bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

Back to the Future

this weekend i went to go visit a friend who recently moved out of the area.

her new home looks like a movie set, with little shops and restaurants and people walking their dogs, and folks in cars NOT honking.

where people paint their doors orange.

and bridges are covered in flowers.

only downside, they might be a little behind with the times.  "back to the future" was playing at the movie theater.

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day 150  -- i hate work by the way.

Things I Like Monday ... On Tuesday

a couple of weeks ago i received an email from someone with an intriguing question.  she asked if she could do a drawing of my niece for her portfolio. as a patron of the arts (ok, maybe not), since she was thoughtful enough to ask permission, how could i say no?

i couldn't.

and this beautifully detailed pencil sketch is the result (posted with permission).  isn't it fantastic?

the artist's name is amber uphoff and her website is called "A Shade Better Than Stick Figures." if you're looking for THE christmas gift to end all gifts, a commissioned portrait of a loved one may be just the thing. 

amber also has a blog, from which she sells t-shirts, buttons and mugs with her drawings.    go check it out.

seriously.

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day 137 -- so far, the "new 90210" is lame. 

Things I Like Monday

Vacation Days.

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day 80 --  what I don’t like?  when I lose my internet connection.  this was bound to happen eventually.  that I wouldn’t be able to post for whatever reason.

Things I Like Monday

i'm going to knit night tonight so i'm posting earlier rather than later.  but that doesn't mean i'm writing a long post or anything.

just two items on the agenda:

1.  i'm liking the babette.  i've started section 7 and here are the first two squares for that section.

these may be two of my favorite squares ever.

and

2.  caro's kick ass camera straps are in her shop.   i love them.  especially the squirrel one.  you will too.  go.  now.

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day 73 -- posting early to shamelessly promote the brilliance that is caro.

Air

yesterday was day 1 of the next project spectrum element -- AIR.  AIR is colorless and takes on the colors of whatever particles are suspended within.  since i'm kind of a lover of bold, intense colors, i was at a bit of a loss on how i would approach the next installment of project spectrum.

until i saw this.

this is 9 skeins of debbie bliss dksilk in a beautiful light stone color.  i know what you're thinking.  "holy shit woman!  did you win the lottery?  did you finally meet your sugar daddy?  have you cashed out your 401K?"

no.  before i got sucked into the evil that is packrat, i worked saturday morning at Graceful Stitches and they were having their end of season sale.  50% OFF BABY!!!  (sorry i didn't let you all know but i forgot).

so you know, i splurged.  (and yes even at 50% off, it's still a bit of a splurge especially since i'm not really much of a silk person.)

i have no idea what i'm going to do with it.

it's quite possible that i will just pet it.

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day 46 --this time i have no one to blame but myself.

Things I Like Monday

my parents live in france and whenever dad and i chat on the phone, he and i like to discuss politics. what i share with him is mostly my impressions on the primary process but i seem to talk like i know what i'm talking about.  i have him so convinced that one day he suggested that i run for public office.

yeah right.

(see, there's one reason why i'm not fit to run for office.  i actually believe that one should know what's going on to be an appropriate candidate and effective leader.  ha!)

so a career in politics probably isn't in the cards for me.  but that doesn't mean i can't kiss babies.

here we have mr. chichi mcyarnpants.  such a handsome boy.

and the beautiful miss dot mcyarnpants.  (and to think, she'll eat the sweater off your back if you let her.)

and i love the human babies too.

baby wooly-headed. 

and the wee-beastie.

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day 33  -- not above using babies to get votes.

Rosie O’Donnell’s Crafty U: 100 Easy Projects the Whole Family Can Enjoy All Year Long

So when I was asked to do this review, I was very nervous and I almost said no, concerned that I wouldn’t do a good job or I wouldn’t even like the book. 

Well I can’t be sure that this review isn't horrible, but I’m happy to say that any anxiety I had about not liking the book was unnecessary,  because I really liked it.

I have to be honest though.  When I saw Rosie’s mug on the cover, I was concerned.  I used to be a fan, but over the past few years, she’s kind of made me a little twitchy with her  feuds with various ridiculous celebrities   And well I was afraid that her face would be all over this book.  But it’s not.  Do not worry.

What is in this book are tons (well 100 it says so on the cover) of really great projects for kids of all ages. 

The book is divided into six project sections:  One devoted entirely to decoupage projects; another with rainy day playdate projects, and four seasonal.  In the Spring are cupcake flowers and a bunny piñata, presents for mom and dad.  Summer projects include sand art  and a royal icing sand castle.  In the Fall we have Halloween costumes and paper bag turkeys for Thanksgiving.  And in the Winter  are Holiday decorations and Valentines.   The last section, the rainy playdate section, also includes recipes for “silliest putty ever” and something called “kitchen clay” and invisible ink and fake blood.   A lot of these projects are variations on old classics that many adults will remember from their childhood.  But that’s the best part of this book.  They’re all here in one book.

