Google Reader Goodness

I've got my sidebar blogs listed for my own reading pleasure. I have my routine blogs I check daily. There are other crafty ones that I look at less frequently and I'm always pleased when I do and I discover some amazing little gem or a tutorial or a new artist or what-have-you.

Today in my wanderings I discovered a trail that led me back to my Google reader. I tried to use this once upon a time, but I found that I didn't enjoy reading people's blogs in that format and it never occurred to me that there could be more to this whole thing.

Today, I learned that one can add a subscribe button to your internet browser toolbar so anytime I find a blog I like and want to revisit I can simply add it to my Google reader instead of adding it to my sea of unorganized bookmarks.

Also I can add a "next button" to my toolbar so instead of even going to my "Google reader" for updates I can click "next" and it will bring me to any fresh pages from the blogs I subscribe to in my Google reader. I decided to add in only my crafting and art blogs since there are so many of them and it's easy to keep going back to a few key ones and neglecting other good ones. The best part? I can see them in their full blog pages rather than in the limited viewing the Google reader page offers.

I am now totally immersed in crafty goodness and here are a few of the happy things I found today.

Crazy knitting and crocheted items:

Safety cones -- why I'm not sure?
But they are kind of funny.

Apple cozy. I've seen these before, usually for sale.

This site has a tutorial. I would love to try it!

Your classic winged heart tattoo softie
You can download a free pattern here.

Use a recycled glove to make a chipmunk softie.
Tutorial here.

Stuff I'd like to buy:

Available at Velocity

Yep, a gnome finger puppet.
Available here on Etsy.

These recipes I'd like to try:

Pavlova is my favorite dessert at my favorite dessert stop
--Baked Expectations in Winnipeg, MB
Here's a recipe, I found.
The image looks different than the pavlova in Canada,
but it's likely just as tasty.

Here are Emily Martin's macaroons.
She's been on a mission to make her own.
She found what appears to be the best recipe and
has some tips on her blog. My mouth waters just looking at them.
MMmmm...

And then there's nostalgia:

Woo Hoo for The Ginghams: The Backward Picnic

On Wee Wonderfuls' blog I saw a post on paper dolls, in particular a kind of paper dolls called The Ginghams. That reminded me of a Little Golden Book I loved and probably still have somewhere on the shelf. I thought it might be the same series. It doesn't seem to be. Yet, I was filled with a gushy kind of warm feeling anyway.

Funky clothing:

a cardigan I couldn't wear, but admire anyway.
From Anthropologie, though they appear to be sold out.

Why these items? The actually remind me of one another.
And I love the sort of bunchy, not terribly symmetrical button thingy going on.

This super cool skirt, I'd wear this for sure.
I found this skirt and this blog all in the same day.
Be sure to check out Uniform Studio