This is a Ryuk pendant I made for a friend who is also into the Death Note graphic novels.

Ryuk Pendant - Sorry about the blurry cellphone picture

This is a bookmark I made for my SLASH book.

Clay SLASH bookmark

Tentacle - Polymer clay

Misfits Pendant for a friend - Polymer clay and paint

Skull Pendant - Polymer Clay

Skull Pendant Side View

Final Fantasy - Mage - Polymer Clay

One of my most cherished pieces - My Brody Dalle Necklace - Polymer clay and paint

My Misfits Necklance - Polymer clay and paper

My cell is ugly as sin…

Blitz

Had to hide it…

Vinyl Corset Cell Sleeve

I have been meaning to post photos from the garden last summer. I know I kept saying that but, I’m finally getting around to it. These are photos taken between June 2009 and October 2009.

Green Bell Pepper

Cherry Tomatoes

Marigold

Flat Leaf Basil

Fennel Seeds

Hot Banana Peppers

Baby Watermelon

Datura Fruit

Very Pretty Rotten Tomato

Eucalyptus Tree

Radish

Pole Beans

Start of a garden bed

Chocolate Mint Plant

Globe Basil

Sage

Sage

Rosemary

Mango Tree - Sadly, this did not survive

Hostas

Purple Morning Glory

Nectarine Tree

Throwing this in for fun. Homemade Herbal Tinctures Left to right: Calendula oil, Echinacea, Chamomile, Ginger honey cold and flue syrup, Coriander, Olive Leaf, and Cayenne.

Yellow Marigold

Another Bell Pepper

Beef Steak Tomato

Wild Flowers in the front yard

Broccoli

Nectarine Fruit

Datura

Chives

Stir Fry from the garden

Datura Salad - Throwing this in for fun! No, we did not die or get high from it!

Okay guys, that’s enough for now. Hope you enjoyed that.

We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious. They stole it from us. Sneaky little hobbitses. Wicked, tricksy, false!

Just looking around online at different things and I found a website selling a replica of the Elven Brooch (clasp for their cloaks) the fellowship got from Lady Galadriel. We wants it!  http://www.myprecious.us/

Elven Leaf Brooch

I want Nenya too! I love the leaf work on this thing! Tracer Ring you can get with it is pretty swell as well.

Lady Galadriel's Nenya

Nenya Tracer Ring

*Side Note: Hobbit remake will be two parts released in 2011 and 2012, can’t wait!

Snooping on gorey details again and decided to again share some goodies with everybody.

Darling Skull & Crossbones Earrings $7

Winged Vampire Cat Gargoyle $18 - I want this for my living room!

Skull Coaster Set $25 - Yet another treasure for my living room. I believe I could furnish my entire house from this website.

Melting Skull Container / Ashtray

Morticia Addams - Handmade Art Glass Pendant $15

Lily Munster - Handmade Art Glass Pendant $15

Medusa Mirror $70 - This is amazing!

Medusa Wall Sconce $80 - I want to fill every wall in my house with these!

My Dearest Vincent Price Postcard $1.25

All these items can be found at goreydetails.net! Check them out!! Check out their rubber stamp collection if your into polymer clay or scrapbooking. They have amazingly wicked stamps!! Prices are around $10 or less.

Check Out Gorey Details Here:

Just wanted to share this quick. I’ll make another post when its finished. I’d love to make clothes more often but I hate hand sewing. Can’t wait to get a sewing machine! Jeremy and I bought patterns months ago to make Victorian clothing but they have to wait for the sewing machine.

In Progress Simple Strapless Mini Dress

I found this killer store about a month ago and never got to writing about. I’ve visited them frequently since and have fallen in crazy love with them. The shop is called Gorey Details, and as the name suggests, they sell very awesome “gothic” type stuff. They have Edward Gorey, Nightmare Before Christmas, Edgar Allen Poe, Alice in Wonderland,  and many other collections. A lot of the items I’ve seen are “one of kind”, as in I have not seen these things for sale anywhere else but on their website. They are fantastic! I can not recommend checking them out enough. The website is http://goreydetails.net/ They also have a fan page on facebook where they post new stuff and sales so you can check that out here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Portland-OR/Gorey-Details/76312290498. Become a fan and you’ll get regular updates on sales, clearance, coupon codes, and etc. You guys know how that works so go do it and reap the benefits.

