christmas wrap 09

obsessed with pom poms

and shrink dinks as always

homemade holiday market roundup

The Bizarre Holiday Market at Chop Suey in Carytown was lovely. Andrew and I spent more than we planned but I never feel guilty buying handmade, especially if it is a gift! It is open until Christmas Eve.

cute oven mitts from Tidbit for andrew's mother

spider monkey pendant for my mother

The VCU Craft department is having it's own holiday market Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (I believe - could not find info online) in the circle by the Cabell library. I plan to check it out sometime today.

Another good one will be the Handmade Holiday Market at the Visual Arts Center on December 12th. We will surely be visiting this one.

this is a brand new hand embroidery magazine.

it's viewable free online. It has some nice articles on contemporary embroiders.

i need a new sofa.

these are the pillows im working on for my textiles final.

hank is also an added bonus

christmas is coming!

I'm really excited. Andrew and I spent last weekend crafting this wreath out of homemade pom poms. I got the idea from this lovely blog. I wish could take better photos.

Anyway the space above my tv is bare so we've been using it as a holiday decoration canvas.

Here is some holiday inspiration to get you into the decorating spirit. I can't wait for classes to end so I can actually devote some time to decorating!

from here

from here

this photo

from hulaseventy ( a great blog all year round!)

via craftizine

i have a new business venture:

padded bags for cameras, phones, pipes, whatever you don't want to break!

they'll be on etsy soon!

i've been keeping a sketchbook! i'm very proud of this feat.


here is a page from it. easter egg collages! i miss easter already!

easter!

My friend Jared and I made a costume for my dog, hank potato, for easter. I entered him in a dog bonnet contest at the easter parade on monument avenue. he lost but got a lot of compliments! I sewed him a little saddle, appliqued some eggs onto it, and then jared strung peeps on the sides for some dangling action.


here we are on stage being judged. julio won our round and apparently a chinchilla took home the prize basket (seen in foreground, hank wanted it bad).

i got some major blisters on my feet!

a list of

THINGS I HAVE MADE RECENTLY:

i made this embroidered knight picture over my winter break. i've been liking primary colors and it looks wonderful on the natural oatmeal colored cotton. i traced the image from a dover book that i got from barnes and noble. it's something i wish i had drawn though.

I made this shrinky dink portrait of gustave, my brother's cat. shrinky dinks are great for small, detailed portraits. i stuck fabric behind him and put it in a shadow box.

this is a necklace i made for my lovely friend chandler, author of her very own craft book! she is like a little baby bunny so i made her a baby bunny necklace with white shrinky dinks. i like to pretend it looks like porcelain.

these are christmas sugar cookies. they look about as good as they tasted - not very. but i gave them to a friend who said they were delicious so maybe they were just not my thing.

these, on the other hand, were delicious. i used this recipe. They were very chewy, oaty and sweet, and the best part - raisin free! this picture doesn't show how tasty they look. i made this recipe again and followed the advice in the comments that said to add more flour, baking soda, and salt, and they turned out not as good. they're equally cookie-y and oat-y, and i like more oat-y than cookie-y. does that make any sense?

vanilla cupcakes with strawberry frosting

my boyfriend and i made magnolia's vanilla cupcakes, which i've made before, but this time i topped them with whipped strawberry frosting. i got the recipe from a cupcake blog. it's a swiss meringue buttercream with strawberry jam mixed in. it's really really delicious. the cake was super dense and not as good as i remember it, but the frosting saves it.

i'm trying to take better photographs of the things i make. i really have no idea what makes a good photo, but i'm trying better lighting!