Airplane Mode

I took an unintentional scrapbooking hiatus. And I hated it. I hated not getting my hands in things, paint, glue, touching photos, remembering stories. Life was trying hard to kill me and even with new time I'm still having a hard time, finding that groove. I did have a good day (with a poor choice in materials) and managed to get a few pages done. Hopefully with a kit I like more, I can get more done another day.



(the lighting is a touch odd. Sorry. Tried to use sunlight and ended up with the lines of the blinds coming through.)


all of these emblishments had something about 'fall' and 'thanksgiving' on them. I managed to cover it all up since it didn't really fit with pictures from a trip to St. Thomas.


Not so pleased with the visible adhesive, but I was at a loss for how to make it stick otherwise (That's a young me on the right though. And no, not my real sister, just a sorority sister.)





Love this paper with these photos. We did pink and white as a theme for shirts that year (still not sure why) and while you can't really see them? They just fit.



Love the hat pin with the felt, gave it a fall feel without going too overboard.


Sometimes the photos just aren't great. I refused to let that be a reason not to scrapbook them. So what if in some of them no one is smiling, or eyes are closed or in one it seems like the lens had something on it? Use 'um anyway. This was a good moment to remember, and there's no use ignoring it if the photos are professional quality. So don't hold back!

I think this is all I do, crochet hats. I guess I just like hooking in circles, lots and lots of circles.



This one was the one I wanted the most, liking the style and the way it seemed to fit as far as slouchy hats went. This one is based off of this hat. I just tweaked a few things, like the size of the original chain (that said only 58 which didn't seem like it would fit my head, so mine's 75 to start I think).

I don't know what's up with shorts right now, but every time I look at them in the store I can't help but think "I have underwear that cover more than these." I'm more curious by the fact that I don't have much of a butt, and I still feel exposed. It must be hard otherwise.

But Champ and I were headed to Florida this past weekend for a wedding and I can't very well wear my cuffed "cropped" skinny jeans and pretend they are summer clothes to be worn at the beach. Which meant I was in need of shorts.

So! While going through clothes being sent to Goodwill I found two pairs of jeans that fit fine, but I wasn't going to wear again. One were a pair of wide leg jeans (I was making an attempt to relive middle school I guess) and the other a pair of bootcut jeans (old? I have no idea?). So what do I do with them? Make shorts I can actually wear.

I borrowed a DIY from a new blog I'm reading CandyPow and started working. The wide leg jeans got cut short, in a tiny shorts kind of way. They aren't as bad as the ones at the store, but definitely have the "short" thing going on.

The second pair I wanted longer, especially since the fit was snugger, so I've got sort of a bermuda thing going on with the cut. Definitely like.


I measured both by putting them on, grabbing a sharpie and marking them on my legs (used a ruler to make sure the mark was mostly even) and then cut them across. The cut wound up being at a little of an angle, but I mostly followed the natural line of how the "straight while on" turned into "slight angle" once I laid them out on the floor.

I'm okay with them being frayed, but since I want them to last the summer I wound up hemming the edges (an excuse to start playing with my sewing machine!) just to keep the fraying under control.

See? Easy. I honestly have NEVER done this before. I was pretty pleased with the way they came out and super pleased that I remembered a lot of the basic sewing. (And threading the machine made sense even if I did follow the instructions.) Apparently I learned something from Mom all those years ago.

No, no, no. Not that kind of hooking. The crochet hook, hooking. I've picked up one of my favorite hobbies from the past (my grandmother used to crochet and while she never taught me I inherited her gear. My mom taught me but we had all our stitches wrong, I learned again in high school and then after college I self-taught myself, give me a pattern and some instructions and I can mostly figure it out for myself), and I've done so in stride. In the past I've always made things that were square shaped: blankets, scarves, the boring like. This time, I'm changing it up.

Apparently though, I have a knack for hats. And I've been making them like mad. And it's seriously fun. They usually only take me a few hours (which is spread across a week or two) and viola hat! Of course it's far too warm here for hats, but come winter it will be a different ball game. I will be prepared. Slouchy had central. I've been making cute things for friends too, having a great time doing it. Trust me there will be plenty to see.

(These are just the first four. There are at least three others!)