Farmers' Market

Something else I forgot to mention that I really enjoy is a farmers' market. I like how they usually feature vendors who I wouldn't normally discover, and that I can take my time looking around without feeling rushed like at a grocery store. The Somerville Downtown Farmers' Market opened today, and I stopped by to check it out. It was a little small - I hope more vendors join as the season progresses. However, the ones who were there were great! 


The first thing that caught my eye was the booth selling loose tea. I'm a sucker for loose tea blends, and I don't regret heading to that table! I was smitten by the little owl coffee cup sleeve, particularly because of the tiny sleeping owl dangling in the back. Then when I saw the blend of tea, I was really intrigued. Lavender Camomile Mint... how good does that sound? 



Adorable:





What really sold me on the tea - which I should get 20 to 22 brewed cups out of - was the printed fabric "recipe" attached. I can guarantee this will end up framed in my house before long:




I plan to enjoy a cup of this before bed tonight. 



Update: The tea tastes fantastic, and you can check out the vendor's website at: www.giuliagerminsky.com, however this website is devoted to her fine art. 

Since it was the end of the day, I was lured by discounted organic treats at the next booth. Ester's Treats only had a few things left, but I got myself a peach raspberry scone - and it's quite good.




Then lastly on my way out (I only had ten bucks with me, but luckily the tea people took credit cards) I stopped to read the available menu at The Farmer and the Chickpea's booth. They had a lot that sounded very good, but I was interested in a particular salad. The woman at the booth offered me a sample, and that's all the convincing I needed. The salad was Kale Salad with Olive Oil, Lemon, Parmesan Roasted Chickpeas and Red Onions. I just ate it for dinner and believe it or not, this was my first kale experience. I'll be having the rest for lunch tomorrow... Or maybe dinner, because it wouldn't be so kind of me to have onions in the office. 






I had unintentionally parked really far from where the market was being held, because I'm still getting used to where all the side streets let out. On my long walk back to my car, I found ten dollars on the sidewalk, and nobody walking around nearby. I held onto it while I continued to walk, thinking maybe I would hear someone commenting that they dropped their money so I could return it. When that didn't happen, I decided it was fate or good karma which paid for my salad and scone. 

Last night I picked up the rest of the paint I need to finish painting the apartment.  That's going to be a weekend project, although I'll definitely make time for garage sale-ing and roadside treasure hunting. 

Trash to Treasure

This has got to be my favorite hobby right now. I find something really exciting about getting something free or very inexpensive, and being able to visualize it's potential - and then to actually execute it is awesome. Here are some that I have completed and am pretty proud of.

Cosco chair/step stool, purchased for $3.00 at an estate sale. Refinished with turquoise Rustoleum spray paint, a remnant of vinyl purchased online, a few other necessary supplies, and some serious elbow grease.  Definitely worth it! It's one of my favorite things in my home:

Little wooden cabinet.. Certainly not trash to begin with, but I got it for $30 at a garage sale. So far all I've done is paint the inside and add some little blue knobs from Hobby Lobby, but it might get a continued facelift sometime soon:

I'm in love with this silhouette of Lily. I've been wanting to do something like this for a long time, and when I spotted this wooden frame at (you guessed it) a garage sale, it was the perfect (purrrfect) inspiration (inspuurrrration). The frame was in two pieces when I found it, and I think I got it for 50 cents. It only needed minor repairs and some cleaning up. I created the black silhouette from the below photo of Lily that I took about seven years ago, and printed it on scrapbook paper before framing. I'm still deciding on the perfect place for it. 

This is not a recent project, but both of these pieces were garage sale finds as well. The little table was $30 and an unattractive shade of not-quite-lime green when I bought it, and the mirror was somewhere between free and $3.00 - can't remember. I painted them both a nice crisp white and I think they complement each other well. 

Also a Pinterest inspiration, I made a bunch of these cute little mason jar sewing kits recently, hoping to sell them at a craft fair. I found the sewing kit supplies at a flea market for 50 cents per set, I bought a pack of little mason jars at WalMart, and made the pin cushion tops with some scrap fabric I had and a little bit of stuffing. So far I haven't sold any yet, but they are adorable and I'm sure someone will love them as much as I do.

