New Cuffs New Leather Things

My newest cuff is so cute. Well, cute in an icky way.
I have an old Dutch cookbook with all sorts of weird and gross food pictures that I adore. So I laminated this one and added a zipper for a wrist-wallet.
It's durable and the suede side of the leather is inside so you get a soft cushioned leather against your delicate wrist. I always line my cuffs (except Allen's tooled ones) so you don't have the rough underside against your arm. It just makes more sense to me . Especially when there's extra stitching. Who wants rug burn from your wrist cuff?

I made one for myself the other day for my night job at Friday's. I thought it would be nice to be able to have my change close for to-go orders. That way I wouldn't have to go running to my purse or walking around jingling all night with it in my pockets. Mine looks really cool. (Above)I really really like my laminated cuffs. I can't stop making these pretty things. Well, I couldn't stop, but the machine did :( - I need to buy some epoxy to fix a busted piece in it today.

All my laminations warm my heart, even the ones I add to my Buddy Bags. It makes them all... well, unique. Especially since I never use the same thing twice. And they're all vintage ephemera (cookbooks, illustrations, National Geographic pictures and ads).Come see! They're super cool.

Pictures and Things

I found a new favorite on Etsy.

Fotofiction has some of the most amazing photographs I've seen in a while. The colors and images just reach out and grab me. I'm particularly mesmerized by the chair photographs. I guess I have a thing for old abused buildings.Aren't these beautiful?

Giant Flowers

Yesterday my sister came home from Mar-A-Lago with huge floral arrangements. They were leftover from some event and my sister thought my mother would like them.

One flower in particular looked menacing:It's enormous! I have no idea what it is. weird monster flowers....

*update*
Thank you for the comment left by Gardens By T! It is a Protea!

A successful Race

Alley Cat Racers!

Allen and I had a lovely afternoon sitting by the intercoastal at our secret checkpoint. It was a beautiful day.Volunteers gathered and riders signed up. Raffle tickets were sold and everyone was armed with information. Slowly all the volunteers left the bar to ride to their checkpoints.
We dropped off our zombie at his checkpoint and grabbed a quick bite at BK before heading out. And then we waited as one by one all the racers came to spin the fish. Spin the fish, you!!!The winner!!And the 1st place Chopper trophy. Somebody needs an Etsy account....

Alley Cat Race!

Today is the day of the West Palm Beach Alley Cat Race. Allen and I will be manning a checkpoint as volunteers. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures to post later. The whole thing is raise money for the group riding the MS150 this year.

Speaking of which, I wish I had enough money to go this year. Really we'd just need enough money to take two days off work, and buy some gas and a little food (the ride is from Miami to Key Largo) .
We went two years ago, hauling the riders' gear. The camp out was held at John Pennekamp Park. It's beautiful, and you can get lost on the trails on spend all day swimming at any one of the beaches. A free lunch, dinner, and breakfast is served along with a free beer party on the beach. A beer truck is pulled right up. And this is what happens after a bunch of free beer:Ah, well, if we're lucky we'll go. And it's all for a good cause.
Have fun today, racers!

Stupid Allergies

Are they allergies? I don't know. All I know is I keep sneezing. Maybe it's the house. Maybe I'm allergic to the carpet. (How horrible would that be?) Yesterday I was so congested I didn't go into he shop. By late afternoon I was feeling fine and went into my night job. And the pattern repeats today. Not as bad though. Maybe it is the house.

Okay, I'm rambling.

Want to see my new beads? Sure you do.

I made a bunch more, but they're still drying from the glaze I put on them.
AND I listed some new stickers:They're all in my BlenderBach store, where I put all my non-leather goodies.

Coffee & Alligators

Sometimes I just can't get enough. Coffee Coffee Coffee.
In other news, this is the most ridiculous thing I've read in the newspaper this week:

(Officer using bullhorn to speak to alligator blocking traffic on a major road):
"This is the Sheriffs department! Move back to the canal!"

In case, you were wondering, the alligator didn't listen.

True story. It was in yesterday's Palm Beach Post.

I need to get busy.

Morning After

So I'm 27. It's just like 26. Except older.

