Reuse: Recipe Books and Doodle Pads from Used Menus

So at the moment I work at a restaurant in old town Alexandria. It's a ten minute walk, it's not my dream job but it's flexible, they have their own farm and the people are nice. One thing that erks me a lot though is that we don't recycle. Not only that but we use heavy card-stock for our menus and then after one use for a banquet they get tossed. So - little pack rat that I am - I've been saving them and making something useful and pretty.


I cut the menus in half. Hole punch them twice and then tie them with ribbon that I have squirreled away from past projects. This book I made for Rachel before her Africa trip. I used a vintage postcard as the cover and glued the plastic sheet on so she could take the postcard out and read the back still.



They're rather simple and I may jazz up the design some. Make hardback covers maybe and sew them into it. But I also kinda like how simple they are. The other side of the paper of course is printed with menu items so only one side can be used for writing but you could certainly draw or paste clippings to the menu side. I figure, even if they get used for grovery store lists its better that then just throwing them away. BUT I do hope some will be used a long time. Like the one above that I plan to write all the Thanksgiving recipes in and give to my mom so she can remake our vegan feast in the future :)

The Skinnies

Pang and I are putting in apps for a craft fair called the Ballston Arts and Crafts Market. You have to submit pictures so Pang obliged me with an awkward photoshoot. Im going to try to sell some little scarves. Or just give them away when they don't like I have been doing.


Two scarves in one, getting crafty


Oh! also, check the new hat. I was looking for one of these while I was in Florida shopping with my Grandma, and we couldn't find one. Then, she found this in one of her old cedar chests, so now its even cooler.


Pang said this looked too much like a necktie because it was all loose


So I tightened it up and cheesed


And now look nonchalant...or awkward works too

Trivet...a fancy word for thing you put on the table to protect it from hot stuff....sheeeiit!

I've been collecting corks with the help of bar friends for forever now and I finally made the first trivet. This one is smaller than I wanted but it was more of a test really.




View from the top



here's the bottom



from the side...industrial meets rustic...

Corn Chowder in a Pretty New Bowl

So here I have a chance to show off one of my new purchases from Crafty Bastards the other week. This is some of Tasha Mckelvy's functional pottery. I got it for soups and ice cream and stuff like that, and I love the little dip where I can rest the spoon.



Anywho, Jon and I made this a little while back, but I forgot to post it, but it is a definite keeper, and we will be making this again in the cold winter to come. I got this from Real Simple ages ago. The recipe says is feeds 4 to 6, but if you are like me and have only two to feed, just know that the rest will be leftover, and dont make all the bacon at one time, make it fresh whenever you want to reheat the leftover.

Corn Chowder
8 ounces sliced bacon
1 sweet onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 10 ounce packages frozen corn (I used 2 12 ounces...i likey the corn)
3 cups chicken or veggie broth
1 cup half and half
salt and pepper
a nice fat bunch of fresh cilantro

1. Cook your bacon however you like it then cut it into half inch chunks, set aside
2. Reserve 2 tbsp of the bacon drippings and add to a large saucepan or dutch oven, heat to medium.
3. Cook onion, stir occasionally until soft. Add garlic, paprika, and red pepper, cook stirring for 2 min
4. Stir in broth, corn, and half and half and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer 15 min.
5. Transfer half the broth to a blender and puree until smooth. Return to pot and add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, stir all.
6. Divide soup into bowls, top with bacon and cilantro

My Prize! I Wiin!

A while back Pang posted her 100th post and she had a little giveaway and I was one of the winners. Well last week at Crafty Bastards Pang surprised me with a little Fing, all for me.



Isn't he/she cute :) Pang knows Im a weenie dog lover, so she knew I would be happy with anything that included a ween...oh how silly us daschund enthusiasts are. And the little handmade card is a nice touch too

Skinny Scarf and Wee Glasses Case

Pang and I had a little sewing circle on Monday, for the first time in a while. I really wanted to wow her so I decided to make two different little projects (look at how fast your pupil has grown!). The first thing I made was a skinny scarf. I bought this cool, light slippery fabric with Pang a while back for this purpose, but had just never gotten around to doing it. The lady that cut it did a bad job (Pang says this is not her fault...i don't see how that is possible) so the scarf ended up being even skinnier than I had planned but I kinda like that now.

