necessity is the mother of invention (sounds better in russian: “gol na vidumki hitra”)

work in progress

checked yet another project off of my to do list

my partner modeling

i love textile jewelry

i badly wanted to buy a piece from this amazing etsy shop for my mom who is a real sucker for all things colorful (good thing she doesn’t know about this blog otherwise i’d be ruining the surprise) but totally couldn’t afford it.

so i had no choice but to make it myself. or that’s what i told myself deciding to skip cooking a proper dinner the other night…

other than that i returned to work from my maternity leave
and keep being inventive with various household devices on zero budget and environmental awareness in mind:

maybe looks weird but is quite efficient

 

on a random note: being introvert is exhausting, remind me not to go on these saturday picnics with 15 little children covered in mud running around with sharp branches….

 

take care

and happy christmas to you all

 

 

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if you have something to give, give it now

i  saw this beautiful ted talk a while ago from a voluntier firefighter

and could really relate to it

you see, oftentimes i meet/read about/hear from friends about people in hard life situations of all sorts

and feel like i have nothing to give/can’t do anything about it. i feel helpless.

i dont have much money, no real estate no car, most of the stuff i own is junk

i’m not charismatic enough to persuade others give away their money/time/knowledge/whatever to people in need

so some times i give up alltogether, like, what good will my 5  bucks do to a single mother/person with cancer/orphan?
what good will my facebook repost do, i only have about a hundred ‘friends’ there….

so i often think about other creative ways to contribute to, excuse my cheesiness, making a world a better place.

that’s why my fabric scraps stash had to go

this is only maybe 5% of it

and you know what? it’s pretty awesome. so far i’ve been able to ‘supply’ 2 preschools, one nursing home (for their craft classes) and 2 artisans

i think it’s the best use for my stash

so, if you have something to give, give it now, as that ted talker said

fabric scrap anyone? 🙂

p.s. another thing i’ve been doing from time to time is spending some time helping people pack and move to another apartment. disassembling/reassembling furniture and stuff…  i love it. this is my idea of fun 🙂

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dinosaurs and pantyliners

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

one of my most favourite things to do is making gifts.

this week i’ve occupied myself making a baby mobile for a pregnant friend

work in progress. and if you’r wondering it’s dinosaurs

 

then decided my baby needs some sort of mobile too and the quickest way to get one is by making this decoration…emm….thingy from a bunch of thin cardboard packaging boxes

 

 

it’s blurred cause i gave it a spin. it kept spinning for quite a long time afterwards actually and the background is blurred because…..because i know my photoshop and thought a radial blur effect would be appropriate…

 

the flower printed segment of the decoration thingy was once a packaging box of some cheapish pantyliners. not sure why i’m telling you this.
anyways take a good look at it cause i’m switching to reusable ones for good. yes, i’m making them myself.

bottom line: making this paper mobile wasn’t too time consuming, i got to use some of my paper junk and baby thinks it’s fascinating. maybe she thinks it’s a UFO.

dinosaurs and pantyliners……could be a good start to a story (no, it couldn’t)…   you see, when i was little, my dad being a poet and passionate about all things russian language, played a bunch of language related games with me, one of them was just take too things completely unrelated whatsoever and make up a story about them. not so easy as it seems 🙂

 

until next time.

go make some handmade gifts for your loved ones 😉

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a baby bib collection

hi

been quite busy lately with this special project:

a brand new human being!

other stuff i made lately

couple of old nighties and funny fabric scraps, some buttons or velcro…et voila! super easy and quick project to get the crafting germ out of your system. and with a very useful outcome!

i’ve been desperately needing a bathroom organiser but was not sure what’s the easiest way to make one until finely a friend gave me these shorts she didn’t want anymore. i replaced some pockets added an old hanger, some jeans fabric, a really old tea towel (back side and edges) and some thick wire (edges). actual sewing of the thing can be easily done in 40 mins. well, maybe less if u r a pro…

lots of fixing repurposing and upcycling going on around the flat these days

did u know that someone’s old dinner table can make a very convenient changing table?

old bookshelves – a storage unit for shoes? a fan rack – a laundry basket?

well, now u do!

p.s. more baby bibs, great use for smaller scraps i had laying around. and i really think they make a cute handmade gift.

