My hiatus is officially over.

Hello!

I'm back. Okay, I never really left...but my computer did. It was in a "coma" for a solid month, until I was able to get it fixed. In that time when I had limited computer access, I really felt a void in my daily routine. Sad and pathetic, but true. I have a lot of blog reading and catching up to do. All of my networking and promoting has been lacking with lack of internet access.

On the bright side, I was able to take that time to temporarily put my Etsy shop in vacation mode and devote my time to making a huge new batch of Plinis and other figurines. It was relaxing indeed.



I've also been working on photographing some ACEOs to list that I made a little while ago. I've been feeling a little self conscious to list them though. Will they groove alright in my shop with my Plinis? Will other people like them they way I do? I guess the only way to see is to list them!



On top of that, I've been working with shrinky dinks again. I made a small pile of adorable charms that I can't wait to list, but now I'm dealing with the problem of how to seal them. I've tried all kinds of glosses. Some smear the ink, melt away the plastic, peel away the design. It's a pile of shrinky dink drama. I don't want to sell charms that aren't going to last. I have to do some more digging.

a good Tuesday.

I won! I never win anything, I'm thrilled! Unconventional Ida had a giveaway that I learned about through her blog and my name was randomly chosen and I won my choice of 4 of her ACEOs! I can't wait to receive them. She's also having a half off sale of her items to mark her one-year Etsy anniversary which is super cool..but it's only for today..and it's already 10:23pm..I'd hurry on over if I were you for some great deals!

Speaking of artwork..I've been working on some paper works myself. I can't seem to get away from girls and food. I should probably just give in and embrace it. I'm working on the color studies and then *hopefully* I can transform them into some ACEOs of my own! I'm a fan of the black background with pink accents. What do you think?



And in other news...the "children" are too cute for words. The older child doesn't like to play with the baby much, but at least they can tolerate eachother long enough to the point where they'll sleep next to one another! Aah..I can't stand the cuteness.

The tallest tomato plant in the world.

I wouldn't say I'm an avid gardener. Most of the plants that I take into my custody end up dead. I'm not a plant hater, on the contrary, I think maybe I give too much love (..and water). When Lou and I moved into our new apartment at the beginning of the month (which is why I've been missing for so long.) I decided to start a garden. A porch garden. It would be nice if I actually had a patch of grass and dirt next to my living situation to call my own, but for now I have a slab of concrete. Failing to do any kind of research as to what plants work best potted and also failing to investigate the sun situation in my new digs, I wandered around Home Depot until I settled on a jalepeno plant and a tomato plant. I don't know if any of you are aware, but there are hundreds of varieties of tomatoes! I chose a tomato plant called "Sweet 100" only because the picture on the tag looked like cherry tomatoes, which thanks to my vast knowledge of tomato horiculture I knew I could manage to keep a cherry tomato plant surviving in a pot for at least most of the summer.

When I got home and potted the plant I stuck a chopstick in the soil to help support it whenever it got around to growing. And as I type, this plant is now reaching the height of my neck! Apparently the Sweet 100 plants get their name because they burst with clusters of tomatoes all over and can grow as tall as 8-9 feet! I've yet to see my first tomato, but there are flower buds all over.
My jalepeno plant is doing really well too. I just hope it doesn't feel inferior next to the Sweet 100.

In other news...I have lots of new Plinis available in my Etsy Shop! And I still have even more to list. I've also been playing around with the idea of ACEOs. It stands for Art Cards Editions Originals. They're little original works of art the size of a business card. It's an affordable and cute way to collect original artwork. I haven't decided what I'd like to make, but I'm having fun trying different techniques and getting used to the small dimension.


And now I'm off to the post office. Sad that they know me by name there now..all of them.