Friday Five (Vol. 18)

Since I don't have classes on Wednesdays and sometimes (shocker) I don't feel like sewing or crocheting, I like to bake. I made sugar cookies. Let me stop here really quickly. I used to bake all the time when I lived at my parent's house and somehow I couldn't make anything taste good. The simplest recipes would come out and taste like chalk or rubber. I had never, until two days ago, made good sugar cookies from scratch. These were awesome. And I made some icing from scratch and added some food coloring and cinnamon to make them more fall-y.

Left some un-iced because Casey doesn't care for it. Plus I made the BEST batch of peanut butter cookies of my life. Even added some crunched up peanuts. Of course those are gone...

For some reason last night I was bored with my Mac and spent awhile making my dock look awesome. I downloaded the free version (really, who's going to pay $29 to make their dock icons different?) of CandyBar and played around with it for awhile. I'm pleased.

And of course I can't adjust my dock and not change my desktop icons. I made them festive for Halloween. I guess this is my equivalent to decorating my house.

This week my mom was picking up something she left at the apartment and brought Mowgli!! I got to dogsit her for an hour or so. She was really nervous to be away from Jezzebelle and in a new place, but eventually she found her spot. She lays in the window seat at my parent's house and stares outside about 75% of her life. Well let's just say this is much bigger and more exciting. I just had to keep her from barking and annoying our neighbors.

This week was so dreary and nothing much happened, so I'm sorry for the repetitive five. I'm really hoping the sun comes out at all next week. I really need to take pictures of my new stuffffffff.

Make sure you enter the giveaway!

909 Cherry Giveaway

909's first giveaway is for one of the new pencil cases! For details on entering and pictures of what you could win, read on! Abundance of exclamation points!

Up for grabs is one of the above pencil cases.

To enter: Comment on this post telling me which case is your favorite, and follow either my blog (through GoogleReader or Bloglovin') and/or my Twitter. Easy peasy.

If you're curious:

• Turquoise Pencil Case - Black Lining - Orange Zipper
• Plaid Pencil Case - Maroon Lining - Gold Zipper
• Rust Pencil Case - Sage Green Lining - Plum Zipper
• Pink Zoo Pencil Case - Pastel Green Lining - Pink Zipper
• Yellow Nature Pencil Case - Kelly Green Lining - White Zipper

The giveaway will be open until next Wednesday October 5th!

The winner will be chosen on Wednesday morning using random.org and announced later in the day.

Good luck everyone!

Nails of the Moment Vol. 18

Orly - Space Cadet (3 coats)

Everyone, meet my new favorite nail polish. This photo does it no justice. This color is about 534,345,768 colors in one. I'm a sucker for the name, too. The whole Cosmic FX collection from Orly was amazing. I own this and Halley's Comet and want all the rest.

Ahh. I want to name nail polishes. I could be good at it. I can just feel it.

Okay: in regards to the rest of the week I've got the giveaway planned for tomorrow! Friday's usual Friday Five is in place and then Monday I'm announcing a new collection - yes, I'm doing collections now. And I'm excited about it.

So there's all that.

Back to the sewing machine.

Leftovers

I've been cutting patterns for more pencil cases. I think I'll let the winner of the upcoming giveaway choose between these four designs. Which do you like best?

This past weekend Casey's best friend celebrated his 23rd birthday. I made cupcakes. And they were awesome. I really like the color of the icing. Of course I saved a few to keep in the apartment and now there's only one left. Tempting.

So now my nail polish goal has been going on for about three months. Considering I change my polish up bi-weekly you might think I'd gotten farther. The picture above is of all the nail polishes I have yet to use... looking at this is pretty sad. The chunk on the left is 4 polish rows deep... Looks like I won't get a new bottle for a long time. Thank heavens I said Christmas presents don't count.

These are the polishes I've used so far. Looks pretty sad in comparison. (PS: I'm going to be doing a bedroom tour soon. I realized I'd only done two areas and still have apartment to cover!)

LOUIE! has been so much better with us. He hasn't bitten anyone in days (haha) and comes out when I start talking to him. Of course he still moves around too much to get good pictures. I had to use flash in the picture above, but he still looks cute! He runs to the door and props himself up when I talk to him.

