traced lines and keep it as neat as possible.

Now sew the tank top up at the sides, making sure you have the right sides together when you do this. Flip right side out and voila! A new custom tank top.

Brand new outfit!

I hope you enjoyed these two tutorials in one. The photos of the outfit also show my Leather Bag which was made from a Skirt. You can find the Tutorial on that HERE.

Shirt - Refashion, Pants - Refashion, Necklace - Gift, Rings - H&M/Vintage/Gifts, Bag - Refashion, Shoes - Sam Edelman.

Until next time.....

101 Crafts to Make = Crochet Basket #80

2010-09-09T20:46:00.000-06:00

The moment you have all been waiting for: the first craft from my 101 Crafts challenge.

So I finished this crocheted basket last night. It turned out pretty fun don't you think?

The start of the basket.

Finished basket! I am really excited with it.

The pattern says that you can use spray starch or fabric stiffener to make it stand up straighter but I like the slouchy look. I am not sure if I will make many more since it took quite a bit of time, but it sure turned out nice.

I have been working on a number of new things (all from the list) so look forward to more fun projects this week and next. The weather has been crummy so I have had a lot of time indoors to create.

Ciao!

Traditional and Chic BBQ Menus Tutorial

2010-09-08T09:43:00.001-06:00

So to go along with the post HERE about making your own table linens I am providing two suggested menus to complement two very different cookouts. The first is a traditional BBQ and the second is a more chic take on a BBQ meal. I always like to use the freshest ingredients when cooking.

Traditional BBQ:

Baked Potatoes, Steak, Grilled Corn on the Cob, Green Salad.

Chic BBQ:

Marinated Steak, Angel Hair Pasta with Zucchini and Tomato Onion Chop, Green Salad

Both of these menus require a limited number of ingredients to make and will yield a satisfying supper. For the Traditional BBQ you will need baking potatoes, steaks, corn on the cob (DO NOT SHUCK – it must be in the husk still), salad greens of your choosing , carrots, onion, garlic. Prepare the potatoes for baking by washing them and cutting them into more manageable pieces. Rip a large piece of tinfoil and place the potato pieces on it. You should add butter, chopped onion, garlic, salt and other seasonings to taste. Wrap the tinfoil around the potatoes well as this will go on the BBQ. On a medium setting you should cook the potatoes evenly (flip them) for about 35-40 minutes. The corn should be placed on the BBQ at the same time as the meat. Leave it in the husk – this will keep it from drying out and helps it to cook evenly. The corn will take about 15-20 minutes so if you like your steak on the rare side you should start the corn well in advance. Make up your salad and grate the carrot on top to add garnish and extra nutritional value. Serve and Enjoy!

For the Chic BBQ you will need steaks, tomatoes (1 per person) white onion (1/4 per person), angel hair (capellini) or other thin pasta (spaghettini is a good choice), zucchini (1/2 per person) salad greens of your choosing, carrot. You can prepare the tomato onion chop and zucchini well in advance. As the name suggests the tomato and onion should be chopped into small pieces and mixed together. Make sure to choose firm tomatoes and then get rid of as much of the juicy innards as possible. You don’t want a soggy chop.

Cut the zucchini in half and scrape out the centre. You want to have about a centimetre of zucchini left inside the skin. Now thinly (very thinly) slice the zucchini.

The chop is served cold but you will need to pour boiling water over the zucchini strips. Don’t leave them in the hot water but drain them right away. This takes only a few seconds and can be done right before serving. Cook the pasta as suggested and depending on how you like your steak, put that on the BBQ. Marinated steaks can be purchased but if you want to marinate your own you will need to leave it in the fridge overnight to make sure it soaks up as much of the flavour as possible. You can make your own marinade or purchase one. Make up your salad and grate the carrot on top. To make this even more chic you could substitute mandarin orange pieces for the carrots, add almonds and then use pomegranate juice for a dressing. Delicious.

There are many other ideas out there naturally, but these are quick, easy and will keep your dinner guests pleased. For dessert you could make brownies - or you could wait for the ice cream truck to drive by and grab a few ice cream sandwiches. Either way Happy End of Summer and enjoy being out of doors as much as possible.

Easy Breezy Table Linen Tutorial(s)

2010-09-07T05:08:00.001-06:00

Hello folks! So as is implied by the title of this post, I will be detailing more than one tutorial for you today. Napkins-Place mats and Glass Covers. Matching or coordinating - it is all up to you!

I always like to set my table and make it look dressed up - I find it makes the meal taste that much better when everything around is aesthetically pleasing. For this reason I use place mats, tablecloths, napkins, glass covers (not necessarily all at once) and napkin rings to dress up the table. As you may know, these items can be quite pricey at the store and of course no one wants to have the same linens as everyone else on the block.

Enter homemade, handcrafted linens. Just the way they were done in the old days.

To make your own custom napkins you first need to decide on a size. As you can see from the picture below there are many possible sizes, 18X18, 15x15 and smaller. Generally you will want to keep a square shape although I have seen some rectangular napkins.

The first step will be to cut out your fabric to the appropriate size. I choose 15X15 as my finished size which meant I needed to add 1cm around the edge for my hem allowance. After you have cut out the desired number of napkins you will begin hemming them. I like to iron up the hem first as this makes it easier to sew and also keeps your edges a lot neater and straighter.

Press the sides down all around and then press them under a second time. This is known as a double turn hem. Now that you have pressed all of the sides you can begin sewing.

Sew around the entire napkin (don’t forget to backstitch to be sure the seam is strong). Voila! Napkins! I like to press mine again after sewing just to make sure they keep their shape.

To make your placemats you should choose a fabric that coordinates well with your napkins. You can use an existing placemat as a guide or simply decide yourself how large you would like the placemat to be. I made mine 18x 15 inches when finished. Again you will need to make sure you add a seam allowance to whatever size you decide you want the placemats to be. You will need to cut one piece of fabric for the top, one for the bottom and one piece of interfacing (fusible webbing) for each placemat being made. Iron the fusible interfacing onto either of the fabrics (top or bottom). Now place the fabrics RIGHT sides together.

Top Fabric

Bottom Fabric (matches the napkins).

Fusible.

Begin sewing remembering that you will need to leave an opening so you can turn the placemats right side out.

Once you have finished sewing around the outside, clip off the corners (don’t cut through your sewing) and trim away some of the excess fabric from the seam. Now turn the whole thing inside out. Iron the placemat flat after turning it right side out. Iron before sewing - it makes it easier! Once this is done you may begin topstitching. This will also close the opening that you left in the side seam.

