This fortnight's theme will be: Bow & Curtsy.

Please use only the pictures provided below for your icons and post your submissions (a maximum of four) in a comment to this entry. All comments will be screened. The deadline for submissions will be Friday, May 23rd at 10pm (GMT).

( 15 screen captures! )

Coming up this weekend: Chango ocha. Chango is the orisha of fire. He's hot.

Weather forecast for this week:

Today: 53 and rain.
Tomorrow: 70.
Thursday: 83.
Friday: 92.
Saturday: 82.
Sunday: 76.

This is actually better than what they predicted a few days ago; 95 for Friday and 90 for Thursday and Saturday. Still - oy.

Does anyone else who's taken a Karen Michel class remember what type of wood we used in her books? I have some hard-wood that I bought to make books, but I'm looking for something low-cost that I can slater with paint and such that won't warp... like we used in her class.

I can't find my notes.

I have some nice purple heart I'm going to use on another, but that's too pretty to do anything else with other then clear coat it. :)

In addition to our regular challenge, we will have a special challenge this fortnight: Default Banners Sets.

I might not have the time to run two polls the weekend after next, so I will reserve the special challenge for the near future!

Apologies for posting the results a week late! I spent all of my "freetime" at a clinic last week. Here are the results for challenge 53:

1st place by incosmiccaravan with 12 votes

2nd place by llean with 9 votes

3rd place by vol4itca with 8 votes

Mod's Choice by sjlnechnaia

The soft colouring of the icon really spoke to me!

Congratulations to everyone! :) You can grab a banner here!

no matter how hard I try to sleep in, I wake up at 8am. Stayed up way late watching my Hero, Anthony Bourdain and still couldn't sleep in. Welcome to my 40s. I also am finding that I can't drink much without getting a headache.

In wedding news: We have 38 days...... Everything is coming along nicely. RSVPs are rolling in ever so slowly, but that is ok too. We have a rough estimate of who is coming. People can RSVP even at the last minute (though this is not ideal). I keep thinking there is something I need to still do. But when I check my lists, everything looks good. John already wrote his vows and with Glee, remarked " My vows are gonna make you cry." Bastard! I don't wanna cry. Knowing him, he will start crying 2 days before the wedding and won't stop til we get to London in October. I will probably wait until the last minute to write mine. It is harder than it sounds

http://www.mypapercrane.com/blog/?p=784

Today I received the most lovely bit of mail from Ms. Annie Oakleaves! She sent one of her beautiful mushroom girls and a package of goodies. First of all if you have never seen her work, go check her Esty now. She says she will be adding more mushroom dolls to her shop as well as vintage goodies later this week.

She also sent me some fantastic fabric, mis-matched salt and pepper shakers for my new collection, a cute vintage bowl, an embroidered bee, and lots of other goodies. Thank you so much Annie!



Since we are on the subject of mushrooms and my love for them I thought I would finally show you the nutcracker I bought a couple of months ago. He was at a local flea market and marked as 50% off, making him just $10. He came in his original box (which is a pretty plain brown box with German stampings). I love him because the paint colors are just so good, and he has a basket of brown + red mushrooms with white polka dots.

My friend Persephone and I were talking about thrifting physic power and she said Its psychic thrifting powers. We think, therefore it is… in the thrift store, which I think is funny but seems to happen a lot. She had been obsessing over Enid Collins purses and found one! I had been admiring the nutcracker that Tom’s parents had from Germany (the colors were just unlike any I could find around here) and then I find a real German nutcracker, and for a steal…and he has mushrooms!

It is so great when that happens!



And lastly (sorry this post is ending up so very long) Here is a birdcage that I found before Easter and used for Tom’s Easter basket this year. After Easter I thought it would look good with plants inside, which is really did. It was a bit of a pain to open the top each day and water them…so once I made the deer jars for the window I decided to think of another use for the bird cage.

I decided the shape of this one would work well for holding some of my favorite books. I put a lot of my Japanese books inside, the Humpty Dumpty magazines, and a few other favorites. The little owl inside was one of my Disney World souvenirs from the Japan section of Epcot. There is also a very small snail next to it which was a Flea Market purchase for .25 cents.

Anyhow that is all for today. I have more fabric to photograph for Ebay today, it feels so good to be getting rid of so much (and gives me an excuse to buy more fabric at yard sales this summer!) I also am working on some more of the Mountain Men plush for the Art Star show at the end of this month…which is actually very fun work indeed.

New FROM SCRATCH items from MEEEE!






Houndstooth, anchors, damask, and MORE in my Etsy shop:
smarmyclothes.etsy.com!



-Alexis
smarmyclothes.com

1. Marie Pavie. Pure decadence.

2. When I was in my early 20s (and as a kid), I dreamed of living on a farm. I even subscribed to a magazine called Farm Woman News. It gave recipes for county-fair-prize-winning preserves and directions for sheep shearing and advice on how to get your chickens to lay more eggs. I miss that magazine.

3. With lots of encouragement, I went to Barnes & Noble yesterday and finally got something new to read:

Tobacco Road - Erskine Caldwell
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver
Abundance, A Novel of Marie Antoinette - Sena Jeter Naslund (I sooo loved her Ahab's Wife. You should read it!)
The Heart of the Matter -Graham Greene
Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston

4. Although this will be my first time reading Tobacco Road, I grew up knowing what the phrase, "It's just like Tobacco Road around here," meant. I think Southerners (at least this one) are born knowing what that means.

