C Line Creations

Weekend Wrap-Up

2010-04-05T19:35:00.006-04:00

This past weekend really felt like the beginning of spring. And what better way to celebrate spring than to be outside, doing things?

So on Saturday, we hopped into the car, and made out way out to the Long Island vineyards. Of course, no grape plants were growing yet, but it was still lovely and relaxing - and as always, it's nice to just get out of the city for a bit.

These photos were all taken on a camera phone - not bad, right?

The vineyard we went to had a resident cat. It was so calm, just lying about - but what do you expect when it's around all those wine fumes all the time?

And then we just meandered our way back along the north shore, stopping by a few cute little towns.

And Sunday was spent at home, hanging out on the balcony for a lot of the day. Quite a pleasant weekend, all around.

Along with the spring theme, I've decided to make a bunch of handmade rose bobby pins for my Etsy shop. I do have a few listed, but I think I will expand my inventory to encompass a larger assortment of colors.

{NewNew} Tutorial & Pillow Giveaway!

2010-04-01T18:18:00.003-04:00

The{NewNew} street team is hosting an awesome eco-friendly tutorial and pillow giveaway at their blog!

The tutorial shows how to use repurposed felt scraps to help grow young seedlings, and you can win this gorgeous 100% recycled pillow by Alexandra Ferguson, one of the many talented artisans on the team:

The giveaway runs until April 6th - I'm going to enter it right now, in fact.

New Shop Banner!

2010-03-25T16:09:00.009-04:00

Yesterday, I decided to switch out my Etsy avatar and shop banner. The blue knotting in my avatar has been sold for awhile, so I thought with the warm weather and spring coming on, why not put a new face on my shop?

This is the new banner that I created. I decided to use close-ups and to go for a light feel to match the types of items I make.

And just for fun, here is the progression of banners that I have used, from beginning to end.

The name "C Line Creations" comes from the fact that my "studio" (read: apartment) is right off of the (C) subway line in Brooklyn. I wanted to incorporate the subway into my banner in some way, so this was the first version, using the subway symbol C.

Then I decided that the black background was too heavy for my types of products, so I decided to create a white banner. I still used the photo of my tiger painting, and incorporated a picture of a subway entrance to the left.

After realizing that the subway entrance was being commonly mistaken for a chair, I decided to revamp the banner to include more item photos. I also added faint railroad tracks behind the wording to stay with the subway/train theme.

And then finally, yesterday I decided that I didn't really need to continue depicting the subway theme in my shop appearance, since the C symbol just doesn't really go with my Chinese arts in any way. It's enough that I explain the connection in my profile. So I decided on the close-ups, and went for a light, airy feel that I will post one more time to make the progression complete...

Orchid Sketch II

2010-03-14T21:27:00.003-04:00

This time I used pencil, but a very soft one - 6B lead. So much easier to control than charcoal. I think I need to work on depicting shadows; I don't really know how to put them in realistically. At least I'm not really happy with them at this point. Maybe I'll try some crumpled paper exercises next time, hmmmmm...

And of course this is what I was looking at:

Orchid Sketch

2010-03-09T09:25:00.000-05:00

I've been painting for a good number of years now, and I like to consider myself somewhat of an artist. One thing that I wish I was better at though is drawing. Realistic sketches. With charcoal or pencil.

See, Chinese brush painting is of course a beautiful art form, and one that I greatly enjoy (obviously). But one of the characteristics of this traditional type of painting is that subjects are usually stylized, so that while the subjects can be easily identified, they are not what you would call perfectly "realistic" depictions. They are not what you exactly see with your naked eye.

I took a basic drawing class back in college that I really liked (and had to work my ass off for -- I worked harder in that class than in any other I took in my entire 4 years as a science major), but my projects were specifically focused on drawings of the uneven parallel bars used in women's gymnastics. Kind of a narrow focus, I would say.

So anyway, I have this awesome coptic-bound notebook that I purchased from the crafthope shop awhile back (made by seller moon23, who has customer service like you would not believe - in a very good way), and I've decided that I will be practicing some sketching. We'll see how long I keep up with this.

Here is the first - of the orchids that are now blooming in my kitchen window.

I used a medium vine charcoal for this. One thing I found with the charcoal (besides the fact that it smudges so easily), is that it's difficult to sketch with precision. Maybe because I used a thicker stick for a relatively small drawing. So I had a hard time with any sort of detail. The next one I try will be in pencil I think. Hopefully if I do more of these you'll be able to see a clear progression and improvement as I post them... at least I hope so.

Here is a photo I took after I did the sketch, so you can see what I was looking at.

Giveaways from the{NewNew}

2010-03-04T17:17:00.004-05:00

This month, the{NewNew} street team is doing a series of giveaways, featuring gorgeous products created by some of the team's members.

The first 2 are awesome -- so check them out and be sure to enter if you'd like to win.

May Luk - Ceramics Set

Adornments NYC - Necklace

Avenue Q

2010-02-26T10:39:00.003-05:00

I was lucky enough to see Avenue Q last Wednesday night -- some former coworkers found an awesome deal for 2-for-1 orchestra seats. We were in the 3rd row!

For those not familiar with New York, Avenue Q and the Q train do not actually exist. In the show, it is a street probably in one of the outer boroughs of the city.

It was hilarious. The characters in the show are half puppets/muppets (controlled by people), and half human. The dialogue and songs were so clever, and more than a little risque. Not a show for children (even with the puppets) - with witty commentary on sex, racism, homeosexuality, poverty, life, and the purpose of said life. And even while entertaining, and seriously I laughed throughout almost the entire show, it is highly relatable for people trying to make it in the "real world".

Anyway, I had a great time, and here's a little promo video for anyone who is interested:

Fancy Photos

2010-02-14T14:07:00.000-05:00

My dad's been making very good use out of his new DSLR camera in the new year already (his Christmas gift this past holiday season from all of the immediate family).

This is a cool photo he took during "snowmageddon" -- I like how the panes of the door window distort it a bit, while the pristine white snow still shines through.

And a recent orchid show that he went to.. here are a couple of my favorites. Gorgeous, aren't they?

Lastly, my uncle in California has dabbled in photography for quite some time. Here is a gorgeous photo that he took at Yosemite at 3am one cold cold night during a full moon. It's breathtaking.

A Sunny Treasury

2010-02-12T19:58:00.003-05:00

BlueHeronQuilts created this lovely treasury today which really just reminds me of summer, with sunny yellows paired with lovely blues. I was lucky enough to have a pair of my knotted rose ponytails included. I liked the treasury so much that I thought I would post it on my blog -- hope you like it too.

Well, for now I will turn away from thoughts of summer and watch the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Olympics - should be a good show. Though with the tragic accident earlier today, my thoughts go out to Nodar Kumaritashvili's family and friends.

Oh on an unrelated note, and my guest Chinese painting lesson went well on Monday.. it was cute, each of the 25 kids painted such a distinctive tiger cub. Each one showed such a different personality, and I think they all enjoyed themselves. Whew.

Guest Lesson - Tiger Cub

2010-02-07T14:50:00.006-05:00

Tomorrow, I'll be heading out to Long Island to be a guest teacher at the Garden City Waldorf School. The 7th grade class is currently doing a segment on Asian geography, and I was invited to give a morning lesson in Chinese brush painting.

Since Chinese New Year is coming up on the 14th, I thought I would focus on the current zodiac symbol -- the tiger. I just so happens that most of the students are 12 years old, so they were born in the year of the tiger as well. How convenient.

My favorite tiger that I've painted is the one in my blog banner up above (also on the left of my Etsy banner), but that's quite a bit more complicated and advanced. So I whipped up this small tiger cub, which will be quick to demo and be interesting for the kids to try out (sorry, not a great photo).

Should be fun. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I get to take the day off from work too!

Winter Inspiration - Photography

2010-02-02T21:18:00.003-05:00

Winter is bleak, and can be dark and depressing sometimes. It's February, and I can't help wishing that the groundhogs were right and that we'll see an early spring. I'm certainly looking forward to longer days and being able to walk outside in the sun.

However, winter can also be softly inspiring. Here are some gorgeous winter photographs that offer up that ethereal beauty.

Upper Left:
Cardinal in the Snow - 8x8 Fine Art Photograph
by ara133photography

Upper Right:
Snowneressness - 8x8 Original Fine Art Photograph
by Raceytay (currently having a BOGO sale!)

Bottom:
Snow While They Sleep - 14x18 Framed
by judemcconkey

Special Delivery: Share Your Love 2010

2010-01-26T20:03:00.005-05:00

Etsy has put out a call for handmade Valentine's Day cards for their Special Delivery project. From the Storque article,

The day of hearts is almost upon us, and here is an opportunity to open your heart to a large circle of people. You may recall our Special Deliver y project from last year. It was so heart-warming that we've decided to make it an Etsy tradition. Once again, we'll be working with Citymeals-on-Wheels to bring nutritious meals, handmade greeting cards and companionship to elderly New Yorkers.

You can either send in your own cards, with a nice message written in, or purchase cards and have them sent directly to Adam at Etsy. In any case, they need to receive the cards by February 9th.

I sent in these cards today, and I hope that Etsy gets a ton of donations for this wonderful project.

Hearts for Haiti

2010-01-20T19:00:00.012-05:00

Hundreds of sellers and artisans have inspiringly banded together to raise money by donating items to, and buying from, the Hearts for Haiti Etsy shop. Sellers have donated their handmade items, as well as free shipping, and 100% of the proceeds (minus Etsy & PayPal fees) go directly to Doctors Without Borders.

Last night I purchased this set of lovely winter notecards by Orange Cat Art, and I've donated a few items as well (1 of which sold today and will be shipped off to the UK).

Definitely check out HeartsforHaiti -- there are some lovely things there and every little bit that helps the desperate situation in Haiti matters. I will be browsing the shop every so often as well, and I'm sure I will make a few more purchases in the near future.

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EDIT

I also just found out about crafthope, which is also raising money for Doctors Without Borders. Even more lovely items to browse to raise money for Haiti. I bought this beautiful journal made by moon23. I don't really know what I'll write or draw in it, but I've wanted one of these coptic stitch handmade journals for awhile, and what better time to get one?

First Excursion of 2010

2010-01-02T20:28:00.004-05:00

On January 1st, my boyfriend's parents took a trip into Manhattan to visit the Guggenheim, so we decided to leave the comfort of Brooklyn and meet them in the city after they left the museum.

After sharing a very overpriced meal, we walked along the meandering paths of Central Park for a bit, and then my boyfriend decided he wanted to show us "his favorite street in New York". So we followed him down into the subway and hopped onto an uptown (C) train.

We rode that train all the way up to 163rd, the 2nd to last stop. Getting out, I was a bit skeptical, because the area was .. not very nice. But we walked along some rather dark streets, and then all of a sudden the street changed to cobblestones, and we looked up to see an old stately white Georgian house up high on a hill.

