DOGWOOD BLOSSOMS

Have I mentioned I love Martha Stewart?

My mom recently sent me Martha's Encyclopedia of Crafts and it is awesome. It makes me wish I had a great, big, open studio that I could have room for so many different kinds of projects. Just about every page in this book has something I'd like to try (or have previously tried but had poor directions and lack of focus!).

So Martha's Encyclopedia is obviously set up from A to Z. And as I'm mentioning this I think I need to go Julie/Julia style on my blog and go through Martha's book A to Z with my own twist?

"B" has several projects and techniques, one of which is beaded flowers. I've been making and selling my bobby pins, but have been wanting to come up with some more stuff that people would be interested in. Also something that isn't crazy time intensive. Checking out Martha's beaded flowers made me think of how neat they would be in a wedding, as well as a keepsake for those involved. I was really drawn to the Dogwood Blossoms and decided to give one a try.

While working on the petals I decided that my first attempt to put them together would be on a {scd} bobby pin with a button center. Petals done, assembly started and I'm a little lost at what I should do with the ends of my wire. I threaded them through the button holes and thought I could wrap the ends around my bobby pin, but that added too much bulk and didn't look the greatest. Chad then suggested that I just twist the wire ends together after pulling it through the button holes and making it stamen. Why didn't I think of that to begin with and save myself 20 minutes of unnecessary twisting and wrapping? Having a second set of eyes and a practical mind is wonderful. Thanks Chad!

The end result is perfect! The stamen wire ends add another fun touch and the backside of the flower lays very flat, making it easy to attach to a bobby pin. Wearing my test run today to see how it holds up. Maybe we'll see a fun flower line of bobby pins available from {scd} soon!

BOOKS INTO MOVIES

I need to get to the library for something to read. In the meanwhile . . .

I don't really think that when books are made into movies they turn out super great. Dear John is the most recent book to film and I'm debating seeing the movie - mostly because I like looking at Channing Tatum. Lots of Nicholas Sparks' other books have done this, but I think the Notebook is the only one that was okay. A Walk to Remember, Nights in Rodanthe, Message in a Bottle are the others - all very average.

When the Harry Potter movies came out, I refused watching them. Those books were great and I already had my own images in mind for Hogwarts and all. I only got through the first 4 books and now that they've played the movies on tv I've watched them. I like them. Maybe because the special effects get better with each one?

I've read a lot of Jodi Picoult's books, but not My Sister's Keeper. I think I've decided I might just watch that movie and skip the book. Waiting for The Time Traveler's Wife to come out on dvd (maybe it is already?). After reading the book I'm interested to see how everything gets put together in the movie.

The one thing I dislike is when the movie shifts the timeline of the book. Events in the book are brushed right over or squished together or completely changed. I think that Into the Wild is one of the most guilty. The end of the movie suggests something different than the book. Hated it.

I love the Twilight books. The first movie was awful. The second movie was better. The last two better be great.

I realize that concepts for movies need to come from somewhere. And there's many many movies that I've seen and enjoyed that have been based on books I haven't read. I'll enjoy this ignorance.

OH FEBRUARY!

I got nothing accomplished in January . . .

And just as things have finally slowed down, we've decided to move! While I should have been working on all my do-to projects while Chad was gone, I instead goofed around a lot online and checked all the rental sites for what's available. Didn't really expect to find anything great, but I did! It's cheaper, it's bigger, it's in town (not that we're really out of town) and it has an awesome bathroom with a separate tub : )

We get to move in on March 1st, which is a Monday. Hoping that maybe they'll be moved out sooner so we can have the weekend to get stuff hauled over and the old place cleaned up. It'll be here so soon!

My one goal is to finish a bumper blanket I've been working on for nearly a year. It is my unfinished project challenge for my quilt group and they're supposed to be done in a week. We pledged our projects back in October. The second one I thought I'd be doing while Chad was gone did not get touched at all. So, this week, I will finish turning this crib bumper into a cute little blanket and then I can pack up my craft room . . and not feel as guilty for not finishing any other projects. Hopefully I'll see things with new eyes in the new space.

There's actually a second goal, but Chad will help with this one. We found a headboard/footboard/bed frame on Craigslist awhile back for $10. I enlisted my brother to help sand part of it while he was here over Christmas. We need to finish sanding and get it painted so it can be set up right away in the new place. This also might go for the coffee tables that I've got spray paint for (with a cool hammered finish).

The February header above is a little teaser for another project, but it may have to wait . . . to be continued with that one!