Jellyroll Quilt Update

As promised, dear readers, I finally have an update for you with regards to the previously posted jellyroll quilt! Now, bear in mind, this is my first attempt ever at making anything of this magnitude — it’s usually just adorable reversible totes for me! — so… Be kind. (Winces) To be honest, I’m sort of … Making this up as I go along? (I believe it’s called “quilting by the seat of your pant,” but who knows?) 😉 With that said, I’ve done a simple basting stitch just to get a look at how it’ll all come together, so no binding yet. That’s a project for another day!!

Without further ado, I give you… My first quilt, tacky-jelly-style!! Wooo!!

Remember how originally I only had that cool blue-green-sea sort of theme going on? Well, we ran out of jelly strips, & couldn’t locate another matching set (I had already scrapped what matching cloth I had), so Boo picked out another set… For the life of me, I’m not sure why, but he chose the silver/purple combo. It actually turned out pretty neat… Well, interesting, at least.

We Boo also selected the backing — a lovely, soft, fuzzy number with “comfy bumps” on it. Here’s some shots of that fancy back:

Ooooo!! How exciting, no?! (Squee!) I’m so nervous about the binding, but the links that the fabulous Sevi left me were oh-so-helpful, so I’m sure it will turn out just fine. ^_^ Hooray for calming nerves!! (Though some amaretto helps with that, too! Haha!)

Wish me luck!
Cheers!!
— Elise M. Gross

Happy 4th of July — Part III

Just a quick post today to show you guys the finished products from baking!

I know I said I was gonna make some cookies, but what I made instead was patriotic brownies & raspberry crumble top with blueberries. The patriotic brownies were inspired by this post here (check out the awesome America cake!!!)

I’ll be sure to take awesome fireworks photos tonight! That one up top is a compilation of a few I took last year & the previous year.

Well, y’all have yourselves a fun night, & be safe everyone!!
Cheers!!
— Elise M. Gross

Happy 4th of July!! — Part II

Good morning!! Happy 4th of July, folks!!!!

Alright comrades! I promised you a looksie at what I ended up doing to that rad button, so drumroll, please, & without further ado, I present to you all….!!

Ta-daaaaa!!!!!!!

Isn’t it just FAB.U.LOUS???? I adore how homey it looks/feels. I feel like I’m looking at one of those crafts you find at the state fair, haha!! And it’s so BIG! (Insert joke here.) Seriously, it’s almost gaudy (the button alone is about 2.5″ across!) But it is very patriotic, no? Looooove!!!! Look, you can even see the threads where it’s sewn together! (Honestly not intentional, but I just adore how kitschy it feels..!)

I took some ribbon I had from the mass of sewing notions given to me last year & created the ribbon circle & ribbon strand (the blue with stars). The red “ribbon” is actually some binding I had, also from previously mentioned sewing notion stash. The ruffled part was done by simply sewing (set to 4 width stitch) a straight line down the binding, no backtacking, then grabbing one of the strands & gently maneuvering it down the other thread to get it ruffled. Sew it all together & huzzah! Then I grabbed a sweet flag print wrapper that I have had in my scrap box for years & sewed it on top of the ribbon strands. For a final touch, I snipped all the ends of the ribbons to get that cute ribbon shape!

Now, in other news… I know I had stated I’d make cookies tonight, but I was so in to sewing that I totally got side tracked… You see, if you weren’t already aware, I own an adorable Rat Terrier who was bequeathed to me with a… {shudder} …really obnoxious purple “Princess” shirt. Seriously. I had never owned a dog who wears clothes before, let alone who enjoys wearing them!! Like, seriously, she tries to dress herself all the time — this usually results in her having a paw through the head-hole with her face, haha!! (It’s been a very strange thing to get adjusted to, admittedly, but I’ve embraced it now.) In fact, now that I’ve learned to sew, I’ve even toyed with the idea of making her some clothes (not that she doesn’t already have a mini closet full… -_-;; ), so I went ahead & tried my hand at making a double layered patriotic-like bandana for her. Nothing super special, but cute enough. (Most of her other clothes have skulls & such…not particularly patriotic like. Heh!) So, here’s my slap-dash attempt at making something cute for my pup:

And here’s our lovely model:

(Pardon the messy carpet…it needs a good vacuuming!)

