sometimes the stuff I make is actually edible

I've been cooking a little more lately (yes, yes, I know I'm so lucky to have cohabitated with and subsequently married a guy who cooks and cooks well, even though he doesn't like to do it as often now that we no longer have the kind of time and freedom we did before we reproduced). Usually meals of the very fast and easy variety like pasta with Trader Joe's frozen sauce, but since I joined Weight Watchers (more months ago than I'd like to admit), I've tried out a few of their recipes as well, including the latest, shown above: mini butternut squash cheesecakes.  I don't have the small ramekins they suggest so I made about twice as many cheesecake bites instead and they came out pretty well (and this way they're about a point per bite!).  All each bite needs is a dollop of whipped cream, but that would kind of defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?  And it got me thinking, since I have enough cream cheese to make another batch, what other versions of cheesecake bites can I throw together?  Mash up some banana and use an Oreo crumb crust instead? Yum.

Android dude meets Android dudette

The gals over at Women With Droids contacted me a few weeks ago about participating in a series of giveaways they were planning with various Etsy sellers to build up interest in the relatively new blog. Initially, I thought, I don't know...Giveaways are free and all and I'm awfully busy at the moment...But then I took a look at their site and eventually one of the contributors suggested making a custom case with their "droidette" logo and colors and I was fully on board.

I had a great time making this case. I mean, I enjoy making the two versions of the phone cozy I sell in my shop (I've sold about 40 since adding them to the shop last fall) but I have to admit I do get a little bored with the little Android dude after awhile. The thing that keeps it interesting and fun are the different color combos buyers request. So to make a new version of the case to match this particular logo variation and colors was just the break I needed (especially since I'd just finished a bulk order of all black + lime green cases for Twitgift).

And the best part is, duh, it's free! You can find all the details on the blog.

fresh from the Makery: taming the wild beast that is The Yudu

As a regular reader of this blog may remember, I used to do a lot of screenprinting back in grad school. It's certainly possible to recreate the kind of setup I had at back at school here at home, but it takes a few resources that I don't readily have access to, namely space and a hacker's mentality. So when the YuDu screenprinting machine came out last year I was immediately jonesing to get my hands on one, despite mixed reviews. And let me tell you, the mixed reviews are pretty justified. But after several weeks and more money than I made on the order that prompted me to finally unbox the YuDu I received for my birthday last October, I feel a bit like I just broke the spirit of a wild stallion.

After skimming most of the Amazon reviews, I knew the included instructions and DVD were mostly useless. I didn't even look at the DVD but I will say the one-page pamphlet (only in pamphlet form because it's replicated in about half-a-dozen languages) seems useful as a visual reminder of the steps necessary to prep and print your design. I did, however, look at about a gazillion different blog posts and video tutorials online from folks like me working their way through the YuDu's steep learning curve. A couple of my favorites include Erin Bassett's blog and video tutorials, found here and here, and Journal Girl. I looked at so many tutorial videos and blog posts that I honestly can't recall every little tip I picked up but it does help to do some anecdotal research online before you begin. Let the YuDu trailblazers shorten the learning curve a bit!

So with the disclaimer that the YuDu is not exactly as easy as they'd like you to believe, here's what I found to work for me. As just about every blogger and reviewer has complained the hardest part about YuDu is applying the emulsion sheets just right. If you don't know much about screenprinting, let me break it down for you this way. Basically, YuDu wants you to bend the laws of physics and will lead you to believe that this is a laughably easy thing to do. It's not. They've created the emulsion sheets so that you don't have to deal with the mess of liquid emulsion, from adding the sensitizer to applying a thin layer of the stuff to your screen using a scoop-coater. We had a whole room for this part of the process back in grad school. So that's cool. But now you're trying to do something in solid form that's ideally applied as a liquid. The way you do this is with the magic of water, but just how much water is on your screen is the difference between you turning into a frustrated sobbing mess (okay, if you're not a sleep-deprived parent of a young toddler, maybe it won't be that bad) and happily printing your t-shirts and what-have-you.

