My sister gave me the cutest gnome sandwich keeper, so I wanted to try making some from scratch. There's a lot of debate about lining them with various sketchy plastics, such as PUL, vinyl, etc., so I just lined mine with more cotton fabric. Who cares if the inside gets a little mustard-stained, am I right? And it's not like you'd pack super drippy sandwiches into these anyway, since they'd be soggy by the time lunch rolled around.
The fabric I used were scraps from other projects & stuff I'd gotten from thrift stores. This tutorial was, by far, the simplest & most straightforward that I found. The fruit one is the first one I made, & is lined with that never-ending pink gingham. Thanks for holding it open for me, Mr. Fuzzy Owl!
The blue flowery one is lined with some pink rose fabric, plus it has a heart applique on the front. :)
Below is the cute, yet somewhat deformed, heart. The applique tutorial here is awesome. I used a plain stitch around the outside, rather than the fancy one shown, but I'm sure it'll stay put with the help of the fusible interfacing.
My sewing machine is my late Gran's Singer 404, so I don't have that neat-o zigzagging ability that most people use for appliques. I guess they made an attachment for this machine, but I haven't found one in Gran's stuff. Last night, I was looking for a zipper in the various tins & drawers which housed her sewing loot, when I realized that she was such a meticulous lady---she kept little dated notes with everything & marked future projects in pamphlets & magazines. So cute. Anything I sew that turns out half decent is dedicated to this fierce HBIC! :) I love you, Gran!
It's Spring Break, all my friends have real jobs, & Ethan's visiting his parents, so to stave off loneliness, I've been super crafty. Because I wanted to challenge myself, I decided to make my second ~*real*~ sewing project, which is a ginormous grocery bag. It's sewn so sloppily (think *seam of allowance of anywhere from 1/8" to 1/2"*, seriously), but I love it. :) It's so goddamn huge, ha ha. Ethan promised to go to the Farmer's Market with me next weekend, so we'll put her to the test & see how much kale she can hold!
It's lined with the same pink gingham fabric that I used on my owl apron.
This space puzzle of Ethan's has been hogging the "craft table" for several months, so I decided to finish it & reclaim my rightful surface. He did about 85% of it, then petered out when there were tons of black pieces left over. It was fun to listen to Car Talk & wrap this up. Then I Mod Podged it, so Eth can hang it in his room. It glows in the dark!
We had this rickety, nondescript shelf lying around, so I tipped it over, pounded about 10 nails into it, then decided it needed to have a more glamorous look. I used this awesome Etsy creation by pixlpshr as inspiration, but changed it up a bit.
I think it's much cuter & works perfectly for my old NES & N64 games. 
Lastly, my obsession with kitchen towels led me to start this cute towel, but I botched the pattern I was working on, so I'm just making a mutation of several towel patterns together...
I wanted to share some of my owls that I've collected over the years. Most of them are from thrift stores, but some are gifts from friends & family. I'm not crazy about buying EVERY SINGLE owl thing I find, because our apartment is small & I don't like clutter. But I'm tempted sometimes!
This is my newest find. It was only $1.99 at Goodwill & it's a vase! Can't wait for Spring, so I can fill it with flowers!
This enamel number is a gift from Mom. It's really beautiful when the sun shines on it. Sparkly!
I get made fun of for this quirky wood-cut, but whatevs. It has the cutest, fluffiest little baby owl blob on it!
Here's another one from Mom. It's so cute & I love it's little, flowery eyes. :)
Japan makes the cutest owl stuff. These are two mugs from Goodwill.
This one is very delicate, so I have to be careful not to break it.
The left one is an essential oil diffuser, that I always fill with pine tree oil. The second is a cool metal planter that we put a cactus in.
Up close planter...
This is a beautiful owl ornament from my baker friend, Laura. It's hanging on my grapefruit tree!
This trio is composed of two owls from Laura (left & right), & a blue one that's buds with my garden gnomes outside. 
This one on the left is a planter that I found at Goodwill. I love the cute little faces on the owls. They're so round! The one on the right is a fierce owl that I put in my mystery plant.
The last owl is a watchful bird that spies on me when I'm in my room. Whooo...
I've been neglecting the ol' blog again. The cloudy Winter months tend to put me into a semi-funk, but I've been getting back into running again---it's been a couple years! I'm doing the Couch to 5K again, but this time, I'm using the Running Mate podcast, which I love! It's got some funny electronica (?) music & the host, Todd, is super motivational. Now I'm able to jog for 12 minutes at a go. :) Here I come, week 7! (A couple of friends are doing it too, but we're on different weeks.)
Ethan & I found some roller skates for me, & roller blades for him, at Goodwill. So fun. I'll spare you the pictures though. Let me tell you that roller skating in the apartment, after a 20-year hiatus, was a blast!!!
Yesterday morning, it was actually (temporarily) sunny here, so I made pancakes for us. They're a rare treat, mostly because I don't like standing around waiting for all of them to cook. The half batch is your friend, by the way. I used this recipe, & added some frozen blueberries. Mmmmmm...
Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons cooled, melted butter
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
Get your cast iron pan going. Everyone should know their stove's ~*special pancake temperature*~. Ours is one notch below medium.
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, & salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center, & add the egg, butter, & buttermilk. Whisk everything together, but don't over-mix! Perfect, fluffy pancakes are the result of semi-lumpy batter, trust me. Fold in the blueberries.
Add a little butter to your skillet, spread it around, then pour some batter on that. Flip it when you see bubbles coming up through the pancake. Cook for another minute or so, then eat it up! Repeat till batter is gone, or you are tired of making pancakes.
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I have so many people with February birthdays, so I got a couple new stamp sets & made this card for a few of them. There was a blue version too, but I didn't take pics. Robo-luv...
I finally finished my Feet Eaters too!
They are so damned cute. I want to make some for others, but all the finishing wore me out. I don't like sewing on little tidbits, even when the resulting product is awesome. Maybe after a break though...
Happy crafting!
The fabric I used were scraps from other projects & stuff I'd gotten from thrift stores. This tutorial was, by far, the simplest & most straightforward that I found. The fruit one is the first one I made, & is lined with that never-ending pink gingham. Thanks for holding it open for me, Mr. Fuzzy Owl! 
