croque-choux

Happy trails

Just pointing the way... Have a Happy and safe New Year's eve!

pssst! make your own roadsign here.

Is it just me, or...

Seeing these photos side by side, why do I get the feeling that I don't know what I'm in for in about 10 or 15 years from now...? My 7 year old international man of mystery and sometime poseur strikes again.

Blog Anniversary

Wow, 3 posts in one day- could it be... yes! It's croque-choux's 1 Year Blog Anniversary! Thanks to everyone who actually reads me, and a special thanks for all the nice comments I've received here during the past year. I might not always find time to answer each person, but these e-mails, well wishes, and virtual pats on the back mean a lot to me! At first I didn't tell any people I knew that I had a blog because I was afraid they'd be all :"You started a WHAT? A blog?? On the web? Are you nuts??!", but now when my friends and family want to know what I've been up to they check my blog first which is really funny. When I called my brother (long distance, bien sur) the other day and told him that my temp job didn't go permanent as planned, he answered "Yeah. It's the Word out on the street". Ya gotta love dry humor, or as they say in French "humour pince sans rire". But I digress. Here is a link to the first 2 things I wrote here last year, and a link to the full croquechoux archives.

ps: Thanks to Mia for being the 1st person to leave me a comment last year! Check out her blog (in Swedish!) and try this totally fun test she blogged about to see which celebrity you ressemble! OhmyGod, I tried this and I most ressemble... Lawrence Fishburn!!

Getting my stash on

I have been wanting to thank supermagic Lisa for bringing this craft loot back to France from the States recently for me, at my request :o) If anyone says "yeah, big deal" here, I will fish slap them because it IS a big deal! This stuff is un-findable in France, and seems only to be available through the wonders of online shopping and global priority envelopes. So I am no longer missing an issue of Quilting Arts, and I also scored a Cloth Paper Scissors magazine, some fabric foil, and a bag irridescent candy pink Angelina fiber. Merci Lisa!

Christmas goodies

I received 4 very neat things for Christmas:
- a necklace made from beachglass by an artist in Brittany (thanks Ombeline!).
- an awesome embroidered cushion cover that is the exact color match to the 1930's couch and the oriental rug I have in the living room- my brother is so good with color it's almost scary.
- a Peter Gabriel DVD (2 discs!) which I am going to love playing on my new G5 - I didn't even know this was in the stores so it was a total surprise. I love the title of this one: "Still Growing Up"... aren't we all?
- and (drum roll!) Kumiko Sudo's new book, which I was really wanting to get my hands on! This is in the spirit of her Omiyage book, and is full of eye candy and colorful projects. Happy happy joy joy!

Noël or the longest night of the year...

Merry Christmas!
Too tired to write more than this because I didn't get to sleep til nearly 5 am on Christmas eve. I think I was channeling all those moms who stay up until the crack of dawn frantically wrapping presents in their kitchens... Here is a photo of the tree in the dark taken before creeping into bed. I always think it's such a pity that no one but me sees the tree with all the presents under it in the wee hours of the morning, and I wish this photo could do it justice.

On a roll

Just the mere thought that I'll have some free time soon (because of that job thang) has made me feel more creative and free. When I got home from work yesterday, I made this little black Omiyage bag for my daughter's best friend's mom. It was hard finishing this little thing with a teenager breathing down my back before a sleep-over, and this time I couldn't find any beads at all to put on the drawstrings, but the gift was much appreciated! Tonight the kids were bored so instead of watching tv or something, we had a collage party in Miles' room. We each made something, so I should be posting pictures tomorrow...

PS just a reminder: The Omiyage book is by Kumiko Sudo, and has lots of other bags and things to make. This Daffodil pouch just happens to be the easiest project- at least I think so!

Extreme last-minute presents

This one was made for my son's teacher as a Christmas gift. We put a small tin of hand cream inside, and she really liked it. At first his teacher checked out the handcream and thanked my son for it, not realizing that the "real" present was this little omiyage pouch, until my husband pointed out that it was handmade by yours truly. The teacher was really happy and amazed that I made her present when she realized. I guess I should be flattered because this means that the little bag didn't have a homemade (in the worst sense of the word) look... Also, when you make things by hand for people they still do not know the half of it- they don't know that at 2 am you were still madly hunting through your craft stash for beads big enough to go on the ends of the drawstrings, and that you took a photo of your creation on top of your purse in your lap in the car on the way to school 8:45 am before giving it away and blogging about it ;o)

Mulling it over with my right brain

Remember the temp job I got last month that was supposed to go permanent? Well, it didn't. Or rather it isn't, and although I felt a bit weird when I found out on Thursday, that feeling has morphed into relief- which says to me that it just wasn't in the cards for anybody. Okay, perhaps I shouldn't have told them recently that "my eyes have a tendancy to glaze over whenever I see spreadsheets with lots of numbers and sales figures etc.", but hey it's the truth :o) No sense trying to fit a round peg into a square hole, or a right brain person into a left brain job for that matter. ANYway... I'm too tired to think about all that now, so I'll just mull over my choices during the holidays.

Growing

...little by little.