Waste Not Whimsy

Fall Decoration Tutorial: Cheap and Easy

2009-10-09T10:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went out to apply for a seasonal job. BTW, does anyone know of a seasonal job that starts in January? I'm trying to cover my seasons as a temp worker. :)
While I was out, I wandered into a large store mostly dedicated to home decorations. You know, pillows, knick-knacks, boxes that look like books, pink and purple Christmas trees, all your pressing needs. I almost bought a Christmas ornament, but it occurred to me that I should celebrate the season we are in currently.
I looked for an inexpensive but cute fall decoration, but even the cheap plastic wreath with silk leaves on it cost $15, so I left that store empty handed.
Then I went to Target and wandered into the dollar spot, where I found the supplies to make this super cheap and easy fall swag.
The finished swag. I actually made two of these and a garland, and I still have supplies to make more, for the low low price of $2
Supply 1: A $1 roll of gardening twine. Nice and rustic, perfect for fall.

Supply 2: A $1 package of 50 silk leaves. I've seen nicer, but these were two cents a leaf.
The only other supply you will need is a pair of scissors. I hope you have some of those kicking around.
Step 1: Fold your leaves in half and make a small snip near the top of the leaf. You want the slit to be just big enough to feed the twine through the slit. Twelve leaves should be enough for one swag, but feel free to use less or more, according to your taste.

Step 2: Cut two lengths of twine, with the longest piece twice as long as you want your finished swag to be, probably around four to five feet. Remember that the twine will get slightly shorter as you will be tying a bunch of knots down its length. Lay your twine pieces next to each other, fold them roughly in half and tie a knot in the top. You will have four twine pieces hanging from a central hanger. This looks nice if you purposely make sure that the ends of your twine are uneven.
Step 3: Feed one piece of twine from your bunch through the front side of the leaf. This will help it hang nicely from your swag.
Step 4: Pull the twine through the back of the leaf.

Step 5: Tie a knot in your twine where you would like your leaf to fall. Tie another knot around your first knot to ensure that your leaf doesn't fall off the twine.

Step 6: Repeat steps 3-5 on all four twine pieces, evenly spacing your leaves along each twine piece. Trim any excess twine off the bottom of your swag, and hang your decoration on your door, from a cabinet knob or curtain rod, or at the side of a doorway. Enjoy!

Nine Eleven

2009-09-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

(I apologize if this is weird and disjointed. I needed to get this off my chest this morning.)
I slept late this morning. My dear husband worked until midnight last night and I always feel compelled to stay up for him. Then he went to bed before me because he had to be up before God this morning. (He's sleeping again now, so that's good)
When I woke up, I was thinking about everything I need to get accomplished this week. I went to the kitchen, looked at the calender, determined it was Thursday and started a list titled "Goals for 9/10-9/14". After I finished the list, I did the same thing I do every morning. I logged on to check Facebook and e-mail. That's when everything stopped. I had the wrong day. It's not Thursday, it's Friday. And it's not 9/10, it's 9/11.
First, the tears came. I don't know if 9/11 will ever come in my lifetime and I won't feel sorrow for the tragedy of that day. I hope not.
The second thing that happened was I stopped to consider how 9/11 affected me personally. I watched every bit of the news coverage that morning eight years ago, on the coincidence that I was in a place with the morning news playing. And even though I drove around with my boyfriend at the time looking for a place to give blood, that day didn't seriously immediately impact my life. I still interviewed for a job on that very day. I got the job, I moved, I shopped, I went out with friends, I tried to adjust to life outside of college, and I stayed wrapped up in my own little world and the tragedies of my own life.
Now, eight years later, I am married to an American Airman. He enlisted in 2004, and I can't imagine that the events of 9/11 didn't have some impact on that decision. We didn't have a traditional wedding two and a half years ago, instead we were quickly married in a Las Vegas chapel because I wanted to be married before he deployed to Afghanistan. He hasn't gone back since then, but the possibility is always there.
I have had many discussions with people who don't believe in war, with people who believe that soldiers are murderers, and with a few who hold a "kill them all" stance.
War is a tragedy. I knew that before 9/11, but since then, I can't bear to watch TV programs or movies about war at all, they are too real. War has changed for me from an abstract tragedy to a personal one. I could never be a soldier. That said, war is a reality, and some people are able to be soldiers. It is their terrible responsibility and gift to bear and to use. They must fight, not for the desire to see others blood be shed, but so that those who would use violence to repress others through fear are taught that their actions will not stand. War is long, it is difficult, it is terrible, but those who can stand and fight bear the responsibility to fight for those who cannot defend themselves.
Before 9/11, I had known the evilness of men on a smaller level, but 9/11 truly taught me the beauty and necessity of both the soldier and the pacifist.

Happy Birthday Ricky!

2009-08-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my incredible husband!

And, in case you were wondering, yes this was in fact breakfast. Well, first breakfast anyway. We ate cake and then felt bad so I made scrambled eggs, biscuits (the frozen kind), and brown sugar bacon for second breakfast. Then my DH had to go take a nap. He's getting old, you know.

Before and (almost) After

2009-07-24T11:35:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, my sister acquired an old china hutch with a houseful of other furniture. She didn't have any spot for it, so when we were moving a U-Haul full of other stuff to Las Vegas with us, it ended up in the truck. I used it to display my collection of pig figurines in a corner of our Vegas apartment, and when it came with us to Illinois, it ended up in our living room. The dark, heavy, dated formality of the piece started to wear on me especially since the piece had such a prominent piece in our house. I was working out with the Wii one day when it hit me. Why not paint it in the colors that I'm hoping to decorate the living room with eventually?

Earlier this month, my sixteen year-old niece came for a visit and I enlisted her help. We dragged the hutch out to the garage, sanded and primed it, put a little brown paint on and then painted the inside of the hutch in a paint called "China White" appropriately enough. The outside was painted in "Aqua Lily" and then the sander was put to use again to rough up the paint job.

Brass mesh screens and hinges were spray painted in a brushed nickel, and new hardware was put on. It's almost done, just one little hitch. The knobs I picked out for the bottom cabinet doors didn't come with long enough screws to attach them to the doors. I just need one more trip to Lowe's and a few screws to attach, and it will be done! My paint job isn't exactly how I imagined it, but I love it so much better than before. Now I just need to get rid of or cover the forest green secondhand couch. Woohoo!

When Homemade Goes Wrong

2009-06-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

I'm going to tell you a story that will embarrass my dear husband. I just want him to know that I am long past the point of being hurt by this, and far into the territory of being amused, so he should be proud to have created a story that I love to tell.
DH and I went to my brother in law's installation as associate pastor last summer. At the reception afterwards there were yummy desserts served, and my DH ate two pieces of one particular dessert, a lemon cake. He raved about that lemon cake.
Two months later, DH's birthday was coming up. I should mention right now that this was DH's second birthday since we were married, but the first we were celebrating together, as he had been in Afghanistan the year before. He was still talking about that lemon cake, so it was settled. I was going to make him a lemon cake for his birthday. I scrounged the internet for recipes, finally coming on one that looked perfect from CooksIllustrated.com The recipe had a catch, though. It required a bundt pan and a citrus zester and I had neither. (What kind of self-respecting cook was I? A newly married poor one, that kind). So I went on a shopping trip and assembled all the supplies, then I went to the grocery store to get the right ingredients, fresh lemons, eggs, powdered sugar.
On the day of DH's birthday, he was at work so it was my chance to make this cake for him while he was gone. I measured the ingredients, zested and juiced the lemons, triple sifted the dry ingredients, and mixed everything together. The cake baked up beautifully, and when I took it out of the oven, I set it aside to cool slightly while I made the glaze. I glazed the cake while it was still warm so the glaze could soak in and make a gorgeous crust, and again after it had cooled completely for additional flavor. I don't think I've taken that much time to bake a cake since I was a young 4-Her. The cake looked amazing, and I could have taken a bath in that glaze and died a happy woman. I was so excited to see my husband's reaction to this masterpiece.
That night, DH came home to dinner cooked and this beautiful cake on the kitchen counter. I served him dinner, lit some candles on his cake, and sang Happy Birthday.
I sliced and served the cake and eagerly watched DH take that ever important first bite. He took that bite and said ... nothing.
I had to ask. "Do you like it?"
For as long as I live, I will never forget his response. "I don't like the crunchy top."
I think I might have cried.
Now, I make lemon cake from a box mix and top it with canned icing and my husband loves it. Some times, homemade isn't what they're looking for. That's life.
Seriously though, that cake was great, and I'd love to make it again. I just need someone who will help me eat it. Any volunteers?

