van go go go

did i mention my lovely outing to the metropolitan museum of art with a few friends last weekend. on saturday everyone traveled by train (except melissa who was already here) to spend the day strolling through the halls of the met and enjoying some chilly nyc air.


it really was a great time but my feet were killing me by the end of the day. still, a fantastic way to spend a saturday. thanks ladies! (not pictured is Kass because of course, she was behind the lens...)

oh and last week i also went to a taping of jimmy fallon with mel where we got to see janet jackson and my favorite john cena. it was an interesting way to spend an otherwise boring tuesday! thanks for the tickets mel!

let's shuffle

so it's not that i don't love this, but i got a new one for christmas! and really, who needs two ipod shuffle's? well, not me. so i want this baby to go to a new home and someone who can enjoy it as much as i did. (even though it matches my sneakers.)

i have the charger, but no headphones. besides, do you really want used headphones? (ew.) i'm selling this for $30 shipping included. i can even send it to you chuck full of some workout tunes or wiped clean, you decide.

first come first buy!

when it rains, it freakin' pours

it's been a week. i mean one of those weeks. where you want to fast forward to friday except friday brings a headache and the ramifications of too little sleep. this is day two of no heat, no hot water. i love my apartment, but the building is a dump and the landlord is just slightly shady. so after getting home at 9 pm on wednesday and seeing the notification that the gas had been shut off due to a gas leak, i wasn't the least bit surprised. add a whole bunch of work deadlines to that and the fact that we have our taxes piled up and patiently waiting to be attended to and i've got a full on stressful week/weekend.

the good news is i found my dream home this week! the bad news is it's in CT. the uncommutable part of CT. and it's way too expensive to qualify as a weekend house. oh bummer.

ps: this makes post number 1,001. so i missed that milestone. oops.

life's a beach

yes, it was that nice on saturday. after a day of sun and warmth, my skin was feeling noticeably better. the husband observed that it might be medically necessary for me to live by the ocean. i'd like a prescription for that.

need some suggestions here

i'm not going to bribe you this time BUT i would love to get some of your suggestions on the most interesting great fantastic crafty blog you frequent. i want to add to my list of bloggers. i'm already planning to add a couple of people and some blogs i've stumbled upon, but if you have friends with intriguing sites, let me know. just leave me a quick address in the comments.

oh and btw, i was outdoors without a coat today. no coat!

and another bit of knowledge: we're getting our new sleeper sofa delivered friday! i might have a futon-fueled bonfire. anyone want to come?

craft-along twenty ten: project one COMPLETE!

the photo geek that i am couldn't wait to get home and upload these pictures. {i did go to the gym first...} hopefully you love them as much as i do, because, well, what's a blog if not for the accolades of complete strangers. {and all of you, my friends!}

so this is obviously the permanent one, or maybe you can't tell in the photo, but it's all sewn down the strap and tidy and strong. i LOVE the elephants and even though these are all old fabrics i had lying around, i liked them together.

here's a more panoramic view of the whole thing:

and here is the temporary cover. now i told you i changed some things, but the main thing was sewing down the side that had the fusible interfacing before sewing them together. i think it gives it a more finished look plus it keeps the fabric from bowing out away from the strap. and my measurements ended up being perfect {which hardly ever happens} so i was really happy with the snug fit.

now thanks to the kind encouraging words of marybeth, i've created a flickr group to start posting all these photos here. please go over and join so i don't feel like a single-member loser. and if you post about your strap please let me know cause i'd like to alert everyone to your creations, as splendid as i know they're going to be...

craft-along twenty ten: project one progress

look how great the camera straps turned out!!

oh wait, you can't, because i forgot my memory card and reader this morning. along with my phone. grr. it was one of those mornings.

but the point is i was so excited about making the strap(s) that i jumped the gun this weekend. honestly, with free time, i need to take it where i have it because you never know when it's going to show it's lovely face again. so a weekend full of rain and 75mph winds was a good excuse to waste away the days indoors.

i have to say, i was all gung ho for the permanent strap BUT after battle wounds to both me and my stitch-ripper trying to take apart the old camera strap, i think i much prefer the temporary strap. {oh, did i mention i made both?} AND i like that you do have options to change it up when you feel the urge. all in all i made some modifications to the temporary strap along the way, but the permanent one was pretty much step by step tutorial. i'll explain more when i have the photos. it'll make more sense.

i'm pretty happy with both of them, and plan to make more {temporary versions} for my not-planned-as-of-yet tinkerwiththis home party. along with all those makeup pouches, i should have a pretty stocked inventory!

so anyone else get started??

camera holder part deux

i had this idea come to me yesterday at work and i HAD to make it so i sewed through 'survivor' and had a nifty little holder at the end of the night. the fit is a bit snug, since i didn't calculate for the wrist strap...i might make another one a bit larger later OR just deal with it.





of course, i did skip the gym AND had pizza for dinner (and salad!). oh the sacrifices i make for craft.

