Month: December 2020

Day 18

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Guess who got good sleep last night? This girl! Little foster nugget did not whine in her kennel at all last night so she’s really catching on to the routine. She also went for her third walk last evening, and she actually enjoyed herself. She had a moment or two here and there where she was concerned, but by and large had a great time. Progress is being made, including so much progress that she’s getting nice and naughty around the house. This is exactly the type of progress we want to see out of a timid dog, it means she’s blossoming right before our eyes.

The other good news is that she has a potential home, she will meet her potential family on Saturday. We will have her through the end of the year no matter what, but it will be good to get her home settled and know where she is going once she’s done with all her vetting.

As for the advent stuff, let’s start with the christmas ornament. My goal with this project is to have only spent money on the pattern. From the start, I had intended only to knit from stash yarn and stuff with stash wool. So far so good! However, I am running out of lighter colored yarns for contrast. So for this christmas ball I used a handspun yarn. It’s mostly natural colored with a few bits of a light brown thrown in. You can see that in the ornament itself.

It works just fine, and there’s something pretty about the addition of silk in the handspun that is adding some places with extra shine. I really enjoyed using the handspun on this one.

I am actually falling behind on knitting these. Initially I was keeping a few balls ahead each day so that I could get them blocked and then a decent photograph taken. But, this morning before work I had to put the kettle on and boil some water so I could steam block this one before work. The photo is dark, but it is still evocative of the christmas spirit. I actually love those dark december days leading up to winter solstice.

As for my makeup advent, this morning I opened my too faced natural face palette. This one tends to be a little on the darker side and I typically only wear it in the summer. Receiving it in the winter felt like a bit of a stretch! But at the same time, I think I made it work just fine. I used a blush, a bronzer, and a highlighter out of this.

And that’s it, that’s day 18 as a wrap. Looking forward to a weekend!

Day 16 and 17

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On day 16 I was working from home. And the item that my daughter had wrapped for me was a perfume, my Nest black tulip. So, that felt very much like a little bonus, as I didn’t have to wear makeup that day, it was a nice break.

However, day 17 has been an in office day for me, and I received my royal blue eyeliner. Since this was in a project at the beginning of the year, this felt very much like something I have already spent a ton of time with this year. But, I definitely don’t regret having to use it today. I paired it with my Colourpop It’s My Pleasure palette for another purple look.

It was a bit of a tiring night and I think it shows. Mr. Ink wanted me to stay up later than usual watching a show, which I did. When I went to bed, I gave foster dog to Miss Butterfly as usual, but she’s become rather attached to me now. So, she wouldn’t knock off the whining once I handed her over for bedtime. In an effort for me and my daughter to get sleep, I got back up, moved the kennel into our bedroom, and then put her in our bedroom in the kennel. Took her a bit, but she did settle there. Unfortunately, she did wake us up multiple times during the night. But I think she’ll get used to it! And I suspect we’ll only have her through the end of this year, I think she’ll find a home quickly anyhow. She did also massively screw up my morning routine by being in our bedroom, but I’ll just work out a new routine and call it good.

On to the Christmas Balls. For yesterday’s christmas ball, I had gotten a bit tired of the same christmas colors over and over, so I decided to try something new. I pulled out two leftover sock yarns and used those as my colors.

I absolutely love this one! It just turned out so pretty, and it was exactly what I needed.

In keeping with that, I used the same lighter blue and paired it with a charcoal color for the next one. This ball is called winter wonderland and each side had a different motif. When I chose the colors I wanted to consider what snow looks like at night. I’ve got the charcoal of the night and the blue tones that the snow takes on in the deep winter.

There’s a tree, a church, and a home with a star above it. Another side features another home, but it’s similar to the one above and I didn’t take a further photo.

It’s been enjoyable to try a few new color combos. In reality, I am running out of the lighter colors in normal size yarns so it’s harder and harder to make colors pop. Creativity is helping! I just don’t want to knit the remainder of the balls for this year on size 0 needles. That’ll have me giving up too fast. We’ll see what I come up with for the final 7!

Day 15

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Let’s start with foster dog before getting into advent stuff! When we went to meet the transport, we found a little jack russell terrier mix who was so terrified she clung to the back of her little kennel for dear life and it took 2 sets of hands to pry her out of there. She then would not walk on a leash, would not potty even after a full day on the road, and just crouched and cringed. We had our work cut out for us! And to be honest, that’s likely why I haven’t blogged since. Timid put it mildly, she was terrified. But I am pleased to report that after a few days in our home she’s improving with leaps and bounds.

