Busy Week

Well, this is shaping up to be quite a busy week, more than I'd expected. All good things going on, but I don't have much extra time.

I'm going to try to make myself a lightbox (about 97,600,000 Google results for how to do that!), so on Monday I picked up a piece of white posterboard. It also happened to rain on Monday, and my umbrella is less than wonderful.

On the way in to the store, I had to hold it open because I couldn't get it to extend all the way and hold itself open. On the way out of the store, I was (awkwardly) trying to both keep it out of the rain and hold it fairly steady so it wasn't flapping around. As I was doing so, I walked into the parking lot down the (lane? aisle? row?) I thought my car was on. I looked around... didn't see it. Wondered if I was seriously confused because I was pretty sure that I had walked down this row and across that crosswalk to get into the store.

Looked over at the next row, because sometimes I do lose myself in the parking lot. Through the rain, I could tell that my car was indeed NOT on that row either...... Hmm.

At this point, I realized that I actually went through the opposite entrance, and my car was probably about 4 rows and several rainy steps away from where I was. Luckily, my posterboard didn't warp or anything, but it was definitely damp by the time it got into my car.

Moral of the story? Don't buy posterboard in the rain.

Also, get a new umbrella.

(this one's cute AND funny-shaped!) at Target.com

China Accents

I was browsing on the West Elm website today, and I saw these plates:

Aren't they pretty? I love how the leaf shapes are authentic and organic, but they're done in a shimmery gold. That sparkle mixed with nature is great. My china is the Noritake Crestwood Platinum, and I think that mixing the gold and platinum would be really fun for the holidays. This would work just as well for Thanksgiving as it would for Christmas, too, because it's not a holiday-specific design.

Noritake Crestwood Platinum

I actually think I got something in the mail from West Elm recently... I should go find that, it might be a discount that tempts me into buying them!

Hostess with the Mostess has some cute gold & silver ideas, such as this:

I really like this centerpiece, too:

Martha Stewart

And mercury glass, I have to get some of that:

West Elm again

Weekend Sewing

This weekend is all about Etsy sewing, but I'm hoping to make some time for this project, too:

Yes, that's 90210 playing - the original

I'm just finishing hand stitching the binding. I used the Heather Bailey tutorial, available here.

As usual, I had a few small issues but nothing major. I didn't leave myself quite enough binding at the end and had trouble getting the ends sewn together. After a bit of time and ripping out some stitches I finally got it to work. I wrapped the binding around an old jar and unwound it as I went. I liked not having to fuss with a big length of binding falling all over the place. I think I'd do that again.

I also didn't think too much about the seam allowances. I sewed about half of one edge before thinking to test it and make sure it would wrap around correctly. It did not. More ripping of stitches and we were good to go.

I really like seeing the binding getting finished. It makes the quilt feel so pulled together. I can't wait to wash and dry it and see how nice and rumpled it gets. But I really need to work on Etsy items, so this project is on the waiting list.

Aviary & Phoenix

I was searching for a good way to make an Etsy banner/blog header that DIDN'T involve Photoshop, (since I don't have or want to buy Photoshop), and I found this. It's a nice, simple tutorial for a banner using a web application called Phoenix. I'd never heard of Aviary or Phoenix (or any of the other programs) but I'm now a big fan! I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I got 5 decent looking banners in one evening. And it's free!

I've tried using GIMP for photo editing, etc. but never got the hang of it. I think some of the problems were from trying to run it on my Mac, who knows. Phoenix runs right in Firefox and doesn't do too many weird things. I did have some issues resizing the text, but I just kept working with it and got it to do what I wanted. There were also times when I had to click things more than once (like "Export image" - never worked the first time I clicked it). But really, nothing big.

I'm waiting for official permission to use one of my mom's images for the header that I picked, but here are some of the other versions (one of which I like and may use in the future).

First try

Version 2

Version 3

Hopefully I'll have a new (real) blog header tomorrow!

***Update - It's up!***

Weekend Movie

I just noticed that the new Alice In Wonderland is on Netflix in my instant queue - I just may be watching that this weekend. I wasn't sure if I wanted to see it, but obviously I added it to my list. I haven't really heard much about it, but I think I'll give it a shot.

I Voted

Did you?

Starting Up

I have a new Etsy account, a new blog, and a Twitter account now! I'm (slowly) working on getting everything set up and still making things to put in the shop. The Etsy store isn't open yet, but it's getting closer! I finally picked a name:

Smith & Daphne

You can find me here:

Etsy: SmithAndDaphne (nothing to see, YET)

Twitter: @SmithAndDaphne (again, nothing there yet)

New blog! smithanddaphne.blogspot.com - I will be using the new blog soon. I'll update when I've officially switched.