Turns out this house, the Morris-Jumel Mansion Museum, was George Washington's headquarters in 1776, and that small area has been kept as a historic district. It's really unexpected all the way up there, but really neat. I wasn't able to get any good photos because it was dark by then, unfortunately.

Here is a view of Sylvan Terrace, that street that my boyfriend likes so much. It's really remarkable -- you feel like you're looking back in time and history. Maybe they were officers' quarters or something in that vein.

Oh yes, and one last thing that I almost forgot -- happy 2010!

Gifts

2009-12-27T09:52:00.010-05:00

My family was in Vermont over Christmas skiing (I could not go this year because of the day job, unfortunately), so we postposed our gift exchange until last night. Here are a few of the Etsy gifts that were given.

My brother got a sweet sunny-side-up egg keychain from ClayConnections (he is thoroughly obsessed with eggs) and a personalized sign for his college apartment from DeSIGNS by Rene'.

My mom used to have a necklace that she wore for years, until one sad day the chain broke and it was lost. Since then, she hasn't found a good replacement, so I found one for her. She got (and loved) this beautiful sterling silver circle necklace from roundabout. Simple and classy, with just the right necklace length so that it doesn't get in the way when she's going about her daily business. Nice!

My boyfriend's parents, who are both Waldorf teachers, got this beautiful birdfeeder, which was custom made for me (for them) by midnightcoiler. They loved it -- too bad they can't put it out til spring!

Of course there were some non-Etsy gifts as well, like this laptop that I am currently typing on (!!!). I've never had a laptop before - I'd been using my desktop from 2003. It was starting to feel its age. My parents really went all out for me, and thanks to them, I am typing this blog post in bed! What a luxury.

And we all splurged and got my dad a DSLR this year, since he's been getting very much into photography recently. My poor mother will now get to put up with his tinkering away for hours and hours with his new toy. Ah well! Maybe I can bribe him into taking product photos for my shop... Dad, are you reading this??

Almost forgot this -- one of the funniest moments was when my suduku-loving mom opened a little package from my funny brother, to find... a roll of toilet paper. This led to a mini scavenger hunt (my dad trailing in the back with camcorder on tripod), which ended in the bathroom to find...

Enjoy the rest of the holidays everyone, and have a happy New Year!

'Tis the Season

2009-12-20T12:34:00.010-05:00

There's snow on the ground, my breath frosts in the air, and every other commercial on tv is some sort of modified carol. Yes, it definitely feels like the holidays.

On Friday night, we walked up 5th Ave, seeing all the people and stores in their holiday best. After a lovely dinner, we hung out in the uber swanky Time Warner building for a bit, browsing the shops, ogling the menus, and watching the star show.

Then we holed up for the rest of the weekend, watching the snow come down. Here is our mini Christmas tree surrounding by presents (all wrapped in recycled Whole Foods brown paper bags!). It's actually a rosemary tree -- oh so cute AND useful.

And a nice holiday surprise for me -- our orchid plant, which was an apartment-warming gift from my parents about a year and a half ago, has sprouted a new shoot! For awhile I thought it was done flowering for good, but my faithful weekly waterings have hopefully paid off.

Lastly, a view of our snow-covered balcony. Perhaps we will have a white Christmas this year. That is, if the snow doesn't wash it all away by next Friday!

Raffle Winners from the HHC!

2009-12-17T20:22:00.002-05:00

The 5 raffle winners from the{NewNew}'s Handmade Holiday Cavalcade have been announced!

So sad that none of my personal customer's won.. but there's always the next cavalcade right?? These are such awesome raffle prizes, all donated by crafty members of the{NewNew}.

I'm Greedy

2009-12-13T13:47:00.006-05:00

I'm the sort of person who likes to have backup supplies on hand before I run out of my current supply, whether it's toilet paper, soap, paper towels, or shampoo.

So recently, since I'm been switching over to handmade products, I've made sure that my new handmade soaps, lotions, and shampoos have arrived before I've exhausted my supply of old commercial goods, with their parabens and other fun things like that.

So here's my dilemma now. I get excited when I get packages in the mail, even when I know what they're going to be. So when I opened up a recent purchase of lotion, of course I wanted to try it out. The problem is, I liked it so much more than my aveeno / dove lotions that I keep using it, instead of finishing the old bottles first. I'm going to have to force myself to finish the old before indulging myself with the new...

Handmade Highway Giveaway

2009-12-08T23:26:00.002-05:00

Win all these fun items in this Handmade Highway Sitewide Giveaway. The prizes, including my shades of pink hair barrette, are worth a total of $126.

Check it out, and good luck!

Post HHC

2009-12-07T21:27:00.009-05:00

The Holiday Handmade Cavalcade last Saturday was a blast! The vibe was great, the{NewNew} team was wonderful -- all in all, a lovely event.

Check out all the festive garlands in the front windows of the lovely venue (OpenHouse Gallery).

And here I am with my mom, behind my booth!

My parents stopped by, as well as my boyfriend and his parents. My boyfriend had actually had a nightmare the night before -- he told me in the morning "I had a nightmare about Etsy! I drove you to your fair, and there was no one there.. and you were sad." Thank goodness that wasn't the case!

I actually had amazing neighbors -- Jody of aStudiobytheSea to my left, and Felicity of WishbyFelicity to my right. They were great!

At one point a woman came by to tell me that she had bought 2 pairs of my earrings at the last fair I did, and the girls she gifted them to "absolutely loved them!"

All in all, I had a lot of fun, and it was incredible that the{NewNew} team put together such a great event -- especially since everyone works on a volunteer basis (not the mention the team members who weren't selling and volunteered their time -- thank you to Meekiyua for the morning coffee!). There was even a line outside the door to get in at one point!

The{NewNew} Presents...

2009-12-03T21:35:00.007-05:00

...The 2nd annual Holiday Handmade Cavalcade! Saturday, from 11 am - 9 pm at OpenHouse Gallery, 201 Mulberry St in NoLita

I finalized my display today and I am very excited. My parents will be coming in from NJ, and my boyfriend's will be shlepping in from Long Island. Nice!

There are going to be over 50 local artisans and handmade goods ONLY. It's going to be awesome.

A small preview of some of the vendors...

LinguaNigra

Nordea's Soaperíe

Yania Creations

Stop by for a day of wonderful handmade holiday shopping!

Holiday Sales with the{NewNew}

2009-11-25T16:18:00.004-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! And you know what Thanksgiving means... WEEKEND SALES. Shop handmade this weekend with the{NewNew} -- check out the sleek new online digital catalog for a preview of shops participating.

As for CLineCreations, enjoy 10% all purchases from Black Friday through Cyber Monday (11/27 - 11/30). Happy Thanksgiving, and maybe more importantly, happy shopping!

Gift for Kitty!

2009-11-22T10:18:00.006-05:00

I recently ordered this catnip mouse toy from Robyn of VivaLeChat, who was so nice and wonderful to work with. She also donates a third of her proceeds to IMOM, which helps owners who cannot afford emergency vet care for their furry companions.

The mouse is adorable, and the catnip is POTENT. I could smell it before I even opened the package. It's going to be a Christmas gift for Kitty, if I can wait until then to give it to her. She's going to go crazy, and it will be hilarious.

In other news, my parents just got back from Morocco -- how cool is this picture?

In other other news, I was accepted into 1000Markets, yay! Hopefully it adds some exposure -- though I can't access it at work which is a bummer (all that flash and whatnot). So will have to figure my way around the site on my own time..

Email Woes

2009-11-18T21:35:00.005-05:00

Well, this may seem like a complaining sort of post, but I find this highly annoying. I have several different email accounts, all on the same server. I use gmail because I happen to like gmail. So I had no reason to switch when creating new accounts.

I have my personal email, which obviously I use for personal correspondences, etc. However, this blog is also linked to my personal email, since I began blogging before setting up a business account. And there's just too much stuff to migrate over.

I have my business account (CLineCreations08@gmail), which I have linked to any and all crafting-related things, and which is now the contact email for this blog as well. Apparently you can have a different contact email than the email the blog is associated with. If that makes any sense.

Then I have a separate email that I use for craigslist, since I don't really want to correspond with unknown people through my other 2 accounts. (Sidenote - craigslist is great for selling used stuff, as long as you're careful of course. Not so much crafting items, but just random things that you'd like to get rid of, but that it'd be a shame to just throw away. My boyfriend and I have sold so many odd items that way, including a mini fridge, a mattress, 2 cars, a futon cover, random assorted computer cables, and most recently a weight bench. Seriously. Along with quite a few other things that I won't bore you with.)

In any case, any time I want to check one of these accounts, I must log out of whichever one I'm in, since you can't be logged into more than one at once. That ability would make my life a whole lot easier. Just to write this blog post, I had to log out of my business account and into my personal account.

End rant.

In other news, I submitted myself to 1000markets, which is another selling venue. It's a juried site, so that gets rid of resellers and such, which is nice. The interface looks really lovely, so I'm waiting with bated breath to see if I am accepted. There are no monthly or listing fees either, which is an added bonus. At least least, if I'm accepted, it will be more exposure.

Pillow Box Tutorial

2009-11-10T20:45:00.008-05:00

A few months back, I posted a tutorial on making these handmade boxes out of cardstock:

Recently I’ve revised my boxes, since with all the folding and gluing, creating the bottom and the top of those boxes took more time than I would have liked. So I’ve turned to pillow boxes. I like these better for a number of reasons. They are much faster to make. I don’t need to glue a thing. I can make 2 small boxes out of a single sheet of paper (instead of just one). So they’re faster, lighter, more eco-friendly, and are just as sturdy. Great!

This is the template I created in Microsoft PowerPoint. Nothing fancy, as you see. Most pillow boxes only have 2 sections and then a tab to connect the two, but I used 3 sections to add sturdiness and to eliminate that pesky glue.

So I printed out that template on cardstock, and quickly cut out the pieces with a paper-cutter (for the straight edges) and scissors (for the curves). Also, I made sure to lightly score the inner lines – both straight and curved – to make the folds easy and crisp.

Once each flat piece is cut out and scored, you can add whatever you want to the front of your box (the middle section). For me, I stamped it with my signature name chop, and wrote my Etsy shop url on the bottom edge. I may make a few of these to hold small holiday gifts as well – maybe with a pretty snowflake pattern. Decorate however you want!

Lastly, with the 3 sections folded together, push the leaf-shaped pieces down and up to create the sides of the box. You can tie the box shut with a pretty ribbon, which also serves to keep the box closed (no glue!). Since I used cardstock and have that extra layer, the edges are very firm, which makes it a great sturdy little box for small items, whether to ship or to gift!

Ricky Gervais on Thursday!

2009-11-03T21:40:00.003-05:00

This Thursday my boyfriend, our French friend, and I am going to go see Ricky Gervais do stand-up at Carnegie Hall. I am excited!

