Bobby Pin Control

Now that I have short hair again, the bobby pin is my styling tool of choice. The problem is when they end up all over the place, and specifically not where I expect them to be when I need them.

Here is a simple solution. Drop a small magnet into the bottom of an Altoid tin, and voila! A pin corral.



For the truly lazy, the pins also stick to the outside of the box.

This one lives in my car. In the morning I don't have time to straighten my hair, so I towel dry and pin it flat. When I get to the office it's nearly dry, so I put the pins away in this nifty little box.


Last weekend I had a great sewing session with a friend who's learning corsetry. She's making her third corset, and doing a fine job. I worked on a couple small projects, including a handy trash bag for the car (prototype is done and ready for testing, but not for pictures,) and this cute little crochet hook bag.



Or pencil bag :) It just needs a zipper pull and it's done.


I had this post typed up last weekend, but was having issues with BlogPress, the app I use for posting. I had to reinstall it, so here's hoping it works again.

And finally, here's some Mouse cuteness from the weekend.



- Mobile post -

Christmas Trees and Scarves

Our power came back on, after 4 1/2 days. Not enough time for me to exhaust my candle collection, but long enough to thaw everything in the freezer... Oh well :) We have our tree up, but haven't had a chance to decorate it since the power outage.

I think 25 days of Christmas was a little too ambitious for me =) I hope to have many holiday-themed posts this year, but I can't promise all 25.

Yesterday I put up my office Christmas tree, which I've had for 6 years now. It's a tiny little thing, less than a foot tall. I used to decorate my cubicle walls and put lights up, but this year I'm in a shared office, so I don't have as much space. While I'm not complaining about that, I kind of miss my old decorations.

I think I'll get some new ornaments for the little tree, and maybe put up a festive background. I also like putting up a little greenery candle ring as a mini wreath. They smell so nice!

For Thanksgiving we had a great visit with my husband's parents. My mother-in-law also loves working with yarn, and she gave me this beautiful mohair, which I made into a scarf.



I love the colors, and it's SO warm! The iPhone white balance is a little off, but this one is more true.

I call it my Very Hungry Caterpillar scarf =) 

25 Days of Christmas Inspiration - day 1 and 2

I've decided to post every day from now until Christmas with ideas, recipes and other inspiration for the holiday season. Enjoy!

Today you get two day's worth, because our house has been without power for two days now. That's part of living in the mountains, but we got hit pretty hard this time around. Here's a shot from my neighborhood

Fortunately, there's more than one way to get home, so we were able to get around it. And here's hoping we have power restored very soon.


I thought I'd start things off with something good to eat! Whether you're throwing a party, giving them as gifts, or enjoying them yourself, it's always good to have a stash of great recipes at hand.

 Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

These look absolutely fabulous! I haven't tried them yet, but I have a feeling they'll be on my list this year. Yum! Here's another take using a different pretzel shape. 

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate and mint is one of my favorite combinations, so I'll definitely be trying this one also.

Lastly, here's a new take on the traditional gingerbread house. Super cute!

Mini Gingerbread Houses

Kids or no kids, these look fun. I like the idea of using them for place cards at a holiday party.

Cord Wrap

Over Halloween weekend we did some reorganizing of the house. I worked on the utility room for a bit, and discovered something simple but very useful for wrapping up long extension cords.

I took a piece of hook-side velcro (the black) about 6-8 inches long, and sewed on a piece of loop-side velcro (white) to the back of the hooks. I made two in just a few minutes, and you can see that my stitching isn't all that straight :) I like that they're different colors, so it's easy to wrap and unwrap.

Pumpkin Pot Pie

Ok, it's really chicken pot pie, but in pumpkin bowls, which makes an already good thing even more AWESOME.

A co-worker mentioned the idea, and I was immediately all over it.

I apologize for the poor quality photos. I was in a hurry making these for guests, and grabbed my phone. The lighting was pretty terrible.

I had a couple sugar pumpkins, and a couple of acorn squash. Most of the recipes called for opening the top like a jack-o-lantern, but I quickly realized that it would result in HUGE portions. So I cut everything in half, and then I made a separate pot pie in a glass dish with the leftover filling, so people could go back for seconds if they wanted.

The acorn squash was so pretty, and also tasted delicious. I can't decide which I liked better.

I combined bits of a couple recipes, from We Are Not Martha and TLC. I had baked some chicken breasts the night before, and I used pre-made crust. The veggies I added were potatoes, carrots, onions and peas. Some of the recipes didn't specify how to add the flour, but I just made a roux in the pan after I'd sauteed the vegetables.

I didn't spend a whole lot of time making the crusts look pretty, because I had hungry guests waiting (myself included!) The whole pumpkin in the background I only filled partially, and I took it for lunch the next day. The pumpkin was very soft, but it was still delicious as leftovers.

Definitely something I'll try again!

 

I'm always looking for quick weeknight recipes, and pizza is one of my favorite things. I had tried making the crust late the night before, but due to a sleep-deprived calculation error, I had added WAY too much salt.

However, I was determined to have homemade pizza for dinner, so I found a quick pizza dough recipe that was delicious. I substituted just 1/2 cup whole wheat for flavor, and let my mixer knead the dough for 5-10 minutes. I topped it with (leftover) herb pasta sauce, sauteed zucchini and bell pepper, chicken Italian sausage and jack cheese.

YUMMY! Tasty pizza in under 45 minutes.

 

Bags by the Dozen

I've been in the mood to make bags, purses and totes lately. One great inspiration is that Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties are banning plastic shopping bags starting next year, and are charging for using paper bags. Whether or not you or I agree with the ban doesn't matter as much as what to do about it.

I'm going to start by making some more market bags like some of the ones I did last year.

I was planning on putting together a list of great bags to make, but someone beat me to it over at whipup.net. This is a great list of bags. Go check it out, really! Very inspiring.

Here are a few of my favorites, in no particular order. There is a lack of pictures on my part, because I want to spend all afternoon sewing, not downloading and re-posting photos.

Quilting for Peace has a great little shopping bag tutorial. I think the shorter handles would make them easier to fill. Sure, the longer handles can go over your shoulder, but I've found that the grocery store clerks have trouble holding them open.

Skip to my Lou's boxy zippered bag is a classic.

For adorable little zippered felt purses, bluegirlxo is quite inspiring.

I love the recycled cargo pants  messenger bag over at noddlehead.

Craft Nectar links to an ingenious grab bag design. Definitely want to try these.

I've been looking for a good yoga mat bag, something simple to make and easy to use. Pickles has a great crocheted bag that looks perfect.

BurdaStyle has a nice looking purse that looks like it would be fun to make.

There's a great beach bag tutorial over at obsessive crafting disorder (what a cute name!) I love the mesh panel idea.

Here is a cute crocheted tote from Classic Elite Yarns.

Lastly, here are three shopping bags to inspire you:

The Jane Market Bag

A simple grocery bag pattern

And a cute crocheted bag.

Enjoy!

Pumpkins

Continuing with my love of all things autumn, I started sewing some fabric pumpkins. I haven't decided how I'm going to sew the leaf yet, but I'll probably add a crocheted stem, and maybe some tendrils. I have ideas on how to improve the shape, and I'm looking forward to making more of these.

While I was searching for pumpkin leaf designs, I ran across this lovely cake at Hurry Up, Cakes. Of course, now I want to bake some cakes =) Wouldn't this be perfect for a Halloween party?

And, speaking of Halloween, here is an adorable crochet pattern costume from Darncat Crochet.