tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35893899746659548702024-03-21T05:46:50.565-04:00Magic Bean Buyer :: Jamie Ferraiolimagicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.comBlogger238125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-10102824287801758572014-09-09T13:35:00.000-04:002014-09-09T13:35:23.839-04:00Moving On!Hey guess what! I have a new blog now. Blogger was giving me problems so I moved over to WordPress. Sorry Blogger! If you'd like to keep following my ramblings join me here: <a href="http://jamieferraioli.wordpress.com">new blog</a>magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-9254692718251105122012-09-19T11:59:00.000-04:002012-09-19T11:59:14.743-04:00MemoriesA little while ago, my mom gave me a huge box of my old papers and artwork from when I was little. And a separate box filled...FILLLED...with notes from high school. Oh the horror of all the teenager drama. Kids nowadays, do they ever write notes on PAPER? While a lot of it is embarrassing and I can't believe I ever talked like that, I'm thankful that I have them. They're funny memories. I feel kind of bad for future generations that probably won't have these kind of physical mementos of their childhood.<br />
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Anyway...the point of the story. In my younger box, I found a lot of silly stories I wrote. I thought one in particular that I wrote when I was 11 was pretty funny and my initial thoughts after reading it were "is this how <a href="http://nyan.cat/original.php">nyan cat</a> was born?!" Ok, it's a stretch, but it still made me laugh.<br />
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The entire story goes...<br />
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<u>The Rainbow Lady</u><br />
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One day a girl named Alison was wondering how a rainbow was made.<br />
Alison had asked her parents, her teacher, and her other relatives.<br />
But nobody knew how a rainbow was made.<br />
After a rain storm, a very colorful lady attracted Alison outside.<br />
The lady said "I am the rainbow lady, I make the rainbows. I fly in the air and a rainbow comes out from my back."<br />
From then on Alison knew how a rainbow was made.<br />
The End.<br />
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Brilliant, isn't it? I probably should have gone into writing as a profession.<br />
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Maybe I'll share my murder mystery story next!<br />
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magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-53909095963393108142012-09-16T19:02:00.000-04:002012-09-16T19:02:29.952-04:00Halloween UpdatesI think the last time I made some new Plini figurines in time for Halloween was 2 years ago. I don't know why I can't plan ahead! The holiday-themed figurines are my favorite, and I just forget about them for no good reason. But not this year! I just updated the <a href="http://magicbeanbuyer.etsy.com">shop</a> with a whole bunch of Halloween-themed Plini figurines (and a few black pocket kitties!). I'm a big fan of the witch with her bright green face!<br />
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I have a few more figurines sculpted out and ready for painting, that I also want to make Halloween-themed. Some cupcake-topped gals specifically. Hopefully I can get to them in time!<br />
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I also recently finished up a custom doggy figurine. I typically only take custom requests on dog figurines because, unlike most cats (which my shop is jam-packed with), dogs look so different from one another. Kitties have a basic shape, but dogs are all over the place. Long snouts, short snouts, pointy snouts, smushy faces, big ears, short ears, ears that stick up, cropped ears, big tails, curly tails, fluffy fur, short fur, underbites, overbites, etc etc etc. I do try to stick to my style of figurine though! How did I do?<br />
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And now for some precious new kitty pictures because I'm in love with her. She's the bestest kitty ever! I couldn't have found a better cuddly addition. And she loves to play with my hair.<br />
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magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-65444897969398641212012-08-22T14:19:00.001-04:002012-08-22T14:19:29.425-04:00Eevee, the precious angelfaceI'm slowly starting to grow my "crazy cat lady" army. We got a new kitty last week!<br />
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Say hello to Eevee (named after the Pokemon, cuz why not)<br />
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The shelter we got her from says she's about 4 months old. She was also there with her sister and brother. The brother was already adopted. And it was so so hard to not just adopt both sisters! Especially when they told me if you adopt one cat the second one is only half price. Box them up...I'll take em all! But I know we don't really have the room.<br />
Since taking her home, she hasn't stopped purring! I've been joking that her purr box is broken and stuck on auto. I don't mind. It's so adorable.<br />
