Today ThePaperElement and I went to the Asian district of Houston located along Bellaire Blvd. and Beltway 8. It's ths amazing center of Asian culture in our area and has everything you could possibly think to find.
We ransacked the grocery store, coming away with empty pockets and full bags, loaded down with treats, variations on basics, and.... Joss paper!
Joss paper is a Chinese traditional paper used in burning at ceremonies to respect the dead. It is beautiful and comes in many many colors, styles, prints and textures.... and it's super cheap. She and I picked some out, and once we got home with it we realized we should have gotten much more!
We hope to return after the holiday and pick up some other types, as well as visit some other stores. Time was tight today, but next time will be better.
TanTan Vietnamese "Fast Food" (Fast because they cook it fast!) is an absolute must for anyone visiting the area. My personal favorite is the E-25 seafood noodle soup with egg noodles, but you can rest assured that EVERYTHING (all 300+ items) on the menu is fantastic. They are located at 6816 Ranchester Dr. at Bellaire Blvd. Make sure you get some bubble tea in the shop in the next parking lot to the east, yum yum!
Many new projects will come from this day of inspiration, so stay tuned!
Behind the scenes at SHUTTERWHALE
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
ModFauna
I love to paint.
I'm just throwing that out there.
I love it! One evening while painting a some flowers on a few outgoing packages I had some extra paint left in my tray, so the once blah photo frame was transformed into a Tiffany blue masterpiece. Then the nearby mirror frame. Then the cover of a sketchbook within my grasp, and finally, when I had all but thought I ran out of things to transform with my painting prowess, I spy my collection of toy animal figurines.
Bingo.
The teal donkey was born.
Gleefully I showed my crafty friend my creation in the webcam, and she fell in love. I jokingly said that I should make an Etsy shop devoted to my mammalian creations, and she told me that if I didn't, she would. So ModFauna was born.
We are going into business together!
ModFauna will contain transformed objects d'art created from the blah base figurines of vintage, found and discarded but beautiful animal toys of our childhood past. We hand paint and design each and every figure and they are packaged with the utmost care (and style.)
ModFauna creations are perfect to transform any space! They add a certain style to an otherwise dull area with their bright colors and traditionally inspired patterns.
Take a look! (and pass out some hearts, we love those.)
{www.ModFauna.etsy.com}
We are currently featured in two treasiries:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=101486
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=80173&show_panel=true
I'm just throwing that out there.
I love it! One evening while painting a some flowers on a few outgoing packages I had some extra paint left in my tray, so the once blah photo frame was transformed into a Tiffany blue masterpiece. Then the nearby mirror frame. Then the cover of a sketchbook within my grasp, and finally, when I had all but thought I ran out of things to transform with my painting prowess, I spy my collection of toy animal figurines.
Bingo.
The teal donkey was born.
Gleefully I showed my crafty friend my creation in the webcam, and she fell in love. I jokingly said that I should make an Etsy shop devoted to my mammalian creations, and she told me that if I didn't, she would. So ModFauna was born.
We are going into business together!
ModFauna will contain transformed objects d'art created from the blah base figurines of vintage, found and discarded but beautiful animal toys of our childhood past. We hand paint and design each and every figure and they are packaged with the utmost care (and style.)
ModFauna creations are perfect to transform any space! They add a certain style to an otherwise dull area with their bright colors and traditionally inspired patterns.
Take a look! (and pass out some hearts, we love those.)
{www.ModFauna.etsy.com}
We are currently featured in two treasiries:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=101486
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=80173&show_panel=true
Saturday, December 19, 2009
ThePaperElement + CharmingMittens = Craft Nest
Today my friend ThePaperElement came over and we had a whole evening of crafting!
It started out with a $70 trip to Michael's, followed by some yummy dinner at Pei Wei, a trip through Lowes and finished with a massive craft nest in the middle of my living room floor where we proceeded to work on elements of our future business venture, to be announced.
We are quite thrilled!
My living room is trashed. hah!
Stay tuned, my lovely followers, because what is yet to come will knock your handmade socks off.
It started out with a $70 trip to Michael's, followed by some yummy dinner at Pei Wei, a trip through Lowes and finished with a massive craft nest in the middle of my living room floor where we proceeded to work on elements of our future business venture, to be announced.
We are quite thrilled!
My living room is trashed. hah!
Stay tuned, my lovely followers, because what is yet to come will knock your handmade socks off.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
New photos on the website
I added some beautiful new photos of Hannah here on my website. Take a look! Leave me a comment and see what you think =)
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
New Things To Come
Sometimes, just when you think you finally have everything figured out, something will just fly by and smack you in the head and make you reconsider some stuff.
This happened to me this evening. The thing flying and smacking me was my brand new kitten (Capers) (Best Christmas present ever) (Thank you darling fiance) and the stuff I reconsidered = my current art projects.
I have been feeling pretty cozy in my ability to create work for myself. I find enough stuff to keep me busy all day long and then some, usually keeping my mind racing many hours after I should have stopped and given myself a break, but times are changing!
You can expect to see some exciting new stuff out of me.
This happened to me this evening. The thing flying and smacking me was my brand new kitten (Capers) (Best Christmas present ever) (Thank you darling fiance) and the stuff I reconsidered = my current art projects.
I have been feeling pretty cozy in my ability to create work for myself. I find enough stuff to keep me busy all day long and then some, usually keeping my mind racing many hours after I should have stopped and given myself a break, but times are changing!
You can expect to see some exciting new stuff out of me.
Constructive Tendencies
My new website is up and running!
Many thanks go to Richard Filyaw, my fabulous and talented web designer, who helped this become possible.
As you know, I am a photographer, and more than anything I wanted a place where I could show my work and not have to follow the scripts or setup of a hosted website, so I finally got my stuff together and got started on this project. I am very very proud to be able to show my work in such a fun online space! I am working on it daily, it is everchanging!
I am hoping that with time it will grow to look exactly how I want it. Nature inspired yet modern, fun yet classy, inspired yet professional.
I am encouraging all of my friends and etsy associates to go through my site and suggest to me some photos that you would like to see in my etsy shop. I am always trying to add new listings and bone up my shop, so please leave a comment and let me know your opinion.
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