The official instructions are to wet your screen so that it's damp but not dripping. What I found to work, after removing emulsion from one of the first three failed attempts, was to sort of pat my recently rinsed screen with a paper towel. Any drippy bits will make your emulsion run and where it runs it won't "burn" the image properly, but if it's too dry the more or less solid emulsion goo won't work its way into the itty-bitty holes of your screen's mesh. So once your screen is damp but not drippy I found that it helped to run a wet (again, not super duper drippy wet but wet enough to get water in each and every hole) sponge over both sides of the screen. Right after you do this, pull a sheet of emulsion out and lay it, tacky side down, shiny side up, on the side of the screen where the mesh is flush with the metal frame. I started at the top and let the emulsion kind of work its way down. Use the "squeegee" (I put this in quotes because I have to be a snob on this point...I'll talk more about this later but do yourself a favor and get a real squeegee at your local art store or online) to sort of smooth/flatten the sheet of emulsion. You can take a look at the other side of your screen to check for any webbing or areas where the emulsion is not attached properly. If you need to do some spot treatment, I found that using a fine-mist spray bottle sparingly over the problem area helped (spray on the underside, followed by another smoothing over with the squeegee on the top, where your emulsion is protected with a sheet of acetate). But again, use caution because if you're too generous with the spray bottle, as I was during one of my first failed attempts, the emulsion will run and your image won't burn properly. One of the best tips I got from Journal Girl, above, is to put the screen in the drying rack shiny side down. And let it dry for at least three cycles. Some folks recommend speeding up this process with a hair dryer but I found this to be unsuccessful because the air moved around the drops on my too-wet screen and caused the emulsion to, you guessed it, run.

During one of my first three attempts at mastering the art of emulsion application I got enough of my design to burn to do a test print, which led me to the realization (something I should have already known from three years of grad school) that the 110 mesh screen that comes with the YuDu machine wasn't going to be fine enough to print text (turns out legibility is kind of an essential quality in a wedding invitation). So I took about a week off from YuDu learning curve anxiety while I waited for a 220 mesh screen to arrive. If you're doing anything with fine detail, do yourself a favor and get a 220 mesh screen. Don't even bother with the 110; reserve that for larger, bolder graphics as I plan to do with the two screens I have.

Another thing that I remembered from grad school while waiting for the 220 mesh screen was that we'd always "de-grease" a new screen before applying emulsion for the first time. So I gave this a whirl, applying a tiny drop of dishsoap (I think we used laundry detergent in grad school but I'm not sure it matters) to my new screen and rinsing that out thoroughly since I wanted it to be wet anyway. And who knows if it was coincidence (third time's a charm?) but this go-round I applied the sheet of emulsion to my screen no problem, other than a couple of small glitches around the edges. I left it in the drawer for three dry cycles before I even took a look and sure enough, the acetate came off without any problems (if you start to peel the acetate away and it sticks at all, stop what you're doing and put your screen back in the dryer for another cycle, otherwise you could tear your emulsion).

While my screen was drying, of course, I had plenty of time to get the transparency I'd had printed for awhile (first at Kinko's since my old printer wouldn't print transparencies then a revised version on my new inkjet printer, tweaking the font a bit to optimize printing results) on the light table. Burning the screen was pretty straight-forward: once emulsion is dry remove acetate, place screen on posts emulsion-side down, place t-shirt platen on platen posts felt side down, add about 5 pounds (I added a two-pound weight to my box of YuDu supplies and ink and that seemed to do the trick) to the top of the t-shirt platen and hit the expose button. I let it go the entire 8 minutes although I have read that you may want to dial down the exposure a bit to pick up finer detail. I may try this with any future text-based projects.

When the 8 minutes is up, remove your screen from the YuDu machine and immediately rinse it with cool water. The emulsion blocked from the light by the design on your transparency should rinse away; I found it was necessary to gently rub the screen to get the emulsion goo to really budge and wash through. You want all the emulsion out, of course, so your ink can pass through. Having mastered the art of emulsion application, you'd think my journey to success was through. But wait, there's more. After rinsing and yet again waiting a bit for my screen to dry, I taped off the areas between the emulsion and the frame and eagerly set out to pull a solid print. Unfortunately, I found YuDu inks straight out of the bottle to be too thick to pass through the finer holes of the 220 mesh, prompting a trip to the art store to purchase a different brand of screenprinting ink, some extender, and a proper squeegee.

Here's my squeegee post printing.  You can see that I used a plastic palette knife (you can find these in the painting section) to mix my ink and reclaim it during and after printing (the ink builds up on the squeegee so it's helpful to scrape it off every couple of prints and apply it right back on your screen).

