Kate's Point of View

The Product of Creative Frustration

Page 52 of 195

Drinking in Style

There is something about giving a mug as a gift that seems so generic. Right? And yet this year for Christmas, both of my sisters got mugs from me. Lame? I don’t think so.

The older of the two (both are younger than me) is a die hard Lionel Richie fan. She is Super Fan Number One. So when I stumbled across a hand-painted Lionel Richie travel mug, I knew my sister had to have it. I’m pretty sure it was a hit.

I was a little sad that the hand-painted Lionel Richie teapot was out of stock. Hello? Is it tea you’re looking for? Hysterical.

My other sister has a thing for men in uniform. I know lots of ladies feel the same, but I think my sister takes it to a new level. Once a bunch of us were hanging out at my parents house and Wonder Boy came over straight from work wearing medical scrubs. Now scrubs aren’t exactly a uniform but pretty close. As soon as we saw him we all collectively agreed it would be bad when my sister spotted him. I don’t know if it really turned out bad, per se, but she was very enthusiastic about his outfit. Anyway, when I saw a I Love Men in Uniform mug posted on Pinterest and immediately bought it.

So now my take on mugs is they are not lame as long as they are awesome.

This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.

I Have Seen the Light, And It Is Not Purple

Wonder Boy and I have established this wonderful tradition of making jam every year with the grapes from our backyard. Depending on how much we make, we use it as Christmas gifts for some combination of family, friends and co-workers. Last year Wonder Boy and I made the same mistake we make every year by underestimating how long it takes to make and preserve jam. We spent many hot hours in our kitchen making that sticky, purple jam.

This year our grape yield was nil. (It could be because we have never really pruned our grape vines appropriately…) So Wonder Boy and I were panicked about how we could continue our tradition of homemade preserves.

This year we explored making something new. Apple Butter. It was such a better experience! It is so much easier to make than jam and yields so much more as an end result. We spent half as much time in the kitchen and have three times as many jars to show for it!

We used the Ball Blue Book apple butter recipe. I cannot recommend it enough!

This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.

The Flash

I’m always searching for the perfect gift and ways to make a gift awesome. Chaos and Loving It suggested some Chuck Taylor’s as a Christmas gift for her sons. As the proud owner of five pairs of converse, I jumped all over the idea. I partnered with my mother-in-law on the purchases and she got my youngest nephew a pair of the shoes. He loved them and kept calling them his house shows.

If I were five years old and got shoes as a gift, I’d think they were boooooring. So I improved upon the idea. (I didn’t suggest add-ons for the younger nephew because, though I love him lots, I’ve seen him run and it’s cute but not … steady looking. He didn’t need any flair added to his shoes that could impede balance.)

Via the Smallfly shop on Etsy I bought some lightning bolts.

I think these are awesome. And now my nephew can be super fast, just like The Flash.

This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.

Working With Glass

When I took a glass blowing class earlier this year, I loved the experience. So when the opportunity came up to take a glass fusing class, I jumped at it. Last Saturday I showed up with pretty much no idea what to expect. The process was pretty easy and way easier than the glass blowing classes. I’m pretty much stunned by the end results.

My green and white pendant is good. Not awesome, but I’ll take it.

The red pendant I made? I’m blown away. I am so proud of myself for having produced this!
This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.

What I’ve Been Clicking on This Week

End-of-the-year lists have started being posted online. I love this time of year! I learn about new music and cool products and get a chance to catch up on anything I miss. It makes being online a lot more fun. Here are some of the things that have been catching my eye:

  • I’ve been pretty entranced with crafts lately. I think it’s because I keep seeing money go out the door and crafting seems like an inexpensive way to have fun. Via Lifehacker I saw this awesome way to make sandwich containers from old milk jugs. Right now I use snack taxi’s for everything but I also end up recycling a lot of milk containers so I think this could be a good activity.
  • For my birthday I asked for an embosser with initials of both me and Wonder Boy. I love it and have been embossing holiday gift tags, mostly because I can. I never thought of taking it much further. Tradewind Tiaras showed someone using an embosser on a paper napkin and all of a sudden I can think of so many more things to emboss! Calling cards. Post-it notes. Toilet paper. Probably not the lat one but it would class up my bathroom.
  • What’s cuter than a baby elephant? A baby elephant playing soccer.
  • Over the holidays I go to a lot of events (so, so many) and I always feel obligated to being some dish or drink. I’m totally good with that but I’m also in a rut and keep bringing the same things. For the new year’s party I’m going to, I think I might mix things up and try out these jello shots. Pretty and fun! (I might not follow the actual recipe but I definitely want to try the sprinkles.)
  • A friend of mine found these awesome cards for bad parkers and swears he didn’t learn about them by having on left on his windshield. I have so many bad parkers in my neighborhood. I think I might have to purchase these cards in bulk.
This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.

Page 52 of 195

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén