Sweet!

Ok, important stuff first.

I made sweet lemon poppy seed cakes.

YUM. I used a recipe from The Martha Stewart Livings Cookbook: The Original Classicsbut no one tell Martha that I added poppy seeds to the cake. Like really, lemon cakes are supposed to have poppy seeds in the cake, not just on top. Really!

They are super good, with a blast of lemon syrup that is supposed to seep through the cake but just really stays on top just under the sugar drizzle. Trying hard not to just scarf down both cakes in one day.

Next sweet thing..

Two paintings that I have been slowly finishing for the last few days. I might have to do one hundred more of these, as there are so many cat faces that need representation. They are available in my Etsy shop.

Third super sweet thing is:

Won a trip to Montreal!

Going to Pop Montreal on a TRAIN. Can you tell what part I am excited about? Haha. I lived in a "train town" most of my life and never went on a train. It just sounds fun to me. I don't know any of the bands at this festival, but there are so many i am sure I will like some of them. Never been to Montreal before, it will be *so* interesting.

AND

1500 sales at my Etsy!!!! SWEEEET.

Thanks to all my customers, you guys are big buckets of sweet sugar and stuff. Big thanks to Lynds the Crazy Cat Lady for the purchase that put me over the top. :-) YAY.

Oh yeah, and last sweet thing is that its getting colder and I can wear coats. YES. This is a big deal to me. Coat addiction activate! :-)

Halloween fever.

They are back!

Halloweeeeen Pins!

I decided to bring back my two little halloween pins again this year. I am just offering them until Halloween (duh!) I think I am more excited about Halloween than usual, maybe I am just embracing my dorkiness earlier than I usually do. :-)

Halloween is great.

New black things...

New things in my shop this week...

Glittery bat! A hanging clay bat covered in the finest black glitter. He has little orange glitter eyes too. Black glitter is EVERYWHERE!

Glittery Coffin! This little clay coffin has both silver and black glitter. Its really quite tiny in real life.

And this new Bad Black Cat Bookmark. I had another black cat bookmark, but since that has been sent off to blackforestcake, I thought I needed another one. This one is a bit more of an evil little black cat. Not that black cats are ever evil. No. Never....

I have a few more things that I am editing photographs for too!

I will raise it from the boneyard.

Its kind of dead around here...

There comes a time in every blogs life when they sit un-updated and boring. Its inevitable! I can't help it! So its not even my fault or anything... (haha, I think they bought it.)

Ok, so I have made up a bunch of little sets of mini gravestones. I already listed a set of four, and a set of two. I could have made them all day, its so FUN.

I have been keeping busy doing nothing. Buying books, making terrible cookies, trying to eat veggies and nerding out over halloween. This weekend my neighbourhood has a street festival, so much food and drink will be had. I will have to try to make more of an effort to take pics and post them. Its a cute festival.

Blog entry! Hah. I did it!

Socks

I made a sock creature for a friends birthday, then got a great idea to make...

Haha! He is cute! I listed him at blackforestcake.

There is a quirkiness built into sock monkeys. Judging from every one I have ever encountered, there is bound to be some interesting flubs, lumps, and weirdness that makes each sock monkey its own. They naturally have that kind of unique wonkiness that people who make hip, handmade stuff often try to fake. haha! I think I will make more. Its fun!

The one I made for my friend is a prototype, and is still secret. Its a little less "cutesy" and a little more "evil." I am working on the design a bit more before revealing it.

Now I have to go lay in a wilted puddle on the floor. Melt.

Lil clay things

No, I haven't died.

I just took a mini-vacation.

Maybe it was a bit longer than I expected, but circumstances called for it. I guess its finished now and I am working on a few projects all at once...

This is one of the things I am trying. Sculpey!

Its a really easy product to work with. It feels a lot like plasticine, but bakes hard in an oven. I am experimenting with building little wire armatures, and baking each little item more than once, building up layers. Its fun. I think I could use a few more tools though...

