2012 Week 5: Slowly, but surely.

February 6th, 2012

Leigh preparing to Wii!

This was a good week filled with fun and friends. I still haven’t made a whole lot of progress on the craft room, but I did manage to put up shelves by myself. This was a milestone! Also, I finally found some new storage for my A2 cards at IKEA: SAMLA box with lid. Z took the above photo of me pre-Wii Fit one day. In order to better track my calories, I switched from the Lose It! app to My Fitness Pal. It has far more foods listed, so I don’t have to make up my own makeshift recipes as often. They actually have multiple variations of avocado rolls to choose from. Hooray! I wish the Wii had an option I could pick so it did not show me my BMI/weight every day. I’d rather see my weight once a week so it’s not such a constant up and down. Since we started Wii Fit-ing in early January, Z and I have lost 5 lbs., but then every few days it fluctuates back or forth.

Films watched 5th week of the year:

Alice in Wonderland (1933)
Sweetgrass*
A Woman, a Gun, and a Noodle Shop
The Men Who Stare at Goats

*documentary

Sweetgrass was really fascinating. It is a documentary about sheep herding through the mountains of Montana. It uses natural sound. No music, no narration and very little speaking at all. Definitely something we are not used to seeing these days. One of the couple times there was speaking, I learned some brand new swears. Definitely worth a viewing if you think sheep are cute. Holy sheep!

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Weekly Roundup: Music-a-Leigh

January 30th, 2012

It’s been a good music week, but these are some of my standouts this week.

Adorable – Against Perfection (1993)
Such an overlooked band. I actually prefer ‘Fake’ to ‘Against Perfection’, but only by a thread. I thank a brief college boyfriend, Patrick, for sharing this band with me. Shoegazey, lots of crunchy guitars, poetic lyrics. I rock out unabashedly to ‘Homeboy’ every single time I hear it. Love. “I’m tripping into the back of my mind. And your words like angels crash inside. And a word and a movement and a touch. And a word and a movement and it’s all too much. It’s all too much.” They did get a re-

Radiohead – Tkol Rmx 1234567 (2011)
I’m still soaking this in, but I am enjoying it. My question most often with remixes, especially of Radiohead songs, is why mess with perfection? :)

Nana Grizol – Love it Love It (2008)
Often an album I reach to when driving, I found that tonight it helped me get pumped for tackling the clean-up of my craft room. Theo is such a songsmith. I love this record and the follow-up, Ruth. If you don’t have these albums, you are cheating yourself out of some awesome rocking out. At the Elephant 6 Holiday show a few years back, he completely stole the show. He even blew Jeff Mangum out of the water. Really!

The Montgolfier Brothers – The World Is Flat (2002)
I don’t know what tipped off my brain to do so, but this week, I suddenly had the title track of this album stuck in there and I just had to put on the album. My friend Michael put this song on a mix cd years back and I remember listening to it on my drive from Alexandria, VA to Chicago. Roger Quigley’s voice is absolutely one of a kind and this album really holds up even 10 years later. Dreamy.

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2012 Week 4: Chaos reigns my craft room!

January 30th, 2012

This week I saw some of the best people Chicago has to offer and celebrated the births of three awesome friends. In addition, the Wii Fit told Z and I that we each have lost 5 lbs. since we started the first week in January. A grand week it was.

Rhymes with Twee - Tilda and Maude

My go-to card and gift buying place in Chicago is Paper Doll. Owner Stacy’s house pug Maude is my favorite store animal of all time. She has gone blind and is mostly deaf, but she still knows it’s me when I go in. She’s the only dog that Tilda is sometimes okay with. Tilda was kind of a jerk to Maude on this day, so this shot was the result of many treats and much coaxing. Speaking of shops I love: I am sad to say goodbye to my other go-to shop, Renegade Handmade, which is closing this week. They were the first Chicago store to stock Rhymes with Twee goods and always gave me that proverbial pat on the back when I went in. Such lovely shop ladies (and the occasional dude) that I will miss seeing so often. Now I’ll have to settle for seeing them briefly at RCFs or randomly around the ‘hood.

