Mar 29, 2010

Computer free week

I'm living without a computer this week ( I'm tapping on my iPod right now)
Geoff is working in vancouver this week with the laptop, and I've got some serious work to get done, so it kind of worked out perfectly.
So posting will be light until Friday night at least, but I've got some pics on the laptop ready for sharing, so I hope to see you on the weekend!

xox

Mar 27, 2010

The Janamade Market Booth

I was really nervous to do this on my own. I will gladly admit that I needed a bit of a kick in the ass to really get to it.
When Angie and I did the Out of Hand market those couple of years we did it, the booth was ENTIRELY Angie. She made that happen and I basically just showed up.
I mean, I helped set it up and I manned the booth all weekend both times, but the vision was all Ang.

Having the opportunity to sit down and think about what I wanted the Janamade booth to look like was a really good experience.

I knew I wanted it to be really easy to set up.
I also knew that I wanted to be able to set it up entirely on my own, in case I was vending somewhere by myself and didn't have a buddy.

This is what I've come up with so far.



These were all taken at the LoudSpeaker Festival Market that I did at the beginning of the month. It was a fun market, I met lots of people and I can now say that I have a booth of my own and I've done a market by myself.

Big steps for little ol' me.

I am a Procrastinator remember. (capitol P!)

The only thing I didn't have time to get ready for that market was a sign, so that people knew what I was selling from a distance.

But I am finishing that today, so I'm ready for the next one!


I am really hoping to do the Moss Street Market this summer. The Annual General Meeting is today, and I am going to walk down and sit in on that this afternoon and see if I can get juried in.

Fingers crossed!

Mar 25, 2010

Walk with your Head up

I am a foot watcher.
When I was little, my Amma used to take me on walks, running errands and generally keeping me occupied. One of the lessons she taught me while we were out and about was to always keep your eye on the ground. "You never know what you might find." I mostly only found dirty old toys left behind by some other tot on a walk, but she found some pretty amazing things.

She once found a heavy gold bracelet, which ended up being appraised for A LOT.
(She found it on the golf course and took it to the clubhouse. No one claimed it so she got to keep it!)

And it became a force of habit for me to keep my eyes on the ground while I am out walking, which has saved me from tripping over my own feet inumerable times.

(I have huge feet)


A few weeks ago I came across this. RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE.


It was so inspiring because I did just that, I looked up and I found THIS!

That is the tree in front of our house.
That afternoon was brightened up significantly after that.

xox

Mar 24, 2010

Fossil Pendants (and a pair of earrings)

These are the new pendants I've been working on for the last little while.
I have been in a position to be extra creative, figuring out how to make something interesting without buying any new materials! I had the pendants themselves cut out of silver sheet for another project that ended up not working out the way I intended. And I picked up an electric engraver for yet another project a little while back. And I remembered a fusing tutorial I had at school years ago that I never really explored after that class, and it all came together to make these...



I am really loving them. The pendants are heavy 1.5mm sheet, so they feel substantial, and the engraved feathers turned out so well next to the texture of the fused silver that they really remind me of fossils.

So that is what I'm calling them. Fossil Pendants.
I even engraved an ammonite to see how I would like it,


And I whipped up a pair of earrings too, with the feathers engraved on each one...

with a certain someone in mind, who was hoping for some Janamade earrings with a nature theme.

I really like these guys!

What do you think?

Mar 23, 2010

The Danger is INCREASING!

So I know I just told you about my newest girl crush, Ms. Laura Calder of French Food at Home fame. Please see previous post. (you'd think that all I do is watch the food network! But I've been really busy, really!)

Well her stock has increased EXPONENTIALLY since I made her caramel sauce.

In 6 minutes.


Why I feel the need to torment myself by knowing how to make it whenever I want is beyond me right now. And not only that but it's SO EASY.

Danger Danger Mrs. Stevenson.

Danger Danger.

If you want to make it yourself here is how you do it.
(I halved the recipe because I actually had to make it three times before it worked.)

1/2 cup white sugar
2-3 T water
5 T butter (I used Natures Balance Buttery Spread. It's wonderful stuff)
1 T cream (again I used a non dairy equivalent)

On high heat in a suacepan, boil your sugar and water until it's JUST GOLDEN.
This is the key here, I let it get too golden the first time and by the time the butter and the cream went in it was bitter and burnt and gross.

Remove from the heat and let it sit for like 30 seconds or something, just to bring it down a bit.

Stir in the butter. It will sizzle and fizz. I take this as a normal part of making caramel sauce.

Stir in the cream.

THAT'S IT.

It's really hot (like burn your mouth off hot) so remember to let it cool a bit before you start shoving it into your mouth with a spoon.

