There is 3 in tres leches!

(but there are no tres leches in this post, sorry)

This past weekend marked three years for David and me. I can't believe how quickly three years have already gone by! He had planned a really lovely day-trip, but unfortunately we got snowed out that morning (and right after the Spring Equinox too).. Nevertheless, we got to celebrate! A few highlights - we made it to brunch at Zaftigs after a recently failed attempt (they are just too popular) and finally watched Despicable Me (him for the first time). We also got some tasty plates at The Butcher Shop for dinner, including The Most Delicious Steak (that we've ever had???) and a surprisingly delicious steak tartare (which I initially thought looked like Ragu...oops). By dinner time, the skies had cleared up and we were able to walk around to get some much-needed exercise (and froyo, of course). Hooray!!

Just before heading to dinner from the garage - it was finally clear!

Petite charcuterie. Can't remember what each thing was.. but they were tasty!

Steak tartare, pickled onions, and super buttery toast

The best steak we've ever had! I think it was "Wagyu"?

David also prepared another surprise for me - a Cricut Explore! I seriously couldn't believe it when he brought it in!! The Cricut is a super cool printer-type machine that can automatically cut out custom designs (and can draw them too)! I first learned about Cricut several years ago while designing wedding invitations for some friends. Since then, I'd entertained the thought of getting one several times but ultimately decided it was too much of a splurge. I even tried entering contests to win one, but to no avail (little did I know...)

It's a lot bigger than I imagined!

He took almost 80 pictures of me unboxing it, so of course I had to make a movie
(this does not include all 80 photos)

I've done papercutting for a while, starting around middle/high school. I took a little hiatus during college, resurfacing for little projects here and there, but I recently started doing more for fun and for friends/family. I've also been doing more wedding designs for friends, and (this is a secret, shh!!) have been contemplating opening up a store sometime in the future. David has always encouraged me to keep pursuing my dreams despite my own doubts and misgivings, and this gift pointed me again to exactly that. Thank you, David, for your patient and steady love, support, and mutual chiseling through these years -- Happy three years!!!

:D :D

Knitting season and projects talk

We're finally getting to see some sidewalk (as well as leftover doggy poo from before-the-snow-storms) and snow-meltage here! We had a couple very warm deceptively hopeful days that caused this change, but Spring is not meant to be just yet... Even so, I take the recent rain and sidewalk reveal to mean that knitting season is almost over (ok, it's never over!! It's just harder to wear the things that I knit during the warmer months).

I finished a few more projects recently!

A pair of handwarmers for my roommate's birthday (one is slightly longer than the other... oops!)

Yet another cozy for my thermos to keep it super extra warm

I still have two more on my list, one already started and the other still in the sketchbooks, but I'm hoping to finish them before the Spring sets in so that maaaybe I can get one wear out of them before storing them away! One is a scarf, and the other is a Norwegian-star patterned earflap hat - probably one of the more ambitious projects for me right now since I haven't done much fair isle before. Ok, so that one might not be done before Spring begins...


In other making-things news since my last post:

blueberry mini cheesecakes (a little squished)

juggling pompoms

card

with 3d lettering

brioche scarf, a la Kei! 

The brioche scarf was directly copied from Kei's scarf :) It took me so long to finally finish! I think Kei's scarf is a lovelier shade of maroon, but I like this all the same! The brioche stitch makes it SO soft, plushy, stretchy, and warm.

All in all, it's been a pretty crazy month in general and I'm pretty shocked at how quickly it's already gone by! To be fair, February is a short month. Right now, if I were a student again, it would be Spring break! Too bad we don't get those anymore though... I guess that is what vacations are for?

For now, I'll keep jotting down some hopes and dreams for warmer weather, and madly try to finish the last of these on-hold projects in the meantime!

Crafty and snowy days

There have been a lot of snow days in  Boston recently, and as a result, a lot of crafting as I've holed up in my cozy room with mug after mug of piping hot water (and sometimes hot cocoa and string cheese, but not together, of course).

Fair warning - this post has a LOT of pictures! Sorry, I didn't realize it until I'd finish writing. Well, read on below, you can scroll right down if you'd rather not be overloaded with jpg-blast!

First, a lovely view of Boston from recent days (from CNN iReport):

A photo posted by CNN iReport (@cnnireport) on Feb 16, 2015 at 9:20am PST

As much as I love snow and even enjoy shoveling to a certain degree (haha, degree, get it), I concur with the many around me who cry, we've had enough! Very thankfully though, we've only had a few casualties in mostly broken shovels and frozen toes, and my neighborhood still has wonderful heat, plumbing, and electricity.

With all the being-stuck-inside days recently, I have surprisingly not developed any sort of cabin fever! That's mostly because I've been finally getting a move on the many projects on my list. I'm planning quite a few big projects in the next few months, but here are a couple of smaller ones that I've finished in the first weeks of 2015 so far!