Since I’ve been doing well with most of my resolutions, I finally felt ready to tackle my craft room, which has remained incomplete since we moved in last April. Most of today was spent pulling it apart and moving things around, organizing papers and thinking up a game plan for completing it. Once it’s actually in order, I feel like I’ll be able to get back to a creative state.

This was a slow week for media consumption for me, but I finally finished my second book of the year, You Had Me At Woof, which LCB recommended to me and I loved. I started reading Hack and so far, so good.

Films watched 4th week of the year:

Funky Forest: The First Contact
Eames: The Architect & The Painter*
Hereafter
Norwegian Wood

*documentary

Three of these are worth watching, but Hereafter mostly felt like a waste of time. If you enjoy absurdity, then you should see Funky Forest, which I’d rank pretty high up there. I was let down a bit by Norwegian Wood. I enjoyed watching it, but it had been years since I had read the novel. Murakami is one of my all-time favorite authors, but that novel was not one of my favorites. I believe I’ll have to re-read it to see how different it was from the film. I felt it was pretty different, but my pal Kirstie said it remained true. The score was great though (cough, cough, jonnygreenwood).

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Weekly Roundup: 5 Chicagbloggers

January 23rd, 2012

http://www.flickr.com/photos/madflowr/4355025193/

This MAN CAVE sign made me think of my friend Mark (pictured on the left, after a screening of The Room at the Music Box) and that inspired me to write about five Chicago friends I know and love who blog right here from Chicago. Their blogs are smart, funny, and fun to read!

Ali & Dolan: Daily Dolan Geiman
Desiree: Manoy y Metal
Donovan: The Intangible Blog
Mark: Man Up Chicago
Paige: Paige Worthy

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Square Credit Card Reader 3D Printed Hinged Case Keychain by C Westbrook Designs

January 23rd, 2012

http://www.etsy.com/shop/CWestbrookDesigns

Selling at craft fairs with a Square is awesome, but I was always misplacing the darned thing. Christina Westbrook (C Westbrook Designs) of San Francisco made my life a lot easier. I bought one of these as a necklace last year in pink and it’s much easier to find now when I need it. The keychain design is new and equally handy. I meant to sing the praises of this product earlier, but I had dropped the blog ball. Hats off to you!

Hip to hold Square:
C Westbrook Designs

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2012 Week 3: Let’s eat some greenery

January 23rd, 2012

This was my dinner tonight. I love salads, but I do not eat enough of them and that is going to change. I actually don’t usually even put salad dressing on salads, but I did because we just bought some dressing today. Since we started working out on the Wii Fit, I’ve realized that I need to track my food in some way that I am held accountable for it. My pal LCB told me about an app I had not heard about called Lose It!, so I downloaded it tonight. More things to keep track of = go!

Today Zachary and I took Tilda to meet Woodrow and Storm, furry canine children of Ed and Heidi. Tilda is not awesome (read: barkolympics) with other dogs and we were trying to fix that. It did not turn out as well as we were hoping, but it could have turned out worse. We’re going to keep at it though. Heidi is a new awesome friend and has an amazing blog that you should add to your blogroll: Hands Occupied.

Films watched 3rd week of the year:

Mr. Death*
Freakonomics*
Fright Night (2011)
Cronos
The Naked Kiss

*documentary

I enjoyed every one of these movies, but I think the winner this week was Cronos. Though it was essentially yet another a vampire story, it was absolutely one of a kind. It is shocking to know that Guillermo del Toro was a fledgling film director when he made this. If you haven’t seen it, you might want to do that.

Weekly resolution:
Buy more blank onesies to print on and re-print bean baby onesies.
Come up with a new craft idea and create it.
Finish reading book #2 this year.

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2012 Week 2: Hedgehodgepodge

January 16th, 2012

So far so good with the resolutions. I’m holding steady and I’m finding that I have a bit more energy and I want to eat better since we started working out with the Wii Fit Plus. Here’s to keeping the La De Blog resolution!

