Fridge Shnookie

I’d say it’s about high time I start documenting some of the gifts I made for Christmas! I’ve been meaning to get started all month, but well, I guess I’ve just been lazy. So to get me in the blogging mood, here is a little project I made.

We give my uncle the same thing every year because he’s one of those guys who has everything. There’s this soap that’s made locally that he loves, and since you run out of soap after you use it, we buy him more for Christmas every year. Every now and then, I like to throw in some fun little knick-knack to go along with it. I thought this fridge schnookie was perfect.Isn’t it cute?It can hold notes and pens and pencils!

I found the tutorial for this on a blog called Coloured Buttons. She has a lot of cute tutorials on her blog. This was just something fun and easy. In fact, I did most of it in the car on the way to my mother’s house.

Stay tuned! I’m going to try to kick myself into gear to show off all the other projects I did for Christmas presents. (If I don’t post any more soon, nag me!)

Personal note: given to U.F.B.

Maybe Flash Isn’t So Bad After All

For my birthday present (I turned the big 3-Oh a while ago), my husband said I could choose something fun for my photography hobby. So we went to our favorite trusted photography shop to take a look. I had a backpack in mind, or some sort of bag that would be better than the glorified lunch box-looking thing I’ve been carrying. While I’d love to get one of those camera bags that looks like a purse, I needed something more practical. Those purses aren’t exactly convenient for hiking. So I was perusing the backpacks.

While I looked, the shop owner, Mike, talked with us about my photography and what I should buy next. The idea of purchasing a flash was brought up a few times by my husband and by Mike. I finally told Mike that I had to be honest, I didn’t see the value in buying a flash since I avoid using flash if at all possible. So he began to explain to me the difference between the flash built into my camera and one I would purchase to connect to it. I was bending a little, but I still wasn’t convinced. When I brought out my camera to see how it fit in the backpack I had my eye on, Mike let me attach the flash and try a few shots. First, I took a few on auto white balance without flash. These are straight out of camera, no editing:

Then I tried a few with the flash pointed up at the ceiling (again, no editing):Wow! What a difference! Now, I could have stood there and adjusted my white balance on my camera until I found a better setting for the lighting situation and gotten close to that result and fixed the rest with post-processing, but the fact that I didn’t have to do that with flash was not lost on me. And my little tootsie wasn’t washed out with a black background (the way she would be if I had used my camera flash)! How exciting! Visions of indoor pictures without having to beg the kids to hold still for my slow shutter speed spun through my head. No more telling my in-laws I can’t take a family picture in their living room because I didn’t bring my tripod!

In short, I was sold. And since my hubby’s so sweet, he decided I deserved both the backpack and the flash. Besides, the flash wouldn’t have fit in my old bag, so it almost made the backpack necessary.

I’m so excited about my new flash. I’m sure there will be some learning curve to it, and I’ll still go without it when I have beautiful outdoor light. But I’m sure we’ll have plenty of fun together. Here’s another example of the difference. My mother came to our house for a movie night with the girls and me. Without flash:

With flash:Isn’t my mother adorable? I love her guts!

Summer Scarf . . . in Winter

It all started last May when I made my first summer scarf or “ruffled scarf” by Dana of Made. I wore it to church a few times, receiving quite a few compliments. Well, next thing I know, one of the ladies in charge of Super Saturday (a day when the ladies at church get together to learn new crafts) said she got a “crafty vibe” from me. She asked me (me!) to teach people to make the summer scarf at Super Saturday.

I agreed to do it, even though I worried about my sewing abilities and the fact that I had only made one. For practice, and in order to have a few examples, I made a couple more scarves. One of them, from the moment I found the fabric, just seemed perfect for my sister-in-law. I recently gave it to her for her birthday, so now I can post pictures.

It would have looked better if someone was actually wearing it, but I didn’t want to model it when it was a gift.

I made another, a light blue one that I love. Maybe sometime I’ll take a picture of it. I wore it out to dinner and spilled a little, so I washed it. My spill came out just fine, but the scarf is a bit more crinkly than ruffled now. Oops.

To finish the story about Super Saturday, I didn’t bring my own sewing machine because mine is an old, heavy, relic that I wouldn’t be able to replace if anything should have happened to it. I read through the tutorial and printed up some instructions. Of course, I noticed that there were special instructions for anyone using a Brother brand sewing machine, but I didn’t read them. I had never heard of the brand, and since I’m SO up to date on knowledge of sewing machines (sarcasm), I figured there was no chance someone would bring a Brother sewing machine.

When I got there, several sewing machines were set up for us to use for various projects. As I’m sure you can guess, the sewing machine I started out with was a Brother. I was helping a lady who had to leave soon, and I didn’t realize the problem until we were trying to get the elastic thread to work. She didn’t have time to switch machines; she left with an unfinished scarf. Oh, and previous to that, my water bottle decided to pop open in my purse and soak everything inside and out. Ha! I was off to a great start!

I switched machines, and was able to help several people with their scarves. They even used knits, and I have never sewn knits. They turned out great. There were only a few people who were unable to finish during the time we had, but I sent them home with the instructions and the web address to the tutorial. Whew! I hope next time I let off a “crafty vibe,” I do it with a project with which I have more confidence!

I’m sharing this post with . . .

       

*personal note: green scarf given to Carolyn

Coming Soon . . .

The wonderful people at CSN stores –a woman named Jocelyn, to be precise—have offered me the opportunity to review a product from one of their many (over 200!) online stores. I haven’t decided yet what I’ll choose to review. There are SO many options! They have furniture, lighting, kitchen gadgets, and so much more. Will we finally decide on a nice lamp for our living room and replace the one that broke during our move 2 years ago? Will I get myself a nice crock pot with a removable lining so I can stop griping about mine which has no removable lining and is a huge pain to clean? Will I pamper my husband with a sleek leather briefcase? Will I get my oldest a pair of wee squeaks shoes for her growing feet (and undoubtedly have to get a pair for my youngest because of the certain coveting that will occur)? I just don’t know. But look forward to a review here as soon as I figure it out!

On a side note, I am amazed at all the Jocelyns I’ve encountered online lately. When I was growing up, my name was so rare. I had to pronounce it for people 4 or 5 times, and it still got butchered. I don’t think I met anyone named Jocelyn until I was pregnant with my first baby, and she was in our birthing class. But now, Jocelyns are just popping out of the woodworks left and right. It’s kind of fun, because I’m sure they’ve experienced the same feeling of rarity, and now it’s like we have an automatic rapport. Plus, all the other Jocelyns I’ve met so far are awesome :)