Winter Lush

Mini Snowman Pin @ LiPeony

It's been so busy lately with finals, my shop, craft fair and setting up for the holidays! Finals went very well for me so I'm so glad that's over! As for what's new in my shop? I have Limited Edition Pins like the snowman above only here during the winter... there's still other little ones I want to make so far I have a Gingerbread man and a Rudolph that was snatched up pretty quickly >_< . Since these have an extra touch of details like the snowman above has the black hat that's detachable because of a snap on button I decided to make only a few so snatch them up while you can.

Looking back at my shop it's been almost a year and I've completed my goal of 50 sales by the end of this year. This makes me so proud that I stuck by and continue to work and work fixing and constantly creating new things for my shop. Remember guys in life always keep moving, keep working and keep growing =)

Until next time... Happy Holidays =)

Mail Adventure

Awesome new business cards for LiPeony!

I am so in love with my new business cards from Overnightprints.com. The quality is awesome, the colors are great and they always have these special promotions also they ship quick and they're usually prompt in customer service. But boy was it an ordeal to get them. Let's just say UPS doesn't like my building. I've had to chase down UPS trucks to get my sister's computer and laptop before.
I'm back tracking a bit but a few weeks ago I did the Bowery Bazaar. It's a cool new craft show space that has a very unique aesthetic and the coordinator was really nice! They always have new vendors all the time and it's right next to St. Mark's Place... a super cool area of restaurants of all sorts! That's where I saw the cool shop Astali. Her shop is full of grungy yet delicate jewelry. We decided to trade one of her awesome bullet shell bracelets for a few of my pins. I was so happy! Though as usual she had to take a good inch or two of links out to fit it to my wrist. She said my wrists was the smallest she's seen on an adult... To show you guys here's a ruler measuring my wrist. Yep it's about 2 inches in width and 4.75 inches all around. That's why it's so so hard for me to find those really cool bangles as you just can't take links out of them. There's a lot of things that look so cool but simply doesn't come small enough. That's what makes shopping handmade comes in handy... the people are so nice and they size it to fit. Though I do get the usual... "are you sure size 2.5 ring is what you want? It's really small." or the "wow you're so tiny". I laugh about it because I'm very happy to finally find jewelry I love that I can wear =)

BTW Catch me at the Hello Zen Holiday Craft Fair on Broadway in NYC!

Until next time... stay toasty!

Little Fish in a Big Ocean

"Little Goldfish Pin" @ LiPeony

Ever felt like a little fish in a big pond? When it comes to life it seems like that most of the time to me... but the key is to find your own little niche in the vast ocean. For example I have experimented and refined my own techniques and items to create a certain style that is mine mostly cute kawaii with a dash of odd daydreams. My new favorite is the little goldfish I made above. I was so surprised it turned out so cute! I also have more to photograph.

For all you shop owners here's a great series of videos on how to find your niche =)
Finding Your Niche with DiffractionFiber
Shop Makeover Series: Broaden Your Target Audience with Tiered Product Lines
Seller How-To: Finding Your Etsy Niche
The Etsy Seller Handbook: All Our How-To's About Selling

The NewNewTeam Handmade Cavalcade was a huge success! Although I was only a volunteer there was a great vibe and there were tons of traffic. I helped with decorating and brought enough Dunkin Doughnuts Coffee and Munchkins for everyone. Though it was quite a haul to carry all that stuff myself.... I think it was like 20 lbs of coffee. It was all worth it to see people happy. Pictures would be up shortly on Flickr I hope!
This Saturday December 12th I'll be selling at the Village Zendo Craft Fair right in NYC on the shopping street of Broadway. This was actually the first craft fair I ever did and it was fantastic! So When I heard that they are doing it again I jumped on the chance to do it! It's actually a whole weekend thing but I have to attend my boyfriend's graduation on Sunday. Congrats to him! So come by if you can and they make some awesome cookies!

Until next time I hope everyone is having a great December! =D

Ice Ice Birdy

Okay so I make these little tiny felt pins in my shop LiPeony and one thing I love and hate about it, is making tiny tiny details. For example in the last craft fair someone asked if I had a penguin pin. I sadly said no... though this is not the first time someone asked me if I had one. So I decided to hunker down and make one. I even jazzed the photos up by making a sort of snowy scene for him.
Here's an upclose of Mister Penguin. Before it got to my shop my bf saw it and looooooooved it. I knew he had a thing for penguins even though he's a manly man... dude has a soft spot for puppies and penguins... so I gave it to him. I've yet to make another... as per request by the wonderful Pili I put up the photos so peeps can see. If I decide to get unlazy I will make more!

