We enjoyed POV Shorts on PBS last week. Lots of interesting, artistic short films were featured. Several of the pieces were really good. This is just one of them. I love how they show the artist's illustrations. And the story has an important message. I am still pondering it, in a way.
What do you think?
Monday, August 29, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Cautiously
They look like they're winking at me.
Are they winking?
Oregano and chives - first attempt growing in the sunny bedroom window
Do you think it's a friendly wink, like they like me?
Or more of a taunting wink,
like they're about to play a trick on me?
I don't know. Can you tell?
They look suspicious to me. Something feels suspicious. I don't think I trust them.
"I've got my eye on you, herbs!" I yelled, though I was the only one in the room.
Watering the plants slowly, with a warning glare in my eyes.
"You better not die on me..." I whispered to one in particular.
He just looked at me sideways. Who me?
Monday, August 22, 2011
Sock Monkey Winner!
Out of the 103 eligible comments on my blog this weekend, the winner was lucky comment number 60!
P.S. Remember to use promo code thankyou2 to get 10% off your entire order this week! Expires 8/31
Samantha said... "This will be great for my little monkey. Thanks for the chance!"
P.S. Remember to use promo code thankyou2 to get 10% off your entire order this week! Expires 8/31
Thursday, August 18, 2011
GIVEAWAY - Baby sock monkey
One of the most popular items in my shop is the sock monkey. I made over 100 sock monkeys last year alone! While the work can sometimes be tedious, I really enjoy the finished project and the feeling of nostalgia that it represents for a lot of people.
That's because the sock monkey has been around for almost 80 years. Several people have told me that seeing a sock monkey reminds them of the ones their grandma used to have or their great grandma used to make. According to Wikipedia,"The iconic sock monkeys made from red-heeled socks emerged at the earliest in 1932... During the Great Depression, American mothers first made sock monkeys out of worn-out Rockford Red Heel Socks." Back then no one had money for new toys, or even new fabric with which to make them. So moms would make dolls or toys for their children out of salvaged materials they had around the house. The red-heeled work socks that Nelson Knitting Company made were popular with the men. And sometimes, after the socks had lost their usefulness as clothing, the mothers would make monkeys out of them! :)
The Nelson Knitting Company was acquired in 1992 by Fox River Mills, which still produces red-heeled socks to this day. And these are the very socks I use to make my traditional sock monkeys.
My baby sock monkey is an adorable spin on this beloved classic. He is made out of Fox River socks, too - in the Toddler Size! :)
This month I am giving away a baby sock monkey to one lucky reader! Please read directions below on how to enter. :)
Also - Lil Hipsters is celebrating 2 years in business! Thank you to all my customers that made this possible! Enter the coupon code thankyou2 for a special 10% discount on your entire order!
Valid 8/18/11-8/31/11
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HOW TO WIN:
The giveaway will run from 8/18/11-8/21/11. Winner will be drawn and announced on 8/22/11.
Your comments on this blog are your entries.
**You must leave an email address in your comments so I can contact you if you're the winner**
1. Leave a comment on any post for the next week. Old or new posts, doesn't matter. The more comments you leave, the more times you are entered to win.
UPDATE: If you comment on any post other than this one, you do not need to come back to this post just to tell me you commented over at the other post. I will count those comments over there as entries to the giveaway.
2. "Like" Lil Hipsters on Facebook
Come back here and comment, letting me know you "like" it!
3.Follow this blog - via Blogger, google reader, RSS feed, etc.
Come back here and comment, letting me know you're following!
4. Visit Lil Hipsters and tell me your favorite item in the shop.
Come back here and comment, letting me know your fave!
5. Link this giveaway on a social networking site of your choice.
Come back here and comment, letting me know you've linked it!
6. Grab my button (in right column) and leave a link of where I can find it.
Worth 2 entries (be sure to leave TWO comments!)
Entries must be received by August 21, 2011 11:59PM PST. The winner will be announced on the 22nd. Open to US residents only. I will select a winner using a random number generator and I will email the winner. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email before I select a alternate winner.
Good luck! :)
Charity
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!
Thanks to everyone who participated.
Winner announced here.
That's because the sock monkey has been around for almost 80 years. Several people have told me that seeing a sock monkey reminds them of the ones their grandma used to have or their great grandma used to make. According to Wikipedia,"The iconic sock monkeys made from red-heeled socks emerged at the earliest in 1932... During the Great Depression, American mothers first made sock monkeys out of worn-out Rockford Red Heel Socks." Back then no one had money for new toys, or even new fabric with which to make them. So moms would make dolls or toys for their children out of salvaged materials they had around the house. The red-heeled work socks that Nelson Knitting Company made were popular with the men. And sometimes, after the socks had lost their usefulness as clothing, the mothers would make monkeys out of them! :)
The Nelson Knitting Company was acquired in 1992 by Fox River Mills, which still produces red-heeled socks to this day. And these are the very socks I use to make my traditional sock monkeys.
