spring ain’t no thing

i have quite a lot to report today, so if you’re not a fan of reading or looking at pictures, then you’re in the wrong place. and what’s wrong with you, for pete’s sake?

the first order of business is the quite successful second edition of the plastic bag bag, which i made for my dear friend emily for her birthday:

i spruced the design up with some rick-rack and a fancy fabric interior.

i also put a scary amount of time into making this delightful eye candy:

behold, fabric covered floss bobbins! i don’t know how many hours total these took– let’s just say more than five and less than ten– and i wound up with a whole 30 of them. i got the idea from this post over at The Small Object blog, which is a great place with lots of cool tutorials and lots of craft inspiration (craftspiration?). this project makes for a very pretty storage solution, if you’re willing to put in the time.

and lastly on the creation front is an idea that was inspired by my hatred of internet grammar. i’m pretty sure i was an english teacher in a former life, because every time i read that something is “better then” something else, or some one “should of” done something, i kind of want to jab knitting needles in my ears to distract from the pain in my brain. without further ado, i give you this:

this is my pathetic excuse for cursive handwriting (so perhaps i wasn’t an english teacher…maybe an editor). i silk screened it in a violent spell-check red. now, rather than confront people about their poor vocabulary decisions, all i have to do is stare at my shirt and cough quietly. i won’t lie, passive aggression has always been a strong suit of mine.

lots of new changes on the horizon; school will be out in a few weeks, which means more craft time, but unfortunately also means full-time work. also, it’s warming up considerably here, and while all the craft bloggers up there in the arctic north are cheering for the onslaught of spring, i’m definitely not looking forward to it. it’s easy to love spring when you’ve just endured frost-bite inducing wintry weather, but here in houston, spring means that i am suddenly struck with the realization that my car has no air conditioning and oh my god this is going to last for six more months. there are a couple things i like about spring, though–one being that i can actually afford to buy strawberries, and the second is that medians everywhere are erupting in wildflowers. houston isn’t the prettiest city in the world by a long shot, but i get a smile every time i pass memorial park, where giant bunches of wildflowers have suddenly proliferated. i think a lot of it is their sign: a small green plaque reading “Wildflowers Growing!!” two exclamation points and everything! gah, it kills me. in the meantime, i’m going to have to get used to arriving everywhere slightly sweaty with a nice tan on my left arm.