dragons

so this is the dragon that i was talking about in a previous post. so as i said, aj had been pestering me to come up with something for the auction. but we were both drawing blanks. so i went to joann, the craft store, and walked around waiting for inspiration to strike. i ended up in the felt aisle and decided to pick up needle felting again. i'd tried it years ago and had only made a couple things: a black and white sheep, a couple dinosaurs and a more intricate crocodile. i figured i had about a month to make something good. and if it wasn't good, i just wouldn't tell anyone about it!

it took about four days to make my first dragon. and holy shit i couldn't believe it when i was done! this literally came from one 8x11" sheet of blue felt, some left over red felt, thread, two seed beads for nostrils, and two "pearls" for eyeballs. i gotta say, i felt pretty fucking bad ass.

i emailed a photo to denise and said my dad thought he could mount it onto a wooden placard so it would be more trophy-like. she said that while it was very cool, they were all set for trophies for this year. maybe offer it up along with a trophy? i said no. haha. he's so special to me that i want him to be a highlight!! i didn't say that to her but i surely was thinking it :) so i said that i'd hold onto him for next year and make a red dragon, so we could have two, since a few of our prizes are paired.

four days later, i had made a red one. i also made the blue one more "chinese." i added eyeballs, horns, and the pearl in his mouth. i tried to make the red one's head more chinese too, but pretty much failed. blue's dad is a chinese lion; red's dad is an alligator. oh well. they do actually look very very different from each other, which is a shame, but each one has its qualities.

i didn't make the green one, obviously.

after making these tho i realized that hey, i finally have a great gift for dr. chen, mike, and mary! for sooo many years i've been wanting to get them something special as a thank you, but could never think of anything. i don't actually know them personally, and they all have money, so... but hand-made dragons would be great! they're from the heart and one of a kind. i'll photograph them when they're done sometime next year. :)

holiday cards

i really wanted to do something for the space banquet this year. not sure why, but probably because aj had been bothering me about us offering something up for the action (but we couldn't think of anything), but also because i've been crafting a lot lately.

i had originally needle felted a dragon to offer up as a trophy (i'll post pictures of that later), but denise said they were all set for trophies. oh well. then about a week and a half before banquet, i was at michael's with g and saw that colored paper was on sale; 6 sheets for $1. so i decided i'd give paper cutting a try.

and those are the results. pretty good if i do say so myself!! the last colored sheet we bought was a light grey, so the white design did not look good on it, so instead of making 12, i made only 11, then discarded the one i felt was "worst." i figure a set of 10 cards makes more sense than 11. i also purchased plain white envelopes to go with the cards. (tho i totally didn't think to do so at the time!)

making these were easier and harder than i thought, haha. i had went to target a couple times to get desgin ideas for the cards so that part wasn't too bad. turns out that the hardest thing is drawing! even if you do have an  idea, the pencil marks have to be light enough so that they'll erase cleanly. the design also has to be drawn on backwards since i cut from the back. once i realized i would never be able to finish without some help i asked ting to draw a few for me. she "free handed" the snowman and the stockings, and also drew the wreath and "be merry" from a few pictures i had taken at target. she really adapted them to make sense with the paper cutting though and i definitely think the ones she drew turned out to be some of the best of the set. (btw, i did draw the deer and the holly ones. but before you give me too much credit, i copied those designs, haha. [i tell you this because rip didn't believe that i did the deer one myself. which i kind of didn't!]).

btw, the guy who ended up winning these cards, i don't think was too excited about them. it was a mass raffle pot instead of people putting in tickets for specific items they actually wanted. oh well. either way, i gave something to the team, tried out a new craft, and made something pretty nice too.

guava jam

i've been in a "crafty" mood lately, so when my dad and i picked like 40 pounds of guavas from our other house, i decided to make guava jam!

in trying to find a recipe, i found out that jam and jelly are different. jelly is made from the juice while jam is made up of the flesh of the fruit. and marmalade includes the rind. ::cue music:: the more you know!

i used this jam recipe. tho i was also kind of looking at this jelly recipe also. i mostly followed the recipe but balked at putting in that much sugar. dumb me thought "well, i like sour anyway!" 

it started out okay, but the stuff was just so watery! even after an hour of simmering to help evaporation it looked more like apple sauce than anything. i mean, it tasted good. really good, but it clearly wasn't the right texture.
 
after some research, i found out that sugar isn't just for taste! most jams require pectin to help it gel. guavas naturally have a lot of pectin, so the recipe didn't require any to be added. but sugar also helps set jams (so does the lemon juice, btw). so including only half the amount of required sugar meant that no amount of simmering was ever going to get it to set. doh!

so in hopes of fixing my jam, i went to target and picked up a box of pectin. i followed the recipe and crossed my fingers. the next day (you have to give it 24 hours to set after adding in pectin), i opened up a jar to see... no change at all! :( it still had the exact color and consistency of apple sauce.

i ate it anyway.

next time tho, i follow the recipe. haha!  

emergency kit

taken from ready america.

When preparing for a possible emergency situation, it's best to think first about the basics of survival: fresh water, food, clean air and warmth.

