The Fifties Fete - Finally!

After much planning and a few delays, we finally had our big 50's party. We wanted to have an end-of-summer party and decided to combine it with my sweetie's birthday and a local festival, so everyone was in a festive mood!

Unfortunately, once folks started arriving I forgot about my camera. So think of this as the quiet before the storm. I hope someone got a snap-shot of my outfit because it really was fantabulous!

Getting the Lemon Meringue recipe just right...

The tower of salami...

And my crowning achievement, the Sputnik-inspired Apple, Celery and Cheese kebabs. Too bad no one ate it. They didn't want to ruin the display!

A quiet sitting area away from the party...

We later grilled sliders (mini-burgers) and hot dogs, ate cheese and chocolate fondue, hula hooped, I brought out more canapes (shrimp and avocado), and made s'mores. I forgot about the gelatin desserts chilling in the down-stairs fridge (see my previous post for a pic) but we had so much food I didn't mind.

Some other folks dressed up too so we had quite a real-gone bash!

Summer summary

I repainted my dining room...

Volunteered at the local craft festival...

Played with some "new" recipes...

Tagged along on a road trip, took pictures of tourist attractions...

Visited several of our favorite hotel/resorts with some good friends...

Enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather...

And worked hard (or is that the other way around?)...

All in all, a wonderful summer!

You're a Star! Joey & Aleethea

I belong to a wonderful group called EtsyBloggers. As the name implies, we are all bloggers who have Etsy shops. It's by far the most friendly and active team I have been part of! If you have a shop on Etsy and have a blog (or need help getting one started) come join us!

My purpose today is not to recruit but to brag a bit about one of our members, none other than our Team leader Sandra, aka Joey & Aleethea. Ever ebullient and always helpful, I don't know where she gets the energy to run her blog, an Etsy shop, maintain a Flickr site, pretty much run our Team blog and keep up with two children! Can you tell me the secret please!

The Joey & Aleethea blog (where the tag line is "We're all about family and fabric, love and laughter, and handmade super coolness. That's how we rock.") is full of the latest Etsy news, photos of her latest adorable creations, cool kid stuff and, of course, oodles of cuteness from her family.

I swear she's putting these kids to work already because how else can one mom do all this and maintain a shop with over 200 items!? I mean, really. How is this possible. I don't have any kids and I can't seem get more than 75 items in mine. And look at this! How adorable is this?

The HBIC loves me some rockets!

I love a man who can wear a tie and look comfortable. Even if he might still be in diapers and drool a little.

If all this doesn't inspire you (or exhaust you just thinking about it all!) there's more! Go back to her blog and read up on the other 7 teams she's a part of (yes, that's a total of 8 street teams) a Myspace page and yet more!

Maybe some of that energy will rub off on you :)

Fashions of the 1950's

Is it my fascination with this decade or did they just have more style back then?

Snapshot - On the work table

A pile of ruffles waiting to be attached to their aprons. The photo lost some depth when reduced to this size but don't the colors remind you of Skittles?

International Bacon Day

Did you know there was such a thing as International Bacon Day? Well I did and I missed it! But have good reason-I was at a 3 day cookout called Hog Fest. Now if that isn't the next best tribute to bacon I don't know what is.

I love bacon (and it features heavily in my fave 1950s foods) and think it should be celebrated every day! Here is my own tribute to this maligned meat featuring awesome Etsy artists.

The above image is from mgenogeno's shop and is titled, are you ready for this, "bacon"! He has a whole section in his shop dedicated to meat art and it's stunning!





These delicious fingerless gloves are by babypop, maker and purveyor of the swellest super-hero accessories for kids! And fingerless gloves, of course : ) If I wore these I'd be hungry all the time.


Now that's a bold statement! This button is a mere trifle of the meaty loveliness you'll find in SweetMeats' shop which features plush meat pillows! A carnivore's Valhalla!

And now for the legendary, best bacon tribute of all...Pocket bacon!



Or as spidercamp subtitled it "Seriously the dumbest thing I have ever made but you guys seem to like it". If that doesn't make you laugh you must check out her shop. Read every square inch of it. The Head Bitch in Charge luvvvs spidercamp's sense of humor. And her specialty is crazy stuffed bunnies with swear words and insults on them. Brilliant.

Now get thee to a butcher, pay tribute to this magical meat and rejoice in International Bacon Day!

Apron Contest for Lark books

And the winner is.....

Not me.

Oh well, I did get chosen as a runner-up of sorts. This was a contest for inclusion in a book about aprons by Lark called A is for Apron. I submitted the above Cinderella apron, complete with frayed edges, patch pockets and the fabric features little ladies washing dishes. You can see the winners here http://larkbooks.com/crafts/ruffles

I'm on the second page with the other favorites-but-not-winners :)

An Etsy Favorite - Spotlight on John W. Golden

I was looking around my abode yesterday and the abundance of Etsy items surprised me. I didn't realize how much I had! So I thought I'd do a little show and tell.

John W. Golden's shop is one of my all time faves. I adore robots and anything retro-space related. I had a hard time choosing! The space ship above was one of the lucky winners.

