moon mobile

Air dry clay is officially my new favorite crafty medium. I have made countless little projects with that stuff. For around $8 you can get yourself a big chunk of it at any craft store, and it lasts forever! Even after all my clay creations, I still have nearly half of that big chunk left.

This here's my latest clay creation. I made myself one of those adorable Curbly bowls not too long ago, and when I finished that I guess I just kept going. I rolled out more clay, and cut out circles with a round cookie cutter. Then I poked some holes in 'em, painted 'em, and made myself a regular old mobile. Because, who says mobiles are just for babies? It's an inexpensive and easy afternoon project, and it makes me smile. All those little circles remind me of shiny, rotating half moons.

The best part of it all is the sound they make when they clack into each other. So satisfying! I can't wait for open-window weather, so it can turn itself into a little clacking wind chime. 

In other news, I have a fantastically awful, never-ending head cold. I've been spending most of the week sipping orange juice, blowing my nose, and eating leftover birthday cake that I can't even taste. What a waste!

project on a snowy day:: heart pillow

Has anyone seen this cute little pillow tutorial floating around Pinterest?

Me too.

I made my own.

Though I didn't exactly follow Anna's instructions.

(Mine is totally temporary and totally not as professionally sewn.)

I used some scrap fabric to cut out a heart, and hand stitched it 

onto the back of an old pillow.

It's a strong stitch that will hopefully hold up to Ryan's inevitable pillow tossing,

but not too strong--I'll be able to snip the thread and re-use the pillow

when I get tired of big red hearts everywhere.

And it only took me about 10 minutes to make two pillows.

And when I was done, I rewarded myself with a spoonful of peanut butter,

because that's the only sweet thing we have in this house right now.

I need to go grocery shopping.

a pie and a project

Ryan baked a pie yesterday.

The whole apartment smelled delicious--

even the garbage can!

(it was full of apple peels. mmm.)

And then, in a strange turn of events, it smelled terrible a few hours later.

(rotting apple peels?)

This is what I'm working on today.

We've got big plans for this old guy:

did the grinch's dog have a name?

 though this wasn't the first time we've been seen
snatching up free/forgotten/fallen loot and lugging it home,

we did feel kind of silly gathering large branches from the bike trail and carrying them back to the apartment.

(thank you, teenager who honked at us on kilbourn.)

but it was worth it.

i'm feeling pretty pleased with how these homemade antlers turned out.

and the cost to make them (only $7 for clay)

was much more reasonable than the $80 price tag on the antlers at the thrift store.

an added bonus: ryan noticed that one antler looks quite similar to the antler that a favorite christmas movie character sports...

this is most certainly true.

ps: chair in progress!

i'm not finished with the seat yet.

(i have an idea.)

but, oh, that yellow is the color of my soul.