Birdies!

I finally got my worker's comp. claim #, but nobody's been assigned to my case yet. I'm feeling a little better just knowing it's being worked on. I was feeling pretty darned hopeless this morning.

I ordered 5 new yards of fabric from FabricWorm, so be on the lookout for new things soon! I bought this New Michael Miller below and can't wait to make pillows and baby shoes with it:



My landlord is supposed to be painting my apartment, I've lived in the same place for 3.5 years, so apparently it is time. I still have not heard back on when, and I'm living in a state of not wanting to put anything up until the painting gets done.


Because I've been lying in bed a lot resting my injured foot, I decided to finally put up the vinyl birdie decals I bought from Elephannie a few months ago. I know I will have to take them down once the Super paints, but I will just buy more. In the meantime? I get to wake up and see these little guys above my closet and they make me happy. I need more happiness. It's so easy to wallow and find myself depressed over something stupid that leaves me fairly immobile for (so far) 4 days.

On top of that, the front runner in the boy dept. is causing my mind to question my attraction to those who are unavailable, and the union stuff never stops, the grievances just keep coming!

My poor little toe! The little guy was never able to fend for itself. =P

I was able to make a new pair of baby shoes last night and listed them this morning. They are super sweet and I hope somebody snatches them up quickly, as the print is definitely one of my new favorites!


(click photo for more info)

That's been the extent of my creativity unless you count planting more herb seedlings on my window.

If I had more money, I would go on an Etsy shopping spree, but I just paid rent and bills and am feeling less than comfortable spending more money on myself. So I've just been 'heart'ing everything in site. My poor attempt at a play on words. ;)

Well I'm going to try to drag my sewing machine to my desk and make at least one more pair of shoes. Productivity makes me happiest.

What I wouldn't give to have a hot glue gun handy! I'd at least make recycled magazine page coasters. I wish my hardware store delivered. I don't know why I have no hot glue gun but approx. 100 hot glue sticks, a mystery for the ages...?

<3 Always,
--Taina

longest blogging delay ever!

Hi everyone!

It's been a crazy month and a half. Thanks to my Etsy penpal Nadine for reminding me I should blog. It seems I may have a little time on my hands as I had an injury at work that resulted in what seems to be a possible hairline fracture at worst and a pretty bad contusion/hematoma at best. It's my little toe. Who knew I needed my little toe? I mean, sure, 5 toes means decent balance, but...my little toe is just...well, it's always been a sad chubby little piggie, and now it's swollen and purple and brown and won't fit into my most comfy flats.

This past week has been interesting. I try not to discuss politics on this blog, but it's sometimes unavoidable, as politics and DIY culture tend to mix.

Dr. George Tiller was murdered in Kansas last week. No matter how you feel about abortion, I am not asking to be flamed. I believe it's a very personal decision.

I have been eyeing Kate Black's feminist stuff for ages. I'm a huge fan of her work, she's a totally awesome woman I've met numerous times. I have purchased plenty of her "Well behaved women rarely make history" mirrors/bottle openers and own a "Don't F*ck With Me Fellas, This Ain't My First Time At The Rodeo" bottle-opener keychain.



Along with sending money to Planned Parenthood in mourning the loss of Dr. Tiller, I also purchased this bottle-opener keychain I've been eyeing for ages:



I can't wait for it to come in the mail!

As far as new items for my shop? I'm working on it, it's tough for me to sit for any length of time at my machine because of my toe accident. I did just purchase some really great fabric from FabricWorm, but that will be the next post. =)

<3 Always,
--Taina

Spring has Sprung!

Happy mid-April, everyone!

It's been a bumpy ride these last few weeks, and when things get bumpy, I tend not to blog here. Things are beginning to slow down and I hope to be back to making new items for my shop very soon.

In the meantime? Birdsnest cupcakes!



There are five family traditions in my immediate family (parents and brother):

Everyone gets together for each other's birthdays and when the birthday girl/boy cuts the cake, everyone attending the birthday has to scream at the top of their lungs the moment the knife hits the bottom of the first cut. It's for good luck.

Then there is "Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit", which is what we say first thing on the first day of each month. That was taught to me by Ms. Kitty Graves (yes, that was hear real name). Ms. Graves was my 3rd grade teacher and ever since I was 8 years old, we've continued this tradition. If I wake up early, I will call my mom and yell "RABBIT RABBIT RABBIT!" before she has time to say "hello?" so she remembers to say it. I'm sure she really appreciates that wake-up. My dad merely texts it to me.

