Pretty (and Not Boring) Packaging

I went lame on this year's holiday gifts... but in my defense I was trying to use up what I had. SO. Crappy pre-made bows and all that. Whee.

NEXT YEAR i will channel Aunt Martha. NEXT YEAR i will have fun wrapping gifts. (Btw, NEVER buy Office Depot's 4-pack of scotch tape. It sucks- doesn't tear where it should and is so much trouble. Spend the extra $ and go name-brand.)

NEXT YEAR I will have fun with boxes and washi tape. Picked these up at a discount store and aren't they fun? Thin flags and the pink thicker one which reads "Wishing you a holly jolly Christmas." So i took a plain box from xmas and played:

And should you ever feel like spoiling me, i'd love to receive some washi / japanese masking tape in the mail. You don't have to wait for my birthday. : )

I have some Paris frenchy-inspired ones coming soon- can't wait to play with those!

Turning 30 Extravaganza: Bastille Day

My dear friend, Ms. Speckled Duck, was my date for crafting at Paper-Source on Bastille Day. Even though we both wished the class would have been a little more advanced, we had a good time.

Suzi instructing us crafters.

Ms. S.D showing off ; )

Fun with stamps, fans, and glassine envelopes.

For dinner after class we planned on going to El Chile Cafe but it turned out to be El Alma or something different. Very different. ECC's sign was still up, but the menus (HORRIBLY DESIGNED- black decorative fonts printed on red paper- so hard to read!) and another sign was for the other place. Food was good but just not. what. we. expected/planned on.

Crafty girly time rocks.

Crafting Day

So a while back my friend A. from San Antonio came up for a visit and we attended a crafting class at Paper Source with our friend Paula from Speckled Duck.  Here are a couple of pictures:

Ms. A focusing on lining up her cards just right.

Ms. Speckled Duck crafting like the fabulous pro that she is.

Ms. A won a prize! While it looks, well, like a pink vibrator, it's a heat gun!
Also in the bag, a stamp and some embossing powder.

After the class, we went to Michaels where Ms A went a little nutso buying crafting items.
We had a fun night. : )

Beads!

Went to Bead It with Mom today... Spent a little more than I planned to but there was a sale in the back..

What I came home with 

Close up of the strands... Aren't they pretty?

After shopping we went next door to Opa! for sangria and a Mediterranean plate (yum!). 

Fun afternoon. : )

Oof.

I was hoping to have more here this year but have been very busy with the printing. And when I'm not at the day job or working for the weekend job, I'm trying to do nothing. (Nothing sometimes = a beer on the couch while zoning out to South Park. Need to get to knitting again, holidays are coming up.)

But alas.

Seriously, i've "worked" the past 2 weekends, and have 2 more coming up. Longing to sleep in, but with the temperatures the way they've been, even with the portable a/c unit, the mornings are the only good time to print. And there's been a wedding, personalized cards for a photographer in PA, cards for a friend in NYC, experiments, etc.

I do love it though. : )
And am very much looking forward to winter- sleeping in a little, enjoying a nice long morning, and then getting up to go print.

Anyhoo. What has been going on?

I turned XXIX and got sick with a horrible sinus infection a couple of days before so was totally miserable that week, and I even had 3 days off from work to celebrate ME and it was terrible. Then that week my girlie doctor told me she wants me to lose weight, to get back where I was 2 years ago. (If I didn't like her so much I'd call her a total bitch and be looking for a new dr. But a good dr. is hard to find, and she is pretty cool. And okay, fine, she's right. Still.)

But my bday wasn't a total dud: my brother and his Ashley came over to grill dinner and my mom baked a rhubarb crumble. It was a nice dinner but I was just wiped out.

 I have a thing for fun make-up palettes

and am trying out a dry-shampoo for those 

'i really don't want to wash my hair' days.

