purlyshells

letterpress business cards for katemoak.com

2009-07-23T22:19:00.001-07:00

letterpress business card
Originally uploaded by purlyshells

Here are some business cards I designed and printed. I really love how these turned out.

They are printed on crane's lettra, 100% cotton paper. The paper was handtrimmed to press size, and I trimmed the rounded corners by hand too. The lovely shade of blue ink is pantone 325.

Kate was kind enough to take some pictures of her new business cards for my portfolio. She is an amazing photographer! Please visit her at katemoak.com and take a peek at more of her photos.

Birth Announcements & Scrapbook Notecards

2009-05-31T12:18:00.000-07:00

I had some printing blocks made last week and wanted to try them out. The first block shows 2 little boys, one pulling the other in a little wagon. The other block is a picture of a bunny. I thought they would look very sweet on birth announcements.

So I woke up early on Saturday and printed up some birth announcements and notecards for a friend.

For the birth announcements, I handset the type using a script font for the baby name and Centaur for the rest of the announcement.

The 3.5x5" notecards are for a scrapbook a friend made for her god daughter's graduation party. Guests are asked to write a note to "Paola", then slide each notecard into a little pocket in one of the scrapbook pages. Very sweet. For the paper, I chose an 80lb cardstock so the scrapbook wouldn't be too bulky with all the notecards gathered into a pocket. The font is also Centaur (such a beautiful font!)

letterpress in action: current projects & a kluge film from northern lights

2009-05-23T09:14:00.000-07:00

I've been busy printing any chance I get. Although I'm happy to be printing so much, the downside is sadly I've neglected my little blog. Here are a couple things I've been working lately (personalized stationery and coasters):

One other thing I wanted to share is this really cool video. It shows a Kluge printing press in action with lots of closeups.

A Kluge is gigantic compared to the Chandler & Price printing press I have. The printing area on a Kluge is 12x18" and on my press it's 8x12".

I'd love to make a video like this for my little press. Someday!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T11:41:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!
Originally uploaded by purlyshells

We spent a cozy new year's eve at home. We got the fireplace going and watched "Dog the Bounty Hunter" and "Survivor Man" until about 11:30 haha. Then we counted down the new year with Dick Clark.

The little one didn't quite make it and fell asleep in my arms at 11:30pm. My oldest boy and I gave each other a hug and kiss at midnight and then we went looking for daddy. He went to wash up around 11 and we didn't hear another peep out of him! We found him taking a snooze on the bed so we piled on him and gave him a kiss too.

They say whatever you do on new year's eve is a sign for the year to come. If that's true, I don't mind spending more quiet times at home with my family!

Happy New Year and all the best for 2009...

letterpress christmas card

2008-12-23T20:00:00.001-08:00

letterpress christmas card
Originally uploaded by purlyshells

Last weekend, I worked on our christmas cards. I printed them using my new old printing press.

I splurged and used this paper from Crane's -- lettra 220lb weight -- which is a luxuriously thick 100% cotton paper. This paper is made specifically for letterpress.

It took me a weekend to finish them. I printed the first color (grey) on a Friday night, the second color (red) the following night, then mounted them on grey cardstock. I addressed all the envelopes on Sunday.

Christmas Gifts

2008-12-23T20:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas Gifts: Jars of BBQ Sauce
Originally uploaded by purlyshells

christmas gifts: 2009 wall calendar
Originally uploaded by purlyshells

Kurt gave jars of BBQ sauce as christmas gifts for his co-workers. I helped him by designing and gocco printing all the labels. Then I tied them with string to the jars.

For my co-workers, I designed and printed wall calendars. It's a 4 page calendar, with 3 months to a page and on each page there is a different design which I also printed using my gocco. It was quite a bit of work. I had to print all 4 pages in one night, and one of the pages was in 2-color! I think they turned out pretty nice and my teammates seemed happy with them too.

crafty weekend: gift tags and note cards

2008-10-14T20:39:00.000-07:00

Did lots of crafting this weekend. I made gift tags, book plates and some note cards printed on my gocco printer. So much fun! Except for the BBQ invitation I'll be adding these into my etsy shop.

1. holiday gift tags, 2. holiday gift tags, 3. holiday gift tags, 4. BBQ invitation, 5. little drummer boy holiday card, 6. book plate, 7. flourish gift tag, 8. vintage skates gift tag, 9. mitten gift tag

we've been boo'd

2008-10-11T20:53:00.001-07:00

we've been boo'd
Originally uploaded by purlyshells

Look what we found on our doorstep tonight -- halloween goodie bags! Every year at this time we get "boo'd" and find a treat on our doorstep. They didn't sign their name but we're pretty sure who it's from. We have some friends who are really into the spirit.

What fun, here's what the note says:

You've Been Boo'd

The air is cool, the season is fall
soon boo's will come to all

The treat that came with this special note
is yours to keep, enjoy them both.

The fun comes with friends like you.
Now copy this and make it two.

Then others here among our friends,
will give warm fuzzies that will never end.

We'll all have smiles upon our face,
No one will know who Boo'd each place.

Just one short day to work your fun,
Or a big ZAP will strike so run!

And don't forget a nifty treat,
Like something cute or something sweet.

Please join the fun, let's really wear it,
And spread some BOO'S and lots of spirit.

chocolate "cup" cake

2008-10-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this recipe for a chocolate cake you can make in 5 minutes, in the microwave:
http://www.dizzy-dee.com/recipe/chocolate-cake-in-5-minutes

I told my pregnant friends all about it. If they were overcome with a chocolate-pregnancy-craving this would be the perfect fix. It wasn't overly sweet, perfect for 2 people (or one hungry person with a baby in their belly), and it only took a little over 2 minutes in my microwave.

I made some minor changes to the original recipe after reading everyone's feedback on dizzy-dee's blog post. It turned out awesome! My kids thought it was so cool that we made it in the microwave. Here's my version (but make sure you check out the original recipe!):

Ingredients:

2 tbsp + 1 1/2 tsp all-purpose flour
4 tbsp sugar (trust me, it wasn't too sweet even though this sounds like a lot of sugar)
2 tbsp cocoa (baking cocoa, not hot chocolate mix)
1 tsp baking powder
handful of chocolate chips (optional)
1 small egg
3 tbsp milk
2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions:
1. In an over-sized mug, mix all dry ingredients
2. Add egg, milk, and olive oil. Mix well.
4. Place mug in the microwave. Cook for 2 to 2.5 minutes on high.

On the original recipe she says cook for 3 minutes on high, on an 1000 watt microwave. I have a 1500 watt microwave. My cake started rising after 2 minutes, then I let it go for another 30 seconds for a total of 2.5 minutes. When it started to rise I had to do the cooking-oatmeal-in-the-microwave-thing. What, you don't know what I'm talking about? That's where you stop and start the microwave so the oatmeal doesn't overflow in the bowl!

I've been Tagged: 6 Secrets About Myself

2008-10-01T23:30:00.000-07:00

I belong to a group called Etsy Bloggers and was tagged by Girl with a... to talk about 6 secrets about myself. I'm afraid I don't have any juicy, tabloid secrets to share but here goes!

1. I'm addicted to my "i-Things"
I have almost 30 gigs of music on my iPod. And in my free time, if I'm not listening to music on my iPod, I'm checking email or surfing the web on my iPhone.

2. I'm terribly shy
People that know me would probably be surprised to hear that because I really work hard to seem confident and outgoing. In reality, I often feel very self-conscious and awkward around people. My husband on the other hand, is very comfortable around people. He can strike up a conversation with ease, with anyone in almost any situation. I wish it came that easy for me.

3. I love paper
I used to have a stationery collection when I was in elementary school, and I've always collected books. I have some really nice leather-bound copies from my favorite authors such as Charles Dickens, Somerset Maugham, Robert Frost, and Edgar Allen Poe.

4. I'm a design geek
I love good design. My favorite thing to do lately is look at beautiful fabric, typography, stationary, or illustrations in my flickr stream or in my fellow EtsyBloggers shops :)

5. I think I'm too nice sometimes
I often do things even if i really don't have the time or don't want to, because I don't want to disappoint or hurt anyone's feelings. Sometimes I find I end up taking on too much. I am learning to push back and take on only what I'm really able to do. I think trying to find a good life balance is important.

6. I love 80s music
Maybe I'm just being nostalgic over the songs I grew up with, who knows, but I love the music from that era all the way from New Edition to The Cure. Speaking of which, the 50 First Dates soundtrack has some cool 80s covers! One of the cover songs is a remake of "Friday, I'm in Love" -- one of my favorite songs from The Cure.

Now here's who I tag (I hope I did this right)!
Tilt Creations
JT Stitches
Down the Street Creations
The Spotted Sparrow
Curly Monkey

working around "the shop"

2008-09-14T22:31:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I worked in my shop (aka the garage) a little bit. Using a very fine steel wool and some 3-in-1, I scrubbed off some of the surface rust on the ink plate of my press. It wasn't badly rusted at all, so it cleaned up very easily. The rest of the press I wiped down as best I could. I'm afraid to take it apart to do any major cleaning. The paper cutter has a bit of rust on it too. I tried tackling that with some steel wool but didn't make much progress. The wool is too fine to get the surface rust off. My husband suggested we take the paper cutter somewhere to have it cleaned and powder coated, so I'm going to look into that.

I still haven't gone through all the type (pieces of metal with letters on them, that you print with). I have 3 cabinets of type, but some of the drawers in each cabinet are empty. Trying to figure out how I want to set things up in the garage and then I plan on consolidating my type, hopefully into just 2 cabinets. Here are a few of the drawers:

And more pictures of the equipment:

Last week I worked on an invitation. I created the design, layout, and text in Illustrator. Following some guidelines I found online, I prepared the final digital file and sent it over to a place that makes photopolymer plates. In the class I'm taking, I learned how to make my own plates. It's actually not too difficult if you have the right equipment. But I'm not set up for making plates so I outsourced it. Anyway, I sent my file to this place on a Friday, and I got the finished plate the next day! I can't wait to start printing. Here's the plate:

New obsession: Letterpress!

2008-09-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

I know I've been MIA for awhile, but I'm writing to say I'm still here. The last few months have whizzed by in a blur. Summer has come and gone, and here we are back in school and not only have the kids gone back, I have too! That is, if you count going to class every other Saturday.

I started taking a Letterpress class last month. In the class we've learned about the letterpress printing process, how to prepare/operate/cleanup a press, and all sorts of things related to letterpress. The class studio has a vandercook, a Kelsey, and a big platen press called The Old Reliable.

One of the group projects is to print a book of poetry where each of us gets either one poem, or a whole spread. And the next time we meet for class, we are going on a field trip to a local chapter of Center for the Book.

Here are a couple pictures from the first class (apologies for the not-so-great photos -- these were taken with my camera phone)

Classmate putting some metal type away:

Another classmate using The Old Reliable

Now, I had decided I wanted to get my own printing press...and what luck, I found out about an entire printing shop that was available.

My purchase included a C&P 8x12 printing press, 3 cabinets of metal type (that included a beautiful font called Centaur), a 300lb paper cutter, mitering saw, and furniture/lead/quoins/tympan paper/ink -- basically everything you could want/need in your printing shop. And here it is, my very own press!

One (among many) cool things about this whole experience was hearing about the history of my printing equipment. The press belonged to a wonderful local printer named Dianne Weiss. She was well-known for these miniature books she made (I think some of them were called "carousel" books. When I was at her studio, I was able to see some examples of her work which was really very beautiful. And my paper cutter once belonged to a man named Don G. Kelley, another well-known local printer who had a print shop called Feathered Serpent Press.

Stay tuned for more on my new-found obsession :)

Happy 100th blog post

2008-03-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

When I opened my blog today, I realized my last entry was my 100th blog post! I'm sure others have reached that count in much less time hehe. But I'm still proud!

Way back when I started this blog in December 2004 it was a place to talk about my then new-found knitting addiction. And now it's evolved into a place where I can talk about crafting and my life in general.

