I'd Rather Be Somewhere Else

New in the shop are these ready to ship tags that declare where your luggage, in a perfect world, really belongs.  And in turn, where YOU belong.  (Most of my dream places involve space ships, castles, and English estates.)  Don't forget that I can always make you a custom tag if you prefer a different dream location. :)

 

 

Independent Designer's Market Boston

I will once again be participating in IDM Boston.  I participated last November as a total noob.  It was my first craft market/show ever.  I am excited to be returning as I somewhat know what to expect.  I bought a table, table cloth, and banner for the last show, so I don't have to worry about that this go around.  I have since gotten a credit card reader, so customers will be able to pay with credit cards as well as cash.

I think the only thing I am worried about is actually getting there.  The market is in the city and I live outside the city.  I am new to Boston, and have recently discovered that the roads here are stupid.  Many streets are not marked, lines dividing the lanes aren't always visible, pot holes are abundant, and the general layout of some of the roads is just silly.  I feel bad having my boyfriend drive me (and my stuff) all the way into the city to help me set up and then drive back home, but it could be worse for him. I could make him stay with me at my table all day. :)

Anyway, if you are in the area (Harvard Square) Saturday May 7, 2011, from noon-6:00 pm, feel free to stop by. There are a lot of other designers there with some really neat products.

Now I have to go create a bunch of ready-made products so that my table doesn't appear totally barren. Suggestions welcome. :)

Flowers in a city of stone

I live on the second floor of an apartment totally surrounded by concrete sidewalks and asphalt roads, so I don't have a cute little back yard to observe plants and the like. Sadly, I don't even have a balcony on which to grow things (though I do have glass sliding doors that open over the street. What?)

This being the case, I like to buy fresh flowers and keep them around so that I can stare at them when I am feeling too deprived of living things.  I'm not too picky on the variety, I just buy whatever is the cheapest and doesn't drop staining pollen all over the place.  This is the first time I've bought this variety and I've really enjoyed their bright magenta color.

My little helper interrupting the photo shoot to smell the flowers.

1 Tag For You!

I've had the opportunity to do a bunch of really neat tags lately. The option to buy only a single tag, instead of a set of 2, is offered in the shop.  Listings are available for 1 horizontal tag or 1 vertical tag.

 

 

Love Padlocks

During a recent stroll around our town, my better half and I discovered a large grouping of padlocks attached to a fence that ran across a bridge that was over some subway tracks.  At the time we had no idea what could be the purpose of doing this.  Upon researching it further, I discovered that these locks are most likely attached to the fences as "Love Padlocks."  Found throughout the world, Love Padlocks are often affixed to bridges and symbolize the love between two people. Sort of a "locking up" of the love and throwing away the key.  I was somewhat relieved to read this, as I feared it was gang related (I give you permission to laugh at the country girl).

New Favorite Shops: Hankie Tankie

I recently came across the adorably sweet Etsy shop, Hankie Tankie.  This shop offers one of a kind embellished tank tops, unique scarves, and eco-friendly tote bags.  Not only are the pieces lovely, but the tank tops range from $19-26!

I love this quote from the seller's profile, "once upon a time, my mom mailed me a package of vintage hankies with a note that said, 'do something with these!' i had been experimenting with tank top designs, and voila! hankie tankie was born..."

 

 Sinfully sweet flapper style!

Perfect for work, school, or date night. :)

I absolutely love the romantic feel of the lace and bows.

Another favorite. :)

Father's Day Items!

In preparation of the upcoming Dad holiday, I've been excitedly making leather key chains to fit the occasion.  While I've been carrying custom leather key chains in my shop for a few months now, I haven't spent a lot of time (OK, any time) coming up with ideas for ready-made/in stock key chains.  Making these Father's Day-inspired key chains has really made me eager to make non-Father's Day key chains that are stamped with short quotes or words.  I made a few today that I will be introducing soon. (Hint: One is stamped with a curse word often heard on BSG and the others are travel and love themed.)

The items shown below are available in my shop now.  :)

 

 

 

My New Favorite Lunch

One of the best things about working from home is that I can seriously eat whatever I want when it's time to break for lunch.  In the past when I worked at a retail location, my choices for lunch were:

1.) Drive to the nearest fast food place. Scarf down my super unhealthy lunch.  Speed back to work before my break was over.

2.) Buy a frozen meal and heat it up in the microwave in the break room.  On later snack breaks, I would visit the vending machine and much on cookies and chocolate bars while drinking Dr. Pepper.

