Humbling Hobbies and Habits Archives - Page 3 of 5

Craft Day: All About Finishing

By Christina Lee| September 22nd, 2018|Craft Day, Handmade, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, Knitting, Oh My Crafts!, Work Hard. Play Hard. Knit Harder., Yarn Addict|

Today’s Craft Day is all about finishing! Over the last couple of month, I’ve accumulated enough crafting supplies to last me another decade or so. I’ve got skeins of yarn pouring out of boxes, knitting needles of every size and stitch markers between the couch cushions. With all those supplies, it’s hard not to start a new project. In fact, I think I’ve started more projects than I can even count on my two hands and I don’t think I’ve finished even one. Yikes, it’s time to get cracking… starting with picking up this baby.

Sadly, I started this cable knitted scarf in January 2017 and made some good progress as I was learning a new technique. For some reason, this fell by the wayside, and sat and sat, season after season. That reason was probably because it required a fair amount of concentration to relearn how to cable knit, lots of counting and the ability to use a separate hook to do the cable knitting — all of which detracted from the usual knitting and wine drinking regimen on the couch. At least I’m being honest, right?

Nonetheless, I’m glad I picked this project back up. It’s amazing how a cable knitted pattern produces such a rich, woven texture. Paired with a thick wool-like yarn and bright colors, the braided ropes really pop. All it takes is a little bit of patience and some practice. Want to learn how to cable knit? Here is a step-by-step tutorial with visuals on how to knit a cable.

Mosaic Bowl

By Christina Lee| April 22nd, 2018|DIY Home, Handmade, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, Mosaic Art, Oh My Crafts!|

In addition to learning and acquiring new hobbies, this year will also be about finishing my projects — all of my projects. I started this mosaic bowl over a year ago when I first got introduced to mosaic art and glass cutting at the Alameda Art Lab. I got a fair amount of practice for both cutting and catching flying pieces of glass through the air since I completed a few mosaic art projects — a turtle, a rock and a heart. I decided to take on this mosaic bowl, and just as I was about halfway through it, I ran out of steam. I left the the bowl with JaYing and she said she’d hold on to it until I decided to come back and finish it.

Well a year later, I came back. I was wondering if the bowl was still there… and it was! It was just sitting there in the corner. Other students came and went, and she did mention that someone had offered to finish it I never came back, but luckily, it was still exactly how I had left it. Shards of yellow, purple, pink and brown glass were still plated though I had to pick up a few more slabs from the color bin. I started out with mirrored glass encircling the “eye” of the bowl and lined it with gold and yellow, which really made the rich sea of purple and brown pop. I have to admit, it was hard to distinguish the dark browns from the dark reds, so I “snuck” in a few shards of deep red. You could only tell when you hold it up to the light. I think it gives it character! I also decided to leave room for shades of brown and pearl to contrast against the pink and pearl, and to complement the eye. With those last few pieces, it’s time to grout and let it sit.

With my sister’s birthday coming up in the next month, I decided this would be the perfect gift for her apartment. She’s a fan of purple and I’d like to give her a place to leave her keys, drop in a few coins and leave her knick knacks. I can’t wait to see how she receives it!

Adding Marker Drawing to the Mix

By Christina Lee| February 9th, 2018|Daily Sketch, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, Marker Drawing, Oh My Crafts!|

What can I say?! I’m on a roll with these new hobbies. And to that I say, keep them coming!

I’ve had a handful of these Copic markers in the storage bin along with some dual tip markers that I recently bought, but never got around to using… until about now. I never really knew what to do with them and more or less, I didn’t have a need. But I got inspired to dig out these supplies along with a sketchbook that sat on the shelf collecting dust. I’ve been curious about marker drawing for sometime, especially when I learned about my cousin’s passion for industrial design and his years at Art Center. That was decades ago, but it was always in the back of my mind hoping that some day I’d taking a drawing class and learn how to use them. That time didn’t come soon enough and I never got around to signing up for a class.

