My Idol ~ Pippi

Presenting... Lime Green Lantern

Glass Sippy Cup

This is a great way to reduce* your plastic exposure.

Handmade glass smoothie straw from Glass Dharma and my dear canning jar is back again. I drilled a hole in the lid with my Dremel (a girl's BF) and then used the grinding and sanding attachments. I finished off by hand sanding the hole (finger wrapped in sandpaper) so it became nice and smooth and less sharpy-knife-like. It really was super sharp so make sure you don't slice your finggy off.

 *still some plastic coating on the lid :(

They actually make BPA-free real sippy cup lids for canning jars! Also, Tattler makes BPA-free lids - hmm... now I'm thinking of getting the sampler pack and drilling a hole in one of these.

Lazy Saturday

Waiting for S. to finish up his cookie, chai latte and computer capers so we can go for a walk while it is still sunny out. Tonight I am going to start working on a Green Lantern costume for Timmie, so that should be fun.

Red Sandals - Worm's eye view

Looks so cartoonish! Reminds me of Olive Oyl from Popeye...

Went to the supermarket for a test walk. Finally got my paws on some tube-free toilet paper. That's right, I'm living LARGE (yo)!

I look forward to NOT having my recycling pail filled with cardboard tubes! YAY!

Red Sandals ~ finished!

Lots more mistakes made and lessons learned!

Giving the watermelon a spin today

This now concludes my relentless posting about smoothies. For now. :D

My life just got 1.88% better

Attach a mason jar to your blender for personal size smoothie making!!

You have no idea how redunk excited I am to come across this! I spent my whole day looking for a replacement for my glass blender jar that had chipped. It was going to cost me $28 bucks to have one shipped from the manufacturer. Then I thought I could probably just buy a whole new blender for that price. Lo and behold I saw a personal size blender on Amazon for a disturbingly low price ($14.69). Trying to resist buying anymore cheap plastic crappola for my home, I restarted my glass blender jar search hoping for a better deal. And THEN I stumbled across this idea! Apparently this concept is an oldie (40-50 years old!?) but looks like it is making a comeback due to the popularity of the "Magic Bullet" type blenders out there.

 

I ran around the apartment looking to see if any of my glass jars fit my blender base. I took a TJ's tomato sauce jar out of my recycling bucket, ripped off the label, washed it out, and twisted it on, it fit, sort of, but wasn't deep enough to include the rubber gasket. I moved on to an empty instant coffee container and it fit gloriously with the gasket and all.  I gave it a test run with some water to check for leaks. Everything was A-O-K. I then proceeded to have a horror-movie-flash-vision of the glass shattering and flying all over the place and impaling everything in its path. Soo...I decided to run to my parents house and get one of their tempered glass canning jars to play it safe. I made my smoothie and drank it straight out the jar with my stainless steel straw and it was awesome! A little white trashy....but awesome! I am going to save so much time/sink space not having to clean my large blender jar and an extra glass! If you try this make sure you only fill it halfway and don't use anything hot because the steam might make it explode(not good).

Penny thoughts

Sometimes I tape up coins and use them as spacers when I am transporting wet paintings, when I was un-taping them I noticed this gnarly one from 1958. It must of had such an interesting life! It probably has been done already, but I think it would make a cute movie to see the life a penny or any coin has lived. Judging by the green patina this one looks like it was drowned for a while, traveled across the US and then got ran over by cars thousands of times. If metal retains energy maybe a psychic~medium can get the story out of this lil' Lincoln.

Major shoe-gery.

Right when I was nearing the finish line to this pair of sandals (working on these a little at a time since the last week of January) I realized that if I continued with this design I ran the risk of TOE CLEAVAGE exposure! I can sense you are horrified as well. Who could prance around town carefree with the looming fear that people might think that their feet are slutty? I definitely do not want my toes to send the wrong message. I am a good catholic girl. [insert halo shine effect]

Here is the original sketch:

I'm extra sad because it was starting to develop just as I had envisioned. In the top photo you can see I have already unstitched the toe cap and piping and added a piece of leather to the vamp. The sandals are currently in rehab receiving a modesty overlay and hopefully will get soled next week so I can move forward to a new project, start prancin' (hopefully), and do better next time.

No such thing as a design mistake, just a design opportunity. Right?

Smoothie time

Nice and thick with Greek yogurt. Yum!

Loving artisan profile films!

Bottled History from Smith Journal on Vimeo.

Breaking news from my scalp!

I have a weird one for ya! I have/had a few white hairs growing for the last couple years and I noticed yesterday that a couple started to turn brown again! If hair typically grows about 1.5cm a month the re-pigmentation correlates to the time I started paying more attention to what I was eating. At the end of November I started incorporating banana/berry/spinach smoothies into my diet. I wonder if this is it?

CCC's...now with more height!

Here's my less sugary version with a combo of semi-sweet and unsweetened chips. I also added 1 tbs of cornstarch and beat the sugar and butter way longer. I used an ice cream scoop to divvy up the dough. These new elements produced a much thicker chocolate chip cookie, closer to the original inspiration cookie!

Just what I need!

Sewing Pants from my own pattern- Round 2

Testing out my 80's prom dress neon pink fabric on a modified pattern. The waist is much more comfortable and there is less of the "front butt" situation, but unfortunately still suffering from "wenus projection" (censored in the photo for your protection).  Next round I will try a front zippered fly and figure out exactly where I have to deduct from to get the projection under control.

