Temptation and Fashion

My sister and I made a trip to the mall on the Fourth of July to check out the sales. We stopped first at H&M for their 75% off sale (there wasn’t really anything good) and then headed around the corner and into JC Penny. JC Penny has been pretty affordable since they switched their pricing policy but there are still certain brands there that will break the bank; unfortunately they are also the ones with the most beautiful clothing. As we browsed, we came to the section of one such brand of clothing named after a fruit—I’ll call it “avocado” to maintain anonymity. Within the borders of the display the bright summer colors shimmered temptingly above the cherry plank linoleum, and the blazers, dresses, skirts and accessories all beckoned to us like ripe fruit from an exotic jungle. The headless mannequins posed coquettishly in their exquisite outfits and invited us to join them in their trendy land of joy. Even the music in that section of the store was different; the happy, playful pop added to everything else gave us the impression of a shopper’s Garden of Eden.

“Look at the colors!” Isabel gasped, starting to inch toward the threshold of the display.

“Don’t do it,” I warned, “you know we can’t afford anything in that section!”

“I know.” She sadly conceded and turned away.

A few minutes later, I turned from the rack I was looking at to find Isabel; I looked to my left, then to my right—no Isabel. I turned around slowly dreading what I knew I would see. Sure enough, Isabel was prancing into the Avocado section to look at a leather bag that had caught her eye.

“Isabel!” I whisper-shouted, “I told you not to go in there!”

“I couldn’t help it! Look how beautiful it is!” she said, grinning as she held the bag in front of her.

It was beautiful. I skirted around the edge of the Avocado area to get a better look at the bags.

“Look at it!” she held it towards me, “It would make a nice school bag…” she tempted.

“I do need a school bag…” I thought “It’s…too expensive.” I said out loud. I was starting to lose my resolve. Isabel knew it too and smirked as she continued to prance about looking at the different clothing racks. I skirted back around the threshold, using all the will-power I could muster not to cross over.

“Look at the jewelry!” I breathed. Isabel grinned as she waved a striped blazer with peplum trim at me from inside the garden. I walked further along the border until I was in front of a mannequin wearing a pretty, green jersey summer dress. The mannequin was far enough forward that the edge of her dress was just outside of the boundaries of the Avocado section, hanging over into the walkway. I stared longingly at the fabric.

“Go ahead,” the mannequin seemed to whisper, “touch it.”  I looked up at Isabel; she was still reveling in the world of succulent, jewel toned apparel. I looked back at the dress. Slowly I reached my hand toward the fabric “It’s not like I’m actually going inside…” I told myself.

Suddenly the music changed completely; what had been a light, inviting tune just seconds before was now a dark, tribal rhythm with a sinister voice speaking the lyrics: “Painted whores, sexual gladiators, fiercely old party children…”

Isabel and I looked up at each other. At that moment, I honestly expected a trap door to drop beneath her, or vines to shoot out of the floor and engulf her and turn her into a moss covered statue.

“Get out.” I mouthed as I motioned her towards me. She darted toward the walkway and back over the border. I grabbed her arm and we both walked briskly away from the Avocado section as the sinister voice said “Come to the light! Into the light! The invisible light.”

“What on earth was that!?” I exclaimed.

“I don’t know,” Isabel whimpered, “it was like a devil party in there.”

I looked up at her, “I think you almost died just now.”

“I know.”

************

This is a true story. These events actually happened in the way that I have described them and it was legitimately creepy. 

It was reminiscent of the scene in the animated film "Anastasia" where Rasputin has his demons try to lure Anastasia into the ocean; or of the way the background music of a video game changes when you enter the boss chamber.

I looked up the song when we got home; it is “Invisible Light” by the Scissor Sisters and the entirety of the lyrics are just…spooky. I do not suggest listening to it.

The Wind the Car and the Car Port: A story of Divine Protection

"Uh, Dad...we have a situation and it involves the wind, the car and the car port."

