Wasting time on the ol' internet

You too can make your very own South Park self here. George came in while I was finishing up these two little versions of ourselves and he knew exactly what was going on. Duh, they're us.

Magpie's new space!

With the closing of one shop there is the opening of a shop, or rather opening in a brand new space. Magpie, in the Boston area, just moved in and opened their new space.

I'm selling some of my goods with them now and they were sweet enough to highlight lot of new goods. So if you're in the Boston area, go check them out. Maybe after the snow that's supposed to be coming this weekend.
I'm sick of the on-off weather. It was gorgeous here earlier in the week--in the 70s. And now it's supposed to get down in the 20s.
I'll just think warm thoughts. The spring/summer craft show schedule is coming together, so I'll try to post that soon. I won't be venturing too far, mostly sticking to shows in Maryland--Baltimore specifically, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Copacetique is closing!

I just heard the news that Copacetique is closing up shop (online shop that is.)

So there's some good deals on vintage clothing and of course, still lots of cute stuff from designers until the virtual doors are closed. Psst--yeah there's some of my stuff there too!
Don't fear the loss of cute though, Janice is taking her skills over to Fred Flare.

The Joys of H-Mart

H-Mart is a massive Korean grocery store chain. I've been hearing rave reviews about it from lots of different people. My dad told me about the fresh seafood and fish. Other friends told me about the spectacular produce at good prices. So George and I finally made a trek out to the one in Catonsville, Maryland.
We went on a Saturday night and it was packed! It felt like we went on a mini-vacation. Most of the food labels don't even have English on them, or if the product is identified then there aren't any directions in English. Nonetheless, we picked up a few things. I had to come away with something from the sweets aisle and Choco Boy it was.

But there were tons of other cute little boxes full of good stuff I'm sure. I'll just have to try something different each time.
We also got some salmon and cooked Udon noodles, which we used to make a meal a little later on. We also go some frozen dumplings, a box of mango juice, cheap scallions and avocados. I'm happy to say the avocados rippened like a dream and I even had one on a turkey sandwich today--mmm--decadent. The mango juice is long gone, and it was some of the best I've had. The lady in front of us in line had the right idea. She saw the mango juice in our basket and asked where we got it. I went and got some for her, but she wanted two. I'd say two is the right answer.
It was a fun trip and I now know where to go for my Hello Kitty needs if I happen to have them. But I'd love to hear suggestions about what to get there. Any favorites or recipes people can recommend?

Help a kitty!

Tigger the kitty could use your help! The sweet little guy, a really gorgeous Main Coon, you have to go see his pics, has run into some health probelms. Those with pets know that unexpected health problems can cost quite a bit of money. Mr. Pink himself has a heart murmur, which, as of yet hasn't caused any problems. Fingers crossed. (I'm writing this right now with Mr. Pink curled up in my lap doing his baby routine. Sometimes he just won't take no for an answer when looking for love). In any case, Tigger's owner is taking donations to be put towards Tigger's care. You can read his whole story here. I'm off to put in my little bit from Moco and Mr. Pink.

American Craft Show Review (Baltimore)

Last weekend George and I made our annual trip to the American Craft Show in downtown Baltimore. As always we were helping out Sally Dillon take down here booth. She had some gorgeous new quilts this years. The perk is we get in free to take a look around. So last Sunday we braved the horrid weather to take a peek and take Sally's booth down in record time.
I was pleasantly surprised with some newcomers to the scene this year. This year the American craft Council had a special section of "Searchlight Artists." These young artists were nominated by department chairs at certain schools or by Council jurors or the editorial team of American Craft. There were 15 in total and while they didn't have really booths, they still had a nice, more gallery style display. I tried to get a card from just about everybody, but there's one guy whose card I didn't get and I can't find his name in the program--in fact, I don't think the Searchlight Artists are in there!
Anne Selden had a fun collection on clothing--something that really needs a more contemporary feel in the craft scene. Anne's collection was bright and colorful with lots of little unexpected details from the pockets to pleating to different cuts. I really coveted a two layered green jacket for myself.
Heather Mae Erickson displayed a collection of ceramic pieces. The colors were so light and eartheral. One design I particuallrly liked was small mugs that has space for your fingers to rest in, so it wa almost C-shaped.
There were also a couple booths outside of the Searchlight Artist area that I liked.
eko logic sells super soft clothing made from recycled cashmere sweaters. I really wanted a skirt, but couldn't quite justify putting it on the credit card.
aviva stanoff had a collection of sumptous pilows. I walked through the display feeling up the pillows with print on velvet because the texture looked to real--feather, ferns and flowers adorn the pillows. They seem almost luminescent.

I mentioned that I was afraid my cats would destroy the pillows, and one of the women working the booth assured my she had cats as well and got along famously with the pillows.
All in all one of the best years I had a the craft show--except for the snow.

Photoshop

So one of the reasons I haven't been posting much lately is because I've been busy. I started a Photoshop class a couple weeks ago. All I really knew how to do in Photoshop was resize images and mess with the contrast and brightness so images would look good on my website. But I really wanted to learn how to do more and improve how I take and edit photos for my shop site.

The class has been fun so far and really opened my eyes to how powerful the program is. In a way it's disturbing how much photo-manipulation can take place. Yeah, putting a watermark on your photo--not so much protection it turns out. But it's also fun. I had no idea you could change the color of someone's shirt or car. The way I would have done it would be select it and then use the fill bucket. Yeah, I'm not to0 bright with the graphic stuff sometimes. And I did think, but how would that keep the shadows and pockets. Clearly I grew up with very primitive computer art programs.


But check it out! Which one is my real shirt color? Green or brown? For those with quick eyes it not too hard to tell.

It's neither or them.
So tricky.
The real color is purple. It's hard to get the little pieces of the tank where my hair is over it and a few other curves. But I'm still impressed with the technology--or really, I suppose I'm just amusing myself.


I wish I had that tank is green and brown though. I imagine everyone who learns Photoshop goes through this phase. (The one where your expand your virtual wardrobe by changing all your clothing in photos.) But I am tempted to take a photo of Mr. Pink and really make him pink.