Crazy Week

Well I've come through another crazy week. I managed to get my set for the one acts up and I think it looked good and on Wednesday night I was in charge of stiking it while I was sicker than a dog. On Friday I went to the doctor since I didn't seem to be getting better after a week and a half and it turns out I have an ear infection and probably the flu as well. So now I'm on antibiotics and I'm finaly starting to feel better. Here are some shots of my set.

Happy New Year!

OK I know it's been the new year for a couple of weeks now, but it still feels new to me. If your anything like me you make resolutions every year in fact I make the same resolutions every year because I'm not very good at keeping them but I've decided that it's good to set goals even if I don't reach them because it means that I'm still trying. I don't like to tell people what my resolutions are because I'm slightly superstitious and I'm afraid if I tell people then I'll fail to meet my goals. There is one goal that I have that I don't mind telling you and that is my goal to graduate this semester! It's a little scary to start my last semester of college ever. Wish me luck! Oh and by the way how do you like my new look? I love the sparkle of the chandelier.

Merry Christmas

This will be short but I just wanted to post a quick wish for a very happy Christmas to everyone. I love you all and I hope your holiday is full of love, warmth, loved ones, and joy. I'm thinking of all of you tonight.

Merry Christmas!
Love, Brandee

Christmas Goodies

My favorite thing about Christmas is all the traditions and the smells and sounds of the the season. One of the things I remember about Christmases as a kid are all the fun treats my mom would make, cheese balls, and candies, and peanut brittle. I don't remember lots of cookies at Christmas, my sisters might have different memories but I'm a little younger so mom might have cut some of those things from her very long to do list by the time that I was old enough to remember. But one cookie that I do remember, and it's one of my favorite Christmas treats, are Russian teacakes. Now that my finals are over I finally had time to do some baking. So I made these Russian teacakes for the party I had the other night. They are simple to make and I think they are a little fancier than a regular cookie. It was fun to spend a little time in the kitchen.


These cookies are nice because they aren't too sweet. You roll them in confectioners sugar after they are baked so they are frosty, wintry, white. I think they look pretty on a Christmas table.

Christmas Party

One of the things I love the most about my new(ish) apartment is that with the extra room I now have I can finally invite people over and entertain friends. On Wednesday evening I had a Christmas/ end of semester party at my place. Since I was in High School I always thought it would be so sophisticated to have a formal Christmas party where everyone dressed up I mentioned that to my friend Annie and she totally got behind it. It was allot of fun and I'm hoping to have another party soon. Some of these pictures are blurry because the lighting was soft.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

My goodness, it has been a long time since I was able to blog about what I've been up to mostly because I've been very busy! One of the classes that I've been taking this semester is a Millinery class. Millinery is the art of hat making here are pictures of the hats that I've made this semester.

Some of the class wearing their Regency bonnets



This is my bonnet It was made from an old straw hat that I wirerd and cut into the brim shape and then added a fabric crown.



This is a Cavalier hat made of felt, made by taking a felt hood (kind of a "blank hat with no shaping or sizing) then I wet it with water and blocked it into the shape, wired the brim then we stiffened it with sizing.



This is my Buckram Cavalier hat. it is made from a stiff material called buckram. I patterned the shape then cut out the individual pieces, wired them then covered them with fabric then stitched the pieces together.


This is my Medieval Hennin. It is made in the same process as the Buckram cavalier hat. I did make the large braided trim that goes around the top of it. I made a long velvet"snake" then braided it with several pieces of contrasting trim to give it the right scale and interest.

Showing off our Hennins on the day of the final.

One of my other classes is Scene painting This is my final project for that class, It is a translucent drop, which means you paint it in a certain way so that it can be lit from behind so it can change looks. Some will change from day to night mine just glows. I chose a vintage corset ad for my project. These pictures show the work in progress.





This is the finished project lit from the front (it's a little shinny because it was still wet when I took this picture.


And this is what it looks like lit from behind it doesn't show up so well in a photo but the stars glow and the the highlight on the lady glows. I get to take this one home and I'm planning on hanging her in my bedroom.

So there is a sample of what I've been working on this semester. Now I have to get back to cleaning my house.

Happy October

Well, at the end of the summer I said that I was going to try and keep up with blogging one a week like I did while in Maine. It's been about a month and I've failed miserably but I'm going to try to do better. So what's been keeping me so busy that I couldn't take a minute to write on my blog, you ask? Well a couple of things. First of all the whole pesky school thing with it's homework and time consuming projects has been a big part of it. The weekend after I got back to Utah I then jaunted off to California to visit my sister and her family, to meet my new nephew. (he is so cute I can hardly stand it!) My best friend got a great job and moved away so I was spending time with him before he left. My best girl friend got married so that was a trip home for that. And then there's been the fact that I've been trying to get unpacked with all of these other things going on. But I can finally say that after a weekend of concerted effort I have finally unpacked the last box and cleaned the place, so I'm officially moved in. I've even done a little decorating mostly concentrated in the living room for now. So That's my update and I'll try to be good and write again next weekend.
The trip to CA

At lunch with my beautiful niece Ari


My nieces and my new nephew


Celebrating mom and dad's birthdays and anniversary.


I made Sunday dinner for my friend Nate before he moved I bought some inexpensive flowers and arranged them and I also made this no-bake Oreo pie. it was so yummy.

This my lamp project. I took some lamps that I already had, spray painted them black, found white shades, then bought some black trim for the shades. What do you think?
Before...

And after

I bought an inexpensive love seat and chair and I was able to buy a slipcover I liked for the sofa but my mom and I found this cute stripped fabric so I'm making a slip cover for my chair. It's still not finished but I just have to take some darts at the corners and add ties.

This is what my living room looks like I'm not done with the placement of things on the walls, I feel like I need something else but I'm not sure what yet. and I'd really like a small coffee table but I haven't found something suitable. and I'm going to add an accent color, I'm thinking pear green. But it is starting to feel decorated and livable.