Curious Bird

baby teeth

the photo above is of some fimo teeth I made and sold at the Crafternoon this past weekend. you wouldn't believe how many people said, "look, little tooth pins" while giving me this weird "why do you have little tooth pins?" look. It's true that I like birds, owls,  and various other woodland creatures, but it should be known, I also have a thing for teeth. It probably has something to do with all the nice memories of going to Dr. Bridges (my dentist) as a child and knowing that after the cleanings (and sometimes drillings), with all the gritty green paste and the spitting and rinsing, I would be sent to the treasure box conveniently located near the receptionist's desk. once I made it to the treasure box I was allowed to pick out a few treasures to take home and add to the my collection from six months earlier. And I must mention that this was a real treasure box, not just some cardboard number! it even had gemstones hot-glued on. looking back now, the treasures were pretty cheap and mostly just little plastic widgets, but honestly those little widgets probably made my dental trips bearable, and just may have something to do with my fondness for teeth in general. too bad I'm poor now and don't get to go to the dentist as often as back then. I suppose I wouldn't be allowed to dig around in a fancy treasure box at my age anyway...

here are a few links for ya.
for the sarcastic stationary enthusiast.
for the philadelphia skyline enthusiast.
and for further proof that I dig ships, and they don't have to be pirate ships either. viking ships will do just fine.
dried flowers usually aren't my thing. but who can resist billy buttons.

have a lovely day.

cupcakes and cocktails

thanks to an excellent Barefoot Contessa recipe I stumbled upon a couple of years ago, I have this thing for occasionally making carrot cake cupcakes. and I'm here to testify that these are not your average cupcakes. in my opinion, they are the best cupcakes, complete with billowy cream cheese frosting, walnuts, raisins, the works.  I suppose last night seemed like as good a night as any to make a couple dozen. yep, I said two dozen--I'm lousy at halving recipes. what the hell. 


remember a while back when I mentioned how Dustin was waiting to hear from PhD programs he had interviewed with?  well, as of yesterday, the ship came in and our future city has a name. I'll give you a hint: the brand most commonly used for making cream cheese frosting. get it?  oh joy! posted this a few days ago, too. I'm excited.

have a lovely last day of February. spring is on the way.

ta da!

wow, what a whirlwind these last few days have been--a lovely whirlwind, I might add. the spectacular crafternoon took place on saturday and boy was it, well, spectacular.  lots of talented crafters showed up with quite a variety of lovely handmade items, and the space we were in was really beautiful. oh, and the kicker for me was, I basically got to hang out with friends eating fancy treats and drinking coffee all afternoon while at the same time selling stuff I have so much fun creating. here are some shots from my scene at the crafternoon. also, a great big thank you to my boy Dustin for all the curiousbird display help he offered. he is quite handy when he's not being a mad scientist. quite handy indeed.



a closeup of my table. the shadowbox collages were a big hit, which made my day.
also, at the last minute (typical) I screen-printed some peacock cards, made a few wallets (also big sellers--none left) and crafted owl, tooth, and bluebird magnets (the kiddos loved these).


pillows galore.


I'm sure I'm scheming about trying to trade something...

the lovely laura was my neighbor and I think our tables looked fabulous together. we had fun and I was lucky to be gifted with not one, but two of her fantastic coloring books. thanks, laura.

okay, so that's the play-by-play. have a great day.

doin' a driveby

just passin' through to say I'm taking a little break for a few days to get ready for Spectacular Crafternoon which happens this coming saturday. honestly I can use a little computer break too--it's becoming somewhat of an issue. does anyone else have this problem? if so, do you just surrender to it or do you have creative ways of keeping your distance? I would love to know.

please don't stray too far because I will be back shortly with photos and the play by play.

be well,
leya

ps. julie, I got the package of goodies you sent. everything is awesome! and beware, I saved the return address so you never know what kind of surprise you might have in store...

the world is one big funhouse

Self Portrait Tuesday: All of Me
this shot was taken over the weekend when I found myself caught in a moment of wackiness. I decided to keep things sorta light for this SPT entry--it's a current mood thing, I suppose. so instead of posting a photo displaying my greasy hair and dark circles (this task wouldn't be hard), I decided to focus on my EYE. in all honesty this is perfect because I don't see so well these days and sooner or later I'm probably going to be sporting lenses of a similar thickness. I'm supposed to wear glasses all the time, but rarely do. I know this is just an aspect of my inherent stubbornness and I will one day be sorry, very sorry. I'm wearing my glasses now if that's any consolation...

below is a sneak peek at some stuff I finished this weekend, all of which is for the upcoming Spectacular Crafternoon.

shadow box collage in pinks and browns. ooh la la.

and for the mod lion enthusiast that already has one too many bags.

and now for a link or two. I told you I dig pirate ships.
wee wonderfuls has a new blog called thriftcraft . I'll be tuning in.

and a quick sidenote: please don't use my images without permission. karma is a boomerang, remember?
this statement (a little blunt, I know) was thrown in after discovering (through my statistics--handy aren't they) that someone was using my images as their own. not cool. I thought about taking it as a compliment, but decided against it.

