Daisy Janie

thankful?

d o j o b by peanut man

Enjoy this video snippet Jack and I made. Kids can have a lot of fun with this!

[ music - Vivaldi: The Four Seasons - Concerto for Violin in F Minor, "Winter" Part I ]

bonnie

Named after the small town where we lived until I was 9: Bonneauville PA (outside of Gettysburg and pronounced podunk style as "bonnie-ville"). Inspired by the kitchen wallpaper there. It was the 70s and all. Loving this one!

Blue is very hard for me to do, but I thought I needed a "bonnie blue" so I tried!! Also trying to lessen the number of colors used.

*****************************************************

Parting question for the week: Is it wrong to eat Nutella right off the spoon? I figure I'm just cutting to the chase, plus I'm not adding extra calories with a graham cracker or a crazy piece of fruit. Serving size is 2 tbsp!

a toychest redo

A couple of my current projects are stalled at the moment, which doesn't leave me with much to share here of late. While I degoogled this past weekend, I also began the destash - you can see some of the supplies here. These are third-string supplies - that just means it's highly doubtful they'll see a future play and they're easy to get rid of. 2nd and 1st string supplies will probably get a reprieve for another season - until I'm super certain we aren't on the same team (like the 55 ft. of 2" black velvet ribbon that is so gorgeous!). Why is it so hard to make a clean break? Why did my friend give me a Husqvarna machine to "store" for her - it's like being a kid in a candy shop with that thing sitting in the other room! (mutters to self: you are not sewing handbags, you are not sewing handbags...)

I also began trashing images of old stuff taking up space on my hard drive. And I came across a few what-the-heck-was-I-thinking items (to share later b/c they're 3rd string blog material). Here's a 2nd stringer that you might like.

*****************************************

This is a redone toy chest for a client, circa 2004. The client's husband had it as a boy; he even scribbled his name inside the lid. They wanted to use it for their grandchildren. I stripped it, which is more fun than should be allowed. Then I primed & painted the basecoat of the large flat surfaces. The edges were colorwashed with a paint/water mix. Sort of like staining. Then all of the designs and embellishments were added. And I painted those cute checkerboard pieces, too. They're just those little wooden discs you can buy at the craft store. Still one of my favorite projects b/c the client was so pleased with it.

This is the inside of the lid - see his name scribbled on there? I was able to preserve it by masking the area when I stripped it. I was very careful! Then I found a goldish-orange paint that matched the stain and painted the other stars. Coolio.

falling out of favor

It pained me to do it, but I committed googlicide this past weekend. It's sure to be a crime of profitable proportions. What does that mean? I removed the handbags from my main website, changed all my meta tags, deleted all verbage about handmade handbags and began the arduous task of redesigning my site to reflect my current business interests. Google will be stripping my rank soon enough - but they haven't seen the last of me! mwa ha ha ha ha..........

Still not following? For the past 2 years, Daisy Janie has been on the first page of google for handmade handbags (sorry if I'm repeating info you already know...just trying to tell the story). For the past year for sure, Daisy Janie has been sitting in the #1 spot on the first page. (see below)

No small feat and not even close to being happenstance. Nope, when I started DJ in 2005, I took great care & a lot of time and learned all I could about search-engine optimization, php, html and so much more. I implemented everything I read like a diligent droid to get my site bumped up. I saw results within a week - and by that, I mean my website moved from complete obscurity to page 3!!! That was exciting. It took another year of robots and spiders crawling my site - in addition the other stuff I did - to get it to the first page. I've seen a few other handmade handbag vendors come and go on that page, but a few have been mainstays (and some have become friends), and I hope they reap the rewards of my soon-to-be-vacated spot on that page (as if they needed any assistance - ha!). So to Carrie from Sommer Designs, Amy from Belle Bags, Megan from M. Avery, Georgia from August Lately, Aya from Nappa Studio, the ladies at Laura Bee and Valerie from Holland Cox - keep up the great work! It's been a pleasure holding down the fort with you all! If you need any fabric for your gorgeous handbags, you know where to find me!

new contact on flickr

For real. I was digging around for 2 more items to add to the friday scout out on Scoutie Girl (I picked a doozy this week), and I saw Obama listed as someone else's contact! I thought it had to be an imposter, but it's the real deal. So I added him - why the heck not! I'm sure he has someone overseeing his flickr site -  if I am ever able to hire someone, this will be one of their tasks.

