Sweater bracelets

Several weeks ago I was awaken suddenly by a chirp on my phone which meant I had a new message.  Normally I don't give them a second thought since I get them all the time.  Of course then I was awake, so after getting up to go to the bathroom and get something to drink I checked out what message woke me up.  It was an update to my YouTube account, one of the people I subscribe to Debi's Design Diary had posted a new video...since I was awake and all I checked it out...this is one crazy chick, she makes me laugh and she's also really cute and energetic and quirky.  Here is her video...

I just happen to have several thrift shop sweaters already in house since I've done a few other projects using them so I got to work.  She had better success with gluing her sweaters to the bracelets but I just made a big ole sticky glue mess when I tried it so I used my trusty needle and thread.  I've been collecting and wiring broaches for my Niece's upcoming wedding bouquet so I have some broken pieces just laying around. 

I like the casual look of these cuffs and the added bonus is they're warm!  No cold metal touching my skin during this unusually frigid weather.

 

Flowers on my Boots-Boot Hack

 Cute huh?  

This past fall as I was browsing Robert Redford's Sundance catalog and I fell in LOVE with these blooming boots. I know...right!?  How cute are those!? 

I did a little yahoo search for blooming boots and came across these.  I mean really, red flowered boots!  I needed to have these in my life so I began searching hi and low for a pair of boots to DIY a pair for myself.  I then began to have anxiety about the color, these are all one color, cut from the same leather but I could never really duplicate that.  I did find a pair of black Rocket Dog western style booties but they're pull on, and they don't have zippers and really...boot full of black flowers?  I need color in my life. 

They would have worked but that weird creative quirk I have kept me looking...

A few weeks ago while doing some blog hopping on the Love Maegan blog I found this idea and thought it was just the thing I needed to get over my commitment phobia. 

Love Maegen's boot ribbon flowers

I confess I'm a bit of a shoe whore and the thought of committing any of my boots for a hack had me sweating!  I just couldn't do it, I mean what if the flowers weren't appropriate with what I was wearing and wanted to wear my boots?  The complete irony in that is I wear the same few pairs with everything and never go into my closet for the 20 or so..err  many uhhh several umm few other pairs I posses.  Yes, I'm very aware of this problem, recognition is half the battle right?

I set to work on my own version of the blooming boot hack mash-up and had tons of materials to work with.  I had been collecting leather purses from thrift shops and had accumulated quite the pile of leather I'd harvested from them all. I made a big ole pile of leather flowers in assorted colors and textures then cut a few strips of brown leather from an old coat I hacked up.  I then glued all my flowers down with my E6000 glue and clamped them overnight. 

The flaw in my design was that my strips, once all glued together wrapped around the boots about 10 times!  Of course, I didn't really pay attention to that fact till I had glued all my flowers to the strips trying to evenly space them out along the entire length.  I ended up cutting a strip in half then gluing a plain strip on either end to tie them on my boots.  I'd be much happier with them had I put all the flowers right next to each other but there is a silver lining.  I have a whole other garland-length strip to use, so I just have to cut more flowers and glue them in between, and I think I'll make different flower designs then these basic 5 & 6 petal beauties.  

These boots above are the Rocket Dogs I found at the thrift shop and the ones below are a pair of Clarks that are the most comfortable boots I own.  I really could have 'bloomed' either of them, and still may.  Oh who am I kidding! 

I really do like the flexibility to wear them on all of my boots.  Variety is the spice of life they say!

Pay no attention to the flower missing it's center...I have no excuses.

I love them...they are kinda Boho...just like me!

I'm linking up over at My Repurposed Life 

Thirty Word Thursday's-Frost

Crystalline fractals of settled humidity

each one a unique microscopic freak of nature

I must scrape your exquisiteness from my windshield

We will meet again in the frozen morning dawn.

30 Words Thursday: Grab an image. Write exactly 30 Words (no more, no less).                              Post it. Link to the blog post on her blog 

Butternut Squash & White Bean Stew

I have a confession, I'm a wanna-be food blogger!  I'm a foodie at heart and have long admired many food blogs like The Pioneer Woman & Spoon Fork Bacon and the site I really consider the pinnacle of food porn...Taste Spotting.  Taste spotting is a site dedicated to food porn, a delectable collection of food blogger pictures and each picture clicks you through to the original blog and recipe, I think it was the predecessor of Pinterest although I'm really not sure which came first. 

So many of my favorite bloggers also share their kitchen adventures so I figure I'll join in since I'm always taking pictures of my food. Like I said...I'm just a wanna-be because lets face it, I'm lazy.  Although food styling has always appealed to me, by the time I finish something I want to eat it!  Real food bloggers take spectacular of their dishes and alas...i just have a little digital camera that I use, when I can find it!  Most of the time I'm snapping pictures with my phone camera which takes pretty good pictures but not nearly a good as the fancy pants cameras of the food bloggers. 

A few months ago my office partner in crime and I as well as another co-worker cooked along with a webinar that was part of a wellness program we have on campus.  We cooked this stew and made a salad made with kale and barley with an apple cider vinaigrette.  They were both delightful albeit vegan, which isn't necessarily my thing.  I've made the stew a few times since then but this time decided to add some chicken since I have a hard time getting enough protein in my diet. 

The recipe starts out by thinly slicing one medium onion and sauteing it in a pot with 

3 Tablespoons of olive oil with a little salt (I used about a teaspoon)

 Once the onions begin to caramelize add 5 cloves of minced garlic, and yes...

you really do need 5 cloves, especially if you keep it vegan.

Saute to onions and garlic until the garlic begins to soften a bit but don't let it get too brown, 

then add a can of tomatoes, you could use fresh if you have some.

Add a can of white kidney beans, aka cannellini beans. that have been drained and rinsed.

 Peel, seed and dice a medium butternut squash into 1 inch cubes, 

about 3 1/2 cups of squash and add it to the pot

Add water to cover all the veggies, Since I was adding chicken to this pot of stew 

I actually deglazed the pan I cooked the chicken in (just browned with salt and papper in olive oil) 

with the water to give it a little layer of flavor. 

Another layer of flavor comes from the rind of a slice of parmesean cheese, you know...that hard dense dry piece on the outer edge of the cheese wedge.  You can certainly do without it, but make the extra effort to find a chunk of cheese to cut the rind from, it's worth it.

Bring the stew to a boil then set on low, cover the pot and let it do it's thing for about 

a half an hour or until the squash is tender.

 Once the squash was nice and tender I cut up the two chicken breasts I had cooked 

into kinda large chunks and added them to the pot as well.

I then added 3-4 cups of baby kale (I've used spinach as well) 

 

Stir the kale into the hot stew until it wilts

To finish off the stew just before serving make a paste with one clove of garlic, a tablespoon of fresh rosemary, freshly ground black pepper and a bit of salt with a tablespoon of olive oil, I used my morter and pestle for this job because lets face it...how many times do I get to drag it out!?

Here is the final result...a nice flavorfull bowl of soup to keep me warm in during these cold winter days. l imagine this is amazing with some good crusty bread but it' not to be for me *sniff sniff*  I'm trying to give up bread too.