Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Wednesday! Hump Day- Coffee Cuff Madness


I Got A lot done today!, originally uploaded by hobocampcrafts.

I'm really excited that I was able to get so many cuffs made today. I still have a few more to go. It just goes to show that when I pin and cut out the pieces the night before I can just focus on sewing and the little details that I so love to attend to.

Tomorrow I made a dr appt to figure out what is wrong with me. I started thinking maybe I had been drinking too much grape juice- but when I reserached that (googled it) nothing actually came up about exces of grape juice.

A Valentine I purchased from Etsy arrived- however I have to wait to show you till after V-Day since certain people may read this and it could spoil the fun! A large envelope arrived that had my adorable kelly green moon/snow boots from Lands End. I have been looking for affordable vegan snow boots- I heard it may snow on Friday- I look forward to using them!

I've been focusing on coffee cuffs lately- they're a lot of fun to make and just feel like functional pieces of art. They also give me the chance to create something that might help cut back on trash and our footprint on the earth- even if it is the littlest bit.

For dinner tonight I made up a recipe I'm calling New Year Soup~
You Need:
1-2 chp. veggie or real sausage,1 chp onion, 1c. black-eyed peas,3 or more peeled,chopped carrots,1can of drained kidney beans,1 1/2c. collard greens,1tbsp. olive oil,
1tbsp. hot pepper flakes,1tsp. celery salt, 2tbsp. garlic powder or 2 cloves of crushed garlic, 2 tbsp. hot sauce

Start w/ olive oil- chopped sausage, carrots & onion- saute ( 5-7 minutes). Next add collard greens,black-eyed peas and 4 cups of water. Stir in spices and kidney beans. Stir frequent add drained kidney beans. Cook till carrots are softish. Enjoy on a cold night with your cutie of choice and toasty bread or cornbread.xo yum


Shout out to Heatherjeany.etsy.com on her new baby boy~ Congrats!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Vintage Lace, Birds and Cornbread


Pecking Order and Lace, originally uploaded by hobocampcrafts.

I'm silly.

*This morning I listed a bunch of Snuggle Bunny T-shirts and Coffee Cuffs in our etsy shop. I haven't been feeling well so yesterday I took a bit of a mental health day.. well in the afternoon. Yesterday morning I made cornbread in our cream-colored
Le Creuset frying pan. I had never heard of the brand before and recieved it from a former coworker as a wedding gift. Now that I have it I love it! The cornbread came out perfect and popped right out of the pan.

*I added a new music player to my blog- from Project Playlist. It just makes reading a blog that much more fun!

*Since I was sort of couch ridden yesterday and feeling that way today too- I pinned about 13 coffee cuffs together and in a bit I'll pop over to my machine and stitch them up! Depending on the light I'd love to photograph them and get them into the shop. Z has been working on assignments so at night the computer is his- so I need to try and get everything done in the daytime.

*I realized from when I was REALLY sick that trying to stay in a semi crunched fetal position- is effective-since standing seems to worsen my cramps. I should probably have the lactose-intolerant test- but my doctor sort of made it seem as if I shouldn't get it done and might want to wait a few months. It has been a few months- I've cut out milk, cheese etc and was fine for a couple of months and recently started having pain again! Ugh I'd like to make the push to being vegan, again.

*Friday wasn't as productive as I would have liked. I was still enamoured by the gifts I recieved from the Harvest Farm Girl swap- as well as working on an intense-5 disc cd mix I made for a friend. We listen to similar music- but I tried to dig into some of my college days and high school and really grab bands I hoped he'd never heard of. Examples? Bitch and Animal- who I think have solo careers now- which I want to check out, Matrimony, The Blake Babies( Julianna Hatfield's old band before the solo career), Jane Siberry, Tom Waits and Team Dresch to name a few.

*I finished my boxes for three shops and mailed it off brewing with new goodies. I'm so appreciative that Hobocamp can be found in brick & mortar shops around the country! We're working on some new t-shirt designs that we'll have ready for a lil' bit warmer weather- I can't wait to show you!

*Hope everyone is well- have a great day!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

My Bike, It is Broken- Sit on it and Close My Eyes xo

This isn't my bike. But we took this photo a few years back at the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago and it has always been one of my favorite shots.

