Bring your puppy to work day!

I brought the Rat to work today... why?  Because it will wear her out and there is a professor in the Scandinavian department that just absolutely loves it when I bring my dogs in!  Plus, it's Wrigs' first time here (Chico frequently accompanies me in the summer/on breaks) and hopefully it will wear her out and she will sleep tonight (unlike last night)!

But, this post is actually about the craftiness that was my evening (yesterday).

After a stressed-out-break-down-extravaganza (aka me bawling after work because I'm overwhelmed between work and school), I crafted, because creating really just zones me out and calms me down.  My meditation=CREATION!!!  (Hmm... feel like there's a new word in there somewhere... "medicreatation" "medicreation" "meditatecreate"... I'll work on it)

So here is my evening in pictures:

It started out with the Rat being put in prison... she was being so naughty so I put her in the kennel for time-out!  And she looked so pathetic, but it was a great opportunity for pictures!

And the Monster felt left out (aka he was glaring at me from his perch on the back of the couch), so I took a couple pictures of him!

The Rat getting in the way of my new crafting (I was braiding those strips of fabric together, but she was getting in the way!)

Remember braided rugs!?!?  Anyone?!?!  Well, growing up we had (and I still think my mom has it in there) a braided rug in our bathroom.  And for a school project on colonialism one year I made a braided rug, which gave me this ingenious idea for a purse/bag handle!!

I was also inspired by this picture of a purse from Anthropologie (which means it is muy expensivo--and yeah, I just made that word up)!

Photo credit.

This fabric was just so pretty, I couldn't pass it up (and I want to go buy more and make some more fun stuff out of it!)

I like to find beauty, even in my scraps!  I think I took about 20 pictures of just the pile of fabric scraps, thread, and miscellaneous "junk"!  But it's so pretty and I don't want to throw it out (wasteful)... I think I might try to make some sort of art out of it.  That could be interesting!

And the finished product... almost!  I actually haven't sewn the straps to the bag yet (they are being held in place by pins).  Also, the finishing is terrible around the top and I forgot a snap (oh snap!).  But it is my first prototype... I think it looks a little too handmade, if that is possible.  Not sure if it's something I would try to sell, or better yet, if anyone would buy!  I really like the braided fabric as a handle though, so I'm going to work on it (thanks for the inspiration Anthropologie!)

Body shot! (yeah, I giggled to myself when I wrote that, and thought I was HIGHLY clever... dork)

And here is a little random pic of the hubs trying to scare me.  I hate it when he does that, but I caught him in the act.  Yes, he looks pretty psycho.  No, he's normally not... so far.

Almost done with my long post of pictures!  The last pic is of my zipper rosettes!  I've made two necklaces so far and I folded these ones the other night.  Can't decide if the purple ones will be earrings or if I will put it all together as a necklace.  I think the purple ones would kind of rock as earrings.  They are big, but not heavy!

Well that's all for today!

It's sunny and warm(er) here... WOOT!  (I see a walrus in Wrigley's future... "walrus" is our term for "walk" because they know what "walk" means, but haven't quite figured out "walrus".  It's the husband's creation.)