I want to show off some of the amazing gems I found so be prepare to get out your wallets!  I would just like to note quick that some of the items on Gorey Details are expensive but as they are one-of-a-kind, its expected. Also, many expensive items are handmade jewelry and such by artists so naturally you should have to pay more for that sort of thing. The artists deserve it.

So here we go….

So many things I want to share, where to begin. Let’s see up first is a Nightmare Before Christmas Jack Skellington Pewter Door Knocker for $28.00. I WILL have this!

Jack Skellington Pewter Door Knocker

Next, is a Nightmare Before Christmas Jack Skellington Pet Tee for $20 bucks. I want to get this and alter it to fit my cats.

Jack Skellington Pet Tee

This Nightmare Before Christmas Lace Panel Curtain is huge! It measures 39″ by 85″. Which is perfect for our large windows. I plan to get two of them, one for each living room window. Oh, they cost $24/each which is average for curtains.

Nightmare Before Christmas Lace Panel

I don’t mean to only post NMBC stuff. They are plenty of other things I want to show you guys!

This Porcelain Delamare Alice and Caterpillar Nightlight with Stand is beyond gorgeous! I want to put this in our bathroom as its a nightlight. It’s Expensive at $48 but look at the picture and you will see why. They also have smaller ones without a stand for $24.00

Porcelain Lithopane Alice and Caterpillar Nightlight with stand Art by David Delamare

Small Porcelain Delamare Alice and Caterpillar Nightlight

This Dark Wonderland Cheshire Cat Women’s babydoll t-shirt is cute as hell, $20.

Dark Wonderland Cheshire Cat Women's babydoll t-shirt

Love this Edgar Allan Poe Framed Pendant by NoMonet. It’s a little simple looking but still lovely. $10 bucks.

Edgar Allan Poe Framed Pendant by NoMonet

This is so fucking cute! If/when I have children, they will have this before any other toy. It is a plush Edgar Allan Poe Doll with Raven. $17

Plush Edgar Allan Poe Doll with Raven

This is killer! It is an Alchemy Gothic – Gravestone Locket for $35.

Alchemy Gothic - Gravestone Locket

This is a Coffin Skull Pendant for $8

Coffin Skull Pendant

Okay, Okay, I’m almost done. I just really fell in love with this store. I wish they had other retail locations but they’re only in Portland, OR.

Anyway, The last few things I want to show you are for our kitchen! Since we’re doing a vintage hollywood pin-up inspired theme for the kitchen these last few items are perfect!

First, pin-up and classic tattoo bandages. I’m going to buy a box of these, $4, and stick them on glass storage jars to sit on top of the black Bettie Page kitchen shelf I made. Then I’ll seal them with clear waterproof sealer so they can be washed from time to time.

Tattoo Bandage Assortment

Next are pinup postcards for $1.25/each. I’ll frame these around the walls of the kitchen. I’m only going to post two of them as this post got really long…

Marilyn Monroe Heart Pin-Up Postcard

Tattoo Pin-up with Skull Postcard

Okay, I’m done…for now. Seriously, Gorey Details is amazing for weirdos like me so I just had to share! Check them out! Goreydetails.net

Jeremy and I went to Charlotte for the day yesterday. We got lunch at Whole Foods…

Best olive salad I'll ever eat!

Seitan "chicken" salad from Whole Foods

Then headed to IKEA which is our #1 favorite place to go besides Trader Joe’s. If you don’t know the joys of Trader Joe’s then I suggest you check out their website: www.TraderJoes.com. TJ’s is a grocery store that mainly carries all organic, natural, or fair trade. They’re fairly inexpensive too.

IKEA in Charlotte NC

IKEA in Charlotte

We found a lot of stuff to get for the house. We’re going to do some “light” remodeling in the next year or so. We’re figuring we may be stuck here for a “few” years…like 5+ until we can unload the house. It going to take a lot to make this house sell for a price that won’t be less than was paid for it. Actually, the month after buying the house a letter from the county tax collector arrived to say that the house was reappraised for about $20,000 LESS than it was just bought for. So, we’ll need to add/upgrade the shit out of it to make it worth selling…….This means we’re going to be here for a long ass time. I’m rambling, my point is, we figured we need to make the house bearable for all those years.  Hence the remodeling for our comfort and to increase the house value.