I had always kept a journal of some sort from 7th grade all the way through my early 20's. I loved collecting those blank unlined books and filling them up with words. I would record good and bad memories, my feelings, lyrics to my favorite songs, and corny poems *cringe* that I hope no one ever has to read. I wrote in it pretty much every day. It was a running joke with my friends...if they couldn't remember quite how something happened (i.e., "When did we get together again??") they'd ask me to look it up in my journal entry for that date. In the back of my mind I've always sort of regretted not continuing to write. So here I am a decade later and this blog has allowed me to come back to it.

In honor of my 100th post, I've decided to compile a list of milestones in my life (not in chronological order):

*having my first child
*watching him ride a bike for the first time
*having my second child
*celebrating his 3rd birthday (and thinking that it's going by too fast...)
*holding each of my children for the first time
*marrying the love of my life
*celebrating our first wedding anniversary (and then the next 3)
*recording a record/album
*singing in front of 37,000 people
*earning my CCNA
*making my first sale on etsy
*celebrating my husband's 40th birthday with him
*buying a house
*finishing our remodel and moving into our beautiful new home that we worked so hard for

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away" -- here's to more of those!

Getting Settled In

2008-03-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

Unpacking
When we started the remodel last year, I should have took more time going through and purging before I packed up. Now that we've moved back in, I'm overwhelmed by the amount of THINGS we have. Fast forward 9 months and now I have to unpack all this stuff.

I'm doing what I can, unpacking and organizing a little bit every day. I am making keep and sell/donate piles as I go through each box. My goal is to de-clutter! I found lots of great tips on that topic, here.

The first week in the house, I think I emptied out at least 40 boxes. I unpacked all our clothes, the kids' clothes, and all our coats. I sorted the clothes and already donated the baby's outgrown outfits and crib beddings to our neighbor (no more crib -- he's got a new twin bed now). I washed and cleaned all the dishes, glasses, pots/pans, and kitchen appliances. I also unpacked all the pantry stuff. I love all the cabinet space we have now! It's so nice to be able to organize things instead of just cramming them wherever there's space.

Here's our beautiful Crate and Barrel dishes. Our family and friends pitched in to buy the whole set for us as a wedding gift.

That's my husband's BBQ sauce collection there on the top shelf. He loves BBQ!

And here's a peek at our pantry. That tall basket on the floor is where I keep a big sack of rice.

Even with all the boxes I've already unpacked there's still plenty more to go.

There's also a lot of little things that still need to be done around the house, too. For example, my husband finally hung the last door just this weekend. But I know eventually we'll finish!

Etsy Update

Obviously I don't have much time for sewing these days. But I do have 2 new books I'm adding to the shop:

I've already posted this one, here.

**************************************************************************
And here's the second book, which I should have up in the shop within the next couple days:

You can see more pages from these books, and other japanese craft book photos here on my flickr set.

You've just finished your dream home, what are you going to do now?

2008-02-20T18:30:00.000-08:00

For almost a year my husband has been hard at work remodeling our home. Actually, I wouldn't exactly call it a remodel. When I hear "remodel", I think of putting in a new floor or maybe tearing down a wall to open up a room. We tore down almost the entire house (except for one wall) and rebuilt it from the ground up. We had to move out during the project and have been living in an apartment about 5 minutes away from the house.

It was a lot of hard work and we didn't see much of each other, which is tough on the kids. Many of our friends who survived a remodel, warned us it would be tough on the marriage too. My husband and I would work all day during our day job. Then come evening, he would head to the house and work there until midnight. I would pick the kids up from school, get them situated with dinner, homework, baths, and then get them to bed. Sometimes I'd still be up when he got home and we'd talk for a bit before we both went to sleep. But many times I'd already be asleep and he'd be up at the crack of dawn to start the next day. Sometimes it would be days before we'd catch a glimpse of each other! But 9 months later we're finally finished and we're moving back in this week. I feel like we just won the Superbowl :) and if some unseen reporter were to say "You've just finished your dream home, what are you going to do now?" Why, I'd tell them, "We're going home!"

Recently Added to the Shop: Stylish Skirts - Japanese Sewing Book

2008-02-19T17:46:00.000-08:00

Freshly added to the shop, this book has 20 skirts you can sew for yourself and includes paper patterns. All text is in Japanese only but the directions are clearly illustrated.

Please visit my etsy shop for more info!

Recent Sewing Projects: Zippered Pouch and Pencil Roll

2008-02-18T20:35:00.000-08:00

Zippered Pouch
I finished 2 sewing projects last week. One is a zippered pouch with an adorable hedgehog print, which is a japanese linen fabric from superbuzzy.

I used a stiff interfacing called Peltex so that it would keep its shape. The Peltex was from Joann's -- I used a 50% off coupon and got a whole roll of it at a great price. The inside is lined with brown cotton, which I handstitched in place.

Pencil Roll
For the pencil roll I used a great japanese linen printed fabric, again from superbuzzy! Its got pink mushrooms and trees on the pattern and I lined the inside with brown cotton. It will hold 12 colored pencils. For this project I used a felt interfacing, which is much softer and was a better choice for the pencil roll.

Valentine's Day Dessert: Chocolate Strawberries

2008-02-16T19:06:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day, the kids and I made chocolate covered strawberries. Yummy!

You can find a lot of great recipes that have you using a thermometer and double boiler to make these, but I wanted to keep things simple. We used a Baker's dipping chocolate bowl and a Ghirardelli white chocolate baking bar, and just melted the chocolate in the microwave.

First I washed and dried all the strawberries.

Next we placed the Baker's chocolate bowl in the microwave and heated for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between heating until the chocolate was all melted. Then I chopped up the white chocolate baking bar into small pieces, placed it into a microwave-safe bowl and heated it the same way.

The kids had fun dipping the strawberries in the chocolate. We placed each strawberry on a baking sheet as we worked, then we tried drizzling the white chocolate over them. It didn't come out so well...instead of nice drizzles we ended up with thick globs of white chocolate. Oh well, it was delicious nonetheless!

For a great tutorial with pictures and step-by-step directions, check out:
Last Minute Gifts: Chocolate Covered Strawberries

This tutorial is what inspired me, although I opted for the much-easier route and used the microwave, and no thermometer! The next time, if presentation is a lot more critical, I will try the tutorial. As you can see from the tutorial pics those strawberries came out beautifully.

Here's what we used:
Baker's dipping chocolate bowl
Ghirardelli white chocolate baking bar

Discovering New Music

2008-02-11T20:32:00.000-08:00

Music washes away from the soul the dust of every day life. -Berthold Auerbach

It's never been easier than it is now, to discover new music, and I love that.

When I was younger I would listen to my favorite radio stations waiting for "my songs" to play. And if I heard something new that I liked, I'd wait to see if the DJ would mention the artist. If they didn't, I'd agonize that I didn't know who that was! But that was before the Internet.

I admit, I don't listen to the radio much anymore. I have CD's loaded in my car and my ipod with me wherever I go. But I do still listen to the radio at times and if I hear something new, it's okay if the DJ doesn't say who it is! I try to remember a few of the lyrics and later type it in google search. And lo and behold, I'll find web pages with song lyrics or artist information. If I do a search on youtube, I can watch the music video or concert performance. Here's an example, where I've typed in a few words from Ingrid Michaelson's song "The Way I Am" (I LOVE this song!):

The first item in the list is the music video. The second (with the white letters, and blue background) is just the song. Sometimes people just load the music with no video, which is cool too. I realize close to 100% of the population knows this, and all know you can bookmark these on youtube and listen to it anytime you want. But I just started doing this on my computer and my iphone (a gift from my husband) and I think it's great! It's perfect for when I need my new favorite song "fix" and haven't had a chance to download it from itunes yet. Hey, it's the simple things that make me happy.

So here's my new favorite song:

Baby Shower Gift: Handmade Blanket

2008-02-11T17:30:00.000-08:00

Blanket for Baby Joseph
Originally uploaded by purlyshells

For a co-worker's baby shower, I whipped up this really cute blanket. I love the fabric (from Jo-Anns). It's got little animals on there that sort of look like foxes! But I'm thinking they are squirrels because of the little acorns that are also on the print.

I used an olive colored binding, and a creme colored flannel fabric for the other side of the blanket. It still took me some time to cut the fabric and do the binding, but it's probably one of the easier gifts for me to make. Baby blankets are actually my favorite gifts for showers! I often gift it with a baby/parenting book, or a blank journal, or sometimes a CD of lullabies.

Look what someone else made with the same fabric: a really cute baby kimono!

A few of my favorite flickr photos and groups

2008-02-06T18:58:00.001-08:00

This is a screenshot of some favorite photos I've "starred" on flickr.

I get a lot of inspiration from these images. I am drawn to different areas of interest. Some of these pictures belong to various groups I'm subscribed to, others I found when I did random searches for things like "embroidery" or "robots" (the theme used for a recent party).

If you're interested in viewing more photos like these, here are some cool flickr groups to check out:

Go To Your Room! Kids Rooms at home
Since we are remodeling, I like looking at these pictures to get decorating ideas for my boys' rooms. I also like finding better ways to organize.

Japanese Magazines and MOOKs
I love Japanese craft books. They are so inspiring with so many beautifully photographed projects. In this flickr group, people upload pictures from their favorite japanese craft magazines. There is also a lot of helpful information like places where you can buy Japanese magazines or tips on translating a pattern.

Homemade Crafts for Boys
I like getting ideas on things i can make for my boys from here!

Gocco
I love looking at things people have made with their gocco. It's really inspiring. Some creative person even posted a picture tutorial on how to make a gocco christmas card.

There are quite a few picture tutorials on flickr. Here are some of my favorites:
Bottlecap pincushions
Stencil Shirt Tutorial

Join a Flickr group

Once you find one you like, if you want to join it, from that group's page just click on the "Join this group" link.

Joining a group allows you to view recent activities in that group (from the top menu look under Groups for the groups you belong to). It also allows you to add any of your own pictures to those groups you've joined.

If you have a picture you want to send to a group just select "send to group" and then select whichever group from your list of groups.

Dinner at Asqew Grill

2008-02-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

(Photo taken with my iPhone)

Last night the kids and I had my husband to ourselves, so we went out to dinner. The last 8 months that we've been remodeling, he's usually working at the house but last night he got a free pass! (The electricians temporarily shut down the power)

We decided to check out a new restaurant our friends' recommended. Since this was our first time at Asqew Grill we stared at the menu for a few minutes. The lady at the counter said "I've tried everything on the menu and whatever you decide you can't go wrong". She says she even eats there on the days she's not working. I had a good feeling about this place already.

We ordered grilled veggies as an appetizer. My older boy ordered the ribs w/ mashed potatoes, my husband the seared ahi, and I got the cilantro chicken with coconut jasmine rice. The baby shared with me. Most of the things there comes on a skewer, except the ribs haha.

My little one, who is usually a picky eater loved his dinner. We were all pretty happy. Definitely going back there again!

Celebrating our Anniversary: Dinner at LaFondue

2008-02-02T16:39:00.001-08:00

Dinner at La Fondue
Originally uploaded by purlyshells

LaFondue Restaurant is one of our all-time favorite places to go. We rarely go out without the kids but last night we got a sitter and went there to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Wow, 4 years flew by.

Fondue is basically a Swiss dish where you dip bits of food into a communal pot filled with melted cheese. If you've never had it, you should at least try it once. It's a really fun dining experience. Whenever we go to LaFondue, we plan on spending between 2-3 hours there.

They have a great menu and you can choose from a variety of meats, cheeses, cooking methods, and chocolate. We ordered what they call their "La Romantique" dinner combination which is a 4 course meal. It comes with a salad, cheese fondue, the main entree, and chocolate fondue for dessert.

The chef salad is really really good. They give you this huge plate full of lettuce chopped into bite-sized pieces, grated carrots, sliced mushrooms, and these yummy meat and cheese pinwheels. They top it with grated cheese and dressing. It is a great salad but you have to pace yourself and not eat the whole thing or you won't have room for anything else.

