Valiant V

Birthday Blues Shake Down

2011-09-03T04:12:00.000-07:00

My birthday came and went. I am twenty friggin eight people. And as well as that fact rearing its ugly head, Im in a funk. Creatively I have no drive at the moment. And this is the blog post to prove it.

I originally planned on using this special day as a dealine of sorts. To try and pack as much creativity in the 20 days up to my birthday and maybe beyond. Shake myself out of this funk. It started off alright but then soon faded and died. Here are some of my creative exploits in pictorial form.

Did a few aerial silks classes. But really this is cheating cause I've been doing it for a few months now already. But man I got some great guns for my birthday.

You got tickets?...Tickets to the gun show!.

I've been filling up this folder on my computer with pictures I've happened upon during my travels through the interwebs. They immediately grabbed my attention and made me think "hey I could copy that". This was the first and only one I attempted. I would love to have the desire to draw more regularly.

I might try again, feel I messed up the little brother in my first try.

I wrote a letter to my good friend Jill. Dip pen and all baby!

I feel it's such a dying art that it has become creative rather than commonplace. And to add bonus dork points I made it out of pages from a book I was reading. I wrote on the blank backside of one page and turned another page into the envelope.

And it wouldn't be complete without the wax seal. The pyro in me loves these opportunities.

I finally figured out what to do with these resin molds I made years ago. I had experimented with resin and found objects and glitter and then I didn't know what to do with them. A necklace? a brooch? Then I remembered the ring bases I had bought some time ago and whammo.

Bling Bling Dolla Dolla Bill Yo. I just want to keep all of these. Love them.

I also tried out a new, big version of my feather accessories. Kind of a combination of feathers and fascinator. Nothing complete yet though. Meh.

And of course my ultimate creativity cheat. The jumble sale I attend monthly. I look a little manic here but it's a great picture of Tatiana, the creator and amazing girl behind this eco friendly jumble. Head piece workshops happen every sale among the other various free workshops. I always have a great time here.

So all in all I was a little more creative than usual, but it didn't jump start me into doing anything more in my life. But honestly right now I should be focusing on my career and my training. So for now I have cleaned off my work table and turned it into a study table. I'll still be creative in my life I think but not as much as I'd like to. But for now. We'll see. Procrastination and avoidance of homework usually ends up with me being all sorts of creative.

Love and Happy Birthday me,

~Valiant V

Photoswap 2011

2011-08-14T06:18:00.000-07:00

PHOTOSWAP 2011!!!!!

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Remember last year when I did this? No? Then you just got here, get with the program people!

So this lovely blogger Rhianne decided to set this awesome event up once a year. Basically I trade rolls of film with a complete stranger from across the seas and develop their roll and see what they did and wait in anticipation for them to do the same. Here are some of my favorites from her roll.

Her name is Charity. Say hi Charity! She too has a lovely little blog set up. Go see!

I think she's from Canada....

If you want to see more check out my flickr set of the rest. And if you want to see what I did then you'll have to search through the groups photos to find mine (rubs hands together menacingly) muwahahahaha! I used a quad cam that took four photos in one shot so actually Im not hard to find in the group.

THE BEST PART!: you can participate too! Yeah anyone can do it.

THE WORST PART!: it overrrrrrr!!!! This year's photoswap is complete, but hopefully the world won't end and you won't be dead and you can still take photos next year ok?

ok thanks bye.

Love and Strangers Photos,

~Valiant V

Things I Must Do In London: The Ascot Racecourse

2011-07-30T06:33:00.000-07:00

I have a list of things that I feel I must do while I am living in London. Iconic, and sometimes very touristy things that I think should be done to truly experience Great Britain.

#15 on my list: Feel like My Fair Lady and attend the Ascot races.

It's really just horse racing, but it's so much more than that. Like most things in london, it's very old and fairly posh. Basically you dress up fancy, kind of like you're attending a daytime wedding, wear an outrageously big or flamboyant hat or fascinator (think sputnik floating around your head made entirely out of feathers)

and drink a huge glass of pimms while watching the horses gallop by.

The place is pretty and HUGE. You can bring your own picnic and grab a space on the grassy area.

I was blessed with tickets to the premier area and it was nice to see how the other side lived. Actually, they lived pretty much like the grandstand ticket holders did only you couldn't bring your own food and drink in because you were supposed to be rich enough to buy their stuffs.

Anyway. As I said, I was given tickets to the event but very much last minute. So I had to improvise and make my own fancy fascinator.