Looking very JRT except for the ears in this photo.
But seriously, those ears!

She no longer crouches and makes herself small when our dogs walk by her, instead she likes to trot along with them wherever they go. Loud noises still make her freeze, but not ALL of them. She can only walk past two houses before panic sets in and she turns around to go home from a walk, but she now likes the snow in the yard and rolls through it excitedly. She’s been a fun little nugget to watch move toward comfort. For the first few days it felt like I had a newborn, she had to be carried almost everywhere, she slept a lot, she cried when I put her down. But now she’s getting used to being a dog, gaining independence, and working toward confidence.

And on to christmas balls! I’ve got 3 to post, gingerbread, ice crystals, and nutcracker.

That moment when you realize your background color choice makes your gingerbread man look evil.
This one is my favorite out of this bunch, isn’t it pretty?
Such a tiny ballerina in shades of green!

And then there’s the makeup post. I only have one photo, I used the makeup from all three days in one look today. The first item was my chella brow cream. I got it in a subscription box ages ago and haven’t used it in about a year. I actually thought it might be dried up and I could declutter it, but in reality, it works just fine.

Item 2 is my alamar cosmetics blush palette which I absolutely love but forget to use because I tend to concentrate on 2 blushes at a time, something warm toned and something cool toned. I was very happy to use this today.

Item 3 is my actual favorite eyeshadow palette in my collection, my petit pro soleil palette. I love all my petit pro palettes but this one is just so beautiful, unusual, and intense!

Oh boy, the lack of haircut has my hair all wild today! Actually, I kinda like it, I might leave it a little longer through the winter.

So there’s our 3 day catch up post, I hate to admit it, I am way behind on knitting but doing my best. However, tomorrow’s christmas ball is glorious, my favorite yet! So stay tuned for that!

Day 12

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For day 12, Miss Butterfly had chosen my Urban Decay eyeliner, in color Freak. This is a lovely green color and it’s a lot of fun to use, but I really wasn’t sure how to use it in this instance. Then, eventually, I decided that since it’s Saturday and I wasn’t going to see very many people, I’d go ahead and experiment. If I had my entire collection it likely would have been a little easier but with my Violet Voss Sugar Crystals palette hidden somewhere, it wasn’t super easy to get inspired about a colorful look. In the end I used my BH Cosmetics zodiac love palette along with the mac snowflushed highlighter from the other day. I also did use the lancome foundation for the first time.

It had snowed overnight, so Mr. Ink cleared the driveway while I was playing with makeup. As soon as I’d put on lipstick he said “Ok, I am ready to go to the dogpark.” So today’s photo is in the car on the way there. It’s a very glam look for the dogpark but my dogs didn’t mind.

Today’s Christmas ball photo was not taken outdoors since the snow makes the light too intense. The snow does help indoor photos though, so this turned out great right on the tree!

We got some work done around the house today and are officially ready to welcome our foster dog this evening, cannot wait!

Advent Day 10 and 11

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I skipped a day again, but that’s ok! Let’s start with the christmas ball While there should be 2, there’s only one. The day 10 ball is reminiscent of nuts, kind of a favorite treat at christmas time:

Certainly a pretty little pattern!

I don’t have day 11! I tried to knit it numerous times, probably 4 or 5 restarts, but each time it was a fail. I grew increasingly frustrated, then I realized that wait! This is supposed to be fun! So I skipped it and moved on to day 12.

Now let’s talk dogs. I posted a few days ago about the new foster dog who was going to arrive this weekend. Unfortunately, circumstances didn’t allow that to happen, and I found that to be quite a bummer. It really got me down. To be honest, I’d already purchased him a few items because we don’t usually take such large dogs and we couldn’t repurpose what we already have. It’s not the loss of money, I just feel for the dogs that cannot make it, and we’ve had this happen twice now in our short time fostering. I love each of our fosters before they even arrive, the idea of them is so full of potential and joy. So my heart breaks a little for them when something prevents them from coming. It’s the hard part of rescue, and honestly, it’s a struggle for anyone involved in rescue. No matter how many you do save, you still are upset about those you can’t save, even if it isn’t your fault. The fosters who cannot make it still reside in my heart in a special place, and I do think of them often.

