Busy Saturday, Take 3

Happy Saturday, all!

I woke up this morning to a car alarm going off. But after that, the day got much better :D First, I got to see the hubby for a little bit before he went to work, which is always nice! After he left I edited photos from my nerd party!! Unfortunately my apartment has really bad lighting, but we got some goofy shots and you can see my awesome cupcakes!

I also did a tiny photo shoot of my latest huggles :) I'm trying to get my inventory up before the 78704 Artist Market next Saturday! (If you're in Austin, you should stop by - 1600 block of S. Congress, by Hey Cupcake!) I've been trying new things with them, and I'm definitely getting faster. I have one in the works right now that will be a little different - I'll show you when I'm done :)

How had I not thought of putting them in front of books sooner?? Silly AJ :P I'm also learning that the really fuzzy ones don't photograph as well :-/ Does anyone have any tricks?

The monthly Etsy Austin meeting was today, and that was fun :) We met at a little coffee shop - in the cuuutest room! Very light and airy, and totally eclectic. Lots of neat things coming soon with the team. Once my crazy busy schedule dies down a bit (hopefully after next week), I'm going to make a couple templates for the new website. Hopefully I can come up with something good! When I got home, I wrapped up a present for my sister-in-law and her new husband. Their wedding reception is this evening. I'm already dressed cute for it! (It's casual, but I think a dress will be nice.)

Don't you love this dress?! I found it on sale a couple months ago for $7!! Amazing. You can't see it, but I'm wearing calf-length tights, some gray flats, and my necktie headband.

AND I had PINEAPPLE today :D Alex got me one for my "birthday month" - yummm - it's my fav.

I can't believe my giveaway is almost over!! It ends tonight at midnight :D In lieu of a "You Amaze Me" Sunday post, and because it's my birthday tomorrow, I'll announce the winner! YAY!

Goggles

I was a swimmer throughout middle and high school,  so I have a long history with goggles. And steampunk goggles are awesome. And who doesn't love vintage photos of early pilots? (images via we♥it)

But on to my main point.

I'm gonna learn how to weld. My parents got my hubby an oxy-acetylene (welding) torch for Christmas. He told me I could have the goggles, but as amazing as they look (joke), I'm really more excited about the welding part.

PS: My friend also got us each a pair of these awesome goggles:

It makes me want this beauty even more.

Presents for the Chanithans

Mr. & Mrs. Chanithan (Chani + Jonathan) have two cats. A couple of weeks ago, one of their cats becamely deathly ill. So as not to worry you, I will reveal that now, after a blood transfusion and lots of rest, the cat is very healthy again! But while he was sick, some friends and I got together to make something for them. I made peanut butter fudge (to die for.) and a cat card! Completely silly and goofy, but I love the cat card!

Then the other night, while we were playing games, I knit a tiny white huggle. It's so cute ^_^ In my head I named it Diddle, but I'm not sure what the new owners will call it. It was small enough that I decided to use yarn for the eyes instead of plastic ones, and I even added a little mouth. The Chanithans loved it so much that they decided to take him home. I hope they are very happy with him!

New Character Drawing!

Made this for my friend's birthday today :) I hope she likes it!

Happy Father's Day

Birthday Bag!

So you may remember my Batman bag (based off this tutorial), which I still love dearly and use frequently. My best friend asked me a while back to make her one, so I decided to for her birthday! I learned a lot from making the last one, so it only took me about a day this time >_<
I absolutely love the fabric I found at Hancock. I was looking at half a dozen patterns, but Alex helped me narrow it down. I like that both have interesting prints without being too bold. Contrasting colors and prints for different moods!
I did the pockets differently on this bag. For one, they are laid out symmetrically. I also decided to line them for strength with the contrasting fabric. I'm really happy with them! In fact, I was tempted to keep the bag. In addition to the pockets, I also changed the shape of the bag some, too. I made it shallower, and I really like the result. I hope you like it, too!

Character Drawings

Well, I was out of commission all last week thanks to some oral surgery. But I'm back in the action now! I'm still working on my French market bag, and hope to finish that some time this week. I really want to be able to actually make it to the Stitch 'n' Bitch this week, too! I'm sad I haven't been able to go in a while.

Two of my friends had birthdays this month. They are two of the several friends of mine that are into role playing games (namely Dungeons & Dragons - and, for the record, it's not as bad as people think). Due to my status of starving artist/unemployed layabout (also working really hard on fixing that this week), I couldn't really afford to buy them presents. I also would have had no idea what to get. What do you buy men for their birthdays? And are we past the age now where you're supposed to get friends gifts?

Anyway, I decided to draw their characters for them :D The first one took a very long time, because I was so nervous about it. I haven't really presented people with drawings since elementary school. The second one was easier since I was a little more confident. I basically sketched them out, looking at different artist depictions and photos of my friends as reference. Then I inked the outlines and used Copic markers to color them in. It's the first time I've actually used Copics for a real project. I LOVE them. LOVE them. I wish we had a bigger set. On my new wishlist: all Copic markers.