So Grown Up

 
Tomorrow Chase starts transitioning to the next level of class at his daycare; he is getting so big. Sometimes I look at him and realize he isn't a baby anymore and it makes me a little sad...











 

More Glass Fusing

 




Here are my latest glass fusing attempts. Next up, drilling a hole in one of the larger pieces so that I can use it as a Christmas ornament.

Also here are a few Chase moments because I can't resist writing them down somewhere.
- Yesterday Chase was jumping on our bed saying "I want to go I want to go" and Boris asked him where he wanted to go and he said "I want to go to Mexico" when we asked why he told us he wanted to go and play with toys there. Apparently he is going to be a traveller.
- Chase is officially obsessed with my iPhone. He can unlock it, navigate to the game he wants to play, and get it all going. Crazy...I now have to fight my 2 year old for my phone.
- At school yesterday they did a special art project where they undressed the kiddos and let them "body paint". Apparently Boris's neat-freakish-ness has been passed along to the next generation because Chase spent the entire time trying to avoid getting messy and the only paint he had on him was where other kids had bumped into him. It was quite the comparison to some kids who were covered from head to toe in paint. (BTW, Chase moves up to the big kid class room next week! He is growing up so fast!)

 

Weekend Fun

 
Last night I went out for my weekly date with Capricious and we went to Starbucks and knitted together. I made my first sock ever! I used a bulkier yarn so it is a heavy sock, I want to try a light weight yarn sometime but this was a good way to learn.





This morning Boris and I took Chase to a nearby park. Here are a few photos, there is nothing like Einstein's bagels and a trip to the park to kick of a weekend to a good start.







Lastly here are a few cute photos of Chase sitting on our friend motorcycle...he kept saying "My motorcycle, not uncle's mine!"









 

Living with a Rock Star

 


Boris happens to not only be a great husband, a wonderful father, and a talented programmer / project manager, but he is also a rock star. Tonight he won the preliminary round of "King of the Blues" - a guitar competition that Guitar Center puts on. Wish him luck in the future rounds (and hopefully winning won't inflate his ego too much).
 

Boxy Pouch

 
I was recently inspired by African Kelli and Handmade by Hooli to make a little boxy zipper pouch.



Things that worked out well:
- I have never sewn a zipper before and it ended up being a lot easier than I thought it would be.
- I used fusible fleece to line the outside of the pouch which made it really sturdy.
- I love that this pattern didn't take much fabric at all! Also I think this would be very easy to alter to any size.

Things that I will try to change next time:
- Like Hooli I HATE the raw edges on the original pattern so I attempted what Hooli recommended and I sewed the lining as a separate bag and then slipped it inside the main bag. I am not as good of a seamstress as Hooli so my edge where I sewed the lining in looks pretty sloppy. I will have to work on a better method for that. Also I think next time I will make the lining slightly smaller than the outside of the pouch. At least there are no unfinished edges...
- I should have added a handle, it would have made it more useable.




 

Lemon Bag

 
I'm not quite sure what it is about this bag but everyone seems to love the style of it. The teachers at Chase's daycare asked me to make a few so here is the first one that I finished. It is fun with tiny black and white polka dots on the outside and bright yellow lemons inside.




 

Ayudeme

 




Chase updates (I'm sure you are all tired of the stories but I like to blog about them so that I remember what he was doing when):
- The other day Chase was standing near the baby gate shouting "Ayúdeme Ayúdeme Ayúdeme" (Help me, help me, help me). Apparently children do learn things while watching TV (that is what the animals on Go Diego Go shout). He can also count in Spanish and he knows his colors in Spanish but I think he learned that at daycare.
- In true nerd fashion Chase now knows that Pachyderms are Elephants, Hippos, and Rhinos and that Kangaroos and Kolas are Marsupials. He is so going to get beaten up at school...

 

Winner!

 
8/24 - I did another drawing as I never heard back from dewwdrop. TZel won the second drawing! Congratulations.