Looking back, this sucked in many ways.  It was expensive (compared to what I am spending now), it wasn't healthy, and it just plain wasn't enjoyable.  Sure, I got away from work for 30 minutes, but I didn't get to enjoy my lunch as I was stressed about how many seconds I had left before I had to return to work. :(

Now, I can eat healthier and take my time to eat. I usually have some sort of BBC Victorian era mini series up on my Netflix instant streaming, so while I eat my lunch I watch a little bit of that.  I have recently begun to eat a lot of different foods that in the past I would have NEVER tried.  One of my newest favorite foods is ARTICHOKES.  Holy crap.  They sound so scary. And look scary.  However, I get so *excited* when it's Artichoke-For-Lunch Day! It's like the highlight of my day. (Is that sad?) Plus, artichokes are really good for you.

This is a dish you have to plan in advance because there is about 2 hours from the time you start to the time you are eating. Anyway, here's how I make mine:

1 artichoke
olive oil
1-5 large cloves of garlic (normal people probably use 2, but I LOOOOVE garlic, so I use 5)
half a lemon
salt


Preheat Oven to 425°

Cut off the stem and 1" or so off the top. (You need to cut enough off the top to be able to open up the leaves a little to stuff awesomeness inside). I use a serrated bread knife.

Lay a large piece of tin foil in a glass dish.  Pour a little olive oil in the middle of the tinfoil, and then put the artichoke in the middle of the tinfoil.

Cut garlic into flat strips, then take pieces of garlic and add throughout the artichoke (see photos).

Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the artichoke and all up in them leafy thangs.

Follow the same drizzling routine with the juice of half a lemon.

Lightly sprinkle a pinch of salt over artichoke.

Wrap up artichoke in tinfoil until completely covered.

Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Let cool for a few minutes and then open the tin foil to reveal the most delicious lunch ever.

You're welcome.

 Cooked artichoke ready to be devoured.

 

 Garlic surprises, my favorite part!!

 Pasta dish by Sur La Table (Thanks, Mom & Grandad!)

**Oh, how to eat if you aren't sure:

Tear off the leaves and scrape the meaty part that was near the base of the leaf with your teeth.  The first layer or so of leaves may not have that much meat.  Eat the garlic as you find them.  Once you get to the middle there will be a scary, spiky, furry layer.  Don't eat this.  Pull off all the "fur" and set aside.  You are then left with a meaty disc drenched in olive oil and lemon juice.  This is what love tastes like. (You eat this part.)

A Few New Pairs...

Here are photos of some custom tags that I had intended to post a week ago. I only just found them today, as they had been lost in a folder filled with photos of Rasputin.  =^..^=

 

The Nesting Spot of the Evil Catty

Since my Oh Yeah Cat Heads shop is inspired by my catty, I thought it may be interesting to feature tales of this beast on occasion. Today we shall shed light on his main nesting area (he has a few). Rasputin, my evil white sphynx, spends many hours a day sleeping/monitoring the activities in the kitchen from inside this particular nest:  a fabric cat house (that I got at Goodwill for $4!) that sits atop our refrigerator and has a smooshed mushroom shaped cat bed inside

.

 We've saved our booze bottles from last 2 years and arranged them on top of our cabinets in the order of consumption. Classy, I know.

 

 The bed in the cat house used to resemble a mushroom with holes so that the cat could enter the inside of the mushroom and hide.  Upon first inspecting this bed, Rasputin promptly sat on top of it and squished it so that the inner cavity collapsed. :(

 

 ...plotting his next nefarious act.  Gnawing on my textbooks perhaps? Or maybe running off with a spool of my suede lace?  I am not eager to find out.

Art is Us Treasuries

Since joining the Art Is Us Etsy team under OhYeahCatHeads, I've really gotten into making treasuries.  I had never even really thought of making them before I joined this team, but now I am quite addicted.  At least I feel like I am somewhat able to use my art/design degree, so that's comforting.  Here are the treasuries that I have made since joining the Art Is Us team. I had to change the layout a little to fit on the blog, hence the lone straggler image on the last row. Also, some are missing an item...just click on the title of the treasury to see it in it's complete glory. I think.

'Unique Gifts for the Nature Loving Mom' by OhYeahCatHeads

Earth inspired items in a sophisticated blue gray.

The Charming Stoat - Er... bonjourpoupett... $24.00	J is for Jellyfish - Or... samaki $60.00	whale ornament HandyMaiden $26.00
Mother's Day - The ... HamjArt $4.50	Squid scarf set of THRE... decomp $60.00	Sky Blue Flower Bag- Fe... StarBags $84.00
Mom Mug Ready to Ship ... Misspottery $24.00	Organic Vegan iPad Mess... PansyMaiden $75.00	DIY - Candy Box CATS - ... KarKarStyle $3.00
Wee Little Mushroom 6x6... redtilestudio $50.00	Smoke Signal Lily Leath... KristianaRose $25.00	Clay Trilobite Button N... cindylouwho2 $58.00
Streaky Marine Blue Gla... bprdesigns $15.00	Lets fly away (pin) LilyMoon $20.00	Vintage Anodized Alumin... GingersGirl $19.00
Ceramic Squirrel Buckle... cassieart $44.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.