DIY Inspiration Boards

I'm taking the most amazing online class this summer - Pages and Paint. Our teacher, Sarah, is fantastic. Part of our assignment this week was to set up the space we were going to create in, and to start our inspiration boards. Both of these assignments were perfect for me, because those two things were on my 'to-do' list anyway! I started reorganizing my studio this past winter, but then things got busy and some of my projects never got finished. This class was just the motivation I needed to finish up my craft space! 

I had two inspiration boards that I made that have been ready forever, I just needed to get them on the wall and start putting things on them. When I looked back through my photo archives to find the 'before' pictures, I realized that I have had these done since September 2009. Wow! Only took me close to three years to actually get them on the wall...

I found these frames at the thrift store for next-to-nothing, and took out the prints that were in them. Then I primed and spray-painted the frames. 

I got some corkboard at a craft store, and covered it in fabric, and attached it with a staple gun in the frames. 

Then they sat for almost three years until I finally got around to putting them up...

Just this week, I attached some bakers twine to the back of the frames and hung them in my studio. Then I started putting up inspiring photos, art, and handmade items. It's still a work-in-progress for sure, but I'm already enjoying seeing all that inspiration up on my wall! 

Among other things, I have a quotation from Sarah, and a page from a children's book:

Flowers crocheted by me (yellow) and a friend (purple):

A photo of my mom in high school, and a rat by Duckie Uglings:

Bunting I made out of paper and baker's twine (they were part of some baby shower invitations I made awhile back):

I'm so excited to keep adding to my inspiration boards, and I'm looking forward to what the next couple of weeks in this class will bring.

Do you have an inspiration board? What types of things do you like to put on it?

I Have a Question...

...for my multitude of readers! (haha) Do you have problems uploading photos with Blogger? Because I do. And it is really, I mean REALLY frustrating. I would probably have had a post up here every single day since I started blogging, except that I don't have time to deal with uploading photos! When I do upload them, it's from my computer. I notice a lot of you have a Flickr account. Does it work better to upload the photos from Flickr? I don't have an account, but I could create one. I do, however, have a Photobucket account. Does it work to upload photos from there? Do any of you do that? Any ideas, suggestions, or just plain old commiseration would be appreciated!

The other day when I was uploading photos, I crocheted while I was at the computer. I thought 'well, it may take forever to get these photos up, but at least I'm being productive!' I got all the way around the four sides of the blanket back to where I had started before I realized I had somehow managed to crochet backwards. (Does that make any sense?) Without realizing it, I had twisted my yarn and crocheted in the opposite direction that I'd been working in all along. So, not only did it take forever to upload the photos, but I had to pull out all the work I'd just done. Here's the pile I had left for all my hard work:

Bleh. Ok, you sat through my rant. You deserve a treat. Brownies, anyone? I made some Saturday to take to our friends' house, where we went for dinner.

I realize it may seem obsessive to give you another recipe from Nigella Lawson two posts in a row. Especially from exactly the same cookbook.

But what can I say? I am obsessed with this cookbook! I love it.

Yet again, a ridiculously simple recipe, you're practically guaranteed to have all the ingredients in your house without making a special trip to the store, and you end up with gooey, chocolatey goodness. Can't really complain about that.

The pan, all ready to go in the oven.

And I'd show you a picture of the final product, but unfortunately, this is all that's left:

Flourless Chocolate Brownies

8 oz semisweet chocolate

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups ground almonds

1 cup chopped walnuts [I left these out, cause I'm not a huge fan of nuts in my brownies. DON'T leave out the almonds, though! They sorta take the place of the flour.]

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Melt the chocolate and butter gently over low heat in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.

2. Add the sugar and vanilla to the pan off the heat, and let it cool a little.

3. Beat the eggs into the pan with the ground almonds and walnut pieces. Turn into a 9-inch square pan or, most sensibly, use a foil one. [Or, most sensibly in my case, an 8-inch pan, since that was all I had. If you do that, you'll just need to cook them slightly longer.]

4. Bake for 25-30 minutes, by which time the top will have set but the mixture will still be gooey. Once cooler, cut carefully, four down, four across, into 16 squidgy-bellied squares. [Ooh, I think 'squidgy-bellied squares' is only the best brownie description I have ever heard!]

Here Goes...

I've been reading craft blogs for awhile now, and in every one that I've read I've seen the same thing: the online crafting community is a sweet and generous group of people.  I experienced it first-hand myself, before even having a blog - G over at Doe-C-Doe not only gave me the encouragement I needed to start my blog, but she sent me a link to the Crafty Blog School, which taught me everything I needed to know! (Thank you, G!)

Well, I might as well just jump right in and share a WIP: 

Way back in 2006 (oh dear, has it really been that long?) we had a new addition to our extended family.  I bought this yarn to crochet a baby blanket for his Christmas present, and though I worked on it very diligently, it wasn't ready in time. 

   

 

Baby got a different present, and I stopped working on the blanket. Well, now Baby's 2nd Christmas has come and gone, and I finally picked it back up again!  And I am almost done!  But Baby's kinda old now, so I may save this blanket for the next little one to come along. 

 

Not too bad for the first thing I've ever crocheted, eh?