Love is on My Mind

Cocoa Bunny Felt Pin @ Lipeony

It may seem far away but Valentine's day is right around the corner! But to be frank you don't need a holiday to show your love to someone it should be shown everyday. One thing I do like about the holiday is the candies and chocolate and thus I made the little heart cocoa bunny pin above. I have a bunch of little Valentine inspired pins and prints coming up so stay tuned!

On other news my bf texted me that he's safe and his new phone number. Using a calling card I called him last night but since China is about 13 hours difference it was 11am to him. It was very bizarre as I'm getting ready to sleep and my bf is up and about in the Friday Market place in the remote village he is in right now. The people live high high in the mountains and they grow tea in these huge carved tea terraces.This is an example of how these tea terraces look like. I've never been to China (being there when I was 2 years old doesn't count as I don't remember anything) so hearing it from him was great. He laughed that instead of pigeons on the streets like New York City they had chickens and dogs roaming the streets. Once a week everyone comes down the narrow dirt road of the mountain and form farmer's market where they sell their wares. Cars are few since the streets aren't paved and it's quite crowded but there is an abundance of bikes. This area (he didn't say where it was except that it was South China) is rather remote and while people still practice the ancient tea farming techniques and lived relatively untouched there was also a blending of technology such as Internet cafes and etc. Also he said everything is extremely cheap but that's comparing U.S dollar to the Chinese currency.

Our conversation was short but he was so excited to describe to me China and I was eager to hear about it. He asked me to call him tonight I wonder what new sights he will tell me about today =)

Until next time... show your love everyday =)

Forget Me Not =D

Forget Me Not Chibi Girl Print @ Lipeony

So yesterday my boyfriend and his family boarded the plane for their two month vacation around China and Vietnam and I'm very much missing him. The few days before his flight I drew quick sketches of how I feel one being the new print in my shop "Forget Me Not Chibi Girl" I really love how the flowers look like blue blue stars caught on a slender green stem. I worked very hard to put in subtle shadows and keep it as simple as I can to convey that feeling of missing and thinking of that special someone.

We're going to keep in contact though daily emails which he suggested to my surprise. He didn't want to miss out on my day to day life even if it's just mundane things. He'll be sending pictures of the places he'll go and food he'll eat. I hope he got me my souvenirs which are airline snacks (I know weird... but I love airline snacks like peanuts) and anything else he can think of. =D

On happier news The Tiny Fig had set up a January Design challenge to decorate a box. Just go follow the directions here and you can use your creativity to make a gift box and the winner chosen on February 1st gets a $20 gift card to her fantastic lil shop! I was so excited as I know exactly what to do! Here it is:
I directly designed the box template on photoshop with chibi girl surrounded by gifts and envelopes. The same design is also on the bottom of the box. One the front side and two sides are drawings of mail van, a ship and an airplane with little blue dots showing how gifts and packages are delivered. I love to send letters and snail mail to people and this is the perfect box =)

Until next time... snail mail all the way!

Hot Pot equals Good Hot Food

Winter vacation for me is just about over since work starts as soon as winter sessions starts. I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday. Over at my home we decided to do something called a hot pot. It's basically a steaming always cooking bowl of soup where you dip in various food and leave it in there to cook till they're ready. This year it was my boyfriend, my mom, dad, cousin, aunt, grandparents, little sister and brother for Christmas. Though generally we don't celebrate Christmas but it is a great time to get the family together.
A hot pot is the perfect type of meal where people cook, share and can converse over good hot food on a cold cold day. It's a very rare moment since all the kids are off to college in different states.
In the center is a large bowling bowl of soup usually chicken broth or beef broth is fine. There are special hot pots that run either by electricity or gas like the one above I got from my boyfriend. Whats so great is that the little burner is portable and comes with a split pot. One side is for spicy soup base and the other side is for the non spicy. I've also done this with a vegetarian side and a meat lover side.
All the food there are food that doesn't require a lot of time to cook like thinly sliced beef, chicken, sheep or any meat. We also have thinly sliced squid, beef tripe along with dumplings and tons and tons of various fish balls. My sister loves loves fish balls. I personally love these special ones that contain a tiny piece of meat in the inside my friends call Fuzhou fish balls. They are just so juicy when cooked. We also have thinly sliced tofu skin, straw mushrooms, watercress and other quick veggies. You can basically use any type of soup base and any food that's easy to cook... I've tried shrimp, lobster, cuttlefish etc.
We usually eat rest/chat then eat some more... rinse and repeat and this time we spent about 4 hours in this cycle. By the end we were all stuffed and suffering from food coma. If you've never tried it you might want to... there are few places in NYC that really gives you the full scope of what can be done with hotpot. The only place I can think of is in Flushing Queens in this tiny out of the way underground restaurant. I forgot the name... unfortunately they speak mainly Mandarin so ordering can be a hassle.
If you have the time and want to try something new that's easy to do at home try hotpotting =D

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