The real purpose of making these wonky little things is so I would have something cute to paint. Sculpey actually comes in tons of colours, but since I was going to paint everything, I just used the normal artists "Super Sculpey."

You can see my little items are in fact little.

I know some people get REALLY good at making tiny objects, and it can take years. While researching it I saw a ton of amazing creations... I have a lot of ideas for things to make, but they all revolve around the idea that I will paint them, so I have to do this test batch of little things to figure out the mechanics of that. Making little clay items is super fun, but if they look like a kid did them after they are painted (like they do now) then I am abandoning the experiment.

So the first watery coat of primer is on (that is what you see in the photo) then I will probably sand them a bit, then paint and seal with varnish. Crossing my fingers it will alllll work out. I might declare this weekend a "working weekend" where I just watch movies and drink tons of coffee and make stuff.

FOOD.

So I decided to drown my sorrows in the most stereotypical girl way. EAT FOOD.

But first I had to make food!

I was using my new KitchenAid mixer and Martha Stewart's Cupcake book. The topping recipe made SO much streusel that I was like "Oh crap, I did something wrong!" Each little cupcake was under a mini sandpile of topping!

But I soon learned that the recipe was fine. The cupcakes (muffins?) puffed up and they smelled amazing. Drizzle, drizzle with glaze and TAH-DAH!

YUM. I made a tray of big huge fatty cupcakes and a half tray of teeny little cutey muffins. They were so good, but so freaking messy! There is streusel topping fallout all over the apartment.

Here is the recipe online if you dare make these badboys. I even used my awesome cupcake papers I purchased on Etsy from The LayerCakeShop. On all the ones I DIDN'T photograph. OOPS. Trust me, they were adorable and stripey.

So my mixer is awesome, my cupcakes were awesome, and I even got myself to finish and list the painting I sneak peeked in my last post... Which is awesome if you ignore the general laziness.

Its listed at my blackforestcake shop. Duh.

So its Friday, and miraculously there are TWO cupcakes left. I must avert my eyes, so I can have cupcake and coffee while watching cartoons on Saturday morning.

Do not read if in a good mood.

Ok, stuff sucks. Phew! At least I got that out of the way right away.

Its summer, Toronto garbage strike, Etsy problems, wedding screw ups, traveling, job hunting, sensitive skin, people being idiots, my computer imploding...GAH!!! I could go on and on. WOE IS ME.

Here is a painting that has been sitting unfinished for weeks...

Its currently wet with its first coat of varnish and its at its most screw-upable. Little fuzzies, blobs, smears and bubbles stay the heck away from my varnish. I am SO not in the mood for it!!!

If it wasn't for the nightly baby raccoon party directly outside my window, I would be kicking puppies and slapping old ladies.

Can't all be sweetness and cakes can it? :-P

FREE SHIPPING SURPRISE!

Yep! FREE.


I have never offered free shipping in my shop EVER before!

This is a surprise sale, and it won't last for long. So if you have been holding off getting that spooky special something, now is the time!

EDIT: My free shipping promotion is now over! Thanks to all those who took part.

Friday. Yesss.

The two new sticker sets for blacklilypie are in the shop!



Monogram Sticker Set (Customizable!) and Gothic Girl Set.

I received my birthday gift a day early! Mostly because it was in a big box and my dude had no where to hide it...Ok, and because I was bouncing around asking for it constantly like a spoiled child.



KitchenAid mixer! Isn't it cute? Even with my greasy fingerprints all over it and photographed lazily at night... I was just complaining that many of the dessert recipes I want to make need a mixer. It looks small in the photo, but in reality its a monster to someone with 2 square feet of counter space.
I teased dude that it was sort of a weird and "wifely" gift to get for your birthday. He said it was this or a gift certificate for an expensive tattoo. Both gifts will last forever. ;-)

I will have to buy myself something immature with my birthday gift spoils. (Thanks Mum!) Makeup! Clothes! OOh, or maybe some imported good from the chinese mall next weekend. *Drools*

Cake and Pie

I have been focusing on adding new products to my cutesy shop, blackforestcake. But I have not forgotten about blacklilypie!