For those of you unfamiliar with Ricky Gervais, he was the brains behind and the star of the British version of The Office. The British version, aka the original. Long before Steve Carrell became Michael Scott.

If you would like to see some of his hilaaarious stand-up, here is a fun youtube clip of his take on nursery rhymes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJU86d_0Bgg

Oh yes, shall be a good time.

Accents of New York

2009-10-31T11:48:00.002-04:00

A quick video showing the accents of the 5 boroughs in New York. Hilarious, especially if you've ever lived in New York... she does a really good job haha.

New Bobby Pin Design

2009-10-27T20:51:00.005-04:00

My newest design is of a small, simple knotted bobby pin. I don’t know why I didn’t think of making this particular knot when I started making bobby pins, but now that I have I really like it. I’ve make a ridiculous number of them in the past few days. Here are a few photos of that process.

Left Photo – I first made a bunch of small knots in about every color combination I could think of. I did each combination in a set of two.

Center Photo – Then, with the help of scissors, tweezers, and a candle, I finished off the ends of each knot.

Right Photo – Lastly, I glued down each knot to a bobby pin using my newly found Devcon 2-Part Epoxy. This stuff is amazing. I did a bunch of research and decided to give 2-part epoxy a try instead of E-6000, since any adhesive that is illegal in California I think I want to stay away from... Anyway, I’m very happy with the epoxy, though I do have to work very quickly since it dries in about 60 seconds once it’s mixed.

Check out the finished bobby pins above. I have a ton of photos to take now, but I did list the first pair in my Etsy shop tonight. I hope people like them!

Got $25 million lying around?

2009-10-26T12:29:00.005-04:00

Anyone who's got $25 million in spare change... check out this penthouse watchtower condo in the DUMBO are of Brooklyn (DUMBO = "Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass")

It has a panoramic view of Manhattan / Brooklyn... and huge clocks that are actually calibrated to the correct time. And a glass elevator. Craziness! More photos from the NYTimes here.

Weekend Deals with the{NewNew}

2009-10-23T18:09:00.003-04:00

This weekend, 10/23 – 10/25, I am participating in Etsy’s weekend deals with the{NewNew} team.

For 3 days, take 15% off your entire order from CLineCreations (does not apply to shipping charges).

And you can check out the other {NewNew} members who are participating by clicking here – here’s a little preview of what you can find!

Capitalism: A Love Story

2009-10-21T18:21:00.001-04:00

Last weekend I saw Michael Moore’s new movie – Capitalism: A Love Story. I have to say, I was impressed. The film was very well made, and was extremely thought provoking. Really, everyone should see it.

One thing that’s very apparent is how much of a bubble the northeast can be, at least on a personal level for me. Yes, New York has its share of homeless, of economic hardships, of struggling families. Brooklyn is no walk in the park, especially certain areas of the borough. But still, it’s shocking to see some of the scenes from middle America. The stretches of boarded up houses. Bank foreclosure after bank foreclosure. People being evicted from homes that have been in their family for generations.

One thing that it brings to mind for me is Rick Santelli’s famed CNBC rant from back in February. Remember the one? From the Chicago trading floor, he raved, “This is America! How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills?” Well, for one, the fact that he said that in the company of a bunch of traders is ridiculous. I work in finance, and I know of a trader who recently sold his NYC apartment for $2 million, and bought a $4 million house in NJ. Second, a lot of the mortgage problem is the fact that people are paying so much more than their houses are worth. Few of these people who are being kicked out of their homes have an extra bathroom. At what point is it right for someone to be paying a $300K mortgage on a house worth $100K? Of course it’s going to be nearly impossible to pay off. These mortgage contracts, with 20 pages of terms, and huge interest rates hidden in tiny print – how does it make sense that it should be this complicated? And the people who can afford these rates – the ones in power (cough politicians) – have simple mortgages with special discounts handed to them on a silver platter. I’m sure if you gave some of these people the same contract that you or I would receive, they wouldn’t be any better at understanding it. But the thing is, they don’t have to because they are “taken care of”.

Another point that stuck out to me is the fact that some big companies take out insurance policies on their employees, called “dead peasant” policies. So basically… your employer could have a stake in your life, or perhaps I should say death. All this without the employee ever knowing. And of course insurance policies on younger workers are worth more since they are expected to live longer, and insurance policies on women are worth more since they are expected to live longer. So a life insurance on me (24, female) would be very valuable.

I believe the government now mandates that companies have to obtain consent to do this. It’s still crazy that an employer could benefit from an employee’s death though.

Last thing – the Chicago workers’ sit in back in December, to receive wages they had already worked for from Bank of America. It’s fantastic that they finally got what they were asking for. However, it’s absurd that they had to barricade themselves into that building for almost a week before Bank of America would pay out those wages. I don’t know how much BofA eventually paid out, but I do know that for a company of that size, it would have been pennies in their bucket.

Of course, much of this is my own opinion, but I definitely think this is a film worth seeing.

At the end, along with the credits, Michael Moore included several quotes. I thought this one was especially interesting.

“It's class warfare, my class is winning, but they shouldn't be.”
-- Warren Buffett

A good message

2009-10-15T18:20:00.002-04:00

I'm not a religious person, but I just thought this was a really nice message. I got it in one of the 897297 email forwards that my mom sends me each week.

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A Holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, 'Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.'

The Lord led the holy man to two doors.

He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.

The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished.
They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.

But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. The Lord said, 'You have seen Hell.’

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water.

The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.

The holy man said, 'I don't understand.’

'It is simple,' said the Lord. 'It requires but one skill.
You see, they have learned to feed each other.
The greedy think only of themselves.'

Cape Cod Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper Chips

2009-10-13T18:23:00.003-04:00

I was never a big fan of chips growing up. They felt so greasy and slick with oil to me… I was more an ice cream kind of kid. I guess it didn’t help that I had an insatiable sweet tooth. I could eat a pint of ice cream in one sitting, but I would turn up my nose at those shiny bags of chips.

So chips never really appealed to me. Yes, I had the occasional bag of Fritos or SunChips, but they never delighted me like ice cream could.

Until this past year, when I stumbled across Cape Code Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper Chips. These chips have changed my entire snacking point of view. Whenever I feel a desire to nibble steal upon me, I meander over to the cupboard instead of the freezer. The tub of coconut pineapple ice cream continues to pine away, collecting ice crystals, as I devour bag upon bag of delicious salty peppery goodness.

They are crunchy, they are kettle cooked, they are not greasy, they are flavored to perfection. And I am in heaven.

Perhaps I am building them up to be better than they are. Perhaps not. Either way, everyone should try these chips – look for the tan and maroon bag. I’m already looking forward to pouring myself a bowl tonight. Because if I didn’t pour a finite amount into a bowl, I’m sure I would go through an entire bag a night. In fact… I’m going to go snag some… now.

I'm happy with my craft fair.

2009-10-05T20:44:00.004-04:00

So my first craft fair experience was a good one! It was a pretty small fair, on the inside of a church with other activities, and it was raining for a good portion of the day… so I’m pretty happy that I turned a profit. And I definitely think it was a good thing to start off with a small fair so I didn’t get in over my head.

So here’s a photo of my display. I wish I had gotten some more photos of my table partner Meekiyua / LiPeony (she had the cutest prints and magnets!), as well as some of the other vendors… but they all turned out blurry. Probably because my arm was shaky from carrying my stuff 5 blocks from my parking spot, and I am a weakling. This is the only photo that was not taken by me - hence, not disgustingly blurry.

In any case, I had a good time (though parking on the upper west side was a nightmare!). My favorite was this woman who pointed to a pair of my knotted earrings and said, “Oh how funny! I have those! I got them in China!” Well, I guess they are Chinese knots, after all… heh.

Tomorrow!

2009-10-02T18:07:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow, Saturday October 3rd, I will at the All Angels’ Block Party @ 251 West 80th between Broadway and West End Ave. I will be selling in person for the first time in my crafting career!

The artisan fair will be inside the church on the main level. There will be live music, kids’ rides and games, an art gallery…

Eggs and Dairy?

2009-09-30T19:31:00.001-04:00

Recently, I was eating lunch with some coworkers and the topic of eggs came up. We got to talking about how strange it was that people almost always automatically think of eggs as part of the dairy food group. But what about eggs is actually dairy? Eggs do not have a milk base like all the other dairy products… milk, ice cream, butter, yogurt, etc. Why dairy?

We talked some more, and decided that eggs were actually in the meat section. Because really, they came from chickens (poultry). They are basically pure protein, with some fat in the yolk.

In any case, I looked it up online afterwards. My search didn’t take me further than wikipedia (which I know is not a failsafe source, but good enough for my purposes). Turns out that we were right, and that eggs are part of the “Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs, and Nuts” group. Yeah! But also, apparently eggs were previously classified as dairy prior to April 2005, which is why eggs are almost always in the dairy section in grocery stores.

Well, I had thought that they were in the dairy section just because they had to be refrigerated, but maybe that’s the reason that eggs are still subconsciously linked with dairy. Strange, indeed.

2 Giveaways from the{NewNew}

2009-09-29T19:56:00.005-04:00

I am a proud member of the{NewNew}, a group of independent artisans in the NY/NJ area. Today I heard that 2 other {NewNew}ers are hosting giveaways (I entered!), so I thought I would post about them because they are amazing products.

Luise of warpeDesign (who I actually met last night and is such a lovely person) is giving away 3 (three!) of her insanely unique cards from her Snail collection. They are painstakingly hole-punched with a gauged needle to create beautiful textual designs. (Click here for the giveaway.) This is Swirl, one of my favorite cards in her shop.

How cool is that?? Check out her lampshades too, you will be amazed, I promise.

Karina of JournalisticTendencies is giving away an office set – journal, mini journal, and glass paperweight. The interview is great too – I loved reading about her process. And everything is recycled! (Click here for the giveaway.) If I won, I would totally want her Marble Journal. Isn’t it just gorgeous?

All Angels' Block Party

2009-09-27T20:23:00.006-04:00

I am doing my first craft fair this coming weekend – so I’m kind of nervous and really excited! Hopefully it will go well. It is at the church of one of the members of my Etsy street team, the{NewNew}.

I will be sharing a table with the lovely Li of LiPeony and Meekiyua. (Check her stuff out, it’s really cute! Adorable art and little origami people.)

So I’ve been trying to get all my things in order – ordered a banner, set myself up to take credit cards, sewed a little money apron, figured out my craft setup, and of course have been stocking up on inventory… which means I haven’t been too active in my Etsy shop, but eh, that’s okay. I’d much rather have a successful first craft fair experience.

So, details for those of you in the NYC area. It is Saturday October 3rd from 10am – 6pm. Besides an artisan’s market, it also will have kids games and rides, live music, and an art gallery. Sounds like it would be a fun afternoon, right?

