Good-bye 2012

Wow, can't believe this year is over in less tan 24 hours. It was certainly one for the record books. All my life I always felt like I was working towards something, I would tell myself "just get through this and then your life can start" well I felt like this year my life finally started.

This was the year I set foot on another continent! This was the year I chopped off all of my hair! This was the year I ended student status! This was the year I felt that I am truly home! This was the year of growth, change and opportunity. This was the year that was different then any of the other previous years because this year I took life and savored every single moment of it!

Aside from this year being pretty epic personally, it was also I year I got more serious about sewing and blogging. I made some new friends, like Michele! I have also been pushing my self by trying some new techniques and crafts, thanks to Craftsy and Whimsey Box. I plan on furthering both my craft skills and networking skills in 2013.

2012 is certainly one for the record books and I am sad to see it go. 2013 are you up to the challenge of being as epic? 

Sunday snapshots...the last of 2012

This past week was a weird one. I got a post Christmas sickness which has not been fun. So projects if been on hold and I tried to rest. I ended up just feeling rest less! However I did do some fun stuff.

                                 

Shrink plastic
Like the doctor who keychains? They are part if a special program I am doing for the library system, Comic Con 101. More information to follow!

Where's Waldo
January is a pretty slow month in the Children's room. So to make it fun I decided to make a bunch of Waldo's and hide them around the room. Kids have to be on their toes because Waldo's whereabouts will change every week.

Snug as a bug
We had our first real big snow Fall of winter. I had to break out the Elmer Fudd hat for warmth!

Snow Dog
Gyspy is usually a fan of the snow, so I was excited to watch her in the backyard. However, she just stood there getting snowed on with a sad face on. She is such a dope.

Post Christmas and Give-away

Hey guys! Christmas is over yet again. Every year I feel like I am really getting into it then BOOM - its over. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. It was quite nerdy for Tim and I. He got me this pretty awesome proclamation board from Think Geek. I also did his shopping on Think Geek and he got lots of  Hobbit themed stuff. It was a very nerdy Christmas for us.

With Christmas behind us I am also hopping to get back on track with sewing projects, blogging etc. etc. etc. While being caught up in the holiday craziness I didn't get to mention that my friend Michele is having a month of epic give-aways! She is having a different giveaway every day. So for December 24 is a giveaway for some stuff made my lil' ol' me! You can enter the raffle for a bowtie pin! You also get to choose between two colors, Red and TARDIS blue (because you guys know, bowties are cool) So go check out the giveaway at Short Girl, Long Island you still have a few days to enter!

Christmas Memes - Meme for Monday

Merry Christmas !!!!!! I can't believe its here again! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope you are spending it with those you love. To celebrate, please enjoy some Monday Meme's appropriate for Christmas. 

Its beginning to look a lot like....

Gyspy wanted to spread some Holiday cheer

So this Christmas thing has really been throwing off my bogging game. Its getting down to the wire and I have been running around, wrapping, baking cookies and a teeny bit of crafting before the big day is here.

Last night we got to relax a bit. For the last few years we host a holiday movie marathon and provide delicious noms. This year we made a ham, potine (french fries, cheese & gravy) which was pretty amazing. Tim also brewed up some eggnog. I was never was one for the stuff, it always looked like gross sour milk. Not this kinda nog.. it was so good!



As for feature presentation we had a few options including Jingle All the Way, Home Alone 2 and Pee-Wee Herman's Christmas Special. We ended up going with Die Hard (yes its a christmas movie) and A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas.

A lot of people forget that Die Hard is a Christmas movie but it does indeed taking place on Christmas eve so Hippi-Kai-yay Father Christmas!  Harold and Kumar was really funny, but in a self-aware ridiculous kind of way. It also left me with a desire for a Waffle bot. 

I have also had Christmas music in heavy rotation. One artist that always is a holiday favorite is Sufjan Stevens!!!!

I absolutely love Sujfan Stevens and this year was ecstatic to discover that he released a new Christmas album! I have been playing it non-stop. I also love his older christmas album too.. here is my favorite song from that album. If you have never heard of him or his music you must! Right this very second!

Bowties listed!

I hope everyone is having a happy Tuesday! Just wanted to let you know that I added some new bowties to the shop! These are available in Tardis blue! If you prefer red ones are still available. 

The Christmas Tree - Meme for Monday

Hey guys its Monday! I know this past weekend hasn't been an easy one so I hope this makes you smile a bit. That after all is the goal of Meme for Monday! 