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I forgot how tiny kittens are too. My adult cats look like monsters next to her!<br />
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(some of these pictures are grainy because I took them using my tablet's crappy camera)<br />
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Spike was hissing and snorting his face off when we brought Eevee home, used to being the baby. But they're slowly becoming buddies now, which is awesome! He could use the kitten rough-housing exercise. He's close to 18 pounds about now. My meatball.<br />
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We're also convinced that Eevee's a genius cat too. She didn't need any help finding the litter box and she watches tv! Those are the two main factors that determine cat genius, I'm pretty sure.<br />
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magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-824272661744058202012-08-10T09:31:00.000-04:002012-08-10T09:31:06.929-04:00crazy weatherA week ago...or two weeks ago? Yeah maybe two weeks ago. The days just fly by! Anywho...we had a big storm in North Carolina. The sky tore open and a waterfall came pouring down with crazy crazy winds. <br />
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As fast as the storm came, it was over, but not before knocking down crazy amounts of trees in the area and cutting out our power and part of the town's. One giant tree even fell on the building next to ours, damaging the roof. We didn't have power for a whole day! Which was so awful, living on the third floor, where the heat rises and it's always a million degrees.<br />
Every time we lose power I'm reminded that I need to pick up better candles. I can only light so many tealights. Not that we were excited to have all these little heat sources scattered around the apartment when it was 100 degrees.<br />
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I'm also reminded how helpless we all are when there's no electricity. No computers, no tv, no radio, no cooking, no lights, no charging cell phones or Nintendo DS's. All my ice cream steadily melting in the now turned off freezer. This is why books can never go out of style. It's one of those few things you can do without electricity. Of course, I'll admit, Lou was happily reading his book all night, while I sulked around the apartment. It was too hot to read.<br />
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Aside from the crazy weather, I finally finished up a teeny army of more small Plini figurines. These ones I'll be slowly listing in my <a href="http://magicbeanbuyer.etsy.com">shop</a>. But I have a lot more that I'll be dropping off at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thisandthatgiftgallery">This & That Gift Gallery</a> today. More cupcakes, cookies and even a few doughnut girls!<br />
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<br />magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-62608294058502373032012-07-19T22:17:00.000-04:002012-07-19T22:17:34.559-04:00Things are evolving.heh heh...get it?<br />
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So this is happening...<br />
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I've started painting neckties! And wow, is it a breath of fresh air to paint on something flat compared to 3-dimensional shoes. No worrying about warped images or funky stitches.<br />
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I haven't had a ton of time to make more designs, since I'm also working on a bunch of other things at the moment. But I do plan on making lots more Pokemon-themed ties. They're just so fun. And there's sooooo many Pokemon to choose from! I plan on painting Haunter next. I have a nice dark gray tie picked out for it. Lou said I should have gone all out with bright purple. But I like the spookiness of the dark gray. We'll see!<br />
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The first necktie design I painted was Mario-themed, to match the shoes I paint.<br />
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Don't ask me why my next thought was Pokemon. I have no rhyme or reason. No, wait, yes...I do have a reason. I love Pokemon. Who doesn't love Pokemon?<br />
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On a completely different note...I had to buy a replacement cell phone charger the other day for the one I had that finally fell apart enough times that I couldn't glue it back together again. The <strike>amazing</strike> sad part of it all...it only cost 58 cents. THAT'S HOW OLD MY PHONE IS. It's kind of gotten to the point where I feel like "we've been through so much" that I don't want to replace it. It's getting kind of pathetic though. One hinge is broke and half the phone tries to fly away when I flip it open. Duct tape only gets me so far. Am I the last person on earth without a smartphone or touchscreen keyboard? I REFUSE TO CONFORM!<br />magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-10892489058656316632012-06-19T10:24:00.000-04:002012-06-19T10:24:52.822-04:00my birthdaypalooza<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5194/7401115054_ee9324cd4f_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5194/7401115054_ee9324cd4f_c.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>For my 29th birthday (oh my god, is that real? that doesn't sound right. I have to go check my birth certificate), my friends and the boy took a long weekend in the Outer Banks (which also happens to be Memorial Day weekend). I've never been before, but I was expecting something similar to our many Long Beach Island trips. Beachy town, bars, tasty food, cruiser bikes, walking everywhere.<br />