It's basically felt, thick paper and pipe cleaners. I loved making it and thought it stood out among the others that day :) I'd make a tutorial about it but it happened too quickly and fairly late at night that I didn't make time to take pictures of the steps.

I had a great time there and I think I found a new creative craft. There are a few more events on my list that require crazy head gear and I can't wait to make more.

Love and Horse Races,

~Valiant V

Life Update Exploring My Hood

2011-06-19T10:28:00.000-07:00

Im so sorry for not posting anything on here lately. I haven't been really busy lately but mostly I just didn't feel like anything I was doing was interesting enough to post on here. And I was just busy enough to not have time to make a tutorial for anything. So for now here are some photos of my recent escapades.

And by recent I mean it all happened this weekend. Why I only just started taking pictures on my phone this weekend I don't know.

There was a festival at the park near my house and they had setup a neat little stage. So cute but I missed the last show! Shucks. Hopefully I'll see these guys somewhere else in London.

Yesterday was the New Gallery jumble sale that I regularly attend every third saturday of the month. Here's the lovely lady in charge, Tatiana, taking photos of some headband making enthusiasts.

When she finished hers I immediately thought in my head "want, gimme now!". I just had to take photos of the purtyness.

I also did some exploring of my surrounding neighborhoods on Sunday. This weekend was my first experience of Queen's Park. A posh little section with an awesome farmers market.

I am definitely coming back again for some Sunday dinner supplies. They even had fresh squid I was looking for last month when I tried to make thai squid salad for the first time. Yay my recipe will now be complete!

Ventured around other areas like Kensal Rise and found some cool graffiti and a store with a beautiful mirror that I want in my bedroom. I love my new phone. It has internet and a gps system so that I can venture around but not really be too lost.
mmm, golden tree mirror. And a wonderfully cute little store.

I haven't been working on anything new lately but hopefully I will get back into the swing of crafty things soon.

Love and Catching Up,

~Valiant V

New Project

2011-05-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

It started with felt feathers. Then I kept seeing real ones along my walk to work and thought, hey...why not? They're free and purty and up for grabs.

THEN I finally found a bead store in London that sold bits and bobs to make my famed bow necklaces. So I bought some things to make earrings as well and...

Voila!

It's a real feather, dipped in gold fabric paint. Meh, not sure about this one BUT maybe if I find some more interesting specimens they would look better. We'll see, still working on it.

Love and Exploring,

~Valiant V

Manor Family Fun Day

2011-05-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

Man that was a fun day! Here are some pictorial highlights of said event...

My booth all set up in the beautiful roundwood park. I felt like I was lacking inventory, not too many flowers this time, but it was just the right amount I guess because I sold a bunch of items!

One of my cutie customers. The bow looks so great in her hair yes?! She was quite the little salesperson herself actually. Working at her dads jumble table next to me.

Another table selling starter kits of different kinds of spring flowers and plants. With instructions and everything. So cute, and an automatic easy bonding activity with your children.

My amazing coworker Beth helping the book stall set up. She introduced me to the event.

5 pounds for 10 minute massage? Yes please! Too bad I had to keep an eye on the table.

The attraction that might have been the major reason for my success.

A very unsafe looking jumpy house!

All the kiddies were having a blast on it while the parents had a look around the tables.

And the fuel that kept me going (until the Pimms arrived).

Thank you to the Roundwood Park Cafe for hosting this event and to Jo for wanting to make the Manor Special school playground a better place.

Love and Charity Jumbles (I did it all for the kiddies),

~Valiant V

Upcoming Events

2011-05-04T14:13:00.000-07:00

Roll up! Roll up! Just a quick announcement for my local readers....

I'm participating in a local family fun day as part of a charity fun day for my local special school!

So come on down May 7th from 11-3pm and help out the kiddies while getting your face painted with a brownie in your mouth in a jumpy house.

Cause that's exactly what Im going to try and do while Im there.

Love and Multitasking Fun!

~Valiant V

Repurposing Clothes AKA Old New Clothes!

2011-04-23T08:24:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what's gotten into me, maybe it's the great weather we've been having, but I'm on a crafty role lately.

I've been trying my hand at repurposing some clothing items.

Was given a grey blazer (thanks Jason!) that didn't quite look right as is. But there's a recent trend of the sleeveless blazer so I though Id give it a go.

I learned that I hate working on sleeve holes. Haaaaate. So my work is a little sloppy.

Will post more pictures if I actually am able to style this nicely with anything else I own. :)

I also found some wide leg jeans for (1 pound!) at the new gallery jumble sale and turned them into the shorts I plan on living in this summer.

It's so great, adding things to your wardrobe for next to nothing.

