this is a very sweet, dreamlike video about le ballon by gloglink. i love this!!!!
mike sieben's commercial
look at this great commercial by austin artist mike sieben. he is super talented and just about the nicest and most laid back guy you would ever meet. mike teamed up with adidas and created the graphics for a new shoe design. here's the commercial........
recycled handmade cards
these whimsical and incredibly clever cards were a gift from my best friend, trisha allen. she uses recycled and repurposed containers left over from household items to inspire and house her handmade cards. this "throw away" prescription bottle was given a new life with a brand new and personalized label. the handmade cards that resemble pills are tucked inside the container. these little guys are coolest cards ever. trish will soon have an etsy site at www.badfruit.etsy.com
HHHHHHhhhhay cupcake!!!
friday was cupcake day. me and my friend trish made about 80 cupcakes apiece for our friend's jade and robert's wedding party in austin. yeah!!! it was fun to spend some time in the kitchen....that hasn't happened much lately.
golden vanilla cupcakes:
ingredients:
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp. appled cider vinegar
1 1/4 all purpose flour
2 T cornstarch
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup of canola oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/4 vanilla extract
preheat oven 350.
wisk soy milk and vinegar and set aside for few minutes.
in large bowl blend sugar, oil and vanilla. add dry ingredients to wet, flour, conrstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until no large lumps remain.
fill cupcake liners almost to the top (more than the typical 2/3 full)......these cupcakes don't rise that much, but are oh so yummy!!!
bake for 22 minutes or until golden.
let cool then frost with white buttercream.
buttercream icing:
ingredients
1/2 cup of nonhydrogenated shortening
1/2 cup of nonhydrogenated margarine
5 cups of powdered sugar...sifted if clumpy, this will yield a much smoother icing free of lumps............if doesn't matter, then don't bother
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup of soymilk
beat shortening and margarine together until well combined. add sugar and beat another 3 minutes. add vanilla and soy milk and beat another 5-7 minutes until fluffy.
note: this recipe makes a vanilla cupcake that is fairly dense like a pound cake and super delish.
making these brought back so many bakery memories of decorating birthday and wedding cakes.........oh, how i miss that sugar shack :O) there were many a fun time at that place.
the recipes above are from the "vegan cupcakes take over the world" cookbook by isa chandra moskowitz and terry hope romero
this sweet plate with the subtle word "because" is a piece made by our great friend kirsten jacobsen.
uke
i've been trying to upload the little video of me attempting to play my brand spankin' new ukulele. chris bought it for me for our anniversary. i have been wanting one for a few months now and have just been putting it off. i'm really terrible at it but it is super fun with a side of frustration at times. i have been learning how to play "happy birthday to you" which is going pretty well, but forget about putting multiple fingers on different chords for the same note. i guess, my hands after setting stones and being scrunched up for the last ten years don't really want to spread out and dance alone :O) i guess a ton of practice and maybe a few lessons will push me along a bit. in the mean time, chris and i will continue to crack each other up with some really bad but way hilarious lyrics about each other and other funny stuff that we encounter everyday. thanks babe, for giving me something that will continue to broaden and continue our laugh track :O) laura freeman and her song "orange" off of her color wheel album is what inspired me to want a ukulele. she sang it for me at the handmade austin women show over the summer.
below is a picture of me giving "happy birthday" a whirl......
one of my favorite pics. of chris and i. we were on our way to sun valley, idaho for an art festival a couple summers ago. we decided it would be great to camp out of the back of our truck the whole way there and back. hahahahahaah!!! we did have a great time, but we haven't done that again since then :O) this photo was taken after i decided that i wanted to get in the back, stretch out and take a nap. boy, was i mistaken. this is not like back when i was seven and my sister and i would travel in the back of the truck with all of our cool new games mom and dad bought us, describe the images we saw in the paint splotches on the ceiling of the camper shell and nap to our little hearts content. nope, not the same gig. after about fifteen minutes of driving thru a little town thru all the stoplights i was completely over it. so i knocked on the glass, since the truck doesn't have the ever so handy sliding window that pops had and chris laughed at me......it was really funny!!!! happy 4th babe!!!
excuse me.......
since my return from ann arbor i have been feeling a bit uninspired, well more unmotivated....i have tons of stuff i would like to make but not much umpf to get me in there......not sure if it's knowing that i don't have any other big travel shows to venture to (unless i do one in new york in december) or if i'm just having trouble getting back into the studio groove. today was a day where nothing really went wrong but things just didn't feel quite right either (which usually just means i need to go to yoga). i typically struggle getting back in the studio swing after a big show so this is not new. so after a wheel spinning early studio day i really needed this laugh. i wanted to share the love. guess my jeans are lacking a little somethin' hahaha!!
image credit: rebelart
pass the doughnuts, grass, doughnuts
what the frick are these (insert more appropriate word). i had to post these crazy moeffers :O) the label on them reads "krispy kreme", "what gives"???? these could only be more hysterical if flowers were growing up between the big and second toe.
okay, apparently these are really being made and only available in london now and soon to go worldwide. my mom's friend janel looked into it and said that they will last up to four months but you have to take care of them, watering them and all. do you have to mow them too??