It was a lot more of a laid back atmosphere than LBI and a lot less walking friendly. We almost got hit MANY times walking along the road to the bars, before finally realizing we should be hugging the <strike>curb</strike> ditch a little closer.<br />
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Yay, we're here! The hotel was right across the street from the beach, which was amazing fantastical balls of awesome. Plus...it was FREE. Is this a North Carolina thing? I've never been to a beach that was free and also clean like this one. The only difference really between this NC coast and NJ is that the beach was really short and the ground underneath the water's edge felt like gravel. You didn't want to wade in the water too long because it felt like your toes were going to fall off from all of the rough ground.<br />
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Neil & Yesenia brought lacrosse sticks. It's always good to play lacrosse in your hotel room.<br />
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Before we got to the beach we made all of these elaborate preparations to build giant award-worthy sand castles, and then mostly just decided to bury Yesenia in the sand. Actually...I think this was her idea in the first place.<br />
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Smile! You're covered in sand!<br />
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The night that we walked along the road, defying death, in search of bars, we ended up at a place called Port O' Call. It was really strange. There were animal heads on the walls and old paintings and velvety Victorian couches. It was a pretty unique (and slightly scary) atmosphere. Overall, the reoccurring theme with the Outer Banks wherever we went....everything was laid back and low key. This bar was mostly dead when we got there. They even waived the cover charge because we had no cash on us (I'm assuming because no one was in there). It was just so surprising to me because usually Memorial Day weekend is a time people go nuts and drink their faces off. Apparently not in the Outer Banks. Where was everyone?<br />
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Yesenia danced for me to keep us entertained.<br />
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We did get a decent amount of sun that weekend. Which prompted a mid-day K-Mart naptime, while Neil searched for a book and Yesenia called out our names. "we're over here mom!"...I kept yelling, but she didn't hear us. Ok, ok, the sleepytime city was partly caused by sun and partly caused by lots of rum punch at the pool.<br />
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Customers kept walking buy and gawking at us like they'd never seen a person sit on the display chairs in a store before. sheesh. Okay maybe the blue hair didn't help the situation.<br />
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Our last day there, we went mini golfing. And the best part? I got a hole-in-one on the last shot! What a great way to tie everything in a bow.<br />
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Actually, the thing that tied it in a bow for me was going to this awesome seafood buffet. So many delicious things. This is just plate 1 of 20. (<span style="font-size: x-small;">just kidding...or am I?</span>)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span id="goog_687169330"></span><span id="goog_687169331"></span>magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-28916254982180402162012-05-23T08:00:00.000-04:002012-05-23T08:00:10.294-04:00What's a caper?My second favorite thing to do next to art is cooking. The problem is...I have no one to experiment on. Sure there's Lou. But I really don't think he appreciates different foods the way I do. He'd be happy eating spaghetti with jar sauce and ham & mayo sandwiches for the rest of his life. He looks at new unidentifiable dishes with fear in his eyes, whereas I look at them with excitement.<br />
Luckily (...I guess?), he's too lazy to make food himself, so whatever food whim I have, he's subject to eat it, or at least poke at it with his fork.<br />
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I don't remember how I came across this dish. I think I was googling dinner ideas, or maybe capers. Sometimes I can come across something interesting to cook if I just search for an ingredient I'm trying to use up. Like the capers. I made chicken piccata the other night with them. But that's another delicious story.<br />
