Day 78: Baking S'more Cookie Bars

Time: Total baking time (more than this recipe) about 2 hours
Listening to: Pandora's Katy Perry station

We have family coming to town today so I've been busy baking this morning. Today I decided to try Baked Perfections' S'more Cookie Bars and boy, do they look delicious!

They were super easy to make. 



Mine look different from Baked Perfections because I didn't exactly crush my graham crackers perfectly and I also didn't care about making the top layer smooth. I think they will be delicious even if a bit chunky...hopefully.

The whole time I was baking, I was also enjoying my baking outfit. Here is a little snapshot of my apron and my monster slippers!

Day 77: Sewing Curtains

Time: A couple hours
Listening to: Project Runway All Stars

I'm sewing up a storm! We have french double doors leading from one room to another and we've been wanting to add some curtains to help give some privacy when we have guests coming to stay with us. We have family coming tomorrow so tonight is the night!

I chose a nice, light cotton fabric so it didn't make the room feel dark. Here are some pictures.

Curtains!

Close up of the fabric

Day 76: Relapse

Gosh, I couldn't motivate myself at all this evening. It was glorious out and all I wanted to be doing was reading out on the porch. So I did!

Oops.

Day 75: Knitting

Another night of knitting! I am almost done with my green!

Day 73 and 74: Rug making--on a hula hoop!

Time: A couple hours
Listening to: Nothing!

 I saw this awesome tutorial on making a  rug on a hula hoop! I (almost) instantly went out and bought a hula hoop and went to work! I am doing mine a bit differently than the tutorial--mostly in that I didn't knit my yarn before weaving. It is nice not having to weave a giant ball of yarn through the tiny spaces and instead just tie the yarn when I need a new piece. Much easier to weave with!

Here is my progress:

Day 72: Letter writing

Time: Hours
Listening: Chatty neighbors

Wow, wow, wow! It was such a fabulous day outside today. My husband and I walked downtown to the library, stopped for Thai food, and made a pit stop at Martha's Vineyeard for some chocolate and cider. We then headed home and parked ourselves on our lovely porch. Our neighbors were out and about with their dogs and children and so were the other little critters that I typically fear (squirrels and birds). There were even people out on their skateboards flying down the steep hill by our house. It was a great day for people/animal watching. I think I saw one of my neighbors do about 25 cartwheels.

Nate was busy reading and I took the time to write some letters that I'd been meaning to write for some time. The sun has scooted down a bit now so I headed on in. I'm happy for spring like weather to be here!

Day 71: Knitting

Time: A couple hours?
Listening to: NPR soundtrack

My friend Bethany and I had our first official night of KBW (knitting, books, wine) which is our new knitting club. We are probably willing to expand it to also include all the crocheters and embroiderers out there if anyone is interested in joining...but KBW sounds better than KCEBW.  This was a pretty spontaneous event...pretty much we were knitting together and both thought at the same time how great it would be to have a knitting club!

Here we are showing off two out of our three loves. Next time we'll try to have some random books laying around in the shot.

gif maker

Day 70: Knitting and an old project (button book)

Time: Eh...
Listening to: Project Runway
 
So my husband and I got home from work a bit later than usual and then had big plans of dinner and the symphony. This made my hour of creative time a bit rushed. And when I say rushed...I mean not really an hour. My husband took a nap before we left and I slowly watched as the hour I did have to be creative slowly dwindled down. Finally I kicked my butt in gear and took out my needles!

I don't really want to post another picture of my green knitting so I decided to show you a project that I did about a year ago for my friend, Ian. For some reason or another, Ian gave me a list of foods that he absolutely despised. I found the list so delightful! It was such an odd mixture of things and so specific! So I decided to make him a little button book that he could keep with him to remind him what foods he should avoid.

Day 69: Design/wedding invitations

Time: 20 minutes...?
Listening to: Nothing

I really super extremely didn't want to do anything productive today. I don't know what got into me but I felt absolutely adamant that I should not do anything creative.

Somehow I managed to work on some changes that my friend wanted on her wedding invitations and RSVP cards that I'm designing. Nothing earth shattering..but it was something at least!

Day 68: Knitting

Time: One and a half hours
Listening to: Murder She Wrote (watched)

I found Murder She Wrote on Netflix and got super excited. I used to watch that show when I was little but I hadn't seen it for years! So I tuned in to episode one and knitted. This may be my new obsession...knitting and Murder She Wrote!

Day 67: Embroidery

We finished watching Mad Men and I finished another flamingo! Not quite picture worthy yet, but it will be revealed soon enough!

Day 65 and 66: Embroidering and photoshop

Time: Hours
Listening to: Mad Men

So Saturday night (Sunday morning) my husband and I decided to stay up really late and watch a gazillion episodes of Mad Men. I was wide awake because I was embroidering and loving it. Here is my lovely flamingo. 

I've also been busy making my friend Molly's invitations and RSVP cards for her upcoming wedding. The flamingo may or may not be apart of them! More to come later!