A Headband

2009-06-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

I'm constantly shifting my photography ideas, trying to hit on that one great formula. But for today, here's a picture of a stretchy headband I embellished with a little flower I made. I think it's sort of sweet.

Homemade Ginger Molasses Cookies

2009-06-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

Yum!!

The Calm After The Storm

2009-06-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

I spent the first 29 years of my life living in central and southeastern Wisconsin, and in those 29 years I thought that I had seen a lot of thunderstorms and bad spring weather. Then I lived for a year and a half in Las Vegas, Nevada. I grew used to very dry weather in those 18 months. Two months ago, my husband and I moved back to the Midwest, this time to southern Illinois. A few hundred miles makes a world of difference in the weather.
There has been a lot of rain since we moved. It's spring, and this area gets a lot of spring rain. Yesterday didn't seem like it was going to be a rainy day. The day was mostly sunny, very warm and humid. A friend of mine from college was driving through the area on her way to Wisconsin for the summer and we decided to meet up for an early dinner. We had a lovely dinner and a long conversation, and when we finally got up to pay the bill and go, the weather had changed from sunny to dark. There was lightening and thunder, but it looked to me just like a small thunderstorm was moving through, nothing to worry about.
My husband and I sprinted out to the car and reached it just in time to avoid a huge downpour of rain. Then things got interesting. We were driving towards the highway when we saw a bunch of stuff swirling through the air. At first, we couldn't even figure out what it was we were seeing, but then I saw a small branch blow by, with all the leaves still attached. I still wasn't concerned, and for some reason, I thought a tree had just been struck by lightening and had exploded. Why that didn't concern me, I have no idea.

We saw other debris in the air, but they were small pieces and hard to identify. We drove home and it looked to me like we were driving out of the storm. When we were almost home, my husband mentioned that it might be a tornado in the sky, and turned on the radio. I was like, "There's no tornado, the weather doesn't seem that extreme." Uh, yeah, right. As soon as we found the emergency weather station, it announced a tornado WARNING for Shiloh, Illinois. A tornado warning means that a tornado has been spotted. And the restaurant we had just left? It is right next to Shiloh.
We arrived at home safely to see the neighbors on the lawn, staring at the sky. I wanted to stop and look at the storm clouds, but right then, a lightening bolt struck very nearby and I didn't feel the need to be outside any longer. We went inside and the power was out. We watched the storm blowing out in our backyard. Trees were blowing in the wind, and not just in one direction. I went and sat in our stairwell, while my husband kept looking out the window, until I made him come and sit with me. After the wind came the hail, and you could hear it hitting the windows. I kept praying that the windows wouldn't break.
Then all of a sudden, the storm died down. The hail and rain stopped, the wind calmed down, and the sun came out. I went outside and looked around. The house was fine, the car was undented, and the only indication of the storm was a bush in our front yard that was a little beat up, some wet ground, and the dark clouds that were moving away from us.
Right then and there, I gave up any ideas about the romance of being a storm chaser.
Instead, I went inside and read until the power came back on.

Furniture Shopping

2009-06-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, my husband and I went to a couple of furniture stores. We were looking at sofas and dressers. We weren't really intending to purchase furniture, just look at what we like and price shop. We did find pieces we loved, but we couldn't afford all of them. We did buy two things, though. What did we buy? Well, this is our sofa.
And this is our dresser. What do you think we went for?

It was a scratch and dent clearance piece and we were afraid that it would go away if we didn't buy it right away. We love it! (The couch, not so much).

My nephew

2009-05-28T12:51:00.000-07:00

Quick Pic!

2009-05-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

Can I say that I love the Blog This! button in Picasa, because I do.

I ran across this fabric in a thrift store and got it because it was cute. After I brought it home, I realized that it was the right color scheme for my little sis' living room. I made two pillow covers for her, one that's mostly plaid and the other that's mostly flowers. I like them, and I have a bunch more of the same material. I might play around with this theme and list these in my etsy shop. What do you think about that?

Pick a color, any color.

2009-05-11T13:25:00.000-07:00

I want to paint one wall in my craft studio. As you can see, I'm leaning toward pink/orange, orangey pink (but not coral!). That, or I'm thinking about just picking up a couple of quarts of mistinted paint and going to town with some crazy stripes. Opinions?

Good For The Earth, Good For Your Wallet, Good For You!

2009-04-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

As a young teenager, I would occasionally have the duty of mowing our large lawn with a gas powered push mower. I would put on my bathing suit, go outside (barefoot!), and fire up the mower. By the time I was done, I had a deeper tan, and numb hands from the mower vibrations. And when my mother found out that I mowed the lawn barefoot, I also had a lecture on mower safety. Today, I think a lecture on skin cancer might also be included. Then I left home for college, and for the last number of years I've lived in places where the landscaping duties belonged to someone else.
This spring, my husband and I moved into a neighborhood where we have a tiny backyard and the delightful duty of taking care of our own lawn. For the first time in our lives, we had to contemplate buying a mower.

This is the mower we chose. It's a reel mower, you know, the "old-fashioned" kind of mower. My mother used a mower like this when she was a child. I called her before we bought this mower to ask her how hard it was to mow the lawn without the assistance of electricity or gas.

Our lawn was super long as we started to mow (a lot of rain + a low-lying lawn = well watered grass that takes a while to dry out). Getting started was a little difficult, but once we got going, our little lawn didn't take too long to finish. Now that we have the first mow of the season in, I'm sure it will be easier to upkeep our lawn with this mower.

This reel mower has so many great advantages. It uses the ultimate in renewable energy for propulsion, it is the most economical option of all mowers, it offers a good way to get some excercise, and my favorite, it's quiet and it doesn't vibrate like crazy under your hands!

I recommend that anyone who is shopping for a new lawnmower consider buying a reel mower. Even if you only use it to supplement your electric or gas mower, you can't go wrong!

New Pillows, New Pictures!

2009-04-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

I'm testing out possibilities for new picture taking spots. The new place is filled with natural light, but I'm not sure if it is quite enough for good pics. I certainly would love to be able to take my pictures inside so I don't have to lug all my stuff in and out of the house every time I feel a photo session coming on. What do you think of what I have so far?

I love these new throw pillow covers, too. They are very neutral in color, but have so much interest in texture and pattern.

I love playing with these vintage textiles!

Eating Chili, Yum!

2009-04-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

I just had to throw these last two pictures of my chili making/picture taking adventure in. I always throw a little more chili powder into my serving before I eat it because I like to add just a little bit more heat. Some shredded cheese on top is great, too.
And I love this cup. It's so pretty, and it's from the dollar store. The boxes in the background will find a home eventually. That reminds me, I should do a little more unpacking.

How I Made Chili Last Tuesday, Part 2

2009-04-20T10:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, I better get crack-a-lackin' and finish this post on chili. Writing this is taking way longer than actually making the chili.

While my meat was searing, I chopped up a medium onion and took the skins off of three cloves of garlic. Thank you Food Network for helping me with my technique!

Ooh, and I got to use my garlic press, a lovely Christmas present from my friend Nichole and really the only way to get a decent minced garlic, at least for me. I hate trying to mince garlic with a knife!

The onions and garlic went into the hot pot and picked up all the lovely seasonings and flavor from the bottom of the pot, yum! I didn't spend too much time sauteing the aromatics, I got them a little softer and released some of the smell, but I was mostly interested in heating them slightly and combing them with all the flavor on the bottom of the pot.

Aren't sauteed onions pretty? Or is it just me? I hope it's not just me.

Then it was time to add all the cans of tomatoes and beans. Normally I use stewed tomatoes only. I LOVE stewed tomatoes. They good warmed up over pasta or chicken for a simple and quick meal, and they're equally great in chili. The tomatoes have a great texture and really great tomato flavor. I decided to throw this can of fire roasted diced tomatoes in this pot of chili to try to get my husband to maybe eat a bowl. No such luck so far. The fire roasted tomatoes were a delicious addition though, so I might use them again.