Tuesday was my Mom's birthday. To celebrate, my sister's fiancé, Ken, and our best friends, Sandra and her daughters Pamela and Paola, whom we have known our whole lives, were over to spend some time chatting and eating and having a good time. Around nine o'clock, my mom asked my brother to take our two Chihuahua puppies outside. He was about to open the door to go out with them when he decided to ask my mom for their leashes. Suddenly something hit the porch window hard and there was a loud bang and a crash outside. Paola and I heard the noise from the living room and turned to look at each other, concerned.
"What was that?" I shouted to the people in the kitchen. They didn't answer so we got up quickly and went into the kitchen.
"Something slammed into the house!" my mom said. She went outside to find what had hit the window and found a large stone on the ground in front of the porch window. Looking around to find out where it had come from, she saw that our garage port was missing. 
"The garage port flew! Our garage port is in the driveway!" My brother shouted.
Everyone in the kitchen looked at each other in astonishment. I went upstairs to tell my dad about what had happened and soon almost everyone was outside inspecting the damage. Outside the wind was blowing strongly and the rain, though light, was pretty cold. We saw that the garage port was bent on the driveway near the side of the house and one of the poles had gone through the front windshield of Ken's car. We all worked quickly trying to remove the tarp from the top of the garage port so that it would not be blown away by another gust of wind. Ken called his dad to tell him that there was a situation and ask him to drive over to our house while my dad inspected the car and the rest of us cut the tarp off of the bottom support beams of the garage port. We peeled the tarp off of the frame and dragged it out of the way and someone took pictures of the damage to the car. We checked the other cars and found that one of the cement blocks that had been used to anchor the garage port had made a large dent in the front corner of the hood of Sandra's car. Once we had removed the tarp and were sure that the port wouldn't blow away again we all went back inside and a had a time of prayer and gave thanks to God.
The garage port was ruined, a windshield needed to be replaced and a dent needed to be fixed, but the whole situation could have been infinitely worse. If anyone had been outside when the port flew, if Ken had been sitting in the car, if the rock had come crashing through the window -- these three 'if's would have had fatal results, but, glory to God, no one got so much as a scratch.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.
- Psalm 91

Simple Stitched Notebooks

 Believe it or not, Christmas is here again. My Christmas break from college started on the 16th so when I got home there wasn't much time to get gifts together for my friends. I had already bought a few small things earlier in the year but I felt like my gifts still needed a little something, so I went searching through my brain (and Pinterest) for a quick and easy hand-made gift inspiration. I always like to add something handmade to gifts because it is an inexpensive way to add a personal touch and I have a lot more fun making things than I do buying things.
I ended up finding an idea in my brain for some monogrammed notebooks.

It doesn't look very Christmas-y out there. No snow yet.

I've made five notebooks so far and will probably end up making a few more before the season is over. I used regular printer paper for the pages and some letter size craft paper card stock for the cover. I cut everything in half down the short side so that I had 8 1/2" X 5 1/2" rectangles, then folded everything in half, put it all together, and  used a sewing machine to stitch along the fold to bind everything together. Once the notebooks were bound I embellished them by stitching on some fabric scraps and stamping the initial of the recipient on them.

Cute, huh? I'm hoping to still make a bigger, Listography-style one for my little sis' for Christmas (shh! don't tell!). Yes I realize that Christmas is only two days away. I'm on top of this.

The Chickens: a true story

Warning: this story is a little bit gross

I was sitting up in my room when a commotion started downstairs. I had heard a car door slam shut in the driveway but had assumed it was my Dad getting back home from some errand he had slipped off to do, though I didn't remember hearing him leave the house. From the kitchen, the sound of the front door being opened was accompanied by exclamations in both English and Portuguese. The word galinha reached my ears several times letting me know that, somehow, there was a chicken involved in all this ruckus. "I don't wanna see it. I don't wanna see it. I don't wanna know." That was my brother's response to the entreaty from my Father: "Daniel! Come see, boy!"
"Oh please. Not more road kill." I thought as I remembered the dead Red Tailed Hawk that Dad had found “Still fresh and warm!” on the side of the road and had brought home a few weeks before.

