I’ve been checking out the etsy twitter team’s shop of the week – Jaybird Designs. Can I just say how much I absolutely love this shawl? It’s beautiful!
The etsy twitter team’s blog has more details about this lovely shop and I’m going to go admire this lovely shawl.
Edited: March 31st, 2009
UGH! Don’t you hate it when you have so many things you want to do and you *have* to wait to do them? I have so many thing I want to do but there’s no point because we’re moving soon. My husband’s last active day in the military is July 23 and he’ll be on terminal leave until October 21. He has to outprocess the base before he goes on terminal leave and part of that requires moving out of our house. Great and all but I can’t move for several months and yet I don’t want to *do* anything to this house because we’re moving soon.
Our new house will be bigger and our boys will have seperate rooms. They both have big ideas for their new rooms and I would love to be able to buy the things for their new rooms now, but we really don’t have any place to store stuff like that nor do I have a place to work on furniture. I keep finding great furniture pieces that I can’t buy yet because I have no where to store them until the move.
There’s just so much I want to do and I can’t do any of it right now. It sucks! I’m an impatient person and the waiting is just killing me.
Edited: March 30th, 2009
My aunt made this awesome cake (well… lots of them actually) for my dad’s wedding last year. Pineapple upside down cake is awesome and the only thing that makes it better is the addition of some rum. MMmm Pineapple upside down RUM cake is the best! Now I love to make food from scratch, but this cake required cake mix and since I *knew* it was a delicious cake, I didn’t want to mess with the recipe to make it from scratch. I’ll work on finding a from scratch one later, but for now I’ll share her recipe
Pineapple-Rum Upside Down Cake
Preheat oven to 350
6 Tbsp. butter
1//2 cup dark brown sugar
20 oz. can sliced
Pineapple (drained)
Maraschino cherries (halved)
Melt butter in 9″x13″ cake pan. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over butter. Arrange pineapple slices and cherries in pan
1 yellow cake mix (I use Duncan Heinz)
1 small package instant vanilla pudding
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup dark rum
Mix all ingredients in large bowl. Pour batter evenly over pineapple slices. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes until cake tests done with toothpick. Let stand for 5 minutes then invert on serving tray. Replace any pineapple that may have stuck in pan.
Glaze
1/2 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup dark rum
Melt butter, sugar, and rum in small pan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to boil and simmer for about 2 Minutes. Drizzle over warm cake.
(I used Malibu Rum and Bacardi Dark Rum in equal amounts to give a little coconut flavor. Can also add 1 cup flaked coconut to cake before baking for more coconut flavor if desired. Pineapple juice and rum permeate the cake and flavor improves with age.) This is a moist cake that keeps well.
Now I couldn’t let the boys eat this cake what with the rum glaze and all so we made pineapple upside down cupcakes and substituted orange juice for the rum. It kept it somewhat moist and was pretty good, but my youngest liked his stolen bits of the adult cake better. The small dog that learned how to hop on a chair and then on to the table also seemed to enjoy the leftover adult cake better than the cupcakes… incidentally, I’ll be getting new chairs for the table too because apparently the chairs with arms don’t slide in far enough and she jumps on them, worms her way up the chair and then on to the table… yeah. eww. No dogs on the table. Luckily she only ate leftover cake so I didn’t have to kill her.
To go with the cake, I give you Dad and Tammie’s Wedding Punch. This is also a good food item, but it can be a little dangerous depending on the alcohol you use. We got a little tipsy just taste testing to see if it was mixed properly… but it’s some wonderful punch even without the alcohol. I kept some alcohol free for the kids and they seemed to enjoy it.
frozen OJ
2 small (or 1 large) raspberry jello
1 big can pineapple juice
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
boil water, jello, sugar. Add pineapple juice, frozen oj, three cans of water. Put in freezer until slushy. Add 1 liter 7 up. Add Malibu rum and/or Vodka to taste.
Edited: March 30th, 2009
I thought I would wimp out on it, but I actually managed to get my tattoo done. I love it. It’s really tender to touch (I tried washing it just now) but that’ll be over soon. The underside of my wrist hurt something awful, especially the coloring on the orange tail feathers, but I love the way it turned out. The colors go well with my skin coloring too.
