Happy Easter!

I want to wish everyone a happy and safe Easter. I decided to do my Irish heritage proud(ish) and create an Irish Easter Egg while decorating eggs with my brother-in-law and his fiancée. Creating Easter egg flags is super easy if your homeland's flag has white in the middle. If you're Irish, Italian, French, etc, all you need to do is dip the egg 1/3 of the way into one dye, let it dry, then dip the opposite end of the egg 1/3 of the way into the second dye. The key is to make sure the first color is completely dry, or else you'll find out your country's colors do run -- all over the white portion of your egg flag.

You could also make a pretty killer English flag with red and blue paint and some carefully cut/placed masking tape. Or a Japanese flag with you have the patience to cover your entire egg in masking tape, save for one circle, and dip it in red dye. The real question would be how easy would it be to make Canadian Eggs, American Eggs, Mexican Eggs. Looks like I know what I'm doing when all the egg decorating kits go on sale.

Photo Friday: Ell Pond in Melrose, MA

Before moving up to New Hampshire, I would go on absurdly long weekend bike rides. One of the places I would go to was Melrose, which was easily an hour bike ride away. I loved Melrose; it is where the Stone Zoo is, where Baja Fresh used to be (before they disappeared from New England altogether), and where my favorite actually-Mexican-food restaurant is located. It is also home to Ell Pond. So I decided to risk breaking $500 worth of equipment and lugged my Nikon D60 and its posse of lenses to Melrose to snag a few photos:

Guinea Pig Jailer Costume

We have already met my guinea pig Annabelle. Like any crazy animal person, I adore her and attribute more human characteristics to her than is deemed socially acceptable. And, ever since the South Park episode where giant guinea pigs try to take over the world, I've been dying to get some guinea pig costumes. Unfortunately, those just do not exist for us peasants.

So, I decided it was time to make one. I gathered up some old clothes and my measuring tape and went to it.

First, I measured my guinea pig's length and waist circumference. If you have a snuggly guinea pig like mine, this is actually pretty easy to do. As long as she was on my lap, Annabelle was content with whatever measurements I needed.

I one of the old clothes I grabbed was a black tank top, left over from my t-shirt shag rug, and traced out my design.

I don't know how South Park did it, but the physique of guinea pigs doesn't really lend itself to costumes. For those who have not owned guinea pigs: imagine a hot dog bun with four toothpicks inserted almost completely into the bun, You now know what a guinea pig's body looks like. So sleeves were out. I came up with a pattern that essentially looked like a flattened frog.

And now came my favorite part: the PITS -- or "Pin It To Shit". I don't think I even used this many pins on my cat cape. I ironed and (very carefully) sewed the hem.

Next, using my rotary cutter, I sliced about six or so 1" strips of white cloth (also left over from the t-shirt shag rug). If you want to pin and hem those, go right ahead. I was so sick of pins at that point that I just tugged at the cotton so that the fabric curved inward and pinned the stripes curve-side down. I (begrudgingly) pinned the stripes into place and trimmed the extras.

One by one, I sewed along the inside edge of each stripe, essentially creating a long rectangle with my stitches.

Now, I did the velcro wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong here. The velcro needed to be on the opposite side of the straps from its counterpart. I should've twisted one side's straps so I wouldn't flub up. But, live and learn (and resew one side's velcro).

It all worked out in the end, as I had to do some readjusting anyway. On the first fitting, I realized that the straps were a smidgen too long, making the costume too loose.

One trick I used to put the costume on: in order to keep my usually-docile guinea pig from freaking out, I first just placed the costume on top of Annabelle while she was on my lap, and letting it stay there, as if it were a blanket. Then, before she could protest, I attached the one going under her belly. After a few more snuggles, I then (just as quickly, if not quicker) attached the one around her neck.



I'd say the costume stayed on her for about 30 seconds before she just slid out of it. Again, I don't know how South Park did it. Maybe they drugged the hell out of their guinea pigs. PETA would have a field day.

Photo Friday - Long-ish Exposures in Concord

My husband and I decided one day just to drive up to Concord, NH. That wouldn't mean much if we had been living in Nashua -- a 40 minute drive away -- at the time, but this was while we were still living in Boston. But our mini road trips through New Hampshire is what defined the first years we lived together. Dusk had fallen on our way back home, and, since I had brought my DSLR with me, I decided to try to capture the atmosphere by slowing the shutter speed down to 2 seconds (to give proper context for those who don't fiddle with cameras: "normal" shutter speeds are around 1/50th to 1/500th of a second) and absorbing the dimming light.