Until next time... puppies and penguins... you know you can't resist

Silhouette and Shadows

"FireFly Girl" @ LiPeony

I had this crazy idea one day and went on a frenzy drawing up silhouettes and worked on them in Photoshop. These take so much more longer then my usual art but I really love how they retain the whimsy and playfulness of my Chibi Girl series but also allows me to create art that expands to other styles. Of course as always I doubted my work but after asking people, people really loved it and within two days of posting the above "FireFly Girl" Print it sold. SO I'm so happy. I still have a lot of unfinished drawings to do.

On another note BIM event went great! I made back my table fee and then some. Though it was raining on and off so that may have deterred people from shopping. I had a lot of complements about my work and I found out that people would pay extra for matted and framed prints. I'm definitely going to do that more often.

"Little Conductor" @ LiPeony

This one above is my newest work called "Little Composer." I got this idea from one of my favorite composers Joe Hisaishi. Actually for the few classical performances I've seen live and on the computer I love how the conductor just really let's it rip... bopping their heads, their batons their whole body shows how in tune they are to the music. I've been so slow with the updates because I've been microblogging on twitter. You can follow me here... http://twitter.com/LiPeony.

Until next time... don't stop dancing to your own beat. =)

ACEO and Crafting Jitters

Mix n Match ACEOS @ LiPeony

I just made my first ACEOs which are Art Cards Edition or Originals. Which is basically 2.5" x 3.5" little cards of art. This is the first time I made them and I think they turned out great! I also started taking pictures of my art against a wooden box I got from Kate's Paperie which is a pretty high end little paper, stationary, semi crafting store. Though the prices are a bit steep the collection of paper they have is wonderful! Rolls and rolls of colors, patterns and texture. Actually going inside the store and the website reminds me a lot of the Etsy aesthetic.

I've been making prints for the craft fair this Saturday and I'm very nervous. I got my wonderful sister to help again. =D . I also got some new displays and this time I'm going to try to aim to look more "neat" my other ones were kind of packed and messy due to all the little origami dolls I had. Well... we'll see! This November has been so packed... 10 page report which actually isn't much... it's the 25 papers I have to read for research, also need a new computer too... leaning towards a laptop create more space for my craftiness, midterm and my usual work, class and volunteer work. By Friday it'll be aaaaaaaaaaaall done! Woot! If you're in New York City on Saturday stop by BIM and mention my blog or twitter and pick up a little freebie =D.

Brr Chilly! Hot Soup!

Shark Fin Soup Surprise @ LiPeony

Brr! It's November and it's getting chilly... it's times like these that I savor the many many different soups my mom boils up. Growing up there was hardly a day that goes by that I don't drink some weird concoction of soup that my grandma or mom makes. Now I'm sure everyone has heard of Hot and Sour Soup or Won ton Soup or Shark Fin soup but there are so many soup recipes that are passed down from family to family and shared among friends. Each one is made for a specific ailment. In fact there's a soup for every ailment. Though it's hard to near impossible to really find any Chinese restaurant that serves these homemade soups as there are far too many and their textures and tastes range from sweet "papaya and fish soup" to the bitterest soup consisting of an herb that makes my tongue want to run away from my mouth.

But there is one soup I love that's great for the winter it's sort of like the Chinese version of beef stew. It's called Oxtail Soup. Basically oxtail bones/meat, carrots, potatoes and tomatoes boiled. The meat is tender and falls right off the bone, the carrots and potatoes are soft but slightly favored by the beef soup base that has the pinch of sour and acidity from the tomatoes. My mom would make it in a huge earthen clay pot we have at home.

