The chair

I've recently come to the realization that I'd like to learn to sew. 

Nothing too fancy, just basic stuff. I'd like to re-cover some furniture cushions, make simple curtains and drapes for the house, and maybe have the ability to hem a pair of pants if necessary. Stuff like that. 

What set off this line of thinking was an old, sad armchair we've owned for close to 20 years now. It needs updating with a slipcover to make it into a piece of furniture we're proud to display in our home, instead of an old, dirty, worn out (but still comfortable) chair.

It lives in the office with our computer table and Marco's cage. Poppy uses it the most (she likes to hang out when we're using the computer). 

I thought of my friend Karen and how she's mentioned that she sews. I called her up one day and asked her if she'd be up for helping me to sew a slipcover for this chair, and she said YES! She's been sewing for decades, and this won't be too hard for her by any means.

Today we went to two fabric stores and looked at everything available. One nicer store had a lot of good stuff on clearance in the back. All the clearance fabric was $5.99 a yard. They looked really attractive when I saw the prices of the non-clearance stuff!

Anyway, I saw two or three fabrics I liked. As soon as I get Gregg's input I'll pick one and we can get started soon. Karen's going to help me sew in zippers so that whatever we pick can be taken off and washed. I'm really excited about this project! And learning a little bit about sewing, too. It's awfully nice of my friend to help me with this. I think she's already having fun planning this project with me.

PS....Karen has a blog! Check it out: The Internet's Best Karen

Easter egg birthday party!

This has been a great weekend. In addition to having four days off work, last night a couple of friends came over and we had a little party in which we ate too much, drank too much, and dyed Easter eggs. We had so much fun!

Party table!

Gettin' fancy shmancy with the radish roses!!!

Mini brownie bites with peanut butter cups baked inside!

 

Carrot cake with cream cheese icing.

Local wine.

 

Prepping for whiskey sours.....

...the glasses are ready....

Delicious!

 

Getting crafty in the garage. We were banned from the house.
I can't imagine why!

 

Messy! Colorful! And a creepy floating egg!



M. and her dyed fingers! Also, see how happy she looks? That's
the result of two glasses of wine and two whiskey sours!

 

T. and her "goth" egg! She has the same birthday
as me so it was a double celebration! 



My eggs, so pretty!

The lovely flowers my husband surprised me with.

We didn't get photos of all of the food, mainly the hot dogs we grilled (yum!) or the delicious dip my friend M. brought. But rest assured, we had a small feast!

It was a very happy birthday. And now I'm thirty-eight years old. Eeek!

Tea tin window garden

 

 

 

 

These tea tins came from the cafe in the bookstore where I work. The baristas are saving them for me when they're empty, rather than throwing them in the trash.  I think they make really pretty planters, and I'm getting new ones all the time. Soon I'll have a large windowsill garden!

The middle two plants are tiny orchids I got for a throwaway price at the grocery store a month or so ago. I think I paid $2.50 for each. They had little pink flowers which have since dropped off, but now that they're repotted and getting good light they're growing new leaves and roots. The other two plants are ivy that I gave to my girlfriends as party favors at our last monthly get-together. They only graced my windowsill for a day.

 

 

Party lights

This year, for our Mid Autumn Moon celebration, my friend Marla and I got crafty. I spent lots of time on the Internet looking for cheap ideas for party lights. The very best one I found was for homemade paper mache string lights. This idea comes from a lady named Reese Dixon and her wonderful website, found here http://www.reesedixon.com/ . You should all go check this woman out. She is an amazing blogger, crafter, and mother and she has the most wonderful ideas! Besides the string lights, look for the Dr Who family costumes she created....her small son, who uses a wheelchair, had the best costume ever. Any Dr Who fans reading should go see it pronto! And the rest of the website, too. Seriously good stuff!

Getting back to the string lights, they involve small balloons covered in paper mache which are later deflated, leaving behind a small globe that can be attached to regular strings of lights. Let me tell you...this was a learning experience. It took three tries to get the method down pat for making the globes. Our first attempt was a disaster. The second was a bit better, and we actually got a few globes we could use. Our third time was the charm. Good thing we started early!!! We ended up needing  30 globes in all since the LED string lights we used was long. I think they turned out great, though! What do you think?

Marla and I are crafting superstarz!

Sparkly! Shiny!



 

Besides the globe party lights, I strung lots of plain strings of white lights around our clothes line out back. We also had lanterns, candles, and tiki torches. Here are some more pictures of party lighting.

Silver dangly stars.

Mason jar lanterns.

Floating candles in the birdbath.

Tomorrow: third (and last) party post!

For all the gothic crafters out there...

I still haven't gotten back on the ball with my Halloween Countdown posts.  I've had an incredibly stressful couple of weeks at work, and have been feeling generally demoralized and uninspired when at home.  I'm determined to pull myself out of this funk this week! There is no reason that work stress should spoil my time at home, and I am resolved to somehow learn to leave it behind when I leave work each day.

So getting back into the spirit of the season, I wanted to share a link to one of my favorite crafting websites. The archives will make great reading for anyone who loves gothic, unusual crafts...or just has an oddball sense of humor! I love these guys:

http://www.theanticraft.com/index.htm

Check out the archives. They have some really wonderful, fun projects for crafters of every skill level. My favorite issue is #13 Samhain: Broken Bones. I am dying (haha) to make a "Conmemoracion" and this might be the year I begin one. It will be a good deal of work, but the results are so lovely!

For a much easier, cheaper, less work intensive project (from the same issue) I like "Dollar Store Death".  I'm considering having some friends over for a little pre-Halloween craft party, and how much fun would this be?! Maybe we could even go on a dollar store excursion early in the day to gather supplies.  I think it would be a blast!

There are several other Samhain issues of The Anticraft. I suggest grabbing a cup of coffee, tea, cider (any cozy, autumn-y brew!) and spending some time wandering through the archives. There is lots of fun reading there even for the non-crafty sort!

That is my offering for today, the 17th of the Countdown.  More fun and goodies tomorrow!  Stay tuned!