Earrings 2

The second pair of earrings were inspired by a pair I had received for free in a package of other stuff. I didn't really like them that much so I gave them away at Christmas time to a co-worker (along with those hair clips/bands I made remember). I had several pairs of really cheap and simple beaded earrings I had gotten for free so all the ladies got free earrings. Anyway, the girl I gave them to loved them and wore them all the time and wouldn't you know, I liked them a lot when I saw them on her. Those earrings happened to be purple which I may not have as much use for so I decided to make a pair in black. The original earrings used square beads so I pulled out some square black plastic beads, a little wire, a couple round silver beads, and of course earring wires. They were fairly easy to construct. I used the little silver beads to hid the join of the loop where the wire wrapped around. So very simple but cute on. It felt really good to take time to make a few things over the weekend. Nothing too time or labor intensive but I nice break from studying and work projects. Lastly a behind the scenes look at the earring model: Not a great backdrop so it was good that they were close-up shots courtesy of Greg. It was really cold out but the lighting was just right for photo taking!

Earrings 1

Lately I have become more interested in earrings, big earrings. A friend at work (Marcela!) always seems to have on cute and often bold earrings. She has inspired me to wear earrings more often, something my mother has also suggested on multiple occasions. I am more of a necklace girl so I started looking for interesting earrings online and found a few really cute pairs. Last Saturday I found myself up in the office/studio talking to Greg and gravitated over to my work bench where a bunch of beads and stuff were laying out (since Christmas). I starting dinking around and came up with a couple of cute new pairs of earrings. This is the first set:I used these little chandelier pieces I picked up at the bead store last December, a few ball ended headpins, and some crystals. It took some experimenting to figure out how to construct them so they beads would hang nicesly together in such a small space. I am not an expert at all at jewelry making so my original plan had to be scrapped and I ended up going with fewer beads and simpler connections so they would all hang more tightly together.
I love the way they turned out. The beads are a very light brown/beigh color that should go with just about any outfit. Cute and simple but still a little flashy. Here they are on:

Wall Decor

I am a little late in posting this but a week ago last weekend Greg finally got around to hanging up these cool letters I got for Christmas. They are from Viva Terra and are made of upcycled tin (misprinted tin that would have been discarded). It took us so long to get around to hanging them because they were supposed to be hung by screws and none of the holes on the backs were uniform in position to line up easily. We were dreading the immense task of measuring and marking everything so they would hang straight and level. Well I got the brilliant idea to use double sided foam tape instead. That way there will be less damage to the wall and they would be a lot easier to hang in a straight line. It worked great. They are light enough for the tape to hold them up. A fun addition to our kitchen.

Ouch!

Last night coming home late from studying at work I fell down the stairs of the subway. Well, fell DOWN is probably not the right way to put it since it implies actually moving down the staircase. I sort of fell ON the stairs. They were covered in subway slime/grease and my feet just flew out from under me. I was holding on to the rail but it didn't really help because it happened so fast I couldn't even react, I was just on my back. Fortunately I mostly landed on my still ample arse. Unfortunately the stairs are metal so my arse hurts today and I have one big purple bruise so far (no photos today, lucky for you). Also unfortunate was that there were witnesses, kind ones who asked if I was OK but witnesses just the same which was slightly humiliating. I am very thankful I didn't hit my head at all or my back very much and also very thankful that my computer wasn't in the bag slung across my back because I am pretty sure I would have smashed it.

The incident definitely put a damper on my evening and I am feeling it all over my jolted body today but all in all I am thankful it wasn't more serious!