My baby sock monkey is an adorable spin on this beloved classic. He is made out of Fox River socks, too - in the Toddler Size! :)
This month I am giving away a baby sock monkey to one lucky reader! Please read directions below on how to enter. :)
Valid 8/18/11-8/31/11
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The giveaway will run from 8/18/11-8/21/11. Winner will be drawn and announced on 8/22/11.
Your comments on this blog are your entries.
**You must leave an email address in your comments so I can contact you if you're the winner**
1. Leave a comment on any post for the next week. Old or new posts, doesn't matter. The more comments you leave, the more times you are entered to win.
UPDATE: If you comment on any post other than this one, you do not need to come back to this post just to tell me you commented over at the other post. I will count those comments over there as entries to the giveaway.
2. "Like" Lil Hipsters on Facebook
Come back here and comment, letting me know you "like" it!
3.Follow this blog - via Blogger, google reader, RSS feed, etc.
Come back here and comment, letting me know you're following!
4. Visit Lil Hipsters and tell me your favorite item in the shop.
Come back here and comment, letting me know your fave!
5. Link this giveaway on a social networking site of your choice.
Come back here and comment, letting me know you've linked it!
6. Grab my button (in right column) and leave a link of where I can find it.
Worth 2 entries (be sure to leave TWO comments!)
Entries must be received by August 21, 2011 11:59PM PST. The winner will be announced on the 22nd. Open to US residents only. I will select a winner using a random number generator and I will email the winner. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email before I select a alternate winner.
Good luck! :)
Charity
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!
Thanks to everyone who participated.
Winner announced here.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
White Daisies
I'm not familiar with Rocky Votolato.
So I'm not sure I can vouch for his music as a whole.
...But I could listen to this song all day.
Oh wait. I just did.
♥
Charity
So I'm not sure I can vouch for his music as a whole.
...But I could listen to this song all day.
Oh wait. I just did.
♥
Charity
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Patching together the random pieces
Awhile ago I talked about reducing waste, and how I thought it might be better to eliminate scraps altogether than to save all my scraps for later use. So, I have successfully redesigned several Lil Hipsters projects to have almost no waste.
Well, that was great. But... I still had a large pile of scrap fabric that I had accumulated over the past two years. It was getting large enough to become its own entity. And it was kind of an annoying one at that. So I was pretty anxious to get rid of it. Even though I had much more exciting ideas on my to-do list, I decided to tackle this one to reclaim some space. I toyed with several ideas on how to use them, but in the end the simplest and most effective idea seemed to be to make patchwork quilts. So, for the past three months, I have been chipping away at this pile of scrap fabric.
Have you ever had a large project that, halfway through you start to wonder "Why did I ever start this?" or "Will I EVER finish?" That was me with these quilts. But I'm kinda like that about life in general. I always have more than enough on my plate and always seem to be behind or at least not as far along as I'd like to be. Always something, several things, on my To-Do. I'm an avid list-maker. Sometimes Joel teases me about my lists. I've even been known to have a list of lists! But when I have so much to keep track of, it's more of a survival thing for me. I wouldn't know how else to be productive. Actually, this quilt project has an interesting parallel. I have all these random pieces to sew together into a comprehensive whole. I take one bold fabric, that might be my mommy to-dos. I pull it in with my homemaker stuff and family stuff and business owner stuff... Sew it all together. Viola. The quilt of My Life.
...I wonder if I'll ever catch up with myself. Wouldn't that be great! Or maybe I'll still have lists when I'm old and grey. Sometimes I jokingly think, 'I'll probably have a to-do list when Jesus comes back' :) Or when I'm gone- what will be left undone? Not that I'll really care at that point. Just a matter of pure curiosity... it seems a silly thing to ponder, but it might also help me keep some perspective...
Back to the quilts:
This is the pile of scraps I had. I laid them out on the kitchen table to get an idea of how to arrange them, coordinate them, who should marry whom and so forth.
Most of the scraps were about 3 to 5 inches wide.The biggest problem was that there was quite a wide variety of patterns and colors that didn't necessarily go together. So I had to get kind of creative with color schemes and quilt sizes.
It was like a huge, cruel puzzle. Ahh, c'est la vie. I guess it's a good thing I like puzzles. :)
Maybe in a future post, I'll share one of my quilt patterns in detail. For now, I will just show you a few of the finished products. All these are backed with uber-soft minky, which was acquired specifically for this project. But the patchwork tops are made with 100% salvaged fabric which most people throw away.