I think what boggles my mind the most about these photos is that these mini-long exposures were taken while balancing the camera on the window frame of a running car during red lights and stop signs. These should have been one blurry mess, and somehow they came out somewhat all right. Which made me happy, since I love long exposures of dusk.

Glass Etched Frame, Part 2

Now that I was feeling a little more comfortable with glass etching, I decided to up the ante and try something a little more intricate.

Enter: minute hummingbird stencil.

I gathered out my: exacto knife, etching cream, contact paper, tape, and said tiny hummingbird stencil.

Since there is some serious overlap between this project and the first frame, I won't repeat myself too much.

Like the first one, I taped down the contact paper on a plastic cutting board, plastic side facing up. Since I actually had a stencil to use, I simply used said stencil with a fine point Sharpie. Since I wanted the flowers to be in one corner and the bird to be in another, I stenciled each in their respective corners.

And may I say how wonderful it is to cut out the contact paper without a "paper stencil" taped on top of it? Since everything was so small and intricate, it still took a good amount of time and concentration, but it was wonderful not dealing with a shifting piece of paper taped to the top.

Like the previous frame, I diagonally cut the contact paper and placed the two pieces where I wanted them to go. Remember to give at least an inch or more of buffer between the stenciled portion and the portion of glass that isn't being etched. I also folded the contact paper over the edges of the frame, just in case there was any spillover.

Then, like the last one, I moved my operation to the bathroom.

Since I wasn't covering a lot of ground with the etching crime, I switched to a smaller paint brush for more control. And still: I wore gloves, long sleeves (and, as I learned, shoes as well!) I slathered it on until I couldn't see the glass, washed the brush, gloves, my hands and my shoes (which got a nice healthy blob of etching cream) thoroughly. I closed the bathroom door, turned on the air fan, and went off to do whatever I wanted for 20 minutes. Afterward, I ventured back in, adorned the gloves one more time, washed the cream off, peeled away the contact paper, and rinsed away whatever residue was left.

I decided to pair it with a photo I took of what I call a fern flower (because I usually find it amongst the weeds and ferns and because I don't know its actual name). Which seemed fitting: a hummingbird in one corner, tulips in the other, big-ass picture of a flower in the center. I used scrapbooking tape and taped it to the back piece of glass to keep the picture from shifting around when I put everything together.

This is where it actually resides, on another shelf packed to the brim with frames. But thankfully, this is in our guest bedroom/office, so my husband doesn't have to deal with the all-out frame assault on a daily basis.

Photo Friday / Update

My cousin's wedding in North Carolina was incredible. The weather cooperated, the bride was gorgeous, and the couple couldn't be cuter together. Getting on and off the island was an adventure, to say the least: while trying to get to the island, we missed a 10 a.m. ferry by 7 minutes. We drove an additional 5 hours, from the south coast all the way to the north, looping around the beginning of the string of the islands until we reached a second ferry (which thankfully ran every hour), because it was quicker than waiting around for the 4:30 ferry in the first location.

However, the trip over was incredibly fun, once we finally got on a ferry. Sea gulls and a type of black-headed bird -- the likes of which are never seen in New England -- followed the ferry along. We were able to feed the birds simply by raising hands full of chips up in the air. I was blown away by how close they came to us. Fearless doesn't even begin to describe these birds.

I decided on a different dress for the wedding, but kept on the same necklace. Two of my aunts-in-law noted my necklace and asked where I got it. It shocked them to learn that, not only had I made it, but the pearls were actually lustered beads. In a family full of arts-and-crafts individuals, it's nice to be complimented on something I made myself.

The best part of being on an island in March is that, since it was before the tourism season started, the beaches were deserted. My husband and I didn't have much free time, but we saved one morning for Tai Chi practice on the beach, followed by seashell collecting and just laying around.

That small moment of relaxation was needed, as a thick fog rolled in the morning we were supposed to leave. This meant that none of the ferries were running. We needed to be on a ferry by 12 at the latest to make our 7:30 flight in Raleigh. It was 12:45 by the time the fog lifted and we got on a ferry. Thankfully, North Carolina has lots of long stretches of highway and, with me on the lookout for speed traps, we made a 5-hour drive in under 4:30. We made to the airport in record time and, thanks to a small line at check-in and security, even had time to do some quick souvenir shopping (but more on that later).

