New Year's Eve

Little bits and bobs of plants from the yard. I collected them for our litte family new year's eve dinner tonight...have a good one!

Little Dragon - Twice

I found this little movie on you tube with a song i love by little dragon...its kind of sad especially if you go to you tube and read some of the interpretations...this is a sad song as well...can i really wish you a happy new year after that? Well i am!

The Ghost of Christmas Crazed

Peppermint twist cookies

Gifts

Packed Boxes of Cookies

Glittered Sets of Cards

More Gifts

Decorations

The Tree

More Glittery Cards

Logic would tell you i started these projects well before christmas....but alas i have no logic....none whatsoever.....Christmas started wednesday morning with the purchase of my table top tree which required lots of trimming....So between wednesday morning and saturday morning there was a mad rush of craziness that included trips to target at 45 minutes to midnight....some gifts just simply not purchased and currently ones that still need to be wrapped and finished baking....i tell you i havent had a christmas this unorganized since i really dont know when....and my house lets just not go there....the good news is everything turned out fine or at least i think so....so there and heres to never again and hopefully organization will be my best friend next year!!!

Fantasia Faries - Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

my favorite holiday music ever hands down and one of my favorite movies....my dad took me to see this at the the cinerama dome in hollywood way back in the 70s...and lets not get started on Tchaikovsky....his music is beyond gorgeous....i love the romantic era!....by the way this isnt the full song...

Rosetta Howard & Big Three Trio-Ebony Rhapsody Columbia Records

This old scratchy recording of Rosetta Howard is perfect for a rainy sunday night....grab some warm spiced wine...grab your cutie and relax!

Sunday Is Still Going Strong

Well i have taken a break in the midst of our holiday madness for others.....

Here is some gift wrapping for a customer in florida....hope she likes it!

The house was almost completely dark when i was taking these pictures....i was trying to get shadows and sparkles but i dont have a tripod so most shots turned out blurry....

Here are the cards for an order i printed....i love how the middle is focused....

Here is the other side of that previous shot....but the colors dont look so vibrant....

Here is the box for my order....i dont always decorate them but i try to do it as much as i can....well it looks like christmas will start at my house on wednesday....this is when everything will be wrapped up....poor sophie....last year we started early with the decorating....but daniel and i didnt have quite as many packages to ship either....anyway i hope your weekend was spectacular and full of holiday fun....now its time to get back to work!

Floetry-Getting Late

I love this album...i drove my husband to los angeles where he works this morning and listened to it on the way home....perfect for a rainy day....hot damn! too bad they broke up....i wasnt really into the second album though....i guess marsha came out or is coming out with a new album herself....

@%&#!

A failed attempt of a hand drawn silk screen.....

I screwed this up earlier in the year and was able to rinse out most of the filler....the reddish brown stuff....

So i thought maybe i could salvage it....so i reapplied my filler and liner so patiently and quite diligently....and well.... nope....its not gonna work....so now i have to get some screen remover so i can at least re use the screens....this is the second one i have jacked up....at least Sophie had fun coloring them in....well i did the pink one...but how amazing did Sophie's turn out?... she is 3 and half....well better luck next time to me....hopefully there will be some holiday fun posts next week!

Dave Brubeck - Unsquare Dance

Sundays were made for listening to dave....enjoy!

Last Friday

Here are pancake stacks from our breakfast that morning.....yummy!

baked yam with butter salt and pepitas....this is hands down one of my favorite things to eat....

a mushroom sketch that started at about 2am friday morning you know while i look at blogs and watch my animes.....'cause you know my friday started on thursday....

friday fantasies from my new anthropology catalogue....i just love the stars on the wall they are so dreamy....

roses....my favorites from my david austin catalogue....

oh yeah and work....im working for the man at least its my man....

Oh My!

Yes...i told you there was a fire under my bum.....

I carved this at a linocut party the day after thanksgiving...and here we are all framed and photographed..... they are my rendition of the jigokucho butterfly from bleach....these two are now residing in my shop!

Some Mornings

you've just got to keep it funky....enjoy!

Glitter

can be dangerous....there is a fine line when using it....

Here are some stamps i made last year for valentines....

here are sophie's hearts....they turned out nicely....

sophie in action....things did get more messy and i forgot to put her apron on....oops....well i think i liked the glitter experiment....especially for valentines....which is the holiday i am really excited about....it is my favorite!

WOW!

floating petaless anenomes...

purple magnolias....can you believe it...i believe my ass is burning from the fire under it...new old stuff finally in the shop...two days in a row...i swear its a miracle....

