Notes From the Funky Bungalow

Smells Good!

2010-09-14T22:42:00.001-05:00

Tonight I sewed a few sachets that I filled with the lavender I purchased in Bishop Hill last weekend. This was only my second time using the sewing machine and it turned out to be a good starter project. I used some scraps of muslin fabric and lace for the sachets. I plan to put them in my car. The lavender smells wonderful and I like the idea of using natural materials for air freshener. I hate the chemical smell of most store bought air fresheners.

Not Quite Sweden

2010-09-13T22:21:00.001-05:00

On Saturday Bob and I took a little day trip to Bishop Hill (http://www.bishophill.com/), a small community in rural Illinois settled by Swedish immigrants in the late 1800s. The weather was absolutely beautiful. After enjoying lunch on the patio of the Red Oak, we checked out all of the cute little shops.

Brotherly Love

2010-06-23T14:42:00.000-05:00

Today I caught the boys being super cute. Ian and Dexter often cuddle in the willow branch chair, but I'd never seen Ian draped over Dexter quite like this before. Ian weighs in at about 19 lbs., so poor Dexter is probably feeling a little squished! :) They're on top of a little quilt that I picked up at a thrift store.

Weekend in Dubuque

2010-06-22T22:59:00.000-05:00

Here are some pics from our trip to Dubuque on Saturday. We had a lovely view of the river from our table at the Star restaurant. After dinner we went for a walk and enjoyed the perfect weather--sunny but not too hot.

Sunday Activities

2010-06-06T22:12:00.000-05:00

Today was perfect for a drive through the beautiful Iowa countryside, on my way home from Dubuque.

This evening Bob and I went down to the QC Pride Fest in Davenport for a couple hours.

The drag queens were great!

Welcome Back for Summer Fun

2010-06-05T22:31:00.005-05:00

It's been about six months since I've posted and I want to get back into the habit of doing so. I dusted off my camera this morning and took it along for the day's adventures. This afternoon Mom, Dad, and I trekked out to Aledo, Illinois, for their annual Rhubarb Festival

(http://www.aledomainstreet.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=30).

I don't especially like rhubarb, but I do enjoy small town summer festivals. We indulged in some fair food, but I skipped the deep fried Coca Cola that one of the stands was selling (the man working the booth explained that it is a batter made with whipped cream, Coke, and cinnamon--which sounded interesting but not too appetizing)!

No small town summer festival would be complete without a petting zoo. This little guy was a sweetheart--he "nursed" on my finger for a few minutes.

Back at Mom and Dad's house, two baby robins are living in a nest by the back gate. The babies' heads are sticking out of the left corner of the nest, but are a little hard to make out in this picture--I used the zoom on my camera, but didn't want to get too close and anger the mama bird, who was watching from the garage roof.

Post-Christmas Activities

2009-12-28T15:14:00.002-06:00

Here's a cute picture of mom and dad--taken when the whole gang came over for a pasty dinner on Saturday.

Last night Aaron and Katie used Jamie Oliver's (The Naked Chef) recipe to make chicken korma, which was delicious.

Yesterday Bob and I hit the sales and picked up some super cheap ornaments. The selections were pretty picked over, but we found a few things we liked.

And I found these adorable stamps at Michael's, which I can't wait to use.

And now it's time for a cat update. All three kitties have enjoyed the many little toys that Santa brought them and seem to be worn out. Here's a shot of Dexter--isn't he sweet!?!?

Ian has been doing some serious cuddling--first with Dexter.....

and then with Gabby.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T00:15:00.001-06:00

By the time I complete this post it will no longer by Christmas, as it's approaching midnight. I've had a very nice but busy couple days, spent celebrating the holiday with my family. Here are some photos of the gang:

Mom & Holly

Kay & Kathy showing their twin pride in matching holiday sweaters.

Bob & I

Dad tending the fire--which is officially his job.

Aaron, who appears to be making one of his witty remarks.

Between the festivities at my parents' house, Bob and I went home to see our kitties. Of course we couldn't let a holiday pass without dressing the cats in their new Christmas costumes. Here's Dexter in his reindeer antlers. As you can see, he's not thrilled, but he was still cute.

And here's Ian in his Christmas bow tie. It's hard to get great pictures of the cats dressed up, because they spend most of their time moving around trying to figure out how to get the costumes off. Fortunately we only tormented them long enough to snap these photos. We attempted to put the reindeer antlers on Gabby, but she put up such a fight that we quickly gave up.

