Jeans

Won't my mommy be so proud of me? I actually sewed up the holes in my jeans all by myself. Now, I love the look of distressed jeans, and I've been known to walk the backs off my pants until they reach that perfect level of disrepair, but I don't like cold air seeping through the legs of the clothing that is supposed to protect me from said air. Not to mention that there is a fine line between distressed and needs to be thrown away. So, I grabbed the interfacing and the sewing machine and patched up the holes in my jeans. Each  hole got a couple of zigs and zags. I may have to go back and reinforce further, though. But, the jeans are good enough to get me through the cold of December. January may be another story. 

Cleaning

What did you do for Thanksgiving? Well, in addition to cooking and eating, and preparation for Christmas crafting and decorating, I cleaned out my craft supplies and reorganized the way I had them put away. Now, the tools are in my dining room dresser, and the paper and other things are organized in the tupperware containers in the closet. I broke out the cards from the scrap paper from the colored card stock in an attempt to make it easier to locate what I need when I need or want to make a quick card. And, because one of the things that keeps me from crafting on long projects that take several days is that I either have to leave out the mess or put it away and get it out every time, I bought a little red rolling cart from Harbor Freight. I can roll the cart into my closet, or at least the bedroom, if folks come over. And, it isn't much taller than the table, so I can put stuff on it and keep it in the corner of the dining room but out of sight from the living room.

Turkey Day

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of all the accoutrements - family, friends and food. Even though I stayed in WI, I still got to be a part of the family madness back home, thanks to Face Time on the iPhone. Megs used her phone to take me around the house and see everyone in their PJs. After saying "Hello" to everyone, both Megs and I got down to cooking. We propped phones against bowls as she made the dressing and I cooked up the Squash Pie you see in front of you. I also made cranberry sauce using a new recipe to take to my friend's home, where we shared a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. 

You can get the recipe for the cranberry sauce over at Baking Bites blog. 

Now that I'm out of my food coma and past Friday's work day (I know, I know, but it's not a holiday for some of us), it's time for my favorite post-Thanksgiving tradition. It's not shopping (although I love shopping) but Christmas crafting. So, look for more posts about the fun I'll have this weekend.

Happy leftovers!

an you believe that I got to hear Jessica Hische speak, and I didn't even know that I have been following her work for a couple of years before I got there? I feel a bit of a failure for that. The whole time, I was thinking, "That looks familiar" and "I like that", but when she showed the C at the left, which I love, I knew that she was the genius behind Daily Drop Cap. This site is one of the beautiful gems that lives in my Google Reader.

Jessica came to adison for a speaking event hosted by Design Madison. My friend from work is a member of the group. She shares with me a love of pretty things and design. While I dabbled in graphic design for fun and for the magazine I worked for, she studied and worked in industrial design.

Listening to essica's story and seeing her work, as well as talking to the folks who came to the event, made me want to come home and do something creative. And yet, it's taken me 36 hours to write the post to tell you of the wonderful time that I had. I'll make up for it this weekend. I already have plans to work on a couple of TS projects, but you'll get to see them soon enough.

Keep checking out Daily Drop Cap for updates. Jessica showed us the letter she did in honor of her trip to WI, so it should be posted soon!

Paper art

Okay, so cutting a couple of rectangles of paper may not really count as art or a craft. But, I want to take some credit for seeing the potential in these sheets of beautiful paper from Blick Art Supply when I was down in Chicago a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if I can take credit for the way the swirls line up so well between the two different frames, though.

As you can see on the left, these frames from Ikea once held pictures, which I sometimes swapped out. I was looking at papers to put in the mat in place of a couple of pictures when I fell in love with the red marbled paper. I found the gold and black just a few moments later in the same drawer, and a plan began to form.

My friend and I made a trip to the outskirts of Chicago for an Ikea trip. As we were leaving, we saw the Blick art supply store. I just had to go. I'd only ever looked at their website. Turns out, they were having a sale on canvases, too, so I also got a couple of those that I'm hoping to turn into some kind of art in the next couple of months.