The Holidays

This sparkly little pinecone is the only thing holiday like going on in my house right now...

But i like the idea of this origami tree from an old an martha stewart magazine from 2001...

The idea behind this is from the Story of Sadako Sasaki....a little girl who developed leukemia from the bombing of hiroshima...its about folding a thousand cranes to get your wish....she died before she completed hers but her friends and family did....This is our cry...this is our prayer...peace on Earth...This is at the bottom of her memorial...which also brings me to my last landlord before we had our home...he was also on the island of hiroshima during the bombing fortunately for him he was on the other side there digging for yams with his school class...He is still alive and one of the nicest people i have ever met...he was a landlord from the heavens...So with that being said...i also wish the world peace this holiday season because it really does need it...

Hungry

We have been packing orders and a ridiculous amount of them i might add....and now im hungry but its 3am....so i will look at a picture of my lunch on sunday....

How pretty and vibrant are these brussel sprouts....wish i had some too....i bet i wont be as vibrant as they are later today....hope your friday turns out rad!

Nujabes - Counting Stars

Here is some late night music to relax you! Enjoy...the sad thing is this gentleman passed away in a terrible car accident this past february...if any of you happen to watch samurai champloo that is why this may sound familiar...

Done

Its a miracle...i actually got all three sets of cards up in the shop....praise the buddha! Now its time to work on some mushrooms....

Little Pink Pagodas and Such

I have 7 small blocks of asian architecture made up from my mind....

So i thought i would print up one of each for a complete set for my shop....

The blocks look so pretty with ink on them...

When i was deciding to pick a color i thought of kim baise's little pink houses garland...

Here is my helper making scary monster faces and noises....hello kitty!

I really have a thing for kraft style paper...so i am re-issuing some prints that have been out of the shop for a while in turquoise....surprise surprise....now tomorrow i have to do packaging and more photos....i really need to step things up...next year i want to make larger pagoda prints as well....i really want to sell more but i definitely need to become a little more prolific in the producing work and actually posting it in the shop area...you know the bags from the giveaway....not posted yet....i am lame i know....want to hear my current fantasy?...i make six extra grand next year and take a vacation to tokyo for like 10 days....now back to work!

Zero 7 - Ghost Symbol

one of my favorite blogs to visit is askforthemoon...lately Anna has had these fabulous little posts about songs and the most visceral part of it...i think its kind of cool...especially since i post a lot of music here too...anyway... this song makes me want to write tragic stories...it really does make my heart ache when i hear it...

here are the lyrics: whenever I'm staying you're going away...i learned to part with a smile on my face...now I'm too good at letting go...too easy to say no....

Dishes

I was cleaning the glass shelves of my dish and glass cabinet...

And i thought...how pretty does this look?

I know...its kind of weird taking photos of glasses and dishes...but who said i wasnt weird...

hope your weekend is going well!

Hey Turkey Lips

Thanks to everyone who sent me turkey wishes...i hope your day was lovely too...here is my mom's plate from last night...i did the cooking...just simple dishes...maybe i will try something fancy next year...

Never Tear Us Apart - Beck

I heard this cover on one of my favorite blogs...KnowThyself...james always has something insightful to say... inxs always reminds me of the 80s....so today while checking my facebook i took a quiz for my totally rad 80s boyfriend...you know who i got???? freaking paul reubens aka pee wee herman...it is kind of funny though...i thought maybe i would get john taylor from duran duran... one of the questions was do you like your man with makeup(john wore makeup maybe not like nick rhodes but he did) and another inquired if you would like your date to have a grey suit...check...john taylor did...and then voila paul reubens...thats what i get from taking a fb quiz!

moody

It was dark cold and rainy this weekend...so i baked shortbread with toasted almonds....
no there wasnt any left by the time actual night arrived...

recipe adapted from gourmet

1/2 cup roughly chopped toasted almond

2 sticks of unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup superfine sugar

2 cups flour

cream together softened butter sugar vanilla and salt...then add flour in gradually until a soft dough forms...mine didnt really look like a dough it was a little dry and crumbly....so i placed it into an ungreased tart pan and with a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of it smashed that puppy in there until it was evenly spread out inside of the pan...i then place most of the almonds across the top and baked in a preheated 350 f oven...it took mine about 45 minutes but i think my oven is not getting as hot as it used to so you make bake your in less time...the shortbread should be a golden brown color...let cool in pan on a rack for about 15 minutes....finally remove from tart pan and have fun eating or photographing! oh and i didnt score mine i just cut it like a pie with a very sharp knife!! let me know what you think if you bake it!!!