For the cheese fondue, we chose the Cajun Beer and Shrimp. It's a toss up between that and the Stinking Rose -- we usually get one or the other. They're both delicious. They give you pieces of bread and veggies to dip into the cheese. We didn't leave much in the pot by the time we were done -- we wiped it clean. So much for pacing ourselves!

Our main entree came with filet mignon, chicken, and shrimp. There are different types of cooking methods. We chose the grill -- the other methods all involve boiling your food in flavored oil, bouillon, or different bisques. We love the grilling method the best. The meat comes sliced in small, thin pieces and you just put it on the grill and cook it together. You get a half dozen little containers of sauces that you can dip the meat into. I always ask for extra of the teriyaki wasabi sauce. Yummy!

Last but not least, the chocolate fondue for dessert. You can get milk, white, or bittersweet and can add different liquors/flavorings. Simple is best I say. We always get the plain bittersweet and it is heaven. They give you a plate full of sliced strawberries/bananas/oranges, pieces of snickers candy, marshmallows, and little balls of rice krispies and cookie dough to dip into the chocolate. It is absolutely delicious. Poor Kurt was too full to have much of dessert but I made sure I left room. It was all part of the plan...all the more for me haha!

If your server knows you are celebrating something, they'll come by with a polaroid camera and take your picture. We have one more to add to our collection :)

Gift for my niece: Japanese Craft Book and Cute Box Bag filled with goodies

2008-01-27T17:39:00.001-08:00

Gift for Lexi
Originally uploaded by purlyshells

For my niece's birthday I put together this gift package. I got her a japanese craft book full of great projects and filled this cute bag with goodies.

Some of the goodies were a strawberry-flavored ring pop, a box of nestle crunch candy stixx, a 3-pack of ferraro rocher chocolates, 2 miniature rolls of ribbon, and some plastic "jewels". I'm sure she's going to make something lovely with the ribbon and jewels. She loves crafting just as much as I do!

I sewed the bag last night and loved how it turned out. The fabric is from superbuzzy. The pattern is from dragoknitfly's Box Bag Tutorial but with a few modifications.

I used a technique from this blog and cut out 1.5" squares from the corners. It really helps to keep the corners even and straight.

I also made my own modification by sewing the lining separately, putting it inside the bag, and handstitching it in place. No messy seams in sight! I will post pictures of how I did this in another post.

Her birthday is on Tuesday. I can't wait for her to open her gift!

How to Make a Robot-Themed Birthday Party: 5 Ideas

2008-01-21T00:27:00.000-08:00

My little one is turning 3. This year, the birthday party theme was ROBOTS.

Once I decided on a robot image I brainstormed several ways I could incorporate this theme into the party. I got a photo-cake made, decorated goodie bags with a picture of a robot, and filled each bag with a windup robot, a mini rock 'em sock 'em robot, a rubber ball and of course every kid's favorite treat: candy!

There are several ways you could make your own robot-themed party.

First you need to decide on an image. You could either google and download a royalty-free image from the web, take a photograph of a toy robot, or if you are artistic draw your own robot.

Here are a few ideas on how to incorporate this theme into your party:

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1) Make photo prints of the robot and decorate the party bags with them.

2) Make a large photo print then have your local bakery make a photo cake with it.

I had someone else draw a robot image for me then I scanned the artwork using my scanner at home. I wanted to use this image on the goodie bags and a larger image for a photo cake. The original image was 3.5" by 3.5". Here's a nifty way someone showed me to calculate the scanning resolution:

Multiply 150 (dpi's) by the size you want to print it to (which for me was 8"), then divide that number by the size of your original. Here's how my formula looked:

150 multiplied by 8 = 1200 divided by 3.5 = 342.86

I rounded 342.86 up to 350 and scanned the image in at 350 dpi's. Then I uploaded that image to a photo printing website and ordered 4x6 prints for the goodie bags and an 8x10 print for the cake. I was surprised how great the image looked blown up to an 8x10 print.

I used a corner rounder to trim the corners on the 4x6 prints, then used glue dots to adhere them onto kraft handle bags. I got the bags at Diddams for .70 cents/each but you could also get them online here or on ebay.

I sometimes get cakes at my local grocery store where they have an in-house bakery. They didn't have any robot-themed cakes so I brought the 8x10 robot print and asked them to make me a photo cake with it. You can tell them how you want the borders and edges iced and if you want any other decorations. I wanted to keep things simple so I just picked a photo from their cake book and said decorate it like this but use my photograph in the middle of the cake.

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3) Print the robot image onto labels or magnet sheets to make stickers or fun refrigerator magnets to put in the goodie bags.

You can use good old white mailing labels or make moo stickers like this.

To make custom refrigerator magnets, you can print the image onto these inkjet magnet sheets.

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4) create a stencil of your robot image and either "freezer-paper stencil" or "gocco" print it onto t-shirts to give away as favors.

I think doing freezer-paper stencil shirts would be good if you are having a small party and only have a few to make (say 5 or less). Gocco would be a better choice if you needed to make more than that.

These are some cool shirts someone made:

Stencil-related sites:
Stencil Art...Creating Stencils
Unwind: Freezer Paper Stencils
stencilry (ready-made robot stencils)

Gocco-related links:
Save Gocco (general info).
gocco tutorial on flickr.

If you're going to gocco onto t-shirts, you'll need to use a gocco stamp kit like this:

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5) Fill the goodie bags with robot toys or candy. There are a few places you can get 'em.

The local party-supply store is a good place (I got these cute windup toys at Diddams!) or you can get toys and candy here:

Robots at Tin Toy Arcade
Robot Pops
Robot Lollipops

and if you're up for it, you could even make your own robot candy using a robot candy mold!

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The day before my son's party, I went shopping for an outfit for him...and what did I find? Robot shirts on sale! And not just one style, but two! I bought both shirts for $10 bucks. I'll post pictures of them as soon as they get washed (they're sitting in the hamper, happily stained with birthday cake).

Blue and Brown Baby Shower Favors and party update

2008-01-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

Here's a shot of the favors arranged nicely at the party. In case anyone is admiring the script on the labels it's actually my handwriting! The darn printer broke the day I was working on them. So I ran out and got a sepia-colored pen and just wrote Thank You in my own writing. It turned out quite nicely. And the mama-to-be liked them which made me very happy!

The party was a success -- we completely surprised my friend. She said she had no idea. Her husband took her to the movies the morning of the party. Then all of us went to their house (our friends' parents let us in) and got to work decorating and getting the food going. It was a potluck so everyone brought their favorite dish. My friend's husband forgot to order a cake so that morning I went to the grocery store and picked up a chocolate cake and had them write on it with blue icing.

When my friend and her husband got home from the movies, we tried to be quiet as they walked up to the front door. Once the door swung open we shouted "Surprise!". She was startled and happy at the same time. I was worried it might be too much excitement but she was fine :)

Blue and Brown Baby Shower Favors: kraft paper boxes filled with candy pacifiers

2008-01-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

Baby Shower Favors
(view more photos of these favors)

Originally uploaded by purlyshells

We are having a surprise baby shower for a friend and I made some favors to give away at the party. The favors are brown kraft boxes wrapped with a strip of blue paper and tied with brown ribbon. On the ribbon I tied mini blue pacifiers.

The boxes came in a kit from Michael's and in the kit were 50 strips of handmade paper and brown kraft boxes. The mommy-to-be loves the combination of blue and brown so I decided to customize the favors. I created a template using one of the handmade paper strips in the kit and cut out strips of tiffany-blue scrapbook paper instead. My paper cutter came in handy for that! The inside of the boxes are lined with paper baking cups filled with mini candy pacifiers. The candy tastes like sweet tarts (I snuck a taste when I was filling the boxes!).

At first I shopped at Michael's for the candy and the pacifiers but it was too expensive (I was making 50 favors). So I googled for "mini pacifiers" and "candy pacifiers" and found a couple places that sold them for a lot less. I ordered 4 12-ounce bags of the candy and a pack of blue mini pacifiers from ebay for a great deal!

I have an electronic kitchen scale that I used to measure the same amount of candy for each favor. First I placed the box with the paper liner on the scale and zeroed it out. Then poured in candy until it weighed exactly 1 oz. I had exactly enough candy for 50 favors. Amazing!

There were 144 mini blue pacifiers in the pack I bought so I had a lot left over. I decided I will make ribbon necklaces with a pacifier "charm" tied on each. I'll use them for a popular baby shower game that I'm sure a lot of people have heard of. It'll go like this. Each guest will get one necklace when they arrive. Each time they hear someone say the word "baby" or each time they see someone cross something (legs, arms, or ankles) they can take the necklace from them. The one with the most necklaces at whatever cut-off time wins a prize!

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

2007-12-16T20:51:00.000-08:00

Christmas House
There's a house around the corner we like to call "the Christmas house". The house is lit up and decorated every year and it's magical. These pictures don't do it justice (taken from my camera phone!) but it gives you an idea of some of the decorations they have. They have a different scene in each of their 3 garage doors, and then they have reindeer, more lights, and a giant snow globe on their front and side lawn.

Here you are, the Christmas house:

These are the lights and decoration along the side lawn

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The house is a 3 car garage and they have a different scene inside each garage door opening. This is a scene inside one of them:

Horse Drawn Carriage
Another sign of Christmas around here is this horse drawn carriage. I got stuck behind it but I didn't mind slowing down :)

Holiday Gift Guide: 6 Handmade Gift Ideas

2007-12-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

If you're like me and running out of time on the handmade gifts-to-make list, here's a list of 6 (relatively) quick and simple things to make yourself. The best part is, these patterns are free :) yippee!

Baby Shrug

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I've actually tried this pattern already and loved how simple and fast it was to make.

Fingerless Gloves

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Knitting Needle Pouches

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Bias Tape Tote Bag/Organizer

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Baby Kimono Shirt

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Amigurumi Holiday Toys

Japanese Crochet Patterns - How to Determine Sizing

2007-12-03T11:34:00.001-08:00

In a recent post, I shared my experience following a japanese crochet pattern. Someone asked me about how to figure out the sizing. The japanese crochet books I have are written only in Japanese, but I notice that the charts that illustrate each of the projects have measurements marked in centimeters. You could get an idea of the sizing by converting cm to inches and then looking up the measurement on a sizing chart. Here are some links that I found helpful in calculating sizing:

Here's a cm to inches calculator:
http://www.manuelsweb.com/in_cm.htm

Children's Body Measurements and Garment Sizes:
http://www.fibergypsy.com/common/children.shtml

Here's an example of how I applied this.

The sweater (worn by the girl in the far right) has a chest size measurement of 66cm. Take that measurement and plug it into the converter and here's what you get (26 inches!):

Then look up 26 inches on the body measurement chart, which tells me that the sweater is a girls size 7.

I know that isn't rocket science, but boy did I feel clever figuring that out! LOL :)

How to Read a Japanese Crochet Pattern

2007-11-26T21:57:00.000-08:00

In a recent post I mentioned how I tried a japanese crochet pattern for the first time. It took a little bit of time for me to figure it out, but I did it! In case anyone's interested, I wanted to share my experience with other new japanese crochet pattern chart users :)

First things first, I should mention that I'm not an expert in japanese crochet patterns, and I'm not an expert crochet-er either! I learned to crochet from my grandmother when I was very little, and then recently picked it up again. I would say I'm at a novice/intermediate level. But if you have any questions or comments I will try my best to help. I welcome any corrections or tips too (just tell me in a nice way so you don't hurt my feelings! LOL)

Until I discovered Japanese craft books, I've always seen crochet patterns written out, like this:

Rnd 1 Chain 2, work 7 sc in 2nd ch from hook, sl st in first sc to join.
Rnd 2 Ch 1, 2 sc in ea sc around, sl st in first sc to join.

I've always had a hard time following those traditional (non-charted) crochet patterns. One reason is because every time I look away from the book to look at the stitch I'm making, I lose my place.