"But who finds a chicken on the side of the road? This isn't exactly farm country..."

Sister Margarida's voice carried down the hall and up the stairs along with the other sounds (correcting my assumption that it had been my Dad closing a car door) but the words were lost in the noise and I couldn't understand what she was saying; I only knew it was Portuguese.

Gradually the excitement downstairs subsided and by piecing together the snippets of conversation that I had been able to understand, I deduced that Sister Margarida had brought a chicken and that it was dead, or would be soon.

I heard no squawking so I ruled out the possibility of a live chicken and felt it was safe to go downstairs and see the unfortunate fowl. I saved lesson 91 of "Keyboarding and Document Processing" on my laptop, gathered my phone along with the afore mentioned computer and went down the stairs.

There was Sister Margarida at the sink, my mother at her side. I put my things down on the table and said hello before I approached the sink. I was greeted at the counter by the sight of two spindly bird legs sticking straight up into the air.
"Oh look. A chicken."

There was indeed a chicken lying in our kitchen sink; two, in fact. Both were stripped bare of all feathers, one still featuring legs and a head while the other was lacking in both areas. The gory neck of the latter bird hung dripping from the body, deprived of its capital. For an instant, I was inclined to feel repulsed at the sight, but I quickly thought better of it.

 "I'll see worse when I'm a physician's assistant."

I stood by silently, not needing to ask any questions about where these chicken had come from because it was being discussed enthusiastically by the adults, now in one language, now in another. I learned that the Sister and a friend had gone to a farm owned by someone they knew and had there caught these two chickens along with a few more of their companions. They had brought their spoil to the Sister's friend's home and there...well, suffice it to say that was the last garage those chickens ever saw.

All this Sister Margarida explained as she skillfully cut into the headless bird and disassembled its innards. I watched with interest as one organ after another was pulled out of the avian carcass, trying to identify as many as I could.

"What's that?" I asked once.

"That's the testicles." she replied without blinking.

"...Oh."

She continued to disembowel her victim placing everything edible in the large pink bowl sitting on the counter and all the inedible parts in a plastic shopping bag that was lying in the sink.

“ You killed them yourself?” I asked

“Uh huh.” She took a small step back from the counter and motioned with a bloody hand to her pant legs; I saw that they were spattered with blood. “I grew up on a farm baby. I’ve done it all.”
“How appetizing.”

Once all the organs had been removed the Sister proceeded to cut the meat from the outside of the chicken.

She sliced around the thighs and wings and I cringed at the crunching sound when she twisted them off.
“This is what everyone did before supermarkets. All girls knew how to kill and dress a chicken.” I felt quite inferior to the women of prior times.

Soon the first chicken was done and the second endured the same fate as his fellow fowl. As she made the first slice and reached her hand inside, the intestines of the second animal reminded me of the expression used in 2 Samuel: “...and his entrails poured out on the ground.” It was fascinating to watch. Gruesome, but fascinating.

In dissecting the second bird, a hen, there was a surprise. Sister Margarida pulled five eggs, all in different stages of development, out of the bird. The first one she found was large, and probably would have been laid very soon. It didn’t have a hard shell, only a translucent membrane to hold it together. The other eggs were decrementaly smaller and were round instead of oval. As each egg was pulled out we became more interested and excited.

“Hey c’mere and see! Quick!“ I shouted to my siblings (They had, up to now, had no interest in watching the dissection) then I asked Margarida, “Are those edible?”

“Oh, yes. Yes.” was the enthusiastic reply.

“Go get the small pot and we’ll boil them.” my mother said to me.

I went obediently to the cabinet in the pantry, all the while talking seriously with myself in my head.

“I think I want to learn how to kill and dress a chicken. Ew. Thats so gross. But people had to do this all the time way back when. I’m always daydreaming about ‘the good ol’ days’... At least for the sake of being able to say that I know how...I really should learn. What if there is a disaster one day and all the big-name chicken farmers go out of business, or if all the grocery stores close?... I’m gonna learn how.”