The diced tomatoes came in a great pop top can, too. I love it, even though I had to bust out the can opener for the other four cans. Yea, I don't have a fancy electric can opener, it's manual all the way here.

After all the tomatoes and beans were in the pot, the meat went back in and it's time for the long simmer. Well, I did give into my the strong impulse of my youth and I used a small amount of water to rinse out each of the cans of tomatoes and beans and poured that water into the chili. It would be a shame to let any stray tomato piece or bean go to waste, you know. And the water will cook off during the simmering process. Yep, I am a frugal beast at heart.

After an hour with the chili simmering on medium heat, I knew that I would be giving in to that great smell and eating a bowl of chili before long. I had been intending to make the chili and letting it sit for a day before eating it, but I should know better. I can never resist the smell of chili in the air. Oh, by the way, this entire huge pot of chili cost less than $10 to make. Tons of good for very little dough. Awesome.

Playing With The Camera, Or How I Made Chili on Tuesday, Part 1

2009-04-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

Yay, I found the camera and all parts necessary for charging the camera and uploading my pictures! Now it's time to find my photography groove in the new place. I took a few jewelry pics at the same time I took these food pics, but they were immediately deleted.

I've been doing a lot of cooking lately, and I decided to photograph my latest foray into chili making for you and me.

I never make chili the same way twice. I change up the type of meat, the amount of the tomatoes, I just make whatever I'm feeling at the time. It's a fun way to cook. I recommend that anyone who is tied to a cookbook and their measuring spoons take one meal and cook without using either item. Nothing terrible is going to happen, I promise.

I'll list my ingredients if you really want to try to replicate my amazingly easy (and pretty cheap) chili, though.

I used two cans each of stewed tomatoes and chili beans, one can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, a medium onion, three cloves of garlic, some chili powder, a sprinkle of cayenne, some olive oil, and salt and pepper.

For the meat, I used a pound of stew meat. I had intended to use ground beef, but I had thrown the stew meat into my cart at the grocery store without a real purpose for the meat. I like to avoid ground meats most of the time, mostly because I'm not a fan of the texture. I love to use venison for chili, but if you or someone you love is a hunter, I highly recommend using some of those really gamey meats in a chili of your own. They elevate chili into something really delicious.

Okay, I had to take the rest of these pictures near the stove, where the lighting isn't all that great, and I'm taking most of the pictures with one shaky hand. I'll bust out the tripod next time, but please bear with me. Here's where I seasoned the stew meat with salt and pepper, a little cayenne, and a lot of chili powder. This is really the only place I usually introduce chili powder, because I'm so ingrained by years of making chili for sissies, er people who like their food "less spicy". Those same people would freak at the mere mention of cayenne, so I'm getting bolder.

After I thoroughly coated the stew meat in seasoning, I seared it in a big pot that had already been heated on medium high heat. I threw some olive oil in there before searing, too. Stew meat is usually quite lean, and I didn't want to deal with it sticking to the bottom of the pot.

You will also notice that my pot looks pretty rough, too. That's 'cause I use it to cook a lot. That is the look of love. My cooking isn't always pretty, but it's usually pretty honest.

After all the meat is seared on all sides, but not cooked all the way through, I remove it from the pot. Now the pot is ready for step 2. I'll put up step 2 tomorrow. Blame the wait on my limited computer skills. Meanwhile, I think I'm going to check out Goodwill today and scope out other area thrift stores. Yay thrift stores!

Moved!

2009-04-09T07:57:00.000-07:00

Oh, the insanity that is moving. A cross-country move, while exhilarating, is also frustrating. We are in our new house, though, and my goal is to have all the boxes unpacked and organized (with some things repacked to donate/go into storage) by the end of the month.
The downstairs has a kitchen that needs some curtains hung and a counter with things to put away, but is mostly done. The living room has full bookshelves and the extra books are boxed up and mostly stowed away. There are stray boxes and things on the floor, but I have high hopes. The utility room is partially organized and awaiting the delivery of our washer and dryer (tomorrow!). The garage is full of boxes, both empty and unopened.
Upstairs has my craft room/the guest room. The furniture is in there, and I've organized my piggy collection, but otherwise it is a holding spot for boxes. The upstairs bathroom is completely organized (woohoo!). The master bedroom holds a massive collection of boxes, all open, none of which I have even looked into. I'm still living out of my suitcase.
The house is nice. It is full of light and bare walls and I'd post some pictures but I have NO IDEA where the camera is. I bet Ricky knows though. I'll ask him when he comes home from work.
I'm hoping to establish a normal pattern soon. I'm also going to be looking for a part-time job come next month. Wish me luck!

Outprocessing

2009-02-08T23:38:00.000-08:00

Ah, the joys of being a military wife! We are moving in 6 short weeks! I have officially dropped out of school, with the plan to go back as soon as possible, and the reality of packing everything up and hitting the road is settling in.
The Air Force has a term for the paperwork hoops that they make an airman jump through when changing bases. It's called outprocessing, and it has begun for my husband. I have begun my own form of outprocessing also, starting with withdrawing from school.
One thing that is essential for me whenever I move is organization. I have decided that now that I am without the responsibility of school it is time to temporarily reorganize my other responsibilities. One thing that I will be doing for the next month and a half is putting my etsy store on cruise control. I won't be stocking anything new on the virtual shelves, and although the store will remain open, I will rarely be minding the store without an e-mail prompt.
I am looking forward to moving to our new location and setting up an actual craft room. I am planning to flood the shop at that time with new textile and jewelry designs. Until then, my primary duty will be to packing boxes and newspaper wrapping. I hope to see you in about 1600 miles!

And Now For Something Completely Different

2009-01-28T11:53:00.000-08:00

But, unfortunately, not funny (I do love me some Monty Python, though).
I was just looking through my past blog posts and I have noticed that they are about my adventures in crafting and my etsy shop, which is awesome, but today I want to share a little about what I have learned this past year as a student, a little to tell you something about me, and in hopes that you could glean some information that might help you out a little.
I am in the process of learning all about Marriage and Family Therapy in the end hope of becoming a counselor someday. I wasn't all that sure when I started the program whether or not I would be a good counselor someday. I mean, I have really bad days, I don't have all my stuff together, and I'm still a little mad at various people from my formative years and maybe my ex-boyfriends.
Well, I have learned through this process two things.
1. God has given me the right personality, temperament, and past to be a counselor.
2. There isn't a single counselor in the world who has all their stuff together. After all, they are human too.
Disabling sadness or depression is something that many people deal with on a semi-regular basis, including myself. It can destroy a person's daily life, interrupting their ability to problem solve and even complete normal tasks. It is really the most common problem brought to counselors because it is so invasive and it really affects the person with depression and the people that they regularly interact with.
A few days ago, I was at the start of a slightly stressful day, I had a paper to research, write, and proofread in a tight but manageable time frame when I received a phone call from my university. They were returning my call from the week before about changing campuses when my husband and I are scheduled to move. The news wasn't good. I thought that I had planned out my choice of school well, a nationwide school with campuses everywhere so if and when my husband received orders to another base, my education could move with us with little interruption. I was wrong. The campus near the new base doesn't offer my program and it isn't available online either. There seemed to be very few options open to me, start a new program (no), or look for schools in the area that do offer my program and apply for a transfer.
The phone exchange acted like a domino push. I was already stressed about my tight schedule for the day and blaming myself for poor time management skills when the phone exchange fired off other negative thoughts like "is this worth it, I've wasted a ton of money now, why even try when this path is blocked off to me anyway". I recognized the thoughts and the domino effect spiral into depression, but even knowing everything I do about depression, myself, and thought patterns, I couldn't pull myself out of the funk I went into. I didn't write the paper, I skipped class, and I stayed up way too late fighting every negative thought in my head with a reasonable and true argument. The next day I woke up exhausted and defeated and determined to not fight with myself that day. I still had a crappy day. That night, I picked up a textbook that I needed to finish reading.
I started reading out of habit and duty, but was soon impressed by a passage in the book. The author, a therapist, is relating a story that happened after a year of counseling a family. Most of the family has stopped coming to counseling, but the wife is still coming in. She is doing mostly well, but struggling with depression from time to time. The therapist tells her to stop fighting the depression and let it happen. He recognizes that her intense anger and sadness that she had long repressed was gone, but she was still grieving the wounds of her past and she needed to allow herself to feel that pain.
It struck me then. We all need to allow ourselves to feel pain and grief, even if we don't know the source. Holding the door shut to negative feelings because we don't understand them only causes more negative feeling to pile up behind the door and then one day, we lose our ability to hold the door shut and we are flooded with grief and pain and depression sets in. After reading that, I gave up. I blasted out a short incoherent prayer containing my struggle and I went to sleep. I slept the sleep of a terribly exhausted person, and when I woke up, I was ready. I was ready to live, to pick up the pieces I had dropped and to move on out of the dark and into the day.

