Clouds

I played around with a zoom lens the other day and took some pictures of the clouds. They make me happy.

Day 42: Berry Sweet

Everyone seems to be having babies these days. My sister is one of them. She is pregnant with her third (another little girl) and I am throwing her a shower.I have big plans to make a lot of food, sew up some cute decorations, and to design the invites! So far the invites are the only thing I have finished.

I went with a strawberry and gingham design. What do you think? Are you getting a summer vibe?

I can't wait to get these babies printed! Look for a post covering the whole party in August. I will have lots to share!

Day 41: Percy the Sailor Seahorse

Recently I received an order in my etsy store for three of my seahorse tea towels. Usually these guys are pink with blue hats, but per request I made them in teal with coral hats. I have to say I love the color combo! Here is a quick picture I took before I mailed them out.

I haven't embroidered anything in quite a while. It felt good to get out the old hoop and floss and get to work. Perhaps I'll try to make time for it more often.

Day 36: Photo Love

Earlier this month I tagged along with my former boss, Marissa, to help her photograph a wedding! The bride and groom, Christine and Greg, were also former co-workers, so it lead to a very memorable evening. It was great being able to witness such a sweet and personalized ceremony. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to help capture their special day.

This was my first time shooting professionally. I was super nervous, but working with Marissa was great. She was very helpful and easy to work with. My main goals that day were to help her get shots at different angles, learn as much as I could about the process, and to see if I enjoyed the whole idea of shooting a wedding. I have to say I loved it!

Day 40: Succulent Terrariums

I finally got a chance to make my terrariums today! My original plan was to have at least two plants in the larger container, but they didn't fit.  I might pick up a few nick knacks, like small plastic animals or something to add a little more interest, but I'm kinda of liking the simplicity of these right now.

Succulent Terrariums

Day 39: Succulents

Check out these beauties.

Day 38: Sunset Photos

The weather was lovely yesterday. The boyfriend and I hung out on the porch and just enjoyed the sunset and the nice cool breeze. We have been letting Kitty outside with us lately which has been pretty entertaining. She is strictly an indoor cat so she gets really curious. The wind was really freaking her out. I don't think she understood what was happening when her fur was getting blown all around.

Since the light was so pretty I decided to bring out my camera and snap a few shots of the boyfriend and the cat. Here are a few of my favorites.

Day 37: Spin that Record Baby One More Time

I finally got around to making the April calendar from Curiosity Group. It's the cutest little record player. You can make one too!

Make Something 365

I'm being featured on Make Something 365 today. Check it out.

In other news I'll be posting about my creative adventure this past weekend next week. I accompanied a friend of mine to a wedding to photograph the event! It was soooo much fun! In the mean time enjoy this little little paper mouse I made. More projects to come soon!

Day 35: Pouring with Love

While looking for inspiration for projects I came across this cute little idea over at Young House Love. I quickly ran to the closest craft store and picked up a porcelain marker and made a trip to the thrift store for a couple coffee mugs. Now let me tell you. Getting this marker to work on the mug was no easy task. I don't know if all the porcelain markers out there are a pain in the butt or just the one I bought, but I couldn't get the marker to flow the ink out smoothly to save my life. It took several attempts to get it to work correctly and even then the ink started to just rub off. It kinda worked in my favor though since I wasn't happy with my first attempt. About an hour later I finally ended up with this.

Day 33 : The Rich Lamas

An anagram is a type of word play. You take all the letters of a word and rearrange them to produce a new word or phrase. You can only use each letter once.

Here is a common example, William Shakespeare = I am a weakish speller

I came up with a few anagrams of my name, Rachael Smith. They are " I Harm Chalets", "The Rich Lamas",  and "Lace Ham Shirt".


I plan to illustrate one of them later. Perhaps the lace ham shirt.Or maybe I can make a lace ham shirt! Because that would be awesome.

Day 287: Make and anagram of your name and illustrate it in some way.

Day 32: A Nosh of Ganache

My little brother just graduated college. To celebrate the whole family got together for dinner and I made him a cake. A chocolate raspberry ganache cake! I've never made ganache before, but it's really easy. Just heat up some heavy cream and pour it over some chopped up chocolate and mix. That's it!

Here are some shots of the cake in progress.

Added a layer of raspberry jam

Day 31: Button, Button, who's got the button

I have a pretty large stash of buttons in my craft room. Using only the black and gray ones I made the letter "Q".

Day 30: Sci-fi Short

One more short story...ok maybe two. I couldn't decide which one I liked better.

4,000 light years away is a man with tiny shorts.

I also wrote this one.

The aliens have landed.
They brought cupcakes
and death rays!


Day 67: Write a ten-word science-fiction story.

Day 29: Love Short Story

I'm really getting into the idea of writing 10 word stories. It might turn into a side project. This one is 20, but it's still short and funny. 


Your hair smells like lilies.
Your eyes sparkle like the sea.
Whenever I think about you I have to pee.


Day 21: Write a 20-word love story.

Day 28: Embroidered Toe Shoes

Last year I started an Etsy shop, Lady Bear Crafts, selling embroidered cards, bookmarks, and tea towels. Since finding full time employment I haven't had much time to make things to sell. So I was super excited when I got a email from a friend asking for a custom card. His girlfriend is a ballet dancer and her birthday is coming up.

Day 207: Use paper like it was fabric. You can weave it or sew on it – what else?

Day 27: Murder Mystery

Bobbie's missing.
Think he's dead?
Yes.
Why?
Here's his head.

Day 319: Write a ten-word murder mystery.

Day 26: Dip & Dye

I've had a few plain white tea towels hanging around, so I decided to add a little color to them using the dip dye technique. I made four and despite getting some dye in a few places I didn't want to it went pretty well. I did end up dying my hand blue in the process, but it should come off eventually!

Day 80: Try Dyeing! Work with food or fabric dye.

Day 25: Bookmark

I whipped up this little fabric bookmark just so I could use my sewing machine. I kinda feel like it needs a ribbon coming out the top. Maybe I'll make a few more this weekend and see how it goes.

FYI: My photos the for the next few days may go down in quality. I had to switch to my point and shoot camera while my boyfriend uses the SLR for his own personal little project.

Day 237: Make a unique bookmark.

Day 24: Pixel Power

I played around in Adobe Illustrator today and made this. I never knew you could make a grid and paint in the squares with live paint in CS5. I felt like I was using Microsoft Paint like I use to when I was little and personal computers were new. Wow, that was over 12 years ago. Now I feel old.

Day 357: Make something look digital (jagged edges, pixels).