Revamp!

Starbucks in hand, I am buckling down and the ideas are flowing to give this blog a complete makeover!  So, check back soon for the new and improved Seriously Seriously Trista!!

Mobile Phone Knit Case

Another project that I recently finished is this super cute mobile phone case!  Hand knitted, super easy and fast!  I wanted something that my mobile could go in so that when I toss it into my handbag, it won't get all scratched or anything.  So, here it is :)

Love it! 

Christmas Fun!

I know I am quite behind in posting, but I finally have a little bit of time to spend on my blog!  My first project I wanted to share with you were my Christmas Stockings!  Although they aren't exactly like the pattern that I downloaded, they are close enough!  I had a hard time finding cute stockings here that weren't outrageously priced and that weren't for a small child or pet.  In my blog searching, I came across this awesome blog called purl bee where I found this awesome pattern for making felt stockings.  While hubby was away on a short trip, I got to work!  I hunted down all the supplies and spent some time stitching everything together (made me think about investing in a sewing machine).  The felt I used wasn't my favourite, but I made due.  The white was a bit hard to work with so I add improvise when it came to the snowflakes.  The other thing that I was missing were pinking shears for the borders.  They too were outrageously priced so I decided to do without.  It works!

Shopping Today, Baking Yesterday (and the day before)

Ok, it's seriously SERIOUSLY been wayyyyyy tooo long since I have blogged!  I know that I keep getting way behind in our other ministry blog and I figured it was pretty bad for this one, but almost 2 whole months have gone by!  That is SERIOUSLY out of control!  But, here I am!  We are venturing out today to do our pre-Christmas shopping... meaning, scout out what in the world's out there!  Being in a new country, we are going to have to put out our feelers.  Not only for where and what to buy, but looking for the cheapest prices...  It really does feel like the start of the Christmas season, which I know seems a bit early to be starting in October, but I think the coldness of the season here plus all the rain makes it seem a whole lot closer to Christmas.  Although, I was reminded yesterday that yes, there are only 2 months left!  Every time I think of counting down the days, I am reminded of that scene from the Grinch in the beginning where the Whos down in Whoville are Christmas shopping and it is the most chaotic thing EVER!  And, there is someone always shouting out how many hours are left to buy all those gifts :)  Funny!

To kick of this season, I start getting in that mood of wanting to BAKE!  Tuesday night, I busted out all the ingredients to make my apple pie!  Now, seeing that they don't have crisco here, I had to ask for a pie crust recipe without crisco.  I got one, but then I perfected it to my liking.  And now, I couldn't be happier!  I experimented with Bromley apples, since I know have access to them living here in the UK, and seriously liked them!  YUM!  Different than those granny smith in the way that they cook and their flavour is just a tad different, but YUM.  I think next time, I am going to experiment with putting different spices into the crumble topping.

My next baking adventure was last night.  I made pumpkin bread.  And seriously?? I LOVE all things pumpkin!  Just a couple weeks ago I made pumpkin cream sandwiches!  Deeeeellliiiisssshhhh!  The bread was a mix from Trader Joes that one of our friends brought us from the states.  It was suggested to make a streusel topping which I played around with and decided it was exactly what they bread needed for the topping!  That, drizzled with a bit of icing and it made the bread!  Everyone in the house LOVED it! So much so, that there is hardly anything left of it!   I have a tin of pumpkin in my cupboard that I am saving for something really great... apple pumpkin butter.  Once I make it, I will let you know how it turned out.... if anyone really reads this thing :)

That's all I can think of for now!  Happy baking!

Seriously? Seriously!
Trista

Rainy Day Box-o-Fun

I just realised that the blog title makes it sound like it rained today, but it didn't!  I am anticipating all the rainy days we will eventually have and decided that I am going to make a rainy day box-o-fun!  Hitting up the art supply store today to get my free art supplies definitely added to that box-o-fun {if you want to read more about my day, you can visit my other blog... parklondon.blogspot.com}  I am open to any suggestions that anyone has about what to add into my box-of-fun!  I will tell you what I have so far:

*a half finished scarf*

*acrylic paints and canvases* 

*sketch book*

*charcoal stuff*

That's not very much stuff!  I must think of some more fun *cheap* projects!  

I know it's seriously short, but I am getting very sleepy!  Must get to sleep!  Church in the morning! 

trista.

Fun Project of the week!

I was trying to figure out how to organise my work space.  Suzanne had given me some containers that were originally for some wall art to use as pencil holders that I had placed on my desk a couple of weeks ago.  After looking at them for a couple of weeks, I decided they needed some "tristifying", which basically means that they needed a trista makeover!  I thought with some cute paper and some rubber cement, I could come up with something cute to put on my desk.  While I was at the grocery store yesterday, I picked up some wrapping with cute flowers and butterflies.  After working for a bit once I got home from the grocery store, I decided it was time for a break and created my cute pencil holders!  All it took was cutting them down to size and rubber cementing the paper on.  Next time, I would probably use thicker paper as I had to double up otherwise the writing from these cardboard canisters shown through.  Doubling it up caused some creasing on the bottom and top that I don't exactly love.  But, for now, I seriously LOVE them!  They work great and look super cute on my desk!!!!

xoxo

Coffee and Tea! Sounds good to me!!

A few years ago, I decided that I did NOT want to drink coffee EVER again!  I began drinking all kinds of tea.  I LOVE tea!  There are loads of flavours to choose from!  I was doing really well with not having any coffee whatsoever, until Saturday.  When I had my very first cup of coffee in a very long time.  {Hubby did remind me that last year while we were in Paris I had a cup of coffee, but I couldn't recall}  Anyway, it was decaf {I clearly don't need the caffeine} and so tasty!  I have to admit, I didn't stop drinking it because I didn't like it, but I had to stop because I couldn't live a day without it!  Seriously!  No GOOD!  And, the place that I was working at when I decided to stop had a pot of coffee on all day, so I would drink it all. day. long.  Unhealthy!  No one should drink coffee that much.  That led to tummy aches and headaches, blah blah blah.  Oh, and in the midst of that, I had heard something about green tea being good for you.  So, I made the switch.

But, the other day, David had coffee and I could taste it in my mouth.  Seriously!  I could!  So, I HAD to HAVE a sip... or three.  That led to me making my own cup on Saturday from those instant via coffee packets from Starbucks {one of my FAVOURITE places EVER - not just because of their drinks, but because of the amazing ministry opportunity God has given me there right now}.  Oh, and I chatted with one of my friends early that day who said I should treat myself to coffee once a week.  So, instead of it becoming a necessary essential part of the day, I decided that I want to keep it as a special treat and stick to decaf.

While I was working the other day, I had gone to Starbucks for some chai tea {my absolute FAVOURITE!} and seeing my special Starbucks mug from the states that I had them put my tea in, I decided I wanted to be fun and take cute photobooth pics of me enjoying my Starbucks tea.  So, here they are:)

Ending with my Favourite!!!