A wine charm update – I saw a wine charm making display at the end of one of those floral aisles at Michael’s. They had everything – rings similar to the ones on my project page, cheap (plastic) beads, little wine themed charms, jewelry tools. So, if you only want to make a few and aren’t willing to pay to have 100 rings shipped to your house, this is a good option. One would think perhaps the display would make sense at the end of one of the bead aisles?

Oh, and while I’m at it, there are massage bar nubbie soap molds in the soap making section now. A while back, like a year or more, I was looking for molds and couldn’t find any. The mold available holds four different shapes actually.

The item I most wanted however was the bubble gum making kit.

The little watermelon was very yummy.

A new project thingy is up – yes, it is the infamous marble magnets!

While lost today I happened across one of the markets which carry the little watermelons, cute isn’t it? Scott is holding it in the picture, it looks a lot larger in my hand. It’s about the size of a honeydew melon. I’ll let you know how it tastes tomorrow.

Though, it doesn’t look any smaller than the ones miss ljc has growing in her garden (see September 10), and I bet her’s are tastier!

I took my first visit to a Michael’s in years (since before college actually) yesterday and picked up a few supplies. I was pleased with how much actually handy craft stuff they had. Not at all like I remembered, which is half a store devoted to picture frames and baskets, with a few empty shelves where the beads used to be. Upcoming: I succumb to the marble magnet project, Mod Podge and coffee cans and lightswitch covers and me, and Halloween cupcakes.

stripes in progress:

Neat – a personal-size watermelon, perfect for picnics, and fitting into your fridge. I used to live close to one of the markets they mention in the article, darn, missed it by a few months. Via the insanely good GirlHacker’s Random Log.

I discovered the downside to modern makeup the other week. We were at a restaurant, a pretty nice place, and at the end of the meal I discovered there was lipstick on the coffee cup they had brought me. Scott found lipstick on his coffee cup as well. Yick. I remembered someone finding something similar and wondering if it was that Outlast Never-Go-Away lipstick. Even industrial detergents can’t take it off!

And I have started dropping the oversized and heavy silverware in restaurants. Inevitably in those quiet little bistro type places and inevitably onto my plate with a loud clang. Since when did a dinner knife need to weigh three pounds?

Ooo a Wedding Pinata, I love it. Via the ever lovely Going Bridal.

I have been splurging! Things which are on their way:

• The Secret Life of Food by Clare Crespo – I’m so excited.
• Penn and Teller’s How to Play With Your Food – after seeing the heart at britta.com’s Halloween Recipes page I knew I must have this.
• God Said Ha! – This one-lady show by Julia Sweeney is funny and touching and wonderful and I got all panicked when I realized it was no longer in print (?) and needed to get one from an independent seller. And what happened to her site?
• So New Media’s Words! Words! Words! #2 – has a comic by Loobylu!
• Moulin Rouge dvd – I find myself enamored of the Baz Luhrmann/Catherine Martin and Co. way of bringing something to creation.

addendum: near the end of this Onion interview Julia Sweeney reveals that she knits sweaters, but “only knit for people under the age of three, because it takes too long otherwise.”

I’ve started a new project over at Sew Wrong – I’m making pants into a skirt, again. This time with boyfriend’s old cargo pants, I adore all those pockets. But I want you to be honest with me, do I go into too much detail about the process? I mean, I try to remember back to when I didn’t know what to rip a seam meant for example, and what I would have liked to know about it then. But then I think it may be a bit much, a tad boring. What do you think?

More fun with the popsicle molds – I made chocolate and vanilla pudding pops. They’re yummy and almost like I remember from third grade. My new molds should be arriving soon. I waited just a little too long and Williams Sonoma was all out of the ones I wanted, so I bought some from marthabymail. I’m excited to be able to make more than four at a time.

The September In Style has a page about a new knitting book Hollywood Knits – Thirty Original Suss Designs by Suss Cousins. Suss Cousins is the knit designer I noted a while back for all her sweaters, hats and scarves in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which I of course loved because they were meant to be cartoony. A few weeks back I heard a story on public radio about how the economy is affecting smaller businesses, and they happened to be profiling Suss Design. Which is to say I’ve been noticing it a lot lately. And Suss Deisgn sells neat little kits, fringed halter top? striped bikini?

The Sepetember Lucky has a whole page layout of striped scarves, yay. I love stripes. Do you think it is reverb from the whole Harry Potter scarf thing? I have one ball of teal Esprit and one ball of a strange greenish yellow (why do the stores never have like red and orange, or black and white when I get there?) and plan to make a, what else, striped scarf.

Yum! to the rescue! After a long stretch of boring, uninspired eating we made the Garlic Rosemary Roasted Chicken last weekend, it was fantastic and very very easy.

I have started assembling a Halloween 2002 page, so far links to places with recipes. Katwoman sent me a link to these brittle meringe bones at britta.com (thanks!) Have a look around at the halloween recipes and halloween parties. This woman is my hero, seriously. Fabulous.