Recently in We're crafty Category

Beer?  Everybody like beer! 

Ok, that might not be entirely true but a good beer is really something people should like.  A number of years ago, we had the pleasure of going to visit my sister out in Portland, Oregon, otherwise known as Beer-vana.  While we were primarily interested in the wines of the area, we did take time to try out some of their fantastic beers.  And then my sister got us a set of various Rogue ales for Christmas and I was hooked. 

Luckily we can from time to time, get some of the Rogue beers out here in Boston.  This summer we tried the Hazelnut Brown Nectar which quickly became one of our favorite beers.  J.P. is a big fan of browns and this one was gorgeously balanced with a nice malty-nuttiness without being too fat and sloppy. 

It reminded us that it's been a while since we tried brewing our own beer.  Two weekends ago, J.P. went down the the basement to haul the 5-gallon carboys upstairs.  We need to get more tubing, a new filter, a wand and some airlocks but hopefully we should be in back in action in a few days.  We are wimping out with our first foray back into the brewing world by using a kit (gasp) but it is a kit for the Hazelnut Brown Nectar complete with Rogue's special Pacman yeast and we thought it would be better to start easy rather than diving in with grinding grains.  Wish us luck!

I so so so so love it!!!  Obviously, J.P. and I needed a bigger space for our bedroom stuff.  It's no longer so crowded and there is actually room to move and get dressed and all that good stuff.  It's just the best. 

Yes yes...  I still need to get off my lazy bum and get the pics of my camera and tonight I might tackle...  the closets!  Oh, the horror!!!

I bought a real sewing maching.  It's the Brother XL3150 and it's really pretty cool.  I haven't used one since Home Ec class back in the day but even I could figure this one out.  A few snafus in the beginning but then I was cruising along.  I'm making backs and seats for the director's chairs we have upstairs and while hardly perfect, they are working out pretty well.  One done, three more to go.  I'm not fast.  I'm not exact.  But it's fun.

J.P. has the patience of a saint.  And that is a really good thing for me.  :)

He had this idea the other day that we should switch the rooms around in the house.  He casually mentioned it to me and I latched onto it like a hungry blood-sucking leach.  Yes, it because my newest obession.  I kept talking about it, thinking about it, researching it.  A little pathetic, I will admit but that has never stopped me.

First on the To-Do list:  Repaint the living room which will now be refered to as the new bedroom.  The problem with the new bedroom is the lighting.  It has some extremes because of the way the windows are located and the way that the room is shaped.  We had originally picked a great green color but it turned out to not work so well at different times of the day.  This time, we went with a great peach color.  It's the prettiest in the morning but even in the yellow late afternoon sun, it's lovely.  Too bad peach on top of green equals lots of coats.  Three rolled coats and five coats of trim.  But it's done and I'm so very happy with it.

Second on the To-Do list:  Throw some stuff away.  J.P. put it best when he said, "We are information horders and our medium has become obsolete."  No, it's not really obsolete but it's certainly not practical or up-to-date so we are paring down a little.  We donated three boxes of books and we probably donate another three or four by the time we are done.  We have also horded lot of "stuff" that I'm attempting to go through.  Again, thankfully, J.P. is patient.  And thankfully, it's trash day tonight.  I hope my neighbors don't hate me.

Third on the To-Do list:  Move furniture.  Yes, our bathroom is currently considered swing space.  It's funny.  Tonight we will see if the couch will make it out of the living room.  The doorway is a little tight.

Well, I've finally gotten off my butt and gone back to my Munny's.  I've sanded them and last night, J.P. helped me to prime them.  They look sexy grey now.  J.P. did the spraying, and I did the holding.  As a result, I have a scary grey hand when we were done.  After failed attempts to scrape it off with a dish scrubbie, I pulled out the naptha.  That stuff rocks.  Melted the primer (and some layers of skin) right off.  This weekend, painting will begin!  I'm very excited.

Sculpey is fun.  It's a little softer than I thought it would be but pretty cool none the less.  I've started putting sculpey on my Munnys and I baked them too.  This week's task, sanding and priming.

Must get super sculpey...  auto primer...  sanding products.  Munny building starting this weekend!  :)

Oh, yes!  My munnys have arrived!  I'm so so excited.  J.P. finds them disturbing and my extreme obession with them probably isn't helping that at all but what can I do.  It's a new toy and I love new toys.  It all started because I was looking for avatars for this site and well, there aren't a lot of good ones out there and drawing isn't my strong suit...  so I though, "Hey!  Why don't we make munny avatars!"  Model painting, and sculpting are things that are much easier for me.  I don't have much artistic talent so I have to use what I'm marginal in.  It will surely be a s-l-o-w process to make them since I've just started sketching my blueprints.  I hope they come out well.  I'll be posting pics as I go since well, it should be tons of fun!