We’re also thinking of repainting the kitchen, again. Turns out after only a year, we dislike the dark grey and blacks we painted it. Now, we’re thinking something “vintage”, “Pinup”, “classic”, you get the point. We’re going to paint the walls a bright blood red. Paint the cabinets either white with black trim or black with white trim.  Dark grey or black stone tile flooring. Then I want to get some HUGE poster of Betty Page, Marilyn Monroe, Greta Garbo, and etc and Frame them in white for around the red walls. Then we’re going to install black shelving for cookbooks and etc. I’m drooling as I type, I can’t wait to see how this comes out!

We’re not sure how we want to do the rest of the rooms. I have some ideas for the bathroom but I don’t think we’ll go with those. They’re “permanent” and a tad abnormal so I think they’d further hindering the selling of the house. One of the ideas involved creating our own wallpaper out of books we love, poems, comic books and so on and then putting a clear waterproof sealer over them. Then gorilla glue/bolt “trinkets” to the walls. So needless to say I’m still exploring ideas for the bathroom.

Here is what we found from IKEA that we’re planning on getting:

New Bathroom Sink and Vanity - IKEA

Vanity would be a different color

New kitchen island with electric cooktop for under $3k - IKEA

Check out the storage possiblities of the kitchen island drawers

IKEA Kitchen stools for the island

We found much more but these are the most important things we’ll get. About $3500 total. We’re also thinking about fake hardwood floors to replace our carpeting. IKEA has some good selections for $1.49/sq ft. Now we just have to wait until enough money is paid in to the mortgage to refinance or until we get antsy and take out a home  improvement loan. Whichever comes first…I’m assuming the loan since we only have a little over $1700 paid on the principle. (And well over $4k on interest. I hate banks.)

Anyway, we headed off to Trader Joe’s and spent more than we should. We always do.

Trader Joe’s Spiced Coffee!!

This wintry blend coffee is really good. It has chunks of Red & Green Peppercorns, sweet cinnamon, and whole cloves! Good, Good, GOOD!

Trader Joe's Gingerbread Coffee. I haven't tried it yet but is sounds wicked. It has pieces of ginger, cinnamon, and cloves!

Trader Joe's Organic Hemp Powder - Choc.

Trader Joes $1 Specialty Brews - Granny Smith Hard Apple Cider

Trader Joes $1 Specialty Brews - Oatmeal Stout

Big Bottle Trader Joe's $4.99 Vintage Ale

I Love the cork...

Aside from the above we just got other stuff. Like soy nuggets, dried fruits, nuts, cheeses, and other typical grocery items that warrant any glory.

Well, that is all.

What a joke. NC called a state of emergency over a foot of snow!

Jan 30th snow

Snow on the road

Just wanted to share this picture I took. Birds before a storm…

The Bird Before The Storm

Jeremy and I recently made Homemade Laundry Detergent. We weren’t sure it would clean as well as store bought detergent but it does. It only takes a little bit, 1/2 cup, to clean a full load of clothes. Its very inexpensive to make and lasts forever. This laundry soap/detergent isn’t the same thick gel-like consistency you get from store bought detergents but its not watery either. Its more like a thick-ish soup. It also has a nice clean smell to it but you can scent the soap however you want. It does not foam up though. However, no suds doesn’t mean its not cleaning.

Here is the recipe:

• 1/2 bar of fels naptha soap (this was hard to find. The only place we’ve found it is Ace Hardware. I know some walmart stores carry it in the laundry aisle, our does not. )

• 1 Cup of borax (Walmart does carry this, 20 mule brand.)

• 1 Cup of Super washing soda (Arm & Hammer makes this. I think walmart has it but we got ours at Ace Hardware when we bought the soap.)

• A Bucket W/Lid (We soaked a 40 lb (5 gallons) cat litter container in scalding water, then scrubbed and rinsed it good. You need to make sure your bucket has a lid as it will need stored in your laundry room somewhere and you don’t want pets getting into it. Borax is toxic to pets.)
• *Optional: 1 Ounce of Essential oil(s). Any scent(s) you want.

