xmas cards

Christmas is coming up in a week and a half and I have yet to send out Christmas cards ... oops! Well I finally got around to making the cards, so that's progress, right? Now I just need to write out all the cards, make sure the addresses I have are still current, buy stamps, et cetera.


It took me a few trips to Michael's to figure out what I wanted to do, but I found these letter stamps and they seemed pretty nifty, so I grabbed those (along with a black inkpad) and that was pretty much it. The rest of what I used I had on hand.


I ended up with three versions of Christmas cards for this year. I've never been fond of giving everyone the same exact card, so I try to make different variations. After stamping each card with "Happy Holidays", I drew a tree, ornament, or present with a black marker. Then I hot glued a little something for color and dimension. The tree got a blue gem as a star, the ornament a red ribbon, and the present a green bow. Cute, eh?


My roommate left today, so I wrapped up the first part of her present and gave it to her. I used the rough draft of my essay (with red marks and all) and tied it with a bow. I go through so much paper in school so I try to recycle the best I can. Anyway, she thought it was hilarious because she recognized it as the essay I had been complaining about. As for other Christmas presents, well they're proving a bit trickier. I went to the mall the other day and after almost two hours, didn't buy a single thing. To be honest, I was shopping more for myself, but I kept having trouble finding the right size for things ... very disappointing.

Most of my friends have already left for home, but I'm going to be hanging around here for a bit longer to work and do some shopping. Christmas is coming up way too fast.

apt xmas

An apartment next to a college campus is not an ideal place for Christmas. Thankfully I will be spending Christmas at home with my family, but I'll only be able to spend a few days at home. The rest of the time will be at my fabulously over-priced, run-down apartment. Therefore, while procrastinating one fine evening, I decided to decorate. Here, ladies and gentlemen, is how a college student decorates her apartment for Christmas (on a very limited budget).

1. White Lights


I dug up some white Christmas lights that I bought two years ago for studio. I actually bought them because when you can't find an extension cord, Christmas lights will work just as well. I had originally strung them around my desk to keep people from walking by my work area where I had models on the floor. Last year I was in the middle of a large studio space, so the Christmas lights were strung from the wall to my desk in the middle of the room, and the guy sitting next to me had Christmas lights strung from the other wall to his desk. All in all it was fabulous. Here in our lowly apartment, however, I just grabbed some drafting tape and taped these much loved white lights around our front doorway. The texture of the wall is kind of weird though.

2. Silver and Red Bow


I've always been a big fan of bows. Snowflakes are pretty. Christmas trees and stockings are too obvious. Bows are universal. And I happen to really like ribbon. So I grabbed some thick silver wired ribbon and created a big bow on our cheap Wal-Mart shelving unit. I thought it looked a bit drab so I grabbed some red satin ribbon and incorporated another bow into the mix. I think it's rather nice ... really classes up that cheap white plastic, eh?

3. Santa Hat


I've had this Santa hat for years ... can't even remember where/when I got it. Anyway, though I like the color green, I've never been a big fan of the red-green color combination because I just find it too cliché. It screams "Christmas!" in that overly commercial way. Therefore, our apartment's just going to stick with red and white/silver, which the Santa hat fits into perfectly. How is the hat standing so erect on our counter? Because it's hiding our very college-student bottle of tequila next to an empty bottle of wine. Yeah ... don't judge me. Oh, and the wallpaper was there when we moved in.

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love giving gifts, wrapping gifts, decorating gifts, hanging out with friends, having that hot mocha latté at Spider House while exchanging gifts ... you get the idea. Though decorating was rather light this year, I think in conjunction with the nippy weather and the scarves around my neck, it's winter enough. Happy holidays.

interiors in austin

I cannot believe how long it has been since I've posted. It's really quite a travesty. Since my sewing machine hasn't been touched (except to push it further against the wall), I figured I would share the only pictures I've taken recently - architecture around Austin. Figuring that most people wouldn't care about all the construction details, I picked some interior shots that I thought were particularly inspiring.


First up is the Livestrong Lance Armstrong Foundation Headquarters by Lake/Flato and Bommarito Group. From the exterior, the building was rather unassuming, but the interior felt extremely spacious. There was a lot of warm wood, with much of the wood used recycled from the previously-existing building.


Then comes a private residence called Undertree House by Loop Design. It has been described as somewhat "whimsical", but has a great Austin vibe and is very environmentally-responsive. Its name derives from the fact that the house's plan was arranged based on the existing trees on the lot.


Lastly is another private residence, Wolfe Den by MJ Neal. This was a very modern house - nice clean lines all over the place. The house's entire side wall was covered in touch-latched closets, so all their stuff was hidden.


