christmas card pics

Some friends of mine needed pictures for their Christmas card and were patient enough to let me have a go at it. I appreciate all the practice I can get and hopefully they'll get something usable out of it. Here are a few of the ones I liked.

You're probably thinking that the last two pictures were the best ones. That's because Zach took them. He's kind of a frustrating person to have around. He doesn't really have the interest or desire that I do when it comes to photography, but he's just one of those people who are smart and good at everything. Which I generally don't mind (especially when it might benefit me financially!!!) but in this case....

things that steal my time away

I haven't posted much the past bit, I think I burned myself out of computer related hobbies by doing that owl creation (which I want to say bye to very soon, Zach says the owl is frightening and I'm starting to agree). So I've been doing some non-computer hobbies.

I've been wanting to make these pillows forever! I finally found the right fabric and made my talented friend Libby hold my hand through every step of the first one. I am proud to brag though that I did the second one on my own.

The dresser above and below is another project. We got it for $2 but you can see it was in bad shape. I love it now! It might even be a keeper.

These chairs were $5 and were in worse shape then the dresser. I wish I'd remembered to take a before picture. I'd envisioned this area as a little reading nook for Aubrey, but so far she only stands on the chairs and jumps or falls off. Not that this surprises me.

My friend Gina makes these diapers and wipes bags and sells them here on Etsy. Here is my attempt to copy - good thing you can't look closely! There is some scary stitching going on. But I did have fun making the tree and I finally can wind a bobbin on my own and thread my machine. Granted it was only after an hour of being clueless and ticked off, but I think the sewing machine and I can be friends again.

Why do I love the next craft? B/c there was no sewing machine envolved. It feels very serene to use a hot glue gun in comparison to a sewing machine. I'm keeping this case for myself!

A few weeks ago my parent's came for a short visit. As you can see, my mom and I went to Wicked. Notice that "I Won the Wicked Lottery" pin my mom is wearing. I know everyone and their dog has won tickets, but there were over 100 people there the night we tried, and somehow the fates were smiling on us (actually just my dad - he won the tickets for us)! We also did the mandatory strip district visit (Macaroni Company, Pittsburgh Popcorn Company, Penzey Spices - I recommend you visit all!) My dad also did lots of repairs on our house - 90 year old houses are in constant need of that and Zach and I are more then a little burned out - so thanks so much dad! And they watched Aubrey so that Zach and I could have a date night. We went to an indoor climbing gym - it had been a year and a half since I'd climbed! Seeing as climbing really is my favorite thing to do, that's very sad to me.

Visiting the Frick Antique car museum. Only the curator was allowed to touch the cars, and that was only with white gloves on. And since the cars were in no way blocked off you can betcha that Aubrey's first instinct was to try and bang on the cars with wide open hands, so that every fingerprint and groove of her little grubby hands made contact with the clean shiny surface. So my only pics of that place are from hanging out with her OUTSIDE of the museum. But I really liked her outfit that day so I was glad to get some pics!

West End Overlook with my parents

The classic view of Pittsburgh - if you live here, you've seen it. But what a gorgeous day! And notice that the fountain is pink.

The part I don't like about having my parent's visit is saying bye! Never fun but at least I'll see my family at Christmas, until then.....