A child is lost. My thoughts and prayers are with you, my friend.
Credit: Shutterstitch
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
A vegetarian Christmas dinner...
Okay..so these aren't the most appetizing pics in the universe. I couldn't help it...I was starving, and the food was sooo yummy, I just dug in before I could remember to take a pic. :p But this was our Christmas dinner, sans meat. We got the mashed potatoes (mixed with kumera, Maori sweet potato), the stuffing from scratch, tofu pieces soaked in Braggs, coated in a seasoned garbanzo flour mix and fried, a salad, and the roasted dinner, consisting of something created out of various soy products by my SIL that was totally yummy, some soy or gluten cutlet things from the Buddhist vegan restaurant, also totally yummy, and asparagus and peppers, all roasted, too. And, of course, cranberry sauce. Gotta have the cranberry sauce. :p
Dessert was my pumpkin pie, with a dollop of mascarpone...the pie was better even than last time, and the mascarpone took it over the top...
..and then these, made by SIL. The pictures may not look like they belong alongside Cannelle et Vanille, but trust me, they tasted like they did. A bitter chocolate/caramel mousse, seriously amazing.
By the time dinner was done, I couldn't move. The rest of them ate just as much, but that didn't stop them from having a rousing game of the annual cricket. I sat on the bench and tried not to burst. :p
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Technical brilliance...
Leave the Hair and Go Free-Amy Sol
Saw these over on Amy Sol's blog, and promptly totally fell in LOVE. I need a laptop protector, anyway. My old one is practically off, and is more of a hindrance than anything. Sound good to you? Right. New laptop protector it is. I'll take the one by Blaine Fontana. :p
Credits: All pics from Gelaskins.
Credits: All pics from Gelaskins.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
BT4!
Pauline, of Pog and Em, has received my BackTack 4 swap package, so I can post now! Woohoo! :D
The theme was Gold, Frankinscence, and Myrrh. Which translates as, something shiny or gold (Gold), something for the senses, that you can taste or smell or whatever (Frankinscence), and something special just for them (Myrrh).
So.
Gold:
I drew the image, making a composite of a few different pics I found on the net, onto linen, and embroidered it. I didn't do the faces, because 1. I liked the style of the linen as a detail of the image, and 2. I really hate how hard it is to translate an expression on a face using just thread, which made the decision for me (Jesus, btw, used to look a lot cuter til I tried to draw him in permanent ink on my final piece AFTER all the embroidery. Argh.) :p Then I made the back Star of Bethlehem, sewed them together and put circles of cardboard and fleece inside for body, and beaded around the edge, to both pretty it up, and hide the hideous join of the two sides! lol
Frankinscense:
I made these as hotpads, for putting pots on, and scenting the air at the same time. Linen, and vintage print edging them, and then filled with whole spices..cinnamon quills, cloves, cardomom seeds, oh, and ground ginger, cause I had no dried ginger pieces. And it made it all through customs!! Woohoo! lol Anyway, Pauline is using them as sachets in her bedroom, and now I am in love with the idea of a spice scented bedroom (they are STRONG scented...I stored them in my sewing room while I finished the rest of the package off, and my whole sewing room smelled delicious, lol!) My first photo of these were front on, side by side. Yeah. I had to retake them. Just was not what I was going for! rofl
And Myrrh:
The just for her part got a little overboard..I kept adding one more thing and one more thing, while waiting for the yarn to arrive. The yarn is hand dyed, supersoft, and the most beautiful colors..If I were a yarn artist like Pauline, I would have been sorely tempted to hoard it myself. :p
The flower pin is made the same way as my poppy pin, but in dark blue, and clear teardrop shaped beads in the middle.
And then a little zip bag from a vintage...something...I am not sure what it was, but I *think* it was a teatowel...or something. Natural colored coarse weave, almost like burlap, but from cotton, and softer, with woven in stripes of aqua. And then I bound the inside seams, because the weave was so loose, with an aqua binding, but the less said about that, the better. Really. :p
And, of course, some chocolates. Gotta have some choc, right?? :p
Thank you, Pauline, for a wonderful swap! And thank you to the BT4 team for organizing!
The theme was Gold, Frankinscence, and Myrrh. Which translates as, something shiny or gold (Gold), something for the senses, that you can taste or smell or whatever (Frankinscence), and something special just for them (Myrrh).
So.
