Happy Birthday Mom!

This is another of my attempts at crafting...



I used waxed black thread, and tiny, little, red seed beads. The second photo of the large red bead is actually supposed to be the clasp for the back, but it can be worn in the front as well.



Happy Birthday Mom!

The Winner!

Thanks to all the bloggers who stopped by my giveaway post! I was delighted to recieve so many comments.

And the winner is...

Lindsay Conner from Lindsay Sews

Congratulations!

Thanks so much to all who commented. I loved reading your creative adjectives. Come again!

Another Giveaway Day!

I had so much fun participating in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day last winter! Last year I gave away a little Westie! This year, I'm giving away ...



... a little bracelet made of embroidery thread and beads. When I have the time, I really enjoy crafting. I made several of these bracelets and am attempting to create enthralling sounding names for the colorways. This particular bracelet reminds me of the ocean. So this colorway is Atlantic.



If you're interested in winning this little piece of jewelry, all you have to do is comment on this post. Usually, bloggers hungry to win a giveaway prize will simply write whatever pops into their head first... "How sweet!" "How cute!" "So pretty!" etc.

So for this giveaway, my challenge to you is to conjure up some vivid, descriptive adjectives for your comment! Use of thesaurus is permitted. Have fun!

A few important notes:
1. This giveaway will be open from December 13th through December 17th.
2. The winner will be chosen at random on December 20th, and will be notified via email. If your email is not linked to your blogger/typepad/other profile, please include it in your comment. I will post the name of the winner by December 21st.
3. Sorry. This item will not be shipped Internationally
4. Because of the small beads, do not give this bracelet to children under 6 years of age.

Enjoy commenting, and maybe even winning!

Pick up the Phone!

My blog has been calling me for over3 months. Maybe I should answer? It's simply amazing how busy I've become. Sometimes it's nice just to head out into the crisp weather, and take photos...







Happy Fall!

A Really "Fun" Weekend

Weekends are so much "fun" when you have a cold. Headaches, sneezes and coughs abundant enough to supply you for the whole year. Such fun! Runny noses, requiring half the tissues in your house. What glee!



Since I haven't (cough, sniff) been out of the house for a while, I have been occupying myself with reading Pride and Prejudice...



And having a little fun with Photoshop Elements. Recently I have been trying some new effects on my photographs, such as emphasizing an object by making it in color and the rest of the image in black and white...



And some artistic effects such as making silhouette-like outlines.

Finally

My blog has never quite lived up to the phrase on my header, "endless creativity." I should really rewrite it to say, "creativity that seems to have ended." But even that phrase wouldn't be accurate. I am writing a creative post right now! But all this is besides the point.

The photograph above is my idea for a "look-alike" scene. There are a series of picture books entitled "Look-Alikes" that are actually quite fascinating. The books are made up of photographs of everyday objects arranged into different scenes. There are parks, shops houses, and even some famous structures like the Eiffel Tower.



My photo is of a little bedroom. If you look closely, you will probably recognize some objects. The mattress is a journal, with little cotton balls for the pillows.



a thimble wastebasket...



a spool of thread for the table, a playing card for the rug, buttons and an acorn cap for the lamp...



Mary Cassatt stamps---uh... I mean "paintings" for the graph "wallpaper"...



a sweet little stamp card (with a little trick inside)...



and lastly a mirror on the wall. Is there anything odd about this photo?

Kitchen Concoctions

Recently I made a dessert for a tea at my church. In one of the the Martha Stewart Food Magazines there was this delicious looking Lemon Mousse with blackberries on top. I decided to try it, though I had a few mishaps. (I'm not very adept in the kitchen.)

Here is a 'slightly different' version of the recipe:

A few things to remember before you begin:
. Take out the ingredients whenever you remember that you need them for the recipe
. Clean everything up after you can't see the counter

For the Lemons:
1. Squeeze 2 1/2 fresh lemons
2. Start to squeeze the last half, and accidentally tip over the bowl of lemon juice. Spill it all over yourself and the floor. (Make sure that the lemon juice has not been strained yet. It's a lot more fun to clean it up when it has all the pulp and seeds in it.)
3. Squeeze a new batch of lemons

For the Gelatin:
1. Don't look for the amount (in teaspoons) contained in each package. You must scoop each teaspoon individually. Find out later that each package contains 2 teaspoons.