There's been a make-do area in my kitchen area: an old aquarium stand with a crappy shelf laying on top of it, serving as a little "this is where i keep my tea pot and sugars" area. And yeah, it was probably as bad as you're picturing. But looking on crateandbarrel.com they had this lovely tall and narrow wine shelf thing that would have been perfect... except it was over $500. Bah. And all the bakers racks I'd seen were too country, too 'vintage wine country,' or too traditional - so not us. But then I saw a simple  little white cabinet, glass doors, 2 drawers, would look great in that space... for under $150! Sold! And i got it 2 days later. Crazy fast $1 shipping. : )

Well, then I had to put it together.

 Fuuuddddgggge. NOTHING came pre-assembled.

1 cocktail (Pimms & Ginger), 10 minutes of music, and almost all of Gordon Ramsay on Master Chef, it was completed!

And it's perfect. Little (and I do mean little) drawers hold teas and sweeteners, and as it's mounted to the wall, nothing jiggles when the doors open or close. Only thing I need to change- add 1 more shelf (crap, and i was at Lowe's this morning too) so that I can hold ALL my tea things and not have anything stacked. But it looks nice, right? Surprisingly, even T likes it.

Since inviting has been rather busy this month (had to make project sheets to keep everything straight- it's been wonderful!) I've been taking any help I can get. Business Partner's been coming out again, and when photographing and posting in the afternoons when it's too hot to print, these two have been helpers:

The Emma's "helping" cut paper? Uh, okay. 

She also keeps an eye on the computer while I'm out  printing. 

I come in to wash my hands and see her either on my desk or on my chair, supervising. 

 Darcy "helping" me with etsy.com listings.

And see? Been busy, and this isn't even everything I've worked on this month! (But I'm really not complaining. I *challenge* you- let's see how many orders I can handle. Hit me with your best shot. And, uh, the holidays are coming up. Really, they'll be here before we know it! Shop early and you'll be less stressed later!)

New Project

Since I'm always doing crafts (it's what I do when I'm watching movies) I end up with extras. Sure, I could put them aside in the Gift Closet (or Cabinet as it is here) *or* I could try to share them with the world, and get a little $ for more crafting supplies, and put them on etsy! So that's what I've done. Propriety with a Twist now has an etsy shop now! Check it out!

Ack! It's been forever...

...since I've posted, and I really don't know why. Oh wait, yeah i do! T got sick with a cold on Halloween (and we were both off from work the following week) and just when he was getting better, I got it. I didn't start feeling 100% until last Thursday so Friday and my weekend were spent making up for the week before- cleaning, walk/jogging, shopping, etc.

But while on my break I finished Dita:

I also went through the huge stack of magazines that had been piling up.

And a watched a TON of movies. To name a few: Brideshead Revisited, The Eyes of Laura Mars, Wives & Daughters, Fallen Angel, Pure, The Other Boleyn Girl, Incendiary, Sweet Bird of Youth, and Harper. Not all were good. Some were really bad!

More later...

Cross Stitch Project, so far

Craft Work-in-Progress
Originally uploaded by autzve

So I obviously couldn't wait to start my Dita x-stitch projects. Here's how much I got done this weekend. Oy. But look- you can see her belly-button! See it? You do see it, right?
Hopefully I can finish this section of the pattern this weekend.

Oh, and the pink in the background are her ostrich feather fans. You'll see it when it's done I'm sure. (I wish I had huge ostrich feather fans. How cool would that be? Fan dances are awesome.)

Spring/Summer Rolls = Yum!

Finally tracked down some spring roll wrappers, at my World Market (they're cheap!) and got around to my first spring rolls last night.


What's in them? Thinly sliced steak (first time cooking steak), thinly sliced carrots, cabbage and lettuce, rice noodles "cooked" and broken up, and a few torn basil leaves. I think that was it. Yum!
Also made a peanut sauce to go with it: about 1 T natural peanut butter, 1 take-out packet of soy sauce, a squirt of sriracha, a teeny bit of water. It's peanuty with a kick.

Will try these again, with different veggies and a marinated steak/chicken/shrimp/tofu (depending on what's in the fridge I suppose!).

