Yikes!

Man it has seemed like it has been forever since I posted something on here. And it has been over a week. But I just got so busy that I totally forgot about blogging. But I never forget about craftin' :)

So here are some things I have been working on the past week. We made a huge trip to the Goodwill Outlet store where you buy all items by the pound. And it is a crafter's paradise. I like going there for random XXXL men's shirts that are basically 10 cents and make great fabric for totes. But I picked up this little gem.


Straight out of 1986, it even had huge shoulder pads that I cut out. I also shortened the sleeves up, took some in on the sides and cut out this horrible mock-neck thing. I wish I had remembered to take a "before" shot. Then to make it totally all mine, I cut-out a little felt dino and hand-sewed him on. I can't believe I worked on a sweatshirt in this July heat, every time I had to try it on to make sure I sewed right, I about died. But now I can't wait until the fall to show it some love.

Then we decided to re-arrange our bedroom (another bad idea in the July heat/humidity). I finally got this picture back from my dad who had it hanging in his office for a while. It is a copy of a Matisse that I was required to in college. I always liked how it turned out and now we had a chance to hang it up in our bedroom.


















Mine is on the above left and the original is on the lower right (as if that isn't super ridiculously apparent!)

Lucy's summer vacation

Paula (aka swap partner extraordinaire), posted some pictures of Lucy and they really have me cracked up:


Here we have Lucy enjoying some lovely Yellowtail wine


And here we have Lucy the morning after. Ha! I can't wait for Lucy to come home to hear all the details :)

*insert lots of swear words here*

Please pardon the following rant, I just need to cyber-yell for a couple moments.

WHY CAN'T I SEW FROM PATTERNS!?!?!?!?! I have tried TWICE now to sew the shirt from the Built By Wendy pattern above and both times it have turned into such a mess that it is basically un-salvageable. And it suppose to be so easy! And I have seen other people have BEAUTIFUL outcomes with it. And I just can't sew it worth a damn. So now I have ruined about $15 in fabric and wasted another $8 on a pattern that I can't sew to save my life. *pounding head on sewing machine*

Whew!

It has been a crazy week. Family in town from all parts of the country, started my new job, and it has been hot and humid and muggy, blah! I mean who is in the mood to walk from the living room to the kitchen for a glass of water much less craft? The only really exciting things is that Denise of dc designs alerted me that I made the front page again on Friday night!


What I did karma-wise I would like to know because I am willing to do it again :)
But I still haven't been able to nab a treasury even though I have been keeping a watchful eye. And in an effort to de-stash I opened a second shop called razzle dazzle berry. Just some beads and old vintage books so far.

And no bentos. With all this heat going on, it has just been easier to microwave a lean cuisine and call it lunch. But I will be better, I must to satisfy that growing voice inside of "please create something"

Front page love

Yesterday on Etsy I made it to the front page! It was so weird logging in and recognizing my own print there (little teapot on the bottom right corner). Now I am going to try to snag a treasury and show my love back to the wonderful Etsy community.

Little projects from over the weekend

I've gotten really inspired by people fusing plastic bags and then using them to sew with. I really wanted to make a re-usable plastic bag for the store but I found that I didn't have quite enough recycled bags to do the trick. So in the mean time while I save up more, I made this flower pin cutting out shapes and using some old beads that were about to be throw away.


Hooray for up-cycling!

Then I got a sewing bug up my bum and used up some left-over fabric from my pants to make a little clutch. And of course since I am obsessed with bunnies, I made one out of felt to go on it.


But it was hot and humid here this weekend I really got nothing done. I mean nothing. And now I start my new job tonight so that will leave even less time for doing stuff. Oh well, all for the greater good :)

We are just having a fabulous time

We received little Pierre last week and we are just having the best of times! He was introduced to Sweeti (the cat), Ame (the baby), and all the little creatures we have around. Then we went for a walk around our neighborhood. We live just a block away from the Minneapolis Art Institute and Pierre wanted a picture with the large lions that sit out front. Well, we couldn't quite reach that high so I got this picture to show his mom Paula


And Lucy arrived safe and sound to Ohio and is having a fabulous time from the sounds of it. Her host Paul snapped the best picture ever of Lucy taking a ride with the friendly neighborhood UPS man!!


This is by far already my most favorite swap I have ever participated in.

Insert drumroll here

Announcing the grand opening of gerrijo.com!!!!!! This has been the hubby's project for the past month and I really like how it turned out. I also updated my "brand", the old pear was a little 2.0 for me. Now he is going to work on getting my site even snazzier and also have it's own shop. Such a smart guy he is.

Thursday Bentos

I hadn't had a chance to bento it up this week until now. Problem is that our refrigerator was having some issues and freezing all the food. Which resulted in us being tentative about buying fruits/veggies to keep in there. Which results in bentos that aren't exactly super healthy and colorful. Oh well, still fun!



Here we have my bento featuring some starbursts, veggie hot dogs with a pita star, mustard in the sauce cup, a little cheese below that, and some more pita stars. On the bottom there is cottage cheese with cinnamon, savory rice minis, and some Wasa crackers. Then for hubby's bento:



Very similar items but the veggie hot dogs "octopused" better so they got little mustard eyes. And instead of cottage cheese, the cup on the bottom holds hubby's favorite stuff in the world, Salsa Lisa-Really Hot. I am a bit concerned about how the salsa will do since I could find anything with a cover.

dance-dance-everyone look at your pants

Holy crap, I made myself pants. And I lurve them. So much so I am going to make myself a pair of jeans using the same pattern. Which was "Built by Wendy" #4110. I was a bit scared that the largest pattern size wouldn't fit since I am a RTW 14 but it worked out perfectly. They are even a bit baggy so I can adjust that when I make the jeans. And then more capris. And then more pants. And then I will have a different pair of bottoms for each day of the year, muhahahahah!