Here is the fabric up close, a blue tiny houndstooth


Here it is, frayed edges and all. I decided I liked the frayed edges so rather than fold them in I just stitched it shut and let those little guys be free.



And here is me being too lazy to set up a tripod and give you a nice picture, but you get the idea of it anyhow



Next I made another glasses case. The first glasses case I made a few months ago is too big and every time I pull it out the glasses are hardly ever in it, so it was time to make a new one. Using the napkins I bought a while back I made a double patterned one this time, which I think turned out rather cute..if a bit on the wee side.



From the front



From the back



And the napkin fabric inside

Also I took Pang to Ab Attack, which she did not thank me kindly for. Sorry :( Its good for you though, really, how will you get your washboard abs without the pain? It was a particularly hard class this time, but there was no way for me to have known. I made it up to her with some fresh bread.

Fings I have my eye on

Crafty Bastards is this weekend! Yay! For those of you who don't know, Crafty Bastards is a craft fair where everything is handmade and lots of it is local. Stuff like screen printed shirts, recycled messenger bags, plushies, jewelry and more! Here is what I am looking forwards to seeing:




These would make a very modern addition to my growing cameo collection. Made by the artist Brookadelphia, check it out here.



These bags are super cute and could make some nice Christmas presents (must remember to think of others as I shop!). These are made by Dog Bone Art and you can see more here.




Last time I went to this I bought earings from this vendor and this time I want to check out her functional and super pretty pottery. Check out Tasha Mckelevy here.



I also may need to stop in and see what Daisy Lacy has for us gals. Check her out here.

So if any of your are close to DC come out this sunday and buy some handmade stuff

Fabric

Is three posts in one day crazy? This is a quicky, I got my fabric in! Take a look...and tell me what to do with it, Im at a loss, it was an impulse buy



The colors change as you go down the fabric



Im thinking maybe a riding hood for this one? More likely an apron



and then just for fun she threw in this..its tiny...what to do with it! Change purse?

Oh the things one learns at school

Tuesday I had my first economics class (which I am apprehensive about...anything that involves math makes me apprehensive) and the teacher walks in and says "Ok I hope you are all here for the Math 123 class."....huh? we're all looking around at each other and people are starting to get their things together as they realize they are in the wrong room until the teacher pulls a "JK!" Buster...you do not want to mess with me when math is involved. So then he goes on to joke about how the first day automatically calls for the first quiz, and is everyone ok with that. Of course we all just stare dumbly at him, and he says, "ok well we wont do that quiz then. You will find that this class is not a monopoly" pause...pause....pause...he's looking around the room, and i'm looking at him wondering what he's talking about...wait here it comes "its a democracy!" Wait what? it's not a monopoly its a democracy? Tell me I'm not being crazy...that doesn't make sense right? He's mixing business terms with types of governments and I'm supposed to know what he's talking about?! And he's going to be instructing me for the next 15 weeks! Oh la!
Speaking of the next 15 weeks, here is what Boober (Hibou) and I have to look forward to for the next 15 weeks of drawing




while I am getting better I still really don't enjoy drawing and i especially don't enjoy drawing people (or skeletons). But don't worry I'll keep you updated and let you see all the embarrassing alien shaped people I draw.

Also, I had my first speech class today (scary!) but the guy seems really cool. He was living/working in New Orleans when Katrina hit and lost everything (poor guy) so he came home to West Virginia and is teaching a bit. But! He took pictures of each of us individually before we were allowed to leave...so he could "remember us." Certainly not so he could track us down for missing a class or stalk us and steal our houses (mean joke, not his fault he doesn't have a house), but really...kinda creepers.

And also here is the picture of the camera strap I made, full length. Bad pictures but you can see the front and back

Baby's First Day of School

Oh school days. I must say though, I have been very productive today, unlike all the empty days of summer that I whiled away reading the Twilight Series..not that I regret that :)

So the only class I had today was Chemistry in Society - big 50 student lecture hall class, but I think it's going to be pretty cool actually. The professor is a woman that spent most of her life as a researcher for the army making body armor and other fun things like that. She spent the first 15 minutes of class trying to convince us that science is cool - don't worry lady, Bill Nye took care of that one already - by showing us pictures of "real scientists" and telling us about her old jobs. From what I've heard of this class we will be learning what kind of stuff is in everyday household items...good thing I'm already using mostly natural products

After class I went to Ab Attack - a 30 min class that's all core, I just keep telling myself pain is beauty :) No really it should help with so many things to have a strong core, and I've always had kinda a lame one - but no more!

