12 hours

Waking up at 5 a.m. gives you a lovely perspective sometimes. Not only do you feel like you're an 80-year-old fisherman, you also feel like the morning light is a glorious catch that needs to be documented. So I started with one photo of these homegrown peonies, and kept going with my day. A good day it was.

It's Bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

I love the game Bananagrams so much, I had to make my own crafty bag o' letters.
Not that I own a fancy set or anything: I just use my Scrabble tiles for the game. (ahem: if you don't know how to play Bananagrams, I don't know if we can be friends. Study up on the rules!)
I'm horrible at embroidery, but I decided to steer clear from banana-shaped bags. There's something equally horrible at any phallic-shaped fabric pouches.
Extra tidbit: there are lots of fun YouTube videos if you search for "Bananagrams," like this one.

Fizzy fail...

I wanted to make thank-you gifts for all my dear friends who helped me craft my way up to my sister's wedding.
At first, I decided to go simple. Scented bath salts in unique containers. Simple, right?
But then, I was inspired by this tutorial and decided to try my hand at making bath bombs.
I went scavenging for the listed materials. Hardest to find was citric acid, but a local homebrew supply store in town, Homebrew Heaven, carried it. Toughest consumer choice: what kind of essential oil to buy (and it ain't exactly cheap, but I figure it'll last me through several craft projects).

I read that you can use almost anything to mold bath bombs: Christmas ornament molds, two measuring spoons stuck together, ice cube trays, etc. I forced some of the globby mix into some flower-shaped ice cube trays I have, as well as a muffin tin:

The catch: you've got to mix the wet and dry ingredients just right. Too dry, and it won't stick together. I learned the tough way: too wet, and the stuff will just keep reacting and expanding. I thought I could leave this stuff to dry overnight, but it never did: I woke up to find my kitchen counter smothered in this mushy, yellowy, jasmine-scented mess. Fizzy fail, indeed. I was so disappointed I didn't even take an "after" shot.

Weddy to craft!

What started as a list of projects...




...turned into a beautiful wedding for my sister and her husband Nick on Mission Bay in San Diego, Calif.



My handmade contributions: burlap table runners, gingham table runners for the refreshments table, cucumber water, cellophane bags of caramel popcorn and animal crackers (separate, not together), collected Mason jars from Oregon thrift stores, tissue-paper poms (hung from the ceiling in large form, and miniature poms strung in clusters)...

My T-Mobile cake...

I could probably start a whole 'nother baking blog. One of my latest creations: Lemon bundt cake with a lemon and blackberry jam glaze.
I love the sour-tart-sweet combination of lemons and blackberries. They make me think of sunshine and summer.
There's a long rant that goes to the title of this case, but...I'll tell you in person.

Square-bottom bag!

I cannot believe it's taken me this long to master the square-bottomed bag. What was I doing before? Oh, right - being lazy.
It was definitely worth spending the time to make the lining look as just as nice as the outside. Whodathunk: all you have to do is sew two bags, align the seams at the top and sew away. Invert! You are done!
Where it's now: my sister uses it for her yoga class.

My stately pleasure dome of craft...

This glass cake dome was a thrift-store find. I searched for one after I read some home decor article about placing ferns underneath cake domes.
For many months, the cake dome sat next to my laptop, keeping out the dust from the assortment of items I placed inside: a poem torn from The New Yorker, some ribbon and a locket. Those items were chosen merely because they happened to be in the same vicinity as my laptop at that moment. And I often grew bored with how it looked.
My latest obsession with terrariums yielded a lovely centerpiece: I took leftover succulent blooms and placed them in a tin that my friend used to give me other green cuttings.
The only drawback: a slight rust ring is now growing on the white plate that's underneath the tin. I just keep wiping it up.