Best Sister-in-Law EVER

Dear Laurel,

I love you. Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

Truly,



P.S. I'll bring this with me in a couple of weeks!

For the golfer in your life

Over the last couple of years my dad has become obsessed with golf. Obsessed as in, he golfs at least twice a week (if not three or four times) and is otherwise trying to figure out when he can go golfing next. At first this development confused me. He had always golfed a couple times a year while we were growing up but he never seemed to care that much about it. Then some random factors lined themselves up and suddenly he was a man possessed. I decided to get over my confusion and just embrace this new development; especially when I realized that it opened up an entirely new realm of gifts!

Of course there are the practical, legitimate gifts for golfers: clubs, balls, magazine subscriptions, etc. But I was more excited about the horrible and kitschy gifts that would soon be filling my dad's office courtesy of moi.

Does he have a clock that has golf balls for numbers and says, "It's Tee Time!" yet? Nope...but he will.

Does he have a bumper sticker that says, "I'd rather be golfing?" Just you wait.

Does he have an astro turf golf hat ala Bill Murray? I'm saving that one for a Christmas.

Does he have knit golf club covers with giant pom-poms? Well, as a matter of fact, yes he does.

Yesterday was dad's birthday and for the last three days I have been in a flurry of knitting in order to get this club cover finished in time. I knit the entire thing right in front of him and he never seemed to notice. It's likely that he was too busy watching golf.

The pattern I used is available for free at Lion Brand Yarn. The instructions say to knit the cover flat and then sew up the seam. Uh, no thank you. I just knit mine in the round--easy peasy. I also decreased stitches on the last two rows so that there would be more of a rounded top. The pattern will adapt easily to match bigger and smaller clubs, especially now that I have the general idea. This was the first time I've ever done any duplicate stitching and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. More knitting jargon on Ravelry.

When I first came up with this idea, I totally intended for it to be tongue-in-cheek. But the closer I got to finishing the more I thought, "no, these are totally rad." Dad's golfing buddies are going to be so jealous.

Happy Birthday Dad.

A Mix and a Story

We took a "little" (15 hour) road trip to visit my friend, Jen. In the spirit of the good old days, I made a mix CD for the trip and left it with Jen as a late birthday present.

The best mix CD's I own were made my Jen's sister, Cathy. Growing up, I pretty much thought the sun rose and set on Cathy's coolness. If Cathy told me to listen to a song I complied immediately. I was channeling Cathy while making my own mix since she was/is the coolest person Jen and I knew/know. Here's what I came up with. I hope you approve, Cathy.

Let My Love Open the Door/ Pete Townshend

Clap Clap/ Goldspot

Run/ Vampire Weekend

Gotta Have You/ The Weepies

Modern Nature/ Sondre Lerche

Vegetable Car/ Joshua Radin

Blue/ Visqueen

All the Pretty Girls/ Fun.

Sweet Disposition/ The Temper Trap

Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?/ She & Him

Come Thou Font of Every Blessing/ Sufjan Stevens

Horchata/ Vampire Weekend

Only You/ Yaz

Three Little Birds/ Elizabeth Mitchell

No Sissies/ Hawksley Workman

Maps/ Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Nothing Better/ The Postal Service

Lynette, I Love You/ Drew Danburry

and now, for a story...

Why N8tr0n is the best road trip partner:

N8tr0n came back to the car after a quick stop at the gas station bearing provisions. "Snackies," as Z-cakes likes to call them. He brightly asked me which bag of mixed cheese flavored Cheez-it crackers I wanted.

I made a barf face.

N8tr0n gently rolled his eyes and opened up a bag, undeterred. He offered a few crackers to me and since I was sleepy and wanted a distraction, (and because they actually smelled pretty good) I accepted.

"Dang. These are really good!"

And he didn't even say "I told you so."

***

Happy Monday everyone!

P.S. Don't forget today is the 12th! Are you taking pictures?

Happy Balentimes!

There were cupcakes and sugar cookies being passed out at church today. Let's have Valentine's Day on Sunday every year.

Here's what N8tr0n and I got each other for Valentine's Day.

Yes. Oh yes.

Of course N8tr0n surprised me with a bouquet of lilies too. Because he's awesome like that.

Now if you'll excuse me...I have a date with my husband. And Mr. Bourne.

I have such good friends

Look at this adorable little doll I received in the mail last week!

My friend Karisa made it for me and I'm completely smitten. I especially love the way she personalized it with the brown hair and miniature knitting needles. I've been trying to decide where to put her so that I can see her often.

