this and that..hello winter?

Why is it that no matter how many errands you run, it takes about three hours? Without fail, I dash out to do a thrift drop off and hit the market and three hours later I'm home. Need to do returns and pick up a prescription? Three hours. Get my hair done and fill up the gas tank? Three hours. Winter so far has felt like spring...or how summer usually feels which is like how spring usually feels to someone outside of Central or Southern California. It is crazy warm and it is making me cranky as I pine for sweater weather and hot tea.

The mister and I spent three hours dashing all over town looking for a curb alert washing machine, dropping off stuff to the classroom, picking up gardening stuff, dropping off old oil from the last oil change, and picking up some oilcloth for the school. It was busy and productive and everything happened save for the washing machine...it had already been snatched up which is fine as we're not looking for the machine itself but the drum inside. Mister is building a fire pit.

 

I've been making a tiny bit of headway in the scary room taking breaks now and then to walk a few blocks over with the mister to pilfer a curb alert of pallet wood or to repot some succulents so that they create new plants or you know...plopping down on the sofa for a read or pinterest browse.

 

While the mister worked in the garden, and ukulele necks, I gathered up an assortment of thrift pieces I liked but didn't love the color of and tossed them into a black dye bath. The results were what I expected and wanted...various shades of grey (with a smidge of  bergundy). Of course, the entire time I was dying everything I could hear my old favorite margie-girl's voice saying "cut it and dye it black". Oh margie, where are you? I miss you!In between dying things, I snacked on my favorite winter apple. Yay for opals!

 

Other than that I baked up another batch of eggnog poundcake (using  mixture of eggnog and buttermilk) and de-pommed my last pom of the season (drats), and pulled out my afghans for the new blanket shelf that the mister built by repurposing and old bookcase. It is ugly as all get out but super useful and thrifty. I need to put stuff on top...that might help.

 

 

This week it is back to work and all things schoolish. I have pom-poms to make for the classroom, grids to write out and curriculum stuff to work on. To pass the time in the evening, mister and I have been competing to complete colorku puzzles.  I'm both excited and ready for a nap...happy January!

diy: party wreath

This is another one of those projects that has been kickin' 'round the noggin for a few years now. After months of not being outside-of-school crafty I was determined to get it done! The party blowers were a dollar store purchase and the sparkly bits came from Target' holiday clearance. They were thirty-cents for two silvery puff balls. I bought five packs and if I had bought more, the wreath would have been larger. As it is, it is a mini wreath built upon a six inch embroidery hoop. I first attempted it on a twelve inch hoop but it was a mess so mini wreath it is!

Gather up your materials...blowers, festive bits, hoop (I ended up with a smaller hoop), and tacky glue. I suppose you could use a glue gun but I have such bad luck with them...nothing ever really sticks...so I used tacky glue. Play with the bits before gluing up the hoop. My first attempt was to create a wreath made from blowers only but I could not get the bits to round out and it kept looking like a pentagon. Everything was coated in glue from all the moving around I was doing I ended up fleeing the room with a frustrated scream, hands up in the air, fingers covered in tiny bits of tinsel. It was a mess!

Once items are arranged to your liking, add glue and affix. I used three blowers and extra tinsel from two other blowers that got eaten by the glue. The entire cost of the finished wreath was four bucks! The hoop was a fifty cent thrift find, blowers were a buck and the tinsel puffs totaled a buck fifty. Whoo-hoo!

Hang in a happy place or pro it up somewhere inside. Either way, it brings a bit of festive cheer to your day. Use leftover blowers and bits for a party or string 'em up into a garland! Happy New Year!

diy: tinkle bell garland

Last year I fell in like with a sweet bell garland at World Market. It was made from twisted wire and had beads and bells intertwined that tinkled so sweetly my heart really really wanted it. It was however not a necessity nor was it cheap enough for me to justify the spending so I walked away from it many times (it's now on sale), thinking of it ever since. On one of the many days I attempted to assemble order to the scary room, I came across a pack of small bells which made me think of the garland which had me tearing up the newly(ish) assorted piles in search of my spool of wire. Once I found the wire and recovered from the messier mess I just made, I put the materials aside to make a garland for the holidays.

Flash forward a week or two after my mad dash I find I have a $10 coupon for World Market and head out in search of holiday gifts. As I wander the store I discover the garland hanging out with the ornaments and swoop in to pick it up.

After bringing it home and winding it around the dining room light I decide I really need to make one so I pull out my materials thinking I'll find the time to make if before Christmas. I even manage to rifle through the metal drawers in search of beads to add.

Christmas came and went and I found myself with some time just before New Year's. I grabbed the wire, beads, scissors, and bells and plopped them down on the table to get to it. The bells are your average jingle bell, only smaller, and while cute in size they lack the happy tinkle of my store bought garland. Nonetheless I cut two lengths of wire bout two yards in length and twist a loop into one end and get to stringing.

Aim smaller if you can, the twisting of the wire causes your ends to tangle up which is a big old pain in the arse to untangle. Loop your end then thread five or so beads onto each strand. Add a bell to one of the strands and give the whole party a little twist or two before adding another round of beads.

I took a break to look at the store garland and wished I had some prettier beads but decided to try just twisting wire then adding a bell before twisting the wire again. I did this three times before I got frustrated with my ends getting all twisty so I added more beads, ten on each strand this time and turned the whole motley crew into  pattern f sorts.

By the time I pooped out of twisting and beading, I had enough of a garland to go over the bed and so I cut the leftover length leaving enough to twist into a loop and called it a day.

 

I really like the way it looks all by itself across the bed. I think I will make some more using come other beads floating about my bead drawer. I may even ge one or two up in my shop. Happy stringing!

let's get back in the swing shall we?

I haven't done any proper blogging for a few months now. Work has kept me busy and I haven't even managed to take many photos of fun things let alone DO them. Now that it is a new year and all that jazz I am going to try to get back into the swing even if my style of blogging seems to have gone the way of the dodo. I'm still me and I'm still here.

 

The sniffer is ON at the moment thanks to evil meds and the wheeze is on hold. While I have yet to really tackle the scary room I have...so far this year...tackled my closet, cooked up  fabulous dinner, polished off far too many Reese's peanut butter bells, NOT looked at Facebook, whipped up a few pom-poms, made the bed, and go through an entire day with my pants on backwards (that's what you get when you invest in old lady elastic waist jeans). An entire day! I thought they were fitting really funny but I had been polishing of those peanut butter bells...

I've got two boxes to take to the thrifts and more than one pile of fabric to cut up for sewing. I'm not sure what I am going to do with all of these empty hangers.

 

Three more days left of winter break and it is back to the classroom for me. Three more days I fully plan to take advantage of and do nothing more than enjoy peanut butter bells, dance party happy hour, sleeping in, and wearing pants the proper way. 

a new year, a new bed! {enough with the beds already!}

 

 

 

The wreath and the bell garland were made by me (diy to follow) as well as the tp pillowcase. Eegads but I love that grey fabric. I also love, love, love the crocheted bedspread even if it has now kept me from my birthday blanket (drats!). I really wish I could wrap my head around crochet. I do. I just can't. I also wish I had some mad skills to offer up to someone for a swap....other than garlands I'm nto sure what I can do. Anyone up for making me an end of the bed granny throw for garlands or wonky quilt squares? Anyone? Happy New Year!

the bed in review: 2013