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A bit of Catch UP

 I have been trying not to slack off on the card-making completely though working full time and preparing for the holidays, but I pretty much did. Slack off. Sadly. But, with the holidays came new and different creative inspiration. See below:

Felt Christmas trees:

-Dress making pins/hot glue or other

-Lots of felt or other fabric

-Scissors

-Foam cones. I had one small and one large.

I went to a thrift store way out in West Chicago. I made John go on the train with me and he was not pleased. But, once there I purchased a variety of fabrics and pins for $1.50 and some other fun items as well. For the larger tree I cut out varying shapes in varying fabrics. Started at the bottom of the cone and hot glued the triangles on, working upward to the top. The star was made with a pin, a star cut out of a shoe box and a gold Ferrero Rocher Wrapper. The small tree was made by cutting uniform circles out of a pale green fabric. I folded each circle in half, then half again, pinning each one to the cone working bottom on up. Cut out a lot more circles than you think if this is your chosen method.

 Sharpie Plate:
John loves pugs, and since I was doing a twelve days of Christmas for him I found this craft to make for him. I used a pale yellow paint sharpie and blocked in the yellow while looking at a picture I found on the internet. After giving it ample time to dry, I went over it with black sharpie and of course wrote "I wuv you John." When I was satisfied with my weird drawing I heated the oven to 350 and baked it for 30 min, all the while keeping it a secret from John. He came home while it was in the oven and I was doing something else in the apartment and I hear, "What's in the oven?" and before I could stop him he opened it and looked in. I smacked him.






































A Christmas card for my lover:

I used mostly fabric and a stitch of paper. Turns out you can use fabric a lot, even if you DON'T know how to sew.
The image is from a book I bought at Barnes & Noble a while back called "3,800 Early Advertising Cuts." I love the book and use it quite a lot. All of the fabrics and trims were purchased at a thrift store for cheap money.  I like the use of felt because it adds a depth and texture that is not there otherwise. The glittery background is a card stock purchased at a craft store. I used a glue gun to assemble it. My trusty glue gun.

I Have A New Baby Niece

Laila Maryetta Labrum, born October 13, 2012

I did this baby announcement for her. Laila's mother is Native American and wanted a cradleboard featured in the image.

DIY: Little Thoughts Book

This was an easy little project.

 First I made the covers with some thick card stock like paper:

Then I tore some thinner paper down so that it was as long as the open book lengthwise and as tall as the book, minus a quarter info to fit nicely in the book.  I folded each in half and inserted between the covers.

I punched holes in all of the pages and the covers using a standard hole punch and threaded it with some standard hemp. Make sure all of the holes line up, don't be afraid to use a pencil. I started at the top hole and went in and out all the way down, then pack up the opposite way through the holes to create the criss-cross look:

I tied it up at the top for an effortless raw look. There you have it, your own little thoughts book.

Case of Idiokey

So yesterday in the afternoon I was busy taking care of business around the apartment, you know, dishes, laundry, baking banana bread, just showered with wet hair, when I discovered it was time to take the kitchen garbage out.

For those who are unaware, many high-rise buildings have garbage chutes on each floor that you can shove your garbage in and it falls all the way down to some unknown garbage heap. Since this is remarkably convenient, I have taken to cracking the door (which locks automatically when shut all the way) and darting out there in whatever condition I am in.
The condition I was in is as follows:
-leggings
-frilly/comfortable dress
-wet pony tail
-barefoot
-bread in the oven
-nothing in hand but big bag of garbage

So, after leaving my fate to a millimeter of space between my door's lock and it's home in the door frame, I gently rested the door on the lock and watched in utter horror as it slid right on closed. I stood there staring at it, jaw-dropped, barefoot, garbage in hand.

"OH NO!!!!"

John is at school with the other key. I have no way of contacting him, it could be hours before he comes home.

I don't have shoes on.














Then I remembered a glimmer of hope.
The night before this fateful day, I had babysat for a family in the building. I rushed to the elevator and prayed and prayed the 15 floors down that the mother would be home.

Knocked on the door.

Waited.

She answered!


She was soooo awesome. She let me borrow some flip-flops and informed me that the condo office would allow one free unlock per year.










So I went to the office and asked if this were possible. They said "if no one that has occupied your apartment this year has used it then yes."

Luckily no one had and I got back into the apartment. Close call. They charge $50 for next unlock and $100 for next after that. I guess I am just glad I wasn't forced to sit awkwardly in the hallway waiting for John for several hours.  And that my banana bread didn't get burned.

Thank you Kourtne and thank you free unlock service.

Juicebox Paper on ETSY is open!!!!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/JuiceboxPaper

Hyde Park Charm

While visiting University of Chicago campus today, I took a stroll around the campus's perimeter. There were quite a few adorable houses with delightful little details. I couldn't get enough. That is, until the scrutiny of passers-by finally wore me down.

 Then there's this tasty little nugget. I think this is a pretty cool sculpture set in front of the Harper Center. Almost too cool for school if you catch my drift. I love the mix of natural and unnatural. And I love the way the business students walk around it. Like they are so bored with it.

I love the interior of the Harper Center. This is a view from the below Winter Garden there, which, I can say from experience, is actually pretty pleasant in the Winter, even with snow falling. Especially with snow falling. Beautiful architecture. Thank you rich business alumni and talented Rafael Vinoly 

 architects.