Too soon?

I decided that we're going to make our holiday cards this year. By "we" I mean, I get to do all the fun stuff, and then he gets to write something clever. Considering the kind of project it is, I consider this a fair distribution of labor.

I got some paper, and some stamps, and some notecards and stuff - man there is a lot out there as far as papercraft is concerned. I mean like, whoa. I don't usually do any of this type of craft soyeah, these cards will, in fact, cost more than our card usually do, but hey! Snowflake glitter!

Any of you scrapbooking types have any suggestions for websites, ideas, glues, that kind of thing?

I still have some modge podge.....

(also hey, if you want one, send me an email with an address, unless you know I've got it already.)

Gnomenclature

This unfinished project has caused no end of trouble. Not the project itself, which is done with needle punch embroidery (a quick way to smile according to the French on the packaging) and allows me to stab something repeatedly with a sharp object. That part is great. I haven't even stabbed my leg yet and only have to finish that one mushroom.

The problem is the design, which I stole from someplace online. The free pattern listed itself as being a gnome. This is not how my beloved sees gnomes. I can see his point, but I know of gnomes like this. Then, we fight. So it is a battle ground gnome/man's land in my house. My sweetheart is such a troublemaker. Don't get him started on Santa's not-really-elves, either.


I think it's going to be a little pillow when it is done.

Tailoring advice, please!

It is time, after years of chocolate, raspberry puree, passion fruit coulis, chlorine bleach and other assorted products, for me to start replacing my chef coats. The ones I have, I love. They are short sleeved so they are great in the summer and when reaching in to scrape out 40 quart bowls of cheesecake batter. They are a women's cut so I don't look like I have on my big brother's shirt and weigh another 30 pounds. They also are no longer being produced, although when they were, they were like a hundred dollars a pop. No thank you!

So I found a short sleeved jacket for twenty dollars. The problem is, it fits in the shoulders and chest, and everywhere else is just not right. Lame! I think, maybe, I could tailor it myself. I know, it's sewing, but I can hem up the sleeves and bottom of the jacket, and I think I could take in the sides a bit. But I'm not sure. Should I even try? Just take it to a professional? Whatchall think?

An auspicious beginning...

Happy February!

So I went to register for Thingaday and couldn't because of random computer glitch that was annoying. That sister o' mine said that I should just do it on our blog. Hey, there's a thought... and much less pressure if I skip a day.

At work, I pondered, what shall I make today? Which was ironic, considering the job, and in particular the job today. Today's work involved making a (I kid you not) $1800.00 birthday cake for a thirteen year old. This involved fashioning a crown shaped cake top out of sugar, fondant, buttercream, a bundt pan, a wire rack, cake boards, and masking tape. We pulled it off, although I still say that red and fuschia pink DO NOT MATCH. Three giant cake tiers, cake stand, and crown are layered together, and loaded into the boss's wife's car (a corvette wouldn't work for this, so he had to borrow that car). I am elected to join boss in the delivery process.

Of course, the trip there involves many sudden starts and stops, sharp curves, speed bumps, and my job is to say if the cake slips. All is well until boss gets impatient and tries to zip around a car trying to turn left. Splooty. The cake slides off the cake stand, into the hatchback door. Of course, the part that hit is the front of the cake. The good news is the cake holds together - we can repair it, we have the technology!

And so I found myself piping buttercream on top of fondant in the back of this SUV to cover the splooted parts, then holding the cake on the cake stand while trying not to mess up anything else for the harrowing remainder of the trip to the event. We got it in, got it down in place, and RAN for the door.

I got home a good while later, thanks to 5 o'clock Friday commute times, and realized I had to still make something. I made cheeseburgers appear in my hand that someone else cooked. Does that count?

Ah well, there is still time...

Halloween fun abounding!

Okay, so this is going to be a somewhat lengthy post. Let's start with the costume parade. The good news is that I managed to finish both kids' costumes in plenty of time for the Halloween Carnival in my neighborhood. The bad news is that my son up & decided that he did not want to be Diego anymore & has decided that he hates his costume. *sigh* Oh well. The better-than-the-good news is that there were Moms coming up to me left and right at the Carnival complimenting me on Julia's costume! *huge grin* That almost made up for it. I'm just disappointed that the boy didn't like his. I thought he'd be excited about Rescue Pack at least, but he flatly refused to wear it. :( Without further ado, here they are:



Just to shamelessly brag on my cutie pie a little bit, here are a couple of extra shots of her & her sweet face:




Okay, so costumes done, I decided it was High (pun intended) time to actually carve a real pumpkin. There is a contest on the KOL forums for pumpkin carving, so Kathy and I got together & created the Lihc & the Gargantulihc from the game. Like so:



After snapping the photos necessary to enter the Pumpkin carving contest, we were not content to leave the pumpkin as-is, so we doctored him a bit, then a bit more, and a bit more...More. MORE! Until finally we ended up with this creation:



I'll try and snap some more pics of him at home in the evening, when maybe you can actually see him lit up. I'm woefully bad at that, so I will try.

Happy Halloween everyone!