Otakon 2011 Finally!

Otakon 2011 has yet again come and gone and I know it's been over for a few months but here's the pictures finally! This year the weather was nice and sunny but a bit on the hot side. Unfortunately we couldn't be there on Friday so we arrived Saturday instead. The above picture is from the Arena where some of the really big shows are hosted such as Masquerade and concerts. The cosplay above is from a game called Animal Crossing sort of like a Sims type game except everyone else are animals.

An awesome Dalek cosplay from Dr. Who Series. I'm not sure whether it was remote controlled or someone was inside. People got a big kick out of it.

Old fashion Tetris piece!

Collection of cosplayers from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

The beloved Peter Griffin vs. Ernie the Giant Chicken, from Family Guy.

Magic Knight Rayearth cosplayers. Love the details on their costumes and making armor seems like quite a challenge.

Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu.

Ghost Busters! Sorta disappointed this picture came out fuzzy!

The BF really wanted to see the Chemistry concert but alas it was on Friday. Le sigh. We did go to their Q & A section. Truthfully I had no clue who they were but I did find out they sang the song to Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood and Mobile Gundam Suit Unicorn. I haven't seen the latter but I did like the FMA Brotherhood series. They were extremely polite and also funny as they answered and joked with the fans that came to see them.

Last of all is my revamped costume of Mahoromatic. In this version I reworked the apron to have a tie across the waist which is higher then my actual waist. I also reworked the red tie thing and added a petticoat. It was also the first time I styled and wore a wig with the costume along with contacts and false lashes. I think these details really added the finishing touches for the character. I might add in a more in depth post on the reworking of the costume later on.

Until next time... time just seems to fly fly fly away!

Finally here! Nerdy Totes!

Nerds Get the Chicks Tote @ LiPeony!

I know better late then never but I finally got one of my favorite prints on a tote bag. The reason behind the lateness was I wanted to try it out and it's been about two months that I've been wearing it out hanging with my friends. It's 100% cotton with a whopping 15 x 16 inches of space for random things. I love the size and simplicity because I just throw whatever inside and it's good to go. Most of all I really like how it has something I created on it and I took the time to research and put the print on the bag myself.

Nerds and Chicks @ LiPeony

Though it took me a while to get around to it I'm very happy I decided to try something new with what I already love doing.

Until next time... release that little idea lingering at the back of your head

New Cards for the Holidays?

"When Santa runs out of elves he uses happy chicks"

I know it's not even the end of August and I'm already preparing for the holiday season in my shop LiPeony! Actually it didn't even cross my mind until one day I was lurking in the Etsy Forums and stumbled upon this post by KreatedByKatrina (btw visit her soap for soap goodies like gingerbread men soap! ) and she's been one of those long standing people on Etsy who has a lot of knowledge and experience and when she writes something I read it. This post happened to be "Preparing Your Shop for The Holidays" . She lists several good ways to prepare and opened the board for others to both learn and put in their advice. I've been gobbling up every single morsel of knowledge. I decided to finally start on those Christmas/Holiday cards. I've always wanted to be hands on with my work and making cards is no exception. I decided to experiment with the little print above.

Martha Stewart Crafting Scoring Board
I also have this nifty Martha Stewart Crafting Scoring Boards when I was making my friend's wedding invitations. It's not a necessary tool but it's so awesome to have because you can make crisp lines on blank sheets of papers to fold into cards. It's simple and they sell it at craft stores. I think this was brought at Micheal's with one of their lovely 40% coupons and it came up to a little over $11. Yes this thing retails around $20 hence the coupons.

It's very simple and the whole thing is outlined with inch ruler measures and the corresponding scoring groove. So all you really need is the bone folder which is that flat and rounded edged tool that comes with it. Place your paper on the board and pick how far you want your folded line to be and press the bone folder from that groove all the way down the card.

Ta-da! Perfect groove where you can fold your blank piece of paper into a card!

Now a nifty little card!Open up for anyone to write their special message in. This is just a practice run because I do want either a luster/pearl or a glossy finish. Haven't decided yet. I've also deciding on whether to buy plain white envelopes with the cards are these lovely light light blue envelopes which cost a tad more. I'm leaning towards the blue ones because I think it adds a bit more. Look forward to new card sets (was thinking sets of 3 or 6) close close in the future. So how have you been preparing for the holidays or are you still going "WHAT? HOLIDAYS? ITS STILL SUMMER??"

Until next time... stay groovy!

Governor's Island Origami fun!