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I used to hate capers. Or maybe I was just scared of their mystery. The first time I ever tried them, it was when I was making a dish in college. I had no idea what they were, but the recipe called for them. They looked strange. And they were salty, but with a weird flavor. At the time, I didn't know if they were a nut, a seed, a sea creature...who knew. The dish came out crappy and I swore off capers for a while after that. Only recently, have I grown to like them a lot more.<br />
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Enter...Pork Medallions with Mustard-Caper Sauce. Ooh, we's fancy tonight.<br />
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Here's how the picture on the website looked. Fancy and sophisticated, yes? <br />
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Here's how mine looked. Kind of like slop, yes?<br />
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Maybe because I forgot that parsley garnish. But that's fine, because
the flavor was awesome. And the roasted potatoes I made to go with them
soaked up all of that saucy goodness. I licked my plate. I'm not
gonna lie. Ok, well I did lick it hiding in the kitchen where Lou
couldn't see me. I'm not a savage.<br />
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The recipe was really easy to make and with a small amount of ingredients, which is great. If there's more than 10 ingredients, I'm not making that crap. Get out of here. I don't care how delicious the recipe might be. I have places to be. I have a life to live. I can't be measuring a bajillion separate ingredients. I think that's why I never make anything by Emeril Lagasse. It seems like every recipe I come across by him has 40 different components. Or fancy sounding ingredients that are just going to waste more of my brainpower...like clarified butter. Just get on with it alreadyyyyy. Stop showing off.<br />
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I found the recipe <a href="http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pork_medallions_with_mustard-caper_sauce/">here</a>, if you'd like to try it out for yourself.magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-51191643233911353742012-05-21T09:20:00.000-04:002012-05-21T09:20:13.042-04:00Pax East and some shoesSo <a href="http://east.paxsite.com/">Pax East</a> happened over a month ago. I painted two pairs of shoes for the event, which was great! I'm a little jealous that these shoes got to go, and not me. Too bad Pax Prime is sold out now too. Well maybe a new pair of my shoes will be attending that convention also....!<br />
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The first pair was for a girl who works for the company putting out the new game <a href="http://www.firefallthegame.com/home" target="_blank">Firefall</a>. I had never heard of it before, but it was a fun challenge to interpret her ideas onto the shoes in my style.
I got the chance to play the game while it's in beta, and it was really cool to see the elements I'd painted in action. I'm yelling to Lou, "Hey! There's that blue and red spider thing I painted! Hey!! It's trying to kill me!"
You can see some "action shots" of the shoes <a href="http://www.firefallthegame.com/community/threads/a-few-pictures-from-pax-east.28679/">here</a>.<br />
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The second pair was a variation on the Mario scenes, but on a cute pair of maryjane style shoes. I'd like to find some more shoes in this style to paint. I love maryjanes.
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</div>magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-67152165803534726642012-03-02T12:00:00.000-05:002012-03-02T12:00:02.440-05:00blue hairsHey did I tell you? I dyed my hair blue a couple of weeks ago! I love it...but wow it sure is a lot more maintenance than when I just had the chunk of pink underneath my blonde hair. As my roots are growing in, it's a super "HELLO roots". Can't really hide normal colored roots when your hair is crazy blue.<br />
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Of all the brands of dye I've tried...Manic Panic, Special Effects, Fudge, etc, I've found that <a href="http://www.jeromerussell.com/514005.html">Jerome Russell Punky Colour</a> lasts the longest and has the most vibrant colors. And it seems to be the cheapest, about $7 a tub. Oh, and it smells like grape scented markers. <br />
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I'm really entertained by all of the strange reactions I get in the food store and general public too. That might be my favorite part of the whole dying experience. Little old ladies look at me like I'm from another planet and I can't help but giggle.magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-23213922961669054332012-03-01T12:00:00.000-05:002012-03-01T12:00:08.473-05:00food truck heavenOne of my favorite things I've discovered exists since moving to North Carolina are these fantastical and delicious food trucks. There's all different kinds of food trucks and they set up shop all over the surrounding towns on certain days. There's even websites to track them. Before I knew these things existed, I really only knew about the unhealthy "grease trucks", like the one at Rutgers in NJ.
Our first discovery was <a href="http://www.chirbachirba.com/">Chirba Chirba Dumpling</a>, which could be found every Sunday, just down the road. Friggin awesome. Delicious dumpling bonanza dinner every Sunday!