Fall Block Party
All Angels’ Church
251 West 80th Street
New York, NY 10024

Stop by if you’re in the area and introduce yourself, seriously!

Fake Chinese Food Feast

2009-09-14T20:38:00.002-04:00

On Friday night, my boyfriend had a severe craving for fake Chinese food. And by severe, I mean “I-can’t-have-any-other-type-of-food-tonight.” And by fake Chinese food, I mean MSG (I’m Chinese and grew up with delicious “real” Chinese food cooked by a master chef – my mom – so am a bit of a skeptic when it comes to Chinese take-out).

So after searching online for a bit, and reading reviews on joints like “Happy Restaurant” on the corner of our street, which serves Chinese food and Tex-Mex, we settled on a place called Hunan Delight. Its selling points were that we found a picture of the inside, which actually had tables and chairs. Also, it didn’t have a fried food section on its menu with French fries. Any Chinese place that serves fries cannot be legit in my book.

We ordered enough food for a small army. And it only came to around $35. Pork fried dumplings, 2 egg rolls, sesame chicken, small hot & sour soup, small chicken lo mein, small pork fried rice, and a can of coke.

It supplied us with dinner Friday night (we probably ate enough for 2 meals since we were hungry and not sober), Saturday dinner, Saturday 4am snack, and Sunday lunch. Seriously.

I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t gourmet, but it wasn’t bad. Definitely hit the spot Saturday at 4am especially… but perhaps that was the MSG.

Gotta love Brooklyn!

Labor Day / Dating Anniversary

2009-09-07T16:36:00.003-04:00

Hope everyone’s having a great Labor Day! But much more importantly (to me, probably not to anyone else), today is my 2 year anniversary with my boyfriend.

I was talking to my younger brother 2 days ago, and he brought up an interesting point. He asked, “How do people determine their anniversary dates?” This is just for dating relationships, not marriage of course, since a wedding date is as concrete as you can get. But do you start counting from the first date? Or when you cross that fuzzy line from “going on dates” to “dating”?

In any case, our anniversary was the date of our first kiss. And, as they say, here’s the scene of the crime.

Except that it was at night, moon shining on the ocean, after a romantic and classy dinner of chicken mcnuggets.

Kitties

2009-09-06T22:14:00.006-04:00

Last weekend, I went up to Saratoga with the boyfriend again for Travers (the biggest Saratoga horse race of the summer). We took an extra day this time and drove up Thursday night, so then we had all Friday to walk around the town and do some much-needed relaxing.

So while meandering down Broadway on Friday, we saw that the local pet adoption clinic had set up a little stand on the sidewalk to collect donations. And they had 6 of the cutest kittens – they hadn’t even been neutered/spayed yet! Of course I took a bunch of photos with my phone (I’m amazed at the quality that phone cameras have now… this was with a Blackberry Bold). They were so calm too. Most of them just catnapped while people poked and prodded at them. One gnawed at my pinky with its itty bitty teeth and licked me with its little rough tongue (the white one in the upper right picture). If I actually lived in Saratoga I would have probably tried to take one home with me… but I did the next best thing and gave them a donation.

Speaking of kittens, check out my newest painting. My boyfriend commented that the kitty was a bit chunky, but I guess he doesn’t know the undeniable fact that babies and other young animals are cuter when they are fatter. That, plus the ink spread a bit more than I was anticipating when I was painting. I also accidentally put sticky paste on the front side of the painting when I was backing it (I use a thin wallpaper adhesive to flatten out and attach the rice paper painting to a thicker backing sheet)… It turned out okay, but it could have been a disaster. I must have been so scatter-brained when I was doing that. Ah well.

See the Spring Kitten listing here.

A plump kitten sits outside in the grass, gazing about with soft blue eyes. The kitten knows that dinner is waiting inside, but for now, the little one is content to simply sit and enjoy the warmth of an early spring.

New Project - Curtain Tiebacks

2009-08-27T11:26:00.006-04:00

I recently was giving some critiques in the Etsy forums, and swordapparel suggested that I create some knotted curtain / drapery tiebacks. I thought it was such a great idea, so off I went!

I pulled out my trusty corkboard and started knotting.

After tightening up the main knot, I hung it up and started knotting the “tail”. I decided on a tail of 8 small knots, which along with the initial knot to secure the top loop, totals 9 small knots. I settled on 9 because the word for nine in Chinese sounds the same as the Chinese word for long. Because of the homophone, 9 is considered a lucky number, since it signifies long life.

Here’s the finished product! A lovely pair… now I just hope it’s something that people will like. Time for my small plug – my new tiebacks listing can be found here.

Cockroaches....

2009-08-21T18:09:00.002-04:00

I think there are cockroaches in my apartment. The boyfriend and I found itty bitty droppings in various places around the apartment. Not many, but enough to be sure. We've ruled out mice, which I would almost prefer, since then we could just "borrow" his parents' cat (and never give her back because she is the cutest thing ever).

In any case, we did a very thorough cleaning of the kitchen over the weekend and placed traps in strategic locations. Not a dropping since. Hopefully they are all taking the bait and keeling over behind the oven, which is where we think they have been coming out of the walls to poop and terrorize us.

I know how much everyone likes pictures on blogs, but I will refrain for those with delicate sensibilities. No one wants to see pictures of cockroaches or poop. At least I hope not.

My mother was telling me that when her and my dad lived in Florida when they were grad students, they had such a bad cockroach problem that if you turned on the light in the middle of the night, the counter would be covered with them. It was so bad and she become so desensitized that she would just flat out smack them with her bare hands. Squash them right then and there. My mother -- Small 5'0" Chinese woman by day.... Mortal enemy of cockroaches by night. I would probably have a heart attack before being able to do that, but who knows?

Last Weekend in Saratoga

2009-08-15T19:49:00.006-04:00

Some highlights from last weekend, in Saratoga.

(1) Lily Rose! She’s a cute little kitten, about 3 months old… kind of in that awkward stage when her legs have grown longer, but the rest of her is still waiting to catch up. Ahh what I would give to get a kitten… except for the fact that my allergies would kill me. Still working on that. And that brings me to…

(2) My swelling skin, from where Lily’s itty bitty claws dug in when she was playing and romping about, as kittens do.
(3) Some awesome burgers from Red Robin. They don’t have them in NYC, which frankly, is silly. They would make a killing here… I love that place.

(4) Enjoyed ourselves at a cozy coffee shop while listening to local band Firefighter Font – they’re pretty awesome and are releasing their first album in September (you can listen to clips on their MySpace, which I am doing right now).

(5) And of course, the legendary Saratoga racetrack. Of which I have no pictures, somehow… It was a good ol’ time. One of the funniest moments was when Bobby Flay guest-announced the 8th race. Best quote: “It’s Freddy the Cap along the rail. On the outside: A Zero Trap looking to make the lead. On the extreme outside… Tall Poppi. And all the way on the outside is… Stop Bluffing!”

We’ll be back in Saratoga in a few weeks for Travers. For anyone who follows horse racing at all, should be a really exciting weekend!

Caramel Delights!

2009-07-31T10:00:00.011-04:00

I’m happy because I’m sick. Well, okay, not because I’m sick, but because of the fact that since I feel like crap, I get to work from home. Which is just such more relaxing that going into that hellhole of an office… but I digress.

I have some yummy caramel picks that I’ve been drooling over! The past few days, I’ve been gazing in longing at these succulent, sweet, creamy treats. And I’m sure I will be indulging myself soon with at least one order.. mmmm. But in the meantime, I will let you drool too!

Caramels by CaramelJubilee -- I'm itching to try the pumpkin pie & pomegranate flavors. Yum.

I've always had a weakness for coconut.. so these toasted caramel coconuts by BlissCandies look really really ... tempting.

Joshua Bell - A Social Experiment

2009-07-25T16:04:00.006-04:00

This is one of the most interesting articles I have ever read, from the Washington Post. It’s quite long and is back from 2007 (complete article here), but I was mesmerized.

For those lazy readers (though I recommend reading it, especially since there is a video as well), basically the article chronicles a bit of a social experiment. Joshua Bell, one of the world’s best and most accomplished violinists today, went down into a busy Washington DC metro station with his $3.5mm Stradivarius violin, and played masterpieces of classical music for almost 45 minutes. Over 1,000 people walked by him during that time, yet only 6 stopped to listen. Some people, when asked later, didn’t even notice that there had been a musician there at all. He made about $32.

Interestingly, all the children who walked by him wanted to stay and listen, but it was the parents who pushed them quickly past.

This really says so much about our society, doesn’t it? Beauty can be staring people in the face, screaming at them from every side, but unless they are in a mindset to appreciate it, that beauty can go unnoticed. Society forces people, as they grow older, into a routine in which distractions are never welcomed, regardless of what they are. That’s how a virtuoso can play in sold-out venues night after night to standing ovations, but not even get 10 glances in a busy subway station. People don’t expect beauty in a metro station, where anyone and everyone is simply in a hurry to get from point A to point B, and so they don’t even realize it’s there.

Of course, I’d like to think that I would have been one who stopped and listened. But truthfully, would I have been? I know that I usually listen to music on my headphones as I commute back and forth on the (C) line subway, so would I have even noticed? But then again, there have been times that I’ve stopped to take in the street-side saxophone, the guitarist on the corner, the subway kettledrums, the platform flutist, even a man at Penn Station playing the er-hu (Chinese violin).

So maybe I would have stopped and realized that I was privy to something very special. At least, I’d like to think so. At the very least, it makes me realize that to see beauty around me, I have to first be open to it being present.

So what do you think – would you have stopped and listened?

Technorati Claim Code

2009-07-21T19:58:00.001-04:00

qvc5xkyrwn

My New Favorite Seaglass Earrings

2009-07-17T18:59:00.004-04:00

Look what I bought! I found these gorgeous elegant seaglass earrings made by Zoe of shorelineseaglass, and they're my new favorite pair! They even came in an adorable woven box died off with green ribbon - what a lovely touch.

Contacts - An Anecdote

2009-07-15T20:15:00.006-04:00

Contacts? Glasses? Imperfect vision? Yep, that’s me. I have terrible vision.. currently at -6.75 per eye. At this rate I may be legally blind by 30, but in the meantime.. let me tell you a funny story. This came up in lunchtime conversation recently, and until then I had forgotten all about it. Really, it's not related to anything - it just gives me a giggle. Besides, it's good to laugh at yourself once in awhile.

When I started my job a few years ago, I commuted from my parents’ home in central NJ to Manhattan for the first couple months (this was my first job out of school). Needless to say, I had to wake up pretty freaking early to get into the office by 8:30. Well, one morning, bleary eyed and stumbling, I made my way into the bathroom I shared with my younger brother, popped in my daily disposable contacts (and threw in a pair in my purse to replenish my backup), went through my morning routine, and headed out the door.

