Look Mom, look what I made!

Welcome to my craft space. Hope you enjoy the collection. Thanks for stopping by and feel free to drop me a note!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

beach wood creations.

currently i am sitting in my nice air-conditioned townhouse in Austin attempting to hide from the 95 degree heat and 70% humidity of june in central texas AND wishing i was on the california coast. which brings me to my on-going obsession with beach wood.

this past spring i went to visit my good friend from college in los angeles and on one of our coastal drives we decided to stop and breathe in the salty sea air. from the small cliff, i could see a piece of white drift wood floating in the shallow waves. too good to be true! ignoring my friend's protests, i climb down the cliff to retrieve my treasure. i awkwardly monkey my way back up the cliff ecstatic.

once i got back home to Austin, i let the wood dry out (took about a week) and found some knobs fromanthropologie (love that store) and drilled them into the wood. add a picture hanger to the back and it's the perfect place to display necklaces.

above my creation is another beach wood masterpiece... a picture frame (with postcard by San Francisco- based artist, Sabrina Ward Harrison) found in my good friend Alisha's beach-inspired shop Splendid Little Shoppe located in Petaluma, California. check it out, you're bound to love it.

Girlfriend Getaway, Cape Cod

So, for Memorial Day weekend my friends and I went to see Sex and the City 2 and then decided to whisk off to the Cape.  We grilled some burgers at my friend's Truro house, walked to the beach, had lobster dinner in Provincetown, and shopped at the Wellfleet Flea Market. It was so fun and relaxing-THANKS Nina for letting us stay your family's house in Truro! I thought I would show off the cute spots we visite. First stop: Wellfleet, Massachusetts



Chotskie Shopping @ the...

Back to Nina's for a BBQ Feast
The SIDES: 
-baked sweet potatoes fries
-spinach and onion sauteed in white wine and olive oil
-Cape Cod taters (obvs)
-fruit salad
-bruschetta
I was in charge of the Bruschetta, so here's the RECIPE (serves 4)
-2 cloves fresh garlic
-fresh basil leaves
-3 tomatoes
-salt and pepper
-French or Ciabatta bread
-Olive Oil
Instructions: Mince garlic, chop basil finely, and cut up tomatoes into tiny cubes. Mix in a bowl and add salt and pepper to taste. Slice bread into small serving sizes and coat both sides with olive oil. Grill bread until brown on both sides. Place bread on serving platter and top bread with spoonfuls of tomato/basil/garlic mix.  ENJOY with a glass of wine=)
   5 minute walk to the beach to walk off our food babies

Friday, June 4, 2010

Bobbles and Beads

I started making my own jewelry at the age of 7 or 8. Correction, I started beading my hair because my friend had a Swedish hippy nanny who put different colored seed beads in her hair. Annnnnd as their gardener found out, this Swedish nanny also fancied the act of tanning poolside in the NUDE-whoaaaa, chotskies!@#$+%. Good thing Tiger wasn't nearby. Okay, I know that's neither here or there, but anyhoo you get the idea of how the bead obsession started. My hair beading evolved into making those chunky plastic beaded bracelets. You know the ones you can get in a big mixed bag of assortments at the crafts store. I started making raver bracelets. Some even glowed in the dark. I used to make them for all my friends at school. I've had a lot of busted projects, but here are some of my more postable creations:

Bobbles of Pearls Necklace

               Bracelet of Square Blue Glass Beads                               

      Green Glass Bead Earrings

Jamie's Old Necklace Got a Facelift

I know everyone has tons of jewelry laying around the house that they no longer use. I love deconstructing these old accessories and piecing together new ones. This necklace is a combination of chain from different necklaces and bracelets, green beads from my roomate's (Holla @ Jamie!) old necklace she no longer wanted, ribbon, and a flower brooch my mom found at a vintage craft fair awhile ago-probably before I was born. The only thing I bought was the ribbon.

Leather Bracelet, inspired by Hannah and Emily

My friend Hannah who lives in Austin, TX (Longhorn shoutout!) was iChatting with me the other day and was showing off the cute, indie leather braided charm bracelets her sister made. I had to cop the idea. Voila:

Silk Blossoms

I'm still getting used this whole blogging thing, posting pics, leaving comments, etc. My friend Angie of http://www.santanaphoto.com/ took these great photos of my latest Spring creations. Muchas Gracias Angie!
These are some flowers I made with some silk fabric. I love the weight and texture of silk. It's super simple. I started by cutting the fabric into different sized circles. Taking one circular piece of fabric, I then stitched around the whole circumference then pulled the thread tight, gathering and bunching the fabric in the center, creating a bubble. I flattened the bubble, keeping some puff, and sewed into the center of flower. I don't know what I'm going to do with these little guys, but I made them in different colors and sizes. I was thinking I would make some flirty pins, headbands, and belts with them. Shoutout to Celeste for sending me an Angel;)



Here they are in a rich red: