Saturday, May 30, 2009

look at all the grrrls in the comic book store!


I went to the comic store today from wonderland (where the pic is from as well)

i have always used spuds on my pizzas


usually i like to top them with mashed potatoes. although, from time to time, i've used sliced (very thin on a mandolin) spuds. i DO par boil them about 1 or 2 minutes. they're so thin they cook in a flash. i'm vegan so NO cheese for me. OR one can use soy or nut cheese. i'm a giant fan of mushrooms and onions too. i like caramelized ones, but my favorite is to just put thinly sliced raw rings on top of the mashed.

as i've said a million times, one doesn't need a recipe. a pizza can (and SHOULD) be topped with whatever vegetables you have on hand. sprinkle with whatever herbs or spices you like - and cheese or no cheese it's up to you. really, a good pizza doesn't need it.

i've posted my basic dough recipe before.
it's 3 cups flour to 1 cup water (warm). 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a bit of yeast, some kind of sweetener (agave, sugar, whatever) 1 tsp. give or take and a pinch of salt. dump the yeast in the warm water (it should be warm enough to dissolve the yeast but not hot enough to kill it) with the sweetener and about 1/2 cup of the flour. let sit until it bubbles a bit. then stir in the salt (i like to add it at this stage, it won't retard the growth as much), the oil and the rest of the flour. knead until baby bottom smooth (adding flour if you need it). put in oiled bowl and cover with a towel. let rise in a fairly warm place for an hour or so. punch down and either roll out or pull out to the shape of your pan (a pizza does NOT have to be round you know). i also put a tiny bit of olive oil on my pan. top with your sauce or your vegetables and cheese if you wish. i let my pizza sit like that (on the counter) another 1/2 hour or so. then bake at 400 for 15 or 20 minutes (watch it so your crust doesn't burn)

i saw this kick ass recipe in the nyt today. made my mouth water. and it could be vegan if you left the cheese off. plus it has a ww crust! yummmmmmmmmmmmmm
(there are a few recipes in their 'healthier pizza' article. check them all out
pizza with green garlic, potatoes and herbs

pic: Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

oh it's still cake week here

for a rose is a rose (or is she is so affectionately known; rose bush)



Friday, May 29, 2009

two blogs you should be checking out

(due to my new hobby of course)

manbroidery

and

mr x stitch

great great great stuff on both. unusual, funny, and MANLY

some pretty damn amazing bach


(ht: boing boing)

stunning!


i think i'll give it a go on an OLD pair of tights. i don't think i have it within me to be gentle enough to sew beads on lace tights. i do have a few pair with holes in 'em i can practice on. can't hurt

anyway, park and cube give us this MOST WONDERFUL tutorial on how to embellish your tights with beading

Starmoss: Doo.Ri Tights



picture from the park and cube site

(via blisstree)

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

speaking of paper


check this out from geekologie

...........German artist Simon Schubert folds pieces of paper into beautiful pictures of, uh, stairwells. Each piece takes about a week's worth of work and can sell for up to $6,000. *gathering neighborhood kids in a wagon* Arts and crafts time at the Geekologie Writer's house!....................

guess what?



that's paper!

and guess what????

you can make one too

ann martin guest artist at folding trees shows you EXACTLY how.

ann's blog is all things paper

(picture by ann martin)

man, i wish we had one of these in west hartford!

A Moveable Fest





(from garth at extreme craft ............................Today marked the 40th Anniversary of the Kinetic Grand Championship, which has been described as the "Iron Man Triathlon" of the art world. I didn't exactly see Charles Saatchi and Mary Boone out eating cheese on the Samoa Dunes, but I did see Humboldt County, my new home, performing to maximum potential. I've written about the Kinetic Sculpture Race before--it's one of my favorite concepts, but it wasn't a reality to me...until today. ...........................)

oh no no no no no


this is TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO precious for words


there's knitting involved
there's meerkats involved
there's star trek involved
(the enterprise. be still my beating heart)

oh nooooooooooooooo

(ht: boing boing)

even better news is they're for sale at the etsy shop of niftyknits (which i just made a FAVORITE store)

dang, man. i'm so smiling

Sunday, May 24, 2009

mark frauenfelder


on martha


Everyone will want to make these fun little creepy-crawly bug-like creatures -- it's a great summer project.

Vib-Robot How-To

(pic from martha's site)

nice!


