Hi Everyone! Its Tuesday! I'm sorry to say that I won't be able to do my weekly Top 5 Tuesday posting. My iMac died over the weekend and I'm having it repaired (its getting a new heart!). I won't be able to update, but I will be working on some cool and cute things offline! So hopefully next week, when I get my computer back, I can share my adventures.
p.s. I must mention that I am updating my blog via my Wii! Ah! Geekery at its finest.
Love to you all! I'll miss you.
-Sarah
Ok, I lied. My next entry isn't about my first month on Etsy, I didn't quite finish writing that blog... but in the meantime I give you this!
1. King Kong VS the Dinosaurs. I'm not a fan of the movie, but I was flipping channels over the weekend and I saw this scene that had me at the edge of my seat while holding my breath! King Kong is pretty bad ass! This must have been a lot of fun for the writers and animators, "Let's have King Kong fight a dinosaur. No wait... two... THREE!!" The remake wasn't that great, but it did have its moments and they can be relived via YouTube. But what's up with the rock music?! haha! It just seems too obvious to add rock music to visuals about breaking stuff.
2. Optimism. The only spot worthy for a king was #1, so optimism will have to settle for #2. I have been reflecting about this year a lot. This was not a good year for me at all, but I have held on to my optimism for 365 days. Its all I have to get through the hard times and keep pushing along. Its really nice to keep things around that inspire you. I found this cute animation to remind myself that life isn't all that bad. I'm counting down the days until 2010 so I can start over.
3. Persimmons. Winter is my least favorite season, but there are a few things I look forward to and at the top of my list is persimmons! They are so refreshing and abundant this time of year! If you've never had a persimmon before, they look like strange tomatoes, taste like ripe cantaloupe, and the flesh is as crunchy and juicy as a plum. Persimmons need to be peeled. The skin is tough, waxy, and unpleasantly tart. When I was a kid, I loved reading scientific fact sheets with the technical drawings and Latin names. So I give you this one about persimmons. Science is fun!
4. Nail Polish. I live in a part of the United States where we get four seasons and sometimes the cold and dreary days leave people less to be happy about. One way to cheer myself up is to dress myself with bright colors either through my clothes or nail polish colors. It is a cheap and fun way to pamper yourself. My current favorite color is Coconut Kiss by China Glaze (its the third one down). Its the most amazing shade of purple I've ever seen! I had a similar nail polish color in highschool but that bottle was long lost. I was ecstatic when I found this color! This replacement is actually much better! <3
5. Charity. This past Christmas I asked my family not to give me any presents. Instead I asked them to donate to my charity of choice. I brought along my fund raising envelope and was scared whether or not they'd accept my hippie ideas. I was expecting it to be filled with a few pennies and dimes, but surprisingly they were very supportive! I got a couple of generous checks for the cause! Yay family!
There's a really fun trend among bloggers called "Things I Love Thursday". I like to blog a day in advance or the day of, and Thursday just doesn't seem to work. I usually work on projects on Sunday, so I like to take Wednesdays off as a tv night or hanging out and that leaves no time for blogging. How sad! I still want to participate so I'm making my own day to rave about the things I like! I was aiming to start this for 2010, but so many amazing things happened this week that I can't wait two weeks. So this is the first installment of Top 5 Tuesday!!
5. The Poladroid application for Windows and Mac! This is an oldie but a goodie. I have been playing with this recently and I am in love with the results! I never had the pleasure of owning a polaroid camera, but I have used one before. I can tell you this, this program is almost as good as the real thing! Not only will you get unpredictable color results like a real camera, but it features the "developing" noise and you can shake up your photo so it develops faster! How fun! I've used this for my Bennyville Etsy banner. Guess what! The program is free!
4. Amirugumi Dolls! These are knitted stuffed toys that originated in Japan. The trend has growing strong in the US. I love looking at Amigurumi Kingdom's cupcake bears on Flickr! This makes me want to learn how to crochet. The patterns look confusing to me, but I will learn someday!
3. Homemade Cookies. I've decided that this will be my new hobby even though I don't really bake. Sweet treats make people happy and I want to be the person who does this. At my Mom's request I made oatmeal cookies and before that I baked a banana cake that my Mom's co-workers are still talking about!
2. The Princess and the Frog. As my pal Dade says, "Disney got its groove back!" I think he's right! This movie reminds me of the old-school fairytales that Disney used to make. Its a cute make-you-feel-good movie that children and adults will adore. I sense a comeback!
