Springtime! Lets get Twitterpated!

Even though it hardly feels like Spring today, with the threat of "snow" (which in Houston just means it's going to be a nasty, freezing day so I hope you brought your lunch to work because you do not want to go outside..) I'm trying to will it here by doing and making Springtime things. With lows in the 30s, I think tonight will be a perfect "stay-in-and-cook" night to try my hand at ever-so-appropriate Vietnamese spring rolls, one of my favorites! Crank up the heat, put on a tank top and just pretend.

Found a great recipe for Vietnamese Spring rolls at Design Sponge!

In another attempt to persuade Spring to hustle, I made a few little birds (do you want one?). I want to make dozens and just hide them all over the house to remind myself that yes, it will be sunny and 70 again soon. I want sandals and shorts (without tights) and pink cheeks and wheat brews, and picnics and bike rides and pastel nail polish.


[damn groundhog.]

[photos: thumper-google, spring rolls- design sponge]

Nothin' like a little friendly competition!

Each month, Sew Crafty Houston does a little contest- you make something, submit a photo and they post all the photos on their facebook page. The craft with the most "likes" wins prizes and this is my first month to enter. When they post my photo, please vote for my owls (only if you like them, of course)! I'll put the link here when the photo is up.

Yay! Contest! Thanks! (@v@) that's a computer owl... yeaaaaahhhhh

Also, I have noticed.. it does happen to get better with practice. i mean... look at this guy...from like.. 4 days ago. (he looks like I just didn't care..poor thing)

New things! Tutorial Thursday!

I've decided to do some weekly posts here @ Notes from the Republic, the first being Tutorial Thursday! I'll do my best to bring you little DIYs I come across using things you may have around the house. Sometimes it will be a craft, sometimes it will be a little recipe.

Today's DIY is this great (and green!) magazine (or newspaper, craftpaper, even fabric scrap) gift bow found on How About Orange. I made one just now at work using an ad from a page from SPIN, staples, scotch tape, and a glue stick. Hurrah for office supplies! For some reason, I had a little bit of a rough time figuring out how to "twist" the paper strips...but once I got it down, making the bow was quick and easy. Hope to bring lots of good DIYs each week!

Sigh. Maybe it gets better with practice?

poor little owlie. i gave you a face, and it's not very pretty. so maybe hand sewn felt owls aren't my forte. thats ok. you were fun to "make"... i can learn other things...? maybe you can be a dog toy... wait, what's that? you want a girlfriend?.... mannnnnn.....

Mardi Gras Day!

Kids in Texas get Spring Break. Kids in Louisiana get Mardi Gras break. It's understood. The grown-up are off work, kids are out of school, and there's a spirit in the air... of friends, good food and celebration.

It was hard to adjust when we first moved to Texas from Thibodaux... "Why isn't anyone excited? How come no one is wearing purple, green and gold? Why do we have to go to school? It's Mardi Gras day.. grumble grumble"

By this time, we'd been eating king cake for breakfast for the past 2 weeks. The parades were so much fun, it was almost like Halloween in the spring; We wore costumes and painted our faces. People would park their cars along the parade route hours before the parade started and just camp out, eat fried chicken, walked up and down the street "visiting" with friends and neighbors. Our parents didn't worry about our safety, who we were with, where we were.. of course we were safe...we're surrounded by hundreds of our closest pals. When we were small, Dad would hoist us up on his shoulders, our arms flailing in the air so we'd have a better chance of catching beads and toys. It was just fun, and it was uniquely ours.

And this time of year, I miss it.

For more info on the history of Mardi Gras, click here.

felt madnesssss

I want to try to make more felt things, flowers are safe- it's not too hard to cut circles with pinking shears...so I think these little guys will be challenging. I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of vacuuming of tiny felt scraps..bandaging of needle-pricked fingers...but who knows? They may turn out kinda cute!

But then... who knows... they may turn out like this...

It's a fine line between cute and totally creepy when making things with eyes....

awesome.

[ all images: google images ]

Friday afternoon, after work, I went downtown to do a little shopping. I found parking on the corner of Clay and Main, right in front of this beautiful Methodist church. As I was walking down Main, the noon bells started, I think they played music for a good 5 minutes. It was so pretty. Sometimes I wish I worked downtown so I could walk around at lunch and discovery little Houston secrets, like lunchtime serenades from old churches. This year marks the 100th anniversary of this First Methodist church, the first service held on December 18th, 1910. Video: Lunch time bells: