super easy-to-make, cheap & cool leather cuff

If you have a last minute gift or two to get, and not much money to spend, here is an idea for something you can easily make: a leather cuff bracelet out of an old belt. You can use a belt you are done with, or go to Goodwill and buy one. All the belts are $1.99 here in the Dallas area. You want to use a belt that is one solid piece of leather, not one that is pieced together and sewn around the edge. If you use a belt that slips through the buckle and cinches without a prong, you will not need any extra equipment besides the sharp scissors. If you use a buckle with a prong, you will need a leather hole punch. These are easy to pick up at crafting stores and do not cost much. Here's what to do:

1. Slip the belt over your wrist, or ascertain the wrist size if you are making it for someone else. Figure out how much of the end you want protruding past the buckle, and mark there with a marking pencil. This is where you will cut it. 

2. Slip it off, and cut off the excess, using very sharp, strong scissors. I like the Fiskers 9921 Softouch Micro-Tip Pruning Snip ones shown, but beware. Especially if you enjoy having all of your fingers intact, as they are insanely sharp. You can decide if you want to cut straight across or use a curved or pointed edge. If you have a pronged buckle, you now need to punch a hole in the appropriate place or places. I like to do a line of punches down the entire cuff. You decide.

3. I like to then sand it using fine sand paper. Now you are done, but you could also choose to rough up the whole cuff a bit with the sandpaper for a rustic effect. You could also go over the cut edge with some shoe or leather polish in a matching color if you happen to have some handy. Enjoy!

twinkle day

I had a blog post the other week about the importance of not getting too busy this holiday season. Of course, since that post I've steadily gotten too busy baking, shopping, decorating, holiday get-togethering... you name it. All good things, only I need to do more writing, blogging meditation, and photography in order to really feel like myself. (If that makes any sense.) But no worries, I'm planning to be more focused in 2013 and have some pretty schweet New Year's resolutions up my sleeve. These resolutions are almost certain to catapult me into a U.S. Marines/Zen Master level of disciplined routine. In the meantime... cheers! people, and pass the cheese log. 

QG and I had an adventure last night at Vitruvian Park in Addison along with Jamie the Wonder Dog checking out the magically twinkly lights. Here are a few of the pics. Sit back and take a few slow, deep breaths as you journey through the lights from the comfort of your own chair.

3 memoirs and a movie

I want to tell you about three books and a movie. I love to read and want to do more of it, so thinking about my favorite books gets me inspired to carve out more time. Besides, this is a good time of year to snuggle up with a good book. I love memoirs best, especially ones by non-famous, quirky people. I've read hundreds of those. Here are three of my favorites in the hilarious category. Each of these is basically a collection of random stories: my favorite format. To me, that keeps things interesting, like unwrapping piece after treasured piece of candy and not knowing what you'll find till you bite into it.

1. Microthrills: True Stories from a Life of Small Highs by Wendy Spero. If you want a good laugh, buy this book. Hilarious. Hilarious, I tell you. Wendy was raised my her mom, a sex therapist and major character, in Manhattan. Some of the stories are from that time. Others are about random topics like her love of candy, which she consumes daily despite her steadily rotting teeth. She feels the candy is well worth it. (I can appreciate that kind of devotion to sweets.) And one is about her love of her stuffed animals and finger puppets. As I write this, I am looking at the box of finger puppets I keep on the shelf behind me. I like to know it's there, just in case I get bored. The way Wendy thinks is so entertaining.She eventually made her way to L.A. to do stand up. No surprise there.

2. Too Close to the Falls by Catherine Gildiner. Catherine grew up in the fifties in Lewiston, New York, near Niagara Falls. These stories are about her childhood through age thirteen. Catherine was an antsy child, so her parents sent her to work full time at her dad's pharmacy when she was four to keep her out of trouble. Yes, four. She loved it. Her family gives new meaning to the word quirky, but her stories are told with such gentle honesty. She grew up to be a psychologist and didn't decide to write the book till she was well into her forties and a friend pointed out that she'd had an unusual childhood, which would make a good book. I loved the people in this memoir. Especially Roy.

3. But Enough About Me by Jancee Dunn. This memoir is so entertaining and well written, I can't believe that everybody in America has not read it yet. It intersperses stories of Jancee's childhood and personal life with stories about her adventures as a writer for Rolling Stone magazine and the folks she has interviewed for that. I loved her insights into the rarefied world of the celebs she has to interview every bit as much of the stories of her family. Her dad worked for J.C. Penny his whole life, and it was practically a religion with him. Also, the tone of the book is low-key humility. I like that. By the end I felt like an actual friend of Jancee. In my mind, we're still close. 

