Rhinestone Armadillo

Friday things

I have some tiny roses I want to make into bows for Violet.  The color was too vibrant for what I wanted, so I soaked them in strong coffee for a few hours. 

They must be made of polyester, because the coffee didn't altar their appearance.  I had some silk flowers that turned a great vintagey shade after being coffee-dipped.  I wish these purple flowers had been made out of a dyeable material.  Maybe next time.

Here's the fabric I'm using for Violet's "Heidi Dress".  I'm crazy about reversible fabric, although this dress won't be reversible.  I will be using each side for different parts of the outfit, though.

Dinner-

• Chicken cordon bleu (easy version here)
• tomatoes
• squash
• broccolli and brown rice casserole
  
  
  

Homemade lip gloss

Have any of you made homemade lip gloss before?  I've been wanting to try it.  I compiled a list of links to recipes in case you're interested. 

I had lunch with Stacy and Sarah today. (Darn it, Sarah--I can't find your blog link.  Gimme, please!)  We thought it might be fun to have a 'girl day' where we make glosses and balms.  I can't wait until my studio is done and we'll have a good place to work on these sorts of projects.

There are some interesting recipes on the web using ingredients you probably already have around the house, like---vaseline, crisco, vitamin E oil, Kool-Aid, Crystal Light, and cocoa powder.

The second recipe on this page has a recipe for lip balm made with Crisco and Hershey's chocolate chips....yum!

Here's a great tutorial from Emily M. Meyers.

Here's one on making Kool-Aid gloss from Meet the Dubiens.

Chocolate orange balm recipe from Sugar Bananas.

Recipes here for vanilla, cocoa, and fruit balm.

Gloss made with cocoa powder

This one is a bit more complicated, but still very do-able.

Heidi dress inspiration

Regarding the post below (about mixing pattern pieces to make a dress)...I'm envisioning a Heidi-type dress.  I want to get all the girly dresses out of my system before Violet decides she's a tomboy or something.

I like the style of the Heidi illustrations from Jessie Wilcox Smith.  They're so full of fabric, but made of nice, light cottons.

Here's a nice understated style by Gustaf Tenggren.

I like vintage boho Jessica McClintock gowns and prairie dresses. (from VioletFolklore)

Gunne Sax always had such nice lines and details.  The clothes were so uber-feminine, too.
(from GreenMarketVintage on Etsy)

I want to make Violet something like the Von Trapp children would wear for a bicycle outing.

The Sound of Music is one of my mother's favorite movies.  I grew up watching lots of musicals.  Maybe that explains a lot.  

Throw this into the mix, too.

I have great double-sided calico-ish fabric I've been saving.  It's in autumny shades of orange, brown, and soft smoky lavender.  Ooooh----I'm getting excited about sewing!  Don't you like really looking forward to a project?  Those usually turn out better, in my experience.

Frankenstein dress

No, not like this.  However, this would be a great maternity Halloween costume, huh?  That's not going to happen this time around, since I'm due in early June.

I am always buying the cheapo patterns you see at thrift stores.  They're frequently in perfect condition (never even cut), but the styles are too old fashioned.  Old fashioned eighties or nineties styles, that is.

So...I've been looking for patterns with particular pieces I want.  I'm going to mix them all, using the same children's size.  I just hope the pattern sizes are consistent from pattern to pattern.  We'll see.

I've cut out the pieces, and hopefully the sewing will go quickly.  I dislike cutting out pattern pieces.  What's your 'yucky' part of the sewing process?  I love the actual sewing (if it's not too advanced for my skills), but my favorite is picking out and adding trims and buttons and such.

I'm going to take the body of the dress from this one.  It's nice and swingy...a great 'twirl dress'.

I'll add the short sleeves from this one. 

...and the pants from this one. (This is a new pattern, by the way.)

We'll see how it turns out.  The more pregnant I get, the less patient I get.  Not to mention mood swings.  BOY am I moody these days.  If this turns out crappy, I may just throw it out the window in a fit of rage.  Or cry for an hour while eating pumpkin muffins.  I am running out of energy earlier and earlier in the evenings, so I don't want to commit to a project that isn't going to turn out at least semi-well.  This may be more potential frustration than I want to deal with right now.  I'm going to try anyway, so wish me luck!

Rubik's Cube cake

Is there an eighties nerd in your life having a birthday soon?

Ooh....fun!  View instructions from S'Tasty here at Instructables.

Beyond Vagabond

My friend Brandi mentioned an interesting project being undertaken by her friend Zan.

Here's a brief description from her website:

Beyond Vagabond is the story of Zan Asha's unconventional journey via horse and carriage. Taking her experiences as beekeeper, folk artist, performing artist, and animal whisperer, she looks to combine these in a peddler's cart of classes she will teach cross country. This is the story of one city person's journeys to learning horsemanship, taking her love of community and arts across country, and creating a self sufficient project on wheels.

 

If you can't see the video above, click here to go directly to it.

The prices for her classes are very reasonable. ($20-25 for a 2 1/2 hour cooking class)  She offers classes ranging from cooking, dancing, art, and beekeeping.   She'll be touring the country with her wagon, and looking for venues to host her courses.  That means she'll teach the class in your own kitchen.  This seems like a fun thing to do for 'Girls' Night Out'.  It would definitely be a more enriching alternative to margaritas and manicures.

East Indian 101
The spices of India have long been used to flavor Victorian England and America's foods, an you may not even be aware that some "common" spices in your pantry are actually from India! This class explores spices, various cooking techniques, and ends up with a few tasty recipes for you to eat! Mango Lhassee, Vegetable Jafrees, and more are awaiting hungry students!