3d color!!!

(ht: bifurcated rivets)

got my order from sublime stitching!!!!


the BEST part of it was the glow in the dark thread it is WICKED cool.

i also got a couple of needles, some transfer paper, a tracing stylus, the craftopia patterns and the flower power patterns. most impressive. PLUS it was sent off to me IMMEDIATELY (i hate waiting, don't you??????)

pic from the sublime stitching site


Saturday, May 23, 2009

funny



(ht bits and pieces)

wicked cool


via geekologie: animal hand paintings

hop on over to


pimpstitch to see some GREAT free embroidery patterns

just ONE example is this cupcake-o-guadalupe by krissi sandvik

(pic from pimpstitch website)

there are also plenty of embroidery tutorials and sewing tutorials as well.

(i did tell y'all i took up embroidery right? i know i've told y'all in the past how much i HATE sewing. but i'm gonna try)

Friday, May 22, 2009

this rocks


so to speak

Rock the World with Lego Fender Princeton Reverb Amp


Lego building blocks have inspired designers and artists to create things that they could not really create in actuality. Many Lego enthusiasts have just used those awesome blocks to crate anything from Concorde Plane models to detailed resort and hotel plans. Come to think of it, Lego building blocks were meant for children many decades ago. Dave Chatterson has created a cool Lego replica of the famous Fender Princeton Reverb amp. All that he sued were the Lego building block bricks for the body..........

via: walyou

gotta love this manicure!


(via, manticore's moustache. oh i tried tracking the photo all the way back. i got to about 4 then it was a 'site not found' 404 error, so i'll just leave it at that)

i think EVERY kid made these


at one time or another. why not teach a kid YOU know

How To: Gum Wrappers Mom and Me (pic from the posting at the new new

(ht: whip up)

and check out her etsy shop too. cute stuff..........parallel botany

oh this is wonderful

boing boing (points us to

Tiny Art Director is a site written by Bill Zeman, an artist whose daughter is four. The basic schtick is, she tells the Bill what to draw, he draws it, she critiques it (she's hard to please). It's hilarious and great -- and he's got a book-deal!.

tiny art director

Thursday, May 21, 2009

it's been WAYYYYYYYYY too long


since i dry or needle felted
needle felting is easy
by brookelyn morris


Needle Felting is Easy from Brookelynn Morris on Vimeo.

you can't go wrong wearing these bad boyz


cupcake earrings

(from Christine Gooding at blisstree)

ohhhhhhhhhhhh myyyyyyyy



we all know about my love o' legos. well now, boing boing gadgets points us to

these frank lloyd wright sets (be still my beating heart)

POSTED BY

Joel Johnson

...........Brickstructures has added two more models to their series of architectural LEGO microscale models, both designed by Frank Lloyd Wright: The Guggenheim Museum and Falling Water. The Gugg is $55, shipped, within the U.S.; it doesn't actually appear that Falling Water is on sale yet. [via Prairie Mod]...........

cool!!!



whip up points us to this wonderful blog a scrumble a week

now, if you don't know what a scrumble is; simply it's THIS


scrumbles pictured, by:

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

rockin' the grill


wow. who knew?

Ancient Gem Studded Teeth
May 18, 2009—The glittering "grills" of some hip-hop stars aren't exactly unprecedented. Sophisticated dentistry allowed Native Americans to add bling to their teeth as far back as 2,500 years ago, a new study says. Ancient peoples of southern North America went to "dentists"—among the earliest known—to beautify their chompers with notches, grooves, and semiprecious gems, according to a recent analysis of thousands of teeth examined from collections in Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (such as the skull above, found in Chiapas, Mexico).............
photograph courtesy José C. Jiménez López

blisstree tells us


the spring addition of the bonefolder is up

from the website: The Bonefolder, an outgrowth of the Book Arts Web, is a peer-reviewed “open-access” e-journal for bookbinding and the book arts. Since fall of 2004, The Bonefolder has reached a global audience and contributed to the body of knowledge in the book arts both theoretically and practically.

blisstree by Cyndi Lavin )

Monday, May 18, 2009

how can you NOT smile at these?



potato portraits from ginou choueiri


(ht: shit we're diggin' at wooster collective

an entire village - knit



here are the pictures

Knitted village put up for sale

The knitted village will be publicly displayed so people can buy their favourite object

A knitted replica of a Kent village with 100 features including teenagers smoking in a bus shelter has been put up for sale.