Li Family Oxtail Soup

1 large carrot (more if you like carrots/less if you don't like'em)
3 large potatoes (more if you like potatoes/less if you don't)
1 large tomato (adds a nice acidic sour taste but if you don't like it, don't add too much)
1 whole ox tail (usually the butcher will cut into large chunks)
4 quarts of water

Chop the vegetables into large chunks. Bring the water to a boil and put all the ingredients inside. Boil for 1 - 1.5 hours depend on how soft you want the vegetables to be (My mom does 2 hours and everything is very soft but not mushy) The great thing about this recipe is that you can add any substitute for the vegetables though this is the traditional one I have at home. It makes a great soup over rice or just by itself a awesome hot steamy meal. According to my mom it promotes the circulatory system... but who knows? It just tastes awesome to me.

Until next time... stay warm!

RAWR! Take on the World!

Dragonslayer Chibi Girl @ LiPeony

Have you ever waked up ready to take on the world? Well sort of feel like that today. I was humming the "Rocky" theme song putting my clothes on adn even brushing my teeth. Yesterday was a really crappy day due to P.O issue and another department at work being extremely rude to me for no apparently reason. But today is a new day! I spent last night drumming up new designs and art. I have pages and pages of designs but only a fraction of them get finished. One of my favorite ones is the newest one about Knight Chibi Girl.

I don't think one needs to wait for a Knight in Shining Armor to come and save her.... this girl puts on the armor and goes out to defend herself. I'm also a huge fan of games so being a cool knight slaying monsters and what nots is a dream only lived in that video game world =D On a side note my friend saw this print and said it reminded her of Marioland because of the bright colors. Hmm.... I like colors =)
My next and last fair of the year is The {NewNew} 2 - day sale at Brooklyn Indie Market on November 14th - 15th. There's a 10% off coupon to use for anything under the tent so that's a pretty darn good deal. I'll be there Saturday and would be introducing my Gentle Giants Prints. The little elephant above is a preview of it. They'll be 8" x 10" since most of my art is at 5" x 7" I wanted some softer larger prints. I think I will put it up in my etsy shop but I have to go and get supplies to pack larger prints.

For the display I got a old metal laptop tray that I can use to put my magnets on and make a small shelf on one side. For my art I think I'll have a few displayed and one or two books to flip though. I was thinking of making the flipping books kind of like story style with a small sentence under each print. Don't know...

Until next time... go forth young knight!

Flying High

Chibi Pilot @ LiPeony

It's well into fall and it's so so very cold! Brr! I've just been doing sporadic artwork and custom orders. This October has definitely been revving up in my little shop and the post office has been jam packed lately. I was reading an Entertainment Weekly and they were making a film of Amelia Earhart and even though I'm deathly afraid of heights the idea of soaring around in the sky has been one of my biggest daydreams when I was young. I remember dragging out a cardboard box and plopping myself in it, dreaming that I was one of those crazy aerial pilots! I made a small print above just for that. It also represents something else... that no matter how young or old, your dreams are never out of reach... what they say.... the sky's the limit?

So when you feel down and out and that what you wish for seems so far... just look up because your dream like the sky is limitless... you just have to drag that little cardboard box out once in a while and remember... you can fly

Until next time... always remember I'm here rooting for you! Yes YOU!

Sick n Soup

Sharkfin Soup Surprise @ LiPeony

Last Saturday's craft fair went pretty well. There was a good amount of families that attended though most were outside playing with their kids in the many tiny amusement like rides and the BBQ and bake sale. I must say the stuff at the bake sale was delicious! I brought a lime cupcake and had to buy three more because they were just THAT GOOD! Though there was a quick and torrential downpour in the middle of the afternoon but after that the weather was awesomely nice. I had the coolest table roomie Jess from ClineCreations! She's such an awesome gal and her Chinese knots are beautiful and her artwork simply took my breath away! Seriously they look as professional as Chinese brush artists. Check out her shop!

I did okay but my display was much too cluttered because I was trying to do so many things at once. The same thing goes for my shop. It was way too cluttered so I decided to go back to my roots and draw again. Now I'm way happier. I did earn a small profit but I also came down with a cold so that stinks! I've also been working with my wacom more often and drew the little print above entirely by hand on the wacom. Trust me it's like relearning how to draw all over again! I love how it turned out!

