shoooot! has it really been since february that I last posted?!

Sorry, Y'all… guess my move to Austin has kept me too busy to keep up to date?! It's not been for a lack of fun times & experiences here. In fact I loved it here so much I stayed much to the dismay of my island friends back in Friday Harbor. 

shoe-spirations: fluvog love

As ya'll know by now, I Love Fluevogs. I also have a blast with Instagram on my iphone. When I took this pic of my favorite 'Vogs with my biggest nightmare (spiders) I did a hashtag (#) to connect with Fluevog. And well.... they loved my pic & asked if the could "regram" it to their page! I obviously said Yesssss with pride!

It's official Fluevog likes me too!

Fluevog and the Beast... 

sshhhhhhh..... silent sundays: austin art tagging

fun in the kitchen: slow cooker

For years my mother has tried to gift me a slow cooker. She had only good intentions, wanting to make my busy life easier. I being the stubborn child always thought it was not a appliance that a young adult needed and kept telling her I did not need such a thing. I finally came to my senses this Christmas and let her give me a gift card to Target so I could pick one out. What changed my mind?! Stupid Facebook, I know... I'm shaking my head too! In the past few months articles have been posted showing the fabulous meals that you can create whilst at work. Here is the HuffPost article that changed my mind: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/26/slow-cooker-recipes_n_1029031.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063
To my defense I only recall one meal ever being created in our family crock pot growing up, sorry mom. It was stew over mashed potatoes and it was created by Soup Starter. 

Any one else remember this 80's staple?! It was a good meal, I do love hearty comfort foods. I just didn't think I needed an appliance for creating this one meal. Thanks to those articles my life with a slow cooker has been filled with delicious options. 

This is my new bff of the kitchen!

Here is a few of the tasty dishes I've created thus far! I did some tweaking to remove my arch nemesis, allium, from all the recipes but to my taste buds delight everything still turned out delish. I just added more of the other spices in the recipes to keep the flavor high. I'll put a link to the recipes used under each, enjoy! 

Turkey Taco Chili. This was the morning after when it became Breakfast Turkey Taco Chili w/ 2 eggs!

http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/slow-cooker-turkey-taco-chili-recipe/

Honey sesame chicken. 

http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2012/08/crock-pot-honey-sesame-chicken.html

Beef stroganoff, this was my favorite so far!

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/beef-stroganoff-10 

Creamy chicken with biscuits (slow cooker pot pie)

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/slow-cooker-creamy-chicken-with-biscuits

kitty shenanigan's: traveling with cats

Traveling with cats is.... an event. I wish I could say I've figured it out or "got it down pat" by now, but no. We have moved from Phoenix to Friday Harbor & now Friday Harbor to Austin together. All I've truely figured out is how difficult it is and how much cats hate moving vehicles. I hope they're getting a little bit used to it as they do snuggle up and sleep for most of the travels now instead of meowing the whole way.

Jasper hates his crate. He hides under covers to avoid the reality of it.

Doris in the driver seat while parked on the ferry.

Safety of the hotel bed covers. 

Doris happy to no longer be in her cage in a moving car.

Jasper exploring the room in Amarillo, TX.

Where the heck are we?! Checking out their new home. 

Doris & Jasper did make it here like little troopers. Doris did get car sick twice, poor thing. They have settled into their new home and are back to their busy schedules of eat, sleep, poop, repeat! 

crafty shtuff: snowflakes

The weekend after Thanksgiving I attended the Renegade Craft Fair here in Austin.  Not only was it wonderful to see all the creative hand made items on a weekend where most people are elbowing for new tv's and trampling children for the latest toy, but the Austin Public Library was teaching how to make a new kind of paper snowflake. And ya'll know I love crafty shtuff! 

The Library used book inspired paper for this crafty project.

I of courese took artistic liberty to use both small & large petals to make my snowflake.

Here's how it's done....
you'll need scissors, clear tape, and any paper any size as long as they are square. 
I decided to recycle my latest Anthropologie catalog, the colors are always so beautiful.

Simple supplies.

Fold the square in half to make a triangle.

Fold inhalf once more to make a smaller triangle.

Time to cut. Cut on the single fold side. The number of cuts will amount to the number of swirls, so cut as many as you want.
 I did 5 in this demo. 

Cuts should go right up to the edge but NOT through. 

Unfold gently.

Unfold to the original square.

Start w/ the middle, tape ready. Roll the 2 loose points together, place tape to hold.

Flip the whole paper over. Roll the next cuts two points together, tape.
you should now have a curl on each side of the paper. 

And keep on flippin', rollin' & tapin'!

