an update that is boring

With Greg's help I chopped off a lot of my hair on Friday night before we left for Florida. I have always been one of those women who don't care that much about my hair and usually end up cutting it myself or having a friend do it because suddenly I get the urge for a change and it has to happen right then. That need for instant gratification makes it hard to call a salon and get an appointment and then actually go to the appointment, etc. when I could just grab the scissors and cut the front and sides myself, and yell for Greg to come in and snip the back parts I can't reach. Done in less than 10 minutes.



So Florida was ok. We mainly spent time with Greg's mom which was our reason for going and I'm glad that we did. We don't see her as much as we'd like and it was nice to just relax and talk and be there for her. Highlight of the trip was getting tickets last minute for the hockey playoff game in Tampa on Tuesday. The Lightening got their ass kicked but we're not really Tampa fans anyway.

We saw our good friends (the tattoo guy, but sadly no new artwork for either of us due to a lack of time) and this is one of their cats, Riddick (named for Pitch Black). If only you could see his eyes better - one is blue and the other is yellow/orange.



And lastly this sign is one reason why I don't like Tampa. It's an add for a puppy shop and they claim to have "the lowest priced puppies in Tampa". Disgusting.



It's also good to be home though. Greg stayed on the east coast a bit longer for some other business and comes back tomorrow night. In dog news - Moose is at work with me today for Pet Fridays and we ran into the vet this morning for a weigh-in and he's 86.5 lbs. and turns 5 months old this Sunday. Amazing. In craft news, I've been bookmarking tons of inspiring creativity all around the web: I love this amazing felt tray with it's unique and fabulous embroidery; I definitely want to make these fabric stand-up houses for some of my shelves; these amazing eggs will be on my list next spring; a soft baby block like this would be great for my godson; and maybe some paper mache play this weekend inspired by this gorgeous bowl; and I've been wanting to try the lamb pattern for a while now and just love the embroidery on these little guys.

On my way home

friends

Bella and Uno had a little visit last night. It was extra cute because I think she was "protecting" him from Moose (who of course kept trying to get up on the couch too) - see how she's laying towards the front of the couch so that she's blocking off Uno who's then confined towards the back behind her? So sweet.









Alright, I'm off to Florida until Wednesday so be good.

thank you

Thank you all so much for your sweet comments and thoughts, not just for my mother-in-law's loss, but for everything over the last few months. I really appreciate you taking the time to leave me a little note.

I used to participate in the Self Portrait Tuesday project every week but then I got into a phase of not wanting to share my photo. The other day I was wearing this shirt that I love and decided to take a few photos in the bathroom mirror. I love seeing personal photos on people's blogs so I thought I'd share one here. My hair is so horrible but oh well, I don't care all that much to be honest.



Some gifts I've made lately. I think I love gift packaging more than the gifts themselves.

b i g

No, this isn't Bella. You're seeing Moose. Our puppy who is not even five months old yet. Can you believe it?

In other news, in keeping with the 2006: Year of the Devil theme (well, as far as Greg and I are concerned), my mother-in-law's partner just passed away. She shared the last 6+ years with this man, and even though Greg wasn't close with him, we are both really sad for his mom's loss. Just like me, his family basically consists of only his mom and they are extremely close. So we're making plans right now to leave Saturday to spend a few days with her in Florida.

I have to believe that good news will find us sometime not too far off. And sooner than that I will have a post about how to make the pretty+easy fabric boxes, and also new photos of my bunnies (it's been so long since they've said hello to the inTARnet), so those are things to smile about.

freezer paper wonders

If you haven't heard, freezer paper stencils are hot right now. I suggest you try it too.

You need freezer paper, a shirt or some fabric, an iron, and fabric paint or acrylic paint and a bottle of the stuff you can add to acrylic paints to make them work on fabric. Freezer paper I could only find at Safeway in this monster roll. I now have enough for four lifetimes.



Ok. Print or draw your design on a piece of regular paper. Tape that paper to a piece of freezer paper (non-wax side up) . . . . to be continued. Need to get to work! Ok - here now (and obviously not working, but shush about that). So then use a razor or teeny tiny medical scissors (like I did) to cut out your stencil, cutting through both pieces of paper. Take away the top piece of paper and iron your freezer paper stencil (wax side down) to your fabric. As Amy suggests it is really helpful to also iron a piece of freezer paper to the back of the fabric where your stencil will be (to prevent paint from seeping through).