With Christmas almost a week away I thought this meme would be seasonal. This is one of my all time favorites and it has become a Christmas tradition. If you haven't seen this prepare to laugh! I have gotten many hours of enjoyment out of this not only because its hilarious but because I know so many Long Island mom's that are like this (including my own). 

This is performed by comedian John Roberts. You may recognize the voice as Linda from Bob's Burgers. He has some other silly videos on his youtube channel. 

Sunday Snapshots

Its another Sunday wooo! I hope you all had a wonderful week. Here are some snapshots from my week! 

R2D2 mug
This is Tim's masterpiece! I am so proud of him because it looks pretty amazing. He used the same technique I did a few weeks ago (tutorial here!)

Pasta-mazing!
Michele (Short Girl Long Island) has a feature that I rather enjoy. Every Thursday is Tech me Something Thursday. This past week featured a recipe that was pretty amazing! Its a pasta casserole with spinach and mushrooms. It was pretty simple to make and tasted just as good as it looks! Check out the post here, Teach Me Something Thursday volume 15 and try it for yourself!

Poolga wallpapers
I love this accordion playing polar bear! Since getting my phone I have been having fun with wallpapers (I have the same fun with my computer and iPad). They have a lot of fun neato stuff. So go check them out!

Cookie tester
One of my favorite holiday traditions is the bake-a-thon! Ever since Tim and I started dating I have been invited to a day of marathon baking with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. This year we have an adorable little assistant, my niece Lexie. She let us know how the cookies were and she kept us entertained.

I also saw the Hobbit on Friday! I liked the book and enjoyed the Lord of the Rings movies so I was looking forward to this! We met up with some friends and pretty much took over the theater. I sat next to my friend Matt who gave hilarious commentary durring the movie, especially when the giant eagles showed up. I really enjoyed the movie, to Tim's dismay I loved it more than Lord of the Rings. Not sure why but I supposed on reason is that the stakes in the Hobbit aren't as high as they are in Lord of the Rings. I also liked the character Bilbo way more than Frodo. Bilbo, despite not wanting to go on an adventure does it anyway and uses his quick wit to hold his own! Frodo is just a wuss! Also without a doubt one of the best characters in Lord of the Rings is Gimli the dwarf. Well the Hobbit has Gimli times twelve ! They do serve as comic relief but despite being three feet tall, they are also pretty bad ass. They are also excellent dishwashers and singers. I can't get the misty mountain song out of my head.

-Sarina

Countdown to Christmas!!!!

This year the Christmas season has been pretty easy going. I think thats because it is my first year not having to worry about finals... I get to actually enjoy the season! I have even had some time to catch up on some craft projects!

I made this main organizer because I am getting really tired of huge mail piles. I bought burlap fabric with vintage skeleton keys at Joann's. I didn't have a project in mind for it but I just really wanted it so boom, impulse buy. I put this together on a canvas we had laying around and viola! It came out pretty snazzy looking. I am in the midst of creating a tutorial for it, so look out for that soon! 

I have also been trying new types of crafts at work. Recently I did a craft with youngin's (ages 2 - 3) we  used shaving cream and food coloring to make a really neat marble effect when mixed on a paper plate. You then lay a piece of paper flat on top, then wipe away the shaving cream. I had some wintery type shapes for them to slap on it. I called it snowscapes. It wasn't as messy as I thought. Here is how my sample came out.

Getting back to Christmas fun time! I was excited to get my latest Whimsey box that was chock full of gift wrapping items! I also got a bunch of ribbon from my mother in law, which has been going to good use. I have been using brown packing paper to create my own wrapping paper. I have those sharpies left over form my mug craft and used those to make some fun whimsical wrapping paper. I think I got the wrapping thing down this year and proud of my skills! Here are the presents under our tree so far. 

I mentioned the mugs earlier and I got a bunch more for some customized christmas presents. I am working on a mustache for my friend fond of facial hair, Margaret and one for my sea cow loving friend Laura. I hope she will enjoy some mana-tea with it! 

Also don't forget about my friend Michele and her epic giveaway for the entire month of December! Go check it out at Short Girl, Long Island

Ordinary Batman Adventures (Meme for Monday)

Its Monday (again) but hopefully this will make you laugh this morning. I came across the artist Sarah Johnson and got quite a giggle from her giffs. My favorites were Ordinary Batman Adventures. Here is a seasonal one of Batman enjoying winter. (Where's Mr. Freeze at?) 

