Kangaroo pouch journal

Kangaroo pouch journal, originally uploaded by m patrizio.

A new design I'm testing out.

Tooth Powder

The first time I saw tooth powder was in a Japanese zakka book a few years ago. A nice Japanese lady was dipping her toothbrush into a round tin of tooth powder. Since I am fan of really old-fashioned things, I had to have some. I came across this small bottle of natural tooth powder that only contains 4 ingredients (natural chalk, mustard seed powder, sea salt , and natural plant essence). Regular toothpaste contains chemicals such as fluoride and sodium lauryl sulfate whose safety is debated among the medical community. I hate that companies just throw chemicals into their products because they are cheap to use.

Tooth powder seems like a good alternative to using regular tooth paste, but my only concern is if the texture is too abrasive for my tooth enamel. Does anyone have any experience with this?

♥polka dot serving bowl

While searching for a coffee press made in the US, I came across this adorable wooden bowl made by the Vermont Bowl Company.

New promo card and Etsy's paper flower tutorial

new promo card, originally uploaded by m patrizio.

Yay! My new postcards came! I can't wait to start sending them out with my orders.

Also, I love the paper flower tutorial I saw on Etsy's How Tuesday - LINK

Paper flowers are a fun way to use up paper scraps that you were going to throw out, bill envelopes, etc...

what amount of milk is it okay to cry for?

what amount of milk is it okay to cry for?, originally uploaded by m patrizio.

Sweeter than sweet

My favorite part is when one of the bunnies falls to the side.

Cozy in a cup

Perfect for a chilly evening- Trader Joe's Spiced Cider warmed up! Keep an eye on your pot to make sure it doesn't boil over.

I use a small enamel milk pot like this one-

(image from ebay)

T-strap house shoes

Here is my latest attempt. I've been obsessing over t-strap shoes lately so I tried to make a pair out of some wool and linen I had around. They came out ok... I would have made different color choices if I tried it again and I would make the T part shorter.

Salvaged white cabinet

salvaged white cabinet, originally uploaded by m patrizio.

the latest trash to treasure! My dad found a green broken cabinet in the street with no knobs. He added a new base, cap and knobs, and then painted the whole thing white. I love it!

Essential Oils ~ Countertop Spray Experiments

I've been doing some experimenting on making my own cleaning sprays for my apartment. I headed to my local Russian pharmacy and purchased some lavender oil and eucalyptus oil. Lavender oil is believed to create a feeling of calmness and relieve headaches and eucalyptus oil is believed to treat respiratory problems and freshen the air because of its anti-bacterial properties. So far I've tested out the lavender oil by mixing a couple drops in some white vinegar and water in an empty Method spray bottle to make a counter top spray. So far so good! I've seen some recipes online that add dish soap to the mix as well. For tough stains I've been sprinkling baking soda on the surface first and then using the spray mixture to make a paste scrub.

Apple picking

Apple picking, originally uploaded by m patrizio.

I painted one of the apples from my first ever apple picking excursion.

Coming {back} soon

I've just finished up with my latest web project ReadAloud.org - a great initiative encouraging parents to read aloud with their children every night.

I just have one more Flash game that I need to finish up and then I will be back to designing new items for my shop. Weeeeee!

web design

I haven't been able to work on my personal projects lately because I've been working on a few websites that I've been dedicating all my creative energy and time to.

Below is a screen shot of a Flash site that I just completed recently for author Jennifer Liu Bryan :

This website features artwork from Jennifer Bryan's two current children's books, created by illustrator Jenniffer Julich.

I had to modify some of the illustrations to fit the needs of the site. It is always fun for me to find the different ways to incorporate artwork from the books while delivering all the necessary information clearly.

First flats

Here's what the shoesies look like together! Not only did I make the left one too small, I also messed up the the direction of the lining on the sides...whoopsy!

Practicing for shoe making class

I took apart one of my shoes that had a hole (I only buy the finest of the finest quality of pleather shoes in NYC of course), separated all the parts, and then traced them on to new fabric and lining and then stitched them up. I reused the sole from the shoe that I took apart. The first shoe came out pretty good, if I may say so myself, but the left shoe (not pictured) came out a bit too small.

What I learned from this experiment is that shoe making is definitely a precise art. A few millimeters off in cutting out the pieces or when sewing them together can mess up the whole shoe. I think my mistake was that I sewed one of the heel seams too wide. I think the felt will stretch a bit, so they should be just fine for shuffling around the apartment with.

Felt superhero booties

(click image to enlarge)

I made myself these booties last night. I used felt, vinyl floor molding that I bought at Lowe's for the sole (very easy to cut), and a Dr. Scholl's insert for support. I signed up for shoe making class in October. I can't wait to start, I've been obsessing over making my own shoes for a while now.

