kirstencan

In Honor of my 417th Post

(psst - that means a giveaway...)

My box o' gocco supplies arrived this weekend - so I had to test them out, right? ;)

I made a stack of birthday cards.  Just silly ones.

I think Aaron got me the gocco in hopes I'd do more 'artsy' stuff rather than 'cutesy' - and there are some artsy ideas brewing, for sure - but as I told him, I had this silly cake doodle card in my head and I had to let it out.  It wouldn't leave me alone, I swear.

The cake + text is drawn, the banner and scallop at the bottom was cut paper that I photocopied.

And now I have a handy stack of cards to give for people's birthdays - assuming I remember to send them out...

So, just some fun, silly cards, and since it's been 100 posts since my last giveaway - let's have another!

I have two sets of five of these hand printed birthday cards to give away!

Just leave a comment on this post, and I'll draw two names later this week.  Probably Friday.

Just a little thank you for reading my blog - thanks especially for commenting!

p.s. I'm updating my Masterpiece post - my opinion on Sense & Sensibility

Watch Masterpiece!

Don't forget that tonight (Sunday) is the last of the Jane Austen Masterpiece movies - it's the new Sense and Sensibility!  It's on PBS at 8:00 or 9:00.

**Monday 3/31 update:  So, what did you think? I think for the most part it was really well done. I just read the book recently, and so far the story is very close to the book.  Very close to the book AND a quality show - that rarely happens together...  I love the little girl who plays Meg, she's adorable. 

Holy cow, that steamy opening scene!  I had to make sure that Princess wasn't around!  I get that it's a dramatic opening to catch your attention, but I actually didn't like that part - it was a little confusing, as we're not sure who it is at that point.

My only complaint is how Willoughby is portrayed.  It's like 'Willoughby -duh duh DUH (dramatic music)' so that we know that something's up with him already, which in the book you don't.  In the movie, the viewer has some extra information (due mainly to sneaky looks, dramatic music, and a conversation with Col. Brandon) that, as the reader, you don't have.  When I was reading the book, I was almost as surprised as the characters at how Willoughby turns out - which makes for better story-telling.

But again, very well done, can't wait till next week!

Mail as Distraction

GRRR, this is the second time I've posted!  Somehow I was using a new(?) Typepad interface and it ate my post with all my photos and links!!!!  And now I have the old interface again - whaaa?

***********
Anyway, this week has been kind of rough.  We will not be discussing the nebulizer, the nebulizer breaking, late night doctor visits, steroid shots, or walking out of the pharmacy with 4 prescriptions for one child.  We will also not be discussing the fact that another child started vomiting last night.  Which was not a symptom the first child had...

Nope.  Let's change the subject, shall we?

**************
Happy Mail.  Ahh, gotta love it.  My birthday just keeps coming. ;)

Lori sent me this awesome quilt book - because of this pattern:

A Jane Austen quilt!  How cool is that? 

New friend, Jen, sent me a box packed with Daiso goodies!  Just because! (Daiso is like a Japanese dollar store, and there aren't many in the U.S.)  I was shocked by all the great stuff she sent!  We had such a great time digging through the box!  Thanks so much!

(click on the photos to see them bigger - there is a LOT of goodness going on here!)

My SIL Eva sent a selection of her letterpress cards - gorgeous stuff!  I esp. love the Mother's Day card, Eva!

Littlest sister, Kellie, sent me two rocking mix cd's.  I really like them!  She made covers for them out of paper bags - with collaged paint chips on front!

My brother, Kris sent an old California State reading text.  It has awesome illustrations that I'm itching to cut up, but the boys actually like listening to the stories - so in one piece it will stay... for now.

I like how he illustrated the back cover, esp.  I think the face in the middle was already there... since the sixties? :)  Kris has a thing for aliens...

Don't I have a creative family? ;)

Also just received or will soon some new etsy purchases! And more packages on the way, as I'm getting ready for Monkey's birthday.   

Easter

I wanted to briefly post about Easter.  Most of us were sick for the weekend - which is why I'm glad we had an extra laid-back holiday planned.

Much of our holiday was the same as yours, I'm sure:

We had a little egg hunt in our front yard - because of diet/food dye issues all the eggs had jellybeans (Starbust!  The only good jellybeans...) and the kids were assigned different colors of eggs to look for.  Thomas had all the green and yellow eggs - and all the green and yellow jellybeans.

He liked to sort his candy by color...

