Gifts for guys

Ok, anybody else having trouble thinking of something to get for the guys in your life for Christmas? For some reason I seem to have more trouble coming up with gift ideas for guys than for girls. Actually here are some of the reasons I thought of:

• I'm a girl, so naturally I have a better idea what a girl might want
• Hubs is picky (that probably doesn't apply to everyone, but remind me to tell you the story of the chocolate vs. black dashboard sometime)
• You can't apply mad crafting or sewing skills to most guy presents - I'm fairly certain my Dad does not want a cute headband and my uncle doesn't want a pretty clutch
• Guys are weird

 Most of my guy relatives are pretty much maxed out on knives, multi-tools, etc. (although they would probably say you can never have too many) so I've been on the lookout for different guy gifts this year. I thought I'd share some ideas I've compiled after hours of browsing pinterest. Some are homemade and others are...uh...not.

1. Paracord bracelet - looks tough and could be useful in an emergency (you can unravel and use the 7-8 ft of paracord to hold stuff together or something)

 Tutorial here on my blog

2. Camera lens coffee mug - way more fun than a plain ole mug

$24-30 at Photojojo

3. Astronaut ice cream - how cool is that? (haha, get it? coool?? sorry, I couldn't help myself)

$3.99 at ThinkGeek

4. Turn a fat tie into a skinny tie - I'm keeping this in my back pocket for Hubs someday

 Tutorial at Design Mom

5. iPad case - although may I suggest a slightly more manly fabric and a magnetic snap closure instead of a bow...unless your guy is the bow-liking type

Tutorial at The Polkadot Chair

And for the little guy, I like:

6. Socktopus - cute and cuddly :) and not every kid on the block has one

 Guidelines here on my blog (no pattern, sorry!)

7. Car play mat - doesn't this look fun?? And from what I've seen you don't even have to sew them, just hot glue!

Tutorial at A Girl and a Glue Gun

Hopefully that gave you some new ideas! Anybody else have brilliant guy gift ideas?

A quick sewing fail...

...to show you I still care. I would love to bring you an awesome sewing project that I finished on my awesome new sewing machine. But that's not how it always works out (unfortunately!).

A couple things to share before I get to the embarrassing pictures. Saturday Hubs and I went to the Air Force Ball. It was fun, see?

(Side note: I wish I had a recording of what was said at the ball about those families that can't be with their loved ones. It was really touching and they had an empty table set for POW/MIA. We took some time to think about the sacrifices others have made for our freedom. I know I completely took that for granted before Hubs was in the military and I wish everyone could hear things like what was said at the ball. Sorry I'm not better at recreating the sentiment!)

But I didn't plan ahead very well and ended up with way too much to do on Saturday. Friday night (I think, could've been Saturday morning I'm not really sure now) I knew I needed a bag for the ball and I didn't have anything. Yeah, no black or silver clutch or small bag. You'd think with all the bags I have ONE of them would work. Nope. 

No problem, I've made clutches before and it's pretty quick. Except I had no nice fabric or neutral fabric. So I went to my closet. Not a whole lot there either. Apparently I'm more of a casual fabric kind of girl. I found a dress that was in the "goodwill, oh wait I might use that for a project so don't take it yet" pile. Too small for me but black and lacey (lacie? who knows...). Anyway I cut and I sewed. Quickly.

It was bad people. I had never sewn with lace or such thin stretchy material. I had never sewn with that sewing machine before. It roughly resembled the shape of a clutch.

I knew I needed to use interfacing because it was way too flimsy but I didn't want to get out the ironing board so the floppyness of it is totally my fault. I will say the machine did an amazing job of sewing the stretchy fabric. It even had a stitch specifically for stretchy fabric!

I didn't have the hang of manuvering the stretchy fabric in the sewing machine though so I didn't even catch the lace in some sections. I ended up using a tiny black wristlet that was only big enough for my id and lip gloss. Maybe my experiment would work better as a hat...

Nope, definitely not. I forgot to tell you the rest of the reason why I couldn't just try again with the clutch. It was about 3pm on Saturday (we're leaving at 5:15...or so we thought) and I remembered I needed something from the store for Bible class the next day. So I went to the store and Hubs went for a run. After, he needed a haircut. So I'm cutting his hair at 4:20. Then he remembers he needs a rope sewn onto his jacket. I put a few stitches in to hold it on and figured I could finish in the car. Then I got ready because it was close to 5pm at that point. I get dressed and put on mascara (couldn't find concealer) and go back to sewing. So I'm standing in the office, in my dress, sewing a rope on a jacket.