Karisa suggested a handmades trade after she asked if I could knit some booties for her new baby girl. I tend to get heart palpitations whenever someone offers to pay me for something I've made so the idea of trading calmed my pulse. I have no idea what to charge for knit items. Or for any item now that I think about it. I should probably work on getting over that. Anyway, the crisis was averted in this situation.

Thank you so much Karisa, I really love it. Your booties are all packaged and ready to go to the post office tomorrow morning. I hope you're happy with them in real life!

Handmade :: Part 4 of 4

Here we are. The last two gifts that I made for Christmas this year. I'll get right to it.

For my mother-in-law:

My MIL has been seriously practicing yoga for the last few years. That is one of the first things that came to my mind when I was thinking of a gift for her. I didn't have the time or the means to knit her a yoga bag, plus we had already given her one last year. A subscription to a yoga magazine was outside of our budget. It was then that I remembered this idea on Marta's blog and thought that I could use it as the inspiration for a personal yoga journal.

Basically, I bought a nice sketch book at the craft store and filled it with inspiring pictures and quotes about yoga. I found most of the pictures in yoga magazines that I checked out from the library and then made N8tr0n scan to my computer. I included as much white space in the book as possible to allow for journaling. I was really pleased with the results. I'm hoping it will help her to expand her practice.

For my husband:

I had a really hard time coming up with a present for Nate. Especially after I found out what he was getting me. (I'll tell you all about it later; it is so totally cool) I knew I wouldn't be able to come up with anything as big and DIY-esque so I decided to go the sentimental route.

I made him a scrapbook of the 10 Things that I love about him right now.

{1. You only cut your hair twice a year.}

I had a few guidelines for myself while I was making this book:

I wanted the 10 things to be specific; no "you are nice," or "you are tall."

{2. You want to clean up the Earth}

{3. I love how much you love the ocean.}

I wanted to book to be dated and trendy. I wanted it to very much reflect my tastes and interests in 2009. I want my kids to pick this book up 20 years from now and say, "wow, colored masking tape, that's SO late aughts"

{4. You always shovel the driveway when it snows.}

I wanted the layouts to be simple and I wanted the book to come together quickly. This may or may not have been because I was making the book two days before we were leaving for Christmas vacation.

{5. You look really good in sunglasses.}

I think I was successful in all respects.

{6. You don't let difficult things get to you.}

I was practically giddy as I worked.

{7. You taught Z-cakes how to talk like a pirate.}

I have honestly never finished a scrapbook in such a short amount of time; nor have I ever been more pleased with the results.

{8. You are fun to take trips with.}

I didn't allow myself too much time to stew and worry about where the elements were placed. The first thing that I thought of is what I did and the ideas just kept rolling in. The above layout is my absolute favorite in case you were wondering.

{9. You wear cool t-shirts.}

I used a couple of techniques to keep things quick and cohesive. The playing card page protectors I used made for speedy pages and visual interest. I used my own handwriting whenever possible, and if I cut up a 12 x 12 piece of paper for one page I was sure to use the scraps on another page later in the book. The only thing I had to buy for this project was the page protectors. Everything else came from my scrapbook stash which--don't be fooled--is substantial to be sure.

{10. You are a patient father full of love.}

I really loved this gift. I'm hoping that this project will help me get back into the habit of scrapbooking and help me leave behind my habit of overthinking pages and trying to construct perfection.

So that's it y'all! I hope you didn't mind waiting a while for this last post. Now I'm off to start on Z-cakes' handmade birthday presents (eyes search the heavens).

Missed out on some of the handmade holiday posts? You can find them here:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Handmade :: Part 3 of 4

For my sister-in-law:

So my SIL runs her own internet-based business, Penguinbot.com. You may remember it from a giveaway I had here a few months ago. At Penguinbot she sells amazing handbags, clutches, coin purses, aprons, oven mitts, etc. etc., all of which she sews herself. So you can imagine my apprehension whenever I decide to sew something for her. I worry about the quality, the color choice, and whether or not she could just whip up something better herself. Of course non of this worry is at all warranted because my SIL is a gracious and sincere person who would never think ill of something that was made for her. But still. I worry. It's how I roll.

And yet, despite the worry, I went ahead and sewed her an apron. I sewed my brother-in-law one too while I was at it.