This is a sticker set that is waiting to have its photoshoot. I just snapped this one as I was re-shooting some other items. *EDIT* They are now listed here. I have a few other sticker sets on the board too.

I designed this topper to be used with multiple sets, making it easier and faster to produce with just a few elements that change. I am working on a monogram set this afternoon. :-)

I have been posting links to some books I am in love with on Twitter, but I don't want anyone missing out, so here they are:


..

-Martha Stewart's Cupcakes-I liked the Cookies book she did so much I had to have the cupcake one. I can't wait to try some of them. Plus there is vampire bat cupcake. I pretty much squealed. Love her or hate her, she has good people working on her books.

-Gothic and Lolita by Phaidon-There is just something so awesome about seeing real people wearing clothes like this with all their little DIY additions and attention to detail. I just get a fuzzy feeling when people are weirdos, and they go to weirdo bars and cafes with their weirdo friends and don't care if you think they are silly. I also love seeing peoples rooms.

-Japanese Goth-Illustration,fashion,dolls,bands, and everything in between. Would have made a really great huge coffee table book. I just eat up some of those beautiful pictures. Here is an interview with one of the authors and some examples from the book...

I like books. There are stacks of them I should mention here. Maybe I should try to keep on that. ;-)

blackforestcake!!

SOOOOO....

My new shop is live!

The idea behind opening a new shop is so I can eventually separate my items into cute and kid friendly items and spookier and darker items. I know many peoples cute and spooky axis cross, but many peoples don't. So instead of limiting myself to create things that ride the middle, I can feel free to be as sweet or as dark as I like. Ahhh, thats better! :-)

This new shop will focus on animals, cakes and sweets, items for kids (and big kids.) I will be adding lots of affordable paper goods, some prints for kids rooms, original art...

The new shop will never be as large as blacklilypie, which is my true love. But its nice to have more space to stretch, and bouncing back and forth between dark and light will be great for fighting creative fatigue.

Thanks for looking! Now everyone go eat some cake.

Mini Trip

Zoomed home to my parents on the weekend. It was a crazy fast trip, there and back powered by ice cream, Tim Hortons and chocolate mini eggs.

Zip! I saw a moose but I was too slow.

I spent my weekend lounging on the deck with my parents, soaking up that tiny sliver of time in Northern Ontario that you can be outside when its warm and the bugs are not biting you yet. I even ate a hamburger from the BBQ, which is the thing I pine for the most each summer. I don;t even care about meat at all, but the BBQ smell and the summer feeling just makes me so happy.

Their lawn is a mass of these tiny flowers. They look so organized in batches of colours...Love them. I think everyone agreed it was a shame to mow them, so no one did.

So you can see that I obviously didn't get any work done.

I am continuing to work on my second Etsy shop items, I keep having to push back my shop opening date and its making me grumpy. But it will happen soon. I will finally commit to a day and start sneak peeking items. Just not today. :-)

Now if the delivery man would arrive with the supplies I ordered, I can get to printing cute creatures!

Sweet Secrets...

I mentioned in my last post that I am working on opening a second Etsy shop...

Its still not open, because I want to have a nice little starter set of items to stock it. I also am working on the branding, graphics and other things that ones worries about.

I can give you some sneak peeks of my progress though...

Cakes!

Strawberries!

And doodles!
(You have no idea how many time I have held up these guys and said "SO KEY-YUTE!!" I am in love with them.)

I think the shop might be open next week. I have to buy some specific supplies to finish some items and its my dudes b-day AND a long weekend with lots of plans, so I don't know how much time I will have available to me. So I am not giving an opening date yet. But its coming!! :-)

I call him Lefty.

So my work-on-stuff-and-post-it plans got a bit messed up when my dude decided he is a sports superhero and dislocated his shoulder.

