Dirty

so last night we went to see our friend's band perform at sullivan hall.....johnny sketch and the dirty notes. they're from new orleans and they're awesome. our friend is "dirty johnny" and he's the drummer. sweetest guy. he actually played the piano at our wedding.
this was my first time seeing them live and they seriously rock!!!
they're music has the best beat...you just can't stand still when you hear it.
as they were setting up last night, they put the most beautiful instrument i've ever seen up on the stage. willie told me it's an electric cello.


i wanna learn to play just because of how beautiful it is!
willie also did the design work for their current album.

Off The Floor Recycling

i am crazy excited about this!
i saw this wonderful idea tamdoll posted about awhile ago. take all of the little bits from your crafty projects that you would normally throw away (yarn, thread, teensy bits of fabric, or whatever else you have tossed on the floor of your crafty space) and designate a box or some sort of container for them. i have mine sitting right next to my sewing desk since that's where i do ALL of my crafting. i've been chucking all kinds of things in there. then, the challenge is that once you've gotten to the point where you've accumulated enough...make something with it! art..something wearable. whatever!
i seriously love this idea!
the official challenge post is here and then she also started a flickr group as well.
as if i need another excuse to hoard something! but this is way too much fun to pass up!
this is what i have as of right now. probably plenty to do something with.

that blue in there is all of the fuzz and extra length i cut off of my latch hook. that would've definitely gone in the trash!
anyway, if you're a crafty individual and you love the idea of recycling..hate the idea of throwing stuff away....you really need to join in the fun!

Latch Hook Twist

'nother addition to the shop.
i wanted to do a latch hook but different.
extremely happy with my first attempt. and the frame/border....came out EXACTLY like i had pictured it! love it when that happens!
i also have 2 more projects almost done. they're doing their respective drying as i type. so maybe they'll be up by this weekend. at least on the blog. gonna try to do some strategic listing on etsy and might wait until sunday night and monday night to post them.
i've been hanging around the etsy forums (don't know why it's taken me so long to do that), and have been getting some good tips. and good face time too.
i've gotten a few more hearts...but still no sales. getting harder and harder not to get discouraged. but times are tough and money is tight for alot of people, so i just have to keep moving forward. i'm not doing much spending here either. not buying new supplies unless absolutely necessary. trying to use what i have.
i'm surprised i'm able to get a cohesive blog post out tonight. i'm so tired today and really out of it. so on that note, i'm off to bed. sweet dreams everyone!

Treasury!

i'm in a treasury on etsy! yay!

Time's a wastin'

so i think i've already established that i love stumbleupon.
here's a mosaic of photos i've stumbled on flickr tonight....when i should be working....


1. cloudy today, 2. colour wheel, 3. bookme, 4. Tiramisu Cupcakes, 5. Detail from my illustration " I fly over the rainy clouds", 6. Security #2, 7. Cute Smile, 8. Who's Been In The Cookie Jar?, 9. foggy wood, 10. PICT6795 copy, 11. Baby chameleons, 12. Shattered Sky, 13. Neuschwanstein's castle, 14. Snake Eyes, 15. Untitled, 16. Grandfather's pocketwatch inner workings

Flutterby!

see...i am doing something for the shop...i swear!
i've been working on a few different things at once. the only way i work. so here's the latest i'll be adding to my shop. so i'll stop with all the posts for today and actually get some work done.

Blog Carnival...in summery

the topic i chose for this months blog carnival is "in summery".....what did you do this summer?
i am very happy with how well this summer went. i really enjoyed it. it was relaxing. fun. productive. the weather wasn't insanely unbearable.
a trip to six flags....


visited our friends upstate to see their super adorable baby girl. look at those eyes!

went to willie's family reunion in iowa where we ate lots of food, had fun hanging out with family and played lots of ladder ball!

enjoyed nature before heading back to city life...

acquired an iphone and had a birthday....

and i'm slowly but surely filling the shop.
awesome summer! looking forward to fall!

Willie's Birthday Bash

well, after all of the planning and organizing between suzi and i, i have to say that the day went off really really well. everyone had loads of fun! food, friends, wiffle ball, baseball...food.
i got willie an authentic personalized mets jersey which he LOVED! and, i got the right one! yay me!

pigging out...


waiting to be picked for teams. the dreaded ego-crusher. will i be picked last?

play ball!


it was a really great day and i'm super happy with how everything turned out. everyone had alot of fun. i had alot of fun. i know willie did. if you want to see more pictures, i have alot more up on my flickr.

Beautiful Beads

as i was wandering through the different flickr groups i'm in, i came across this beautiful necklace by laughing starfish, who makes some really lovely jewelry.
and then this lead me to the artist that made the pendant, pikalda, who makes such gorgeous lampwork beads! the colors are so vibrant!

makes me wish i made jewelry.

Beetles

who would've thought that beetles could be so darn beautiful?

1. Harlequin Beetle, 2. GREEN FIDDLER BEETLES - Eupoecila australasiae - Cairns australia - Top View, 3. Target beetle, Panama, 4. A Ground Beetle, 5. Thai metallic wood-boring beetle, 6. Striped Blister Beetle, 7. beetle on rose, 8. Rosemary Beetle & Lavendar, 9. Green June Beetle, Cotinis nitida, 10. Harlequin Flower Beetle, 11. wisteria spotted visitor, 12. Green beetle, 13. Don't bug me!, 14. Beetle, 15. Tortoise Beetle, 16. Untitled

i'll post all about willie's bday celebration tomorrow. so tired.

The Great Purge of '08

well we started a serious task this weekend. it started innocently enough with us going last weekend to ikea and picking up a few small things (new spice jars, bedding...) and a new dresser. willie put that together this weekend and it just got him started!
"this place is too cluttered and messy!"
that began the purge. we threw alot of things away. it really made me cringe to be throwing these things away but living in nyc, i don't have a car and i've had nothing but annoying experiences with giving things away on freecycle. and they just HAD to go NOW!
anyway, i assure you this is NOT a before pic...more of an in progress, we had already started rearranging, making throw away piles and keep piles.
the picture's kind of blurry but it's the only one i have where it shows the most of the room.


i picked up that room divider one day while i was walking eleanor. it was in the garbage. really the only thing that was wrong with it, was the fabric. it looks like the owners had a cat. so i'm going to hot glue some fabric to it this week and it will be both a divider between my craft space, and where we sleep, but will also serve as an inspiration board.
i also kept our old dresser and put all of my fabric in that, and got rid of the cheap plastic drawers i had before. that's another project. we're going to get some primer, green paint and some new hardware and revamp it as well.
i also got all of my spices in their new jars, with new labels. don't have a picture of that yet just because i don't have shelves yet for them. so they're still tucked away in the cabinet. i'll get around to that sometime too.
but after all of that cleaning, i just wanted to sit down and play some spores! oh boy....a whole other addiction.

Seeing Spots

not sure where i'm going with the design on this little guy yet. just kinda winging it. but i'm having loads of fun with it! i sat this weekend and mindlessly made these little polymer clay bits. knew i wanted to put them on future projects so i kind of just started grabbing colors and rolling and smooshing while watching tv.....

September's Etsy Blogger....

it's time for this month's featured etsy blogger!
this time it's joey & aleethea. our very own team leader on the etsy bloggers street team! really? how has she not been featured yet? :)
she sells some really wonderful baby and toddler goodies!


she is one very hard working talented lady! running a household with 2 children, making those lovely creations and still manages to keep our street team well oiled too?! wow.
superwoman i tells ya!
please go check out her blog and her shop as well.
i'm definitely gonna have to pick something up for my future rugrats!