Probably was pretty funny. The moral of the story is plan ahead. And dresses don't always make good purses. But you can still have fun even if you were super rushed and have no bag. See? That's the look of fun people.

Water Bottle Pockets

Well, Hubs has figured out what this whole sewing thing can mean for him. I don't like the elastic in my workout pants...no problem, my wife can sew! I want my too short pants turned into shorts...no problem, my wife can sew! There aren't any drink pockets on my favorite backpacks...you get the picture.

Not that I mind lending my sewing skills. It's kind of nice because if you haven't noticed, most sewing projects are more cute than manly. So this week's project was adding water bottle pockets to two of his backpacks. We end up always carrying my backpack when we go on hikes because its the only one with pockets for our drinks, but I think Hubs prefers his backpack.

I've done all of the figuring for a Camelback water bottle (picture below), so if you happen to have one and you happen to have a backpack in need of another pocket, you're in luck! You'll need some backpack-ish fabric (1/4 yard is plenty), elastic...and I guess that's about it other than thread and my super-helpful instructions (that's the blue sticky note).

This assumes you have a 3 1/2" wide section on your backpack to work with. Rectangle should be 7 3/4" tall and 7" wide. The diameter of the circle is 3 1/2" and I cut a straight line across it so it would be easier to attach to the backpack. The elastic should be about 4 1/8" or 4 1/4" long. You could definitely go longer, but I wanted it to be able to hold smaller plastic bottles as well.

First, fold over the top of the rectangle to allow a gap for the elastic. Pin it down and sew across.

Feed the elastic through.

Make sure you pin the end when it gets close otherwise you'll end up with the elastic floating around in the middle and that won't do you much good.

Now you can sew the ends so the elastic stays in place. This side has been sewn, but since I used black thread I highlighted it for you.

Alright, now you're going to pin the circular piece to the rectangle. Pin it to the finished side (the one that will be on the outside) of the holder.

I didn't cut things with a very big seam allowance in mind, so I had less than 1/4" seam allowance. After it's attached it's looking kind of like this.

Now for the challenge - attaching it to the backpack. I marked off where I wanted it to go with a white marking pencil. Should be 3 1/2" between each side at the top and it will taper a little bit toward the bottom. I hate to do this to you, but you're just going to have to figure out what stitch is easiest for you and go for it. This is the second one I've done and I was way more frustrated with this attempt. This backpack was pretty thick so I was having more trouble.

Make sure you tuck the unfinished edges under so everything looks clean. After you go around the three sides you may want to go over the top inch or so again on each side. My first attempt already needed a repair because the thread at the top stretched way out (don't worry, I added some length to the elastic for this version and it made a big difference in the ease of getting the bottle in and out).

So it holds a larger Camelback bottle as well as smaller plastic bottles. Aaaand they don't even fall out when they're upside down thanks to the elastic! Have you had any weird sewing/modification requests?

Paracord Bracelets

Have you seen those "survival" bracelets made of paracord? Maybe I should call them something other than bracelets...something more manly, haha. Survival wristbands? No? Ok, well anyway, we bought one as a present for my dad a while back and he really liked it. I've been thinking about getting one for Hubs, but they're a little pricey (ok, not really, but I just didn't feel like shelling out 20-30 bucks for one). Then I saw a bunch of paracord at the PX on base and I thought I'd try making one.

Turns out they're really easy to make! I found a tutorial online that's pretty good (here's the link, it will open a pdf document: www.raems.com/550_cord_bracelet.pdf). I had to read through some of the steps a few times before I understood, but after you get the hang of it it's really quick.

If you decide to make them you'll want to have about 10 feet of cord, sharp scissors, some kind of button or clasp (I used an extra ABU button on one and a shackle from Home Depot on the other), and a lighter.

I used probably closer to 8 or 9 feet per bracelet, but you'll probably want to start with 10 feet just in case. If you mess up (or measure completely wrong the first time like me) it's quick to undo and redo as long as you haven't already cut the ends off and burned them. Definitely want to try it on before you cut and burn.

Sorry I don't have info on where you can buy the paracord unless you happen to have access to a military base. I do know that you can get the plastic clasps on Etsy though. We found the shackle on the isle with all of the screws, nuts, and bolts at Home Depot.

Here's a closeup of the burned end. On the first bracelet I tied a knot in each side then burned it because I was afraid it wouldn't stay, but on the second I just trimmed it as close as I could and burned it right after I cut it. It seems to be staying well. You want the end to get a little melty so it will stick to what's around it.

