ahhh handmade!

I was really hoping to have a week of vacation to make things for my shop in June, but my worker's comp trumped that. It's amazing how this works...I was stuck at home and depressed, not even being able to sit for any decent length of time because of the swelling of my left foot and I was too down to make things. Which is really quite dumb because the thing that makes me feel best and really myself is when I am being productive and creating...What a terrible downward spiral those 2.5 weeks were!

Towards the end of the last week, just before returning to work, I made these two pairs of baby shoes:(Click photos for more info!)


Pink woodgrain! One of my fave fabric patterns.




But I'm back! And I have no plans other than a few work and education-related after-work activities and some serious yoga classes to attend in the next two weeks. I have a decent-sized custom order, 8 cupcake makeup bags for my boss's bridal party gift totes. I want to get them done even though she won't need them until early September. I ordered the fabric, so hopefully I will have them finished in a week's time or so. That will be nice, one more thing out of the way. My retro aprons are never going to be finished!

I have a week's vacation set up for the first week of August, going to a family reunion of my dad's side of the family. It should be a BLAST, I'm trying to decide if there's enough room in the car for my sewing machine. It would be nice to get some stuff done. I will have to close up shop for that week, which is a little scary, as August tends to do pretty well. I may just announce delayed shipments instead.

In other handmade news?

I made a pair of pretty sweet (if I do say so myself!) coasters for a friend who has become quite dear to me quite quickly as a thank you for keeping me sane through mid-contract negotiations. I used out-of-print Loteria fabric on ceramic tiles, modgepodged the fabric cut to fit, then polyurethaned them so they are completely waterproof. I'd never tried polyurethane-ing fabric before, and it seemed to work pretty well. I paired that with a bottle of Maker's Mark and now when I come over, my friend shows me he has them every time, which makes me smile to no end.

I made a 0-3 month dress and a 3-6month dress for the new babies in my dear friends' lives. My buddy Greg who works in Security at MoMA just had a beautiful baby girl named Paayton Grace. I can't wait until her tiny chubby body fits the 0-3 dress, give it a week or two and I should have photos! For Tamsin, a co-shop steward, I made a 3-6 month dress because she's got maternity leave for 4 months and I thought she'd be able to get some use out of a larger size. Tamsin gave birth to a very healthy Flora Zoe on June 22nd. I know she will send me photos when the dress fits, but that will be in quite some time.

Well, time to go back the fulltime job that pays the bills...lunchtime is over! Photos to come soon!

<3 Always,
--Taina

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