My auntie owns a business and sews patient gowns. These quilts have some of her scraps, too:
You can find more info about these in the new Eco Quilt section of my etsy shop!
That's all for now. Today is Sunday, so I plan to relax and take a break from all this quilting. Actual and metaphorical. ;) Thanks for letting me share with you!
Well, that was great. But... I still had a large pile of scrap fabric that I had accumulated over the past two years. It was getting large enough to become its own entity. And it was kind of an annoying one at that. So I was pretty anxious to get rid of it. Even though I had much more exciting ideas on my to-do list, I decided to tackle this one to reclaim some space. I toyed with several ideas on how to use them, but in the end the simplest and most effective idea seemed to be to make patchwork quilts. So, for the past three months, I have been chipping away at this pile of scrap fabric.
Have you ever had a large project that, halfway through you start to wonder "Why did I ever start this?" or "Will I EVER finish?" That was me with these quilts. But I'm kinda like that about life in general. I always have more than enough on my plate and always seem to be behind or at least not as far along as I'd like to be. Always something, several things, on my To-Do. I'm an avid list-maker. Sometimes Joel teases me about my lists. I've even been known to have a list of lists! But when I have so much to keep track of, it's more of a survival thing for me. I wouldn't know how else to be productive. Actually, this quilt project has an interesting parallel. I have all these random pieces to sew together into a comprehensive whole. I take one bold fabric, that might be my mommy to-dos. I pull it in with my homemaker stuff and family stuff and business owner stuff... Sew it all together. Viola. The quilt of My Life.
...I wonder if I'll ever catch up with myself. Wouldn't that be great! Or maybe I'll still have lists when I'm old and grey. Sometimes I jokingly think, 'I'll probably have a to-do list when Jesus comes back' :) Or when I'm gone- what will be left undone? Not that I'll really care at that point. Just a matter of pure curiosity... it seems a silly thing to ponder, but it might also help me keep some perspective...
Back to the quilts:
This is the pile of scraps I had. I laid them out on the kitchen table to get an idea of how to arrange them, coordinate them, who should marry whom and so forth.
Most of the scraps were about 3 to 5 inches wide.The biggest problem was that there was quite a wide variety of patterns and colors that didn't necessarily go together. So I had to get kind of creative with color schemes and quilt sizes.
It was like a huge, cruel puzzle. Ahh, c'est la vie. I guess it's a good thing I like puzzles. :)
Maybe in a future post, I'll share one of my quilt patterns in detail. For now, I will just show you a few of the finished products. All these are backed with uber-soft minky, which was acquired specifically for this project. But the patchwork tops are made with 100% salvaged fabric which most people throw away.
You can find more info about these in the new Eco Quilt section of my etsy shop!
That's all for now. Today is Sunday, so I plan to relax and take a break from all this quilting. Actual and metaphorical. ;) Thanks for letting me share with you!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Holy Guacamole!
I love avocados. I love guacamole. I love easy recipes. This one is super easy. And delish. So easy, actually, that I have it memorized. :)
Take an avocado. Peel it (of course) and slice it into a bowl.
Smoosh with a fork.
Add:
1.5 Tblsp. of sour cream
1 Tblsp. your favorite salsa
At least 1/8 tsp. of garlic powder - more if you like
dash of salt
dash of pepper
splash of lemon or lime juice
Stir/smoosh some more.
Done!
See - easy! And if you need more, it's easy to multiply in your head: just consider the "add" list as "per avocado."
The neat thing about this one is that the salsa does most of the work. And it will automatically parallel whatever your tastes are. For example, as you may know, I don't like a lot of heat. So my favorite salsa is a mild one. Thus my guacamole will be mild, too! :)
We espcially enjoy this with homemade quesadillas. Or chips. My tortilla chip right now is actually Trader Joe's Multigrain Tortilla Chips. Really yummy and a little better for you, because it's made with flaxseed and organic grains. Mmmm.
Enjoy!
Take an avocado. Peel it (of course) and slice it into a bowl.
Smoosh with a fork.
Add:
1.5 Tblsp. of sour cream
1 Tblsp. your favorite salsa
At least 1/8 tsp. of garlic powder - more if you like
dash of salt
dash of pepper
splash of lemon or lime juice
Stir/smoosh some more.
Done!
See - easy! And if you need more, it's easy to multiply in your head: just consider the "add" list as "per avocado."