My Sore Fingers!!

2009-01-19T15:34:00.000-08:00

Ever since the fall of mankind, humans have been wearing clothes. And clothing requires someone to make it, and the generally accepted way to make clothes is to sew them. Therefor, sewing has been around for a very long time.
Now there are a lot of gadgets to make the task of sewing a lot easier. The sewing machine and serger come to mind. One of the simplest little sewing accoutrement's is the pincushion, the device to hold the sewist's pins and needles in one neat and organized place. The pincushion is so universal that when I started sewing at the age of 8, my very first sewing project was making a small pincushion with an elastic strap so I could wear a pincushion on my wrist and have easy access to my pins at all times. The pincushion is a great invention, and I still have that first little pincushion I made over twenty years ago.
My problem with pincushions is a very simple one though. I don't use them. When I sew, I will take the pins out of the pincushion, pin my fabric together and sit down at the machine. Then I will start to sew, removing the pins as I go along. I never ever return those pins into the pincushion as I sew, though. I prefer to drop the pins directly in front of the sewing machine as I go along. The sewing machine that I learned to sew on even had a small well-like impression in the front of the machine, neatly collecting my pins and reinforcing my tendency to not return the pins to the cushion, and when I finish sewing, returning those pins to the pincushion just annoys me.

My current machine doesn't have that little well-like impression in it though, currently causing my discarded pins to roll all over my sewing table and quite frequently my pins fall onto the floor, creating a little danger zone in my sewing area.

I decided to remedy this problem and get a little bowl to set by my machine in order to collect my discarded sewing pins. I looked on etsy for small bowls and found a great variety, some just completely adorable, but I haven't made an etsy sale in about a month now, so my paypal account is drained, and I really couldn't justify the expense. So I did what any crafty gal in their right brain would do, I made a bowl. I gathered up some little scrap pieces of fabric that were destined for the trash can, twisted them up and started hand-stitching them together.

The result is a wobbly, wonky bowl that tortured my fingers and took three hours to make (in my defense of time wasting, for the three hours I was hand sewing this silly thing, DH was playing a video game). I ended with a little rolled up bit of knit at the end that I decided to embellish with a few stray beads and two blue "leaves" to give the impression of a little flower.

Yep, it's all frayed looking, lopsided, and the stitches are less than pristine, but I think it's kinda cute. And it works as a pin bowl and a pincushion! Also, it collects other stray stuff from my sewing table. A win/win/win situation if you ask me.

P.S. Yes, I will probably jab my fingers with pins using this method, but that's really nothing new for me. :)

Christmas 2008 Recap

2009-01-16T12:30:00.000-08:00

I realize that I might be a day late and a dollar short with this entry, but I look at it more like extending some Christmas cheer a little longer into this winter.
I got so caught up in preparing for Christmas that I didn't take all the pictures that I intended or promised to. I made 4 very different little plushies for Christmas and only managed to get a picture of one, my very first attempt. Yep, this lion's arms and legs are lopsided and he's just a little wierd looking, but my nephew is just kooky enough to appreciate him. The superhero dog plushie that I gave to his older brother was pronounced a "doll" and thrown back into the box with a "no thank you". Well, at least the kid is honest. :)

My niece was pleased with the little tutu I made for her, she put it on immmediately and wore it for the rest of the present opening. The tutu is not quite as cute as she is, I have to say.

I wanted to capture the, um, warmth and intimacy of having 20+ people in one room. We've gotten quite good at lining the walls of my parents living room. We've also gotten rather good at clearing out as soon as all the presents are opened. Even on a cold Wisconsin winter day, that many people in one room quickly makes for a more than comfortable temperature.

The one other great highlight of this Christmas adventure was the flu, which was great fun had by all. Trips were postponed, events were canceled, and we all eventually survived, some of us a little thinner than we started.

When DH and I returned to Las Vegas we were given yet another gift, this one more welcome than the flu. We learned that we are going to be moving to a different Air Force base at the end of March, this time we will be back in the Midwest and much closer to my family (and marginally closer to his. I am looking forward to missing the upcoming Las Vegas summer!

A Homemade Christmas

2008-12-12T17:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I think I'm pretty safe posting on here, seeing since 2 people read this blog and neither of them are family.
I'm stoked about this Christmas. I'm giving out pretty humble presents to my side of the family, but the majority of everything I am giving out was either purchased on etsy or it is something that I am making with my own two hands, and most of it is not jewelry. In fact I think I'm going to wear out my sewing machine this week!
Making presents is hard, fun, exciting and tiring. But what says "you're important to me" more than a gift made just for the recipient? I mean, a lot of what I'm making could be described as "cheap" or "cheesy", but I prefer to think of the presents I'm making as "thoughtful". I hope to take pictures of what I've done and post them up here after Christmas. In the meantime, enjoy your holidays!
Merry Christmas!

ACH! I'm leaving town for Black Friday!

2008-11-24T15:21:00.000-08:00

I'm having a Black Friday through Cyber Monday sale at my etsy shop! I might be a little slower than usual getting back to my fabulous buyers, since I'll be in Florida with my in-laws for most of it, but I am charging ahead with the sale anyway. :) Check it out and have a great Thanksgiving! www.wastenotwhimsy.etsy.com

A New Look....Eventually

2008-11-14T00:22:00.000-08:00

I've started retaking all the pictures in my Etsy shop. The ultimate goal is a new, unified look.
My husband is out of town this week and he has the camera with him, so I have to wait to take more pictures, but here is the start.

Taking pictures is tiring for me after a while, but I think it will be worth it in the end.

I hope you like it, and even more importantly, I hope it makes my jewelry more attractive and ultimately more buyable (that's not a word). :)

Pumpkin Olympics

2008-11-06T13:24:00.000-08:00

Permit me to reminisce a bit. Not too long ago, but kind of far away, I was once a Youth Ministry Coordinator. One of the programs I ran every fall was an event I called the Pumpkin Olympics. Every year, I planned this big event for the first weekend after Halloween. It was great, because as soon as Halloween ended, the local farmers market was more than willing to donate all of their leftover pumpkins for this event.
We did all sorts of sporting events with a pumpkin twist. There were pumpkin relays and shuttle runs, pumpkin basketball, and of course, pumpkin shot put, perfect for those pumpkins that were getting a little soft. We capped off the day with an elaborate pumpkin obstacle course. My very first year was quite memorable, too. It was a rainy day, and part of my obstacle course included crossing the monkey bars on the playground (it was optional, with a 10 second penalty). One of the girls, a fourth grader who knew that monkey bars weren't her strong suite, decided to try the crossing them anyway. She slipped and fell halfway across and fractured her forearm. I was new, and she was the principals daughter. I was mortified. Fortunately, her parents were understanding and forgiving.
Pumpkin season is over now, and if I were still in Wisconsin, come Saturday I would be shoveling broken pumpkins off of asphalt basketball course at the church and school that I once worked at. This might not be true for you, but you may be in the position to snag a few end-of-season pumpkins at a good price. If you are lucky enough to get some sugar pumpkins, I encourage you to cook them up and leave the canned pumpkin on the shelf this Thanksgiving.
Cooking a small sugar (or pie) pumpkin is easier than pie, pardon the pun. All you need is a pumpkin, a baking sheet, a sharp knife, and a large spoon. Simply cut your pumpkin into two equal halves and scoop out all of the seeds and stringy pulp from the inside of the pumpkin. If you make sure to give the pumpkin a good scraping to ensure that you get out as many strings as possible, your end product will be that much smoother. Place the pumpkin halves cut side down on a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for about an hour or until the pumpkin is totally soft. Let the pumpkin cool for a bit, and then simply scoop the flesh from the skin of the pumpkin and store in an airtight container. Baked pumpkin freezes and thaws very easily, and a small sugar pumpkin will give you about 2 cups of pumpkin puree.
Then, if you want to separate the pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin guts and make delicious homemade pumpkin seeds, go for it. In my opinion, there is nothing better than freshly made pumpkin seeds in the fall, and you can experiment and season your seeds with whatever seasonings trigger your fancy. Enjoy your late fall cooking!

