Fun with Foam

I've been in and out of craft stores over the holidays and in the recent weeks.  I have seen a lot of little foam projects made by Creatology.  They're mostly holiday themed and geared to children ages 6 and older.  There are a lot of ornaments and picture frames as well as larger models. I've been really wanting to do stuff for Valentine's Day in the past couple weeks, so I picked up one of the larger kits to play with.  I got this particular kit at Michael's Craft Store, but I have seen foam kits even at places like Target.

I picked a Valentine's Day Bird's Tree House.  If a six year old was doing this project, I really don't think it would end up like the picture on the box at all.  Some of the pieces were made to be interlocking, but they didn't fit together well.  I did require assistance to keep some pieces in place while the glue dried.  The instructions call for Elmer's glue, but I ended up switching to Krazy Glue with the brush applicator about halfway through.  This kit came with stick-on glitter accents which added most of the character of the house.  Some of the stickers were really tiny and hard to wield, especially the little white dots on the front of the house.

Overall, I still think it's really cute. The model was a bit of a pain in the butt, so I probably won't be doing another one.  The smaller kits could be used to make little holiday gifts for classmates or coworkers.   At seven dollars for the kit, it was definitely cheap entertainment. Seeing my guy put sparkly hearts on the foam was well worth it.  My excuse was that it was training for when he has a daughter, but I think my bribe was what finally got him to help.

Youngster Ava

Next project in my current cross stitch craze comes from the Smirk Attitudes A to Z book.  I picked up the book because the designs reminded me of several of the women in my life.  They may end up as presents somewhere down the line if the obsession keeps up. Another bonus, the patterns are not very complicated, which is something I needed after the previous project. It made this one really quick to complete.  

I adapted the "Youngster" pattern for a birthday gift for my neice.  It was completed on 18 count white aida cloth. I replaced the font and text at the bottom for her name.  I also swapped specified thread colors for similar ones available in my stash.  I matted it in a 5x7 black frame.  The matte is printed paper from a packet of 5" x 7" scrapbooking papers in Valentine's prints found in the Target dollar bin.  Side note: I do love that dollar bin.

The next project will be lids for canned goodies to use as gifts upcoming holidays for friends & family.  I ran the idea by my man and he almost immediately started rifling through our cookbooks for canning recipes.  Reason #394 why he's a keeper.

Rose of Sharon

I come from a long line of crafty women.  Not only in wily ways, but in creative with many different kinds of sewing.  My mom currently quilts, but has tatted, knitted, crochets, embroidered, and sewn more Halloween costumes than I care to mention.  My twin currently quilts, but has knitted and crocheted.  She now has a blog about her current feats of creativity and dexterity.

My personal preference has been mostly cross stitch, a type of needle work. Recently I've gotten into clay painting and acrylic painting at the retail shops around town though I still feel at home with cross stitch.  In cleaning out my closets over New Year's, I found this stuck in the bottom of a box I haven't opened in years.  I figured it was about damn time to finish the damn thing.

This project comprised several firsts for me:  first of this size, first on linen, first of this complexity, first on 32 count fabric. It took me over ten years to finish it!  The pattern is called "Rose of Sharon" from Mirabilia. It is stitched on 32 ct natural linen (2 over 2). Stitched area size is 13"w x 24"h. I am working on getting the right matte and frame for it.  Full size will end up being 20"w x 30"h.  I know there are some errors in it, so right now I can only look at it from ten feet away.  At that distance, the colors really blend together and give it a lot of dimension.

Finishing it after so long has filled me with a sense of accomplishment that I have not felt for a long time.  The last I can remember was when I finished a half marathon with my sister in 2008.  It also has the bonus effect of having something physical to show for my effort.

Neener-neener-neener!

With that surge of pride, I have turned almost obsessive about the next project and the next. There will definitely be more to come!

Hello October!

September sucked slightly less than August.  I was sick in some form or fashion for the majority of it, but I made some personal progress that makes me optimistic for October and the rest of the year.  This is much improved over the dread I had before.