You should topstitch about 1/8th of an inch in from the edge of the fabric. Go all the way around the placemat being sure to line up the opening and seal it shut. Congratulations – you just finished a custom made placemat for your home.

The glass covers will be slightly trickier than the other two projects. You will need to trace a round object (I used a jar lid) onto your fabric. Make sure that the fabric will stick out at least 2 inches over the rim of the glass or jug you intend to use it for. Once you have cut out the circle you will need to hem the edges. You may do a single or a double turn hem whatever you find easier/better. Once you have finished sewing you can begin attaching beads. You will need to string the beads together and then sew them onto the circle to act as weights to keep the fabric from falling into the glass or being blown off. I used four strands per circle.

Tracing my lid- make sure the fabric is big enough to drape over your glass/jug.

Sewing around after having ironed first.

Attaching the beads.

Once the beads are sewn on you are ready to enjoy your beverages out of doors without worrying about flies or wasps getting at them.
Enjoy the lovely creations you have made!

Of course you may want to try a different colour scheme than all white...
So why not whip up a colourful set too?

Stay tuned tomorrow for two very different menus to go with these two very different table decor schemes.
Please send me your links so I can check out your versions.
Happy sewing!

101 Crafts To Make This Year

2010-09-06T20:14:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone! As the title suggest this is a list of 101 Crafts To Make This Year.

I do not mean before 2011 (yeah right!) but I do mean before Labour Day 2011.

One Year. Lets see if I can do it!

This list will be posted as a seperate page so you can follow along and view my progress.

I will update as I go along.

1. Quilt

2. Crochet an afghan

3. Make a Candle

4. Marie Antoinette Style Shoes

5. Painted Matryoshka

6. Bar Soap

7. Upcycle a pair of Shoes

8. Fur Collar Sweater (as seen in LV F/W 2010)

9. Cape/Capelet

10. Amauti

11. Flat Cuckoo Clock

12. Lace Skirt

13. Headboard

14. Beer Bottle Glass

15. Marie Antoinette Style Dress

16. Disco Shoes

17. Spatterdashes

18. Zipper Bracelet

19. Keyboard Jewellery

20. Barrell Monkey Necklace

21. A Pair of Shoes From Scratch

22. Mosaic

23. Button Pillow

24. Strip Quilt Wallet

25. Button Tray

26. Bowtie Blouse

27. Red Skirt

28. Quilted Jacket

29. Tomato Pincushion

30. Embellished Knee Highs

31. Painted Candlestick

32. Coffee Cozy

33. 3-Tier Serving Platter

34. Lace collar

35. Crochet Top

36. "Poodle" Style Skirt

37. Cube Storage Unit

38. Wreath

39. Jeans With Leather Insert

40. Googly Eye Shoes

41. Chandelier

42. Floppy Disc Wallet

43. Crochet Dish Cloth

44. Ring

45. Embellished Tights

46. Studded Shoulder Pads

47. Mummy Painting

48. Redo Jewellery box

49. Scrapbook Pages

50. Gloves

51. Spiked Heels

52. Earrings

53. Lace Parasol

54. Ruffle Pillow

55. Belt

56. Sewn Stash Bags (as seen on Purl Bee)

57. Leggings

58. Homemade Paper

59. Long Evening Gown

60. Crochet Slippers

61. Stuffed Owl(s)

62. Coffee Table

63. Telephone

64. Super Mario Quilt

65. Watercolour Painting

66. Painted Dishes

67. Cake Decorated With Regular Icing (not fondant)

68. Bikini

69. Shrug

70. Sewn Coasters

71. Necklace

72. Hat

73. Produce Bags

74. Screen Print Something

75. Greeting Cards

76. Purse

77. Beaded Coin Purse

78. Fused Plastic Something

79. Button Necklace

80. Crocheted Basket

81. Pyarr Dress From Capricorn Fever Collection

82. Bra Strap Hider

83. Corset

84. Shorts

85. Ring Organizer

86. Sewing Machine Cover

87. Bracelet

88. Light Bulb Lamp (Seen on Instructables)

89. Skull T-Shirt

90. Collage

91. Mukluks

92. Cake Decorated with Fondant

93. Fingerless Gloves

94. Quilted Handbag

95. Zipper Embellishment

96. Scarf Hanger

97. Magazine Folders

98. Drawer Organizer

99. White Strapless Dress with Organza Yoyos and tie belt

100. Really Large Painting

101. Amirigurumi Mushroom

As always I would love to see your versions of any of the projects listed above.

Ciao,

Tomato Apron

2010-09-06T00:35:00.001-06:00

Apologies for not having been online in the last little while, things have been hectic! Lots to post about so stay tuned. I have been waiting and waiting and waiting to be able to make this post but couldn't as the recipient is a follower of this blog and would have found out about it before they got it. The person in question is my sister.

So I finally gave it to her and she is thrilled of course. My sister is a domestic diva with aprons for every day of the week, season, holiday and any day that isn't covered by those. She has commercially produced aprons and handmade aprons, funny aprons and girly aprons.

Enter: The Tomato Apron.

I found this fabric somewhere, sometime on sale. And as I am wont to do, I purchased it with no particular pattern or garment or idea in mind. I mean how could I pass up fabric with tomatoes printed on it? There was no way I could leave it sitting on the shelf forlorn.

Fast forward a few months (maybe even a year??) and I found this pattern on sale - 99 cents! I don't normally buy patterns as I find them tedious, overpriced and besides that I took pattern making in school. But... 99 cents and 6 different varieties? I gave in and bought it.

Of course now I knew that the tomato fabric would become a tomato apron, I just didn't know when.

Inspiration (motivation?) struck and I finally started to construct the apron. I had forgotten how much I hate flimsy tissue paper patterns and vowed to never ever use them again. I do this every time I use one and inevitably I will eventually use one again.

Of course I wanted the apron to be perfect and keep it's shape. Perhaps I went a little overboard? Here you can see me finishing the rolled hem on the bottom, but I actually top stitched every single seam down as well as all of the straps. That way when you wash it the seams won't go wonky. Wow - it was a lot of work!

Once this was all done I tried the apron on and realized it would need a couple of darts in the front. Well, in keeping with the rest of the apron they had to be top stitched down too. In the end the apron looks wonderful, the construction is beautiful and I know that it will last my sister for a long long time.

Do you want to hear something funny? My sister hates tomatoes.

: )

Good thing she likes aprons.

Perfection!