Japanese craft books use international chart patterns, which look like the picture at the top left of this post.

I've always been a visual learner. For me, what's great about chart patterns is that if I lose my place, I can look at my stitches and compare it to the diagram to figure out where I am. So much easier (for me anyway!). Are you ready to get started? Let's go!

The hat pattern I'm going to use in my example is the picture at the top of this post. (The second picture is what the finished project would look like!)

SYMBOLS

The first thing I recommend is familiarize yourself with the different symbols in the japanese crochet pattern and what stitch each symbol represents. I found the Haas Design website was very help -- it has a stitch legend, instructions and even video clips for basic crochet stitches. Here are a few basic stitches (just visit Haas Design to view the full chart):

ROUND 1

This is a circular pattern, so we need to work our way from the center starting with the first round:

Each symbol is a stitch. Starting from the symbol in the center (circled in red) go in the direction of the blue arrows:

The symbol in the middle is basically saying create 2 loops. Here's a 3-step illustration of how to create the 2 loops and then how to start the first stitch after you create the loop:
(I've also recorded a short video clip demonstrating this. I'm having problems posting the video right now, but once I get it posted I will link to it from here!)

After you make those 2 loops you would chain 4, then [2 dc in the ring, ch 1] 5 times, dc, then join the circle with a slip stitch to the 3rd chain of the beginning chain 4:

ROUND 2

After you make that slip stitch to join the round you are now ready to start Round 2. Remember, follow the pattern going counter-clockwise!

You probably got the hang of this already, but just humor me :) Let's read the pattern together -- Round 2 would go something like this:

chain 3, dc, [2 dc, ch 1] 11 times, slip stitch to the 3rd chain of the chain 3 that started round 2

That's basically it. Now you just keep following the pattern round by round until you finish. And your completed hat would look something like this (but probably better!):

After writing this post, I realize I'm not a technical writer. But still, I hope what I wrote made sense and that the diagrams and screenshots were helpful! If you decide to give it a try, the pattern I used in my example is from this book (ISBN 978-4-02-190419-6):

Would love to see pictures of your finished hat!

Thanksgiving Weekend - Rest, Relaxation, and some Crafting

2007-11-24T11:15:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving with their loved ones. We definitely enjoyed our Thanksgiving and this 4-day weekend has been great too! The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity at work and home and it's nice to slow down a little bit, before the mad rush of Christmas begins.

So far this weekend I finished this baby blanket. I love the colors in the fabric -- dusty rose and green -- and I chose a nice olive-colored binding tape for it. I just need to wrap it up and it'll be ready for gifting.

There is a lovely new fabric shop -- The Bobbin's Nest Studio -- in my neighborhood and I had an excuse to buy fabric :) I'm working on 2 custom orders this weekend: 6 crayon rolls and 2 art pencil rolls. I'll post pictures hopefully tomorrow when they're finished. The Bobbin's Nest is lovely. The shop owner (Erin) has really great taste in decorating and the store is very well-organized. They carry fabric, yarn, crafting notions/supplies/books, and a whole room of sewing machines that you can use by the hour. I love it!

etsy bloggers theme: the story of my craft

2007-11-03T00:20:00.000-07:00

This week's Etsy Bloggers theme is "The Story of your Craft". The biggest influence on my craftiness is my grandmother. As a seamstress she made gorgeous wedding and pageant gowns for a living. She is also what I would call a chronic crocheter. She is constantly making doilies and granny squares! Her house is full of beautiful crocheted pieces...cushion covers, table cloths, with doilies under vases, lamps, and baskets. It wouldn't be grandma's house without doilies :)

How did I learn
I didn't go to school to learn crafting. I learned to sew and crochet from my grandmother. The first thing I ever sewed (if I remember correctly) was a really simple skirt. I remember using scrap fabrics from my grandmother's sewing room to make it. Her "sewing room" was really this little space right by the back door that led to her garden. She had a table up against the wall for her sewing machine and fabric. I loved sitting there watching her make things or playing with the scraps of material...I caught the crafting bug at a young age!

Online Tutorials
I learn a lot from online tutorials. Google makes it really easy to find them. There are so many great crafting sites out there. Here are my recent favorite tutorials:
Freezer Paper Stencil Tutorial
Gocco Tutorial
Make your own (sewing) label

And some great crafting sites:
Craftster
Etsy Labs -- Check out the tutorial links in the right sidebar

Inspiration
"You're the inspiration..." (remember that old Chicago song?)

I get inspired from everything around me: my favorite blogs (see my sidebar for links!), pictures on flickr, craft books (especially japanese craft books!), and my children...to name a few ways. I love simple and classic designs, vintage fabric, interesting color combinations, and pretty paper.

Things I make
I really enjoy making things by hand. Lately I've been doing a lot more sewing, but I also knit and crochet. I make children's accessories such as crayon and pencil rolls, book covers, and recently I made an adorable (if I say so myself!) child's apron and mitten set. I also enjoy making party favors and goody bags for our family parties. And last but not least, I also do calligraphy--I hand-lettered all the place cards for our wedding and our friends' wedding invitations!

My own shop
So after years of quiet crafting :) I finally took the plunge and opened up own etsy shop in September of this year. I've learned a lot in the past month. The first sale I made I really took a big loss on the shipping! I learned the hard way how expensive international shipping is. But overall it's been a great experience so far.

finished project and japanese craft book shop update!

2007-11-02T17:08:00.000-07:00

Just finished 2 beautiful crochet hats...
Only problem is -- they don't fit. It was definitely trial and error for me.

I was working off of a japanese crochet chart and couldn't figure out the gauge. When I finally finished the first hat, I realized it was much too big. It would fit a bowling ball :) My second attempt I modified the template and almost got it right. It fits the top of my head, but it seems a little long -- the bottom of it touches the top of my shirt collar haha. I should have made it 2 rows shorter. I'm going to give it one more try. You know what they say, the third time's a charm!

I realize now that I'm in love with crochet charts. It's so much easier to work off of a chart then following a written pattern. This website was so helpful to figure out japanese crochet charts. It has a stitch legend for crochet symbols and also provides video demos of each stitch! When I was first learning to read japanese crochet charts, I would look at the chart and then look at the stitch legend on the website to figure out the crochet stitch.

big shop update this weekend!
I handpicked all of these japanese craft books and I just love all the projects. Please visit my etsy shop purlyshells if you want to check out more pictures. Here's a sneak peek!

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custom gift: skull and roses pencil roll

2007-10-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

Recently I was asked to make a custom pencil roll in skulls or motorcycle fabric. It was to be a gift for a friend described as a "funky, free spirit". With Halloween around the corner, the timing couldn't have been any more perfect to find skulls fabric! I picked out a couple different fabrics, then I sent swatch images for her to choose from.

I finished sewing the roll a few days ago, but finally had a chance to photograph it. I posted it to my etsy shop yesterday and she already bought it :)

I've done custom sewing projects for people before, but this is the first time I've received a custom order through my etsy shop. I have to say it was a pretty good experience.

I just started on etsy and having my own shop is all new to me. I've made a couple sales already and overall I feel good about the interactions I've had. For anyone starting their own business, one thing I've learned is that it's important to communicate. There's a saying that it's better to over communicate than under communicate. It's just good practice that I've learned from my day job as well. People can't read your mind so you can't assume anything. Now I'm not saying send a gazillion emails -- that would probably be annoying :) But I'm sure it couldn't hurt to send a friendly email confirming you received their order or payment, and then to confirm that you've dropped it in the mail. I know when I'm on the other end as a customer, I've appreciated those kind of emails.

Anyway, I hope her friend enjoys her gift!

fall leaves and remodel update

2007-10-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

On Saturday and Sunday afternoon, I walked next to the little one while he rode his bike around the neighborhood. There were tons of leaves on the ground.

He had so much fun zipping around on his bike. And he squealed with laughter as he climbed off his bike and got ready to jump into a big pile of leaves:

Here he is taking a turn as fast as he could. It's a great shot for a camera phone -- I got the rays of the afternoon sun shining through the trees overhead:

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The rain last week slowed things down a bit, but otherwise the remodel's going well. The stucco is finished and the exterior of the house will be painted in the next week. Daddy spends a lot of time working on the house. I come by with the kids on the way home. The kids and I love walking through the house and seeing how everything's coming together :) Here are pictures from a few weeks ago. The last picture was from just this morning.

gone fishing

2007-10-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

Recently the little one got sick and had to stay home with me. I was trying to think of something fun we could do together. I decided we would "go fishing". First we drew and colored some fishies. Then we made a fishing pole. I didn't have any string on hand, so instead used some leftover purple ribbon. I tied the purple ribbon to a spoon, attached a button to the end of the ribbon as the "hook", then put some double-sided tape on the button. Are you getting all that?? It was so much fun watching the little one play. He would get excited everytime he actually caught one. Every couple minutes we'd have to put a fresh piece of tape on the end of the button - it would get full of lint and lose its stickiness haha. Anyway, after only 10 minutes of fishing he said he wanted to do something else! I need to put together some crafty kits for other things we could do on sick days...

Here he is trying to catch the first fish:

Looks like he got a bite:

"I caught one mommy!" :)

japanese sewing books and more crafting

2007-10-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

These japanese sewing books came in the mail this week! I love almost all the patterns.

Something I've heard about japanese sewing books is that the patterns don't have seam allowances. So I have to make sure to allow for that when I'm cutting out the pieces.

Here are a few pictures; more photos can be found on flickr.

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I made this matching child's apron and mitten set. It's going in my etsy shop. I used an adorable kitchen canvas fabric from superbuzzy!

quilt show and finished projects

2007-10-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

A friend and I went to the Quilt Festival last week. The kids were in daycare and we took the whole day off -- what a luxury! We spent the whole day looking at beautiful fabric and admiring gorgeous quilts. Here are just a few of the quilts we saw there:

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I did a lot of sewing myself this past weekend. I just finished an order for 15 identical art pencil rolls. They're going to be party favors.

Will post more pictures of these once I have 'em filled with pencils and all rolled up.

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The little one really enjoys storytime before bed. But I was getting tired reading the same books every night haha. So I ordered some new books for us to read together (The Goodnight Train and My big train book). They have wonderful illustrations. If your little one loves trains as much as mine does, then I would highly recommend these :)

Don't you love getting packages in the mail?

recent sewing and my own etsy shop!

2007-09-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

I've thought about it for so long and I've finally done it...I just opened up my own etsy shop! I recently finished sewing a few bags and some crayon rolls to add to the store. Actually I've been doing a lot more sewing lately, and not just for the shop! Let's see, so far for September I've made:
-a bag for my sister with a matching coin purse for her birthday
-a coloring pencil roll for my niece
-a baby blanket and bib for my co-worker's baby gift

My sister really liked her bag and coin purse and has been using it every day since I gave it to her (or at least every time I've seen her since then haha). And my niece loved her pencil roll. What I love the best about making things is when the person you give it to really likes it! It just makes my day...

Here's a picture of the baby blanket and bib (I did the calligraphy on the tag too!):

goodies in the mail & completed projects

2007-09-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

I love getting packages in the mail...especially when it's fabric from superbuzzy.com and my very own Gocco! I really like the pear fabric now that I see it in person. I wish I had ordered more. I am thinking of making an apron for a friend's daughter with either the pear or the lemon/citrus fabric, and a crayon roll for my youngest son with the car fabric. The possibilities are endless.

I ordered the Gocco from etsy seller alittlegoodness. I've been looking for one for the past year. Gocco printers are hard to come by because they've discontinued making them here. You can only get them from Japan. You can find out more about Gocco, where you can get them, and other Gocco-related resources here: http://www.savegocco.com/

This weekend I did a little bit of sewing. I made 2 art pencil rolls and a crayon roll for my etsy shop :)

And here's a picture of the bag I made for my sister's birthday!

You can view more of my sewing pics on flickr.

goodies in the mail: clover yo-yo makers

2007-08-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

My new yo-yo makers :)

I just love getting crafty stuff in the mail...Look what just came in: clover yo-yo makers in 3 different flavors! I got a petite and large round yo-yo maker, and one large flower-shaped one. You can use these as cute embellishments on a purse.