Now on to the handmade traditions:

Thanksgiving is a traditional American meal: potatoes, yams, turnips, greenbeans, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce. Traditionally, I make the cornbread and pumpkin pies. In the last two years, I've also added pumpkin Arroz con Leche and ginger pumpkin bread to the menu. My mom began the tradition of handing each dinner attendee 5 kernels of unpopped popping corn, we each go around the table and name 5 things we are thankful for. It's pretty sweet, my brother pretends to hate it.

Christmas is our traditional Puerto Rican meal: Pernil, yuca malanga, avocado salad...I make flan and coconut pudding.

Now, last Sunday was Easter. Normally, we have Easter dinner. My brother was unable to make it for the first year ever. He's knee-deep in a 20-page paper and is also beginning his thesis. I ended up meeting my parents for brunch at Le Monde, and as much as I enjoyed it, I hope our tradition continues to be a) one that includes the entire family and b) a home-cooked meal. I wanted to keep up my end of the bargain, so after meeting my family, I came home to my roommate and made Irish Soda Bread and birdsnest cupcakes.



The only reason I make Irish Soda Bread on Easter is because I couldn't find a recipe for hot-cross buns that I liked, but my Irish Soda Bread has a big cross on the top of it (to help it rise and bake). Birdsnest cupcakes? Well, 5 or 6 years ago they started out as cookies that were way too fancy. My family doesn't care if things are fancy, and these cookies too HOURS! Complete w/ chocolate ganache and everything. So I decided on making cupcakes, toasting coconut for the "nest" and adding chocolate eggs (Cadbury Mini Eggs work well) on top.


So last Easter Sunday night, Adeline helped me make 24 birds-nest cupcakes, and watched as I taught her how to make Irish Soda Bread. It was fun. And although I miss my brother to pieces, it was nice to be able to come home to my own apartment and my little apartment family of Adeline and Psyche D. Cat.

<3 Always,
--Taina

Curiousity or Interest?

I just received SUCH a cool necklace from UntamedMenagerie.



It's a quote from "Alice In Wonderland":

"’Curiouser and curiouser!’ Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English). ’Now I’m opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good-bye, feet!’ (for when she looked down at her feet they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting so far off)." (Ch. 2)

Recently, I found myself interested in a guy who I know very little about. He's good-looking, has really good taste in both music and books, he's an artist of sorts. I would just like to get to know him better. No jumping the gun here, no sir! He complimented my work on Etsy once upon a time, which is not really something guys do with any frequency, as my work is pretty female-centric.

I think the last time I wrote about a guy was probably my "Ode to an Ex-Lover" post last September...I don't really talk about these things in this blog, unless they somehow relate to My Handmade Life.

A few weeks ago, Tom P., a friend of mine who knows my inner-workings from years of reading an incredibly honest and open blog I had between the ages of 18-24, asked me "Is he a curiousity or an interest?" in a text message.

I thought about it for a few minutes and responded "a curiousity..."

So we'll see, we might hang out this week, but have no definite plans.

<3 Always,
--Taina

March Madness!

...but not in the basketball sense...in my handmade life!

I've sold 9 items in the last week, 7 in 24 hrs, and 2 last night. I'm THRILLED that sales have picked up, and can only hope to keep the momentum going.



A coworker in another dept. in the Museum saw my shop on my Facebook profile and bought a couple items from me for his sister's 25th birthday. He's from Texas and mentioned that they both have a thing for sugar skulls. After selling him the two things he was interested in, I went home and checked out how much fabric I had left in the two sugar skull colorways I use and made more things for my shop. It felt like the minute I listed them, they sold! Such a great feeling! So I made more and listed them!


(click photos for more info!)

A few years ago, I started the tradition of making a birthday gift by hand for my Aunt Gailey. She's my knitting and sewing aunt, and we have a really great relationship. Her birthday was 03/08, and I knew what I wanted to make her.

My grandmother Esther (father's mother) passed away from Emphysema many many years ago. I was a wee child, the age of 7 when she died. Esther was a depression-era lady. She took buttons off of shirts that were too worn to wear so she could put them on other things. She canned, she sewed, she darned socks. She was a crafty lady, in all sense of the word.

When my grandfather Steve died in 2000, all of the grandparents' items were divided up over the 5 children and their grandchildren. I asked for this poster that used to be in Grandma Esther's little room that said "Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits." I absolutely love it because it's so odd but so great!

Well, I thought how perfect it would be to cross-stitch my own version of this poster for my Aunt Gailey's birthday this year. So I did! I hadn't embroidered anything in soooo long. It took me weeks, but this was the final product, framed:



Well, in the time it took to write this post, I sold my 300th item!!! Yayyy! I did a happy dance to Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out" and now it's time to get back to work!

<3 Always,
--Taina