Motherboard Painting

2010-08-20T21:19:00.001-06:00

Hello again everyone! Another painting that I did in 2000. This one I gave to Aren as a gift back then (we were dating) and since we are now married it has made it's way back into my house. As I mentioned previously, I was really into blues back in the day and so this painting includes, drumroll: blue! The photo I was painting from was a wierd grainy magazine photo which had the colours modified (probably with photoshop) which is why it looks nothing like a real motherboard. Fun nonetheless.

A Cute Blue Summer Dress Alteration

2010-08-19T21:40:00.001-06:00

Hello all! I trust you have been doing well in my absence. Things were a little hectic the first few days here out at camp as I had a lot of catching up to do, thus the lack of posting.

Today I am sharing a dress alteration that I did before we left on our vacation this summer.
Of course being that I modified this dress the day that we left home, I didn’t have time to take any before pictures. The dress was quite a bit longer, did not have the flower like detailing on the left side and the straps needed shortening (it was a little scandalous before).

Can you believe that I purchased this dress for $6.00? Me neither. It is becoming a summer favourite already. The pictures were taken in Aren’s parents home (the green room) - the cacti are so huge! Needless to say his parents are avid gardeners.
Ciao,

PS. I forgot to mention that I was featured again on Totally Tutorials August 4th (while I was away on holidays). My Men's Shirt to Chic Skirt project was the project of the day! Hooray!

Charming Matryoshka Trinkets

2010-08-17T09:00:00.001-06:00

Following with my absolute adoration of all things Matryoshka I purchased these super cute buttons on Ebay. The seller sent me this ribbon free of charge with my order - so cute! I can't find the envelope right now but as soon as I do I will post a link to the seller for anyone else as Matryoshka crazed as me.

I love the details on these buttons and can't wait to use them for something wonderful.

Can't wait to see what kind of Matryoshka treats I find next.

I'm back at work for another two weeks and think I will have plenty of time to be uploading photos from my trip soon! Sorry to have kept you all waiting for such a long time.

Ciao!

Some Beautiful Weather To Enjoy

2010-08-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

Greetings all!

Today I am posting some fun pictures of an outfit I wore on one of our in-between-summer days. Warm enough but still windy and a bit chilly. It rained a bit actually....

The tunic I bought at a thrift store and modified to fit me better - $1.00, the belt is also from a thrift shop - $0.50, my jeans are from Garage and the sandals I bought in Germany (I can't remember the store...).

Aren and I went for what started as a walk but what ended as a "snac-nic". This is a new term I invented for a picnic that is really only a snack not a full meal. I hid my bag of chips from the camera.....

Needless to say it was very windy outside! I am pretty sure that we live in one of the windiest places on the planet earth. Quite annoying at times.... I don't like the taste of my own hair very much but it is forever getting blown around.....

The tunic has pockets on the sides which are very useful for hiding things like juice boxes, pet rocks and lucky pennies found in the park.

Hooray for summer!

I am pretty sure I was in the middle of smiling and laughing at the same time... goofy!

We were trying to get some "action" shots with jumping... mostly I am still standing on the ground in these.

Keep enjoying that beautiful weather!

Ciao for now,

A Cute Blouse Refashion

2010-08-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

Today I present to you another refashion! I actually refashioned this blouse quite some time ago but had never taken any photos. The original blouse was an XL (I am S) so there was quite a bit of fabric left over after this was fixed up. You may or may not remember a Barbie dress that I made HERE from the matching capri pants.
Basically I took the blouse in on the sides and at all of the darts (front and back) as well as at the centre back seam. I did some pintucking on either side of the button placket which served to take in the shirt as well as add some decoration. Lastly I made a cute fabric flower brooch and attached it to the left hand side. Because of the pattern you can barely see the flower when you look at the blouse straight on so I took a few closeups to allow you to see the details. This outfit has a very secretary-chic look to it, don't you think?

The skirt is by Numph, my shoes are Ecco and the jewellery was purchased while on holiday in Thailand.

Here you can see the flower and pintucking more clearly.

Hope you have enjoyed this little refashion!

Aiko Deconstructed Jeans

2010-08-13T05:00:00.001-06:00

Hello to all of you in Blogland!
Well today I am going to share with you an outfit as I haven't done this in quite some time.
These jeans are fast becoming my absolute favourites to wear. I had a hard time getting them, but it was definitely worth the effort. I was supposed to be in camp when the jeans first came out but then the salesgirl told me the delivery date was being pushed forward so I would actually be home. Well of course the jeans were still late arriving and I actually went back to the store three times before I was able to finally purchase them!

I adore these shoes too - they are so funky! I picked them up in Edmonton on one of my shopping trip stopovers between camp and home. The next picture shows a really glood close up.

Really amazing aren't they?

This outfit consists of Silver Jeans, H&M black jacket, RW&Co. white shirt, Aldo heels, Aldo necklace, and my Coach bag.

I love a really simple cute outfit. This one is perfect for everyday - grocery shopping or going for a coffee, perhaps a quick stop to the library.

Have a wonderful day everyone, keep enjoying that summer weather!

Mountain River (2000)

2010-08-12T09:00:00.000-06:00

Continuing with the trend of showing what is on my walls, and not necessarily what I have painted most recently, this painting is also from 2000. I painted it around the same time as I did the Neuschwanstein, thus it is also blue. I never was very pleased with the mountains in the background but for whatever reason lost ambition and never "fixed" them. I guess I could still do so now, but it would seem like cheating somehow to go back and fix a picture I did when I was 15.

Garden Adventures North of 60

2010-08-11T08:00:00.001-06:00

Aren and I took two days and went up to visit his family in the Yukon. The photos below do not do any type of justice to the magnitude and quality of garden that they have. I will try to do another post with close up photos of some of the vegetables and flowers. For now:

Here you can see part of the garden with the raised beds and behind that the cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, beans and plethora of other plants. The garden is huge!

Aren and I made this small willow chair quite a few years ago. It is slowly being reclaimed by the elements but is a cute rustic addition to the garden. Here you can see some of the many gorgeous flowers that are growing.

These are the flowers I rescued which had been blown over by the wind. The stems had been broken so there was no hope for these to revive themselves.

Fresh strawberries! My sister-in-law and I went out back and picked two ice cream pails full of strawberries in little more than 1/2 an hour. Delicious!

Musings From My Sketchbook

2010-08-10T08:00:00.001-06:00

Welcome to Round Two of my sketchbook. You can see the first post about it HERE.

Since I had quite a good reception on that last post I felt that I wanted to share more with all of you in terms of my drawings and artwork. I hope you will enjoy this - another glance into my crazy creative mind!