Toddler tee reduced to $10 buckaroons!

You can find it here.

Road trip NYC->Montreal->Vermont recap

This past weekend Sal and I took a road trip from NYC to Montreal for my cousin's wedding, and on the way back we stopped off in Vermont to turn our trip into more of a vacation.


Montreal

After an exhausting 9.5 hr ride up to Montreal on Friday, there was plenty of traffic and a generous amount of toilet breaks, we spent some time with my family and then settled into our hotel. We didn't rest though, until we made a scene at Tim Hortons (Canada's equivalent to Dunkin' Donuts). After having them translate every type of donut from French to English, we thoroughly confused the staff with our order (1 coffee with milk and 2.5 sugars, 1 coffee with milk and 7 sugars, 1 coffee with milk and no sugar, a hot chocolate, a medium iced coffee, 1 maple donut, and 1 cinnamon bun). They messed up 2 out of the 7 items, which is fine, but what irritated me was when they said, "Everything is okay now, Madam!" when it wasn't, and "Thank you for depleting our milk resources", when I held back from taking the whole damn bowl of mini-milks. I gave her the good ol' Brooklyn hairy eyeball and then she said, "just kidding!". Grrrr...don't make me come back there.

On Saturday it was time for my cousin's wedding, A.K.A. Dancing with the Stars - The Wedding Edition. My cousin's new wife is a dance instructor, so half the people at the wedding were amazing dancers and the other half were old Italian people doing their best Chubby Checker "Twist".

Here is my favorite dance routine of the night:


On Sunday morning we spent more time with my family, then headed to downtown Montreal where we had booked a room for one night. We parked the car at the hotel and quickly took a stroll down St. Catherine street, I was focused on getting to the department store Simons before it closed for the day. A few years back, I purchased a couple of sweaters from them that I still love to this day. If you are in the downtown Montreal area I recommend checking out the ground level of this store. After we built up a thirst from window shopping, we tried our luck again at another Tim Hortons. This time I kept it simple and ordered a Cappuccino Glacé, it was pretty damn delicious. It was like a Starbucks Frappuccino, but for a fraction of the cost.

When Sal and I arrived downtown we were pleasantly surprised by the annual Just for Laughs Festival. The streets were filled with tons of performers and some free giveaways (free 7-up, yay!)

Below are a few pics from the festival:


percussionists that shot fireworks out of their backpacks


acrobatic team with cute striped socks

We then purchased some poutine and hot dogs, and headed back to the hotel to indulge in some Québécois fast food. As soon as we finished eating I got a call from my parents, who were in Montreal also but had traveled by plane, saying that their flight had to be rerouted back from NY to Montreal because they weren't able to land at LaGuardia because of weather conditions. We had 2 double beds in our hotel room, so I told them to stay with us rather than forking over more money for another hotel. Of course, Sal looooved the idea that his future in-laws were going to be sleeping right next to us. After a scary ride through the worst thunderstorm I have ever witnessed (thank the Lord for GPS and the lights from the car ahead of us to keep us in lane) to pick up my parents from the airport, Sal headed straight to the hotel bar. I had a yummy green gumdrop-tasting martini with him and then headed to bed. He stayed at the bar to chat with the bartender a bit, where a short time thereafter the comedian David Allen Grier sat next to him! Of course when I'm not around the celebrities show up.

Vermont

On Monday we headed out to Burlington, Vermont. As soon as we arrived in South Burlington we noticed an awesome shop called Cheese Traders and Wine Sellers. They had a fantastic selection of gourmet foods. We picked up a small block of smoked cheddar, a snack size pepperoni, super-delicious Vermont chevre, a loaf of fresh bread, maple cookies, chocolate covered pecans, and some blood orange soda to wash it all down.

After our picnic in the hotel room, we swung by Lake Champlain, literally:


We walked along vibrant Church Street till our toesies started to cry out for a break.

Later that evening we had dinner at the American Flatbread restaurant:

Organic and locally sourced ingredients combined with a chewy, delicious crust! What's not to like?

On Tuesday morning we had breakfast at Skinny Pancake, an eco-conscious creperie and restaurant:

The special of the day- blueberry crumble crepe. If I get a chance to go back to this place again I will stick to a simple granulated sugar and butter crepe or the always delicious combo of Nutella and bananas.

Later that afternoon we took a self-guided tour of Magic Hat Brewery in South Burlington, VT:

Sal was in love and purchased a growler of double chocolate stout beer and a schnazzy work shirt from their store.