Letters to Santa - BeanElf.org

I neglected to mention in my last post one thing that ruled about 2011. My friend Rhea told me about the USPS Letters to Santa program. I organized a trip with co-workers to go to the USPS and pick out some Letters to Santa to answer. They had done the trip the year before and I had done something similar with my old job but for a shelter, so I wanted to continue the tradition of giving back. What happens is that the USPS chooses letters from needy children and families (determined by factors including zip codes, what the letters ask for, etc.) and participating locations have boxes of the letters for “elves” to pick from and answer. I chose two letters; one for Zachary and I to answer and one for friends and I to answer. Pictured above is the pile of gifts that friends and I purchased to answer our letter. If a USPS branch near you is participating and you’d like to do something special over the holidays, I highly suggest that you be an elf next Christmas season. The site gives a lot more information about it. It was so much fun to pull together all the gifts, but it was a lot of work. In 2012, I’m going to buy generic type stuff like crayons, coloring books, games, etc. early when I see them on sale.

One of my favorite purchases of 2011 was from my neighbor mikinora at the Madison Glitter Craftacular. This is what I bought: spike earrings. I think they look like little hedgehogs all balled up. I rarely wear earrings, but the times I’ve worn these, I’ve received a ton of compliments.

Weekly Roundup: 5 Favorite Midwest makers

Hang art from your neck
Cursive Design

Illustrations full of whimsy
Loosetooth

Hammered wire for wearing
Mano Y Metal

Cute coats for canines
Mad Dog Cookies

Vegan accessories that stand the test of time
Miss Alison

Films watched 2nd week of the year:

Margin Call
Attack the Block
Sorry, Thanks
The Parking Lot Movie*
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
The Art of Getting By
The Queen

*documentary

Attack the Block was my favorite film of the week and I didn’t even think I would like it. Street kids in England fight glow-in-the-dark toothed aliens. Pretty great, actually. I am doing a challenge on Goodreads in the fiftyfiveme group here. I know that seeing 50 new to me films will be no problem, but finding the time to read 50 new books…we’ll see about that one. I just started Book 2 at the end of Week 2.

Books finished 2nd week of the year:

    Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

by Mindy Kaling

Sorry to Tina Fey, but I LOLed so many more times at this book. Mindy is definitely the kind of person I am friends with. I love that she is totally a nerd, but enjoys pop culture. I bought Joni Mitchell’s Blue while reading this book.

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2011, we hardly knew ye.

January 9th, 2012


Tilda, in the Sonic the Hedgedog costume I made her

I did not blog once in 2011. That was an EPIC fail. 2012 is going to change all that. Things that happened of note: We lost Hermione last January. We lost Z’s paternal grandma last February. Z and I celebrated 5 years together in April. We moved into a new apartment that we are so happy with in April. I got a fulfilling new job that I am very passionate about in June. I biked to work a good amount. I successfully grew my first container garden over the summer. In October, Z and I adopted a dog and named her Tilda, as in Tilda Swinton. I made some excellent new friends, became closer with my old ones, and patched up a couple friendships that had fallen apart. I also sold at a heap of great craft fairs this year and met some awesome new artists and customers!

Some Rhymes with Twee items made in 2011:


Rhymes with Twee – make making your living framed prints.
Bean Hoodie

I’m not usually one for making New Year’s resolutions, but something this year made me want to make some.

  • Update the La De Blog at least once a week.
  • Get fit with Wii Fit.
  • Watch at least one documentary a week.
  • Stop buying so much stuff not “Made in the USA.”

I have amazing people in my life who make and create things. They are often my inspiration for creating new things of my own. I want to blog because sitting down once a week and doing a round-up of these things will help me create more.

Zachary and I got a Wii and Wii Fit Plus for Christmas and we’ve both set the goal to work out at least 30 minutes every day on it, except for Saturday which is our day of rest. I am fat. I don’t mind being fat, but a few health problems have come along with the weight, which made me want to lose a bit.

I got some really thoughtful Christmas presents, but I have become much more conscious of where thing were made than I used to be. As cute as they were, many of the items were made in China. This bummed me out and it made me want to try harder myself to purchase things made here in the USA. I know that my difficulty will be finding good quality but not bank-breaking articles of clothing, but I am going to try.

Films watched  1st week of the year:

Trees Lounge
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Justin Bieber: Never Say Never*
The Lottery*
The Hudsucker Proxy
Dive!*
Another Earth
The Future
Contagion

*documentary

This week, I highly recommend Dive and Another Earth. Both were low budget but highly thought-provoking.

