One Lump, or Two?

I made some new cute buttons with a tea party theme, complete with everything you need to have a tea party! You can find these on my personal website and Shoppe Sugar Cookie on Etsy!

Tofu Baby Wuv!

We stopped at Hobby Lobby this weekend cos I needed some crafty supplies for some of my projects. We ran into Camille, who we met once at a knitting night at ATHICA - she introduced us to her friend and co-worker Allison, who happened to be a huge Tofu Baby fan! It totally made my day! Here is a picture of me, Allison, and Tofu Baby. Thanks to Camille for taking our photo!

2010 Flagpole Music Awards

Last Thursday was the Flagpole Music Awards! As always, this is my favorite event of Athfest each year. This year the Carnivale of Black Hearts got everyone fired up and kicked off the show.


They were okay, but the band that opened was really good!


Athens (the band) kicked off the show after the intro! They are some students from Camp Amped who now have their own rock band, video, and lots of fans. They surely won the crowd over at the Awards and got a standing ovation, too! Rock on, dudes.


Pete and Alicia talked some about the Awards and Flagpole, and handed the show off to...


Michelle, the music editor of Flagpole.


Elite the Showstoppa performed two songs. One included his own personal nurse, and the other had dancers, guest rappers, and cute glittery lettered t-shirts! Loved the shirts and the dancing!!


Los Meesfits also played a few caliente numbers.


In fact, they were so hot that they had two salsa dancers perform with them. They were a highlight for sure, especially cos the one guy split his pants!


Circulatory System, and Elephant 6 favorite, played a super short set of one song. I wanted to hear more for sure.


Everyone who made it to the end of the night saw Reptar perform their catchy songs. We left halfway through their set cos we were getting sleepy!

I have been to the Awards many times, and I even had the pleasure of presenting an award as Tofu Baby one year. Lots goes into the production of this show, so thanks, Flagpole for making it a fun night!

Nilla Ninety

NILLA 1857 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

This is why we can't have any more pet cats. Nilla really HATES other cats...Missy's dreams of being a crazy cat lady may never be realized.

Crochet is Here!

Crochet 5, originally uploaded by sugar-cookie.

I thought I would let everyone see my new crochet project! Becky showed me how to crochet, and here is my completed project! It took me a few tries, and a few times "frogging." I think that is what you call it when you take apart your knitting, but I am not too sure about crochet. So far I like to crochet, and it is a lot of counting rounds! I have an egg pattern I am working, and I also like a cupcake pattern I have in my Kids Crochet book. Super!

Snuggle Bunny Monday

Oreo 3, originally uploaded by sugar-cookie.

Happy Cakes Visit

Happy cakes., originally uploaded by sugar-cookie.

Last week our friends Becky, of Sweetie Pie Press, and Aitor, of Misanthrope Specialty Co., came to stay with us for a few days. They are on "tour" of the USA, having been to many places before hooking up with us here in Athens. They are travelling all summer to various craft shows and roadside attractions.


We got to hang out with them some and had lots of good food. We love to go to the Grit for dinner. It usually involves cake, too. Here is Becky and Aitor enjoying some Black Forest cake.


Raoul and I shared the birthday cake. I like to think of it as "Happy Cake".


I tried to lock Becky out, but eventually she got into the house.


She just was in too big of a hurry to eat Aitor's bacon and banana and peanut butter donut we got for him.


Aitor enjoyed his donut...


...while Becky danced in our driveway!

Dad, Happy Father's Day!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, Dad! Hope you are all having fun vacationing in the Philippines at this moment! Stay safe!

It's hard finding good photos of my Dad because, like me, he's the one that's always taking the photos and videos. More often than not, he's behind the camera, not in front of it. He's the family documentarian. So I raided his Shutterfly account and found this old photo of him posing on a MOTORCYCLE somewhere out in the California desert, looking like a bad-ass with a cigarette hanging out his mouth. I was there when this photo was taken and I was a little kid. My father was probably younger in that photo than I am now. All I remember of this day is that we were all out in the desert, shooting guns at improvised targets (plastic gallon jugs filled with water, empty soda cans, etc) against a rocky hillside. A family friend brought his motorcycle to do some joy riding on the dunes and at some point, everyone (except for us little kids) took turns posing on it...It was probably during autumn or winter, judging from the jacket my Dad is wearing. Anyways, I learned how to shoot photos AND how to shoot guns from my Dad. Thanks for schooling me, Dad!

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

merry merry!, originally uploaded by sugar-cookie.

