NYC Blizzard. 12.26.2010. time: 2 am

Best venture home in New York City ever. 

No cars, no people, no drama— just Ashley & I and the snow.

LOVE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the neverending story

It's blizzarding out in New York City and I'm provoked by snow & Saga Sig's Neverending Story's current post of photos...

 Oh and I'm engaged!

paper santa & his friends

My sister came back from Sweden the other day with an early Christmas present for her little sis, me! She went to a shop called Grandpa and picked me up a little DIY project—an odd three dimensional paper doll kit of santa and his elves. They are so quirky yet endearing  that I had to share they with you.

Designed by Swede Simon Alexanderson, they come simply flatten out on a piece of paper. After some scissor action, a handy MS tape roller and bone folder, I whipped the little guys up. I love the way they look just printed on paper—of don't worry, I didn't cut up the original that came all the way from Sweden!

 For other paper crafts visit Upon a fold for inspiration.

The long thread did an excellent roundup of DIY printable paper projects.

And for more adorable Christmas creatures check out paper projects by mibo and to purchase mibo paper animals all year round look at the etsy shop!

I am loving the African animal set!
Merry Christmas everyone!

every little bit counts

I loved when my mom read me the giant turnip story when I was a kid. I giggled as the old man pulls and tugs on the turnip stem and it just won't come up. With the help of his whole family, including the little mouse, the root finally pops out! 

Everyone's help counts and can make a difference.

What are you passionate about? Give the most thoughtful gift this season instead of something material.

My Christmas List:

Fight Animal Cruelty

Help a Family in Need

Feed an Elephant

Sponsor a Child

Help Find a Cure & Save the Children

Restore Africa's Habitat & Save the Animals

Donate to Nature

Adopt a Polar Bear

Protect our Planet

Protect Human Rights

Help Save a Life

we got a tree

Christmas stresses me out and I just want it to go away. Ashley forced me out in the rain on Sunday to get a tree—he was in the Christmas spirit, caroling and tree trimming and I was the grinch. 

How many days till it's over?

Trying to get in the spirit before it's too late...

Help.

Pico is on youtube!

Canon has a great new line up of products out. All their PIXMA printers come with this awesome software that allows you to print stills from your HD video! I took a bunch of video of Pico and was able to get a ton of great pictures of her out of it! The best Christmas photos ever!!!

Time to upgrade to a new Canon Powershot that has HD video—hmmmm maybe the S95 perhaps.

A Pico Christmas

Pico and I had a little too much fun taking Christmas photos—what a good little parrot she is!

On Friday, on the Martha Show, I  will be sharing some good advice on how to capture that perfect shot—information you don't want to miss.

 

 

 

Gnome's magic mushroom necklace

I have wanted to make this necklace for a while now and I finally did—my little mushroom necklace! It was carved out of  a hard wax and then casted in metal. You can see in the picture below the real mushrooms in the background that hung out at my desk for inspiration. 

I am debuting them this weekend at the MS craft fair. They are sterling silver, some plain and some with poisonous red dots! The are being sold on an 18" chain and in a little specimen tin of moss—sweet and whimsical.

 

After the fair, I will see how many are left and put them in my etsy shop, so keep your eye out if you are into shrooming :)

Polar Bears

Since we don't craft enough, Hosanna, Kir, Figgy and I all stayed after work on Wednesday to continue to craft (and drink some vino). The others were putting together last minute touches on their projects for the fair and since I was kind of ahead of the gang, I developed a new craft! In a couple hours, I whipped up an army of polar bears, well about a dozen.

Each one is hand shaped from this awesome light-weight, air drying clay called DECO Clay. They all are holding a glittery snowball with a stack also beside them and are sitting on a little ice glacier. 

I hope that these "cool" creatures influence people to think about the troubled arctic ecosystem and the effects it has on polar bears and their homes. To learn more about polar bears and see how you can help, slide over to Polar Bear International. 

I hope to find a home for all 12 of these guys by tomorrow and maybe I will be able to adopt a polar bear myself!

making lip stain

I made some of my favorite lip balm for the craft sale Saturday because I've gotten unlimited requests for more. A while back I developed this concoction for the perfect lip stain lip balm for the Martha Show. I wanted to make it as natural/organic as possible and with few materials.

You start out melting beeswax in a pot that is in another pot of water—a double boiler.

Mix in a carrier oil, like an organic castor oil, vitamin E oil and the color. The color is the most interesting ingredient in this recipe. It is carmine. Carmine is the most natural of dyes, coming from a cochineal beetle! Nothing synthetic about that—kind of gross actually, but I like gross. I call it beetle juice!

You can get most of the ingredients to make lip gloss from tkb trading.

The lip balm tubes and helpful pouring trays are from SKS Bottle & Packaging. 

What's great about this tray is all the pour over can be re-melted and used again. It comes with a handy scraper to give each stick a clean flat top!

Once all the tubes have their caps sealed on, it is time for labels. I thought pretty paper was best, so when you pull it out of your purse, it is nice to look at. Smile :)

The decorative paper is cut down to size and clear packing tape is the perfect width to laminate the paper and stick it on!

$4 at the craft sale. Believe me, it is the best red lip stain ever!!!!

Good stocking stuffer.