Next:
1. Mix lemon juice and water in small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin on top.
2. Pour mixture into saucepan and heat on stove until you smell it burning.
3. Prepare ice bath, making sure that there is too much water and not enough ice.
4. Pour gelatin mixture from saucepan back into the bowl it was in before.
5. Freeze your fingers in ice water as you hold the sides of the bowl in the 'too-much-water-not-enough-ice-bath. (You don't want the bowl to fall in.)
6. Take out bowl from bath.
7. Thaw out fingers.

For the Whipping Cream:
1. Whisk 1 carton of whipping cream with hand-held beaters.
2. Take a quick break. (Hold the beaters in the air while doing so.)
3. Absent-mindedly press the lever while beater is pointed upwards.
4. "Aaaaahhhhhh!"
5. Turn it off the beaters and clean up the mess.
6. Realize you could have been using the beater that 'does it itself.'
7. Skip a few steps, (this is getting boring!)

Until... You're done! Except... You forgot to double the recipe!



As you may have picked up, that recipe was a major hyperbolie, though the lemon and whipped cream scenarios were pretty much true. Overall, the recipe turned out alright. I myself wasn't thrilled with the taste, but several people said they liked it. At least they looked pretty in the shiny blue cupcake tins.

Emerging

It's hard to believe that winter has actually departed.



The melting ice and snow...



the robins flying in from the south...



the flowers beginning to bud after the long gray winter...

Spring.

Valentine Sweets - Beautiful, Edible, Love - able!

Happy (late) Valentine's Day to everyone in blogland!



I was pleasantly surprised when I received some flowers from my parents! Some miniature roses and whitish-yellow lilies (they hadn't bloomed yet in the photograph.



A few days before Valentine's Day, I attempted to make some 'lacy chocolate hearts' to 'place daintily on little cupcakes.' In the Martha Stewart Living magazine, there was this really fantastic looking cupcake with a little chocolate heart on top. It looked relatively simple, so I decided to try it.



They worked relatively well, except that they began to melt after they were taken out of the fridge. There was a lot left over, so a made a ginormous chocolate heart!

This year for Valentine cards, I took some photographs of little plastic animals.



For my monkey/chimpanzee/gorilla loving little brother.



For my mom.



For my actually 'lego loving' brother, but he likes polar bears too.



For my 'used to want to be a herpetologist' brother.



For my dad.



Hope everyone had a day filled with Valentine Sweets!

Valentine Cards

For Valentine's Day (in 4 days, by the way,) I have edited a few photographs in photoshop elements.



Hopefully I'll have time to make some hand-made ones too!

Experimenting

Today I was experimenting with clay animation. If you read any of my early posts, you will see that I made a little man and a little dog. Now for a little mouse...



If you didn't notice, he winked at you near the end.

Originally, I wanted to have him talk and have more body movements, but that was a little ambitious. Hopefully I will get better, though.

Scotties and Beagles and Rushing, Oh My!

Hello to all those in blogland! After my measly 2 posts in January, I am going to try to better this month. So far in craft world I have been making some clay puppies.





These little guys were supposed to look like Scottish Terriers, but ended up looking more like black mutts. As you probably can tell from the hearts, I made these for Valentine's Day. I had intended to set up an Etsy shop, but with only 9 days till, I doubt that will happen. All the dogs are completed, but I haven't made the boxes, or figured out what to send them in. Correction. I have started making the boxes, but I don't think any one would like to receive one, considering they are lopsided and would probably collapse on the trip.

I have also been making some beagles (a mischievous little dog)...







You can see it in their eyes. The good thing about these is that if I do ever get a system set up to sell them, they don't have to be for a certain holiday.

Slacking

I have been slacking with my crafting for many months now. I completed a few measly creations during the holidays, for a few family members, but that's about it. Here is my tiny list... For my brothers, I sewed them each an i Pod case. One on them is green+black, and one of them is red+ black. (I may or may not show photos of them.)

I also tried to make some felt rings with ideas from several different craft books. Here is the first one that I made.





You can wear it this way...



or this way, with the stitching up...

I have made three others, a black+red one that was too large, a brown+green one for my mom, and a brown+orange+magenta one for my grandmother. The problem is that the felt I have is very thin, and can stretch out easily, so it's hard to judge sizing.

Another of my endeavors was a Noro Silk Garden Scarf. The photos which I took may not be in complete focus, because the lighting was low. The yarn is absolutely gorgeous, with a mix of pink, purple, green, black, brown, and a beautiful blue-aqua color.







Though these pictures are a bit blurry, you can still see the color and texture. Lastly, I have been making a lot of little clay dogs recently, particularly for Valentine's Day. I'm hoping to set up an Etsy shop, to sell a few of them. I may have photos up later, so stay tuned!