What I did on my summer vacation- San Diego edition

Oh hi you guys!  It's been many moons since I've laid my eyes upon this blogger page, and I thought I'd fill you in on what I've been up to.  Although it's not the only trip I went on this summer, my San Diego trip is fresh in my mind (and the Chainsaw has our other trip pictures on his computer...need to look into that for myself).



My best girl Laura and I are both Aries, so I was pretty excited to see this horoscope the last week before I left.



We went to the beach every day, including not one, but two special sunset trips.  This was from our hike to the beach on the first beachy sunset trip.



Just feast your eyes on that majesty!



Sunsets, ocean frolicking, and cliff hikes can make a lady hungry for diner food.



And a giant milkshake.



We went to Kobey's swap meet, which was super fun.  Laura found her very own magical crystal, which she may or may not love almost as much as she loves me?



I bought this badass cobra ring.  Unfortunately it turned my fingers green.  Any tricks for this?  Can I paint it with clear nail polish or something?  It's hard to be a badass cobra ring wearing lady when you're worried that your own fingers are turning snake-like in color.  I may or may not have also bought a Mexican wrestling mask.



Sunset number two was viewed at the appropriately named Sunset Cliffs.



Laura and I bought big floppy hats at the swap meet (and I got extrabigass glasses), which turned us into movie stars.  It is impossible to not be glamorous in this costume.  It's also really hard to take best friends forever self portraits while wearing big hats.





Unfortunately that little cloud bank stopped us from seeing the sun disappear behind the ocean, but oh well, it was awesome anyway and we saw that magic at sunset viewing number one.



Laura serenaded me with a Metallica song at the beach.



And then this happened.  Tell me how many times you got to hang out at an impromptu beach jam with your best girl and an awesome accordion playing gentleman.



We also went to the zoo, where we got to take in the sweet sights of polar bear dumpers.



And HOLY CRAP panda bears.

Ok, I think that's good for now.  I just got my shop updated with all the creations I made this spring.  I haven't made anything new all summer, but apparently I had a righteous stock pile just hanging out, waiting for its debut.

Trunk Show

My trunk show last Friday at the Fancy Tiger Clothing store in Denver was super fun!  There was even a Hot Butter poster on the door!



I had a cute little set up in the middle of the store.





I sold a few things and had a ton of fun.  It was much less stressful than an actual market as I didn't have to stand around babysitting/selling my items.  I got to drink beer and mingle with the beautiful people of Denver.  I was really excited to see a group of my lady friends from work (you know, the work that pays me on a regular basis) come all the way from Boulder to show their support (and wait until 10:30 to hang out with me when I was done!).  Big thanks to Rebecca, Allison, and Christine for coming to see me!

I am very excited to announce that Hot Butter wallets are now available for purchase at The Fancy Tiger.  I swiped this picture from their Facebook page.



Don't they look adorable in such a fancy setting?  There is so much amazing work in the Fancy Tiger.  I highly suggest you check it out if you're in Denver and haven't already.

I was going to get my messenger bags up in the shop, but unfortunately my pictures turned out pretty dark.  I need to retake them asap.  I'm also plugging away on a giant stack of new wallets and have some vintage sheet wallets and ladies with secrets to put in the shop soon!

Extra Big News!

I'm very excited to announce here that there will be a big Hot Butter Denver Made trunk show at Fancy Tiger Clothing in Denver this Friday.  Check out my interview on their blog here (Fancy Times!) and rsvp here.  If any of you are in the Denver area, I'd love it if you stop by and say hi.  It's going to be fun!

I have been working hard on a new line of vintage sheet messenger bags to show this weekend.  I did make a couple of these once upon a time many moons ago, and they well received.  I never made any more, and I think I know why.  They take both a long time to create and muchos fabric and interfacing.  I guess I'm more of an instant gratification sewer.  Anyway, I just finished a big stack of them, and I'm happy to say that they are awesome (sorry if that was a self horn toot, but I'm really happy with them!).

So far I only have photographs of one finished bag, which is technically the one I gave to my stepmom Kris.

I'll be taking pictures of the rest of them tomorrow.  They have some fun details!

Crafty Peep Swap

I made this glorious tote bag for Amber for the Crafty Peep Swap.

