Trying new things

There seems to be a lot of "new" in my life lately and I'm really loving it.  In addition to all of the other things I did over the weekend, I also learned to knit.  I've wanted to learn for a really long time and my friend Erin has been threatening to teach me for almost as long as I've wanted to learn, so we decided that Saturday was going to be the day.  She showed up at my house Saturday morning, and she and the kids all piled in the car and we headed to Michael's.  Felicia got beads and has started to make some really pretty bracelets.  I received a green one on Saturday afternoon. Emily got some stamps, but seemed to have more fun painting with the foam brush and her hands than stamping with the actual stamps.  I got some yarn and some circle knitting needles as well as a half buggy full of other stuff.  Erin taught me the basics, and I wound up with 2 practice pieces.  The first was a little square that was ok.  The second was a slightly bigger piece on different needles (because I was having a hard time with the circular ones).  Here's what the second piece turned out like:

Emily thought that it was the perfect size for a mask:

I started the official knitting project yesterday afternoon.  I'm working on a simple baby blanket for Em's babies.  If I manage to get that right, then I'll likely try making a hat as Felicia loves to wear baggy knit caps. Wish me luck!

I also got some glitter and flocking materials to try out.  I've never used super-fine glitter like this before and I quickly experimented with it on Saturday, but found that the glue I used probably wasn't the best fit.  I want to play around with it some more though to see if I can find the right depth of coverage, because I think it could be fun to use on cards.

The flocking was an impulse buy.  The checkout line was incredibly long and those dollar bins next to the registers get me almost every single time.  These were a dollar each.  I'll probably do a little research online to see how folks use this stuff and what glues work best.  If this gives the effect that I think it does, I have a sketch in mind that this could be fun to apply to, and if that goes well, I'll try it on a card or two.

Two other new things to note.  I officially signed up for the sketchbook project.  

I either tweeted or mentioned this in my blog a few weeks ago, and I sat with it awhile to see if I would forget about it or if it was something I really wanted to do.  Not only did I keep thinking about it, but every few days I would happen upon a blog where someone else had signed up.  Each occurrence felt like a little nudge, so I registered yesterday.  I received an email this morning telling me that my sketchbook was on the way.  And do you know what theme I picked?  Happy Thoughts.  Should be fun!

Final new thing for the day.  This - the Creative Color Challenge.  

I LOVE decorating and crafting for the holidays and I love the idea of getting some new homemade ornaments for free (well, minus the shipping I will pay to send mine out).  Very excited to do this and to also find Louise Gale's blog through the process.  I've already added her to my favorites and look forward to seeing more of her work and reading more of her musings.  I LOVED her post today about 'putting yourself out there.'  I'm definitely feeling the amazing energy that comes from that, even if I'm only putting myself out there in small ways for now.