This week I've been taking more of an active roll in exercising. Of course it was one of my New Year's resolution ( as it usually is). Several years ago when I was training at Barnes & Noble to become a Community Relations Manager ( who also runs all of the instore book events) my mentor had an event with Exercise Guru, Leslie Sansone- anyhow it was during a snow storm and there were like 10 people who showed up- one being my mom ( who was a huge fan) and my sister. Leslie was the NICEST person ever and ended up sending us each a bunch of VHS walking tapes. It was really so sweet of her. So on Monday I used her 1 mile tape plus abs ( and could feel the burn the next day) this morning I used the 2 mile brisk walk- which really felt great!

It is always such a struggle- getting enough exercise- I feel like I want to be in my best shape possible before I have children- because I really want to be active with my children. I know I have some time (thankfully) but I felt it was crucial to really start now.

I've been inside the house for most of the day- except for a quick jog to the mail box for some junk mail.

Today was full of putting together three boxes to send out to three different consignment shops.. so it has been pretty busy in Oatland. Just trying to add clothing labels-then price tags and managing the contracts & keeping it in order has been a positive challenge.

Tonight for dinner I am going to make minestrone soup-
Real Simple's Minestrone Soup

I also need to vacumn xo
oh happy day

Monday, January 21, 2008

Little Ziggy Stardust Scraparella

Merry Morning! The weather is like 12F here. I shouldn't complain because I like cold weather- but snow to be more exact.

This morning while waiting for my coffee to brew, I was listening to NPR's Morning Edition and stumbled on their site and found The band Vampire Weekend They sort of remind me of a newer- slower- NYC/Brooklyn Specials. You can add a few of their songs to your playlist- and they have an album coming out at the end of the month.

This photo is of one of my latest Scraparellas, little Ziggy Stardust. The bolt is in a bit different spot- but I hope it is still recognizable.

This weekend I made steel cut oats in the slow cooker. I'll have to try it again- because they came out terrible! I had two different recipes one online and the other in a book and I sort of mixed them and well- the end result was not good!

I have 3 store orders I am going to be working on to send out. Today I'll also be adding two new Scraparellas the one in the picture and another cutie, a few more coffee cuffs and Snuggle Bunny t-shirts.

Thanks for stopping by~ Have a great day xo!

Friday, January 18, 2008


jane of the jungle cuff, originally uploaded by hobocampcrafts.

Jane of the Jungle Coffee Cuff new to our shop.
It has been a long week. Now Friday has finally arrived and by the look of the clock has almost come and gone. Zach is finishing up an inky blue button bag - they have been one of our best sellers in ur etsy shop. We have to buy some more buttons to replenish our stash. Zach's sister for Christmas last year bought us 5 or 8 pounds of buttons from ebay- which Z promptly organized by color- the system is great!

Tomorrow I am going to pop my head into Anthropologie for any after holiday cuteness sales. Sunday we have a baby shower. Tonight I worked on the gifts. Two bib- matching onesie sets and two extra onesies appliqued and a cute iron on.

So tired~ Just a quick post then off to bed~ Maybe I'll have something cute to show & tell tomorrow!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

New in the Shop & Update & Wednesday & Everything

So yes, I have already posted 1 time today- but I wanted to introduce the new colors & layout of the bloggie. I also wanted to post one of the items I'll be listing in the shop. Today & tonight will be the update.

I've been renting from the library (Veronica Mars & MY So Called Life)- I prefer Kristen Bell in Veronica Mars- to Heroes- but watching MY So Called Life- makes me think of my high school years and sometimes I wish I could do it over.(Well maybe just the wardrobe) But overall the feeling- clothing & music of the 90's I just love it! Plaid plaid with stripes- black tights w/ shorts & boots or skirts- it is all so Singles! And frankly I want to bring that back.. so if you check out my Flickr page-starting in the next few days you might see a little late 90's! YAY

With that here is a scarf I just finished- from a recycled t-shirt and a fleece polka dot scarf.
xo

Because I am a sucker for cute & funny things I bring you two of my favorites. My husband and our friend Summer, just introduced me to this website on New Year's so forgive me if I am just sharing this now... I'm always behind!

icanhascheezburger

Funny Pictures
moar funny pictures
Funny Pictures
moar funny pictures


Just a quick laugh for the day. I've been adding new coffee cuffs & aprons all this week- I also have 2 new Scraparellas another one just awaiting her skirt and then will be listed.