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For Valentine's Day, there was actually a food truck event going on in the park in town. The crowd was so ginormous that Lou and I only had enough time to commit to one line (even though I wanted to try everything). We went with <a href="http://www.baguettaboutit.com/">Baguettaboutit</a>. Various kinds of sausage housed inside awesome baguettes, with delicious sauces.
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There was also a crepe truck there that I wanted to try. Eh...next time!magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-47730423807320384812012-02-29T12:00:00.000-05:002012-02-29T12:00:10.897-05:00Super Mario HeelsOne of the newest things that I've been working on is getting more hand-painted shoes in the shop. How cute are these peep-toes? I especially love the matching blue inlay and outsole. They're available to purchase in my <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/magicbeanbuyer?section_id=10925870">shop</a>, along with a few other designs, which you could send me a pair of shoes to paint.
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I also have an underwater Mario theme laid out and ready to paint that I'm really excited about. How cute will <a href="http://www.mariowiki.com/Blooper">Blooper</a> be to paint?<br />
I'm hoping to branch out soon into other video game related themes too. If only I had 4 more copies of myself, this would go a lot faster.magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-73140940757363345282012-02-28T12:00:00.000-05:002012-02-28T12:00:05.917-05:00A Harry Potter HolidaySomething different about working from home/by yourself that I hadn't thought about before, is that there's no co-workers to exchange Christmas presents with! Luckily for me, the boy works with other living, breathing people, and with his lack of creative skills, he tends to turn to me for creative gift ideas.<br />
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I made some Harry Potter figurines for two of his co-workers. I'm thinking I might have to make more now. I really love how they came out. And the other characters too!<br />
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First off...the craft fair I was in right before Christmas! <a href="http://rockandshopmarket.com/">The Rock & Shop Market</a>. There were three different buildings to walk through jam-packed with crafty vendors, bands playing, tons of delicious food trucks parked outside and even a fashion show. I almost <small><i>almost</i></small> wished I hadn't participated in the show because there was just so much going on, that I didn't get to see everything! They even had a photobooth!<br />
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Aw there's my homeless boyfriend checking out the goody bags they gave out to everyone. Okay, he's not homeless...just rocking the winter beard. (and also a good sport for coming to help out and keep me company!)
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I was also excited to be set up next to <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/marisolspoon">Marisol Spoon</a> who I know from Etsy. I love her work! I had no idea that her & her husband make their own detailed frames. They're gorgeous.<br />
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I'm looking forward to doing more craft fairs soon. Especially as the weather gets warmer!magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-60148516590559729812011-11-22T10:15:00.001-05:002011-11-22T10:58:03.838-05:00a refreshYou may recall the infamous blue chair that I talked about in a previous post. I can't find the post, so I'll just summarize. My mom and I dragged it out of the trash, after having earlier discovered it at a yard sale. We offered a price, the sellers refused, we said forgettt that. Imagine our surprise to find it on the side of the road later! They should have taken our money while they could! Anyways, it was in awesome condition those many years ago when we got it, but has since gone downhill. I'm in the process of reupholstering it. It's a nightmare. What was I thinking.
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Anyways...a few years ago when I was visiting my parents in Virginia, my mom and I went to an antique store and stumbled upon this gem. It's a GIANT print of a painting of a 70's style girl and her cats. It's titled "Harlequin with Kitten".</div>
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When we asked the worker how much it was, he looked at us like we were out of our minds and said "take it!"<br />
Yay! More free goodies!<br />
The other night I decided a nice coat of black paint along the frame would freshen it up. I don't know why it took me so long. The frame has always looked so stained and gross. I imagine some bozo was eating his greasy pizza over it.<br />
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And...ta-da! All better! And now it matches my other black frames.