Of course I absolutely LOVE shoes and sketch them quite often. My book is full of shoes from different angles, stylized and realistic. Some are drawn from real shoes that I won and others from my imagination. Sadly I don't own the pair in this drawing.

This is a random collection of inspiration drawings for clothing. Some of the concepts above were translated into portions of real garments, others - not so much.

The next three drawings go together. This first one shows a croquis (fashion figure) being drawn. Note the subtle differences between the two above and then the final product below.

A closeup of the girls. These are very stylized croquis whereas some will look more realistic.

I saw this pose in a magazine once and had to do a really rough sketch to catch it's essence. Maybe someday I will do a finished drawing/painting in this style.

Three drawings of the same woman with varying degrees of stylization.

More face play - trying out different proportions and styles.

50's inspired lingerie-esque clothing and hairstyles.

These outfits are a lot more formal and complex. The croquis are expressionless so that the clothing speaks for itself whereas in the last set the hair and facial expression contributed a great deal to the overall look.

And finally - a bit of fun. These are two unfinished comic book style drawings that I did. the style uses a lot of black outline and black crosshatching to give depth to the characters. you will notice the figures are not nearly as lean or as tall as the croquis. They are more "realistic" in proportion (although perhaps not in looks).

Hopefully you enjoyed seeing a bit of what I draw and maybe you will be inspired to do a little sketching yourself. It's a really good idea to try and draw out your ideas first when you are planning a clothing refashion or any other type of original design process. It can help you get your thoughts collected and keep you from making a costly mistake.

Ciao for now!

Aqua Lumiere Dress by SewOno

2010-08-09T14:58:00.000-06:00

So apparently all of the posts that I had scheduled to post while I was away on vacation did not post. I am not sure if I did something wrong when setting it up or if it was a blogger blooper, but either way I returned home this morning to find that nothing had been posting on my blog.
I will give you more details on my trip coming up, but suffice to say that after the 26th of July we had not internet and no phone service... Anyways on to today's post!

I was so excited when I got out of camp because a package had arrived for me. Inside that package was a beautiful handcrafted dress that I purchased through Etsy. The Aqua Lumiere Dress by SewOno. You can find her clothing on Etsy HERE or if you see something that she has made on her website you can email her and see if it is still for sale. That is how I found out about this dress!

I am so pleased with how it looks and am happy that we have nice weather so I can wear it.

All of these pictures were taken at Aren's parents home in the Yukon. Beautiful weather and a lovely setting!

My sandals are Clarks and the sweater is Joe Fresh.

Aren't these flowers gorgeous? They had been knocked over by the wind so I rescued them for a bouquet.

Keep enjoying that lovely summer!

High Rise Tomato

2010-07-26T01:59:00.000-06:00

Hello all! We were away for a few days (I will be posting photos soon) but I am back to share some photos of our tomato plants. Even though they are still just small I am so proud of them! Aren has been doing a great job of keeping them growing. I can't wait until we have our own place and can grow a big garden.

These are a Zebra Tomato - you can see the stripey look they have. Hopefully they will soon be ripe and ready to eat!

Keep enjoying your summer! I am so happy that I have four weeks off.... now I just need to get outside and enjoy it more. Some of my next posts may be short, as I hope to be out of doors as much as possible this summer. Until next time,

I'm Being Featured - Twice!!

2010-07-21T09:27:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone. As you may know, I just returned home last night and upon checking my computer was met with wonderful news! I have been featured not once, but twice this week.

Over at Totally Tutorials you can find my Matryoshka potholders and (super excited about this!) my Men's Shirt to Skirt project is being featured at Cut Out+Keep. What an honour, I am excited beyond words - so much so that I actually took a picture of my project on the home page at CO+K.

I trust everyone is having a wonderful time out in this gorgeous weather. I can't wait to get out on the road and go on our trip! Those of you who read my blog often may have seen my sister's comment about auto-posting. I do plan on doing some of this over the next few weeks as I will not have internet access/my computer.

Thanks to all of you readers who have helped my blog get to where it is - what an amazing feeling! I hope that what I have shared and will share with you inspires you all to get in touch with your creative side in whatever way you know best.

Ciao,

Beauty in Lead

2010-07-19T23:05:00.000-06:00

Hello dear readers! Today is all about drawing, pencil drawing.

The picture you see below was drawn a number of years ago. However, I came to a standstill one night as I realized that although the drawing is not "finished" per say, I like the way it looks in it's "unfinished" state. So the question remains- is it finished or unfinished?

I have not decided yet.

Maybe someday I will take out those pencils and continue drawing this lovely picture but for now I am content to view it as is. I would be very interested to hear your thoughts on this subject so please comment away.

Here you have a clear view of the magazine photo I was drawing from and the drawing.

Up close and personal.

A second, clearer (perhaps?) view.

I apologize for my lack of correspondence is the last few days, but as I mentioned last week, this was a very hectic time for me.

Enjoy today!

And The Winner Is.......

2010-07-15T12:02:00.000-06:00

So the moment you have all been waiting for:

The winner of the GIVEAWAY is:

Frenchieliza!

(Elizabeth)

CONGRATULATIONS!

(winner was chosen via random.org)

Thank you to everyone who entered and thank you to Cynthia at The Sewing Dork for giving these bags away! Elizabeth - Cynthia will be contacting you by email in the next little while.

I am hoping to have more giveaways in the future so stay tuned folks.

For now check out my new tutorial.

Ciao!

Siblings

2010-07-14T16:28:00.000-06:00

As some of you may know, this summer I am going on a trip.

Aren and I will be joining my sister Priscilla and her husband Kurtis on a camping/hunting/fishing/berry&mushroom picking holiday to the Queen Charlotte Islands off the coast of B.C. It is going to be a lot of fun. Since I am going on the trip with one of my siblings I decided today that I wanted to do a random post about siblings.

I hope that all of you are blessed with having siblings with whom you can share your life. Don't get me wrong, I'm not really the sentimental type, but I do appreciate my siblings.

You see siblings are different than friends. Mostly because you get to choose who you want to be friends with and you don't have a choice about your brothers or sisters.

Also because they have to like you no matter what. Mom said so.

Sometimes (most of the time I hope) things will be wonderful. Life will be rosy and you will be able to sip champagne together in front of your castle without a care in the world.

Best Friends.

Other times you will fight like cats and dogs (or knights and pirates?) and be at odds with one another.

I will warn you not to get in between an argument that involves family members however. They will turn on you in an instant, now having a common enemy to unite them.

