Craftiness!

Hey y'all!

Yesterday I was in a crafty mood while waiting on edits from my thesis adviser. I saw this craft on Pinterest the other day. It said something about the doorbell being broken, but since we don't have one in our duplex, I thought it could be just as fitting.

I just drew the letters in pencil and painted it with acrylic paint. I mixed the colors myself to give it some depth.

Can you tell I'm tired of writing? Long thesis=short blog. ;) 

Have a great week, y'all!

Love notes for the modern couple

A little over a week ago I was at home alone, daydreaming about J.

This image isn't mine, but I like it. :) I got it here.

I do that a lot.

Is that weird? Probably, but I enjoy it, so don't tell me if it is.

I decided I wanted to do something sweet for him rather keeping all my positive thoughts to myself.

So I started another blog. It's free. It's easy. So, if you wanted, you could do this too. Just go to blogger.com, and follow the steps. (Or some other free blog site. There are several out there.)

I wrote what I was thinking, as eloquently as I could think to write it and sent him the link at work.

I now update that blog every few days or so. It's fun to have a running log of love letters. I don't put either of our whole names in them because I think it's more romantic that way. And he's the only real person, as far as I can tell, that views it. Not that it matters since I don't put anything specific, just flowery love stuff. ;)

Recently, I've been thinking of fun ways to tell him I've updated it. Tonight, I put a note on his dinner that just has the URL and hearts. (That way he doesn't have to ask if he forgot the address.)

If I were to do something like this again, I think I might introduce it that way. Just a note with the URL and nothing else. It's what I imagine would happen if Humphrey Bogart made romantic movies in 2012.

There are really endless possibilities on how you could use something like this.

For example, it could be a fun date invite. If you were to write a lot of love notes over a period of time, then put an invitation in the last one. Maybe just a time and address...ooh romantic.

You could also do a series of photos with signs instead of writing out text.

You could use it to track a long distance relationship. Each of you could log in as authors and post pictures, notes and vlogs to each other. Then years later you would have it to remember how your relationship survived that distance.

I especially think it could be great for newlyweds to record all those newly committed feelings, and how your love grows over the first months and years. Then later, you can return to it and remember why you fell in love in the first place.

You could even use it to propose, but I'm a little old fashioned when it comes to that.

Anyway, that's my fairly unoriginal 21st century update of the old school love letter. Let me know if you try it for yourself. :)

A Golden Delicious Birthday.

Tomorrow is J's birthday, so yesterday we went to the local Apple Butter Festival to celebrate.

Having never visited an orchard or attended any kind of harvest festival, we had no idea what to expect.

It was a beautiful day. The weather was cool and a little overcast. This was a welcome break from the scorching summer days leading up to it.

We headed out around 10 and drove for about 30 minutes to the orchard. I love driving with J. We get to talk about all kinds of things we don't often think of at other times. Things we see, childhood stories, music we like lately, our hopes and dreams for the future.

On this trip, he told me he was inexplicably excited about being 23. I'm not as excited about turning 23 in a few weeks, but his excitement challenges me to find something to look forward to. That's what I love most about J, he challenges me to have a better attitude.

When we arrived at the orchard we payed to get in and received an apple stamp on our right hands. I felt like a kid, looking at my stamp. I love when people keep their theme in mind when they plan details.

We walked past a few craft booths, observed a bounce house, and greeted a couple of people we knew.

As I watched kids bounce around in an inflatable castle, I was more than a little jealous of them.

Remembering we were here  to celebrate another year into J's 20s, I looked away and headed into the neatly aligned rows of apple trees with his hand in mine.

A lot of apples had fallen on the ground. I wondered if the cold front from the night before contributed to their demise. But the apples still clinging to the trees were beautiful, and I say that never having liked to eat raw apples.

Despite my lifelong avoidance of eating apples I found myself sharing one particularly delicious-looking one with J as we walked.

Perhaps it's the feeling of kindred with the character, Snow White (a clear result of the fact that I've never been able to tan) that caused me to hate apples so much. I suppose I was channeling her when I was tempted to eat this particular apple right off the tree.

This one has a wormhole on the other side.
I forgot to take a picture of the other one before we ate it. :P

It was so delicious that I didn't even mind the fact that it was an apple, or that I hadn't washed it with running water. (Don't judge, everyone was doing it.)

J eating another one!
(Oh yeah I had another one too.)

We had a great time eating our way through the trees, but the orchard is only so big and all the trees are the same. So we decided to head back to the festivities.