Governor's Island Nolan Park
Isn't it amazing a place so full of trees and picturesque as Governor's Island is literally 10 minutes away from lower Manhattan? For last Saturday which Mr. Weatherman said would be thunder storming (which it did not) I was volunteering to help teach people how to make some origami whales, fish and crabs.

Ferry entrance/exit at Governor's Island
First off the ferry ride was packed full of people but then again its free and there's boats every 30 minutes but you'll have to check the schedule HERE. The ferry was full of people who were dressed as flappers and even a steampunk couple. Apparently there was a jazz festival on the island! I was amazed by this sudden leap into the Roaring 20's and really regret being too shy to ask to take photos of some of the more elaborate costumes!

The view of Manhattan from Governor's Island was awesome. The above pictures shows the ferry dock/piers on the Manhattan side. You could also see the Staten Island ferry along with the other NYC boat tours. It was pretty sunny and hot out on deck but inside are two hallways of benches to sit on and there's no air conditioner. No worries the trip was about ten minutes.
What's also neat about the island was that there are these old homes that can be rented out. The New New Team rented a house and basically decorated the inside and made a whole gift boutique full of wonderful items from the New New Team! Of course I couldn't help but buy a little something something for myself:

Vintage Beaded Necklace from WishByFelicity!
Seriously I have been eyeing her colorful jewelry from we first met way back when. She's also such a sweetheart and helpful during our craft show shares. I tend to wear a lot of neutrals like beige, soft greys, dark blues... pretty monotone and I've been leaning towards buying colorful accents to add to my mundane clothing hues. The one above was perfect... even my mom was eyeing it. (no mom I will have to get you your own!) Okay enough of me and my goodie of the day! I was pretty late but Lucrafts (who makes these unique switch light covers!) , Paperelle (who makes awesome origami stars jewelry and going to vend at New York Anime Festival) and Lamusekalliope (who makes adorable little critters and pouches) were already hard at work with table of little kids around them!

As usual I was the awkward "OMG I"M SO LATE AND SO SOOOORRRYYY" person. It took a bit but I got into it and taught all these kids how to make whales, fishes and crabs. Whales were a big hit with the girls and the boys like the crabs... go figure? By the end of the day we were all covered in glitter with goggle eyes and tiny plastic gems everywhere. It was so fun! The kids were adorable though the younger ones wanted you to make it for them while the older kids were actually having that "I'm going to learn how to make this" look on their faces. Oh btw we learned origami from this awesome website Origami Club... the animations really really help!

All in all it was a great day. Volunteered, met some more awesome crafters, delved into another hidden gem of NYC and went back to watch Crazy, Stupid Love (hilarious movie!) and ate with my cousin and sister before she left for college. It was one of the best days of summer!

Until next time... what were your summer adventures?

Governor's Island Origami Fun!

Ah remember the little origami people I use to make? This Saturday I'll be at Governor's Island teaching people how to fold some cute origami sea creatures! Every weekend the New New Team get together and teach a certain craft. I haven't been to Governor's Island for a long time but I do remember it was a very calm and picturesque place and there's a free ferry that goes to the island from both Manhattan and Brooklyn side! DIRECTIONS . If you're ever need to go somewhere peaceful in hectic NYC then come on by... you'll walk away with new found origami skills and a funky card to boot.

I know I haven't updated in a LONG LONG time as mentioned by a friend and reader! I got it! I did get a new job that I'm very happy about so that's been eating most of my time. I'll be updating soon about my cosplay for Otakon, new stuff for my store and things around quirky little NYC.

Until next time... learn something new!

Madison Square Garden Eats

Last Friday my awesome friend Jingo and I went to this little area of pop up restaurants and eateries called Madison Square Park Eats. This little event takes place for a whole month and unfortunately we were only able to make it for the last day. The experience made me wish I had known about this sooner!

What make this event so great is that many of these little pop up shops have their main restaurants in Brooklyn or the other boroughs of NYC. It's definitely made me more incline to travel to those places despite the usually unpredictable and horribly slow weekend mass transit complications (MTA is fixing various subway platforms and etc so check out the MTA site before you travel around by subway especially on the weekends).

The crowd was really bumping and mingling. The area is the rather tiny triangular piece of side walk next to the park and beloved home of Shake Shack (another favorite place... cheese fries are awesome!) They had several chairs and tables at the center and an atm machine to boot.

We also got there towards the early evening and I was able to snag the last cookie from Momofuku. Cornflakes and marshmallows? Yes I was a tad skeptical and the cookie looked a bit on the greasy side. But it was surprisingly delicious. The cornflakes added this crunch to the soft cookie and when you ripped the cookie apart you can see strands of marshmallows melted inside. I really wanted to try the other desserts there but alas it was completely sold out.