The neat thing about this one is that the salsa does most of the work. And it will automatically parallel whatever your tastes are. For example, as you may know, I don't like a lot of heat. So my favorite salsa is a mild one. Thus my guacamole will be mild, too! :)
We espcially enjoy this with homemade quesadillas. Or chips. My tortilla chip right now is actually Trader Joe's Multigrain Tortilla Chips. Really yummy and a little better for you, because it's made with flaxseed and organic grains. Mmmm.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
My secret weapon
I am a coffee lover. To most people acquainted with me, this is not news. And by "coffee lover" I do not mean that I need my coffee every morning to instill a cheery disposition. Or that I need 6 cups a day to keep my sanity. I usually partake of it sans stimulants, especially in the afternoon. What I do mean is that I enjoy the flavor of coffee, the smell of it, the look of it. I think it's pretty and it tastes good. I like the idea of it, the piazza-like environment it tends to create around itself - the cafes and espresso bars in the local neighborhoods. These are some of the reasons I also enjoyed being a barista.
About 2 1/2 years ago, I made known that I wouldn't mind owning an espresso machine. But I didn't really think anything of that point, until my generous family gave us this one for Christmas that year.
It's not the most fancy one on the market, but it's no nonsense and it gets the job done!
After receiving this wonderful gift, I found myself in the market for ground espresso. I knew one could buy it at almost any local coffee shop, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn there is also a brand available in most grocery stores. That brand is Bustelo... and it's actually one of the best espressos I've tried! Looks like this
Just in case you were wondering what was on my coffee shelf. Now you know.
Mmmmm.... espresso.
Cheers!
About 2 1/2 years ago, I made known that I wouldn't mind owning an espresso machine. But I didn't really think anything of that point, until my generous family gave us this one for Christmas that year.
It's not the most fancy one on the market, but it's no nonsense and it gets the job done!
I knew Mr. Coffee and I were going to get along swimmingly the minute I laid my eyes on him.
After receiving this wonderful gift, I found myself in the market for ground espresso. I knew one could buy it at almost any local coffee shop, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn there is also a brand available in most grocery stores. That brand is Bustelo... and it's actually one of the best espressos I've tried! Looks like this
Besides the great flavor, the best part to me is my recent discovery that if you order directly from their website, not only is it cheaper per unit, but they also don't charge shipping! Hmmm... pay more to go pick it up at the store, or pay less to have it delivered to my home? I'll take option B, thank you.
Just in case you were wondering what was on my coffee shelf. Now you know.
Mmmmm.... espresso.
☺
I usually throw this in with about 6 oz. of milk and a little sweetener
for an easy and refreshing (and strong!) iced latte.
Cheers!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Nat, volume 2
Good news on the Nathaniel front.
After thinking about it a while, I poked around my vinyl collection yesterday and found this little gem. I completely forgot I had it!
The greatest hits! Volume one AND two.
Not only does it have all the songs I mentioned last time, but some more of my favorites... The Very Thought of You, For Sentimental Reasons, When I Fall in Love, and Stardust. The latter is one of his best, in my opinion. In it, I am transported to a garden at twilight and told the bittersweet story of love lost and it's endless haunting. I can barely listen to that one without being effected. Forget about when it plays in the "Sleepless in Seattle" soundtrack! Pass the kleenex!
Anyway, not only can I stop googling him like a psycho, but I also get to enjoy the vinyl version with all its patina and character.
8/23/11 Update: Oh hello. Last week I discovered grooveshark.com. Wait a minute. You mean I can search by artist, and listen to full tracks as many times as I want... for FREE? Sign me up!
Oh... you say there is no sign up? Even better! :0)
I still listen to pandora when I want a bit of variety, but I if I have something specific I want to listen to, grooveshark is the place. Check it out here.
Over and out.
After thinking about it a while, I poked around my vinyl collection yesterday and found this little gem. I completely forgot I had it!
Ooooo-da-lolie!
Not only does it have all the songs I mentioned last time, but some more of my favorites... The Very Thought of You, For Sentimental Reasons, When I Fall in Love, and Stardust. The latter is one of his best, in my opinion. In it, I am transported to a garden at twilight and told the bittersweet story of love lost and it's endless haunting. I can barely listen to that one without being effected. Forget about when it plays in the "Sleepless in Seattle" soundtrack! Pass the kleenex!
Anyway, not only can I stop googling him like a psycho, but I also get to enjoy the vinyl version with all its patina and character.
Snap crackle pop.
8/23/11 Update: Oh hello. Last week I discovered grooveshark.com. Wait a minute. You mean I can search by artist, and listen to full tracks as many times as I want... for FREE? Sign me up!
Oh... you say there is no sign up? Even better! :0)
I still listen to pandora when I want a bit of variety, but I if I have something specific I want to listen to, grooveshark is the place. Check it out here.
Over and out.
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