~owl love~

Owls. Love them up. I made these ones out of felt, from an idea I saw here. I think I'll hang them somehow. No doubt you have seen this video where I learned that lovely owls can smile.
On their backsides they needed something else. To hide the knots and such and send a message of love. A little Stitch Witchery Fusible Web on some linen, some hand-cut stamps, and these little owls are ready to spread their love in the world. Valentine's Crafts can't be beat.
Yummy, dense bread, and easy too. Full of all things wonderful and lots of different kinds of flours, currants, pumpkin seeds, molasses, and nutritional yeast. Best. Toast. Ever.

Here is what it looks like this morning.
Like winter!
Finally.

happy valentine's day

~My favorite holiday.~

parents of 6th graders:

DO NOT show your children this picture, Jonas implores you!

One of my favorite memories of being little was sitting with my mom at my tiny table, making potato stamp Valentines for my kindergarten class. I remember the window next to our table. And that it was sunny.

A day when we get extra encouragement to spread the love.

At Rockport Public Library tomorrow, come pick up a BookLover or Love Books bookmark for a donation in any denomination to benefit the library. Old check-out cards upcycled from RPL; new stamps carved by yours truly.

Now go out and spread some love!

EZ Seamless Hybrid: Finished

The sweater that brought me to frustration at each and every turn, cursing like a sailor at times, cast aside until I could bear to look at it again...the first and only time I have ever run out of yarn...gauge problems...techniques that were foreign to me...panicked emails to strangers on Ravelry...you name it, it happened here with this item that I had intended to knit with love for my husband. It was knit with a lot of teeth-gnashing and anguish.

Actually there was a lot of fear also. Fear that the finished garment, which had so delighted in torturing me, would not even actually fit the wearer the way the artist envisioned it. So part of my reticence to finish it, though I was eager to be done with the blasted thing, was the dread that it would continue to torture me in perpetuity because I would be staring a big, ugly, ill-fitting mistake in the face. Forever. Because of course he would have to wear it, even if it fit like an elephant wearing baggy tights.

Fortunately, I was wrong. The sweater fits Mr. Crafty as though it were made for him---ha! It was! I'm not certain I will embark on another male sweater again for many years to come, but this one will have to do for now. He didn't even let me block it and has worn it quite a bit already. Finishing it amidst my January blahs felt like a great exercise of will. If you want to read what Tom said, and some tips from me, it's on Ravelry. I may be adding some more details to the notes when I can stand to re-visit the drama of my knitting notebook.

And the birthday girl chose to celebrate her day with lady friends and little girls, making Valentine's cards together. Lots of treats including lemon squares with rosemary shortbread crust, spanakopita triangles, cookies, cake, and coconut sorbet with vanilla bean!

Would it be a Creative Endeavors post without someone's charming child? Here is Mr. Crafty holding Adorable A. while modeling his handsome sweater. His job during the party was mainly as baby-holder, and he didn't mind snuggling this sweet girl.

Happy Valentine's Day

The boys came home with their beautiful Valentine's folders from school today. School has a policy about handmade Valentines only, which I love. Here are some of my Valentine ATCs---don't forget to snuggle your loved ones today!

And thanks to Carol for pointing out this amazing design-your-own fabric site, Spoonflower! Just when I think my brain is overfull of the best creative things I could possibly dream up to do in this lifetime...Another great one comes along and somehow my brain doesn't explode.
One thing more that I love: APA's latest bag! Find a gorgeous photo here. Her colors and fabric choices are always a knock-out! She is bold, that one, and I admire her for it. Alewives Girl, do you have this pattern at my favorite fabric shop?

The material on this ATC is from my new favorite, recently-weeded book from Rockport Public Library, entitled: The American Heritage Book of Fish Cookery. Really weird and old sorts of recipes and excellent quotes and black and white photos of fish and fisherpeople. Like a person holding a fish eating another fish. Or a person holding a fish that is 450 pounds. I promise to take some pictures to show you before I cut the whole thing up.

A few more...

Valentine's Day
...And the boys are off to school already. Both enjoyed their Valentine's ATCs that Jake and I made. Surprisingly, no one was counting hearts or specks of glitter---just gratitude! Yay, a happy morning.

"Girl Peddling Cocoa Nibs" was a label taken off of a chocolate bar that had cocoa nibs in it! Doesn't she look like a saucy little thing?
I guess Camille de Roger was a fashionista in---where else----Paris in the 1920s. This came from a card my mom sent. It's on card stock scrapbooking paper, with a little translucent rice paper and some origami paper that Jonas shared with me. I titled it something really silly: "Odile n'aime pas l'herissons, n'est-ce pas?" ("Odile doesn't like hedgehogs, right?"

SAT Flashcards!
The series below was an experiment in using contact paper as a sealant, as opposed to Mod Podge. I wasn't wild about the contact paper effect, but they are shiny and smooth. Could have been the texture of the base paper also. There is some bubbling around the cut out words that seemed hard to avoid. I used a lovely fern stamp with silver ink; the paper in the first set is brown, in the second a lavender.

Here's the really exciting thing: On Saturday, someone donated these ancient (even the font looks old) SAT flashcards to the library book sale, which I promptly appropriated for the ATC swap group. Only I had to try a few out for myself. All of the gender words are masculine, so in a couple of these I changed that since I was bored of reading "he." On the back of each, I have given the definition.

"Plenitude:" She received the plenitude of power with her new appointment.
"Salutary:" By her every action she exercises a salutary influence on the class.
"Sanguine:" He had sanguine hopes that his suggestion would be followed.
"Altruistic:" His motives for acting as he did were altruistic.

Celebrations!

Valentine's Day is tomorrow and I have been making lots of ATCs for v-day. It was disappointing to me that both boys view Valentine's card making to be such a chore, when I have always SO enjoyed it. Oh well. We'll be making cookies in heart shapes today to fulfill the needs of one class. It's another snow day and we are all home!

For Jake, of course. I used a rubber stamp and little hearts cut out from a magazine that was showing a photo of doilies!

For the boys. Please notice that there are the exact number of hearts on each, both contain glitter, and their initials in silver. The one at right, for my traveler/adventurer, features a lovely image of the Great Wall of China. The number featured at left should tell you lots about the images that are included!

Birthday Fun
Yes, I was the birthday girl last week ("That is how it is, Alice. Your birthday is always the one that is not now." Frances the Badger, in A Birthday for Frances by Russell Hoban.). It was a snow day that day, too, for better or worse. I had a very celebrated day with my boys, and even had some time to make some art with Joanie while she knit. Joanie gave me some of Noro's new sock yarn, and though I usually am not wild for their colorways, this one really is special. Greens, purples, blues, and a little brown---Can't wait to get knitting. More on that later.

Below is the bday ATC I received from my sweet husband. Front side features some of my favorite things: red shoes, chocolate, and flannel nightgowns. Also: "back to waiting arms." He's a romantic...The flip side has this great vintage kitty, I'm sure from a card my mom sent.


Here's how my bday ATC from Robinsunne arrived:

When I opened it, I found this "An ATC for Iris plus some ephemera:"

Here's the front side, with a sparkly cake!

Here's the flip side, shiny red and gold, and referring to the fact that my bday shared the day with Lunar New Year this year!

...And the ephemera! Little papers, some pre-cut, some cards, stickers, calendar pages, quotes, and even a little Yogi tea fortune:
What a lucky girl I am! I'm already crafting a thank you ATC to send back to Robinsunne. We are definitely "having fun yet!" And now the snow is turning to little prickles of ice on my window.