handmade gift...

so...this is my best attempt to photograph my first completed crochet project. my camera seems to have mysteriously disappeared...so iphone will have to suffice :)

this is a crocheted lace cowl, created as a christmas gift for a very dear friend. perhaps we can have a post with her reaction very soon...?

the shape came out a little wonky...not quite like it was supposed to...but i think i like it. it seems to serve more of a warmth-purpose with a wider edge. anyway, apparently there's a technique called 'blocking' which can be used to re-shape knit items that have become distorted during creation.

it's not perfect...but i think it's kinda cute! i started on tuesday night, and finished tonight (saturday)...and all it took was yarn and a crochet hook. so you can DO it if i can!

here's the pattern i used if you feel inspired. my mom and i tweaked it a little bit as she was teaching me, so you may have to work out what works best for you.

remember- with handmade gifts, the effort and care you put into them is the best part!

p.s. i look very tired in the photo because i couldn't sleep and took it about 2 am. and i promise that my left hand is not really a claw. :)

p.s.s. remember the bathroom stripes??

merry christmas!

Pppresents!

yay presents!
I was planning on using recycled grocery bags to make my own wrapping
paper this year, but found two rolls of wrapping paper in my storage
closet...so I kinda felt the need to use those.

so instead...I made bows!

for a pretty cheap, easy, and reusable bow alternative, yarn pom poms
are so fun and easy to make. go here for full instructions!
also...round paper doilies make great gift tags. they cost like $1 or
less for 50 or so, and they look like snowflakes :)

be creative with your gifts...presentation is half the fun! happy wrapping!

Cookie mountain

so I have admittedly been a little absent lately from my poor little blog... But I have been busy christmasing and such! tonight I had a hankering for some chocolate chip cookies...so I made
some! they turned out more cake-y than crunchy or cookie...maybe too much egg ratio to butter and flour?

either way...they're good.

the recipe that i used this time is on the back of the hershey's bag of chocolate chips...they're cheaper than nestle!

i'm still working on perfecting the chocolate chip cookie. if you have any good recipes or secrets...please comment!

pretty!

fall is one of my absolute favorite seasons. the excitement of the holidays is upon us, the weather is cooler and refreshing after the hot hot hot summer, and the fashion is so multi-layered and full of options! probably one of my most favorite things about fall is the leaves...

we don't have too much change here in north cakkilaky, but i think that this year the early cold snaps helped the leaves put on a much more impressive show than usual. here are some shots from a lunch break stroll to get you in the spirit!

sadly, they are mostly blown away now...but that means that christmas is around the corner!

another treasure....

i was going to wait until i had better photography (the phone camera is not always the best)...but i love this one!

one last find from the weekend...lanvin watch! $5! (i told you she has magical powers!!)

let's just keep our fingers crossed that it still works!

treasures!

last weekend i went to wilmington to visit my lovely friend jade for her birthday! celebration, and to spend a lil time with my momma....and had the pleasure of doing some thrifting!

jade has magical thrifting powers, as you will note from some of the posts on her super cool blog. needless to say, in her company, i found some treasures!

1- a cute ring stand! i have been looking for one of these that isn't cheesy or stupid or in the shape of a heart or flower FOREVER. this one is just simple and pretty and perfect for holding the sparklies while you sleep :)

2- teacups! these are so cute, and actually had some fabulous saucers to accompany them...i just brought the cups home, because they are soon to become CANDLES.

3- a little christmas mouse cross stitch kit...you will see his completed photo soon i hope!

yay thrifting!

pretty!

ok....so i am a little biased because i might maybe have a weensy part time job at a j.crew. but seriously people, how pretty and chic are these shoes???!?!?!!

p.s. i know that these are neither secondhand or handmade...but they do have sewn parts! in my blog description i said that i would be posting on pretty things...which i would like to do...so expect to see more not necessarily handmade things that i still think are pretty in the near future!

buy handmade!

so here's an idea.

we all like handmade things, right? so if you'd like to be all crafty and give handmade gifts this season, but you don't have time to make EVERYTHING (which is probably most of us)...you can buy from folks who DO have time!

if you really want to support handmade holidays, go to this site and pledge to buy handmade gifts this season, while requesting that others do the same for you.

my gifts will probably not all be handmade...as i have loved ones who request otherwise and i ultimately always want to make eeeverybody as happy as possible...but i will be creating as many crafty gifts as humanly (me-ly?) possible, that's for sure!

nobody likes parking at the mall in november or december anyway, right?