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<br />magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-42253649428856905202011-11-20T10:25:00.001-05:002011-11-20T10:55:55.419-05:00displaying figurinesI've had people ask me before "what is it?" "what do you do with it?", when talking about my figurines. I didn't think they would be such cause for confusion. Set them on your shelf with your other trinkets & bits. Put one on your desk to cheer you up when you're feeling sad. Set one next to the coffee maker, because you can. It's your figurine...you can do whatever you want with it!<br />
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Anyways...this is how I display some of my figurines. It's one of those vintage printer's letterpress drawers, that I hung on the wall. It has a really cool drawer handle on the bottom. There's a ton for sale on Etsy, but they're all so expensive. $60 for an old drawer? Sorry, no. I appreciate good vintage and antiques, but just because something is "in", doesn't mean you can jack up the price. Excuse me while I go buy a brand new dresser with all the drawers for $60 instead. (ok, maybe not exactly, but you get the idea)<br />
I got this one for about $20 on Ebay. There's a small break in one of the compartments that I plan on sanding down, but I always forget it's there. You can't even tell from afar.<br />
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It's a mixture of ones I've made, and toys the boy and I have collected over the years. Mostly the ones I have from me, are tests or rejects. Like the little Sundae kitty...you can't tell, but he has a broken neck! So sad. And that little green pocket kitty up top. Way too small to sell. I thought, hey maybe...but nah. The <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/magicbeanbuyer/search?search_query=pocket&search_submit=&search_type=user_shop_ttt_id_5122503&shopname=magicbeanbuyer">regular pocket kitties</a> are already cheap enough.<br />
I had planned on selling that lil grenade, next to the blue pocket
kitty, but he just looks so cute on my shelf. I'll probably just make
more one day.<br />
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<br />magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-52284246722242245382011-11-18T13:14:00.001-05:002011-11-18T13:22:57.535-05:00Hello Kitty Pumps Giveaway<a href="http://www.hawaiikawaii.net/2011/hello-kitty-pumps-giveaway-with-twenty10footwear/">Hawaii Kawaii</a> teamed up with <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Twenty10Footwear">Twenty10Footwear</a> to host this incredibly awesome shoe giveaway. These Hello Kitty pumps have a bit of a vintage feel to them, and the pattern is too darn cute! I'll be drooling over these, crossing my fingers, and hoping I win!<br />
You can enter the giveway <a href="http://www.hawaiikawaii.net/2011/hello-kitty-pumps-giveaway-with-twenty10footwear/">here</a>.<br />
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.magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-88092378769880409212011-11-09T09:36:00.000-05:002011-11-09T09:36:44.971-05:00I'm a terrible blogger.It's not that I don't like it. I just forget. I don't have very good time management skills. Or maybe self-control skills? Whenever I get "in the zone", when I'm painting or drawing or whichever, I tend to abandon all other things. I should be thankful that I'm able to queue up my <a href="http://magicbeanbuyer.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a> to auto-post for me. Yes, I guess I could do that for my blog too. But then that means I have to find 20 things (that are actually slightly interesting) to talk about.<br />
I'm not that interesting. <br />
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But here's something interesting today...remember the Super Mario heels I painted for myself a little while ago?<br />
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I finally finished testing the materials and figuring out a price. So
now I'll be starting to take commissions (<a href="http://magicbeanbuyer.etsy.com/">contact me</a> for more deets) and also offering up some
pre-painted heels in my shop. I have a finished pair of closed-toe size
8's, that I need to take pictures of, and then I can list them in my
shop. (Probably this weekend). Surprisingly, I had a really hard time finding another peep-toe variety. The ones I bought for myself were a random pair on clearance. Lou says he likes the closed-toe better. There's definitely more surface area to paint with closed-toe. Hmm...I'm not sure which I prefer.<br />
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<br />magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-15696885481238801662011-10-12T21:17:00.000-04:002011-10-12T21:17:02.583-04:00things to saveMy parents brought over more of my boxes that they've had saved of mine throughout the years. Toys, school papers, notes from high school, my cat statue collection. My mom is infamous for documenting all of the "cute things" I've said (and my sister) as a kid. I hope when I have children, I remember to do that, because it's hilarious to look back at now....at least for me. When I giggle uncontrollably and tell Lou "wait wait...you have to hear this thing I said when I was 5, I can tell it's not as funny to him, but he smiles. At least he's humoring me.<br />
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When my sister Kelly was born 15 years ago, I bought this Kelly doll (I think she was 3 or so, when I actually bought it). It's still sealed in the box after all of these years, a little squished, but alright. It's funny because I still think of her this age. It's hard to imagine she's almost driving and having boyfriends.