My mom put the exceedingly fresh eggs in the pot and we both went back to our posts from which we had been observing the dissection. I was perched on a stool on the Sister’s left, and my mother stood to her right. My father would come and go, watching for a while, commenting “You’re brave, sister!”, and then going about his business.

“Hey, next time you get some chickens...can I come? I want to learn how to do that” I gestured to her hands.

"Yeah, you want to come? I bring you; sure."

"Thanks" I smiled, wondering if I really wanted her to follow through on that offer.

The second chicken was soon all cut up and placed in the bowl along with the first one.

The waste from the two birds was disposed of, the counter and sink were cleaned and the bowl with the meat was covered and placed in the downstairs fridge. We thanked Sister Margarida for thinking of us and then she was gone.

After she left I reviewed the whole chicken ordeal in my mind, amused and slightly incredulous.
"That might have been the weirdest thing that’s ever happened in this house...besides the hawk of course...I better write this down."






Milestones: sewing on a zipper

I have a book called "Last-Minute Fabric Gifts" which has a lot of fun, quick projects in it, most of which I haven't gotten around to trying yet. A few weeks ago I finally made a little make-up/travel bag that I had been admiring in the book for a long time. I made this one as a birthday gift for a friend but I think I am going to make one for me too. I really love the style of it and the fact that it has a lot of room inside.

This project marks a milestone for me because it is the first time I have EVER sewn on a zipper. Until I made this little bag I had always begged my mom to sew all the zippers for anything I made. I really have no clue why I was so averse to putting on a zipper; maybe it was the zipper foot for the machine that freaked me out or maybe I was just being lazy. (I think I was just being lazy).

I'm glad that I have overcome my antipathy for zipper sewing, and I am proud of my little travel pouch. I think it came out pretty.  :)

Napkin rings: take one

Remember way back when I said I had to make napkins rings or I was going to explode? Well, I did...make napkin rings that is. I didn't explode.

I made a set of eight (rather hurriedly) as a gift for the hostess of a new years eve party my family was attending. They were finally finished about five minutes before we headed out the door, which didn't leave much time for taking pictures. The lack of good lighting added to my lack of photography skills did not result in very pretty pictures.

Nevertheless, here they are in all their poorly-photographed glory.

They looked better in person, I promise.

The napkin ring fever has been dispelled for now, but I still plan on making a set (or two) for myself.

I am not Emily Post.

As the final exam for my Family/Consumer Sciences class I was required to plan and host a dinner party.
I know. Best. Exam. Ever.
I had to pick a theme and create a menu, centerpiece, invitations and decorations to go with the theme.
I searched the internet for different ideas and finally decided on a fairytale theme because  I thought it would be the easiest theme to do everyone likes fairytales.
The idea was that the different items on the menu would have something to do with different fairytales.

The menu was:
first course: salad
second course: cheese soup in a bread bowl
entree: pecan-crusted pork with pumpkin butter, green beans and cresents (Three Little Pigs, Cinderella, Jack and the Bean Stalk, Hansel and Gretel)
dessert: apple crisp with ice cream (Snow White)
drinks: water, sparkling apple cider and coffee

I also made rose shaped butter pats to throw some Beauty and the Beast into the mix. The soup was originally supposed to be served in bowls made from little pumpkins (which would have tied in with Cinderella), but pumpkins are remarkably hard to come by in February so I had to use bread bowls instead. The salad doesn't tie in with any fairytale. I just like salad.

The invitations for the party were typed on the computer, printed on cream cardstock and decorated with quilling. I also made place cards to match the invitations but all of the pictures of them are annoyingly bright or blurry so the glimpses of them in the backround of different pictures and my word for it will have to be enough proof that they existed and were pretty.
I probably spent about an hour on each invitation. The nine place cards took me a few hours but that might be because I was watching Christy while making them. "Oh, please. Anyone can tell that she is going to end up marrying Neil. Give it up, David."

For a centerpiece I made my own rendition of Cinderella's carriage. I was originally going to buy a pumpkin and just make some wheels for it but as I said before there were no pumpkins to be found. I ended up making mine out of some fabric we had in the house.

