brobee costume

i ended up figuring out how to get stripes for my brobee costume for halloween - fabric paint.  i'm not sure why i only thought of fabric dye, but someone suggested fabric paint to me and it just made sense.  i ended up using this fabric paint and lots of masking tape.  i bought this romper from american apparel in white for the body and painted thigh high socks (also from american apparel) for brobee's long arms (i used the middle cardboard from paper towel rolls to extend my arms).  the masking tape was used to keep the fabric paint from spreading to make the stripes.  since the romper was so thin, i also lined the entire inside with 3 inch masking tape so it wouldn't bleed through.  this took forever.  i'm not sure what i was thinking when i took on this project.

for the legs, i bought an actual childrens' brobee costume and cut the legs off to put over a pair of boots i own.  the furry gloves from the costume were put over the end of my arms to finish the costume.  i also added the monobrow from the costume to the brobee hat i knitted.  below are some photos of the process and the final costume.  best part is the boo "deciding" to go as dj lance rock... 

we also got mentioned on a yo gabba gabba fan site!

happy thanksgiving!!

i made my second apple pie of the thanksgiving season last night.  doesn't look as good as the first one i made, but i'm hoping it will taste better since i sliced the apples thinner this time.

this is the recipe i use. (i can't find the original website)  the best part is the homemade crust...

i also made some homemade cranberry sauce out of fresh cranberries and jalapenos from my sister's boyfriend's recipe:

Jalapeno Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:
1 bag frozen cranberries
2-3 jalapenos whole
(you can chop up one if you like it spicier)
1 cinnamon stick
½ c sugar
Water as needed

In a small saucepan on high heat, combine all the ingredients and fill with water just to
the top of the cranberries. The ice will melt and create more water so don’t add too much
(you can always add more later). Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to low, stirring
occasionally. Continue cooking until it reaches a sauce-like consistency. (Feel free to
add more water if it seems too thick. It usually takes 20-30 minutes to reach the right
consistency so if it seems like it’s happening too fast add more water.) Remove from
heat and put in a heat-proof container. You can keep the whole jalapenos and cinnamon
stick in the cranberry sauce until ready to serve. Serve at room temperature.

Brett's notes:  When I did it I bought fresh cranberries (they sell bags tis time of year) and followed the directions on the back of the bag for how to make sauce out of them (water and sugar), and added the jalapenos and cinnamon as appropriate.  I'd say definitely add 1 jalapeno de-seeded and chopped into the sauce when you start it.  I think if you use fresh cranberries it only takes 5-10 mins, per Larissa it looks like frozen may take longer.

and then i also made two pumpkin pies this season out of an actual pumpkin i cut up and pureed myself.  after spending all the time to puree the pumpkin i found out that "field" pumpkins aren't the ones that go in pies.  but i used it anyway and think it still came out great.  the first pie i did have a small "pie" pumpkin i had used as decoration that i pureed as well.  it was definitely easier to puree and much smoother than the field pumpkin, so in the future i will only use those pumpkins.  i found a maple pumpkin recipe here that i used.  i also made a homemade graham craker crust from this recipe.  in this photo you can see i burnt the crust :(  i blame it on being lazy.  i also didn't crush the graham crackers enough as i would have liked since i was short on time.  the first one i made was better, but i didn't take a photo.

homemade turquoise pillow

i thought my apartment needed some more pillows, so to save money i decided to make one.  although i didn't really end up saving any money since i bought all my materials from britex and it still cost me $40!!  oh well.  i love the pillow.  it's big and turquoise and velvetty.

best sunset of the year

...was about two weeks ago.  as you can see, the sky was ridiculous.  i didn't take too many photos since i wasted all my taking-photos-during-sunset energy the night before when it was, as i know now, but didn't at the time, the 2nd best sunset of the year.  it was a great one to enjoy without the camera though, so i have no regrets.

last of lily + ryan

i finally finished going through lily & ryan's engagement photos.  the entire set is posted here on my website and below are a few of my favorites from the last batch.  they are so cute!!

favorite sunrise of the year

a few months ago i woke up to this ridiculously low, beautiful fog covering the bay.  i probably took photos for 45 minutes before getting ready for work...  i just couldn't stop.  as the sun got higher it changed the color of the sky and the fog and made for some pretty great photos.  even the bay bridge was poking out from the clouds!

blair comes to SF

my super cute niece blair won the special award for first niece or nephew to come visit aunt gangy in san francisco!  this award means a lot to me since i am usually the one going to visit my nieces and nephews, it's very special to get a visit from one of them!

we had a great weekend and i was able to get a few adorable shots of blair's new cool skill of smiling :) 

here is my favorite...

come back again soon, blair!!

more lily + ryan

i got a lot done on these this week.  i like too many not to post all of them!

my homemade bench cushion

when i moved into my new apartment there was a flowerbed on the bench on the deck.  i never really had any intention on moving it until my great friend al suggested i  put a cushion on the bench for additional seating.  what a great idea!

the bench is about 5 ft long and 30 inches deep...  that's a huge bench.  buying a cushion for it was going to be expensive...  so i looked into options to keep the costs down by making my own.  it would have been super easy to spend just as much money making one as buying one, but i only looked for outdoor fabric that was on sale and bought it in delaware to save on sales tax.  (and thanks mom for flying with it out to SF so i didn't have to pay shipping once i found out they didn't actually have the fabric at the store the day i bought it in delaware)

below is a photo of the fabric arriving in SF...  along with some cotton cording i got at a joanne's in the suburbs of denver (i think this cost around $20).  the fabric ended up costing around $90 (plus the $25 extra bag fee on my mom's airline)

lucky for me they actually sold a 2" outdoor foam bench cushion that was 5 ft by 27"!  it was around $100.  so all together the bench cushion cost a bit over $200...  which is a lot less than the $400+ i would have spent on getting it custom made.  yay!

first step was making the cording.  this required cutting long strips on the bias (diagonal) of the black fabric.  this took a long time since i need two cords that were 5 ft + 27in + 5 ft + 27 in = more than14 ft each...

luckily my mom was in town visiting while i was working on this so she was able to help me since - who knew? - she'd made her own cording before.

connecting the 2 ends of cording was pretty difficult and mom wasn't in town to help with that piece.  i kind of just made something up and think it turned out good enough...

here is the bench completed with the pillows on it!

and here is the additional seating being put to good use.

the cushion has been getting pretty dirty since it's been raining a lot lately, but it's not too bad and i'm still pretty satisfied with the results...  although not really satisfied with all the rain :)