Day 4: Favorite Colors

My current favorite colors are aqua/turquoise and red, which are my wedding colors, of course. I've always thought it was a striking combination, and I think it compliments our carnival circus theme perfectly!

The shoes are my wedding shoes. They are the Siren platforms by Iron Fist. You can order them from Iron Fist directly(when I bought them last year they were not carrying this design anymore, so I paid almost double to have them shipped from the UK. C'est la vie).

Day 3: Clouds

I peeked out the window this morning, and there were no clouds. Nothing but blue skies. So I waited a few hours, checked again. Still nothing. Eventually it became clear that there will be no clouds in the sky for me today, and while I love the beautiful weather, it put me in a bit of a pickle regarding today's assignment.

The obvious solution? Make clouds! Yes!

For this project, I used:

1 scrapbook paper measuring 4.5 x 6.5 inches

blue sewing thread
clear tape
wool roving
a glue gun

But of course you can do this project with other materials, this is just what I had on hand.

 Please forgive the blue-on-blue, my backgrounds are limited.
I cut my blue scrapbook paper into rain drops in three sizes; sprinkle, bucket, and downpour. I just eyeballed it, but be as precise or loose as you like!

 Play around with the placement. I went with a linear design here, but another option is to suspend each drop at varying length, making a "cloud' of rain".

To suspend the drops, I cut lengths of thread and taped them to the back of the drops. You could also glue or sew them.

 

For the cloud itself, I used wool roving, available here. Cotton balls or batting would make a good substitute, or cut fluffy cloud shapes out of felt or fabric.

To shape the clouds, I gently rolled the roving back and forth in my hand to slightly felt it, and then teased it into puffy, well, puffs.

Once I had my puffs arranged in a pleasingly cloud-like configuration, I used hot glue to affix the puffs to each other, and then to affix the raindrop strings to the back of the cloud. I backed by cloud with a paper towel(all I had on hand), but any kind of backing would give it more stability.

  I then hung my new cloudy friend on the wall. I'm quite fond of him. I think he would look charming surrounded by a brightly colored frame and patterned background.

Pin It

Use those books!!!

So, there's another ongoing challenge that I'm going to be taking part in. The Craft Book Challenge. The goal is to make one thing out of a book you already own every month. I have an absolute library of sewing, knitting, and general crafting books that I buy because I like the techniques or projects in them, and then I never actually do any of those projects.

So I am not buying any more books until I make at least one thing out of each of the ones I already have. It's going to be hard to restrain myself, but there it is. Wish me luck!

Pin It

Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer...

 The lake was sunny and gorgeous, the water refreshing and not too cold, and the company charming. I had the luxury of spending nearly the entire day by the water. Mr. Bear unfortunately had to work and was only able to join me after everyone else had already retreated from the sun.

All of my lovely friends were bedecked in their retro bathing beauty best.

Aren't her toes fabulous? They were easily twenty times more sparkly in person. She's promised to give me the same treatment in the color of my choice, and I can't wait. My own poor Plain Jane toes were embarrassed to be seen out.

Ponyo had a big day today, as well. I took her into the water for her first swim! It didn't go very well, she is definitely not a fan of the water. Mostly she sat next to me, shaking in terror, though all her feet were firmly on the bottom. I did manage to coax a bit of a swim out of her, but it was a frantic swim for shore!

Even wet and hating life, she was the belle of the beach, with many children asking to pet her and wondering what happened to her tail.

 All in all, an exhausting day of naps and belly rubs.

Lovely Jana brought her new little man out to the beach with her today. Levi is adorable and very well behaved for a three-month-old. Mostly he snuggled with the ladies and took naps. I'm beginning to suspect babies are very much like puppies.

 I neglected to bring my copy of The Poisoner's Handbook to read while I waited for Mr. Bear, once everyone had left. Luckily he wasn't long behind everyone else, and after he'd eaten we made our way to the beach for a romantic swim. 

I regretfully inform you I have no pictures of that to share. *wink*

Pin It

Day 2: What I Wore

 It's a beautifully sunny day, and some friends and I are going to spend it at the lake. I think I'll bring Ponyo, she'd love the lake. Mr. Bear says swimming can count as our "gym time" today.

 

On the left is my bathing suit, consisting of the top half of a women's suit and a pair of men's swimming trunks. The men's trunks are always cuter and more modest than the women's "swim shorts", it seems. Being scantily clad at the burlesque show is one thing, baring it all on the beach is another!

On the right is my coverup, which I constantly wear as just a dress now that it's consistently hot out. There's a unifying anchor theme in today's wardrobe. 

I'm sure this evening I will have many lake stories to share and silly pictures to show!

Day 1: Self Portrait

A cursory glance over the list of challenges shows me today's assignment is the one I will have the most trouble with. I hate self portraits. But here it is. Days 2, 6, and 29 will also be difficult, but I suppose one of the purposes of this challenge is to get you to work outside your comfort zone.
However, in the process of trying to take a self-portrait in which I do not look angry or uncomfortable(my face's two default positions, apparently), I discovered my hair has grown out long enough that I can start parting it on the other side again. Hurrah!

Aside from taking awkward photos, I made vichyssoise today! Without the chicken stock, naturellement. I hope Mr. Bear enjoys it, he's been having a rough week.

Vichyssoise Recipe:

3 TBS butter
1 large leek, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup white wine
6 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/2" pieces
3 sprigs fresh lemon thyme, minced
5 cups water
salt, pepper, other seasonings as desired
minced green onion, for garnish

Melt butter over medium heat in large skillet. Add leek and garlic, saute for about 15 minutes or until leek is extremely soft. Turn heat up to medium high. Add white wine, cook for two minutes. Turn down to medium low, add potatoes and thyme. Stir in 5 cups water, let simmer for about an hour, or until potatoes are falling-apart-soft. Use immersion blender or food processor(or do like I did and pour the whole shebang into a blender and hit 'liquefy'!) to blend until smooth.
I also added some vegetarian "chicken" pieces, finely diced and sauteed in liquid smoke and bacon salt to suit Mr. Bear's omnivorous palate.
Vichyssoise is traditionally served cold, but is also delicious warm.

Minced green onions to garnish.

Pin It

30 Day Photo Challenge

Sherry over at Oh So Lovely is hosting a 30 Day Photo Challenge, and I'm going to try to stick with it. I encourage all of you to do so as well. It's kind of a fun idea, and maybe it'll jump start my creativity and get me out of my rut. Here's the list:

I'll be posting my self-portrait later today, once I find my camera and make sure it's charged. ;)