Dreaming of Summer

Oh my oh my. Every year I get to a point (and it's always right after christmas) where I am just DONE with winter. The chilly weather, the rain, and the wiggles my little one get from not being able to run off his energy outside in the sun. So I've curated a little Etsy treasury to get myself in the mood for summer.

Also, on a perky plus side. I received a UKULELE for christmas. I have been practicing daily! I started taking some youtube classes from this lady:

They're the best classes because they're geared towards little kids, which means that I can understand it too. So far I have completed 3 of these lessons, so I can play 4 chords and 3 songs!

Hooray! I must say, the cheery ukulele music has made for some summer in December!

O! Other news, the Garden is in full swing this year! I have most seeds planted for spring, beets, beans, carrots, tomatoes (they came up on their own), broccoli, cabbage, and the ever present kale. I am also campaigning for some raised beds outside our front door for a lettuce patch and a medicinal herb garden (any ideas for this would be greatly appreciated).

This is our garden! Yes, it is in an old pool. Yes our backyard looks like a bomb went off, but it's all good.

The Kale plants that have been growing for a year now

The Rainbow Chard that comes up regardless of what we do (anyone want some chard?)

Beans and cabbage, carrots and beets, all planted in our healthy dirt!

This and That

succulents , originally uploaded by yarnandtea.

I know it's been a few months since my last post, but between school, work and family, it's been hard to post anything (let alone be creative), but school is out and I have a current break from work, so here it is!
This picture above is a little sample of what we did for our christmas gifts for our friends. The mugs were from World Market and I just clipped a bunch of succulents, and arranged them so! Very easy!
The other gifts we gave were some paperwhite bulbs in thrifted jars, wrapped with some hand-spun cotton or vintage buttons on hemp cord. They turned out so earthy and beautiful, a good representation of our family if you ask me.
Check out my flickr page for some more pictures of last minute knitting projects and some pictures of the jars and bulbs.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

The General Economy

So, due to my habit of staying on the computer far too long looking through beautiful flicker pages from independent designers I adore, I found this awesome clothing re-sale site.

It's called Laws of the General Economy. It was started as a little experiment in alternative clothing resale, and has thrived since opening.

It's a place where anyone can list designer used clothes and people who want to buy them can leave their email. The owner of the item can email the person and a transaction can be made.

I have found it to be an awesome way to shop! You know what you're getting, what size it is and you are saving tons of money on awesome clothes.

I currently have this handmade top coming for me, I only paid a few dollars! :

Japanese Top

See if you can find anything you like!!!

Poppies

Poppies in the wind, originally uploaded by guissimo.

For the glory of the california poppy.
Picture not taken by me.

I also make cool hats, originally uploaded by yarnandtea.

One of the hats.
A beanie with a brim.

Sea.Tribe

hand carved stamps, originally uploaded by yarnandtea.

Now that it's hat season... I've been making custom hats for people. Sea.tribe hats.
Want one? let me know

homes

homes, originally uploaded by yarnandtea.

I've been having a lot of fun drawing little houses lately. Just being attracted to shape, size and the use of plants (which is always wonderful).
I've been painting houses too. Those will show up soon for your viewing pleasure.
I'm attempting to take my drawings up a level to painted pieces. In an attempt to make them more marketable. I'm taking a painting class, so hopefully I can develop some skill!
Enjoy!

Cool Happenings!

Hello, I know, I know it's been a heck of a long time since I've posted anything. But I thought I might just put some fun stuff up.

A while back I got asked if a girl could use one of my drawings in a zine. The zine is called Elenore Zine and it's a cute little fashion/art zine.

Here's a screen shot of my page!

And on the subject's of Zines... There is an awesome independent press convention in San Francisco every year called APE. The lovely Miss Elle B has procured a table for us this year and I believe that she and I will have quite an array of little zines, tiny books and most likely tons of stickers. It will be October 16th - 17th, so if you happen to be in the SF area, stop by and oggle nerds drawing pictures of weirdly normal things, and things that are not normal.

We love comic nerds.

New Mexico

Mini cacti, originally uploaded by habit3.

Daydreams of cacti parties

Watercolored

Thanks to my little babe's 3 hour nap, i was able to do some inked in drawings.... unfortunately my scanned in drawings came out way too light, but the originals are pretty sweet. I'm hoping to put up an etsy shop pretty soon with originals and prints and fun things with pom poms attached to them. you know.