Lucky for me, there’s YouTube and you can watch a video and learn anytime, anywhere. With my first search for “Marker Drawing Tutorial,” I came across Lindsay Weirich’s (aka The Frugal Crafter) Blue Jay in Markers Sketching Tutorial. She seemed friendly, inviting and her tutorial seemed doable. It was only ten minutes and I could very well end up with something that looked like a blue jay. I followed the tutorial step by step, scratching my marker across my sketchbook. Blues, grays, browns and some blending with that magic marker. A squiggle over here and a scratch over there. It actually started looking like a blue jay. I was impressed and thanks to a successful first run with these markers, I foresee many more of these marker drawing sessions in the near future.

New Year, New Hobby

By Christina Lee| January 2nd, 2018|Humbling Hobbies and Habits|

New year, new hobby. Why not?! With all these apps at my fingertips, it’s easy to flip through them on my spare time and convenient to find myself nonetheless entertaining a new hobby. This time around, I became enamored by those Midori travelers’ notebooks, and for some reason, everywhere I click, it only seems to be pointing me in the direction of more of these Midori notebooks and paper stock. Those darn retargetting ads!

Well, I’ve always been fond of Japanese stationary, pens, notebooks and paper. If you leave me in Maido, I might by the entire story… that is if my credit card can handle it. Just to give you an idea of the damage, I bought two leather covers from Asia, another from the UK, packets of paper stock and calendars from Toad Studio, extra rubber bands and a handful of accessories — and that’s only to get started. Now that I’ve got all my supplies, I can begin journaling (!)

When I think of journaling, I think of keeping a diary. It’s easy for me to get overwhelmed and hard for me to make a commitment. There’s this new thing I’ve been meaning to try — and it’s not your traditional journaling, it’s more or less bullet journaling, or what they would say “the intersection between mindfulness and productivity.” It’s a method jourrnaling that is customizable and more forgiving, and it combines my passion of journaling, creating to-do lists, doodling and line drawing. It’s notebook and sketchbook all in one, and you can get as creative as you’d like with ink and paper, and other memorabilia.

One of the goals for this year is topping my Goodreads Reading Challenge from last year. The number to exceed is the lucky number of 44. Am I up for this year’s challenge? Heck yes, and with my Midori notebook in hand, I’m ready to begin tallying up those books.

Hope you have a Happy New Year and may your year be filled with new hobbies and habits to take you to the next level.

Zierikzee’s Classic Wooden Windmill

By Christina Lee| October 8th, 2017|Creative Inspiration, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, Painting|

On my way to the Netherlands, I stopped by Zierikzee, a quaint town 30 km from Rotterdam. Zierikzee is known for its legendary harbour, houseboat enclaves, enchanting boutique shops and historic townhouses and homes. The city itself is quite charming and convenient for an afternoon stop on the way to Amsterdam. I spent most of my time weaving my way through the neighborhood and admiring the cozy-looking Danish houses. I couldn’t help but wonder what it’d be like to spend the night and wake up to this beautiful harbour. With just a few hours in town I walked along the waterway, snuck into a few bakery stores, bought three pairs of shoes, then got led astray in the fields of green and stole a snapshot of this classic wooden windmill. I stood in front of that towering windmill for quite some time admiring the view… that is until it rained and I had to get back on the bus. Nevertheless, this classic, historic windmill was only one that I could imagine seeing in movies or a painting, so standing right in front of it was surreal.

Months later, I’m still thinking about this picturesque scene and replaying the adventure in my mind. One of the ways to bring this moment back to life is by taking out my paint pad and acrylics, and capturing the memory on paper. I’ve only recently started to explore landscape painting and find depicting nature (fields, bodies of water, mountains) much more interesting than still life.

Well, here’s my spin on the classic wooden windmill of Zierikzee. I hope it inspires you to travel to Holland sometime and experience this wonderful view for yourself.