I got his foot in focus!!

I found out that Louie's favorite food is sunflower seeds. He almost falls out of his cage trying to grab them from me sometimes.

I've had a relatively productive start to my week. I'm trying to decide which company I'll get my business cards from and which design I'll use. Luckily I took the final for one of my classes on Saturday and now have one less class to worry about!

Stay tuned for the giveaway later this week and let me know which case pattern/color combination you like best!

Nails of the Moment Vol. 17

Essie - Mint Candy Apple (3 coats)

Good polish. Absurd name.

Friday Five (17) - Zoo Favorites

1. The alligators: My mom and I went to the zoo when it opened on Wednesday morning. It looked like rain and not a lot of people were there. The animals were PERFECT. We saw just about everything but the tiger - they were cleaning or something. But the alligators were about the best. Normally they're sunning way back in the exhibit, but this time they were obviously front and center. And a little creepy.

2. This sassy goose: Our family has a membership to our zoo and my mom went not long before we did and said she saw (what a messy sentence this is) a new goose that was white and beautiful and she wanted pictures. I knew as soon as I saw her. And she was so snooty. Doesn't she look like the goose version of Anna Wintour?

3. These...birds: I'm guilty of not really reading signs. I like to look not read when I go to the zoo. Occasionally I'll want to know where something's from (the penguins from our zoo are from South Africa?), but other than that I stay blissfully unaware of names and "fun facts". But I watched these two fighting over worms for a few minutes. I didn't get a good picture, but they are beautiful. And in the Australia section of the zoo - which we seldom visit do to the red sand that tends to stain shoes - there was a lot I'd been missing.

4. Wah! Baby wildebeest! The way our zoo's Africa section is set up, the wildebeest, which I love, are very hard to get a good view of. Thank god for my zoom, because there was a baby. This is him attempting to lay back down. You should have seen the trial and error of standing up. So adorable. And gigantic.

5. The honey badger: Need I even write a caption?

I have a feeling we're going to wear out our zoo pass in the last month it's open. What's your favorite zoo? I've been to my fair share. We always seem to vacation in cities with amazing zoos. My favorite that I've seen so far is the Pittsburgh one. I'd love to go back.

PS: Be sure to check the shop! I updated like crazy!

Bon weekend!

New Pencil Cases

I finally got around to updating the shop a little. I figure I'll update the shop with nearly everything I make and set my shop to vacation mode during the craft shows. That way there's no stock just sitting and waiting. ANYWAY. I made some more pencil cases. They're currently in the shop.

Starting now, all my zipper cases will be made using brand new YKK zippers. No more old metal ones - not that those are crappy, just that YKK zippers are nice nice nice.

The ones pictured above are my favorites. And both the fabrics used were super generously donated to me by Lauren from Gamine.

So check out the new zipper cases, and watch the shop because there are going to be all kinds of updates.

In other news:

• I will be having the very first 909 Cherry giveaway next week! I'll be giving away a pencil case. So stay tuned for that.
• I have an emerging line of scarves and possibly fingerless gloves for fall and winter.
• I've signed up for two craft shows in November, so I'm going to be busting my butt for those.
• I met the manager of a store I REALLY want to work at today and am applying, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

And I think that's all for now!

Let me know which pencil cases are your favorite!

Nails of the Moment Vol. 16

Essie - Great Expectations (3 coats)

This is sheer as sheer, but it's got to be one of my favorites. It was my first Essie polish and definitely my closest to empty. I've never finished a nail polish. Weird. Then again I only just started collecting. Rambles.

And I just love the name. Even though I've only read the abridged version of the book (my stupid elementary school career was FULL of reading "abridged" classics from the library without realizing they were abridged. I thought I was a god-sent genius. So pissed.)

Johnny Appleseed Festival 2011

This past weekend was Johnny Appleseed weekend in Fort Wayne. It's where a bunch of people dress like pioneers and settlers and set up craft booths, antiques, and food. It's pretty great. Although I'm not one for crowds. And there are crowds.

Casey and I went early and met up with my family a little later. Pictured above are my dad and Becky, a close family friend.