I'm glad my next craft fair is November 14th at the Brooklyn Indie Market. That gives me plenty of time to relax and recuperate for it! =)

Until next time take care yourselves! =D

How To Make Simple Pin Tag

Little Bat Pin @ LiPeony

It's two days before my first craft fair at All Angel's Church this Saturday October 3rd. If you're in the neighborhood stop on by it's close to the Museum of Natural History! So... I've had heck of a time on displaying and tagging my items. I came up with a very very simple way to make tags for my little pins like the one above. All you need is:

1. Your Business Card (1 side is blank)
2. Tape
3. Pin/Item
4. Stamp Pad ($5 @ Staples)
   
5. Alphabet Stamps ($5 @ A.C. Moore with 40% coupon) (Mine were small so I labeled one side and put them inside a long box to easier pick them out)
   

Pull out a small piece of tape and put it underneath the pin with the sticky side facing you and not sticking to the item.

Next hover it over the card until you find a place you want it and press it down firmly on the blank side of the business card. The tape should stick the pin to the paper.

Next up I combined the letters to form the words I wanted and used a rubber band to fasten them together and pressed it on then situated it on the card. Since the set I brought only had 1 of each letter I had to get a bit creative with making sure I only used each letter once in a word.

Wa-la! I added some tiny bats and it's a simple tag for my bat pin. Also because it wasn't wide enough I planned for the word "pin" to fall off the side. You could easily have put it across the long way. The good thing is that it's fairly simple and the materials are cheap and easy to get. Another good thing is that it's also your business card so if you forget to put it in or w/e or when the person takes it out they can see where they got it from. This is great for little items like magnets, earrings, rings, pins etc. Get creative with it. Hope this helps.

Until next time... wish me luck at the craft fair!

Busy Busy Week

Black Cat Felt Pin @ LiPeony

SO I was on ye olde twitter when I found out the NewNewTeam Twitter found that I've been featured in Super Cute Kawaii blog! They have and showcase the cutest things especially kawaii which is Japanese for "cute". So I'm extremely happy with that! SO I'm extremely happy about that =). I think you can submit your shop and items to be blogged for free here in : Submissions. If you think your items fit that genre I suggest you try. If you love to look at awesome kawaii items I suggest you visit their blog.I'm still getting things together for my first craft show of the season. The above is the flyer by them. If you're in the neighborhood, drop on by! I also have my first midterm this Thursday so... sigh... when it rains. It pours! I'm spending all day tomorrow studying like crazy =D

Until next time... bundle up for Fall =)

What I'm Up to =D

"Sugar Maple Seed Felt Pin" @ LiPeony

With school well along it's way it's been very busy here in the LiPeony studios. Currently I'm making painted silhouettes on felt with use of stencils and touch ups by hand. I really love how they came out. The one above is from the Sugar maple Tree seed that's the state tree of New York. I'm not one for super bright colors but I think this gives a very vibrant fall feel to any clothing especially in the Fall when people have start bundling up and I see a lot of dark colored clothing like browns and blacks and navy blues come out. This would just give that extra punch of color without going crazy.

My new fondness for making little felt pins came from this adorable little girl below!

"Mei Mei and Red Panda Pin"@ LiPeony

Meet Mei Mei a 10 week old Red Panda that resides in the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. One of the wonderful caretakers saw my little red panda pin on Etsy and brought it. Soon after she requested three more for her coworkers. I was beyond thrilled with being a tiny part of the great work the zoo caretakers do in teaching and protecting the animals that populate this beautiful world of ours. I was sent and given permission to showcase this insider glimpse on little Mei Mei next to my pin on the left worn by a caretaker. I wish I could visit but Cleveland is far from old NYC =/ .

I have a lot of new designs that I'm going to premier at All Angels Church Block Part Craft Show on October 3rd. If you're in the area stop by =D.

One of my greatest supporters is Cuong who's an aspiring writer and journalist. As per his request I created a custom art for his friend's wedding as a gift. They're both writers so Cuong threw some ideas at me like have them writing and wracking their heads on how to express their love for each other. I used that idea as the large roll of paper they're writing on that folds into a heart around them. The crumpled paper on the bottom shows the nervousness of expressing one's feelings. Their song is "I've Got the World on a String" I took one of the phrases and put them as text on the paper. I also found the piano sheets for the song and layered and faded them to make the background. I added the yellowish color to simulate the antique vintage paper look and voila. I put their names over their heads though I fazed them out here.

I really hope they like it and I wish them all the best. =)

Until next time... always create and never stop... =D

Hello Fall and Craft Shows!