As an example of what you can do with yo-yo's, here's a lovely purse by Lisa over at U-Handblog

house remodel & recent crafting

2007-08-24T16:57:00.001-07:00

There's a really good reason why I haven't had much time for blogging these days. We are remodeling our house and it has taken over our life. The good thing is, we're half way done with the remodel (I think). We moved out about 3 months ago and if all goes well, we should be moved back in December - 3 months from now! Here's a picture of the house taken earlier this week. We tore down the existing 1100 square foot house and rebuilt it from the ground up. The new house is going to be about 3,000 square feet, with enough yard space for the kids to run around in (we have ~ 10,000 square foot lot).

Despite being really busy with the remodel and raising our kids, I've had a little time for crafting. I was starting to go into crafting withdrawals so I found time between 10pm - 2am :) on a couple nights to make these:

Pink Floral Coin purse for my friend's daughter Isabella. It's made with the same material as the purse I gave her for Christmas last year. If you want to see a picture of that purse, you'll find it here -- it's the third picture in that post.

Here's a peek at the inside of the coin purse

I made this purse for my friend Linda's birthday. I used another pink fabric for it - I'm in love with pink lately! I just love this sewing pattern - it's the second purse I've made from it (Simplicity Pattern 4668)! (BTW, I bought the pattern from an ebay seller, but she sold me the last one she had and she said it's being discontinued. In case you want to give it a try, I did some searching and found another place that still sells it: Tall Poppy Craft.

Here's the first purse I made using the Simplicity 4668 pattern. I used vintage brown and white striped fabric that my grandmother gave me. You can't really tell in the photo, but the brown stripes are slightly crinkled -- it looks almost like there's brown crinkled ribbon running through the fabric.

And finally, here's a little "wristlet" I made for a friend. She went to Spain as part of a study abroad program. The wristlet was my going-away present.

taking notes in style

2007-08-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

On Friday, I spent my lunch hour at Barnes and Noble and found a beautiful new collection of journals. I really liked the chartreuse green journal with the little birds sitting on a branch. They only show a few styles on the B&N website. But I think there are at least 5-6 different styles to choose from if you visit the store. Student artists at the Savannah College of Art and Design are selected to form a design team each quarter to design and manufacture a line of products. What a great experience and opportunity for these students to showcase their talents -- and, I get to take some notes in style!

my boo is turning 40

2007-01-19T19:34:00.000-08:00

I still see that same smile...

pfaff fever

2006-10-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

I have been coveting my own sewing machine for I'd say the past year. I couldn't justify getting one because 1) they're expensive 2) I don't have much free time 3) we don't have much space in the house for one 4) I don't have much free time...oh I already said that. But after thinking about it for so long and with much encouragement from my friend Andrea, I finally caved! So finally, I now own my very own Pfaff sewing machine!

Here are a few things I made over the holidays with my new sewing machine:

fall days

2006-10-15T00:34:00.000-07:00

The days aren't as warm, and the nights have a cold chill to them. You can tell fall is here, and October is a busy month! Here's what's been happening lately:

My twin sisters-in-law turned 50
My husband and I helped throw a party for his twin sisters. All our family and friends met at a restaurant 30 minutes before they arrived and we surprised them. It was a wonderful party and everyone had a great time. Here are the party favors I made. I filled the round tins with white almonds, then tied on a silver thank you charm with some pink and white ribbon.

Walkathon
Every year in October, my son's school has a walkathon fundraiser. Sponsors can pledge either a flat amount or pledge by the laps. It's really a fun day for everyone. Stands are set up around the track where the kids can stop for a cup of cool water, an otter pop, or fresh popcorn made in a cart rented just for the event. There are also parents standing around with spritzers to help cool the kids down. One of the stops is the popular "crazy hair" stand, where kids can get their hair painted in any color of the rainbow. The girls love having feathers or different accessories twisted and tied into their hair. Another popular stand is the face painting stand. All of them are run by parents volunteering for the day.

The pumpkin patch is back!
You know that fall is here when the empty lot on the corner is suddenly filled with bales of hay, jumping tents, and pumpkins. We took the kids last weekend to pick out pumpkins and play.

pearl drinks and a stamp set

2006-09-23T17:50:00.000-07:00

My older boy and I recently went to a local pearl-tea shop to have one of our favorite treats. He ordered his usual mango-milk with extra pearls and I ordered a lychee milk-tea. If you haven't had this type of drink before, it's a very unique experience. The drink itself is made up of green or black tea, mixed with milk and any of a variety of flavors. Evan and I usually order mango and lychee, but the place we go to also offers passionfruit, strawberry, honeydew, and taro to name a few. What makes the drink unique are little tapioca "pearls" that you sip with the tea, using an extra-wide straw. It could also be fun to use the straw to shoot the pearls with, similar to a spit-wad (not that I've ever done it myself!). Pearl tea used to be more of a novelty, but now you can find pearl tea shops all over the place where we live.

After ordering our drinks, we stopped at a Japanese stationery shop called Maido, where I picked up this adorable little stamp set:

good cup of coffee

2006-09-15T08:37:00.000-07:00

This was delivered yesterday, and I got it for free! (I just filled out a survey) I'm enjoying a cup of good coffee right now...I'm the only one in my house who drinks coffee, so the single-cup maker is just perfect. If you're interested, the promotion is still going until January 2007. Just go to http://www.sharesenseo.com and follow the links and instructions. Complete and submit the survey questions. Based on the answers to the questions you may receive a Senseo Coffee Maker.

Good luck!

teeny tiny swap deliveries

2006-09-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

We participated in our very first swap, hosted by Amanda at zhinkadinkadoo. The boys got their craft packages this week. It was so exciting coming home every day to find something waiting for us. Here are pics of what we received. Thanks so much to everyone for their thoughtful packages! And thanks to Amanda for such a fun swap.

This was from Donna at Knitting While Intoxicated: a book (made by Ivy!) about a mouse named Olivia, supplies to make our own book, little red envelopes, and fun stickers.

This was from Shannon at Sacred Waters Soap: a solar system and crystal growing kit. These will keep the boys busy and entertained for a long time.

These are from Sonia at smileface: yummy snacks (sorry the strawberry pocky sticks and multi-flavored gum balls are missing here! The kids got to the package before I could take a picture), handmade stationary set, a bedtime storybook made by Caleb, and these great 3D puzzles (the parts comes on a flat card where you punch out the pieces and put them together to build something).

little radio flyer bicycle

2006-09-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the fuzzy picture -- it was taken with my camera phone. I didn't have the camera and didn't want to miss the moment. The baby got his very own bike last week! He loves riding his new bicycle. He loves it so much he'll even put the helmet on just so he can ride it (he must know I won't let him get on without the helmet).

Before he got this bike, he was using a little plastic tricycle that our friend gave him. He liked playing with the plastic trike, but it was a little unstable and he kept tipping over on it. He'd scoot it so fast the back wheels would catch his feet. After a particularly bad face plant, Daddy piled us into the car and headed to Toys R Us. We came home with a new bicycle that day. The baby's still too little to reach the pedals (in that 3rd picture he scooted all the way forward on the seat and he still barely touched the pedals with his toes). For now, he's content to have us push him around so he can ride right next to big brother on his own bike. He learned a new word that day :) Now, everytime he passes by the garage he asks for his "bike".

Teeny Tiny packages
Our craft swap recipients should be receiving their packages by now, or at least within another day or two. I have to admit, I'm a little anxious. I know it's the thought that counts, but we don't have any experience with craft swaps -- this was our very first one. I didn't know what to put in there, and when I look at everyone's blogs I just don't feel as crafty and cool. I know, I'm venting a bit. Anyway, I hope they like what we sent! We did have a good time putting it together. I wish I took pictures. I sort of ran out of time...I was wrapping them late Monday night, and they needed to get out by Tuesday.

godiva chocolate

2006-08-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

Look what I found on my chair when I came in today...

Yummy chocolate from two ladies/friends at work. I'm such a lucky gal!

2006-08-28T23:16:00.000-07:00

First day of school
My oldest was so excited about going back to school. Today was the first day back. He missed his friends over the summer. We were up bright and early today and left the house right on time. Hopefully this is a trend that will last the rest of the school year. We saw one of my son's classmate who moved away 2 years ago; she came back. It was nice to see her and everyone again. The first day of school is always such an exciting day.

Look how tall my boy has grown -- he's almost as tall as his teacher! :)

Weekend Wedding
On Saturday, my handsome hubby and I went to our friend's wedding. It was a really nice wedding. There was a soloist and a choir during the ceremony. They sang so nice it made you tear up. After the ceremony, there was a tea party and then later in the evening there was a dinner reception. We had a great time...much love and happiness to the newlyweds!

Doesn't my husband look great in that tux?

Teeny tiny swap

2006-08-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

The boys and I are participating in our very first swap, called a Teeny Tiny Swap. We're basically making small care packages of special things and mailing them to our "swap matches". We could include anything we want, but ideally things that are handmade. Here's some detailed info about the swap from the wonderful swap organizer herself. She'll be posting pictures of the packages so you can check back later to see all the goodies.

I'm excited and anxious at the same time about the swap...I'm also a little intimidated. Everyone seems so crafty and cool. And how do they find the time to make/do all the wonderful things that they talk about on their blogs? I love looking at the pictures they post of their crafting. I hope our swap matches like the packages we make for them!

What else have I been up to this week?

Looking for a new daycare for my little one *sigh*. Our caregiver just told all her parents that she's closing her daycare. I only have a few weeks to find someone I can trust to care for my baby. I wish I could stay home with him but that's just not something my husband and I can afford right now. Living in California is expensive. I've been calling and visiting some potential daycares in our area. We'll see how it goes.

Getting ready for school to start
We finished all the clothes and supply shopping last week for my older boy. He's already got his backpack filled with the items from his supply list. This week I plan on washing all his clothes, hemming his pants, and getting him a haircut! Yesterday I had him practice his multiplication. We drew a grid on a piece of paper with 0-12 across the top and then down the left side, then we made about 5 copies of it to fill out. That's about the extent of his academics this summer! (Just kidding)

flowers for mama

2006-08-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

After dinner tonight we went for a walk around the neighborhood but we didn't get past the corner house. We stopped to say hello to our friends and ended up talking with them for an hour. In front of their house they have a bed of flowers. The baby grabbed a little bunch and ran back to hand them to me. It was my first bouquet from my sweet baby boy. I just cherish the moment! It made my day.

It's been awhile...

2006-08-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

Needless to say, it's been a long time since I've written. Our family experienced an unexpected loss that we're still recovering from. I haven't had the time or energy to write about anything since then.

This past week I took off from work to spend time with my two boys. I thought it would be nice to hang out together before summer vacation is officially over. When the week started, we made this list of "chores" and "fun things" that we wanted to accomplish. Didn't make too much progress on that list haha, but I think it was still a great week together. We played a lot, took a few walks, and relaxed. School starts soon for my older one. The summer went by so fast. We made some great memories...we had a great time visiting our friends in Vegas, our older boy competed in his first Junior-Parent Golf Tournament (!), and the baby learned some new words ("flower", "bee", "no", and "boo-boo"). Here's a snapshot of our son and our friends' son at the lake:

I started a new crochet project. When I have enough squares, I'll join them together to make a scarf. The pattern is called Willow on page 106 from the book 200 Crochet blocks by Jan Eaton.

The little one wanted to show you a close-up :)

2006-04-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

Here's a present someone sent, as a thank you for something I did. It's so wonderful to be appreciated with chocolate!

A wrap for me, a baby blanket, and a new cookbook

2006-03-30T23:15:00.000-08:00

I've been working on a wrap/scarf for myself. I'm using this beautiful yarn I bought at Stitches West. I love the colors! It's taking me awhile to finish it, but the way the weather's been lately it'll still be cold enough to wear it by the time I'm done.