Friends give good advice

While visiting with my bestest friend last weekend, I commented on her
fabulous fireplace. The gas isn't hooked up, so she stacked some logs
inside and twisted white christmas lights aaaall around
them. Now, you may not know to too well yet, but
Christmas lights and I have a very longstanding love affair. While
wondering at her magical fireplace I said 'man I wish I had a
fireplace, that's such a good excuse to use Christmas lights all
year!' to which my fab friend responded...'well, you could just put
some in a vase....?'. Now why didn't I think of
that? I didn't have a vase big enough, but
I DO have an extremely large crystal bowl that I got as a wedding gift
and couldn't figure out how to use! Voilà! Instant lamp! To boot,
there are Christmas lights in all of the stores now...so get crackin!

Tadaaaaa!

Here is the finished product! On my nightstand! So
easy. The materials only cost about $12, and the
process took maybe 5 minutes. Just glue the wick, melt the wax, and
pour! Follow this link for my inspiration and full instructions.

Lately I love...

Candles!!! I know it's a little corny, but I love candles a lot.
Especially lately. They are just so homey and fall-y and make your
house smell faaabulous! So I took the advice of a fellow blogger and
made one myself :) here it is in progress...

election day party!

we can always count on martha. having an election-results partay?
head on over to the queen's website for recipes that represent different areas of the usa. or perhaps are just plain patriotic...like these cute cupcakes :)

amazing.

ok so maybe not secondhand or sewn...but definitely handmade and amazing! this is a sculpture by artist jeff koons. he is pretty much the picasso of our time. this piece was atop the roof of the metropolitan museum of art in nyc...along with a few others...for a couple of months this fall. it's made out of stainless steel and coated in a translucent material. SO COOL! i especially like how you're always a part of the piece of art that you're looking at, because it's so reflective.

amazing!

martha craft!

first of all, happy columbus day!

i was hunting for an easy sewing project...as i am still pretty much sewing machine retarded...so i of course turned to our favorite craft maven yet again!

this is a pretty cool craft, super easy (once i got my machine working, it took about 5 minutes!), and really useful. we all definitely have a bunch of old t shirts hanging around that we are too attached to and will never throw out, but wouldn't be caught dead wearing. you know you have some...in the bottom of your drawer or a closet junking up your precious clothing storage space!

anyway, this is a great way to make use of those shirts, free up some closet space (!!) and help us be a little more green...ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

all you have to do- flip your tee inside out, and stitch the bottom hem closed. next, trace a half circle around the collar (bowls work great!) and cut it out. last, cut off the sleeves and flip right side out! tadaaa!

if you're feeling extra crafty and have a sewing machine (which i of course was and do) you can use a zig zag stitch around the edges to make em stronger.

go here to get the original instructions and a handy dandy video from ms. stewart herself.

i chopped all of my hair off

well, i didn't really do it...but someone else did per my request.

i like it, but it's SHORT. i have decided that one perk of having short hair, rather than down to my shoulder blades long hair, is being able to wear cute little clippies without them falling out! or completely serving no purpose because they don't hold my masses of hair.

anyway, i had a bag of buttons left over from the pillowcase project....so hot glue + buttons + bobby pins = hair jewelry!


if you try to make these, maybe try a different type of glue. the hot glue took some trial and error, and some of them seem a LITTLE bit fragile.

martha craft

i love martha stewart. she is the woman i will never be...always carving time out of her busy day to create wonderful crafts out of random objects, or bake cookies, or organize something, or garden...or hire someone to carry out her craftiness under a geniously marketed brandname. you know, domestic things.