But, the other thing about rescue is that there are always more dogs needing to be saved. If you didn’t get the right fit the first time, the second time is likely to work out. I got a message a few days later from our rescue, 2 smaller dogs had been picked up and needed a home, I could take my pick. I chose a little female, about 25 pounds, and said to be 5 or 6 years old. I’ve heard she’s timid, so we will be working on her confidence as soon as we can. She hasn’t been in rescue for any time at all, she was dumped very recently, so I don’t know what her medical needs will be. If I were to make guesses, I’d guess she’ll test heartworm positive once in our care. I also don’t have a good photo, just a tiny, shadowed, blurry photo. Which I’ll share anyhow.

We are excited to welcome her tomorrow evening. I think I’ll stop by the local shops and grab her a sweater, it’s going to be cold for her so far north from where she originates.

It’s a tough time in rescue right now. Lots of dogs needing homes but it’s hard to plan events where these dogs can be seen. Indoors is out of the question with virus rates being so high, but the weather is cold so planning outdoor events doesn’t work either. If you have the heart and the cash for it, please donate even just the cost of a cup of coffee to your local shelter or rescue, they’ll be ever so grateful.

Now on to the makeup stuff. For day 10, Miss Butterfly had wrapped up my mac snowflushed highlighter. This is a highlighter that flips gold to pink. It’s VERY sparkly. It’s not something I use as an actual highlighter. I mean, I might if I were going to a holiday party or something? But I am not. I am just going to work. So instead I like to use it as an eyeshadow topper, kicking up the sparkle intensity layering it over other shadows. In this case I took a burgundy shimmer from my tarte be a mermaid palette all over my lid, then topped it with the snowflushed highlighter. I loved it, it was a very pretty but still fairly professional look.

On day 11, I unwrapped 2 sample size foundations. So, that’ll be one that lasts me two days in a row. This morning I used the it cosmetics cc cream. This one arrived in the lightest shade, which I haven’t used before. It’s definitely too light. I don’t think it looks particularly great, so I’ll use it as a lightening mixer rather than on its own from here on out.

This I paired with my Urban Decay Born to Run palette. And you know what? I am finally willing to admit it. This is just not a great palette. The shimmers crease and wear off my eyelids in record time. It looks positively terrible by the end of the day, but I can see the wear on it by 9 am. The majority of the matte shades are fine, and I may consider depotting this if I can manage to do so. It’s really irritating to have wanted a palette so much and then have it to have turned out so poorly overall. But really, my very well loved tarte mermaid palette performs so much better I question as to why I am still picking up the UD one. Especially since I’ve got loads of wonderful palettes! It’s a waste of time.

That’s all from me today, hopefully by the end of the weekend there’ll be at least a few dog photos! And more makeup and christmas balls of course!

Days 8 and 9

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I…kind of forgot to post yesterday so we’ll do day 8 and 9 together.

On day 8, I unwrapped my A’Pieu juicy pang blusher. It is another k-beauty item I picked up and absolutely love. I also wore the copper colored supershock shadow since I couldn’t wear the copper and the purple on the same day from day 7. I worked from home so I paired it with a red lipstick because why not? Oh how I miss red and bright lipstick!

Then today, the item was my mac fix+ and that’s not an item that is easy to see, not a colored product. But I did what I was supposed to anyhow, and took the selfie.

We are back to the bad lighting as I left for work early in the morning.

As for my christmas balls? The first was a little bird on a branch which was absolutely delightful:

And the next was a little angel which I did on size 0 needles so it’s awfully small!

I had done a decent job getting ahead on these over the past weekend, but midweek I am running out of steam again, falling a bit behind. I have tomorrow’s ready to go, but the one after that has taken me a full 2 days to even get the increases done, so it’s very slow. I fear I might actually fall behind fully, but I should be able to get caught up again over the upcoming weekend.

Advent Calendar Day 7

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Miss Butterfly seems to have boxed up not one but two colourpop supershock shadows for today. The colors don’t actually go together, so I only used the purple shade. I will use the copper shade tomorrow as long as the next thing I open isn’t a shadow.

I paired the purple with my colourpop it’s my pleasure palette since that, too, is purple. And then since I was working from home, I figured I’d add a purple lip as well. The lip is a lipstick from mac that I love and really do wish I had a larger opportunity to wear these days.

I do like the look ever so much though, it was fun to create.

My knitted christmas ball today is titled ivy and it’s really pretty! I enjoyed knitting this one a lot.

I also feel a little like practice makes perfect and I am getting slightly better at knitting these, so that might have something to do with my appreciation for this one.