{left: apron for SIL; right: apron for BIL}

My SIL's apron was actually supposed to be her present last year. I had found this penguin fabric that I thought was perfect and she was blogging about the curses of not owning an apron. It was going to be awesome. I sent her swatches of the fabric and promised an apron in the "next couple of months." Obviously you can see exactly how many months it took me to get it to her. Fortunately she still loved the fabric and seemed happy to have her apron.

To make up for the lateness of the apron, I decided to make her one more thing. Well, actually three of the same things...

{flower clip for SIL}

When I saw these flower clips on design mom, I immediately thought of my SIL. I even used the same colors as design mom because I knew they would be perfect for her. The picture above is of a purse that my SIL made for me with the largest of the flower clips attached to it.

{smaller flower clips for SIL}

My original plan was to have the two smaller flowers be identical so that she could clip them on to her flats if she wanted to. But you know, sometimes things just don't turn out the way you want them to. That's when it is best to just be a grown up about it and accept the results. Alternatively you can throw some stuff across the room and stomp around while you're "accepting the results." Either way works in the end.

My SIL immediately put one of the smaller flower clips in her hair and it looked beautiful.

For my brother-in-law:

This is my BIL. He's crafty.

He also may or may not be a wood-shop teacher from the 1970s.

I made him the denim apron pictured way up at the top. Why did I make an apron for a boy? Well, when Kevan came to visit us in August he was constantly on the lookout for projects. One afternoon I came down to the basement where my sewing machine lives (and where Kevan was living) to sew a denim apron. Kevan became so intrigued by the whole idea that he usurped (unknowingly of course) my machine and started sewing an apron of his own. He gave that apron to a friend and had to leave before he could make another one. Also, he likes to cook. When the time came to make a gift for Kevan, a denim apron was really the only appropriate choice.

I did a little bit of guessing and made everything a little bigger for him. I didn't get a picture of him in it but I was quite pleased with the outcome.

One more post and I'm all done sharing my handmade holiday! I hope you're enjoying this little blog series. Coming up: tutorials! So far I'm planning the felted soap and freezer paper stenciling. Please do let me know if you're interested in anything else.

Handmade :: Part 2 of 4

For my nephew:

My nephew is known to the internet world as Mr. Poop. If you have never read any of the Mr. Poop Presents features on Penguinbot.com then I suggest you do so now. There are important lessons to be learned people.

Anyway, the fact that he is called Mr. Poop will come into play later. I promise.

I had tons of fun making presents for Mr. Poop. Z-cakes was given a crayon roll for her first birthday and my life was forever changed. I never go to church without this thing. Restaurant only gives you two crappy crayons? No problem...we have the crayon roll. Color away my dear. I knew I had to share this travel size bliss with my nephew (actually, it was a gift for his parents if we're being perfectly honest here).

This little bundle was so easy and quick to make. I think I knocked one out in just one Signing Time! DVD. Okay maybe two. The point is that very little neglect of my own child was necessary to make this gift.

Next up, for the home-crafter, a crayon apron.

I saw this idea on Craft: a long time ago and bookmarked it planning to make it for Z-cakes someday. It is made out of a dishtowel so most of the sewing is already done for you. I think Mr. Poop is still a little young for it...but before long I think he'll appreciate having crayons right at his finger tips no matter where he is. It will be especially helpful when he wants to color on daddy's Xbox but can't seem to find the crayon roll.

And in case you're wondering...that is indeed a little pile of poop on his apron. With stink lines. There was a little bit of confusion when the present was first opened because his mom didn't want to offend me by asking if it was in fact poop. Once the confusion was cleared up...she loved it.

And finally, a plush Mr. Poop.

I just couldn't resist.

My favorite part about all of Mr. Poop's gifts was that I didn't have to buy any materials. I was able to make everything out of stuff that I had in my stash. Oh, except for the crayons. I had to go out and buy a new package of crayons. I also may or may not have bought an extra package for myself.

And now I'm off to squeeze in a little of that "create daily" resolution that I have. I've accidentally planned to hand-make all of Z-cakes' birthday gifts this year. Yes, I've gotten myself into quite a mess.

Handmade :: Part 1 of 4

Hi there. Happy Monday.

Thank you for waiting so patiently for me to reveal the gifts I made this year. I decided not to put "learn to recover from vacations in less time than the actual vacation" on my list of resolutions this year...because that would just be setting myself up to fail. But the house is slowly returning to normal, as is my sleep schedule. And at the very least I have loaded all of my pictures onto the computer so I can share them with you.

