Christmas: Presents

[Christmas Eve]

Time for the Christmas present wrap up! You already read about the rocking chair I fixed up for Lucy. Now time to see the rest of the goods!

Every year, Norman and I decided on a certain amount of money to spend on each other for Christmas presents. It's a relatively low amount (you can read some about why that is here). It's kind of like a fun challenge to see how awesome the presents can be for so little money. I will admit to having a distinct advantage here: I can make crafty things, and thereby save money. However, I would like to point out that I do not ever ask for alcoholic beverages (pricey!), so I really think it all evens out. :-)

We gave Lucy the rocking chair, a big ol' box of PlayDoh and accessories (a garage sale score!), I Spy board books.

[Rockin' out]

[We actually got some good tearing-off-the-wrapping-paper photos this year. Thanks, 20-month-old!]

[Her favorite part is the plastic knife that didn't come with the original set.]

I gave Norman a comic book he'd been wanting, some Irish cream (see? alcohol. pricey.), a giant flashlight (like on the X-Files! kinda.), and a stenciled t-shirt. An extremely obscure stenciled t-shirt.

[John Simm approves!]

[The shirt is based off this photo, from this episode of Doctor Who.]

And Norman (very impressively for the money, I might mention), got me some truffles made by my favorite truffle maker, the Dr Horrible DVD (so I can see "Commentary! The Musical"!), the Cake Wrecks calendar (which I was fully intending to spend my own money on after Christmas), and Doctor Who buttons and a knit TARDIS ornament!!!

[Love the framing here. No, really.]

[Terrifying Pertwee is Terrifying!]

I think the Doctor Who stuff is so special because, although I've been fully entrenched in Doctor Who fandom since May (has it really only been that long??) they're the first physical objects associated with the show that I own (and Norman, too!). It's about time, eh? (It was a really long 7 months...)

So there you have it! A fun, nerdy, thrifty pile of awesomeness.

Merry Christmas, all!

I hope today has been everything you wanted it to be, and that anything extra is nothing but a welcome surprise!

Child Rocking Chair Seat Revamp

As I write this, it's Christmas Eve Eve. And as you read this, it is Christmas Eve (or later). So I haven't given this present to Lucy yet. It's still in the garage (which is where I revamped it, so excuse the horrible lighting in the following photos). But since Lucy is not a regular reader of my blog, I figured I was safe. :-)

I found this wooden child's rocking chair in the dumpster by our old apartment right before we moved to the house we are in now. So that was... a year and a half ago. It was really in quite good condition, especially for something that came out of a dumpster. It is solid wood, sturdy, and the only thing wrong with it (aside from some scratches) was that it had no seat. I think when I found it there were upholstery tacks and some faux-leather-type pieces around the edges. Upon closer inspection, it actually kinda looks like it was originally a wicker seat, which someone removed and installed the faux-leather seat. But anyway, it's small and adorable and old and sturdy.

I eventually decided to redo the seat with an assortment of old belts woven together. I hit up a thrift store bag sale and raided their belts. I bought about 8 that I thought had a reasonable chance of being leather. And I've had them for about a year. That's why I decided I'd give Lucy the rocking chair this Christmas -- so I would actually get it done.

On Tuesday I bought some upholstery tacks, and Wednesday evening I cranked the thing out in the exact length of time it took to listen to the Glee Christmas album. Exact. It was crazy.

I only had a vague idea of my plan, but as Norman and I were discussing last week, that usually works out for me. But that's probably because I have good instincts about what I can improvise and what I can't.

Enough talk. Photos.

[Before.]
[It looks kind of big here, but let me assure you, I cannot fit my hips between the armrests. It is for a child.]

[Pile of belts]


[Figuring out the weaving]


[Ta da!]

[Close-up of the seat]

It could definitely be more polished, but I think given the condition of the chair, it's just right.

Fun Times Photo Dump

Today I was planning on sharing with you some photos of some Christmas gifts I made for some of my friends and family. But I'm not entirely sure if all those gifts have reached their destinations and/or been opened, and I don't want to ruin the surprise for those who haven't received/opened.

Then I was planning on showing you photos of the rocking chair I'm revamping for one of Lucy's Christmas presents, but I haven't actually revamped it yet. Oops. Tomorrow. It will get revamped tomorrow, and then there will be photos later.