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I was super excited to find these watercolor pages of Rainbow Brite. She was my favorite. According to the notes my mom wrote on them, I was 3 and a half. Look at those painting skills! Ok maybe it's just cheating. How cool were those water coloring books? Just add water. Do they still make them??
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I'm not sure when this troll doll is from. I'm assuming whenever that Troll doll boom happened in the 90's. I wish I still had all of my trolls with the jewels in their bellies! Those were fun. And kind of creepy. Strange naked figurines with old man faces and crazy hair.
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My mom wrote down a conversation she had with me when I was four...<br />
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mom - "what does a mother do?"<br />
me - "she draws pictures, reads newspapers, watches tv when the kids are asleep, takes a walk to the park and reads magazines.<br />
mom - "what do dads do?"<br />
me - "go to work, put kids to bed and give kids dinner."<br />
mom - "what do nanas do?"<br />
me - "oh, they clean up."<br />
mom - "what do aunts do?"<br />
me - "watch kids"<br />
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And a scrap of paper my mom found in my room when I was 12...<br />
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"Misson: Spy on parental units<br />
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Clues:<br />
1. They are in kitchen"<br />
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I don't know...I thought those were hilarious. Lou thinks I'm even more nuts now!<br />
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Personally...I think he's just jealous that he wasn't as cute and sassy of a kid as I was. <br />
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...to be continued (I have lots more!)magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-22743469163347887482011-09-28T18:08:00.000-04:002011-09-28T18:09:52.556-04:00Sometimes I win thingsI entered a giveaway on <a href="http://www.coffeecatsnyarn.com/" target="_blank">Coffee, Cats n' Yarn</a> a little while ago, and I actually won!<br />
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A snazzy robin's egg blue Martha Stewart double cat bowl with mat. It also comes with little air-tight covers for the bowls. Good for travel!<br />
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It came packed like a gift, which was awesome. It felt like Christmas opening it! I'm thinking I'm going to have to go out and buy myself a second one, so I have matching bowls for both the cats. Maybe in pink...<br />
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Ein, as usual, was more interested in the plastic bag it came in. For some reason, she has this fascination with plastics. She'll lick the shower curtain for hours.
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Spike was concerned.
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And confused.
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Very confused.
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magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-92001945998652953942011-09-26T16:18:00.000-04:002011-09-26T16:18:23.125-04:00another reason......to never leave the apartment. <br>
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You know, I'm always joking about how I never want to leave the apartment. Sometimes "forces of nature" FORCE us to seriously consider that.<br>
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The other day, Lou and I were on our way out, when what does he almost bump into face first with full force?....the most GINORMOUS spider web spanning our entire doorway from the waist up to the top. We're talking Halloween decoration sized here. And the spider was monster-sized to boot, as well.
We screamed like little girls, slammed the door, jumping up and down, running around the coffee table, trying to gather our sanity. I had to re-apply my makeup at that point from laughing so hard I was crying over our almost crapping our pants. I can't imagine the neighbors didn't think someone was being murdered from all the screaming.
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How the hell does this even happen?? Within a single night, this jerk spider built a web across our whole door. It was hard to get the full angle and vast-ness that this web really was.
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We've made a vow to always check for ninja spider traps when we leave now, instead of looking at our phones, or the keys, or shooing the cats trying to come with us. <br>
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It's hard to say if I ever plan on leaving again though...
magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-51702979493144877972011-09-23T08:00:00.000-04:002011-09-23T08:00:03.045-04:00moving...Well I'm only 3.5 months behind on this blog post....<br />
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As you may have learned, I recently (ok 3.5 months ago, whatevs!) moved from Delaware to North Carolina. The boy got a job down here, and I took this opportunity to focus on my art. It's been friggin amazing so far, and I've been loving mostly every minute. I do miss my friends, I'm not gonna lie. But I do love working on my artwork full time. Hopefully one day, we'll be able to move back to civilization, and I can have the best of both worlds!<br />
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I'm going to guesstimate that approximately three fourths of the apartment was my craft/art supplies. I seriously considered labeling some of the boxes "video games" to keep Lou from catching on. It was starting to get pretty ridiculous. I need lots of supplies, what can I say??
