After four other failed attempts I think I found what I was looking for. I present to you, the Froggie demitasse and plate! I do plan to make the leaf a little bigger to better hold biscuits/cookies, but otherwise I am pretty happy with it. I thank Veris for the idea - thank you! He suggested lilly pads.

updated while:
listening to the church bells chime 6 o'clock.

My long time friend was married this past weekend. It was a lovely day and a very nice ceremony. It was good to see her again and to meet the husband.
Plus she got to meet my special someone. And everyone was shocked that I got my haircut so short. It is my new summer do, it shows off all the random shades of brown in my hair.

updated while:
thinking about tutus...for no real good reason

Hello! I have created a mini flash show of my current Apple Prints

updated while:
thinking about my website and how to make the most of it.

Hello! I have finally put the flash drawn things online. You can now look around at the various people I have sketched by mouse in flash 5.

And some assorted doodles as well.

Also a few friends started a blog not too long ago, check it out! - http://manholemusictearoom.blogspot.com/
The name is based on the name of a club in a movie Stephen brought over, Tokyo Drifter (1966, Seijun Suzuki). A crazy, trippy movie! I don't really recommend it.
I do, however, recommend OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies. Fun movie! Very fun and clever. Add it to your netflix today.

updated while:
looking at etsy.com

Hello!

Quick update: I turned 30 on the 19th of January. My World Market store is not closing but I am starting to look for jobs for when it does. And I just sold a Wibbly-Wobbly shirt on Zazzle!

Also, I am working on a limited set of ceramic necklaces, and I plan to announce the unveiling of them on etsy at a future time and date. So stay tuned for that! I am pretty excited about it :) I plan on putting a new one up every 10-15 minutes or so. It will be like a pseudo gallery/exhibit opening!

updated while:
looking at zazzle and then etsy and then webcomics.

Happy Day after Thanksgiving!

I am thankful that I do not have to work today! Thank you Brandon!!!

And I am thankful for having Ben here to always support me and take care of me :) And I am thankful for the friends I have from back home and the friends I have made in the past year.

updated while:
looking at sales online, there is NO way I am going to stores today. I never shop on "black Friday". Great sales or not, I hate crowded places.

I feel like no matter what site I am on I am met with ads about this One magical rule you have to obey to get a flat stomach. And this was my response to it earlier this evening.

I have not heard back from As Kindred Spirits, nor have I heard from the cafe near me about possibly hanging up a few Apple Prints. But the cafe is opening up a few other locations (great for them!) so maybe once that is over I can see about that little exhibit.

updated while:
doodling

Happy 30th Stephen!
Finally updating my web comics. Trying to take good detailed photos of my latest necklaces for Etsy. And hoping As Kindred Spirits likes my stuff and wants to carry some of it (go Apple Prints?)

updated while:
cleaning out my closets and drawers

I decided to add something to the main page, a rotating image every Wednesday and/or Friday!

updated while:
listening to my new Pandora Radio station!

Ah, working in the retail world, we are already looking ahead to Christmas... And I am looking ahead at applying at a new cupcake bakery opening up soon near Dupont Circle. I learned about it while looking at Craigslist for other wine related jobs.

updated while:
reading my web comics, links at your right.

I discovered today while nibbling in our herb garden that chives can be used as straws. So naturally I had to share. First I subjected Ben to my discovery and now all of you :)

updated while:
drinking water through the chive straw

I found this recipe in "Your own party book" from 1949. It starts off "believe it or not, just about the easiest dessert in the world to make is the cream puff." I would not have believed it if I did not try it this afternoon after part one of my root canal. I cut out the extra salt and cooked it for a little less than they suggested.
Here we go!

Ingredients:
1	cup water
1/2	cup butter (I used salted, and I always bake with butter, never margarine)
1	cup flour
4	unbeaten eggs

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Boil the water in a decent sized sauce pan, then add the butter and heat until it melts.

Add the flour, all at once "Now here's where you have to keep your nerve" - the book suggests. Yep, dump the cup of flour right in there and stir HARD. Keep in on the heat and keep stirring until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan and forms a ball. This happened quicker than I expected.