Holly got the award for the most creative wrapping job with this frog (notice the bow hanging from the tounge and the green lilly pad it's sitting on).

In the left corner there's a patchwork wrapping job I did on a package--it was more funky than pretty.

More Glimpses of Holiday Decor

2009-12-22T12:52:00.000-06:00

Indoor Camping

2009-12-19T16:05:00.000-06:00

Bob and I have spent our past few weekends "camping" in his rental house as we fix it up. There's no furniture in the house, so we're using our old sleeping bags and hanging out on the floor. You'll notice Bob's laptop is propped up on an empty box, so that we can watch DVDs at night.

We've painted two of the bedrooms, the long hallway, and the foyer. This weekend we're working on the painting master bedroom and removing wallpaper from the kitchen (my least favorite job).

Goodbye dated wallpaper!

By the end of this weekend we will have gone through eight gallons of paint. We've been using Conco Pure, which is wonderful. The quality is good and it's environmentally friendly, with no VOCs and practically no odor. I highly recommend this stuff.

Culinary Success

2009-12-18T22:16:00.001-06:00

I had a better experience in the kitchen on Tuesday, when I made cream of wild mushroom soup using the Barefoot Contessa's recipe. It had leeks in it, which added a nice flavor. I also made some biscuits topped with grated parmesan cheese and pepper. While this food came out better, it was a major endeavor. I spent about three hours in the kitchen and we didn't eat until 10pm. When the prep time for a recipe says 30 minutes, it tends to take double that for me (hmmm, maybe because I never cook). :)

It turns out that Ian approved of my soup as well, leeks and all.

Handmade Holidays

2009-12-16T10:53:00.001-06:00

Here are some of the gifts that I crafted this year. I made cat toys out of felted wool (with bells inside for added fun) for all of the cats in the extended family. Dexter is going through a phase, where he loves to carry things in his mouth. He has a number of little stuffed dolls and I wanted to make him some more. I can't show the gifts that I've made for people yet, as they are capable of reading this blog and I don't want to ruin any surprises.

I also made a couple felted wool ornaments. All of the wool is from old sweaters and the Amy Butler fabric is left over from another project.

Christmas Correspondance

2009-12-15T10:09:00.001-06:00

I ordered photo holiday cards from Walgreen's that included pictures of our little family. I'm not photogenic, but the cats' pictures are pretty cute. I also wrote an annual holiday letter to send out to friends and family. I'm proud that I completed this task this year, as I have a habit of buying pretty cards and paper and never filling and sending them out. I'd like to get into the routine of doing a custom card and letter each year, because they will be fun to look back on someday.

Baking Disaster

2009-12-14T19:26:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I was feeling motivated and attempted to do some baking. I found what looked like a delicious recipe for cookie dough truffles on the Food Network's website and decided to make a double batch. The first step of making the cookie dough and then chilling it went well. But disaster struck when I moved on to step two and attempted to melt chocolate almond bark to dip the dough in. As you can see from the picture, things did not go as planned. It took forever for me to get the chocolate to melt and then when I finally got it hot enough, it burned--argh! Now our house reeks of burned chocolate, which is becoming a bit nauseating.

Bob and I went shopping for Angel Tree gifts yesterday morning, which gave us an excuse to go to a toy store. I can't wait until we have our own kids to buy toys for--there's some cool stuff out there. This little panda was so cute we snagged one for ourselves. The brand is AnimalZ, which has apparently won some Australian design awards.

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-08T22:00:00.002-06:00

We're getting our first major snow of the season. There's been a blizzard warning--the forecast was calling for 12-14 inches and tons of things were cancelled tonight (including the community college where Bob's teaches, which allowed us to spend a cozy evening together). I shoveled when I got home hours ago and it doesn't look like much more has accumulated. We seem to get a lot of false alarms when it comes to winter weather, which leads to unnecessary panic and frantic trips to the grocery store.

When I came in from shoveling Bob gave me a nice mug of hot apple cider (yumm!) and I put on my jammies.

Bob and I have spent the past couple weekends busily painting his rental house, so our tree decorating got delayed. Fortunately we both had time last night to put up the lights and ornaments. My parents gave me a number of ornaments that the family collected over the years. Many of my favorite ornaments are ones that my aunt Kay made. Throughout my childhood, Kay made a different type of ornament each year and gave one to each member of the family. As a result, my brother and I now have a great collection of beautiful ornaments with a lot of sentimental value. Here are some pictures of Kay's handiwork--she's quite talented.

Sled made out of popsicle sticks.

Cat made out of dough, which has held up amazingly well over the years.

