Fontify

Wow, I am all up in the almost-daily blogging here lately, aren't I? I may be subconsciously trying to discipline myself because soon I will have to begin blogging as part of my day job, and no one likes to be thrown into a new responsibility with creaky knees and rusty writing chops. Or it may be that my voracious appetite for reading blogs is taking over my life--and, consequently, I find myself inspired to post on an almost daily basis. Probably a combination of the two. Soon I think I shall start posting my favorite Etsy finds, to satisfy my desire to support all the wonderful artists whose work I cannot afford to buy at present. Yay!

Anyhoo, I'm mainly posting this as a note-to-self: the CRAFT blog today alerted me to a swell tool called Fontifier (which was brought to their attention by Jessica of How About Orange). Not to be vain, but I kinda dig my handwriting sometimes, so I think I'll try this. For 9 bucks it just might be worth it. End note to self.

Happy hump day! Here's a picture of something I made:

Preview

A teensy sampling of some of my recent eBay scores.... Check the shop Sunday (2.24) after 1 p.m. EST to see the finished products!!

Happy Friday! Tonight I made granola from scratch, thanks to a recipe posted by Orangette that I found via Simply Photo (via Simply Breakfast). It's still cooling, but preliminary taste tests indicated it's going to be superb. And now we have something yummy + healthy to munch on tomorrow during the Best Picture Showcase Marathon!

Elephant LOVE

Check out the adorableness by Teresa at Sewing Stars (via the Craftzine blog)! Not only is it possibly one of the cutest elephants ever, but she made it while she was sick! Last time I was sick, I tried soldering some stuff...and gave up after about 10 minutes. I was coughing so badly I almost soldered my wedding ring to my hand. Thanks, Teresa, for sharing this and I wish you a speedy recovery!

preparation

Last week I stumbled upon this super tutorial for an Advent calendar (with chocolate!) by the talented Allsorts. Since my husband and I have inhabited...shall we say--cramped living spaces for most of our two years of marriage, we have few holiday decorations thus far, and few holiday traditions as well. So we thought this year would be a good time to initiate some traditions--some involving decorations--what with us finally living in a space that could house more than the bare necessities. We took on Allsorts' Advent calendar as our first holiday project--and I must say it turned out marvelously! (We took a bit of creative license with it, of course. :)

It was so fun for me to watch my grease-monkey hubby painstakingly embroider small felt pouches--I learned that he knows a bit more about sewing than I gave him credit for! Crafting is usually solely "my" territory in our house, so it was a treat for us to do something creative like this together. I think the endeavor even inspired hubby to learn more about sewing and felting--and he's already moved on to making Miyazaki-inspired plushies!

Chocolates!! YUM.
I'm really excited about the holidays this year--beginning new traditions, getting a real Christmas tree (post & pics coming soon), buying handmade, seeing faraway family...December is already off to a great start!

Cheer to all....