The model of Mersham, near Ashford, has been knitted by members of the village's 40-strong Afternoon Club over the past 23 years.

The group has raised about £10,000 for their village hall by exhibiting it.

But the creation is now to be split up and sold off because it has become too large to be transported.

Since 1986, thousands of hours of handiwork have gone into the village.


(ht: boing boing)

Saturday, May 16, 2009

re-done tees


i'm always looking for new tee ideas. i love the crocheted yoke

refashoned crochet embellished tank
By Dolin O'Shea (pic by her as well. at least it's from the tutorial so i'm guessing she took it)

and here is here etsy shop lulubliss

Thursday, May 14, 2009

a pin i made




using grungeboard by tim holtz and his crackle paint

i shrunk down some pictures of a grrrly skull and glued them (on the back) over the eyes so the skulls showed through on the front. i did this AFTER the crackle paint. after the crackle paint was dry, i used a bit of distress ink and i glued on some tiny rose buds i picked up somewhere (i think they were actually stickers). i then glued a piece of paper over the back just so the eyes wouldn't get poked out. i coated the whole front (then the back too) in diamond glaze. the last step was gluing on a pin back


i was inspired by margot potter the impatient crafter (i have posted the video below before, but it's so cool, why not post it again???)



my knitting fairy tattoo was done




a few weeks ago. i just didn't post the pictures. well HERE they are! i am very happy with her

artist: pat macdonald at liberty tattoo in berlin (ct that is)

Sunday, May 10, 2009

i don't sew

i don't like to sew. however, something got into me of late. i'm EMBROIDERING. yes, i am. i'm not good at it, but i'm better than i thought it'd be. i would imagine with patience and practice i can only get better.



fashion geek

Saturday, May 9, 2009

gonna make one


duct tape
no sew
AND
a zipper

what else could a grrrl ax for?
the no sew duct tape zipper pouch from

scoochmaroo (seems like i've been picking a LOT of things from

scoochmaroo of late) pic by her as well

i guess great minds think alike. although she's doing the thinking, i'm doing the admiring

Thursday, May 7, 2009

neat-o!


from natural home magazine

how to make a chandelier from baby food jars (it looks so nice, doesn't it?)

(ht: craftzine)

picture above by Photography By Susan Wasinger (plus there are wonderful step by step photos by ms wasinger in the tutorial)

i want one!!!

very badly as it turns out. only problem is YOU HAVE TO BUILD IT. although, i guess i'm up to learning a few new tricks!

(ht: boing boing
the peggy 2 light emitting pegboard kit

from evil mad science

.............

Peggy 2 is an updated version of our "Peggy" light-emitting pegboard display. Version 2 adds simple animation capability and Arduino compatibility. Like its predecessor, Peggy 2 provides a quick, easy, powerful and efficient way to drive a lot of LEDs-- up to 625-- in a big matrix covering almost a square foot of area. You can make an LED sign for your window, a geeky valentine for your sweetie, one bad-ass birthday card, freak the holy bejesus out of Boston, or instigate the next generation of low-pixel-count video games. Your call. It's a versatile, high-brightness display. How you configure it and what you do with it is up to you.

The display can run off batteries (3 'D' cells) or an optional ac adapter, and is designed to drive as many LEDs as you care to solder into the holes. The board can accommodate LEDs in any color and in several of the most common sizes, including 3mm, 5 mm (standard T-1 3/4 size), and 10 mm................



Monday, May 4, 2009

it's

typographic portrait monday

(from loudreams)

pic:
steven_paul_jobs_by_dylanroscover

it's cool art monday


with kate mccgwire

and her pigeon feathers (from moulting birds)

By Jessica Allan


Kate MccGwire graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2004 and has since exhibited all over London, winning a solo show at 2009's Heart of Glass. Her most recent installations are made from thousands of pigeon feathers, flowing water and even a mouldy growth on a wall.

Hello Kate. Why pigeon feathers?

I am currently using pigeon feathers as they come from a bird that is generally reviled - regarded as vermin and referred to as ‘rats with wings’. I started to collect pigeon feathers that moulted from the birds in a shed next to my studio – I realised that they were actually very beautiful.


pic: from the article above in don't panic

(ht: neatorama