But of course all fights must end and eventually peace will be restored. That is the great thing about siblings, eventually they decide that they don't really hate you.

What are my favourite things about siblings?

They take trips with you. Priscilla and myself in Vietnam with friends.

Priscilla and myself in Cambodia.

Priscilla and myself taking a ferry in Thailand.

You will always look good in a group. The Gang- Zachary, Eliza, Priscilla, Lydia.

They will be weird with you in public. Eliza and myself - The King lives on!

You can look "cool" together.

Siblings help you pick wedding dresses.

Siblings will laugh at you when your Mum beats you in arm wrestling. (She beat all of them first)

There will always be one sibling who is crazier than you. Or at least as crazy as you.

Siblings cheer for the same sports teams. Or at least mine do....

They dress up with you ....

They wait for you.....

And most important - they still like you after all these years.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Remember: Today is the LAST day to enter the GIVEAWAY.

The winner will be posted tomorrow.

Have a lovely evening folks!

How To Turn A Men's Shirt Into A Chic Skirt

2010-07-13T14:47:00.001-06:00

How can this become ........

This???

Read on to find out!

You may or may not recognize this skirt from another post HERE where I was wearing it as a part of another outfit. Well now I am going to show you how I made this skirt. I am missing a few photos from the in between stages but I am sure you will be able to follow along just fine.

Of course first you will want to find an old men's shirt, I got mine at a garage sale for $1. Wash the shirt before you begin to sew as with any garage sale or thrift shop find.

Next I held the shirt up against my waist (true waist) and made a little mark on the button placket to make sure the length would be just right. Once I had the shirt laid flat on the floor (or table if you want) I measured up in the middle and then on the sides to ensure an even length and then squared off a line. I then cut through both layers of the shirt. You may need to remove a front pocket from your shirt before doing this (I did).

You will need to cut off the cuffs on the arms so that you can use these for the waistband. I cut off the entire arm and then the cuff. Measure your cuff width. Then measure it's length. You will need to measure your waist then subtract the measurements (lengths) of the two cuffs. The remaining number will be the length of strip you will need to cut to finish the waistband.

So for example: Cuff width = 2.5 inches, Cuff length = 9 inches, Waist (true waist) = 28 inches

Cuff 9+9 = 18 28 - 18 = 10 inches

You will need to cut a strip 10 inches by 5 inches (2 times the width of the cuff) plus whatever seam allowance you would like to add. I added a very minimal seam allowance as I was serging the seams together. You could also cut off the portion of the cuff you want to use and use extra fabric for the rest - your choice.

I apologize for the lack of photos for these steps as I got too caught up in sewing!!

Now you need to sew the cuffs to the extra strip. We make the strip double the width of the cuff as it will be folded over so the top edge of your waistband does not have any raw edges.

Once you have finished making the waistband into one piece you will need to sew the waistband to the skirt portion. The skirt portion will probably have to be gathered in to the waistband. Make sure the ends of your waistband are properly aligned before you start sewing. Trim any stray threads.

Now the reason that we used the cuffs for the waistband is so that you have a ready made button hole. You may have to change the placement of the button on the other side so that it fits properly. This can be done once you are trying the skirt on. You will notice in the following pictures that I added extra buttons all the way down the skirt in order to give it a more uniform appearance and keep it from looking so much like a men's dress shirt. I also stitched closed the bottom of the button placket so that it would not flap open awkwardly. This was done by top stitching over the edge of the placket (it is almost imperceptible).

Try on your skirt and make any adjustments necessary. A brand new skirt! Voila!

I really hope that this tutorial has been helpful and perhaps the next time I have a spare men's shirt I will try to add some photos of the waistband creation. I would love to see your versions!

The rest of my outfit is as follows:

Clockhouse black tank top, Talula sweater, H&M socks, Nine West shoes, Thrift Store Bag (Daniela is the brand), Forever XI headband, Aldo necklace and assorted rings and bracelets.

I apologize if I am not able to post anything new tomorrow as this week is going to be a busy one for us out at work, I will try my best though.

Until next time.....

Happy Birthday To Me! (And Grandpa Too)

2010-07-11T07:30:00.000-06:00

As you may have guessed - today is my birthday! I am 25 - halfway to 50 or a quarter of a century and am spending it this year out at camp. My family has all gathered with my Grandfather to celebrate our birthday (he and I share) and I'm disappointed that I can't be there with them.

Since I don't have access to a kitchen or a store to make/buy a cake I am going to share some cake pictures with you. All of these are from the Cut Out+Keep website and were made by members. You should check it out! It is a really great online community where you can share your crafts and gain inspiration from those of other people.

I love Sushi so much so it is no surprise that the first cake I am featuring is a Sushi Cake! This is one of the coolest cakes I have seen around. You can find it HERE on Cut Out+Keep OR you can find it HERE at Shrimp Salad Circus the blog of CO+K member Lindsay. She provides a How-To so you can make one yourself!

Next on the menu is an adorable apple cake! Can you believe this cake? It looks so real! The inside is my favourite - chocolate. This cake is from CO+K member Ashes. You can view the original HERE .

Who doesn't love a chocolate cake? I know I do! This one looks absolutely delicious. The cake uses fondant ribbons and is from CO+K member Jean. You can see it HERE. Jean has made so many beautiful cakes! I would love to (someday) be able to do this myself.

This next darling cake is too darling for words! I have never seen an owl cake done like this before- very chic. I may have to have this made for me next year.... You can find this cake by CO+K member Peptogirl HERE or on her blog Style Crush - HERE.

And last but not least - a modern cake made for someone else named Lydia! I can always pretend that it was made for me though. This cake was made by CO+K user Popsicali and can be found HERE. I like the elegant and clean style used to decorate it - simple and no fuss. Also I like pink.

I hope the rest of you are enjoying this lovely Sunday as much as I am.

Don't forget to cheer for your favourite team in the World Cup Final today!

Interview With The Sewing Dork and GIVEAWAY - CLOSED

2010-07-09T08:48:00.005-06:00

Hello dear readers! Today I have the special honour of introducing to you Cynthia from the blog The Sewing Dork. I began reading Cynthia’s blog last winter and was hooked almost immediately by her charm and wit. She has oodles of great step by step tutorials in which she shows her readers how to make projects ranging from a women’s halter top to children’s bibs, soakers, skirts and bloomers to reusable shopping bags and even an aromatherapy hot bag to relieve your back pain after a gruelling day of sewing.

Now without further ado ...

