More Goals

Reading through all the New Year's posts and articles made me think of a few more things I'm going to try to do this year.

On Lauren Conrad's website* they had a list of 10 resolutions everyone should make. One of them overlaps with a resolution that apparently Pope Francis has for us all. That is to stop wasting food. I am very guilty of this. I'll buy something and use it for one meal, but never find a use for the rest of it. During the Farm Share I was super guilty of wasting fresh veggies! I know. I'm ashamed, but sometimes I just couldn't find a use for a whole head of cabbage when I had a busy week. So I'm going to clean the fridge of all out of date food and focus and using every thing I buy or putting it in the freezer before it goes bad.

Second goal is to keep learning. Last Spring I learned how to screen print, but then I didn't sign up for anything new. I'm going to try to keep something on the calendar. I found some cool online resources yesterday that I'm excited to try out.

General Assembly- https://generalassemb.ly/ has some cool classes and workshops in DC. Focused around web design, business and technology.

Codecademy- http://www.codecademy.com/ teaches coding starting at the simplest level. I already learned to make an animation from my name and start a mini solar system.

Coursera- https://www.coursera.org has college courses from all over, some are free and some are paid. You can take a class or they have specializations that have a series of courses.

*Yes I occasionally read Lauren Conrad's site. I may have a small girl crush on her.

Terrarium part two

So the first terrarium didn't go so well. It all started great, but after a few weeks went by both my chicks and hens died. They died suddenly. Like boom. The other guy lasted a few more months, but one day after feeling the dirt and determining it completely dry, I watered and boom it died too.

Jenn didn't have much better luck either. Hers all died by early this year.

Not to be discouraged we decided to try again. I think mine may of died from overwatering, even though I didn't water them that much. I also think they might of not had enough sun. Ace only had larger plants so we went up to Flowers on 14th. They had the right size, but were a bit more expensive. 

They had some ferns so I decided to try them. They lady said they love water and like covered containers. Hopefully this fern will love my jar!

I also bought two succulents to replace the dead ones I had sitting in my winery pots for the better part of the last year. 

Call Me Crafty: Screenprinting

It has been a long time since I challenged myself with an art class. So for the past year I'd been eyeing the continuing education classes offered at the Corcoran. They aren't cheap but I loved all the interesting options they had and I was able to take the audit option. So I narrowed down some options and decided to take the screen printing class. 

After being 45 minutes late to the first class (cross town during rush hour on a bus is the worst) I've gotten a pretty good hang of the process.

We have four projects this semester each one using a different technique of making our design, but the shooting and printing part remains essentially the same. We've just started our third project, so I'm a bit behind on updating you.

The first project was to take construction paper shapes to create a print with three layers of three different colors.

Most of the other students are "art" students either full time or are art teachers learning a new technique. So in the actual design of the projects I find I am much simpler. But when it comes to the actual printing, where being type A is beneficial I am having far fewer problems than the other students. 

This is a printing screen. When its clean it is the yellow color. We put the green emulsion on it and let it dry in a dark box. Then you lay your design in a light box and put the screen on top. Depending on your design you turn the light box on for a 45 seconds up to a few minutes. Then quickly take it from the box to the dark washing room to wash the emulsion that wasn't exposed to the light out. That area becomes your design. In the above photo I covered the areas I wasn't printing with tape and freezer paper.

So for my first project I did my cow.

The green was printed first, then the purple and finally the pink. I was just trying to use pretty colors, but my teacher has proclaimed it a Zombie Cow.

For the second project we used india ink to make abstract designs. I'm not so great at abstract. I started slowly and finally drew a few designs I liked. I printed each of them a little different. I used the same three colors in the same order, but printed the designs in different orders and used five different designs. 

This was one of my favorites. At first I didn't like the project, but I ended up with several that I liked and a few that I hated. I printed on small pieces of paper and was able to do three each pull so these went really quickly.

The third project involves india ink pens and tracing and text! I'm excited to see how mine turns out.

Call Me Crafty: Mason Jar Planter

If you follow me on Instagram you saw this project a while back. I took tons of pictures during the process then completely forgot to blog about it. So finally here you are! 

My friend Catherine discovered this idea on Pinterest and we decided along with our other friend Jenn to have a craft day to make some of our own.

We met up and headed to Home Depot where we picked up the hardware and wood. We had Home Depot cut the boards to size (which is a fantastic service!) and headed back to Catherine's to get to work.

Supplies we purchased per planter:

1. Three Mason jars
2. Three adjustable plumbing rings
3. Wall hanger and nails
4. Three screws
5. Wood- we took the jars to the store and measured the sizing on the go
6. Three plants
7. Cactus/succulent dirt

Supplies Catherine had on hand:

1. Drill
2. Hammer
3. Stain
4. Paint brush
5. Rag
6. Sand paper

Process:

We started by sanding our board a little and applying a layer of stain. After letting it dry a little bit we wiped down our board with the rag and then allowed it to dry some more.

