2010 in photos

Honeymoon in Hawaii. January.

My first tattoo. January.

Valentine's Day in Savannah. February.

Our niece, Rhiley, came to visit. March.

Pollen puddle. April.

Walnut Street Bridge in Chattanooga. May.

Nolt farm in Pennsylvania. June.

I turned 31. July.

Sidewalk Tetris in San Francisco. July.

A much changed Rhiley came to visit again. August.

First wedding anniversary celebrated at St. Simons Island, Ga. September.

The Pixies at the Fox in Atlanta. September.

Graffiti in East Atlanta. October.

Visit to Philadelphia. November.

Rock show in Philadelphia. November.

Tibetan monk studying at Emory University. December.

Aftermath of Christmas dinner. December.

Year in Review 2010

Time for the Big List of Things That Were Very Awesome or Important or Mostly Just Entertaining in 2010.

A List of Random Things That Happened to Me This Year:
1. Hot Pants and I spent our January honeymoon in Hawaii. It was just as awesome as you might imagine. Also, I got a tattoo while in Maui.
2. I watched quite a few friends get married, get engaged or get pregnant.
3. My beautiful niece Rhiley celebrated her second birthday in November, and her mom announced she's going to be a big sister come May.
4. I revived this blog after months of not posting and overhauled what I do here to focus more on the world of crafting and handmade awesomeness.
5. Hot Pants and I celebrated our first anniversary with a trip to St. Simons Island, Ga.
6. Atlanta had its first white Christmas since 1882, but we weren't here. We were in Memphis, which was enjoying its first snow on Christmas since 1992. No accumulation, though.
7. I adopted a new job at work that has fulfilled me in ways I could not have imagined even a year ago. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity.

Amazing Albums Released this Year:
"I'm Having Fun Now" by Jenny and Johnny
"Infinite Arms" by Band of Horses
"I Learned the Hard Way" by Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
"The Suburbs" by Arcade Fire
"J Roddy Walston and the Business" by J Roddy Walston and the Business
"The Lady Killer" by Cee Lo Green
"Volume Two" by She & Him
"Contra" by Vampire Weekend
"Preservation: An Album to Benefit Preservation Hall" by various artists

"This is Happening" by LCD Soundsystem

Some Books I Read (and loved):
NOTE: I made a habit of logging every book I read in GoodReads.com this year. I even impressed myself! This is not the full list, but a healthy sampling.
Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy (The Girl With/Who...)
"The Imperfectionists" by Tom Rachman
"This Is Where I Leave You" by Jonathan Tropper (and then I read all of his novels)
"Hoot" by Carl Hiassen
"Committed" by Elizabeth Gilbert
All of Emily Giffin's books
"Zeitoun"  by Dave Eggers
"Accidental Billionaires" by Beb Mezrich
both novels by the fictitious Richard Castle
"Juliet, Naked" by Nick Hornby
"My Fair Lazy" by Jen Lancaster

Some Awesome Movies I Saw (and loved):
"The Social Network"
"How to Train Your Dragon"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"
"Catfish"
"Red"
"Despicable Me"
"Waiting for Superman"
"Scott Pilgrim v. the World"
"The Tourist"
"It's Kind of a Funny Story"

Places I Visited:
Maui, Kauai and Oahu, Hawaii
Lotsa places in Penn.
Norwich, N.Y,
San Francisco, Calif.
Portlan, Oregon
Washington, D.C.
St. Simons Islan, Ga.
Memphis, Tenn.

Famous People Sightings:
John O'Hurley
Shaun White

Live Shows That Rocked:
Pixies
Avett Brothers (twice!)
Band of Horses
Jenny and Johnny (briefly)
Wilco
New Pornographers

Would you light my candle?

Hola, peeps. Now that Christmas is over, I can post my latest craftacular adventure without spoiling the surprise for the folks on the receiving end.

Presenting...candles!