Operation Handmade Holiday was a huge HUGE success. Better than I imagined it would be. Everyone seemed to be so happy with their gifts and I was left feeling all warm and fuzzy. I realized yesterday when somebody asked me what I got for Christmas that I was more excited to tell them what I gave for Christmas instead. And isn't that really the point?

But I digress...

For my brother and brother-in-law:

I decided to make pajama pants for these two dudes. I wasn't crazy about the idea...I mean, pajamas always seemed to be a parent/aunt kind of gift. But I wasn't coming up with any better ideas and I was running out of time so I decided to go with it. I started my search for the perfect pajama pant fabric. Preferably not flannel, and adequately manly.

FYI: It doesn't exist.

At least it didn't the week I was looking for it. While I was on the phone whining about this very predicament to my mother she suggested I go to Old Navy, "Just to see." N8tr0n and I drove to Old Navy "just to see," while I bemoaned the fact that buying a gift was the exact opposite of making a gift. Then we saw the sign on the window:

Pajama Pants. $7

Dang. Seven dollars. I can't make pajama pants for $7. I just can't. I had to sell-out (in a sense). I just had to. Fortunately N8tr0n had already thought of a way to personalize the gifts and make them more handmade-worthy.

{Freezer-Paper stenciling!}

Okay. I am filing this one under funnest project ever. I was this close to buying everybody clothes that could be stenciled on. It was easy and rewarding. Oh yeah and it was fun. I imagine there are approximately a gajillion tutorials on freezer paper stenciling on the the internets but I would be happy to post my own tutorial if any of you are interested. Just let me know.

For my brother, his initials down the back of the leg and a rifle across the backside. I kind of love the sorority-girl irony.

For my brother-in-law the words "Doctor" down the side of one pant leg and "Pants" down the other. He is known to the internet world as "Doctor Pants"...so there ya go.

I didn't get any pictures of Doctor Pants' pants. Bummer.

For my parents:

I had a really hard time thinking of something for my dad either handmade or store-bought. A phone call to my mom provided little help. I believe she said, "welcome to the club." He has recently become an avid golfer so my first thought was knit club covers with gigantic pom-poms mainly because I find them kitschy and hilarious. But yarn wasn't in my budget so knitting was out. Instead I decided to do something that incorporates his feedlot. I am one of those spoiled girls who owns a Cricut, but I have never used it to cut out vinyl letters (gasp!). I decided it was about time to do something about that and thus, the idea for my dad's gift was conceived.

I made him a title to go over his office door. His office is in our garage so I thought he would like to have something that looked more "official" when customers came in. I didn't get a picture of the final product but it says "Black Livestock" and "since 1960" underneath.

To be perfectly honest, this was one of the most stressful things I made. The process of designing the sign on the computer, praying that nothing would tear while it was cutting, then double praying that I wouldn't tear anything while I was pulling off the excess and transferring the design to the transfer tape was intense. Risk-y. While I was sweating my way through this gift, I thought of the perfect quote to make for my mom's kitchen. I figured that I might as well make it while I had all of my materials out and had come up with a system. Otherwise, it would be a long time before I attempted such feats again.

{"If you are afraid of butter, just use cream." -Julia Child}

The other thing I made for my mom was a custom Swiffer cover. I felt a little strange giving my mom a cleaning tool for Christmas and was preparing myself for riducule when I remembered that she gave me a canister vacuum (slightly more expensive than my gift but you get the comparison) for my birthday and it is one of my most prized possessions. The fact is, if we have to clean we want to be able to do it efficiently and effectively. That's where my gift comes in.

The last time I was home, mom and I were reading about how a microfiber cloth can be used for virtually all cleaning tasks. We picked up a couple of packages of microfiber at TJ Maxx and decided to give them a try. Oh my lands if you haven't been using these things for dusting let me be the first to sing their praises. Wait, no. I'm writing about Christmas presents right now. Just trust me when I say that you should buy some ASAP. I've taken to mopping with mine but wasn't satisfied with the way the cloth didn't stay in the little plastic grabber things very well. So I decided to fashion one that would stay.

I'm quite proud of my little invention. Am thinking I should patent these suckers. The infomercial can be aired right after the one for the Dreamie. (warning...the infomercial will pop up after a few moments on the link)

Okay that's all for now! I'll have more for you later so stay tuned.

Happy Mother's Day To Me

Thank you Nate and Z for the beautiful mother's necklace. I love it almost as much as I love the two of you!