Making believe we are at starbucks with an erasable marker. "Saul"didn't think it was funny.

My first pants!

 I guess these are my first "proper" pants. In the past I've made leggings for my Blythe doll, and a pair of leggings out of my sweatshirt jacket for me, so these are the first dressy-ish pants. They came out okay, a little snug on the waist after I added the waistband in the inside, and unfortunately I drafted the front piece too high so it looks like I have 2 butts. If 2 heads are better than one, maybe 2 butts are better than one as well?

Meh... back to the drawing board! I will have to modify the pattern today and try again. I definitely want to make another one with side pockets and use the new neon fabric I purchased to make piping. My seam binding tape actually got used for binding seams, which was very exciting. I usually just use it for wrapping packages!

Sugary breakfast ~ Italian style

Nutella on homemade white bread, espresso beans from Upright Coffee in Greenpoint BK and my sad attempt at making a heart with demerara sugar (molasses-y sprinkles for grown-ups)

So sweet and inspiring! A shoemaker from my area.

Neon Orange lining

Deal of the day~ $1.99/yd neon orange lining fabric from a local mom&pop fabric shop.

jumbo chocolate chip walnut cookies

The last one of the batch, gonna save it for my sis-in-law to see if she likes it. Based on a Levain Bakery copycat recipe found online. It came out too sweet and chocolate chippy for my taste. I used a combo of cake flour and AP flour. Next time I want to use less chips and do a mix of semi-sweet and unsweetened chips.  If you are ever near one of the Levain Bakeries, you should definitely try one of the originals!

I want to try...

 Wash-A-Way thread. For lazy basters who don't want to pick out their basting stitches. Not to be confused with lazy bastards who don't want to pick out their basting stitches.


Bach Flower Remedies

 

I just heard about this stuff this week (it has been around for 80 years!) and am curious to try it. It is supposed to be good for treating emotional distress.

They sell a version that comes in a spray pump, so if you encounter a person that is stressing you out, you spritz it in their face, they get disoriented, and it gives you a couple minutes to get away from them.

Well, semi-seriously, I feel like I suffer from post-PARTY depression.  After I come home from a party I feel anxiety that I have said something weird (a definite) and offended someone. This feeling can last for days and it is hard for me to get things done! I ordered the Rescue Remedy, which uses a combo of flowers, to try out.  Also, I love the look of the wooden case, this would be fun to own and have the whole set to test out on all your friends and family. Depression, anxiety, and hors d'oeuvres party coming up! 

To amuse myself last night, whenever Sal said something that started to make my blood boil, I made believe I was spraying this in my mouth and guess what...it worked! So I think by just taking a second to distract yourself will derail the train of negative thoughts! The only side effect of this is that you will look like a TOTAL NUT-JOB making believe you are spraying something in your mouth and then giggling. Whatever, it's free!

Rooftop Kitties

Keepin' it cute when it is chilly out.

The barbed wire makes this pic verge on sad, but don't worry, this is a top-notch humane rooftop kitty prison. These cuties get fed a fine selection of Italian people food scraps (imported cold cuts, Whole Foods rotisserie chicken carcasses, homemade wine, and artisanal cheeses).

My first loaf of bread

Next time I need to add more herbs.

...and a pair for me

Made out of a lightweight polka dot fleece fabric with a green wool lining and leather sole (sueded side out).  I used the sole of an unworn pair of flip flops my aunt gave me as "the filling".  Any part of my body + thong = not gonna happen.  I ripped out the thong part, trimmed the toe area a bit to make it rounder and then used it as a template for the rest of the pattern.

Although it feels good on the skin, I don't recommend using fleece for something like this. It already started to pile from just making it. [Insert "did I just waste 10 hours of my life?" sad face here] Even though I interfaced all the pieces I feel like it is not going to hold up that well and will collect dirt and dust easily.

For the top part I used the pattern piece from the other pair, but adjusted the pattern to make it longer lengthwise for more footsie coverage.

Lavender soda! Not bad.

Tip of the day: Smell your jeans before you buy them!

Especially if they are from Joe Fresh. Sal bought 2 pairs of jeans that became unwearable after the first wash. It definitely had a Not-so-FRESH feeling. It reeked of a metallic fishy chemical. 6-7-8 washes later and they still smelled like hell and "someone" washed them with my jeans and now they're all contaminated! Maybe it is the dye? We put the 2 pairs of toxic jeans out to pasture last night while I'm working on decontaminating the rest of the batch. I read a tip to soak them with borax and/or baking soda. After a quick online search I found that new clothes are often covered with formaldehyde to keep them from wrinkling or becoming mildewed during shipping. Oh, my friend formaldehyde. I wonder if this was the smell??

More info on chemicals on clothing: HERE

I feel like if we don't want to be poisoned we need to buy organic fabric and DIY. Which I still wonder if that fabric is sprayed with something too after manufacturing... That's it, I have to grow my own cotton in the backyard (when I get one) and spin and weave it myself! I will ask my guests to bring over their looms when they come over.

My first attempt at biscotti at home.

Based on a recipe from the bag of organic flour. I used almonds instead of hazelnuts, left out the anise seed and added extra vanilla. I was able to use a tip that I picked up from the cooking class in Italy- don't bother chopping up the nuts!

Missing blog pictures...ugh.

I just noticed some flickr pics are missing. Ugh flickr! Maybe I should just upload directly from now on. Feels like a waste of money to pay for them to host the photos sometimes. What to do....what to do...