The salads were pretty simple. Just some mixed greens, cucumber slices, grape tomatoes, and shredded white cheddar as a garnish. Ranch and Italian dressing were served in my mom's gravy boats.

 

The salads sat pretty in the fridge, waiting for the guests to arrive.

The bread bowls were quite an adventure to make. I was originally going to buy some round bread and carve it out, but all the round bowl-sized bread must have run away with the pumpkins because my mother searched several different stores and couldn't find any. We ended up buying frozen french loaf dough from Phillsbury and I shaped my own bread bowls from the dough. I promise that they were round when I put them in the oven. They just got a little misshapen.
You are probably wondering why I didn't just use actual bowls like a normal person. The answer is simple. We have no bowls. Well, no bowls matching our china anyway. Besides, bread bowls are yummy.

Cheese soup in a bread bowl.

Pecan-crusted pork with pumpkin butter may sound a little strange, but it is very yummy. It is a new favorite at our house. It is also really fun to say.

Pecan-crusted pork with pumpkin butter, green beans, a cresent and rose shaped butter.

No pictures were taken of the apple crisp. I guess the photographers were too busy trying to eat it before the ice cream melted. It was very tasty.

Daniel and Priscila went through training to be waiters for the meal. They helped a lot with getting ready for the party and they did a pretty good job serving too.

I bought the lights in the backround at Goodwill for $2 a strand and I got the idea from this tutorial to make the egg carton flowers for the them. The flower lights gave a really nice fairy tale glow to the room.

After dinner we took pictures and played Spoons, Bananagrams and Catchphrase.

The table, before we all sat down.



Somehow it all came together and it turned out to be a very pleasant evening despite the fact that I was running around like a crazy woman all day trying to get everything ready. A graceful hostess I am not, but I hope that with some more practice I will get better at it.

There's a new plumber in town...

Guess who just installed a new faucet in the kitchen sink. Can you guess? Me! That's who!
Yes, this is a really big deal.
It is a really big deal because I just learned a new life skill and did something useful for my mother.
It took me a really long time to get it done; I'm sure my mom could have done it in less than half the time it took me, but hey, it was my first try.
I learned how to use a plumber's wrench and how to use thread tape and I did it all by myself!
I'm pretty proud of myself, in case you couldn't tell. I'm happy that I have learned how to do something useful and that someday when I am married and the faucet on my kitchen sink needs to be replaced I won't have to bother my husband about it. I can do it by myself! Although, if he volunteers...I'm not gonna say no.

And now I am going to go make a sandwich. All this plumbing made me hungry!

Decorated composition book

I'm a little bit of a note book addict. I have an entire milk crate full of them and some loose ones scattered throughout my house.

I have a notebook for craft ideas, a notebook for video game cheats (yes, I'm a nerd), a notebook for drawing in, a notebook of advice to myself (actually I have two of these), a notebook filled with dumb stories I wrote when I was twelve, a notebook filled with tags and receipts from noteworthy purchases- I think you get the idea. I like notebooks.

I recently started another notebook; this one is being filled with lists that have titles such as: A few of my favorite things, Girl names I like, Boy names I like, Things I want to make.

For a notebook with such important contents I didn't want to keep the standard black marble look so I decided to decorate it.

I bought some pretty scrapbooking paper for like 69 cents and covered both the front and the back. I also rummaged through my mother's tin of trim and picked out some lace (lace is on the favorite things list) and a little crocheted trim to add to the front.

Then I took some coordinating paper and covered the insides of the covers with it. I also used my stamps to write my name on the inside of the front cover.

The paper is a little lumpy in some spots because it was glued on over the lace but it doesn't bother me too much.

I really like how this notebook came out. I will probably be doing some more notebook decorating in the near future.

I think they would make great gifts (I say that a lot huh?) because you can personalize them for whomever you are giving them to.

French memo boards

I did finally get to make my napkin rings, which has dispelled the napkin ring fever (for the time being at least) but the pictures of them are still on my sister's camera which is with her in Arizona, so I will have to share those another day.