Gold:
I drew the image, making a composite of a few different pics I found on the net, onto linen, and embroidered it. I didn't do the faces, because 1. I liked the style of the linen as a detail of the image, and 2. I really hate how hard it is to translate an expression on a face using just thread, which made the decision for me (Jesus, btw, used to look a lot cuter til I tried to draw him in permanent ink on my final piece AFTER all the embroidery. Argh.) :p Then I made the back Star of Bethlehem, sewed them together and put circles of cardboard and fleece inside for body, and beaded around the edge, to both pretty it up, and hide the hideous join of the two sides! lol
Frankinscense:
I made these as hotpads, for putting pots on, and scenting the air at the same time. Linen, and vintage print edging them, and then filled with whole spices..cinnamon quills, cloves, cardomom seeds, oh, and ground ginger, cause I had no dried ginger pieces. And it made it all through customs!! Woohoo! lol Anyway, Pauline is using them as sachets in her bedroom, and now I am in love with the idea of a spice scented bedroom (they are STRONG scented...I stored them in my sewing room while I finished the rest of the package off, and my whole sewing room smelled delicious, lol!) My first photo of these were front on, side by side. Yeah. I had to retake them. Just was not what I was going for! rofl
And Myrrh:
The just for her part got a little overboard..I kept adding one more thing and one more thing, while waiting for the yarn to arrive. The yarn is hand dyed, supersoft, and the most beautiful colors..If I were a yarn artist like Pauline, I would have been sorely tempted to hoard it myself. :p
The flower pin is made the same way as my poppy pin, but in dark blue, and clear teardrop shaped beads in the middle.
And then a little zip bag from a vintage...something...I am not sure what it was, but I *think* it was a teatowel...or something. Natural colored coarse weave, almost like burlap, but from cotton, and softer, with woven in stripes of aqua. And then I bound the inside seams, because the weave was so loose, with an aqua binding, but the less said about that, the better. Really. :p
And, of course, some chocolates. Gotta have some choc, right?? :p
Thank you, Pauline, for a wonderful swap! And thank you to the BT4 team for organizing!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The Word of the Day...
Okay, so I already did a post on silver discs...but don't you think this was worth a repost?? Swiped from Holly over at Decor8...she had a whole collection of Hope. I looove that one in cursive. I think I might just have to try that. Let's see how well I can scroll thick silver wire. Hmm. :p
Credits:
1. Bijou Girl Designs via Decor8
2. Lotus Jewelry Studio via Decor8
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Shoe biz..
Really...does this post even need words????
Okay, okay...a few. Came across Dames and Divas, via Melanie over at Kimono Reincarnate..apparently the former sources from the latter. I nearly fell off my chair with lust when I saw them. And then following the links, I found Hetty Rose, doing the same thing over in the UK. Somebody please help me justify the cost of getting a custom shoe that I won't actually be able to wear all that much, since I rarely, rarely get a chance to dress up and go out anywhere, and with my foot size and shape, I don't fit all that many shoes straight off the rack, without a LOT of trying on. There has got to be ONE good reason to blow the money, right??? :D
Edit: Dh did not laugh hysterically when I showed him these. Hmmmmmmm..... :D
Credits:
1. Style Discovery
2, 3, 4, 5. Hetty Rose
Friday, December 12, 2008
Wishes..
You know, she makes these in adult sizes.....I wonder just how little shame I could get away with?? :p
Credits: FairyNana
Topstitching glory..
You, my adoring fans, will now bask in the glory of my topstitching skillz. (Whoa..scuze the wrinkles! Hadn't noticed just how BAD they were before! :p )
Come..have a closer look..
Whoa! Back up! Too close!! :p
Would you believe, though, that is the best closeup of the freezer paper stencil I took?? What was I THINKING!!
Anyway..the pants are Ottobre..something; the top is Target; and the stencils are done with the same stencil, sort of. I cut out the beetle, very carefully, and saved all the negative bits; when I ironed on the outline, I was able to line up the cut out bits and iron them on, too.
And then, I took the perfect shape of a beetle I had cut out of the other stencil, laid it down on the front of the t-shirt, ironed it on, and then made it a negative image by dabbing black screenprinting paint all around it with a sponge (the blue was also screenprinting paint, too.) Came out supercalifriggingawesome, to quote my boy. :lol:
(Funny detail...I started this a couple days after making up my pocket tut, and while doing the ten trillion pockets and patches in this pattern, I remembered that I had learned that technique FROM Ottobre mag years ago! lol)
Thursday, December 11, 2008
I'm not the only one..
I'm not the only creative person in my family. We all create things in one form or another. This particular post is about my 11yo DS. He paints miniatures. Really, really well, in-my-not-so-humble-opinion. :p
Note the subtle colors..
The textures..
The fine attention to detail..(Note the flaming tail, his newest favorite detail. :p )
The depth..
The subtle shading..
The realism..(I think if you enlarge this one, you will notice blood splashes...he has a deep fascination with gore, lol)
And all done in a scale 3 inches tall, from the tip of the flag horns down to the baseplate.
I, personally, all total bias aside, am completely impressed. :p
Note the subtle colors..
The textures..
The fine attention to detail..(Note the flaming tail, his newest favorite detail. :p )
The depth..
The subtle shading..
The realism..(I think if you enlarge this one, you will notice blood splashes...he has a deep fascination with gore, lol)
And all done in a scale 3 inches tall, from the tip of the flag horns down to the baseplate.
I, personally, all total bias aside, am completely impressed. :p
So, so pretty...
Okay, handstamped silver disc pendants are everywhere now, but that's not stopping me from becoming OBSESSED with them!! :D There's just something about them. So adorable. :p
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