Purging is fun

Last weekend was my freedom before Spring Term started and how did I spend it? Purging the closet in our bedroom. Greg received a promotion in the new year to a more managerial position and with it came a new wardrobe. Shirts and ties almost daily and recently we got him some new slacks for work too. With the new inflow of clothes we went through the closet (and dresser) taking a look at each item he had and decided if it was worthy to remain. As I have complained before, our closet is horribly designed so that it is very difficult to access the clothes in the back. Because of that we found lots of items crammed in the back that could go. Greg buys most of his clothes at the thrift store so much of his wardrobe was run down or didn't really fit well. We weeded through it all and made notes on what needed to be purchased (as well as what to avoid like blue shirts. We found 6).
We also changed out all his hangers for thinner velvet textured hangers that take up less space. I went through my dresser drawers and pulled out all the pants that were too big. My bottom half is shrinking faster than the top so the shirt drawer didn't change. Lastly we tackled the coat closet before sorting the discarded clothes into donation and garbage piles. I will tackle my side of the closet when the weather changes since most of what is in there is warmer weather clothes. In the meantime it is nice to have everything in order again and it should help Greg get ready faster in the morning.

Handbag Heaven

One of my friend/co-workers invited us to her 31st birthday celebration last Friday. I of course decided at the last minute (the night before) that it would be a good idea to make her a handmade gift. I found a pattern online that inspired me with its cutness and then looked through my fabric stash for something fun. I moved the sewing machine downstairs so I could construct it while watching my Thursday night shows (Kath & Kim, The Office, and 30 Rock). I had to stay up way too late to finish it all the way which made me really tired and frazzled the next day but it turned out really cute and I will definitely be making one for myself when I have a little more time.
It is a fairly large fabric handbag.Note the cute pleat detail which is the same on both sides.It is also fully lined and reversible.This pattern was very easy and made me realize I could probably design my own bag fairly easily. I love having "skills to pay the bills" if you will. The ability to whip something up when I need it and I have my mother to thank for that. She taught me to sew at a young age and was always very crafty and was a good example of looking at something she liked and thinking "I bet I could make that". Love you mom!

Weight Watchers Report

Greg surprised me on Thursday with this lovely bouquet of flowers. I looked at them in bewilderment wondering what they were for. Well, he wanted to celebrate my breaking the 180 barrier in my weight loss. I had hit a bit of a plateau over the last couple weeks struggling with binge eating. I was eating "diet" foods but way too many sweets and no healthy foods. I hadn't gained any weight but was not losing any either and I knew it was only a matter of time before diet foods were substituted with Ben and Jerry's and fried goodness. Last week I decided to get back to basics by returning to my core plan (I had switched to the new Weight Watchers Momentum Plant) and it paid off. 3 pounds off at the scale and out of the 180s. Yippie. That means a total of 25.2 pounds now.

Sensational Soda

For Christmas we received this as a gift from Greg's parents:It is a soda machine! I suggested it to them after seeing it at EveryDayDish.tv. Greg is absolutely addicted to seltzer (as am I) and this machine makes seltzer for about $0.15 a liter which is a great savings, you reuse the bottles so there is less waste, and it means no more trips to the store for heavy bottles. We usually buy cases of seltzer but we often run out and have to go to the corner store for more. It takes about 30 seconds to make water or soda. Just fill a bottle with cold water, attach it to the machine, press the button a few times till you get the desired amount of carbonation, and you are done. We like ours extra bubbly so we use the max amount of presses.
I also bought some consentrated soda syrups for the machine. Diet Cola and caffeine free Diet Cola. Not exactly the same flavor as Coke but I am pretty much used to it at this point. You just add the syrup to the water after you carbonate it. It couldn't be easier. We also got seltzer flavorings too. Plus you can make your own simple syrups using fruit if you want an all natural soda. WE LOVE THIS MACHINE!

Forget me not!

Wow, January was a whirlwind. Once the holidays were over I launched right into huge work projects and intensive classes. I have my final intensive class (and final exam) tonight and then I look forward to settling back into a normal work/school routine. And with that I hope to get back to more normal posting habits as well. I have a few updates for you all starting tomorrow and will be making an effort to pull my camera out once again. Can you believe I took just 1 photo in January and it was of a co-worker. I have to fix that pronto! OK, I have to study for my test....