Black Cat Pin at LiPeony.etsy.com

It's officially the start of Fall and it's also my boyfriend's birthday! SO happy birthday to him! With the start of Fall it's also the early signal for the shopping season to start. I'm sure there are many crafters and artists out there all booked up for those shows and fairs. My first craft fair of the season is going to be at All Angel's Church Block Party. It's their first one and it's right by the Museum of Natural History and I'm not sure how it would turn out but the booth fee was very small. I'm also sharing it with a NewNewTeam buddy CLineCreations. She makes these wonderful Chinese calligraphy art and Chinese knots... neither of which I have patience to make ... teehee.

I didn't want to carry my huge black frame and I had new cards and notebooks I wanted to sell I decided to make this make shift sort of display. It's made out of recycled cardboard and I decorated it with wonderful origami paper and about an hour. It doesn't look all that great by itself.
But it actually works pretty well. The little shelves are fold-able so I can lay this whole thing flat. When I put my cards and note pads on it, it doesn't look too bad. (Don't mind the messy desk. I'm a slob) and since my cards are light this will be good to create height and different levels for buyers to look at. Everything else will be either flat or in boxes people can rummage though. After this there is the New New Day at Brooklyn Indie Market on November 14th which I'm also very excited about because we got such a great deal and last time I did pretty well for my first time there. That's about all the shows I will be doing this year.

Oh speaking of craft fair there is a massive source of how to's and advice out on the web. Here are some awesome links:

Super Etsy forum post of Craft Show Tips
Flickr: Visual Collection of People's Craft Show Displays
Storque Article on How to find craft shows in your Area
Another Storque Article of Craft Show Tips
Yet Another Storque Article on Holiday Craft Fairs
Indie Craft Fair Guide: Guide to your Local Craft Shows

These are some of the useful links I've found. I think I will put up the schematics of the display I made in this post later.

Until Next time... enjoy the wonderful Fall weather!

How to Make One Simple Good Cheesecake

It's my boyfriends birthday coming up and today he's coming to pick me up so we can celebrate his birthday early. I decided to surprise him with his favorite strawberry cheesecake. If anyone knows me I am a horrible cook so I had to find a simple recipe even I can't screw up. That's when I found this simple cheesecake recipe on EasyStrawyberryRecipes.com. There is under ten ingredients and I had half of them already in my fridge. I changed the recipe somewhat so here's the recipe

Ingredients:

Crust

2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 ounces butter or margarine, melted

Filling

1 cup granulated sugar (I put in half a cup)
3 pkgs. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened (I put in 2 pkgs instead)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 8-ounce carton of sour cream

Instructions:

Combine graham cracker crumbs with 2 tablespoons of sugar and the melted butter or margarine. Press into the bottom of a springform pan. Set aside. Cream the softened cream cheese with the sugar and vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add the sour cream, which should be at room temperature. Pour into graham cracker crust. Bake for half an hour at 350 degrees F.

Turn off the oven, leaving the cheesecake inside for another half hour. Chill and refrigerate for at least 4-8 hours. Top with your favorite fruit topping, garnish with fresh strawberries or graham cracker crumbs.

Because of the time limit I brought one of those already made graham crusts but I will seriously make it next time as the store one got extremely crumbly on the edges =/ . It's pretty easy and the first photo is what came out of it. My whole family had a slice and they loved it though because of the heaviness of the cheesecake they took a small slice. I thought it was very good. It was not too sweet and not too sour and of the cheesecakes I tried from English restaurants it is considerably lighter but heavier then those of Asian variety. I forgot to buy garnish/fruit but by itself it's very good! I'd recommend you to try it out especially if it's something easy. I hope my bf will like it =D. Oh yeah another reason why I don't bake. My family does not use the oven except as a extra space to put in pots and pans. Everything pictured above I had to take out and then put it back in. That's why my sister and I rarely bake... sigh! I'll bake this cake for my friends and coworkers next week. Hope you have fun with this recipe!

Until next time... happy cooking! =)

Mmm Anime

I've yet to see Miyazaki's latest movie Ponyo but it's already making a huge splash overseas and in the U.S. If it's anything else like his other wondrous movies (Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro) it has be great. The stories told are so magical and what I love was how the animation and art though may be simple captures the tinest details that really make the movies come to life. Not relying on CGI the animation is drawn out and colored almost reminding me of a water painting. The characters in these movies are so whimsical and deep that it's hard not to love'em. These movies are great for the entire family... I've seen his movies since I was in 1st grade till now when I've graduated college they never cease to amaze me with their depth and details.

