The Vampie’s at it again! The folks over an Instructables.com sent me a note that my Twilight-inspired sweet treat would be a great entry to their DIY Halloween Contest. In case you’re bored and have nothing else to do online, head on over HERE to rock the vote for my Vampie. (And thank you again to those of you who helped make the Vampie a winner at Instructables’ Pie Contest!)

There are so many wonderfully gory entries in the current contest that I doubt I’ll even place, but it’s great how much interest my little experiment has generated nonetheless. Voting runs through November 16, 2008, perfect timing for when the Twilight movie hits theaters on November 21.

All the luck to the Vampie, and I hope you have a great weekend up ahead to sink your teeth into!

Flying during these trips is a perfect way to catch up on all my magazine reading. There’s nothing like reading about how to prep a mouthwatering Thanksgiving dinner to take your mind off turbulence.

…we’ll be right back! (Remember these TV spots during Saturday-morning cartoons?)

So, I’m going to be busy traveling for work over the next two weeks. I’ll be blogging intermittently and won’t be able to say hello as often in your neck of the world wide woods. I hope to be back soon, especially because I have great Christmas gift ideas to share.

In the meantime, I’m leaving you with a music video from my favorite 80’s cartoon. Until I’m able to blog in full swing again, as Jem says, “I’ve Got My Eye On You!” (Don’t be hatin’ on Jem’s pink ‘do now because I love it, haha!)

Stay curly, folks!

“Fabric-Induced Fainting” should really be an actual condition in medical books. It occurs when a crafter passes out after seeing that holiday fabric is on sale at the local crafts shop.

(I am ok. I just hyperventilated a teensy bit. Hee.)

My stress levels sometimes dictate what I end up baking:

cupcakes, cookies = Life’s sweet! I’m happy! Hearts and sun and little puppies!

two-layer cake with buttercream frosting = I need to be cloaked from the cruel world behind a cloud of flour.

bread =  Don’t talk to me. Seriously.

Made this herbed, cheesy Focaccia With Fresh Sage during election week, because I wanted to soothe my frayed nerves by working on some dough with my hands. I have a dough hook for my stand mixer and a bread machine as well, but sometimes, nothing beats kneading dough yourself.

I was scanning the images that I took as the focaccia took shape, and just looking at them makes me happy. So happy, in fact, that I’ve tacked some of these up on my corkboard in the office. The first one is my favorite. Call me crazy, but I’ve always thought that the pattern flour makes after I’ve thrown it across my work surface is one of the prettiest images in the kitchen. I often step back before I lay the dough on it to just stare at it. (Writing that out makes me seem INSANE. Ahaha!)

If you’re interested in the recipe, THIS is the one I used. I knew I wanted to include fresh sage in it because I had so much in the fridge from a previous meal. As it turns out, I was Googling stuff on the herb for this post and learned that its Latin name is salvia, which means “to heal.” And that, it did.

Happy weekend, all!

I’m jumping out of my skin and my curls are frizzing out! I have three great stories to share.

SPOONFLOWER NOW OPEN TO ALL

Spoonflower is a genius project: a website that allows you to upload fabric designs and have them printed for you. The site was beta-testing in May 2008, and would only print fabric by invitation. I signed up, wishing, hoping I’d get an invite. I thought it was too good to be true! I finally got an email that made me squeal, because it said this:

We are writing to thank you for signing up for the beta version of our site, but more importantly to thank you for your support and help as we have tried to turn a fabulous idea — affordable, on-demand fabric — into a real, functioning company. It’s not that we don’t still have a lot to learn (note that the site still says beta), but once you have over 10,000 people signed up as testers you may as well open it up to everyone.

My mind’s spinning. The possibilities! Girl With A Curl dishtowels, anyone?

JAY MCCARROLL DESIGNS FABRIC FOR FREESPIRIT

Project Runway Season One winner Jay McCarroll has cobbled two fabric collections together for FreeSpirit Fabric Designs. I’ve been kind of stalking Jay online because he was my favorite contestant from that season of the show, and partly because he and I share the same name! (I’m silly like that.) His two lines (Woodland Wonderland and Garden Friends) are whimsical and remind me of printed Japanese fabric.

Jay says:

My mother had a delicious hall closet stocked with remnants of fabrics and tins of buttons and bags of yarn. This was my favorite place in the house.

It would be mine, too!

SATC- IT AIN’T OVER

And to put the FAB in these Fabricated News tidbits, did you hear about the definite sequel to the Sex And The City movie? I admit that, even as a fan of the show, I have my doubts. Don’t get me wrong, I think I’d enjoy all the new fashion that’s bound to be in the movie but, story-wise, what more can they possibly write/tell? Maybe, then, I should just prepare (but not expect) to be pleasantly surprised?