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Sorry for the late post. We had a wonderful Christmas in Seattle with family. The highlight of course was getting to see this little elf again. My sister and brother-in-law and of course Misha the dog.The rest of our trip went by pretty quickly and ended in a nasty case of food poisoning/stomach flu. The whole house got it which was not fun. We managed to make it home on the plane though it was the most nauseating 7 hours of my life! Greg and I rested and recovered at home the last few days of the year enjoying the break from work. We rang in the new year by going to bed early and then spending some time reviewing our 2008 goals and setting some new 2009 goals (our annual tradition since starting this practice during pre-marital counseling). Nice and low key, the way we like it.

Overall it was an excellent vacation. Thanks for counting down the month with me! Happy New Year!

December 24

1 Day till Christmas and what would I like to see

A happy family under the tree

We woke up to another 5 inches of snow in the morning. Not a problem except we needed to get to Greg's parent's house which is up a big hill. After digging out the car and struggling to get chains on the tires with my dad we finally made our way over to their house. Greg's family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve so we spent the entire day over there enjoying good meals, great decorations, gifts, and fun time spent together. Greg's Aunt Lisa and Uncle John as well as little dog Molly were up from Colorado for the holiday and it was great to see them. Especially John who we had not seen since our wedding almost 8 years ago and as well as Molly who I had never met.

Greg's mom is an amazing decorator and Christmas is no exception. There were twinkling lights everywhere!
The photos don't really do it justice and I certainly didn't shoot everything.

You can see, everyone had fun opening gifts too. It was a fun day. Marry Christmas Eve!

December 23

2 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see

A gift wrapping frenzy

We made it safely to Seattle despite all the difficult weather around the US. We were so thankful to have a place on the plane since there were 165 standby passengers trying to get on our flight out of Denver. We arrived in Seattle and got home safely. This was the picture from the bedroom window in the morning. They don't handle snow very well here, but that is a whole separate post. We had been shipping gifts directly to Seattle all along so we spent our first morning here sorting and wrapping gifts. Snow outside the window, Christmas music playing on the laptop and me in my Christmas jammies, all made for a nice morning. Then we got a ride over to the Cruikshank house. The ladies went out for a little shopping excursion (I found a couple pairs of shoes), the boys stayed home to shovel the driveway and putter around doing whatever men do to kill time. Then in the evening we all went out to dinner. It was a nice day all around.

A couple other things I wrapped up:

Homemade tissue holders.Love these because they have contrasting pretty fabric inside too that you see when you change out the tissues!

I also ordered a needle felted sculpture for Greg's Aunt of her little pooch Molly. Unfortunately Portland where the artist lives was really snowed in and without power for days so the sculpture had to be shipped express mail and won't be here in time so I wrapped up some photos. (Update: The sculpture arrived on Christmas Eve morning! It is so cute in person and we were able to wrap it up!)

December 22

3 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see

A post of miscellany

It is a travel day so I leave you with some random items. First is another benefit of a fabric stash and a sewing machine. I whipped up this cloth bag for a bottle of wine gift Greg took to work. I used some leftover red fabric from the kitchen blind. Sewed up the sides, sewed the bottom corners to give it a slightly flat bottom, then turned the the top and stitched the edge. A silky ribbon and it was done. It turned out really nice.

Here is a little update of our card display this year. It filled out really nicely. I think I will do it again next year for sure.

And a photo of our little snow storm over the weekend. This was taken during the thaw. Thanks to the thaw we were able to move the car and find a perfect and free parking spot for our trip! Yippie! Now if we can just make it to Seattle and get there with all our suitcases!

December 21

4 Days till Christmas and what would I like to see
A homemade dragon softie

Meet Stuart the tiny dragon. I finished him this morning and wanted to introduce you to him before he flies off to Seattle to meet his new caretaker, Ewan.

He is just a baby dragon, not yet able to use his tiny wings, nor spit fire. He likes to nap in my new green bowl. He thinks it is good camouflage. I found the pattern here.