Using my new squeegee and Versatex ink yielded pretty good results, not exactly what I was looking for but way better than anything I'd printed on the YuDu thus far. Unfortunately, the silver I was able to find on short notice wasn't quite the silver I'd promised my client so I tried again adding a bit of extender (probably about 3 parts YuDu ink to 1 part extender, roughly - I basically just aimed to copy the viscosity of the Versatex ink). You can find these little plastic containers in just about any art or craft supply store so that you can mix and save enough ink for an entire print run.

YuDu ink + extender + new squeegee = success!

I don't recommend using a fruit bowl or kitchen counter as a drying rack, but sometimes your options are limited.  Limited drying space aside, I also noticed the screen was getting a bit over-flooded with ink after about a dozen prints.  Fortunately, this was a small order so I was able to print about double what I actually needed before I had to call it quits and rinse my screen out, but I would imagine, especially considering how long it seems to take the screen to dry each time, that this will get annoying on future orders.  It happens with any style of screenprinting but I definitely got more than a dozen prints from the screens and setup I had in grad school.

And the finished product?

I figure if I can print wedding invitations with this thing (not exactly what it was designed to do), I can print just about anything....Right??

fresh from the Makery: something to do with orange glitter

I received a little bag of orange glitter (among a number of other goodies) from the wonderful and generous folks over at the Fiskateers blog for doing the orange slice tutorial a couple of months ago and have been wanting to do something with it ever since.  I love glitter.  In fact, I love glitter so much I included it my MFA thesis project. Seriously. But I've been having the hardest time coming up with a project, partly due to lack of time, but mostly due to lack of ideas.  I thought about making cards or stationery of some sort, as I almost always initially do, but opted for this probably mostly pointless little gift box instead.

I needed a break from design work I was doing for my other shop and decided to experiment.  I applied glue to the bottom and sides of the inside of the box (like greasing a cake pan) and poured the glitter in, coating every nook and cranny and dumping the excess out.  It seems like an inside-out box to me so I liked the idea of putting green felt on the top (like how West Elm stores grow grass on their rooftops) and then trimmed the lid with some turquoise Easter ribbon I picked up at Michael's recently.

I'm not sure what you'd put in this little box.  I'd hesitate to put anything edible in it. Maybe marbles, if your kid's into that kind of thing. Or quarters. I know some families have the whole money in the egg tradition.  Or, as I write in the listing, maybe the orange glitter is enough?

be mine

Fan, that is.  Just in time for Valentine's Day (you'd think I might have come up with a few projects for v-day but, no...), I've gone and created a Facebook fan page for the Makery.  Yep, another outlet for obsessing over shop stats of one kind or another.  I'm hoping having the page will motivate me to resume the project on a more regular basis.  And maybe I'll think up some sort of FB-fans-only promotion at some point.  We'll see how it works out.

So what have I been up to since showing off my handmade Christmas cards, anyway?  Mostly getting through the transition from full-time stay-at-home-mom to having part-time daycare in place, which you can read about in greater detail here, if you're into that kind of thing (the baby blog is called "baby lust," which is ironic because I mostly use it to complain about how difficult motherhood is).  Maintaining my two Etsy shops (my life involves two materials lately, paper and felt) keeps me busy enough during the three days each week I now have to myself.  I'm not exactly in line to be Etsy's next featured seller or anything but I'm very happy for the increase in business the past few months.  So don't take this the wrong way when I say it's brought on a bit of an art identity crisis.  I guess it's just strange that the most beneficial portion of my four years spent in Boston (two cross-country moves and one very expensive MFA degree later, not to mention the three years of endless stress and constant second-guessing that going to art school entails) may prove to be the one-year part-time gig in retail (high-end lifestyle boutique-y retail, but still).  Obviously my satisfaction with what I'm doing with my life is more important than constantly trying to justify the necessity of the degree I sometimes feel like I sacrificed so much to attain (and more and more often lately question why), but it's a hard thing to let go, which might explain why I've embarked on a second round of teaching gig applications for next fall, knowing full well that I'm probably not at all qualified for the mostly tenure-track positions I'm seeing.  Sometimes I feel like I've finally found my people in the craft community (and let's not even get into the ongoing debate about art versus craft) and love the kind of feedback I receive (and getting paid for my goods and services ain't bad either).  Other times I really miss the academic art world, the environment and energy of a college or university, and the kinds of odd digressions that a "conversation piece" can produce during an evening critique.  Having a child was, of course, the most amazing and wonderful experience of my life so far but coupled with the economic recession, was also followed by probably the lowest point in my life professionally speaking.  I feel like things are finally bouncing back (no pun intended) but I also feel like my "professional" future is really uncertain.  I guess I still don't really know what I want to be when I grow up.  We'll see how the next six months play out...