One booth was selling potpourri in the shape of tiny pumpkins. I regret not getting pictures of the FOOD! Casey and I got caramel corn and chicken dumplings. I get the same stuff every year. The festival is famous for those things, sarsaparilla, ham and beans, cornbread, candy apples and fudge as well. It's kind of like a fall kickoff.

This is my younger brother Alex. I'll have everyone know I torture this kid with pictures. Every time I see him I take pictures. So this is him, getting a little annoyed.

The one and only picture I got of people...and Casey kind of ruined it. This obviously doesn't show much. I was horrible when it came to the pictures. They all turned out to be of Alex.

Maybe next year I'll do better. But other than a lack of pictures, it was an awesome time. And the weather was perfect.

In other news, I've been working on a lot of things for the craft shows I have coming up. I started making some scarves, which I'll add to the shop, but mostly I need to crochet and sew for the holiday craft shows. I NEED INVENTORY. So I'm kind of buried under a giant pile of fabric and yarn. And school a little.

Now I have to study for a test tomorrow...and listen to the insane rain that's pounding on the roof.

Happy Monday!

Nails of the Moment Vol. 15

China Glaze - First Mate (2 coats)

Simple.

(PS I just got back from an awesome morning/afternoon with Casey and will post about it Monday. I hope everyone is enjoying this amazing weather - granted you're getting amazing weather!)

Friday Five - Things I Loved This Week

909 Branding: This week I worked on all my little "package inserts" for lack of a better sounding phrase. I didn't like to idea of sending out Local Color address labels and confusing people further. (Can I say that I wish to sue Avery? Their products are nearly impossible to accurately align and I wasted about half of my sheets before I got relatively straight labels.) I had envisioned the packaging with brown paper wrapping and red and white twine, but unfortunately I haven't received my twine yet, so red yarn had to do for the mock-ups. All that's left on my list are business cards and a banner for craft shows. I think the mini order cards are cuter, plus I can get three times as many on a sheet of paper. I've actually been pretty aware of my paper waste. Wunderlist and smaller order cards are my current contribution.

Kelley Ross: While my mom and I were working our garage sale a few weeks back she brought me her old school records bundle her mom kept for her back in the 60s and 70s. LATE sixties. I don't want my mom to be dated harshly. I seriously enjoyed going through this. I might do a whole post devoted to it. Everything is so perfect. All the class pictures, the report cards, her school pictures (the first one pictured here is so cute! It's been sitting on my desk and I can't stop looking at it.

Understanding paying $9 for a tank top: I'm a cheapskate. I like thrift stores and garage sales and e-baying things I don't want to pay full price for. But as I've gotten older I've learned to understand larger price tags. Once upon a time three or four years ago my mom allowed me to get a maroon tank top from Target that was $9. It was insanely overpriced. Or so I though. Until yesterday at approximately 5 o'clock I wore that tank top under my shirts at least twice a week. I stress "at least". I loved it. It was incredibly soft, didn't pill and was the perfect length. I had a drawer full of tanks but only wore my "scab tank" as I so classily put it. Yesterday I went to Target and found tanks from the same brand, still $9 and bought three. I then put most of my remaining ones in the Goodwill bag I had started. I feel like an adult. If adults spend $27 + tax on tank tops.

My new boots! Somehow in the move I misplaced both pair of boots I had. As fall is approaching and I've pulled out my navy trench and scarves, I really needed to replace them. I spent all last week bookmarking and price-comparing and settled on these taupe ankle boots form Aldo. I'm still on the lookout for black mid-calfs, but these will do through October I'm sure (hopefully it doesn't start snowing that soon). I love them. And will get my first opportunity to wear them when I go have dinner at Casey's mom's house tonight.

This song: Just listen to it. I'm not good at explaining why I love songs. You should also see the titles of my mix CDs. People look at me weird when going through my CD case. Certain songs just remind me of things or make me feel a certain way and I like how this one makes me feel.

(I get to go to the Johnny Appleseed festival, which I will fully explain in a later post - hopefully I get to take decent pictures. I wait for this ALL year and didn't get to go last year, so I'm ready.) BON WEEKEND!