February Fire

There are few things I enjoy more than curling up in front of the fire with a warm drink and a good book.  Things are going pretty slow with me physically.  Due to prior pregnancy problems and early contractions, I am forbidden to exercise at all....argh!  At least I haven't been stuck on bed rest (yet..hopefully never) like I was with Violet.

Slowing down doesn't come easily to me.  I'm a 'doing and going' kind of person.  I like to have several irons in the fire.  I like to be able to move swiftly from one thing to the next....put a layer of paint on a project, go start a load of laundry, write a blog post, water plants, start dinner.  Now, I have to move slowly and between carefully scheduled projects to conserve energy.  Blah.

I'm reading "The Night Circus"by Erin Morgenstern.   I've been looking forward to this book for a really long time.  I have high hopes.

Since I've written (and am currently editing and revising) a Young Adult Novel, I'm trying to read more YA Fiction.  I've recently read:

"Eragon" by Christopher Paolini 

Anyone who enjoyed Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books would like this.  It's the first in a trilogy.

"The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan

Part of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, this was a quick read.  It was definitely geared toward junior high-ish boys, so there were parts that didn't click with me.  Still, it was appropriate for the genre.

"Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs

I am a sucker for odd photographs, so this book immediately appealed to me.  Original vintage photos are interspersed throughout the narrative, becoming part of the story.  Don't get this one via Kindle...the handwritten letters and photographs are a visceral experience you don't want to miss.   I don't know about you guys, but I need a solid book in my hands.

The Little Girl Giraffe receiving her daily squeezes.

Violet racked up lots of sugar on Valentine's Day.  This was the morning of her Valentine's Party at her school.  She could hardly wait.  She kept asking, "Is it time?  Is it time for the party?  Is it time yet?  Can I eat the heart cookies now?"

Violet isn't really playing playing yet, but I like to give her time to test it out.  Even when they don't know their notes yet, I think it's valuable to let kids tinker with instruments.  She's old enough to place the harp on her shoulder and be gentle with the strings now.

It's probably presumptuous on my part, but I've already bought a book of harp duets.  I hope hope hope Violet or Baby #2 will want to play.  I will let them pursue any instrument they're interested in, but it would be nice if they wanted to learn an instrument we already have.

The Last Jar!!!!!

If you aren't familiar with my army of jars, click here for the back story.

The last jar.....was empty.  I feel kind of verklempt, do y'all?  In fact, there were multiple jars left, but they were all empty.  I tried to pick them randomly, but maybe I should have saved a 'good one' for the end.

I'm sure there's something profound in here about the last jar being empty, but I'm not seeing it yet.  Maybe it's good to enjoy things as you go and not have preconceived expectations?  Maybe life is best lived fully in the moment, not hoarding the good stuff for a rainy day? 

 I just wanted something spectacular in the last jar---maybe I'm not feeling philosophical enough today.

I can't believe I'm done sorting through these crazy jars.  I'm going to miss cracking open a new lid every Wednesday.

It seems like a long time ago (September 2010 to be precise) that I started this project. 

It was our anniversary and Adam and I took a Texas back country road trip.  We were driving down a country road and saw this sign.

I still remember how my breath caught when I saw this barn room full of old pickles jars.  They each seemed like they could hold a whole world of secret treasures.  Adam kind of shuddered and went to wash his hands.

The nice old guy having the sale was retiring and moving.  I think he was tired of messing with the barn sale and told me I could have all the jars I wanted for $5.00.  Five DOLLARS!  I made my poor husband fill up the back of my Explorer with them.  Violet was barely walking and stared with wide-eyed confusion at the jars stacking up around her.

People have asked what I'm going to do with the jars.  Lots of the contents were trash-worthy, but many have been sorted into collections.  Several people have asked for the things in them, and I've happily shared them. 

As for the jars, I'm washing them all and using them to organize stuff for the studio.  It will be a while before everything is done, since the studio is still under construction.  However, I will be photographing them when they are in their final home.

You've been good to me, Jars.  I'll miss you! 

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

I made five dozen heart shaped sugar cookies.  Then I decorated them.  Then I helped Violet with all her Valentine's Day cards and prepared goodies for her preschool party.

Now I'm pooped.  That's not even my photo---I'm too lazy to take one.

Some days I have tons of energy and like to document every little thing.  Today...not so much.  I made cookies.  They got eaten.  End of story.  We'll have to just remember it in our heads.

Now I'm going to lounge and have a very low-key evening with my husband.  Valentine's Day with kids is sure different than without kids, huh?  What do you guys that have children do?  Get a sitter?  In my neck of the woods, getting a sitter isn't all that easy, especially on a semi-holiday.  So....Familytines Day it is. 

What's for dinner? Dog food!

Violet has been obsessed with the dog's food lately.  I finally said, "Fine.  Here's a piece.  Try it.  Go on....eat it."

And here's the post dog food face.

I didn't really make her eat ONLY dog food for dinner.  We had scallop and sausage gumbo over rice and broccoli.

Here's another random meal.  Roasted irish veggies (cabbage, onions, carrots, potatoes) with roasted chicken and beer based gravy with soda bread.

Violet gets so excited about doing new things.  Like standing on a stool and flinging her arms around really fast.  To her, everything is a circus trick.

She said, "Mama!  Come look!  Take a picture real fast on the camera and show Pop Pop."  I guess my constant photo taking doesn't go unnoticed.  In fact, she's started asking me to document things a lot.  That's kind of fun.  I can't wait until she's ready to start taking her own photos.  It will be neat to see how she sees the world.