My birthday went well. I spent most of the morning goofing off online and opening presents from my family. I received the most awesome awesome wooden wall chicken (I have a thing for chickens) and a multi-eyelet kit (for leather), AND a huge box with polymer clay goodies. Beads will be a-happening around here for a bit. With my new bead rollers and baking rack I will be entertained for hours! The beads pictured are in my other Etsy shop Blenderbach. The eyelet kit is interesting as well. It comes with three different sized eyelets in a myriad of colors and a gun. It claims that it can be used on leather, cd's, paper, vinyl, and "everything" so we'll see how it goes.After all the goofing off I went into the store for a bit to finish up two pairs of purse scrap sandals. But not before picking up some Sal's pizza on the way. Sal's may replace Cardello's in my pizza-love, but really only because it's closer than Cardello's with it's greasy pizza goodness.
Once my birthday lunch was devoured I worked on a custom pair of sandals for an online customer. I should have them finished by today (hooray!) and once they're complete I'll need to get started on two more custom orders and than some more purse scrap sandal orders (which i hate doing - they're so repetitive).
Once that was over Allen and I headed to movie night with our laminating machine and bullhorn (supplies for the AlleyCat race on Saturday). The feature of the evening was Motel Hell, which looked promising and was entertaining for the first 40 minutes until the VHS tape crapped out on us. So we had to resort to another episode of our short, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

April Fool

Nobody's nice to the All Fools Day babies. It's enough to make me wish I were a better prankster. But no, I'm the type to let out a knowing giggle right before you drink your soda spiked with pickle juice... I've never been good at pulling pranks, pulling one over, or pulling the wool over someone's eyes. I'd like to think it's my good nature but most likely it's just my follow-through.

I'm feeling a bit down today. It started last night as I came home from work.
Having a usually sunny disposition, it's always a very weird feeling when my mood turns stinko. I try to over-rationalize the things that are bothering me and that never makes anything better. Yesterday evening I was determined to let it ruin my night, bought a six pack on my way home and planned on drinking through tears by myself. Luckily Allen saved my night with conversation, warmth, and a gift and we both stayed up until 3am (the exact time I was born).

Despite the rain (it always always rains on my birthday- April showers, you know?) and my pissy attitude I still have a lot to look forward to today. I get to go into the shop and finish a couple sandals. Maybe even work on something for me. Later tonight we'll be doing our weekly outing of movie night! I'm not sure what the feature will be but it always promises a good time.
And I'm certain the clouds will lift. The real ones and the metaphorical ones.

Tomorrow is the Day

My FAVORITE Day!! Is tomorrow.

Every other day of the year we have obligations and dates and meeting and work and commitments. Even on holidays we're more likely to be running around trying to complete dinner and cleaning up than relaxing.
Well not tomorrow.
I learned a long time ago to reserve my birthday with no plans. Nowhere I have to go, nothing I have to do. That way it leaves the whole day open for what I want to do. If I want to sleep in until noon - fine. If I want to wake up and jog around the neighborhood with Bach - fine. If I choose to go into work - great! If it's a nice day for the beach - superfab. So basically it's the only day of the year where I can pretend it's all about me and do exactly what I want to when I want to.
This morning I kicked the early celebration off with some early-morning painting. (See my teeny-tiny painting?) My sister had given me an itty-bitty art kit for Easter so today I broke it out and whipped up some some coffee for my new favorite mug. Unfortunately, that's about all the celebrating I'll get to do since I have a dentist appointment this afternoon and then I get the pleasure of working at my night job until very late tonight.

But enough about me, let's get back to my favorites (that you can buy for me):
I have found some amazing card shops lately. And as silly as it is for me to buy cards (I love making hand made cards) I just get blown away by some of these designs!
Take ChristopherandTia, for instance:

These neon recipe cards and boxes are what any kitchen needs! Crickets!!
There's also a new discovery: VagrantPoodle!

These cute fish cards would be perfect for my sea-worthy family! And they have more! Owls and kitties and octopuses (octopi?)
My final card choice is a collection from YeeHaw:
These Spring Tree mini prints are eye-catching and fun! 8 little cards with 8 little envelopes!
I'm card-crazy.