Driving my parents’ green minivan, I thought to myself that wow, I must have been more tired that usual. I was having a hard time seeing clearly, I was so tired – those bleary eyes were really getting to me. So, squinting through the glass, I drove to the bus station, hopped on the bus, and rode my way into the big bad city.

An hour or so later, I was still having trouble seeing clearly. I had to shove my nose right up to the screen to see the numbers – no way I was still that tired. So surreptitiously I popped out a contact at my desk to examine.. and horror of horrors! I had accidentally put in a pair of my brother’s contacts this morning! His prescription was only -3.00!

Well, thank goodness I had the foresight to bring a backup pair. Into my purse I went and… oh no! They were also my brother’s! Well, turns out that I’m quite the resourceful girl, because I went off to the bathroom and put that extra pair in my eyes as well. Turns out that you can add prescriptions – who knew? Two -3.00 contacts in each eye brought me close enough to my prescription that I made it through the entire day of work. Yes, my peripheral vision was all messed up. Yes, I had a splitting headache by the end of the day. But at least no one knew what a dumb mistake I had made. Good thing I didn’t crash that morning driving to the bus stop… whew.

The end.

Christmas in July Sale! (July 8 - 23)

2009-07-08T18:19:00.010-04:00

If you're like me, you like to get a head start on your Christmas shopping. Well, half the year is over, so DesignedbyLucinda decided to jumpstart a loosely organized Christmas in July sale over at Etsy!

The sale is running from July 8 - 23, so there's lots of time to get in on the action. Just do a search for "christmasinjuly" or "cij" to snag some great deals. For my shop, I have some heavily discounted items in my Christmas in July (SALE) shop section. Here's a small sampling of what you will find:

Top Left: Wisteria & Birds Original Painting - $57 (Originally $64)
Top Right: Shades of Green Rose Ponytail Holders - $7.50 (Originally $9.50)
Bottom Left: Black/White Knotted Drop Earrings - $7.50 (Originally $9.50)
Bottom Right: Tiger Lily Original Painting - $29 (Originally $34)

Enjoy, and happy shopping!

Chinese Brush Painting / Tattoo Design

2009-07-05T12:10:00.006-04:00

Happy (belated) 4th, for those in the US! I hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend!

I was recently approached by a lovely lady from Minnesota for a Chinese brush painting commission. She was looking for a painting as a tattoo design to commemorate the anniversary of the death of her beautiful Boston terrier, Meg.

At first I was unsure, because I had never done a project like this, but decided to take it on as a fun challenge. And it ended up being a whole lot of fun! She was such a sweet customer to work with, with wonderful communication – really just an all-around pleasure.

The finished design is below, and make sure you check out Ike’s Life – the dog blog of her current adorable 6-year-old Boston terrier. Such a fun read, especially for anyone who enjoys animals!

Calendar 2010 Project

2009-06-28T10:21:00.008-04:00

Recently, I heard about fantazya’s Diary 2010 Project, and decided that it would be fun to participate. Each page of the diary is designed by a different artist/crafter, and pictures from the 2009 version look awesome!

Lucy of fantazya is still looking for artists to contribute, so make sure you check it out and let her know if you’d like to reserve a page! The deadline for submissions is July 15th.

I snagged April 17, 2010 – here’s my take on this mid-April spring day.

2 Minutes of Fame on NBC

2009-06-23T20:23:00.016-04:00

Last Wednesday, towards the end of the work day, I received an interesting convo via Etsy from Adam, Etsy’s press contact. It seemed that Lucky magazine was doing a segment on NBC’s “Today in New York” about fashion finds under $10, and he was wondering if I could provide some samples.

Well, you know, I thought for a bit, and then replied… HECK YES!

So here’s the segment that aired. Etsy gets an itty bitty mention, but it’s a mention nonetheless. And my little knotted hair accessories got their 2 minutes of television fame heh heh. (Too bad they then go on to mention Walmart in the same breath!) Here's the link to the actual clip if the one below runs slowly: video.

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/video.

Painting Donation to Common Law NYC

2009-06-22T19:52:00.007-04:00

A few weeks ago, I received word of a donation request, which was sent through the{NewNew} team group email. The request was from a small, non-profit organization called Common Law NYC, and they were looking for artwork donations for their 1st annual community gala silent auction.

Mission Statement (from their website):
Common Law provides legal education and legal services programs to grassroots organizations working toward social, racial and economic justice. Through a community lawyering model that places legal advocates in classrooms, clinics and workshops, Common Law strengthens group organizing efforts and provides opportunities for community development.

This was around a point where I was getting tired tired tired of endlessly trying to promote my Etsy shop, so I thought, well why not? It’s an awesome cause, and it would be refreshing. After all, giving can feel just as good as receiving, and sometimes better.

So after a bit of thought, I sent off my Squirrel & Wisteria brush painting. From what I heard, the event was very successful, which is great! My painting ended up going for $80 (I had valued it a bit higher than that, but that’s okay). And at the end of the day, the painting ended up in a good home, I was supporting a great group, and heck, all the business cards I’d given them had been picked up by guests – so I guess it was good promotion too!

EDIT:
Just heard from the organizer, and apparently the woman who won the painting (an organizer for VAMOS Unidos, which organizer low-income food vendors) was so happy that she carried it around and took pictures with it all night. How cute!

YART Sale - June 10-14!

2009-06-09T20:33:00.007-04:00

The second annual YART sale is just around the corner (meaning it starts tomorrow)! Since I was not around last year when the first YART sale occurred, I'm doubly excited for this one. I will be offering seriously discounted items from June 10 - 14. You can see my sale items here, and make sure the browse around to see the great deals other sellers are offering!

YART Sale = Yard + Art Sale .... which in my opinion, is the best of both worlds.

Of course, I have to give credit where credit is due. The YART sale is being sponsored by the Etsy Supply Street Team, or ESST (check out their blog here).

Here's a small preview of what you can find in my "YART Sale" shop section. Enjoy!

Top Left: Cream/Gold Rose Ponytail Holders - $7 (Originally $10)
Top Right: Classical Orchids Original Painting - $33 (Originally $40)
Bottom Left: Pink Rose Handpainted Cards (6) - $16 (Originally $20)
Bottom Right: Marroon/Black Knotted Drop Earrings - $7 (Originally $10)

Saturday at the Farmers' Market & Renegade

2009-06-07T18:09:00.014-04:00

Yesterday was a wonderful day for me of local / handmade. I started off the day early by heading over to the local farmer’s market at Fort Greene Park. It’s small, but the people are friendly and always greet you with smiles. I made my way home with a full gallon of refreshing apple cider from Wilklow Orchards, and a basil plant that’s now sitting happily on the window sill, sunning its bright fragrant leaves. Apple cider and basil… yum! Well, separately, not together of course!

Then later in the afternoon, I ventured out again and made my way to McCarren Park and Renegade Brooklyn. This is the first large art fair that I’ve gone to, especially since I had only become exposed to the whole handmade “world” late in 2008. And it was just as wonderful as I had expected. It was bustling, the weather was gorgeous, the people were friendly, the handmade products were fantastic – what more can you ask for?

I headed over to the{NewNew} team tent to see if they needed any help, but since they had everything well under control, I was free to roam about and visit some other tents. When all was said and done, I had snagged a Bergamot Shampoo Bar from Dhara Holistics, which I’ve been itching to try, and a Pomegranate Martini Vegan Lip Balm by Dirty Loves Clean. All in all, it was quite a nice Saturday.

Bergamot Shampoo Bar
Dhara Holistics

Pomegranate Martini Vegan Lip Balm

Dirty Loves Clean

2009-06-05T18:30:00.002-04:00

Don’t have weekend plans? If you’re in Brooklyn, you should definitely check out Renegade craft fair! This will be my first time at Renegade, and I’m extremely excited to see what the buzz is about. I’m not selling, but many members of the{NewNew} will be (check out the{NewNew} blog here).

Should be a really awesome time. I’m looking forward to helping out the team, meeting lots of artists/crafters, seeing some awesome stuff, probably buying more than I plan to, eating some good food, and going home happy. Don’t you think you should do the same? =)

A Bathroom Conversation

2009-06-03T17:56:00.005-04:00

This is a bit of an intriguing experience I had the other day. I work in a corporate office (which I am hoping to leave soon) in Manhattan, which I commute to and from everyday on the C Line. In this building, there is one set of bathrooms on each floor. The women's bathroom is generally pretty well-kept on my floor. You walk through the 1st door, and there's a large floor-length mirror before the 2nd door, which lets you into the actual bathroom. In the bathroom, to the right there is a row of 7 or 8 stalls. Each stall has a paper toilet cover dispenser, and all the toilets flush automatically. To the left is a row of sinks -- also automatic. They used to have small vases of fresh-cut flowers too, before the economy went down the drain (no pun intended).

Generally, going to the restroom is a pleasant-enough experience. Except for the fact that some of the toilets seem to have a difficult time flushing everything down on one try, especially when you use one of the paper toilet covers. So one in awhile, you'll walk into a stall and have to make a hasty retreat...

The other day, as I was washing my hands, the women's janitor came in to collect the trash and restock toilet paper. As she passed me, I said a quick "Thank you," which then prompted a rather long conversation. Really, it was more of her ranting with me listening. She was probably in her early thirties and spoke very good English, even though English was clearly not her 1st language. Here is some of what she said, as best as I can remember:

"Some of these women, walking around like they're better than everyone else in their Ann Taylor sweaters -- they come into bathroom and turn into animals! It's disgusting how they don't pick up after themselves. They think that no one sees it, but I see it! I went to school, I read Jane Austen, I read Charles Dickens -- and I see it. I could go out there on the floor and tell you which ones are the nasty women. I don't know how men marry them! If they even knew how disgusting they were, those men would never even talk to them!"

In any case, she went on a bit more in that same vein, and it really made me think. You know, she had a very legitimate point. Just because you're in a situation where you think no one will see your crap (literally and figuratively), that does not mean you should act in a manner different than if it was out in the open. And in this case, she comes to this building every day to do her job, which basically gives the corporate bees a more-pleasant daily experience. So why shouldn't those corporate bees do the same for her and clean up after themselves?

I guess the moral of this story is that for every instance where a person gets "sloppy" in their day-to-day existence, there is some other person picking up the slack. It's really all a matter of awareness and respect, isn't it? And just because someone works as a janitor, or holds any other job, doesn't mean that they are not deserving of respect as a human.

MyShoppingConnection

2009-05-23T13:46:00.004-04:00

Erika at MyShoppingConnection was kind of enough to interview me for their designer spotlight series!

The site is very nicely laid-out, and as its tagline says, MyShoppingConnection offers "great finds for fine living". Stop by and check it out if you have some time. And for the direct link to the designer spotlight, click here. Have a great weekend!

Memorial Day Sale!