Incidentally, it’s really hard to take a good photo of your dominant hand when you have to use your other hand to hold the bulky camera.
Edited: March 26th, 2009
Tomorrow is my birthday… my golden birthday (when you turn as old as the day you were born) and for my golden birthday, I get to get a tattoo. I’ve wanted one for oh 5 or 6 years now and my cousin and sister both said they’d draw one for me so I’ve waited and waited and waited. I finally decided I’d waited enough and went in yesterday to a tattoo parlor to have them draw it.
My appointment is tomorrow at 1 and I’m ever so excited. I’m getting it on my wrist and I have bony wrists so I realize it’ll hurt a bit more than normal. I’m good with that though. I’d rather have it hurt like hell getting it done but have it be in the spot I want than compromise and get it somewhere I didn’t really want it.
I get to spend almost the whole day with my husband too because he’s taking a comp day for me. I’m not sure what we’re doing besides the tattoo, but I do know I’ll get to sleep in with him and that’s my favorite kind of morning!
We’re having a party Saturday and having pineapple upside down rum cake and wedding punch. Both of these are what my dad and his wife served at their wedding and I thought they were delicious. It’s my birthday so I get to have whatever I want and I want them. I have a small list of other foods we’re making to soak up the alcohol we’ll be drinking. It’s going to be a good birthday party I think because most of my favorite people will be there.
Edited: March 25th, 2009
The countdown until we’re no longer a military family continues. It’s only 122 days until my husband goes on terminal leave for about 3 months before he’s officially no longer military. It’s… frankly it’s exciting and scary at the same time. We’re totally done with the whole military thing and the year has really just flown by.
I wish I could discuss the next stage of our life more, but I’m not supposed to right now. Which blows because I suck at keeping secrets. In any case, I’m not worried about him getting out even with “the economy being what it is right now.” Fear of what *might* happen if you get out has got to be the worst reason for staying in a job that makes you unhappy.
So we’re looking forward to the future and counting the days. I get to have a party on the 28th for my birthday and then another party at the 90 days until he’s out mark. I also threw a 365 party to celebrate 365 days until he was out. And because I’m me… I’ll probably do one at the 60 day mark and the 30 day mark… it’ll be fun!
Edited: March 18th, 2009
I’m part of the “etsy twitter team” on etsy and we do a shop of the week where we promote one of our team members. This week belongs to Sharlyn Lauby, of Jewel Craft Designs. She creates some very lovely jewelry out of different mediums.
From Sharlyn’s profile on Etsy: “Sharlyn Lauby has been involved in the art world for over 20 years. She began her craft as a commercial artist, producing limited-edition serigraphs, etchings, and paper sculptures. The work was a lot of fun but incredibly messy (‘I always smelled like paint thinner!’)
Already recognized as a human resources expert, Sharlyn started Jewel Craft Designs to combine her love of art with her entrepreneurial spirit.
Sharlyn is a self-taught jewelry maker. Working out of her home studio, Sharlyn’s jewelry making is all about having fun and making other people happy with her works. Her jewelry and gifts are designed for everyday wear and enjoyment.”
This pearl choker is by far my favorite peice in her store right now.
Edited: March 16th, 2009
It’s been a rough week or two in the geek household what with most of us being sick off and on for the last couple weeks. My youngest was even sent home from school at one point and ended up having an ear infection. Fun times.
I didn’t get to create much during the last couple weeks, but I have some new things to show you. The first of which are the new glasses I’ve been talking about for who knows how long now. Not all the ideas have made it to cup form yet, but that’s because I ran out of glasses and had to wait for my supplier to get more. I have more now though and I’ve been having a blast painting them.
So I’ll show you the drinking glasses today. Shot glasses, plates, and one inch button products will have to wait for another posting
First up? Why the lovely geek love cups of course. Hand painted using foodsafe paint and fired so that they’re scratch resistant and dishwasher safe. These cups spell out “geek” and “love” in binary with the 0s replaced with hearts. Perfect for any geeky relationship.
I’ll update this post as more are listed. I feel a little drained. Perhaps I’m not as better as I thought?