i think i need an intervention… 🙂

other than sewing bibs not much going on right now. just dealing with poop and puke most of the day i’m sure you know how it is….. oh, no wait! in-laws are coming from Kiev to visit in 2  days…guess i’m in deep denial about that…

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war and peace

ahoy there

lots of stuff is going on right now

not sure how to put it all in words. not sure if i should at all bother…

well lets start and then see how it goes

the war, people. the war is real.  the air raid sirens are real. the mortar rockets are real.

my ever strengthening faith is real too. the faith in evil.

the ninth month of my pregnancy is real.  the kicks and pushes to my insides are real.

isn’t that weird…

 

part of my man’s colleagues are recruited so he works double shifts now.  which is hard.

even though, we slowly prep and organise our flat, and do a ton of crafting, fixing, organising progects. which is awesome.

as for the couple-quality-time – it’s long gone.  that’s why i so smartly use the air-raid-sirens-hiding-in-the-bathroom-time as an extra hugging-time.

(officially we should be going to the staircase or a basement every time but we don’t)

 

other things i’m up to:

cooking efforts still going strong. kinda.

redoing and upcycling some of our furniture, all found on the streets or been given by friends and coworkers still going strong.

drawing…. going pretty weak…   🙂

here’s another sketch for my dad’s poem about an old sailor, where he tells picturesque stories about his adventures to kids

 

 

 

 

p.s.   people had been really amasing and just won’t stop giving me all sorts of baby stuff. loads of it. i love it.  i love that it’s all second hand. love that it’s eco-friendly cause i don’t buy anything. love that it’s free. love that people i barely know care enough to do that. and i have so much of everything now i might start regretting i don’t have twins or something.  i was thinking when the time comes and i don’t need these things anymore i’d pass it to new emigrant single mothers or something.  russians are always so confused and smitten when someone is nice to them just because.  sad really.

p.p.s. latest film recommendation – ‘boyhood’.  haven’t seen it myself yet but looks like something extraordinary!

 

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an ironing board and a guest appearance (first time in this blog)

update from my crafting room: i made myself an ironing board

it involved: old cupboard shelf

a piece of an old bed sheet

a piece of an old towel

a piece of an old nightie (for the slipcover)

a staple gun+staples, borrowed from colleague

an old shoelace

old rubber band

 

easy to make

portable

heavy enough to be convenient to use

all materials recycled/repurposed, nothing bought new

now go and make one for yourself. instant gratification, i’m telling you 🙂

p.s pay attention to something weird in the photos. someone made an unexpected appearance 🙂

 

until next time

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i’m still here

hello!!!  long time no see!!  i missed u!
how’s life treating u all? i’m pretty fine thanks, nothing much to complain about.

been stitching and sewing some gifts to some of my pregnant friends. and also altering loads of second hand bought clothes.
cause i only shop in thrift/second hand stores. cause it’s cheap. it doesn’t hurt that it’s more eco-friendly. but mostly it’s cheap.

here’s some of the baby rattles and other stuff i made lately. all from upcycled clothes/fabrics

 

if u shake them they make a noise of wooden beads hitting the tiny plastic box from inside. was a little worried that the noise is annoying but my partner says it’s ok….

 

 

aaaaaand this gift kit that took me like 2 months to complete. it is really more complicated to make than it looks. also i shot myself in the leg multiple times in the process while making these little puffs 4 the baby rag

 

 

other than that i’ve been vigorously trying to be a better cook mostly for my hard working partner’s sake. not working out so well just yet. but it will, it will in the end……   🙂   i keep telling myself i have no choice, we have to eat, right? so we might as well eat something tasty and healthy….   the fact that we have an absolute opposite taste in food complicates it a bit though…. one of the few things we both love is fried or boiled potatoes. russians, right?  although technically he is a former ukranian and i am tatar and there’s a difference. but we won’t get into that right now.
also been up to some other stuff which i tell u all about in the posts to come.

happy and fuitful spring cleaning to you all people!

 

 

p.s   on a random note, one of the admittedly few good things my life experience tought me it that u never know who has an unexpected gift 4 u.  like the most unlikely people been sharing some interesting recepies with me, and other life advices.  u just have to put some thought into picking the good ones… 🙂

 

p.p.s.  my word of the day is integrity. picked it from ‘true detective’ . and no, i don’t have it.  but i wish i did.

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