Baby Cactus

I'm growing some tiny cacti! I ordered some seeds for cacti and succulents from Park Seed, just because it sounded cool, and planted them all in a tray of sandy soil under a bright lamp. I think the seed of inspiration (pun intended) for this growing endeavor was planted a while ago by some blog posts by Futuregirl, and I had this image of a mini-cactus in my head ever since then! And now they are really growing! They're so tiny, yet so thrilling:

I'm just tickled to see those little prickles growing on the top. And the little arms starting to grow! Hee hee!

Crochet Motif Cards

I have been super slow at posting after I craft things, so here finally is a peek at some crocheting I've been doing haphazardly for some thank-you cards I made after the holidays. It was sort of thrilling to just pick out a random motif from the big green book of crochet stitches I have (I forget its title) and just dive into it with my spare crochet thread. Who am I kidding, all of my crochet thread is spare because I have no real purpose for it! I am just not into making doilies... Maybe in 50 years I will be, I'll let you know. Anyway, here are the first four that I mailed out!

I have a few more in the works... but I love the texture that these tiny threads lend to the card. I wish they made crochet thread in some more interesting colors, no? Like maybe a teal or plum or olive green. Then I would be making cool motif cards left and right!

Christmas Cookie Packages

Before we went to San Diego for Christmas, we baked two batches of cookies to send to James's brother and sister in Lompoc, since we wouldn't be able to make it up to the central coast on this particular trip. We did overbake about a third of each batch (oops!) but at least we got to eat those ones. We picked out the best specimens and packaged them up to mail to the west coast. Of course this gave me a perfect chance to craft up some fancy packaging - I have to say I get as excited about the packaging of most products as I do about the actual product inside! This is especially true of soaps, which often have really gorgeous wrappings, but the thing inside is still... a bar of soap. Anyway, I used some materials in my stash, as well as some sewing machine action inspired by Martha Stewart Living, and put these together! Love it.

Cabled Wrist Warmers, Anniversary Card, Ornament WIP

I know my lack of posting lately seems to imply that I haven't been doing much crafting, but quite the opposite is true! I've actually been quite busy and really quite thrilled with the little projects I have in the works. First let me share a rather cheesy picture of my finished wrist warmers! I'm so happy that these came out well, and I've gotten lots of compliments on them. I definitely reached an impasse at the thought of the last bit of cabling on the second warmer, but I told myself I couldn't make my felt ornaments until these were done. So here they are!

Next up, I made a belated card for my parents since they just celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary last week. Somehow I came up with the idea to hand embroider the words, which must be the absolute most time-consuming way to produce any sort of product, despite the fact that I work in the Lab for Manufacturing and Productivity by day. Luckily I gave up on writing out the word "anniversary", ha ha. But I love the way it came out!

And lastly, I am happily working away at my felt xmas ornaments, which I got from Posie Gets Cozy, and I can confidently agree with Andy Paulson that felt is awesome! I've cut out all the little pieces for the Cozy Cottage and the Snowy Tree, and it was immensely satisfying just to feel the scissors cutting through the felt! Mmmm. I used my special extra-sharp fabric scissors of course, the ones that James isn't allowed to touch. Fabric only! Anyway I've just started stitching on the little house, which makes my poor overworked hands get tired after a while. I definitely have some kind of repetitive strain injury in both my hands from computer usage, plus a slight wrist bruise from hockey, overall making it pretty challenging to craft small things for long periods of time. I think I would just die if I could no longer make things by hand! Anyway, here's a terrible photo of some of the thrilling green felt I've cut so far. :)

ornaments that I will make!

Woo hoo! I just got my Walk In The Woods ornament kit from Alicia Paulson of Rosy Little Things! I'm so super excited to spread it out all over the table and make adorable things out of the felt and floss and sequins! Wee! Well, really I will have to delay this gratification a bit further, as I just started my second cabled wrist-warmer last night, and I really need to finish that WIP before I create a new WIP. You know how it is. I just want to do everything now!

WIP: Cabled Wrist-Warmers

Woo hoo, a new knitting project! I wanted to knit something that didn't require me to buy any new yarn, since I have much more than I know what to do with. Something small and finishable. I saw a couple of great-looking patterns for wrist warmers on knitty and craftzine, and tried to merge the two to make exactly what I wanted. Also my yarn gauge was way off from the knitty pattern, causing me to rip out and re-cast after my first attempt. This is my first try knitting cables, as well as knitting a thumb-hole, so hopefully it will succeed!

Kitchen Cart, Nerd-Style

My life has been sadly lacking in good crafting lately, up until James and I came upon this excellent yard-sale find. We moved into our new apartment at the end of August, and it has a painfully small kitchen given that we love to cook. There's probably only like 6 square feet of counter space. It's a killer! So we knew we needed some sort of kitchen cart for added chopping space and whatnot. We found this beaut for only $15 and managed to cram it into James's car and get it home.
Obviously, it was well-used and needed a little TLC before it would feel at home in our living room. We spent some time discussing designs, did a bunch of sanding (mostly James, thank you thank you), spent 30 seconds picking out two awesome paint colors at Home Depot, and took it apart to start painting. I drew my nerd designs on by hand (it seemed easier than stenciling or tracing or whatever), and painted them in red. I underestimated how challenging it would be to paint those little details and ended up stopping mid-project to make a run to the art store for smaller brushes. Overall, we are both stoked at how it came out. Adds a needed pop of color to our living room! Nerd-hance!