Living in pictures.

I haven't posted much lately, been really busy making gifts. I did an ornament swap. Participated in the Reddit Secret Santa event, and made a few gifts for family.

I've been making fun recipes and drinking fancy teas. Decorating my little Christmas Tree and my dogs.

Enjoy
<3 nik

Fancy tea; so dark it looks like coffee. 

Happy "Howlidays" from Payden and Virgil  (Virgil's antlers were to big and slid off)

Mass Effect multimedia art for my Reddit Secret Santa

Minecraft perler art coasters

Meatless Monday at our favorite raw/vegan restaurant

Reddit Alien perler art for my Reddit Secret Santa

All the gifts for my Reddit Secret Santa (not included a flat of ketchup chips sent directly to him)

Cranberries with Blood Orange Vodka. So yum.

Yarn store in Paige, TX.  I explored, and was so inspired and amazed at so much yarn.

"Smashed Potatoes" I saw on Pinterest.  They were a hit with J and Little Bro.

Enjoying local lights is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. 

Perler art in the works.

Happy Holidays

My spoils from the fancy yarn store, Yarnorama!

Doctor Who Mug

If any of you follow my blog, you know that not long ago I made a tea mug and a matcha green tea bowl. I used the sharpie marker method so often seen on Pinterest.

Little bro didn't know they weren't dishwasher safe though. I pulled my tea mug out of the dishwasher and it was a blank canvas again. Sad panda.

So our next trip to Michael's I bought a black and blue glass paint marker. The instructions say it will be dishwasher safe. That same shopping trip J bought this big tea mug (I was jealous he found it first and their was only 1 left) with the intention of using the markers on it.

Well that was months ago and he either forgot (most likely) or could never decide what to do with it. This weekend I had a huge lightbulb moment and freehanded this baby after J went home. I'm surprising him with it tonight.

It is inspired by River Song's journal on Doctor Who. I'm not completely happy with my paint job but I think it's okay for my first time using the markers. My free handing could use more practice too!

Looking back it seems like it was fate that I bought black and blue markers.

Enjoy!
<3 nik

Halloween Hair Bow with Pattern

Halloween falls on my regular day to work this year, so I'll be spending it at work.  We get to dress up, but it can't be anything really gross or scary (I work in an ER setting).  Twinkie Chan posted a super cute tutorial on her site for making a cute rib cage and heart to affix to a t-shirt.  I figured it was cutesy and kawaii enough that I could get away with it at work.  You can find the tutorial here.  I haven't made the heart yet, but the ribs work up real quick.

I also wanted to make a cute bow for my hair and add googly eyes to it.  Who doesn't love googly eyes? (You are a communist if you don't like them just an FYI)  So I whipped up this super easy hair bow.  It would be great for someone just beginning to crochet.

I used black and orange, but you could use any Halloween type colors you want (I almost did black and bright green).  You could also use this same pattern to make any number of color combinations.  There is a color change in the pattern, which is easy if you have never done it before.  Once you get to the last stitch before your change,  pull your yarn through the last stitch so you have 2 loops on your hook, then put your new color on the hook, and pull it through the first color (I hope this makes sense).  If not, just do some googling.  Seriously its really easy.

Supplies:
Yarn
H hook
Crochet needle (I use the big plastic blue ones)
Googly eyes
Hair clip of your choice (I use the small alligator ones)
Glue gun


Hair Bow Pattern:
Using color 1
Chain 11
R1 Skip first chain, sc across, ch 1 turn
R2 sc across, change color, ch1 turn
R3 sc across, ch1 turn
R4 sc across, ch1 turn
R5 sc across, change color, ch1 turn
R6 sc across, ch1 turn
R7 sc across, ch1 turn
R8 sc across, change color, ch1 turn
R9 sc across, ch 1 turn
R10 sc across, color change, ch1 turn
R11 sc across, ch1 turn
R12 sc across, finish off.

Now to the most annoying part!  Hiding all the tails!  I love striped crochet, but I hate all the tails it leaves.  Once you hide all the tails, use your crochet needle and a 12 inch piece of yarn.  Pin the middle of your swatch how you want your bow to look, and then use the needle to sew through the middle.  I sew, then wrap a couple times, then sew, then wrap the rest of the yarn.  Once you have wrapped  it around and made the bow look how you want, glue the ends.

Once that dries, affix your googly eyes how you like.  Let it dry, and then affix your hair clip so the bow will sit how you want.

Sorry in advance for the lack of pictures.  I just did this real quick last night.  I used one of my dogs as a model, I'm not sure he was super into it.

<3 Nik

The tiny bit of Halloween I have done this year

Don't really know why but I am just not feeling it this year when it comes to Halloween. It's usually my favorite holiday next to Yule/Xmas. I have given into the pumpkin fever though. I'm about to make some pumpkin baked oatmeal muffins for my weekly breakfast (go menu planning!).

We did get our pumpkin carve on though. It is one of my favorite things to do. I kept it simple this year. My pumpkin is the one with the mustache. J's is the one committing pumpkincide.

More menu planning and hoops

I'm doing pretty darn good with my menu planning. J has even started doing it some too. My favorite so far has been the baked oatmeal muffins in the mornings. Oatmeal in its mushy form makes me gaggy. But baked in a small muffin form is heaven sent. So far my favorite is the walnut/chocolate chip I made last week.

I added a radical new cross stitched piece to my hoop wall. nerdJERK just had a sweet sale in her etsy shop to help fund her wedding. I splurged and bought 3 cross stitch kits of hers. The other 2 I'm waiting to get still, but they will go up too.

We are finally getting some nice fall weather. But only in small spurts, then it's almost 90 again. I got J and I some pumpkins anyway, and I'll post how they turned out carved soon.

I just want more gloomy rainy days. It better justifies butternut squash soup.

<3 nik

Eating a little outside the box (more Asian market adventures.

Our adventure this time brought us duck hearts. This didn't seem all that weird to me (and probably southern ppl) because my step-dad made chicken hearts and gizzards. I decided to make it my own and use panko bread crumbs. They were super good but kind of a pain to fry with the panko. Any food budget/meal planning peeps take note the duck hearts were just over a dollar. A meal for 2 or using these as an appetizer would be nice on the wallet.

Finally hooking again

I took the whole summer off of crocheting, but now I'm back in the game. I wanted to make some fingerless gloves for my friends birthday; I didn't want them very girly though. Found a free pattern on ravelry.com that I loved so much I made a pair for myself.

My sister in law got me this really pretty and soft variegated yarn for my birthday, but just one skein. I was able to make 1 pair with enough left over to make a mug cozy to match. I love the yarns softness and it is a "no-pill" type of yarn which I thought perfect for gloves.

I was making the birthday girl's gloves during some downtime at work, and was commissioned by a coworker to make a pair for her. She even brought me yarn.

Please excuse my slightly unorganized picture placement. I am experimenting with blogging from my phone. The back gloves are the gift, and the others are mine.

<3 nik