A close up of the bow:

And all together now!!

Aaaah….a job well done. Probably worth not baking tonight, but I’ll try to bake in the morning. 😉
Good night, all!!

Cheers!!
— Elise M. Gross

Happy 4th of July!!

As many of you may or may not be aware, tomorrow is the United States’ Independence Day. I’ll be with Boo & his fam, participating in the typical celebrations include barbecuing, being outside, sparklers & fireworks! Ooooh…and swimming!! If I’m able to, I’d like to try my hand at sewing myself a swimsuit tonight, but I doubt I’ll have enough time! 😦 Well, we will see!

In honour of the celebrations, I wanted to post a picture of one of the NEATEST little accessories EVER:

This is SO. FRIGGIN’. CUTE. My lovely co-worker, owner of Deb’s Silks, made these hair clips for herself & her daughter — I wish she’d made more so I could totally sport one at tomorrow’s festivities!! 😦 [sobs] Well, I’ll come up with something…

I did make a pretty awesome button, though. Okay, well, I only made the button…the graphic is a cut-out from a magazine that Mrs. Debbie found & gave to me. (She’s awesome like that, always giving me random things to use for projects!)

Here’s my totally rad, patriotic button:

It’s not finished yet, though!! Mrs. Debbie’s hair bows inspired me, so I’ll do something neat to it when I get home tonight.

Oh, drat! I forgot, I planned to bake cookies tonight for tomorrow’s celebration….hmm…guess I’ll make a swimsuit another time, then. Drat. Oh, well. I’ll post pics of my cookies & what I do with the button later tonight or tomorrow for y’all’s viewing pleasure! 😀

Until then, everyone celebrate SAFELY & COURTEOUSLY (no blasting fireworks out of your back yards at 4 a.m.!) Also, make sure to abide by your local laws regarding fireworks. 😉

Peace out! Cheers!!
— Elise M. Gross

Magic the Gathering

Tonight is MTG night with my friends — we usually try to get together once a week, generally Friday or Saturday. I figured I’d share one my favourite photos that’s MTG themed:

I have a few ideas for some neat decopodge projects I want to do with all of the spare MTG cards I have lying about the place (that are NOT worth anything), but I’m open to any ideas!! Has anyone seen any cool things done with cards like this? I don’t want to make cards with them — no paper craft scrap book sort of stuff…

There’s some more neat things in my head involving games, too, such as everyone’s favourite-and-most-hated board game, Monopoly. Here’s another fun picture I took:

Aaaaaaanyhow….we’re just chilling, listening to some great older rap/hip-hop (‘Damn it feels good to be a gangsta‘, anyone??!), playing some MTG, & having fun. I hope everyone is having a nice, relaxing weekend, too!

Oh noes! I’m being attacked!! Gotta’ go now. :O

Cheers!!
–Elise M. Gross

Paper craft rut!

Sorry for the delayed post, folks — I hope you all had a lovely Father’s Day weekend with all your Dads/Pops/Father/Grandpas out there!! We were quite busy here in Texas. 😉 Oh! Has anyone noticed the new banner? I originally put up our newly designed logo for 2 Geeks & a Grandma, but it looked so lonely after the cute little Pachyderm animals left, so I combined them. 😀 Tee-hee!!

I’ve been thinking about starting the scrapbook for me & my beau… we certainly have enough photos (though not as many with me in them, as I’m usually the one photographing.) Of course, if I do that, I’ll probably be busting out the Cricut at one point or another..! I usually cut things by hand & such, but about a year ago my family all pitched in & got me the Cricut Expression (er, I think that’s what it is? I’ll have to check later..!) Here it is in all of it’s glory:

Paper crafting essentials!

(Forgive the filters, that’s from my Instagram account..! Which, by the way, I am considering “re-opening”…thoughts??)

So, in thanks, I made each of the family who’d pitched in a specially-made card, just for them! My favourite one is actually one I made for my Uncle:

I used simple card stock sheets & scrapbook paper scraps! Cute, right?

