a gift i made.

[jealousofthesky.livejournal.com]

i dont have pictures. i wish i did. but it was for my mom for v-day.
i made a pair of slippers. which...as much as i was thinking it would be simple was SO hard. and i should have used thinner foam, but itll sink down.
anyway. i took foam, the green furniture foam. cut it in the shape of a slipper (using one of her old ones as a model) cut out a piece of black fur for the top part, a strip of red the height of the foam and the length around it for the sides...and just really improvised the top. theyre closed toe, made of fleece on the inside, stuffed with pillow stuffing, red fur on the outside, and a fleece band next to that. the bottom was the issue. i wanted to get a design for the tread, and i tried to find ... well. stuff to make it. and then i gave up on it. i was planning on making these for her for christmas or her birthday (jan 8th) but i never got the time. so i had everything i..thought i needed. the tread was an issue though, i took an old pair of jeans, cut the bottom of the leg off, opened it up, and traced the slipper on it. coated it with fabric puff paint with a brush, let it dry a bit, drew hearts in black for texture. filled those with gold and silver glitter. let it dry, then i drew stripes across it, and mushed them together a bit. so they *kinda* resemble tread. they work though. the sewing was all done by hand as my machine was being a dork. like it always is. so that was my crafting for v-day. i swear, im cleaning my rooms tommorow, and then ill start more crafts. but...im just surrounded by a mess. >.<

and a quick question. i have stinky books. most are salvation army/library buys. and tons of them. say...3 bookshelves full? i think? there are more in the basement. i need to cull out the herd >.< a bunch are reference books, mostly photos, that i use for references for painting. a 30-some volume animal encyclopedia..things like that. theyre worth their weight in gold to me..even though they cost me like..a dollar. haha. and i want to read the ones that i bought..for reading, but they give me a killer headache because of the 'old smell'. so my question is... how do i get rid of it? do you think if i put them into a big rubbermaid tote... with a bunch of baking soda and let them in there for a few weeks...it would help? or any other ideas? i love these books =(