cross my heart with x's and o's

over the weekend i learned a new craft - cross-stitch. i spent the weekend with my mama, and learned that she is the one who instilled, inspired, and encouraged my craftiness. and for that (and so much more), i love and thank her.
i was recently inspired to learn after seeing a beautiful little collection of antique black on white silhouette cross-stitch pieces in the foyer of a certain apartment building in greenpoint. so, i went out and got my supplies, and then asked my mom for a lesson. well, she pulled out a whole three bags full of supplies and half-completed projects. (a-HA! i also see where i get my proclivities for excessive-craft-supply-collecting and starting-but-not-always-finishing projects!) well, i consolidated her stash into one bag -- and came back to new york with the supplies and the know-how to start my own projects (which i hope to finish.)
i did this last night -- the cross-stitching isn't perfect, but i was happy that i was able to trace and make the pattern myself (using freezer paper as a stencil to guide my lines).

and this -- man, i can't even look at it without cracking up -- is one of my mom's projects - she had it ALMOST finished, and i learned by finishing the rest. ATTACK CRABS?!!?!?!? HAHAHHAHA. i will be hanging this on the door to my house.

more fun with soaps

i was a little disappointed with my first round of soaps. yes, some of them turned out pretty, but they just weren't quite interesting enough for me. and then sweet baby aidyn came along with inspiration.
i found some google-y eyes, stuck them on my hand, and made a funny little hand-puppet-like thing -- you know, when you kinda make a sideways fist and you roll your thumb up and down to make it look like a talking mouth? well i did that for aidyn and he didnt quite know what to think - i think he was a little scared of it. and then i put the eyes on my knee, and then over my eyelids -- and he thought all of this was kinda funny, but he was still a little hesitant about those google-y eyes - he wouldn't get too close and although he was laughing at them, he said, "me no like those eyes." well, then he went to bed and i had the idea of making him some google-y eyed soap.
the other soap that i made him was inspired by his favorite breakfast food. okay, so that was more accidental than intentional, but the little squares are exactly the color and size and shape of ham, right?!?!!
when it was time for handwashing the next day, i showed him the soap.
we ended up playing in the sink for half an hour.



by the way --
did you notice the sweet baby mohawk?

adventures in soapmaking

tried my hand at a new craft this week --
soap making.
the stuff that i did wasn't the complicated kitchen science of real, from-scratch soapmaking; i didn't get involved in the lard and the lye and the toxic vapors and all of that.
nope, this was simple melt-and-pour.
the results were okay -- not quite as exotic and exciting as i would like, but i learned the basics and what you can do with materials bought at a craft store. i think that to do the really good stuff and to make some really great soaps, you may need to procure some better quality materials -- better soap base, better scents, better colorants, better additives. and you may need to get into some of that more involved kitchen science soap making stuff.

country retreat

spending a few days in the "country" (okay, south jersey) with my mama as she recovers from minor knee surgery. this is a great time of year to be here -- getting to see, hear, smell and feel springtime so much more than in the city.

taking drives through the country --



drinking pre-mother's day margaritas (yes, martha stewart's recipe) --

hearts and crafts affair re-cap

thanks to those who came out to the hearts and crafts affair event on sunday. thanks to kira and stephanie for organizing it. all went well -- i sold some stuff and i met some cool fellow crafty ladies, that's a good day.

risque sachet

i whipped (HA! whipped -- get it???!!) these up on saturday. i absolutely love them. filled with smelly dried lavender.
the fabric was left over from when i sewed two of these sheets together to make a duvet cover (one was king sized, one was queen sized - they were the last ones in the store, at sleep, in williamsburg, and the story at the time that i was trying to buy them was that these sheets were going to be discontinued because the company that made them was having a difficult time getting them produced, due to the naughty nature of the print -- and i LOVED those sheets -- so i had to have them - which is why i bought one king and one queen and just made my own duvet. wow, that was a long story).

ribbons and letters

in pink -- makes me happy.





new tags -- i knew i'd find a use for all this ribbon and trim i have been collecting.

mayflower(s)

new spring hairpins!

brand new bag(s)

camo wristlets!


dotty pouches!

collages

i made these a couple of years ago, while I was living and teaching in washington heights. these were made from the scraps that had fallen to the floor in a huge pile after i made cards and postcards by cutting up old books i had gotten from my school's library (they were being discarded). i filled up a book with these collages, probably about thirty of them, pasting the scraps together and finishing the whole book in less than an hour. i just got around to scanning them.