When we walked back to the main area a men's singing group was singing old-timey love songs a capella. It was so fun to watch them. Most of them were older, carrying canes and had grey or no hair. But they sounded strong and sang with great animation. One particular man would point at the crowd and sway. I could just picture him at 23 singing to some girl he liked. 

Then we ate. 

We ate dessert first, because when apple turnovers and ice cream are offered these Dykowski's don't hesitate. 

Then we had some barbecue, because this is Texas. I feel no need to explain that any further. 

All in all it was a great morning. If we are still living in this area next September, we will certainly go back.

...And I will get a giant butterfly painted on my face like the little girl J pointed out as we were leaving. ;)

Infant Kilt

Some good friends of mine are going to have a baby in September, and I wanted to give them something personal for the baby. So I decided to make a kilt for their baby. I didn't have a pattern or any real direction so it was all very trial error. Here I'll share with you how I did it and what I learned. 

I'm honestly not a great seamstress. It's something I dabble in, but I'm not enough of a perfectionist to be really good at it. With that said, you real seamstresses out there, may be appalled by my primitive techniques. 

The first thing I had to do was choose a fabric. I found a great plaid with lots of primary colors at Joann. It also happened to be very similar to the plaid the grandma-to-be suggested when we first started talking about me doing this. 

The fabric was just a simple cotton. I bought half a yard and roll of 3/4" elastic. I had white thread at home that I thought would look nice, so I didn't bother with any other stuff.

If I were to do this again I would have also purchased 1/2"-3/4" Velcro as well.  

I came home at a bit of a loss for how to get started.

I knew I didn't want to hem the bottom after I put in pleats. So, counter-intuitively, I started with hem. I folded the fabric twice, ironed it flat and hemmed the whole length. (I'm sure there's some great technical term for folding twice, but I've never been much for technical terms.) 

It took me a while to determine how long the kilt should be, but I settled on cutting it about 9 inches from the hem. I did this based on a baby skirt pattern I found online. I don't know how this length will work on the actual baby, but I have a feeling it may be too long.

Then I started making pleats because I knew I wanted all the seams on the top of the kilt to be on top of the pleats. 

I got my iron out for this part too obviously. 

It took me a while to figure out the easiest way to make this many pleats, but I discovered that I needed to stack them on top of one another rather than fold them under each other. I made the pleats an inch apart and folded about 1/4" under. I ironed and pinned each of them on the waist and hem. I left about 6" on the end for the front panel.

At this point I went ahead sewed across the waist to secure the pleats, took out my pins. I realize now that I probably should have left the bottom pins in so the pleats would stay sharp.

Then I set that part aside. I decided I wanted to make a separate waistband with elastic rather than adding elastic to the pleated part of the kilt. 

So, I made a waistband and attached it to the base of the kilt. I did this by cutting a strip that was 2" wide. (I would do 2 1/2" if I did this again. Then I sewed the edges right side together so it was inside out. I turned it right side out with a pen (a nifty trick I learned in 4-H as a kid), and put the elastic in.

I've never really learned how to work with elastic, so this part didn't come out quite how I envisioned it. If you are ignorant like me, you might seek out some help or internet tutorials on this. 

Front

I attached the waistband to the top of the kilt with a very small seam allowance. I didn't hem the top first or anything so there's a raw edge there. If I were to redo this part I might try a french seam there (thus the added width mentioned above), or just hem the top edge first. 

I did not attach the flat front panel to the waistband. I did a very small hem on the top of it and left it out. 

At this point, my sewing machine stopped working, so I hand basted the corner of the front flap to the bottom of the waistband. 

Back

If I were to do this again, I would have done this last part very differently. 

I would have used elastic in the entire top of the project and not closed it around the waist. Instead, for closure I would have installed Velcro on the front panel and front of the waist. This would make the kilt more adjustable and comfortable to fit the baby. 

That's how I would recommend someone wanting to try this do it. 

With all the trial and error, the finished product is pretty cute if I do say so myself.

box of paper

So our anniversary came and went yesterday. It was such fun, and I'm so excited because I can finally share what I did.

I gave my husband a box of paper.

I thought and thought about what to get J, and hated every idea I came across.

I knew I wanted to make whatever I gave him myself, so I decided to just go to the craft store and try to get inspiration that way.

I was there for a long time. It seemed like hours but it may not have been. Then finally the idea donned on me.

EUREKA!

