Sweet Finds: Thread Counter

In the effort to create steampunk jewelry and wearables I have been dredging through eBay, Etsy and local stores to find optical items and oddities. So far my favorite is this delightful little brass magnifier used for counting threads. It's quite amazing and I'm not sure I can part with this particular treasure.

Happy treasure hunting...

-Cerise

Krafty Katina Boutique is Back on Etsy

Come browse.

Hair Pieces to Complete

The hair combs are finally here. I have some sewing to do to complete some hair pieces.

The website is coming...

You'll be able to shop there soon.

Steampunk and Pirates

With the lack of a Portland Pirate Festival this year I'm scouting out other festivals. I've invested too much money in the last two months to sit on my creations. Hopefully the pirate festival near Lebanon, Oregon, will be well attended. Steamcon in Seattle is also huge on my radar but it's juried so I have to work extra hard the next two weeks getting things made and photos taken so I can compile a portfolio for my application. Here are a couple things in progress I worked on while home sick yesterday.

Happy crafting,

Cerise :)

Hanukkah!

This is my second year celebrating Hanukkah, third year attempting. Year one resulted in my homemade hanukkiyah lighting on fire on day three. We had a great Hanukkah party with delicious rugalach, sufganiyot, and sweet potato latkes and so many other delicious dishes people brought. It was a great success and great fun. and since I've been wanting to make an advent calendar for the past few years but don't really want to do the Christmas thing with it, I made Dale a sweet Hanukkah calendar. It was a lot of fun thinking of little gifts for him and fortunately my work has great hanukkiyah wrapping paper from Waste Not Paper (love 'em). Here's the end result of the calendar and the delicious gluten free rugalach from my new cookbook! A must  have for gluten free people.

Shalom, Chag Sameach, Happy Hanukkah!

Cerise :)

More garden delights

The back porch is in full foliage and lots of plants are in bloom right now. My clematis came back in full force this spring. It's a terrible pink color in person. Last year it was white with splashes of a mellow pink (as pictured on the plant tag) but it went a little crazy this year. I shouldn't complaint too much because it's beautiful and healthy. One of our nurseries also has a lot of sale plants. I've picked up a few here and there and they are all doing really well. My gerber daisies pittled away quite quickly but popped out a new plant soon after. There are also sweet little carnations that are very happy in there new home and a lovely little vining plant with orange flowers that is going to live with the clematis. I obviously don't think about the colors working together or not! I would love to add more but I don't want to have to move or leave behind a bunch of plants in the not too far future if we move. My beautiful ginkgo will definitely go with me everywhere though!

Happy Blooming,
Cerise : )

Clematis

Carnations

Wysteria

Didn't you want garden pics?

I went a whole week without posting and my last post didn't even have pictures of all the delicious and nutritious treats growing in our garden. Dale, his mom, and I worked in the garden last night. We got a lot weeded and I thinned out the beets, daikons, radishes, carrots, and rutabagas. There was also an extreme butter lettuce party that the salad police broke up for lunch today. This morning I used the little baby greens that got thinned out for my green smoothie. Some wonderful little fresh garden strawberries also got to join them in the blender. My green gooey breakfast was delicious! The sun looks like it will be out a lot this week so I hope the garden is happy and continues to grow. Time to plant more already too!

Happy Gardening!
Cerise : )

Oregon Sugar Pod II

Daikon!

Borage with basil, tomatoes, bee balm, and onions in the background.

This is our first companion planting bed!

Garden Sunday

The weather warmed up sooner than last year but the past two weeks have been a bit cooler and damper. Most things are still growing pretty well but our three experimental tomato plants are rather sad. This year, we are trying companion planting. My store has a great book, How to Grow More Vegetables, that discussed the importance of healthy soil, microclimates, and plant relationships among other things. I highly recommend this book to even beginning gardeners. More pictures to follow, but here's how the garden looked a few weeks ago!

Moustache Madness

So, mum decided that moustaches on sticks would be a fun addition for guests at the wedding. Dale helped me perfect the moustache templates and we began tracing a ton onto heavy scrapbook paper. Thankfully we were smart enough to use the first cutout paper to use as a full template for the rest of the papers. Much tracing and cutting later, out come mini shish kabob skewers and my trusty Aleen's clear tacky glue. It took two rounds of gluing sticks on 'staches as my kitchen table was at it's smallest. But they are done! I love them and we've already had a lot of fun playing with them. Dexter really needs a moustache!!

Happy 'staching!
Cerise : )