Dab paint on your stencil. Not too heavy, I liked the results best when I put the paint on as thin as possible but still with full coverage.



Let paint dry. Peel off freezer paper from front and back sides. You can heat set now using the iron or in the dryer or go right for washing and drying. I tried all three. I actually like going right for the wash+dry best - the colors get faded but I like the look. The best part is no matter what I did to the shirts the paint is solid and there was no sign of peeling or chipping, etc. it's definitely there to stay (or so it seems so far - we'll have to update in a few months to see how the shirts are doing then!).

Here I am modeling the shirt (love the little dog done I added to the sleeve).





Check out the amazing things Hillary and Sarah have done already with freezer paper too. All thanks to Amy for sparking everyone's interest with her adorable little elf shirt.

Here are some other shirts I've done so far. I've also been wanting to try giving new life to old shirts by taking them apart and putting them back together again all mixed up (as many crafty bloggers have done recently with wonderful and inspiring results), and I think that along with freezer paper stencils could be a recipe for some really awesome clothing.






And thank you for the spring/easter fabric basket comments! Stephanie was the inspiration source with her pretty little box - using her photo I jumped right in and they turned out to be super easy to make. I can do a quick post tonight showing you how. (And for one commenter: yes, the little tag on the gift is just a scrap of felt and a piece of cardstock with the initial "K" machine-stitched to keep the pieces together. Easy as pie.)

happy spring

Rainbow

crafting despite everything else

Everyone needs a friend, right? I decided to make a little white chick for my blue chick so they could hang together. And believe it or not I actually have other crafts to show you that I've made in the past few days. I know! I can see the look of shock on your face. I've been spending more time reading blogs or wallowing in self-pity than crafting lately and even though things are getting increasingly stressful and I'm starting to have minor anxiety attacks, I've decided that I need to keep crafting because I can forget about everything else for a short while when I am making something and that is much needed. So I made this drawstring pouch to include with my April Color-iffic Swap-o-Rama package that's on it's way to Portugal. It's the second month I've participated in this swap and I really like it. Low-stress/play by the month/include a variety of handmade and store-bought little items = perfect for what I can handle right now. Here is the flickr group page if you want to check it out.

And then I gathered supplies to try Amy's freezer paper fabric stencil project and it's the greatest thing ever! Here is the first stencil I did (naturally I couldn't start with a simple outline, but went right for a detailed image) and here is the result. The picture is actually a drawing of my Bella that I used as my logo when I had a all-natural dog treat business. I've always wanted it on a piece of clothing and I love how it turned out. I did a little stencil of a dog bone on the sleeve too. There are other "in process" and "after washing" photos on flickr but I'm not going to post them here because I have started a handful of other designs and want to do a whole post about it for anyone interested in trying it. For now, go search for freezer paper.

I'm leaving you with these cute chick butts while Greg and I go visit our friend and then try to look for housing.

pom-pom chick

I made this little chick using the first two pom-poms I made following Cassi's awesome tutorial at Bella Dia. As you can tell I need to make many more to achieve the perfection of her poms, but I'm not giving up, I just need to buy more yarn!

This is spring?

I know everyone says "April showers bring May flowers" but what the hell do November, December, January, February, March, and April showers bring is what I want to know? Certainly not a spring-like feeling in the air. The "Devil's Slide" portion (right by our house) of the famous CA Highway 1 is closed down again for an indefinite time because of unstable road conditions due to the relentless rain these past few months. When we get a few hours of sunshine it's glorious here in the Bay Area, but for the last two years the rainy season has just dragged on and on and made it harder to appreciate living in sunny California. But, never fear, I can at least pretend it's spring inside my house.











*These cuties were a bargain at $2 for the pack. A couple of them are going out to blog friends.
*Yes, even more paper flowers from MSL April issue. Everyone who has seen the first two arrangements I did wants me to make some for them.
*Homemade pumpkin and chocolate chip cookies in my favorite tray with a few paper flower toothpicks I added for decoration.
*Adorable plush from Heidi of My Paper Crane fame!