Love and new old clothes,

~Valiant V

Lazy Lunches Creme Sauce Ya'll

2011-04-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

Another lazy lunch entry. I had purchased some pesto sauce from the store but wanted to make it a little more interesting. So I thought I'd try my hand at making a cream sauce.

Pesto Cream Sauce Pasta

Again my food pictures are not the best but it was tasty indeed and you need to try it.

Technically its called Bechamel sauce. It involves fat, wheat flour and cream. But the cream is usually heated a bit with onion and herbs like bay leaves before the strained product is added to the other ingredients. There's all kinds of variants and I made a really basic version with skimmed milk that wasn't "flavored". I know theres a proper chef-y word for that but whatevs. So I made a basic creme sauce base, then added some pesto sauce that I had purchased et voila!

Go for it ya'll!!

Love and turning ho hum into oh yum!,

~Valiant V

New Gallery Jumble Sale April '11

2011-04-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

MY SECOND LONDON JUMBLE SALE!

I took part in a jumble sale in an art gallery space in Peckham. Wonderful day. Met lots of cool creative people. Got my portrait drawn, had some yummy cocktails during their happy hour later. fun fun.

My little booth!

The lower level are some odds and ends I thought people would be interested in.

A sewing circle.

They have workshops throughout the day in the space as well. Ellie was the teacher this time helping people to make mini cushions. so cute. People started making other things like fabric crowns and rag dolls and embroidering naughty words on their cushions.

Some of the other tables.

Will makes wallets and bags and oyster card holders made out of old plastic grocery bags! he fuses them together to make single sheets of this plastic then turns them into these lovely items. so awesome.

Ellie's table of repurposed fabric goodies.

Big cushiony pillows and aprons and totes too! And pretty teacup candles. I want to try and make those some day.

They had a portrait booth (instead of a photobooth) and I got a two minute session with the portraitist Clare Wallis. So purty.

Love and Crafty Adventures,

~Valiant V

Cool Finds Around The Interwebs

2011-04-17T04:27:00.000-07:00

Things that I found that are too cool and easy not to pass around.

I found these on Design*Sponge, one of my regular blog skims of the week.

Fabric Garden Markers.

I would so make these right now if I had rubber cement lying around. So coooot!

And...

Paper Marquee Letter Lamp

Awesome no?! Christmas lights and cardboard people, done! Simple way to chic up a shelf.

Love and Interwebs,

~Valiant V

Craft Update! Feathers are Flying Over Here.

2011-04-13T03:57:00.000-07:00

Got my feather mojo back and I'm really diggin the bright colors.

I think it's the weather and the upcoming Easter escapades that's motivating this drive....that and possibly avoidance of doing homework. teehee :)

Look at my little pretties basking in the sun.

I have other ideas for use of my feathers but I haven't yet executed said ideas. We'll see!

Love and Feathers and this great weather!

~Valiant V

Lazy Lunches

2011-04-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you want an omelette but don't want to have to wash all the dishes from it (because you live with a commune style kitchen system where you have to cook, wash and put away things before going back upstairs to eat your food in your room)?

FRIED EGG CHEESE "SANDWICH"

Fry up some onions, fry up some eggs, layer egg then cheese then egg then sprinkle with the onions. Simple!! This way, the only things needed to wash right away are a cutting board, frying pan and spatula (unless you can hide those under the sink like everyone else does for later, bonus!).

This time with a little nod to the coming easter holidays. I toasted up some hot cross buns to go with it. They're sliced and buttered but you can't see the golden glory that is. Oh but I tasted it, yes sir. mmmm. And they were on sale.

Love and Lazy Times,

~Valiant V

Jumble Sale Review

2011-04-03T16:25:00.001-07:00

My first UK jumble sale at The Victoria!

A great american style divey rock a billy bar.

My own little table! I got so excited that I forgot to take photos of it before people came to peruse...then I was too embarrassed to take a long time with pictures in front of said peoples.

I brought along some lucky charms, can you see them? Mostly for luck, partly to fill empty spaces if the table was huge. But I was the first one there that day so I had my pick of spots and this cute little combo was just right for my stash.

And see my little matching price tags and cards next to my framed sign? I was stamping up a storm the day before. and writing my web address on anything that wasn't tied down.

The place was great. A pub that has a regluar monthly jumble sale. Free table, great family run business. Was a lovely first experience. I ended up selling only one bow and spending more money on pancakes with american bacon and cider for courage. But fun none the less.