1. Pac-Man Hamster on Youtube! This little video put me in such a good mood! I dig the sound effects. On the subject of hamsters, I found a girl on Flickr who loves hamsters more than I do! She's known as Pyza on Flickr. Her animal photography is gorgeous! She manages to position her little cuties like stuffed animals. I've owned hamsters and believe me, its incredibly hard to get them to sit still. Not only is she a talented photographer, but she has a funky fashion style too! I love this outfit! Her shoes are so cute!
I hope you enjoyed a little slice of my life :)
There's more to come! My next blog entry will be my first month experience with Etsy! <3
Have a lovely week!
Hi Everyone!
Ok, the super duper amazing project I've been holding for so long can finally be revealed! I'm happy to announce that I've opened the Bennyville Etsy Shop! I've been wanting to do this for years but the timing was never right. I've been brainstorming on things I wanted to make and finally settled on something I'm comfortable with. Hand-sewn crafts!
I was taught by my mother on how to sew when I was a wee-lassie; just short of that awkward puberty stage of life. Sewing was something I've always been around. My family has humble beginnings and handmade clothes were one way to cut corners and save some money. My mom told me stories on how she would make her own bras and panties when she was a teenager! When life started getting comfortable, sewing became less of a need and more of a hobby. My mom's sewing abilities became limited to hemming pant legs to fit our short legs, fixing torn seams, and halloween costumes.
When my mom felt comfortable trusting me to sew independently (those sewing needles are dangerous!), I would create doll clothes with my inexperienced hands. This hobby eventually grew into my love for cosplay.
Made by me, and a little help from mom!
So here we are today, my not-so-secret-project for 2009. Now with a few more years of sewing experience (but will never be quite as good as mom)! My etsy shop!!
These are brooches that can be pinned almost anything! My personal favorite is the cheeseburger pin! It looks good enough to eat! I am also a big fan of Pokemon! So I created a couple of felt mascots in their honor. Pictured above is Combee (female) and Marill the water mouse. Just wait until Combee (female) evolves into Vespiquen. She'll become a force to be reckoned with! Bug Pokemon are not the weaklings you once thought they were!
I've saved the best for last! The Bennyville Rice Dolls! I was first introduced to the idea by my pal Risu and I wanted to create my own spin on the idea.
These are reusable heating pads that are filled with rice. They are easy to use: just pop them into the microwave for 30-seconds and you can keep your hands cozy warm or relieve minor aches and pains.
You no longer have to mess around with the old fashioned hot water pack. Its dangerous to fill those with boiling water especially if you're clumsy like me! Why not have a cute one that's safe to use instead?
Alternatively, they can be frozen for a few hours in a plastic bag and used as an ice pack. And the best part is that they come with an outer-covering that is washable! Just don't wash the inner rice-filled pack or both of us will be very sad.
I have tons of design ideas, so please check my shop if there is anything new. These are all handmade by me, so if there is anything that is sold out, I'll be sure to restock as soon as I can. Right now I'm only shipping within the US. This is only because I'm getting used the idea of opening a new shop. I plan on shipping everywhere eventually ;)
Love,
Sarah
Hey Everyone! The past week and a half have been so crazy! I'm up to the wazoo with fun personal projects. Some of them are secret! But this is what I can share.
Halloween week was nuts because I had some illustrations that I left for the last minute. Dock from www.deadpanda.com hosted his [annual?] Halloween costume artwork exchange for his friends. I've wanted to do this for years and years but the timing was never right. I'm was so happy that I actually had time to do it this year! I finished my illustration four days early too! The result is Dock's transformation if he ever encountered a Mahou Mahou Panda Power Wand!!!
I had a lot of fun with the magical girl parody! But oh man... I was a bit cruel with the concept sketch. Instead of a skirt, Dock was originally wearing frilly panda panties!
He drew a really awesome illustration of me as an Animal Crossing character! Its my favorite simulation game for Nintendo Game Cube, Nintendo DS lite, and Wii. I love this game so much, I've played all three versions. I <3 that he drew me in a plaid dress of my favorite color!
I've been working with my pal J0mzzz on Deviantart. We're both pretty new to the DA scene. His strength is pencils and my strength is colors. So we figured we should combine our powers for maximum awesomeness! I'm not sure if this is safe for work so click at your own risk. The link will lead you to some bikini-clad comic girls.
I don't mind coloring this genre, but I hope he decides to draw something else for me to color. He's pretty good at drawing monsters and robots too.
I spent Halloween with my boyfriend. We walked around NYC to catch the parade, which was fun until it rained. You know the saying, "Hate to rain on your parade?". Its true! Watching a parade in the rain sucks. We wanted to be in it... but there was some sort of human traffic jam and between the rain and the cold, we decided to leave NYC. The next best thing was to hope on a train back to Jersey and eat tasty Vietnamese food. We were so hungry we didn't even really look or talk to each other. It was like... survival mode.
