scurrred

okay now i'm nervous! i started reading swap bot forums and apparently there are crazies out there who create accounts to STEAL from people! they join a swap and receive stuff but never send something out to their swap partner! and they just keep making new accounts. who DOES THAT?? :( online stuff makes me nervous... but i'm still going to try it out and hopefully won't get screwed over! on to happier things... like teeny mushrooms!

"hello!"

new addiction

so i've seen a few blogs that mention swapping and all the cute things that they get and finally found out what all that was about. swapbot is a place for people to connect to swap random things... anything from jars filled with misc. cute things to surprise packages filled with a favorite color to postcards to ATCs. i won't lie... i had no idea what an ATC was. ATC stands for "artist trading cards." they're cards the size of playing cards or baseball cards that can be decorated with whatever the artist wants. the backs are dated, signed, and titled and traded with other artists. i decided to give it a try and now i'm itching to collect random ephemera! ebay is suddenly an obsession... :P here are a few test ATC's that i made the other day... they're a little too scrapbook-y in my opinion but it's what i know! i can't wait to experiment some more!

i love cupcakes!!

Bakerella this is the most beautiful blog in the world! Bakerella is a genius. seriously, look at these bunnies... hysterical! i'm especially liking that little one peaking out from behind his mama. i just spent an embarassing amount of time looking through her blog archives :P this puts me in a baking mood... but it's super hot again in boston and i'm pretty sure that if i turn on the oven the building will melt.

hooker's block

oh no! i've hit a hooker's block! i'm working on a few projects but i can't seem to get them right. i just keep crocheting then taking everything apart. now i just have piles of yarn and random limbs everywhere. my sister got me ana paula's ami book for my birthday so maybe i'll just play with other people's patterns for awhile. i'm especially excited to make a pear... which is odd because i really don't like pears at all.

kappa!

i spent a day making and re-making his limbs then attaching and re-attaching them to his little body. i'm really picky about limb placement. and some how, even if i pin everything into place and then sew them on, sometimes they all end up crooked! oh well. at least he turned out just as i had hoped :) for those of you that don't know what a kappa is, here's a little introduction: kappa are water imps in japanese folklore. as you can tell from our little friend above, they're kind of a human/duck/frog/turtle thingy. the little crown on his head surrounds a water filled dent from which they get their strength. they also have a deep sense of etiquette so a sure fire way to defeat one is to bow and he will bow back spilling the water from his head. kappa love to eat children (!!!!) and cucumbers. ever play harvest moon? toss a cucumber into the pond and a kappa will appear and give you a gift :)

birds come from clouds

i love the way the cloud came out! i'm tempted to make puffy clouds to hang all over the place. it's just so squishy and nice to hold :) i like having an excuse to buy ribbon... you can't see it in this picture but the cloud hangs from the cutest bright blue polka dotted ribbon. it took forever to hand sew everything to the ribbons and each other... ack! but the end result was worth it :) it'll be in the shop soon!

melting...

holy heatwave! my favorite weather is about 60-70 degrees. once you hit 80, it's too hot for me... so 100 is simply madness! thankfully it's supposed to get cooler as the week goes on. poor waukegan... she must be so hot in her fur coat. lucky for her she's going through her yearly shed. but that leaves me to chase her around with a lint roller trying to catch it all before it flies all over the apartment.

"oh hi... can i come out now?" some shop news... pies and cakes! these two are in the shop. there are more on their way :)