While our boards were drying we planted our succulents in the jars. The jars have no drainage. After planting I wondered if we should of put a layer of rock on the bottom like you would in a terrarium, but not enough to go back and replant. However I think using the special soil for cactus and succulents works well. My plants are thriving so far. I just water them fully when I water them, which is about every week and a half, and then let the soil dry completely  before watering again.

After our boards were dry we attached the hangers.

Then proceeded to screw the rings to the boards. It wasn't as easy as we hoped. The slots in the rings were a little bit smaller than our screws. On my first attempt I completely stripped the screw. After that we tried prying the slots open a little wider and got the screw going a little before using the power drill and it worked ok. We were using wood screws, maybe a stronger screw would of just plowed through the ring, but I'm not sure.

I started in the middle

measuring was hard

After they were attached to the board I tightened the rings a bit before slipping the jars inside and finished tightening the screws.

Finished project!

Once I got home I immediately hung it up on the wall because I wasn't sure where else to put it. I hung it by my bedroom window because while by living room is over run with plants I didn't have any in my bedroom!

As I mentioned earlier, all my plants are doing well. But learned the hard way that the orange flower on the cactus was glued on! I know! The way the cactus was growing was moving the flower to the front so I pulled it off. I managed to get all of the flower off, but the glue is a bit more challenging especially with all the pokies.  Oh and the plant on the right is doing much better and not leaning so much.

Call me Crafty: Book Clutch

I got a sewing machine for Christmas so I immediately went to the internets to find sewing projects. I wanted to start small and ended up being inspired by a project that didn't require a ton of sewing, a book clutch by See Kate Sew. 

I picked out some hard cover books for $2 a piece at the local thrift/antique store, Miss Pixies. It was fun picking out titles that I never heard of but were fun nonetheless. I cut the pages out. Don't worry I kept them to read…. or do some other craft with later.

Then it was time to prep the zipper.

And sew the zipper.

Iron the zipper.

Glue the zipper to the book.

Then glue liner fabric.

Tada! Mine is a bit bulkier than Kate's. I guess I didn't glue the zipper far enough in on the book. I still think it is fun. I also didn't glue fabric on the outside of the book. I liked the way the red and black cover was already.

Call me Crafty: My magnet is growing

I think I missed one Handi-hour last year. It turned out to be the gardening one. They had little terra cotta pots to decorate and plant some small plants in and then they also had corks to make into tiny air plant vase magnets. Lucky for me I have good friends and was gifted a plant magnet that I've proudly displayed at work. Sometime over the holidays it decided to die, but I had several months of joy with that guy.

Inspired I decided to make a few of my own for Christmas gifts. Only when I went back to Ace Hardware their summer/fall supply of air plants was dry and dead. Defeated. I had purchased an air plant earlier in the year though just because I'm a sucker for succulents. It had just been chilling in a vase so I decided to give him a new home.

I used a cork from a beer bottle someone had recently enjoyed at my apartment and glued on a spare magnet with super glue. I made a hole in the top with a knife and stuck him inside. A month later, so far so good.

Call me Crafty: Placemats

My friend Catherine and I made these placemats. We bought 3 yards of burlap from Joann's Fabric. I used a plate, remote, beer bottle, and scissors to determine the proper size (very professional and precise). I used her stencils and a giant paint pen to write EAT on them. I made sure to have newspaper underneath for bleed through and ended up doing more of a dab method than a draw method. Catherine ended up with 8 placemats and wrote "Eat" in different languages on each one, very cute.

Call me Crafty: There is an Elephant in my Window

I'm not claiming this one as my own, but I wanted to share this elephant wonder. My sister Kristen, the CraftyRunner, painted this elephant and turned him in to a plantyderm (see what I did there?) by cutting a hole in his back and a drainage hole in his belly. I threw a baby cactus inside and love him. What should I name him?

Crafting at Christmas

While I was home for Christmas as always we decided to do a project. Since I had recently learned how to arm knit I taught the rest of the family how. I got everyone started pretty quickly. My oldest sister, Kristen, picked it up right away and was the first one finished. After one false start my other sister, Beth, got going good and was done in no time. My Aunt Betty arrived late, but was a natural at casting on (from her regular knitting experience). She wasn't as much a natural at the rest of the process and restarted a few times. My mom had a few hiccups as well, but after taking a break for dinner they finished up and we all had beautiful scarves.

Mom in the middle of a big tangle

Aunt Betty arm knitting

My finished product

My mom also had an idea for the place setting, which I implemented

Pumpkin painting

I bought two pumpkins back when I got one to carve. My carved pumpkin has shriveled up and been composted, but my other pumpkin has just been hanging out. I decided to paint it so it would live through Thanksgiving. At first I decided to paint chevrons around the pumpkin in gold. Only once I started the gold paint turns out was more just a glitter paint and it looked weird. So I decided to just paint the entire pumpkin in glitter. Then I took a black paint pen and drew some triangles. 

I like the way it turned out, kind of tribal, but with gold pizzaz.

Table Painting

One of my furloughcation projects stretched on for a week after I went back to work. No one warned me that painting was so difficult! I've had this table for about 8 years. It was my grandma's when she was living in assisted living, so it wasn't like a family heirloom or anything. While the legs were real wood, the table top is particle board with a plastic laminate. The table has survived all of my moves pretty well, but I have a bubble in the middle where I let a candle get to hot.