Yes, I do have some favorites.  I like the section on tie-dye t-shirts and painted sneakers.  And deep down I’m a girlie girl so I like the decoupage bangles and the friendship bracelets.  And the cute Oink! Meow!  Glove Puppets.    I love the string bowl and all of the projects made with paper maché.  (See?  I told you there were some old classics.) 

And there’s a recipe for bubble stuff.  But my most favorite?  The one project that made me seriously consider keeping a copy of this book for myself?  The crystal garden called the Mad Scientist Experiment.  Heh heh.   How great is that thing!?

 

The instructions appear clear and concise and don't overwhelm with dozens of unnecessary steps.   I do recommend that an adult be present for most of these projects though.  A lot of them require mixing and measuring, a glue gun, cutting tool, etc.  If you and your kids are even the tiny bit crafty, you’ll have no trouble with any of these projects.  Some of these projects I admit are less for the kids than for the grown-ups.   For example, only older kids or adults would probably want to make the Miss Lazy Daisy costume by themselves.  But there are plenty for the younger set too.

Now I'll admit that I didn't try any of these projects so I can't vouch for how accurate the recipes are or how relevant the instructions are once you're in the thick of things.  But having read the book, cover to cover, I'm impressed.  I plan on trying many of these projects with my 12 year old nieces, even if they don't want to. (So sad, I'm the only crafty one in the family.)

I've got four copies to give away.  One copy is being donated as a prize for Claudia's MS ride fund raiser.  But if  you want to increase your odds of winning a copy, just leave me a comment and I'll select three winners using a random number generator.

What are you waiting for?  Leave a comment, will you?

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day 19 -- begging for comments

Monday Sucks Even If I Have the Day Off

i'm feeling out of sorts these days.  eating too much (due to anxiety and nerves more than anything else) and just generally in a funk.   lots of sighing going on.

i don't even have a decent rant in me.

so this is going to seem like a cop-out but i'm just going to post a mosaic of some of my favorite flickr images of the past week.  for details go here. 

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day 5 -- thank god for flickr.

Things I Like and Don't Like

1.  look what came to live with me.

it's "bog" by adrian at hello yarn. yeah i like pretty much everything she creates. i also scored some lovely yarn too in spite of the circling fiber vultures waiting for me to flinch so that they could swoop in and steal from me what is rightfully mine. ha!

2.  i love (yes love) the new iphoto 8.0.  i had been using iphoto 5.0 that came with my laptop to manage my photo files, but my 8,500 pictures had pretty much rendered 5.0 insanely slow and basically a pain in the ass.    last night, i loaded 8.0 and whoosh!  my pictures load like a dream. i know it does other fun things but even without knowing what those are, i can safely say that  i love 8.0.  iphoto 8.0, will you marry me?  j won't mind.

3.  it's been very fall-like these past couple of days and cool enough at night that i had to pull out the blankets (not cool enough for the duvet though).  i love sleeping under blankets.

4.  something i wasn't liking:  my dishrag sock.  in theory it worked, but i wasn't having fun knitting it and i thought it looked kind of like ass especially around the heel area.

so i frogged it and started another one.  i like the new one much better (no photo yet).

Things I Like Monday

i haven't written a "things i like" monday post in quite some time, but this weekend was a good one so here goes.  my list of things i like ...

1. the weather we've been having.  while the rest of the country is broiling or under water, here in new england the weather has been awesome.  the sky a gorgeous blue, with puffy white clouds.  the humidity non-existent.  the sun, wonderfully warm.  the temperature highs in the low to mid-70s.    just a small taste of fall. 

2. spending a wonderful saturday at the fiber revival at the spencer pierce little farm.  what a beautiful place.  and what great weather we had (except that the wind was a little fierce).

3. sharing the ride to the revival and a dyeing class  with ben.  oh and doing a little yarn shopping after the revival in newburyport at a shop called "loom with a view."  (sorry, no web presence)

4.  hanging out with all of my fiber loving buddies.  melanie was there, and kellee and baby b, and stitchy, and adrian, and marcy, and mamacate, and laurie and jess and maya and monica and baby lily, and kate and tadpole, and .....

5.  waving to danielle across the yard, having her do the same, only then to realize that she and i had never really met in person before, but somehow it didn't seem to matter.  having ms. mafia come running up to me and hugging me like we'd known each other for years when really we were meeting right then for the first time. 
(and of course having her save me from being EATEN ALIVE BY A GIANT SCARY BUG!!!).

6.  cute alpacas

it was a good, fun, exhausting day. want to see more pictures?  here are mine, adrian's, and cheryl's.