have a lovely tuesday

trees of brown and white

this past weekend was super busy for me. the breakdown goes something like this: I worked; went to a birthday party; participated in a clothing swap; and tried to accomplish a few crafty list items (see below), which didn't quite happen as I had hoped. the Crafternoon is next Saturday and I'm getting really excited. I can't wait to post some photos and a little synopsis. once again, if you're in the area, you should swing on by.
here are a couple of photos of a tote bag I made yesterday. I mentioned my new favorite vintage fabric a few days back and here it is in bag form. I wish the photos told the story a little better. I'm going to put in up in the shop if any one is interested.



have a great monday.

three gals + current obsessions

the photo above shows off my new ladies. they were discovered last weekend and were made by someone named PH in '78. now they sit looking beautiful on my living room bookshelf. I'm scared now that I have three (I couldn't handle the thought of separating them) because isn't three of something a really good start to a collection? I think I will be in hot water if I start a kitschy bust collection now due to the fact that my clock and vintage animal planter collections are already out of control. there's probably no real worry to be had because how often do these come around anyway? yikes.

as promised a while back, I finally made some new mod lion bags (in brown). a few  couple of these are newly available in the plumage section .  and not only is the vintage lion fabric really sweet, but these bags are lined with a vintage chocolate brown polka dot fabric. just lovely.

a few days ago, I posted a little photo collage of mortimer and his new kitty crack toy. here's an update.

and now I leave you with some of my current obsessions. have yourself a sweet weekend.

pomegranate juice
modern world by Wolf Parade
silhouettes
tigerlillies and tulips
anti_factory sweaters
making weekly menus (they are never followed)
the forest leaves Japanese craft book
researching our next move
the greatest by Cat Power
Julie and Julia
shadowboxes
underwater plant life

is it obvious that I think about fabric a lot?

look at this fantastic fabric that came in my mailbox yesterday. I had never ordered from equilter before (I hadn't ordered fabric online ever to tell the truth), but I highly recommend this site if you're on a search for great fabric. especially if you're into making log cabin pillows or quilting in general. do you see the little owls on the patchwork one? I know it's dorky, but I love those little owls.

also, I don't know if this photo does it justice, but this is my new favorite vintage fabric find. I love the contrast of the brown and white trees, and think it will make a lovely bag. I also see some new pillows on the horizon...

and since I'm swooning over fabric, I thought I would show off a new tablecloth I whipped up this weekend. first, you should know that my kitchen is sadly dark all the time (the main reason for it being painted bright sunshine yellow) so photos in there will never be good, with or without a nikon D50. what's good about my kitchen is having a little eating booth--it comes in handy for playing pretend burger king--and now it's springy new tablecloth. the fabric is a vintage Waverly piece I found recently while thrifting.

flower power in a good way, wouldn't ya say?

okay, time to go.
wait. before I do, does anyone else find it freaky that when Dick Cheney shot his friend last weekend it wasn't that big of a deal because he is constantly followed by his own group of EMTs?
I can't get over the fact that our vice-president has his own EMT posse at all times...wow.

hearts and arrows

happy day after valentine's day. I hope your day was fun. I'm still recovering from a lovely thai dinner where we ordered wine and appetizers! talk about splurge.
if you haven't had som tom (papaya salad) in a while, I'm here to testify that you should find yourself a decent thai restaurant and have some. it's the best, and although I found myself getting tired of thai food while traveling for so long, I never tired of som tom. never.  also, if you live in the bay area, check out Thep Phanom in lower haight--it's one of my faves. yum.
D did really great with my gift. He gave me a funky necklace he picked up while on a recent trip to Portland. It is unlike anything I have and I like it a lot. very nice choice indeed. thanks for the assistance, tom. I'm jealous I didn't get to stroll Hawthorne with you guys.

here's the little gift package I put together for Dustin, minus the dried mango treats I added post photo. I did some craftin' and some orderin' this year. I purchased a couple of shirts from option-g, which he really liked. he's a tshirt kinda guy, and I think it's a pretty good sign he liked my choices because this morning he walked out the door wearing one. I'm pretty pleased about that.

have a great day.

a frizzy holly hobbie, that's me...

Self Portrait Tuesday: All of Me
I have a great deal of experience taking goofy photos, but I think this one might win first place for overall goofiest elementary school photo. back then, I had a serious love for holly hobbie, as most girls growing up in the late seventies/early eighties did, so that explains the dress.  also, I was a very willful (aka bossy) young lady and I liked to do my own thing, which I suppose could explain the sad little bow and the super frizzy hair, and possibly even the low-fi treatment given to my apron straps. one tied high, one tied low. But what on earth is the explanation for the look on my face? it appears that I might have just awaken from nap time (it should be against the law to have school pictures after nap time), so perhaps I wasn't quite on my smiley face game. yowsa. for more self portraits, go here.


and happy valentines day!