2009-05-21T20:40:00.010-04:00

Well, with the week finally winding down, I'm definitely looking forward to a nice, relaxing, long weekend. (There were a lot of W's in that sentence... heh.)

In any case, what better way to celebrate than to have a shop-wide sale?

Friday May 22nd - Monday May 25th

10% Off - All Orders

http://CLineCreations.etsy.com/

And here are a few items to get you in that warm-weather mood... enjoy! And have a wonderful Memorial Day!

New Design - Knotted Bobby Pins

2009-05-18T20:47:00.006-04:00

My new project recently has been to develop a Chinese knotted bobby pin. And I have to of course give credit where credit is due. I was completely and utterly inspired by these beautifully delicate Shakespeare flower bobby pins made by PaperAffection – so make sure you check her out!

In any case, after experimenting a bit, I settled on a design. I knotted some five-sided knots with different colored Chinese silk cord combinations. The most difficult part was definitely figuring out how to attach the 2 ends of each knot. It seems that the most effective method for this is the sear the ends with a candle flame so that they won’t fray (this silk cord has the unique property of being “meltable” – a bit like wax, but much smellier!), and then to sew the ends together. It takes a bit more time than I would like, but eh, it’s all in the name of art, right?

Then I use a standard black bobby pin, weave it through one “petal” of the knot, and sew the knot securely to the pin. So here are the results of my toils (As if crafting is toil! Hah!). What do you think? I’ve listed the first one in my shop, so hopefully it gets a good reception!

Credit Cards - How I Protected My Credit Score

2009-04-28T19:27:00.009-04:00

Background

So. In case you haven’t heard, we’re in a financial crisis. A lot of this happened because financial institutions extended credit to people who did not have the means to pay back that debt. Predatory lending, if you will. Now that it’s all gone up in flames, banks realize that they have all these toxic assets on their balance sheets. Consumers who are stuck in really tough positions are defaulting on credit cards because hell, they just can’t pay them back.

So how do the banks cover the risk that they now have from all the defaults? Well, they’re raising the interest rates on their credit cards. They’re cutting down credit limits to rein in the huge amounts of credit that they should never have extended. Which decreases risk.

What does this mean for the average consumer? Well, obviously people are up in arms because this, in effect, is punishing everyone else. People who are already in a bind because finances are tight, but who have always worked hard to pay their minimums, are now having their interest rates doubled. Which doubles their monthly minimum. How are they supposed to keep paying? People who have never missed a payment are having their credit lines cut, which then hurts their credit scores. And the kicker is that this is all completely legal.

A Lesson on Credit Score

Up to 1/3 of your credit score is based on your debt to credit ratio, and the lower it is, the better. If you have $1,000 in credit card debt, and a total credit limit of $10,000, that ratio is 1/10, or 0.1. Then, say a bank cuts your credit limit down to $5,000. Your new ratio is 1/5, or 0.2, which is double what it was before. And since that makes up about 1/3 of your credit score, your score will go down.

Personal Experience

Back in December I received a letter from my bank saying that the credit limit of one of my cards had been decreased from $9K to $2K. That’s a huge amount. But back then, I didn’t know much about what it meant, so I thought nothing of it. Besides, it was perfectly legal, so what could I do?

Recently, after reading up a bit, I realized that I shouldn’t just sit back and let them mess around with MY credit. So this is what I did. I made sure I had all my facts straight, and then I made the call.

Now, the first person you talk to in customer service when you call a credit card company is the lowest of the low. Just keep in mind that even if you yell yourself blue in the face, that person probably can’t do anything to help you in this instance. So I politely explained the situation to him, and how annoyed I was by it, and as soon as it was apparent that he could do nothing for me, I asked for a manager.

That’s your next tier. But even then, this may not be the most effective person to talk to. When I said that I was angry that I was given no warning of an action that would affect my credit score, this manager had the audacity to tell me that my score would not be affected since they did not look at it to make their decision. She clearly had no idea what she was talking about. So again, before you decide to fight a credit card company’s decision, make sure you do your research so that you know when someone is giving your erroneous information.

So once I got there, I asked to speak with someone in customer retention. This may be the most important point of this post, and one that most people don’t know about.

Customer Retention Department

Most companies have a customer retention department, whose sole job is to, you guessed it, retain customers. When you speak with them, here is a list of points that could help your case:

--Emphasize that you a good, low-risk customer, whether it’s because you’ve never missed a payment, always met your minimum, whatever.
--If you have other accounts with that company (in my case, I have both checking and savings accounts), make that clear. That will make you a more valuable customer.
--Be polite, but make it clear that you are upset and that you won’t take any bullshit. In my case, I told him that it was absolutely ridiculous that the manager told me that a cut credit limit wouldn’t affect my credit score. Believe me, that made him highly uncomfortable.
--Don’t be afraid to say you’ll take your business elsewhere. I made it clear that if I continued to be unhappy with their service, then they would lose me as a customer. And they don’t want that.

In the end, he told me that he was really sorry he couldn’t just click a button to increase my credit limit back to $9K, which I believed, since I gave him a really tough time. But he did put in a limit increase request for me, and I think he may have put some sort of high priority memo on it as well since merely a half hour later, it was back up to 9K. It may have helped that I said I considered that credit mine since I had it before, and if my request was denied, I would be leaving the company.

He also was extremely apologetic and offered me a $25 credit to show their appreciation of me as a customer. Which was nice. About a week later, I received 2 letters in the mail, one saying that my credit limit request had been approved, and the other expressing appreciation for me as a customer.

Bottom line is, there are ways to fight back and protect yourself. That was mine.

Asparagus & Genetics -- Can you smell it?

2009-04-26T22:28:00.008-04:00

I started this blog primarily as a crafting blog, but today I'm going to stray quite a bit away from that. I was going to apologize, but hey, it's my blog and I can cry if I want to... or write about asparagus.

As someone who majored in biochemistry in college (clearly putting that to good use working in finance and obsessing over Chinese arts), I still have a pretty healthy interest in science, medical advances, genetics, etc. I've been reading a collection of great science writing from 2008, and randomly came across a little comment about asparagus that I decided to research further online.

So I'm sure most of you have had asparagus at some point in time. I have and am quite fond of it, though I do like the stalks better than the heads. But the one thing that I always know would come soon after eating is.. stinky pee! Probably less than half an hour after eating aspargus, my urine would be extremely.. potent. Not the most pleasant of things. But just one of those facts of life.

It wasn't until recently that I realized, well, not everyone knows this undeniable fact! One of my buddies at work actually looked at me like I had 2 heads when I mentioned that I had come across a strange fact about the "asparagus pee smell".

So this is what happens. And from what I've read, this hasn't been proven, but is a prevailing theory.

About 50% - 60% of the population has a specific enzyme that breaks down a compound found in asparagus into smaller components. One of these smaller components is what causes that "fragrant" odor, and is actually the same thing that causes skunk smell. So therefore, people who have this enzyme have smelly asparagus pee, but those who don't have the enzyme have normal urine after eating asparagus.

But then this is the weird part.

Besides the enzyme thing, a small percentage of people actually have a genetic difference that results in them not being able to smell the odor at all. So even if they have the enzyme that breaks down the asparagus compound, they would never know! That is, unless they ask some unfortunate soul without the genetic difference to take a whiff...

I suppose most people don't realize that there are these differences, since c'mon, how often do you discuss your pee with other people? Well, maybe you do, but I don't. I've probably only ever mentioned it within my family, and since it's genetic, of course they would have the same result as me.

And that is my interesting science find of the... week? Month? Year? Whatever it is, in my non-consistent postings, I hope you found it as interesting as I did! And now I release you back to your life, so that you can ask everyone you know whether their pee smells after eating aspargus.

It's Alive! Return of the Orchid

2009-03-15T13:04:00.006-04:00

Back in May, when I first moved into my Brooklyn apartment, my parents brought over a lovely orchid plant as an apartment-warming gift. They were gorgeous! So it sat for awhile on the windowsill, happily opening its beautiful white blossoms for all to see.

But then of course, the flowers dropped off the stem, one by one. But I continued faithfully watering the plant every Sunday, and lo and behold, about a month later, a new green shoot started sprouting up! I was extremely excited – in fact, I was so over-exuberant that I accidentally snapped the tip off! My exuberance quickly plummeted into a deep depression.

Okay, not really, but I was pretty sad. But I kept up my weekly waterings, hoping against hope that all was not lost. The leaves were still green and bright, and were growing, so I kept watching the pot, waiting for the day another shoot would emerge.

Well, apparently I was so engrossed in “watching the pot”, that I didn’t notice what was happening right in front of my eyes – until today. Those original stems, that I thought were dried and dead, had sprouted new offshoots. And there were new orchid buds! I must have not noticed for a really long time for them to be as developed as they are. Oh, silly me.

There it is, back from the dead!

No longer a front page virgin! (kind of)

2009-03-11T20:27:00.009-04:00

Today at work, I received a lovely convo from pugsinspace letting me know that my Butterfly on Branch handpainted cards were in her treasury. Of course, I could not visit the treasury from work, so I waited until I got home tonight.

Imagine my surprise when I checked the treasury tonight, and from the comments realized that it had made the Front Page! I was so excited – it was my first time!

So I went to check out the Flickr group of Etsy Front Page screenshots for the first time, and typed my shop name into search.

My 2nd surprise of the day – I had actually been in a Front Page treasury back in December! What? How didn’t I know? Now it all makes sense… the extra views and hearts.

So yes, I am excited. Here are the screenshots!

That was today's, and this was December's with my Wisteria and Birds painting, picked by lisahopkins:

Completed Alchemy Blue Rose Bouquet

2009-03-08T17:50:00.005-04:00

A week or so ago, I blogged about snagging my first Alchemy order on Etsy. I did have time to finish it, but haven’t been able to blog about it until now. So for those who care to read, here was how it progressed.

When I left off, I had only completed the knotting of 6 roses for the bouquet, but the ends of the string for each knotted portion were still flapping about. To finish those, I used a candle flame to heat up each end (rattail cord melts in high heat), and before the end hardened, stuck it firmly to a portion of the rose that would be hidden once finished. The finishing of the ends is my least favorite part, because of the smell of burning string. If you’ve ever set your hair on fire by accident (I have... don’t ask), it smells a bit like that. Not pleasant.

I fashioned some leaves out of hunter green felt, used pipe cleaners to give the stems some structure, and then wrapped the stems in green florist tape.

I had measured out everything as I was going along of course, but I wanted to make sure that the roses would be arranged prettily in the vase that they would be inhabiting. The customer had told me that it was a wall vase, measuring 7 inches in height with a 3 inch diameter opening, tapering to a point at the base. So I made my own makeshift replica out of a bit of cardboard. Not the fanciest of things, but it definitely helped with visualization.

Lastly, of course, I fashioned one of my boxes out of cardstock, measured specifically for the bouquet, packaged it up, and mailed it out.