If that sounds like I'm tooting my own horn, it's because I am.  I had the idea for making a tote bag with this awesome crewel embroidered owl.  I even had the stuff sitting on the table.  Then I got Amber's email with the stuff that she loves, and I knew I must have been channeling my psychic powers.  I couldn't not make it for her.

The owl was embroidered onto a piece of linen.  I fused it to the bag, which didn't actually work that well because the back of the embroidery was so lumpy.  It did help hold it in place for me to double stitch it onto the bag.

I made the bag out of canvas and interlined it with flannel, and it felt so nice- soft and sturdy at the same time.  

It's lined with a vintage sheet.  There is a good chance that I used the last of my yellow and white sheet on the pocket and front decoration for this bag.  I originally planned to line it with that sheet but could only find a little bit.  I did send some of it out for the vintage sheet FQ swap, but I was both surprised and a little sad to discover that it was almost gone.  It was one of my favorites!

I love this bag so much that I included a note instructing Amber to let me know right away if she didn't love it with all her heart because I would have been happy to get it back and make her something else.  It turns out that she loves it, so I'm just happy that it found such a warm owl loving home.

In other AWESOME news, the Denver Post put a picture of a Hot Butter wallet in an article yesterday about the Horseshoe.  Check it out!

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!

Washington Part Two: The Beach and a Waterfall

One not too rainy day, Laura took me up to see the glorious Nooksack Falls.  Yes, Nooksack.  Say it and don't laugh.  Then go to the Nooksack casino for happy hour.



It was a double complete waterfall that sometimes started to look like a triple waterfall.



Extreme Danger!  There was a sign by the parking lot listing all the unfortunate souls who disregarded the warnings, climbed on the slippery rocks, and plummeted to their deaths, including one pregnant lady.  Yikes!



This is the pretty green pool at the top of the falls.



I love all the glorious mossy green river rocks.

On my last rainy Washington day, we went on a little driving adventure, which led us to this glorious beach where a body can dig up their own shellfish.  We didn't do that, but we did investigate many shells and pretty beach rocks.



I officially love low tide.



Special thanks to my lovely hand model Jeffrey Geoffrey (pronounced gee-off-er-ee.



Laura walked on water and I was baptized into the holy order of those with pockets full of sand and shells.



Laura found one delicious crab claw and a shell platter on which to place her feast!



And by feast I mean stanky toothpick.



Laura had a cold.  I didn't and was able to smell the unfresh aroma of this discarded claw/arm combo and could not make myself put it that close to my grill.

Ok folks.  That's all my best Washington pictures.  More variety of the same scenes to be perused on my flickr page.

I'm getting ready for the Horseshoe Craft and Flea Market next month.  Can't wait!!

Washington Part One: Laura's House and Mossy Forrest Majesty

I flew to Seattle on the very last day of March to visit my best girl/soul mate Laura, who lives in the mountains extry close to Canada.  We went on a few adventures, and while I did not take infinity of pictures, I have enough that I'm going to split it into two posts.  Enjoy!

We spent a few hours in Seattle before heading to the mountainous boonies.  We went to Pike's Place, and took this picture.  It's the only one we took in the city!

Laura lives in a cute little a-frame house.  Her neighbors are technically very close, but the forrest-y backyard made it feel cozy and secluded.  If you tune out the occasional sound of gunshots (?) and the sounds of the highway, a person (me) can pretend they're in their own sweet cabin in the middle of nowhere.  

The ground was covered in moss and itty bitty pine cones.  They were so cute I wanted to glue some googly eyes on a couple so I could adopt them and sew them tiny outfits.

Laura also revealed to me the untold wonders of the mossy forrest.

We especially liked all the giant shroomy fungus prizes growing out of fallen trees.

Black!

Red with Laura's paw for size reference.

This shot is better at revealing its supreme awesomeness.

Another size huge black one.  We should have put a size marker in this one.

Surprise candid shot of Laura, whom I think looks glorious in the forrest.  I have always thought she looked awesome in green, so it makes perfect sense.  Also, sitting on that fluffy ground covering fern looking foliage (uuhhh, whatever) was a rare soft treat.  The world smelled like mushrooms.