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New Rhymes with Twee card: Santa wants beer this year!

November 3rd, 2010

This was the new Rhymes with Twee card I was hinting about in a previous post. I’m pretty proud of this little beer swilling guy. I used glitter markers to color in the beers on the blue cards. I also made white cards, but because the paper weight was lighter, the glitter marker bleeds through and I’ll have to use the Sakura Glaze pens instead and it won’t look as good, but still good. Sakura has some really interesting products on the market. I’ve been a big fan since I started using their Souffle pens to draw the faces on my “i’m glad i picked you” cards. I have a lot of different options in my craft room when it comes to supplies, but sadly none of them were letting me get the look of a stout beer on the cards. Amber it is! These are available in a set of 5 in my Etsy shop.

http://rhymeswithtwee.etsy.com

This Saturday I am selling at the second Urban Folk Circuit from 3pm until 8pm. This one is at the Glenwood Bar in Rogers Park. If you’re in Chicago and want to get the jump on your Christmas buying like me (not even joking – I bought my mom presents August 30th), then stop by and shop awesome crafts while you drink a tasty craft beer!

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Newness is goodness.

October 29th, 2010

If you go to a lot of local fairs or sell at a lot of them, you tend to see a lot of the same sellers over and over again. While this can be comforting, it’s good to try something new once in awhile. I received a message on Etsy asking me if I’d like to sell at the St. Berchmans Fall Festival and Craft Fair. While I was raised Catholic, I’ve been agnostic longer, so I admit I was a bit skeptical in taking part. I firmly believe it’s your right to have faith in whatever you choose, but I don’t have to agree with it. The Catholic church I went to through high school preached that practicing homosexuals were going to hell. A large part of the reason I left the church was when one of my best friends came out to me and I wrestled with the thought: “Why is it okay for me to pursue a partner and not okay for my friend to pursue hers?”  I decided not to let my experience with one church dictate my opinion of all Catholic churches, so I ended up doing the craft fair.

When I arrived to set up, I received offers from total strangers also selling if I’d like help carrying my stuff in. It was a welcome change from the usual big fairs I do where everyone’s eyes are on the prize and it’s rare that you are asked if you need help. I knew no one else selling at the fair, which is a rarity, but Lauren, currently of Swell Goods (and Cutie Cooties), happened to come in since it was in her neighborhood. Another friend stopped in and hung out for awhile. The fair was a little slow and few sold anything for the first three hours of the four hour long fair, but the last hour picked up and I ending up making a profit. In the mean time, I met some very nice fellow sellers and customers and had good conversations with them. I had one customer buy four toddler tees for her grandchildren without batting an eyelash. I believe that’s a new record for me on number of clothing items sold to one buyer. Below are some of my favorite sellers from the fair. One seller, K’s Kreations by Krystle Ansay, was selling beautiful ceramics, but does not have a website. There was also one woman there; Shannon Rohde, selling books from Usborne Books & More, which are all really unique and beautifully illustrated children’s books. A lot of the books had fun interactive parts for stimulating kid’s brains (think Pat the Bunny). I ended up buying one as a Christmas present for one of my friend’s children. I hope he likes it!

Light as a feather:
http://www.jakimac.com


Help kids GROW up:
http://www.growbook.org

It’s a bird, it’s a plane…it’s something cute!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/jdey

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Gifts for brew loving dudes & dudettes

October 21st, 2010

When I first met my boyfriend Zachary, I had maybe had the combined total of 2 beers in my life. As our dating matured, so did his taste for craft brews. Seeing how much he loved the stuff, I wondered if maybe there was something I was missing after the watery stuff I had consumed in the past. Turns out that I really like stouts; beers as black as night. There’s a craft beer explosion these days and, especially being a crafter, I am on board. Heck, my newest card is inspired by beer, but that will come next post. Here’s a round-up of a few things that a beer aficionado you know might like; a beer stocking that would be the perfect home for a Southern Tier Choklat this Christmas; vegan beer soap made in Chicago by my buddy Jack; and a shirt for beer snobs so they’ll look cool on their next brewery tour. Enjoy responsibly, of course.