After the brewery we headed to the Ben & Jerry's Factory Tour in Waterbury,VT:

(back view) I love the way the sugar, milk, and cream tanks look.


~where the unsuccessful flavors are laid to rest.


For $3 you get a short tour of the factory and a generous sample of ice cream!

...and lastly we visited the quirky Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks in Montpelier, VT:




Sal purchased a small container of Morse Farm maple syrup. They were also selling soft serve maple ice cream, sounds yumma!

After eating all of the food supply of Montreal and Vermont, we headed back home to Brooklyn!

Pink Dahlia & QUICK! Any tips for Vermont or Montreal?

I just added the painting above to my art shop on Etsy. You can find it here.

I started this painting back in 2007 but played around with it recently, adding the flower and the stylized striped shirt.

By chance does anyone have any tips today for things to do/see in Vermont and/or Montreal? I'm thinking about stopping in Burlington, VT for a day or so. Know of any good places to have a look at from NYC to Montreal? Please spill the beans in the comment section :D

Softie inspiration- Persian Kitties

How adorably sweet are these kitties!? I thought they were plushies when I first came across these pictures here. Look at the crossed legs of the one on the right, how stinking cute is that!?

A very "matchy matchy" breakfast

from last week, prepared by Sal. We tested out the Trader Joe's roasted potatoes with peppers and onions at this meal. Not bad!

I found a fox at the bottom of my chocolate milk

fox at the bottom of my chocolate milk, originally uploaded by m patrizio.

Starting small...

If anyone is interested in commissioning a small portrait of themselves or someone they know, or their lovely pets, or anything else that would work well in a small format, I am now accepting commissions.

In the past I've shied away from taking commissions because of lack of time and fear of unhappy customers. Now that I have more free time, I am able to work one-on-one with potential customers to make sure they are thoroughly satisfied with their purchase.

If you are interested in having me create a painting from one of your photos you can view a price list and more info on my website.

P.S. I will make and post some painted samples soon.

I.F.-"Hollow"

Here is my entry for Illustration Friday's theme "hollow".

My first thought when I heard this week's theme was the emptiness felt within our bodies when dealing with depression, and heartbreak. I have the hands bound with "debt" and "doubt", two potential catalysts for depression and common immobilizers in fulfilling one's true potential.

I'm done!

Still working on it.

Here is another sneak peek of the progress of my Luke and Yoda softie for Stitch Wars. I've been working on this project non-stop for over a week and a half and I'm still not done, just a few more details to go!

This pic features Luke's backpack kindly modeled by Chubster McCullister and Charcoal Bear.

What I've been working on lately~

I will be recreating this scene from Star Wars for the Stitch Wars show at Bear and Bird gallery. I need to work quickly and ship it out for the July 18th opening. EEEP!

"Not good is procrastination" -Yodalyn.

Also I've been working on Timmie 200's accessory, it is taking me so long to finish! I will post a pic as soon as I am done with it.

In other news, Sal and I discovered popcorn flavored gelato (yumsy!). I don't have a picture because we scarfed it down in 2 seconds. I always thought that gelato and ice cream were the same thing until I heard on television one day that ice cream is made with cream and gelato is made with milk, so it is less fatty. So schnnnnaaarf away. Well, not too much schnaarffing or else you will turn into a plump pudding like me. If you feel like taking a trek to the middle of nowhere Brooklyn you can find this gelato at Villabate bakery on 18th avenue. If you find yourself on Bleecker street in Manhattan you should try the straight-up CORN ice cream at Cones.

That is all the crafting and ice cream/gelato news for today.

Obsessing- Ecobridge Pencils

Recycled paper pencils ~ engorgeousness (engorged with gorgeousness). It reminds me of beautiful Japanese linen like this. I got this picture from this Korean website but I first saw it on Etsy.

mini light tent

I made this last night/ this morning at 4 am in case the sun didn't come out today and I had to take emergency pics of the Timmies.

The test photo:

June '09 update

Here are the 6 Timmies I will be adding to the shop tomorrow at noon. I will also be adding 11 other softies, a carrot messenger bag, 2 pairs of the prototype glasses, 2 pear keychains, 3 Timmie oil paintings, and a couple of Mr. Blackbean journals.

For July's update I will add more accessories, some Timmie jackets, some small Mr. Blackbean softies, and Timmie 200!

If you have a wish list or I've promised you something years ago and then forgot, feel free to comment with your request. So far on the promised list is ~ Crocomonster themed hat or outfit, red hooded jackets, a purple elephant, and a girl version of Timmie (Tammie Tadpole?). I do not take custom orders but I am open to hearing your requests.