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DIY: Succulents in a Jar
Happy New Year! I started off my new year by making a collage of a some of the latte art I have been pouring…still not nearly perfect but fun all the same to see them all together. I used my iphone4 to take all these photos and the apps Diptic and Instagram to edit them. I am thinking of doing the same thing using my regular camera and photoshop and then hanging it on my wall. Now to the DIY…I have a slight obsession with succulents. They are beautiful and easy to keep alive. Living where I do it is hard to find plants that I can keep alive,…
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DIY: Pinecone Ornament
I cannot believe Christmas is nine days away. This month is flying by and I cannot seem to keep up with the various work and personal holiday parties. It does not help that my family was ravaged by a winter cold. I always try to make an ornament that I can give away with my gifts or as an extra trimming to the way the gifts are packaged. This year I found some really beautiful pine cones close to my home and I spray painted them silver. Then I dabbed a bit of hot glue to the top and attached a bit of bakers twine for them to be hung by. I…
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Handmade Christmas {part 2}
So it has been a few weeks since my Handmade Christmas post where I dreamed about what I would knit with some very fabulous yarns. Since then I have (surprisingly and uncharacteristically) knitted several of them! I don’t think I am any closer to having my Christmas gifts done, at least it does not feel that way. However, I feel a sense of accomplishment and wanted to share. Here is a hat I am in the process of knitting for my oldest son. I think it will be a Christmas present…one of several. In the beginning of fall, when we took a family trip to Portland, I took Corin to…
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DIY: Silvering Leaves
Because of how far away I live from civilization (approximately 2 hrs) I like to think about holiday decor and wrapping early. I had the idea this year to use mostly organic things to wrap gifts and decorate my house. It helps that I have a love affair with twine, pinecones, and everything else organic. I was really excited when I found these dried leaves at JoAnn’s Fabrics this year. I had the idea to make them silver to add a bit more holiday feel. I think I will use them both as natural and silver because they look so great either way. All you need is some…
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Hand Made Christmas
{Giveaway at the bottom of the post} Every year I have high hopes that I will make every gift instead of spending lots of money on impersonal store bought items. Then, every year, due to my poor planning, I end up buying everything last minute. This year will be different. I am starting now, I am going to make a list of all the things I have to make, I will share some of it here. On top of Christmas I also have several baby gifts to make so those will also be in my list. This beautiful DK weight yarn by MadelineTosh will be used to make a couple…
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Hand Knit Brown Paper Tags
This year I am pushing myself a bit. I want to make as many things by hand as I can for the holidays. That of course means many of the gifts I will be giving are going to be knit. I always want some kind of unique piece in my wrapping and often a tag accentuates a gift perfectly…without being expensive or time consuming. I made these “hand knit” tags and thought I would share them. You will be surprised at how easy it is. Simply click on the image below to download the printable PDF file. Then simply follow the instructions on my Brown Paper Tag tutorial and you…
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Squaw Valley Herb Garden (part 1)
Over the weekend I had the honor and pleasure of taking a tour of the Squaw Valley Herb Garden. I took my camera, knowing it would be a photo worthy experience, and I was not disappointed. I will be splitting this into two posts because of the number of beautiful things there were to photograph. I had passed these signs many times on my drive home. What I didn’t realize was the herb garden has tours all spring and summer. I hadn’t even made it in the gate and I found several wonderful things to take photos of. Rosemary and Tim have a wonderful collection of old signs cars and…
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Childish Creativity
Some days the only time I can find to create is while I am at the park with my kids. The wonderful thing about the park (ours has sand) is how it lets children create. Everything they can imagine is possible. They have structures that can become forts or castles. Sand that can become, food, buildings, roads and construction sites. The sky is the limit. I have been trying to encourage creativity in my children. It takes some risk because it usually results, like everything else, in a big mess. However, I know this is so important to their development because of how big of a piece of my…
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An Endless Variation
I recently decided to knit myself a Winter Endless Braid Ear Warmer I didn’t have time to complete the repeat 4 times so I did 3 instead as recommended at the end of the pattern and made the braid very loose instead of tight. I LOVE the result. It was a quick brainless knit. Plus, I figured if I was knitting bow ties for my kids I might as well knit something for myself.
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Fiona’s Pixie Hood (part 3)
I finally finished Fiona’s pixie hood. I knit this hood from a pattern by the very talented Amanda Keeys. This pattern (Zozo Pixie Cables) was a quick knit. I am a little slow at reading patterns because I am dyslexic. This pattern, as patterns go, was relatively easy to understand. I used two different gauges of yarn and the result ended up in the edging being a bit too large for the hat. Also the more difficult technique that is important to know is how to cable. There are lots of awesome videos on YouTube. Just search for “Learn to Cable Knit.” She still looked adorable in the hat so…