One last recommendation. Last Friday, I saw the movie Silver Linings Playbook, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, and Robert De Niro. It is set in Philadelphia, PA. If you like movies that depict real life and real people, as opposed to picture-perfect Hollywood where everybody has fake boobs and a pearly white smile, then this is the film for you. The characters were all interesting, the story vivid and compelling. You will get emotionally involved. You'll laugh. You might cry. You'll probably do some pondering long after the movie ends. Enjoy!

To the Innocents

To the Innocents

This world is an uncertain place.

We need God’s grace.

We need God’s calm.

We need His strong right arm.

When days are dark,

our way obscure,

we need God’s loving cure.

When nothing else makes sense,

we fall into God’s grace.

Covering our face, we ask why.

Lord, if ever there was a reason to cry,

you knew it as your boy began to die.

So help us now.  We sigh. We don’t

understand, but we try.

                               -Kimberly Laustsen December 2012

quote day

Here's an E.B.White quote that I love:

"We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry."

This quote helps me. I adore E.B. and revere his skills and insights, so if he said it, hey... that's good enough for me. One only needs to read Charlotte's Web to see what a genius he was.

Secondly, I generally enjoy doing mundane things the most, like organizing closets, ironing shirts, watching bugs, photographing food or toys, and making up recipes. I like to hear E.B. tell me that's okay. I guess growing up, I was always made to feel that in order to be accepted I had to be sacrificing in some way, like babysitting for free, tutoring my mean cousin, being cheerful about moving a million times or working for a buck an hour at my mom's beauty shop. I never really got to think about what I actually wanted to do. Maybe a lot of kids have that experience. 

Anyhow, I like E.B.'s sentiment. It summarizes what I've been learning this past year. So, maybe I'm not out saving the world. I do have clean laundry and tidy closets. More than that, I can't help thinking that God gives each person desires and talents that are unique to that person. He makes each of us to be exactly as we are and He loves us that way. There is a reason I am obsessed with flower petals, uncluttering, words, and my camera Agnes. I don't know what that reason is. But God does.

Thirdly, E.B.'s quote is cheerful and whimsical. And who couldn't use a little more of those right now?

As to the salad picture up top, do you see that tiny chunk of bread beside the tomato? That is my latest salad discovery. You cut stale bread into tiny cubes, and sprinkle them on your salad along with some Gorgonzola cheese and cherry tomatoes. Then you mix in some of this dressing, or something similar. The bread carries delightful pockets of flavor dancing into your mouth. And with the cheese, a perfect combo.

flower-happy

Today I am appreciating flowers. On Tuesday, Quiet Guy and I were married thirty years. Normally, I tell him, "Don't buy me flowers, I'd rather have the cash." And for thirty years, that's been true. Unromantic, I know, but practical. 

But this year, he surprised me with pink roses. Perhaps in the past I've been too practical. I see that now. Cash be damned, I love the roses. My eyes have been lapping them up for three days straight, launching me into a flower-happy state of euphoric pinkness. For real. How amazing that the energy of outside things, like roses, can effect a shift on the inside of a person.

how to make coasters from an old sweater

I like to find old junk and make it into something useful. That's what I imagine God likes to do with us people sometimes. Anyhow, the other day I was in Goodwill and came across an adorable sweater. I had to buy it, though it was not my style or size. Besides it was all wool, too scratchy to wear. The print drew me in. I knew it would be good for a project.

I washed it in the washing machine with hot water to agitate at least ten minutes, then into the dryer for a little while (not all the way dry) to shrink it down and get it a bit felted so it can be cut without fraying. I went to bed still pondering what to make precious into. Ahah! It hit me at about midnight. I decided precious would make some great coasters to give as a hostess or holiday gift. The coasters are easy to make. Here's what to do.


Cut the sweater apart along the seams. Lay it flat. You need to use a wool sweater so you can felt it first. Get a glass to trace around it. I used a martini glass about 4 and 1/2 inches wide. I traced this out, and got sixteen using just the body of the sweater. Cut out the circles inside of the marker. Now, you just stitch along the outside edge using a blanket stitch. For this I used DMC embroidery floss, all six strands.

First, anchor the thread by weaving it into the knit on the wrong side. Now make even stitches as evenly spaced as you can all long the perimeter of the coaster. For blanket stitch, you want to pass the needle straight down on the right side, then pull it toward you at a ninety degree angle from the edge with the needle on top of the thread loop. Once you have six or eight coasters, you can wrap them with a pretty ribbon, and your gift is ready to bring joy to some lucky friend.