March 17, 2008
Baby Bonanza (aka Jennie's Baby Shower)
Oh lordy.
Jennie's baby shower was yesterday and it was a FAB time. :) Jennie was all aglow, as usual! There was yummy food and a house full of fun folks to chat it up with.
And to top it all off, we were graced with the presence of two beautiful young ladies.
Penelope is getting so big! This girl looooves the camera.
Okay, I know she's not smiling here, but I loooove this pic. Hee hee.
Oh Natalia! I've been lucky enough to hang with this little lady before, but on Sunday we bonded.
More cutesy pics of the baby photo shoot can be found right over here.
Posted by Sarah at 9:39 PM | Comments (4)
September 8, 2007
Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mosaic!
So, a couple of weeks ago, MH organized Mosaic Day for the Scissor Squad. A bunch of us congregated (why do I keep using that word? I guess I like it a lot this week... weird.) in Michelle's garage on a 95 degree Saturday afternoon to smash up plates with mallets and hammers and glue them to other stuff.
'Twas fun and educational! Mary will be posting about the get-together itself over at the Squad website. But, I'll use my blog to pour over my trials, tribulations and eventually my TRIUMPH over the art of mosaic.
My supplies included a variety of fabulous 70's dishes (yellows, browns, oranges mainly) I purchased in a big ol thrift shop and a fancy little round table I found at the same place!
It took me about 4.5 hours to smash my plates and mortar them to the top of my table.... wow! It was a lot more painstaking than I had expected. I shouldn't have been surprised, though - 50% of my "creative" little brain is under the tyrannical rule of an obsessive-compulsive, type A nutjob. (The other 50% has left a stoned hippie in charge... nothing gets done over there, but everyone is so happy!)
Given the mental energy exerted in placing all my plate pieces exaaaaactly where I wanted them to be (it was like a puzzle once I got started!), I decided to hold off on grouting the piece. This delighted SteveKam, who suggested we find some color coordinated grout to make the project really pop.
First stop - Lowe's! I bought a small container of what claimed to be grout and went home with a trunk full of tools borrowed from SteveKam for my grouting adventure.
Once I got started, I called my main squeeze to get some insight into what the correct consistency for this "grout" was supposed to be... "Seems a lot like wet sand to me..." I said to him. "Well, hmm... I guess that's about right.... The package did say it was sanded grout....", he responded. We discussed it a bit and decided I should go for it.
Here we see some progress shots....
Well, I was pretty thrilled when it was all over... I still felt something was a wee bit off since it really did just feel like wet sand between the cracks of my mosaic.... but, I sponged off the excess and decided to let it sit overnight. What did I awake to?
Sand. Dry sand. This was no mosaic. It was a beach party without the party.
SteveKam and I scratched our noggins... He concluded it must have been something with the grout - it must have needed an additional component... but he had never worked with grout like that before! (Of course... only I can break grout. Like.. did you think that was even possible? Lord.)
But, luckily, dry sand is a breeze to get rid of. We took the table outside and dumped it all out. A quick swab with a towel and the table was back to it's original pre-beach state.
Second stop - The Home Depot! Where we purchased some real sanded grout in a lovely tan-ish color.
Here we see my second attempt - this time in SteveKam's garage so I would have professional help in a snap, should something go awry... again.
Here she is all finished up and sitting pretty in my living room!
I plan on doing the same thing to the second tier of the table... but since I used all my dishes, I'll have to do some thrift store shopping before Round 2 can begin!
ps - keep those party ideas comin!
Posted by Sarah at 11:53 AM | Comments (9)
May 22, 2007
A Mom-To-Be and A Doctor-That-Now-Is
Or: A Very Busy Weekend
Well, I've been anything but bored for the past few days!
On Saturday, our darling squadder Jessica was the guest of honor at a dee-lightful baby shower thrown by her cousin Jennifer. A bunch of us headed up to the Ghetto Mansion for the festivities!
We had a faboo time hanging out with the mama-to-be and I found myself awestruck by how glowy Madame Emerson is these days! Belly fulla baby and she looks fantastic. It's just such a happy thing! Check out zee slideshow below, won't you?
Player pianos, group discussions on zombie readiness plans and a contest that forbid us to use the word "baby" for the duration of the gala. It was a great day. Can't wait to meet the newest member of Lee and Jessica's family! Not long now...
