April 2011
9 posts
6 tags
Making cork coasters
So after seeing this blog post from the Mother Nature Network I decided it would be a good way to use up my champagne corks that won’t work in the wine cork bath mat I have planned for an unplanned future date. I mean, the blog post makes it sound so easy.
I sliced up the champagne and beer corks into circles and glued them down to some plastic disks that I cut out of some lids saved from...
March 2011
14 posts
7 tags
Making a care card
My uncle has been in the hospital for cancer treatment and I’ve sent him a few cards and a knitted hat to let him know that I am thinking of him.
This weekend my Dad was in town and we decided to do something silly for his brother / my uncle. We took paper and markers with us out to “Oasis” Texas, this crazy food complex out on Lake Travis in Austin. There were plenty of...
11 tags
OMG, I have a bottle tree!
So, I’ve seen strange items in front yards around town that are used to display empty glass bottles. I mean this is Austin after all. Then, I went to the yard art show at the Lady Bird Wildflower Center and saw a bottle tree there. It was AMAZING. I had to have one. In fact, I knew way back in August that I needed this for my front yard.
Needless to say, I didn’t really have the...
6 tags
6 tags
7 tags
Making stout into cake
Yes, I really did bake two cakes this week. The second one was for my husband’s birthday. This is the second time I’ve made this chocolate stout cake from use real butter. Yes, the recipe really is in that blog post after you scroll past all of the pictures.
This year, I changed two things from what I did last year. I substituted half of the butter for applesauce to make the cake...
7 tags
Making a breakfast birthday cake
I got to do some more baking recently for a coworkers birthday. This baking was special because the celebration had to be at 9:30 am. So instead of a dessert cake, I came across this Cinnamon Apple Cake recipe from Cooking Light that is perfect for breakfast! Also, I was amazed by the insane number of outstanding reviews it had, so I knew I just had to try it. An added bonus is the fact that the...
6 tags
Do my cedar trees need a coat?
I cannot wait to go see the knitted trees at the Blanton museum! They’re part of the exhibit “A Knitted Wonderland”.
They’ve got some photos up on the project’s Facebook page. I’m a fan of the bright spring time colors. Awesome work knittaplease!
It makes me wonder if my group of cedar trees in the front yard need me to knit them coats! After all, I’ve...
6 tags
6 tags
Making the best of crazy Texas weather
When we first moved into our house, it hard a front yard full of lush green grass (St. Augustine for those of you familiar). Needless to say, it didn’t live very long under our care. We tend to feel that grass shouldn’t require two waterings a week in such a drought prone area.
Once the front corner of the yard completely died, we installed a little corner xeriscape garden:
Look...
6 tags
Being sick, comforted by crochet
OK, so I’m home sick again today and am comforting myself with my first crochet project ever: an afghan I made six years ago. I am nothing if not ambitious so I tend to dive right in when learning a new craft. Afghans can take a long time which did not deter this beginner crocheter. Especially if you pick a pattern (Warm up America by Lion Brand Yarn - login required) that will let you learn...
7 tags
A nice thing about living in ATX...
One of the many things I love about living in Austin is the fact that not only do I get to own a convertible, I get to drive that convertible with its top down most of the months out of the year. Even December and January will have a day or two where I’ll put the top down to enjoy the sunshine.
Because my Mini Cooper S Convertible has fake leather seats, I knew they’d get quite hot in...
