The World Surrounding Me

Christmas Stockings on the Mantle New for 2011. I designed & stitched both of these in less than 90 minutes. They aren’t huge, and that’s on purpose, since we don’t need excuses to buy a ton of candy to put in them! Made from batik fabric, with a cut-away snowflake shape, to match the tree [...]

While we’re overall quite satisfied with our home, there are a few things about our house that Matt & I don’t love. Many of them, unfortunately, stem from bad style decisions of the former homeowners and the fact that the 1982-era builder-grade features aren’t exactly our favorite. These two sources of problems show themselves in [...]

While I’ve been stuck at the house supervising construction workers on our bathroom, I’ve been sewing & crafting. I made two more ornaments yesterday: a star & a wreath. Wire wrapped star Tutorial found via pinterest. I didn’t have the weight of wire recommended in the tutorial, so I just used what I found around [...]

As a fair warning to my family members… I think most of you will be getting a hand-made gift for Christmas this year. I’ve got a lot of time & creative energy, so I’ve been spending it making fun things for gifts. Some of them are little add-ons, like the ornaments in the prior post. [...]

Inspired by this link I found on pinterest for swirled ornaments, I created these out of leftover acrylic paint, glitter-paint and plastic ornaments. Total cost for these 2 ornaments, plus 2 more not done yet: $4! (And, the cost would go down if I made more — $2 of that cost was the glitter-paint.) The [...]

As much as I’d like to, we’re not hosting Thanksgiving this year. Our bathroom remodel is not progressing as fast as we’d like; our dining room & living room are acting as the warehouse for tub, sinks, cabinets, and so much more. So, I won’t be pulling out all my favorite serving pieces (I can’t [...]

Over the weekend, my cousin-in-law* & I talked, sharing our love for finding fun new restaurants. I think we both have a particular interest in unique & (honestly) cheap eats… burgers, tacos, pizzas, etc. After talking about the abundance of food trucks in Austin, comparing Torchy’s and Taco Deli, and getting tips for a home-style [...]