Obama's campaign didn't miss a single trick when it came to using the technology to get the message out. Go to where the people are. A novel idea. Where are your people? How are you getting to them? 

p.s. Anyone know where I find handmade items that include steel cable?! I'll be here....

tubes

I know you'd like me to make a texture repeat out of this image, but I am going to resist for the sake of all things non-procrastinationally-related today. (to answer your question: it's a word now.)

I keep stacking these fabric tubes in the corner of my sewing room. I have no idea what kinds of fun, constructive things I could do with them. Do you? I should unleash the 11-year-old and his friends on these, although they would just become swords & light sabers - boooooring.

While I don't know what to do with the tubes, here are 3 things I do know:

1. Any nonsensical, cockamamie words sung to the tune of "hot cross buns" will get my entire family singing along and making up their own inane versions. Try it out.

2. Finding a paw print in dog poop (AFTER they've gone in the house) is so much worse than cleaning it up in the first place. Don't try this out.

3. I have been seeing the world through extremely blurred vision for about 2 months - and finally went to the eye doctor. Bifocals were prescribed. Dang nab it.

recipe - basic biscotti

The temps are cool enough and the leaves have fallen enough to put Matt in the mood for all things Christmas-y. One Two of the many things I love about him is that he overflows with Christmas spirit all year round, and he loves to bake. Combine those with this basic biscotti recipe, and you've got 2 perfect companions for your yummy wintery coffee. (And a redhead who's making extra trips to the gym - which is fine b/c Matt will be there 'cooking up' a workout for me, too.)

- Daisy Janie moroccan lace teatowel pictured above -

Basic Biscotti
2 C sugar
1 C unsalted butter, room temp
4 large eggs
4-1/2 C all-purpose flour
4 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/3 C brandy
1-1/2 t anise extract
1 t vanilla extract
1 C whole almonds, toasted (optional)
2 T anise seeds

Oven - 350 degrees.
Beat sugar & butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. In glass measuring cup, combine brandy, anise extract and vanilla extract. Add dry ingredients and brandy mixture alternately (a little bit each time) to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Stir in almonds and anise seeds.

Drop dough by large spoonfuls onto large baking sheets (line with foil if you like), forming 2" wide by 13" long strips on each sheet. Moisten fingertips and smooth dough into logs. Bake until golden and firm to the touch, about 40 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to racks and cool completely. Reduce oven temp to 300 degrees. Transfer cool logs to work surface. Using a serrated knife, cut logs on diagonal into 3/4" thick slices. Arrange slices on baking sheets and bake until dry and slightly brown, turning every 10 minutes for about 40 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool.

Makes about 3 dozen. Can be made 2 weeks ahead - store in airtight containers at room temp or in the freezer for up to 4 weeks.

shadow play

his & hers sketchpads

Can you tell we're related?

Yesterday was a great, great day! Well, first off, it was a Friday - and that in itself is downright blimey.
Add to that, these little things:

• the teatowel strike-offs came back (only 1 color adjustment to make! and holy crap, does the moroccan lace pattern ever look incredible - all hand-drawn, that one is).
• the mail lady delivered a delightful piece of mail from the 7,000 10,000 yards of fabric I had printed for my manufacturing client (now I won't pounce on her everyday - it's bad enough she gets it from George and Scout!)
• my medical scrubs client sent me another job.
• my BFF Jeanie agreed to & created in a matter of hours a lettering project that is freaking unbelievable!!! Her sister was my business / painting partner in a biz called Fresh Paint LLC (2002-2005) - between the two of them, I've never seen more raw, energetic talent! So glad she had the time and interest! Must come up with a licensing fee for her. If I can get her to create an entire font via fontifier, I'll call it the Beaner font - after her!
• we had a stellar conference with Jack's teachers about his schoolwork - a jangle of nerves subsided to complete glee & satisfaction for Jack. Now how to keep it that way for 7 more years. Oh, and look, I sent his "nice" story to Operation Nice this past week, and Melissa posted it -check it out!
• Jack and I bought some fresh, new sketchpads b/c we used the last sheets in our respective sketchbooks on the exact same day. Love that he is so into drawing, doodling and cartooning! Matt said I would have a bigger blog readership if I posted nothing but his stuff - I'm sure of that.

How did your Friday go? How did your week go? Good things going on? I hope! Oh, and by the way, for those who observe, 47 days until Christmas. I wouldn't have known, but there was an unsightly countdown clock in the Michael's craft store yesterday!