TOP SECRET

Working on a top secret project involving red-headed babies.

seriously.

here's a hint: olaandolek.com

now a picture to throw you off

here

my jar cozy

my jar cozy, originally uploaded by yarnandtea.

I dislike those new stainless steel water bottles. I mean, if you're going to buy one, you might as well buy the expensive Kleen Kanteen ones, they might be a little safer. But those cheep ones I just do not trust. Too much metal flaking off and going in your water... So I use glass! Recycled glass! This is a 16 oz wide mouth jam jar. It originally held some homemade canned yellow tail tuna (gifted to the husband by a local beach walker).
Now it is my water/ tea jar, following me around and making sure I'm well hydrated through out the day. Thank you my dear jam jar, please wear this sweater so you may not break.

freshy fresh

june 20th, originally uploaded by yarnandtea.

New batch of drawings up on flickr. FINALLY.
I feel like I haven't been drawing in a really really long time. I miss it. I'm hoping to do some ink and color stuff coming up soon. Keep an eye open for fresh things popping up in the next few weeks.

LUST LIST

I have summer fever! Everyday, just hanging out in the ocean, or shorts and a tank top. We've been gardening, playing, beaching and SURFING. Todays lust list incorporates some yummy lusting from the great outdoors.

link

yes please

This Table (and the bird too)

coraly goodness

So that's a little early summer lusting for you! Enjoy!

Bye

Seriously, originally uploaded by yarnandtea.

So this is really the only watercolor I have ever done. I am not a master with water and color, it just does not work for me. But this piece has stuck a cord with a lovely lady! She is purchasing the ORIGINAL from me! It's true! High fives all around for my first official art sale!

P.S. I am going to be posting a bunch of painted/crocheted rock art up pretty soon to my Flickr. If it gets good enough response, I will open an Etsy shop for prints and original rock art pieces.
Thoughts? Ideas? An uproar for pictures of said rock loveliness? I'd love to hear it!

I love FOOD!

Our family is embarking on a new journey! Lately, I have been pretty obsessed with our food, what's in it and where it's made. We have always been healthy people who eat little meat and make most of our food, but I always thought we could do better. So, this week, I actually planned out our meals (a first for me) and bought only what i needed, plus one salty snack and one sweet snack. I did all of our veggie and fruit shopping at our local farmers market and, with the help of Vegweb.com, was able to find recipes to fit what I bought. Than, i made a list of what I sill needed and went and got that at a local health food store! Now, this may seem like common sense to some of you, but it's pretty big in our family, especially since I've been doing the cooking. THAT in our family is unheard of. Normally, I will make make maybe one meal a week and darling hubby will do the rest. But I have decided to take control and make our meals this week (and most likely every night if we keep this up).

trailers are rad

trailers are rad, originally uploaded by yarnandtea.

and i want to live in one. or at least have one to play house in. or crochet appliance covers for.

I am currently compiling drawings of dwellings for a "home" zine. I hope to have a little table in Alternative Press Expo this year! Cross your fingers!

Scrapy and Warm

Last week, in gleeful anticipation for my trip north, I crafted a lovely little cowl out of all my yellow scraps. I included a little embroidery on one part, which reads "I think you're cute". I lined it with my old yellow sweatshirt. It is incredibly snugly and brings gallons of sunshine with it where ever it goes.

The inside is my favorite sweatshirt

a knitted section

A wee bit of embroidery

Mossy Bits

going to Santa Cruz, originally uploaded by yarnandtea.

This last weekend I was blessed with a little jaunt up to one of my favorite places, Santa Cruz. There I frolicked with one of my favorite people, the lovely and talented Miss Elle B. This is my drawing I did before I left.
I had an awesome, inspiring time up in those misty mountains. Thanks Elle!

what we did, originally uploaded by yarnandtea.

I like cute stuff

I love cute things, and this girl is most likely the cutest things I've seen in a long time.

Her name is Sophie Madeleine and I've got a girl crush.

5 Things.... just for fun!

5 Things I am looking forward to:

a. Going to Santa Cruz this weekend for a few days of merriment and friends!

b. Spring and wearing shorts

c. Baby K walking. he's almost there!

d. Waking up tomorrow morning to a snuggly babe and big sloppy babe kisses

e. bike rides with our best mommy/babe friend tomorrow!