Up next! A jumble sale at an art gallery in Peckham. New Gallery to be precise. I think this one might be more of a success. The coordinator is a promotional powder keg! Girl knows how to sell it.

Love and Jumbles!!

~Valiant V

Leftover Lovelies and Lazy Lunches

2011-04-03T14:06:00.000-07:00

Another segment I thought I'd try to add

LEFTOVER LOVELIES

(Things I do with leftover food items)

and/or

LAZY LUNCHES

(Things I make that are tasty but simple because my kitchen space sucks at the moment)

First up a Leftover Lovely...

PESTO PITA PIZZA

Say that five times fast :)

Ingredients: Leftovers from various dinners and lunches of the previous weeks

-Pita Bread

-Fresh Red Chili

-Garlic

-Pesto

-Cheddar Cheese

-Grana Padano Cheese (like parmesan)

Alright I know it looks a little strange but oh my goodness ya'll this was delicious.

Brown up the garlic and chili in a little olive oil while the pita toasts a bit in the oven. Take out the pita, spread on some pesto, top with cheeses and the garlic chili oil awesome you just made. Put back in oven to melt. YU FRIGGIN UM.

Sorry, I get excited when I don't waste food AND the result tastes good.

Try it out if you ever get this combination of things leftover in your fridge.

Love and Leftovers,

~Valiant V

Life Update

2011-04-02T08:47:00.001-07:00

This is my crazy face.

You wanna know why? Because I'm making more items for a jumble sale I am participating in this weekend! My first jumble sale in London since I've been here. Very excited. Hope to sell some of my stock that I've had forever. But also wanted to make some new things.

Messy hair aside I'm liking the results.

I also ran out of my professional mini moo cards and had to make some impromptu handmade ones with what I had. And to make it all spiffy I made matching price tags.

Remember these!

I was having a hard time motivating myself to remake these feathered friends again but the block is gone! Gonna go feather crazy for the spring time.

Mid-Week Creative Speak!

2011-02-08T10:59:00.000-08:00

I have so many creative and artistic friends. So blessed am I. Artists, musicians, writers, poets, dancers, actors et cetera et cetera et cetera.

Yes folks its back...

Interesting Interviews With Creative People From Arouuuunnddd The Woooorrrlllldd!!!!

AKA: Mid-Week Creative Speak

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Ok so this used to be a weekly segment where I interviewed artistic, creative people, so that you may know, how awesome they are...because you should. It's probably not going to be as often as weekly but I am certainly determined to start this up again.

This week is my buddy Brian's turn.

I have known Bri for many years now and always as a writer among many things.

A fellow food and drink critic...Oh lets face it we love to judge anything and anybody.

Dirty habit. tee hee :)

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

When I was in fourth grade our class had a year-long project to write stories and have them bound into an anthology. I remember writing my first stories during that time period and really enjoying it. Making stuff up and writing it down made sense to me. And when you're that age you can get away with the utter dreck. No one is expecting any different from an eleven year old.

What is your creative process?

If an idea or thought comes to me I usually write it down. Pretty standard stuff. I don't work in order as far as sequence. I flesh out individual ideas as they come to me and leave them if I run out of thread. I've found that my best material has come out of looping together two or more unrelated ideas. Stories rarely come to me 'completed'. It's patchwork. In a nutshell: banging on the keyboard to forge something out of smaller pieces.

Is it difficult for you to come up with things to write about?

Oh I always have ideas. That's not problem for me. It's convincing myself that they are worth putting down and general output that are my problems as a writer. That and being a novice at taking this craft seriously. I have much to learn.

Do you have a preferred medium?

Not really. I spend a lot of my time at a computer and I read a lot of web-related work because I'm already there. Digital media means that we have more content in one place. This is both good and bad. Good in the sense that if we really HAVE to read this great book by so and so and are too lazy to go down to a bookstore to pick it up we can always grab the e-book version. On the other hand, it means there can be too much content to consume at any given time. For our generation in particular, computers are our televisions. I know more people with laptops and internet access than I do folks with television and cable. Of course many folks have both, but given the choice? You can pry my laptop from my cold dead hands, thank you.

There is something to physical media. It's a worn argument, but I do like the fact that a book is just a book and can't also play my mp3s. Single purpose things have a place.

To me, it's all words. Either printed out or on a glossy screen, I don't consume them any differently.

What's the grossest, saddest, fattest, oldest, whateverist thats bad thing you've ever eaten?

Ketchup on wheat toast. Let's move on.

Would you eat it again?

Never say never.

Do you have any plans on trying to get published one day? in a zine or in the Times!?! Or do you want to keep your work secret until you die and then become famous?