Recommended Items to Include in a Basic Emergency Supply Kit:

• Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
• Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food
• Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• First aid kit
• Whistle to signal for help
• Dust mask, to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
• Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
• Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
• Can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)
• Local maps
• Cell phone with chargers

Additional Items to Consider Adding to an Emergency Supply Kit:

• Prescription medications and glasses
• Infant formula and diapers
• Pet food and extra water for your pet
• Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container
• Cash or traveler's checks and change
• Emergency reference material such as a first aid book or information from www.ready.gov
• Sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person. Consider additional bedding if you live in a cold-weather climate.
• Complete change of clothing including a long sleeved shirt, long pants and sturdy shoes. Consider additional clothing if you live in a cold-weather climate.
• Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper – When diluted nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant. Or in an emergency, you can use it to treat water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water. Do not use scented, color safe or bleaches with added cleaners.
• Fire Extinguisher
• Matches in a waterproof container
• Feminine supplies and personal hygiene items
• Mess kits, paper cups, plates and plastic utensils, paper towels
• Paper and pencil
• Books, games, puzzles or other activities for children    

save the rain!

a few months ago there was an article in the la times about resources conservation that mentioned rainwater harvesting (i know it's big in some australian communities, but know nothing about it stateside). i did some quick research and here's a short summary: for homes in the burbs, there are two main kinds of simple rainwater collecting: one that stems from your rain gutters, and the other really low tech way of regular plastic barrels with large openings on top. seeing as how it does rain much is so cal, the rain gutter way is the more practical and efficient way. for more info about the gutter way, including a pictorial how-to go here.

i seem to remember hearing that even during the rainy season, california is always suffering a drought. but with all the rain lately (it's rained like a week straight! and it isn't really intermittent either; it's all day long), i wonder if we (the govt, that is) are doing anything to try to hold onto the rain water.

i couldn't find any answers for that, but i did find out from the california energy commission website that "Energy represents the largest controllable cost of providing water or wastewater services to the public. California water and wastewater agencies spend more than $500 million each year on energy costs. [their italics and bold]" i also read on the national resources defense council website that "The California State Water Project is the largest single user of energy in California. In the process of delivering water from the San Francisco Bay-Delta to Southern California, the project uses 2 to 3 percent of all electricity consumed in the state."

i get that $500million a year isn't that much when compared to the rest of california's yearly budget. i also get that 2-3% is hardly anything at all. but we could be spending this money and energy on other things, no? and seeing as how southern california's rainy season is especially short you'd think we'd be trying to retain as much water as we could when we actually got it for free!

drive tips

a friend of mind is organizing a food drive and asked me to help. and while looking up donation drop-off locations, i came across this tip sheet on how to effectively organize a successful food drive. this is the third drive i've helped organize so i've edited / added a few things so if you do a small drive of any kind (food, shoes, clothes...), hopefully this list will help. (i haven't done any large community drives so this tip sheet is missing a lot of info for that. but these basics should still hold.)

Before the drive

Do research – not every food bank (or whatever) is the same, i.e. they don’t all need the same stuff.

Contact the organization for tips and other information – your contact person may give you different information than what’s on their website. For instance, when I emailed soles4souls, my contact said that shoes in any condition were okay, but their website specified “gently used shoes.”

Determine the start date and duration of your drive – a shorter length is generally better, otherwise people will keep holding off on donations.

Set a goal – this will help you decide how much to publicize and how long to run it.

Get containers – a lot of organizations will provide them for you.

Consider a theme – example: Valentine's day - Give from the Heart

"Market" through your work, church, sports team... – This way you already have a good pool of people and you can have get in on the weekly announcements or emails already being sent out.

But if you go through your work, church, sports team... make sure you ask the higher ups for permission first! – It's unlikely your boss will say no to a food drive, but it's possible your company is already working on one. Even if there are no conflicts of interest, it's good to get your superiors involved. Besides, they can network to other departments as well.


During the drive

Have informative promotional materials – Make it clear which charity you'll be contributing to, include a list of most wanted items, provide a website or flier so people can learn more about the issue. Also encourage financial contributions for those who don't have material goods to donate.

Place your donation boxes and promotional materials in high traffic areas and provide info (the charity's, the drive info [cut-off date], your contact info).

After the drive

Remember to send out a thank you (email, poster, flier), which should include final results and how to help in the future.

Encourage other to help package everything up - A lot of people would like to see your project through, so let them.

Let your charity know how much you collected and when you are dropping it off or shipping it in so that they will be expecting you.

angry bear

hehe. angry bear diy. angie did it!

multitasking

can't cook? then you can't read! a food company's annual report that has to be cooked before the ink will show up! amazing!!

(thanks to ting for the link)

Tags: art, book, cooking

floral

make your own flower or garden! ...is acutally more interesting than it sounds, i promise. :)

Tags: diy, flower, garden

in spades

this is one of those time you wish you had a really nice color printer. course, you can black & white it, and then bring along a set of colored pencils wherever you go. :)

Tags: books, reading, book covers, print, diy, kate spade

glooey

remember in elementary school when you'd cover your palms in glue, wait for it to dry, and see if you could peel it all off witout ripping it? little did you imagine that you could actually turn that little hobby into something worthwhile: how to make a glue bracelet! ...okay, i kno, not exactly worthwhile, but it is pretty cool. :)

Tags: glue, craft, how to, diy, jewelry

splatter

jackson pollock. even if you've not heard of him, surely you kno of his work: paint splatter. anyway, now you can do art in his name as well.

(thanks to reep for the link)

Tags: art, painting