For now, here is another one of the projects that I made to give as Christmas presents. These are really simple and pretty and a great way to display pictures and many other things.

To make these french memo boards you need:

• a canvas (I got mine for around $3 at Job Lot)
• batting
• fabric
• a staple gun or stapler
• ribbon
• jumbo brads (beads or buttons work too)
• poster board
• sawtooth picture hangers

Cut a rectangle of batting that is the same size as your canvas. I used more than one layer because my batting was very thin. Cut a rectangle out of your fabric that is big enough to cover the front of your canvas and overlap the sides by 1-2 inches.
Lay your batting on top of your canvas and center the fabric on top. Flip the whole pile over and use your staple gun to staple the fabric to the back of the canvas. You want it to be a little tight, so when you are stapling the last three sides tug the fabric taught and then staple.

Now take the ribbon and staple the end of it to the corner of your canvas so that it will go straight across the edge of the corner.

Then stretch it across to the other corner, pulling it so that it will be tight enough to hold the pictures and things it will be displaying. Staple the ribbon on the back of the opposite corner and cut it from the spool leaving just a little extra. Now do the same thing with the other two corners.

Keep adding ribbons in both directions until you are satisfied with the amount of ribbons on the board. Try to keep approximately the same amount of space between each pair of parallel ribbons so that the diamonds formed by the overlapping ribbons will be almost the same size.
When you are stapling on the rest of the ribbons make sure you staple them to the side edge of the canvas and then to the bottom so that they stay in place.

Once you've stapled the ribbons to the side you can fold the excess over to the back of the canvas and staple the ends down so they stay out of the way.
 

 
Use Scissors to poke a hole through one of the x's made by two ribbons overlapping and all the way through the canvas. Put a brad through the hole and fasten it. For some of the other memo boards I made, I covered the brads with fabric to make them match (actually my mom did it for me). On another one I sewed on fake pearl beads in place of the brads. 
Now take your poster board and cut a rectangle of the same dimensions as your canvas. Staple it to the back of the canvas to cover up all the fabric and ribbon ends. Then attach a sawtooth picture hanger in the middle of both a long side and a short side.

 All done!

What keeps me awake at night: napkin rings.

I found this tutorial through stumbleupon a little while ago and I have not been able to get napkin rings out of my head since. (Which is why I am awake at 10:30 at night writing this.)
I am pretty sure if I don't make some napkin rings soon my brain might explode. I want a set to put in my hope chest and I also think that they would make good gifts so I want to make lots of them.
I have been looking on Etsy for some inspiration and have found many very pretty (and simple! Or at least they seem simple.) styles.
Here are some of the ones I liked:

Flower with branch napkin rings
Vintage silver plate spoons napkin rings
Felt poinsettia napkin rings
Turquoise rosette napkin rings
Silverware napkin rings
Crochet napkin rings (whoo! crochet!)
Elegant felt flowers napkin rings
Red felt flower napkin rings

OK I think I have seen enough napkin rings for one night. For myself, I am probably going to go with a similar design to the one in the tutorial. I am hopefully getting some PVC pipe tomorrow so I can try making these. I am going with PVC because it is strong and cheap.
Off to bed now! I need to be well rested for some napkin ring crafting tomorrow.

Pets are fun: Ratscapades

Rats are wonderful pets. I have three beautiful girls Dinah, Miriam, and Tirzah and I love them dearly.



From front to back: Dinah, Miriam, and Tirzah.

 They are not only smart and loving but extremely entertaining.
Example :
Yesterday my brother was complaining that the rats were making a lot of noise in their cage; he had been hearing a lot of scuffling and upset squeaking all day long. When I went downstairs and heard the squeaking for myself I decided to go over to the cage and investigate.



Miriam,the most notorious thief in all rat-dom.