Anyway, I'd been thinking of painting the table for awhile. I have a lot of wood in my apartment, but its all a darker color so the table just didn't fit. When I first started talking about painting the table I told people I was going to paint it white with a turquoise dipped leg effect... well the day I went to get paint I totally changed my mind and decided it should be cranberry. I found the exact color I wanted at Logan Hardware down the street and the guys there helped me pick out the proper type of paint.

I took the table apart and got to work. Not have a garage or basement to paint in really slowed me down, because the newspaper system was messy and I didn't want to get paint on the floor.

After one coat on the table top and bare legs

The chairs were the actual challenge, every time I thought I covered everywhere I would spot a whole backside of a spindle that I missed. Also everything required two coats. I also hosted a party mid painting so I had to stick everything in the corner our of the way for awhile.

After second coat... looking pretty good.

I reassembled the table to do some last touch ups on the legs where I could reach all sides easily. Then I  got over confident and decided to do a little sanding/painting touch up on top. Well that totally screwed it up. So the top of the table received a third coat to smooth everything up. Now I think it looks great. I'm leaving it mostly alone for awhile so the paint can completely cure.

All done!

Terrariums

After seeing some terrariums for sale at a few places for like $60 my friend Jenn and I decided to make our own. I've honestly been wanting to make a terrarium for years, but I always am stumped about some of the supplies. Mainly the activated charcoal. But with Jenn signed on to create I was motivated (and I had some free furlough time). Jenn sent me some links to terrarium kits and then I was even more motivated to find all of the supplies. 

I went to my local Ace, Logan Hardware (where I have gone approximately once a day during furlough) to inquire about activated charcoal. They didn't have it, but suggested I check out a pet supply store as activated charcoal also goes in aquariums. 

So with a trip to Petco we picked up the activated charcoal and rocks. I had dirt hanging around my apartment (don't we all) and we picked up a few succulents at the hardware store. I also bought my half gallon mason jar at Logan.

The actual assembly went pretty fast. We put a layer of rocks first, then the charcoal, then dirt, and finally plants. I decorated with some shells and Jenn decorated with some pretty colorful rocks. 

Some directions I read recommended using a paintbrush to clean dirt off our plants. We made fun of the directions until we were upset our plants were dirty and I went a grabbed a paint brush.

So far my little ecosystem is thriving.

Fall has arrived

Hello all! Day 8 of the shutdown and I'm now blogging in real time. Its the small victories. 

Monday and Tuesday night brought beautiful sunsets to DC. Monday night I watched the sun set from an illegal spot on the mall while running a few miles. I rarely run with my phone so I didn't take photos, only to remember after the sun set that I did have my phone on me. So just imagine beautiful colors behind the Lincoln and Washington memorials. 

To help you out, I took these photos out my bedroom window on Tuesday night. The sunsets and view alone made my move worth it.

I'm not sure the order of these photos

see the National Cathedral in the way back?

there's a tree across the street!

After temperatures in the 90s all weekend this week has been in the 60s. So I made chili. I threw in a can of hot green chilies, which really added a delicious punch.

maybe I should have fewer chips with my chili?

Not only is the shutdown impacting my work life, but also my social life. Remember Handi-hour? Well it is put on by the friendly folks of the Smithsonian so it was canceled this week. The theme was book crafts, which I attempted a little on my own, but my fellow Handi-hour enthusiasts decided to throw one of our own. Instead of book crafts we did pumpkin carving, but kept the craft beer element and upped the ante on delicious snacks.

Thank goodness for the shutdown, because I was able to research some fun ideas on pinterest. I also picked up an amazing carving kit at Target, which helped a lot with carving detail without accidentally cutting a big chuck out of my pumpkin. 

my jack-o-lantern family

some of the other creations

Scenes from my Shutdown

I woke up the first day of shutdown determined to make the most of my day. For some crazy reason I thought I might only have the one day to enjoy and I didn't want to waste it. 

I lept out of bed made myself a latte and started mixing up banana bread.  

Then I watched all my favorites on the Today show (looking at you Willy) while blogging my September recap.

Then I went for a three mile run that ended at Whole Foods to purchase eggs and some other essentials for eating all my meals at home.

I mixed the eggs with some pumpkin and chocolate chips for pumpkin bread.

Oh and giant Texas muffins.

A few weeks ago I stopped by a street sale with my friend Jenn. They were cleaning up and there was a free pile. I grabbed this tray from the free pile and decided to paint it up.

First I sanded.

Then I painted with chalkboard paint.

Then on to some flag painting, first the DC flag

Then my interpretation of the US flag.

Then it was noon and time for lunch. Haha... just kidding. That was two days of projects. I also finished hanging my collage photo wall and framed and hung some photos in my bedroom. 

My sister Kristen and niece Gretchen have arrived for fun. Even though tons of things are closed and they canceled the half marathon we were going to run, we are determined to have a good time. 

Yesterday we hit up the playground.

And then enjoyed milkshakes at Ted's Bulletin.

Today the building museum!