Rummaging and Cupcakes

How was your weekend?

Despite the bad weather and an extreme case of PMS crabbiness on Saturday, mine went pretty well (although I'm not sure everyone who was around me would agree!)

Spent hours at a bookstore sifting through a gazillion magazines I wish I could afford to subscribe to... scored a garbage bag full of linens at a Church rummage sale for only $10 woot woot... finally saw 500 Days of Summer, which reignited my love for Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who sorta reminds me of my friend Paolo back in the day when I had the biggest crush on him in 6th & 7th grade hahaha)


... hosted a brownie & cupcake decorating party for a few neighborhood kids - my friend Ez who just moved into the neighborhood has a 10 year old daughter and I wanted to introduce her to a couple of new friends before school started.

Image: Ez Pudewa

What's on repeat?

Oldie but a goodie. Perfect for when you gotta get lots of stuff done (specially repetitive type of work). Cut, sew, label, pack, cut, sew, label, pack... Made everything all better.


I've had their live concert NPR podcast #89 on repeat for the past 3 days. You can also listen to their album here. I usually have a couple of favorites, but honestly I love it all.

Have a great weekend everyone! I'm off to celebrate - just finished that wholesale order! Woot woot. Pictures next week!

Craftin' & Roastin' it up

Hi gang, I'm still glued to the craft table today but just wanted to share what we had for dinner last night! I did a really simple roast - I probably overcooked it, but I wanted the meat to be more braised and fall-off-the-bone tender like so I just cooked it in 300F for a LOoooong time (2-3 hours).



I probably should've added more liquid so it didn't dry out so much but it was still pretty tasty. I served it with steamed Savoy Cabbage.

I Lied

Clearly I lied. I'm still here.
I weeded like a crazed lunatic yesterday - here's how much crap I ended up with and of course my hamstrings and back are killing me. Seriously, gardening is a solid workout, specially for your legs. Imagine squatting for two hours straight.



I also picked a handful of plum tomatoes. I decided to make sauce out of them and it turned out REALLY REALLY good, so I'm sorry dear tomatoes for complaining about you yesterday.

Heat up olive oil, saute small chopped onion, 2 smashed skinless garlic cloves + salt + crushed red pepper flakes

Add fresh herbs (I used basil, oregano, thyme) chopped tomatoes + lots of salt + pinch of black pepper. Once it cooks to a boil, simmer for a couple of hours until the sauce thickens. Stir frequently so it doesn't end up sticking. Make sure you use enough salt.


GOOD NEWS!!! The wholesale inquiry from a couple of weeks ago came to fruition!! Woohooo! Cartweel! Highfive! Can you tell? I'm super psyched about it.

Summer Break

Hello everyone! I'm taking some time off this week to get a few things in order. Our garden is in shambles - the weeds have taken over, the tomatoes aren't as tasty as we'd hope and my herb box is not looking so hot. We've been busy bees lately and frankly I think we've dropped the ball. Both our back and front gardens are overgrown, bad, bad homeowners. Plus the weather hasn't been helping, when we finally had the time - it was either too hot or it was raining. OK so it's not as bad as this picture I found ... (but it's pretty bad)

Image: Home and Garden Webshots

I'll also be working on new product ideas and deciding what to do with my two blogs once and for all. I think it's time to make some tough decisions. [tun tun tun]

Friday Fimo Fun

Had an impromptu craft session with my friend Ez and her daughter using a bit of Fimo - look what she taught me how to do! We started out making roses and ended up with this little clay menagerie!

Have a great weekend everyone!

What's on repeat?

This week I can't stop listening to She & Him - the album is definitely a grower. I've been listening to their live concert at Newport Folk Festival (iTunes link) over and over and over....


Change is Hard, You Really Got a Hold on Me oh and Sentimental Heart are my faves... ok I like a lot of the songs I guess.

DIY Biz Cards

You know how I changed the logo for Heart Handmade right? Well I was planning on ordering new biz cards (for the Gift Fair) but I missed the window so I decided to just make my own.

I think they turned out pretty good. I didn't have a corner punch so I cut the corners by hand.

Wiped Out

Helloooo!

I spent most of the day at the gift fair yesterday, followed by a super yummy dinner here. I feel completely wiped out from walking around all day and from nursing one very potent Coconut Caipirinha - I think I'm definitely getting old.

To Do:
- tackle 50+ emails in my inbox
- fulfill orders (yay!)

Oh and apart from spending 5 hours in the wrong campsite with our expertly pitched tent, fire rolling... wondering where the hell the rest of our campmates were - we had a blast!

Into the Wild

And we're off... I know, I know "into the wild" - a bit of an exaggeration on my part!



Images: amazon.com

If Apple was in the litter box biz...

It would look like this.

I don't have a cat and probably will never have one... but if for some odd reason I did, it would have this little ModKat baby. Maybe I could use it as an icebox?

Images: ModKat

What's on repeat?

I can't stop playing The Calculation.

By the way, I made the shrimp tacos again last night (so addicted) - this time I made the slaw using mostly 100% fat yogurt (I ran out of mayo - so i only had a squirt left) and it turned out really good. I also added cumin to the shrimps. I'm making it with tilapia tonight.