Wow, for a post that began with the simple aim of a little shameless self-promotion, that got a little deep.  Time to stop writing and start making stuff!

fresh from the Makery: a belated happy holidays!

My holiday greeting to you, like my cards this year, is late.  I made my cards, I think for the first time ever, which is hard for me to believe considering I've spent most of the past dozen or so years making art and stuff and selling paper goods in some capacity.  It's kind of like going for a manicure, I guess - the manicurist never has time to do her own nails, you know?

But not this year.  This year, of all years (trying to essentially launch a business while caring for a budding toddler full-time is no easy feat - lots of folks do it, I'm sure, but not me, at least, not gracefully), I decided to make my own, mainly because I spied these stickers standing in the check-out line at Michael's.

Pink on a Christmas card!

I used the sticker as the envelope seal and the rest of the design of the card came from this small detail, including the palette - chartreuse, turquoise, and red - to the illustration used on the front (vintage ornament silhouettes, of course)...

 ...and the flashy red paper used for the envelope liner.

Here's to an equally sparkly 2010!

vote for me!

After voting for someone else's project, I figured what the heck, right?  I have a few holiday projects under my belt, after all.  So I submitted my Mother's Cookies Holiday Circus Animal ornaments to the Michael's Handmade Holidays contest.

You can rate all the projects that have been submitted to the site (click here to rate mine!). Up for grabs are Michael's gift cards each week and a grand prize that involves a trip to New York City to see the Martha Stewart show (including an unofficial detour to the Doughnut Plant...yum).

So you should vote for me...I don't get out much (evidenced by the fact that I make animal cookies out of felt).

orange is the new red & green

Thanks to regular reader and "Fiskateer" Kimberlee, aka Java Diva, one of the lead Fiskateers, Angela, contacted me a few days ago about being a guest blogger on their site. I was honored to have been asked and got to work right away on this candied orange slice ornament (orange is their thing, you know, as in the orange handles on Fiskars products, and I've been wanting to do a candied orange slice project with the French embroidered knots I've been obsessed with lately, and the project seemed timely, what with the whole citrus at Christmas tradition...). You can read more here.

I'm not giving this one away, or putting it up for sale in my Etsy shop. Nope, I think I'll add it to my own tree that we plan to get and decorate next weekend (which means Christmas is less than three weeks away...WHAT?!).

Now back to the online Christmas shopping and making cards...

fresh from the Makery: Mothers Cookies Holiday Circus Animals Ornaments

I know I wrote in the last Makery post that I wouldn't have another project to share until next Monday, but here I am, trying something different for a change and posting early instead of late. Don't get used to it, dear readers.

I started my holiday shopping list this weekend, browsing Etsy and other sites (yes, I aim to do as much of my shopping online as possible), and as usual, in addition to getting just a few ideas for the folks on my list, I came up with far more in the way of things I want for myself and project ideas, including Christmas-y stuff. In addition, during my latest trip to Target I spied the holiday edition Mothers Cookies frosted circus animals! They're different than what I remember - all white with red and green sprinkles, instead of a mix of red, green, and white frosted cookies - but even so gave me the idea for this week's project, a set of three felt cookie ornaments to add a little sugar to your tree.

Nom nom nom.  You can get a set for yourself for just twelve bucks!  In addition, I'll be offering the two winners of the cookie giveaway (winners to be announced by Wednesday this week) their choice of the pink and white cookie cards, as originally promised, or two of these ornaments.  I can also make these holiday edition "cookies" into greeting cards.  And there's still time to enter the giveaway - leave a comment on this post if you're interested.

