Hello, Italian friends and Italian-reading friends! I am in the latest issue of Cucito e Ricamo Magazine, a cute crafty mag available for you in the app store for iPhone/iPad. Just search for “Cucito e Ricamo” and you’ll find the “Casa Creativa” app. The app is free, and then you can decide which magazines you want to purchase. I also found this link to make a purchase, but I don’t know if they send you a PDF, or if it’s still app-related. I can’t read the instructions :P. The magazine looks really cute, though, and there’s 4 pages of Q&A in there with me!

 

 

Wow, today’s post is like a triple whammy!!!! 1) Free crochet pattern 2) Experimenting with a new fabric glue 3) Pimping out 2 cool Etsy shops. Let’s go!

So if you couldn’t tell from the blog title, today’s post is all inspired by LAVERNE & SHIRLEY. The younguns may not remember this, but us olduns do! It’s the funniest, goofiest, BFF  TV show!

Joy from Lucky Cupcake Hair Clips sent me this amazing Laverne & Shirley hair bow, and I scrambled to think of what outfit I could put together to do it any amount of justice. I don’t have a lot of Laverne-y pieces in my closet (YET), so I sort of improvised … by making my own Laverne-inspired cardigan!

To create the “L” for my Laverne cardigan, I used Norma Lynn’s “Love in Cursive” crochet pattern for inspiration. You should grab her pattern to spell out the whole word!

Here’s what I busted out for the Laverne “L” : ch 71, sk 1st ch, 2 sc, (2 sc), 10 sc, (2 sc), 2 sc, (2 sc), 2 sc, (2 sc), 18 sc, sc3tog, 2 sc, sc3tog, 2 sc, sc3tog, 2 sc, sc3tog, 10 sc, (2 sc), 3 sc.

Then, I experimented with Surebonder Fabric Stix: hot glue for fabric! That’s flexible! And washable! I can’t vouch yet for how it washes. Only time will tell. I was just excited to try this out. It kinda stinks that it’s white and not clear, but for this project, it was fine. It also, kind of literally stinks. It’s a bit smellier than regular hot glue, so you might want to pop open a window if you’re afraid of chemical smells. It’s no way near as bad as E6000, though. Ultimately, I think that hot fabric glue is an easy solution for some quick embellishments, but since it’s GLUE, it is kinda bulky and not as delicate as hand-sewing.

Here’s an action-packed video I made while using the Fabric Stix for the first time!

I would say that it is certainly a quick n convenient way to glue stuff to other stuff, but I felt like I was being too messy with it, and it was kinda stringy, and……..it’s WHITE. So, there are some definite down sounds to working with it. I’m interested in how it would hold up to gluing bows to jeans and stuff like that. More experimentation later!

I hope you guys get to have fun adventures this weekend!

Last weekend, Hairy and I drove down to Big Sur. Big Sur is neat cuz it’s like a bunch of different environments all smashed together…. grassland, forest, and beach.

I am not really a nature/camping kinda gal, because I hate sweating, bugs, and getting dirty, but I’m game to hang out in nature for an hour or two.

I made a video of our journey, so you can come with us on our hike!

So this is basically the outfit I consider my sporty/hiking outfit. I tried on a bunch of my shorts, and it’s like … my thighs are SO JUICY that they don’t really fit in any shorts!? WTH? Where do juicy gals buy their shorts?! These red ones are from Victoria’s Secret. My very sporty muscle shirt is from Urban Outfitters. I told Hairy that in this outfit, nobody would invite me deer-hunting, which, is a good thing anyway.

 Pfeiffer Beach is really beautiful, but if you watch the video, you will see why the sign says, “VERY WINDY. NO REFUNDS.”

Ok, bye! Go somewhere outside this weekend and smell some fresh air and inhale some tiny bugs and stuff.

Love you guys!

I repeat: I am probably the sloppiest, laziest, lamest nail-painter ever, but I enjoy it so much!!!

I did these nails really super quick for Manda’s MFA graduation last week. I have been craving a black polish for a while, but then lightened it up by alternating it with a creamy white. I am always overzealous with the polka dots, which kind of ruins everything, but oh well, they are fun!! Then I decided to break up the dots with some random faces painted on with a tooth pick.I think this mani says: I am a complex woman. I am a play in contrasts. I am darkness. I am light. I am life. I am death. I am happiness. I am sadness. I am deep.JUST KIDDING. I’m just random.

Cardboard has so many uses!!! I have used this piece of cardboard for at least 2 years. I don’t want to be wasteful!

I started using it to pour out my GemTac, which is what I use to adhere small beads to my crochet work (I think it looks better than sewing for my ice cream scoop hair pieces).  I also used to use another piece of cardboard exclusively for hot glue, but then I invested a whole $5 into a reusable hot glue gun pad, which is way awesome (hm, it looks like it’s $7 now, so maybe visit your craft store to see if it’s cheaper?). But I still use my trusty cardboard glue board for other adhesives. Check it out! Gross, yeah? I mean, artistic!!!