craft collaboration.

One day on my lunch break at work, I came up with the idea of a craft collaboration/swap. I immediately texted Ham and asked if he would be interested in the idea. The premise of the swap was to pick a theme and a deadline. Each person would use whatever medium to make whatever they chose to represent the theme. This left all kinds of room for personal preference and creative license. After much deliberation (?), Ham chose the theme "squirrel". We set the deadline, we pushed the deadline back a bit and we pushed the deadline back again. Finally, the day came for the swap. I hand-delivered this little beauty to Ham in PA.

His hands had snaps on them which snapped onto a coffee cup and a heart that I also made. This little critter has endured some cruel criticism from some of my co-workers during its creation. One co-worker claimed that squirrels were not grey. Oh mercy, Thanks T for clearing this up. Another co-worker repeatedly called him a "squabbit" because it looked more like a rabbit than a squirrel. Regardless of the criticism, Squirrelly slowly but surely came to life. (Ham might have named him something else... I just called him Squirrelly.)

You might be wondering about Ham's part of the swap...well, you'll have to keep wondering. I'll post his half soon. =)

I'm open to more crafty collaboration/swaps. Let me know if you're interested. I won't be able to do more than one at a time, but I doubt I'll get that much feedback.

Lerv to you, bloggy buds.

Happy almost-June and happy crafting!

jec

more.

(I found these gems on my tele the other day. I forgot about them, but they go with the pictures from last weekend.)

lerv.

whirl-wind weekend.

This past weekend I took a quick trip up to Filthadelphia to visit my loves. Sweet T was in the school's musical and Ham is going to Utah all summer (which means I won't see him til August!). With all the activities, I forgot to take out my camera a lot buttttt I did manage to snap a few shots here and there.

(the boys longboarding)

(family after T's musical)

(an incredible feat of Barley's strength)

(precious Kieran!!! with the boys [so sweet!])

So there you have it. I had an awesome weekend. I didn't want to come home. I might've cried just a bit. (Ok, ok. I cried enough that my manager commented on my puffy face the next day at work. I can't help it. I wouldn't cry if I didn't love them so much and miss being with them. Oy.)

I'm not sure when the next post will be or what it will be of. (<--Am I not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition? Is that a preposition?) Hopefully I'll think of something to post soon, but until then...

lerv to the max.

jecca

nose knows.

I don't know about the rest of you, but certain smells have the power to instantly transport me to another time and place. I've noticed it especially as of late.

For instance:

The smell of wood and laundry takes me to Stanley-Land. I am surrounded by family, pups and love. Someone's looking for something. Someone's calling for someone they can't find. Mama's offering to make me something to eat, and I'm grinning from ear to ear.

The smell of winter is a wonderful thing. I could never describe it; it's impossible (but it's amazing). Whenever I smell winter I am taken back to my freshman dorm room at PBU. Renae and I are sitting, listening to music and "doing homework". I smell winter (because we keep the window open all year round). I tell Renae. She doesn't understand. We are bonded forever.
The smell of Vurt and cigarrettes puts me back in the presence of a dear friend. We are riding in the car, talking, laughing and probably drinking Starbucks. We make it a regular thing, because it's more than good in theory.

The smell of Polo takes me back to Sunday mornings as a child. My father wore Polo cologne and made cinnamon buns for us before church. I can't get enough of the smell. I hug him and bury my nose in his neck. (This technique proves to be most effective and is used later in life to identify and remember especially important people.)

The smell of grass mixed with a certain humidity in the air transports me to track practices after classes in high school. There's a whole lot of messing around and not a lot of practicing. I think I know everything about the world and how things should turn out. I am blissfully mistaken.

The smell of Comet cleaner takes me back to summer days of old. I'm sitting on the counter in the kitchen. Ma's slicing strawberries and sprinkling sugar over them. We'll have strawberry shortcake for dessert after a day in the sun at the beach.

Now I'm wondering about you, my bloggy buds. I'd love to hear about the smells that transport you to somewhere else. I think that sometimes your nose knows exactly where you secretly want or need to be.

Lerv, lerv.

change of plans.