I don't really have aspirations to get famous from my writing. I would be fine with earning a living producing work that I'm proud of. Sounds silly, but it's true. I've spent a lot of time doing work that at the end of the day I'd rather not be doing.

Have you ever gotten anything published before?

Not in the literary journal or novel sense. More along the lines of angst-ridden live-journals and school newspapers. We all have to start somewhere.

Do you admire any modern writers? Or have any muses/inspirations of the moment?

There are so many. At the moment I'm smitten with Denis Johnson. I just finished reading his first collection of stories, Jesus' Son. Absolutely devastating.

What would you do if you were able to do anything you wanted? I mean there was no need to work for survival purposes and you can just choose to do things in your life for the pure joy of it.

This answer will bore you: travel and write.

Who's your favorite Golden Girl?

Dorothy! That lady could throw down.

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Thanks for answering my questions Brian! If you have any more questions for my writer friend send them my way and I'll tack em on.

I miss my buddy over in Oaktown CaleeforNyay :( But I'm on the look out for interesting and creative friends over on this side of the pond. We'll see who we can meet. Yay new adventures and new people!

Love and Creative Speak,

~Valiant V

Super Sunday Movie Review!

2011-02-06T11:32:00.000-08:00

It seems that British television has the best worst movies playing almost all the time, especially on Sundays. This Sunday's selection included a gem of an 80's movie that I had yet to see.

D.A.R.Y.L.

A child with no memory of his past is brought to a foster family and we soon discover that there is more to this little boy than meets the eye. There's a couple of well choreographed car chases too! Good mix of action and story line and comedy and feel good. Just a very enjoyable movie with lots of great random actors.

Like the kid from The Neverending Story!

And Michael McKean who is in all those great Christopher Guest movies.

And the dad from Pete n Pete has a cameo!

As for most of these older movies that cause nostalgia I become interested in what the actors are doing now. And sometimes that gets me into trouble. I looked up my lovely little Bastian from the movie that I grew up loving. And this is the only photo that might be remotely accurate.

oh god please don't let this balding dread locked scraggly looking pedo be my bastian. Ok fine he's probably really cool and down to earth and not creepily checking out that little girl in the foreground. But still, makes me sad to see that things change and he's not even remotely the same looking as he was as a child.

But anyways! Great movie. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Love and New Movie Discoveries,

~Valiant V

Ashley's Braid Scarf Tutorial

2011-01-31T12:49:00.000-08:00

Ok so I've posted this before with a link to the original tutorial but I thought I'd give it a crack at making my own. Cause it's super easy and such a fun addition to anyones wardrobe.

*Get a shirt. The larger the better. If you want to decorate it beforehand that'd be a nice touch. Or just leave it plain, or use a favorite t-shirt with a cool logo that maybe doesn't fit anymore, what have you.

*Trim the sleeves and collar off and cut along the sides to make two even-ish pieces. I left the end hemming on cause it made the braid ends look cooler.

*Sew the two raw edges together and try it on. I made sure that there was enough solid material that would wrap around my neck before I chalked the line I made to stop the strips. You'll see.

*See! So I made the strips about an inch thick but I didn't have a number of them planned ahead of time. Basically make sure that you have groups of threes for braiding and just keep careful watch of how much you have left towards the end. Once cut, carefully stretch the shredded fabric.

By the way a circular cutter makes it soooooo much easier and nicer looking. Invest in one stat!

*And finally, BRAID!

*Make sure you have tension while braiding. And I just tied off the ends. You can trim them so they don't have so much dangly bits but I like the way it looks with the ends.

I think next time I might make the braids a little shorter and have more solid fabric to wrap around.

Simple yes? Try it! And let me know how it goes.

Love and Friggin Easy Craft Projects.

~Valiant V

PS- I got a custom order on Etsy! It's been a while since I've had one of those. Going to be fun.

Gonna turn this into a flower.

New Year

2011-01-30T10:08:00.000-08:00

Had a great feeling day!

Sunday, chill, making some breakfast, took pictures of said breakfast cause it looked so happy, making some crafty things just for the heck of it, a little sewing machine action, a little room cleaning, chatted with my momma for a bit, grilled cheese and a cider for lunch, aaaaahhhhh. Im even excited about work tomorrow! Yes life is good.

Remember that shirt I was trying to make? I mean I lightened it and tried to stamp some design on it. I WISH I knew how to make a shirt. Anyway, it didn't look right and I kind of gave up but saved the shirt for possible future projects. Et voila!