Some of my favorite costumes of the night: (sorry no pictures, I knew there was a chance of rain so I didn't bring my camera)
• The Muppets Band
• Winnie the Pooh with the Donnie Darko bunny mask
• Cupcake girl (I need to draw this!)
• Ghetto pizza box costume (I need to draw this too!)
• 7 ft. Spartan. (How does anyone grow so tall?!)
Strangest costume.... well, let's just say, I saw some dude's hairy testicles. haha! The things you see NYC...
Actually... I'm not sure if "birthday suit" counts as a costume. That's very little effort in my opinion.
And finally... I was DYING when I saw this Weezer promo!!!
Halloween is my favorite holiday because everyone wins! You get to dress up and eat candy. There's no pressure to buy presents or any stress to have to decorate like how people freak out during Christmas. You can celebrate as big or as casual as you'd like. Halloween is the best!
A few weeks ago, my friends and I went to an orchard and country market! Lots of fresh 'pick your own fruit', homemade pies, and this huge pumpkin patch I took a snapshot of!
I'm not celebrating Halloween big this year because I am busy planning my super secret project for November. However, Halloween comes around once every year! I'd be a loser by not doing something. When I am not doing art, I am probably working on my second love which is cooking. So I decided to practice baking a pumpkin pie from scratch! I usually like to practice my recipes in advance to make sure it comes out right. I am so glad that I did because I learned a lot about pumpkins!
First of all, just like most fruits and vegetables, there are different kinds. I recently found out that there are different kinds of pumpkins and not all of them are good for pies. The Halloween pumpkins that we are familiar with are called Jack O' Lantern Pumpkins or Carving pumpkins. They are typically huge and oblong in shape. These are not suitable for eating. I read on the internet that the "meat" is too watery and not very flavorful.
The best kind of pumpkins to use are called "pie pumpkins". These are a lot rounder and perfect for baking or roasting. This is the pumpkin that I bought. In the store it was called a "sugar pumpkin" isn't that such a cute name? I later found out that "pie pumpkin" "sugar pumpkin" and "baking pumpkin" are all the same.
There is another variety that can be used called Cinderella Pumpkin. Another cute pumpkin name! Yep, you guessed right! Its named after the Cinderella fairytale. The part when the pumpkin magically turns into a coach so Cinderella can make it to the party! You can easily identify it because it is reddish-orange in color and looks a lot flatter than the pie pumpkin.
I roasted the pumpkin myself. It weighed about 5 lbs and it took almost an hour in the oven. I found the directions here
By itself, pumpkin tastes almost identical to butternut squash. I was disappointed by this and figured something out: Pumpkin pie tastes like a pie because of the spices and not because of the pumpkin. I think I felt just as disappointed as Cinderella when she discovered that her pumpkin lost its magic. No worries, I moved on.
This is the end result! The recipe I used calls for too much nutmeg! So it tasted too robust and almost bitter. I am quite pleased but I know it can be improved once I personalize my spice mixture. I'm glad that this was only for practice. I won't serve this to my family or friends until it is perfect.
I decided not to make a crust because I've always hated pie crust! The best part is the filling, but now I'm not sure if this can still be called a pie.
My pumpkin gave me so much filling that I was able to make these cupcakes too:
My cupcakes are sad because the recipe I used was too robust again! These cookbook chefs have got to take it easy on the spices! These cupcakes were practice also!
I still have more pumpkin filling! So the other day I made a carrot-pumpkin soup... but most of the liquid evaporated and now my soup is more like a mash. So its like mashed potatoes, except I didn't use potatoes.
And guess what! I have yet even more filling! I have enough to make another pie, more cupcakes, and maybe some cookies! Lesson learned: Buy a smaller pumpkin.I am not sick of pumpkins yet, but I really did bite off more than I can chew this time.
I don't have a costume yet. I am not sure if I'm going out this yer, but I'll settle for dark nails and wearing my collection of Halloween themed t-shirts this week.
Today I am wearing vintage Fraternity shirt circa 1979 that I found in a thrift store for a spooky Haunted House event!
There is still so much to do! I still need to watch a Halloween-themed movie! I might have to watch Mean Girls again because there's a really funny Halloween scene in it. And also a controversial movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Because it can still count as a Halloween movie... even if its about Christmas, right?
I have lots of things in my closet that can be turned into a costume if anything pops up last minute!
Let's make it a good week! Its a great week to be happy... or scared!
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