Last week when I started this post I wasn't feeling super great. So I just ended up going back to bed. Colds are no fun, and on my day off! Plus, it was raining. It really was a bummer of a day. I was about to post about the amazing find the hubs and I nabbed at our local Goodwill. So we'll press on. The cold has since been (mainly) vanquished!

It's a sweet Bell and Howell 8mm camera! Bell & Howell Sundial 220, to be specific. Now, I won't pretend that I'm a camera or film expert. But still, we're pretty sure it's functional. It's winder arm thing still winds. After winding it, when we push down on the lever on the front it seems to film. Film will actually be needed to confirm this, of course. But, we picked it up for only 7 bucks! The plan is to find some film and test it and hopefully get some kinks worked out by the time the sea monkey comes along. 

I've been imagining all the artsy home videos we can take of the baby! They'll look all grainy and sun splotched in that vintage way. How cool will this be? The hubs even found a tutorial for building a projector for it. That's the other part to this awesome find, the potential for a DIY. I may have a post coming up about building our own projector for our 8mm. 

This thing is amazing. Have you ever held one of these old cameras? It's tiny and way heavier than I would've expected for the size. You know how everything feels light and disposable now? This has the feeling of permanence. It was made way back before the "it's cheaper to buy a new one" mentality was put into manufacturing. 

I can't wait to get this guy up and running. It even makes a very satisfying noise when it's on. Oh the sweet videos to come. 

Halloween Tin Can Lights

I have to start this post with something entirely unrelated to the task at hand (a craft) by relaying the best news I have ever heard. Arrested Development is (for reals this time) doing 10 new episodes and a movie!!!! Best thing ever, right? Read all about it in this interview  of Mitchell Hurwitz. And thank you to Emily for giving me "the best news I have ever heard."

Moving right along. Back to business. A rolling stone gathers no moss. What? I first saw this craft on the Charlotte Hupfield Ceramics blog. It's a simple diy craft for reusing old tin cans. Since (I may have mentioned) I don't really have the budget for buying craft supplies, I was super excited about the idea of turning tin cans into tea light candle holders! Perfect, right? And, it makes me feel even better about the fact that we bought a big box of canned corn from Costco.

My first idea was to do any fun shapes I could think of. Then I thought they could be fun with the hearts, and our initials in them. Kinda reminiscent of those hearts carved in trees. Maybe with our wedding anniversary date in there (would've been great if I'd finished before our anniversary...). But then my next idea was to use them for Halloween. My favorite holiday. So, now I'll have some sweet decorations and the satisfaction of knowing I made them myself, and the giddiness that comes with knowing I made them practically for free. Man I love a bargain!

Step 1: Eat whatever you have in cans. Enjoy! Be creative, or just eat beans straight out of the can like a cowboy.

Step 2: Prep cans (wash them, remove label, fill with water and freeze). The water line needs to go up at least a little bit past the top of your design.

Step 3: Draw your chosen design on the can with a pencil (when I used pen, it started to run off of the can after the ice started to condense on the outside.)

Step 4: Hammer nail holes along your outline.

Step 5: After ice melts, go au natural and stick a tea light in it. Or decorate anyway you think will be awesome!

I painted mine with some cheapy craft paint from the kid section of target. Not the best stuff, but it'll do for now. I'll probably spray paint them at some point. This paint is washable, so I don't think it will have the best life span anyway. I also added little glitter dots to the top and bottom with glitter glue I found in the dollar bins at Target. And the tea lights I used I purchased at The Dollar Store! So the total in craft supplies was about 5 bucks. Not counting the corn, cause that came out of the food budget, of course.

Use whatever you have around the house. I have a big, big can that I'm going to work on next. And I have some great green ribbon I saved off a fancy box of chocolates that we got in Seattle. I was planning on using it on the small cans, but the width of the ribbon will work best with the BIG can.

I finally feel like I can relax. Instead of reminding myself that all of our Halloween (and Christmas) decorations are back in Cali in the in-laws' storage. I can tell myself that I made some Halloween decorations and we are not completely bereft of holiday spirit! The fire is lit....more Halloween decorations to come. I had no idea of the resources available at The Dollar Store!

Blackberry picking!

The hubs and I went blackberry picking yesterday! It was really fun, and I was pretty excited about it, like the true nerd I am. Although, I have to tell you, those blackberry vines are COVERED in thorns! It's not just the vines though. It's the leaves, and the base of the berries, and the vines. And if you go picking on a windy day like we did, Look Out! Both of us got hit in the face with a flailing vine. Fortunately, for our up and coming modeling careers, there were no visible wounds left behind.

The other caution I have for you is about the spiders. Now, I am not a fan of spiders. I usually point at them, shriek, then run away. And the spiders were all over the place out there! The first patch of blackberries we got to in the park had long grass leading up to it. When I stepped up on the already somewhat smushed grass, a herd of spiders scurried away from my feet! Is that what you call a group of spiders? Gaggle, pod, swarm? There ya go, a swarm of them ran away!

Anyway, after a while, we got the hang of it. And we got used to getting stuck by the thorns. Our surprised yelps of pain went mostly ignored by each other as we filled up our bags. I think we brought in about 15 cups! Can you imagine the cost of that many blackberries at the grocery store?

We made blackberry cobbler (which we ate before dinner, like grown ups) and froze the rest. I think we have smoothies in our future! Which will be great for the sea monkey, apparently they're loaded with anti-oxidants. (I'm no nutritionist.)

The cobbler recipe was adapted from this recipe from allrecipes.com. We also used this recipe for whipped cream from the same awesome food website.

I think my next post will be about the amazing Bell and Howell 8mm camera we found at our local Goodwill for 7 bucks. I love thrift stores.

Hello world

Hello, hello hello, (spoken with my fake British accent) and welcome to Annie craft will do! Wow, day one and so much to look forward to. Lots and lots of ideas brewing around in my scattered brain these days. First of all, I'm kinda forgetful anyway. Then throw in a pregnancy and I literally feel like I've been handicapped.

I'm so excited to share my way through these projects I have planned! My big long term project is making a quilt for the sea monkey (aka: baby on the way). Status of the long term project: collecting fabric from family and friends (this may take a while, so we'll check in with this intermittently).

I couldn't sleep this morning because I was thinking of crafts! Isn't that crazy? I got home from work last night around 1 am. I need to be getting ready for work in about 20 minutes. But I actually woke up before my alarm went off with craft ideas buzzing around my head. This kind of thing is becoming more frequent. I need to get these ideas out or my sleeping hours may start to get shorter and shorter. Of course that could happen as I take on more projects, but that will be fun!

I recently acquired a two drawer filing cabinet. It's that standard ugly brownish officey color. If I had to pick something that the color of it brings to mind it would be the DMV.  I was just planning on sticking it in the closet so I wouldn't have to look at it while it's being useful. But it occurred to me this morning (pre-alarm) that I could give it a minor transformation and it wouldn't be too awful to have out. It will be the anchor in a little mail/bill station. The hubs will appreciate this since we recently had a "where should we put our bills" conversation. Gotta love all the little details of a new place without all the stuff you need.

Then we can pay our bills and file them immediately! See? Crafting can help organize your life. This will also save our table from the bottomless abyss of a catchall it's become for everything that enters our apartment.

Transformation photos and a walk through soon to come!