Sorry Kid, You Really Do Use Math In Life

The title says it all here, but upon the rarest of occasions, I have to use math to be creative. Yuck! You know I was the president of the math club in high school (mom said it would look good on the transcript for college applications and I was the only one who showed up on Mu Alpha Theta election day). And then you know I got a D- in calculus freshman year of college and retook the class to get to B-. Oh Paul Bourdon! That class was all but impossible (to me, lots of other people seemed to ace it, overachievers). Not that my personal relationship with mathematics is particularly exciting (Does it count that a lot of my favorite people in college were math majors -- Dj Jazzy, LDA & Molly McGint?), I just wanted you to know that it is only on the solemnest occasions that I will get out the tape measurer, graph paper and draw something to scale. You do know that "to scale" means solving some math equations, right? So being a regular Archimedes, I decided that I wanted to make a wall of art. And I couldn't decide on the right arrangement for these prints and paintings. So I took measurements of the wall, the height of my comfy reading chair and then measured each little work of art. Above you see the results. I'm actually planning to show you a collection of arrangements I come up with and letting my general readership vote on the final selection. We'll see if that works. I fully expect no votes at all, but who knows.

Also, it has always bothered me that people of UK-ish origin (Aussies, Kiwis included) call it "maths" instead of "math" with the idea being that its a shortened version of a plural word: mathematics. I've never bugged a Canuck about that particular English misnomer, but I ought to. I'd like to think we have Canada on our side of this crucial linguistic debate. And today, I've really strayed away from the usual topic. Err, sorry.

It's A Wrap

There you have it! Fifteen pretty little packages wrapped in my homemade wrapping paper. Perhaps you can spot one that you received -- I know that a few of my readers (Katie, Dj Jazzy, Lucy) each have a little-green-tree-festooned box in that picture. I can't tell you how delightful the reactions I got to the paper were. I truly didn't expect it to get any reviews at all. I thought I would make it, use it and feel good on the inside that I did my part to conserve resources and be creative. I didn't dream that the gift recipients would get such a kick out it, too. Lots of people saved the paper. No joke! Uncle Jim, Mrs. Sue Woodward, my dad ... and those are the ones I know about. How touching! To think that my wrapping paper was good enough to save! I watched several of my readers who had the chance to open one of the above boxes try to guess what part of the two phrases they had received. If you recall, the options were, "Once upon a time" and "And they all lived happily ever after. The end."
I really enjoyed adding buttons and bows and various other doodads to each present. The pallet of green and off-white was really easy to work with. Red added such a pop and buttons dressed the packages up and made them very snazzy. And yet, a simple (and heavily hot glued) pine cone kept the paper feeling very natural.
Lots of design magazines and blogs really pushed for a homemade Christmas. And while I didn't have time to home make gifts for everyone on my shopping list, I was pretty excited to have homemade paper. I'm definitely going to be doing something like this again next year. I already have some ideas (and I'm 99% sure I will have forgotten them by next year, but just in case I wrote them on stickies and put them at the top of my Christmas decorations box on the top shelf of my closet). I hate to forget a good crafty idea.

Calligraphy doodling

I had a couple of minutes of free time on Tuesday to do some calligraphy practice. I tell you what, September for a rabid baseball fan can be so busy. Especially when you insist on going a full weekend of games. More on that later if I can get my act together...

I'm trying to get a little better with this new nib I purchased. I need to spend some time working on my form instead of just free styling all the time. I know that Miss Susan likes to see my every calligraphy creation so I hope this keeps my DJ Jazzy happy for a few minutes.

This weekend finds me flying to New York to catch the 7th to last game ever at Yankee Stadium on Monday between the Yanks and the Chicago White Sox (wrong colored Sox for this fan's taste, but you can't get everything you want). It's overwhelming enough to know I'll be attending the wake of the cathedral of baseball, especially in a down year for the Bronx Bombers. But alas, I've wandered away from the strict confines of my craft blog to boast about my good baseball fortune. The reason I bring this up is that it seems that I won't be getting a chance to do too much crafting over the weekend. I'll see if I can get something done...

Toodles!

Don't Scowl at SCAW

Presenting Susan's craft...

