Taking Something Old & Making It New Again

Recently, my mom cleaned out her craft/hall closet and unearthed these pillowcases. She had bought them back in the 80's and just had never quite figured out what to do with them so she stuck them package and all in with the rest of her embroidery stuff where they sat for the next 20+ years. I guess that is lucky for me for they are now mine! Since I am in the process (well almost done actually) of my bedroom decor redo, this was an awesome project to take on.

They started out as plain white envelope pillowcases with white on white embroidered floral cutouts (as you can barely see in the before shot (which wasn't so before since I had started embroidering that case when I remembered I needed to take a before shot)). I decided to use floss in colors that complimented the new bedspread and art in my & J's room and embroider around all the detail in these cases. I am super proud of the results. They will totally POP (all in caps for a POPPING effect) and add that level of hand craftiness that I love. They especially go with the new bed frame I bought the other day (white enamel cast iron with brass detailing. Gotta love Craigslist when you get the deal of the century on something). Well they will go with everything when I get the second one done. I will admit doing the duplicate of something seems to be my downfall. I get so swept up in the creating of something but when it comes to replication, my attention starts to wan. This is just not with projects, it's with most things I do. Yay for newness, not so yay for repetition.

Well, I have just pissed the evening away, screwing around online, posting my first item for sale on Etsy, making a banner for said Etsy shop and now blogging so I don't think I will be working on embroidering that second one tonight....see what I mean about my attention span?

Blue Tonsils - An Update from a Infected Home

Little known fact: Grape popsicles + pus tonsils = Blue tonsils!!!!

Do you know how difficult it is to take pictures of your own tonsils with your cell phone camera and holding a mag lite? It is not easy my friends, not easy. This is one of the best shots I got, which really only shows the tops of my tonsils but rest assured the blue goes all the way down them. Yay for blue tonsils!

And I assure you, I have done nothing with a smurf.

But I do feel slightly better today and my fever has broke (I am currently at 97 degrees!!!! I was at 96 for a little bit but I got it up to 97) and I am hoping that it means that the sweats will not come back. I am so tired of feeling like I am laying in dampness. Also, 800 milligram ibuprofen really does knock you out and will allow you to sleep where sleep was not available before. it is amazing what 4 hours of solid sleep can do when you haven't gotten more than an hour of uninterrupted sleep at a time since Monday night.

This update was brought to you by purple popsicles, 800 milligram ibuprofen and heaty pads.

Oh, Yeah, That Apron...

Here's the pics of the apron I made a few months back. Every time I wear it it reaffirms my belief that cats are evil and puppies are angels.

2 Crafts / 1 Week

How many crafts can I pick up in a week? While at Michaels last night checking out the cake decorating class schedule, I got swept away in the bead section and decided to make a new necklace to wear to work today. I thoroughly enjoyed this project, as basic as it was, and now am planning my next jewelry adventure (it's going to involve ribbon!).

Happy Mother's Day!

This Mother's Day I decided to try my hand at something new. Something I have always admired but have never attempted: Cupcakes!

I love cupcakes. I don't particularly love to eat them as I am more of a pie person but I love to look at them. I have books on cupcakes, cupcake picture frames, cupcake ribbon, cupcake iron on transfers, cupcake canisters, a cupcake shaped cookie jar, cupcake dessert plates, I even have a mechanical pencil with Hello Kitty holding a cupcake. I love cupcakes. I just think that they are so damn cute.

A couple of the cupcake books I own are Hello Cupcake! and it's recently released sequel What's New, Cupcake? The authors of these books are genius. They show you how to make the most amazing cupcakes simply, using every day ingredients in new ways (did you ever think that you could take rice crispies, a couple of pink & orange fruit chews and a strip of green licorice, throw it on top of a cupcake and make a person think that they are looking at fried rice?). I mean it is all relatively simple and you come up with awesome results. So after months of flipping through these books (and sitting next to the ever crafty Erin, who also owns these books and decorates cakes for any and every occasion) I decided I was going to take the plunge and whip up some cupcakes of my own.

My mother loves this almond poppy seed raspberry filled cake she gets at Thriftway. So I decided not only to bake cupcakes for the first time but that I would make jelly filled cupcakes with chocolate butterflies. Sounds like a pretty arduous task, but actually it ended up being one of the funnest things I have done in a long time. I love it. Watching the butterflies take shape and putting the little swirls in them, making the perfect shade of yellow frosting. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't without its snafus (my ability to frost something does leave something to be desired and the sun melting the antennae during transportation did not fill me with joy) or without a seriously messy kitchen (oh, who am I kidding? My kitchen is always messy. It is just now messy with frosting and chocolate). But I loved every minute of it! I think I see cake decorating classes in my very near future.

I actually am quite proud of this accomplishment. I thought I would crash and burn but instead I managed quite nicely. In the past year, I have really been trying to take strides to do crafts and prove myself to be a "crafty" individual as I hail from a long line of super crafty people (and I married into a family of super crafty people as well) and if I want to continue to hang with these people (or claim relations) I need to step my craft up. I taught myself how to crochet, finishing a couple of scarves and starting a blanket (sorry to say but finishing is not my strong suit). I learned how to embroider, finishing a really cute "cats are evil/puppies are angels" half apron and have another embroidering project sitting in my craft basket waiting to be stitched. I didn't newly learn how, but I refreshed my skill at flower arranging, doing my own flowers at my wedding. And now I am learning the wonderful world of cake decorating (which thankfully, plays into my short attention span since it only takes hours to complete each project, not weeks). Maybe I will end up being "crafty" after all!