My friend and I basically ravaged the cookie because we were waiting for our orders from Calexico. My friend Jingo had showed me another food blog of last years and I got hooked onto the picture of the piping hot carne asada quesadilla with melty cheese and chunks of meat. The wait for it was about an hour but I don't blame them. There was a line for this place and those guys were working as hard as they can. There was also the usually order of one person ordering like 10 tacos. It was such a tease because the orders with our names hung on top so we could see how many orders were in front of ours.

The next thing that really intrigued me was from Roberta's Pizza. They brought their own pizza firing oven above. The pizzas were small and made and fired fresh. They smelled heavenly. They had this one I think that involved a touch of honey and that was very intriguing. Alas my heart was already set.

It may not look impressive from the picture but I assure you it is gooooooood. The outside was soft and slightly crisp. It was the meat and the cheese that really surprised me. The beef was actually infused with a lot of different herbs and spices. I normally don't eat spicy food I like the kick the meat had. Coupled with the gooey cheese it was heaven. That cost about 6 dollars and they don't go skimpy on the meat!

My friend got the pork burrito and she thought it was pretty good which meant it was awesome because she's such a picky eater hehe.

With the food, people and the beautiful setting sun on Madison Avenue it was definitely a great even to go to. Don't worry you may have missed this one but every week at the Brooklyn Flea and Hester Street Fair are some of the same food vendors along some new favorites.So definitely go out and try something new!

Until next time...
happy eating!

Itty Bitty Cupcakes

Box of Cupcakes @ LiPeony

The school year is winding down and my sister came back from college. We spent the weekend roaming around the city until we got to this long line along Broadway in NYC. She insisted I had to try these super miniature cupcakes from Baked by Melissa. As small as my thumb they were adorable albeit a tad pricey but all 12 flavors we tried were delicious! My favorite hands down was the Cinnamon one and I am not a big fan of cinnamon so it was really that good. The other notable ones were Chocolate chip pancake, Tie Dye and Smores. I was a tad disappointed with the Mint Chocolate chip because my sister said the mint frosting reminded her of Colgate mint toothpaste... Don't worry if you're not in NYC they also deliver so that's a plus. WOn't they be awesome for baby shower???

Baked by Melissa
(They are literally about the size of a quarter-half dollar, adorable!)

Here are some of my favorite little cupcake places:

Little Red Hens (so so so moist! The chocolate one was not so overpowering)
Crumbs (it's okay but the variety is awesome)

Other notable places in NYC are:
Nine Cakes
Sprinkles (They have multiple locations around the nation)
Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery (with a name like this it has to be good!)
Baked
ButterLane
Amy's Bread (They also have tons of other baked goods)
Silk Cakes (Okay cheated here as you have to preorder cupcakes but my friend got her wedding cake here and we tried cupcakes samples and they were divine. Judy (nicest person in the world) has all these very unique Asian inspired flavors like Thai Ice tea, Green Tea, Black Sesame to name a few)

Cupcake stops for people with special diet (Many of the cupcake shops above may have a vegan versions)
Tu-Lu's Gluten Free Bakery
LuLu Cake Boutique (I put them here because they actually have Kosher based Bakery based in Brooklyn with a store in Manhattan)
BabyCakes (Vegan - I think my friend brought cupcakes from here I'm not sure but vegan cupcakes taste pretty good)

Though I have barely scratched the surface... I'll be updating this list as Spring and Summer would be great time to sample cupcakes as I walk around the city. If you can recommend a place feel free to drop a comment.

Until next time... stay sweet!

Spring Cavalcade!

I'll be helping out but not vending at this awesome craft fair! Stop by if you're in the neighborhood!

Bedtime Stories

A Monster Bedtime Story @ LiPeony

I remember as a kid I had a huge book of tiny bedtime stories one for every night of the year. It got passed down to my brother who pours over it. I'm a big fan of books like these because there's just so many stories inside one collection and it was conveniently all in one book with a picture for each. I created the above picture because of this penchant for late night reading and imaginative friends and adventures.

On another note another one of my favorite kid's reading material is the monthly magazine called Cricket. It's a magazine for ages 9- 14 filled with poems, stories from books, recipes, tutorials, comic strips from around the world and spans all different time eras. There are also lots of creative writing and art contests that they publish. I have years of these subscriptions on my bookshelf that my brother and sister poured though. For his birthday this year I'm buying him a year's subscription. I think that's more worth it then buying him more toys but of course he just really wants another computer game.

