Fun Stuff

  • Not Gildy!

    Mirrorcornerhb

    Mirrorbeforehbtopper2_1
    The mirror was first.  It’s been sitting around our garage for three years now, as it was too boring to bring inside.  And my current rule-of-thumb is… if it’s ornate and prissy, then it better be a funky color, or no deal. 

    Anyone can pick up a gold mirror just about anywhere.  Where’s the fun in that?  Friend comes in, turns the corner and says, "Oh, nice!  I have a gold mirror too.  Mine is hanging over the couch, not the piano though.  How creative that you hung it vertically.  I’d never have thought of that!" 

    PaintingmirrorhbtopperYawn.

    So… though my mirror still has the frilly-thing going on, at least it’s owning up to it full-force– a few dollops of Jamaica Blue ala Isaac and a smattering of chartreuse ala moi and now my studio walls aren’t so naked anymore.

    Mirrorhorizhb

  • Watch Out Mr. Beige!

    I went on a clean-up kick last week, restacking fabric and sorting through my books.  Within a couple of hours my studio was sparkly-clean and ready to take on the world. 

    Ribbons

    Then, just as I was about to wrap it up and move on, Isaac caught the shiny- studio bug; it hit him hard!  One conversation about blah-blah-beige-and-the -need-to-color-my-world and Isaac was off to the store for paint.  Fantastic!  It was like Dave-the-Slave Week, except my husband’s not a Dave.
    (Laura‘s invention – hers is a Dave)

    How about a turquoise mirror, honey?  Ooo, and a green chandelier.  And those jars need red lids.  Bright red.  And I need a rod for some ribbons.  And a couple more shelves too.  Ooo, pretty.  Now hang those over there and put these other things right here.  Aah.  Thank you, thank you, Macho-Sweetie-Good-Guy.  (‘Macho’ being the key word amongst all of this funky froof)

    Now the studio’s all glammed up and I’ve got at least a week’s worth of new blog-fodder. Watch out Mr. Beige… Oh, it’s terrible.
    (Token UHF reference to make my brothers smile – see footnote below)

    ∆   ∆   ∆

    Footnote : )  The first hundred times Matt and Ryan played UHF were a torture, but somehow, after a while, the movie grew on me.  Aah, the good ol’ days of algebra homework and afterschool UHF. 

    I think it was my brothers’ guffaws that grew on me, not the movie so much.  Eventually I looked forward to each gag and my brothers rolling on the floor in laughter.  I swear, my younger brother must hold the world record for how many times one joke can be rewound and played over and over… and over again.  His favorite part was the "I’m thinking of something orange…" sequence, though Wheel of Fish and Conan the Librarian were certainly in the running.  My favorite bit was Spatula City.  WARNING:  My fond memories do not constitute a recommendation.  Rent at your own risk.

  • Limber Lulu

    Girlhangar1hbThe collection grows.  Cute hangar, huh?  What I can’t believe is that her ponytails are still intact

    And, as bloggy-voodoo would have it, she looks an awful lot like Hillary’s recent mobile and Sarah’s subsequent magnet set, both adorable.  How old is she?  I have no idea.  But, she had to be mine.

    Yesterday was Elijah’s birthday — ten years old.  How’d that happen? I’m certainly not ten years older than when I had him. 

    We took him and a gaggle of his friends to an indoor play-shangri-la: buffet, tokens, bowling, the works. 

    Girlhangarfull

    It was the first birthday party I didn’t have to decorate for (mixed feelings here).  But, with his birthday following Christmas so closely, I can’t deny that it was a welcome break.

  • Blaggle-Blaggle

    Mr. Wooden Robot says, "SnickSnockBlaggleBlaggleTime to  vote  for  the  BloggiesSnickSnockBlaggleBlaggle"

    Robothb
    I messed up on the nomination form the first time around.  I put URLs where the blogs’ names were supposed to go and had to go back in and copy and paste until I had it right.  I should have read the directions first – it really wasn’t that hard. 