It was a pretty relaxing weekend. I’ve been battling a sore upper back and neck recently and it was quite bad over the weekend. Staying on top of that was certainly difficult. I tried to relax and we did spent a lot of nice time at the dog park, we’d been missing doing so since Rose’s stitches and then our quarantine. The dogs are so much happier now that the dog park is part of their lives again!

Day 6

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Just a quick update today. When I got up this morning I was thinking that today would be a great day to not wear makeup. But since I committed to my advent calendar idea, I knew I would have to. So when I opened this morning’s box, I was delighted to find my Mugler Alien perfume instead. No makeup needed!

My Christmas ball for today is an ice skate, isn’t that cute?

It’s day 5!

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Let’s switch it up a bit. Today we’ll talk news first. We’ve agreed to our next foster! We’ve been without a foster for around 3 weeks, our third foster found a wonderful home with a family who had previously adopted from our rescue. She was a tough foster, she was really high energy, that part isn’t too hard for us, but she also wasn’t the brightest. That part WAS hard on us. Thankfully she was loving and sweet and liked to cuddle when she settled down, and we do love her with all our hearts while also being super happy she found a home with a loving family. And honestly, once she left, we were ready for the break.

I am not sure when this guy is coming to us, likely this month sometime. He’s around a year or two, and has been in the shelter for a year without finding his forever home. Like the rest of our fosters, he’s coming up from Louisiana to try finding his home in the midwest. He does not have any medical needs, so he’ll be ready to be adopted right after he joins our family. We will do as we always do, get him adjusted to living in a home, get to know him well, and then start promoting him and bringing him to various events where he can be shown off to potential homes. I look forward to it! It keeps us busy despite the darker days of the winter during a pandemic.

This photo is from the rescue he’s currently in, we’ll get better photos when he arrives!

He’s currently about 50 pounds and needs to put on some weight. We hear he’s quite playful and that will be fun at the dog park. I like his vague idea of spots on his coat!

OK, now on to the advent stuff. first the knitting! Today’s christmas ball is perhaps the prettiest one yet! I really like it.

And finally, the homemade makeup advent calendar. Today I opened my Missha bb cream. I’ve heard many good things about it but hadn’t yet used it so I was eager to give it a try. I also received a “gift” of an ulta brand eyeshadow palette from ulta, and I used that for today’s makeup as well.

This is definitely a weekend look for me, hair is less dramatic, and so is the makeup. I think the Missha color is great on me, looks quite natural. I have a lot of different foundations as I really do enjoy trying them out, but I am also slowly developing opinions on ones I would repurchase, and this seems like it might fit into that category, though wearing it to work must happen first! I need to see how it plays out over a full day of wear with a mask.

In any case, another fun day of makeup play with the calendar that cost me nothing and only cost my child her time.

Advent Calendar Day 4

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Just a short post from me today. I opened my homemade makeup advent calendar this morning to find my Game of Thrones eyeliner. It’s a lovely metallic gold and I am always happy to use it, so this was a real win for the morning. I again used my tarte be a mermaid palette, this time using the duochrome shadow that flips from brick red to blue. Then I lined all around my eyes with the gold eyeliner. I also used my Laura Geller blush again. It’s fun to explore my extremely paired down makeup collection during this time frame.

The christmas ball was not a real win for me. I’ve made this mistake in the past as well, pairing two similarly toned yarns creates a colorwork project where absolutely none of the pattern pops. I knit this one on size 0 needles so it’s comparatively very small. Which I actually like! But I will do better at pairing yarns next time.

That’s it from me! Looking forward to the weekend and better lighting and extra time and the ability to get out of the house more since we are no longer on quarantine! I hope you have a lovely weekend as well.

Advent Day 3

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It was a back to work day for me now that we are positive I am virus free. After a week and a half away, it is a delight and definitely made me feel a bit more “with it” in general.

Sadly, this means the lighting for my homemade makeup advent day is a little underwhelming. You see, it’s still dark when I leave for work and once at work, while I am still in my car, the mask goes on and stays on.

What did my daughter choose for day 3? My Laura Geller baked blush. It’s lovely, a product I truly enjoy, but don’t use nearly enough. I again paired it with my Tarte be a mermaid palette, creating a nice warm neutral look, added a bit of lip gloss, and out the door I went.

As for my christmas ornament? It’s a sheep! I have gauge problems on this one, but I do like that it’s a sheep. My daughter currently collects sheep, and she previously collected horses. Years ago, I knit her a navy and grey horse ornament, so now she’ll get to add a navy and grey sheep ornament to her collection.

That’s it from me today, back on campus means I am not sure how I’ll be able to keep up with these advents on time but I’ll sure try!