What's your child's or childhood's bedtime routine?

Until next time... keep on reading and exploring!

Boy Prints Ahoy!

Dinosaur and Chibi Boy @ LiPeony

The weather has been awfully nice lately and its definitely a pleasant change then those cold spells and blizzards this winter was filled with. Unfortunately with this sudden change of weather I always have Spring fever/cold . Anyways I hope everyone else is doing great! I had many people tell me I should make more boy oriented art and inspired by my 10 year old brother I did! The one above is the first one... I loved dinosaurs as a kid and had so many picture books of dinosaurs and at one point wanted to be a paleontologist. Now my brother has those books and he loves looking at all the different dinosaurs. I do have some others to be done so look forward to some more Chibi Boy adventures!

After a lot of procrastination I decided to make a Facebook fanpage HERE. If you want to please "like" it.For some reason it was extremely frustrating for me to set up until finally I realized I had to do everything as admin account not as my fanpage account. Weird. I'm still not sure what to do with it... what's your fanpage and what do you do with it?

Until next time... enjoy the super awesome weather!

Cherry Blossom Trip

Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC was awesome though me and the bf got there during the tail end of the festival. Though unfortunately there was this big rain storm on Friday that seem to have swept a good amount of the blossoms away. We did take some pictures of the remaining blossoms like above. The biggest highlight for me was the Sakura Matsuri which was this giant street fair filled to the brim with shops that highlighted Japanese culture and food. There were three different concert like areas that had different performances. Even though the sky was overcast everyone seemed to have a great time. I did try the grilled squid which was yummy and some kitsune udon. There were people in both cosplays and traditional kimonos.

The rest of the city was blooming in beautiful colors and these are some of the pictures. The above believe is the Smithsonian Visitor Center but I'm not sure. We happened on this large tulip field in the shape of a number one. We walked all over the city and even around the Tidal Basin. By the end of the trip our legs were aching but its the best way to enjoy the sites.

Until next time... get those walking shoes on and stop to smell the roses...

Giving a Bit

I thought the day before while rushing to finish a whole bunch of felt pins that I would donate my earnings from today's vending at Brooklyn Flea to the Red Cross. I guess someone heard because I had my best day ever. My normally slow prints went out like hotcakes in the afternoon and I sold twice as many pins as I normally sell. I'm taking it as a sign and the minute I put the money into the bank I'm off to donate to the Red Cross online.

I loved the way my bags came out and above is a picture of it. Many people loved and laughed over them but no luck. I'll be putting them up in my store soon. On another note today was a bit of a mix bag of experiences. I had my first person haggle over my prints and someone pushed my table and broke one of my larger glass frames. I didn't catch who did it as I was busy cleaning up the broken glass. I learned from my wise and experienced booth buddies Yaniamor and KerriBrewer to hold people responsible even if what they broke didn't have a high price tag. It was about principal. In the end it was still a great day.

Coralia @ Yanimore
Also I didn't go away empty handed I brought these fantastic earrings above but in a ruby color and I love them because they're so small and light. They are also sparkly and perfect for someone as petite as me. I have some amethyst colored ones that I wore to a wedding and my family loved them!KerriBrewer
My other awesome booth mate Kerri whose a fantastic photographer mounts her photos on wooden blocks and make them perfect to mix and match to put on a counter, desk or anywhere. The above picture is a beautiful way to arrange her gorgeous work.

Until next time... give ... even if its just a little...

Better Late then Never

Nerd and Chicks 5 x 7 @ LiPeony

Its been a while since I've written but I've been studying for an important test and its pretty funny how I got into this situation. Normally I'm pretty lazy and I love to procrastinate but life always comes along and gives me a kick in the rear end to keep on going forward. That takes me here...

I've always thought about printing a few select designs of my art on simple cotton totes. One of them is definitely the one above. I'd be carrying one around. It'll be great to try something totally different as I've never did it before. So look forward to my trials and errors! =D

Until next time... keep on trying new things!

When One Wishes for More Hands

Busy Blue Octopus @ LiPeony

Have you ever had one of those days that you feel like you wish you had extra hands to do all the stuff you needed to do? For the past two months I've been studying non-stop for an exam and now with two weeks away it's crunch time! When I'm suppose to be studying my mind and hands wander off to draw, craft, computer, books, do laundry, clean, cook and a host of a gazillion other things. Besides too much stuff to do I find myself lacking the discipline to focus. That I find so hard...

Do you have any tips on focusing on the need to do vs. the want to do?

Until next time... my focus needs more focus!