Day 63: Baking Bacon and Cheese Biscuits

Time: About two hours total today
Currently listening to Chopin and Shostakovich

I love Saturdays because there is enough time to spread out creative activities throughout the day! While I've done an assortment of things today, I decided to highlight the food project. I saw this project over here and thought it looked too delicious not to make. So today I did my rendition of it.

You need:

Cooked Bacon
Mozzarella/cheddar mixture
Pillsbury Biscuits

I first cooked my bacon. I  chose to do it in the microwave today because I hate the splattering of bacon grease. My apron is too cute to get bacon grease on it. After the bacon was cooked, I tore it up in pieces. Then I popped open the biscuits and plopped them on a cookie sheet. The original recipe told me to put my biscuits in a skillet but since I don't have one...I didn't. Then I put a little bacon here and a little cheese there. Throw them in the oven at 350 for about...oh...15 minutes and you should have gooey, delicious, cheesy bacon biscuits!!

Day 61 & 62: Knitting

Time: Two hours
Listening to: Mad Men

Since January my husband and I have watched three full seasons of Mad Men and are now on the fourth. It is a bit of an obsession. I go to bed thinking about the characters and often I'll wake up thinking about them. This may have become a problem...

The good thing is that it is a great show to knit to! My ball of green is getting pretty small which means I'm almost ready for my next color. I have blue and green...what shall my next color be?

Day 60: Relapse

Today was the first day of 2012 that I haven't participated in my goal. We went out to eat with my family and had a grand ol' time but when I got home...all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and read! So I did. I've been in a bit of a funk recently and have just not wanted to do anything productive...especially creative productivity! But I'm hoping with a night off, I'll jump right back at it.

P.S. I just read the book, Hitler Youth, and it was so good. I've read a lot from that time period but never a book that was directly looking at how the youth were targeted and brainwashed, basically. It was definitely a good read!

Day 56, 57, 58, 59: Editing photos

Time: Hourssssss
Listening to: Miscellaneous

My wonderful brother-in-law helped us save a little money during our wedding by being our photographer! He hasn't had any training or anything but I think he did a terrific job! We had such a fun time with him on the day of our wedding--just very relaxed and fun!

Anyways, after the wedding the photos were put on my parent's computer and while I loaded some up on facebook and printed some out, I hadn't done much since. This summer marks our 3rd year anniversary so I figured it was time for me to mess around with them. I finally transferred them to my computer and have been busy editing them since Sunday!

Here are a few of my favorites!

My attire on a bunk bed.

I love how bright everything is!

He's got my back.

Running away to the lake!

I love this leaning picture.

 

Oooo--ooh.

This was totally snapped without us knowing!

 And a few silly ones just for fun.We had a cardboard cut-out made out of us in our wedding clothes so here we are posing with the happy couple! Ha!

uh...

And here is a picture showing how much fun my husband had smashing cake into my face. I knew it was coming...there was no stopping him!

Look at that glee on his face!

Day 53, 54 and 55: Knitting

Time: 3 hours total
Listening to:  Wheel of Fortune (and miscellaneous)

We're up to 40 inches here, folks!!!

Day 52: Sewing Fabric Cards

Time: One hour
Listening to: Archer (show my husband was watching)

I saw this cute little post about making your own stationary and decided to make some of my own out of fabric scraps I had laying around. If I was to do this again, I would probably iron my fabric first but I really didn't feel like getting my ironing board and iron out. In my dream house, I will have a whole room dedicated to my ironing board so never again will I have to set it up, haul it around, etc. Then all of my fabric will be incredibly ironed. It will be a beautiful world.

But until then I will make little notecards to send out amongst the people of this world.

Day 49, 50, 51: Drawing and knitting

Time: Four hours total (ish)
Listening to: unknown

I've been busy drawing flamingos and knitting. My friend came over last night to learn how to make a rug so while he was rug making, I was knitting! It was a nice way to mix up my hour a day quest!

Day 48: Knitting

My husband and I had a great date-day today! We went out to a delicious restaurant and then went off to see a movie (The Descendants). I didn't have much time for my hour of creative time today so I did a little knitting during the movie. Here is how far I've gotten on my green section!

I love how the green color changes as I knit! I also love those flowers in the picture. My husband totally surprised me for Valentine's Day! I pretty much just carry them around with me all the time.  

Day 47: Cat Embroidery

I worked on a little Valentine's Day present for my husband (I know, I know...a little late) this evening but instead of showing that I'll reveal a previous secret project! Here is a little kitty I worked on for my friend!

 

I got the patterns free from Speckless!  They are just so cute, aren't they?! It was hard to pick only one kitty to embroider.

This is my third post about cats. This is ironic because I don't even like cats. Well...I really like them in theory....does that count?

Day 46: Valentine's Day Cupcakes!

My friend Bethany came over and to celebrate...I made cupcakes! My mom had given me all the elements and I just put them all together! I do have to admit that there were candy hearts all over my kitchen floor when I was done with them...

The cupcake.

The other cupcakes.

Day 45: DIY Eraser Stamps

Time: One hour
Listening to: A comedian...I forget his name but he was funny

So I didn't feel like doing anything too extensive after getting home this evening. Right after work we buzzed over to the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts and watched the short film nominees for the Oscars. It was so fun! They (most) were so good! But we were at the theater for almost four hours so...it took some effort to want to do anything creative. Lucky for me, I had a nice little carving project tucked away for a day like today!