I am here to wish my Dad a very Happy Father's Day! Dad, I hope you have a good one and I love and miss you! I can't wait to see you when you visit next. My dad is the best cos he is always helpful and supportive of all our creative endeavors. He is good at fixing things and sometimes he likes to cook. Maybe next time he visits he will make us some French fries again! I love you, Dad!

Factory Floor

RANCHO COCOA x SWEETIE PIE PRESS x MISANTHROPE SPECIALTY CO. = quality hang out time spent working working working...our nomadic Canadian friends, BECKY & AITOR, stopped and stayed with us for a few days and took a respite from their travels. We transformed our dining room into an INTERNET CAFE and turned our living room into an ARTS & CRAFTS FACTORY. In the words of UNCLE RICO, "You might as well do somethin' while you're doing nothin'"

Occupational Hazards 8

If you work in the ART DEPARTMENT at our company, you're bound to be contaminated by GLITTER at some point during the day. The other day, Missy put two big pieces of glitter on her cheeks...because that's how she rolls...

Teany Tea

Teany Tea 8, originally uploaded by sugar-cookie.

So I ordered some yummy teas from Teany recently. It took them a while to send my order, but they also tossed in a nice new tea infuser, too! I guess it makes sense that Teany took a little while, I did not know they changed ownership, I read about it this week on Door Sixteen.






We tried three different flavors - Coconut, Earl Grey Creme, and Lavender. So far we tried all but the Lavender, and they were very yummy. The Coconut has a nice toasty flavor, and the Earl Grey Creme had a sweet vanilla flavor. I can't wait for the next cup!

Babycakes Brownie Recipe

Babycakes Brownies 6, originally uploaded by sugar-cookie.

After I watched Erin of Babycakes Bakery on Martha, I was inspired to try her recipe for brownies. I love her cookbook so far, and I think this recipe is not in the book.


I had to have some slight substitutions for my version, but it is not a problem. These brownies are the tops for sure! I used corn starch instead of arrowroot powder, and I used regular Toll House morsels instead of the vegan chocolate chips. I decided to use what I had on hand, so Toll House it was! I love how all the mini chocolate chips looked as they melted with the coffee in this recipe! Oh and it smells fabulous mixing up in the bowl, too.


This recipe makes more of a cake-like brownie, rather than a fudgey one. Fine by us, really! Raoul suggested icing as an addition, and I think the warm brownies would be great with some vanilla ice cream!

~[:3]

My Saturday Project

Embroidery Hoop Fabric Art 3, originally uploaded by sugar-cookie.

One of today's projects on my to do list was making some embroidery hoops and swatches of fabric into art for my bathroom. You may have seen the project tutorial over on Purl Bee that they made with lovely Liberty fabric, so I thought I might try some of my favorite fabrics from my collection. I have to say, I do have a sizable collection of new and vintage fabrics, but some are just too precious to cut. I finally gained the courage to do just that with this project. I have to say, I think they look very nice hanging up in my bathroom!


This is another view of my hoops in the bathroom. I chose to make an asymmetrical layout with the hoops, opting for an odd number at the moment. I can always add more if the mood strikes...


For my fabrics I used a sea scene of some Heather Ross fabric I ordered a very long while ago. This was one of those ones I have lots of yardage (still) and could not bear to cut it until today! Hooray for my small victory!


This is a Shinzi Katoh print that I think is totally adorable. I believe it is from Kitty-Craft. I love it so much cos the little animal characters look like something I might draw - and oh, that little bun has the sweetest look!


Here is one of my Spoonflower samples! It is made from the cotton lawn fabric and is a little on the thin side, but it works quite well for this project. I love the color theme of all of my hoop frames I have going.


I hot glued the inside hoop and pulled the fabric as tight as I could (so the hoop would sit flat against the wall as much as possible). Then I trimmed the excess fabric.


Here is my assortment of hoop frames. Like I said before, I love the color schemes in all of them and think they look very pretty all together as a whole. This is a really simple and inexpensive project to do, plus it is great for using small bits of fabric as well as ones that you have been holding on for that "special something" to make!

New Fabrics

Spoonflower Fabric 10, originally uploaded by sugar-cookie.

I made some new patterns for fabric via Spoonflower and they came in the mail yesterday! Did I ever mention I love making patterns and repeats?



Here is a sample of all the new designs I had made. I tried all different types of fabric that were available on Spoonflower.






I really am pleased with how they all turned out - they look so cute and the colors are really beautiful. Now what should I make?