 See that cute little rat face? That is the face of a merciless thief. It turns out that the squeaking was coming from Tirzah, who was squealing in protest as Miriam pulled all of her comfy fabric out from under her and dragged it down to her own little igloo house (which she doesn't let anyone else inside of).
 She must have been doing this all day long because at the beginning of the day there had been plenty of fabric on the top level of the cage (where the three ratties usually cuddle together) and when I got there the only thing Tirzah had left was a puny piece of denim. DENIM! She couldn't have left her fleece or something cozy. Nope. She left her with a piece of denim. And poor Tirzah was curled up as tight as she could trying to squeeze her whole body onto that tiny square of fabric.
So I got to work cutting up some old t-shirts to give to Tirzah so she wouldn't be cold.
I would give the fabric to Tirzah and Dinah (Dinah wanted to help re-decorate too) and they would run it to the back corner where they love to sleep. But even as they were collecting some blankets to sleep on Miriam was still running up and down, from the igloo to the corner, stealing their fabric! Even though her igloo already looked like this:

 

Look. She can barely fit her little rattie nose out the door!

She didn't stop filling up her igloo with stolen fabric until it was so stuffed she couldn't move around inside anymore. The igloo was hopping up and down in her effort to arrange the fabric in it without room enough to turn around.
I cut up a lot more fabric and I think it should be enough to go around now. While I was ashamed of Miriam for being so mean, I had to admit, it was pretty funny. :) I love rats.

Penny-pinching pretty: Anthropologie necklace remake

I saw this necklace on a blog that I love reading and thought it was really cute. The Anthro one is super expensive and after seeing some one else do a successful remake of it I thought "Hey, I can do that!"
It really isn't that difficult. Cutting out and painting the little leather triangles took a bit of time but I'm sure I spent less than ten dollars on this necklace, so it was worth it.
Here's how it came out:

 All I did was cut out ten little leather triangles and paint them the same colors (or as close as I could get) as the ones on the original necklace. Then I used my leather hole puncher and put small holes (but big enough to fit my chain through) in two corners of the triangle. I strung all of the triangles onto the chain, used jump rings to attach the charms, and tied on the two lengths of ribbon. That's it! Simple right?
The only thing I would do differently would be to use thinner coats of paint on the triangles so that the leathery texture was more visible.  This one is a Christmas present for a friend but I think I am going to make one for myself too.

Lace flower hair clip tutorial.

I am trying to make as many Christmas presents as I can this year because A) making things is fun and makes the present more meaningful and B) I spent all the money I made over the summer on vet bills and clothing.
So here is one of the things I made this year and instructions on how I did it. I think it came out pretty cute.

Here's what you will need :

• a needle and thread
• scissors
• glue gun
• lace
• ribbon
• a small piece of leather
• felt
• a button or any embellishment you would like for the middle
• a hair clip (I used an alligator clip)
• one of those flat bottom pins (I think they are called pin backs?)

Cut your lace to the desired length. The longer it is the more tightly you will need to gather it and the shorter it is the looser the gathering will be. I used about a foot of lace. I thought my lace was a little too wide so I did some more cutting to make it thinner. (The width of your lace is the radius of your flower.)

Thread your needle and make a knot in the end of your thread. Begin gathering your length of lace about a quarter of an inch up from the bottom edge. (To gather, sew small, even stitches along the edge and gently slide the lace, in folds, toward the knotted end of your thread.) Keep gathering until your lace forms a circle. Slightly overlap the two open ends of the circle and stitch them together to close the circle.

 Cut a small circle out of your leather for the center of your flower. My center was 1 1/4 inches in diameter. I used a looped button as my embellishment in the center so I had to cut a slit in the middle of my leather circle for the loop to go through. If you are using a flat button you can just glue it on or if you are using a bead try stitching it on to the leather circle. Glue your leather circle on to the middle of your flower.
Note: when you glue your leather circle, leave 1/8 - 1/4 of an inch of the edge unglued all the way around. You will see why later. 
 Because I used a looped button I made sure the loop was coming through the small opening in the gathering of the lace so that I could stitch it to the flower.

Cut a length of ribbon (mine was about 6 1/2 inches long). Cut the ends of the ribbon to make little v shapes. Fold the ribbon over in half. You can make one end longer than the other or have both ends be the same length, whatever you prefer. Put a dot of hot glue in the fold of the ribbon to keep it in place. Now glue the folded end of the ribbon to the center-back of the flower.