It's felt-only cookies for me from now on, my friends. I'm vowing to get back to my diet 100% between now and Thanksgiving, when let's just say I won't be counting points...

fresh from the Makery: Mother's Cookies Scavenger Hunt

This week's "project" is actually a giveaway of a previous Makery project timed in conjunction with the Mother's Cookies Comeback Celebration. If you're a regular reader you know from the many posts inspired by the company's products in one way or another that I'm a fan. So of course I agreed to participate when contacted about the virtual celebration and related "scavenger hunt", especially when I learned it would involve receiving four free bags of cookies, two to keep, and two to giveaway (and seeing as how I joined Weight Watchers just a few weeks ago, I definitely can't keep all four bags myself!).  Between October 27th (that's today!) and November 10th, frosted circus animal junkies like myself will be featuring banners like the one you see to the right that you can click on to go to a cookie collection page where you can see how many cookies you've found and how many more you need to collect in order to receive a coupon for your next bag of Mother's cookies. Sweet!

To help get the party started, I'll be giving away two bags of cookies to two lucky readers (one each). Each bag will arrive with a free set of two of my 'homage to Mother's Cookies' notecards (one with pink "frosting", one with white, similar to the cards in the image above). If you'd like to participate, just leave me a comment to that effect on this post as well as your email address, if it's not included in your profile, so that I can contact you if your name is one of two I'll randomly select on Wednesday, November 11th.

The Makery will return to its regularly scheduled programming on Monday, November 16th.

Google Android Phone Case Version 2.0

To date, I've sold four of the Android phone cases I blogged about a couple of weeks ago. How cool is that?! Two of my recent sales were actually for version 2.0, so to speak, which I "mocked up" after a prospective customer "convo"-ed me about adding a few more features, namely a second, interior accessory pocket, a top tab velcro closure, and a metal D-hook attached to the side for car keys or a swivel hook/strap combo of some sort.

There's only so much you can do with felt and blanket stitch and the fact that these are completely handmade (I do have a sewing machine but I haven't used it regularly for almost 20 years), but I'm pretty happy with the revised version.  Ironically that customer has yet to buy one but two other customers seemed equally fond of the added features.  So it's all good.

The original phone case is still available, of course (just packaged the custom green and magenta case pictured above), and received a little love from this blog and this one ("an Android for grandma"!) a couple of days after I originally listed it, probably thanks to Neal tweeting about it and one of his followers re-tweeting it.  Not exactly going viral or anything, but I'm glad my little Android dude is getting some love.

By the way, the Makery will be a day late again this week, but this time it's not my fault. The "event" this week's "project" coincides with doesn't start until the 27th. Check back then for a true giveaway, times 2!

fresh from the Makery: mmm, cookies

Sadly, folks, I got nothin'. Last week was the week of inquiries into both Etsy shops (and I sold a cozy!) and I'm still catching my breath. Which makes it sound more impressive than it is. When most of your day is occupied by feeding, entertaining, and wiping the bottom of a cranky toddler, it doesn't take much to disrupt what you've learned to accept as normalcy over the past 16 months. Getting only six or seven hours of sleep each night catches up with you real quick. But I promise I'll make it up to you with next week's post, which will involve a partly edible giveaway for not one, but TWO lucky readers to enjoy.

Stay tuned!

fresh from the Makery: because Androids need cozies, too!

I'm a day late, but (not to toot my own horn or anything) I'm pretty pleased with this week's project - a phone case for all the other mobile device users out there (yep, that's right folks...there are gadgets made by companies other than Apple).

It was Neal's idea to make a phone cozy for his T-Mobile G1 (a bit longer and significantly chunkier than the iPhone), complete with a little green felt Android Robot stitched onto an accessory pocket on the front.  The example shown here and listed in my shop is actually the second version I made, not totally satisfied with the original prototype, which is now in the care of a certain 15 month old.

I used embroidered French knots for the eyes, of course, and learned the lovely blanket stitch for the edge.

Here's a shot of the cozy, in action:

Why is making cute (and occasinally, though not in this case, edible) stuff with felt and thread so satisfying?  It's a mystery I continue to try to unravel...

fresh from the Makery: Mothers Cookies Coffee Cozy

I've been wanting to do more with felt material in general (especially considering I still have quite a bit of the tan felt leftover from those DIY cat carrier covers) and with the theme of food in particular. I'm not sure why felt lends itself so well to making fake food, but I know I'm not alone in the discovery of this perfect pairing. I've also wanted to do more with the "frosted" circus animals that can be found so far primarily on paper products. Since I've already made one reusable coffee cozy/cuff/sleeve, putting the two together seemed like a perfect fit.