Soy candles, to be exact. I had Goodwill-bought teacups left over from the baby shower I threw in the fall and didn't want to just re-donate them to a thrift store. What better to fill an adorable little teacup than an adorable little candle?

I hit up Michael's, where I found some microwaveable soy wax for just $9.99 a batch. Please note that this box does not go a long way, so if you're planning on making a Yankee Candle factory in your house, this may not be the most cost-effective method.

I also grabbed a couple of packages of wicks with the little metal discs already attached and some scented oil (all can be found on the same aisle with the wax). I recommend using a little melted wax or glue to secure the wick to the bottom of your container first. It made for much easier pouring once the wax was ready.

The package said to microwave the wax to a certain temperature _ one that I've since forgotten _ but I could never get it that hot, so I simply heated it until it was completely melted. I used our Pyrex measuring cup for easy pouring. The package also warned against using heavy amounts of scent in the wax, but I found I had to put at least one dropper-full in to be sure the candle had scent at all.

To keep the wicks in place (those little suckers like to float), I got out our set of chopsticks and skewers. I decided not to bother with colors on this go-round, instead hoping to get some experience making these before I add in more complicated elements.

I found an entire package of wax could make four to six candles, which meant making a second run to Michael's for more wax. And not every one had much of a scent, but I was happy overall with the finished product. What's more, everyone who got one oooh-ed and ahhh-ed over them.

A few things I'm loving right now

I'm working on my year-end post, but until then, this will have to do. Here's a few items I've run across recently that make me want to jump with joy.

From Oh Dier

From Star House

From Christine Tenenholtz

From Bunny Dee Ar

 

From The Calamity Collective

Trends in handmade crafts 2010

Mustaches: 
They are bushy, they are hilarious and they aren't even attached to someone's face most of the time. Mustaches were everywhere this year. Weddings. Birthday parties. Around the house on a Friday. On necklaces. On coffee mugs. On T-shirts.

From Bird of a Different Feather

From Peeping Thomasina

From Something's Hiding Here

From Rockentot

Poo
Did she say poo? Yes, indeed, as I was wandering around the Indie Craft Experience here in Atlanta a few weeks ago, I saw poo in every form. Felt. Cotton. Ceramic. Poo is in. And sometimes, it has a mustache. Clearly some of this stuff needs to end up on Regretsy, but some of it is kinda cute.

From Fecal Friends

From Cutesy Poo

From Short Sleeve Alliance

Foxes
The cunning little buggers were everywhere. I even gave into the craze and bought this cute little pillow from Bird Mafia.  

More fox mania!

From Rylan Carter

From Yee-Haw Industrial

From Amy Blackwell

Owls
Holy moly. Owls, owls, owls. Whether it's making your own owl calendar here or you want to pacify your baby with one, owls are the thing.

From Pink Perch

From Robin & Mould

From Roddy & Ginger

From Paizley Polka Dot

Baby shower, redux

I promised some photos of the baby shower craftiness, so here ya go.

First, I broke out the patterned paper to make an "Oh, baby!" sign. Please ignore the total mess around said sign, as I was clearly too busy crafting to actually clean the house.

Then I headed to my local hardware store looking for something that would make suitable signs for each dish at the party. I thought about writing the names of dishes on rocks or printing out cute little signs, but eventually I settled on black tiles. They looked like adorable little chalkboards. I wrote on them in silver Sharpie, figuring I could just paint over them with chalkboard spray paint for reuse.

I had used this tutorial from Martha Stewart to make tissue paper pom poms, but they turned out more like blobs. Luckily, one of my co-hosts determined they'd be cute on the back of the couch.

I framed the cutout of the bird pattern I made for the invitations to use for table decor along with some mini-pumpkin branches and pine cones. (Plus, then I could brag on how I made the invitations. Duh.)

Finally, I wanted to brag about an item made by one of the co-hosts of the shower. The cake turned out absolutely adorably (and was her first time using fondant!). Check it: