I only have two more pages to fill up in my old notebook before I get to switch to my new one.  To get the new one ready, I hand-sewed clear vinyl pockets into it.  Because of it's thickness and rigidity, I can't sew it with the machine.

I pre-poked the holes with a pin.  I used the leaf pattern to make them evenly-spaced.  If you need to do this on plain paper, you could sandwich a piece of graph paper between the paper and the vinyl to use as a guide for poking your holes before you sew it up.

I left pins in the corners as I sewed to help me keep everything straight.  I used some floss from my left over floss bits box.

Cry Baby

I feel like a whiner for complaining about not having enough time in my last post.  Who *does* have enough time?  Or money?  Or chocolate?

Sometimes I get so focused on the projects I haven't finished, the projects I haven't started, the patterns I haven't published, the posts I haven't written, the crafting supplies I haven't purchased, the thank yous I haven't sent ... that I fail to see all the things I actually *have* accomplished.  I have a lot to be proud of.  Thanks for pointing that out (the the nicest and funniest way) Blue  and lil' d!

Avatars 2.0

When I showed Andrew my avatar he said, "You don't have black eyebrows."  And he's right.  

When I went back to remake myself I took the time to figure out how to change the background and noticed that you can move some of the elements up and down, like mouths.  Moving the mouth down a click or two makes your avatar look a little older.

More About Memes

Also, I totally forgot to tell you why I end up doing memes even though I can't even bear to utter the word ... it's because I love reading yours so much!  I love learning about you guys, seeing pictures of you, hearing your secrets.  I figure that I'm not the only one who likes it, so I might give you a tiny glimpse into my Aliceness.  I still think there's something icky about them, though. :)

Cactus Update - August

Grow you little bastards!  Grow!  Why are they still so teeny tiny?  Am I going to have to wait until next Spring for another growth spurt?  And ... I killed another one last month.  Three down, eighty-two to go.  More pictures on Flickr.  [ Note: I've compared last month's photo of the red-spiked cactus to this month's, and it has grown a leeeetle bit.  But that's not saying much since it's only 20 mm tall (that's less than an inch). ]

I like to play the crusty curmudgeon (and maybe I am).  I feel the same way Korallin feels about memes and web awards (and I often need a nap, too).  But (but!) sometimes I enjoy a little of the blog-meme action (like I did here, and here, and here, and here).

Futuregirl Avatar

So this week I found myself making an avatar after seeing  Green Kitchen's and thinking, "Wow, that really looks kinda like her." (and her Sis', too!)  And now, going back to see them to make the links, I realize we all have the same shirt on, but I changed the stripes to be black and grey like my favorite shirt. ever.  I've worn that shirt once a week since I bought it a couple years ago.  I added the freckles in Photoshop.


Six Unspectacular Quirks About Yourself

What a wonderful segue to the "six unspectacular quirks about yourself" meme that Christina from Little Wilds tagged me for (which I was tagged ... whatever).  I'm not going to follow the rules (which you can see on her blog in your interested) because that's how I roll.

1) If I find an article of clothing I like, I wear it once a week until it's dead.  I'd wear them more than once a week if I washed clothes more often.

2) I mispronounce words.  Mostly ones I've only read and haven't heard other people use.  Like ancillary ... which I say (... or, I guess, said) /ann-sillary/ (rhymes with Hillary) but should really be pronounced /an' sil airy/.  I have to pause before I say superfluous because it wants to come out of my mouth /su'per-flew-us/ instead of /su-perf'-ew-lus/, but at least I know that one's wrong.  I've also been called out on biopic ... which I say (said) /bi-op-ick/ instead of the correct /bi-oh-pick/. [** edit, I had the biopic pronunciations mixed up**].

3) I'm very particular about the smoothness and non-movingness of the covers while I sleep.  Very. Particular.

4) I don't like to eat fruit.  I'll eat cold cut up apples, but that's about it.

5) I got caught smelling my own arm at work last week and I realized that I do it all the time.  I like the way the sun-ripened raspberry shower gel smells.  Luckily I was only seen sniffing my bicep.  I think I usually bury my nose in my elbow pit and then I breath in slowly and deeply.

6) I eat breakfast cereal dry and out of a cup.  Like I'm drinking it.  I don't like milk or fake-o milk substitutes.  But I *do* like breakfast cereal.

Those are pretty unspectacular.  Nothing too shocking or cool.

