Some Assembly Required

Well hello there stranger

I know, I know -- I haven't posted in a long time.  What a whirlwind the holidays can be.  My mother left yesterday morning, bright and early.  The boys and I took her to the airport at 7 a.m. and stopped for breakfast on the way back, then to school.  When I got back home the house seemed strangely empty and quiet. 

Today, after a long break, the crafting frenzy resumes.  Our school's craft fair is this weekend and I am finishing up 6 tie-top lunch bags to be sold for fund-raising.  I'll post pictures hopefully tomorrow. 

In the meantime -- I am eagerly awaiting this:

 

It is on its way from Shanghai, China as we speak.  Yes, they ship these puppies directly from China.  Our global economy at work, I guess.  I was a Mac person long ago, when college computer labs were a brand new thing.  My freshman year -- no computers.  My senior year -- a room full of those little beige Mac machines.  If you know what I'm talking about then you can probably guess my age!  I remember the anguish of having the "little black time bomb of death" appear on the screen at 3 a.m. when your paper is due in 5 hours.  I remember waiting impatiently for my term paper to make its way to the front of the print cue.  Hoo wee, those were the days! Once I entered the work world, everything was PC and I transitioned to the PC environment.  But now the time of the Mac is back for me.  I can't wait! 

Flying on the Beach

Caleb's class had a Thanksgiving potluck at the beach on Monday.  It was my favorite beach weather at my favorite beach.  Cold, overcast, misty, enchanted.  Best of all, the ocean had created a sand ledge near the water, creating the perfect and irresistible conditions for beach flying.  I present a tutorial.

Test:

Launch:

Fly:

Land:

Repeat!

Random scenes from a typical Saturday

9 a.m. soccer game.  Last game of the season.  The 9 a.m. games will not be missed. 

Voyage in a homemade time machine.  Note the safety eyewear. 

Kisses wanted.  Is this is a "good dog" face  or what?? 

And here it is -- Fall.  I finally found it right in my own back yard!

Lots of crafting going on in the past few days, but nothing finished yet.  I promise I'll have some things to show soon.

Just make it

A while back, I decided that I would be promoting a handmade holiday this year.  My idea at the time was that I would make all of my gifts for others.  I've already started, and I think I'm on track!  So I was really excited to discover the Handmade Pledge movement at BuyHandmade.org .  Click on my little banner link over on the right to sign up yourself. 

The Handmade Pledge took my thinking a step further.  In addition to giving handmade gifts, I'm also asking for handmade gifts for myself and my family.  A good friend gave me a gorgeous hand knit scarf for my birthday a few weeks ago and I was stunned.  Completely stunned and thrilled that she took the time to make something for me.  It was so wonderful.  I love the idea of everyone exchanging something that they took the time to make. 

At the same time, I realize that not everyone can or wants to make all of their holiday gifts.  That's really OK.  But hey, you can buy items that someone else made by hand.  Hello Etsy ! I love that possibility, too.  And I also carve out exceptions for books and music and that iMac computer the hubby and I are getting for each other.  But overall, I'm going to do my best to go handmade this year.

In other news, the alert reader has probably already noticed a few changes on my blog.  I am coming up on my six month blog-iversary and I decided to mark the occasion by giving my blog a little face lift.  New banner, new sidebar lists.  You like?

Oh Fall! Where art thou?

Today is cool and overcast and I am loving this weather because it is what passes as Fall around here.  As much as I truly love California, the East Coast girl inside me misses the experience of a real autumn season.  The vibrant colors, the crunch of leaves underfoot, the smell of damp, decaying foliage, and the crisp, cool temperatures.  Luckily we have two good-sized Japanese maple trees in the backyard which give me a little taste of Fall as they turn flame red and orange for a few weeks each year.  And when it gets rainy here, I can enjoy the urge to bundle up and nest. 

Nesting is primarily what I am doing today, in the form of picking up and organizing around here.  Or to put it another way, I am cleaning up my craft room today if it kills me.  On Tuesday, I took my sewing machine to the shop for a long overdue cleaning and tuning.  I should get it back tomorrow (crossing fingers.)  When I drove home without the machine on Tuesday, I had to fight a mild sense of panic.  That machine is central to pretty much all of my creative outlets.  I stitch on almost everything -- fabric, paper, you name it.  No machine, no projects.  Panic.  Thus I clean.

Here are a few fall themed projects I did last week using the October Self-Addressed kit.

 

Alien Invasion

This Halloween I struck Mommy-heartwarming-gold:  two boys who wanted to be the same thing for Halloween.  And I mean the gleeful, wonderful, generating-hours-of-imaginary-play kind of wanting to be the same thing for Halloween.  And that thing was:  aliens.  One purple alien and one blue alien, both from Jupiter.  Each sporting "skin" sewn by Yours Truly, as well as pipe cleaner antennae.

They were almost unbearably delicious.