Soon as the ball of dough forms take the pan off the heat and let it cool 1 minute (by the clock), I kept stirring as I counted down the minute. Add the eggs one egg at a time. Stir the dough hard after each egg, mix it until the egg is thoroughly mixed into the dough before adding the next egg.

Grease the cookie sheets and drop 1 heaping teaspoon of the dough about 2 inches apart from the next. (For a bigger puff use 1 heaping Tablespoon) Bake for 10 minutes at the 450 degrees, then bake 15-20 minutes at 350. (The book suggested 25 minutes, but they looked good and brown at about 15)

Remove from the oven and let cool. Fill with ice cream, whipped cream, puddings, or custards. Or do as I did and nibble plain :)

We just got Across the Universe from Netflix. It was good, a little long, but good. I am a huge Beatle fan though :) I had to share the Eddie Izzard moment of the movie with you all. Thank you YouTube!

I am thinking about putting up limited canvas prints of the Apples. Mainly the yellow, in either 6"x6" form or 12" x12" form.
Which would you prefer?

$28 for the 6² (15.2 cm²)
$45 for the 12² (30.5 cm²)

I'm going to create a 6" square one and see how it looks. I'll post photos next week.

A while back we had a crafters night. And we were introduced or reintroduced to crochet. And, over the course of a few weeks, I have started and then ripped out the beginnings of a scarf.

I'm happy to report that it is now complete. And is about 6 feet long. I made up the pattern as I went along, not sure I could remake it if I tried.

I next plan to play around with PMC (precious metal clay) and make some pendants or something similar to what I have been doing in ceramics.

Tonight I have two photos of my latest playing arounds with my Circle Jars.

The glaze is new and called Oatmeal. But I like to think of it as Vanilla icing with cinnamon on top - a Cinnamon Roll. And with the pattern I rolled onto the clay and then made a little knob out of it looks like cinnamon rolls. (And now I am hungry for one...)

It is about 2.5 inches across and 1.5 inches tall. I want to make the Circle Jars more functional. And less rollie. This seems to work pretty well. But I don't find it as attractive as the narrow ones that may roll around and are less functional. I do like the new glaze. I will use more of it in the future.

I may toss this Circle Jar on Etsy and see what happens.

A Bit ago on etsy I bought a DIY kit on Etsy.com, DIY Kit - Make your own Art Pendant with Shrinkable Plastic, I have wanted to try this for a while, and here was my chance!

The photo to the left is the before picture. The circle itself is really about 3 inches round and pretty thin.

I drew a flower that I have a habit of doodling here and there - colored it in with colored pencils. And added a little bit of blue swirls around the open areas. I put my tiny initials in purple.

And then I got to baking.
Watching the edges curl up till it looked like a bowl was very interesting, and watching it slowly shrink as it flattened itself out was more interesting. I let it rest in the oven for about 30 seconds and then pulled it out.

It is now about an inch big, thicker, and sort of transparent in the space where I just swirls some blue.

I love it! It is so neat :)

I took this with my cell phone at work the other day, I was inspired by the crazy lady in "Wild Woman of Wongo" that the Film Crew added commentary to :)

I am bad at updating.
But I have been creating new things, like these "thank you postcards" - sort of 60s/70s/mod style to them with type writer letters saying Thank You.

I mainly created them for me to use when sending out things, a little note with a print or necklace. But I am really happy with the design so I wanted to share it!

Yay for custom orders!
I just posted and sold 3 16x20 yellow apple prints on esty!

Currently I am making a list of what I want - what I want to do. And trying not to over think it, which is harder than I thought.

I am also going to start putting my art doll magnets on etsy.com, some of you may remember when I did those for Nervousness.org exchanges and used them instead of bows on presents throughout undergrad and grad school. But the buggers are hard to photograph well!

I wanted to show off my new ring I got on Wednesday. He created a perfect size 4 ring for me. I love how it looks - see photo to left of post. I am looking forward to seeing what else he puts up on Etsy.

The wine tasting at the Embassy of Argentina, also on Wednesday, was fun! They ran out of wine, which was a little unimaginable - you did have to RSVP so I they knew how many people were coming... but anywho.