On to dinner! I call this

Don't Ruin Your Work-Out Salad

1 cup 50/50 salad (50 percent salad, 50 percent spring mix)
half an avocado, sliced
1/3 cucumber, sliced
1 carrot, cut
2 medium radishes, sliced
half a hamsteak, sliced
olive oil as salad dressing

Basically I just throw it all together and dig in! Now I know hamsteak is not the most healthy meat to be eating on my salad, BUT whenever I work out I always want to come home and binge on sweet and/or salty food. Hamsteak takes care of my salt craving without me stuffing my face with chips.



Here's what it looks like...yummers right?

Then! I finished a project...well started and finished it in the same day (woop woop)



Not to pat my own head but I did real good :) Katy will be so pleased with this I think. I will take a picture of the full thing tomorrow. I would have tonight but I wanted to attach it to the camera and take a picture in the mirror so you can see how it looks on but Im already in jam jams for the night.

THEN! I made some fresh bread...look for the recipe tomorrow yall!

Last Free Weekend

Yesterday was beautiful so when Brittney suggested swinging we couldn't say no



And Plus!



Surrey has been a bad little kitten. Do you remember this plant? Take a look here

So last night we went out to Htown to see Pang in her very first art show :) It was a food based show so she made some cute little plushies



I like the fangs :)



mmm



and this one she sold! It's a Durian...did I spell that right Pang?

The Pang and Lacey Sewing Line continued

Oh one day we will be master sewers and get a third person to make our line into a circle..one day.

So this week we made a camera strap! Mine didn't come out quite as good as I want so I will try again, but now I have even more motivation because Katy gave me hers to cover too! My first (non-paid) commission :)



So I picked this sweet turquoise houndstooth material and basically just cut a long strip, hemmed it on all sides, decorated it with zigzags (crooked ones...I need help in the sewing a straight line department) and then just wrapped it around and sewed it on.



check out Pang's!

Before that we went to the Rhubarb House and had some yummy sandiches! (I know its spelled wrong, thats the way I say it busters!)

Partytime for Junior

Saturday of last week was JR's bday so Jon and I had a packed day getting ready for that because we made this!



TAH DAH! Jon made it really...He cut out all the stuff and ironed it on. It was my idea though! Im just not good at details!



Hibou was oh so thrilled and excited :)

I also made this little dinny. I called it the cowboy dinny: Baked taters, beans with real bacon and hard boiled eggs...is that gross to you? Well its delish.



Then on to the drinkies!


This was a whisky shot they did. I thought Pang was going to vom after this but she held it together!



another soft-focus portrait for my little growing project



yeah...pang face...what can we say about her? she dont know no better :)

Also... I realize now that I didn't really get any pictures of JR...Im just too obsessed with Pang.

Glasses Case Experiment #1

So Pang makes these really cool glasses cases ( you can see some here) and I wanted to try my hand at being cool too since we are going to be sharing a booth together at an upcoming craft fair in Hagerstown (more on that later). So we went to the fabric store and picked out some cool stuff and then after making a pitstop to Rocky's for pizza (yummers) we went back to Pang's to tackle the sewing machine (which I broke).



here is a work in progress pic. This was after we had cut three squares (1 piece of fabric for the front, one piece for the back, and batting to go in the middle) and sewed them all together on three sides to make a little square with an opening at the top.



here is a shot of Pang being my teachy.



and here is the final product! Not too bad if I do say so myself. Yeah so because I broke the machine we had to do the last part by hand so those crooked little pink stitches you see are all me there!

Project for this monday: Making a sweet cover for our camera straps..stay tooned!

PS: if you want directions for this little glasses case (its not too hard really) I can type them up for you, no problem.

PSS: Pang has better pictures of all this on her blog, I was concentrating real hard on not being ridiculous so I didn't take pictures of the whole thing