Dough goat from the same batch.

Based on the calico print, this teddy bear must be from the 80s.

Santa painted on driftwood from Lake Superior.

Now that I have three mischievous little cats, decorating the Christmas tree requires some strategy. We didn't put up any glass ornaments this year, as that would be asking for trouble. The more delicate ornaments are on the upper half of the tree and the sturdier wood and metal ones are on the bottom. The cats have been relatively well behaved thus far, but now that Ian is built like a tank (he's almost 20 lbs.), the tree leans quite a bit when he props his front legs up on the branches.

Christmas Preparation

2009-12-02T09:38:00.004-06:00

Thanksgiving is over and it's time to move on to the next holiday, meaning that it is also time for a new wreath on the front door. I was not able to reuse last year's Christmas wreath, because Gabby slept on it for months (it worked as a nice little nest for her) before throwing up on it. That's my girl! :) This is my latest wreath creation--I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I was initially going to put a light green or silver bow on it, but found that the red goes better with the dark gray exterior of my house.

Last night I put my tree together, with the help of Gabby and Ian of course. You'll notice that Dexter is absent from these pictures, because he got a little too worked up and had to be temporarily banished to the bedroom. Tonight I will complete stage two, by putting on the lights and ornaments.

Dexter did get some cuddle time with Daddy when he was freed from the bedroom.

I absolutely love wrapping presents--here are a couple I've done so far. The bottom one is actually a baby shower gift, so it doesn't look Christmassy (spelling?). My Mom does not share my love for wrapping presents, so she lets me wrap her's too--which works out well for both of us.

Cute Stuff

2009-11-27T15:23:00.000-06:00

Christmas cat toy--Dexter was scared of it at first, but is warming up.

Dexter posing with my new purple mary janes from Lands End.

Awesome kitty folder.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T22:05:00.001-06:00

Bob and I celebrated our first Thanksgiving together. We had a nice meal at my parents' house, along with Aaron. We have much to be thankful for, especially the fact that we are all in good health and have jobs that we enjoy and that make it possible to pay our bills despite the bad economy.

My contributions to the meal consisted of pumpkin pie and Mama Stamberg's Cranberry Relish, which I learned about on NPR last week. As you can see, the Pepto-bismol pink relish looks less than appealing and the ingredients don't sound like they'd go well together. But as promised on NPR, the results were quite pleasing. This recipe, which I have listed below, will definitely become part of our Thanksgiving tradition.

2 cups whole raw cranberries

1 small onion (3 in. diameter)

3/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons horseradish

Mix ingredients in blender and then freeze overnight.

Move container to refridgerator Thanksgiving morning so can thaw. The mixture should still have some ice slivers when served.

Mom took some pictures of Bob and I that we can use for our Christmas cards.

And the cats enjoyed left-over turkey.

Weekend Fun

2009-11-08T18:03:00.003-06:00

Bob collected seeds from a red cedar tree.

The leaves made a great crunching sound under our feet.

On Saturday, Mom, Bob and I took a little road trip to Utica, Illinois and Starved Rock State Park. The park was quite scenic and the weather was beautiful (70+ degrees is pretty good for November). But we were not the only ones who wanted to enjoy the nice fall day; the park was a little more crowded than I would have liked.

Today Bob and I went to an antique show at the EXPO Center and spent hours looking at all the cool stuff. We both fell in love with this rotating Danner bookcase, but did not have the $1,200 necessary to buy it.

After the antique show Bob and I went to Prospect Park and I took even more tree photos.

Belated Pumpkin Carving

2009-11-03T23:26:00.000-06:00

I haven't carved pumpkins in years, so I decided to have a go at it--two days after Halloween. Bob and I bought pumpkins a couple weeks ago, but got so busy last week that we never got around to carving them.

It turns out that Ian and Dexter like pumpkin pulp.

I baked the seeds after coating them in cinnamon and sugar--they turned out just so-so.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2009-10-31T22:15:00.001-05:00

Here's my pumpkin kitty. I've had my eye on the pet Halloween costumes at Target for weeks and couldn't resist any longer. Here are some pictures of Dexter in a little pumpkin ensemble. He wasn't thrilled about getting dressed up and was a little hard to get a clear picture of since he wouldn't sit still for long, but he humored us. Gabby and Ian are relieved that there is a younger cat for us to fuss over when it comes to things like this. :)

I got my first white pumpkin, which I really like. I've seen lots of white pumpkins in decorating magazines and until last year I assumed that they had been painted white! :)

Gourd

We have a ton of little kids in our neighborhood and were anticipating getting lots of trick-or-treaters, so we stocked up on candy. Surprisingly only about 20 kids came to our door, so we have quite a bit left over.