A scarf, aptly titled "Procragratification scarf", which I made while procrastinating on all the other projects I was supposed to finish up

Sidenote - I have a bunch more Ravelry projects! Come and connect with me if you're also on it! :) http://www.ravelry.com/people/luluhu

A penguin I made for David this Valentine's

With interchangeable accessories! I started off with one set only but then I got really into it

A little note to go with the penguin

Inside: Reuse-reduce-recycle the cut out heart

Chinese New Year cards for Year of the Sheep

Wedding card for the new Mr. and Mrs. Chin - Congrats!!

Some "gratitude journals" for my Sunday School class! I kept one for myself too :)

Learned to patch some holes in my nice wool sweaters (handed down from mom!) 

It's not QUITE there yet, but this was the closest one

Through inspiration from Tiffany, I impoved this old knitting needles holder that I made a while back... 

... and finally stitched the top flap into place so that the needles and crochet hooks don't run away so easily! 

All rolled up

I finally got around to making a mason jar pin cushion (the jar is from Andy and Jenny's wedding last September!)

I got into sketching on my iPad, so I tried my hand at making a fine-point stylus using King Lau's tutorial: http://tumblr.kinglau.co/post/6442455519/ipadstylusdiy

Here it is in action! The photo is a bit blurry but the lines are pretty accurate! Now to find the perfect drawing/painting app... 

Whew, that was actually a lot more than I had realized! There are even more that I didn't get to take good shots of, and still even more cooking adventures that I had the joy of going on with friends. I've learned so much about Chinese cooking, I tell you!

I'm glad to see that I've been pretty productive in the crafty realm these days. With the encouragement of Steph and Dominique, I recently started keeping a "projects journal" (as well as a normal journal, a prayer journal, and a sketchbook). In it, I wrote down all the things that I want to do within the next year, and it's helped me with my focus a lot!

I've always been a pretty idealistic person and haven't been the best at setting concrete goals or executing action plans. Truth be told, I am usually a "fly really fast by the seat of my pants because I sure have a lot of undirected energy!!!!!!!!!" sort of person or an "I'm totally going to fail at this if I try so I can't be bothered to get up" sort of person. Conversely, I also love planning things and putting lists together and being organized, so it's no surprise that for YEARS, many people have thought that I'm a super-organized and put-together, motivated, and reflective individual. Actually quite the opposite of me, since it's typically very difficult for me to carry things through, and I find it very difficult to sit down and just reflect! Even my past blog posts about self-reflection and discovery  Just these few weeks in 2015 of putting a list together and setting in some times to do them has been so eye-opening: You can really do stuff if you put a plan to it! Hah! Who woulda thunk!

There are a lot more things in my journals that I am actively praying for, hoping for, and hopefully, planning and preparing for. May He lead me to not only grow in personal diligence, but also active trust and obedience through these!

Creativity motivates

Recently I've discovered a new thing about myself.

(Actually it's probably not that new - but I've never really thought about it before!)

I need to do something creative, on a regular basis.

I'm not actually sure what a "regular basis" means, but I've noticed that during spans of time when I don't make anything or design anything, my brain gets flustered and tired, I'm not easily distracted and bored, and I can't seem to do anything else productively.

On the other hand, when I am able to do something creative, I find that during work, or house-keeping, or even cooking, I have a much better line of focus and I seem to be able to do things faster! Maybe that's just a matter of psychology.

Anyhow - that led me to think, What does creativity entail?

For me, lately, it's included flower arranging, web design and developing, tailoring old clothes, trying out new dishes, building a lightbox, gift-making and card-writing...

Oddly enough, it doesn't include knitting or crocheting! Those are the first two things that I initially thought about.

Maybe it's because I haven't tried anything new in knitting or crocheting in a while. Perhaps, then, it's not so much about the craftiness of it, but about how much it is a new sort challenge?

Hopefully the next challenge I'll be able to take is responsive web design...

Some recent projects: 

Website is now up and running: www.bingjiehu.com

 

Macarons and cake pops

 

Paper cutting (horse pattern from
http://fxpapercut.com/year-of-the-horse-2014-pop-up-card/)

Some jewelry 

Making orange juice. Ok, not very exciting but very delicious!

Flower arrangements

Here's to more creative times! :)

Upcycling Lightbulbs

Do you have a bunch of old burned-out lightbulbs lying around? Here are some projects you can do to upcycle them! 

Hanging bulb vases - so pretty!

How To make the Hanging Lightbulb Vase - FreePeople

Simple vase! - arte.sano Instructables

Terranium - arte.sano Instructables

Salt and Pepper Shakers - Esprit Cabane 

More hanging vases - Esprit Cabane

How to Hollow Out a Lightbulb - TeamDroid

Our house uses energy efficient lightbulbs, which don't lend themselves well to such projects because they're filled with mercury which can keeeel you, but we do have a few old bulbs like the above that could use a makeover. That said, I think those spirally energy efficient lightbulbs would look so pretty as a vase!! If only they didn't contain nasty chemicals...

Anyway, this had been added to my list of projects! Which is ever growing, and currently kind of stuck on Project Mittens..