I've literally been blogging for months about Susan (aka Dj Jazzy) and her visit to Dallas. Well, over the weekend, she came, we ate and shopped like champs, and now she's gone again (So sad!). And if we didn't have time to craft together, I at least had time to whip up a Dallas-visit souvenir for Susan.

She was quite smitten with my calligraphy skills and wanted me to make something for her using my bottle of ink and old-school quill. So, I wrote out her monogram (about 1 bellion times, to quote the Adelphia girl) and made a frame for it. We decided it's about the preppiest thing ever, which is fitting because Susan is in love with all things preppy!

The frame was a super cheap Ikea purchase covered in fabric (watch how you do those inside corners! That part can be really tricky) and then covered in a couple of thick layers of modge podge (low gloss, I believe it's called the "matte finish"). And, I lied when I said Susan didn't craft--she assembled the finished pieces. We were both pretty pleased with how it turned out. She has promised to put the frame above her kitchen sink (an upgrade from the original planned location of above the commode... Thanks Susan). Perhaps she'll even send in a picture when it's installed??

Mid-Day Doodle

I drew this cropped wreath this morning whilst on the phone with Aunt Jan. I just thought I'd put it on the blog with a Happy Wednesday note. This week has not been particularly forthcoming with regard to my crafts. Tomorrow Dj Jazzy arrives and we have a weekend of creative living to document and present (much to our own amusement, I'm sure).

Happy Wednesday.

GUEST POST: East Coast Cupcakes

Note from Hilary: You wouldn't believe how thrilled I was when my dear friend Susan asked if she could write a guest column for a crafty sort of project she created over the weekend with friend Kate of Philadelphia. I'm so excited to present the first-ever guest piece on "All the Cool Kids Love to Craft!" And if you are reading this, I hope you are inspired to do something crafty, take a picture of it & send it to me, because I'd love to post all of my readers' crafty projects!

Hello all. You may have heard me mentioned in this blog before. I am DJ Jazz aka Susan and, aside from being a close personal friend of the craftmaster herself, Hilary, I am also this blog's Number One Fan. No, really. Hilary informed me that I visit this blog more than anyone else in the whole world. And it's true--I love nothing more after a long day's labour (yeah, I spelled it with a "u"--suck it) than to perch in my laundry room with my laptop, cross my fingers for a new posting, and visit coolkidscrafting. Being a very uncrafty person myself I thought I'd never have anything to add, but after a successful baking venture this weekend, Hilary told me I could.

My good friend Kate was in town, and, as both of us were feeling very domestic, we decided to roll up our sleeves and bake something. From scratch. Behold, cappucino chip cupcakes with mocha buttercream frosting. Not only did we have a blast, but girrrrrl, lemme just tell you...Betty Crocker does well in a pinch but these cupcakes fluffed up so big, that buttercream frosting was so melt-in-your-mouth delectable, I may never go back. And is there any better smell in the whole world than butter and sugar that's just been creamed in the mixer? On a side note, I found myself short of vegetable oil, so I used some olive oil too and you couldn't even tell.

Fortified by our success, Kate and I then made bran flax muffins, the recipe for which in on the back of the Bob's Red Mill Whole Ground Flaxseed Meal bag. I'm aware that sounded hurl-inducing, but they are my new faves. So moist, so easy, so so good. And did you know that you can substitute flax meal for shortening or cooking oil? Hence, said muffins had no added oil or butter. That's not to say I didn't slather them up with Land o' Lakes before shoveling them down my greedy gullet. If you're not on the flax meal wagon, hop on, homegirl. It's good for your heart and your palate.

Have fun baking!

Bathroom Bonanza!

Yeah, I just used the title "bathroom bonanza." And it describes this week's theme. I do realize that by posting this now, it will be at the bottom of the week's posts, so if you get to this point in the blog, look up, because that's where the new stuff is.

I promised I'd do my dining room this month, but things came together faster for my bathroom projects, so this is the room-o-the month, for now. I really don't have enough rooms in my home for there to be a room for every month, but I'll deal with that fact later.

My beloved Dj Jazzy is coming to visit me in March and I really wanted my place to look crafty and cute for her arrival. Natch (as Susan would say), I started with the bathroom, and that's because Susan and I have a long history of getting ill when we are around each other. And as long as she's going to fly to Dallas just to get sick, she might as well do it in a cute bathroom, right? So without further ado, I will reveal my bathroom's projects.