Oh the Cuteness!

Just in time for Christmas, I've put a bunch of owl pincushions, new large owl plushies, moustache straws, and mini notebooks in the shop ! I can guarantee that stuff will arrive for Christmas (within the continental US) if it is purchased before or on Friday, December 16th, but I will continue shipping orders until December 20th. I have a bunch of owls that need photographing too, so if you are looking for a specific color I don't have listed feel free to convo me on etsy and I can see if I have one hiding in the studio!

Yes, friends, it's that time of year again. I will be selling at the RAC's Holiday Arts Festival . I've done this fair the past two years and have had such a wonderful time, and even though my usual partners in crime weren't able to share the booth with me this year I have found a couple friends to take their place. Errol of Metaphor Organic (Check out their new website, I did the photography!) will be there selling his delightful soaps, and my good friend Suzanne will be selling her beautiful hand-knit scarves, hats, and gloves. Come support local artists and have a great time! If you mention you are a reader, as always, you will get 25% off any of my items!

First of all, Happy Turkey Day to all my readers out there in blogland! In honor of our strange shopping tradition of "Back Friday" I am having a free shipping sale for all my readers, now through Monday night (as Monday has become "Cyber Monday", the online cousin of "Black Friday"). To get free shipping in my etsy shop just enter the coupon code blackbird when prompted in the checkout process. Happy shopping!

Happy How-Tuesday everyone! This week I have a funny chili recipe, shrinky dink buttons, and a magic trick! I stumbled upon this hilarious comic that actually teaches you a yummy chili recipe too! Check it out here. These buttons are adorable and I cannot wait to add some to an old shirt that is missing one! Here is the tutorial. And just for the heck of it, here is a simple card trick to impress your friends! Learn it here.

Happy Halloween everyone! We had a great party on Saturday night and I decked out the entire house in horrific decorations. Click on the pictures for a larger view. Firstly, the living room: Mom gave me these cute little vintage-style pipe cleaner cat ornaments and I used some bits left over from my big round of cake bunting making to turn them into a little garland. Recycled wallpaper, orange polka dot scraps, and orange and white baker's twine was all it took to make my favorite new decoration! Black and plain cheesecloth, construction paper bats from years past, and a host of store-bought decorations I've been collecting since I was a kid covered the rest of the room. For the party we turned off all the lights and everything was lit with candles, black lights, and glow sticks. The majority of the Halloween decorations I have stored are candle holders and there are SO many candles around the room but you can't really tell. The curtain is m

Happy How-Tuesday! This week I have some great little candles, stenciling, and a beautiful cake. These little bottle cap candles are amazing! I'm dedicating this link to my buddy Krissy who is having a beer garden-themed wedding soon! Here is the tutorial. This is a nice freezer paper stencil tutorial that goes more into how to cut a very fine stencil. Check out the tutorial here. This cake is beautiful all on its own, and the recipe sounds amazing, but the website is covered with beautiful photography too. Check it out here.

Hi everyone! Just a little reminder that I will be selling again this month at A Fair to Remember in San Francisco. If some of you have not had a chance to come out and see all the wonderful goodies yet then you best come out for this one as it is the last of the season! There is talk of a possible Christmas version in December but it is not set in stone yet. Also I have some thing top-secret and super duper special that I will be selling at this fair (it has to do with my owl pincushions), so come and see! Also I will give you 25% off if you mention that you are a blog reader!

Hi everyone! It is How-Tuesday again! This week I have found for you a necklace tutorial, laundry detergent powder, and a recipe for Coca-Cola cupcakes! I have a necklace just like this in yellow with faux pearls instead of marbles and I paid like 40 bucks for it! Should have found this sooner... Here is the tutorial. I love making cleaners and such at home, and this powdered laundry soap looks much easier to make than the liquid version. Here is the recipe/tutorial. These cupcakes look amazing, and they are made with Coke to give the chocolate cake a richer flavor, and whipped cream frosting. I think I would like to try them with whipped marshmallow frosting some time. Check out the recipe here.

So now that you have seen my awesome kitchen I can show off some of the stuff I have made in it! I have been baking a lot of pies lately as I tend to do every time the seasons start changing form summer to fall. I had to take a picture of this bad boy because it turned out so pretty and so delicious! Oh yeah, om nom nom. I will give you my quick-and-easy apple pie recipe at the bottom of the post. Also, I don't know if I mentioned this but Dennis has been on the low-carb diet for a few months now and is doing great! He has lost a lot of weight and it is really fun having him be more involved in the kitchen, seeking out new recipes for us to try, etc. He found this low-carb pumpkin cheesecake recipe and it turned out fantastically! We changed it a bit and used pumpkin pie spice instead of the blend of spices they give. The almond-meal crust was an ingenious substitute for graham cracker too! And lastly, for my birthday I made yet another apple pie: W

So I know you all got a glimpse of the new apartment during our housewarming party post here , but I have been meaning to take more pictures of it in a less-crazy-and-crowded state. Now, I know what everyone really wants to see is the craft room/office space, but its just not quite finished yet. In reality, I know most of the house is not really "finished"; we still have a lot of pictures to hand and such, but it is close enough for now. So here in this half-assed-house-tour is the living room and kitchen!  Big red leather couches and the bay window. That bookshelf is 1/2 craft books and 1/2 cook books. There are little wall sconces that light up all over the living room.  Can we say built-ins! I was sold on this place the moment I saw them. Only thing I don't really like is that big black heater sticking out from the non-functioning fireplace in the lower right. I know they lake decorative covers for them but it already sticks out so far. Any suggestions?