I purchased the following supplies:

1 unfinished wooden box with lid with a picture frame on top
2 tubes of paint, one white, one black
1 unfinished wooden heart
2 black wooden letters one J. for his name and one S. for my name
2 white wooden cutouts one of the word Imagine and one of the word dream.
1 paintbrush

I came home that day full of ideas and motivation and went right to work. First, I gathered the supplies I needed that I had around the house.

1 leftover engagement picture of us in black and white
1 bottle  of glue
scissors

Then I painted the base of the box white and the lid black and allowed those to dry. Once they were dry I diluted the paint a little and brushed white over the black and black over the white. I did the heart cutout this way as well, white first then black.

Finally, all of that was dry and I was able to glue on the wood pieces. I used a generous amount of Elmer's glue and they held very nicely. I cut our picture down to fit the frame in the lid and viola, my box was done.

Then I got on the phone. I called members of J's family, his friends, and some of my family he's close to. I asked each of them to write him a letter and mail it to me. I asked them to encourage him, tell him what they like about him and just be positive in general.

As the letters arrived I put them in the box, which I kept hidden.

I also wrote 2 letters myself. I attached one to the inside of the lid. It explained what the box was for and why I made it. The second was my letter of encouragement and praise for him and I nestled it in with the rest.

Another thing I put in the box was a Pez dispenser of his favorite childhood cartoon character and extra Pez. (He loves Pez.)

Finally, because someone had suggested origami and another suggested a kite (neither idea seemed the perfect fit for this year), I made an origami kite. (Well, I tried to. It came out pretty sad.) This kite had another silly little note on the inside.

So when the evening came I presented first the kite, then the box. He had a great time going through the letters.

And there's enough room still in it for him to use the box for other correspondence, or inspirations that come to him.

So all told, the box of paper was a success.

*busted*

Today J. discovered my secret.

You see, when I was picking out his wedding band (over a year ago) I really wanted to get it engraved with the word that represents something he taught me about true love. It is unconditional. 

But the band he really wanted (and I really wanted to get for him) I could only afford in a metal that is impossible to engrave on traditionally. After a frustrating failed attempted to have it engraved before the wedding, I gave up. I figured I could always have it done later. 

As our first anniversary is coming up (see my previous blog about that), I decided this would be a great opportunity to have it done. But how would I get the one thing my hubby almost never takes off without him knowing?

I sneaked (in writing this I learned that "snuck" is not a word) it into my pocket while he was showering, the only time he doesn't wear it.

I went running errands around town with him for hours with it right there in my pocket. I was so afraid he would figure it out. When we got home he looked and looked for it but didn't tell me what he was looking for. 

Later that day, while he was at work, I took it to the jeweler. She said she could engrave it, so I left it there. While I was in her shop, I met a man picking out his second wedding band. He got a little emotional when he was telling me how blessed he was to have found another woman who just as wonderful as his late wife. I was touched, and thought to myself that if I go first, I hope Scott is as fortunate as this sweet old man. I left the store with a great feeling about the sneaky decision I had made.

Anyway, I learned today that my husband had been looking frantically for the ring almost every time I wasn't home. I had no idea he was that worried about it. Usually he tells me when he's lost something, even for a few minutes, but this he determined to find on his own and admitted to "turning the house upside down" in hopes of recovering it.

Not until a week later, when I asked him about it, did he tell me he couldn't find it. 

I got the ring back the day after he told me it was missing, but couldn't figure out how to have him find it without seeming suspicious. 

I was so excited about it that this afternoon I just gave up on cleverness and made up a weak story about how I found it in the cup holder of my car. 

He bought it at first. I thought I had pulled it off, even with my weak story. He did seem a little suspicious, but he was trying to reason through it on his own. "Maybe I took it off while I was riding with you and wasn't thinking about it," he said.

I tried to be convincing in agreeing with him. I said, "that could have easily happened." And other things like that. 

He really seemed to be convinced by the time we got home, but apparently he was not.

He called my cell phone shortly after he got to work and accuse me of  being a sneak. Right then, I knew the jig was up, but I wasn't about to incriminate myself. 

"What are you talking about?"

He had found the inscription on the inside. I thought it was subtle enough that he wouldn't notice it until I pointed it out. But I was busted.

He was surprised and pleased, all the reactions I had hoped for, but I had failed in my sneakiness. The excitement of the surprise gets me every time. 

The moral of the story, ladies and gents, is that when you are most excited about your sneakiness you should occupy yourself in another way, wait for it to wear off, then proceed. 

Keep calm and sneak on.