The Week of Wardrobe post that was promised today will most likely be posted tomorrow. I'm going to see a musical tonight and am still in my pj's. Yes, I know it's 4:30 in the afternoon.

For kicks and giggles, I'll leave you with this photo:

(I miss them terribly.)

...and I guess I'll get back to work on a pair of knickers that I've been working on all day, part of my Twenty-Three before Twenty-Four challenge.

Lerv, lerv.

jecca

Twenty-Three before Twenty-Four: ONE.

The first "significant thing" on my list of Twenty-Three before Twenty-Four was a super secret crafty that I started several weeks ago.

My crafty inspirations come from random places and at random times. This crafty was inspired solely by my dear friend Ham and my absence from him for what seemed to be so long (read about a month and a half).

Behold the Michael Jackson pillow cover!

I started by making a pattern out of quilter's grid. Let me just tell you...that stuff is a dream! It's marked with a grid (duh) of 1" square blocks, which makes measuring and cutting extremely easy for square or rectangle pieces.

After I got the panels measured and cut out, I went to my closet to find some sort of black fabric I could use for a silhouette of the King of Pop. An old, over-sized shirt from H&M did the trick. Cutting out the silhouette seemed to take FOR-EV-ERRR. The black fabric was so thin that it kept slipping, so I pinned it to a layer of batting and that helped to stabilize things a bit.
Once Michael was cut out, I pinned him and the batting to the front panel of the cover and whip-stitched all along the outline.
Since this super secret crafty was for Hammie (and I love him so), I stitched his name on the bottom of one of the back panels.
I also stitched/signed my initial on the top of the same panel. You would only see it if you know it's there, because the second panel on the back overlaps it.
I pinned all the panels together then used Jonah to sew them all up... and Voila!

This might've been blogged sooner, but I didn't want to spoil the surprise for Hammie. I am also quite happy to say that I personally delivered this "significant thing"...which made it all the more sweeter. =)

ooo! ooo! ooo!!!

Oh my gosh. Amazing mash-ups. (Thanks, Ham!)

a Girls' revelation.

One of my dearest friends (Hammie) and I share a love for a band called Girls. Their lead singer, Christopher Owens, was once a member of the cult "Children of God". You can read a pretty cool interview with him here...anyways...

The other day I was really having a "Girls kind of day". I told Hammie, and he told me that every day was a "Girls kind of day"... of course, I agreed. So, on the way home from work I had a Girls revelation while I listened to the song "Lauren Marie." You've got to hear it to understand it. Listen before you read anything else.

Lauren Marie - Girls

*I'm sorry if you can only hear a 30 second preview. You can read the lyrics here, or you can just sign up for lala and hear the whole thing.*

Ugh. The first two lines say it all.

I've been dwelling on all the things that make me just want to give up on life lately (i.e.- moving away from my dearest friends/family, Baby Matt moving back to CO, Mamba leaving to go back to GA, stupid work stuff, etc). I'm crying all the time because I'm so overwhelmed, and it's taking a toll on my health and my sanity.

The Girls reminded me that my life is not over, and I've got a job to do.

I may not be able to drive around town with Hammie while listening to the Girls whenever we feel like it, but I can sure as heck call him up and we can listen to the Girls separately yet together. I may be absent from the people I love, but I am reminded of them constantly. Those memories shouldn't make me sad. They should bring me joy, for Pete's sake! Now, this is not to say that I'm never going to be sad about these things again. As a matter of fact, I started writing this blog post over a week ago and had to postpone it because crap hit the fan and I had a melt-down and...eww. It was not pretty. This is, though, a reminder that life goes on. I'm still living as I write this. You're still living as you read this. Why shouldn't we take advantage of that?

Thank you, Christopher Owens, for making such beautiful music and speaking to my heart. Thank you, Hammie, for introducing me to the Girls and going to their show with me. Without you, I wouldn't have had this revelation...and without you in my life, there would just be something missing. I love you.

Christopher Owens

Girls show @ the Kung Fu Necktie in Philadelphia, PA

November 4, 2009

I don't know where I'm going,

but I'm heading somewhere

and it's not my time to die.

Take a look up, Jecca,

the clouds make way for the sunshine.