balloons!

Well that was a blast!
I put the how to make balloon kit in the car in the bag of returns.
Was going to take it to Barnes and Noble one of these days. (I mean how many kits can I keep. When am I going to find the time to do all these).
But like the kid I am, I just want to do everything (and I knew the kids would love this kit, too). So I took the balloons out of the car at Beth's house today and me and the kids had a great time! At first it was frustrating because the pump that came with the kit didn't work. We tried blowing the skinny balloons ourselves, but to no avail. (Try it, you'll see what I mean! They aren't like the "fat" balloons.) Sammi got her dad's soccer pump and that worked better, except for the occasional hole in the balloon. It took some work, but after a few hours of on and off balloon making, I was able - with one kid reading me the directions and another helping me to hold the balloon - to make dogs. I got that down! Now I have another hobby to obsess over!

dish towels from martha stewart

I realize today as I take out the bright and colorful MS towels that I bought from K-Mart a year or more ago, that I am obsessed with dish towels. I love looking at these colors, have been saving these forever, often thinking about them. I mean they are only towels, yet the thought and look of them is inspiring and beautiful. I think to myself, maybe this is one area where I do scrimp that I shouldn't. That instead of waiting til the existing towels get really faded, I should replace them sooner.

so many crafts, so little time

I overwhelm myself this weekend (must be a stressful week at work)...I buy so many things at the craft store and at barnes and noble that I can't possibly do them all...I will have to return the origami jewelry kit and the balloon making kit and maybe even the cat training kit.
I did buy glycerin in the solid form, which I use to make soap that turned out kinda neat, but not neat enough that I would buy it if I saw it in a store. They were pretty, in the shapes of muffins, and cinamonny, yet they do have proplene glycol in them (bad!) and are drying (I couldn't find any with more natural ingredients). I need to learn more about soapmaking before I find something I truly would want to use my own bod.
I also buy a knitting loom...all my attempts at knitting have been unsuccessful in the past. I would start something, but then screw up and couldn't figure out how to get back on the horse. But this loom looks really easy. So I buy one and start making a hat. I buy some really pretty yarn in a beautiful green, the color of my cat's eye's kinda green. I start that and it is truly easy. I figure this out on my own.

blogging

I am starting to feel so energized by the work of other crafters out there.
I wish crafting blogs were around when I was in high school. I was just as obsessed with crafts back then, but had no friends who were into them, and so I sort of suppressed my craft passion. I mainly crafted on my own or with my mom or aunt. I made lots of embroidery towels and pillowcases back then and gave them as gifts, but it was always hard to find pretty and cool patterns. Sometimes I created my own.
I wasn't artistic in the sense that I couldn't draw, can't draw. But I always had the urge to create, to make beautiful things with color and fabrics and thread and paints too, but not in the sense of someone like Renoir who can paint a beautiful scene.
Now I realize there are so many people out there to connect with online. So many beautiful blogs! I'm inspired to make mine beautiful as well!

so that worked!

finally...i've been playing with the computer for like an hour and finally figure out how to upload these potholders that i made for erin's shower. well, not bad, i guess, for a cardboard camera. i'll be uploading some more photos that i developed from that camera. and in the meantime, i think i'm going to get a digital camera!
i'm going to try to upload one more photo, this time i think i will try to upload the computer cake (which says Be Obscure Clearly) that I made for the newsroom.

let's see

glycerin

This is hilarious, all the snow globe recipes that call for glycerin say you can find it in a drugstore. I have never seen glycerin in a drugstore in my life. At CVS tonight, the staff agrees they have never seen glycerin in their drugstore, but one nice staffer who used to work at Michael's craft store says I can find it there probably. While I'm at CVS I pick up some mineral oil, because that is what one of the "recipes" calls for. I do want to try it all the different ways, including the way where you make it with clear corn syrup. Let's see which works best.
For some reason I have a thing for snow globes. When I look in my pile of crafty ideas that I have collected over the years I found three different recipes for "How to make snow globes." One was from Martha Stewart, another from a craft magazine from way back, not even sure the name of the magazine, and the other I had handwritten, copied from somewhere, not sure where. Two of the craft books I just took out of the library also have directions on how to make snow globes. So I will give the different ways a whirl and report back.
I also am inspired when I see on a blog I just discovered that the creator of this blog is into snow globes too. She makes a very pretty one and this week it's on her site, called prettylittlethings (http://prettylittlethings.typepad.com/)

make my own soap!

I am so inspired to make a living doing something green and healthy and creative. My career since college has been great, but it's so stressful. There has to be a healthier way to earn a living. Driving back from Woodstock, N.Y., today I had the idea to make my own soap, I would call it "Karen's (Karen means pure in Greek) Blissed Out Soap bar," and "Karen's zoned out body oil," and "Karen's () body scrub." You get the idea! This is so exciting!

book art

When I got home Friday night after bad date, I have urge to create so bad. I pull out the directions for "book art" I had seen in Mary Engelbreit "Home Companion" catalog. I'm going to do some today and when I figure out how to post photos, I will post some! So looking forward!!!!

the dearth

Work has been so crazy this week, filling in for the editor on vacation, that I don't get much time to do creative things and it's a huge bummer. I do get to edit at work, which is somewhat creative, but nothing like the projects I could be doing at home.

computer cake

The cake turned out really good. People loved it. I was afraid they wouldn't be able to figure out what it was, but everyone knew. Though everyone in the newsroom thought I was the one who thought up "Be obscure clearly," which I wrote on that computer screen. I can't believe I was the only one who learned in J-school that it was E.B. White's famous saying.
Hey, I guess that's a compliment-people think I am as witty as E.B. White!

computer cake!

Okay, so even though I gave up sugar and processed foods and foods with dyes, etc., I still have the urge to bake cakes. There is almost more of an urge now. (Maybe it's my way of getting my fill of sweets vicariously or something like that). So I volunteered for this week's "coffee hour" at work. I just have the urge to decorate, create. I decided on a computer cake theme. Let's see how it comes out.