    I think today’s the last day to nominate (until 10pm Eastern Standard), then there’s another round of votes once they have a ballot together.  I’m not sure what the big deal is with Bloggies (anyone with Bloggies insight?), but it’s always fun to put a good word in for my friends – I hope you all win!  Winning is fun all by itself. 

    And, voting sure made it clear that I don’t have enough links in my sidebar – I have far more favorites than I’ve pronounced.  So, sometime down the line I need to figure out how to make one of those stand-alone links pages.  Those are neat.

    Mr. Robot is about 3 in. tall and was adopted for a mere 50¢.  He came home the same day as these guys.  Anyone sensing a trend in my spending habits?

  • Long-Spoon Days

    Plasticstirrers1hb

    Today, I serve you spoons.  Funky plastic ones from the 50s or 60s, I think.

    When I was a girl, my parent’s silverware tray contained an average selection of spoons, forks and knives, but for one long, slender, iced-tea spoon.  When clean, that spoon was always my preference.  I didn’t find out until years later that it was my older sister’s preferred spoon as well (which explains why it was so elusive). 

    Last year, I bought Julia an antique, silver iced-tea spoon for her birthday (I think it was her birthday) and some months later I found these ones for me.  Much more Heathery.  Of course, they’re not a comfortable shape for cereal, soup, ice cream or anything else. (They’re meant for stirring, I think.)  So, I just look at them.  And Charlotte plays with them.  They remind me of long-spoon days long-gone. 

  • Greetings from Planet Random

    …and there’s no better welcome party than a family of tiny toy beavers (two inches tall) — or are they chipmonks? — from my favorite antique store.

    Beaverfamily1hb

    Beaverfamily2hb I’m not sure why I had to have these, but their post-holiday sale price of $3 must have sealed the deal.  I stopped by again today after a dentist appt. and found even more silliness to see me through the marathon.  (What?  Did I call it a sprint?  I recant.)

  • Big Day

    Merry Christmas everyone! 

    I’m feeling fat on crepes and bacon and about to head out to my parents for an early dinner. No wonder there’s a mass trek to the gym come January. My stocking was full of Ghirardelli, Cadbury, Nutella and the like. I’m already overly-sugared and I haven’t even opened one bag of these new goodies nor made the two batches of homemade marshmallows I’ve planned with Elijah. It looks like I have one more week to pack it all in before I start sweating to the oldies with the rest of the world. That iTunes gift card will come in handy — workout music. 

    Snowflakebowhb2_1But, enough of that.  It’s still Christmas and I’m wearing stretchy pants. 

    Here’s a fun use for those great Anthropologie giftwrap-snowflake -thingies. I’m not into hair bows, but this bit of sass works for me somehow. The snowflake has a slit in it, so I just tied a ribbon around Charlotte’s little ponytail, threaded the ends through the slit and tied a bow. The ribbon holds the snowflake in place — no barrette or clip. In fact, it was such a piece of cake, I’m going to cut out a few felt flowers to keep on hand for this same purpose.

    And, no, my kids weren’t all gussied up for Christmas this morning. Rumpled jammies and ruffled hair works for us. These pics are from Saturday. 

    My big present from Isaac today was a Blackberry phone. He was feeling guilty about always sporting the fanciest new technology while I kept with whatever free phone came with our service. So, it looks like I’ll be talkin’ fancy, at least for a month or so — ah, technology.  Openingbowhb2tall_1Word is that if I had a Bluetooth-enabled laptop I could use my phone to connect to the internet wherever I go. No cords. How cool is that? So, if there’s some way to get Bluetooth on the old mistress, then it looks like I’ll be heading to the park with Charlotte more often. We could both use more sunshine.