Advent Season day 2

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It’s day two and this time I am on time with day 2. I somehow missed posting day 1 until this morning.

In any case, Here’s what we’ve got going on today. In homemade makeup calendar, my daughter chose my e.l.f primer. That’s good because I did not save myself a primer when I gave her almost all my makeup! But it’s also a little boring, so I grabbed a photo of the eyeshadow palette I used as well, which is my tarte be a mermaid and make waves palette. As you can see, it’s one of the most used and most loved palettes in my collection, and that’s why I chose to keep it out when I gave her the rest of my makeup for the calendar.

The dogs make an appearance as well, as they both got an advent calendar of dog treats too!

And the christmas ball? I finished that too, here it is:

Very pretty, kind of looks like a ribbon wrapped around the middle

Guess what? While my covid test hasn’t come back yet, I am done with quarantine and get to go back to the office tomorrow. I am sure my test will also come back tomorrow. I have no symptoms and certainly feel better this week than I did last week. My daughter gets to go back to school tomorrow and my husband is on the mend though out from work the remainder of this week. And that’s great, because I’ve got staff members with positive spouses right now who need assistance navigating that water, and it’ll be helpful if I can get back to work. But thank goodness I had to navigate it first I guess? I mean, it’s best for the person in charge to be the guinea pig

And what else? I finished the pair of mittens. These are a test knit, the pattern is called Night Mitts, and the pattern will be available mid-December.

The yarn is Miss Marja’s handspun, and I ended up having enough to do another pair of mittens. Which I totally plan to do.

Advent Day 1

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Anyone who knows me knows that in recent years I’ve been kind of obsessed with makeup advent calendars. And advent calendars in general. There’s something lovely about celebrating the season all month long. Last year I tried to get posts up daily for my makeup advent calendar from nyx, but I ended up failing at that due to the unexpected loss of our precious dog lizzie and all the things that happened in the wake of that.

This year, I didn’t even purchase the nyx advent calendar. The world is just such a changed place that I couldn’t be bothered to purchase a bunch of lip products that would go unused in my collection due to the mask wearing we are doing in our daily lives. So, instead, I took almost all of my makeup and put it in a bin. I left out items for one full face of makeup. I gave the bin to my daughter and she pulled out 24 items, boxed them up and numbered them, and then hid the rest of my makeup so I can’t figure out what is in them. This year’s advent calendar is home made!

I also purchased the pattern for Arne and Carlos Christmas countdown-24 knitted ornaments, one per day.

And here’s how I am going to run things on my blog. One post per day through christmas eve (if possible, no guarantees!) It’ll contain the advent calendar photos and then just whatever else I am up to be that makeup or crafts.

So, to start us off on day 1-I opened my box and in it was my Colourpop It’s my pleasure palette. I bought this around this time last year but have barely used it. I think my daughter recognized this and decided I should, so it’s first. And I really enjoyed using it! I can tell you it’s a bit odd to be still on actual quarantine and putting on a full face of makeup, but that’s just now it goes today.

I am wearing all but one of my project pan items here as well, a pretty good project pan day. And lipstick! I am wearing lipstick! Because, I can, when I don’t have to mask because I am not leaving the house!

As an update there, both Mr. Ink and Miss Butterfly tested covid positive but I did not! I am not sure how that’s even possible. Our house is not that large so we’ve all been together this entire time. I am fortunate to be working at a place that provides some testing, so I get a second test tomorrow and if it is also negative, I am off quarantine. Thankfully, Miss Butterfly feels back to normal and gets to go back to school Thursday,and while Mr. Ink has to stay home from work this week, he’s also recovering now.

On to the christmas ornaments. I did a bunch of these from the Arne and Carlos book I bought years ago, but now I am using their patterns from their advent calendar which is available online.

This first one is a little spruce tree! I am going to go down a needle size with this particular yarn, I think it would look better. I am using yarn from stash and this is knitpicks palette.

I’ve been working on something else too! I am doing a test knit of a mitten pattern that dyeabolical yarns will be coming out with shortly. The pattern will be called Night Mitts and it comes as fingerless gloves or mittens. I’ve really enjoyed it, I am working my pair in handspun that Miss Marja made.

They fit great and I love them in handspun! I am eager to finish the second one since then I’ll know if I have enough yarn to knit a second pair!

I don’t think tomorrow’s post will be nearly as long as this one, but I do think this gets me caught up on news, crafts, and december plans. Hope you are all having a good start to your month!