And since I have quotes for the two previous stories, I’ll end this with of my favorite ones from Carrie Bradshaw (a curly girl herself!) :

Maybe the best any of us can do is not quit, play the hand we’ve been given, and accessorize the outfit we’ve got.

You have a fab day, folks.

…is make you brave enough to say, “Yes, I can.”

Back from dance class—my first real one in 11 months—tired but unbelievably happy. I looked like a hippo as I lumbered around in my leotards, but all I knew was I’d worked up the courage to rediscover a craft I’ve been too scared to go back to, buoyed by the hope that anything is possible. (America woke up to a new president today. ANYTHING is possible!)

I was a hopeful hippo, at least!

May YOU have the chance to say, “Yes, I can,” today.

Aren’t they a hoot? And so much fun to make!

I took my favorite chocolate cake recipe and made it into cupcakes…

…and while they were baking, I melted some chocolate chips and piped out “RIP” on some Mint Milano cookies. If I mucked up some letters, I just “erased” them and used the other end. They’d be stuck halfway into the cupcake anyway, so no one would spy my BOO-boos (oh, see, I made a pun again.)

The cookies are the ones from Pepperidge Farm and come in a pack like this.

I frosted the cupcakes with chocolate icing, and dusted the tops with powdered cocoa. The cocoa settled into the frosting after a bit and made it look like dirt!

Then, I simply stuck my decorated “tombstones” into each cupcake, making some crooked, because that made the ghoulish treats more interesting to look at.

These, by the way, were TO DIE FOR with a tall glass of ice-cold milk.

Something for the baker in you to consider the next time Halloween raps on your door!

Apps that I’m currently aping over on my new toy for their crafty or kitcheny usefulness.

WordPress - easy to use and includes the ability to embed pictures into posts. I’ve actually gotten the hang of typing on that keyboard with my fat fingers.

Grocery IQ - a running grocery list that allows you to add to it from a huge database of products, sorting them by aisle and allowing you to tick them off as you shop

Little Chef – a handy little helper for kitchen conversions (there are eight fluid ounces to a cup!)

StitchMinder - a counter to help you keep track of the number of knitted or crocheted stitches in any project. Especially helpful if you’re increasing or decreasing stitches.

Diner Dash – a game that’s kept me up till 2 am. You’re a career woman who breaks free from the shackles of corporate life by putting up your own restaurant. The better you serve your customers, the more you’re able to spruce up your place. Hee. I love this game. My restaurant chain is called Kurdapya’s. Ahaha. (It’s a nickname from my parents.)

SnapTell – I used to snap cookbook covers on my phone in bookstores so I could hunt them down on online later on (Amazon has the best deals on books.) This ingenious app allows you to take a picture of a book, DVD or CD cover, recognizes the media from the picture and finds it on Amazon, Google or Wikipedia for you. You’re able to purchase it from Amazon if you wish and stores all our snapshots in its memory.

Uhm, the book above isn’t mine. I am nowhere that nerdy. Currently on file for me are Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners and The Sugar Queen.

Style.com – streams the latest runway photos directly to your phone, from Abaete to Zac Posen. As someone who sews, I love looking at the workmanship that goes into all the latest runway designs and earmark design and color elements for my own projects.

SATC (Carrie’s Closet) – allows you to take snapshots of your clothes and accessories and put outfits together. While this caters to the obsessive-compulsive in me, what I’m really enjoying as a crafter are file photos from the series.

For the longest time, I’ve been wanting to sew a skirt inspired by the striped Sonia Rykiel top that Carrie wears on the balcony of her hotel when she goes to Paris. I was so happy when I discovered a high-res file of it on the app! Makes me want to ditch work and stay home to sew!

Needless to say, I’m enjoying my new toy a lot, and can’t wait for when the StitchMinder people come out with the Quilt2Go app, which promises to “keep track of your projects and swatches, calculate yardage and locate fabric shops, wherever you go!” Lord help the curly crafter in me!

I found her in a souvenir shop in Tijuana, Mexico and have since nicknamed her my Ms. Boo-llerina. She’s the only ballerina Dia de Los Muertos figure that I saw as I pored over all those shops’ shelves. Isn’t she scaryfabulous with her pink hair? She has an honored place on my bookshelf as she’s just too cool for anywhere else in the house.

Speaking of cool, how about this pumpkin that my friend Simeen carved? This heartbreaker of a little boy is Lawrence, her nephew. (Check out those curls!)

As any good aunt would do on Halloween, she carved his face into a pumpkin. Yes, my friends, THAT is love. (It took her three hours, I hear!)

Now if she carved MY face into a pumpkin and lit it up, THAT would be truly scary. Haha! 

Happy Spooky Day to all!