Handmade Soap = Heaven!

2008-10-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

Etsy is a great place full of handmade treasures, but in my humble opinion, the greatest thing available on etsy is handmade soap. There are a ton of friendly and knowledgeable soapers on Etsy willing to answer your every question about soap. Search the forums for these people, and you might find you learn more about soap than you ever wanted to know!
Learning about handmade soap is great, but using handmade soap is an experience not to be missed. I have purchased soap from several soapers on etsy and I will never use commercially made soap again. I've never had sensitive or dry skin, so I never realized what I was missing until now.
I am currently using Cranberry Orange Soap from Swan Mountain Soaps available at http://www.swanmountainsoaps.etsy.com/ Swan also makes other wonderful bath and body products and some seasonal jellies that are incredibly delicious! This is my second bar of soap from this shop, and I am a huge fan. When I get out of the shower, my skin doesn't feel tight or dry or oily, it simply feels clean and wonderful! The scent in the shower is delicious, and the lather is incredible!

I have been wanting to purchase some Alaskan beer soap from Swan Mountain for my husband, but he is proving to be a tough convert to handmade soap. I'm going to keep buying it for him, though. Eventually he will come to the dark side.

I did purchase this soap, Bay Rum, from the incredible soaper Dennis Anderson available at http://www.dennisanderson.etsy.com/ It smells incredible, and I can't wait for my husband's supply of body wash to run out so that he will actually use it.

Dennis has an incredible selection of soaps and other bath and body products available in his shop. If you are a lip balm addict, I recommend checking this shop out!

I highly recommend that you check out all the available soaps on etsy, ask questions and try different soaps. Eventually, you too will find soap nirvana.

And if you are on my Christmas list, you just might be getting some awesome handmade soap for Christmas, you never know.

Homefront Team Winter Challenge!

2008-10-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

One of the fun parts of being on Etsy is being a part of the Homefront Team, a team of military spouses and such. Right now, we have a Homefront Team Winter Challenge going on. Check it out here: http://www.etsyhomefront.com/2008/10/20/homefront-team-winter-challenge/

I promised an update

2008-10-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

So, I bet you're all wondering how the vendor booth thing went on Saturday, aren't you? Ah, I know you forgot all about it, it's ok. :)
Saturday morning I woke up bright and early at 5:00. Ok, it was early, but there was nothing bright about it! I got myself all gussied up and finished loading the car before setting off to my friends house. We met up, and things were going great. We had everything we needed and we were a little ahead of schedule so we stopped at a coffee shop to grab a morning pick-me-up, make mine decaf. When we got to the venue, things were up and going and they were ready for us to check in.
They took us to our vendor spot, where I had to stand and scratch my head for a minute. My friend had taken care of all of the getting and going and had really invited me along to fill out her booth a little more. She had purchased two spots, each spot was supposed to be for an 8 foot table, so we brought two eight foot tables. The lady told us at that time that the additional spot which was purchased at the same price as the original was only supposed to be a 6 foot table, "but they'd let it slide". OOOkayyy. Then we couldn't for the life of us figure out the configuration they wanted our tables in. We were squeezed in behind two other vendor booths, and they explained that the shoppers were to come into our little "U" shape, except the top of the U was over half covered by another table. Yes, we were hidden in the back of this stupid little place.
Well, we set up, and unfortunately, I forgot my camera. Fortunately, the booth turned out kind of cute. We had muslin draped to the floor and the tops of the tables were covered in a purple velvet. I had one half of a table, and I hung my necklaces from branches stuck in two banana leaf vases and arranged my earrings on a wooden lazy susan. It was very organic looking.
The conference started and the organizers came to chase us out of our booths to "participate". I'm sorry, but I came to sell jewelry and I wasn't very comfortable leaving a table full of merchandise behind. They insisted that there was security and that we needed to leave our booth, so we did. We didn't go participate either.
Let me explain about not participating. This was a women's conference based on sharing Christian faith and growing in that faith. I'm cool with that. It's just that I am of the slightly more conservative Lutheran flavor, and this conference was of the Southern Baptist/Pentecostal/charismatic flavor. I have nothing against different flavors of religion, but I'd rather not participate in things that I might not necessarily agree with or feel comfortable doing.
So my booth partner and I went outside and talked, and then went inside and found an inconspicuous place to stand and talk and watch our booth. Then the vendors were fed lunch, a lunch which we were required to buy for $10. A lunch that consisted of a mayo-pasta-chicken salad and a roll. It was like purchasing food at the airport.
The conference broke for lunch and the ladies were given 45 minutes to lunch and shop. I think two people came by during the lunch break. One bought a cell phone charm from my booth partner. Another asked for my business card.
After lunch we looked at the program and saw that the conference lasted two more hours then ended with "shopping" again at the very end. Some vendors started breaking down right away, but our booth was too complicated to break down without disturbing the conference, so my booth partner and I went to Goodwill for a half hour.
We came back as the conference was wrapping up and I fervently held out the hope that someone would come by the booth at the end of the conference. HA!
Lesson learned. We won't be participating in that conference again, but we did figure out a really cute booth set-up and I have a bunch more inventory now that I can add to my etsy shop. It wasn't a total bust. (At least that's what I keep telling myself.)

A Show Tomorrow.

2008-10-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I am sharing a vendor booth with a friend of mine at a women's conference. I'm looking forward to the opportunity, but I'm also a bit nervous. I'll tell you how it went on Tuesday!

Craft Show Display, Yea or Nay?

2008-10-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

I'm not gonna lie, I'm broke. I have a small part of a vendor table at a conference this weekend and I'm trying to come up with a cute and economical way to display my small amount of wares. I tried this idea this morning. What do you think? (Oh yeah, there will be a tablecloth.)

My blog, someone else's blog

2008-10-04T11:49:00.000-07:00

I decided the other day that I was a little tired of my blog layout. I have tried and tried to change my blog by using free templates I've found on the web to no avail. I'm thisclose to paying someone to spiffy up this dang blog!
Here's a pretty blog on the interwebs, featuring my etsy shop.
http://www.1ahh.com/blog/
After you read it, go check out America's Handmade Homefront's lovely shops on Hyena cart. There's some really cool stuff there!

Am I a slacker?

2008-09-30T11:25:00.000-07:00

I can't figure out where my time has gone lately. My regular schedule over the last few weeks has been interrupted, and it has affected this poor blog. I have been blessed to have an item appear on Etsy's front page (WOOHOO!!!!) and I've been busy with photo editing, creating, and schoolwork.
I have to mention another little happy milestone for me this week. Last night I went to a yoga class at my gym. I haven't been there in a while because of school, but last night I was going no matter what! The instructor is great, very soothing, and she doesn't even seem to care that I absolutely can't do yoga. I try and struggle through the class, but I kind of look like a fool. You are no doubt wondering why I go. My theory is that eventually, with thousands of years of practice, I will be able to sort of do some yoga, so I keep trying. Well, last night, the whole class (except me) is holding a downward dog position, and the instructor tells us to go into the plank position. Normally, at this point, I will attempt a plank position and utterly fail. My elbows and shoulders will go all jelly-like, and I'll fall into the mat. Last night, I went into plank position, and to my utter surprise, I stayed there! I was so excited, I had to show DH again when I went home. I don't think he was that impressed, but me, I take the little things. :) I have to give proper credit to my personal trainer, Josette, for this little milestone. She loves to torture me with all sorts of upper body strength exercises, and I am very grateful for that!

