• Blog - Crafts - Creativity

    T Tuesday: coffee stained edition

    Welcome to another rousing edition of T stands for Tuesday where we grab a cup a and share what we’ve been up to. I’m taking a bit of liberty with that rule this week and I know our wonderful host, Elizabeth, won’t mind a bit.

    Before we begin I must apologize for the poorly lit photos. My laundry room/craft room has both florescent and incandescent lighting. Choosing the right filter for proper lighting is nearly impossible.

    Now on with the show…

    As I was cleaning out the school supply shelf which holds both new and partially used supplies, I happened upon a spiral bound sketch book from one of the kids elementary school days. The cover and drawings were long since gone, the spirals smashed and many pages crumpled. I decided to salvage what I could before the whole thing ended up I the recycle bin.

    T Tuesday: coffee stained edition | Halle's Hobbies

    So now what. I thought binding them into a journal would be a good choice but boring white pages have never made me want to use them them. Aged pages always draw me in.

    This technique isn’t new, I’ve used it myself on many occasions. The one thing that really appeals to me is the randomness of dyeing or staining. You never know exactly what your going to get.T Tuesday: coffee stained edition | Halle's Hobbies

    Since I had a large stack of papers I wanted to make sure that there was irregularity of staining throughout the pages. I sprinkled instant coffee grounds every few pages in the stack.T Tuesday: coffee stained edition | Halle's Hobbies

    I used a spray bottle to gently wet the coffee to start the staining process.

    T Tuesday: coffee stained edition | Halle's Hobbies

    After letting it sit for a while I poured in more water and used a second container filled with water to keep the papers submerged.

    T Tuesday: coffee stained edition | Halle's Hobbies

    I left the pages for a day…perhaps a little longer.

    T Tuesday: coffee stained edition | Halle's Hobbies

    Now I had a stack of really soggy papers. Since I don’t have the room to lay each out individually I had to come up with a quick and easy solution.

    T Tuesday: coffee stained edition | Halle's Hobbies

    I used old shower rings through the wire shelving to hold a metal knitting needle. They were able to drip dry over the laundry sink. Worked perfectly.

    T Tuesday: coffee stained edition | Halle's Hobbies

    Just look at those yummy pages…the color and texture really make me happy!

    T Tuesday: coffee stained edition | Halle's Hobbies

    Now that I’ve got them all folded I have to decide what sort of book I want to make. The last book I made with coffee stained pages really turned out well. I cut up a suede jacket for the covers. I’m pretty sure I used all of the suede while making some Ren Fest pouches. It is garage sale season though so I might just get lucky and find something that speaks to me. Until then I will set these aside.

    This should be my last really busy Tuesday for a while since most things are winding down for the summer break. I may start back with my knitting group occasionally which is Tuesday mornings. Of course.

    Today I’m meeting girlfriends for a birthday lunch. Gosh, lots of May birthdays. It’s the last little hurrah before school is out on Thursday.

    What are you doing today?

  • Blog - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: planting edition

    Yesterday morning before the impending rainfall I hurried up and planted my garden. I had planned to plant over the weekend but when Mr. G went to rototill the garden we discovered millions of ants and larvae under a stepping stone smack in the middle of the garden! Crud! I grabbed a flat shovel and scooped off all the larvae and hoards of ants and threw them away. YUCK! they were crawling all over us.

    While Mr. G went to work with the rototiller, I went inside to look up garden safe solutions to my ant problem. I made a concoction of water, borax and sugar, then soaked some cotton balls in it and placed them in a plastic lid in the freshly tilled garden. I never actually saw any ants drinking my mix. I think it was the heat of the blazing sun that drove them away…that and the search for the larvae. Fingers crossed that they are gone for good.

    In the big garden I have the usual fair…although I am trying cucumbers in this garden again. In previous years I haven’t had good luck with them but this year I purchased some really nice healthy looking plants instead of starting seeds. I planted them close to the fence so they can crawl right up.

    T Tuesday: planting edition

    Some of you may remember last fall that I decided to just leave my herbs in the garden and see what happened. Well the rosemary died as many told me it would but the sage and thyme are flourishing,  I cut back some of the thyme just to make room for a tomato plant. I’m drying a couple of bundles…it smells so heavenly.

    T Tuesday: planting edition

    I made a last minute addition of a jalapeno plant near the gate. I was planning to put it in the deck box garden but changed my mind. Do you see my plant stakes I’m using as row markers??  A pink teapot and a purple butterfly. I think the teapot works for beverage related post…right?

    T Tuesday: planting edition

    My deck box garden has just two things…our favorite little yellow pear tomatoes and the horseradish plant I tried to eradicate last fall. Guess it didn’t work. 🙂 My worm tower is definitely looking weathered like the rest of the garden. After it rains again I’m going to try and find some more worms to live in the bin. I fear some of red wigglers perished over winter as the scraps in the tower aren’t going down as quickly as before.

    T Tuesday: planting edition

    The deck boxes have flower, herbs and onions. I grew green onions from seed in half egg shells this year. Just an experiment. Likely won’t do it again unless these turn out amazing. The shells were hard to crush before planting without crushing the fragile onions. I did find two volunteer onions in the big garden so I moved them to be with their friends.

    T Tuesday: planting edition

    In addition to the onion volunteers, I found some dill and thyme growing from the dirt I had dumped from the pots last fall. Mother Nature can be very persistent.

    I still have 3 tomato plants that I plan to put in my in-laws garden plus whatever seeds I have left.

    We also purchased a CSA share this year. We had joined a different one a few years ago and liked the produce but the cost vs amount we received just didn’t make sense or maybe that should be cents. *grin* Our neighbor has been using this CSA for 7 years now and I’ve been able to see first hand the wonderful boxes of farm fresh veggies they get each week. So excited for it to start. Just a couple more weeks! I’ll be sure to share with you our bounty.

    Playing taxi driver for my mom today unless her plans have changed

    What are you doing today?

  • Blog

    T Tuesday : Syttende Mai edition

    Happy Syttende Mai!

    That’s Norwegian for Happy Seventeenth of May which is Norway’s Constitution Day.  Even though I’m an American, I’m a 100% Norwegian American and do celebrate with my Norwegian friends and family.

    Happy Syttende Mai

    I have a traditional Bunad such as the one on this cup….although it no longer fits me. It was definitely from the pre-childbirth days.

    I still fit into these sølje though. *grin*

    spoons

    spoons

    Sølje, which translates roughly to spoons, are traditional brooches women wore at the collar of their white bunad shirt. Mine are shamefully tarnished.

    I even bought a bunad for mini-me when she was about 2. She was very unhappy with me when I put it on her to get a photo before she outgrew it.

    Bunad_9-1-05 002

    Oh how the time has gone!! Speaking of which… J got his drivers licence yesterday!  Wowsers!!

    Errands are on my list today and a couple projects that are works in progress.

    What are you doing today?