5. So, I was reading newspaper article about double murder here in my town, and I came across the phrase that inevitably follows such an incident: The neighbors were shocked by the news. Well, no shit, Sherlock.

6. One of the funniest things I've read on lj lately was in a domestic community. Someone wanted to know how to get the b.o. out of one of her husband's tshirts. She'd washed it like three times to no avail. She got all kinds of advice in comments. I'm thinkin' my advice would be: It's a tshirt. Thow the dayum stanky thang out and buy him a new one!

7. I quit smoking six years ago, but I have soooo been craving a cig lately.

8. I wish I had some beautiful words.

Another auction... 9 awesome snow domes including a few New York Twin Towers ones.



( All of them... )

Auction is here!

http://www.scarygoround.com/

http://www.pugaday.com/pug-of-the-day/05-13-2008/1041/

Igby from Washington, DC

http://www.pugaday.com/pug-of-the-day/05-13-2008/1039/

Cole from Dillsburg, Pennsylvania

http://www.pugaday.com/pug-of-the-day/05-13-2008/1043/

Otis Spunkmeyer Stone from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin

I decided to eat breakfast at the mall to-day, where I had four breadsticks with marinara sauce from Pat & Oscars and a quadruple shot latte from Starbuck's ("This is the perfect latte!" said the barista. "Wow, thanks!" said me). I absolutely love marinara with espresso beverages. I don't know why it hasn't swept the nation.

I saw a poster for that Intelligent Design Ben Stein propaganda movie and seriously contemplated seeing it just to goof on it. But I simply couldn't justify spending ten dollars for that. I still haven't seen Iron Man, for gods' sakes. I suppose I need to get on that before my geekiness is audited.

Why are we supposed to think Ben Stein is a reliable authority on the beginnings of humanity? Because he was a speechwriter for Nixon? No, it's not even that. We all know it's because he had a small role in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Stein considers this viable capital, and the kicker is that a million nitwits agree.

My fake history is now at 21,957 words, more than twice what it was last time I checked. But, since last time I checked was April 4, that's not hugely impressive. Still, it's officially novella length now. I remember when I used to knock off novellas like crazy. Sure, none of them were very good. But life's a slinky on the staircase.

I finished early last night, which was why Second Life's grid being down was so annoying. So I drove to CVS, bought a chocolate bar, and watched part of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which, in a way, is my favourite Indiana Jones movie. I'm noticing a lot of reviews for the new one say it's either better than the second or the third, depending on which happens to be the reviewer's least favourite. I'm heartened to see that a lot more people than I thought consider The Last Crusade to be the weakest.

Damn, I wish the new one's screenplay was written by someone other than David Koepp. Damn, I'm still looking forward to it.

I downloaded the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom soundtrack yesterday and it suited the section I was working on very well. To-day, I begin the final section.

After going downtown to get the marriage License I stopped by justjana33 at her work in Pike Place market. I had planned to spend only an hour and ended up staying almost 3 hours. jana is a oldest friend in the whole world. We have been through many things together and just watching in horror as things happened to each other. There have been an equal amount of good things too. I love ya babe. Nobody puts baby in the Corner. I am so blessed to have my unholy Trinty.
Now I am home and john is making dinner. My life is good

http://www.mypapercrane.com/blog/?p=706

Crammed Organisms
Crammed Organisms Grand Opening Party
June 6th 7-11pm
Starclipper Comics
6392 Delmar Blvd. in the Loop! St. Louis, MO 63130

Crammed Organisms
June 13th 7-11pm
Cranky Yellow
2122 Cherokee Street! St. Louis, MO 63118

Crammed Organisms
June 20th 7-11pm
Subterranean Books
6275 Delmar Blvd. in the Loop! St. Louis, MO 63130

Crammed Organisms
June 27th 7-11pm
APOP Records
2831 Cherokee Street! St. Louis, MO 63118

Crammed Organisms is the world’s largest plush show! The show is located at 4 unique, independent venues in Saint Louis, MO. In addition to the shear hugeness of the event we offer a diversity to match its size! In each of the venues hosting Crammed Organisms you will find stuffed whimsies and art not displayed in any of the others!



Each venue will host over 100 different plush, plus other fun stuff varying from venue to venue..including “make your own plush studio”, raffles, a plush display made by children, book release, and more. You can check the website for all the details.





This last photo was taken by my lovely sister Heather.

http://www.mypapercrane.com/blog/?p=783

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day. Mine was filled with doing the things I enjoy with the people I love.

The kids had made me some very nice drawings, Tom gave me a wooden bird box that works like a puzzle. It has secret parts that slide off and makes me think of National Treasure ;) He also gave me roses, and dinner out.

My mother, younger sister Noelle, and I all went out to lunch. We then drove to this really big Flea Market and spent a couple of hours looking over all the goodies. I found some vintage Christmas ornaments for cheap, and a pretty polka dot brown and white flower pin.

Afterwards I came home and baked a coconut cake, because I love to bake. Once Tom got home he and the kids took me out for sushi and other Japanese delights at House Of Kobe. Our waitress was so sweet and they gave out roses to all the moms who came in.

Then we had coffee and coconut cake when we got back home, a sweet finish to the day!
*please excuse the odd photos, I didn’t realize when I took them that I had my camera on a setting I never use, so they look a bit odd to me.