Behind the scenes...

When I woke up today, I immediately grabbed my camera, laptop, and bottle cap necklaces.  It's a rare 55 degrees outside (and by rare, I mean it really doesn't happen this time of year in this part of PA).  I knew it was the perfect time to do a little outdoor photography.  And I knew I had to do it quick because we were predicted to have storms hit around noon.  It was a bit windy out so I had to tape my fabric down.  I ran around the yard for a bit finding a few nice rocks and got to work.  

behind the scenes of my setup

 I was down to the last twelve necklaces when I noticed the wind picking up, a few raindrops and the clouds rolling in.  I got the laptop inside and went back out to hopefully finish up those last few photos.  I kept looking over my shoulder at the sky, just hoping that it held off for just a little bit longer.  

look at those clouds just rolling in

 As soon as I took that last photo, I dashed inside with all of my setup.  I even took the rocks with me because I just loved the way they looked while taking the photos.  I just really hope they look that nice in the photos when I download them.  Not even ten minutes after I ran inside, the storm really let loose!  The weathermen were a bit off on the timeline as it was only 11AM.  Here's one last photo for you of what I saw outside.  The photo really doesn't do the storm justice though!

torrential downpour!  Those trees in the back really aren't that far away.

 

yarn bombing

yarn bombing by Magda Sayeg

a little update on life

Yeah, I've been pretty bad so far about writing here everyday.  However, in my defense when I wound up getting sick it really kicked my butt after the first couple of days.  So here's my little update on what's going on in my life right now. 

This morning my lovely cat, Alena, got scared by something falling.  I happened to be mostly asleep when she jumped and landed on my head with her claws out.  Nothing like being woken up with a claw in my eyelid and one in my ear. The last time my ear hurt that badly was when I had my upper ear piercing redone with a needle instead of a gun several years ago.  It took almost an hour to get the bleeding to stop this morning!  So then I went into work which was another fun day of construction noises.  I can't wait for the work to be done so we can get into the new store and start setting it up.  

On the crafty side of things, I did take photos of my bottle cap necklaces.  I wasn't happy with them though so I deleted all of them.  My plan for Sunday is to try again.  I'm also working on learning how to knit an i-cord.  I would really like to make wrap bracelets.  

So there you go, that's my little update for today!  Hope life it treating you well.

quick little post...

Technically it's after midnight which means that I missed posting on the 7th by a few minutes but since I haven't been to bed yet, I'm counting this as my post for the the 7th!  I'm feeling a little bit better then I was yesterday but not by much.  So it was another day of not doing much of anything besides sleeping and reading.  I did manage to take some photographs of the bottle cap necklaces that I have completed so I'm hoping to get those posted soon in my store.  I also started on a pair of fingerless gloves this evening.  I learned two new crochet stitches- front post double crochet and back post double crochet.  When used together and alternated, you can create a ribbing just as you would if you were knitting!  I found this to be quite exciting which shows just how much of a craft nerd I am.  :)

Sick day...

Seems like everyone at work has been sick over the past week and a half and now its my turn.  Thankfully I had today off and I'm off the next two so hopefully I can shake this bug quickly!  So I spent my day like this- slept until 10:30am, watched the last two episodes of season 5 of Criminal Minds, went back to sleep, got up and had some noodle soup, finished a book and now I'm contemplating bed again.  Jim was nice enough to go out and get me more soup, ginger ale and Ricola cough drops so I'm set for tomorrow.  No going anywhere for me!  Maybe I'll craft for a bit tomorrow if I'm feeling better :)

Yarn and my day :)

So it was another long day at work today.  I love my job.  However, while I'm super excited to be moving into a larger store in a couple of months, I'm not so thrilled about all of the construction noise!  We're moving right next door but we're not keeping our current space at all.  So today, like the past few days, the construction crew broke out the jackhammers.  For those of you lucky enough to have never listened to a jackhammer for roughly six hours straight, imagine being in a dentist's chair having a tooth drilled for that long.  Only louder, much, much louder.  I could barely hear my guests questions and at one point the floor was literally vibrating.  Needless to say, I was very happy when 2pm rolled around and I was able to clock out!  

After today I needed to work on something relaxing and soothing.  I'm working on a series of neck warmers out of a fantastic yarn called 'Charisma.'  It's a bulky yarn that works up really quickly and looks great.  Tonight's yarn is the same colors that you see in the picture below- shades of blue, rust, tan and brown.  I love it!  And the neck warmers are so comfy.  Yet another thing I can't wait to finish up and post in my shop!

Painted Desert in Arizona

 

Bacon Cheddar Ranch Dip

I had to open at work on Christmas Eve.  One of the ladies I work with decided to bring in some dip for everyone to try.  Bacon cheddar ranch.  I'll give you a second to process that..... Okay, it was fantastic!  I told her that I absolutely had to have the recipe.  I couldn't believe how easy it was!  She wrote it down for me but I was able to remember it all without even looking at it.  And believe me, that can be a challenge sometimes!  So I went to the store today and picked up the ingredients.  It's currently sitting in the fridge, just marinating all those delicious flavors together.  I don't have a photo of it but it looks like a really thick dip.  Here's the recipe for you!

• 16oz-24oz sour cream (really you can use the larger amount, there's so much flavor!)
• 1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch dip mix (it's the dry kind by the salad dressing)
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup (or more) bacon bits (I used the fake kind since I gave up meat but you can absolutely use real bacon) 

Just mix everything together and let it sit for a little while in the fridge before serving.  That's all there is to it!  Enjoy!