    After a month of family sick-tag, I didn’t think I’d be pulling off many handmade projects this year. But, somehow, right there at the end, I was able to throw together a couple of fun things for the kids. Later this week, I’ll get Charlotte dolled up in her new mod coat and pink striped gauchos and snap some photos. You’ll die. And Elijah got a pair of Freshcut pajamas (jellybean print). He’s quite sentimental about such things. It just melts me to hear my nine-year-old boy say, “Oh, wow! I can’t believe it! My very own pajamas out of your fabric, Mom. Wow! Thank you!” 

    Flockedornamenthb

    Boy, I don’t think a handmade Christmas could ever be wholly traded for convenient commercialism around here. Something would be missing. At least, at our home and in my heart. Charlotte, opening gifts in her new coat and a diaper, Elijah’s jaunty PJ parade, crimson memories to last a lifetime. And, with a response like that, Elijah can have all of the pajamas he wants.

    Oop, it’s time to head to Granny’s. I hope your morning was as warm and festive and messy as ours. Merry Christmas!

  • Yo-Yo-Yo, Merry Christmas!

    Yowrap3_1
    Yowrap1
    Yowrap2

    Yes, another yo-yo post. I swear this is the last one for a least… a week. And, no, I’m not obsessed with yo-yos. I’ve just found another use for the leftover garland bitspresent toppers

    I’m especially excited about these as these jaunty wrappings have made me feel much better about my gift card presents. I’ve always held myself to a high standard of handmade gifts only and am finding less and less time to meet those standards for everyone on my list. And, truth is, I love receiving gift cards. I do. So, I’ve made a paradigm shift this year and gift cards are now acceptable to give, as long as I wrap them all cute and handmade-looking 😉 

    Isaac and I were terribly sick all last week and now Charlotte is quite sick with a different bug. What precious gift-making time I had has been given up to long naps and baby cuddles. And now that we’re on the home-stretch to Christmas, boxes desperately need to go out and baking needs to begin. So, giftcards are my new-found friends. 

    The spiffy metal tins are from the checkout stand at Michael’s. They float my color boat.

  • |

    The Peppermint Experiment

    Peppermintgarland_2

    Peppermint2_1


    Here’s the result of my late-night rush on the fabric store for red & white striped fabric. My church is donating a decorated tree to a family in need (love this idea), so I had some friends and the teenage girls over last night to make this zany garland for contribution. We sipped hot cocoa with homemade marshmallows (Katie-made) and sat in a circle, sewing. Now, why can’t that happen more often. My kind of evening.

    (The top garland is the ceramic one I mentioned two posts ago.)

    Gingerbread

    The gingerbread house was a whole-family activity. Thank you Costco. Have you seen these kits? All of the hard stuff is already done for you;  the cookies are cooked and the frosting is mixed. Just assemble and decorate (and snack). Elijah did most of the work, but tuckered-out before the house was gaudy enough, so Charlotte and I helped him out.  I could glue candy on things all day. It’s a lot like making yo-yos – repetitive and hypnotic.

  • Round Things

    Do onions make you sleepy? A friend of mine swears that a whiff of freshly- sliced onion can help defeat insomnia. Of course, she’s up before the sun and to bed by 9:30pm most nights and only has an occasional bout of sleeplessness. According to her (and her mom, who introduced her to the idea), when your eyes tear up from those nasty onion vapors, it’s easier to access your sleepy place. Hmmm. Now, I haven’t tried onions for sleep, but I wonder if there’s something to it. Is it hard, cold science or classical conditioning? Vintagebuttonshbw2_1Hmmm again. Just one of those thoughts buzzing around the back of my mind this week.(I have found that earplugs can work wonders.) 

    As for the eye candy… Aaah, vintage buttons, recent acquisitions from Market. I had used up a few of my favorite buttons on recent projects and it was time to replenish the palette. One card each, of the best colors — and boy, was it hard to stop at that. This booth had tables of bakelite, organized by hue. Drool. Thank heaven I was on my way to a meeting, or I would have been sucked into a mighty vortex of indecision.