Fall Colors

2009-10-24T21:15:00.000-05:00

Today was the first sunny day we've had in a while, so I decided to get some pictures of the beautiful changing leaves.

Adventures With Felted Wool

2009-10-23T20:12:00.000-05:00

I just got done making my first wreath out of felted wool. I bought a bunch of 100% wool sweaters at thrift stores and washed them in hot water on the high agitation cycle to felt the wool. I then cut the sweaters into strips and wrapped them around a straw wreath. I saw this project done a long time ago (I wish I could find the website) and finally had the time to make one. I made a second one for my parents and still have lots of wool left over, so I may try some other variations and give them as gifts.

Here are a couple links to some cute wool wreaths:
http://recovergirl.wordpress.com/2008/12/03/wool-sweater-scrap-wreath/
http://felting.craftgossip.com/2008/12/11/miniature-felted-wool-wreaths-mini-felt-christmas-trees/

Here's another project I finished up this week. I bought the shadow box and a thrift shop for a few bucks, then spray painted it white and added a variety of pink decorative papers to the back. This would look cute in a little girl's room.

Good Reads

2009-10-21T08:46:00.000-05:00

I've been reading a lot about creativity lately, in an effort to spark my own creative energies. One thing that I've discovered is that there is never a perfect time to start a project and that I just need to jump in and get to work. For a while I was putting things on hold until I am able to get a special craft area all set up in the basement. But by the time I ever get around to that, I could have made tons of stuff.

Eric Maisel, a psychologist who works with artists, has a number of interesting books, including Creativity for Life: Practical Advice on the Artist's Personality, and Career from America's Foremost Creativity Coach and The Creativity Book: A Year's Worth of Inspiration and Guidance. Taking Flight: Inspiration and Techniques to Give Your Creative Spirit Wings by Kelly Rae Roberts and Claudine Hellmuth's Collage Discovery Workshop--Beyond the Unexpected: New Techniques Using Color, Personal Imagery and Creative Surfaces were also quite inspiring.

(I got these pictures on Amazon's website).

Recent Viewing

2009-10-20T08:45:00.000-05:00

Bob and I cancelled our cable tv service a few months ago and I haven't really missed it. Bob thought that I'd cave in and resubscribe after a week. :) I wanted to cut down a little on my monthly expenses and started to realize that almost all of what is on tv these days is junk. We had over 70 channels, yet there was often nothing interesting on. It's actually peaceful to have the tv off in the evenings rather than having constant background noise. And I'm able to keep up with what's going on in the news via the internet and NPR. I think I've actually been more productive and gotten more crafts done since ditching the cable.

We don't have our tv off all the time though. We have been watching some movies and tv series on DVD from Netflix. I finally saw Seven Pounds with Will Smith, which is by far the best movie I've seen in a long time. Morgan Spurlock's documentary series 30 Days had a couple interesting episodes. Best in Show with Eugene Levy is hilarious and worth seeing. Unfortunately the past two movies we've watched on DVD have been horrible. Do not bother seeing The Human Contract or The Informers. Wynona Ryder and Billy Bob Thorton are in The Informers; I really like both of them and was surprised that they would sign on to be in such a bad movie. I wonder if they owed someone a favor.

New Camera

2009-10-19T10:12:00.000-05:00

I just got a new camera and am so excited to be taking better pictures. I opted to get a point and shoot camera for now, rather than a SLR since I wasn't ready to spend that much money. I got a Kodak Easy Share Z915, which has a lot of neat features that will allow me to do some experimenting.

Making Progress

2009-10-18T19:35:00.000-05:00

I love searching for treasures at thrift stores, flea markets, and antique shops. But as anyone who enjoys vintage finds knows, they usually require a little work before they can be used--such as a good cleaning or a coat of paint. My basement and garage are filled with many such items and this week I finally got around to addressing a couple of them.

I bought this old window at an antique show last winter. After some cleaning and repainting it was ready to be hung in my living room. I will probably put pictures of some sort in the glass panes, but I haven't figured out what yet.

I also bought this letter press tray last winter. I thought I got a great deal on it (only $5), but hadn't taken into consideration the amount of work cleaning it would entail. I spent over 1 1/2 hours scrubbing every nook and cranny with rags and q-tips soaked in Murphy's Oil Soap. And then spent more time backing it with decorative papers (Amy Butler paper is shades of green). I really like how it turned out though--it was worth the effort.