jiggly be gone

anyone who knows me would never say i 'needed' to go to the gym. i've been skinny my whole life, not counting those freshman 15 about, oh, fifteen years ago. BUT i just didn't feel "in shape". you know, things were jiggling on a rare outdoor run {that could only last about ten minutes}. sure i could do a few pushups here and there but i missed feeling strong. i felt sloppy.

i'd been trying to keep up the strength with random workouts here and there, but like anything, without repetition you don't see results. that went on for months. so i didn't really think i would see a big difference from the gym but i knew it was 'needed', even if i was the only one who thought so.

i'm happy to say i'm seeing big differences in my body already. things that used to hang are now less hangy and things that jiggled are less jiggly. i feel stronger and i'm already noticing my strength and endurance are improving. as much as i hemmed and hawed about spending too much on a membership here in the city, i really do LOVE it. i love the gym. and i just wanted to tell you all that. nyc people NEED the gym because really, what do we do besides all that walking? we're cramped into tiny trains and tiny offices and tiny apartments all our lives!

winner winner jewelry for dinner

OK so that made no sense, but the winner is revampedmidge! you'll be receiving an oversized matchpad and one pendant of your choice.

congrats and again, thanks to everyone for playing! i love giving away stuff almost as much as i love selling it ;)

so rm, send me an email with your address and your choice of pendant to tinkerellenATyahoo.com.

happy wednesday people!

craft-along twenty ten: project one

ok, so who is definitely with me for this craft-along??

the rules are as follows:

make one camera strap using tutorials:
permanent strap
removable strap
complete said camera strap by april 1st
show off camera strap progress somewhere between now and march 31st
love said camera strap forever

anyone, anyone? i think this is about an hour start to finish, depending on your sewing/ironing ninja skills. as you see i have more than enough scraps to work with. i'm thinking of going with a somewhat monochromatic pink theme but those blues and greens seem to be creeping into my brain as well. any thoughts?

speaking of, i have a box FULL of scraps so if you let me know your general color theme, i can ship out some fabric love this week...just let me know what you need!

{OH and fyi: i'd love to do more of these over the year, if some of you are up for it.}

camera strap sew-along

i've been itching to make my very own patchwork camera strap. i mean, please, when i pack, the list is like: underwear, toothbrush, camera. and sometimes i even forget the toothbrush. but seriously, my camera is like my child, so to make it a pretty custom strap only seems fair.

now i know a lot of you have recently gotten yourselves some pretty fancy cameras. that probably have big boring black straps. SO i really want this to be a community sew-along kind of thing. plus, i need someone pushing me to make it. who's in?? i would need posts that either document your progress OR the final product.

just to give you some options and easy instructions, i found this tutorial at 'crap i've made' for a permanent strap or this tutorial from fabric family fun for a removable strap. {for those of us who can't commit.}

come on, who's in?!

winner winner chicken dinner

HEATHER!! you won chica. which is awesome, because it sounds like you can put those clips to good use!

thanks to everyone who played and commented. i love hearing from you guys! so since i'm in a good mood this morning {yay for morning workouts and lots of good sleep} i'll be giving away another little something. just comment here on any subject you want and i'll pick a winner wednesday. it'll be a short time period i know BUT i'll want to mail everything together, so give it a shot!

btw - the 50ºs are here and i couldn't be happier. this weekend was gorgeous and we spent yesterday spring cleaning with the windows open. ah, i love spring.

spring needs to sprung already

this blog brought to you by the grammatically challenged.

so i'm absolutely itching {yes, i see the humor in that pun, not over the skin thing yet...} to get into spring weather, and clothes! i can't you tell how much. i've even debated a savings account funded shopping spree.



i bought this bohemian floral dress yesterday at h&m for 13$. the best part is, it's organic cotton. the other best part is, it'll look great with my boots and a denim jacket. the necklace was 5 or 6$, i can't remember which, but i love the versatility and detail of long rope jewelry. an entire outfit, for 19 dollars. a great way to start off the spring wardrobe.



{yes that is my front door. leading into my kitchen. housing three bolt and key locks. welcome to nyc.}

talk people, i'm bribing you

so here it is. enter to win. yep. i'll be randomly picking a winner from the comments on this blog as i often do. this time you'll get your own set of fridge clip magnets (have to come up with a better name there) and i'm even going to include a set of chip clips that i've made along the same theme (not pictured though, and not magnetic...).



and to make sure you have enough to talk about, i'm including this awful picture of me: (it's bad right?) so this kills two birds with one photo. one, i'm finally showing you my haircut from oh, four months ago AND two, i'm showing you the flower i was inspired by kelly to make. although hers is much cuter. i'm still deciding if the flower in the hair is a little childish, or a lot childish. of course you could always do something fun like this tank. there are so many possibilities really. think belt ribbon, tank tops, headbands, pins, pins on bags etc etc. i'll definitely be making more as soon as i can track down some good thin fabric.



and one more photo to make ABSOLUTE sure you comment and enter, yes, you. this was taken outside of central park last week when we had that crazy dumping of snow, yet again. i didn't mess with the color on this. everything was blue, it was the most surreal fantastical thing ever. well, when it comes to snow anyway.