Note:

This has to be made ahead of time as it needs 24 hours to “thicken up”.

Directions:

Gather your ingredients for Making Homemade Laundry Detergent

1. Grate half the bar of soap into a large pot.
   

   Homemade Laundry Detergent Grate 1/2 bar of soap

   

   Homemade Laundry Detergent Grate Soap into large pot

2. Add 12 cups of water and turn burner to Med High Heat.
   

   Homemade Laundry Detergent Add water

3. Stir until soap is dissolved.
   

   Homemade Laundry Detergent Stir to Dissolve Soap Flakes

4. Add 1 Cup Borax and stir until dissolved; add 1 cup washing soda and stir to dissolve.
   

   Homemade Laundry Detergent Add 1 Cup Borax & Washing Soda to pot

   

   Homemade Laundry Detergent Remove From Heat

5. Turn burner off, remove pan from heat.
6. Add 8 cups of hot tap water to the bucket. Then add soapy mixture to bucket.
7. Stir to combine. Now add 2 gallons & 12 cups of water to the mixture. Stir to combine.
   

   Homemade Laundry Detergent Should Look Like This

8. *Optional Step* Add essential oils. If you like heavy scented laundry soap then use 1 ounce, or if not, use 1/2 ounce or less. Its up to your personal scent preference. Experiment little by little if your not sure. If your are combining scents make sure you don’t go over an ounce together. Example: Use 1/2 ounce lavender and 1/2 patchouli.

Close the lid and let it sit for 1 full day, 24 hours, to thicken.

Use 1/2 cup per load of laundry. We just keep a cheap 1/2 cup measuring cup on top of it. If you need to pre-treat a stain just use the other half of the bar to rub on the stain or use a teaspoon to drop a little soap mixture on it and rub it in good with a toothbrush.

It sounds like a pain in the ass but its actually really easy once your doing it. The ingredients cost about $8 with tax and each batch will last a couple months. Unless you have a lot of kids and do a few full loads of laundry everyday. In that case you may want to double the recipe! Still, it works out cheaper than store bought detergent. Next thing we intend to make is homemade fabric softener and “dryer sheets” which I’ll post whenever we do that.

Homemade Vegan Seitan Sausages

These were awesome. Really taste like sausage without the greasiness. Yum!  Topped with sauteed sweet red peppers and onions.

The Recipe can be found here: http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2008/03/homemade-sausages.html

I added tons more spices and extra soy sauce. I also added in Balsamic Vinegar. I also grilled mine as he did after steaming.

This website is in serious need of an overhaul but I’m too lazy to take that on just yet.

I know I’ve “missing” for a while but I shall, yet again, attempt to update this damn blog. Hopefully, this week sometime. I’m currently uploading many many photos at the moment so I can start said updates. My laptop is really slow though, so uploading is taking hours…This is one of the reasons I never feel like blogging.

Updates shall include some of the following:
* Food with recipes
* Crafts with photos
* Random photos of nothing in particular
* Photos of the garden I should have posted this past summer

Maybe some other things…

We took a trip to visit Jeremy’s grandmother, Adaline, in West Virgina this week. I made fun goody baskets for his gram and his parents who were also visiting.

Baked Goods Basket

The Drive was beautiful as it had just snowed.

Snowy VA Mountains

Jeremy Talking to his parents

Me amusing myself by taking picture of everything

Jeremy and his dad Randy

Jeremy and his parents Marilyn and Randy

That’s all you get. We weren’t allow to take pictures of his grandma because she did not think she looked nice enough for photos. She looked fine but that’s okay.

Full Committee Hearing H.R. 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009

We are atching the 3 hour long meeting.

Right now Brad Sherman of CA is hammering Federal Reserve General Counsel Scott Alvarez. Love it!

Link to watch it: http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia-live/financialserv/16489/300_financialserv-qwertyuiop_070131.asx

Or on C-SPAN: http://www.c-span.org/Watch/Media/2009/09/25/HP/A/23601/House+Financial+Services+Cmte+Hearing+on+Regulatory+Overhaul.aspx