DIY Christmas Presents

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!
This year, as usual, I made all of my Christmas presents. Here are some photos of what I made for my family, as well as links to the great tutorials I found. This year my youngest brother also made his gifts. He made bookmarks for the whole family - I thought that was very sweet :)

I made a copper and brass pendant for my mom, using an ammonia and salt patina on the pieces. Here's how to do the patina: http://art.jewelrymakingmagazines.com/en/Resources/Reference/2010/11/Jewelers%20Recipe%20Try%20an%20Ammonia-and-Salt%20Patina.aspx It's pretty simple, and uses ingredients that most people have in their home.

I made this sketchbook for my dad. I took a map, cut it into thin pieces, wove the pieces into a "fabric", then stuck it to a moleskine sketchbook with double-sided tape. I based it off of these instructions: http://www.rubymurraysmusings.blogspot.ca/2012/05/ways-with-vintage-maps-woven-notebook.html The only thing I did differently was cover it with contact paper to protect it.

I made these socks for my uncle. These were the first socks I ever knit - yay! The pattern is from Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/toe-up-socks-with-a-difference

I made this paracord bracelet for my brother. Here are the instructions I used: http://www.instructables.com/id/Paracord-bracelet-with-a-side-release-buckle/?ALLSTEPS

I made this pencil holder for my other brother. I love the way it looks, and it was also totally free. I used a small log I found in our yard, sawed off a piece, sanded and oiled it, and then my dad helped me drill holes for the pencil. I found inspiration here: http://strawberry-chic.blogspot.com/2011/05/diy-tuesday-rustic-pencil-holder.html


Hope that you find these interesting, and maybe try making some of them yourself :) Enjoy the rest of your holidays!

"Thus, the task is, not so much to see what no one has yet seen;
but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees."

- Erwin Schrodinger

Sorry for the lag in posts. I've been so busy, but now I have a nice break to relax a bit and catch up on things I've been wanting to do. Today I just wanted to share some photos that I took about a week ago and an interesting quotation I found that seems very applicable to both life and photography. There are few things that no one has seen before, but everyone sees and thinks about things in such different ways. I hope that everyone is enjoying their holidays! :)

Dewdrops

Here are some photos of dewdrops in our yard that I took last Sunday morning after a light rain during the night. Now the rain is definitely not "light"! We've had dumping rain, crazy wind, and power flickers for the past 2 days. It's nice to watch out the window, but I'm not looking forward to going to row in it this afternoon :(

I had some fun with some photo-editing apps for these photos. I used Pic Stitch for the dewdrop collage and Overgram for the one with the quotation. I love the results, and they're both free too :)

I hope that everyone is staying warm and dry!

Thanksgiving

Moon Jellyfish in the Monterey Bay Aquarium's "Jellies Experience" exhibit

Crown Jellies in the same exhibit

Looking for some wild ocean creatures off the aquarium's deck

And here's what we spotted - a Sea Otter munching on a crab

And a Harbor Seal :)

The view...

X enjoying Ghirardelli ice cream - yum! :)

City lights across the bay

Happy Thanksgiving! Right now I'm feeling very thankful for family - both immediate and visiting relatives - and the amazing time we've had this past week, including a beautiful day in Monterey, lots of games, fun, laughter, talking, and, of course, enjoying good food :) I just wanted to share a few of the pictures I took yesterday in Monterey. Hope you enjoy them and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Normality

"Normality is a paved road: It's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it."

- Vincent van Gogh

“Joy in looking and comprehending is nature’s most beautiful gift.” 

– Albert Einstein

Rain

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather."

- John Ruskin

I can agree with this today... maybe I won't feel the same way later this winter when it won't stop raining and I have to do things in the rain, but today the storm had perfect timing. I stayed home all day, made paleo cinnamon muffins for breakfast (yum!), worked on school stuff, read, and cuddled with my astraphobic* dog :)

*astraphobia is the fear of thunder 

The Bright Side of Life

It will always be easy to find the gray in life; the bad, the sad, the stressful, and the boring bits. Which is why we must always try to find the bits of color. Some days they will be harder to find than others, but with an open heart, open mind, and open eyes you will always be able to find something, be it big or small, to brighten your day and bring a smile to your face :)

"I could never stay long enough on the shore; 
the tang of the untainted, fresh and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought."
- Helen Keller

“For beautiful eyes, look for good in others;
for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness;
and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.”