He tells me he was making a totally amazing catch in softball and somehow fell. So Lefty and I spent time at a tiny walk-in clinic (which was majorly depressing and full of sad poor people.) I have been babying him a bit evn though he isn't even being a baby about the whole thing. he is just kind of useless at doing anything!

But he is back at work with flashy red arm sling, so I can work again.

I finished my calendar (Which Cathy totally guessed it would be!)



I decided to add colour after all and I think I like it. If you are not a "write stuff on a calendar" type person, I have also made one without the grid, which I will be listing tomorrow. It has a slightly different colour scheme.*EDIT* Here!

I also snatched up a second Etsy shop username, which I am going to start planning on setting up and filling up in the near future. Its still sort of a secret I guess. ;-)

Working on something new...

Spiders like flowers.

Can you tell what it will be?

I had this illustration board hanging around that is not the usual surface that I like to paint on. Its slick, and even has a bit of a shine. It seemed perfect for ink.

The surprising thing is that I actually did a pretty organized and complete sketch. I often just go "EH, I will figure it out as I go" and that is sometimes a horrible idea. I then decided to use an ink pen instead of the acrylic ink and brush I have been favoring lately.



This is actually a test print of the drawing, after it was scanned and Photoshopped. I was going to add digital colour, but once it got to the completed ink stage, I just liked it as is. Its not a secret that I always like line art better then the coloured versions. I bet I had a lot of blank colouring books as a kid.

I am not even going to pretend that this is going to be finished before monday. Its the weekend! No one wants paper goods with Cheetos fingerprints on them. :-)

New dolls!

I have two little guys to show today.

The shadow has been revealed. Its a smartly dressed mini-cat. I used a version of my larger cat pattern. I just wanted to make the tiny clothes...He has a little tie, vest and a walking stick with a glass bead. Smartly dressed gent. I almost gave him a little bowler or top hat, but it seemed like overkill.

And this little scamp (or vamp?) is the first of the crew of cemetery bats I have been sneak-peeking for you.

He wanted his coffin to match his eyes. I mean, who doesn't?

I have 5 other undead bats to work on photos for. Each is a bit different. Making a ton of little dolls on stands wasn't as easy at I thought it would be, it took really long. The hint in that statement is that these guys may not be a regular feature in my shop...My favorite part was making the little tombstones. That was SO FUN. :-)

More tomorrow.

Sneak Peek. Still.

So instead of finishing my new creations today I did laundry and dishes and made muffins and other boring things that the wife of a house does.

Then I decided to work on some little bat beasties, maybe take a photo to show their progress...

BUT SOMETHING WEIRD HAPPENED!

AHHHH! A strange shadow appeared in my photo! OMG GUYS! I am so scared. The shadow looks so....dapper and dashing. What could it BE? I am too scared to work anymore tonight.

I am betting the source of the mystery shadow, some beastie bats and some other spooky creations will show up on Thursday or Friday on this blog and in the shop. I hope I can make it till then without more terror!

EDIT: The project is growing! I need some more spooky components that I will seek out on the weekend. MONDAY!

Junk and Stuff

Working on new mini-items...



I am making some mini-animals on little stands. Its a messy job, because I need SO many different materials to make them and their homes. Felt,beads,cardboard,glue,thread,fabric,paper...PHEW!

Some are sweet and some are spoooooky. :-)

Prom!

Prom!

The Winterwoods at their prom, before they were The Winterwoods of course.

Because the subject matter, I felt like it was ok to have a bit more fun, and not worry as much about the stuff I usually do. Its more cartoon, right? Fast and furious.

Being a Canadian, I didn't have a "prom." I had a semi-formal (whatever that was for) and a "Grad" when I graduated. Both were crappy. I think I went to both, even though my internal voice screamed nooooo! Live and Learn. I skipped my high school and university graduations ceremonies, so I guess I learned my lesson. Since I have also decided not to have a wedding, I am home free for "everyone look at me and my big dress" events for life. WooHOOO!