A blog about creating things -- from knitting scarves and baking to home improvement and adventure.
I realize I haven't posted anything in over two months! Mostly, I am aware of this because my mom has been reminding me every other day. So: 
My father is, without a doubt, a computer geek. So, for his birthday this year I made him some prints of technical diagrams from important patents from computer history -- namely the vacuum tube, the transistor, and the integrated circuit. Happily, these documents are in the public domain if the patent is expired (that's the whole point of public disclosure), and the diagrams are pretty easy to find. You could do this for any of your giftee's interests related to inventions (automobiles, motorcycles, tools, cameras, food packaging, watches, airplanes, music equipment, firearms... you could go on and on!). I aged the paper so this would also be really attractive with botanical prints, architecture, or bugs... I am really into bugs lately.
We don't have a terribly small kitchen. But I have a ton of kitchen stuff. So I could always use more kitchen space. A while ago I got really sick of unstacking ten different pots and pans (and lids!) every time I needed one so I knew I needed a hanging solution. But the ceilings in my kitchen are pretty low, so hanging from the ceiling was certainly not an option. We did, however, have a kind of awkward area across the island from the main work triangle area. Normally I would use the wall space to hang pretty, pretty pictures, as I do with almost all the wall space in my house (funny story: I've been trying to do posture exercises, but I can't find any bare wall space to do them on! I think I may have a problem...) but this turned into the perfect place to hang my pots and pans.
I love plants. And I love old science equipment. So when I saw this old desiccator (used to keep chemicals, especially powders and crystals, in a low humidity environment so they won't clump or otherwise get ruined as quickly) for a great deal at an antique store (my MIL actually bought it for me, isn't she sweet?) I knew it would make a great terrarium. The basics of a terrarium are: container, plants that love high humidity, soil, and something to help drainage so roots don't stay so wet that they rot. That's all I have here. I put a layer of pebbles at the bottom, filled the remainder of the bottom with soil, and then planted some succulent plants and clippings of plants that I have on hand. This makes a great home for my Christmas cacti that I could never keep humid enough in the furnace heated winters for them to bloom - until this year! I put in any pieces that fall off my other plants - usually because I knock them off while watering - and they take off!