I made another braid scarf out of it. The grey one I made before was a little shorter but it seemed to have more braids? I didn't review the original tutorial I got it from, just sort of remembered what it looked like before and tried to do it again from my head. I think it worked well. Pink is not really in my usual clothing color scheme but maybe someone else would like it? And it's not quite light jersey scarf season either. I might just add it in to my early spring wardrobe rotation. My own version of the tutorial to come.

Hope your new year is going well!

Love and getting back in the swing of things,

~Valiant V

Craft Update! Trendy Christmasy Winter Whatsits

2010-12-08T14:16:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd try something different with what I had. I picked up some yarn at a jumble sale and I tried my hand at making one of my bows.

A little winter fun accessory.

I was on a roll! So I also turned some of my spare buttons into a ring.

It's all nautical and shtuff. That's still hip right?

I tested it out one evening and the metal ring totally fell off of the base . I need a soldering iron. yes please! muahahaha metallurgy.

ok that's it for a bit I think. Going home for christmas! Sigh. So happy.

Love and Crafts,

~Valiant V

Happy Turkey Day! 2010 London Version

2010-11-30T14:16:00.000-08:00

My first thanksgiving without any close family or friends nearby. I actually almost forgot about it on Thursday when a great coworker of mine invited me to an impromptu dinner that night. There were the classic family staples that I knew and loved and some new traditions from other peoples families that were there. Fun to learn about other American's traditions.

When I took my first bite of stuffing/cranberry jelly/chicken (cause they were not going to attempt a full turkey) I felt at home. I closed my eyes and slowed down for a bit. It's funny what little things help you feel good and safe and normal. So good.

They were very sweet and added marshmallows to the yams for me. And surprisingly other people enjoyed it despite the exorbitant amount of mallow.

And lets not forgot the most traditional thing of all.

On Sunday I was invited to my coworkers annual thanksgiving at her friends house. We had homemade eggnog, a ton of veggie side dishes for some odd reason,

and a full blown turkey.

And on a more prouder note, i was able to corral all their kids into one room to make thanksgiving decorations for at least 25 minutes. I have the powah!

This is for sure late but wanted to update you.

Love and too much food but it was so good,

~Valiant V

Movie Review

2010-11-21T12:59:00.000-08:00

Went out last night with some new friends, had a great time. I think it was the combination of late night and big cider glasses that made it a very sleepy sunday. But on the plus side there was a great movie on the tele that I had never seen before, and thats rare for tv caliber movies shown over here.

The Sheepman starring Glen Ford and Shirley MacLane.

A beautiful classic including Naked Gun genius Leslie Nielsen as the arch rival.

Ah he's so handsome, hair all shiny and coiffed. mmhmm.

And Shirley is in it so you know I'm going to end up loving it. She's actually fairly annoying in this one and not the best character but still great to see her. Glen Ford is a mysterious stranger who comes into town and stirs things up. Pretty fun.

I give it two thumbs up. Go rent/netflix it guys.

I usually don't watch too many westerns. Any recommendations?

UPDATE: freaky! not but a few days after watching this does Leslie pass away! Rest in Peace you amazingly funny and handsome man. You brought joy and humor to a lot of people.

Love and a Good Movie,

~Valiant V

Fun Find! Extended Nursery Rhymes.

2010-11-16T13:31:00.000-08:00

As I was stumbling around the interwebs I discovered a blog that shared the lost second versus of those well known nursery rhymes of our childhood. Well, my childhood anyway. Some of them are sad and kind of inappropriate for children while others are a refreshing addition to those classics that even children of today would love.

Here are two of my favorites of the bunch that I want to memorize and share with my kiddies I teach.

Baa Baa Black Sheep: The rest of the farm...

“Cluck, cluck, red hen, have you any eggs?
Yes sir, yes sir, as many as your legs.
One for your breakfast and one for your lunch;
Come back tomorrow and I’ll have another bunch.
Moo, moo brown cow, have you milk for me?
Yes sir, yes sir, as tasty as can be.
Churn it into butter, make it into cheese,
Freeze it into ice cream or drink it if you please.
Buzz, buzz busy bee, is your honey sweet?
Yes sir, yes sir, sweet enough to eat.
Honey on your muffin, honey on your cake,
Honey by the spoonful, as much as I can make"

Do Your Ears Hang Low?: See picture below for what semaphore-ing is...I lol'd when i discovered what it was.

"Do your ears hang high?
Do they reach up to the sky?
Do they droop when they are wet?
Do they stiffen when they’re dry?
Can you semaphore your neighbour with a minimum of labour?
Do your ears hang high?"