Things I Assume You Know

This is also a great time to mention that I added a new section to my about page called "Things I assume you know."   I realized recently that I've started to assume that my readers know stuff about me and I figured I should let people who are new to my blog know what those things are.  And, to keep you from having to click, I'll just list 'em here:

- My name is Alice.
- I'm 36 years old.
- My husband's name is Andrew.
- I live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
- I lived in San Francisco for 9 years from 1992 to 2001.
- I grew up in the Midwest.
- I've been crafty my whole life.
- Currently I mainly crochet, handsew things out of felt, and embroider.
- I'm alergic to wool.
- I love Japanese craft books.
- I'm really into owls, peacocks, lions (especially on buildings), and octopuses.
- I also really like skulls, flames, and glitter.
- I don't knit. I only have so much time.
- I'm obsessed with being organized.
- I love lists, notebooks, and organizational systems.
- I work full-time outside of the house.
- I'm a web programmer.
- I wrote my blog application using ASP.NET (VB.NET) and SQL Server 2005.
- I try to visit the websites of everyone who comments.
- I try to respond to all my comments.
- Sometimes I don't have the time to visit or respond. I wish I did.
- Ravelry user: futuregirl
- Flickr:  futuregirl_dot_com

I've been missing crochet so much.  After making a whole handbag on Saturday, I didn't want to stop.  I decided to make one that could be lined with the awesome fabric Veronica sent me December 2007.

The stitch pattern is *3 sc, 3 hdc, 3 dc, 3 hdc*  And there are some single crochet rows thrown in there, too.

I did a little test swatch.  I love the way the anarchy waves look.  There was no forethought and each row has a different stitch pattern.  But that just wasn't going to work on a handbag whose sides need to match up ... well not without a lot of planning.  And I wasn't in the mood for planning.  I was in the mood to crochet.

I brought all the balls of yarn that matched the purse out in to the living room and picked the colors row by row.  Thank goodness I like the way it all worked out.  The mix of colors and their frequency really echoes that of the fabric for me.  I want to do fabric handles on this one, but I haven't really worked out how yet.

There are a million-and-one-other things I want to talk about in this post but I don't have the time.  But I still need to get them out of my head, so here's a mangle mess of thoughts:

- I wanted to talk about how the gifts people give me of yarn and fabric (like those in yesterday and today's post) cry out to me every time I see them saying, "Why haven't you used me yet?"  All of my craft supplies cry out "Me me me!" but I find the ones that are gifts do so especially.

- It's unbelievable that I've had that fabric for over 8 months.  Sometimes my crafty blog-record can be a curse.

- I see women all over the city wearing slinky skirts and dresses with awesome with multicolored, disappearing/emerging wave patterns on them and I was trying to recreate that in my swatch.  I couldn't find an example of the pattern on the web (I want that f*cking hour back, Google!).  I've been wanting to crochet that kind of pattern for weeks and it just sort of fit in with this project.  I like how things like this come together.

- I "watched" some TERRIBLE movies on-demand on Sunday while I was crocheting.  I need the noise.  In the office (aka craft room) I like music, but it's gotta be the TV in the living room.  When I saw a homeless woman with a radio the other day, it made me think of me on Sunday and I realized if I'm ever homeless I'd need a radio, too.  Then yesterday Angelina posted about homeless people, which I thought was a weird coincidence.

- I photographed the bag from yesterday on the couch.  What a crap background for that bag.

- I never explained the title, which comes from an Indiana Jones movie.  But it's a quote at our house because of its use in Clerks.  I thought of it because I spent all my spare moments last weekend crocheting ... OK, not all of them.  I also did some stitching for A Collaboration.  All that crafting didn't leave much time for anything else, but it sure did make me happy.

- Did I mention I wish I had more time?  I have so many stories I want to tell. :)

After getting the box o' yarny love from Shannon last weekend, I *had* to do some crocheting.  The package contained a wonderful variegated yarn that I really wanted to see as a handbag.  There was some major blue-pooling when I was doing the base which I wasn't loving (see bottom right in photo).

I noticed that the green didn't look like it was pooling, just the blue.  Like one was negative and one was positive.  There was a skein of green in the box, too, so I decided to do every third row in the green to break up any potential blue-pooling issues.  It worked like a charm!

Did you notice the solid green rows before I told you about them?  I started and finished this on Saturday.  How long do you think it will take me to find the perfect lining fabric?  My money's on late November.

Man, I totally hate to disappoint everyone, but the robot random number picker has spoken.  The winner of the Glitter Stamping Starter Kit is Megan of Crafty Intentions.  Congratulations!

Thanks to all of you for bringing the comment-love! You guys are the best!

"Here are your random numbers"?!  There's only one number, you doofy web page!  I wish I could go fix the code ...  is that crazy?  Don't answer that.

Oh, and I didn't count the people who commented and said "Count me out" so the 60 doesn't match up exactly if you're double checking me.  But why would you do that?  You totally trust me, right?  You should.

... or should you?  

Lots of recent goodness to share:

Owl Earrings

Tanya of More Than Blue, a frequent, thoughtful, and hilarious visitor to my blog, sent me these beautiful and elegant owl earrings.  Because they are simple sterling silver, I can wear them with anything ... and, believe me, I will!  Thank you, Tanya!

I might have to break my gold/silver taboo and wear them with the awesome owl pin Blaize sent me.  They *do* look like twin-zies, don't they?


