Archive for the ‘General Rambling’ Category

I love my Activity Feed. Etsy has this feature where you add members whose favorites you like and every time they favorite something, you see it in your activity feed. A lot of sellers on Etsy are kind of annoyed by it but I really love it–it’s an easy way for me to browse through a huge variety of items without having to think a whole lot–what category do I want to look at? what am I interested in seeing now? and so forth.

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My cup runneth over this November in media world. The Dreaming is finally releasing their new album (FINALLY!) on November 1 (with a bjd on the cover–beyond cool). November 12, Primeval Series 5 starts up on BBC-America, which means they’ll hopefully show up on i-Tunes or Amazon the next day. They left us on a cliffie (yes, I admit I was actually yelling at Connor on my computer screen to not get in the car). And, of course, November 15 is THE day. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations is released and I’m all tingly inside about it. And crossing my fingers that they don’t tell us at the last minute that the PC version is being pushed back to February or something horrific like that.

Of course, the real kicker is that I’m so slammed with custom book orders, I probably won’t have time to enjoy anything but the new music. But it’s a good problem to have so I’m not complaining. Which leads me to a quick recap of some recent custom orders.

Just finished this last night. Customer supplied image, his initials in Old English text, with straps and buckles.

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We’ve got two figs, one pear, two Japanese plums (loquats) and two peach trees. The pear didn’t produce anything this year although it looks quite lovely. The loquats were hit pretty hard by our late freezes this year so all the buds died before they even had a chance. I think we ended up with about 5 good loquats when they ripened. But both of the peaches and figs have lots of baby fruit on them. Now, apparently the figs won’t be ripe until later this summer but some of the peaches on one tree are starting to mature quite nicely. Unfortunately, we’re having a drought this year and watering is limited to very short periods of time so our fruit (and tomatoes) aren’t really getting enough water. I’m hoping that they can hang on with what little we give them until we can get some precipitation around here.

Our loquat tree from 2005 when it produced some fruit.

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One thing I’ve learned doing custom orders is that there are a lot of very thoughtful people out there in the world. I’m frequently touched by the level of thought people put into their gifts. I suppose some of that goes hand-in-hand with the type of custom orders I do–leather working is open to so many possibilities that almost any design idea can be replicated, to a degree. Of course, I’m not skilled enough for certain designs (people and most animal designs are still out of my league, I think) but there are still so many options left.

Dreams Wings journal.

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These have been going around on Creating the Hive and they were such fun to read, I thought I’d add my own.

A. Age: 43 (or is it 44 now?)

B. Bed size: Queen

D. Dogs: mixed German shepherd and chow named Sweetie

F. Favorite color: deep, dark red

G. Gold or Silver: copper

H. Height: 5′ 3″

I. Instruments you play: None, now. Violin and piano in the past.

J. Job title: What day is it? Wait…what time is it?

K. Kids: 2 girls

L. Live: San Antone, Texas

M. Mother’s name: Betty

N. Nicknames: E, Tex, Peanut, currently just Mom

O. Overnight hospital stays: hernia when I was 9, childbirth twice

P. Pet peeve: stupidity (not ignorance, not errors)

Q. Quote from a movie video game: Prince of Persia 2008: Elika: Patience brings its rewards. Prince: So does walking into a harem covered in chocolate.

R. Right or left handed: Left

S. Siblings: 1 sister

T. Time you wake up: between 6:30 and 7 a.m.

U. Underwear: hat

V. Vegetable you hate: beets

W. What makes you run late: my kids (I blame everything on my kids)

X. X-Rays you’ve had: dental, left foot, lungs, full body (from top of my head to my toes)

Y. Yummy food that you make: spaghetti, stir-fry, Chinese dumplings, lentil rice pilaf, fudge brownies….

Z. Zoo animal: hippos because our zoo has an air-conditioned place for viewing them

Finally a pic of Max to share.

Isn't he adorable?

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So, what have I been doing besides neglecting my blog? Everything from the extremely scary (being evaluated for bone cancer–I don’t have it) to the mundane (yeah, laundry, cleaning, blah). Not a lot of art in between, though, and I’d all but completely abandoned my blog (hey, it’s only been about a month and half). I currently have three posts I want/need to write but am just jumping in right now with a few quick updates.

A refillable, personalized leather notepad I made

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What better way to get back into my blogging mode than with an offering to make up for all those missed days? This one’s a recipe for some of the densest, fudgiest, yummiest dark chocolate brownies ever. The base recipe for these can be found in Jim Fobel’s Old-Fashioned Baking Book under “Aunt Myra’s Fudge Brownies.” But these have been tweaked into Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies by yours truly, since I don’t think it’s possible to have chocolate that’s too dark or too much.

Without further ado….

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To those friends, near and far, real and virtual:

Have a joyous 2012 filled with friends and family, old and new.

I will be posting the contest winners on Sunday. Thanks to all who participated!

I entered a contest recently not expecting to win because I’m notoriously bad at ever winning drawings, etc. In fact, I’ve participated in One World One Heart for the past couple of years, entered a few dozen blog contests (or more) during the event and won a total of one item (for both years). Of course, if I were a really good person, I’d say that the real prize was visiting all those blogs, connecting with new people and finding others that share my passion for art. But, let’s be honest, who doesn’t like winning a prize?

Well this year, I won something that’s probably made up for all of those contests I never won before. It also probably means that I’ll never win another contest in my life, but, what the heck.

Nyssa Elf bjd by Kaye Wiggs

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