The woman received the bouquet a few days later, and let me know that she was happy with it. Success!

Blog Photo Sharing Game

2009-03-01T18:09:00.008-05:00

Christina of TheClayMuse recently tagged me for a little photo blogging game, which I thought was a neat idea! So here goes…

The rules of this one are as such: go to your picture file and blog about the 4th picture in there, then tag 4 other bloggers to do the same.

Like Christina, most of my photos are in folders. However, I do have 2 random pictures floating about in “My Pictures,” and this is the 2nd:

This is kind of interesting, since thus far on my blog I’ve really only written about the crafting side of my life… and a cat. But this photo brings up something that was a huge part of my life for approximately 20 years – gymnastics.

If you can’t really tell what the picture is, it shows 4 pairs of hands and grips reaching down into a chalk bucket (I am in the upper left). Yes, I realize that probably doesn’t mean much either, so let me explain. Grips are a leather glove-like sort of thing that gymnasts sometimes wear when doing bars to improve their grip (hence the name) and help prevent their hands from ripping. When I say bars I’m talking about the uneven parallel bars used in women’s gymnastics. Chalk is used to also improve grip and prevent slipping, since that could be pretty dangerous.

So a little background – I first set foot in a gym at the ripe old age of 3. My mother was getting fed up with my constant crying and sickliness, so she sent me off to take gymnastics lessons 3 times a week, to hopefully improve my health and get me out of the house for a bit. This quickly turned into much more than baby lessons, and some of my proudest moments come from these experiences.

Despite tearing my ACL my junior year of high school, I was able to win the state championship my senior year. A skill that my coach and I developed on the uneven bars was eventually named after me, and gymnastics helped me to get into college, where I competed throughout my 4 years. (Feel free to give me a virtual slap if my head seems to be ballooning out of control.)

Anyway, after graduating college, I hung up my grips for good. Now, I’m left with reminiscing and occasionally kicking up to a handstand in the privacy of my apartment when the mood strikes me.

So that’s far enough down memory lane. I’m now going to tag:

Persuede
Paperelle
Scrappin’ with DeeDee

I had a 4th in mind, but I don’t think this would really work for her blog, so I’ll leave it at 3. I guess I’m breaking all the rules with this one… oops!

My First Etsy Alchemy Order

2009-02-27T22:24:00.005-05:00

I’m pretty excited, because tonight I’ve been working on my very first Alchemy order on Etsy! For those of you who don’t know what this is, Alchemy allows customers to post handmade items that they are looking to find. The customer gives a description of what he/she is looking for, as well as an ideal price. Potential makers of this item can then place bids, saying what they could make, and what the cost would be. The buyer then chooses to accept one of the bids (if he/she wants), and this sets up a sort of custom order.

Anyway, I decided to browse Alchemy just for kicks today at work, since I never really go in there. I ended up placing 4 bids thinking, why not? If it works out, great, but I’m not expecting it to so no sweat off my back. I was pleasantly surprised when not too long after, I received a notification that one of my bids was accepted!

So this is for a woman who redid her bathroom in a deep brown with cobalt blue accents (sounds nice, doesn’t it?), which includes a cobalt blue skinny wall vase. She was looking for a blue/white modern bouquet to display in it, so I went ahead and offered up a custom-made knotted rose bouquet as something unique and different.

We figured out a color scheme, and I’ve been knotting away! This is what I have so far – the actual knots are finished, with 2 white roses, 2 baby blue roses, and 2 deep blue roses. The green centers are ready as well. Clearly not the best of pictures, but hey, I'm not trying to sell this to anyone!

Tomorrow, I’ll need to light up a candle and finish off those pesky ends. Then fashion some leaves out of hunter green felt, and create the stems from pipe cleaners and floral tape (the pipe cleaners let you bend and arrange the flowers how you want after they’re finished – a nice little trick I picked up).

Sadly, I have to work both days of the weekend at my day job, but hopefully I can get everything done by Monday… I’m hoping it all turns out the way I’m imagining it in my head. If it does, I will obviously be singing my own praises here on my blog – if not, you’ll probably never hear of this again (shhh…).

What a Difference! -- New Light Box Photos

2009-02-14T23:03:00.018-05:00

About a week ago I blogged about making a collapsible light box. However, at that time, I did not have a good lamp on hand, but since I was itching to try it out, I turned on the bright vanity lights above the mirror in the bathroom and perched my cardboard puzzle box precariously on top of the bathroom sink. It was a bit (and by a bit, I mean extremely) awkward (use your imagination - the faucet head kept getting in the way), and made me the butt of some of my boyfriend's silly jokes.

Well, earlier today my boyfriend brought me out to Home Depot (so he is forgiven for his jokes), and I got myself a lamp. I didn't want to overdo it and have massive industrial lights scattered around our itty bitty Brooklyn apartment like strange metallic toadstools, so I decided to start with just one light clamp (which I cannot find on their website for the life of me right now, but it was only about $6), and one bright white lightbulb for $8 (it's an Energy Star bulb, so is only 14W, but with the same effect as a normal 65W). Saving energy and saving my wallet, oh yes! I feel like a star.

Side anecdote -- after making my purchases, I joined my boyfriend in another store where he was doing a bit of shopping of his own. So as I was browsing around, I was bumped by another weekend shopper and dropped my plastic Home Depot bag. And horror of horrors! I heard the terrible ummistakable sound of glass shattering. So yes, I did have to walk back over the Home Depot and buy myself a replacement light bulb. Drats!

Well now I've probably bored you to tears, so I'll get to the meat and gravy of this blog post. Yes, a progression of photos! Because we all know that we click away from blogs when there aren't any pictures. I feel like a young child -- I need visuals to capture my interest. I don't want to just read about the cat wearing a hat, I need to SEE it. In color.

Photo 1 - No light box, just the coffee table during a rare instance of being home during natural daylight.

Photo 2 - Light box (yay!) but no lamp, just the bathroom sink and vanity lights.

Photos 3 and 4 - Light box & lamp - what joy!

Ah yes, so there they are. My finished pictures. I can't decide whether I think they are still a smidge dark, so I may venture out to get another lamp at some point in the future. Maybe you can help me with that decision! But for now, I am quite happy, as the quality of these new photos are so much better than the old. As you can see, I also got into arranging the photos with some handmade boxes and ribbon... I was considering venturing out to find some fresh flowers to place strategically in the pictures as well, but I suppose I was getting a tad carried away since it was 10pm at night, and I was already in my pajamas. Okay, kidding about the flowers. Half kidding.

I've uploaded new photos for 3 items in my Etsy shop thus far, so now I have the dubious pleasure of retaking the rest of them - woohoo! I'm hoping I can do most if not all during this long weekend, so that by Tuesday my shop will look nice and cohesive.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings, and happy Valentine's Day for the next 15 minutes!

------------------UPDATE - Feb 15, 2009 11:15 am------------------

I was thinking about these photos as I drifted off last night, and I must have had a lightbulb (no pun intended) moment at some point in my deepest sleep. Because I woke up this morning raring to get back to my light box and camera, to play around with the camera's exposure setting. And yes, it worked wonderfully! I didn't retake pictures of the red earrings, but here is one photo of a new burgundy necklace that I knotted this past week.

The LOVE eBook -- @Writing Roads

2009-02-12T20:53:00.006-05:00

With Valentine's day fast approaching, and the economy fast declining, Julie at Writing Roads brings us a lovely, free, downloadable ebook. In her words:

"The LOVE ebook is your long-lasting, eco-friendly, calorie-free alternative, though I won’t lie and tell you it’s not full of sugar. Because it is - by way of many beautiful love-inspired poems, photos and works of art from a spirited group of writers and artists...

The goal of The LOVE ebook? To spread happiness & positivity and to make a difference for people struggling with the recession."

It is a free download, with the option to donate to the non-profit organization Career Gear. And really, the pictures and poems in the book are really beautiful and will give you a warm, fuzzy feeling, I promise. So what are you waiting for? Click and spread the love.

Space-Saving Light Box -- Finally!

2009-02-07T09:05:00.018-05:00

I've been meaning to make a light box for quite some time, but I just got around to it recently. My problem was, I have a bit of a space constraint in my little shared one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. So a large box taking up space was a big no-no. To get around that, one day, sitting on the C train on the way to work, I sketched out a little design on a post-it to make a collapsable light box, using tabs and slits in cardboard as a way to assemble it:

I'd had practice with cardboard design from a Basic Drawing class I took back in college, when I had to create a 6 foot tall cardboard dinosaur (triceratops) that could be dissembled to fit into a 1' x 1.5' x 2' cardboard box, and could be assembled in under 7 minutes, but that's a story for another day. Needless to say, this was a bit less daunting! I ended up revising the bottom piece from my post-it design a bit, since all those tabs really weren't necessary. On the left, you see the actual pieces of cardboard, and on the right, how they are assembled into a sturdy box.

Then of course I needed to cut out spaces in the side and top pieces, which was quite easy to do as I could lay each cardboard piece flat. As for the paper to cover the cut-out sections, I decided to use rice paper since I have so much readily on hand for my Chinese brush paintings, and since I figured it would be a good light filter -- not too thin as to let too much light through, and not too thick as to let no light through. I also used a long sheet of rice paper as the background inside the box, since I'm hoping this will give a nice cohesiveness to my Etsy shop: Chinese brush paintings on rice paper, and Chinese knotting creations photographed on rice paper. This long piece is also completely separate from the rest of the box -- I simply cut a slit into the top of it and drop that over the back tab when I put the box together.

Now my box is ready to go! And when I'm not using it, it's easy to just dissemble it into its pieces and put it away behind my computer workstation. Out of sight, out of mind. Obviously, this took quite a bit more time to make, since it required a bit of engineering -- all those tabs and slits had to be measured out exactly for everything to fit! But I thought, it's a one-time sacrifice in time that would be more than made-up in the amount of space saved on a day-to-day basis.

The only thing I'm missing now is a good lamp! Which I'm very excited to get next weekend when I have a chance to go to Home Depot. For now, I'm just playing around with photographing in the light box under the bathroom mirror vanity lights -- which is a bit haphazard to say the least. But until I get that oh-so-precious lamp, this is how one of my better photos turned out:

This still looks a bit dark to me due to my lighting conundrum, but it's definitely getting there. And I am really quite happy with the result, which will only get better!

Happy Chinese New Year!

2009-01-25T22:36:00.010-05:00

Tomorrow is Chinese New Year, and marks the beginning of the Year of the Ox! Which is really exciting for me, since I was born an ox, and will be turning 24 this year. (Shameless plug -- I'm offering free shipping in my Etsy shop for the New Year -- what better way to celebrate than with some Chinese art?)

Chinese New Year is based on the lunar calendar, and is a bit earlier this year than usual. The Chinese zodiac consists of 12 animals, thus making up the 12-year cycle. The animals (in order) are the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.

