Whitniffic Whatnots

Holy cow. It's crazy how time gets away from you sometimes. It's literally been months since I posted anything here! It seems that it is now baby season again... this year more so than ever! I've got lots and lots of baby stuff to make this summer... First off, my oldest stepbrother and his girlfriend are expecting their first baby boy in August. I've kind of taken the reigns on the baby shower, and we've decided on a frog theme! Love it! I designed the invites last week and sent them off to the printer. It will take a couple weeks to get them in, so in the meantime I began a search for ribbons and the exact-shaped die cut frogs to stick on the invites... doh! I get these ideas in my head thinking that the pieces will be easy to find, but no. I searched all over and found nothing. Because I'm kind of a perfectionist, I was determined to find a solution. I bought some shiny green paper from Hobby Lobby, thinking it would make excellent frogs. My first p...

I always make a resolution to simplify my life and say "no" to things that I don't have time for. Well, I guess I screwed up already... again. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to wander around a railyard and photograph some fun, colorful graffiti. I have no idea if I was trespassing or not... but nobody yelled at me so I take that as in invitation to come back anytime. :) I've had an idea in my head for a while to create a collection of photographs of graffiti that make it seem less grungy and "offensive". I've never considered it offensive (I actually scope out passing trains to find the coolest examples), but it is technically vandalism and most communities frown upon this type of artistic expression. My original goal of this project was to soften the harsh texture of the rusty steel coated in layers of spray paint with soft, shiny embroidery stitches. Also... I've heard that cross stitching is "coming back"... whatever that mea...

So... if you've been reading my blog, you recall I started running earlier last year, and I mentioned my little scrappy journal that I was keeping for logging my runs and races and inspiration... Well... I decided I wanted to do something more "finished" looking about halfway through the summer. A photo book! I had that huge pile of race bibs hanging on my bib board and no where to keep them after the year was over, so I designed a layout in Photoshop to include a photo of the race t-shirt, any photos of me from the event, the race name and logo, the date, my time and the race distance, all set opposite of a blank page to attach the bib to. I think it turned out great, and I absolutely love it! I've gotten so many compliments on it, I thought I'd share it with you all...   First, the front cover. I took this photo after a rainy 10K at Potawatomi State Park in Door County, WI called Run Wild. I loved this race a lot, despite the weather.  Picturesqu...

My hairstylist posted a want ad on Facebook. She claimed she'd give a free haircut to anyone who could make her these slipper boots: Little Red Riding Slippers . Challenge accepted. CAUTION: DO NOT visit this website if you are an obsessive crocheter/knitter like me! Soooo many amazing patterns! And FREE!!! I didn't have size 10 double points to make the foot parts and couldn't find any in stores, so I had to order some online. While I was waiting for my Knit Picks Rainbow DPNs to arrive, I got started on the upper cable sections, which are knit flat on regular needles. I had picked out some basic worsted weight yarn in grey with little flecks of brown in it, which ended up matching really well with the coconut shell buttons I picked out. These parts worked up really quickly (and kept my interest with the cable pattern), and soon I had two strips of cute grey cables. Yay!   My DPNs had arrived, along with a hank of lovely primary colored Stroll Sock Yarn ...

One of my really good friends from way, way back in elementary school Facebook messaged me out of the blue a couple weeks ago about possibly making a bedroom set for her son's 2nd birthday (holy cow... I feel old). Of course, I won't pass up an opportunity to make stuff on other people's dollars... so we met at JoAnn's after one of my Saturday morning 10Ks (I was dressed as a mummy for the Halloween-themed race; that's a strange impression to make after not seeing each other for several years!) and picked out some fabric. We decided to do wholecloth, since it's quick and simple; the little guy's new bed is in the shape of a big red fire truck, so mom didn't want anything too busy (a request which we may have accidentally ignored...). We chose a super cute "fast-looking" chevron print in primary colors for one side and a navy blue for the other. Reversible! I grabbed a few pieces of solid fabric in some matching colors to make a colorblocke...