This week's project uses up a bit of the tan felt, along with a layer of pink on the inside, and features a "parade" of four animal cookies in alternating pink and white marching around the outside. And when you're not using it on a to-go cup of coffee or tea, you can wear it as a bracelet!

Okay, that last image is mostly a joke, but you could theoretically wear it as a bracelet on your way to your local caffeine fix.  And as I write in the Etsy listing, where for only twelve bucks you can purchase your very own handmade Mothers Cookies coffee cozy, this reusable sleeve is not only eco-friendly but also easy on your diet.  I don't know about you but I'm always tempted to get some sort of baked good to go with my already unnecessary enough (unnecessary in terms of caffeine and calories, but totally necessary for my sanity) vanilla latte (from Peets, naturally).  Maybe if I use this thing I'll be better able to resist that temptation.

fresh from the Makery: Britney Spears ornaments

The Makery is back!  And how fitting that I should choose to use up some mysteriously acquired Britney Spears stickers for my comeback project, no?

As often happens lately, I'm not 100% satisfied with the final product.  I think in order for these to work as ornaments, they should perhaps be round.  As is they look more like bookmarks, which was my original idea but later decided Christmas tree ornaments made way more sense.  Rounder and shinier.  But as is, in addition to stickers of Brit on the front and back, they include a hand-embroiderd heart outline around her face:

...and a red gemstone used to dot the "i":

The stickers I discovered during our recent cross-country move (the primary reason for the Makery's several months long hiatus).  I can't recall if I bought these myself or if they were some sort of gag gift (I remember Neal sent me the CD of her second album while I was participating in a work exchange program one summer in France...I swore it was a gag gift but secretly listened to that CD all summer), but either way they seemed fitting material to use for the Makery's comeback project.  Britney is making a comeback, right?

I have enough stickers to make ten of these and may continue tweaking them.  But for the time being, I'll be giving one away here, and the rest will be available for purchase in my other Etsy shop.  Need to add a little Britney to your Christmas tree? Leave me a comment on this post and I'll add your name to the drawing at the end of the week.

C'mon, you know you want to.

Mother's Cookies are back!

See what happens when I create a separate blog for the only thing I've been blogging about lately? But I've been thinking about blogging about all sorts of stuff.  If only I could blog directly from my brain, you know? Like on the way home from Target today, I could have blogged about the Mother's Cookies frosted circus animal cookies I was sampling right there in the car.  I'd heard rumors that Kellogg's had indeed resumed making the tasty little critters but had yet to spy them in any stores.  Despite a ridiculous sweet tooth, I guess I don't actually wander down the cookie aisle all that frequently.  But lo and behold, there they were.  You can read more about how learning about the company's demise last year led me first to make these cards for the Makery, which I shortly thereafter redesigned for sale in my Etsy shop, which I eventually tweaked a third time and that's the version I offer now.

I forget how I landed on this blog, but I like her comparison, especially the response of her 3 year old daughter (she happened to have a bag of the Halloween version, produced by the Oakland-based company before they went out of business...seeing the Halloween version, which was not, sadly, for sale at Target today, inspired these cards...okay, no more plugs, promise!). 

I agree that the new cookie seems crunchier, but otherwise I enjoyed them as much as I remember enjoying the old version.  On the one hand, I don't have a bag of the original cookies to compare.  On the other hand, maybe I'm just not as picky as Mary Cooks and her crew and/or maybe they weren't addicted to these cookies in the first place.  That said, I probably shouldn't plan on buying/eating this new version too often.  But I'm happy to have the option!

Mother's Cookies Notecards - Halloween Edition

With the four Halloween items added to my shop during the last couple of weeks of August, I thought I was all set for the official start to the holiday season...until I remembered that Mother's Cookies always produced a Halloween version of their irresistible frosted circus animals around this time each year. Since I had some orange felt on hand, I decide to make a Halloween version of my "homage to Mother's Cookies" folded notecards:

And of course, you can still find the classic pink and white version here. I'm working on a custom order of five of these little notes (and five of the embroidered felt donut cards) for a friend. I don't know what it is about those embroidered French knots - I never get tired of making them! After polishing off a dozen donuts from Peterson's Donut Corner with my husband over the last couple of days (picked up on our way home from a short visit to Escondido), I figure making felt versions of cookies and donuts is a huge improvement for my diet!