In addition to the space and robot images he does these great "By Order of the Management" signs. I want to put this one in my husband's office!

And an awesome cat and dog series. I bet your breed is there too!

I'm saving my pennies so I can come back for more! Here are a couple shots of my new prints in their new habitat.

Snapshot Monday

I originally wanted to do a Macro Monday but my camera has gone on strike. It has gone on strike before and come out of it so I have hope!

I was at a filling station somewhere in Idaho and this sign was across the highway. I don't know why but I love it!

Blog Tag

I’ve been tagged!

One of my favorite reads Trapped in the 80’s Moms(if you grew up in the 1980s you must read her blog!), tagged me.

I don’t know much about this game so I did some searching. It appears there are quite a few variations. The main version consists of listing 5 unusual things about yourself and tagging 5 others. The version I was tagged with involves listing 7 random things about yourself and 7 strange things and then tagging 6 others. I don’t know about you but isn’t that sort of the same thing? I don’t know if I can dredge up 14 strange/random things so I’ll revert back to the earlier version. But I’ll do 7 :)

1. I don’t like chocolate. I can tolerate it in small, very milky doses. Those little valentine chocolates are the perfect amount!

2. I know Latin. I use “know” loosely. It’s not exactly like many people are fluent in Latin. Except maybe the pope.

3. I once broke 2 boards with my head at a Christmas party. It was a talent show and I was taking Tae Kwon Do. After breaking a dozen boards with hands and feet (in my formal gown) I wowed the crowd with my skull cracking finale.

4. I’m tone deaf. Cant sing, can’t whistle. Maybe I should try out for American Idol.

5. I was featured in Ranger Rick magazine as a child. My mother adopted a wild mustang and the magazine did a small feature on how we raised it. It is truly unfortunate that the main photo in the article forever immortalized my first and last perm.

6. I love food prep. My favorite part of cooking is the chopping and prepping of food. Well, and the eating part too.

7. I have about 9 years of college but still no bachelors degree. I love school and learning new things. It’s the focusing on one subject long enough to graduate that I have a hard time with (ei, the above Latin). I do have a couple Associates though.

So who are the lucky 5 to be tagged? Here are 5 bloggers from my EtsyBloggers street team.

Tag! Your it!

A Keeper's Jackpot

Beaded Tail

Rose Works Jewelry

Story Beader

Miesmama

P.S. If any of you 5 have already played let me know and I'll pass it on to another teammate.

Mobil Business part 2b

There are so many ways to remain active with your business/Etsy shop while you’re away from home, even if you don’t have a laptop to bring with you. I highly recommend the “holy trinity” of Blog, Etsy shop and Flickr (or other photo sharing site).

Keeping active on Etsy can be as simple as creating multiple listings and leaving them in edit mode (don’t hit the final finish button). Then all you have to do when you are away is get online and hit “finish”.

Or if you don’t want to or have time to pre-write a bunch of listings, upload all the photos you need to Flickr and access them from there.

If you have a PDA or smart phone you may even be able to logon from there (sorry BlackBerry users, looks like we’re excluded from this). Very helpful if you need to reply to convos.

Having a BlackBerry has made me almost computer free on the road. Replying to convos is the only hurdle I have yet to figure out so if you know the trick, please tell us in a comment! One thing I think is very important is to contact each customer after making a sale to make sure they know I’m out of town (not everyone finds your item through the shop home page to see announcements). This I can do by accessing the Paypal receipt and directly emailing the customer.

Blogging on the road can be done almost the same way. You can access photos from Flickr if needed. Blogger actually has a mobile blogging function built right in! http://www.blogger.com/mobile-start.g
You can take pictures with your phone and either text or email your entry directly to your blog (just test drove it here( http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6836187299330365649&postID=7229390755215973340 ) This appears to be a great option is you want to actually blog about the trip your on and use up-to-the-moment photos.

Then there is the old standby of writing posts before-hand and schedule them to be published at any time you wish (in Blogger this can be found under Edit Posts. On the right side you will see All, Drafts, Scheduled and Published).

When I travel I don’t always take my own laptop with me. My sweetie has one and it seems silly to bring two when there isn’t much on it I need. He also has an aircard. I love this little gadget! It allows him to have internet access anywhere there is a cell signal. It does use air time so it’s best to be brief. I write up whatever I need in Word (blog posts I’m working on, all regular Etsy item descriptions etc). Then I can use the aircard to get online login to Etsy or Blogger, grab the photos I need (from Flickr, the computer or directly from my phone), cut and paste the text and it’s done!

There are many more options, solutions and tricks out there. I am new to Blogging, Flickr and my BlackBerry and this is how much I learned in a short time. Think of how smooth you can be with a little more experience! I will continue to share any addition tricks and tips I learn as I become more adept at being mobile. Please feel free to share your own tips as well!

  As I read this more than 3 years later it's amazing how far technology has progressed and me with it. while many of the tips I posted here are no longer very valid the over-all idea is still the same. Use your technology to make your life easier, not harder!

Mobile Business part 2a

Now I can blog with just my phone using Blogger's Go Mobile feature. Whee!