I'm featured here!

2008-09-22T23:05:00.000-07:00

Check out this neat interview with me, the indie designer! (you can laugh a little.)

http://www.stylelist.com/blog/2008/09/22/indie-designer-interviews-waste-not-whimsy/

Etsy Front Page 9/19/08 wastenotwhimsy

2008-09-19T17:30:00.001-07:00

Etsy Front Page 9/19/08 wastenotwhimsy, originally uploaded by Etsy Front Pagers.

Oh my! I curated a treasury and it made the front page of Etsy! I'm so stoked! Seriously awesome!

I Heart Project Runway.

2008-09-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

If you know me, you know that I'm a little bit of a PR fan. I really like Leanne on this season of PR, and am going so far to predict her for the win. Leanne sells on Etsy (so cool!) I had to create a treasury celebrating her designs and her color palette that she used for her Bryant Park collection. It's up until sometime on Sunday, please check it out!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=9800

So Behind

2008-09-16T12:14:00.000-07:00

I promised last week that I would share my Grand Canyon weekend with everyone. Yes, it was two weekends ago, but I keep my promises, if not exactly in the timeliest fashion.
Yes, the Grand Canyon is big and stunning. I really don't think there are words left to be said about it's beauty. There are plenty of words left about the insanity of people who arrive at the top of the canyon and say, "I wonder what's down there? Let's go check."
It gets hotter the further you go down, and the climb back up is hard. And I didn't even go that far down.

I wasn't smart enough to take a mule ride either, I just took a picture of the people who were.
Yes, that's a picture of a squirrel right next to my foot. Next to people, there were an insane amount of squirrels on the trail, and they were not shy about getting in there and picking up any dropped food. They were also very well fed.

On a second note, I was very grateful for my hiking boots and very flummoxed by the people hiking in flip-flops, skirts, and other clothing meant more for sitting than walking down and then back up a rather steep climb.
Sunset at the Grand Canyon=totally beautiful and worth the walk back to the rim even though I was sore and tired. It was a great experience, and I'm even more sold on hiking than I was before.

Apron Swap

2008-09-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

I participated in an apron swap this summer. The theme was Fall because we were all to receive our aprons at the beginning of the fall season. My apron is out and has been graciously received by my swap partner. It was fun making it, I think I really do need to sew a little more, and not just t-shirt bags. My sewing skills are still not that great, but practice makes perfect!
Next post: my weekend at the Grand Canyon. I'll try not to bore you, I promise!

My Photography "Studio"

2008-09-04T11:14:00.001-07:00

Welcome to my photography studio! It's my apartment patio. It faces west, so for most of the morning I get bright indirect natural light. It helps that I live in Las Vegas so a morning without sun is an extreme oddity.

I have a few "go-to" props, including my backdrops, the cut-off bottoms of two t-shirts, one cream and the other navy. Also, I rely very heavily on a white frosted vase, which incidentally was the vase that came with the very first flowers (and present of any sort) that my husband sent to me when we first started dating. I have a small collection of rocks also, some from the shores of Lake Michigan, some I picked up in Alaska, and others from the National Petrified Forest in Arizona. I like the texture and interest that rocks add to my photos.

Other things I also use are the patio wall itself, with its distinctive stucco texture, some dry black beans, dry branches, and some pink silk lilies (which were a part of my hometown wedding reception). Taking photos is quite romantic for me. :)

I shoot my pictures with a rather standard Kodak Easy Share camera on the Close Up setting (otherwise known as macro). I think that I happen to be the lucky victim of great circumstances for decent photo shoots. I am also a person who has always thought in macro. I love texture and color and getting right up close to it to really experience the fullness of sensation.

My photo studio, camera, backdrops, and props aren't completely ideal. For instance, I sweat a lot while taking photos (it's HOT in Vegas!), and just recently came upon the revelation of sitting while I take some shots in order to help steady my hands. I would love a tripod and maybe a light tent, but the concept of my jewelry really came about making the most of what is available, and my photography is the same way.

I really enjoy taking pictures, and for those who struggle with it, I encourage you to make it true to yourself. You never know, you might begin to enjoy photography, too!

Where does the time go?

2008-08-30T15:13:00.000-07:00

This past week seems to have gone by so fast. I'm usually not wondering on Saturday how I got here so quickly because my life has been pretty slow paced for the past few months. Not that much has changed, either. I did join a gym this week and worked out almost every day. I ended up trying both a yoga class and a water aerobics class this week. Yoga was harder than I anticipated, and water aerobics were easier than I had imagined. I also stumbled upon Project Runway: Australia this week and spent a day just watching episodes on Youtube. It's actually fabulous! I love PR, and the Canadian and Australian versions are both awesome.

Today Goodwill was running a 50% off everything in the store sale, so it was a perfect time to run out and stock up on surprise supplies. I've found a plastic cow and a necklace made from a walnut painted like a jack o' lantern in one jar already. I won't be making jewelry from them! :)

So cute!

2008-08-26T14:25:00.000-07:00

So Amanda of Sygnet Creations makes some super cute things and sells them on etsy. You should especially check out her awesome travel pillows! And she blogs, too. On her blog yesterday and today, she made up some rhymes that are a take off of nursery rhymes, but are about different etsy shops. Today she included my little shop! Go over there and check it out, it's adorable!
http://sygnetcreations.blogspot.com/2008/08/rhyme-time-feature-2.html

We Have a Winner!

2008-08-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

Congratulations, shelaby_96! You are the lucky winner of my blog giveaway. (Cheering and confetti) That said, do we know each other? Reading your blog, I'm almost positive we have to have met.
Well, I've been super busy over the last few days, actually insanely busy for a person who never does anything. :) I've barely been online at all between Thursday evening and this afternoon.
Friday I went to base for a reception that was held for all of the new Staff Sergeant selects, my wonderful DH included, and then we went out afterward to celebrate. We ended up at Red Rock Casino at the end of the night, in the arcade of all places. We spent $25 and won a handful of candy. Woot!
Saturday was a girl's day out for a few Air Force wives (and one Air Force airwoman/wife). I am really mostly acquaintances with all but one of the girls, but it was fun anyway. And long! We started the day at 9 AM, and I didn't make it home until around midnight. One of our stops was at Goodwill, and I bought a jar of broken jewelry as supplies to make more pieces for my etsy shop. I took a few pictures of my raw, unsorted materials, to give you an idea of what I work with. I'm excited about some of the separate possibilities, and looking forward to a challenge with some of the other materials. :)
Today I had to work to get up and make a dish for a potluck lunch. My friend Nichole picked DH and I up this morning and we drove to Mount Charleston for church in the mountains. It was beautiful up there, the weather was excellent, and the service was just what I needed after a long weekend. After church was the potluck, and then we sat and visited with members of the congregation. I got to hold on to the cutest brindle coated beagle/Boston terrier puppy (a bogle) for a while. I really want a dog!
I really hope that your weekend was excellent also. It's time to get to sorting my new materials!

I'm not neglecting my dear readers. I promise.

2008-08-20T16:12:00.000-07:00

I usually like to have a picture for every post or at least every other post. I don't have a picture today. :(
I have been preoccupied with watching the Olympics and having insomnia lately. Insomnia really messes with one's ability to think clearly.
I've also been on an Etsy spending spree. I congratulated myself for making sales by spending twice the amount of my toal sales in other shops. :)
I bought a bunch of soap, some soap dishes, and lavender. I feel good about my purchases because they are not hard to justify. I mean, who doesn't need soap?