50 feet of the cord was less than $5 and the shackle was only a couple bucks, so you can definitely save by making it yourself!

Weekend Recap

10,000 baby!! Yep, I ran a 10,000. Oh, make that a 10k...I guess the whole k=1,000 thing doesn't really work when the k is supposed to stand for kilometers, haha. (It's ok to roll your eyes, I know it was corny.) My running buddy and I ran a 10k on Saturday. So far, every time I've run with her it's the farthest I've ever gone, including race day. I think it's safe to say she pushes me!

It paid off though because we ran the whole way and she said we even came close to a personal best for her! Our final time was 1 hr, 58 seconds. We even had some supporters cheering us on at the finish line. A couple boys from church came with signs, isn't that sweet?!

Can you make out the two people running at the top of the sign? After our race they had a few short kids races, which were fun to watch. We were all standing around chatting after and they were calling out the top 3 finishers in each age category. I wish someone had taken a picture of my face when they called my name. I was shocked. Like jaw dropping to the floor shocked.

Somehow I placed first for the females in my age group. I was definitely excited! (Although still shocked and thinking there must've been only 3 people in my group for me to have placed). I was standing way too far away from the podium to make it up there before they started the next age group, so I went to the table to pick up my medal.

Unfortunately they accidentally gave it to someone else. So you'll just have to take my word for it that I won because there are no pictures. They said they'd call me and get me another one. Also, I have several witnesses that will tell you I really did win hehe.

I know you're pretty much at your excitement threshold after reading of my 10k victory, but I still have more. Because that was only Saturday! And Sunday was our 2nd anniversary! I didn't really think of this when planning the wedding, but having our anniversary near Memorial day was a really good idea : ) We're going to Yosemite next weekend for the long weekend. We've never been and we're excited!

For the actual day Hubs got me a great bouquet and a bunch of my favorite foods from TJ's. He also got me a big ruler for my new cutting mat aaaand a rotary cutter! And some smart wool socks (have you tried those? they're great!).  We also went out for dinner and a movie. It's always fun to hang out with Hubs and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him!

Hope everybody had a good weekend!!

Pocket Dumpster

Do you have any idea how many pockets are on a pair of ABUs? If you do laundry for someone who wears them (and are therefore responsible for checking all of the pockets for pens, watches, knives, money, etc.) you would probably say way more than necessary. The actual answer is 14 in case you were wondering, although that's not including the occasional pocket within a pocket.

Anyway, Hubs has lots of pockets so he has lots of stuff to dump out of said pockets when he gets home. Alas, after being here for over a year we hadn't really established a good place for all of that stuff. That occassionally led to panic at 7:30 the next morning when some random doodad had walked off and was nowhere to be found. The desk was an ok dumping ground, but who really wants 14 pockets worth of stuff on their desk everyday?

Enter crafty wife who doesn't like to panic and search for a reflective belt at 7:30am. I had an old hanging jewelry organizer that wasn't being used (and was recently moved out of the Goodwill pile to the infamous "almost Goodwill but I decided to save it for a project" pile).

It took me a minute to figure out what fabric to use. Obviously anything floral or polka dotty was completely out of the question. It would've been cool to use the same fabric as his ABUs, but none of his uniforms are worn out to the point that I would cut them up and those things are expensive! So I found a pair of pants in THE pile (you know the one I'm talking about).

They're a dark brownish black herringbone, sorry for the terrible picture. After some seam ripping I had all of my pieces ready to go. Except the trim on the jewelry organizer was plastic-y white and generally just looked terrible on the pants. So I cut some little pieces to sew over the edges.

If you happen to try something similar and you haven't used vinyl before just keep in mind that if you poke a hole in it, the hole will be there forever. I didn't like sewing the vinyl very much since minimal pinning = stuff shifting around a lot. I used the hem of one of the pant legs to make the loops for hanging.

Certainly not the prettiest thing I've ever created, but I'm hoping it's usefulness will make it awesome despite it's homely appearance.

And I know I could've made fabric baskets faster, but that would defeat the whole get-things-off-the-desk purpose. And I could've used fabric instead of vinyl for the pockets, but Hubs wanted to be able to see what he was grabbing. I know this post probably won't help a ton of people out there, but if you've ever washed a uniform you can at least sympathize with the ridiculous number of pockets. Seriously...14?

Friday Fun - a few crafting oopsies

I thought everyone might enjoy a few funny pictures from when things didn't go exactly as planned.