Till your outta flips and rolls! Your done with the first "petal" for your flake!

Ok... now make six to complete a full swirly curly paper snowflake. Tape the "petals" together at the center & mid-points. 
 Then hang them everywhere for all to see your craft winter cheer!

These small snowflakes look great with my faux-dermy!!

I've even seen them in the window display for South Congess Books. And if it's on South Congress... It's Fuckin' hip & cool, ya'll!

South Congress Books window.

Merry, Merry everyone!!!

tasty holiday break...

We've finally had a few chilly evenings here in ATX. I love Abuelita's hot chocolate when it's cold outside!

Abuelita choco-puck & milk!

This pot needs to be watched...

Boil, whisk, & serve!

Happy Holiday drinks to ya'll!

shoe-spirations: creating my 1st, completely solo, lasted shoes!

I did it! FINALLY! 
For the longest time I've wanted to move forward with the knowledge I was taught by Tamera Lyndsay of The Shoe College. There is always that fear of fucking it up though that holds me back. So I started with baby steps back way back in June by re sketching an idea of a kitten heeled shoe I had drawn a few years ago. I knew I was ready to use the green leather I had been impulsed to buy during a trip to LA. Oh, and the soft baby blue leather remnant I found there as well. Oh, and those wicked vintage glass turquoise buttons I found at the knit shop in Anacortes.... Hot Damn it was starting to come together!
I sat down with my markers & colored pencils and put all the ideas of materials come to life on paper. 

First sketch and materials.

Gosh... These crazy ideas look kinda great!

A custom pattern was the next thing needed. With masking tape I covered my last and then drew the shoe design upon this 3D blank canvas, not easy BTW. Then cutting the individual pieces from the last I placed them on card stock paper, old file folders, and added extra wiggle room to each piece for rolled over edges and tacking. 
Those new patterns took me to the first of scary moments... cutting leather! I did fine, I don't know why I was being such a frickin' chicken?!

Pieces & more pieces....

And pieces!

Pieces now must come together. Enter heart palpatations, sweaty palms, & an inner voice screaming "oh, fuck! Oh, FUCK! Shit, SHit, SHIT!". Once you start sewing leather there is no turning back, leather is not forgiving to the needle punchering holes in it's surface. In fact, I don't even have the proper machine to do this. 

I gotta tell you though it is also an insane high as the stitches start coming together one by one to give each piece a finished look. This high propelled me through my worst fears. Hurray adrenaline!

There's no going back once the needle punchers leather. 

Baby blue straps rolled and stitched.

Hello, To my next shoe creating high...Contact cement. Glue is a major player in putting a pair of shoes together. I do plan to check out the eco friendly versions to this toxic shtuff, but at the moment this is what I have to work with. I open everywindow and take many breaks & stay away from open flame. Ha?!

The 1st step to a nice rolled edge, glue. 

Everyone's ready to become one!

Lasting a shoe involves wetting all the leather components you've just cut, glued, sewn & cut again. Wet leather is stretched around the shoe last. This allows the leather to dry to the shape of the last. The leather is tacked to the bottom of the last to hold the tight stretch that is achieved by those funny looking orange handled pliers you see above. That same tool is my tacking hammer! 

My first ever heat activated toe cap added under the leather for rigidity.

Once the leather is lasted & dried I was able to attempt my first toe cap application. The material for the toe cap is heat activated by a hot oven then quickly wrapped inbetween the exterior leather and the interior pig skin lining. I learned fast how quick this hot material cools and becomes rigid, it took a few trys to get this technique. I love that with each new shoe I'm still learning! The toe cap helps the vamp, toe of the shoe, to keep it's shape once off the last. 

Little details, elastic inserted into the heel straps to allow for a better fit.

Starting to look like a shoe!

Straps being stretched onto the last.

Once all the excess leather is trimmed off the bottom the surface is evened out with cork filler. I had to use a roll of cork board. In a shoe factory they have a magical glue/cork goop they spread on to fill in the gaps like buttah!

More little details.... that make my heart dance!

Nearly together, holy shit!

I entered the finished shoe in the local county fair. I knew they would either be blown away or not get that I actually made from scratch a pair of wearable art. Unfortunately the judges didn't get it.... Which was a blow to my creative ego. They stuck my creation in an "others" catagory with driftwood and macrame art that got blue ribbons over my weeks of hard work. 
sniffle... Oh, well fuck them! See ya'll in London, bitches!

San Juan County fair, I got a second place ribbon?! I was a bit befuddled.

 I have worn them out in the world! First time was to my friend Libby's wedding, where a groomsman noticed how awesome my footwear was! Yay!