Yay I sold something!!!! And a Giveaway

2008-08-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

Now when my friends or family ask, "Have you sold anything on Etsy yet?" I can say, "YES I HAVE!!"
I went from having 0 sales to having 3 sales in about 24 hours, too. I sold a necklace with a PIF (PIF means Pay It Forward, and it's not so much a sale as a gift, which makes it even more fun!) on Wednesday night, and I was so excited about it, I had to go tell my husband, who was mostly asleep, the exciting news. Then last night, I sold a pair of earrings, which came as a surprise to me. I had to go tell my husband again, and this time he was totally asleep. I think he heard me, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't all that happy about me waking him up out of a sound sleep! I shall try to only sell things when he is wide awake from now on! ;)
I'm so happy about my sales, I made a little trinket to celebrate and now I want to give it away! I think I like sending packages as much as receiving them. As I send them out, I'm imagining the person on the other end opening their package and loving the contents, of course!
If you would like to receive the *surprise!* trinket that I want to give, please, just leave a comment on this entry. I will randomly pick a winner in one week, next Friday, August 22, I think. Make sure that I have a way to contact you if you win. (The best way to do that is leave your e-mail address in the comments section)

My new favorite and why I love what I do

2008-08-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I make a piece of jewelry and then obsess over it because it is colorful or elegant or attention-getting. This is one of those necklaces! These colors are so vibrant, it gives me energy just looking at it!
I am so blessed to work with recycled materials. I work with what comes to me, broken and discarded things and I don't do a lot of picking through things to get my materials. I mostly take discarded jewelry off the hands of friends and buy lots of broken jewelry from the local thrift stores.
I have to sift through what comes to me and see how different elements from different pieces of jewelry come together. I never simply restring what comes to me. I always recombine elements of different pieces. I do a lot of experimenting, too. Sometimes elements scream out that they need to go together, but the technical aspects don't work, so I have to remake it until it works. Other times I get a great idea and when I visualize it, it looks bad.
Every time a necklace works, or my accidental beads match in that perfect way, I feel the thrill of my creative vision being realized and gratitude for the beauty that is all around us, that can be seen if you just look.

My Etsy shop featured on another blog!

2008-08-11T11:11:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning and immediately went outside to take some Etsy pictures. When I got back inside and on my computer, I got a lovely surprise! My Etsy shop is featured on a blog!
http://ginabees.blogspot.com/2008/08/wastenotwhimsy.html
I got another lovely convo about my photography, too, so a couple things to make my day!
I have a meme that I WILL post soon, I didn't forget, Robin!
I'm off to work on pictures, though, and maybe list some new jewelry on Etsy!
Have a blessed day!

Ok, it's tagging time!

2008-08-10T16:52:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged for a meme by Robin from http://creations-anew.blogspot.com/ (I really need to learn how to link)

Here are the rules:

1) Link to the person who tagged you

2) Post the rules on your blog (this is what you are now reading)

3) Write 6 random things about yourself (see below)

4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them (This is only a game)

5) Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog

6) Let the tagger know when your entry is up

Random items about me...

1) I am number 6 of 7 children, and all our names start with the letter K!

2) I had my wedding dress made for me in two weeks and saw it for the first time as I was getting dressed for my wedding.

3) My oldest sister is the only immediate family member not in the picture above. She is profoundly mentally retarded and lives in a group home.

4) The picture above was taken a year after our actual wedding, we didn't have a reception for our wedding.

5) I love to "invent" in the kitchen. I love cooking!

6) I miss WI. I miss the community of East Troy and the kids who were members of the Good Shepherd youth group most of all, and my heart is hurting for them right now as they have experienced a great loss.

Now, I am afraid that I don't know 6 people to tag. :( I'm glad I was tagged, but now I'd have to tag strangers, and I don't know how that would go! Thanks for reading, comment away!

Happy Birthday, Ricky!

2008-08-07T13:11:00.001-07:00

Don't look so sad, it's your birthday! And I baked you a lemon bundt cake. It looks delicious, can't wait to dig in!
Here's to many more years!

Terrorists targeting Presidential Candidates?

2008-08-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

Or not. I don't know, and that's not what this blog is about. i was talking to friends the other day about generating more traffic on my blog, and they suggested having a sensational title. Eeh, it doesn't hurt to try, and it's a little funny.

Last weekend I finally got up to Mt. Charleston! Ever since I moved to Vegas, I've complained about the heat and lack of vegetation. People have always encouraged me to visit Mt. Charleston, which is about an hour drive from downtown Las Vegas, and about a 45 minute drive for me. DH never seemed to want to go, but on Friday, he decided we should go and spend Saturday night there. So he reserved a cabin at the lodge, and Saturday morning we set off.

We decided to hike a trail before checking in, and we picked a trail named Mary Jane Falls. The brochure said it was an intermediate hike that should take an hour each way.

Not so much. It took us two hours to get up the trail, mostly due to my general out-of-shapeness, and an hour to get back down, It was worth it. We saw this butterfly on the way up.

This butterfly was somewhat easier to photograph. :)

When we checked in, the lady at the desk good-naturedly scolded my husband for not asking about their military discount when he called to make the reservation. Then she threw in a free bottle of champagne instead. This is what the back porch of the cabin looked like. It was heavenly.

We woke up on Sunday intending to hike a second trail before heading home. We overestimated ourselves. Instead we headed home and went to see "The Dark Knight" I realize that probably makes us the last people on earth to go see it, but that's ok. We prefer our theaters a little empty. It was a pretty darn good movie, too.

And as a parting shot, a newly listed necklace from my etsy shop.

Major awesome buy!

2008-07-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

I honestly went to bed last night planning out pictures I was going to take and post today. I was going to post my stalled progress on my t-shirt throw, a skein of hemp that I am very unsatisfied with, and the cover of a book that captivated my interest so thoroughly that yesterday I did practically nothing except for reading.
Things don't always go as planned in life however, and I woke up early this morning not feeling well and inexplicably thinking about needle felting. I got up and perused etsy for needle felted wall hangings for a while and then I was driven back to bed by my unhappy body.
My DH has been home from Afghanistan for around nine months now, and on his way back he had a layover of sorts in Kyrgyzstan. He went to a restaurant, and in the foyer of the restaurant, there were some stalls for tourists to buy little pieces of Kyrgyzstan. My DH bought a few of those pieces, which made a few things clear to me. The first was, there's probably a lot of sheep in Kyrgyzstan, because everything he brought back was made of wool. The second thing that was clear to me was that Kyrgyzstan had rapidly joined Mongolia on near the top of places I wish to visit someday. There was an organic beauty to the crafts and pictures of this place that I can't even pronounce.
This finally brings me back to the beginning. I had never heard of etsy when my DH handed me the piece pictured above, but I had heard of needle felting, thanks to Martha Stewart, so I knew what this piece was, even though my DH didn't. He had chosen it because he could roll it up and put it in his backpack for the ride home!
Since this picture was taken, we have gotten this piece framed, and we spent $350 on the framing. My DH was a little baffled at the cost of the framing, while I am still a bit baffled at how much he spent buying this piece originally. A similar sized piece of needle felted artwork on etsy costs around $200 and is worth every penny. The DH claims he doesn't know exactly how much he spent buying this piece, but it was around $40. I call that a great buy!
And honestly, it's probably the most beautiful piece of art I have ever touched. I am honored to have it in my home.

Creative mojo

2008-07-25T10:07:00.000-07:00

Hanging around creative people makes me more creative, I think. I am inspired by people who get an idea in their head and then try to realize that idea. I have been frozen from trying to realize many of my creative ideas throughout my life.
It's my mother in my head. I love my mother, and she is the one who taught me practicality. I think she might have done too good of a job at it. I was always afraid to make creative mistakes, in that if something I "invented" didn't turn out, then I just wasted materials and money. Wasting anything was always a sin in the household I grew up in.
I've learned, though, that the creative process is just that, a process. Most things you try new won't work the first time, but you will learn techniques for the next time. Now that I used recycled materials in almost all of my crafting, it's loosened the knot in my head that's terrified of wasting things. I've also had this realization: Unused materials are wasted twice as much as materials that are destroyed by learning. Write that on your workroom wall.

Thoughts on faith

2008-07-23T11:17:00.001-07:00

A couple nights ago, I was having trouble getting to sleep. I thought I heard a bug on my sheets, something outside the window, etc. I'm as bad as a little child with my imagination in the dark. I started to pray about my fears, as is my habit. As I started to pray, I also started to think about why I was praying. Did I believe in my professed faith? Did I believe that God heard and answered my prayers? Now I have heard all sorts of logical arguments (or apologetics) for and against Christianity. Prominent atheists seem to be churning out a lot of books lately and Gnostic works such as ideas popping up in "The Davinci Code," and the gospels of Thomas and Judas are suddenly "found" (or refound, if you know your history of Christianity). There are so many arguments and counter-arguments. I am a masters level student with a pretty high IQ, and I can recognize many of these arguments, while not always being able to form a counter-argument. So why do I consider my faith to be valid? This is my answer. Because I have faith. There is an absence of sense and a bit of mysticism in my answer, but it is my answer. I believe that my faith in God is a gift from God and evidence in itself of God's evidence and the truth of the Bible. This might be too simplistic for some, but it's my story and I'm sticking to it.