In decorating news... ; )

Started painting the bathroom. Covering the blah-inducing yellowish, beige-ish, i-look-ugly wall color with "muffin mix"- what we used in the bedroom in the apartment! Oh, it is so much fresher looking in there. It looks surprisingly great with the green tiles. Will finish the first coat tomorrow and pick up a qt of a satin-finish for the second.

Also have pretty much decided to paint the hallway a really light sky blue (oh, and have replaced the blah light fixture, with a bubbly one like I did for the ceiling fan!) and to paint the Peacock table a super-glossy teal. In honor of the Peacock? Perhaps. Besides, that color will look GREAT with the ivory sofa.

In crafting news...

How fabulous will an embroidered/cross-stitched Dita von Teese photo look? Pretty great, I think. Will be looking through my book (that I was told one of T's Conan buddies was going through last game. Funny mix- barbarian speak + burlesque.) and scanning a few pics to see which will make the best pattern. Think it'll be my to-the-Valley-road-trip project, but I may not be able to wait that long.

Staycation Day 1

So for my first day of the staycation...

Spent an hour or so in the print shop today, making blind-punched thank you notes.

They are listed on etsy now.

Watched a meh movie (Duets) on netflix and knitted some of a scarf- pink organic cotton yarn- chunky and textured.

Aiming for a somewhat narrow long fun scarf. Looking forward to fall...

Went to the Domain to The Steeping Room for tea and scones with Mom, then wandered through a few shops

Yummy scone with jam and clotted cream!
When the weather cools down, will definitely go back for a pot of hot tea and scones.

Put on Clueless for background giggles (sadly it made me feel old; dumb high school kids, man...) and marinated some chicken for dinner and tried some zucchini cakes- yum!! Serve that with some plain organic yogurt with a 3-finger pinch of curry powder...

Also saw the carrots in the fridge (blech, carrots. Really. Especially baby carrots- i can only eat 5 and then I feel the gag coming...) and decided Carrot Cake! I don't think I've ever made it from scratch before so... Found a recipe from a pretty reliable source.

Not the prettiest, but you know what? I don't care!
It's a cake from scratch, and it tastes like carrot cake, so there!

Had dinner with T (chicken, basmati rice, steamed brocolli, and a zucchini cake

Wouldn't tell T what was in the veggie mound until after he tasted it.
He does not like zucchini, but thought these were okay. Didn't care for the yogurt dipping sauce.

And went to Central Market in hopes of finding those citrus slices.

Success!

Someone who features letterpress studios, who I've been in contact with, has asked to feature us. Eeek! I'm not ready! But no time like the present, right? In the morning I'll do a few reprints, get them online, and *then* say "sure!"

Coolest Thing Ever

Saturday I went out in search of decorating inspiration and armed with giftcards. First stop was Flashback on South First (mission: hat pin for pin up girl hat purchased from Miss Maulie) where I found a little hat pin (red and white heart), a new purse (mother's day present from the cats? sure!) that is so 1960s structured bag (i'll take a picture later) and this awesome chip set (aka the Coolest Thing Ever):
The real purpose of my excursion was to stop by Anthropologie, which I so cannot afford. But their scents and textures provide inspiration, which is needed. Our bedroom, while empty and relaxing, needs more.

Got some work done in the study as well. Painted the wheely-cart glossy white (was tiffany blue) and started painting the chair (free chair from side of the road. Looked like crap and I never did finish sanding it).
Mother's day was tea and oat scones in the backyard. Gave mom some coasters made from tile and cocktail napkins with tea pots and tea cups.

Made some for myself, too

Also finished the chair! Seat is a napkin from world market.
Saw Star Trek on Friday. Better than I thought it would be. Finished watching Frost/Nixon (very good) and watched The Reader yesterday (sad but also very good). Watched Team America Thursday (not good).

Also, because I'm soooo not inspired to workout after work, I got up early this morning and did my Self Challenge (month 1) workout, which is tough (once again I crapped out on the push-ups) but only takes 25 minutes. Had a healthy breakfast too (2 slices of whole wheat bread spread with 1T natural p.b. and 2t strawberry preserves). Now we'll see if I can avoid the candy dish at work today...