fox and sheep: tea time!

a hunt for the perfect coaster = failure

2010-09-04T16:28:00.000-07:00

Sooo... our old coasters for our living room coffee table are looking a bit... erm... under the weather.

[photo of our forlorn coasters coming soon]

While I love the letterpressed coasters from Sesame Press-- I'm ready for something new. While looking around, I found the perfect coasters for my boyfriend's new home studio/office-- but nothing that I really wanted for the living room. (Okay, I'm lying: I found thee most awesome coasters ever... only to discover that they were a limited edition run--and not for sale.) ::sigh::

I've decided to screenprint my own!! mwa-ha-ha!! Now I just need to find plain heavy-stock coasters... any ideas?

holiday dessert party countdown: 6 days

2009-12-13T22:28:00.000-08:00

For the past few years now I have thrown a black-tie holiday dessert party for my friends and family. It's something that my Auntie used to do--and it has always stuck out in my mind as one of the best parts of the holiday season. And if there's one thing I can do in this world: it's bake!

As much as I love throwing this party, the stress does get to me a bit. I'm always worried I will run out of time, or burn something, or make something too terrible to be consumed. I know that these fears are (so far) unfounded--but it doesn't stop me from being a nervous wreck for the entire week leading up to the party.

Here's the menu thus far:

Raspberry Almond & Rose Tart
Chocolate Ganache Tart
Chocolate Peppermint Cake
Lavender Shortbread
Hawaiian Pineapple & Coconut Tartlets
Raspberry Linzer Cookies
Spice Roll-Out Cookies
Mexican Wedding Cookies
Snickerdoodles
Meringue Stars (Vanilla, Chocolate, and Coffee flavored)
Homemade Chocolate & Pistachio Dipped Marshmallows
Earl Grey Chocolate Truffles
Cinnamon Vanilla Toasted Almonds

I am toying with the idea of a white chocolate and cranberry biscotti... but still haven't found a decent recipe. We'll see what else makes the cut in the following days.

Wish me luck!

PS: Do you know the story behind Cream of Tartar? I didn't until I looked it up tonight--it's pretty interesting, actually-- you should read this page!

baby steps...

2009-09-29T19:04:00.001-07:00

It's been way too long since I've done anything creative... so I'm thinking baby steps. I will start by making a table cloth for our kitchen table out of this new Ikea fabric that D. has had her eye on.

What's your latest project?

schmo-tech

2009-03-22T20:31:00.000-07:00

Trying to think of ways to get myself to create something more than just once in a blue moon when I happen to have a spare second and actually feel like creating something... I keep coming back to the miniature format... (I've always been fascinated by portrait miniatures.)

I had a professor at CCAC, right before I left, that had us do pieces on flash cards everyday, as a kind of exercise... I eventually moved to the ATC format size-- just because I liked the ratio better--but then I discovered that I didn't really care for 99% of what I got in return from the ATC trades I was involved in...

But who knows-- maybe I'll get back into it... see if there's anything out there that I want to trade for... in the meantime: here are a set of three (rather rushed) ATCs for the last trade I did (like, two years ago!).

illustrator

2009-01-21T17:20:00.000-08:00

Been playing around in Illustrator for the last month or so... actually had someone come by to show me a couple of tricks of the trade... (Since I know virtually nothing about Illustrator... despite knowing my way around Photoshop just fine.) ...Talk about totally different animal... it's been a challenge to wrap my head around working in this program-- but I am determined to get used to it and use it to my advantage. We shall see... ... ... more on this later.

For now: I just learned that Muxtape is dead, but viva 8tracks!

Also: you all should send snail mail love to a random stranger. (I miss postcardX...)

the hero is the artist?

2009-01-07T11:53:00.000-08:00

seems it's been difficult for me to do much in the way of creative stuff since my art school days... whereby I swore off anything to do with **any** art medium for a period of several months... or so it seems.

it's hard to get the motivation to do anything on the side when I have a full school schedule and work close to 40 hours a week... scratch that: I'm lazy. yes... I'll admit it: I'm lazy when I get home-- if I have a spare moment, I prefer to curl up on the couch with D. and watch something... or play Animal Crossing: City Folk (I'm addicted).

but I've been going back through the archive over at the small object and have been so inspired... then I got an email update from nut and bee... and feel so silly for being so lazy for so long. I have all the tools necessary for creating anything I want-- I just needed a push. (I'll admit that D. has been pushing me long and hard-- and buying me stuff to help me along the way.)

i'm ready.