This year, in order to simplify and not bring more junk into the house, we didn't prepare Easter baskets for the kids.  Instead, we bought them a small joint gift - something they can all play with together.

We got these pop beads at Target.  I'd been keeping my eyes open for them - one time at church Thomas' teacher gave everyone in her class some pop beads - and they've been in our church bag ever since.  All of the kids like to play with them, but we didn't have enough for all of them to play at once.  So, I was way happy to find a humongous jar of them, and some of these will be put in the church bag. 

I'm really happy with these beads, btw - all of the kids love them and you can make really cool things with them - jewelry, flowers, people, spaceships, etc. And while they're marketed to a younger crowd, Princess and her friend (10yo) had a ball with these the other day - even I like fiddling with them!

I was happy with this one-gift Easter idea (possibly a new tradition?)...until I saw Amanda's baskets - which are perfect.  Darn it. 

Maybe next year...

(Oh, and check out these awesome eggs!)

K is for Kirsten

Last night I broke out my Gocco again.

Just a little monogram I doodled - I like how it turned out.  This particular K isn't taking itself too seriously.

I printed a few notecards (and envelopes - I can't help it!) and a lot of flat cards.  I had a stack of cardstock in different textures, which was fun to play with.  I think I may need one of those corner-rounder punch thingies.

And now, apparently, I need to sit down and write some letters... or find more people whose names begin with K....

Things I've Learned

I've been working with the Young Women (teenage girls) at church for a few months now - and I've already learned SO much.

****
They talk A LOT.  Constantly.  In my experience it's usually the 12-13 year olds who are the loudest and most obnoxious.  In our neighborhood it's the 17 year olds - who I'm lucky enough to be working with...

****
If I were 17, I know exactly who I'd hang out with.  Here's how I found out:  I brought my copy of CRAFT magazine to show to the girls - I was sure they'd love the idea of making monsters for one of their activities.

(Who can resist this cute cover?)

I got 12 blank stares.  And a very awkward silence.  They looked at me like I was crazy.  Only one girl was like, 'Oh, cool!'  Yeah, she'd be my BFF if I was younger... (she's also the one with purple hair).

Another leader tried to cover me by saying, "Well... yeah, we could make some and donate them to a homeless shelter ...or something."

!

So, I made the one (cool) girl her own monster - since it won't be an activity anytime soon.  She loved it.

****
They like to sing. A. Lot. For some reason we have a very high concentration of girls interested in Music Dance Theater.  I have a very low tolerance for musicals.  I used to like them, I don't know what happened...*  I have a few faves (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Singing in the Rain), but these girls are always belting out songs from ... whatever... and it gets ANNOYING.

*Wait, maybe I do know what happened!  In college I spent most of my time in the fine arts building.  The art students had their own wing, and that's where I liked to stay.  But, you know, occasionally one must venture out, and to do that you'd have to dodge the MDT majors who were always singing and dancing all over the building.  Once they were rehearsing a musical version of Noah's ark - and using an entire two-story staircase.  Rather than walk around to the other side of the building to get out, I walked through their rehearsal, ducking under and around people pretending to be elephants and monkeys.  They glared, but so did I.  Yeah, maybe that's what killed my taste for musicals...

****
I have the same shoes as one of the 12 year olds.  I don't know what this says about my taste - or hers? - but I'm glad that when this girl noticed my shoes she didn't take hers off in embarrassment.

****
Let's not forget:  I don't like snowmobiling.

Don't get me wrong, I love these girls.  In many ways they are awesome, but holy cow - exhausting! 

I'm trying not to think about girl's camp yet...

It only took five years...

Yup, only five years to replace our dining room curtains.  Really not too bad, right? ;)

Our old ones were green/white roman blinds with a checked valance - glimpsed here.  Made by the former owner.  (By the way, I'm keeping it real here, by not clearing off my table - click on the photo to see notes in flickr).

I used a linen blend fabric for the top of the curtain panels - I wanted it really washable - good thing, as I was sewing them up I noticed that someone had touched all the panels with chocolatey fingers!

The bottom fabric is Amy Butler Lotus, in Cherry.  My next project will be making a kitchen curtain (smaller window) entirely out of that fabric - it'll be cheery.

The project after that?  Repainting the dining/kitchen in a different green - probably the same as Monkey's room...

I made four panels, and each has a little embroidery design.  I wasn't nearly neat enough with my threads on the back, but oh well.  The house is a collaboration by Princess and I.  The bird is from a drawing she made for my birthday.

