00041

This year for Christmas I decided to make my grandma a mosaic stepping stone for her garden. She seems to like them (I made her a one for her birthday because she only had one) and she said she didn't want any nick knacks and she asked me multiple times if I was "making something" for her.



That's the last one I made her: beyond basic. I used a kit that came with glow-in-the-dark stars. This time I decided to step it up and actually go with a mosaic picture. The hardest part was coming up with a design. I ended up with the snowman because, well, she likes snowmen, and when it came down to it I couldn't think of anything else to try to make.






First I traced my mold on a piece of junk paper. Then I laid out the pieces within those lines. It was slightly frustrating, trying to find pieces that worked. I also had to take a trip to Jo-Ann's to buy some brown (they did not have black) for the hat. I fooled around with the notion of making it have eyes, but it was just too small of an area.



This was the end result. I'm not totally happy with it, but it did teach me a few things. I tried to use the different shades of colors that came with my glass, but I think they just turned out looking weird and I really wish I hadn't. And the mixture I got on the glass was disastrous to my mental health when I had to scrub it all off after it had dried, that probably took longer than the process of putting it together. I'm not sure if my grandma liked it (it's not as if she would tell me she didn't) because in all the craziness of Christmas day I was not around when she opened it.

00040

For the longest time I had this Christmas garland on my bedroom windows. As most things go I tired of it and decided it was time for something newer, better, cuter.



Something like, oh, say, pompoms? Yes. I'm not sure of the colors I picked. I was going to go with some of the junkier yarns I have, but then I added on the gray that were already made and in with my supply.



I also wanted them to be kinda shabby, which none of them are. Now the gray and the dark pink were already made, so the ones I made specifically for this project were the yellow, blue, and light pink. You can kinda see a hint of shabbyness, but it's not enough to look like I was trying to do that.





I've also thought of changing it up with some I made using Christmas yarn, though now that Christmas has passed that idea will be shelved until November.

00039

Still with the flickr problemas. Ah! So I thought I'd take the time to post about some recent thrifty finds.


I've added another apple to my "collection." This time, with lid! The other, non matching, apple I found when I was in Columbus. I'm still not totally sure why I bought it but I will find a place for it.




(a couple weeks worth of haul)

(really excited about the turkey)

(mugs originally from target! and the little black things are actually jackolanterns which do not photo well)

(I paid three dollars for this, but it was one of those things I just had to have)

(those trees were another must, must, must have. I may even leave them out all year long)

(the picture frame was for my dad)



That's all for today, back to working on finding a way around the flickr upload issues. I have the before pictures of a project online, but the afters are trapped on my phone and a memory card and essentially Siberia.

00038

I took yesterday and today off work. Yesterday didn't go quite as I had planned, and I don't think today is shaping up like I want it to either. But! Yesterday I ended up at my grandma's house and helped her make chocolate covered pretzels.



Then I decided to put crushed candy canes on top of some. I'm not sure how it will taste, but it was fun to do so I did it to some Oreos too.



I didn't try any of them so who knows how that will taste. Now I am off to Jo-Ann's to use a forty per cent off coupon on some food dye, hopefully. And perhaps to get a car wash as well since my car is filthy. Happy Christmas, in case I don't post again.

00037

I! Have not posted for a while. I was having some flickr issues. I am still having flickr issues, but I found a way around them. Hopefully flickr gets its act together soon, I don't know how much longer I can take it.



I'm not really in the Christmas Spirit this year (most years). It's not really my scene. I'm kinda bummed that I did not at all finish painting my little snowman ornaments. I don't know what happened exactly, just sidetracked with other diversions I suppose. The hardest part so far was cleaning the sticker gunk off the back. I have no idea why they need to have two stickers. I ended up using a razor blade that I have for scraping paint off of my windows after I painted the trim. It worked alright, but I have to think there is a better way.



