etsy wednesday

etcetera media is my esty wednesday choice. i am loving all of the industrial felt products & their t-shirts are a lot of fun as well.

this wine rack & all felt products are made from naturally renewable & recycled materials & cost $6 (ipod cozie) to $40 (wine rack). for this featured item you can also choose your color stitching.

calender & card combo

i have had the calender in storage for a bit, but i decided to use my new patterns to make a one page, card & calender combo. this will easily print on an 8.5" x 11" sheet. once you cut it down the middle, there you have it - a matching set. the card will fit in any a2 envelope & i'm going to attach a small magnet or another hanging apparatus to the back of the calender.

if you select the image, it should download a high enough quality print.

simple boots on my wishlist

i must have these - i think i will. the entire boot is made from recycled materials & they have such a hand-crafted feel to them; i especially like the corset up the back of the boot. i know spring is around the corner, but let's face it, we've got a few months yet.

sorry i haven't posted many projects lately, i am hoping to get a big one done this weekend (fingers crossed) after a hiatus of the flu & a lost marathon.

petit pattern book - simple & natural

i was down in san francisco this weekend (i braved a nasty flu bug & ended up being the sick girl on the airplane) to visit two of my good friends. it was a really chill weekend; shopping in hayes village, eating at waterbar (thanks luke), house sitting in mill valley, hitting up the chinese new year parade and brunch & shopping in inner richmond.

we stopped into park life for a bit & i could've gone crazy in there! they had great t-shirt & book collections, great art in the back, fun jewelry & flasks & don't forget the plastic monkey face key covers that refrained from buying. i did however end up buying the simple & natural petit pattern book. i love it; each page shows the full pattern & contains a cd with eps & jpg files of each pattern for personal use on both macs & pcs. the patterns are outlined, which means they can be altered by size, shape, color, proportion, etc. most definitely a good purchase & only the beginning of my collection (they have other books such as scandinavian design, flowers, autumn & winter, etc).

etsy wednesday

i'm feeling super sick today, but wanted to get in my etsy wednesday. i love this ring (& all the stuff) on les things. based in madrid, spain, les things sells her sterling silver jewelry for prices as low as $30.

what i'm doing this weekend

UPDATE: this is my purchase from the show. there were a lot to choose from, but i couldn't resist this 31" x 43" print. i've been searching for something to go behind my couch since the minute i moved in. for now, here it is. there is another print (actually a huge sticker, maybe 50 x 30) i'm hoping to get my hands on soon, you can see it on 11th ave & pike.

spacecraft is selling 25 prints of 25 posters for $25! i'll be at ouch my eye by 7 tomorrow.

etsy wednesday

i've had my eye on matte stephens & his etsy store, brainiac, for a while. his paintings & prints are really adorable; fun stories & color palettes for each one. matte is located in birmingham, al & has stated to be inspired by mid century design & artists such as george nelson and charles and ray eames.

i especially like his suburban bear monster prints at $35.

dot pillows

i just finished these throw pillow covers for my couch. i had two older 16" square pillows sitting in my closet & instead of getting rid of them, i decided to make covers. i've had the idea in mind for quite some time; i was inspired by these from purl bee. i used a chocolate brown velvet to cut a 16" version of this pattern. i then embroidered the dot color bursts; i learned how to do the embroidery using this french knot tutorial from purl bee as well. they look very nice next to my amy butler pillows too!

sorry the pictures are so crumbing, i need ming to start shooting my projects.

etsy wednesday

i've commited to a new little feature: etsy wednesdays. this is the first of many weekly posts about some of my favorite sellers & items on etsy.

in searching a certain someone's birthday gift, i stumbled upon the modica collection of jewelry. all of her jewelry is custom made in portland, or where she makes the pendants & earrings by custom tinting a resin that she casts into hand cut wood. a great feature is that you can specify light or dark wood & the color of the resin.

her stuff is just beautiful & fresh looking. prices range from $35 - $80.

business cards

i've wanted to make business cards for some time & most recently have needed something to send out in my etsy packages. here is a quick glimpse at my beginning branding efforts for stilldottie.

vista print has a lot of free printing available through february 15th. i got 250 business cards for $9 & was able to upload all of my own artwork.

double fudge cupcakes

baking is one of the best things to do on a sunday morning. it’s especially nice when you have a nice big pot of coffee brewed, a kitchen aid mixer that you are having a love affair with & a super bowl party to bake for.

it seems to be pretty standard these days to have a large plate of cupcakes that follows me to events. in the last month i’ve made around 10 dozen cupcakes: red velvet with cream cheese frosting, vanilla with cream cheese frosting & the latest, fudge centered chocolate cupcakes with vanilla cream frosting.

i thought i’d share how it’s done.

you’ll want to start with the chocolate cake recipe of your choice. i used one from the joy of cooking, it seemed to be pretty good, though i would have used half the cinnamon & twice the chocolate. of course, you can always use boxed cupcake mix, i like the pillsbury because it’s super gooey.

once you’ve made the batter & filled cupcake liners 2/3 full, you’ll want to add the fudge centers.i bought double fudge ice cream & cake topping (found in the baking aisle) to use for this batch. drop marble sized spoonfuls of the fudge onto a plate of flour. lightly coat the fudge in flour, roll into a ball & drop onto the top of each batter filled cupcake liner. the flour apparently prevents the fudge (or any center) from dropping to the bottom during the baking process. bake the cupcakes according to the recipe; however, i did notice that i wanted to take the cupcakes out on the short end of the recipe’s indicated time.

i followed a simple vanilla frosting recipe from joy of cooking as well; all it takes is 1 lb of confectioners’ sugar, ½ cup shortening & a teaspoon of vanilla. it turned out nice & fluffy, perfect for cake frosting.

all in all, they turned out great. special thanks for chris for the flour tip & my mom for giving me the substitute for squares of baking chocolate.

UPDATE: this is the fudge i used - it's pretty solid.

making the best of it

a little bird was flying by my apartment, he must have had a stomachache. i can't reach the spot on my window where the bird relieved itself to clean it up, so i made the best of it.