Eggceptionally Cute

A few weeks ago, drooling over Lisa Jordan's beautiful blog, lil fish studios news (link found in "My Blog List" below), I came upon a photo of two adorable little egg-cup pincushions, fashioned by Lisa's own hands.


Pure inspiration.

Within days of seeing Lisa's photo, I went online and ordered five wooden egg-cups; I could scarcely wait until they made it to my mailbox...

I painted them (I also had a hard time waiting for the paint to dry!) with acrylics.  The "cushions" are made from little rectangles of air duct filter (weird, I know, but necessity is the mother of invention, after all) folded over into squares, with a thin strip of steel wool sandwiched in between (this is at Lisa's suggestion - the steel wool keeps the pins nice and sharp).  I cupped the squares in the palm of my hand to achieve a roundish shape and put a cotton ball in the center.  Then I twisted a scrap of fabric around the outside and tucked the twisted end into an egg-cup, which I'd prepped with a bead of crafter's glue around the inside lip.  The finishing touch for each was four pearlized pins, in colors that picked-up on the overall theme of the individual cup.

This was a REALLY fun and inexpensive project (the egg-cups were .89 cents each at www.caseyswood.com!) and will make perfect stocking-stuffers for all of the seamstresses in my life.

Happy Crafting!

Furry Thief

Just wanted to share these pics of one of the little critters who come to steal the birdseed I set-out every day (sorry, the photos are a bit blurry - still haven't had my good camera repaired).


Usually, our furry little crooks (there are two, as far as I can tell) come in the late afternoon, jumping from our roof to our deck with a resounding thud; this, however, was a surprise morning visit.

I'll be picking-up some unsalted peanuts tomorrow, just to give the birds a fighting chance...

Bud Vases

Last weekend, I stopped by SCRAP (Scrounger's Center for Recycled Art Parts), a non-profit organization in San Francisco and GREAT! spot for finding bits and pieces of old wood, glass, fabric, etc.  What you see here is the result of that visit: A measure of salvaged window (door?) trim, with three little glass bottles fastened to it by hot-glue gun.  I drilled a couple of holes in the trim - prior to affixing the bottles - ran some ribbon through, and tied it off.  Just add water and voila! - hanging bud vases.

I plan on making more of these (still have alot of leftover trim), but next time, I'm going to add some beadwork to the bottles before I affix them.  My challenge will be to get the jeweler's wire - on which I'll string the beads - to lay nicely on the bottles.  Any suggestions would be most welcome...

Little Treasure Revisited

Remember this pretty little thing from a couple of weeks ago?  Well here it is, fully-restored.  I wonder if it was this nice when it was brand new...

My dad stripped it, put a whole new top on it, fixed the hinges, replaced the inside shelf, reattached the strip of wood that separates the top and bottom compartments, and then stained it.  Like all of the furniture he creates or restores, it turned-out beautifully!

Wish you could get a good look at the handle and knob, which were what ultimately convinced me to rescue this piece; once my good camera is repaired, I'll take some nice up-close shots so you can see what I'm talking about.

Home Sweet Home

I wanted to share this before too much more time passed: Last Saturday, the 24th, a few friends got together for an afternoon of crafting and cocktails.  While we drank mimosas with pomegranate seeds floating in them (very pretty!), I was FINALLY! able to finish painting the birdhouse my dad built for me several months ago.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any "before" pictures, but this was built with scraps of mismatched wood and has a hinged roof (for easy cleaning).  While my Stellar's Jays and mourning doves are too big to take-up residence, I'm hoping the sparrows or juncos will give it a try...

As KC and The Sunshine Band Would Say...

It's been a very busy weekend; chores, errand-running, projects...altogether productive and satisfying.  And that's the way (uh-huh, uh-huh) I like it !