I'm also making good progress on the baby blanket. It's about 4-5 inches long! The baby it's for is due in May.

I picked up a new cookbook on Amazon called "A Flash in the Pan". I have so many cookbooks, but this is my new favorite. I've already marked a few pages but almost every recipe in the book is a winner, and the best part is all the meals can be made in just one pan. Less to clean up. This week I tried the Summer Chicken with Tomato Caper Coulis, and this Thai chicken stir fry--the recipe called for lemongrass, ginger, and cilantro. Both dishes came out pretty good. It's so nice to try something new...it was getting boring making the same thing every week.

Valerie's celebration lunch

2006-03-27T13:26:00.000-08:00

A few of us at work went to Black Angus for lunch, and then had cake afterwards to celebrate Valerie's baby-to-be. Here's a picture of the cake...chocolate mousse from a bakery in San Francisco. I have to get the name of the place from Cecelia. It was sooooo delicious! At first everyone was silent after they took their first bite, and then we couldn't stop talking about how great it was. MMMMM.

2006-03-20T17:40:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of the baby blanket I started over the weekend. The resolution's not that great since I took it with my camera phone. But I'll post more/better pictures soon!

it's in the water...

2006-03-20T17:05:00.000-08:00

There are so many babies on their way this year! I have 3 friends who are pregnant right now, and 2 of them I already know are having girls. One of them is still to early to know. I want to make baby blankets and maybe a hat for each (so ambitious for someone with a one-year-old!). This weekend I did some yarn shopping for the first blanket. I normally don't like using acrylic yarn, but the blanket needs to be easy to care for, and nothing beats being able to throw it in the washer and dryer without worrying about the blanket felting! So I bought 3 skeins of TLC Baby (acrylic yarn) in Powder Pink. I love the blanket my girlfriend's mom made for my youngest, so I went online and found a baby blanket pattern that looks just like the one she made for me. I started it over the weekend and have just about 3 rows done, 150 more to go -- haha! This will be my first attempt at crochet. Reading the pattern doesn't seem to hard, but then again it seems like a simpler pattern than most.

What else did I do this weekend, other than yarn shopping? Window shopping at Santana Row! We spent a few hours at Santana Row which is this great outdoor shopping center just around the corner from us. We had amazing weather on Sunday and it was perfect for walking around outside. We had lunch at Straits Cafe and the food was delicious. I had the lobster pad thai; Kurt had this ginger/garlic salmon dish that was baked in a banana leaf. Yummy! After lunch we walked down to Ben & Jerry's and the little one got to try his first taste of ice cream. He loved it :)

Well at least we got to soak up as much sunshine as we could over the weekend, because now it's raining like crazy. It was coming down pretty hard today, and there was even thunder and lightening. It's the kind of weather that makes you just want to stay inside all day and hibernate.

free starbucks

2006-03-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

I heard on the radio that Starbucks is giving away a free coffee (one per person and only at participating locations) on Wednesday March 14, b/w 10am-12pm. It's kind of funny, but I only heard the commercial once--maybe they don't want to let too many people know. Anyway, too bad I'll already be at work by then! Almost every day I stop by Starbucks on the way to work. I used to get flavored lattes and mochas. For awhile, I was hooked on caramel macchiato's. Now I just get a regular old cup-o-joe. But I ask for a tall in a grande cup (translation: small cup of coffee in a medium-sized cup) so I have enough room for cream without having to pour some of the coffee out!

recipe exchange

2006-03-09T10:31:00.000-08:00

My friend Andrea started a recipe exchange. What a cool idea! I'm always looking for new recipes to try. I decided to compile the recipes I receive here and keep adding new ones as they come in. Look for a permanent link to this recipe list on the right. Enjoy!

Leslie shared:
Shepherd's Pie

2lb ground beef
5 large potatoes mashed with butter, milk, garlic powder, salt and pepper
1 pack brown gravy mix
½ diced onion
1 clove of garlic minced
Salt
Pepper
1 cup of finely grated cheddar cheese
chicken broth (optional)

1. Brown the ground beef with the onions and garlic
2. Make the gravy mix according to packet and add to browned meat (or use chicken broth instead of water)
3. Simmer for 15 minutes
4. Add salt and pepper to taste
5. Poor into a 13 X 9 pan
6. Top with mashed potatoes
7. Sprinkle on cheese
8. Bake at 400° when ready to serve for about 30 minutes (longer if refrigerated overnight) until cheese is melted.

Andrea shared:
My Absolute Most Favorite Tofu Stir Fry

2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 teaspoon chili paste
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
3 scallions, finely sliced into rounds, including the green part
1 pound of firm tofu, cut into pieces
**I also cut up and prep fresh vegetables - broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, carrots, celery, bok choi or other greens, whatever you like. When I add veggies, I double this recipe for this sauce. [I also first start the rice in our rice cooker cause it takes the longest amount of time]

Prepare the sauce: Put the cornstarch in a small bowl. Slowly add the vegetable stock, mixing as you do so. Now add the chili paste, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, and sugar. Mix again. Set aside.

Heat the vegetable oil in a wok over medium high flame. When hot, add garlic and ginger, Stir fry for 10 seconds. Add scallions and stir fry for 5 seconds. Add the tofu and fry for about 1 minute. (I add the veggies now and cook them til they are done the way I like them). Then turn heat on low and add the sauce to the veggies and tofu, stirring it up before you add it. Let the sauce thicken - stirring it gently as you do so. Serve immeadiately over rice. Recipe originally from World of the East Vegetarian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey.

Lisa shared:
Pesto Pasta

3 Tbsp pesto sauce, sun-dried tomato variety preferred
3 cup mixed vegetables, chopped, fresh or frozen
1 cup fat-free evaporated milk
4 cup cooked pasta
1 oz part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Instructions
Heat a large nonstick pan coated with cooking spray. Add pesto sauce and vegetables; cook, stirring until softened, about 2 minutes.

Add milk, bring to a boil and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in pasta and cheese; cook until heated through. Yields about 1 1/2 cups per serving.

Aparna shared:
This one is pretty easy and my husband's favourite...

Chicken Breast baked with green chillies and Onions

Ingredients:
For the Sauce
2 tbs tomato paste
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala (u can find it in any Indian grocery store or I can get it for u)
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup heavy whipping cream

You also need
4 boneless chicken breast
Salt as needed
Fresh ground black pepper
4 tbs veg oil
2 inch cinnamon stick
6 cardamom pods
6 cloves
1 big onion cut in half rings
1 inch ginger fine strips
½ tsp mustard seeds
1 clove garlic finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350

Put tomato paste in a bowl, add 1 tbs of warm water and mix. Add all ingredients of the sauce in the order listed mixing as you go.

Salt and pepper the chicken on both sides

Put 3 tbs of oil in a nonstick frying pan and set over high heat. When oil is hot, put in the cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. Ten seconds later, put in the chicken pieces in a single layer and brown them lightly on both sides. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and place in a oven proof dish in a single layer. Put the onion, ginger and green chilis into the oil that remains in the frying pan. Stir and fry them until they are light brown in color. Remove with a slotted spoon and spread evenly over chicken pieces.

Add the last tbs of oil into the frying pan and let it heat. Put in the mustard seeds. As sson as they pop, put in the garlic. As soon as it starts to brown, put in the sauce. As soon as the sauce heats up and starts bubbling, pour it over and around the chicken without displacing the onion mixture. Place the ovenproof dish, uncovered, in the oven and bake for 25min.

Serves 2-4

Enjoy!

Kate shared:
The hardest part of this recipe is opening the cans of beans, tomatoes and hominy. The chili's flavor is deep and full, as if it simmered all day.

Takes Under 30 minutes
Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS
No-stick cooking spray
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15-ounce (450-g) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 14.5-ounce can (435-g) Mexican-style stewed tomatoes, crushed
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon chopped chipotle chile in adobo sauce, optional
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa
1 pinch cinnamon
1 16-ounce (440-g) can yellow hominy, rinsed Lime wedges

PREPARATION

1. Spray a large, heavy saucepan with cooking spray and set over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer.
2. Stir in beans, tomatoes, chili powder, chipotles (if using), cumin, oregano, cocoa and cinnamon. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 10 minutes to blend the flavors. Add hominy and cook until heated through.
3. Ladle into bowls and garnish with cilantro or green onions. Serve lime wedges alongside.

Source: Miavita Kitchens

Buffy shared:
The first is very simple and fast. The other two are not as simple but my family loves them so I thought I'd share. Those last 2 recipes are my own creations. I've never written them down for anyone before, so if you have any questions or my directions don't make sense, please let me know!

CHICKEN ADOBO (Filipino dish)
Ingredients:
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
5 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 pack chicken drumsticks (I usually get a 12 pack, but you can get a smaller pack and still use the same measurements on the other ingredients)

Directions:
1. Place all ingredients in skillet/deep pan. Bring to boil, then lower heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Remove chicken from skillet and place on baking sheet. Broil for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Set aside.
3. (To thicken sauce) Turn up the heat on the pan and when the juices start to bubble, vigorously mix in about a tablespoon of flour with a wooden spoon or a whisk.
4. Place chicken back in pan.

This is great served over hot rice, with a little of the sauce poured over the chicken and rice.

ITALIAN PORK CHOPS
Ingredients:
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 pack pork chops, bone-in (I usually use a pack of 6)
1 onion
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Season both sides of pork chops with salt and pepper
2. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add pork chops; cook 4 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove pork chops from skillet.
3. Add onions to skillet; stir until onions start to look translucent.
4. Place pork chops back in pan, and pour stewed tomatoes over them. Cover, simmer on low for 2 hours.

I like this recipe because it's simple (with only 3 main ingredients), but it does have a long cooking time. If you use thinner sliced boneless pork chops, I think you can cut the cooking time down to 30 minutes (or check until the pork chops are tender)

CILANTRO RICE
Ingredients:
3 cups white rice
2 cloves garlic
2 bunches cilantro
2 tsp salt
2 tsp garlic powder
~ 1/2 cup of olive oil
1/2 an onion
1/2 tsp chili flakes (optional)
1 cup frozen peas and carrots
1 can chicken stock
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Make 3 cups of white rice in a rice cooker. Set aside.
2. Place cilantro, chopped onions, garlic, salt, garlic powder in food processor. Drizzle olive oil into food processor as you blend ingredients until mixture looks kind of like pesto.
3. Pour cilantro mixture and 1 can of chicken broth into rice cooker. Fold into the rice until evenly mixed in.
4. Add frozen peas/carrots, grated parmesan cheese, and chili flakes and mix again. Let the rice sit in the rice cooker on "warm" setting for at least another hour (or longer). It actually tastes better the next day :)

Notes: Make sure the rice is fully cooked before you add the cilantro/onion/garlic mixture to it. Also, I don't really know the measurement on the chili flakes...I use the lid of the chili flake container and use about a cap full of flakes. It doesn't really make it that spicy but it definitely tastes better with it.

Enjoy!

raining non-stop

2006-02-28T21:17:00.000-08:00

It has been storming pretty hard the last 2 days. I couldn't sleep very well last night because of all the noise from the rain and wind. It's supposed to clear up a little bit tomorrow, and then start back up again on Thursday. I can't wait for the sun to come out.

Last Sunday Lisa and I took our kids (except for my little one who stayed home with Papa and Grandma) to see Nemo on Ice. We all enjoyed the show, and it was nice for Lisa and I to get out with the kids. The show tickets were a present from my mother-in-law's friend who works at the HP Pavilion. She got us great seats -- we were only 9 rows from the front. Before we went to the show we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory in downtown San Jose for lunch. I love that place, especially the free spumoni for dessert!