anyway, on her website, there's this cool section on 'crafts' where they have a 'craft of the day'. you can even get these sent to your inbox...a little dose of daily inspiration! while my husband isn't so excited about the effect of this 'inspiration' on our bank accounts or trips to the craft store...i am VERY excited about the possibilities! there are some especially great gift ideas.

here are some tassel earrings i created based on martha's instructions.
http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3a0656639de62ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=56f8c5607a9a5110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=craftcod_pi
stay tuned for more martha crafts!

the first day i wore them to work, a customer said 'well, those are some interesting earrings' to which i happily replied.... oh! i made them! maybe it wasn't a compliment, but interesting is what we're going for...right?

This pillow is....

Mine!

I have a weird complex with sharing pillows.

I also don't like it when pillowcases don't match....

So I decided to stake a claim :)

'yours' to follow....

Happy fall!

So for some reason when I think of fall.. Reds and oranges and
pumpkins and the crisp wonderfulness in the air... I also think of
baking. So, in honor of fall... I made banana raisin bread! From
scratch!

Recipe as follows:

2-4 mashed ripe bananas

1/3 cup melted butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix mashed bananas and butter in a large mixing bowl. Add sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle in the baking soda and salt...and add flour. Last...add raisins (if you like!). Pour mixture into a 4 x 8 loaf pan, and bake for 1 hour.

today was a bad day.

so i went thrift shopping on my lunch break. here are my finds!! a big fat yellow brooch, some teensy silver shell earrings, and some white metal bamboo hoops. yay! the background is a find from over the weekend...not secondhand but super awesome jonathan adler placemats that i got for- that's right folks- $1 each. better day!

triumph!!

i finally got my sewing machine to work. it has been an uphill battle...usually involving three or so hours, some tears and frustration, and my poor husband trying to fix a sewing machine.

but last night...I FIGURED IT OUT. MYSELF. yayyyy!!

so that little splotch of stitching says 'hi'....my pillowcase project is hopefully soon to be completed and up on the blog!

ban definitely

so i have been peeking in on this wonderful blog for a little while now, and it's fabulously creative author jen seems to have embarked on a new venture.

she has a new site, band.do, full of fairy tale headpieces that i might never have the guts to wear on a daily basis but wish i did. they also each come with their own haiku...fun!

fashion illustration...

I was tooling around on Etsy and came across this shop, which among other oddities is home to vintage sewing patterns.

These could not only provide guidelines to making some fabulous designs inspired by history, but check out the illustrations! They remind me of many that one might come across in a magazine.

Pretty inspiring, no?

i have a cool aunt.
i know lots of people say they do, or there are cool aunts as characters in books and stuff, but i really have one.

anyway, my cool aunt nancy made these for us as a wedding gift, to remind us of our honeymoon in hawaii. i think they're a great craft idea, a gorgeous result that 'seems' relatively simple. they're slices of tissue paper collaged together in a glass frame.

grouped together, they're a great way to brighten up a sad little wall!

i got flowers!

these were a surpise! they completely brightened my whole week.
you can share!

how to make a really small room look HUGE

ok so maybe not HUGE, but a lot bigger!

my bathroom = really small.

one day while flipping through domino magazine (which is fab, by the way) i saw a photo of a gorgeous green striped bathroom with a claw footed tub. it was a bathroom of dreams. a small can of navy paint and a lot of painter's tape later...maybe not a bathroom of dreams, but a lot larger looking!

i think the stripes are a great way to brighten a small space....entryway? closet? laundry room? the possibilities are endless.

treasure!

Last weekend- per sabrina's recommendation- my husband and I checked out a really cool little vintage shop called Hong Kong Vintage in Charlotte, NC.

Thift shopping is like a giant treasure hunt... I found this fabulous tablecloth! I think that bright prints are a great way to add character to a space. Tablecloths are especially great because a) they're inexpensive! and b) you can change them on a whim.

Really brightens a room, don'tcha think?

bonjour!

welcome to my space.

this is my first foray into the blogging world. i need a place to be creative, and share what i love.
i hope you enjoy reading!