Lydia: Hello Cynthia! I was so pleased when you agreed to do this interview as I truly enjoy reading your blog, it is always full of wit and your tutorials are great.
What prompted you to start your blog?
Cynthia: Last year I googled "how to sew _____..." and someone's blog came up with a free tutorial. I thought, "Hey, that's cool!" I read various crafty blogs for a couple of months then decided that I had something to share too.

L:You have really built quite a following online as the “Sewing Dork” - How did you choose the name for your blog and why?
C: You know how some good sewers are math nerds? I'm the opposite, so Sewing Dork seemed fitting.

L: When did you first start sewing?
C: There are some embarrassing family photos of me with my sewing projects around the age of six. My Barbies were dressed in some pretty interesting homemade stuff. Since we always had a sewing machine in the house growing up, I was able to stick with it.

L: What type of machine do you use for your projects?
C: Funny you ask that. I don't remember any of the women in my family ever having a new machine. We all sewed on these big antique clunkers, or the heavy metal portable ones. All the machines did was straight stitch, and if you were lucky, zigzag. When I was 24 I bought myself a brand spanking new Elna. I've never heard of that brand since, but I was sewing on that same machine until this spring when Mr. Dork bought me a new one from the local quilt shop. I also bought my first ever serger one year ago. It's a Janome and the well-meaning lady at the shop assured me it was the easiest of the monsters to thread. After several years of post secondary education, I was mortified that I couldn't thread the damned thing. It took me a week to get the hang of it. I didn't know this until I bought the serger - a serger serges , but it can't straight stitch and top stitch, so a serger is not a replacement for your regular machine.

L: What made you decide to begin making clothing for your family? Had you been doing this consistently prior to your blog or did that end up spurring you on further?
C: I should be ashamed to admit this: when I was a teenager, I used to take perfectly good clothes and "modify" them to fit tighter or look more like the clothes I saw in movies. I also used to sew questionable "creative" pieces and talk my good friends into wearing them to school. By the time my first child came along, I was hooked on making little dresses. I have been sewing on and off all my life, but the blogging has certainly motivated me to sew more.

L: On your blog you talk about living a simpler lifestyle: growing a garden, knitting, sewing, using up old scraps, being more in touch with the earth, losing the TV (you don’t own one as I understand), socializing with neighbours etc. Do you do all of these things and do you find that the Internet in anyway has helped you to connect more with people who share your views?
C: I can't say enough good things about the resources on the Internet... I can Google anything and connect with ideas from all over the world, and I am grateful for that, however I am an old-fashioned people person. I don't own a cellphone because if I want to talk to someone, I'll go knock on their door kind of thing. I think that our modern lifestyle is totally disconnected from Mother Nature in a detrimental way. I'm not a saint or a fanatic, but as much as is possible in a big city I choose to live close to the earth.

L: You mention on your blog that you will not go anywhere that you can’t walk, can you expand on this?
C: Er, I misled people there. I do own a car, but I bike/stroll or walk everywhere I can and take a commuter train to work. I dislike squishing an unwilling toddler into a car seat, and I detest sitting in traffic. We live near the children's school, shopping, a zillion parks, etc. so I only drive when it's really freaking cold or when I am visiting some place not transit friendly.

L: What inspires you?
C: Making people happy.
L:What or who would you say is your greatest influence?
C: Women of the past. I'm intrigued how ingenious pioneer women were at keeping the family fed, clothed and happy without all of the resources we have today.

L: What is your favourite or one of your favourite projects that you have made?
C: Do I have to pick just one?

L: On that same note, do you have any funny stories about a project gone wrong?
C: Have you got time for a novel? The funny thing about blogging is that you the writer can choose to showcase only your good creations, when in reality there are likely many crafts-gone-wrong that will never see the lens of your camera.

L: What are your hopes for the future of your blog/business?
C: As long as I can keep figuring out how to make things, I'm happy to keep sharing.

L: Do you have any advice for people just starting out with blogging or their own businesses?
C: Yikes, I am a terrible business person. I like to give stuff away. It is inspiring and motivating to post something you've made and have all kinds of people you've never met write nice comments about it. That's what's nice about blogging.

L: Is there anything else that you would like to share with everyone?
C: Um, a giveaway?

L: Thank you so much Cynthia for participating in this interview! It was a pleasure hearing about why you sew and what inspired you to begin.

And now for the GIVEAWAY!

Cynthia created these gorgeous reusable ribbon tie gift bags for you - my readers. These Eco-friendly bags can be used time and time again to wrap gifts or store personal items. Each comes with a matching handmade mini card. The Eco theme of the bags is carried on in the fabrics that Cynthia chose - trees and peace symbols!

Here are a couple of nice closeups of the bags - super cute aren't they? I adore the patterns on the fabrics.

A close up of one of the mini cards reveals the word recycle has been sewn on. What a cute way to remind people to be sustainable!

HOW THE GIVEAWAY WORKS:

To Enter: This Giveaway is open to EVERYONE (yes- worldwide!).

Simply leave a comment after this post and make sure you include your email address so Cynthia can contact you if you are the winner. The winner will be chosen via Random.org.

Followers: to thank you for following me you may enter TWICE. Simply add a second comment stating that you follow my blog. I wish all of you luck!

The Giveaway will close on July 14th. You may enter until I have marked "CLOSED" on the posts title. Good Luck !

A Consolation - Freshly Baked Bread

2010-07-08T11:56:00.003-06:00

Hello to all of you in Blogland! I trust that you are doing well. I am feeling better after the devastating loss that Germany suffered in the semifinals against Spain yesterday. They will still play for third place but it is very dissappointing not to have won the title. I won't stop cheering them on even though I was shocked, dismayed and disgusted all at once yesterday. However, as I don't want to dwell on negativity (and as I am sure you won't want to waste your time reading a sob story) I will turn to a more pleasant topic.

Bread.

Homemade Bread.

Most of you will remember the song "My Favourite Things" from The Sound Of Music. This is the song you sing when the dog bites, when the bee stings and when you are feeling bad (like say for instance when your team bombs and completely throws away the semifinals..). It is you find a whole list of Maria's (the woman singing the song for those of you who aren't familiar) favourite things. Well, the song got me thinking and it turns out I have a very long list of favourite things:

Pierogies

Matryoshka

Soccer

Shoes

Gymnopedie by Satie

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String (I had one from Russia delivered yesterday!)

Homemade Bread

Mascara

Tim Burton

..........

Okay I will only share a few as it is actually a really long list.

Each one of these favourite things hold memories for me and one that holds really special memories is homemade bread. I know that may sound ridiculous (I mean, shoes are pretty awesome too..) but close your eyes and imagine the smell of baking bread. Warm delicious bread.