If you are lucky enough to be my friend on Facebook and are longing for more, you can log on and see more pics of the Monarch cupcakes and the flower arrangement I made for my mom today. I'm going to try to post pics of the apron I embroidered later on this week.

My Obsession with Cirque Du Soleil

Last night Jason, Jessica, Rich and I went to see the new Cirque Du Soleil show that is in town, Kooza. It was amazing. It was the 4th CDS show I have seen and I would go to it every night if I could afford it. The things people can do with their bodies is amazing...freakish...but amazing. The show was funny, awe inspiring and highly entertaining. People, if you have a chance to go to CDS, whip out your Visa and get your ass there. You will leave mouth agape and seriously wondering why you hadn't forced your parents to enroll you in circus school.

Later on it got Jason and I thinking about taking a vacation to Las Vegas, which is something I never thought I would ever say. I am not the Vegas type of person. I hate overly crowded places, I don't gamble because I would much rather have a new purse on my arm than drop money in some machine and I hate the super hot/super air conditioned ratio you get there. It is just not my scene. Been there once and that was enough but.....they have 7 CDS shows running there. 7 freakin' shows!!!! I can watch a different show every night for a week. HEAVEN!!! It could only be better if they made a really dark CDS about serial killers and it starred Matthew Gray Gubler (I love you my TV husband). I have no idea what I would do during the day, but my nights would be occupied with all the acrobat/contortionist goodness I could handle. At almost $100 per person, per show, it's going to cost over $1500 for just Jason and I (although we ruled out CDS Elvis as I don't think I could take a few hours of that) but we can score a discount if we have 12+ people....so who's with us??!!! Who wants to go to Vegas for a week just to watch Cirque shows? I promise it will be the time of your life!!!!! If you don't have a CDS obsession already, this is a good way to kick off one! Just let me know if you are down and we can start saving together. It might take us a year and there will probably be another show by then (hopefully my Criminal Minds inspired idea will take off), but it will be way worth it.

One other thing that happened post CDS last night......
On the way back to the max stop, we were dodging traffic on Front Avenue and I have to admit when it comes to playing live action frogger, I am all for myself. I view the situation at hand, determine if there is enough time for myself to make it across without having to run like an idiot and start crossing, really not even concerned if the others I am with can make it across as well. When we get to the other side Jason points this out and I tell him I am simply trying to thin the herd and save humanity from all the slow street crossers out there. Jason then reminds me that we are a herd of two and if I ever want to make this herd any bigger, I better make sure it doesn't get any smaller. And since I am looking forward to growing our herd later this year, I better learn how to mind traffic for others and not just for myself. Lesson learned. I mean, I guess it is better for me to learn this prior to the expansion than afterward. I can't really expect a toddler to keep up with me. Well...maybe that would be good training for circus school....I can't let my child feel deprived some 20 years later when they leave a CDS show. They could become freakish traffic dodgers....maybe I won't be mindful after all and I could get free CDS shows for life!!!! YES!!!

You've Got To Be Kidding Me...

I have been lusting over the new PS3 game Heavy Rain since I first saw an advertisement for it over 6 months ago. I don't even own a PS3 and I became obsessed with reading everything possible about this game. I watched trailers, read clips, articles, interviews with the people behind the magic. I counted down the days til its release along side every PS3 owner in the world. And, let me reiterate, I don't even own a PS3. Not because I don't like the games or the way the system plays. I have owned all of PS3's predecessors and loved playing games on them. There have been games that have came out only for this console that looked amazing (I'm talking about you, Little Big Planet!) but the moment I saw a YouTube video of some game action for Heavy Rain, I was pushed over the edge. There would be no lusting at the sidelines for me. PS3 and I were no longer going to just make googly eyes at each other in the aisle at Best Buy and Heavy Rain is what was going to bring us together. And that's what brings us to today.

Today, the beautiful man I get to call my husband, decided he was going to buy me a PS3 (probably to stop me from yammering and from drooling in Best Buy). So after a trip to GameStop, Game Trader (which if you live in Beaverton, it is the best little game shop!), Best Buy and then all the way down to Fry's, I was a proud mother of a PS3 console (it's name is DeeryLouToo and we are registered at Amazon.com) and a copy of Heavy Rain. I drop the hubby off at home to get it all set up for me while I continue to run errands with my mom. Finally, I get home and settle in for some seriously Heavy action. I admire my new machine, take the game out of it package and slide it in. I download the necessary updates and am ready to dive into game play when I get an error having to do with the trophies feature of the PS Network. We look online and discover......THE WHOLE FREAKIN' PLAYSTATION NETWORK IS DOWN ALL OVER THE WHOLE WORLD!!!!!!! YOU'VE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME???!!!!

I have the game in my possession. I have the console to play the game. I can hold them, sniff them, even lick them but I can't play them. And Playstation hasn't even formally released what the issue is or an approximate ETA as to when we can expect it to be fixed. Of all the days for PSN to crash. I just want to play my video game.

Damn you, Playstation! You shat on what should have been a beautiful ending to a beautiful Sunday. Preventing the full union of a girl and her video game. Playstation, you should be ashamed.

For those of you who have not seen or even heard of *gasp* Heavy Rain, here is a taste of what is bound to be one of the most innovative games to ever hit the market: