If you need evidence for how nerdy I am

I have been decorating my car with self adhesive, removable wall decals for a long time. Having a common car, it was a good way for me to find it in large parking lots...and its fun. The first batch were Hawaiian flowers that i left a 4 year old stick on. Yes I let a 4 year old decorate my car. She had a blast. When the sun started to fade them out, I just peeled them off.

Recently, the Momster hooked me up with some dinosaur skeletons that were on clearance at Michaels. I knew just where to put it!

Leo the Lion

A fleece stuffed animal made from a pattern for a non-fleece stuffed animal. These patterns almost always translate well to fleece unless its something that needs to stand. Fleece is great for learning to sew because you can't see crooked seams, you can get it for cheap and it comes in a million colors/patterns. I love the stuff.

Brie should be its own food group

Baked brie is a common guest at our holiday table...if you eat your "guests". Its good stuff and so easy!
 Brie + pie crust + oven= baked brie.
I have taken to decorating them using cookie cutters which makes them more interesting and adds some more crust.  Usually I use flowers or fall leaves but this was going to a graduate student thanksgiving potluck so I themed it as the theoretical battle between a dinosaur and a shark.

One problem: No shark. I did have a fish however, and with my amazing knowledge of biology, I transformed it into a shark (larger dorsal fin, narrow the caudal peduncle before the tail, larger crescent shaped tail, external gills and teeth).

The shark was eaten first so this round goes to the dino.

Too Cool for Yule...Tide

I was avoiding school work, which is nothing new for me or the many other higher education students out there. So It was right before Thanksgiving and I came across a stack of green coffee sleeves from Starbucks left over from a another project with a friend.  He had collected a stack of brown and some green sleeves that must have been seasonal in order to make an awesome hat (I'll post that at some point) and these green bad boys were left over.

 I have never made a wreath before but it was fun and so easy. I used some cardboard I had laying around (I always save it from shoe boxes, packaging) and made a template from an old piece of x-ray film (awesome for sewing patterns) but I would have been just as happy if I had a leaf-shaped cookie cutter.

I started by getting a feel for the size. I used a paper plate to make the circle on cardboard. The sleeves are corrugated so I was worried about extra bulk. I had a sheet of scrapbooking paper that matched the color of the sleeves perfectly. I sketched a leaf and cut it out of the xray film and started tracing and cutting away!

Lots of cutting.

I folded each leaf in half and in some cases, when I stapled it to the cardboard ring, I rolled the ends to give it more 3-dimensional.

The wreath from the back, I varied the Starbucks leaves and the regular paper ones just working in one direction around the ring.

 I added another cardboard ring to make the back more finished and provide more structure. I used some craft glue to stick it on the back but first I tied a ribbon so it could hang.

A dollar store holiday flower glued to the front and some glitter glue on a few leaves completes the look

It all starts here

After several people suggested I start a blog, here it is. I'm a lifelong crafter and every once in a while, I make something that I'm not totally ashamed of (you should see how many failed projects have been doomed to the back corner of the closet). I will attempt to keep this going as I start my career teaching science. If anyone out there sees this and wants to share ideas, comments, or crafts of their own, don't hesitate to do so.

Happy crafting!