Rainbow Rose Vegetable Tart for Mom

By Christina Lee| May 14th, 2017|Handmade, Holiday Fun, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, In the Kitchen|

Happy Mother’s Day to my beautiful Mom and all the loving moms out there!! On this special day, we’re celebrating in style with my Mom’s favorite meal, brunch. Aside from the classic omelette, turkey sausage and peanut butter toast, I wanted to come up with something unique, something special. Lucky for me, my mornings spent watching and bookmarking videos from Facebook finally came in handy as I was scouring the Internet for ideas on how to make brunch a little warmer and more spring-like. Thanks Food Network for the creative inspiration behind this Rainbow Rose Veggie Tart. It took me exactly one minute (maybe two!) and a trip to the grocery store to create this masterpiece.

The recipe calls for two eggs; Ricotta, Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper for the creamy filling. Then for the rose buds, you can choose from an assortment of spring vegetables from the grocery store. I went ahead with yellow squash, zucchini, rainbow carrots and a tomato for the centerpiece. And last but not least, a pie crust in the frozen aisle, unless you want to make it yourself. I’m a fan of Sara Lee’s ‘semi-homemade,’ so I was completely fine with the frozen pie crust. You’ll need a sharp peeler to remove the outer skin and peel through the layers of vegetables, and then you’re set for the fun part of rolling this thinly sliced vegetables into rose buds.

Before you pop this tart into the oven, you’ll want to sweep olive oil along the edges of each rose bud, so it will turn crispy brown. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and bake it for 50 minutes and then you’ve got yourself this lovely Rainbow Rose Veggie Tart. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I can’t wait to try this with eggplant the next time around.

Happiness is a Cup of Coffee and a Good Book

By Christina Lee| April 11th, 2017|Crocheting, Handmade, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, Yarn Addict|

As the saying goes, “Happiness is a cup of coffee and a good book” and now, I won’t dare get a cup of coffee without dressing it up with these cozies. These stylish companions for your morning cup of joe will not only keep your coffee warm and help you save the environment by steering clear of the cardboard sleeves, but it will make other people envy your super cute, stylin’ coffee cup.

Did I mention that these crocheted coffee cozies are a new addition to my website? I’m thrilled to finally be featuring them online. They are fun and easy to make in one sitting. If you know how to single crochet in the round, then you’re golden. And if you’re new to crocheting, this is one of those ‘feel good’ projects you can complete in a timely manner, put a bow tie around and gift it to a friend or keep it for yourself.

Once you finish crocheting in the round, you can swing by Michael’s or Jo-Ann Fabrics to pick up some of these cute buttons and put the finishing touches on your coffee cozy.

Christmas in February

By Christina Lee| February 26th, 2017|Crocheting, DIY Home, Handmade, Holiday Fun, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, Yarn Addict|

Well, we finally did it, Cooper. We put the finishing touches on this blanket and now, Susanna can take home her Christmas present even though it’s now February. Way to sit on it for so long, Cooper!

The idea was to plan ahead for once and start this blanket in October, so I can pair this blanket with the one I’m giving Mom and Dad for Christmas and surprise Susanna with her very own. However, I think I was a bit too ambitious finishing up the other blanket, working on two scarves and then starting on this one. The other projects were also a bit more taxing since I had to constantly read the pattern and tally up each row. So, I decided to give myself a little break and work on this Granny Row crochet pattern – a simple combination of double crochets and skipping spaces – one that I can actually do while watching television and sipping on some red wine.

For the next couple of weeks — and months, this blanket and Netflix became my best friend in the evenings. I started the blanket completing rows of two with each color only to realize that A) I still had a lot more rows to complete and B) two rows of a single color wasn’t going to get me very far, so I began differentiating the count and varying the width to three rows, then five rows and back three rows of one color. The most exciting part was switching to the next color, especially the light purple in the middle. And since we’re in nearing winter, the faster I completed a row, the warmer I got to keep my legs — one advantage of working on this blanket during the winter season.

While I didn’t end up finishing it for Christmas, I was about 90 percent of the way there – close enough to wrap it in a box and gift it to Susanna for Christmas. The look on her face was the most gratifying for me especially since she did not expect a blanket for herself after spending nearly a decade on Mom and Dad’s. But here it is, a blanket just for her in the nick of time to keep her warm this wet and rainy, winter season. Merry Christmas, Susanna. Here’s to keeping the spirit of Christmas alive in February.

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