There was also this longer version of Oh My Darling Clementine that was sad and then funny. I want to learn this one for when it's last call at my favorite pub with my best mates.

In a cavern, in a canyon,
Excavating for a mine
Dwelt a miner forty niner,
And his daughter Clementine
Light she was and like a fairy,
And her shoes were number nine,
Wearing boxes, without topses,
Sandals were for Clementine.
Drove she ducklings to the water
Ev’ry morning just at nine,
Hit her foot against a splinter,
Fell into the foaming brine.
Ruby lips above the water,
Blowing bubbles, soft and fine,
But, alas, I was no swimmer,
So I lost my Clementine.
How I missed her! How I missed her,
How I missed my Clementine,
But I kissed her little sister,
I forgot my Clementine.

Cool Huh! You're welcome. 8)

Love and Rhymes

~Valiant V

Life Update and Fashion Copycat

2010-09-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

So besides my career training, a lot of other things have been going on in my life. So I am back in London but still not entirely settled into regular adventures for posting. Today I tried to explore my neighborhood a bit. I now live down the street from my work and have yet to really see what's out there. And unfortunately so far there is nothing special I see within walking distance. But that doesn't mean I can't jump on a bus and go somewhere else exciting around London. I started bookmarking things I want to check out on Yelp.

The weather has recently chilled here. Feels like what mid-December would be back home and that's scaring me because it's only late September here. I have never experienced a proper season apparently. Damn you mild weathered upbringing! I am in no way prepared for this.

On a more girly fashion note:

I've been exploring and experimenting with my style a bit as well. I watched a tutorial some time ago on another site, Calivintage, on how to tie a sash into a turban.

So great when you have no desire to style your hair that day.

Ok it's not much different from the usual t-shirt, jeans, sweater ensemble but it's a start people!

You should try it. It's actually a cooler alternative to a hat, covered up my ears all warm and toasty as well.

And actually watching the video again today it turns out I tied it differently. But the video inspired me to try out a new hair style if you will so thanks Erin. She calls it a turban but mine was more just a scarf awkwardly wrapped around my head. Like a modern day Rosie the riveter who in no way supports her country actually, sorry amuurika, I'm teaching British children instead.

That's it for now peeps. Going to try and get some more interviews going on this thing again soon. So sorry for the delay.

Love and "Turbans"

~Valiant V

Photoswap 2010

2010-09-08T14:56:00.000-07:00

OOPS! I thought I had posted this. It's about time I started really updating this again.

So this is from September actually. From a photoswap that I was apart of.

I ended up swapping unprocessed film with a stranger (a nice one mind you!) who was on a list created by an awesome blogger. We mailed each other our unprocessed rolls and waited in anticipation for the results to be shared. These were a few of my favorites from the roll I made.

Love and Fisheye Lomo Cameras,

~Valiant V

Regents Canal... IM ON A BOAT

2010-09-08T13:41:00.000-07:00

Had a girls day out last sunday with my new friend Ce Cille. We walked all over the place.

Had some lovely tea and cake at the Cake Hole (will change to a link when they get their site up),
visited a flower market, a lot of little local stores

Neon Carrot Decoration!
Didn't even try to eat it. Damn fine carrot cake though.

Tea shop was in the back of a vintage shop.
All these embroidered pictures on the wall were for sale too.

I remember seeing these guys in the mary poppins movie but still have no clue as to what the hell they are.
And I have no intention to find out on the internet either. Gonna just wait til I work up the nerve to talk to one of em.

And we ended the awesomeness with something I've wanted to do since I got here

ride a boat along Regents canal

Her friend owns a canal boat and offered a ride to a canal fair going on down the way.

We got to sit on top of the front of the boat. Was amazing. Mostly because I felt like a prom queen on a boat. Waving at all the people (yes it was mostly kids but I swear there were some adults that waved and smiled as they walked along as well! )

A big thanks to Ce Cille for taking me on this wonderful adventure and documenting it to boot!

Love and Canal Boats

~Valiant V

Booze and Bumper Cars

2010-08-23T23:18:00.000-07:00

I am still in the midst of training for work. It is sucking my will to liiiiivvveeee!!!.

Actually, its very informative and I've met some great people there.

But it is very time consuming. So in about two weeks I will be finished for now with the classes and its back to work and a regular, more leisurely schedule.

As a well needed distraction for one night, Jesse took me to hangout with friends at a place in Central London called Trocadero.

Oh my goodness it puts our Californian Dave & Busters to shame. It's FIVE stories of arcade games, bumper cards, lazer tag, bowling, mini golf, and booze and junk food and MORE!!!