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The drive took somewhere around 8-9 hours between stopping for food, gas, pee breaks and getting lost. I had the pleasure of following Lou in the moving van...which meant reading the back of the truck the whole time. Budget. Bud...get. Budge..it. Budge...get. Bud...it. Go Budget! I couldn't stop making other words with the words on the back of the truck the entire time.
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The best part of moving to North Carolina was probably learning that they sell beer in average convenience stores. Beer Cave?! Are you kidding me?!? How am I not supposed to pick up a 6-pack at the grocery store every time I need some Cocoa Puffs? I don't want to have a wasted trip....am I right??
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magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-64675849684253144002011-09-20T08:00:00.000-04:002011-09-20T09:40:35.069-04:00rainbows in cupcake form<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://greenlovesyou.blogspot.com/2011/08/infused-vodka.html">A few posts ago</a>, I talked about the infused vodka I made for my dear friend Yesenia for her birthday. I also happened to make some rainbow cupcakes too! Since she was visiting us all the way in North Carolina (driving down from Delaware) for her birthday weekend, I wanted to do something birthday cake-y. I kept reading about rainbow-colored cupcakes, and they looked so nifty, so I thought sure, why not...I'll give it a try!</div>
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Mixed all the colors.
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It was a lot more tedious than I expected, to layer each color one by one.
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Ta-da! Rainbow-y cupcake-yness!...with Spiderman cupcake liners (found them at Michael's)
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Fun times!
magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-59853258075911793622011-09-15T12:00:00.000-04:002011-09-15T14:12:19.740-04:00toys!Hey remember these toys from years ago? MicroPets by Tomy. Voice activated and they'd interact with each other. I love these guys. They freak the cats out.<br />
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I've had them packed away in my "toys" box for a while now, and every time I accidentally bumped into the box, they'd turn themselves on (the little power button is right on top of their heads). All of a sudden there'd be little electronic barks and meows and clickity clicks and squeals and whines for a good 10 minutes. Whoopsie.
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It looks like they're still available in Japan. Why does Japan always get the cool toys??<br />
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Also, this reminds me...I need more toys for this shelf. It's lacking.
magicbeanbuyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529892924273136182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3589389974665954870.post-48026348720791598422011-09-13T15:34:00.000-04:002011-11-01T09:02:24.204-04:00some work & some fun...actually, it's all fun. Who am I kidding?
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While finishing up another batch of Ice Cream Sundae Kittehs, it occurred to me that trying to randomly paint sprinkles on something is practically impossible when you're a perfectionist. It's maddening trying to make the sprinkles look perfectly spaced out in such a perfectly random way in the perfect assortment of totally random colors. Oh well....I'll get over it!
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All of these sundae kitties (minus 1) are going to <a href="http://www.shanalogic.com/">ShanaLogic</a>. I have a few other figurines available there too, if you haven't heard by now! I'm also working on some pink raccoons (there's a few <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/81446141/teal-blue-raccoon-handmade-figurine">blue ones</a> available in the shop for now!), and a whole bunch of foxes in two different sizes.
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In the tiny smidge of spare time I find, I've been working on painting a pair of shoes. I plan on wearing them to the boy's sister's wedding in October. I don't have a lot of time to finish, but this one side only took me a day and a half. I still have one whole shoe and the other side to go. <strike>And if you're wondering, as much as I'm loving how these are coming out, I don't have any plans to sell painted shoes in the future. Too much testing and annoyance involved, I think. Since I'm only making this pair for myself, I don't have to stress how well the art will hold up from wear & tear. I wouldn't want to sell a less than perfect product, and I'm way too lazy to do the research.</strike> EDIT: Ok, I changed my mind...I'm currently testing out some materials! Contact me through my <a href="http://magicbeanbuyer.etsy.com/">Etsy shop</a> for more deets.<br />
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