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

How good it feels...

...to be making things again!

After almost a month hiatus from making anything new for my shop, I finally sat down and created these adorable baby shoes:


(Click photo for more info)

I also cut out the fabric for another pair I hope to finish tomorrow morning before work.

Wow, I'd almost forgotten how great it feels to make things for Etsy!

<3 Always,
--Taina

Happy Spring!

Last weekend I went to the New York Botanical Gardens w/ my aunt and dad and saw the Orchid Show. I'm not a huge fan of orchids, although I understand how precious and delicate they are. The show was still incredible. Lots of photos taken with my Diana F+, so hopefully in a week I will have prints to scan and share!

I have been super lame and haven't updated my shop w/ anything new in a few weeks. For this, I apologize. Life's been super hectic with Grad School applications, bookkeeping, taxes, work, and union things.

However, the GOOD NEWS? Tomorrow I have all day to make things! Yay!!!

Also, starting today (03-20) through Sunday (03-22) I am having a "Hooray it's Spring" Sale!

20% off everything in my shop. Just purchase, enter "Blog20" upon checkout and I will refund 20% to you via paypal. OR...you can checkout but not pay and I will adjust a paypal invoice for you, reflecting the 20% off.

And for those of you worried that UNICEF won't receive the full 15% of the original price, fear not! I will still be donating 15% of the original price to UNICEF of each item sold this weekend!

Happy buying!

<3 Always,
--Taina