Let Me Tell You About My Louie

Here's a little backstory on my history with pets. My family has had fish galore, two turtles, three dogs, a newt, a frog, a crab, and blah blah blah. I personally have "mothered" four guinea pigs and a hamster. I was a rodent kind of person. My first and fattest guinea pig was named Cinnamon, though I called her Chahlah, and she was my pride and joy. I watched her die one afternoon and it might be one of the worst memories I have.

I digress in a morbid direction. More on Louie. I insist you listen to the following song while reading. If you've seen The Life Aquatic, you'll recognize why. Also Mark Mothersbaugh is beautiful.

Anyway, I moved out of my parents house and thus was ripped from my dogs. This has broken my heart into a trillion little pieces. My mom, knowing this, did something for me last weekend. She told me to come home one day, that she had a surprise for me.

Louie is a "dwarf" hamster. This is in quotes because he a giant little thing. And when she brought him downstairs I thought he was a baby guinea pig because he was so fat.

I found it incredibly hard to capture any worthy images of him, as he does not stop moving. He runs pretty fast.

And tries to climb out of whatever you put him in.

And is a cranky hamster. He's bit both me and Casey and shows no remorse. You DO NOT want to wake him up because...

He plots to kill you. (I was taking so many pictures and NONE were in focus and this is what happens the one time I used the flash. Never again.)

We don't know him very well yet as we've only had him for a week, but from what we can tell he's a pill.

He loves to run and stop and run and stop. But now he's built a little burrow under the wheel and never uses it. Which can't be good for his figure.

Panda Paw Scarf

Okay, cover your childrens' eyes and ears. This thing was a bitch to make. A friend of mine (who I made a red panda hat for last winter) asked that I make her sister a panda scarf for her birthday. The main reason this thing was a doozy was because of the TIME. I made the scarf 346,345,345 miles long, so going back and forth on each row was an event.

But I'm pretty happy with how it came out. But buyer beware, if you want to request one, I'm not giving you the discount I gave Jess. Because this scarf BECAME MY LIFE.

I even got my wonderful boyfriend to pose. (That makes it sound like he had to be begged. He basically volunteered. I wish he'd let me show you ALL the pictures we took. I think he likes posing.)

So yeah, that's the "panda scarf" I've been talking about. Finally done. And nearly packed and sent and out of my life.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Introducing... 909 Cherry

As I've mentioned in previous posts a shop name change has been in the works. Local Color was a hasty name I decided on back when I started my shop and have since grown a bit tired of it. I wanted something unique.

I was born in Huntington, Indiana, a small town about a thirty minute drive from where I currently live. There's a brick road in Huntington called Cherry Street where I spent the first five years of my life. It was my parent's first "real" house together and where both my brothers and I first called home. We lived two doors down from my great aunt Bea and uncle Harry, two of the most lively and happy people I've met in my entire life, and across from the church we were all baptized in. The house holds a lot of memories, as does the city.

909Cherry was my password for everything on the internet because it was something I'd easily remember and seemed more than fitting for the name of my shop. There was no hesitation.

There's meaning in a lot of the decisions I've made about the shop since. The light blue in the logo matches the shutters on all the windows of the house and the brick red represents the brick road (aren't I creative?).

I know I said the new shop wouldn't be unveiled until 2012, but I'm participating in three holiday craft shows and wanted the new branding in place before that time.

While the products in my shop won't change a whole lot, I have a lot of new ideas for things that I'm excited to execute.

It'll take some time before everything is settled (including the Etsy pictures - which some may know I'm completely obsessive about). But I plan on having everything "just so" by November when my shows start.

I want to get a little sappy and sincerely thank every single person who's encouraged and supported me with my shop. Including anyone who's purchased something, commented on a blog post, "liked" something on Tumblr or followed me on Twitter. Every single bit of support is appreciated like you wouldn't know. I had no idea my minuscule business would grow so much.

As a thank you, I'm going to keep my RIPLC code on until Friday. Use that coupon code to get 30% your order. There's a new clearance section as well, where everything is 50% off already, so have a look and watch out for little changes to the shop and most likely a giveaway soon.

As far as the blog goes, I have posts booked for the rest of the week including one featuring my new pet, the panda scarf and a friday five!

Again, thanks so much to everyone!