So why is the Ox second in the Chinese zodiac? Well, the popular legend is that back in the day, the Jade Emperor invited all animals to a race (only a few showed up). Part of the race involved crossing a river, and since the Rat and the Cat were bad swimmers, they asked the hardworking Ox if they could ride on his back. You'll notice that the Cat is not one of the 12 animals of the zodiac -- that's because the Rat, who can be very shrewd and ambitious, pushed the Cat off the Ox's back and into the river, so the Cat never finished the race (and that's why cats and rats are mortal enemies to this day). Then, as the Ox and the Rat were nearing the other side, the Rat, again being very ambitious, jumped over the Ox's head and won the race. And that is why the Chinese zodiac begins with the Rat, with the Ox a close second.

Typically, people born in the year of the ox are said to be dependable and patient, hardworking and logical, but can be stubborn. I don't know about the patient part, but I definitely can be stubborn! Anyway, since you know this year is the year of the ox, it's easy to count backwards (or forwards) to figure out when in the 12-year cycle you were born -- so...

What animal are you?

Took the plunge... I'm starting to make jewelry.

2009-01-18T18:27:00.009-05:00

Awhile ago, I blogged about trying my hand and Chinese knotting jewelry and a necklace prototype that I had experimented with. Honestly, I wasn't thrilled with how it had turned out (maybe it was just the color combination), but I put aside my jewelry ambitions for awhile.

Then I came across Thursday Sweet Treat, where Natasha posts a theme every Friday to help inspire artists to create new pieces, which she posts the following Thursday. I thought to myself, what a sweet idea! So when I saw this week's theme of Explosive Celebration, I decided it would be a good time to give jewelry another try, and to merge it with red Chinese knots to celebrate Chinese New Year, which is fast approaching.

Happily, it seems like the 2nd try was the charm. I decided to go with earrings this time, and worked with some really really thin rattail cord. Working with this always makes my fingers feel so fat! Good thing I haven't cut my nails in a bit, so I could actually hold on to the string! So this is the finished product -- I hope you like it! Because it really made my day. =)

Look what I got in the mail!

2009-01-17T16:58:00.008-05:00

I was so excited a few days ago when I received a package in the mail from BonnieShop. She makes absolutely gorgeous wire sculptures and jewelry stands, like the earring stand that is now mine!

Getting a package in and of itself is always a really fun experience, even when you know exactly what it is. Don't you always get those excitement butterflies when you see that brown box sitting in front of your door? I know I do... So of course I immediately opened it up, like a little kid at Christmas.

I came across this one day on Etsy a few months ago, and immediately hearted it. It wasn't until after Christmas that I decided to treat myself to a gift, and I decided this would make a wonderful replacement to my old earring stand. The old one was just getting a bit rusty, and honestly was kind of dinky-looking as you can see:

Immediately after taking that picture, I switched all my earrings over to my new stand and saw what a difference it made! Here it is, placed on my nightstand right next to my bed:

Doesn't it look lovely? So, a huge THANK YOU to BonnieShop, and if you'd like to see the same earring stand that has made me so happy, she has a new one already listed!

Handmade Boxes for Handmade Items

2009-01-11T19:05:00.026-05:00

I've begun to make boxes for my knotting items that have sold, which in and of itself has become a fun crafting activity. So I decided to do a little "How-To" here.

This actually is a bit cruder than what I'm sure many sellers do, but for now, since my sales are spaced far enough apart, I find it highly enjoyable and rewarding. There was a recent article on the Storque (here) on using the Craft ROBO that would make this process a lot more efficient, but eh, I'm not THAT good of a seller to shell out $300! I find that a paper knife works just fine for me right now. =)

Step 1

I first create a template on my computer for the top and bottom of my box. I just use Powerpoint, and the beauty of this is that I can custom-size my box for each item. The bottom half will be slightly smaller than the top half, as you can see from the picture below (I've included all measurements in inches). I then make all the lines dotted and grey, and then print it out on cardstock (without the measurements, of course)!

Step 2

I then cut out my 2 halves using a simple metal ruler and a paper knife. I also use the knife to lightly score along the fold lines, to make for easier and more precise folding.

Step 3

Now that I have my cut out halves, I take the larger one (the top), and add my store name, stamp, and web address. This is easier to do at this step just because I can lay it completely flat.

Step 4

Now it's time to assemble the 2 halves of the box! I do this by glueing the four tabs first, and then folding down the second layer of each side to provide stability and a clean-looking interior. I personally like using rubber cement to assemble these, since I can apply it to each side that I will be glueing and allow it to dry before sticking them all together.

So now I have my box all ready to go!

I like to add a bit of tissue paper (which I'm reusing from when I bought plates/bowls/cups from Crate&Barrel), then put the item in, and fold the tissue paper nicely over the top.

Finished! All ready to be put into a bubble mailer with a thank you note and a business card or two, and then mailed out to its final owner!

Eco-friendly Shipping - A Cardboard Windfall!

2009-01-03T11:52:00.013-05:00

I'm pretty big on reusing clean shipping material, tissue paper, etc for a number of reasons. Obviously, it's environmentally friendly -- one less box or one less ream of tissue paper tossed in the garbage bin. It also allows me to make my shipping materials to size, and to ship items in certain ways -- for example, I NEVER want to roll up a painting, since this would cause creases, etc. So this lets me ship however I want to.

For any paintings that I ship, I'll first enclose it in plastic to protect from moisture (usually a new cello sleeve). I'll then sandwich it between 2 pieces of cardboard cut to size so that it won't bend, and wrap it all with used brown paper shopping bags.

Usually, I get my cardboard from the hardware store across the street. (They put out all their cardboard supply boxes on Monday nights... it's like I have my own personal scavenger hunt every week). But on Thursday, New Year's Day, I hit the jackpot. Someone had thrown out a GIGANTIC cardboard box in the garage of my apartment building. Seriously, you probably could have made a small house with all that cardboard. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration... but I wish I had thought to take a picture of that box before cutting it up so I could show people. It was at least 9 feet tall. I really wonder what was in it before it ended up in the garage...

My boyfriend thought I was crazy when I brought it up to the apartment. He's probably right. But after measuring and cutting for about 2 hours this morning, I had enough clean, freshly cut cardboard pieces to ship EIGHT paintings of assorted sizes (providing that people buy them)! Here are a few of them, with the paintings that they were sized for:

I hope I'm not getting abnormally excited over cardboard (okay don't respond to that)... but this was such a ridiculous windfall for me. Now I can concentrate on painting more pieces for my shop, since I probably won't have to worry about scavenging for cardboard for quite some time!

Chinese Knotting Jewelry... Yay or Nay?

2008-12-29T21:15:00.011-05:00

I currently have a few decorative Chinese knotting pieces in my Etsy shop, like this blue wall-hanging:

I've also been playing around with the idea of expanding these knottings into other accessories, like jewelry.

I did experiment with a few knotted rose hair ponytail holders, like this pink set, but now I'm thinking of trying my hand at necklaces.

I'm actually pretty excited about this, because after a few tries, I worked out a way to make an adjustable necklace -- basically, you'd be able to decide how you'd like to wear it. Short, like a choker? Long for a more dramatic look? Somewhere in between?

So the pictures below are my prototype! I want to play around with different knots, colors, etc... and maybe add some nice beads/pendants in there (do any of you other crafters have a good source??).

So what do you think? Is this something people would be interested in? Chinese knotting necklaces, YAY or NAY?

A Cat Named Kitty

2008-12-26T18:48:00.012-05:00

I used to not like cats at all. The reason? I was deathly allergic to them. At sleep-away summer camp I once had a roommate who had a cat back at her house, and I guess had packed some cat hair along with her luggage. Every night for the first few days until we figured it out, I had to sleep sitting upright because once I laid down, I would have trouble breathing. I thought I was coming down with the flu... in the middle of July! Needless to say, I switched rooms.

This is not the case anymore, and I'll tell you why. Actually, I'll introduce you to the reason why I am now a cat lover!

She's a 7-year-old dainty old lady named Kitty. She was my boyfriend's cat when he was younger, and now lives with his parents.

Isn't she the prettiest cat you've ever seen?! (Maybe I'm a bit biased.) She's just the sweetest Kitty ever, and she's still so playful!

Anyway, I was going to upload a video of her playing, but I realized that all of them are so dark and grainy (it was nighttime) that I would give anyone watching them a migraine or something equally unpleasant. I just wish I had had my camera with me on Christmas! She was going crazy with these strands of curled white ribbon... So cute! (Am I gushing? I may be gushing.)

The point of the story is, because of Kitty I now love cats. And I'm actually getting allergy shots so that I can actually play with her when I see her! I have about one month left in shots before I'm on a maintenance dosage... So I'm crossing my fingers that maybe in a few months, I'll be able to get a little kitty of my own!

Let me introduce myself...

2008-12-21T11:19:00.020-05:00

A few weeks ago, I decided I wanted to start a blog, and so I began one on Mycraft. However, I quickly realized that blogger is a much more common way to go, so I'm switching over!

So here I am, introducing myself... with a Chinese brush painting tutorial! This is a painting I completed this morning for my boyfriend's parents for Christmas -- enjoy!

Step 1
For this painting, I'm using a 12"x16" sheet of rice paper. I first took a stick of charcoal to lightly mark out an estimate of my painting.

Step 2
Once the charcoal was done, I could start painting! I mixed 3 shades of ink by adding differing amounts of water -- dark, medium, and light -- and painted the initial ink outline with the horsehair brushes.

Step 3

Next, still working in ink, I added more detail to the trees and rocks/land. The picture is small, but basically I just added leaves to the trees, and texturing to the rocks/land.

Step 4
Now that the initial ink outline was finished, I could start applying "washes" -- watered-down layers of ink or color applied after the previous layer has dried. This process is continued until you reach the darkness and depth that you want. The picture to the right is after a few layers of ink washes. I then applied some color washes as well.

Step 5
After the ink and color washes were completed, I added some more color to the tree trunks, mountain houses, and far away blue moutains. I also went back to ink to add some finishing details to the rocks and the mountains. Once that was done, I signed my name in the lower left corner in dark ink and applied my name chop (a signature stamp).

Step 6
Rice paper is so delicate that it crinkles during the painting process, and can easily be ripped. Therefore, I then used a thicker backing paper and wallpaper adhesive (a dry powder that can be mixed to water), which not only backs the painting to make it sturdier, but also flattens it out. I then stuck the painting to a glass door to let it dry completely flat.

And you can see the first snow of the season outside! My first Brooklyn snow... =)

Step 7
I let the painting dry on the glass door overnight, and then this morning carefully took it down, making sure not to crease it.

Then I just matted and framed it in a redwood frame, and I'm finished!

The painting is all ready to be wrapped and gifted to my boyfriend's parents, just in time for Christmas!