5 Things I did today:

a. took a bath

b. took two walks on the beach and collected some sweet treasures (a piece of wood shaped like a heart)

c. played with K

d. folded clothes (only to re-fold them 10 min later, thanks little K)

e. Visited T at work

5 Things I wish I could do:

a. Yoga every morning + meditation

b. surf more

c. paint more

d. finish my second curtain (or find the fabric)

e. get a few more tattoos

5 Places I'd like to travel:

a. canada

b. washington

c. south america

d. holland

e. iceland

5 Cute things I've found online lately:

oh my I cannot remember where anything came from

SORRY THOSE WHO OWN THESE

siestas and olas

olas, originally uploaded by yarnandtea.

It's been a while since I've used rubber stamps. Especially this one. I made this one about this time last year, and, apparently, had never printed with it. So I had to take it from it's place and see how it turned out. And I must say, I liked it! I'm excited to do some card printing and maybe some little gift prints. Siestas and olas.

Yum.... Bikes.....

I realized I have yet to write about my love affair. My bike love affair that is. I am a girl who adores her bike. Before the babe, I biked everywhere! I would ride 9 miles to work, and 9 miles home on the weekends. During the day I was able to travel around our little coastal town on bike and never have to start up the car! But then I got preggo and had to quit the biking (I asked if I could, they said no.) But now, Baby K is big and strong enough to get pulled along with me! Hooray! We've been biking almost every day now, to the beach, to the park, to friend's houses. And with the set up we have, it's hard not to. I have a sweet basket on the back and a smart little baby seat that sets up K in between the handlebars.

My lovely Alexander Girard Amsterdam Electra Bike was won in a contest by my very smart hubby. He answered a question correctly and BING I got a new ride. (And she's ever so pretty, is she not?) So if you see us riding around, give us a wave!!

Green rims with blue spokes!

Red knit seat cover (made by me) and some cute art

Cutest bike ever....

Happy Love Day

HAPPY LOVE DAY

Today is LOVE DAY! I hope all of you are celebrating you love with those you love, your significant other, your babies, your pet babies, your favorite teas and coffees, your plant babies, what ever you LOVE! With my lovie, we celebrate our first Love day as a married couple, which is very exciting for us! My T got me a few new Tombo pens, wrapped in my favorite brown paper (which I use for drawings). And for him, he got a cute embroidered envelope with a knitted heart in it.

(it says, "you have my heart")

*The coral in the shape of a heart is from our windowsill tribute to the ocean.

no more mud!

Mud has been a huge thing for us these past few months. We live in a tiny home who's front door opens straight down into mud! Over summer, i was able to cut down our tracking in dirt by getting a door mat, but that only covered part of our problem. In the winter, we had a lovely river flowing right in front of our door!

Due to T's fantastic job, patrolling the beaches, and the fact that the el nino storms have uncovered brick patios that have been buried under stand for over 20 year, we have collected about a hundred old, worn bricks. He spend a better part of last friday, in the drizzle, laying out our bricks in front of our door. And now... way less mud gets tracked in, and I have a BEAUTIFUL little patio!

My lovely T even arranged my plants and bean sprouts, lovingly on the bricks, out of the way of our little river. Can you spot the pumpkin that has been there since september. How it has not rotted away, I will never know.

Coffee Sack Bulletin Boards!

I've been wanting a bulletin board for quite a while now, and have been thinking of ways to use what i already have. I have a pile of coffee bean sacks from our local roasting company, and I have piles of wooden frames from my husband's collection of wood, I decided to combine the two. After looking for rolls of cork board and finding it nowhere, I realized I could use slices of cardboard as a means of backing the coffee sacks and as a cork board.

You're going to need:

Frames of your choice

Large pieces of scrap cardboard

A Coffee sack

Scissors or an exact-o knife

A marker

Step 1:

Lay out your piece of cardboard and trace around the inside.

Step 2: Cut out around your traced square. You want to cut a little wider than your trace, as you want it to sit into the frame, not pop out through the hole.

Step 3: Lay the cut piece on your coffee sack. Try to incorporate the logo or labeling to incorporate funk.

Step 4: Trace around your piece of cardboard.

Step 5: Cut out around your traced piece. Leave at least 1.5" of fabric around your trace. This needs to be there so you can wrap the edges around the cardboard.

Step 6: Staple the coffee sack to the cardboard. Start with one edge and work your way around. Make sure to fold the corners in so they don't stick out when you put the cardboard in the frame.

Step 7: Now go ahead and pop your cardboard and coffee sack into the frame. If you made it fit your frame correctly, you should have to use a little force to pop the cardboard back out once you put it back it.

There ya go! Now you have a brand new, and most likely free, bulletin board. Experiment with different frames, colors, and coffee sacks! You can make one large frame or group several small frames together. Enjoy your new bulletin board!