I originally wanted cafe curtains - only 2/3 the way up the window, but we get major sun in the afternoon, so I made them full-length.  They're attached by clips/rings, which also makes them really easy to open/close.

I'm pretty excited that they turned out - especially as I made them up as I went along, lined them, and I'm horrible at measuring.

I'm liking them!  They're lighter and more 'spring-y'.  More fun, and definitely more me than our old ones!

p.s. - We've had quite the cloudy/gloomy day today - not ideal for taking photos.  And, of course, now that I've posted these photos, the sun came out!  DOH!

Candles + Cap

We're studying the Colonial times in history with Princess.  Of course I've been meaning to do all kinds of cool projects... and I found the best time/place to do them - my mom's house! :)       

My mom watched the boys while Princess and I dipped candles.  I pulled out my old candle dipping pot from college (from a church activity) and melted an old candle I'd been saving.

I remember making candles in third grade - we burned them for Thanksgiving dinner.

After we were done, Princess helped my mom make her a mob cap (from this pattern - thanks, Amy!) and she's hardly taken it off since!       

And of course she needed some 'chocolate'... it was all very 'Felicity.'

Thanks, Mom!

Gocco rhymes with Loco

First off - thanks so much for all the birthday comments and emails!  They helped make my day awesome.  Really, I had such a great day. 

You know how some birthdays are just 'days', but yesterday was a good birthday, it really was 'my' day.  I had lots of phone calls and emails from siblings and friends, dinner out with Aaron, yummy dessert, awesome gifts, time to craft... even Thomas' teacher backpedaled from the inevitable fight we were approaching, has changed her attitude towards his goals completely and is now 'on my side' - seemingly, but I'll take it!  A great day.

********
So, Aaron scores more points for being able to speak Japanese (also for recommending Emma and Anne of Green Gables on DVD as gifts from my parents - and they got me two versions of Emma!).  Anyhoo - Aaron speaks Japanese and I was watching the video that came with my Gocco - all in Japanese, but I was just double-checking the process before I started.  They came to some kind of warning - with exclamation marks and such - and I called him in to tell me what they were saying. "They just don't want you to smash your fingers inside the machine."  Oh.  Gotcha.

Alright, so for my first-ever Gocco print, I decided to sew a flower on felt (like my brooches) and photocopy it.  Then I drew over that some with the Gocco carbon pen.  So, just kind of a little doodle.

I decided to go for the red ink - with some random black patches.

Behold, my first print!

I had fun experimenting on different blues (cardstock) and some cream colored cards.

Then, I decided that the cards looked better with two flowers...  I played with placing the second flower in different directions. Some of them have the vines intertwined.

Soon, there were flowers everywhere... SO much fun!

As I went along, the red and black combined more - which I really liked.

And then, because I was ready to stop the cards, but I still had ink and wanted to see how far it would go - I printed on the envelopes!

Some cards turned out better than others, some are 'mistakes' that will be cut up for collages or gift tags.  Some have a couple of little ink splotches on them. All are awesome. I learned a lot, and will be printing again, soon!  (Next up, birthday cards).

My hands were covered with ink after cleaning the screen - just like the old days - ahhh!  And I listened to some Radiohead while I was printing.

Did I mention how much fun I had? ;)

The Squeal heard round the world

Today I am 32. 

That number always reminds me of my mom.

When I was learning my multiplication tables, MY mom was 32.  She was 8x4.
That's how I remembered it - and something about all the numbers being even or something makes them happy numbers.

And now I'm 8x4!  Life is crazy.


Alternate title for this post:  I have the best husband EVER. 

Not only did he take the day off of work so I could craft all day (which is THE perfect gift and he didn't need to get me anything else!), he got me...

Are you ready?

A Print Gocco!  Woo hoo!
I have joined the ranks of the Gocco-printing! 

Now, you must understand that printmaking was one of my favorite classes in college.  I've saved the instructions for making my own light table and stretching my own screens.  But that takes too much space and time right now.

I saw the Gocco in Readymade a few years ago and was drooling over it.  But at that point supplies were harder to find, and the Gocco's fate hadn't yet been decided.

So, recently I've been a little teensy-bit obsessed with getting one, and was saving up my pocket money.  Somehow Aaron caught on to that.  Hmm, it could be the constant looking at Gocco prints on flickr, or the videos on youtube.

We're not usually big gift-givers, so this is HUGE!

Alright, I've done my homework, but I'm going to check all the directions, and then get printing - and later sewing.

I'll have things to show tomorrow for sure - Happy Day!