On Sunday, I headed down to Jersey for the second part of my busy and uplifting break from the office. My best friend, Danielle, graduated from medical school.
Me and my BFF.
Dani and I have known each other since 8th grade - but didn't become close until the end of high school. She and I dated two guys who were best friends. I love to tell people that we were smart enough to kick them both to the curb and keep each other instead. :)
She is the person I confide most in - despite the fact that we rarely get to spend time together anymore. I consider myself lucky to be one of those people that has someone in her life that will always be there - no matter if we don't speak for 6 months or a year. Of course, anytime we do get a chance to talk... it's for 4 hours at a clip. We can talk.
She is also the most compassionate person I have ever met. And she is now the most compassionate doctor that will ever be. I got a little teary eyed at lunch with her family when everyone was talking about how awesome she is! She has worked her ass off and is about to live her dream! I live for seeing things like this happen for people that I love. So good.
She's now off to Palo Alto with her hunny to start her residency at Stanford and the next phase of her life in her favorite part of the country. Hooray! Just hooray. :)
In honor of her gradu-mo-ation, I set my mind on making a special little something.
My first crocheted item.
Can you believe it? I know. I have put down this art form for a loooong time. It takes a backseat in my verbal abuse only to scrapbooking. BUT, I decided that I was being closed minded and it was about time to give it a shot.
The verdict? I love knitting. But, crochet is okay... I even kind of like it. In a non-knitting kind of way. :)
Here's the finished product...
Pattern: Fit To Be Tied from SnB Crochet The Happy Hooker
Yarn: Rowan Cotton Glace, 1.5 balls
Hook: Size E
Notions: Satin and sheer ribbons, some yummy quilt fabric for the lining.
So, I'm now off to figure out how quickly I can save up to move out to Cali and join my two favorite girls in the world on the Left Coast. I ain't stayin here all by meself.
Posted by Sarah at 7:01 PM | Comments (2)
September 17, 2006
De-Stash Oh Six
It's that time of year again! The Scissor Squad held our 3rd (third? Holy crow!) Annual De-Stash/Re-Stash party yesterday at the Lovely Jennie's house.
Booze, food, gab, yarn and goodie bags. Can you think of a better way to spend an evening? Yeah? You're a liar.
The usual suspects showed up as well as a few new faces - including Beverly who just moved from New Mexico, her buddy Suzie who was totally nice, and Ryan who just moved here from North Carolina and was brave enough to approach us at the Irish pub where we drink knit every Tuesday.
Here's Jennie hard at work in the kitchen.
And here we see Laura, Lauren, a tiny man and his helicopter.
Hard at work chatting it up! (We took our sweet time getting to the yarn part of this yarn party....) From the left, half a helicopter, Mary, Jessica, Christine, Ryan (OUR FIRST MALE SCISSOR SQUADDER! He was smart and showed up to begin his stash), and Michelle.
Round One. Multiple balls of yarn only. Impressive, no? (Also spotted here are Suzy in green and Anne in white.)
Here we are halfway through Round Two - Notions and Books. Followed by Round Three - Single Balls o' Yarn.
And guess what? We had ourselves a Round Four this year. Michelle made a sheep shaped pinata filled to the brim with candie and little knitting goodies! We prepare to hit him with this bat.
Think he knows what's coming? He looks a little down.
Now, please take note. This thing looked overstuffed and ready to burst open upon the slightest sneeze. We decided to give everyone one smack and hoped we would make it to smacker #3.
The darned thing lasted until the last scissorina/scissorino (that was for you Ryan. we are bound and determined to change our sexist ways.) took a whack! For full photographic evidence, quickly refer to my album.
In the meantime, let's see how things turned out for Sheepy.
Christine is a little girl with a lotta pent up energy. She whacked the crap out of this sucker! (I have to say I'm impressed with the action shot I captured here. Gotta love the expression on MH's face. Hee.)
And here's this year's haul.... Some Lorna's Laces, Berocco Echo, Rowan Cotton Glace, Sirdar Spree and some KnitPicks Sock Garden! A Debbie Bliss pattern book, a book on aran knitting, and Knitticisms! And a goodie bag! Dear God - the goodie bag! Beverly was awesome enough to make us each a little wallet, hot off her sewing machine! Christine popped yummy smeeling candles in each bag and I made up a little mix cd for everyone entitled Beer + Knitting = Happy. Top it off with some chocolates from Mary and the goodies from the sheep (Candy from Michelle and some Clover notions a la Jennie I believe!) and this was one productive day.
