Fairy Light Switches

Custom light switches made for a friend's Christmas present:

Disgruntled Holiday Cookies

Two weeks ago I invited myself (and a friend or two) on S's quest to make 9 dozen cookies. Here are the results:

DISGRUNTLED HOLIDAY COOKIES!








And my favorite:

Blue Monday Stitches

Here's Lindsay's 365+++++ day promise delivered:



(others are on their way ........ slowly.)

Of Love and Hunger

SNOW!!!!

At a friend's suggestion, instead of immediately shoveling my driveway, I built a snowman! (snowgirl? snowbear? snowballerina?)



And also decided that my new(ish) bumblebee sculpture (acquired at a local flea market just before Halloween this year) looked pretty neat-o in the snow, too:



Needless to say, not much shoveling happened tonight :)

while i'm posting embarassing pictures

Check out how cool dusty spots can be just before you clean them!!!

whoops

I thought I could move an entertainment center downstairs by myself.

I was wrong.

(Nothing was hurt in this process but my pride. and the entertainment center. And it's possible that the cats thought the world was ending)

Now available on ETSY!

Select stuff now available on ETSY!

http://wintersnowgypsy.etsy.com


but this, I think, is going to be slow going folks. There's something left to be desired in ETSY's interface for uploading stuff --- though I'm sure eventually I'll get the hang of it :)

Wood shavings

I did a little "woodwork" this weekend and on more than one occasion i very nearly drilled too deeply while getting mesmerized by the wood shavings swirling up the drill bit.

Kitchen mishap

A kitchen mishap created a friendly (?) face of sorts.....

New cabinets - installed!

There's still hope for a finished kitchen in time for Christmas 2009!!!!

BEFORE:


AFTER:



No countertop just yet - that process will take a good 2-3 weeks to finish. Also - no hardware. I forgot about that little detail, so i guess I'll be perusing hardware stores and on-line for nifty knobs.

Kitchen Part II

Kitchen Part I pictures are currently unaccessible (I need to locate portable harddrive driveres to install on my laptop. sigh.) BUT in the interim, I give you these. These pictures are from the second half of my kitchen renovation. I started this half of the kitchen in October 2009......and hope to have it completed in time for Christmas 2009.













I'm currently waiting for the kitchen install team to come over and install all those boxes you see in the last picture.

I miss having a kitchen sink.

Here's me and one of my favorite helpers --- notice the helper is hauling away my kitchen sink :)

Beer Magnets

First attempt at beer bottle cap magnets. I have some refining to do, but these were kind of fun.

Cucuzzi flower

B and I discovered a new vegetable at a local pick-your-own veggie farm --- cucuzzi squash! They're most commonly found in Indian cooking, we think, though (with the help of my mom) have found italian and korean and some other recipes for them, too.

They have nifty looking flowers and many fun squiggly vines :)

Blue Glass Head

I try to keep an eye out for mannequin parts for a friend of mine who likes to play with photography that involve body parts-n-such-stuff.... so far I've passed up a $1 Michael Jackson mannequin at an auction last summer (sad, I know --- i still think of him as "the one who got away" as this was right nearby in deerfield!!) .... i also passed by a set of small children mannequins in Ventura, CA (only $30 each!)because I couldn't figure out how to get them home with me on a plane (small child-like mannequin in suitcase? creepy. small child-like mannequin in overhead compartment? also creepy. both very good stories buuuuuut...... it was determined a no-go mostly because they wouldn't fit in my suitcase and I wasn't going to have time to buy a suitcase after 5pm on a saturday when my flight was leaving at 6am the next morning. i also wasn't sure i could convince my old roommate to send them in the mail. opening a big box to find two children in it? also creepy ;) but fun!