Stalking the perfect stocking:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/15PiecesofFlair

Beer in the bathroom:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/EthicallyEngineered

Booze tees are better than band tees:
http://www.brewershirts.com

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Handmade Ceramic Owl by Spotted Owl Pottery

October 19th, 2010

Once in a blue moon I’ll go through Etsy’s Pounce feature, which allows you to check out items that just sold (good to see what people are buying) or brand new shops that have yet to have a sale. Usually looking at the new shops that have just opened does little for me, but these hooty hoos caught my eye. I know owls are such a cliche in the craft world, but I will always be fascinated by them. This ceramic artist has representations of many different types in soft and beautiful color ranges. It seems that he is updating his shop as I type this as new owls keep appearing. Make his day and give him his first sale. Owl bet that he’ll be popular on Etsy!

Hoo do you do?
http://www.etsy.com/shop/seandequeiroz

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Two Cement Artisans: DrCraze & Lulubugjewelry

October 18th, 2010

I promise to get back in the game and post at least once a week from here on out. It’s not that I haven’t been inspired by beautiful handmade items lately, because I have. I’ve just been very busy making Rhymes with Twee stuff and selling at craft shows and I had a bout of bronchitis gone wild. As always, I had THE best time at Crafty Bastards in Washington, DC. This year I split a table with my lovely friend Jessica of Miss Chief Shop. I feel like it’s probably not blogged about too much since it’s rather a taboo subject, but I feel like it’s important to note that we were waitlisted this year, but still made it in. It’s hard to be rejected or waitlisted, but it happens to all of us. I will not deny that my heart was broken that I didn’t immediately get into my hometown show for a fourth year, but I knew I could not to take it personally because there are a great number of factors that go into picking artistans for a craft show, especially one as small as Crafty Bastards. We were thrilled to make it in at the (rather) last minute. Will I apply again? Heck yes. For other fairs I have been rejected from, I tend to take the “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” route. This year it worked and I made it into one that I’d been rejected from twice or thrice before. So, don’t stop believing!

On to the eye candy! These artists who use concrete as their medium in the jewelry that they made are totally rocking my world. Both make extremely different styles, yet both are so appealing. DrCraze, based in Elephant Butte, New Mexico, makes simple but striking designs out of stainless steel. He then fills the designs with concrete and crushed or pulverized glass which has been recovered from local beaches. His last step is grounding the piece to smooth the finish so it’s ready to wear. Sue Urquhart (aka LuLu Bug Jewelry), of Santa Rosa, California, makes pieces out of Precious Metal Clay (PMC) and etched brass plates she makes to give the pieces texture. Also, her blog is just lovely. This hedgehog necklace is going on my Christmas wish list because it’s one of the cutest representations of a hedgie I’ve ever seen in necklace form.

Crazed for Concrete:
http://DrCraze.etsy.com

Bug on over to:
http://lulubugjewelry.etsy.com

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3D Bronze Tarsier Skull Pendant by Moon Raven Designs

April 22nd, 2010

I tend to stick to cute over here at the RWT: la de blog, but I am fascinated with this incredible 3D Bronze Tarsier Skull Pendant by Moon Raven Designs. Mike, residing in Brentwood Bay in British Columbia, Canada, casts his jewelry from the actual skulls, talons, teeth, claws, and other bony body parts of animals who died of natural causes. What results is art that is wearable and wondrous. Tarsiers are one of my very favorite animals and their skulls are very distinctive. Look at how huge the eye sockets are! If you don’t know what a tarsier is, then I advise you to go watch one of the many youtube videos of these adorable alien-like creatures right now.

Om nom noming to get you:
http://mrd74.etsy.com

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Milkshake 3 moo card necklace by 3squares

April 7th, 2010

Think of that scene in American Psycho. They thought it was the bee’s knees, but in reality, bone is boring! Moo MiniCards add little pops of color to that boring stack of business cards. If you’re a big fan of the cards, 3squares aka Jean from Raleigh, North Carolina has created a wearable way to network using them! This fashionable necklace holds 4 (or 8 if you upgrade to a larger spacer), so you no longer have to carry a business card holder! Plus, the moo card in front will peek through the cut out circles. These are also available with cut out squares. Wear your art on your neck!

Moove & shake:
http://3squares.etsy.com

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