I'm a huge anime fan going to conventions and also cosplaying. As an artist I usually don't do fanart but I have made some if the characters or particular anime has really struck me. Hoping to go to the artist alley next year at Otakon I've made a few fanarts... this one below is by far my favorite.
It's the cast of characters from My Neighbor Totoro. This was the first drawing I did entirely on computer. Using my new Wacom tablet I hit the floor running as I got use to drawing onto the pad straight to the computer. It's much harder then one could imagine. I did several drafts against several backgrounds until I got what you see above. I'm sure to revise it as it gets close to the convention. I hope you guys like it... and really check out those movies. =)

Until next time... get inspired and inspire others. =)

Thank You for Being Friend

When I was younger I use to watch Golden Girls and even though I didn't really understand all of it (I was like 9 at the time or something) I did understand the close knit friendship all these women had. Plus the song was catchy. I created a new card above all about being a friend. Whether it's to say "hey thanks for being there for my crazy butt throughout the years" or "I'd think we'd be awesome buddies." I do cherish the friends that have been with me and deal with my crazy antics. Which brings me back to the fundraiser my sister did for The New York Asian Woman's Center, a place of refuge and help for battered women. To say the least, it was a fantastic outcome. They initially had about little below 100 people but it became 150 guests in total. The raffle and silent auction raised a good amount that will be donated to helping battered women. Though my sister would not tell me the final numbers.. arg you! lolol. Anyways I got a nifty planner and brochure from my sister the silent auction and raffle coordinator. This fundraiser was to celebrate the opening of Peace House an emergency shelter for families and also to raise money to create more such places and programs. I found that the program was not only in English but in other languages like Mandarin, Hindi, Korean etc. One of the biggest obstacle in helping is the language barrier which is especially true in hospitals.

I volunteered in a hospital situated in a heavy immigrant neighborhood and the language barrier has always been a huge problem. Sometimes a translator was not available or was with another patient. I've seen frustration on both ends with the patients and the hospital staff. That is a story for another time.

For everyone out there...
"Thank You for Being a Friend." =)

Simple is In

After carving my little stamp (How I Made the Stamp) and making my first stamped card I realized I can make so many different scenes with this one stamp. My cards are simple with a lot of white space. Personally I like simple... I've decided to steer my shop towards that direction. The one above called "Peeps on Earth" is an example of it. It may or may not be a good move shop wise but for me it's what I want to do.

Until next time... Sometimes simple is the best.

You Never know Till you try!

So my significant other took a wood carving class and gave me his carving kit as he will never use it again. That was months and months ago. After putting it off for a long while I finally used them! I made my first rubber stamp of a little robot alien head and body with antennas. I went to experiment with them and made the above little card and I love it =D. The thing about the stamp is that I could replicate the same picture but also have the flexibility to alter it to do many things.Here's a picture of what I used. It's really not much. The 1st is just a gel ink stamp pad I got from Staples ($5). The 2nd is a 12 piece carving kit by X-Acto ($26). The 3rd is a 2" x 4" Speedy-Cut thick rubber sheet ($2). The 4th is just my design ($creativity). Though I see many people use Speedball products since they seem to specialize in printing technology.

Then I found youtube videos on how to make one. Though there are more videos about how to make stamps using other technology like photoshop, cricut etc but I really wanted to actually carve my own. I stumbled onto this video made a fellow etsian UniquelyFun and here's the link to the video. The video and instructions are very clear and simple to follow. Here's the final product that I used to make the above card. I might carve out some more later but it requires a lot of patience because one wrong move and you nicked the picture. Also making the details requires you to be steady. It took me about an hour and a half to get be happy with the stamped outline I got.

Until next time.. happy stamping! =D

Hi Ho Canada!

