Thrifty Magic

If you haven't discovered the magic of thrift-ing, I think you should start.

It requires digging into 40% uninteresting things all of which are 100% not clean to questionable levels, but there are some amazing things in the heaps of stuff that only look  like trash. (just think of your attic at home)

On my way home from work I stopped by the Lamma animal shelter which doubles as a thrift store and took a look. I was kinda tired, and not really in the mood to dig and was on my out, when a dark frame caught my eye. So I stopped and took a second look. Two detailed old style lithograph prints (I mean prints of the original print) in heavy wood and glass frames. Dusty to be sure, so I asked how much there were. Friends, a mere 20 HKD (a little under 3 USD) per frame in it's entirety, art included!

You be the judge, was it worth it?

Personally I think the glass is worth more than that alone. The best part of thrifting is that most of things you find are older, which might mean more repairs, or stains, probably a small chip, something you'll definately have to clean and air out.

Or it could mean things they no longer make that you've been searching for, something the previous owner couldn't appreciate like you can, maybe a more unique piece to hang on your wall than the mass production at Pier One. Or something out of your price range at anthro (p.s. they thrift to get some things in their store too).

Give thrifting a try! Books, art, belts, cameras, furniture at architectural salvage shops, dishes, that can stand the test of years, sometimes decades, can make your home beautiful and unique at a sweet price, while recycling on top of it all.

Could it Be? Flattery?

Hey blog-o-friends! It's Novemeber, that disturbingly close to the end of the year month. Time to rake up resolutions and finish projects. As it were I've taken to writing. I discovered nanowrimo. Did you know November is national novel writing month? Apparently it is! I had no idea! (also didn't know a novel was anything over 50,000 words) If you so choose, join as well. You only need to write 1667 words per day to reach a novel by the end of a month. So far it's rather enjoyable, i'm sure that will change once I get farther in. Regardless.

I also came to the realization that I hadn't drawn anything of substance for a long while (almost 2 years) to remedy this I've begun another project that's been stewing for a while. It's a common catch phrase/proverb Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. While i'm not sure if this is entirely true (especially when the imitation is dodgy; Karl Lagerfeld probably doesn't appreciate cheep imitation knockoffs) I think that it probably somewhat flattering if the imitation is a transformative work, or gives proper credit. Continuing this line of thinking i've begun a new series Imitation = Flattery .

To begin we have Frank Miller's 'Nancy'. Followed by my copy in pencil.



I've got to say it was alot more cerebral than I thought it would be. It's not heavily ornamented so there's nothing to distract from a poorly drawn line or unclean edge. Everything must be carefully edged and finished, it really makes you appreciate a pencil sharper.

Etsy Revival!

Hey Friends!

Took a tiny break from blogging to focus on my Etsy for a bit, I've recently quit my job and took the opportunity to organize my flat and get around to the growing pile of  'projects-to-get-to'. One of which is a series of cashmere sweaters. Seriously, I exaggerate not. These pictures and posting is three years in the making, I hope your as excited as I.

Here's a link (sadly, not the legend of zelda kind)

Kindly take a gander and leave pearls of sagely wisdom!

Friggatriskaidekaphobia!

Hurrah, hurray for Fridays, and soulful evenings with friends, good live music and half inch thick by 7 inch cookies. Mmm. I know, it's been a week since I posted, erk, *bonks-self-on-nose* bad Joanna but it's been a long week.

YAY! breezy made me a poppy hair clip it was uber cute :D

Poppy hair clip :D

Tuesday my parents came back from a 13 day search for a new home in colorado, so of course I procrastinated and didn't really clean, and was late picking them up. Then they tell me we have a new home, and the agent is coming sunday, and the moving evaluators are coming monday and I have 4 days to clean, craft, and drive my mother around for errands. BOO. Not to mention they have all this home improvment they have to get worked out this weekend, before my father has to go work in colorado, so their really stressed and barking orders and it's general chaos at my house.

Luckily my friend Amanda saves me, and via the magic/evil of facebook we planned a day of cake baking :D. The recipe changed multiple times but in the end she chose a red velvet 3 layered heart cake with meringue frosting and almond heart garnishes. 2 grocery trips, 15 minutes of trying to get her dog to stop quivering, and a sandwich later, be began on our endeavor. We double the recipe, and had alot of questions (does pink instead of red make a difference, how much cocoa was that again, does the meringue look 'peaked' to you?) WAIT! 2 cups of vinegar? ..vinegar?! Luckily we didn't put the vinegar in. it was a minor handwriting-0, but still i was reaal hesitant to put 2 teaspoons of vinegar in.

Egg in a shell :D! It's just so perfectly fitted.

Red, well, pink velvet mix.

Question: (this goes to all you bakers) have you ever put vinegar in a cake, any cake? let me know, it was foreign to me! Anyways in the end the cake was going pretty ok, until we put the meringue on. Sorry Amanda, it was just an odd, odd cake, and not very stable, and kinda lumpy. sad :(

Anyways that was Wednesday, on thursday i got lots of colored polyvinyl to make my camera shaped camera bag. Yay for sales! the vinyl was the 3 mm thick premium kind :D! and on sale for 3 dollars a yard (compared to it's normal 7 dollars) I had a good talk with Kionna and we worked out the details to the lining; i spent thursday night making the rest of the template. I plan on devoting my monday to it so plan on pictures maybe tuesday, probably thursday.

Friday the 13 was wonderful, it snowed a butt-ton (7 ish inches). i don't care what the weatherman said no way was it four! for all intensive purposes i discredited him the moment my mother sent me to school in full rain garb with no change of clothes and it didn't rain a lick that day, and i couldn't play with the other children because of my yellow plastic coat that stuck to everything. :/

anyhow....bemis in downtown omaha had a benefit concert FRIGGATRSKAIDEKAPHOBIA!(lineup: Honeybee, Bear Country, Capgun Coup, Conchance, & Box Elders) and my asian counterpart Moral invited me to the preparty with a small tilly and the wall concert! So I dragged my ass out of bed, shoveled the snow, and bust out of the house to brave the crappy snow-covered roads. 20 minutes later I am downtown getting a signature sharpie X drawn on my hand and eating abnormally giant oatmeal raisin cookies. *mini heaven*

We (Alexandra, Moral, Claire, Mary, and I) danced along as tilly played sing songs along, and couple of random songs, a 'beat control' cover, and freest man :D (fave!) And Jamie had her cute nephew there too, which of course i took pictures of. After Moral's dad managed let us meet the band and take pictures *contented sigh*

Honeybee was wonderful, and so was Bear Country (i think i subconsciously like bluegrass/country twang) but at the end i left around midnight, so tired since i had been there since seven. All in all Friday the 13th was a success and nothing but snow went wrong take that!

Conchence.

Susan sings soulfully (Bear Country)

Instrumentalist from Honeybee, jamin' on the melodica

Melissa (Honeybee) & hubby Brandon in the background

Honeybee brought a quilt!

I think she might have noticed Amelie (my camera)

Moral, Alexander, Claire, Mary & I with Tilly and the Wall

Cute keyboardist!

Awesome sketchy man with great shirt & scarf combo.

Balloons & an oval tambourine.

Mmm. Hydration.

Jamie's having fun!

Kionna shows her UK pride

Sing songs along!

They're looking at her nephew who was fixated on the moracca

Opening song

Nephew silhouette

That's all for now!, tomorrow i'm making record bowls and i've decided to make this more a photo & crafts blog so the theme will be animals!