-Audrey Hepburn

Sunshine

 

 “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.” 

-
Helen Keller

Zion National Park

Zion was our last stop before heading home. It was so beautiful, and definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip. Our first day in Zion we took the Emerald Pools trail. It would have been an easy hike most days, but it was 106 degrees the day we went! Despite the heat, we had a good time. Our second day we went on a hike called "The Narrows". The "trail" is actually the river, and you walk through it as it goes through a canyon. It was so amazing, and so much fun! We also saw a lot of cool wildlife in Zion; lizards with vibrant blue tails, deer, ground squirrels, dragonflies, frogs, and tarantula hawks (a type of hornet that has the 2nd most painful sting of any insect in the world!) Zion was a great way to end a great trip :)

Animals in Western Nebraska

Here are some pictures of some of the animals we saw when we were in Western Nebraska. I took the top picture when we were driving through Lodgepole and we saw a field with at least 30 horses in all different colors. My parents had to stop and let me visit them and take some pictures - a definite highlight of our trip :) The next two are pictures of some cute, feral tabby kittens we saw near where we were staying. There was a mom and five babies. The last picture is a baby horned toad we found on a hike. I can't believe my brother found this one because it was so tiny, they blend in perfectly with the rock, and the sun was starting to set!

"I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contained. I stand and look at them long and long."  -Walt Whitman

Sunsets

Photo taken from the car somewhere in Nevada of the sunset our first

day on the road

Amazing sunlight through the clouds near Laramie, Wyoming where we
stopped for dinner one night

Beautiful sunset in Bennington, Nebraska when we were staying with
aunt, uncle, and cousins :)

A sunset in Western Nebraska, near Lodgepole

Same sunset, different perspective

Colorful clouds on a fun sunset hike with uncle and brothers

We saw so many beautiful sunsets on our trip! They were all so amazing and different each day. I wasn't able to get a picture of all of them, but here are some of the pictures I did get. Most of the places we were traveling it was pretty flat so we were able to actually see sunsets. Here you can't see much between the mountains and trees :) Unfortunately, I didn't get to see a sunset in Arches, because the majority vote was get dinner instead of stay for sunset. Maybe next time....

Arches National Park

On our way home we stopped by Arches National Park, and spent one afternoon/evening and the next morning there. The landscape, the colors, and the rock formations were so beautiful, and so unlike anywhere we've been before. While we were there we stayed in Moab, a town just south of Arches. We found an amazing cafe, The Peace Tree Juice Cafe, that had great fruit smoothies (and a great name too :) I took the first three pictures the first evening, and the light and colors were so beautiful. Cairns like the ones in the fourth pic are all over Arches. The base stone is actually attached to the ground to mark the trail, and then people build off of that. 

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” 

-
John Burroughs

LoDo

We're back from our 2-1/2 week road trip adventure! We covered 8 states: California, Nevada, Utah,  Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and we stepped over the Missouri River into Iowa. We had a great time and I took way too many pictures, so I'll be splitting them up over a few days :) 
For my first post I'm sharing a few photos from LoDo (lower downtown) Denver. LoDo is such a fun place to explore, and they have lots of cool artwork on the sidewalks - like those amazing pianos! I think the animal crackers one is my favorite :) You can't see from the angle in the photo, but it even has nutrition facts on the side, and a rope like the handle of the box. The third pic is the sign outside my favorite bookstore - I wish they had one here! They have so many books and all these cool places to sit and read. And a horse with sparkly purple hooves :) Can't say I've seen that before!

“Cities were always like people, showing their varying personalities to the traveler."

- Roman Payne