Mostly random with a chance of what the what?

The Chainsaw got me some purty roses for Valentimes Day.



I tried to pawn them off on some neighbors when we left for our vacation a few days later, but no ladies were home.  So I left them on the counter.  When we got home, they still looked ok!  I mean, they were mostly dead, but...they looked ok, you know?



And by ok, I mean kind of sexy in a mostly dead flower kind of way.



So I enjoyed my dead flowers on the counter for almost another week before I sent them off to their flowery grave.

In other news, I went "thrifting" with Roxann the week before we left.  I put thrifting in quotes because neither of our hearts were in it and we didn't buy a thing.  Then we went to Sputnik and had some dranks and ate corn dogs with Becky.  Our table had this awesome artwork hanging over it.



The picture is not so good, but I don't give a shit because I'm an asshole.



Then we all paid with our Hot Butter wallets.  Ahhhhh!

Yesterday I made home made lasagna with home made sauce for the second time, and DANG.  It's so good.  You may or may not know that onions are my nemesis.  I enjoy their flavor if I don't have to bite into them, so I like to use the cheese grater to "chop" my onions.  No chunks here, senor!  This makes me cry 1000 tears.  Any tried and true no cry onion tips, my dear friends?  I cried off mascara I didn't even know I was wearing.



Thanks for noticing the shitty skin I brought home from Florida.

2012 Confessions!

I haven't written anything here in so long that this big white text box is a scary place.  I'm going to break the ice with a magic trick.

See that pile?  What's on top?  A blue fleece blanket, right?  WRONG.  It's my Snuggie.  That's right.  This is both a magic trick and a confession.  I bought a mother flipping blanket with sleeves at a consignment store for $5 many moons ago (reading light still in box!), and let me just say this: IT'S AWESOME.  I'm just embarrassed enough of my snuggie love that I invented this magic trick.  If I fold it up real special, it can be disguised as a regular ol' blue fleece blanket in my blanket pile.  The true magic might just be how warm a fleece blanket is, but I can't lie about how awesome those sleeves are when trying to eat snack and be warm at the same time.  

Other confessions:

I have a pretty bad potty mouth and I'm not afraid to use it.  I think I have been afraid to use it here because I don't want to offend anyone, but fuck that noise.  Good chance that Hot Butter posts in the future might contain a word or two that your grandma might not appreciate.  My grandma too.  She thinks "fart" is a bad word.  

I am probably nuts, but I believe there's some kind of freaky 2012 magic in the air that is messing with people.  I'm going to circle this back to how I started this confession and end it with this:  Since the beginning of 2012, I feel like I'm the craziest of all time (and that's ok!).

Speaking of probably being crazy, I put in my two weeks notice at the old day job, and next Thursday is my last day.  I'm excited about new opportunities.  I'm sad about leaving an awesome job and the coworkers I love (who shall remain to be my weirdo friends in the future!) and also a little jealous of the people who still get to work there, but I'm firm in my belief that my reasons for leaving are stronger than the reasons to stay.  I'm pretty lucky that I can decide to quit my job without lining another one up first, and I'm a little bit scared that I'll have problems finding a new job.  Chainsaw says I shouldn't be because I'm awesome and everyone will want to hire me.  Ok.  Got that universe?  Crazy 2012 universe?  You want this shit.

Ok, that's enough for now.  I don't want to get all overwhelmy with my confessions.  I do want to be HERE more and in a more present, personal way.  I hope you're all ready for this jelly.

Loves,

Ashley McCrazypants

Yes, this panda is real (to me and Felix and Laureal). 

P.S. This is my 327th post, which is my birthday number of posts, which is awesome and I'm way happy about that! 

Meringue Porn

I took an unintentional break and have lots of things to share.  Please tide yourself over with this meringue porn courtesy of Grandma Donna's baking skills.







And a sneak peak at what I sent Amber for the Crafty Peep Swap.



Be back soon!

Show and Tell

Watch out for this guy!!



I found an awesome set of Ghostbusters circa 1985 bed sheets at the Hospice Care thrift store's 50% off day.



I know it's all wrinkly, but I just had to share.



This top/tunic/very short dress (?) was one of my barn full of vintage clothes scores. I still need to tell ya'll about that, but I wanted to get a few more of the pieces photographed first. Anyway, it's gorgeous. The orange didn't photograph quite right, but it's good. It also has really pretty seam details on the bust.



Bowie (as in Double Raindavidbowie) has taken over my black felt hat. Cutest thing ever.



A quick shot of my work in progress craft fair booth. I called my stepmom Kris to ask her for ideas, and she had infinity of them in the front of her mind just waiting to escape! I can't wait for my next fair. I'm going to be a fancy big girl creator with a nice looking booth.

Thank you for tuning in to this show and tell. Behind the scenes I've been working like crazy making an odd combination of baby gifts and pouches for a mmj dispensary. Hey, might as well stencil everything at once, right?

I need a nap just writing this.

We've been home from our epic journey since last Thursday night, but I've had a hard time getting myself to shake the dust off this place yet again. Luckily, I am overwhelmed with pictures and stories, it's just hard to find a place to begin.

Our journey went something like this-
Wednesday: Wake up at 4 am, drive for 16 to Chicago, where we stayed with an old friend of the Chainsaw.