"sweet wishes"
i am a huge mark ryden fan. his work portrays a skewed twisted variety of childlike imagery of plushie pets, slabs of meat and youthful angelic subjects. i love the sweet composed with the odd and somewhat disturbing. enjoy his first ever children's book and movie "sweet wishes" by this international art icon.
a dee a doe....the wedding
a pic after the kick ball rehearsal dinner....chris (my hubby), dave, trish and jade (some of our best friends) jadie is the bride to be......
jadie, pre-wedding dress heading to the church with her sweet little parasol
the ushers....chris, zach and dave
trish and i fixing the wedding cake. when the band was testing there equipment the vibration of the floor made the ornament fall down the side. we patched it with some flowers and filled in some of the icing holes. all that decorating birthday and wedding cakes at mcarthur's in st. louis wasn't all for not.
the uber happy couple- robert and jade
dancin it up.....
carly...jade's sister and our super good friend was a singing diva that night. it was breath taking and a full on goose bump moment to hear her sing again.
erin working it on the dance floor with her backward bend. i am certain she is the most fun loving person i have ever met. she too is a metalsmith/jewelry designer and made robert's wedding ring. i have just gotten to know her a bit more recently and am looking forward to her moving back to austin so we can continue laughing.
she get's the best dip of the night award. all that bikram yoga comes in handy when you least expect it :O)
lions & tigers
and SLUGS, oh my!!!
i will openly admit that i am terrified of slugs, but my husband came from a visit with his folks yesterday with the june 2008 national geographic issue. they had an article featuring these fanciful & showy little ocean slugs called nudibranchs. these colorful slugs are a far cry from the slugs i grew up knowing and i love, love, love these little guys. just a reminder of the amazing beauty of the natural world around us. these little gems of the sea are sure to make you smile.......
watch this video about these incredible little creatures.
happy sunday :O)
langdon graves
i found this amazing artist on the fecalface.com website. her name is langdon graves......find more of her work at www.langdongraves.com
enjoy!!
thrift or bust...SVDP in st. louis
here's a pic of "my scores" at my all time favorite thrift store in st. louis. st. vincent de paul thrift store on forest park blvd. is the best.......i llllllove going there when i go home. that was my first stop in town after i dropped my mom off at work since she picked me up on her lunch break.......thanks ma!! she would have gone with me if she would have been off work (yep, i get it honestly...from my mom and dad both) i am loving this color family....grey, creme, peachpink.....yum!!! this could be my next triple pendant color family.
newsflash.....i love old luggage, old tupperware and anything peachypink and plasticky....the grey suitcase i needed for my booth display to put all my bags, pliers, receipt book and whatnots in for the show. the tupperware container, well i just couldn't resist...the pie slice tupperware container, come on!!!!!! and, the purse.....i picked up at first thinking it would make great pillow making materials for my "float" pillow earrings....sorry folks, i can't bear to cut into this gem.
sweet & swanky cup
our good friends from edwardsville (where chris and i went to school) rick dunn and kirsten jacobsen came down for the art of the pot tour as well. rick was one of the participating artist's this year. they both make incredible pots and it was a great time to hang out with them here in austin since they had never been before. you can find his contact info on the art of the pot website if you can't live without a swell mug like this one.
i couldn't :O) www.artofthepot.com
rick also made the lidded jar in the background of the carrot juice photo above. the one with the pale blue lid and terracotta colored bottom.
orange yum
my friend trish brought me a new delish smoothie last night. it was uber yummie and orange...personal perfection
here's the ingredients:
1 1/2 cup of peaches
1 1/2 cup of pineapple
4 carrots
1 inch piece of ginger
and blend it all up....cheers!!
the sweet little cups are from an artist named bernadette curran. i couldn't decide between the bunny and the lil' pig....so i got em both :O) her work is amazing not to mention she is about as sweet as they come. chris and i bought these from her during the art of the pot tour a couple weeks ago. the art of the pot tour is a really great thing that happens in austin on mother's day weekend. 4 local austin potter's open their studios featuring their work the work 0f 2-4 other invited national potter's to show and sell their work. the patron's can drive to each location and check out the studio, meet the artists and buy pots....it doesn't get any better than that!!! check out the details at www.artofthepot.com. if your in austin you can put it on your hit list for next year.