goodbye july...

...hello august!

A new month starting tomorrow means a new calendar desktop wallpaper. Surprised Seashell, like myself, can hardly believe that August is here. I mean, summer is nearly over! Around here, there will still be plenty of time before school starts, but not so for many folks. Better enjoy the last days of free time...head to the beach, soak up some sun, relax...

But first, prepare your computer's desktop!

when i have time...

This has been a very full week of work for me...and it's only Wednesday! But along the way I've found time to spot a few things that I really do need to try out, as soon as I find the time:

Knitted Market Bag. This tutorial looks fairly simple, and I would love a bag like this. The only thing is, I don't knit in the summer. I just can't.


Ciabatta Bread. Heidi Kenney made this, and it looked wonderful. Again, summer gets in the way with all the heat. But I have an idea that it might just work on the gas grill. Worth a shot!

Shrinky Dinks. I loved these as a kid, and in fact, have some of the real deal around here waiting to be used. But it's so stinking expensive! Playing around with recycling to make them sounds way fun.

Cupcake Pops. These will have to happen fairly soon. As in, block party next week soon. So cute, so fun and easy to eat! Bakerella, why didn't I know you existed?

more recycled embroidery...

Over the weekend I finished the rest of the Recyclers. They'll soon find their way to my wall, but I think they will also be embroidered onto a canvas tote. Even though these are the only four characters I made for buttons, I'm now working on a few other trash-minded doodles that may find their way to embroidery as well.





And, entirely unrelated, I made an Etsy Treasury today (while I should have been working). Check out [CAKE].

recycled stitchery...

Embroidery has been on my mind lately. Hand-stitching is something I enjoy, and I like having something to work on while watching a movie or some TV on DVD. So I thought I would try stitching some of my illustration doodles. Recycled Aluminum was the first, and I put my blood, sweat and tears into him. Well, my blood anyway. My great-grandma Mollie (whom I'm named after) supposedly bled on everything she made. I must be following in her footsteps.



Remade Paper is finished now (the eyes made me crazy!), but here it is as a work in progress. When all four of the Recyclers are done, they'll most likely find their way onto my office wall. But when I start making more, (I know I will...these are just too fun) I see myself overrun with embroidery!

By the way, my sister took these photos for me with her stunning new camera...Oh, yeah, I'm jealous!

monkey boys...

A while back, I posted about some of my favorite mini-shows from the old ABC One Saturday Morning. I'm still trying to find a way to watch Flyndiggery Do, but in the meantime, I did a little searching and rediscovered Monkey Boys! We often joke at this house about Monkey Boys!, as children wreak havoc. But the kids here hadn't seen this televised delight, so I've taken it upon myself to introduce them. Enjoy!

leaf me alone...

stop bugging me...

Just a quick post to show off this amazing bug. I went to take down the Frustrated Firecracker decorations still hanging outside (they've survived THREE big thunder storms!), and discovered this attached to one of them. Pretty cool! So, the decorations are still up, but this butterfly/leaf/insect is enjoying hanging out. You can see it really big on Flickr!

new tags...

I love paper. So you can imagine my glee when I opened a box containing the above tags. My items that I make have been packaged using tags made of kraft paper. I love the look, but it is a royal pain to cut the rolled paper and get it to feed through the printer. Plus, I wanted something more substantial that I could use as a business card or promotional piece. So I've been hunting. And then I found Uprinting.com. They will make custom size printed pieces, and the cost is amazingly low, especially at higher quantities.

My logo on these has been updated, so that will end up changing here on the blog, and at the shop too...I wanted to take full advantage of the 4-color printing, plus it felt like time. The tags/cards above are 2" x 2" on glossy cardstock. The color is a bit different than what I saw on my screen, but that's expected. Other than that, the quality is wonderful. And although shipping went up, the price for the printing remained the same for 100 or 3000. So I got 3000.

baker's best friends...for you...

I shared the Baker's Best (Ingredient) Friends recipe cards a couple days ago, but here are their companions, Baker's Best (Tool) Friends. AND, these really are being shared, because you can download 4 of the 16 designs for FREE! Tristan of the Blah, Blah, Blahg asked me to create a guest download, and so these cards are what came about. (They just happened to inspire a lot more cards than I planned on.) A big thanks to Tristan, and huge welcome to those finding Wild Olive by way of the Blah, Blah Blahg!

today i got...

...this new color laser printer...

I'm very excited about it, because I've wanted one for so long. This, I have been reminded many times, is an early (4 months) birthday gift. This is nicer than any gift I would expect to get. Really. But it's something that I can really use, and of course the family will too. The prints on top are something that I'm just about done with. In fact, they will be officially photographed tomorrow in all their food/planning glory.

...sunburn...