HobocampCrafts-Check us out!
xo
M

Friday, January 4, 2008

A New Found Project- for the New Year~

So I stumbled on Crafty Pod, Sister Diane's (Diane Gilleland) lovely podcasts about- crafting-how to- business-etc show and really enjoyed it. I started jumping all around listening to a project for the new year of 2005! See here:
Crafty Pod to get an idea.

I immediately loved the idea of reworking an older calender. I went to the dollar store and purchased a $.99 cent "Curious Cats" calender and got started. I only wish I still had the others I had saved from past years that I eventually got rid of. Right now I still have my Harry Potter calender to use along with my stash of collage photos. I got through about 6 months. Below are some of my photos: I should be finished by the weekend- then I'll start on the lovely zippered day planner/wallet my mom bought me for


The Cover

THe Months:







Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) made it as the star of March- my birthday month.. being my favorite character. Even Haggred make an appearance- I'm still working on some ridiculous word bubbles. May, my husband's birthday month- became a collage of toy photos, as well as the silly pictures of he and his coworkers in their magazine,
ToyFare to get an idea.

Overall I was really delighted to have found this blog/pocast. I was able to save some money and put to use photos & a 2007 calender all over again!

Happy Crafting!
xo

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Happy New Year 2008!


THursday Jan 3 2008! SPT, originally uploaded by hobocampcrafts.

Here is my Self Portait Thursday photo. I was feeling a little flapperish-
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥

♥The New Year was spent with good friends at a local Sushi Rest. called East that serves their fare on a conveyor belt. After we had everyone over our place basically for the first time since we moved there. Enjoying salsa & chips, cookies and other yummy bits. I was introduced to the LOLCAt site and watched a couple of SNL shorts which I had never seen. Then those who were around for the ball dropping rang in the new year with water in fancy champagne flutes!

♥The following day we listened to Christmas music one last time and packed up the holiday ornaments & such.


♥Last night was the premiere of the new season(18th to be exact) of Law & Order with Six Feet Under's Jeremy Sisto. Ahhh following in the foot steps of the wonderful Det. Robert Goren played by Vincent D'Onofrio, it seems possible that Sisto- who plays Detective Cyrus Lupo, may be as lovely & strange as Goren. I can't wait! Of course Old Faithful,the new appointed DA,Jack McCoy aka Sam "The Eyebrow" Waterson is still available for the witty comeback and swish of bourbon. Oh how I do love all of the Laws & Orders.xo

♥In other news- I've been working hard on finishing up projects that I started for the shop before the holidays and had not finished. There will be some new aprons- with skulls & owl themes- new totes- coffee cuffs-Scraparellas- ties-Valentine's theme gifts and other cuteness.All the lovlies you'll need for your Valentine Honey or for anyday of the week~So look for new pieces in the shop!

♥In an attempt to actually budget better- my parents gave us a membership for Costco. My hopes are that I can cut our running to the local market 2x a week down by stocking up in advance. So I started planning our dinners for the entire months of January & February. I was inspired by the last few pages of Woman's Day magazine. A magazine my mom got me a subscription for a year ago and then just renewed for me. The last page has a month's worth of mostly meat dinners- but I made mine for vegetarians and vegans(omit a few eggs). If anyone is interested- email me or leave a comment and I'll send you a copy.

♥From the dinners planned I was able to use what is in our cubbards and what we will need to buy. We also made a list of what we have on hand ( drygoods & canned). This may all sound a bit crazy- but we needed to cut down on extra buying and not eating our leftovers.
I also planned to use up what we may have in one recipe in another- but I don't think it is boring by any means!

♥So that is what our New Year's has been about. Getting organized- streamlining our household and updates for the shop. We'll be ordering new business cards & designing new buttons too.
Hope your New Year is looking Cheery & Bright!