Memory Keeping

I made a little scrapbook with photos from the Alaskan Cruise I took earlier this year as my craft for The Giver. Scrapbooks aren't really my thing, I love to look at them and craft supplies to make them, but it turns out I have little motivation to actually do it myself. In the book The Giver, the main character, Jonas, gets his job assignment, The Receiver of Memories, and I figured Craft Book Club is the perfect reason to finally make this scrapbook!

This scrapbook was made by altering the images only digitally (the next one I make may use adornments). I used a few iphone apps to make my pictures more scrapbook-like:

• Snapseed - What I use to edit most of my photos on the blog.
• Over - I used to text and premade artwork to the photos. 
• Tangent - This app adds textures and shapes over your photos.

Are there any photo apps that you like to use? I'm always looking for new ones to try.

When first starting the scrapbook I had a difficult time choosing what photos to use and what to add to them, but after making a plan (plans make everything easier) I had a hard time narrowing it down to just 40 prints. Some of the prints are just the plain photo, some of the photos I split between two prints (like the Butchart Sunken Garden below), and I added text and frills to most of them.

Our next Craft Book Club book is Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I picked up a copy from the library earlier this week!

My garden is doing pretty well!

Like the title say, my garden is doing pretty well!

The plants are making lots of fruit. I already have too much zucchini, I think I'll be sick of zucchini by the fall! Here are some photos of some of my melons and squash:

I even have some flowers! (These are the only flowers that are thriving, the others either didn't make it or are pathetic foliage.)

Check out the other photos of my garden on my Flickr in the 2014 garden set.

Hanging Planter

A few months ago I saw hanging planter DIY projects featured on both Design Sponge and on One Kings Lane. I had to make one myself so I stopped at the craft store for macrame cord. I also bought a terracotta pot and a metal ring from the hardware store.

To make this, after putting the cord through the metal hanging ring and tying it in a knot, I simply braided the cord to the spot I thought the pot should go, put one strand of the braid through the pot and braided the others on the outside, then joined them and continued braiding. Here is my hanging planter:

I decided to get another 'liner' pot to make it easier to water and avoid water dripping out the bottom. And in case you are wondering, that is mint.

Mouseketeer Costume

I dressed as Annette Funicello for a costume party Saturday! My Mouseketeer costume was really easy to put together, I made a mouse ears headband and an "Annette" shirt!

My Mickey ears were made with things I had on hand (some leftovers from making my pink pom pom earmuffs). I did buy a new white t-shirt for the occasion and decorated it with iron on velvety letters

This is how I made the mouse ears headband: I used a piece of round plastic canvas (not sure if this was necessary) for rigidity inside an elongated piece of felt (shaped kinda like a maxi pad, see photo below). The felt was wrapped around the headband then I stitched around the circle and along the headband to keep it in place.

M-I-C See you real soon! K-E-Y Why? Because I'll post something new on Thursday!

The First Row

I mentioned last week that was doing a knit along. Well, I haven't gotten very far:

It's pretty pathetic for a week's worth of work, but I was having a tough time with the cast on and I haven't spent much time working on it. So far I have cast on and finished the first row. I'm not sure if there is a twist in it and I think I'm short a stitch because I both started and ended with purple (hopefully it's only one stitch).

My favorite way to beat the summer heat is to go to the movie theatre! Over the long weekend I spent a lot of time watching movies in air conditioned theatres. My goal this summer was to avoid turning on the air conditioning at my house, but I failed and I turned it on yesterday. What are your favorite ways to beat the summer heat?

Movie Theater by Roey Ahram CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Summertime

A few weeks ago I started a new Hipstamatic photo challenge! For this one we are taking pictures of colors and I am doing small collections of items that are the color of the week. Last week was Red and I made a collection of summer-type items! You can check out my color photos in my monochrome set on Flickr.

Sorry this is a slacker post, it turns out that even though I want to scrapbook I'm just not into it. I have not been able to get excited enough to sit down and do anything for an Alaska trip scrapbook which is what I had planned on sharing today (I was originally planning on making it a few weeks ago and kept postponing). Maybe I will make it for my Craft Book Club project; memory keeping for The Giver? I may get some motivation one of these days... I think scrapbooks are just so neat and I want to make one!

Double Knit Potholder

I knit up a little potholder using Elizabeth Zimmerman's double knitting technique. This marks off another project from one of my DIY books (I forgot to add this book to the list, Knitting Techniques by Elizabeth Zimmerman)!

Double knitting makes two layers of fabric worked simultaneously. This pot holder had an open space that I filled with a piece of insulated lining to keep fingers extra protected when holding hot pans. After finishing the knitting, I added three rows of running stitches to keep the lining from shifting.

This was my first time double knitting, I used this project as practice for a mystery knit along that starts today! We are making double knit cowls using two colors of yarn so It will be a bit different. I'm really looking forward to starting! The pattern was actually released early yesterday, but I am waiting to start until my lunch break!

Ribbon Embroidered Orchid

My The Big Sleep Craft Book Club craft is this orchid I embroidered:

Ultimately I was inspired by the greenhouse, the primary thing I remembered from reading the book years ago. The greenhouse is filled with orchids that smell of death, my orchid smells of artificial fibers and should last significantly longer than the single flowered orchid (I'm surprised hasn't actually died yet) currently residing in my living room. This orchid was embroidered on felt with silky ribbon and will be added to a wall once I get around to rearranging my "art".

I have a special treat! Zoe from veryzoe.com has been participating in the Craft Book Club and I'm sharing some of her projects! For The Big Sleep she did a salt painting cloud collage because it rained so much in the book. Here are her Salted Clouds:

Zoe's other project, made for Wicked, is these Elphaba Fingerless Glovettes. These lovelies, inspired by Elphaba's skintone, are loom knit and Zoe will be sharing the pattern and possibly an accompanying video within the week! I'll be updating this post with the link! Definitely check out Zoe's blog, I'm a fan of her loom knit mermaid tails!

Update: Here is the link to the Elphaba Fingerless Glovettes Loom Knitting Pattern!

Our next book is The Giver by Lois Lowry. I plan on reading the entire quartet: The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son because I recently learned The Giver was part of a series.

Painted Doormat II

I wasn't completely pleased with my first try at making over an old doormat. This time I used acrylics for the detail and painted in existing grooves:

To start, I spray painted a few coats of grey and white (partial cans I had on hand) to cover the floral print and help the neon pink stand out. I then used black acrylic paint to define the etched flowers. Here is what the doormat looked like before:

Worn out to Pink! Pink! Pink! It's a lovely greeting everytime I get home.