Doesn't that bring back memories?

When I lived at home my mum baked bread every week. 6 loaves. We helped her out obviously, with the punching and the kneading and the punching and the kneading...and it was so much fun!

We would dump all of the ingredients into the Bosch kitchen machine and check for the yeast to bubble. Then the machine would whir and the dough would appear as the flour was mixed in, one cup at a time.

Next it had to sit covered for what would seem like an eternity to me. Finally it was time to bake.

I would always steal a peak through the glass door to check on how the bread was doing. Would it rise this time? It always did.

Now that I have my own home I like to make bread whenever I have a chance. Store bought just doesn't taste the same. Homemade is richer, heartier, better.

Maybe I am just biased. I would suggest however, that if you have never made bread from scratch you should do it. It is definitely satisfying to enjoy the fruits of your labour.

Happy baking everyone!

Also don't forget that tomorrow will be my interview with Cynthia from The Sewing Dork and a GIVEAWAY!

PS. The loaf shown above is my sandwich bread recipe and has an egg glaze.

AND

I was featured on Totally Tutorials!

They featured my Rosette Pillow Tutorial and I am so excited!

Soccer Crafts to Support the German Team!!!

2010-07-06T13:07:00.000-06:00

Seeing as today is the last day before Germany's big game against Spain I decided to do another post about the World Cup. BUT I have some awesome projects to share with you! I wish I had found these before my last post, but better late than never I guess.

I found a site called Gabriele's Conga-Baeren Blog which happened to have some really creative World Cup projects. The site is in German, but she takes wonderful photos which are really inspirational. I am only showing you the soccer related projects in this post and I would reccomend you check out her site even if you don't speak German for some other great ideas. Google will do rough translations for you if you want to know more about any of the projects in her photos.

Gabriele generously agreed to let me feature pictures from her website in today's post.

Vielen Dank Gabriele!

All of these projects can also be found HERE.

To start off we have these super cute rings made in Germany's colours. These are made using elastic with organza ribbon sewn into a rosette or flower shape and then sewn onto the elastic. You could wear one, or even two if you wanted to have a larger looking ring. Super fun!

Next she has made a plethora of jewellery and accessories to keep you sporting the team colours at all times. An assortment of earrings, a bracelet, a ring, a cellphone charm and a key ring. It would be easy to expand on this and make a necklace or a purse charm or something similar. The possibilities are almost endless!

This one struck me as quite hilarious as it is a kleenex holder for people who get emotional very easily. In the event that Germany does not win their next game they will have their tissues close by. LOL. I love it.

Of course I will be hoping and praying that Germany does advance into the final.

Last but not least, she has made a beautiful flower for those who want to support the team but still look classy. This flower can be pinned onto a jacket or a blouse, a purse or a hat. Basically anywhere that things can be pinned. Very creative!

I hope you have enjoyed sharing in the team spirit a little with me and if you would like to see the original projects please go on over to Gabriele's Blog.

If you have any other World Cup related crafts you would like to share make a comment!

In other news I am extremely excited to announce that I will be interviewing Cynthia from THE SEWING DORK on Friday July 9th. She has very generously offered to do a GIVEAWAY for my readers which is so very thoughtful of her. I can hardly wait!

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Capricorn Fever - Drawings of a Collection

2010-07-05T15:51:00.000-06:00

Hello and good day dear readers! Today I am sharing some drawings of a collection that I did while I was attending school. The drawings shown here were never actually realized into garments, although they may still be someday. I took my inspiration from tropical climates (thus the name Capricorn fever) but didn't want to do traditional summer type clothing. Instead I tried to make sophisticated garments that could be worn in the evening or while going out somewhere. So not beachwear.

The drawings inlcude some croquis which are fashion drawings drawn wearing the clothing and flats - these are the outlines showing how the clothing is to be made. This also includes fabric samples showing the colours and types of fabric to be used for the garment. Most of these fabrics are cottons or natural materials (such as Bamboo and Soy) although the sequin is obviously not. The denim swatch shown is an organic cotton. Most of the natural/eco friendly fabrics which I was using at this time were purchased from a company called SYKA. They have a good selection and good prices for the quality of fabric they are selling. I found the stretch knits they sell to be quite superior to others I had found in local shops.

*Note- for some reason I am getting an error message when typing in Syka's website, hopefully this will be rectified soon.*

I am getting really excited about the upcoming Germany vs. Spain game and will be posting more on that tomorrow. I hope you have enjoyed my drawings - please let me know what you think. :)

The Long Awaited Mystery Project

2010-07-04T18:42:00.000-06:00

Some of you will remember the above photos from THIS post. I promised to post on the finished project and (as expected) had no one guess correctly what this is or what it is for. I can't keep you in the dark forever though so I will tell you. It is this fancy invention called Iron On Veneer. Pretty nifty stuff actually. Has anyone guessed what this post is going to be about yet?

The suspense is killing me.

A while back Aren and I purchased two of these crazy night tables from 1996. The sticker on the back even says they were made in Canada (which means they are pretty old since I don't think much MDF furniture is made here anymore. Correct me if I am wrong). Well obviously they are not quite in keeping with the decor of my house. The gold plastic on the edges was a bit too much for me in all honesty. I saw the potential in the set right away though and we snapped them up for a mere $7 (for both).

Good thing too since I had to buy veneer, paint and hardware to finish the fixup which brought the cost up a bit.

The black paint was roughed up a bit with sandpaper and the plastic strips removed from the sides. Aren helped me with placing the veneer. I ironed and he pressed it down with a piece of 1x2. It is very simple to work with and really gave a professional finish to the (recently) raw edges.

It was super hot out while we were doing this and the iron didn't cool us down one bit. I was worried the glue wouldn't set well outside but it worked out fine. You can see the smooth edge of the shelf now - it looks a lot better than it did before! While this was happening I removed the old hardware and the rest of the gold trim from the drawers. Next I sanded them slightly and started to give them the first coat of paint. I wiped the drawers and shelves with a damp cloth before painting to ensure there would be no residual sawdust to get stuck in the paint.Once the veneer had set, I sanded the edges and began to paint those pieces of the night table as well.

And here you have one of the side tables fully transformed! I think they turned out fabulously. The hardware gives it a quainter look and I like the smooth sleek lines of the piece now. In the background of the photo above you can see that I was working on some other painting at the table in between coats on the shelves. Busy busy busy! I am going to share with you a few photos of the night tables now that they have been placed in our room - they work wonderfully.

