Be Still, My Beating Sweet Tooth

I love this pic. I took it on one of those perfect, warm, beautiful summer evenings when we first moved back to Austin last August. Cupcake shops abound now, and I pretty much love 'em all, but there's something special about Hey Cupcake. How can one resist the magic of a shiny airstream trailer with a giant spinning cupcake on top, all lit up at night with a crowd of happy people in front? Maybe you can, but I sure can't. The magical setting is perfectly in tune with the delicious magic of the cupcakes themselves, by the way. South Congress Ave. has some pretty amazing delights for the sweets lover. Get a load of this:



That's Big Top candy shop, which I absolutely adore. They have this fabulous, quirky circus sideshow theme going on, which is carried out in impressive detail. And they carry every kind of candy imaginable. Sweeeeeet.

Big Top images from Arielle F. and Lisa A. via yelp.com, and Mary Brooke via Big Top's Myspace page.

Pysanky! Pysanky! Pysanky!

I just like saying that word (in my head as I type this). Being only a couple of days from Easter, I wanted to show off some really cool, elaborately decorated Easter eggs for your viewing pleasure. So I did a web search, and discovered pysanky,Ukranian Easter eggs dyed with a wax-resist technique. They are magnificent!

The above photo is from a really cool website that offers step-by-step instructions for making your own pysanky, LearnPysanky.com. Not that I am feeling that industrious this Easter. The most I plan to make is a bowl of German-style potato salad for a family gathering at my parents' house. I'm doing the Austin Handmade Market tomorrow, so it's been a busy week! I'm really looking forward to going down to Hockley, seeing the fam, and enjoying some de-LISH-ous pit-smoked brisket my dad is making. It melts in your mouth! All the kiddos (2 nephews, 2 nieces) will be there, so Mom's planning not just an egg hunt, but also a scavenger hunt. Not sure how that's gonna go down, but sounds fun! Mom really doesn't want the kids to be bored. Whatever you & yours are doing this weekend, hope it's fun! I'll leave you with a few more pysanky to ogle...


image from the Wikipedia entry "Pysanka."

A DIY Thrift Store: Brilliant!

Ok, how cool is this? Thread-bare, a new thrift store that is devoted solely to craft & sewing supplies, AND supports charities! I love it. Must check it out. and I'm thinking it would be fabulous to donate extra fabric stash & such there. and those pipe cleaners I'm never gonna use. OH! AND they teach classes. Thread-Bare is inside The Stitching Studio, right here in Austin.

Hey, is my mouth too low?

That's what Max is wondering, I bet. And I'm thinking: yes. Yes, Max, you're mouth is strangely low. Why is it way down on your neck? Come to think of it, you don't really have much of a neck at all, poor guy.

These are the kinds of details I've been working out with my prototype monkey toy over the past couple of days. I'm trying to finish a few to take to the Austin Handmade Market. Seeing as how it's only a few days away, I should probably quit playin' on the interwebs & get back to work. Will post more pics of Max soon(with a perfectly cute face & a neck). He even has a little girlfriend, Molly.

I Love Originality, #1

This adorable little thing has inspired what will become a regular roundup of things people make or do that are just pure creative genius. I mean, it's a puppet - with a puppet of her own! Of course! Puppets need puppets too, as the title of the pic says in Made by Moxie's Photostream.



I saw Moxie's work in person at Urban Craft Uprising a couple of years ago and it is really cool - needlefelting with an edge. Here's Moxie's website if you wanna know more. The pic was in this week's CRAFT Flickr pool roundup. I didn't even know there was a CRAFT Flickr pool till a few days ago, so don't I feel like a loser. Look what else was in there:



PB & J pillows! Hello! I have to say I have never seen anything like these before. So cute - nice work, DiffractionFiber! I looked at diffraction's photostream, found out that her name is also Beth (great name!), and saw this additional example of her cleverness:



Wow. I'll be sharing more of my amazingly creative finds each week, so stay tuned.

Well, I've finally done it!

Yep, finally got the lead out and started this here blog, after thinking about it for months and months. Funny enough, yesterday morning as I was thinking about what my first post should be, I came across this post on Modish Biz Tips. Modish has been one of my favorite blogs about handmade stuff for a while, and now there's even more to love! The sassy/inspiring/creative/supersmart writer behind Modish, Jena Coray, has recently started a second blog, Modish Biz Tips. It's described as, "...here to help you, the artist, crafter or designer who is working towards making a living off your own creations." Yes, please! and thank you! It's a wonderful blog which has become one of my daily morning reads over breakfast. Speaking of breakfast, indulge me while I digress and show you this cool pic I took of my cup of tea one day (not this morning; this morning i had coffee in a to-go mug while driving Patrick to his first day of new job).

I really love vintage dishes - I got that cup & saucer in a mixed box of colorful delights at an auction nearby. Loved that auction barn - must go back soon. So many treasures to be had there!

Anyway, Modish Biz Tips covers everything from getting bloggers to write about you & doing your taxes to more personal advice for your psyche like getting your self-doubt under control. So great!

The most recent post that I linked to above, which was all about setting goals for yourself was amazingly timely, as P & I have been working our patooties off lately on trying to whip The Snuggle Herd into shape! So when Jena encouraged all of her readers to make a list of at least 5 goals to accomplish this month I was totally up for it. Here's my list:

1) launch version 2.0 of snuggleherd.com
2) increase my Etsy shop listings to 50 items
3) finally start blogging! i have the name - craftymishmash.blogspot - but no content
4) add at least 2 more stores to my list of retailers
5) finish development/production of new monkey toy
6) develop some lower-priced items such as brooches & digital prints to diversify my line
7) post new pics to my Flickr groups

Yesterday P helped me cross off #1. And lookie here, I've just accomplished goal #3! awesome! now off to work on #5...

Contact Me / Learn More

Hello! Thanks for checking out my blog. I'd love to hear from you, so feel free to send me an email anytime. My address is beth.hempton[at]gmail[dot]com.