I made up my own recipe for dinner tonight and it came out pretty good! Here's the recipe for my Cilantro Beef:
1 bunch of cilantro
1 pack of stew meat (~1 lb)
1/2 chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
3 small zucchini, chopped
1 bunch of broccoli

Blend the cilantro, chopped onion, and garlic in the food processor, drizzling in the 1 tbsp of olive oil. In a deep pan, brown the outside of the meat. Pour cilantro, onion, garlic mixture into the pan with the meat, and simmer on low/medium-low for 2.5 to 3 hours until meat is tender. Add the chopped zucchini and broccoli florets and cook until vegetables are tender. If you want, you can thicken the sauce by mixing a spoon of flour with some water, and pouring into the pan. Serve over rice! It's good comfort food during this rainy weather...

Papa's in the office right now working on the remodel plans. He's making good progress on the drawings. He's been working on it off and on for weeks now, trying to come up with floorplan ideas. Once we have an idea of how we want the house, we can use the drawing to estimate the cost of all the materials.

next project

2006-02-27T21:59:00.000-08:00

I'm in between knitting projects and trying to decide what to start on next. At Stitches West I saw someone wearing a beautiful grey lace shawl. It's inspiring me to try knitting lace. I've been looking for easy patterns, something with a simple 4 row repeat might be a good first-time project for me. Another option I'm thinking about is a shrug. I bought a shrug pattern at Stitches, and I also found a few nice free patterns online too. Whatever I decide to do, I think I'm ready to graduate from scarves and try something a little more challenging.

I organized my yarn stash over the weekend. It's not that bad--everything I have fits in one plastic storage box, but it's still way too much for me. I'll probably never knit it all up at the rate I'm going! When I first learned to knit, I bought a lot of yarn at Michael's. After a few projects I realized I really don't like acrylic yarn. So I made 2 piles from my stash, one to keep and one to give away...From now on I'm not buying yarn unless I have a specific project for it! I'm going to see if my older boy's school might want some of my stash for crafting.

I saw my friend Lisa over the weekend and gave her the feather and fan lace scarf I made. She called today and said she really likes it. It made me really happy to hear that, especially since it took me so long to make it!

2006-02-21T23:00:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the latest Rebecca mag? The spring issue is out already and it looks pretty cool. I love the light green shrug and pink sweater on this screenshot (if you go to the rebecca website they give you a preview of the projects). I just called my LYS and asked if they had the latest issue yet. They don't but they're expecting the shipment any day now!

feather and fan simple lace scarf

2006-02-20T22:00:00.000-08:00

Yarn used: Rowan, Classic Yarns
pink yarn in Cashsoft Baby DK, color 1132081 (2 balls)
brown yarn (used for trim) in Cashsoft DK, color 11331801 (1 ball)
Free pattern from Knitpicks.com
Needles: size 8

This scarf was knitted as a gift for my good friend. One of her favorite color combinations is pink and brown. I still have to give it to her so I won't say yet who it's for...but if she's reading this she probably figured out it's for her :)

I used a variation of the Feather and Fan pattern from Knit Picks' Parade Scarf Trio pattern. I cast on 24 stitches I think and only did one repeat.

knitting convention

2006-02-20T18:00:00.000-08:00

Stitches West was last week and I had a great time there! I only went one day, on Friday, although the convention lasted through the weekend. Last year, I didn't buy a ticket in advance and when I got there, had to wait in a long line to buy one at the door. This year I was more prepared with an advanced ticket...well, at least I *thought* I was more prepared :) The funny thing is the line was longer for people who already had tickets and just needed to get in. When I got there the ticket counter had only 4-5 people waiting in front of it to buy tickets.

There were a lot of cool booths and my friends and I checked out every single one of them. We started from the far left of the convention room and worked our way through every row, from one side of the aisle and back down to check out the other side of the aisle, never deviating from that order. We didn't want to miss anything :) When we were halfway through, we finally sat down at about 1pm to eat the lunches we packed. I was starving! After we ate, we visited all the rest of the booths. By the time we were done looking, it was close to 5pm. With my busy schedule I hardly ever have time to do anything fun just for me, let alone spend a whole day! This was a very cool treat...

cool new blog to check out - See Euny Knit

2006-02-11T00:44:00.000-08:00

I found a new blog to add to my list of daily reading--well, make that occasional (I don't have much free time so reading blogs daily would be a luxury!). Check it out: See Euny Knit. She is so cool...I love her Deep V Argyle Vest pattern. Someday I will attempt to make this. I've always loved argyle sweaters and socks ever since I was a kid. It's kind of funny how it's back in style again.

I'm looking forward to Stitches West next week! I'm going to take Friday off so I can spend most of the day there.

I was actually off today too, to volunteer at my older boy's school. They hosted a Senior Luncheon today. After I took the baby to daycare, I came back to the school at about 9:15 and didn't leave until after 3! I helped prep everything for the luncheon and then cleaned up afterwards. It was a lot of hard work and I was on my feet all day, but it felt good to help out. The kids did a good job "waiting" on their guests, and they also gave a great performance doing a skit and singing some songs.

random act of kindness

2006-02-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

Someone did something really nice for me today...

I was trying to find any mention of discount coupons for Stitches West on the Knitty.com coffeeshop. There was a post asking if anyone was interested in a ticket for Stitches West because they couldn't go. I sent a message saying I'd love to buy it but she wanted to give it to me as a gift. Such a simple gesture but so touching. It's not every day someone does something nice for someone they don't even know. I love giving to others, as I told her, but it's nice to be on the receiving end. I know there are still a lot of good people in the world, and most of them are probably knitters :)

angelo's hat

2006-01-19T15:21:00.000-08:00

Here is a preemie hat I made for my friend's baby. He is so tiny he can fit in a shoe box, and he only weighs 3 pounds...

clapotis to come

2006-01-03T15:35:00.000-08:00

Here's the beginning of my clapotis. I haven't picked it up in an a long while so this is all the progress I've made. I'm using Lorna's Laces, shepherd sport, color 70. Not sure I like the colors...

Here's where it all started: Clapotis pattern

Here are some beautiful finished clapotis and related links:
-Froggy Knits

-Knit Knut

-Mini clapotis

-purl drop stitch tutorial

wristwarmers completed!

2005-11-09T21:28:00.000-08:00

I finished the wristwarmers over the past weekend. My grandma likes them and asked me to make a pair for her, too. I don't think this is a good picture of them. Also, it's kind of a funny view of my hands. My older boy was in his bunk bed so he's taking the picture looking down at me while I hold my hands up. I was too tired to bring the camera out, take the picture, and load it onto my computer so I just had him use my camera phone. Resolution's not as high. But it's done so you get the picture, excuse the pun :)

I finally got the courage to cast on for clapotis! It's not as scary/hard as I thought it would be, but I did a lot of research beforehand on techniques and types of yarn. I looked up some helpful video tutorials on how to do a kfb or pfb and other techniques. I'm using Lorna's Laces, shepherd sport, color 70. I just completed 8 rows, so once I've made more progress I'll post pictures.

halloween costumes

2005-10-31T23:08:00.000-08:00

Big brother was a "vampire" and little brother was a "lion cub". They made a great pair (ha!).

It was the baby's first time trick-or-treating. We walked around starting at 6pm, then halfway round the block baby and I turned back and big brother continued on with our friends. My baby could barely stay awake the short walk home. I gave him a nice bath and papa fed him his bottle. He took a few sips and went out like a light.

Big brother came home with a pillowcase full of candy. He wants to keep it all but I'll put aside most of it when he's not looking...We have enough candy to last until next Halloween.

2005-10-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

My baby boy woke up in a much better mood today. He had a rough week, not taking his normal naps and just being cranky and clingy. Then I found the culprit: another tooth broke through his gums. Only 9 months and he already has 7 teeth!

This is how he looked when he woke up this morning. Daddy and I just cracked up at how his hair was sticking up! Too cute...I kept trying to smooth it down, but papa said he liked it that way. Silly papa.

2005-10-28T08:40:00.000-07:00

My boy presented his book report in class today. He had to dress like a character in the story. The book he read is called "Long Arm Quarterback", and (surprise!) it's about football.

We picked up a collector Falcon's helmet at Big 5 and a plain black jersey. You can't tell in the picture, but we even painted black lines under his eyes :)

mom's wristwarmers

2005-10-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

Here's what I've done so far on the right (or the left) wristwarmer. I think I should have did a swatch first. It doesn't seem wide enough to wrap around your wrist. I have small wrists and it seems to fit on me, but I'm not sure it will on my mom.

Once I finish this, one more to do and I can wrap the pair and put it away, until Christmas.

Yarn: Debbie Bliss, alpaca silk dk, color #26003
Needles: size 8

2005-10-27T21:45:00.000-07:00

Here is a meme. I got this from small hands, who has a lovely blog filled with beautiful things she made herself.

Here are the rules: List five little things which make you happy/satisfied/give you pleasure. Don't go for the obvious ones like second-hand bookshops, warm baths, icecream, wanking, seeing a band live or whatever. Odd little things, which give you a little frisson and make things better, even if just for a moment.

1. When my older boy eats all his dinner and says "That was good Mom!" (he is a picky eater)
2. Being all caught up with laundry.
3. Having time to stop for coffee on the way to work
4. Picking up my baby from the sitter early.
5. Going out to breakfast.

first christmas project

2005-10-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

Christmas is around the corner and I need to start some projects if I want to finish them in time! I am trying to think of what I should make. I really don't have time to make huge projects so I'll probably focus on scarves, hats, and other small projects. I started on a pair of wrist-warmers for my mom. Her hands bother her sometimes. I think she injured the nerves from typing on the computer too much...and with winter coming I thought I'd make her something to keep them warm. I bought a cashmere/wool blend yarn in a beautiful grey color. I started the project last night and worked on them for an hour today. I'm slow! But I'm two-thirds done with the first wrist-warmer already! I'll post pictures soon. I found the free pattern on someone's cool blog. She wrote the pattern herself and here is a picture of the pair that she made:

gourmet dinner

2005-10-21T00:24:00.000-07:00

Mom made this wonderful pot roast for us to have for dinner tonight. I had a little of it for lunch and it was delicious. But we didn't get to have it for dinner after all--we had to eat chicken fingers instead. We have this old fridge in the garage that we put extra cold stuff that doesn't fit in the kitchen fridge. The doors don't have a great seal so you have to shut it and press it firmly to close. If you slam the door, it just pops right back open enough to let all the cold out. Well either Evan or I must have left it open on accident and the freezer thawed out :( There was a big bag of chicken fingers and a couple of other items that remained partially frozen but everything else had to get thrown out. I baked the whole bag of chicken strips so we wouldn't have to waste them, and that's what Evan and I ended up eating for dinner. Kurt didn't want chicken strips so he ran out and got some Happi House.

Dylan and Evan have so much fun together. Recently Dylan learned to toss a ball so he and Evan were playing "catch" in the living room. It is soooo cute to watch. Kurt and I wondered if he's a little advanced for his age! (I know, we're such proud parents) I mean, he's already throwing a ball at 8 months? Kurt also showed him how to throw the ball down on the floor so now he can throw and bounce the ball, too. We have either a baseball or basketball player in the making :) Here he is giving mommy a big hug after a game of catch.

No knitting tonight, again. I'm beginning to wonder if this is worthy of being called a "knitting blog".

phase 1 on the house

2005-10-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

We're still in the early stages with the remodel. It's 10:52pm right now and Kurt is over at Joe's talking about designs for the house. He already drew up a couple preliminary plans that look really good. But it's good to keep bouncing ideas around and really get the plans down the way we want it. After looking at drawings it's funny how they all start kind of looking the same. It's also hard to look at a flat drawing on a page and envision how it's going to look when you walk through it. Kurt is really good at that. We have some great ideas from pictures we took of 2 beautiful homes. One was a house over in the Rose Garden, and the other was a house that Kurt's friend worked on. It's amazing how the little details really just make a difference on making a nice home a really beautiful home.

Dylan has been sleeping a little better. This past week he's been waking up around midnight, and then sleeping until about 5 or 6 in the morning. He wakes up in between and cries a little, but pretty much falls back to sleep on his own. Last night he seemed to backslide a bit...I think he's teething again. He's been fussy the last couple days and drooling a lot. He's already got 6 teeth! We know another little boy the same age as Dylan that doesn't even have one. But then, this little boy was scooting around a lot sooner than Dylan was. Every child develops so differently.