Lastly, I wouldn't call this a trash to treasure creation, but I made this large piece of wall art with some inexpensive 12"x12" stretch canvases from Michael's and twelve pieces of upholstery fabric from the remnants table at Fabricland. None of the remnants were more than $2.00, and I wound up with some extra that I can use for a future project. This was my solution to filling a large empty wall without spending hundreds of dollars. In total the project cost about $50 and was very quick. 

I had a couple extra canvases, so I wrapped them in two tea towels I found that matched my kitchen decor perfectly. I secured all the fabric in the back with thumbtacks, because that's what I had. I'm sure a staple gun would be more effective and cheaper if you already own one. 

I have a bunch of works in progress as well as future projects lying around the house. Those posts will be coming soon! 

Rapunzel Hair

Also inspired by Pinterest, I made this for one of my favorite little girls. It took a lot of yarn, a glue gun, some ribbon, and some fake flowers. Oh, and a lot of patience. Well worth it! 

Crocheted Creations

My mom taught me how to crochet about two years ago. Here we are, the happy mother/daughter duo:

She wouldn't be too pleased to know she's out here on the internet, so don't tell her. ;-)

Anyway, two years ago I asked her to teach me to crochet because I wanted to make some baby blankets to donate to a local chapter of Project Linus.  When I was a kid she taught me to knit, which is one of her passions, and I never quite took to it. I am not coordinated enough to hold and maneuver two needles at the same time. Crochet was a different story. In a matter of twenty minutes one afternoon, she showed me four basic stitches and how to read a pattern, and I've been crocheting ever since. I've discovered that I hate large projects because they take too long and I get bored. I've made a bunch of baby blankets for donation, and a couple large blankets for at home. I started making amigurumi (small crocheted toys) as gifts for people, and baby hats to sell at craft shows. I am most proud of the sweater I made for my mom this past Christmas. It was the most challenging work I've done so far, and she really loved it. Here are some photos of things I've made, first being the Christmas sweater:

I have so many more projects that I can't find photos of. Very frustrating... But I will post them as I find pictures. 

Upcycled Sweater Kitty Beds

As promised, I'm going to post a few entries of past projects. First are my kitty beds made from old sweaters. This was a project I found on Pinterest, and initially tried with a very thin V-neck sweater stuffed with a pillow. It was not the most attractive, especially on the reverse side, but my Lily loved it:

From there I branched out into making some out of old sweaters that were donated to me by my parents, and some inexpensive thrift store finds. They were stuffed with a variety of fabrics - scrap pieces of fleece, yarn, whatever stuffing material I could find. The idea is to upcycle the fabrics into something beautiful and useful - so I avoided buying any brand new materials. Here are some of my favorites:

I had so much fun creating these that I joined a few craft shows to attempt selling them. I have to say I did pretty well! But I still have a closet full of cat beds for future shows. 

Once we entered spring and thift stores stopped selling sweaters, I started hunting garage sales and estate sales. I've been getting some pretty good deals in those venues! Such as this yellow and gray 100% cashmere sweater I acquired for $1.00... I felt guilty about turning cashmere into a cat bed, but decided as long as it was made for Lily, it was totally acceptable. After all, she had watched me making bed after bed that weren't for her and was getting jealous. 

So for the moment, cat bed creation is on hold while I enjoy sprucing up my apartment. I have a few sweaters waiting in the wings, but I'll pick them back up when craft show season gets busy. Next time I make one, I'll show some step by step photos.

Introduction

As you probably know, I've been really into crafts, decorating, and other creative projects lately. I thought it might be fun to start a blog to have a designated spot for sharing photos and ideas, since it seems like I have a devoted handful of friends who follow my endeavors.

This is certainly not my first attempt at some sort of blog, so let's not be surprised if this one is short lived. I'm setting low expectations here.

Sometime soon (tomorrow?), I'm going to post a recap of the projects I've done the past few months. Not tonight though, because I'm pretty much about to pass out. I have had an internal alarm clock situation going on for a while now, which wakes me between 5-5:30am every day. Renders me rather useless by 10/10:30pm.

Anyway, if you're interested please follow! More to come; I promise it will be more entertaining.