My trip to the flea market today was a bust, but Saturday's trip to the farmer's market turned-up some lovely organic beets (among many other goodies), which I quick-pickled for myself and the girls at work.  Here's the recipe, if you're so inclined:


16-18 smallish beets
1 C red wine vinegar
4-5 Tbls sugar
cracked pepper
water


Scrub the beets; cover to within an inch with cold, salted water.  Bring to a rolling boil and allow to continue boiling until nearly fork-tender, 30-45 minutes (after 30 minutes, check often for doneness).  Drain and allow to cool to the point that they're easy to handle.  In the meantime, whisk together the vinegar, sugar and pepper in a measuring cup, then add about a 1/2 cup or so of water; be sure that the sugar is completely dissolved before pouring mixture into saucepan.  

Once beets are cool enough to handle, remove their jackets and slice into discs or chunks, however you like them.  Place beets in large, thoroughly cleaned canning or old pickle jar.  Bring vinegar mixture up to a quick boil, then pour over beets.  At this point, I often add a splash or two of some other type of vinegar, just to top-off the jar.  This week, I used white balsamic, last week I used a red-wine vinegar I'd infused with rosemary (which I'd done before and Isabella didn't care for - she thought the rosemary added too much of a "floral" note).  Just depends on what's handy and/or what sounds tasty.  I allow the jar to come to room temperature before I refrigerate it; the beets keep for several weeks, but usually don't last that long!  This recipe will probably yield a little bit more than the one canning/pickle jar.


Two notes: 1) I hope I haven't offended any serious "picklers" out there who might have stumbled upon this; I'm no professional, that's for sure!  But this recipe is simple and tasty and pretty popular with my friends, so I keep at it.  2) I used the leftover beet water to do some experimental fabric dyeing, but a) I made a bad fabric choice (an old brushed-cotton pillow case, which didn't seem particularly dye-friendly), and b) I picked mostly blush-colored beets, rather than the deep-deep burgundy-colored beets I usually buy; I wasn't paying attention!  At any rate, I don't have much to show for my first attempt at natural dyeing, but I'll keep trying until I have something worthwhile to share.

Little Treasure...

Here are a couple of pictures of a charming little table I found while out on a lunchtime walk on Tuesday.  It was just sitting there - amongst several other pieces of furniture lined-up on the sidewalk, with a “FREE” sign posted on the fence behind them - waiting for somebody to come along and claim it.  And, happily, that somebody turned-out to be me…

I’d planned on stripping and staining it myself, and asking my dad if he'd fix the hinges and handles (which are especially pretty), but he was just itching for a new project, so it looks like I get a fully-restored piece of furniture for no cost and a minimum of effort (I did have to carry it 3 blocks to my car, in the blazing heat, once I’d decided to take it!).  I’ll be sure to show you how it turns out…

Have a great weekend!

How did I end-up here?

I’ve kept diaries and journals, off and on, for most of my life (although, admittedly, it’s been far more off than on the last several years), so when blogging came into vogue, I was intrigued.  I found something wonderfully seductive about the idea of blogging: To think, your wildest dreams, your aspirations and opinions, who and what you love and hate – all laid bare to a vast, seemingly infinite, audience, with little or no censorship, and the added bonus of relative anonymity.  How could I not be seduced?

My quandary, though, was what to write about.  What could I possibly have to say that would be worthy?  Of course, I could have just written, I could have just unloaded myself on the world like so many others do.  Blogging, as I suggested, is seemingly limitless, without boundaries, so I could have said anything at all and it really wouldn’t have mattered.  But, for whatever reason, I felt that it did matter.  And so I chose not to do it.  I just couldn’t bear the thought of all those people out there thinking I was just one more egomaniacal twit with a laptop and too much time on her hands.

It wasn’t until I started exploring crafters’ blogs that I realized that it didn’t have to be a “diary” in the most common sense of the word, it didn’t have to be about my political bend or what I had for breakfast or how I hoped the Giants would win the World Series two years in a row (but I really, really DID hope that!).  It could, instead, be something purely artistic, something celebrating nature, something engaging and thoughtful – and, still, hopefully thought provoking.  I didn’t have to start a revolution, but I could make the world a prettier – and, thereby, better - place, in my own little way, one sentence or photograph at a time.

Which brings us up to date.  This is my blog, for all that it’s worth, whatever that might be.  I have many interests and, as I explore them, I hope to share them with you.  I’m very excited about this...and still hoping not to disappoint.