Adventures in Nachos

I recently was commissioned by a friend to make a special something out of clay. A TacoBell Nachos Supreme charm! I've never made anything quite like this before. I've done food, but it's always been something sweet, like a cupcake, or a cookie, or whatnot. But I think it came out pretty well! And I'm especially proud of my "ground beef". I figured out that the best way to make a crumbly looking beef was to simply take a toothpick and drag it along the clay. It balled up and crumbled no problem! Lou was not as excited as I was with my adventures in crafting. Now I have to think of more things with ground beef to make, as I went crazy and made a ton!

boo Sunday

There's something about Sundays that will forever make me feel like I have school tomorrow and didn't finish my book report. I guess work has the same effect... Minus the book report.

Good news! I finished two custom orders and am thisclose to finishing another. I love productive weekends! It's so hard to keep myself motivated. Even though it's the best days for me to work, I always find myself wanting to slack off and play video games all day. It's the weekend, gosh darnit! Luckily my "work" is fun, so I think that's what keeps me at it.




I also found time to make some spinach and ricotta stuffed chicken! It came out pretty good. Except...lesson for next time...don't use "maple" bacon. The apartment smells reeks like breakfast, and my dinner kind of tasted like breakfast too. I forgot that "maple" and "hickory" aren't one in the same when it comes to bacon. my bad. I wasn't thinking.



I basically followed this recipe. Next time I'd like to flatten my chicken a little thinner. It wasn't until I wanted to make this, that I realized that I don't own a mallet. So I'm banging on the chicken with a frying pan. (it was the only flat heavy thing I could find!) It's making the loudest sound imaginable. Glasses are jingling. The coffee maker is shimmying down the counter. Upstairs neighbors are banging on the floor. It served it's purpose though!
I have a ton of ricotta left over now though. I'd like to think of something tasty to make with it. All I've ever used ricotta for is lasagna, but I'd like to think of something different. OH..cannolis? Yeah, those won't be exhausing and difficult to make.

Last night I snapped a few pictures of Ein "helping" me edit photos. She's so cute. A total beotch, but she loves to cuddle.




And today Lou and I stopped in the Christmas Tree Shop and oh my gosh I forgot how much cute and cheap dish and glassware they have! I found so many cute things that I thought would look great as displays for my Plinis at craft shows and whatnot. Like this freakin adorable polka dot plate. Two dollars. Are you kidding me?? I also picked up THE most awesome cake stand for four dollars! I've decided that I'm not allowed in there unsupervised because only bad money blowing things can come about when I'm left to roam.

cupcakes, more cupcakes and totoros

One day when I have a kitchen in a real-life house instead of this pitiful excuse for one that I have now in my apartment, I'd like it to have a cupcake theme. The other day someone on my twitter feed mentioned how she was sick of seeing cupcakes and people on Etsy making cupcake things and we should all grow up. But that's her opinion, and I'm okay with never growing up.

One of my Christmas gifts from my friend Yesenia was this super cute cupcake mug, which will go perfectly in my cupcake kitchen! She also got me a cupcake shaped plate, which I failed to get a picture of before my camera battery died.



Then at Target yesterday I picked up the CUTEST ceramic cupcake trinket box from their Valentine's section. So slowly the cupcake collection grows!



And of course with cupcakes on the brain, I had to make a few too. I'll be listing them in the shop sometime this week, along with a couple of other things.



Aside from cupcakes, I finished up a super cute custom order. A "romantic" Totoro set. How cute are they? The umbrella is removable (for ease of shipping and storage), and the figures are separate. But when you put them together, they look like they're holding hands!

craft show research....ready go!

I've been doing a lot of research lately until my eyes fall out of my head and roll under the coffee table every night. I'm trying to get my act together and try my hand at some craft fairs. I've always been so intimidated by the whole thing, but I really think my Plini figurines would do well if people could see them and hold them. I've had lots of customers say their purchase was even better than the photos had showed. I believe em.

So I'm gathering information on where to sell, what I need to sell, how my table should look, yadda yadda. Also, worst-case scenarios and horror story lessons. And god, there sure are a lot of those. I've stumbled on whole blogs dedicated to the horror stories fellow crafters have experienced. I'm trying not to dwell on the things that can go wrong, but it's also nice to see how other people handled difficult customers and situations.

I've been spending a lot of my time trying to build up my inventory now. So my Etsy shop probably isn't going to be updated as often as I'd like in the next month while I work. More like 1 for Etsy, 2 for craft fair, 1 for Etsy, 2 for craft fair.


Even if I'm not adding to the shop as regularly as I normally do, I'm still accepting all custom orders. I can never turn down a request! (Unless there's a time restraint that I can't uphold. So sad. I really wanted to make that second Totoro wedding set, but there just wasn't enough time). Tonight I also finished a custom Plini pendant. Isn't she cute? I made a few more for the shop (or the craft show..I haven't decided) that have the classic tan bottom. I'm wondering if it's better to sell them as pendants only or with a necklace included. Or maybe just with the option to add on. I think the thing I like best about the pendants is they can be used as charms for keychains or zipper pulls or anything else that you can hook them onto. I had a customer that used them with her Blythe dolls too. I thought that was really cool. I've never seen a Blythe doll up close, let alone heard about them until last year, but seems to be that my Plini pendants are the perfect size for Blythe!

I'm also working on an "army" of bird earrings. (finished product w/ wire hoop) Hot pink at the moment. I've also finished blue. I'm curious what other colors people would prefer as bird earrings. Yellow (canary) and red (cardinal) are clear choices, but I'm also thinking black would be nice. Easy to match any outfit. I just have to order more wire and my army will be good to go.



I also plan on using these bows I just finally figured out how to make with some of the bird earrings. And also some ADORABLE cupcake and brass pendants I'm working on (just you wait..). They're so simple, but for some reason I could not figure out how they were made. It took me a pile of ribbon, some burnt hot glue fingers and way too much sewing thread, but I definitely got it! I can't wait to buy myself more cute ribbon and go bow crazy.