11. go on a homemade t-shirt making binge.

so the truth is, i love t-shirts. anytime i hear something snappy, i want a t-shirt of it. and what better way to do that then to make them yourself, right? but there's got to be a better way than the iron-on sheets you send through your inkjet printer. i mean, they work really well... but they fade & crack so fast it's frustrating. the last set i made (yeah, that's a wooden yacht being paddled by an indian. it's an inside joke for a few of us at work.) printed & transferred beautifully, but the first time i washed it the image came out all cracked. so now it looks "vintage", i suppose, which isn't necessarily bad but it's not what i wanted.

i found a tutorial on fake screen printing using sheer material and modge podge. i may give that a try. it's worth a shot. i can't do a t-shirt binge when i know i'm going to be unhappy with the t-shirts after they're washed the first time. not that the cracking has kept me from wearing the yacht t-shirt, but you know what i mean.

most wanted t-shirts: ban the burst, dropshadow with discretion, my mom rocks, and some sort of pirate rock band shirt (open for suggestions on the name).

8. visit three places i've never been before.

i don't think i mentioned it in the post about the birthday party, but going to the party meant driving to virginia. since i've never been there before, i've got one out of my "three places i've never been before" done for the year. and in case i didn't mention it, it was a fabulous time. my mom made the trip with me, and we didn't tell anyone we were coming. i took a couple days off work and we tag-teamed the 15 hour drive. since the 15 hours included stopping for meals & gas & such, i didn't think that was too bad. and completely surprising the birthday girl's mom was totally worth it. as a bonus, on the way home we drove through louisville, which gave use the opportunity to stop & have dinner with friends of ours there. a very good weekend, even if it was a very quick trip. i want to go back to virginia in the fall, driving through the mountains as the leaves change. it won't count as a place i've never been before... but it's going to be beautiful. and besides, there are good people in virginia. i should see them more often.

emily grace turns one

my cousin had her first birthday party this weekend. presents included several cute outfits, some books, a string of ducks whose wings flap, a cabbage patch baby who looks just like emily, and a handpainted personalized toy chest. all good stuff. she got excited about some of the toys, but for the most part i don't think she really knew what was going on. she definitely did, however, enjoy the cake.

glass bead making

yesterday i took a glass bead making class with becca & april. we were all looking for something new & creative to do, and we had a great time. everyone in the class walked away with 5 beads. from left to right...

the plain bead: the first bead we made. mine looks a little more creative than it actually was because of the gray streaking. it was made with just a red glass rod, but the red glass struck to gray as it was heated. so it gave it a cool swirl effect. i did my plain bead with four flat sides. i think she suggested that because i may have put too much pressure on the bead when i rolled it on the marver to smooth it out.

the spotted/striped bead: i had just watched becca do a spotted bead, so i decided i wanted to do a striped one. but i had the process of spotting in my head, so mine ended up as a mixture of the two. the spots/stripes stand out on mine, but i could have kept turning it in the flame & rolled the bead to get the yellow glass to lay flat with the black.

the two color bead: the last bead we made. we took two different rods, taped them together and used them as one rod to make the bead. i had a transparent green and an opaque green. i really like how this one came out, even if the hole isn't exactly centered.

the squished bead with frit: we all did one bead that we pressed in frit (crushed glass) and then squished flat. since my beads were all sort of barrel shaped (instead of spheres) my squished bead is a rectangle instead of a disk. but i like it. the frit was black, which looks neat on the opaque green, i think.

the millefiori bead: millefiori is kinda fun. they're these little glass disks with intricate designs in them. and you make a bead & then press the millefiori into it, then heat and smooth to smash it in there & get rid of the edges. you can still feel the edges around mine a little, but i'm okay with how it came out.

it was a good time. we're thinking we should split the cost of some supplies & have our own bead making saturday some weekend. i don't know what i'll do with the beads, but they're fun to make. a blow torch and molten glass... good times.