I was hoping for a nice mini-vacation in North Carolina, and I got some interesting stories to tell instead.

I also added some glass pendants to my collection of glass pendant sun catchers and rearranged them on my window. I wised up and used jump rings for the newest ones, making the project much, much easier.

Strapless Dress Hangers

Here's a quick activity for those who love their strapless dresses, but hate those God-awful straps sewn into the armpits so you can hang them up.

For these, you need three things: pants hangers from a department store (mind are primarily from Old Navy and Marshall's. You can either ask to keep the hangers the next time you purchase pants, or, if you're more brazen, you can ask to have a couple the next time you're in a department store), adhesive-backed felt, and scissors.

First, take those scissors and cut those stupid hanger straps. Rejoice in never having to tuck them back in as they worm their way out to the surface. Toss them in the trash and give the trash can a few kicks as a precautionary measure.

After you are done rejoicing, cut out a few rectangles in the adhesive felt (I had some leftover after making the tile coasters). Remember that you'll need about 8 rectangles per hanger.

Remove the backing and place one rectangle on the inside of each clasp. Fold the remainder of the felt over the end. Pay attention to the back rectangle: like the hanger pictured above, where the clasp slides into place, the metallic clasp tends to come down lower in the back, so cut your felt accordingly.

Viola. Now your strapless dresses have a better-suited hanger. They're less likely to misshapen from being strung up by two straps, and the felt will keep the ridges of the clasps from digging into more delicate fabrics.

Guinea Pig Treat Bird Feeder

This is Annabelle:

Much like our boys, Annabelle is spoiled rotten. One way we spoil Annabelle is by buying her what I call treats-on-a-stick -- or, to be more precise, treats-as-a-stick. Seeds and nuts and other little treats rolled together in honey.

This past Christmas, Annabelle got very sick and we rushed her to the vet. Thankfully, with antibiotics, Annabelle bounced back with no complications. When the vet asked about her diet, we mentioned said treats. The vet told us that those are about as good for Annabelle as an entire box of Little Debbie's is for a 2-year-old. Along with the antibiotics, the doctor prescribed to us a change in her diet -- specifically, no more treats.

Instead of tossing them in the trash, or tossing them outside to see if some squirrel would like it, I decided to do a quick project with them. This would be good for anyone who has extra guinea pig treats hanging around or anyone who wants to go absolutely crazy with a hot glue gun for about 10 minutes.

For this, I got: said guinea pig treats, ribbon, scissors, and my hot glue gun.

I first glued a loop of ribbon around the long portion of the treat. I did my best to use as little hot glue as possible, as I have no idea if birdies peck at the glue/the glue is toxic for birds. I did Google it to find out, but, interestingly enough, there are no articles on the effects of hot glue on a bird's digestive system.

Thankfully, I have Salem here to make sure no birds will be harmed (until he is able to get at them).

To make the hanging portion, I looped another piece of ribbon under the top portion of the first ribbon and knotted the second ribbon at its ends.

After that, it's up to you what you want to do. Since I have a couple to play with, I just did whatever. I made a bunch of bow ties for one; I made a spiral for another. Use your good judgment and glue when necessary.

Or, do whatever you can while your pets perpetually get in your way.

I waited until the weather finally warmed up a bit before hanging them from our patio. The nice thing about these feeders is that the squirrels can't jump on them like do they our regular feeder. This means that food is 100% for the birds.

And, lo and behold, just a few days (and a freak dusting of snow) later, I caught a gorgeous little finch nibbling away. Color me satisfied.

Photo Friday: Springtime in Boston

After a ridiculous blizzard, New Hampshire got a taste of spring yesterday. I spent my lunch break walking around the neighborhood breathing in the fresh air. Although it was wonderful walking around without a jacket, the smell of the air brought me back to my college days, when I would celebrate nice weather by walking obsessively around Boston (because who needs a social life). I've already been opining for the bubble world of college -- specifically the parts where I would actually have free time to waste on walking around Boston all day -- and this made it a thousand times worse.

So, in that spirit, I present a few photos I snapped during my walks around Boston. These are roughly circa 2008/2009:




Now I swear I did not edit that cloud in any way, shape, or form. It naturally was that phallic. The best part is that I didn't even realize it when I took the picture. The walker gazing at the penis cloud adds a nice touch.