Monday, January 26, 2009

Poladroid Android

Ok, as if I'm not already online wasting time too much. I just read about Poladroid on Little Acorn's blog. Le sigh. Here are some pics I had always been wanting to do the Polaroid emulsion with. Cut Le Tour Eiffel's head off, but still a super nifty pic! The second photo is in San Fran.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Prayers for Bobby

I just got done watching Prayers for Bobby, and as far as Lifetime movies go, it was really good! I am embarrassed to say that I bawled for the better part of the last half. :)

You may remember that V and I watched the parade scene being filmed back in June. That was fun to watch on-screen. I also recognized the corner of Sherman & Fourth Street during the scene where the family was sending him off to Portland on the bus. Also, they used Royal Oak City Hall for the City Council meeting. All locations within a mile of my house! Pretttty nifty.

In other movie news, the barber shop scene in Gran Torino was filmed 1/2 mile from my house at Widgrens Barber Shop. :) Sorry, I'm such a celebrity junkie that I'm totally enthralled by all of this movie stuff lately in Michigan!!!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Silhouette

I was putzing with Photoshop this morning and came up with this silhouette of Q:


Based on this pic:


My mom doesn't think it looks too much like her. Ryan thinks her hair looks mullet-esque. I need to take a look at some hand-cut versions somehow and add details. I don't know as if I like the pic either. It's a few months old. I think I may wait until V has some hair and take some new pics on a white background. I primarily used these directions and messed with it freehand.

I'm so excited-- I get a girl's night out tonight. My friend is having a wine & cheese party with no boys allowed! Whoo hoo! Of course, she'll get a personalized set of these. Ryan picked out a good Italian red we had at Thanksgiving. We had to email the info off so it could be compiled. Here's the description I found online:

"The Briccotondo is a ruby-red wine with purple highlights. The nose is packed with black fruit, especially blackberries and plums, with slight spicy overtones hinting at black pepper and cinnamon. Sweet, soft tannins come together in a closely-woven texture that merges with the fruit, while a crisp freshness provides a long, tasty finish."

Hmmm...tasted like red wine to me!

One more fun little thing on a sunny Saturday. You can generate your own saying on a candy heart! It's the Acme Heartmaker! I'd love to make some of these to include in my Etsy orders, but so far, all the sources I've found have been a wee bit cost prohibitive.

Happy weekending, all! xo

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Squirelly Cozy GIVEAWAY

Yayyyyyyy!!! Girl Land loves giveaways!!!!!!!!!!

One of the awesome Etsyers that I featured in my post yesterday is having a giveaway. You can win the adorable coffee cozy!!!

Check out her giveaway here!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

National Squirrel Appreciation Day

Yes, that's right, today is National Squirrel Appreciation Day! In honor of NSAD, I have compiled a list of lovely squirrel-tastic Etsy finds sure to please every nutty buddy out there:

Row 1 (left to right):

Amber Alexander's A New Apron Print

Yellow Cake Crafts' I Love You This Many Acorns Customizable Notecard

Isabell's Umbrella's Squirrel Bookplates

Row 2:

Under the Stair Studios' Paper Circus with Dancing Squirrels

Sugar Street Cafe's Nuts Ceramic Keepsake Dish

Neskat's Hey Squirrel Wool Felt Hair Clip

Row 3:

Mis Nopales Art's Formal Squirrel Canvas Shopping Tote (because the only thing better than a squirrel is a squirrel in a top hat, fo' sho')

Little Elf's Toy Shop's Squirrel Nutkin Needlefelted Squirrel

Flapper Girl's Embroidered Brown Squirrel Coffee Cup Cozy

So if you were feeling squirrelly today, now you know why! Throw some of that stale bread and older apples out to our fine furried friends today, won't you?? xo

Monday, January 12, 2009

Vino Tags Freebie

Here ya go! If you'd prefer, you can save the individual .jpgs through my Flickr Page. If you'd like a set all printed, personalized, and packaged up pretty, here's my listing. Enjoy!

**Edit: I couldn't get the .pdf to work out, so here's a .jpg of all three. Let me know if it doesn't work out. Thanks!**

Download the large .jpg here!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Valentine with Flare

Well, not really. I messed around with this for too long last night and finally gave up. Don't even have any energy to make a cute envelope. Eh, oh well. It's going to be sent off to Fred Flare's Snail Mail Valentines for Charity event. Yee haw.