One on either side of the bed. A few of you may recognize the lamp from THIS post on revitalizing a lamp. I can't take credit for the beautiful quilt on the bed. My youngest sister made it as a wedding gift for my husband and I. She is such a sweetheart and I absolutely adore it! I am still working on finishing up my own quilt which I started HERE, and I promise to keep you all posted.

Another view of the bedroom. I don't have a headboard anymore that I like so we are doing without. One of these days I am sure I will find something that tickles my fancy and then it will be too expensive so I will have to recreate it. If this happens I will post a how-to on making a headboard. If YOU have a how to on making a headboard and think I would like it please leave a comment about it. It could help me in my search for the perfect one.

These are a couple of closeups on the finished night stands. The little nightlight is from Ikea - I think it is so fun! We have a red one on the other night table.

The cute little hat on display was purchased in Thailand. It is part of the traditional Akha costume. This is a baby sized hat - which even though I have no children is super adorable.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing this project and that it inspires you to see the new life in an old piece of furniture. It can be hard sometimes to see the potential in something when you first see it lying forlorn on the grass in someones front yard. Train yourself to look and see what CAN be not what IS. Of course I would love to hear from you on what types of creative things you have been doing OR links to pictures of upcycled furniture you yourself have created.

Take care!

World Cup Fever - Germany Beats Argentina 4-0

2010-07-03T18:52:00.001-06:00

Well everyone - it was a spectacular day for soccer (football) in South Africa today. And Germany did not disappoint the multitude of fans who turned out to cheer them on. The game was won 4-0 in Germany's favour - what a match! I could hardly believe the screen myself as I was watching the game, after all Argentina is a formidable opponent. I am very excited that they won the game and in such a big way too! the next match will be on Wednesday with Germany playing against Spain. This one is going to be a good one.

The streets of Berlin were packed with people cheering on the German national team today. The sheer amount of people who showed up is incredible!

I don't have any soccer themed projects of my own to post here but I did find a few fun ones on the internet to share with you all. The first is a fun felt beanbag. The black felt has been sewn onto the white and then whipstitched together. The original project can be found HERE . This would be a fun craft to make for a Soccer themed party where contestants would play the traditonal game of beanbag toss but with "soccer balls".

Of course no party would be complete without refreshments, and why not a themed cake?

this one was found HERE .

I won't be able to have a Soccer party of my own but I hope that some of you will be celebrating and watching the upcoming games with friends and family - no matter what team you are cheering for.

Best of luck to all four remaining teams!

My Favourite Month of The Year

2010-07-02T20:49:00.001-06:00

Summer is my favourite time of year - for good reason - but July is my favourite month. It is a month full of birthdays, vacations, hot weather, swimming, camping trips and fun. Not only is my and my grandpa's birthday in July but so is my sisters, my brother in-laws, my father in laws, a couple of my cousins, some of my cousins kids, one of my good friends, Canada's and now a friends wedding anniversary too! It is basically a month long celebration.

This July my family on my mother's side AND my family on my fathers side are getting together for family reunions - we will be busier than ever! Not to mention that Aren and I are embarking on our trip to the Queen Charlottes with Pris and Kurtis.

When I was a child, July meant that we were going to live at the lake. It meant swimming lessons in freezing water with icky weeds grazing your feet, renting "jump time" on the trampoline at the Beach House and buying penny candies and jawbreakers with our allowances. It meant sandcastles and fireside cookouts, leeches and mosquito bites, sandy beds and rowboating.

I sincerely hope that your July will be filled with as much fun as mine. I leave you now with some photos of my parents and I outside of my place when they came to visit me a while back.

I am wearing a shirt from Aritzia, sweater is Tommy,purse is from the thrift shop, boots are NAOT and the cutoffs were old pants my sister gave me.

Ciao!

HAPPY CANADA DAY EVERYONE!! BONNE FETE CANADA!!

2010-07-01T20:42:00.000-06:00

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!! BONNE FETE CANADA!!!

I trust that you all had a wonderful day and that you Canadians out there celebrated our wonderful country. Today I can't help but talk about this wonderful nation that I am so privileged to live in.

This morning on my morning break I was watching the festivities at Parliament Hill in Ottawa where the Queen was visiting and I couldn't help but be extremely proud to be living in this country.

The musical acts were so diverse and represented many different facets of our Canadian culture. I always love to hear French and English spoken together at national events and see our flag waving proudly.

No the performers weren't flashy.

No there were no exploding fireballs on stage.

No it was not over the top craziness.

What was it? Pure Canadian.

The Barenaked Ladies performed for the Queen (if you don't know who they are I bet that sounds CRAZY), H'Sao danced and sang loudly for the crowd with wild hairdoos, a soulful singer from Saskatchewan belted out a melody with a choir, a young piano virtuoso wooed us with Chopin and who could forget the operatic chorus of God Save The Queen?

But no song brought a stirring to my heart quite like the national anthem.

Seeing our Prime Minister singing proudly with his fellow Canadians, hearing the crowd roar after that last final bar. Moving indeed.

It was everything that we as a country are - in my opinion.

Diverse, multicultural, dignified, cultured, perhaps a bit conservative but very proud.

As I watched the Prime Minister arrive I couldn't help but think to myself, is there another country where the Prime Minister and his family walk through a street full of thousands of revelers and shake hands with them along the way? I am pretty sure that the president dosen't touch hands with random people who haven't been screened in random crowds. I know it is a silly little thing but it made me realize really how lucky I am to live in a country where we don't always assume the worst of our fellow man. Very encouraging.

Of course next came the Queen and Prince Phillip in the Royal Carriage, the inspection of the guard and the flybys. Cannons were letting off and planes soaring overhead as the Military Band played "The Maple Leaf Forever". I was struck by how rooted in tradition our country is and how much comfort I actually find in that.

Christopher Plummer presented the Queen and she made a moving speech. She quipped about how we should be proud of our hosting of the 2010 Olympic Games and not only because we won the Hockey Gold. What a comic that Queen is.

Of course Peter Mansbridge was on hand hosting the TV event (what would Canada Day be without Peter Mansbrige?) and who could miss the Queen shaking hands with the Barenaked Ladies after the show?

I smell a scandal brewing.... (they are a band for anyone who doesn't know, and they are men)

All in all I felt very proud to be Canadian today, not only because we celebrated in such a wonderful fashion but also because of who we are as a country. The small things and the bigger things that make this country what it is. The right to free speech, the quality of life we enjoy, the peace, the natural beauty, the people.

HAPPY CANADA DAY! BONNE FETE CANADA!