ANYWAY. FINALLY this summer i located a body part that was w/in her price range, w/in a reasonable distance from my house, and better yet ---- going on sale for 30% off on Sunday! so finally finally finally I got a body part for her and it rode around in the backset of my car looking like this:

Kitchen Rack

I know i promised you kitchen before/after, but i still can't quite bring myself to address those pictures. Also, I'm still only at 70% done (essentially same as I was last December) which is depressing, and apparently I've freaked out my mother a little bit because I want to "gamble" with the system and see if I can finish the remaining 30% in time for guests to come over for Christmas :)

ANYWAY.

Here's a small project from last weekend --- I finally found and installed racks for hanging glassware out of the way of other stuff. YAY!!!!

Second Quivet

OK --- technically my first one that I assembled, but it's the second one I finished. It took me forever to find an acceptable "other side" color ---- I settled (happily settled, mind you) on a deep purple. so there, mom. it's not green :P I think you'll like the purple!

My first quivet

The Letter "I" - Road trip exchange

Here's my print for the Four Oceans Press "Road Trip Alphabet Exchange" from this year. Sometimes plain black & white is quite nice.

Future project = make a new handle

I have a grill, but no handle. This needs must be fixed. ANd then? A party.

Future project = fix a step!

I need to do some fixing of steps in my yard. This could be dangerous. And it's just kind of gross to step on a semi-rotting board. Ah well.

Future plans = not-quite quilting

These used to be ties. I have plans. Plans that involve modgepodge (or more likely: polyurethane) and an earlier posted "future project". Yup. Would something like this be considered "anti-quilting"?

Future project = pottery!

I have a lot of pottery equipment at home that's just *begging* to be used. Much of it is lent to me & I want to make sure to keep it in good condition while I have it, so I figure I should really make it a priority to fire up the engines & kilns to make sure they stay (in the case of anything with an engine) well-oiled and in working condition.

This will be a LOT of work in prep as nearly all of the (many many pounds) of clay I have (both earthenware and stoneware) is kind of..... rock hard.

Future Project = Cement statue or birdbath

Here's the skeleton for a sculpture or (sculptural) bird bath to be made out of lightweight cement. I have yet to do *any* cement work this summer & the warm weather is fast disappearing, so I would like to make a move on this project sooner rather than later..... cement is FUN but it's also.... heavy & dusty & dirty .... and time consuming to make..... the time part is the part which has been slowing this one down. In many ways it's a whole day commitment to decide to work on cement.

slowly painting again

I got the urge to paint again the other week. I wanted to do something big to put in my bedroom & inspire me to take down those wall shelves I've been staring at for the last 5 years. 3' x 4' should do it, I thought ..... and set out to buy all the supplies needed to build & stretch my own canvas ..... sadly, I didn't think abuot staples and 'lo and behold, I ran out of staples not even half-way through the construction part ..... and, well ..... since I was determined to paint SOMEthing that day I went down in to my basement & dug up a (holy cow coincidence - it's exactly the size i was looking for) painting that I'd started in high school, never really finished, never really liked & had been sitting down in the dungeon for so long I figured it couldn't be too terrible to paint over it at this point right? right.

Here's the outcome:



Not what I'd envisioned (neither colors nor style) but it's nice enough. Note that I did take a picture of the high school painting for posterity just in case I was sad to lose it. Turns out that this is a vast improvement.

Future project = a cement bench (or four)

A pile of blue insulation board awaits cutouts and other such prep in order to be made in to cement bench molds:



There are at least two places near my hosue that just beg for creative seating. This summer, I hope, is the summer I actually *make* these benches.

Future project = create custom frames

I have nifty frame making tools:



Why not use 'em?

Future project = torch work

This has been neglected the past few months:



Bonus future project: There's also a broken gargoyle in the background - he's supposed to be used as a "template" for making a new one out of super lightweight concrete.

Future project = signage! printing!

Here's a nifty sign machien my parents found and saved for me:



It needs a little clean-up, and then it will be fun to play with, I think!

Future project = two wooden benches

I have some sturdy shelves that I never intend to use as shelves. They came with part of the new cabinets in my kitchen. I think that each of these shelves will make an excellent wooden bench top.