Where did the weekend go?

My hopes for having a 3-day weekend was a bit of stretch considering it didn't even feel like it was a 2-day one. We finally went to the beach for the first time this summer on Saturday - perfect weather! Then we met up with our camping mates to plan out next week's excursion. I'm really excited to go camping, just hoping that the weather will be ok.



I started working on a new batch of houses for wunderlust but I'm not 100% happy with it so I'll be tinkering with it for a little while longer. I also finished working on my linesheet (wholesale) but haven't heard back from the shop.

As for the recipe for the soaps - sorry guys, I wasn't ignoring your comments...
I haven't graduated from the melt & pour method so these are very easy to make. It's just a matter of being creative with fragrance oils, mixing and experimenting until you have the perfect amount. I bought most of my supplies from brambleberry. I've yet to find a base that I'm 100% happy with, but so far I like the LCP Clear Melt And Pour Soap base the best. As for the fragrance, I used the rice flower fragrance and mixed it with a little bit of oatmeal vanilla. I generally follow the 12ml of fragrance to every pound of base rule. The Shortbread one, I like to use the Buttercream Snickerdoodle fragrance mixed with a little coconut. If you're looking for more info, Anne Marie's blog is a treasure trove!

A kick in the butt

Thinking out loud alert with no real conclusions... spare me the hate comments alright.

It's very simple right? Sometimes things happen and you can either a. enjoy or sulk about it for a good couple of hours (days sometimes) or b. take the plunge and allow it to inspire you to do better. Me, I'm fueled by extreme happiness or extreme anger/frustration and anything in between leaves me bored and quiet frankly, not as productive.




I received my first EVER wholesale inquiry this morning (star jump + high-five)! I guess you could say my inbox was a little bit of both this morning - wholesale inquiry (happy) / someone alerting me that I failed to give an artist credit on a write-up (sad). So yes, I'm buzzing with energy right now - it's like the perfect storm right? So back to this wholesale inquiry thing... I often try and prepare myself for the worst (coz I like happy surprises and when you're not expecting them, they're 100x better!) I'm sorta giddy about the prospect but I'm also acutely aware of the other possible outcome. OK so wunderlust right? I started this whole journey a couple of years ago right? Couldn't sell a thing, except to my wonderful friends and family. Frustrated, I became a full-time blogger (stopped making things). A couple of months ago, I reopened my Etsy shop and it has been doing a lot better (and I'm happy to report that I've been selling items to more than just Z, Karen and my sisters), but I haven't really given it 100% of my time. I can't help but imagine the possibilities if that were the case.

So the point of my rambling, the wholesale inquiry has given me the kick in the butt, the little push I needed to re-examine my goals (who am I kidding? actually let's start with DEFINING the goals). I'd love the opportunity to establish wunderlust as a brand with a proper line and start wholesaling... Guess I know what I'll be thinking about all weekend long. Man, wish it was a three day weekend.

Ditch the workout. Join the Party!

Kinda crappy video quality, but Karen just told me about this "new" (obviously not so new since this video is dated 2006) workout craze. I'd workout everyday if it was this fun...

Lots of booty pumpin and shakin'. Love it! Have any of you taken a Zumba class before?

Whatcha Makin?

Noticed that we were getting low on soap and as much as I'd love to order some from my favorite Etsy soapers... trying to cut down on spending this month so I busted out my supplies and made a couple of batches. These should last us for a while.



I almost didn't want to wrap them up and put them away, they were deodorizing the kitchen for days. I made a batch of "Shortbread Cookie" yum! and "Flower Tea", which is like a musky vanilla-ish scent.

Alright I have a busy day of crafting ahead of me. Talk to you guys tomorrow!

Pick-me-up

Not really sure why, but I'm feeling kinda crappy today.



What's a girl to do when that happens? Well in the movies, they would run outside barefoot and pick some flowers in the field while they reflect on what's causing the crapola, right? So that's what I did. I ran out into our front yard (barefoot, thank you very much) and picked a couple of these off of our cute tree. But of course, I take a picture and share it here on LF.

Made me feel a little better... I should also probably stop listening to Damien Rice. Love him, but a lot of it is slit-your-wrist type of stuff.

Deadheading

Deadheading [ded-hed-ing] : removal of dead or spent flowers either to encourage more flowering or to improve the general appearance of the plant

Sometimes you just gotta let it go.

Easy Dinner

One of the easiest dinners ever. I got the idea from Real Simple mag but had to adjust the recipe a bit. Basically mix shreded cabbage (red would be good too) + corn + chopped up pepper (hotter the better) + mayo (they used sour cream) + lime juice (they also added OJ but I didn't have any) + salt and pepper




Pan grill seasoned (salt + pepper + whatever else you want, I added chili powder) shrimp.






Garnish with cilantro and extra lime juice. Wrap it up in a warm flour tortilla!

An Unexpected Find

Walking aimlessly around Target, a favorite past time around these parts, I found...



It's a Mead Primary Journal. Perfect for jotting down product ideas - plenty of space for doodling + notes AND it's pretty to look at. I was planning to glue the cover with some fabric or pretty paper.

I've never ordered from here before, but they sell them for pretty cheap.