(i love the way these look)


(my supervisor)


(voila, sprayed with krylon gloss stuff)

Well, I think I'm going to cut this short for tonight since it's somewhat late and I have clean clothes beckoning to me. Not to mention the deep cleaning my room demands at the moment. And if that goes quickly maybe finishing the painting of the snowman so that they might be glittered tomorrow.

00036

Friday I drove down to Columbus to pick up my sister for her winter break. It was a pretty nice day out, but bitterly cold.









Of course I had to stop off at Urban Outfitters. I saw a lot of cute things and only talked myself into buying a few of them. Didn't manage to find any christmas gifts for anyone though, except maybe a book that I might let my grandma give me. Maybe.


I liked this lamp, but I don't know if I like enough for fifty dollars. Probably not a bad deal over all, but still.





I got this really cute set of mixing bowls. I had been looking at them online for awhile, then they took them off the website. I was really excited when I saw ONE set in the store. But wouldn't you know, as soon as I walk in the door, literally seven seconds in, the bag breaks, falls, and the largest bowl hits and breaks. They're melamine, but they must have been too cold from sitting in the car for hours. I was, and still am, pretty upset about it.




& these I'm working on painting for people. The white doesn't want to cover right now, and that is the most important part since the other colors will be covered with glitter. & it's time for me to get back to them, so that I might get them done in a timely manner.

00035

So way back when in 2007 I painted this for my grandma. She's had it, and the other snowman I painted that year, hanging up ever since. And lately I've grown very tired of looking at it. I hate the colors I chose for it. So I took it, and the other one, back and went to town with the glitter.



Tada! All glittery and sprayed to be glossy (and hopefully to keep the glitter in check). I still kinda wish I hadn't use purple on it, but I didn't want to paint over it with a different color.

00034

Gobble, gobble, gobble. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! Mine was good, I went to my grandma's house of course and most of my family was there.




I was up all night Wednesday cooking & baking. I made cheesy potatoes and pumpkin chocolate chip squares. The potatoes were ok, I'm still working on tweaking my recipe, and the squares were just a recipe I saw on-line and decided to make last minute, though I still tweaked that a bit too, based on comments people left. They were pretty good too, I even made a second batch on Saturday with the leftover pumpkin puree. I thought about using it to make banana bread, but perhaps I'll try that another day.















My aunt brought these craft supplies for us to make coasters... I did not really like how mine turned out but here it is anyway, ugly.


I was thinking of going "black friday shopping" when I got a text from a friend, and it turned out a group was going to the outlets about thirty or forty minutes away, because they opened at eleven. I'd only been to these outlets once before, and I wasn't really impressed with them, but I decided to go anyway. I ended up breaking off from the group with my friend Tony after everyone else rushed into bath & body works, which was a mad house. We wandered around, and got coupon bags which included ten dollars off at the Adidas store. So now I have new shoes that only cost me eleven dollars. I'm not in love with them, but for eleven dollars? Not bad, especially since I just threw away some Nikes that were getting old.





Other than shoes for myself, the only thing I bought from the outlets were some "wicking" polo shirts for my grandpa for Christmas. After the outlets we went to ihop, not my choice, and then Tony and I broke off completely because everyone was "tired" and we went to Target/Best Buy/GameStop, where I didn't buy anything except for a comforter that I returned on Saturday because I decided it was too thin. I didn't get home until seven and then I didn't get to sleep until 8. I did, however, go out later in the day to pick up some headphones that were half off (good timing, mine just broke last week) and jeans that I may return because I'm not sure how I feel about the color.


We did get our first real snow in Akron on Friday morning, around seven. Pretty awesome.



Now it's time to kick it into gear for Christmas. The only people I'm done shopping for are my dad and my grandpa. I have no idea what I'm going to get for my sisters, and I may need a few more supplies for the thing I'm going to make my grandma, which I should start on soon so it doesn't come down to Christmas Eve at 3AM like it did for that snowman pictured above. To defend myself, it would have been done before then, but I ran into issues with the paint, which is why it is almost all glittered. Whoops, haha. But to top that all off, I also have to think of things for people to get me! Yikes, I have almost no idea of what I want this year.