My friend briefly mentioned that she wanted to possibly use a flamingo stamp for a part of her upcoming wedding. So this evening, I sketched a dozen or so flamingos and then tried my hand at carving one.

It turned out pretty good. I have yet to try it with ink but it is cute, nonetheless.

I used one pink rubber eraser and an xacto knife.

A pink flamingo on a pink eraser...

A picture purely for proportion. Pppp.

Day 44: Another secret project!

Time: One Hour
Listening to: My husband sleeping

I promise I'll stop making secret projects soon! I have a terrible habit of making things FOR friends and family so I'll try to curb that habit soon. I hate keeping anyone out of the loop.

I put a few finishing touches on a present for a friend. It is so cute, I can't wait to give it to her on Thursday!

Day 43: Secret Valentine's Day Present

Time: 3 hours
Listening to: Project Runway

I'm working on a little Valentine's Day present for my husband! We're technically celebrating on Saturday so I have to keep it a secret for a little while longer!

Day 40, 41, and 42: Knitting

Time: At least 3 hours...probably more
Listening to: My family!

We went down to my parents' house this weekend and along came my knitting! During games and my nephew's nap, I knitted away. I am up to 17 inches on my new lovely green section of my afghan! Can't wait to start piecing it together...only a million more stitches to go...

Secret Project Revealed: Cat Embroidery

I made this little cat embroidery for my brother in law a couple weeks ago! He loves cats so why not a cat embroidery?!

Day 39: Odds and Ends

Time: One hour
Listening to: Crappy tv shows

I'm not feeling so hot today so I just finished up a few odds and ends on projects and knitted a bit, too. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit more exciting!

Secret Project Revealed: Nephew's Mood Chart

On day 29, I hinted that I was working on a project inspired by a mood chart.  My mom has made several comments about how she loves all of her grandson's facial expressions. So my mind started turning and I couldn't resist making a mood chart out of my nephew's many expressions!

My adorable nephew and his many moods

Today I feel....

Looks pretty good on my fridge!

Day 38: Knitting

Time: 1 hour
Listening to: Pawn Stars

My afghan is up to 62" long, folks! I'm getting somewhere!

Day 37: Sewing Matchbox Car Holder

Time: 2 hours
Listening to: David Bowie

I saw this adorable tutorial on homemade by jill and I knew that I had to make it for my little nephew! It was so fun to make...and to pick out those matchbox cars!

All rolled up

Six spots for cars and even a road

Day 36: Secret projects

Time: 3 hours
Watching: Mad Men

I worked on a secret project this evening for my mom. I can't wait to reveal it but she hasn't confirmed that she won't poke around on here so I'm resisting the urge to post!

Instead, here is an adorable picture I took the other day. I was just walking through our house and suddenly spotted that my husband and I hung up our jackets and hats the same way. Too adorable with those little pom poms, right?

Day 35: Knitting

Time: Unknown
Listening to: Superbowl

I'm knitting again today!

But instead of showing you another picture of my blue blob of knitted yarn, I decided to showcase another project that my friend Molly and I worked on yesterday. We drank wine, watched Project Runway, and made paper garland for her upcoming wedding! It was slow going but so relaxing!

Day 34: Food art

Time: One hour for food art, 3 hours for other crafts (more to come later)
Listening to: Nothing for the food art, Project Runway for other crafts

My friend, Molly, gave me a pancake art kit for Christmas. She was visiting this weekend and we decided it was time to put it to the test. We decided that we weren't quite up for making Munch's The Scream but we could handle making a caterpillar. Especially a giant Valentine's Day caterpillar. Here is proof of our efforts.

A giant caterpillar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Big enough to feed four people!

Molly lounging with her efforts.

I got to eat the head! And first two pieces. Isn't it so cute??

Day 32 and Day 33: Secret project!

Time: Two hours total
Listening to: Mad Men (Day 32), Fleet Foxes (Day 33)

I am working on a birthday present for a lovely friend that I can't wait to give her!!!!!

In the meanwhile, here is a picture of one of my previous secret projects. I sent it to my friend, Molly, to tell her I think she is pretty sweet! Sweet...get it?

My sweet embroidery

Day 31: Photoshop

Time: 1 1/2 hours
Listening to: Silence. Noisy neighbors.

During my freshman year of college, I had a project to design a cyborg soldier. I had to basically create a part man part machine soldier on Adobe Fireworks. All this to say, I became thoroughly obsessed with doing weird things with pictures. Last night I was looking through some old projects I had and found a picture of a walrus that I put my husband's (friend at the time) face into. It was weird...but funny to me still! So I decided to make him a new one to love and cherish. Here it is.

Weird, I know. But he loved it. See, we are perfect together.

So anyways, this evening I wanted to make a birthday card for a previous coworker of mine. We worked together at a printing shop and I still send jobs there often. So I wanted to email him a job that turns out to be a surprise birthday card. He has no idea that I remembered his birthday so I think he will love it! So in following with my found again love for making weird pictures, here are a couple jobs I sent him for his birthday.