Thanks, kittens!

Want to give a big shout-out to my homies Baby Bobcat and Lynx Kittens. They brought me good luck on Saturday and helped ring in the sales. Big cat power!

That was Craftacular!

Well, all the hard work preparing for the BUST Craftacular was worth it. I could barely sleep the night before and was up by 6am. Abe and I were in the car at 7am and in front of the Manhattan Pavilion by 7:30 - early enough to score a parking spot out front and with time to chow down an egg sandwich.

I didn't think I had a great spot when I looked at the map, but my location ended up being top notch! I had plenty of room to set up a nice shop and was in an area where there was room for people to really see everything on my table. There were so many awesome vendors - if I had time I could have spent a fortune shopping in that one room.

My top sellers of the day were definitely my dishtowels, but the t-shirts came in a close second as well as my new yoga bags. I got a lot of requests for other patterns printed on my yoga bags so I'll definitely come out with a few more now that I know there is interest. My Poucho and El Sloucho bags sold well and I was cleaned out of buttons, postcards and business cards!

I met some great people at the show - we all had so much fun. I haven't done markets in a long time and the last time I did them I was really burnt out. I forgot that they are soooo fun when you're selling your product and you get to meet a lot of wonderful artists, crafters and business people. Abe and I decided to do a few big shows each year and maybe travel a bit.

I have to give a big hand to Abe - I would not have pulled it off so smoothly and so nicely if it wasn't for him. Having an extra person to run around town looking for hooks the night before the show really helped keep my stress levels low.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Craftacular!

You got pinned!

Just got my buttons from Busy Beaver! I'm going to give them away at the BUST Craftacular on Saturday.

Bread Pudding

So it's 2 days before the BUST Craftacular and I am close to ready, but not quite - actually, I have so much to do and it's so busy at my other job I can't really even think during the day. So I finally got home tonight after running a couple hours worth of errands and what did I do? Make bread pudding of course! And it was delicious. (See below for the devil's dessert)

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 slices white bread, crust trimmed
• 1/4 cup softened butter
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 cups milk
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly butter a shallow 12x8x2-inch baking dish. Butter bread slices generously with the butter. Cut each slice into 4 squares. Sprinkle raisins over the bottom of the prepared baking dish then arrange bread squares, buttered side up, over raisins. Sprinkle bread with the cinnamon.

In a saucepan, heat milk just until bubbles form around edge; remove from heat. Add sugar, stirring until sugar is dissolved.

In a large bowl, beat eggs; stir in hot milk mixture then stir in vanilla. Pour over bread in baking dish. Set baking dish in a larger baking pan then add about 1/2 to 1 inch of very hot water to the larger pan. Bake at 350° for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Remove baking dish from the larger pan of water and let cool for about 15 minutes before serving. Can be served warm or cold. Refrigerate unused portion.
Bread pudding recipe makes 8 servings.

Ceramics Project #3

After spending several weeks on my sweet lynx mask I needed a little break. So I was just fooling around and decided to try and sculpt a little person - similar to the little people I doodle. I started creating little people when I was very young - I liked making up personalities and outfits for them. Then, during college, I started doodling less realistic munchkin people. I don't really know what you would call them - they have round heads, shapeless bodies, and draping cloaks. So anyway - I sculpted one out of clay and then doused it heavily in agate and bronze glaze.