how-to

I'm a self taught individual so finding tutorials are like gold in my eyes, and with holidays fast approaching they give you another route then shopping the store (unless you are very motivated to up that downed economy). A lot of these has come from whipup.net which is an amazing page for endless handmade encouragement.



Here are some I have saved:

Silk ribbon embroidery at Elisi Dunyamiz's blog.

Kata Golda’sglasses case over at Design*Sponge.

Kate's acorn birdfeeder over at (my favorite) Design*Sponge.

Reusable snack bag at "i have to say...".

Cushion cover with INVISIBLE ZIPPER at Kirin Notebook.

Oven hand mitts at The Idea Room.

Mason Jar sewing kit at Creative Ramblings.

Pear Tawashi scrubbie pad Salihan Crafts.

Okay I have to stop now, but believe me, there will be more! Hope you enjoy!

color texture mash

Today I was looking for something I had saved on my reader feed. As I looked through all the posts I noticed a trend, most of what I had saved (along with how-to's) is colorful, warm, and textured. I had an urge to gather these all together and share, I love them all.

Hope you enjoy!


www.nadene.etsy.com


www.studiohartig.blogspot.com/


www.KnockKnocking.etsy.com


www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com


www.MichelleProsek.etsy.com


www.sandrajuto.com/blog


www.ericatanov.com


www.dosfamily.com


www.hel-looks.com

the cold weather has fully encompassed me. anything that could have been has come to a halt for massive knitting and watching netflix/hulu under layers of blankets. i can't imagine a happier day for me, but it really eats the day away.

list of things i've watched (in the last week) in chronological order:
-History Channel's Mysteries
~Dead Bodies
~Abe Lincoln
~Secret Societies
-Say Anything (which on second viewing loved)
-Seven Pounds
-King of Kong
-Paranormal TV
-Ghost Hunter International
~4 episodes
-Ghost Hunter
~5 episodes

i bought a pair of boots, which really should last me the rest of my life. frye engineer boots.

we are thinking of donating the car and buying a small truck. having a truck seems logical with all the house work we have been doing.

list of house things that have been accomplished in chronological order:
-house plants move from porch to craft room.
-farewell (broken) garbage disposal.
-hello brand new stove (Frigidaire).
-sheet rock and mudding closet in craft room.

matt and i had our 1 year wedding anniversary. it was nice, we went antique shopping down the street and later has dinner at "mirror of korea" which was excellent. now all we have to do is finish our wedding thank you cards (yeah, that's not good).

dinner at Mirror of Korea

a couple weeks ago we had friend over to the house for a dinner party. the idea was everyone was to pick a color and bring a dish of that very color. i figured it to be a rainbow of food, but it was all very subtle, in the end all that mattered was that we had a good time- which we did.

this is our deck and table. i am so ridiculously happy about how this turned out, it was beautiful!

that state fair was fun this year, we live close enough to walk and so we did! it was the first year i've gone into the "birth barn" and was pleasantly surprised. in this barn they keep farm animals that are ready to burst with babies, and when they do they but them center stage for all to watch (on bleachers no less), yuck. anyways the farm also houses all the newborn baby animals so really it neutralizes it and you want to go in just to see the baby lambs.

bread on display at the state fair.

i'll try to be better about posting.

hooch.

Saint Paul has a history of organized crime in the 1920s, being so close to Chicago and all. Turns out our house has a little history it that area as well. A neighbor just stopped by the house to point out an interesting fact he had just read about in the book John Dillinger Slept Here by Paul Maccabee. Here is the excerpt (minus exact address):

"One of the more colorful bootleggers in the Midway area was boxer Sammy "the Fighting Tailor" Taran. In 1925 agents raided Taran's distillery".." (a brown and cream bungalow that still stands".."). The agents claimed that Taran's distillery was part of a million dollar alcohol ring that used the bungalow to redistill "body-rub alcohal" into "high-grade whiskey". But the liquid evidence against Taran disappeared: nearly every bottle of the alcohal seized from his home in 1925 was inexplicably destroyed by Prohibition agents. The jury was forced to aquit him of bootlegging charges, a verdict that inspired Judge Hugo Hanft to rail against the agents for failing to preserve the the evidence against Taran. The incident reflected the most corrosive by-product of the bootlegging business- the ten of thousands of dollars in protection money required for local police, sheriffs, judges, prosecutors, and even Prohibition agents. The city of St. Paul, with it's twenty-year tradition of corruption through the O'Connor system, provided rich soil for Prohibition bribery."



He, our neighbot Tom, had photocopied the pages in the book that pertained to our house to give to us. Honestly, we live in the best neighborhood ever, we hadn't meet Tom until this but he, along with eveyone else in our area is so friendly- we really lucked out.

The house was built in 1924 and it sounds like he mush have been the very first owner due to the raid the next year, 1925. Up until now all we had known was the house was owned by a single family passed down by generations until it was forclosed 2 years ago.

I'm looking forward to doing more research into our home and on the bootlegger himself.

Minnesota State Fair
August 31, 2009

dreaming

We are finally rooting ourselves in the house. Making goals over the next few years for what needs to be fixed and a future plan if we ever decide to sell- which tethers us as to how much we do to this place.

After visiting the northwest coast a couple time Matt and I keep dreaming about the idea of going back and staying. Being so close to the ocean is my ultimate dream but the general attitude of people and life out there is where we want to be, I am very tired of pushy "nice" Minnesota. I want to see moss and lush vegetation everywhere I go. The place we bought is in such a choice location, right next to a beautiful park and in a secluded neighborhood at the bottom of what seems to be a small valley, everyone takes really good care of their lawns- flowers galore, so after some sweat equity this place should have no problem selling, but if we decide to stay it's just perfect for us.

We are doing everything out of pocket so it's going to be a long process, and a learning process because we'll be doing it ourselves. He's the game plan:

Summer '09 - Deck (minor), move-in stuffs, plumber for gas lines,
Fall/Winter '10 - Upstairs bathroom, finish painting,
Spring/Summer '10 - Fence, tear up blacktop and concrete, outdoor lights, garden/landscaping
Fall/Winter '11 - Kitchen,
Spring/Summer '11 - Deck (major), garage (studio?),
Fall/Winter '12 - Basement (bathroom/hanging ceilings/walls),
Spring/Summer '12 - Roof, siding,
Fall/Winter '13 - *in works*
Spring/Summer '13 - *in works*

Somewhere in there get house rewired and new fuse box (sooner rather then later) and each season set up has subcategories that are in my head/random sheets of paper all over the place/notebooks/the computer. Somewhere in here we have to add Matt and Kelly doing their own thing i.e. art!


This is our new, old, tub. It currently lives in the garage with our new, old, pedestal sink. Our new bathroom will look, old.

I'm so excited.

maybe i will resurface here!

let's start simple:

my hair-spiration:


and where i'm at


love the lasers? check out- http://www.laserportraits.net/