Thursday: Chicago!

Friday: Drive across Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and finally, New York at midnight.

Saturday: Do some morning exploring and go to the wedding that inspired the whole trip.

Sunday: Brunch, Niagara Falls, nap, help take care of the wedding alcohol surplus problem.

Monday: Drive to Madison, WI. Pay almost $30 in tolls to save time.

Tuesday: Hang out in Madison with one of my favorite ladies and her scientist gentleman.

Wednesday: Drive 13 hours to the Black Hills of SD with a stop in Mitchell to see the corn palace and my second fambly (my breast friend Laura's parents!). Smootch sleeping Felix.

Thursday: Drive home to Colorado, pet kitty.

Then I had a craft fair to get ready for on Saturday. Add in the mysterious bites I got at the wedding that were causing me a ferocious itching anxiety and a trip to urgent care (before I amputated my own legs below the knee), and I've been busy, tired, and already missing new and old friends from our trip. I wish all my favorite people would move into our neighborhood!



I'll be working on more fun posts from our trip later today! Today is Felix's first day of preschool. :D

preserve wildlife. throw a party.

I think these guys would completely approve of that idea.



I had the best time every the other night at Red Rocks. I've always had to sit in the top general admission, but this time we were lucky enough to get a seat in the second row. Of course, it was pretty far off center, but we had a sweet view nonetheless. In fact, I totally got to watch Eugene dancing backstage before going out to join the fun!



I only took a few pictures, and they suck. Those guys dance too hard for good point and shoot pictures. Gogol Bordello put on a fantastic show, and I highly recommend them to anyone who likes to feel the good energy and get down. :D

Other highlights include:

Seeing a guy laying on the ground puking on himself, then watching the security guards send each other flashlight signals (and also point them in drunk guy's face!) and the EMT's carrying the guy out. I'd like to know who leaves their drunk friend puking on himself by the garbage with no supervision. Oh well!

I had a feeling I was going to have an awesome new hair flair to wear to the show, but inspiration didn't strike until 4 pm (and we were leaving at 6). I knew that I needed feathers, vintage metal buttons, and hot glue- STAT! I whipped this pretty thing up in 20 minutes.



I'll take a couple pictures in which you might actually see the details this afternoon when I photograph the new things I created this weekend. I can't believe I didn't get a full body shot of my show costume. I finally got around to wearing my red sequined sash and of course my favorite new boots!

I got the title of this post from this awesome vintage fabric:







My aunt Janna gave me a box of vintage fabric to sort through that she had gotten many moons ago from a family friend. A lot of the fabric was actually reclaimed from other clothes. So this is vintage fabric reclaimed from vintage clothes in vintage times! So cool!





I think this guy's name is Bruno, and wouldn't you know it- Bruno hates seagulls! Oh my, see how he frowns!



The stack. There are a few other larger pieces not in the stack, but I can't believe how pretty it all is and that it took me so long (since our trip to Wyoming) to get this stuff washed.

Also, all my dreams came true this weekend. I'll tell you about that soon. cough cough barnfullofvintageclothes cough cough

The Fair

Let us do some calculations:



Baby animals



plus pony rides



plus friends



times pretty carnival lights



plus Monster Bag of cotton candy



plus fun rides

minus riding the pirate ship with two kids screaming "I don't like it" and "make it stop" (no photo available as people with cameras were laughing at my misfortune instead of documenting evidence)

EQUALS ONE AWESOME TIME. That's a lot of my favorite things right there.

My future grandchild

The other night Felix was talking about how he's going to have his own kids when he grows up. He was describing one kid in particular who had a mustache for hair, inspired by a picture of a dude was saw on he internet with his head shaved except for a mustache of hair on the front of his head. So of course I asked Felix to draw this kid for me.



Oh my.





I can kind of see the resemblance- mostly in the giant head area. This unborn child has no name so far as I told Felix it is not cool to name your kid Poopy Pants. Felix argued that he will poop his pants because he'll be a baby, which I countered with the fact that he, Felix, also pooped his pants and would not have liked it if I named him Poopy Pants.

I'll be back tomorrow with some cute cute stuff.

Polaroid Effects

I "Polaroided" myself at Rollip.



You have to pay for high quality copies, but it's free to download the small fries. Try it and share! :D

Progress

I've been working on this set of long wallets for what feels like ages.



Something seems to be going on at some point every day, and the days that I don't have plans I have to go get groceries or something.

So at long last, I have eleven wallets in their finishing stages. I have more cut out, but I underestimated my interfacing needs. Anyone have a good source for buying interfacing? All the bolts I've found are about the same as buying it at Joanne's with a coupon.



I'm always excited to see my card slot flags. My life got less tedious when I realized I could chain piece the top stitching.

I'll be back soon to let you know when the update happens. If you haven't already, please become a fan of Hot Butter on facebook. My fans there are usually notified of shop updates sooner than I get to it here. I also plan on doing more facebook giveaways and discounts soon!

Summer in Photos

Felix's first campfire.



Sam on the jet ski.



I also have a few new wallets in the shop. Most of my stock went to hang out at Boulder Body Wear in Boulder, Colorado in hopes of finding a new home! Stop in and say hi if you're in the area. :D

More crazy Wyoming sightings

These people have a beef with ice cream.