You can see some of the other participant's valentines in their Flickr pool. And if you would like to send your own homemade valentine, see below for details!


Vino Tags


One of Ryan's co-workers was so kind to invite all of us (even the girls) over for dinner tomorrow night. They are only allowing us to bring the wine, so after much debate, I decided to make some wine gift tags. They are kinda goofy, but I like how they turned out, and I think the packaging spiffs it up a bit.



I was inspired by old timey looking letterpress tags, one that read something like, "The wine guy picked this out for you," with a mustached dude on a bicycle, but now I can't find where I saw them!!!

If I can figure out how to do it, I will post a .pdf within the next day or so to make your own! I added the little "from the cellar of..." at the top. My friend is having a girl's only (wa-hoo) wine tasting party at the end of the month, so these can serve double duty. I will whip up a batch for her too. Voila!

Hope your weekend is lovely and hopefully not as snow-covered (in Michigan, anyway) as they are predicting. xo

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Moi, Je Joue

Have I told you I'm a sucker for marketing? My bro and SIL gave me a Nordstrom's gift cert for perfume last year for my birthday. I chose Miss Dior Cherie, and I wear it every single day. I'm on my second bottle. If I hadn't already bought it, after seeing this new ad, I would buy it now.






Not only is it French, but it's directed by Sofia Coppola. In terms of aesthetics in film, she is my favorite. Oh, and that's Brigitte Bardot singing.

Speaking of Frenchy-ness, there is a new crepe place downtown Detroit!!!!!! It's called Good Girls Go to Paris Crepes (how cute is that?). Read their menu and tell me you could resist. Can't wait to make a trip to the D. Carryout only, but I'll sit in my car and eat them (Weight Watchers what?). I'm drooling reading the description of the Vera, Katie, and Melinda. Yum.

Sorry I'm so lazy lately re-posting stuff. I don't know what's wrong with me. I need to get with the program and start making some Valentine's stuff. I've been doing very well shopping, however. Look at the cuteness I purchased at Target today. Their owl Valentine stuff is to die for.




And look at this nifty modish lamp for the basement!

That would be my basement for which I STILL don't have a single quote despite the fact we've had 3 contractors in here. No, I am confident that we'll pick a great contractor, and I am so thankful to all my great friends (Amy, Danielle) who have given me contacts.

Some more creative thought-provoking posts soon, I promise! xo

Friday, January 2, 2009

Popovers

I was trying to think of a whimsical title to this post. But, alas, I could not.


One of my absolutely fave restaurants is Marshall Field’s Café (aka Lakeshore Grille now). Every November 11, my mom comes to visit (it’s her birthday and I get the day off for Veteran’s Day), and we lunch at L.G. and shop. My idea of a decadent lunch consists of their popovers, lobster bisque and Oriental Salad with perfect(ly fattening) toasted sesame dressing. My MIL and bro both acquired the Marshall Field’s Café cookbook. I made the popovers today and not only are they soooo easy, they taste IDENTICAL.

I did tweak the recipe a tad because my husband used one of my designated eggs (I adjusted all other amounts and cooking time). Oh and I also just mixed everything together because I’m sloppy like that (they said to mix the wet ingredients first and then add the dry):

MF’s Popovers (Girl Land’s Version)
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put UNGREASED muffin pan in oven for 15 min (recipe says to spray first but the spray stunk up my house big time).

Combine the following in bowl and use electric mixer until frothy:
4 Eggs
1-1/3 Cups Whole Milk
4 T Butter
2-1/3 Cups Flour
¼ tsp salt
Spray heated pan with Pam and fill all cups evenly. Bake 30 min and if not sufficiently brown, decrease heat to 390 and cook 5 more min.

I wish I could have taken a picture of the finished product, but my muffin pans are grody. So let’s pretend this picture is them (photo courtesy of travelingfeast.net). We had them today with a variety of soups (potato leek, lasagna soup, and white bean with ham) and aged white cheddar cheese. Mmmmmm!



Also, our basement dude is finally coming tomorrow. Here is my scaled layout! I got it from http://www.floorplanner.com/. You can do one room for free, and it’s so great. If I ever have to lay out anything else, I’m going to buy an account. So user friendly and fun.