 Cut a circle of felt about the same size as your circle of leather and glue it to the back of your flower, over the ribbon.

Ok now thread your needle and stitch all the way around near the edge of the felt circle with out going through the leather on the other side. This is why you did not glue the leather circle completely. You need to lift the edges of the leather while you push the needle through so that you are only going through the felt and the lace. Yes, I know that you just hot glued the felt to the flower; I trust thread a lot more than I trust hot glue. Don't roll your eyes at me.

Almost done!
Glue your pin (if you are using one) to the felt. Now cut a rectangle that is about as long as your felt circle's diameter and just a little thinner than the length of your pin. (This is not rocket science; you dont actually have to measure the rectangle.) Put some glue on the inside of your pin and stick the felt to it. (Do not finish gluing the felt down yet.) Now fold back the unglued end of the felt and put some glue where the alligator clip is going to go. Open the aligator clip and press only the bottom into the glue then press the felt down on top of it and close the clip on the felt.

 Finish gluing down the felt, let the glue harden and you're done!

Good job, crafter!

I know where you live.

I love that no matter how many times I read the Bible I always find something interesting that I hadn't noticed the last time. Today I read about the time that Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent an army to attack and capture Jerusalem (Isaiah chapters 36 and 37). I really enjoy reading this story because it is a beautiful picture of God's power and protection when everything seems hopeless.
Sennacherib was so sure of himself. He sent a messenger to talk to Hezekiah's (the king of Judah) officials to try to scare them into surrendering.
He was all 'What makes you people think that you are going to be able to stand against me? You talk tough but you got nothin'! Have the gods of all the other nations I've conquered ever helped them out? No! Not one of the gods of the countries I have conquered has been able to stop me so how could the Lord save your city from me?' 

But God told King Hezekiah,through the prophet Isaiah,

“Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”

Well, not too long afterwords, Sennacherib heard that some other king was coming to fight with him so, just like God said, he went back to his own land...but not before he had dealt another psychological blow to Jerusalem:
'Listen, don't think that just because I'm going away you're safe. Oh no. I'll be back. And don't listen to that God of yours when he tries to tell you that your city is going to be OK. Haven't you heard about all the nations I have conquered? You are going to end up just like them.'
Well, here's what God had to say to that!

"Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?

      Against whom have you raised your voice,

      And lifted up your eyes on high?

      Against the Holy One of Israel.

      ...I have brought it to pass,

      That you should be

      For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.

      Therefore their inhabitants had little power;

      They were dismayed and confounded;

      They were as the grass of the field

      And the green herb,

      As the grass on the housetops

      And grain blighted before it is grown."

Here comes my favorite part!

" But I know your dwelling place."

Modern paraphrase:  'Sennacherib, you act all tough. You think you are all that and a bag o' chips, but I am the one who gave you the authority and strength to conquer all those nations in the first place! Pipe down, buddy. I know where you live.'

That's a pretty sobering statement. And it can be a terrifying statement or a beautiful statement depending on where you stand with God.
For the Christian who loves and serves God it is wonderful to hear. God knows where the people who want to hurt us live; he has the power to keep them from harming us.
For Sennacherib, who had just blasphemed God twice, giving himself credit for what God had given him the authority to do, it must have been terrifying to hear the Lord of the universe who holds all power in His hands tell him  'I know where you live.'

The point of this post: Don't mess with God; He knows where you live.
Read it for yourself here.

And so it begins...

Things to do in my life: start a blog. Check!
I discovered the magic of blogs through yahoo news some years ago when I read a story about a young blogger, and I've been hooked ever since. I love blogs. I love getting a peek into someone else's thoughts and being inspired by their ideas. I love the blogging community and the way that blogs connect millions of people.
I have finally decided after years of admiring other people's blogs that it is time to start one of my own as a place where I can share craft ideas, projects, recipes, things I have learned and maybe even some wise words here and there.
So here's to the start of my blog. ~ Suzana