There was the most beautiful bathroom ever in that house. Loving the white. And that white counter? It's cast concrete!

So this is the type of thing that I get excited about. I'll probably end up showing more architecture pictures on this blog, because it's my blog and I can do whatever I want. Also, I haven't been very productive or crafty. The holiday season is coming up, which I'm really excited about. Unfortunately that just means more hectic-ness for me, but if I'm going to be making any gifts, I should probably get on that. Anyway, I probably won't post again for a while, so: Happy Early Thanksgiving!

hello again (sort of)

Whoops. It's been quite a while since I last posted. Felt like I needed to write though ... for fun, not essay-writing for class (because that's not fun). For anyone reading, I feel like I should warn you that this post is pretty much just going to be me complaining. Because that's what I do when I feel like this.

Work is work. Wow. Revelation. I feel so rundown and exhausted. Kids need to learn that it is NOT OKAY to cough in people's faces. I haven't been feeling too great for the past few days and I am completely blaming the kids. I give them tissues, I tell them to aim for their elbows, but nope. I get paid decently and my job isn't bad at all, so I shouldn't complain, but COME ON!

Usually when I go grocery shopping I go in with a short list of the things I absolutely need and then just buy whatever else sounds good at the moment. Since I haven't been feeling well, I haven't been feeling hungry, and therefore didn't buy much when I went to the store. For dinner I ate a corn dog (yay microwave!) because that's all I could really find. My lunch for tomorrow will be yet another turkey sandwich. I have eaten so many turkey sandwiches since the beginning of the semester, it's disgusting. But if I'm buying a loaf of bread, a head of lettuce, and a container of turkey, I pretty much have to eat turkey sandwiches all week or everything goes bad/stale/icky.

I want to take NyQuil and sleep a good sleep, but then I probably wouldn't be able to make it to my 8 AM class. That's kind of a catch-22. If I want to be alert for class, I need a good sleep (which only NyQuil will give - darn coughing). But if I want to make it to class on time, I cannot take NyQuil (which would knock me out for at least 10 hours). Ugh.

Then there's school. Need I say more? I cannot wait until Thanksgiving. I am going to relish that break so much. Oh, and my wallet currently has $2. It's just past 11 PM and this college student is off to take a long hot shower, crawl into bed, and hope that the world magically turns into cotton candy in the morning.

baked + gifts + space

Whew. First I must mention that I made cookies again. Lots and lots of oatmeal cookies. I used the same recipe that I had used in this previous post, but I made the cookies a bit smaller and multiplied the recipe by 1.5. Ended up with about 70 cookies, stuffed about 25 per bag, and sent them on their way to studio. The rest stayed home and were promptly devoured.


Then I made rolls. Yay! Don't have a loaf pan here, so I haven't been able to make bread again, but I do have a baking sheet so I tried out this recipe and I think they turned out rather yummy. Pretty easy to make too. Next time I'll probably halve the recipe because this made a lot of rolls (not that my roommate minds).


Ingredients:

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

2 1/2 cup warm water (divided)

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

7 cups flour

Process:

dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water

in a separate bowl cream together the sugar and shortening

add egg, salt, the yeast mixture (after making sure it blossomed), remaining 2 cups of water, and about 4 cups flour

mix until smooth and keep mixing in flour until it turns into a soft dough

turn out and knead for about 6-8 minutes

place dough in a greased bowl, turn the dough over (to make sure it's all oiled up), and cover the bowl

place the bowl in the refrigerator to rise overnight or for at least 8 hours

the next morning, punch the dough down and form rolls (about 36)

grease a baking sheet and roll the rolls around on it to cover them in oil (this will allow you to take the rolls apart after they bake together)

cover and let it rise in a warm place for about 1 hour (until the dough has doubled - the rolls should start squishing together)

bake in oven at 400F for 12-14 minutes until lightly browned

I love getting mail! My sister mailed me this cute little spiders thing. It's currently hanging from a light switch in our hallway. Festive-y, right?


A while back I won a giveaway from SimplyNu, and I received this delicious piece of handmade Castile soap in the mail. It's called Daisy Castile and I must say ... its scent is heavenly (and the flower shape is too cute). They're pretty new and their etsy shop has a lovely range of candles, soaps, and stationery. So, a big thanks to SimplyNu! I wish them the best with their store.


Last but not least, my current creative space. Lots of black, I know. Halloween is next Saturday, can you guess what I'm up to? There's black tulle, black elastic, black feathers, and some silver and black jewelry. I rather like my costume idea, but since it has yet to be created, I won't say much now.

Linking over to kootyoo for a whole bunch of creative spaces. And over to Southern Hospitality for recipes!Goodness gracious, this was a long post!