Surprise Pack Of Yarn

Shannon of Birdstar sent me a box of non-wool yarn from her languishing stash.  Seriously people - I'm totally overwhelmed.  There are FIVE (5!) skeins of red chenille in there ... three balls of Debbie Bliss cotton (which I've only ever dreamed about!) ... loads of other cotton yarn ... some Paton Grace that coordinates with the Viola I'm using for the Icelandic Turtleneck ... a rainbow of Lion Brand Homespun softness ... and so much more.  I've already started a handbag with some of the yarn she sent, which I'll show you later this week.    Thank you, Shannon!


There's a Mouse in the House

I complimented a coworker's lapel-mouse and discovered that she has a friend with an Etsy Shop.  How fun is that?  Well, if it's MouseTrapVintage, then it's super-fun!  Her hand-sewn mouse pins are unbelievably adorable *and* affordable.  Just look at those houndstooth ears!

New Stitchy Circles Photoshop Brushes

Jason Gaylor's Photoshop Brushes are the coolest.  I use them to make the fancy white cutout border on the bottom of my images.  Yesterday he released a brush set named Stitchy Circles which looks amazing.  Although many of his brush sets are free,  this one is $14 for personal use ... which is totally worth it.  There is a free sample so you can try before you buy.
Crochet Blanket Heaven

I ran across this awesome blanket when I was clicking around the intertubes.  Hexagons!  Advacado Green!  Harvest Gold!  Pumpkin!  It's so "1970s housewife" which is totally my favorite. For real.  The best part is that a 21-year-old made it.  How awesome is that?!

When we cleaned out the closet recently, we found a boxless deck of cards.  About 10 minutes later, I'd made this snazzy little bag for them.

It's made of one long piece of fabric that has two side seams.  To keep the side seams from poking the cards, I placed a folded piece of card stock in the bag.  The card stock not only protects the cards, but it also makes it easier to get them in and out, because the bag keeps it's shape.  You could totally throw this into your backpack for a day at the park and not have to worry about your cards getting all bent up.

I love little projects like this where you can just crank out the finished piece.  It's nice to not have to worry about perfect seams and stuff like that and just *make* something.

I love glitter.  LOVE glitter.  Glitter rocks.  Here's an example of just how glitter-crazed I can be: I used to have this awesome set of matching skull address labels and skull checks.  I used glitter glue to put sparkly red eyes on *all* 240 address labels.  See?  I'm cuckoo for the glitter.  I don't get to glitter things as much as I used to.  It's probably been a good 8 years since I've gotten a good glitter fix.  Then I got this in the mail ...
Wow!  I occasionally get promo packages from Martha Stewart and most of the time they're neat, but the Glitter Stamping Starter Kit has really knocked my socks off.  I was so shocked I didn't even open the packaging up for a week.  Then it took another week for me to actually mess with all the components to figure out how the heck it works because I was so afraid I was going to wreck this most-awesome kit.

It's even cooler than I imagined!  The stamping base is clear plastic so you can see where you're stamping (brilliant!) and the rubbery stamps just kinda stick to it.  That means you can use the stamps unlimited times, in unlimited combos, and in unlimited positions.  I thought, since it was called a "starter kit" that they just included one base and once you attached some stamps to it you'd have to get a another base ... but NO!  They just mean that you're started on a life-long spree of glue-stamping be-glittering fun.

I've been waiting for a free moment the last two weeks to break out the glue stamp pad, the bird and leaf stamps, and get glittering (or the snowflakes ... or the starbursts ... or the butterflies) but I haven't had that free moment.

GIVEAWAY

The truth is that I will never use this because I just don't do paper-crafts much.  I wouldn't want to load the glue stamp pad up for *one* glitter orgy.  That would be sad.  This awesome kit should live in a home where it will be loved and often used.  So I'm giving this away to one of you.  Leave a comment telling me about your love of glitter, shiny things, or paper crafting.

To be included in the drawing, leave your comment before the end of the day Tuesday, August 12th (that's the midnight between the 12th and the 13th Eastern Time).  To find out what time that is where you live, choose your time zone next to the heading "Select place to convert to" on this page at The World Clock.

Last week I also got some surprise gifts from Andrew, too.  These owl magnets are AMAZING.  Actually, the Matte Stephens* ones are new.  The Amy Ruppel** were a gift a while back from him ... as were the non-owl Mod Pattern set.

And look at this notebook!  It's just the right size for my new(est) organizational system AND it has three kinds of paper: lined, graph, and blank AND the pages are perforated AND there's an elastic band to keep it closed AND there are vellum divider pages printed with leaves.  LOVE!  I have 7 pages left in my current note book and it's *killing me* to wait to switch over.  Killing.  Me.

Does he know me or what?!  Oh, Andrew, you're the best.  ever.

*ACK!  I only searched for his site to link to him.  Oh, I shouldn't have.  It's TOO CUTE.  I can't take all the owly goodness.  I think I'm going to explode! [**edit** Originally I though Matte was a girl ... turns out he's a guy.  Who knew?  Well, obviously not me.]

**I successfully just copied and pasted the url without looking at her site ... whew!  I'll save that hours-long time-suck for later.  I bet it's as good as Matte's site.