The rest of the year is gonna be good.  I can just feel it. 

• I get to see my sister soon.  
• My projects in my classes are gonna be fun.  
• Curiously enough, I am really excited for Halloween.  I have an intense craving to carve pumpkins.  I have no idea what my costume should be.
• NaNoWriMo site relaunched, and I am really getting eager to write again! Here's my author profile on the site.
• It's the holidays! What's not to like! 

And now for other news and goal updates!

With my recent sickness and onset of the busy season for both work and school, I have decided to bow out of training for the Rock and Roll San Antonio Half Marathon.  I should have learned last year that training is just one thing too many on top of my other commitments.

I read a bunch of stuff. Mockingjay, Good Omens, and 13 Little Blue Envelopes were in the first part of the month.  Since then I've read a lot more: an additional nine makes the running tally 45.  Maybe this would be a good time to back off on the reading so that I can work on some other projects!

• Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare.  The first of The Infernal Devices series, prequel to The Mortal Instruments series.  Shadowhunters gone steampunk!  Nice start to a new series.  I could see where twists were going to be, so it wasn't as much of a on-the-edge-of-your-chair read for me. 
• The Laughing Corpse by Laurell Hamilton.  Second in the Anita Blake series, this one was more zombies, less vampires. I really like the Anita Blake character a lot, but don't know if I can continue to read the series. I might gag myself to death if I read anything else about vampire love.  It did contain some interesting asides about women working in male-dominated fields that make me think.
• Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce.  A reread of a great YA duet.
• Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund. Sequel to Rampant and another setup-for-the-third book.  Lots of information for plot and world building, but not really interesting on its own.  
• Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. A TON of teenage drama and angst.  Loved the included lyrics. Made me think about teenage sex as portrayed in YA books.  To do it or not to do it? To show it or not to show it?  Probably a difficult decision for each author for each book, and probably also a difficult pitch to publishers. 

I haven't made a lot of progress on paying off my debt this month, but I'm still at 80% there with only 75% of the year complete.  With vacations and holidays coming up, we'll see how that goes. I was able to refinance my mortgage so reduce the APR by 1.5% and monthly payment by $100.  Also, switching ISPs saves me another $25 a month. So hopefully that will help a bit.

Rebellion, Apocolypse, and Hostels

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is the much awaited final book of the Hunger Games trilogy. The rebellion takes hold in the Districts and finally takes on the Capitol. I liked it, and liked how everything was wrapped up in the end.  It seemed like there was less character development in this one since Katniss spends a lot of the book being disoriented.  My perception might have been caused by keeping myself slightly detached from the book because that some of the imagery felt too close.  I knew I wouldn't be able to deal with Katniss's emotions as well as my own at that point.  Good book, though my favorite of the three is Hunger Games.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) and Terry Pratchett was an incredibly awesome read. Two of some of the best contemporary SF authors combining forces in this hysterical account of what might happen if you put the Apocalypse into the hands of human free will.  It was a really great read complete with really great moments of pointing and laughing at real life. This is a must-read for any current fans of either of the authors. If I got a chance for either of them to sign a book, I would make sure to bring this one. (I have the white cover.)  After I drop it in the bathtub, of course.

Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson (@maureenjohnson) was my first time reading anything of hers.  She is fantastic to follow on Twitter, so I figured that I just had to read something of hers.  This follows seventeen year old Ginny as she wanders around Europe at the direction of letters given to her by her aunt.  This book touched on so many places in Europe that I really want to visit and only one that I have actually been to (London). From the little jokes I understood from the London events, I know I'm missing a lot more of the jokes in the other places. This futher solidifies my desire to do a very similar tour of my own.  I wonder if I would be able to leave technology behind me.  I wonder if MJ would be able to!!  On another note, does anyone know if there is any fan art of the tattoo Mari gives Ginny? Would love to see a representation of it.  I couldn't picture it well in my head.