Gemma Giraffe

My family and close friends know that everywhere I go I have a crafting project with me. The first year of our marriage D wasn't used to my "extra purse," and he felt that it was rude of me to bring it along when we'd go to friend's houses... I on the other hand use my crochet projects to keep me awake after dinner and felt that falling asleep would be more rude. (Please note that our friends and family aren't boring or dull by any means. I just happen to be one of those people that, when I get tired, can fall alseep in under five minutes... especially in the car...)

Now, as I walk through the door, my friends ask me expectantly what new project I'm working on. Plus, having a thread and needle on hand has come in handy on more than one occasion. But I digress ;)

Having said all of that, when we went to Atlanta I needed a new project to keep me busy. Welcome Gemma Giraffe! I got the pattern from a book, but added a few things of my own like the tufts of "fur" on the back, fabric lining in the ears, and the buttons for the legs by myself. I remember the book being really cute, but for the life of me I can't recall it's name. Or I would totally give it props and recommend it.

[If you'd like the pattern - email me - sing_82@yahoo.com]

It has L'bug's approval! She likes to grab it by the legs and fling it around the room. Ahh... It's so fullfilling to see something you've worked on with love for like 25 hours flying past your head! I did make it for her and she obviously is getting joy from it, but I would be lying if I didn't admit that I did, for a moment, contemplate not giving it to her. Just for a moment though. Watching her laugh and walk around the house holding it by the back leg is priceless.

July & August... what August??

August twenty-first... one o'clock in the afternoon... in the year of our Lord two-thousand-ten... It's been almost two months exactly since my last post. A lot of summerness has been going on in our lives. Hence the reason for the lack of posts - sorry about that by the way.

Hopefully these will cheer you up - along with the teaser of me telling you that I've got some really really cool things planned for these next couple of months.

Pin cushions - one of the many explainations of how awesome things really do come in small packages. The top photo is one that I made from a bottle cap. If you are thinking of making one I used a cap from a large bottle, not a 20 oz. bottle or a metal cap. The below photo is a treasure. My mother-in-law and I were out Antique shopping one afternoon and for the grand total of $1.50 I purchased this lovely porcelain shoe. At the time I didn't quite now what I was going to do with it... I just knew that it was one of those "had to haves."

After I made the first two I started rummaging around the house looking for things to convert into pin cushions. I thought about a couple of antique tea cups, but the mouth of them were too large, not to mention the shoe pin cushion filled my need to have a vintage looking one. I needed something more whimsical...

Looking around my living room I spotted my daughter's toys. My wheels started turning and after some sorting I decided on one of her playschool stackable cups. Ok, before you start thinking, "this goofy lady is taking her kid's toys from her..." L'bug has like five different sets of stackable cups and she's totally not going to notice the missing blue one. (I also felt better knowing that the set did have two blue ones.... so I look at it more like she's sharing with me. *wink)

****

Paper has always been first love. I remember my mom telling me that as a kid she tried to get me dolls and Barbies, but I would cut their hair with my scissors... so she bought me paper - a much more acceptable object to cut with scissors.

There are just so many things you can do with a crisp new pad of paper and a brand new pen or pencil... make lists, write a story, draw, or journal for example ;)

I got the order for this journal about a month ago and the inspirations were:

Swedish Flag and Crowns, Circus, & Masculine

I chose the book because it was cream with red writting - which reminded me of the the red and white striped big top tent. Inside the book I found various sentences and pasted them onto the front of the book to read more like the story from a circus.

"A gasp, almost of horror when up from everyone / at the end a cheer greeted him / another pause of astonishment. / The spectators rocked with laughter. / Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!"

The client requested the name "Linden" to be on the back. I also wrote, 'For Sverige i Tiden' which is Sweden's Motto. The Swedish crowns are on the front along with the colors of the flag in the sword.

****

To give you a look into our past month here are some pictures from our summerness that I spoke of earlier.

We went to visit my cousins in Georgia and went to the Atlanta Aquarium. One word = Awesome. We all loved it. Here is L'bug on her daddy's shoulders standing next to her cousin EmG on her daddy's shoulders. Do you see the massive freaking whale!?!

Here Me and L'bug are walking in a tunnel that runs through the large water tank with all kinds of animals swimming over our heads. (Hello Uncle J and Aunt A!)

Lastly, here's L'bug at the City Garden. If you haven't gone I highly recommend it. L ran around all of the fountains and played in the water. It's downtown St. Louis, very clean and best of all free! I love how curious she is :)