memory

for my aqueous media class (watercolor. but doesn't aqueous media sound fancy and distinguished?)

i was assigned a sketchbook project of 54 small works.

our teacher gave us lots of freedom. with basically one rule: the sketchbook had to have a cohesive concept.

mine is memories.  all of my sketches are blind contour drawings of memories throughout my life.

here are five of my favorites. some of the other ones didn't turn out so well. a lot of them are still unfinished.

they are distorted, funny, sloppy, and i like them.

it's easy to procrastinate.  it's like a little dance. you tiptoe around the thing you need to do. you do anything but the thing you need to do. you become a master at avoiding.

sometimes i'm like that about blogging.  i want to be a blogger, but at times i avoid it.  for weeks, for months.

i made myself a little rule.  no looking at my google reader until i have posted.  so many times, this means i don't look at my google reader for a couple of days.  sometimes it means i do a blog post but then don't have time to look at other blogs for a few more days.  but it is working. it helps me avoid procrastinating.

us

he makes the bed.
she makes the meals.

she has a sewing machine.
he has a work out routine.

he has a protein shake, oatmeal, and grape nuts each morning.
she never knows what she'll have for breakfast.

he does laundry and then hangs it up immediately.
she does laundry and then gets dressed from the baskets for weeks.

she loves thrift and antique stores.
he needs to wash his hands.

she drags him to fabric stores.
he waits in the car.

she sits on the floor to do projects
he only uses a desk

he enjoys the chance to do a job interview
he loves to meet new people

she is intimidated by interviews
she doesn't like to be alone

we try to dance a little each day

we work hard.

we relax at night

we can't wait to have our own place again

in the home

a few days ago i posted about my pride and joy (a vintage industrial cart i bought at an antique store).  i thought i'd share a few photos that give an idea of how i'd use the cart in my house/apartment someday.

as a kitchen island:

apartment therapy via pinterest

via pinterest

as shelves/linen closet on wheels:

via pinterest (no link)
but i think it looks like pottery barn 

or other kitchen storage:

via remodelista

(this is kinda an island too but you could see how it could be shelving)

see, my little cart has so much potential!

here it is, in case you missed it.

a makeover so small its more of a "look what i found" post

a few weeks ago i found this wooden shoe form at the thrift store for $1.  i thought it was so funny that the previous owner had tied a ribbon and hot-glued fake flowers to it. i think the picture actually flatters this handiwork, it doesn't look all that bad here.  but trust me, it meant to be cute...it just wasn't.  in fact, i pictured the sweetest old granny had made it.

so i gave this old shoe form a new lease on life.

 "before"

and

"after".  i just pulled everything off a tied a little string on. clean and simple.

p.s. this little wooden foot already made an appearance in my japanese tape post.

laptop case

disclaimer: sorry, the pictures are terrible.

 i made this laptop case for a friend's birthday.  it was pretty easy and really fun to pick fabrics to put together.  

 detail of the stitching and lace

 i was kinda inspired by those envelopes that have the closures with two circles that you wind the string through (do those have a name?) and did the same with buttons.

 these are my signature buttons. i love them

 the front

action shot with the laptop in it.  (it fits i was just showing the laptop going in).  now i need to make one for myself!

tangent:
and i really do need one, i know from experience.  a couple semesters ago i was working in the university preschool. all of the student-teachers had to do a literacy activity where you read the kids a book and then they did an activity that related to the book.  so i read "the very hungry caterpillar" and then we made a lifecycle of a caterpillar on a long strip of paper, starting as an egg...yada yada.  the "chrysalis" stage was a big pasta shell that they glued down.  anyway, i had to make one as a demo, and then i shoved the whole paper in my backpack later on to take home.  the pasta shell cracked into a ton of little pieces and i didn't really think about it to vacuum out my backpack.  a little while later i noticed my disc drive was making really funny noises and then found a piece of that cracked pasta shell in my disc drive! needless to say it's never worked since.  a little laptop case could have saved me the trouble.

gosh, aren't you glad you read that story?

japanese washi tape

i feel like i finally joined the world of design when i bought my first rolls of

this colorful/patterned washi tape is in projects all over blogland.  and if you ask me, so far...it hasn't gotten old.  i love it!  i bought mine from the etsy seller kimamaya and got to choose 10 rolls:

if it hasn't been already, i'm sure you'll see this tape in future projects.  (although it is kinda hard to make myself use it when i just want to hoard it.)

[photo credit: yours truly]