Poor Dylan, he fell off the bed Friday night. It was so scary. He has a little cut on his forehead and I was so worried that he got seriously hurt. But we took him to the hospital and got him checked out. Thank goodness he's ok. Everyone says that he will have plenty more falls which I'm not looking forward to. Another thing that happened this weekend is that he graduated out of his baby food! He just doesn't want it anymore! The last few days he's been refusing to eat it so I've been offering him regular food, cut up and mashed into small pieces. Last night and today he had Grandma's Dottie's pot roast with potatoes, carrots, and I steamed some broccoli to add green veggies. He loved it!

Evan has been doing great with school. He is learning to be more independant and responsible with his homework and class assignments. His teacher and I have been working closely together to help keep him on track. She sends home progress reports and a checklist of what he needs to do. Evan works on his assignments and checks them off on the daily progress report. I review the list and help him with any questions, and then sign off. It seems to be working out pretty well. He's a good boy. He played with Dylan after dinner today so I could get the dinner dishes done before our walk. Kurt ran an errand so just Evan, Dylan and I took our daily walk around the block. It was kind of later than we usually go so it was dark when we got back.

one year anniversary

2005-09-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

October will be a year that we've lived in our house. We won't be living in it for much longer...well not exactly. We're starting plans for our remodel. As I write this, Kurt is sitting on the couch next to me looking at plans and penciling some ideas on paper. It's going to be a long hard road ahead--Kurt's already told me to get ready for that. But once we get the plans made, and the house finally built, we will (hopefully!) hardly remember how hard it was. We'll be too busy enjoying our beautiful new home. So as I was saying, we won't be living in this house much longer!

Big brother is with his dad tonight; coming back home tomorrow. The baby's sound asleep in the room. Had a small breakthrough yesterday. He slept almost the whole night--from 8pm to 4am. That's the longest he's ever slept through the night! He did wake up and complain few minutes, but fell back to sleep on his own. It would be nice to have a few more of those nights!

Not much knitting lately. Still working on the same baby hat and scarf for the last few months! I can only knit a row here and there. I'm a little disappointed about that because it's really the only outlet I have. I'd really like to start a new project but I know I won't have time so I'm holding off.

monkey see, monkey do

2005-08-05T07:30:00.000-07:00

I am making the adorable little monkey from Fiona McTague's fab book "Knitted Toys". I'm using Rowan Classic Tweed. I've already finished 2 legs and one arm...and the rest is still coming! I will post pictures and details soon. My older boy loved curious george. He used to call him "georgie the monkey" and we used to read all the curious george books. So I decided to make baby brother his own little "georgie the monkey".

baby hat

2005-07-08T09:51:00.000-07:00

Here is my son wearing the hat I knitted for him. I used the ChicKnits Bucket Hat pattern and Cascade 220 yarn on size 8 needles. I love this pattern--this is the third hat I've made already. The pattern knits up fairly quickly and is not too complicated, even for a new knitter like myself.

Dreamin' of Clapotis

2005-06-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

I really want to start on the famous clapotis from Knitty. I love the recommended yarn but I just can't see spending $30 a pop for Lorna's Laces--and the pattern requires 3 skeins. So I've been doing some research on yarn substitutions. There has been a lot of discussion on that topic so it was easy to find information. Here are a couple of links I found useful and/or liked the yarn that was used:

List of Clapotis alternatives
Mystical Creations
Art Yarns

A few people used Koigu as an alternative, which I really like too. I think that's what I may go with.

2005-05-12T21:55:00.000-07:00

Yarn: 1 ball of Cascade 220, Needles: #5 and #8

Here is my completed ChicKnits bucket hat. Since I could only work on it sporadically, it took longer than it should have to finish. It came out a bit smaller than I expected but I think it still looks pretty good. . When I started doing the decrease for the crown, I didn't have #8 double-pointed needles so I used my #7 needles. That's probably why it turned out a little smaller.

2005-05-08T22:39:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day 2005

Mother's Day

2005-05-08T22:24:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful Mother's Day. Kurt took off early with Evan before I woke up and came back with my favorite Starbucks drink and a Noah's bagel sandwich for me. I got two wonderful cards from my two boys and a dozen roses from Daddy. Evan's present was a collage of poems he wrote at school, and Dylan gave me spending money to buy knitting supplies for my next project! Thanks Daddy ;-)

Long hiatus

2005-05-04T12:06:00.000-07:00

Since the arrival of the baby, I really haven't had much time for knitting. I have a bunch of works in progress that, alas, have been neglected. I did manage to make a pretty little neck scarf for my mother-in-law. I used some pink-on-pink Karabella in Gossamer yarn that knitted up very quickly (during one of the baby's naps!). I cast on 15 stitches and knitted in stockinette until it was long enough to wrap around my neck. Here is my mother-in-law wearing it.

2005-05-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

Mom wearing pink scarf

special delivery

2005-01-29T16:58:00.000-08:00

The stork paid our house a special visit! We had our baby boy on Friday, the 21st and he is the sweetest thing. He looks just like daddy. We're all in love with him. At the hospital we'd hear all these babies crying non-stop, but he wasn't like that at all. We feel so blessed because he has such a wonderful disposition. The only time he fusses is when we have to change his diaper. The rest of the time he is just so content.

It's been a whirlwind of a week getting adjusted to a new little one. Every night this week friends & family have come to visit. It is touching that everyone has been so happy and excited for us and want to come over, but it has been a bit overwhelming. Also, it's been interesting trying to work out the new schedule with our older child. My husband's been getting him ready for school every morning. But he goes back to work on Monday so we have to figure out what we're going to do next week.

The baby's taking a little nap and I'm somewhat caught up on my chores. This is the first chance I've had to write a little note in here. Not sure when I'll be able to do some knitting again but we'll see.

knitting and basketball

2005-01-19T20:47:00.000-08:00

I popped in a DVD right after lunch and worked on Kurt's second beanie. If you remember, I already made him one but it came out too big for him! That's what happens when you don't measure your swatch carefully, plus the yarn I used seemed to knit up too loosely. I did buy the mesh to try to make the beanie into a newsboy cap (remember?) but I decided to make him another one anyway. Tonight Evan had basketball practice again so I worked on the beanie some more while I waited in the sidelines. I can probably start the decrease for the crown tomorrow and finish it up!

Next week is my sister-in-law's birthday. She really likes pink, so I think I will make a variation of the bow-knot scarf for her, in pink chenille. I love how you can tuck in one end of the scarf through the other end. The pattern is mainly in garter stitch, but I made one already for a friend's daughter in 2x2 rib and it came out great.

Latest on the baby: 11 more days until my due date! I thought for sure he was going to come home a couple nights ago, but it ended up being a false alarm. I guess he's taking his time. I can't wait to see his sweet little face...

2005-01-17T11:08:00.000-08:00

Paid a visit to my favorite yarn store yesterday and picked these up!

I want to make a wrap with the pink Karabella Gossamer, and a scarf for my mom with the Rowan yorkshire tweed (the oatmeal-colored yarn with the flecks of color in it). Still deciding what to do with the single ball of Cascade 220. It looks blue in the picture but it's actually more of a slate grey.

Hollywood Knits Style

2005-01-13T17:25:00.000-08:00

I was at the bookstore the other day and found a knitting book called "Hollywood Knits Style".

It has some really nice patterns--I especially like this one sweater with zippers in the sleeves and a zipper in the bottom front. The front zipper makes the sweater look like a tunic when it's open. I think the book has some great patterns, but I read some mixed reviews. Some of the downsides include the fact that the designer only uses her exclusive line of yarns with no recommendations on what you can substitute. Does anyone have this book already? I'd love to hear any feedback/comments before I go ahead and buy it...

Evan is getting so good at guitar! He's been taking lessons over a year now. He just learned the Green Day song "Time of Your Life (aka Good Riddance)", and his teacher wants him to start on this Bob Marley song called "Redemption". He's a little rock star in the making :) Here he is doing his daily 1.5 hour practice.

progress on poncho / cool finds

2005-01-12T22:37:00.000-08:00

I made some progress on the harlot poncho. Evan had basketball practice tonight so I brought my knitting with me while I waited for him. I was only able to do a few rows though. I get so envious when I read on other blogs how fast they can knit! A woman I met at a craft store said she can finish a sweater in a week, which to me is so amazing. Some people don't even have to look at their hands when they knit...I wonder how long it will take before I can do the same. Well I guess I have to give it time. I've only been knitting a couple months. Anyway, at the rate I'm going it will probably take me at least a month to finish my poncho...*sigh*

Here are some recent cool finds:
Amyville - This is an online store that sells really cute jewelry. I stumbled across the link from reading someone's blog.
Rebecca Magazine - The latest Spring/Summer issue is now available! I checked out the preview on the website and there are some really nice patterns in it.
Stitches West - Stitches West is coming in February! It'll be held at the Convention Center in Santa Clara. I would really like to go but since I'm due in the next couple weeks, I'm not sure how I'll feel or if I'll want leave the baby when he's only going to be 1 or 2 weeks old.

2005-01-11T21:58:00.001-08:00

On the needles: a pink scarf--I started this awhile ago and just now got around to posting a picture.

2005-01-11T20:56:00.000-08:00

My friend Lisa invited me over for lunch today. We had yummy spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, and a McDonald's ice cream cone for dessert!

No knitting done today...but I got a lot of other things done! I just put the diaper genie together a few minutes ago, and I packed my overnight bag and the baby's going home outfit the other day. I keep thinking the baby's going to come sooner than later but he's still not here. I've been having a hard time sleeping the last couple weeks. I get up at least 2-3 times a night to use the bathroom and then I can't fall back asleep. If I do fall asleep, either my coughing or a painful Braxton Hicks contraction wakes me, or my hip starts to ache from lying on one side too long. I wake up because it's hard to shift positions with this big 'ol belly. Okay, I'm glad I got that out of my system...I guess I'm just ready to have the baby already! Kurt and I are both as ready as we're ever going to be :) We got the stroller/carseat a couple weekends ago, and I washed and folded all the baby clothes weeks ago. The bassinet just needs to be put together. I even have a pack of diapers already. I don't think there's much else to do!

2005-01-10T18:08:00.000-08:00

Doesn't look like much yet, but here is how far I've gotten on the harlot poncho (free pattern can be found here). I'm using circular needles and the loop is all kinked. I should've straightened them first...that would probably would make it easier to knit!

2005-01-10T18:07:00.000-08:00

Here's the needle case I want to make...I didn't end up starting it yesterday because I decided to do a poncho instead.

It's a wrap!

2005-01-09T08:52:00.000-08:00

I finished Kate's shawl/wrap last night! Will post of a picture of it soon--for now here's a picture of it when it was in progress. I noticed when we rent movies I end up getting a lot of knitting done...we rented a couple last night so we were in front of the TV for at least 3 hours. I should keep that in mind and rent videos more often, so I can get more knitting done :) Anyway the shawl came out nice! I wrapped it in tissue with a nice gold ribbon. Kurt's going over to Kate and her husband Joe's house this morning to watch Moto-Cross videos with Joe. He'll give them her present and his present at the same time. We didn't get to see them over the holidays...

I think the next time, if I were to make another shawl like that I would double up on the yarn. I used such a fine mohair. I think it would have knitted a little better with two strands held together. I wanted to use the Karabella Gossamer yarn, which is a fine mohair with little tiny crystals scattered throughout. I saw a sample of it knitted up in my favorite yarn store and it looks beautiful. They were out of it when I started Kate's shawl, so maybe when they get some in I'll pick up a ball of it, and then a ball of regular mohair with no crystals and hold those two together to knit up another shawl.

Wondering what project I should start on next. Instead of starting a new knitting project...I was thinking of making a needle case. I really need one and don't want to buy--too expensive! The Stitch 'n Bitch book has a pattern for making your own. Maybe I should hit up the fabric store today and make one for me