Fall Cleaning

2009-10-16T09:28:00.000-05:00

This isn't especially exciting news, but it accurately reflects my life at the moment. The changing of seasons seems to signal to me that certain jobs around the house need to be done. Last night I rolled up my sleeves and cleaned out the fridge. The fridge was pretty full when I started, but once I threw out all of the items that were spoiled, I realized that we really have very little food. Apparently it’s time to go grocery shopping.

New Business Cards!

2009-10-15T08:54:00.000-05:00

The new business cards for my Etsy store Quirky Crafty arrived in the mail today. I finally discovered the wonders of Vista Print and fell in love--they have so many great designs and their prices are quite reasonable. These pictures are really bad and don't do the cards justice. The front side is in color and the back is in black/gray/white and lists by blog address. Now I just need to get my store stocked. I'll be selling handmade cards along with some vintage finds, to start out. Check out Quirky Crafty at quirkycrafty.etsy.com.

Bonding Time

2009-10-14T08:34:00.000-05:00

We've had Dexter for just six weeks, but he's already settled in and become part of the family. Gabby and Ian stopped hissing at him ages ago and now they truly seem to enjoy each other's company. Ian is thrilled to have someone to wrestle with and Gabby is even acting more playful. Here are some pictures of them napping and cuddling together.

Scrap Journal

2009-10-13T23:13:00.000-05:00

I made this journal entirely out of materials that would have otherwise been discarded. Bob was no longer using the small two ring binder and it was collecting dust in his office. The simple fabric cover is made out of a scrap of Amy Butler material and some embroidery floss left over from other projects. And the pages include pieces of cardstock, attractive packaging from items I've purchased, photos that didn't turn out quite right, paint color samples, and envelopes; which are then embellished with scraps of ribbon and decorative papers that have had shapes punched out of them. It just goes to show, that even junk can be beautiful.

Kalona, Iowa

2009-10-12T12:48:00.000-05:00

Bob and I are making an effort to explore some of the little towns around us that have interesting things to see and that we've previously overlooked. We spent this past Saturday in Kalona, Iowa (just south of Iowa City). Kalona has a Mennonite community, lots of gift and antique shops, and places to get great food, such as the local bakery, the cheese factory, and the Tuscan Moon restaurant where we ate lunch. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from our little trip, because I forgot to charge my camera battery before we left. The shots I've included here are of the items I picked up in the shops.

I was thrilled to find this stash of old green and turquoise Christmas ornaments. I plan to use them in this year's Christmas wreath.

I found some vintage children's blocks to spell Bob's name.

This vintage shelf edging is really cool. I'll probably use it in my craft room once I get it all set up.

These milk glass knobs are new and are perfect for the tv cabinet that I plan to repaint--they'll give it the vintage look I'm aiming for.

These pictures are not very good. I definitely need a new camera. My current camera is a Gateway DC-T50 5.25 megapixel that I got back in 2002. I don't think that Gateway has even made cameras in years. I'd like to get a digital SLR camera and learn some special techniques. But I feel like I need to do some research on which model is best suited for me, before I spend that much money on a camera.

Fall Crafting

2009-10-11T16:37:00.000-05:00

The weather here finally seems fall-like (we turned our heat on for the first time this season and actually had some snow flurries yesterday--yikes), which has gotten me into the mood to start working on crafts for the holidays. I have completed the first item on my crafting to do list, which was to make a wreath for the front door. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out and the supplies cost me less than $10 thanks to a 50% off sale at Hobby Lobby. I used a grapevine wreath that I already had for the base, wove leaf garland through the branches, and added a few decorative pieces with small gourds, pumpkins, etc. I started making some Christmas ornaments last night and will post pictures once they are completed.

A Day at the Races

2009-10-09T23:26:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday Bob and I were invited to spend the afternoon watching the races at the Cordova Dragway. We're not race car fans, but it was fun to get out and try something new. One of Bob's coworkers competes and let us get some cute pictures of Bob in his car. Hopefully we didn't do too much damage to our hearing--it turns out that drag racing is a very loud sport and my ears hurt by the time we left! :)

Meet Dexter!

2009-09-22T12:57:00.001-05:00

Dexter is the newest addition to our little family, in which cats now out-number humans. Bob and I adopted him from the Dubuque, Iowa Humane Society a few weeks ago. He is a very sweet little guy and is really hitting it off with Ian (I'll post some pictures of them together later). I just wish that he could stay small and cute like this forever.