So today you get random (mostly food) photo dump! Hooray!

[This year's Christmas card photo]

[My first pie crust. I used this recipe.]

[Saw this at the WalMart...]

[One of the most adorable photos of my husband and my daughter in existence]

[A really good looking baked potato]

[The night I used the pancake molds. A bear for Lucy...]

[A heart for Norman...]

[And... uh... That's no' mine.]

[A cat that looks like Hitler]

[And last but not least -- ZOMBIE BABY! (We helped some friends get engaged by way of zombie attack.)]

Deluxe Happened

[My booth was next the Crafty Katie's booth]

...and that was probably the last one I'll attend and/or sell at. That makes me kind of sad. But not too sad. There will be other opportunities wherever we end up (In case you don't know what I'm talking about, my husband is almost done with his PhD, he has applied to a ton of jobs, and only one of them is in-state. Chances are we'll be moving far away this summer.)

I remembered to take photos! (Which is a miracle, since I did not remember to bring a chair. I spent the whole day sitting on one of my Rubbermaid tubs. Oy.)

[I liked the Geek Corner set-up at the home show so much that I did it again!]

[Can ya see that? Across the way? That's the "Pirate Party". Unfortunately they're political, not celebrational. More's the pity.]

It was super-busy all day -- it was amazing! I saw several of my crafty friends and met some fun, interesting people. Oh and I sold a bunch of stuff. Woot!

[I also had this great helper to help me clean everything up afterwards.]

Deluxe is coming!

[My Deluxe booth in 2008 (pregnant!)]

My favorite craft show is tomorrow. It's called Deluxe, and it is so fun! I'll be there with all my wares. You know who else will be there? About 70 other vendors and a whole bunch of Oklahomans hungry for some indie crafty goodness.

Come join us, won't you?

[My booth from last year.]

Deluxe Indie Craft Bazaar
Centennial Building - OKC Fairgrounds
Saturday, December 11, 2010
11 am - 5 pm
FREE parking and FREE admission

Live music, kids' crafts, coat drive, raffle, etc, etc.
Check the website for the schedule!

[You need these. I will have them there.]

Oh, and here is my interview on the Deluxe site.

Okie Crafts

I've lived in Oklahoma my whole life. Aside from a few assorted summers spent in Kentucky and Minnesota, it's been Oklahoma. I know a lot of people who have lived in Oklahoma their whole lives, and they are damn proud of it. They love it here. They might die for Oklahoma.

I'm not one of those people. I've actually been trying to escape for the last 9 years. It looks like I'll (probably) finally succeed this summer.

Maybe it's the happy prospect of leaving, or maybe I've finally made peace with my home state. Or maybe I stumbled across some Oklahoma-type items and I knew I could turn them into something awesome. (Psst -- It's the last one!) But I made some Oklahoma crafts. They're pretty cool, actually. And they'll be for sale at Deluxe on Saturday! Woohoo!

[Oklahoma picture book turned into a blank journal]

[Note cards made from the pages of the above picture book]

["Oklahoma is justly proud of its Symphony Orchestra."]

["Sooneropoly" board game coasters -- I've got two sets left!]

Christmas Not-a-Tree

We're not doing a Christmas tree this year. You all know that I love Christmas trees, but it just wasn't in the cards this year. The tree we had last year, we had gotten for free, so we didn't feel too bad about giving it away after Christmas. It was going to take up a lot of room in our garage. And we have an extra piece of furniture in our dining room this year, so the space where the tree was last year is gone. And last year we just put the baby gate up to keep Lucy away from it, but that wouldn't really fly this year, and I have some ornaments that I would be so sad if they broke. I don't want to be mad at Lucy for breaking them. So we don't have a tree. My original idea was to buy a small, potted live tree, but we don't really have the space or the money for even that.

But I love Christmas trees.

So I decided to check out how much artificial greenery garlands cost at Hobby Lobby. Well, lo and behold, when I went in to check them out, they were half off. I got two lengths (all of what is on the wall above) for $8 plus tax. I will take it.

It's just like a tree! We put lights on it, we (I) decorated it with our ornaments, and we can set presents under it if we want. Perfect!

[There she is again -- my favorite ornament.]

[It's nice to have something framing the window!]

[Our Lady, etc.]