Edited: March 16th, 2009
I’m slightly stressing because I want to put my best foot forward tomorrow but I also don’t want loads of inventory that doesn’t move. In an effort to calm myself, I did a mock up of my table and some of my products.
The table tomorrow will have a black table cloth and my sign will be done, but this is a mock up so it’s okay to have things I need to tweek.
This is the table over view. Most of it is really cheap things I found to display my items and then changed slightly so my stuff looked good. The black pinboard in the back will have a GEEK DETAILS sign on it by tomorrow. I’m crafting that tonight.
This box is something I found at the Salvation army. It kind of smells musty which is why there’s dryer sheets in it. I removed the mirror from the top and put some push pins in. I’ll be adding more later. The sign on it is what I’m using for all my price signs. The pinback buttons are divided up my topic (vampires, handmade, zombies, etc etc)
Those are the latest 1 inch magnets that will be in my store after this whole thing is over. We have some original designs by me and some recycled images as well. I’m pretty pleased with how they turned out.
This side isn’t done yet, but I’m working on it. I filled my hand painted glasses (which will also be in the store starting tomorrow) with tissue paper to show off the writing. The silver dish will have the other hair pins in it when they’re done. The record rack was spray painted and is now holding cards. The photo thing is silver and was a whole $3. I figured it was a good way to display some of my buttons to go along with the basket of them.
I still need to finish my business cards (I redesigned them) to add to the pile. Then I’ll be finishing up the “about me” page that I’m framing and sticking on the table. Why “about me?” Because it’ll let people know my stuff is HAND MADE by ME and that I do custom orders, my url, etc etc.
Under the table will have the excess product that is there for just in case. I’m going to go in this with the attitude that I’m going to sell out. And I really really hope I do because I’ve totaled it and that would be an awesome check to be able to give my son’s classmate. 100% of my profits are going to this charity event (I’m taking out supply costs, but not paying myself for my time) so I really truly hope that I sell everything out and can help this family out.
In the mean time, I’d love critiques on my table. Yes, it needs the finished sign and the table cloth (which is black). I’ll also sprinkle business cards around the table. Anything else you think I can do oh anonymous Internet reader?
Edited: March 5th, 2009
Wow, between being sick and trying to get things done in my store, I’ve been too busy to blog.
I bought a one inch button maker and it arrived last Friday. I have been designing some images for it and coming up with new/fun stuff to do with it. I have several I’ll be listing on artfire the next couple of days/weeks. Listing is on a back burner to creating.
See, there’s this little girl in my son’s kindergarten class that’s pretty sick. She goes to Children’s Mercy a lot now and is undergoing treatments for (i believe) lukemia. The school doesn’t give much info on what is actually wrong with her, just that they’ve explained to the kids in a way the kids will understand and what they’d like us to do.
One of those things they’re doing is a charity carnival for this girl’s family. There will be games, a bouncy castle, vendors, food, drink, etc., and the proceeds are to help pay the costs associated with her treatments. (It’s from 4 to 6 pm Friday March 6, if you’re in my area).
So what am I doing? Right now I am making stuff to sell at this event. The 1 inch button maker has been busy, I’ve made over 200 buttons today alone. Some of them are repeat designs, but I’m turning them in to magnets, buttons, keychains, zipper pulls, and rings. I’m also designing some child friendly buttons (because let’s face it, not all my stuff is okay for small children). Then I am working on some display units for my table, designing new business cards, etc etc the list goes on and on.
So I’m here. I’m just exceptionally busy right now and being sick off and on isn’t helping. What is helping? My youngest. He helps me cut out images and package buttons. He wants to help me sell them so that he can give the money to his friend and I think he’s just the sweetest little guy ever.
I have been keeping an ongoing list of things to make though and while some of them are long term goals, I am no doubt in my mind I’ll make them and they’ll sell well. After the charity event is figuring out my display for my booth at a local store. I don’t have my booth yet (i’m only number 4 on the list now though), but I’ll have it soon and I want to fill it up with super cool stuff.
Hopefully I can post photos tomorrow of some of the finished display units, packaging, and items. Until then, I’ve been working nonstop for 3 hours and my hands hurts. Time for bed
Edited: March 2nd, 2009
