have & heart

have: heirloom seeds from My Victory Garden

Corey and I are in the process of planting an organic vegetable garden, and ordered heirloom seeds from My Victory Garden. They arrived just two business days after ordering and were perfect! At the affordable rate of $1.25-$2.00 per seed packet, you can choose a handful of varieties to start a garden or add to your existing one. I'll be posting pictures of how the garden turns out! For now, the seedlings are germinating in my living room.

heart: smile crocodile plush pattern from Laura Wilson


This adorable pattern is for a plush crocodile complete with a ric-rac spine and zipper mouth! It is $6 and the information says you need a little less than one fat quarter of fabric. This is perfect for people like me with too many fabric scraps from old projects. There are also other patterns in Laura's shop including a turtle, rabbit/fox (it flips inside out into one or the other!), giraffe, and more.

what's new

New pictures in the One Lonely Apricot Etsy shop this week of what my custom wedding designs look like in print!

I've been busy watching the Olympics, doodling, and preparing for a trip to Columbus, Ohio, next week!

traditions

I hope everyone who is reading had a nice Valentine's Day, whatever you did! Corey and I have a tradition of going to a particular state park about an hour away and hiking. This year was our third time to go. It's been much colder this winter, so our hike was short-lived, but we still had fun and went to various look-out points in the park (it's on top of a mountain) to make up for the time we would've spent hiking.











There was still snow left from last week! What are your Valentine's traditions?

hallmark free

(from last year's annual Erotic Art Show in the Black Box)
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Between rich chocolate truffles and a delicious spaghetti dinner, I am writing to announce the winner of my postcard giveaway!

Using a random number generator, I arrived at the number 3, and the 3rd comment was from Mallory! Congratulations! You will be receiving your postcards shortly. Thanks for all the doodle ideas. I am working on a new doodling project and will post pictures as it comes along.

I am happy to announce more giveaways are in store for the future of this blog, seeing as I love paper goods and sending mail. I hope everyone is having a nice holiday!

sale sale sale

I am offering 20% off all 8x8 and 5x5 prints in my Etsy shop,
from today until February 20, 2010,
to all readers of the blog who enter the code "toomuchsnow" upon checkout.
(yes, I've had enough snow)

snow and solitude

Yesterday I awoke to a blanket of unexpected snow. I think everyone was a little surprise. We don't usually get too much here, and we'd already been snowed in once this winter. I decided to spend the day indoors. I cleaned, cooked, painted, and watched my all-time favorite television show, Gilmore Girls. It was a nice pause.

A pizza from the night before. Tofu, bell pepper, canned pineapple, parsley, zucchini, and onion.

It snowed nearly all day long.

I spent a good deal of my time repainting this table. It used to be my coffee table when I was in the dorm, and it was painted orange. I repainted it mint green with acrylic paint, and will give it a clear coat of varnish as soon as I can make it to the store. It took a long time to get paint in all the small details.

An etching by my friend Alex, and my Oktomat 8-lens plastic camera.

For dinner, I made risotto. I bought risotto rice (arborio) a few weeks ago and finally tried my hand at it. It wasn't from a mix. I was proud of myself for how good it turned out! It was flavored with onion, garlic, Italian seasonings, and homemade vegetable broth. It was delicious.

I also made a salad and biscuits with vegan margarine. Here is the biscuit recipe I used. They were simple and tasty.

There is still snow out today and it's only 25 degrees, but the sun is melting it. I hope to be able to get out tomorrow. They are predicting more snow later in the week!

hearts & crafts sale

This weekend, we had a local arts & crafts sidewalk sale. It was pretty cold but we stuck it out for a little while.

Casey and I shared a table. I sold cookies, necklaces, photos, doodles, and postcards. Casey sold hats, gloves, scarves, plush donuts (always a hit), Valentines, and postcards.

I've printed some new mini doodles. The ones on the left are the largest at about 4" wide. I will be listing a variety pack of all the doodles pictured below on Etsy soon.

Don't forget to enter the Valentine's Day drawing two entries below this one before February 14th!

cookies, cookies, cookies

I've been baking lots of cookies lately! A few days ago, I made these wonderful chocolate chip cookies from Natalie's blog:

I did make them vegan. All I did was substitute ground flax + water for the egg, Earth Balance vegan spread for the butter, and I uses unbleached flour and sugar, and vegan chocolate chips. Baking recipes are very easily adapted!

And these are some peanut butter cookies I made last week. They are displayed alongside one of my favorite coffee mugs and on my freshly repainted bedside table. It's now my favorite color of mint green. I love it! You can find the cookie recipe here, at 101cookbooks.com. The recipe is vegan.

Don't forget that until Valentine's Day, there is a giveaway going on in the post below this one!

valentine's day giveaway

To promote a wider readership and to celebrate Valentine's Day, I have decided to do a little giveaway! Anyone is welcome to participate, from friends I know in person to visitors who have never left a comment before! I am giving away one of these lovely postcard sets:

The postcards measure 4.25"x6" and feature images from my studies in Greece and Italy. You can send them to people you love for Valentine's Day, or keep them for yourself. This set and others are also now available for purchase at my Etsy shop.

All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment with one or more everyday objects you would like to see as one of my doodles. For example, an iron, a skillet, an oven mitt, etc. You get the idea. I am working on a doodle-related project and I need inspiration. You can double your chance of winning by making a post about my blog/giveaway on your blog and letting me know in a comment. I'd really love to gain some more readers so don't be shy!

A winner will be chosen at random electronically on Valentine's Day. You can leave your e-mail address in the comment if you'd prefer to be contacted that way instead of through Blogspot.