No photo of that though. But I'm hurtin'. I suppose that's what I get for hanging out at the pool when I should have been working...

so excited about new items...

...that I printed out these cards and photographed them without noticing the typo. Can you spot it? If not, click on the picture and the answer is at Flickr in the note.

Anyway, these Baker's Best (Ingredient) Friends are now gracing printable recipe cards, and they are available in the shop. Flour, Sugar, Butter, Eggs, Vanilla, Milk, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Powdered Sugar, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon and Chocolate Chips are all there! And soon, a collection of baking tools will be in the shop too! More about that next week.

I feel as though I've really found something good with these printable files. They are fun to make, and are super practical. (Others must think so too...they are a popular item!) I'm currently working on other types of printable files for the shop, including invitations and menu/calendar planning pages. Got an idea for a printable you'd like to see? Let me know!

baking up some new doodles...

Busy, busy. I'm smack in the middle of making some new illustration doodles, and I really excited about the project they are for. The theme of these 28, yes, 28 doodles is baking, something very dear to me. Expect to see new printable products in the shop soon, as well as a fun downloadable surprise!

Now, back to work!

overheard...

...in my living room this morning:

"This is not a circus!"

Which of course, is entirely untrue. This, my house, my family, my life, is so a circus.

in the spirit of spontaneity ...

Tonight I was sitting by the pool with my feet in the water. My 3-year-old sister came along and wanted to sit on my lap. Ever so slowly, she became brave, and eventually was entirely in the water, sitting on my feet. Then the fun began. She encouraged our brother to jump in nearby. He did. I was pretty wet. But then he jumped in a few more times and I was soaked. So the next time he jumped in, I hopped in too (holding my sister, of course). Imagine their surprise to see me swimming in my clothes...

a marriage of great foods...

For some time, I've been sketching some ideas for new food illustration doodles. Here is the idea. 1 food + 1 food = 1 new food. The grilled cheese above is a good example of that. But I am willing to include things where other lesser ingredients would be necessary for the final item, but only two main things. So far I have a collection of these foods going, but I would like more.

So, anyone interested in throwing some ideas my way? I don't know how many I'll end up making, so I could choose one or two, or twelve. When they are all finished though, they'll become recipe cards and more, so if I use your idea, I'll send you the file as a thank you!

gifts for my parents...

On either side of the 4th of July holiday, my parents have birthdays. These days the celebrations are what we call around here, "Happy Stupid Birthday." As in, not too much goes on, and that's okay. But in keeping with my plan to only make the gifts I give to my family this year, here are the simple things I made. The cakes above are my gift to my dad. Sure this could just be dessert, but these were made from scratch on a hot day (today). Trust me, this was special.

And below are some brooches I made for my mom. They are the "Folk Svenska" illustrations that I've been mulling over for a while. The idea for laminated brooches came from yaelfran, and I think that the clog, fisk and dala came out quite well...

there may be something there...the video...

Back in December, after my family's trip to Disney World, I mentioned an incident that happened with The Beast's pants during a show. At long last, here is the video I took of said incident.

You'll notice him trying to get his pants back up, but they wouldn't cooperate. The reactions of fellow cast members are great too, especially when you consider the lyrics and lines they have to deliver...

treats for the 4th...

Today has been a day of making treats for Independence Day. I was really hoping that the weather would be cool enough for me to bake, because I really hate having the oven going when it's 4th of July hot. And fortunately, it was a nice cool day!

So, star sandwich cookies, blueberry flag cookies (didn't get a picture yet), giant biscuits for strawberry shortcake (finished product pics tomorrow), and rice krispy treats were made. As well as potato salad. The star sandwiches were made with the recipe for "Merry Christmas Cookies" from the old Betty Crocker Cooky Book. They have honey in them and lemon flavoring. They almost have a spice cookie taste. But the extra special part is the raspberry jam in the middle. Yum. I think I should have made a double batch.



Krispy treats disappear fast around here, so I made a lot. A lot, a lot. But I only wrapped half of them in red cellophane topped with a hand-drawn sticker. I think they came out really cute. And I'm hoping that the neighbors were unable to tell that I was photographing snacks on the front lawn...

decorate with frustration...

Hopefully I won't get too frustrated when it comes down to the upcoming celebration of independence. I have an ever-growing list of things I hope to accomplish, and I'm not sure if it will all happen. One of the items on the list is to make a bunch of these Frustrated Firecracker decorations to hang around the patio umbrella, near the food table, etc. You can download the printable PDF and make some too!

Now, what is the worst enemy of a firecracker? Water. (Paper doesn't like it much either!) Of course, just after I took that top picture, the worst happened. I'm not sure if it was a breeze, or my sleeve, but into the pool Frustrated Firecracker went. Now he's really not happy...