Book Surgery

This is seriously amaaaazing.  It kind of blows my mind the way that he got all of these book pages to flow together so well.

Hanging out with the SunGod babies

I feel a little like a factory.  One that specializes in the making of SunGod baby amigurumis.  I posted the prototype for this pattern ages ago (based on a 2d graphic), and now I've perfected the pattern for ease and cuteness.  They're starting to overwhelm my storage though :)

I did use this pattern tutorial to make their awesome little bellies.

Colored cobblestones

Balboa Park is such a pretty place to go walk around and enjoy the wonderful San Diego weather.  And all the museums!  We went last Sunday and saw no less than 3 weddings going on, it's getting to be wedding season I guess.  This is a quaint little alleyway in the Artist pavilion.  I think the thing that most got me about this area was all the pretty colored cobblestone effects.  Seriously charming.  Plus, during the day, they have independent artists selling their work. 

P.S. Boyfriend didn't quite manage to get out of the picture, he's over there on the left side.

Don't break the chain.

 Lifehacker is so useful.  This particular article popped up on my Recommended Items in Google Reader.  I'm using this idea to help me self-motivate to study for my impending doom, ahem, I mean MCAT exam.  See the details here and here (both at Lifehacker).

 

I've always had a problem with procrastination mostly because it's a vicious cycle.  I have found, in the past, that I'm usually just fine doing things just before they need to be done.  That reinforces the idea that I can slack off until the last minute.  I can't do this here.  The best thing about this productivity hack is that it is totally customizable.  This is usually a year-long thing, but I only really needed it for the following 80 days, and it converts really well to that.  Plus, you can set how much time you want to spend on your activity of choice or you can have multiple calendars for multiple activities that you want to accomplish everyday, like if I were to add exercise, I could print up a separate calendar for that.  As is, my calendar is pretty innocuous so I can add the X's directly to it.

I roughly calculated how many hours I need to study to be successful on the exam and divided that by the number of days remaining until my exam minus vacation days.  I allotted myself a prorated 4 days of vacation as based on a typical 3 weeks of vacation for a year so 4 days of vacation for 80 days (~5.75% of your total time).

And having it just above my computer ensures that I am looking at the thing constantly.

[I hand lettered the words following Brannboll on dafont as a base]

Right now,

I'm feeling like this.

via the brilliant Gemma Correll.

Actually, not just right now, this is me all the time.

Also (from How I Met Your Mother),


Especially starting at 0:14

Sucrette's Stockings

This is my very favorite pattern for little Christmas stockings.  I found it at Ravelry by Sucrette (the pattern is in French and English).  I think the shaping is pretty perfect and it's just the right size for a bit of candy and a little card.  Plus, they're easy to make mindlessly :)

I actually had a bunch of different colorways, but the previous pictures were lost in a tragic memory card accident (of which the cause is unknown), and many of those stockings had already been given away as gifts.  These are the two that somehow managed to hideaway all during the holidays and didn't get given out.  Perhaps I should hang them for some year-round cheer?

I love XKCD

I read XKCD all the time.  This one had me literally laughing out loud.

I guess I'm just a big fan of nerdy web comics :)

'Orange' you glad we're valentines?

 At work, we're doing an elementary school-style valentine exchange.  Everyone is getting a little something for everyone else.  I came up with this cute, if somewhat elaborate, sight gag.

I bought a 5 lb. box of Cutie mandarin oranges and devised this little fruit cozy to put on them since I figured taped cards might fall off.  Plus, I think people will enjoy a bit of fruit during the deluge of sweets on Valentine's Day.  All in all, each little orange cost me less than 30 cents to put together, and it's a lot more thoughtful than a store bought card.

And here's the pattern that I made up for these.

With orange:
Rnd 1: Ch 5, sl st to form a ring.
Rnd 2: Ch 3, [DC, Ch2] repeat x6 (into ring). Finish with a sl st to the top of the Ch 3.
Rnd 3: Ch 3, [DC, Ch2, DC] into DC of previous round.  [Ch3, group] repeat x6 (group is DC,Ch2,DC)
Rnd 4: Ch 3, [DC into Ch2-sp. Ch 2. DC into Ch3-sp. Ch 2.] repeat around. Finish with a sl st to top of Ch 3.
Rnd 5: Ch 3, [DC2TOG, Ch3] repeat x6
F/O

With green: (leaf)
Ch 5
sl st in 2nd ch from hook, SC, SC, 4 HDC in last ch.
On other side, SC, SC, sl st.
F/O

Slip in your fruit and use a bit of yarn to loosely weave in the last round to be used as a drawstring.  Before tying a bow in your drawstring, make a little tag and slip that onto the yarn. 

Enjoy :)

Matchbook Notebooks

 I'm forever searching for little bits of paper to jot down a note or give out my email address or some other thing.  This is the perfect solution for that.  I had a couple of paint chips left over from picking out new paint colors for my bedroom, and I also used the cover of the fall 2011 Urban Outfitters catalog.

 Another fun little thing, I colored the tops of all my staples with a green Sharpie.  It gives some color to my otherwise boring school papers sometimes.

The inside of the UO notebook that I made.  I love the pretty black and white forest scene.


The construction isn't too tedious.  I used the basic instructions found via Curbly and Capital B to make mine.  Obviously I had to change the measurements since I set mine up differently, but it's still the same basic matchbook style notebook with some pieces of printer paper cut to size.

Red Velvet Cat

I'm a little ashamed, but I secretly love bad Disney/Nick TV shows.  Like really bad shows.  I confess I'm totally into Victorious; my favorite characters are Jade West (Liz Gillies) and Cat Valentine (Ariana Grande). 

I'm digging Ariana Grande's cover of Billy Joel's Vienna this week.  Perfect for studying.

Baked Chicken with Mushrooms

I was out to dinner with my parents, and our server recommended the "Hickory Chicken" to us.  Looking at the description, I figured I could find a recipe that was just as good.  This recipe from allrecipes is pretty good I think.  I pretty much followed the recipe, but I think next time I would add onions and just kind of mix them in with the mushrooms.  For dinner, I served the chicken with brown rice and bok choy sauteed with garlic.  I only just managed to get a picture of next day's lunch here.  Super delicious.

Chicken or egg? Which came first?

This guy seems to prove that the chicken and egg evolved simultaneously :)

I like small simple paterns, instant crocheting gratification! With maximum cuteness!

Super adorable pattern from Ravelry.

DIY Necklace Card

This is a super easy DIY to dress up a necklace that you plan on gifting but didn't already come in a box or bag.  In fact, this is barely a tutorial, and more of a look-what-I-made.

Materials:
cardstock
scissors
fine tip pen
tape

1. Cut a piece of cardstock appropriately sized.  I think mine was about 2x3 inches.
2. Cut slightly angled notches about 1/4 of the width in from both sides on the top.  (See the picture)
3. Determine how low the necklace will hang on the card (what length of chain is in the notches) and add your design! I picked the very popular laurel wreath/branches design that I've seen popping up all over the place these days.
4. Not shown, but cut a smaller piece of cardstock maybe 1x1 inch.  Coil up the remainder of the chain on the backside of the cardstock and place the smaller piece over the coiled chain.  Tape down.

You could even personalize this with a note (like Happy Birthday!) or to and from.

How easy was that?  Now this is perfect for putting in a flat gift card box or a pillow box.

Enjoy :)

Quilled Human Anatomy

via All Things Paper

This is seriously so rad.  I'm pretty much a sucker for things that incorporate crafts and science.