homemade photobooth

I adore old black and white photobooths. I love the awkward, dirty, grainy loveliness of each little square. I love that no two strips are ever the same. I love feeding the quarters into the slot and wheeling the little stool around to just the right height. I think they are the best two dollars ever spent (or three, or four, or five). Every year for my birthday I ask my husband for a photobooth of my own. I am still waiting.

Years ago I fell in love with one photobooth. It was in the back of a restaurant, and even though it was a bit of a hike from our place in Brooklyn, I made sure we got there a few times each year. "Why don't we grab brunch at Bubby's?" I would say. My husband would give me a look.. he knew we were only going for the booth. 

Since our move to California, I am on the search for a new booth to love. This site helped me find a few at our local county fair, but it only comes to town for a few weeks each summer. So what's a girl to do? Make your own!

We spent the morning yesterday rigging up a photobooth in our living room. I hung a little curtain from a couple of chairs, added a stool to sit on, and set up the camera on the tripod. We grabbed a few props (winter hats, paper chains...) and clicked away.

The finishing touch: Convert the new pics to black and white, up the contrast, and use photoshop to drop the new pictures onto some old filmstrips I scanned in. It's not quite as good as the real thing, but it's making me pretty happy today. 

Note: I wish I could show you more, but I made a decision when I started this blog to keep my children anonymous, and though I sometimes wish I could show you the adorable faces my two year old is making these days.. I'm sticking with my promise.

advent: part two

I love seeing the advent calendar as it starts to fill with ornaments. The kids are being surprisingly patient, taking turns, putting one ornament up each morning... though I have seen C peeking into future pockets and switching around the order of the coming days. Here are this week's ornaments:

when husbands shop online

The doorbell rang yesterday, it was a delivery man dropping off a package. I looked for a box.. he said it was out in the truck.

The "package" was a wooden crate, about 8 feet long, about 600 pounds. (I'm guessing it is not a fishnet stocking leg lamp.)

It's now sitting in our garage, and my husband has a huge smile on his face. Now he just needs about 5 of his friends to come over so they can lift it up.

Anyone want to guess what it is? Here's a hint:

UPDATE: Yes, a garage can be a dangerous thing. Especially if your husband likes tools. The mystery package was a band saw... one made in Italy, because apparently all the ones made in the US are just for amateurs.

advent: part one

I know I'm one day late to the party, but I finally finished my little advent calendar last night, just in the nick of time. Nothing like a deadline to get me moving.

When I was little, we had a similar advent calendar. Made of felt, with snaps.. I think. I've combed through the attic at my parent's house on several occasions looking for it, but no luck. So I had to improvise and make my own. 

I love felt, especially the good stuff. I hope this calendar will be used for quite some time, pulled out year after year, so I didn't mind taking the time to stitch it by hand. (It also gave me a good excuse to watch a little TV and still feel productive.) Bee and C have been watching me make it, and are thrilled it is finally December at last! 

The pockets were stitched using the number template I made for the Purl Bee (and Page's advent calendar is so bright and lovely). The buttons on the tree are a mixed bunch, all from a big bag of antique buttons I splurged on at Quilt Market. Here are the ornaments for week 1, more to come!