Isn’t the envelop just fab? I felt it really added to the Asian theme of the oragami. 😀

The card front (and most of the inside) was created using scrap paper I had lying about (I can’t trash anything…my bane!) & the black was done with a super-fancy (wait for it…!) Sharpie! Haha! We roll high class in hea!

Lately I’ve been really itching to do some more paper crafting, & I’d really like to make some more items with my Cricut (poor thing doesn’t get as used as it ought to!) I’m just not sure what I want to make!! Most of my paper crafts are very large — like some amazing paper bird houses I made a couple of years ago…

Oooh…looks like I had an idea, now! I’ll have to do up a super amazing paper bird house tutorial! Yay!! ❤ Oh-oh!! And a journal!! I created some neat designs via the Paper app on my iPad recently…remind me to post them! ;D

What awesome paper crafting ideas do you guys think I should give a shot? It does not have to be done with a Cricut — I’m up for any challenge! I am soooo looking forward to some great ideas!

Cheers!!
–EL

Sticky Feet!!

So my health has improved, but my cough continues to keep me up at night. Last night, many folk in the area were awoken by the mighty thunder from the tropical storms, but my sleep was interrupted by constant coughing. Obviously, my cough medicine has not been working very well, so I tried other remedies, from drinking warm liquids, to rubbing Vicks Vapo-rub on my chest & throat, to gargling with salt water, but still couldn’t keep from coughing. I finally took to the interwebs & found something mentioning Vicks on…FEET?! I recalled Mum mentioning something about that a long, long time ago, so I figured “what the hey” & went to rubbing the bottoms of my feet with Vicks, then covered them in socks, & almost IMMEDIATELY I felt soooo much better…! I slept the rest of the night like…well, like my dog. xD Hehe!!

Anyhow!! I’m currently working on my beau’s requested dice bag, & I figured I’d take photos & show everyone how to make one of their own! I made one for my good friend for his birthday before, here it is:

I’ll continue this bag up & I’ll be sure to post it up after it’s completed!! 😀

Cheers!
–EL

Today is a day like any other…

…except I’m still sick.

Sorry for the lack of posts, folks, but I’ve been trying to recuperate. I’ll be sure to post soon– tomorrow, hopefully! — & I’ve got lots of fun ideas, too! I’ll be posting a tutorial of a Minnie Mouse themed jewelry set I made recently, & my latest soap endevors, plus fun dice bags!

Anyhow, enjoy this cute photo. I do so love Wile E. Coyote– he really was such a talented artist! 😉

Cheers!!
–EL

This is Chloe

…she’s been keeping me company during my sickness. She’s a sweetie. ❤

Sick Daze

My apologies for the lack of updates today… I’ve been bedridden with a severely sore throat, congestion, coughing, the works. 😦 I’m sipping some green tea with a spot of honey now, so it feels a bit better at the moment.

My day has not been entirely unproductive, however! I began working on an embroidered bag, until I grew exhausted. I managed to beat level 65 of Candy Crush (FINALLY!) — It only took about a month. Sheesh…. I love that game, but I hate that game. Now I’m just waiting for FaceBook friends to lend a hand so that I may pass to the next section.

In other news, those geeky soaps I’ve been working on were finished earlier this week & are curing now.

Now that I’m feeling a bit better — at least enough to sit up, haha! — I’ve been painting another robot themed work. This one is sort of a robotic take on the art nouveau style, sort of steam punkish, if you will.

Here’s a teensy preview 😉

 

Before I got suddenly sick yesterday, I had made a fantastic birthday card & birthday button for my favourite co-worker, Mrs. Debbie. She seemed quite pleased with them!! She’s very in to flowers, so I used a photo I had taken of a rose from the Ft. Worth botanical gardens & then added “kawaii” graphics using the Pri Pri Marron app. (Even though the graphics themselves aren’t of my own design, I’m still the one who “composed” the layout & design, so I’m totally allowed to still take pride in it! xD ) Here’s what I came up with:

 

And here is the adorable button!

Front:

(I got excited & made the button part before letting the glue fully dry…whoops!)

Back:

(Cough-cough!) Okay…I should finish my tea & rest more.

Cheers!!

–EL