early bird Halloween weekend deal

For the Labor Day holiday weekend only, now through Monday, September 7th, I'm offering 20% off all Halloween items - stock up early!  I have two items in the shop now with a couple more on the way today and tomorrow.  First up is a set of 5 "trick or treat" mini notes in green, purple, and black, with a black cat motif - use them as calling cards at that Halloween bash or as gift enclosures:

Also on sale are these candy corn cards, part of the Knotty French series (using felt and embroidered French knots to create a diet-friendly version of the classic Halloween treat that you can send to a friend):

Enter "weekend deal" in your message to seller upon checkout and the discount will be refunded to you via PayPal.  And check back here for updates on additional Halloween items on sale over the next couple of days!

take that, Whole Foods

One of many things I prefer about the Bay Area over Boston is the produce. Now, before I get all smug in a way only Northern Californians can be, I will say that the Boston area does offer an increasing number of CSAs (community supported agriculture) and farmers' markets but only during the "growing season," i.e. the three or four months of summer. And they fill up fast. We started getting weekly boxes o' veggies (and a little fruit) last time we lived in Oakland from Full Belly Farm, but only a few months before we packed up and moved to Boston. When we got to Boston and looked into it the list for the following summer was, I believe, already full. After that we quickly got used to supplementing limited seasonal offerings with frozen staples like broccoli and green beans. But now that we're back, we've renewed our relationship with the Farm and the honeymoon is not yet over. We already have way more onions than we can use but otherwise we've been doing a pretty good job each week at incorporating whatever we get in our box into that week's menu. Having an addition to the family who loves melon certainly helps.

fresh from the Makery: in honor of my feline friend

The Makery is back.


Up for grabs this week are, I'll admit, the leftovers from a project I put together for my Etsy shop, a sister product, if you will, to the last installment of the Makery, before things got crazy with project move. I have three mini punches and wanted to create mini notes around each one. I posted the seahorse notes today and didn't plan on putting the pink cat version together right away but decided the project would be good distraction from the sad news this morning that my childhood kitty went to kitty cat heaven around midnight last night.


Ozzy (or "Ozzie" as everyone else always spelled his name...I don't think he really cared either way) was a cool cat. He was my 15th birthday present, a birthday I celebrated when we lived in Bedford, England, about an hour or so north of London. I remember we got him from a farm - he was the only tabby out of a litter of black kittens and it was love at first sight. But he was also, apparently, the runt of the litter and when we took him to the vet a few days after we got him home, clearly not doing so well, the vet warned my Dad to not let me get attached since she really didn't think he'd make it. Obviously, we nursed him back to health, an experience that had me convinced I wanted to be a vet until well into college. He went from being able to fit on my shoulder under an oversized flannel shirt I'd wear around the house (this was the early 90s after all) to being the longest, sturdiest domestic cat I've ever met, usually weighing in at a trim 16 pounds as a full-grown cat. In fact, I'm still convinced he was part European Wildcat. He moved with us from England to Germany, where he spent his only time as an indoor cat, and back to the States with me when I graduated from high school. Once my Dad moved back it made more sense for him to be with the more settled member of our family and they've been best buds over the past decade. He lived a good, long life and I haven't been around him consistently for quite some time, but that doesn't make me feel any better about his passing.

Anyway...in honor of Ozzy I wanted to use this little cat punch I have that's just about the same size as the seahorse punch I used for the mini thank you notes. I decided the cat cards would be simple hellos instead of thank yous. There are a couple of sets in the shop and up for grabs here are the four or five notes that didn't make the cut (they look fine, just a spot here and there where the adhesive didn't lay perfectly flat and they don't come with the little green envelopes, but hey, they're free). If you like what you see, you know what to do. And if you don't win the giveaway, which will be announced at the end of the week, you can get a set of three for a mere three bucks at the ol' Etsy shop.

I can't promise that the Makery is back in any consistent or consistently free way but I hope to start making stuff again on a regular basis. I've added beige felt and Britney Spears stickers to my craft supplies and of course now that I'm back in the Bay, I can always swing by the East Bay Depot for Creative Use for inspiration and materials. Love (and missed!) that place.

Here's to you, Oz. You'll be missed, cool cat...