(If you came here wanting to read about jewelry, sorry for dragging you through that.) ;)

Flickr Mosaic

2008-07-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

Wee! This was fun! I know the idea of most memes is to be tagged, but I couldn't resist stealing this one. If you see this, steal it from me please! And let me see it on your blog!

The instructions to create the mosaic are:Type your answers to each of the questions below into Flickr Search .Using only the first page, pick an image.Copy and paste each of the URLs into the mosaic maker.

Questions:

What is your first name?

What is your favorite food?

What high school did you go to?

What is your favorite color?

Who is your celebrity crush?

Favorite drink?

Dream vacation?

Favorite dessert?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

What do you love most in life?

One word to describe you.

Your Flickr name.

It's Amazing

2008-07-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

how dirty a house can get while you're not feeling well. There are dishes piled up in the kitchen and tissues in the bedroom and living room. I really didn't feel like doing much of anything for the last two days with this stupid cold. I'm picking back up today, just in time for class. Oh, and yea, last Monday was my birthday (30, uck!) and my husband gave me a shiny new cobalt blue Kitchen-Aid mixer! Now that I'm feeling better, it's time to bake! :)

I'm in a treasury!!!

2008-07-20T13:02:00.001-07:00

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=16918

Sneak preview!!!

2008-07-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

So I'm sick and feeling, well, icky. I've got stuff to post on etsy but I'm not feeling up to it. So you get to see some of them first! Aren't you lucky?

I'd love to post a picture

2008-07-17T18:04:00.000-07:00

but I can't because I don't have my pictures. I'm not posting from my computer. I broke my plug-in for my laptop somewhere between Missouri and Las Vegas. Bummer, I know. Vacation was great, but I'm still recovering. :)

People like my photography!!!!

2008-07-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

I've received a handful of compliments on my jewelry photography in the last couple of days. It makes me happy! Ok, I'm headed out to MO late tomorrow night. I'll see you all on the flip side!

Homework day!

2008-07-07T10:25:00.001-07:00

On Mondays I'm always scrambling to finish homework that I've been procrastinating on. Luckily, this week there's not much to get done.
Last Tuesday when I went to the thrift store I bought a large mason jar filled with broken jewelry. I've deconstructed almost all of it and made quite a bit of new pieces already. It was an exciting and inspiring find, and I wanted to share a picture of one of the pieces I made from two broken necklaces, a single earring, and some faux pearls that I had already. I love how it turned out!

On the USAF and John Philips Sousa

2008-07-06T13:51:00.000-07:00

I had a delightful Indepence Day weekend! It's winding down today, and was mostly quiet yesterday, but that can be really wonderful. On Friday, a few friends wanted to get together, see some fireworks, and grill out. We were looking for places to see the fireworks, when my DH asked if I'd seen the anouncement in the forward he sent me. A few weeks ago, he had sent a forward from base that outlined the activity offerings they had going on for the next month or so. I had skimmed it, but I didn't remember what I had read.

The announcement included the plans for the base fireworks show. There was to be a free picnic, some vendors and fireworks at the base park (appropriately named Freedom Park). So we loaded up a cooler with drinks and headed off to the base. A live band offered entertainment while we ate, chatted, and waited for the sun to go down.

When the fireworks began, the sound system offered up a soundtrack of Lee Greenwood, John Philips Sousa, and the national anthem among other patriotic music. I found myself reflecting on how appropriate it was to be spending Independence Day on a military base. We also had a happy discovery that one of our friends was there, having returned from his deployment at 2:00 AM.

All in all, it was a good day with friends, celebrating our country.

Happy Fourth!

2008-07-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

Our family has a sort of family reunion every 4th of July weekend. We hang out, go to the hometown rodeo and parade, drink all sorts of beverages, and eat watermelon and brats. This pic is of my nephew from last year's celebration. I can't be there this year, but it's at the forefront of my mind. To everyone out there, enjoy your Fourth, however you celebrate!

Bah!

2008-07-02T10:18:00.000-07:00

I didn't make it to the farmer's market yesterday (I got lost), I couldn't sleep last night, and a call from the lawyer's office woke me this morning. Bah, I say, bah!

Gotta Run!

2008-07-01T11:04:00.001-07:00

I got my DH to leave me the car with A/C today, so I must take advantage. I want to get groceries, go to a few thrift stores, pick up my friends mail (she's on vacay for most of the summer, and I'm her apartment sitter), and last but not least hit up the farmer's market. I've never been, I hope it's good, I'm dying for farm fresh food!

Sometimes, Nevada bums me out, ok, it does a lot. It is not the fault of Las Vegas, but I've been terrible at assimilating here.

I'm homesick for Wisconsin and green grass, cool summer nights, and FLOWERS!! I'm not a gardener, that is my mom's job, but I could always tell what part of spring/summer we were in by what flowers were blooming around the house. I took them all for granted.

Around a month or so ago, I was in Trader Joe's and I kinda sorta wanted to buy some fresh flowers. I had it in my mind to pick up some stargazer lilies (my favorite!), but another flower they had caught my eye. Trader Joe's was selling fresh cut peonies. This is probably not exciting to anyone else, but my mom had massive peony bushes as I was growing up. In early to mid June, those fluffy pink puffballs of flowers were everywhere, along with the sweet smell that waved at you as you passed by the bushes on the way to do chores or just enjoy a beautiful June day. I had to smell the peonies at Trader Joe's, and then I had to walk away. I wanted to buy them and bring them home with me, but that would just have been another reminder of how far away from home I really am.

On to better things. I made the earrings in the picture and took pictures of them, but I don't think I'm going to post them in my etsy shop. I'm planning on giving them to my little sis on the occasion of her and her husband buying their first house, quitting her job, and moving to a new community. Her husband is now a for real pastor and starts at his new church in about two weeks. We're going to visit, and it's in MO, so at least we get to go to the Midwest!

I feel like I should make something for the new pastor, too, but I'm kinda stumped at that one. :)

Now I really do have to run!

Monday, Magic Monday

2008-06-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

Another Monday, another week. I know I don't have to get up and go to a job on Monday mornings like most people, but I do wake up to an empty house because my love is already hard at work doing what he does. And I have class on Monday, so Monday usually means making sure my homework is done and my reading is read. Today, I'm starting a new class, Critical Analysis in Research. The title alone is making me dread this class. The only thing worse for my little intuitive flighty self would be a full-blown stats class. I got a BA for a reason.
So the little things are being taken care of and for fun, I'm putting together a t-shirt blanket. In a burst of impatience at this cluttered apartment, I decided that it was time to get rid of all the old t-shirts just lying around not being worn. Sentimental soul that I am, I couldn't just throw them out and say goodbye to all the memories that they represented, but I didn't also want to make a hoity-toity t-shirt "memory quilt." Those always seem too full blown for something as humble as a t-shirt. So, I mercilessly cut my (and some of DH's) old tshirts into squares, not even fully preserving the design in some cases. The intent was to preserve the spirit of the shirt more than any design. I've started sewing the squares together, but now I have to rustle up three more shirts to finish. I'm not intending to put any batting of any sort in the blanket, I'm just going to back it with hodgepodged t-shirt material and sew through both layers in a frankensteiny attempt at machine quilting, I guess. I'll post a pic when it's done.

My new Etsy shop

2008-06-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

I'm selling stuff on Etsy now! It's crazy! I'm super excited about this. I've been on a little frenzy lately, making jewelry and little bags for it, taking pictures, editing and creating. This is cool. I've been on for two days, I've not advertised at all (yet), and two people already heart me!!! Yay!

Happy Birthday, Ricky!

2007-08-06T20:45:00.000-07:00

If you are in Afghanistan (and my husband is), then it is August 7 and his birthday. Happy birthday, Ricky! I love you!