What I want to wear for the season

Fossil is having a Polyvore contest to design your wishlist outfit. Here is mine. Perfect for a day out Christmas shopping followed by coffee or dinner with friends. It's almost enough to make me hold off hibernation until at least January. Usually, I'm homebound after the first snow.

I sat down tonight to write another post for y'all and saw this fun contest hanging out in my inbox. An excuse to go Polyvore shopping. Wait, I don't need an excuse. So, y'all will have to wait until another day for my post on my new living room artwork. For right now, I think I'm going to continue making outfits on Polyvore.

And, I might just wear my cowboy boots to work tomorrow.

Jingling Boots by Schizi featuring a large tote

Women's tees & knits - tissue tees - Tissue V-neck long-sleeve tee -...
$33 - jcrew.com
Long sleeved tee »

Annabelle Top
fossil.com
Lace tops »

Super Skinny Denim
fossil.com
Super skinny jeans »

Fossil Justin® Vintage Cowboy Short Boot for Fossil
$175 - fossil.com
Cowboy boots »

Fossil Key-Per Large Tote Handbag
$78 - fossil.com
Large tote »

Fossil Icon Deer Checkbook
$50 - fossil.com
Checkbook wallets »

Fossil Ultra Slim Black Dial Watch
$85 - fossil.com
Fossil watches »

FOSSIL - watches, handbags, accessories, and apparel - www.fossil.com
$35 - fossil.com
FOSSIL pendants »

Fossil Glam Flower Earrings
$28 - fossil.com
Vintage earring »

Fossil Letter C Charm
$18 - fossil.com
Vintage jewelry »

Fossil Chubby Bird Charm
$18 - fossil.com
Vintage pendant »

FOSSIL Women's Jewelry: Necklaces, Rings, Bracelets & Earrings
$12 - fossil.com
FOSSIL earrings »

Flower Drama Necklace
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Vintage necklace »

Bird Icon Necklace
fossil.com
Jewelry »

Fossil
fossil.com

Fossil
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Fossil
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Jingling Boots

Jingling Boots by Schizi featuring cowboy boots

What I would love to wear for a day of shopping turned dinner with friends.

Craft Night

Paper Source is hosting a Crafter's Night Out in their stores next Thursday. Too bad there isn't one in WI. I'm not sure that I can drive to Chicago for this event, but I wanted to let folks know who might be a little closer to one of my favorite stores. You can pick a store and sign up at their website Paper Source.

While you're in the store, make sure to take a look at all the pretty papers and stock up on supplies for your Christmas cards. I've started to plan mine. Last year, Megs and BLady gave me a Letterpress machine. After some technical and delivery issues, I have it in WI, and I'll be using it to make my Christmas cards. I like the holiday letter press printing plates they have at Paper Source. I'll keep those in mind as I think about what I'm going to do for the cards this year.

Merry Christmas tree!

It's that time again! I've done Freshly Blended's ornament swap every year since I moved to WI (this makes my 4th time to participate). I've already signed up for the swap, and you can, too, at the Freshly Blended's blog. 

I'm not sure what I'm going to make this year. Here is my ornament from my first swap. It is a bird made from cardstock and decoupaged with magazine clippings. To make more than just a piece of paper, I took two pieces of cardstock and stuffed the middle with a little filler to give the bird a tummy. A nice, messy project, but enjoyable. I worked on them over the course of a week, a couple each night after work. You'll have to wait until I get ready to decorate to see the ornaments from the past two years, and you'll have to wait until almost December 15 to see my latest. I tend to be one of the folks in the post office the last day you can mail the ornaments.

But, you should sign up. Maybe we'll end up in the same group!

And, here's the recipe

For the banana jelly.

It's courtesy of Cooking Light. I thought as much, but I couldn't find the recipe in any of my magazines. Since I never through away magazines, I thought I might be crazy. But, I had ripped the page out and put it by my desk to write this post.

To make the banana jelly:

3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 medium peeled and sliced overripe bananas
2 tablespoons butter.

Combine the sugars and juices in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add bananas and reduce heat to medium low; cook for 45 minutes or until slightly thick, mashing banana occasionally with the back of a spoon. Stir in butter. The mixture will thicken as it cools