More ATCs

These are for an X-Men ATC swap. I looked at pix online and handdrew them.

My first attempt. I wasn't extremely pleased with it, but the cards are fun. I put a coppery shimmer spray on them.


My second attempt. I'm really happy with how this turned out! It's Gambit and Rogue, but you can tell that right? ;)

Some ATCs I made recently

This one is for a swap where another person assigns the theme. I was assigned "hot air balloons".


This was for a free-theme swap. The word and hibernating critter are blurry due to the acorn being raised up.

These next two I was just inspired to make and will be keeping for myself for the time being. The scans don't show the depth well, but I still think scans look better than photos (at least photos taken with the crappy camera I use). Suffice to say, the clock and butterflies aren't actually blurry.

A monster stuffie

Who's got the button?

Courtesy of biasbabe. :)

Dress for my niece

Not for a swap, but cute!

Trying my hand at painting

I'm not good at it, but it's fun!

Pillowcase Dresses!

For this swap, we were to make a dress to donate and one for our partner, based on 3 of 10 suggestions our partner gave us. My partner asked me to donate both dresses and they were mailed off about a week ago.

My partner listed as preferences "a pocket, lace trim, purple, ric rack, ribbons, a dragonfly or butterfly, flowers, colorful and happy, ruffles, or homemade pillowcase." I tried to make pockets, but it didn't work out. I think I squeezed in enough of these though. :)

Here is the first dress. I made one for my niece using the matching pillowcase last year. I love the ruffle. (Click to make pictures big!)


And purple!


I think the dragonfly is so cool. The upper wings aren't stuck down.


Well, I hope that some little girls get a lot of use out of these. They were really easy and fun to make.

New button for my profile

Paper wallet template and tutorial

I got the tutorial from Instructables here, but I didn't like that there were no measurements. So I made a few and measured and figured out a nice template for them. Here it is for you to use!

Click to make larger and then save. It should be 8.5" x 11". Make sure when you print it, that you don't have your printer set to "scale to fit". Some of the lines might not print due to your printer's capabilities, but you should still be able to use the template.


Details:
I used a 1/2" margin on the sides for the folds there. The little rectangles marked for removal are 1/2" from the edge, so the tabs that will remain need to be folded/tucked 1/2".

You can alter the opening in the middle (the diagonal lines), but it's a nice size and the cards can go in and out easily.

I suggest opening this in PhotoShop or another image program and putting images on it before printing. Follow the directions for where/how to place images in the template instructions below.

Awkward is the new wonderful

The story goes like this. A girlfriend and I were at a Vermillion Lies show in Santa Cruz, sitting in the front row. Kim had her hair all twisted up with tiny white birds in it; that is important to the story. After singing "The Astronomer" and dancing around with a boa, Kim also had a bit of white boa fluff in her hair. Someone in the audience shouted, "You've got some milky way in your hair!" (refer to song if you do not understand the reference)

Kim brushed it away and huskily whispered into the mic, “Awk-warddd…”

Zoey replied, "You're hair is awkward." And I replied loudly to that, from the front row, "Her hair is WONDERFUL!"

And Zoey said, *drumroll* “Awkward is the new wonderful.” My friends and I have repeated it many, many times since.

Sorry for the blurry pic. Crappy camera. I took 6 and they all suck. That is a bee in the lower middle, which is a song reference.






I'm SO happy this picture came out! The background (with the black swirls) is a scrap of paper from the envelope which contained the ladies' solo cds.

Firefly ATC swap

I made this one.


I got these three.

Making Yummies #1 - Strawberry Bread

I wanted to join this and jumped right in when the host said I could make substitutions. See, I'm vegan, so I was planning on swapping out all the animal products for vegan products. :)

Strawberry Bread Recipe from here, with my modifications in parens:
1/2 cup unsalted butter (vegan margarine)
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
3 large eggs (equivalent in Ener-G Egg Replacer)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (peach soy yogurt)
1/2 cup toasted walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped (omitted)
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh strawberries

So basically, I switched out the butter, eggs and yogurt for vegan margarine, egg replacer and soy yogurt (I used peach simply because it's what I had on hand and I didn't feel like another trip to the store). I omitted the nuts because I don't like nuts in my breads. Or raisins either. It's a texture thing.

Onward to photos!!

I gathered my ingredients.
Not pictured: strawberries and baking soda. My dear SIL, whose house I baked at, was picking them up from the store for me.

Beaten margarine and sugar.

Whisked the dry ingredients together.
I usually skip this step when baking. I'm not a fan of whisking or sifting, or getting more bowls dirty, but I decided to try to stick to the instructions since I changed the ingredients so much.

Prepared the egg replacer.
It's a really, really fine powder that is mixed with water.

Egg replacer mixed.
I didn't worry about the lumps since I'd be whipping it with the beaters. If I was just stirring in with a fork, I would've made sure this was mixed better.

Action shot!
Egg replacer being, lumpily, added to the marg and sugar.

Not pictured: vanilla added.

Here's the flour mixture and yogurt being added.
If you look closely, you can see the peach yogurt in the lower left/bottom area of the mixing bowl.

Not pictured: chopping strawberries (and eating a bunch).
Another action shot!
In go the lovely berries.

All mixed up and in the pan.
I couldn't find the right size pan, so I used an 8"x8".

In the oven.
I adjusted the time down due to the shorter height on the pan.

All done.
Sooo yummy looking, right?
I only baked it for 45 mins in this size pan.

After letting it cool for awhile, my SIL and I tried some. It was very good! It did come out a little moist, which happens sometimes with egg replacer, as it's hard to get the exact amount of liquid. But I'm pretty sure it will firm up overnight. We couldn't taste the peach from the yogurt at all; the strawberries overpowered it, but in a good way.

Personally, I prefer most of my fruit fresh, but I might make this again with peaches or blueberries. It was really hard for me to cook those fresh strawberries!