Thanks + My Craft Slump

Big day for updates…Wordpress and I were working out our issues, but I’m glad I was able to bring lots of recent stuff to y’all today.

Big thanks to everyone who has played the JKGiveaway or ever said a kind word.  I have appreciated it all!  JKGiveaway Frankenstein winner Bethany sent me a thank you letter (so sweet!).  Plus, because she reads my Tweets and noticed I talk about craft beer every now and then, she knit and sent me this freaking sweet beer sweater:

Thanks Bethany!  This picture was taken in my second bathroom, where my boyfriend brews his own (ahem *award-winning!*) beer.  He keeps bottles of his favorite craft brews in there for inspiration…he’s a DIYer in his own way

I’ve been in kind of a craft slump lately, I feel less motivated to craft and more motivated to do other things like write songs…and…eat…so the JKGiveaway will be around but not every single week like it was before.  I have some embroidered holiday commissions to work on, plus my own plans to follow through on.  Can you blame me for putting embroidery giveaways on the back burner?

The holidays are coming and usually I shift gears and become a big, blonde elf around this time of year.  I already have ideas for handmade ornaments, table decorations, advent calendars (presents all month?  Yes please), and yummy baked things.  I picked up the Martha Stewart sweets issue and I feel so inspired to bake.  Did you know I was (very) briefly the private baker for Henson Recording Studio on the Henson lot in Hollywood?  That was almost two years ago, and it wore me out!  One woman alone can only make so many pastries before she falls apart!

Stay tuned!

Hallow-CLEAN

I had a blast this Halloween!  I had originally intended to make myself a Pinocchio costume but as JKGiveaway pieces, commissions and personal obligations mounted it became clear I would have zero time to sew a seven piece costume from scratch.  Plus, while it’s a cute idea, I think dressing as a little boy might not have been a good choice.  Instead I dressed as Melanie Daniels, Tippi Hedron’s character from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.  My bf dressed as the late and great pitchman Billy Mays and I stitched him a pretty legit-looking OxiClean patch for his blue shirt:

He also carried around “OxiClean powder” (pixystix in a thoroughly washed OxiClean tub) and “OxiClean spray” (lemon-lime soda with rum in a thoroughly washed OxiClean spray bottle).  “Billy” gave OxiClean demos to partygoers, even developed a special multistep OxiClean shot.  But the best Billy Mays costume moment came during the Halloween party we attended October 30th, held by fave band and dear friends Shaimus (the drummer of which was the winner of the Ghostbusters giveaway).  One friend got fake blood on his banana costume and jokingly asked if Billy Mays could get the stain out.  Since the lemon-lime/rum concoction was colorless, they figured there was no harm in trying…and the stain actually came out!

And guess what?  My bf entered himself into the national Billy Mays Halloween costume contest and won!  Billy Mays’ son judged the whole thing and deemed Frank’s the best out of over 1500 entries!

Read more about the HallowClean contest and what Frank won on Billy Mays III’s blog