2012 Week 3: Let’s eat some greenery

Posted on by
Reply

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.

2012 Week 2: Hedgehodgepodge

Posted on by
Reply

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.

2011, we hardly knew ye.

Posted on by
Reply


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.

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

Posted on by
Reply

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!

Newness is goodness.

Posted on by
Reply

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

Gifts for brew loving dudes & dudettes

Posted on by
Reply

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

Handmade Ceramic Owl by Spotted Owl Pottery

Posted on by
Reply

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