So this summer my significant other hounded me to go to Canada with him and his parents as this would be the only vacation I would have this year =( . We drove straight from South Jersey to Niagara Falls which was about 8 hour drive and boy was my butt as flat as a pancake during the trip. We arrived at about 5pm and went to exchange some currency. I must say compared to the rather drab US money the Canadian currency was so colorful and fun. Our hotel was about a couple blocks away from the waterfalls and even though I've been to Niagara Falls before, it still takes my breath away. You can hear the roar of the gushing water and the amount of force the water falls over the cliffs makes this huge geyser like plume. The above picture taken by me is the Horseshoe Falls. See that tiny boat? That's the boat: The Maid of the Mist and for about $15 bucks brings you up close and personal to all the roaring action.
The waterfalls was sooo loud when we approached them and it sprayed constant mist of water at us and the wind sent many people's plastic raincoats flying upwards. We must have stayed at the foot of the falls for 10 - 15 minutes taking in this wonder of nature. It is unbelievable to think thousands of gallons of water is constantly streaming over these cliffs and oh the rainbows that float far above us in the mist is always there. Next up we went to Toronto a good hour or two ride from Niagara and we went up the CN Tower which is the tallest tower in the world until the tower in Burj Dubai is finished. The view was AMAZING, you could literally see the whole city and even though I'm rather afraid of heights this was one of those gloriously clear blue summer days you just had to peer out. There was also a part of the floor taht's made out of glass so you can look straight some hundred meters down. Not for someone whose afraid of heights but heck I went all the way here and who knows when I'll be back. It took some nerves but I was sitting on top of the glass floor and took pictures of the dizzying height we were at. Can't say my bf was so brave >_
The days were there the weather was wonderful and Canada was definitely fun... I'd love to come back for more then just 3 days and 2 nights. Travel further into the county. =D !

Until next time... au revoir!

Pin o This

This August is turning out to be a great month for my little shop which is surprising to me since people say summer is the slowest sale time. I had a great buyer that wanted my art on 2.25 inch pin back buttons. Although I've always wanted to make them I was too lazy to justify the work and cost that went into them... until recently. I ordered 25 just for a start from the wonderful Ali at Buttonhead.etsy. She is my go-to for mirrors, buttons and other knick knacks. I highly recommend her. When they arrived I was thrilled with how they look! I especially like this one because it really rings a chord with me and I think this one will go on my school bag. =)

I'm pondering the idea of doing a craft show during the fall. This year I have school, work and volunteer work at the hospital planned. It's going to be a jammed pack year. There is one cosponsored by the NewNewTeam (proud member of) on October 17th in Manhattan close to where I live called Crafts in Chelsea. What's great is that part of the vendor fee goes to the PTA of the local public school and growing up within the great public school system of NYC they're always cutting the school budget. It was though the PTA and fund-raising that so many programs and clubs have been maintained.

I recently learned my own elementary school P.S. 130 held a fundraiser and now has several music, art, sports and literary programs that were not available to us when I was young. Though these programs I hope kids foster interests outside the school curriculum and promote creativity. Personally I feel kids have been growing up too fast and pressured to focus solely on education. I think about that when I'm on my tablet in Photoshop and my little 9 year old brother is sitting next me as I draw that dragon he loves so much from Yu-Gi-Oh. I love the questions and glitter in his eyes as he listens intently when I teach him a bit about Photoshop and art.

Until next time.. cherish and relish childhood for it's far to short sometimes.

Posting Promoting?

On the spur of the moment I made the little card above about THE RED SOCK that always ends up with my whites and making everything pink! I thought it was funny but did other people get it? One thing about humor is once you explain it the humor is gone! To get some feedback In went to Critiques forum of Etsy to ask for opinions. I got an overwhelming response of how funny and quirky it was and people did get it. See I do have a sense of humor people get! (sometimes). That really made me happy! But then it got sold! Someone who commented on the post brought it! Now I was floored as this has never happened to me ...

I'm not saying go and post like a madman or madwoman on the forums but when you honestly need help, have a question or want to respond to something... you never know someone is looking at your shop and go gee whiz I got to get that! I've had a few sales from people whose seen me post because well I'm always interested in what other people say and I like to give advice and receive it. I've also brought from other sellers who post on the forums too! Don't be afraid people are generally very very nice there.

Here are some other useful links =)
http://www.craftopolis.com/ super site to see if you got featured in treasuries
http://www.craftcult.com/heartomatic.php site to check out hearts in your shop
http://www.indiecraftfairguide.com/ great site with craft fair articles and also local craft fairs
http://artmind-etcetera.blogspot.com/ fabulous and creative ideas