First off we have hanging a picture frame.

No, that is not how pushpins or nails are supposed to look. Our house has many different walls. You can't be sure which type you'll get until you start trying to hang something up. On some walls, nails go in really easily (probably too easily actually). Others chew up your nails and spit them out. We have no idea what this mystery material is, but when Hubs doesn't get the nail in you know it's the wall not the hammerer. I mean look at his arm...

And that's not even flexed! Anyway (he'd probably be totally embarrassed that this is online so moving on!) we've had better luck drilling a tiny hole and then putting the nail in.

Another issue I run into pretty much every time I sew is leaving a hole for turning. For some reason I seem to think I can stuff something through a hole that is smaller than my pinky. No really, look at this hole that I had to fit stuffing through for a toy.

Smaller than my finger. If you couldn't tell, I went ahead and spelled it out for you. You're welcome : ) It's the same story with bags. I think I can stuff the entire thing through a 1-2" hole. When will I ever learn??

And finally, a sock creature disaster.

Oh, you don't think it's looks to bad (other than the unfinished face)? Well you haven't seen the back. Those with a weak stomach may want to turn away.

Ok so it's not horrible. But what kind of animal (even a fictitious sock animal) has a tail in the middle of its back? I can think of none. How did this happen? I wish I knew. Still not seeing the horror? Let me point out some landmarks to give a little reference.

Pretty sure he would have a sad face if he had a face right now. Perhaps a tail-ectomy would help this little guy. I guess I may be being a little over-dramatic about this oopsie, but I still don't think he's ready to be given to a child since they may be terribly confused about the random appendage coming out of his back.

Enjoy your weekend (and please leave adequate holes for turning)!

PS - just found out I won a giveaway at A Law Student's Journey! I don't think I could be more excited. And yes, I may have just done a little dance in my chair : ) More on this later!

San Francisco

Well this post has nothing crafty about it. I just wanted to give myself you a break from the tshirt quilt play-by-play. We went to San Fran a few weeks ago and had a great time! Hubs had a long weekend (I didn't, oh well) so we stayed Saturday and part of Sunday.

The drive there was pretty uneventful, but Hubs really needed to find a bathroom by the time we got there. Unfortunately for him some streets were down to one lane to set up for a parade and lots of parking was blocked off. Traffic was going nowhere so we decided to pull over and he would find a bathroom. We kind of pulled into a spot with a sign that said no parking that day because of the parade. We thought, no problem, he's just going to run in and run out and we'll be on our way.

So I'm chillin in the passenger seat and it is taking kind of a long time, but whatever. Next thing I know there's a police car behind me. Uh-oh. And then he honks. And then I start scrambling to climb over into the driver's seat. And then he honks and turns on his lights. Eek! I finally got back into the flow of traffic and he turned his lights off and stopped honking. Whew!

So now I'm driving, Hubs is in a bathroom somewhere and I don't even remember what intersection I left him at. I call him and he didn't answer (of course). I kept heading toward the hotel because I had no clue how to get back to where I was, thank you one way streets. And it's raining (this part is really worse for Hubs since the umbrella is in the car). Am I the only person that gets really flustered when I don't know where I'm going? Because I was.

Turned out none of the places near where we pulled over had a bathroom (including one restaurant...how can you have a restaurant with no bathroom??). So he ended up walking to a nearby hotel. I finally got turned around and picked him up on the side of the road. The rest of the trip was quite pleasant though. : )

We were planning on going to Alcatraz since we parked illegally haven't done that yet, but it was sold out. Guess I should've planned ahead on that one. We ended up touring an old submarine instead, which was really cool. And made me never want to live on a sub.

36 people to a room and no shower. No thank you. By the way, it was cold and raining - I don't just wear bright yellow rain boots all the time. We also saw the parade of giant plaster heads Chinese New Year parade.

Toured the Japanese gardens, loved this bridge!

Walked around Golden Gate park. Is this not the coolest tree you've ever seen? Ok, maybe not coolest ever but we really liked it.

And went up to Twin Peaks. If you go to San Francisco, you have to drive up here. The view was amazing! But bring a jacket...and probably a scarf...and maybe a hat and gloves. It's windy!

I'd shoot for a clear day though since San Fran can get rather foggy.

So that's it in a nutshell. And can you believe we walked everywhere, as in once we parked the car we left it until we came home and didn't even take a bus or a cab? Yeah our tootsies were tired! The bus routes were a little off because of the parade so we ended up just walking. Hope everyone's having a good week so far!