Blegh

Found out today I have strep throat. Yuk. I feel pretty blegh right now so there might not be much crafting around here the next few days.

 

Hope to be back soon!

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Love it or Leave it: embroidery hoop crafts

Today's love it or leave it: embroidery hoops

Specifically, wooden embroidery hoops. The plastic and metal ones are nice and can be convenient for actual embroidery, but the wooden ones look nicer and can be more versatile in my opinion. I mean as a craft supply and not just a frame to hold your material taught for embroidering purposes. I do like the look of leaving fabric in embroidery hoops instead of regular frames too though.


Here are some ideas I've pinned and think are pretty nifty:

I have yet to make any of these but I like all of them and would gladly have them hanging in my home or use them.  I have used a large 14" embroidery hoop to make two baby mobiles. The inner hoop was used for the sailboat mobile and the outer ring was used for the owls.  The metal bits were cut off the outer hoop.  Both were painted and have felt wrapped around the outside to give a softer look and bring the whole look together.



So, when it comes to embroidery hoop crafting...

LOVE it!

Engagement shoot!

I'm pleased to announce that my little gnome has found a Mrs! Be prepared to see more of these little guys. I just love them!

the Mr

the Mrs

classic engagement shots

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knit gnome

tiny little knit gnome

A friend and co-worker of mine will be moving to South East Asia for the next two years to be a Journeyman.  I'm super excited for her but will miss her around here.  We had a staff dinner last week and some of us said nice things to her, gave cards and so on.  I got it in my head that day at work that I could knit her something small after work and before dinner.  I found this gnome pattern and knew it would be pretty simple and the perfect little travel companion for her while she tours the world.  

There was a construction delay when trying to leave work.

Then I didn't have skin colored yarn so I had to go to hobby lobby.

Then there was traffic.

Then once home Chuy wanted to snuggle and lay on my knitting.

Then my dad called.

I managed to get this little guy knit in a little over an hour and was only a little late to dinner (though I got there right when our group was seated...so I like to think I was perfectly on time).

She loved him and I already have plans to knit some more.  I found a lady gnome variation and I foresee some cute little Clauses for Christmas this year!

Chuy isn't sure what to think of this little guy

Owlies!

A friend of mine commissioned an owl mobile for a new little girl coming into the world. She knew the nursery theme was owls and the colors were pinks and purples. From there I had creative control so I made this cute mobile. I picked some pinks, a purple and a great berry/magenta color to pull the two together. I had some matching pom-poms from my sailboat mobile that added just the right amount of character. To break up some of the color I added some green leaves and used brown yarn and embossed felt for the construction. I love the subtle tree feel it gives.

What's great about how I constructed this is when the little girl grows older they can just untie a knot and slip the little owls off for play!

The beginning of an owl

So much pink cuteness

Mobile supplies

The full mobile

Gnomes coming soon!

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love it or leave it: bombs

My intention was to do the second installment of Love it or Leave it on Friday, but work got a little crazy.  I don't mean busy, I mean crazy.  I've mentioned on here that I work at the Baptist Student Ministry (BSM) by the UT campus.  Well, on Friday morning there was a bomb threat on UT followed by a campus-wide evacuation.  UT has about 50,000 students, plus faculty and staff.  Needless to say, it was slightly chaotic around here.  On top of that, David and I led worship for the BSM's weekend retreat immediately following work so any attempt at updating on Friday was just dead.

So instead of reviewing a crafting trend or product I will say this...

Bomb threats....leave it.

Next post will be full or owls and feathers!

an update

 I realize I wrote a lengthy post about changing my eating habits a few months ago and never gave an update.  Well, here it is...

As of yesterday I've officially lost 20 pounds, and it feels great!  I'm 2/3s of the way to my original goal, though I do want to lose more than that.  I didn't want to set some crazy goal and then it be really hard and get frustrated and give up.  I know myself.  It took me a little over 4 months to get here and it's been a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Here's my big diet secret.......you ready?

Think.  That's it.  Use some logic when eating and it's really easy.  I've looked up a lot of the foods I was eating and that's all it took to change my habits.  If chicken strips at a restaurant are 1000 calories don't order them.  Don't eat 5 pieces of free bread before your meal.  Don't guzzle down soda after soda because there are free refills.  These were all autopilot eating habits I had and I've been working on breaking them all.

We eat more food from scratch at home including sweet potatoes, homemade waffles, rice and beans, fresh tortillas, clean meats, fish and lots of fresh fruit.  I eat a pear every day and David has at least two apples at work each day.  I was having a green shake every morning for a while and that's slowed down.  It was good for the first 2 months though.  The biggest thing I did to help myself was restarting my metabolism by eating smaller meals and snacking all day.  I feel like I'm actually eating more food than I used to but it's good food and my body is burning through it like crazy. I've even been craving and having small amounts of chocolate on a regular basis, which is strange since I'm not a huge chocolate fan. (No, I'm not pregnant)

This past weekend we went out and I found some new jeans.  I don't let myself get hung up on sizes but it was pretty nice to go down a size from what I bought last year before the wedding and before I gained a lot of this weight. I even got some black skinny jeans which I love now!

Alright, you probably won't get another update on my weight goal until I reach it...if I remember to post about it, ha.

That post about the pink owls is still coming soon though so stay tuned!

busy month

Man, September is a busy one for the Wall household.

Randamocity:

• finishing up an owl mobile
• knitting bow ear warmer
• clip custom orders
• updating the blog more in general :)

DavidAndMiranda:

• helping with worship at the UT BSM tonight
• leading worship for the BSM retreat this weekend
• leading worship at the BSM on the 24th
• concert of prayer on the 29th

Other:

• Root Beer float fundraiser for friend's 11 month mission trip around the world!
• leading the rec team at our church's yearly youth/college retreat
• life in general

September, you are going to make life crazy for us but it should be fun!  Loving all the opportunities to lead worship, we are so blessed.

A more crafty update is coming with lots of pink owls!

love it or leave it: burlap

You've heard of pinterest right?  Of course you have.

I love it, mostly to organize my crafting inspirations and ideas.  I was already a big blog and craft site enthusiast, but saving bookmarks wasn't cutting it as a good organizing strategy.  Most times I'd just forget where I saved an idea or what the idea was in the the first place.

I do have some issues with pinterest though.  Lies.  There are so many lies on there!  Probably not intentional, but people see something that looks genius and repin it, not bothering to think about or look into the validity of a craft claim.  For example, homemade mod podge; you just can't mix water and elmers glue...it's not the same.  Also, all these random facts, most of them are just completely made up and it honestly amuses me that so many people fall for them.  Oh, Pinterest.

Now that all that is out of my system I can move on to what this post is really about.  I want to do a weekly post about popular crafting trends on pinterest. This isn't a judging post, just my personal likes and dislikes. You can agree or disagree, and comment away, I love it!

This week: burlap

There are SO many crafts involving burlap.  I have a few friends that love the stuff so I see a lot of pins with it.  It's not bad, but honestly I just hate burlap.  It's scratchy, messy, frays like crazy, and mostly it's brown.  I don't like brown.  When it comes to neutrals I prefer a good grey or straight up black.  They make colored burlap you say?  No thanks.  Still all the other issues. Not to say I don't think there are some great uses if you're a fan, because there are and my friends have used it in great ways. Burlap, you're just not my thing.

Leave it.

:)