For more pics, check out zee album!
Another successful Scissor Squad event. It is sure fire fun, I tell ya. I know I say this a lot on this blog and you all must be sick of reading it... but I consider myself sooooo lucky (I mean - downright blessed!) to have such an incredible crew to craft with. They've become way more than a bunch of folks I hang out with once a week. They are a great group of friends and an amazing support system for each and every one of it's squadders. I just love you guys.
Till next time!
Posted by Sarah at 8:07 PM | Comments (3)
December 14, 2005
Good Things = Small Packages
Edited to add: Want to hear more about Lucky, the Guinea Hen? Jennie obliged me and posted her story on her blog! Check it out - that's one cute bird!
Oh Heavens to Betsy. We had ourselves a party on Saturday night.
We held the first annual Scissor Squad Holiday Swap! Instead of picking a secret pal and crafting one thing just for them, this time we decided to craft one small thing many times! One for each gal participating! This was sooooo amazing! I always love to see what my grrrls come up with. They truly rocked my socks off this time....
We got together at Jennie's NEW house! Wooo! The place was gorj - she and her hubby have been building it for a while now and they finally moved in! (Along with their awesome son Ryan, their doggy Daisy and their guinea hen Lucky - more on her in just a sec)
So, here are some shots from the soiree....
The gals all gussied up chompin snacks and guzzling wine (at least I was!) and Laura's fantastic homemade Lemocello liqueur - Yowza!
Here's Anne dishing out some free physical therapy to Christine!
A gratuitous picture of my snippy sibling!
Here's Laura making friends with Lucky! Awwww!!! Who knew hens could be so sweet? And who knew they could live happily indoors as part of the fam?!?!
I hear you out there... "Nice, nice... blah blah blah.... Show us the goods!" Well, here goes! Man, We all made out like bandits....
Here's a sample of what I brought for my favorite craftistas. They're paper bluebells :) I put mine (yes, I made one for myself!) in a soda bottle in my kitchen, but theirs were put in small Egyptian perfume bottles filled with seed beads to weigh them down. I made these with supplies I had in my house! 2 points for budget living! The only thing I had to buy was an extra pad of paper because I was just short - and a tube of glue :)
Jennie one upped me and gave us all paperwhite bulbs in loverly little glass vases! Real flowers!
Mary made yummy oatmeal honey goat's milk soap (with a shea butter bottom layer!) and fizzy wizzy bath bombs! In the jar, you'll see Eva's homemade bath salts and pulse point oil! Sigh....
Laura made us these fantasic jar candles! Mine's lavender, but she also made sage!
Here we see one of Lori's crocheted ornaments, Christine's faboo Hello Kitty Stitch markers and HELLO! Anne knit us each a truffle holder! Want proof? Click click click!
Michelle amazed me with this one... She made us each a pincushion! I hope the other scissorinas post theirs - each one was totally unique!
And how appropriate that someone ran with the scissors theme... Edie blew us away with these snippy little earrings! And friends... those scissors WORK! I mean, you need a really tiny piece of paper, but they move and everything!
What a blast. We should do this every week. Oh wait - minus the presents, we do do this every week. I'm so lucky!!!
Posted by Sarah at 7:44 PM | Comments (9)
May 4, 2005
Swappin Booty
Last night we held the first ever Secret Scissor Sister Swap with the Hat City Scissor Squad!
What a ridiculously good time. Oh my God. There are details and a ton of pics over at the Squad Blog so go check it out post haste!
I took some pics of my gift to Julie so I could add them to my gallery. She makes the MOST AMAZING monsters you will ever see! (go check out the Squad Blog for proof. You'll freak.) So, I decided to go with a monster theme and made her a set of 12 monster stitch markers and a toothy little monster puch to eat them up.
Posted by Sarah at 7:04 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
March 24, 2005
Makin me a Web Ring!
Okay - so you may or may not notice the funny little ring thing around here somewhere... For all those Scissor Squadders out there, I a working on making a web ring for us! Oooh! How vain we are!
SO - please bear with me while I figure it the hell out... Hmmm I love me some html! I'm actually getting better at it... but apparently, it has not been mastered... Harumph.
I'll keep all you Scissorinas updated. ;)
Posted by Sarah at 5:04 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack