Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  Can you believe it?  It is 2012.  I have big plans for this year.

But more on that soon.  But I will tell you that one of my many goals this year is to do more blogging. :)

We had a wonderful holiday season!  I just had to share a few photos of our holiday travels.  I made tons of gifts for family and friends, many of which I forgot to take photos of, but in a near future post I will share some of the fun things I made.

First...the trip to and around Klamath...

Upper left and lower right - Hwy 97 hills between Klamath Falls and Chiloquin, lower left - Klamath Lake, upper right - roadside snow, center - sunset in Klamath.

 Next was the trip to the ranch in central CA where we stayed for 2 very nice, 70degree days (but too short).....

Upper right and center left, rolling hills at the ranch, lower left, Mt. Shasta, lower right, night view of drive through Vacaville, center bottom, Lake Shastina, upper center and left, view of the ranch.

 And on that ranch they had a....

We rode horses, petted the goats, fed Gloria, the pig, played with the ranch kitties and doggies, talked to the young bulls, and watched a filly sniff the kitty...too fun!

Then we had to return to our life back in Eugene.  Nice to be home, but my, does time fly when you are having fun!

Happy New Year! 

Ash

Yarncrafting like crazy!

Oh man...I am definitely feeling the holiday crunch now.  I have been making stuff left and right, and I love it, but I am still quite nervous  about getting everything done.  But this is the norm...I never finish everything right on time, and luckily, I see folks at different times throughout the holidays which helps.

The other thing that is hard is not getting to share so many of the fun things I am making, as I might give away to family and friends their gifts by posting it here.  But...I can share these little baby socks I knitted up for my niece.  I doubt she'll be checking here (you know...since she is not even 1yr old yet...but kids are getting computer skills younger and younger....lol.)

They are so cute!  I wish everyone was tiny...would make my life yarncrafting much, much faster.

Ash

PS - How does anyone get anything done when there are so many wonderful patterns on Ravelry?  I absolutely love all the inspiration, but now I have too many ideas....hmm... (If you are on Ravelry, say hi to me!)

Handmade Felt Advent Calendar Semi-tutorial

Every year I go off about advent calendars.  I always want to make something, and eventually end up buying a crappy one with the not-very-good chocolates in it.  But this year, I created both an advent calendar and a way to display the cards we get. 

I call this a semi-tutorial because I feel like it's pretty simple in the end.   And I am not always the most precise person.  But I took lots o' pics to share!

First, I cut out a big piece of felt.

I made it big enough to hold 25 pockets and wrap around a dowel to hang it.

Then, I decided on a color scheme.  I wanted to do purples and blues so I cut out a bunch of little pockets of different shapes and sizes.

Then I found some ribbons, ric-rack, cutouts, bows and vintage buttons for decoration.

At the bottom there, you can sort of see a ribbon with ribbons streaming from it.  I wanted a way to display the cards I get.  So I strung ribbons from the bottom so I could hang my cards from it.

Then it was time for some decorative stitching around the pockets, the cutouts and add the numbers.

I switched up the stitching on each of the pockets and added the buttons.  In order to make things go a bit quicker, I did the stitching and then I hot glued on the pockets.

Then I added some lettering at the top.  

Finally, this is what it came out like....

You can see the are little candies sticking out of the pockets.  (And you can see that it was actually quite nice today outside.)

It was a lot of fun to make, and did not take too super long.  I can see getting even more creative with the colors, embroidery and cutouts.  

Happy crafting!

Ash

It always seems...

that there is so much that I want to do and so little time...

Things I have finished...

Winterizing the garden with mulch from chickens and apple tree...

Rearranging the house to give us access to the fireplace again...

A fun purse I made for a friend in congratulations for her new job...

Some of the many things I want to do...

Finish my holiday gift giving list...

Finish an advent calendar (more on this soon)...

Learn new talents whilst making gifts, like maybe something like this....

Get my new Etsy account and business started...

Hope your holiday season is festive, productive and restful all at the same time!

Ash

Crazy gingerbread fun

It has become a tradition in our house to create not-so-traditional gingerbread 'houses' on Thanksgiving.  After having a yummy dinner feast, we bake up a bunch of gingerbread in all kinds of shapes and sizes, whip up a batch of royal icing and sit down to create funny scenes.

Here are this year's final products...

Christmas Camel visits the gingerbread house

An artistic take on gingerbread scenery...I wish was all had a banana lemon tree!

It's funny how sometimes you make something that invokes mixed feelings....like this scene of my hubby's work...lol

And finally...my masterpiece....hehe....winter wonderland...err....zombieland...

Kitty had such a full day of fun she had to stretch out and sleep at the end of the night.

Hope you had a great day and great weekend!

Ash

I love craftgawker

I am sure that I am slightly behind the times, but this year I have discovered, and then recently rediscovered, craftgawker.  Basically, if you need a heavy duty dose of inspiration, this is the place to go.

Oh, and you are out and about with a few minutes to spare and you have an iPhone?  No problem...there is an iPhone app!

A few of the things I found for inspiration....

I think I will make some of these for gift wrapping for the holidays at abeautifulmess.

And maybe some holiday hair-dos....found at thefirstlime.

Or this crazy cute mug cozy over at Simply Notable.

I hope this helps you find all kinds of crazy inspiration!

Ash

Hott Buns Baozi is a success!

I mentioned in an earlier blog that my hubby was starting his new food cart business soon.  Well, last Friday he had his opening night, and it was a huge success! He sold out that night, and is now realizing that he has to make even more for next weekend out.

Here are a few friends checking out the menu at the cart.  Cute little cart that did so well!

Here is the awesome menu, too...our friend did the great graphic and design work!

Exciting stuff!  Hope your week is also successful!

Ash