Halloween Decorating Part I

Okay, this was technically my second Halloween decorating project, but I forgot to take pictures of the first (Mr. Blog let me decorate his office), so that will be posted later (under Part II).

As I mentioned before, Mr. Blog and I hosted a little pre-party before the big law school Halloween celebration. Everything turned out just swell except, sadly, my attempt at making mini caramel apples turned into a big, creamy mess because the apple juices mixed with the caramel and prevented solidification. We ended up just dipping the apples in the resulting caramel sauce and then gorging on the other goodies.

All the party people!

Mr. Blog and his bunny!

Crafting in theory

I spent the weekend in San Francisco with Mr. Blog and re-connected with several good friends from high school (although I did not connect with my camera and thus the pictureless entry).

The best part of the weekend was definitely the food. Thanks to Mr. Blog's mobile Zagat Guide and my good friend Katie, we feasted like kings at several places that I now HIGHLY recommend:
Hog Island Oyster Company (we went twice in one weekend)
Rambla's Tapas (try both the paellas)
Cav Wine Bar & Kitchen (EVERYTHING is good here!)

I also spent the weekend thinking about all the crafts I could make for the holidays, if I had the time. I'm going to attempt to clear out my schedule to prepare something fun for a little Halloween get together Mr. Blog and I are hosting on Thursday. I'm hoping to make theses. Oh and also make a costume... hrm...

Back in Lala land

Sigh. It's Monday morning and I'm back at work. Yay.

I meant to post this Saturday but I forgot: GO BEAVERS!!! (Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle)

The best day...

The Mermaid and I were productive today.

We spent the morning running around town looking for gingerbread mix and Halloween costumes. The former was non-existent (and thus became replaced with spiced cake mix) but inspiration for the latter was found in the parking lot at JoAnn.

After parking and before entering, we prepped ourselves for the daunting challenge of spending less than 3 hours at JoAnn (my parents had lunch waiting) by picking through the weekly flier. As we flipped through the pages, what did we see? A little girl in a mermaid costume smiling back at me (well "us" but "me" rhymes)! Says Lauren, "I could be a mermaid." Says Yin, "We could make that!" Done and done!

Walking into the store, the first bolt of fabric we saw was a blue, shimmery fish scale cloth perfect for a mermaid tail. It was like a sign from above! We were off. Our one hitch was being too poor to buy the actual pattern, so we bought a $1.99 skirt pattern and improvised. I thing our version turned out better. It has a purse in the tail fin. Yeah, THAT'S right. We should be pattern designers.

In other news, I made a sweatsuit with an aeroplane on it. Woot! This was my first attempt at making something with sleeves without using a pattern. I think it turned out just fine!
When I get home I will embroider some quirky French saying under the little plane, like "J'adore voyager." (Mr. Blog bought me a fantastic embroidery machine for my birthday!)

Mkay, time to ice spiced cookies!

Detour

Days 2 and 3 were spent equally with my Internet Law book and the dentist. There's nothing like the Commerce Clause and a filling to take my mind off crafting...

But, my crafting twin arrived tonight so I have hope for tomorrow!

Day One

Somewhere between family dinners and annual physicals, the sewing has begun! It felt great to brush off the trusty Singer and bring down the shears and pins.

I started with one of the new patterns I bought from Joann (McCall's 5516). Ahh... there's nothing like a fresh. new pattern, crisp and compressed. I love that feeling of unfolding the tissue expecially knowing that I will never again get it back into the envelope. What is the secret with that one?

I also started with some of Mr. Blog's old curtains (this project is saturated with The Sound of Music charm).

And here are the after shots:

Getting there...

So the regularly posting plan fell through, but there's nothing like a break from school to catch up on crafty goodness. I spent hours at JoAnn yesterday and am full loaded with supplies!

But first things first: I brought Mr. Blog home to meet the parents and we had a lovely weekend both in the country and the city. I was incredibly nervous about this trip but I think it went quite well!

We caught the "Legally Blonde" mantinee with my crafty twin (who just may start a blog of her own soon! Fingers-crossed!). I just love that movie and the Broadway adaptation was phenomenal. Whenever I feel that law school was the wrong choice for me, Legally Blonde always gives me more hope... is that sad?

In any case, Mr. Blog is flying home and Ms. Legally Blonde doesn't come visit until Friday, so, now that the excitement's died down, I can begin my serious sewing. Watch out world...