Go check out more of Sarah's art at sarahj-art.tumblr!

Sunday snapshots...again

Hello, it's Sunday again. This week has been chugging along and here is what I did...

We finally decorated outside. Here is our lovely porch! We are planning on hitting up some stores after Christmas to take advantage if discounted decorations.

This past week was my friends birthday. Tyler is one of my oldest friends. We were in the same kindergarten class and in high school we played together in a band, the Helicopters. He is a Batman fan so I made him this pillow.

His girlfriend Noelle also threw him a crazy pizza party. Our friend Peter broke out his iPad complete with d.j. App and it turned into a crazy dance party. It's what usually happens on a weekend with these people.

Also this past week I ordered some Christmas presents for a certain hobbit obsessed husband. Luckily I also had some serious geek points from think geek and got myself these doctor who post it's!

Mug Shots

Some of nerdo friends, a few of them came over the other night and we had ourselves a little craft night. It seems that since a lot of people are still in school and the hurricane it has thrown a lot of things off. So after going the whole month of November with out a craft night, I called Michele and said 'girl we gotta meet up.' I had the idea of making possible Christmas gifts, because you know...tis the season.

Michele perfecting mugtastic-ness

I got some pin-spiration which led me to the blog, The Sweetest Occasion. It had great instructions and I decided that I needed to try it. I stopped at the Dollar Tree (guys this is my new favorite place!)

So we sat in my craft dungeon, waiting for some idea to come to us. We were on our iPhones waiting for inspiration to hit when I mentioned possibly doing something Harry Potter related like a snitch or a lightening bolt. Morgan suggested that I make his face. I really like the idea of drinking coffee out of Harry Potter's head, so I went for it! Morgan sketched out some tree branches while Michele went for some funky ass shapes. It was fun making them and just chatting with the gals. After we were done we baked those bad boys in the oven. Here are the results!

The next morning I made use of Potter mug. It made coffee taste all the more magical! I also plan on making another trip to the dollar store and stocking up on more mugs because I think these are going to be everyones christmas presents this year (to those that read the blog, act surprised!) I'll even get some hot cocoa or K-Cups and stick in the little muggles (get it? Potter humor) 

If you want to make your own here is what I did to make them. I followed the instructions from this blog I mentioned earlier (the Sweetest Occasion)


Materials & Tools

• White ceramic mug
• An array of sharpie markers 
• Oven 

Instructions

• Clean those mugs good! I used soap, water and a bit of windex 
• Think of something super neato to put on your mug
• Start drawing your design. Its ok if you make a mistake! Break out that windex and wipe away the oops.
• Now you can bake 'em! DO NOT PRE-HEAT! The ceramic is very sensitive to temperature. So stick them in the over THEN turn the over to 350 * 
• Set a timer for 30 minutes. After the timer is done, turn the oven off let' the mugs cool.
• Then enjoy! 
• F.Y.I. best not to put them in the dishwasher or microwave

Meme for Monday - returns!

Hey guys my apologies on lack of funnies on Mondays! But I am back!!!!

So guys its Monday and let's get a little cheer from Grumpy cat...

Sunday Snapshots Vol. 3

Hello there, you guys getting in the Holiday Spirit? I am getting excited because we are now officially in December! Ready or not, its time to get cheery! Here is what I have been doing this past week...

One morning I was feeling quite nice while drinking my coffee. My mug happened to reflect how I was feeling, Hell yes!

I love my dog and some people may view this as torture but I prefer to think of it as love. Tim came home from work and took off his work shirt while Gyppers was bugging him. We decided to give her the business casual look.

We got our Christmas tree! Doesn't it look purdy? I had to dress for the occasion so I broke out my Doctor Who/Grinch mashup shirt.

Tim's mom gave me the snowman. He is about the size of a toddler and I though he'd look good in the entry way. What I did expect was that it was a tiny bit creepy as we watched tv and creeper snowman was watching us! I moved him next to the tree because I still love him.

I broke out the season decor at work and started making a wintery display! It is still a work in progress but its coming together.

On our trip to France, while browsing the gift shop at Versailles I saw this Napoleon and had to have him! He looks nice as he plots a take over of the entire tree!

Finally here is out tree! It is complete with Harry Potter, Star Wars and tron ornaments! Tim and I also have a tradition, every year we make a new ornament. We've been doing it every year since we started dating. Not sure what we have planned for this years ornaments but I will keep you posted!