I made it last night to go with baked apples (again thank you Laura Calder!) and we were both immediately in raptures over it and instantly regretting eating caramel sauce late at night.

Because it's really just sugar/butter.

Super delicious sugar/butter.

(the first time I had the heat set too low and I watched as sugar water miraculously boiled down and turned BACK INTO SUGAR. The second time I burnt it. But the third time? Oh baby, the third time was the charm!)

Mar 18, 2010

short hair cuteness

Again I have to preface this post by saying that I am not ready to go short again.
But how flipping cute is Carey Mulligan and her pixie cut?



Pretty flipping cute.
(pics found via Askmen.com, yeah I know)

Mar 14, 2010

Lentil Soup with Chorizo croutes


Hello delicious!
I've started taping French Food at Home with Laura Calder and I am having a bit of a girl crush. Like I would love it if we met and we became friends and then we could hang out kind of crush.
The first episode that I taped featured this lentil soup recipe and I made it tonight.
Chorizo croutes and all.

It was delish. I ended up doubling the recipe because I started soaking the lentils this morning without referring to the recipe first, but it was really close to being exactly double that I just went with it. And it totally worked. (no picture, sorry!)
I even drizzled some of the chorizo oil as a garnish.
Geoff was impressed.

And since I ended up doubling the recipe we've both got lunch tomorrow.
Which is rad.

Everything she makes on the show looks amazing and I am completely inspired to cook something after watching it.

And I am just realizing now that the food network website is AMAZING.
Like I feel like I may loose some serious chunks of my life reading recipes.

Trouble? Wonderful!

And I am feeling all kitcheny and homey these past few days. Last week I baked a loaf of bread (from a mix admittedly, but it turned out really well and we had fresh, hot cinnamon raisin bread with a completely reasonable amount of work on my part. So what? Who cares!) A loaf that turned out so well in fact that I picked up a "hearty Grain bread" mix to try.

Which I am thinking I will make tomorrow morning.

Oh I can't even get into how awesome it will be if that mix is good. It might be fresh bread all the time around here.

With butter. And tea. 3 meals a day.

Mar 12, 2010

a weekend to myself

is pretty damn exciting let me tell you.

It IS.

Geoff has gone up to the lake to work on a couple of projects, and he's taken the dog with him.

Which means that I have 2 nights and 3 days to myself to do WHATEVER I WANT!

You might think that means spa nights and pool boys feeding me grapes and fanning me with one of those weird pool scoopers or something while I lounge on the lawn...



ahem.

But it does not.

It DOES however include cleaning the bathroom (swoon!) vacuuming (gasp!) and working on a couple of commission pieces with NO INTERUPTIONS!

heaven.

I would open the door for this guy though.

He can help me fold laundry if he wants.

(I found Sam's picture from one of his "official" fan sites, sorry, I can't remember which one.)

you can safely picture me FREAKING OUT

I don't care that it's for teens.
I love this.

Mar 8, 2010

If you need a cheer up

I suggest you check out fupenguin.com. I have told you about this before, but I am telling you again.

I was feeling a bit down this evening, just tired and run down from a busy week (pictures soon I promise!) and I just finished updating my resume and cleaning up my studio (which still needs some work let me tell you) and I rediscovered it.

Oh just go there already!

It was these guys that rekindled the love...

Mar 5, 2010

Just a quick one

I know that things have been light here this week on the posting front, but it's for a good cause. Really.

I am putting the last few touched together for the Loudspeaker Festival Market this weekend (tomorrow!!) and I have been totally swamped in my studio. In a good way, but still swamped.

It's been really beautiful here too, so I am trying to stay away from windows and doors so I don't get lured outside into the sunshine.

Here are some pictures I took last week when the weather was quite similar to today...




And this guy...

I don't know what he is, but I like him.

Here's hoping that you have a great weekend and if you ARE in Victoria, I really would love to see you at the Event Center!

Mar 1, 2010

Loudspeaker Festival

Last week I was invited to take part in the Loudspeaker Festival Market at the Victoria Event Center. It's this weekend and I am pretty excited. It will be my very first solo market. I really enjoyed the Out of Hand and Rebel Rebel shows that I did with FGI, and I am hoping that this will be just as fun!

So come on down this weekend, Saturday and Sunday March 6th and 7th to the Victoria Event Center on Broad Street. It starts at 1pm on both afternoons and I'll be there with my own little booth set up! And I've been working on some New Things to debut there as well, so I know you'll definitely want to pop by now right?!!

I'd love to see you there!

(I'm working on my booth this afternoon and so far it's pretty hilarious and cute! It's really just a table spread, but it's still pretty great! If I do say so myself.)

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...