 
Congratulations dewwdrop and thank you all for entering! I don't have your info dewwdrop so please email me at kkalikstein@hotmail.com with your address and the choice of your pendant and I will get that shipped off.

I will keep doing giveaways on a regular basis so check back.

 

Free Give Away - Fused Glass Pendant

 
Let's try another give away, I am so excited about my new fused glass projects that I want to share my excitement! My first one didn't go so well as I only had a few people enter - so hopefully this one works out a bit better.





You win your choice of one of the above three pendants. They are all fused glass tiles with silver plated bails.

- One entry for leaving a comment
- One entry for mentioning the give away on your blog (just be sure to leave me a comment letting me know you did that)
- One entry for following my blog
- I will do the drawing on Monday, August 17th (hopefully it will cheer up someone's Monday)
 
 

My First Glass Fusing Experiment

 
I am so excited! My glass fusing supplies arrived yesterday.











One thing that I learned from this experiment is that I need to cut my pieces a bit smaller. These turned out larger than I wanted them to.







Overall I am please with my first attempt. The pictures don't really do the pieces justice but I took them in a hurry this morning. I want to try drilling a hole in one piece and I want to try to wrap another piece in PMC. I learned a lot about how layering different types of glass creates different effects. Hopefully my next batch will turn out more like I had in mind.

PS. I also recently finished two other projects that I think are pretty cool but since they will be Christmas gifts I can't post pictures...but if you are interested in seeing them and you aren't family let me know and I can email them to you.
 
 

Highlights of the Weekend

 
My weekends aren't usually terribly exciting (and this one seemed pretty typical in nature but here were my top 5 highlights).

- Learning that Chase can count in Spanish and that he knows his colors in Spanish
- Going out for a girls night on Saturday with Capricious
- Playing Tichu with my folks (I am addicted and at this point still undefeated)
- Going to the Landmark Theaters for free soda, popcorn, and GI Joe
- Fresh bagels for breakfast on Sunday morning

What did you do?
 
 

I'm Already Thinking About Christmas

 

As crazy as it is I have already started thinking about Christmas. This year I want to try to make a good portion of the Christmas gifts we give away. You can imagine how long it is going to take to complete all those gifts, so I figured that I better get started now.

The funny thing is that as soon as I decided that I needed to start on Christmas gifts I became distracted by the next exciting craft I am going to try - Glass Fusing!!! I already have most of the supplies because I can use my PMC kiln for fusing and I used to do stained glass so I have all of the glass cutters, griders, etc. All I really needed was some kiln paper and glass, which I ordered today online.

Here is a link to the Etsy shop that inspired me to actually start a glass fusing project. I have been thinking about it a long time but this was the motivation I needed.



The other project that will probably be distracting me from making Christmas present is that I have always admired Luly Bugs jewelry but I have never tried to make anything similar because I didn't want to have to deal with concrete. Well I was talking to a friend about it last night and he suggested that I just use grout because you can buy small amounts, it is cheap, and it comes in a ton of colors! I don't know why I didn't think of that. I am so excited to try something like that out!!!

 

Zoo Karma

 
A week or two ago B and I took Chase to the Zoo. We went early in the morning so most of the animals were still indoors. We took Chase into the Pachederm house to see the elephants and for some reason B decided to point out to Chase how large the elephant poop on the ground was (my Dad and B think it is hilarious to talk to Chase about elephant poop for some reason). Well who knew this would set off one of our largest public tantrums ever...

So you ask yourself what elephant poop has to do with tantrums? Well, Chase insisted that he wanted to SEE the elephant make a poop and every time I tried to leave he started screaming at the top of his lungs "I WANT TO SEE THE ELEPHANT MAKE BIG POOP". Yep, that's right, my kid is screaming about watching an animal poop at the top of his lungs in front of about 5 other families.

So now I'm sure you are asking yourself what this story has to do with Karma. Well, when I told my parents this story my Dad was snickering away because I guess one time when I was a little girl and they took me to the Zoo there happened to be a rhino with a rather large erection...and there I was at the Zoo...shouting at the top of my lungs..."Daddy look - that one has 5 legs!!!"