It's kind of a hedonistic Pinocchio funland.

And I have discovered that the lone guy playing dance dance revolution is universal.

Love and Whack-o-Gator,

~Valiant V

Look What I Made!

2010-08-04T09:04:00.001-07:00

So there was this place in Oakland I mentioned before, Farley's, that has amazing things called egg baskets. It's basically bread and egg (and prosciutto if you're feeling randy). But so yummy. And they bake them inside a muffin tin in the oven. So I thought hey, I could do that too. And I did, kind of.

TA DA!

So I basically sprayed a muffin tin with oil and put in a piece of toast, kind of smashed and crusts cut off, into one of the holes.

Then I added some prosciutto and the egg.

Things I learned or am still working on:

*make sure your muffin tin is deep enough to hold all of it, mine can't really hold all the whites from one egg

* the temperature was at about 350〫F and I didn't actually pay attention to the time. I was looking to see that the egg was at least white. I actually over cooked them a bit.

But hey it was easy and looks super fancy and next time I'll add the potatoes underneath them.

Yum!

Love and a lil bit o home,

~Valiant V

Boring Life Update: Do NOT Read.

2010-08-03T15:26:00.000-07:00

If something is not stated to me in a serious manner then I do not take that task so seriously.

For instance, I am about to start my Montessori training soon but apparently have not officially been accepted yet!? Turns out they are very strict with deadlines there and if I do not turn in my physical portion of the application (which i should have tried to turn in ages ago) they will not even consider interviewing me for the spot in the class. But people in my own company have expressed in the past and up to now that even they haven't turned in all of their application parts, so I was in no way stressed about it. And only until I was actually able to speak with someone at the institute about the situation did I understand their seriousness on that policy. yikes! BUT I got a lot done today to relieve that stress. I registered with a UK doctor and my physical is scheduled for tomorrow, and I have an interview scheduled for the next day with the training institute who will hopefully accept me before the course starts on Monday. Phew! Check and checkity check. I am very excited to start the new chapter of my career life. A new job and training to become a certified Montessori teacher! It will be hard work, or at least strenuous for the next month, so my posting might be a little slow.

Or I might use this blog as a way of decompressing after a day full of lecturing and shtuff.

On a more girly note I also touched up my hair today, and trimmed my bangs.

This home beauty stuff is super easy and so much cheaper.

At least, it will be cheaper once I learn to use a mirror for doing the back of my head so I don't miss a huge spot of roots and have to buy more products to do it all again...come on Ashley!

Love and Life Lessons (dumbass),

~Valiant V

ps.- to all my pen pals I say take heart, I will start writing of my adventures via snail mail soon!

Summer Roll Update and New Kitchen Tool

2010-08-02T06:55:00.000-07:00

So yeah I tried to make the summer rolls with my friends. Brian and I had gathered everything from the store. Everything except the actual rice paper you need to roll the innards up with. But luckily Jason was at the OTHER local store getting random house hold things and could grab it there. BUT they didn't have any at that store either.... guh, after all that running around the store finding everything, I felt defeated. We were trying to think of other plans for dinner and I was so frustrated I didn't want to make anything else or even go out somewhere to eat.

Then Brian suggested pizza,

oh god that is the best/worst thing for situations like this.

So we tried again the two nights later. This time with all the ingredients needed. And it actually was really easy!

I especially loved using my new kitchen tool. A julienne peeler.

It basically looks like a potato peeler but it has these teeth to shredded things into little strips! Like a dumb ass I peeled the carrot and cucumber in my hand instead of holding one end on a cutting board, so there was a lot of left over vegetable because i didn't want to slice my hand.

I even tried to make the peanut sauce the recipe called for.

But the peanut butter I had was salted instead of plain, so adding the fish sauce to it made it super salty and brought out the sweetness of the peanut butter too much. We tweaked it a bit, adding rice wine vinegar or more cock sauce to individual tastes (thanks for the suggestion Gina!). But next time I will try the recipe to the letter with plain pb and we'll see how it goes.

They were so tasty that there was no time to take pictures of the end results. Yummy!

I must now think of other things I can make with my new shredder. hmmmm.

Love and Summer Rolls

~Valiant V

Wow Where'd I Go?

2010-07-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

I'm having a great time back in Cali. I almost forgot about this thing. Almost. Normal posting will resume once Im back to my regularly scheduled regime. I'll be back in London in about two weeks.

In the mean time, this comic was brought to my attention today and I have completely fallen in love. I LURV this style. Like my story books from kiddie days past.

And

Tonight I am going to attempt to make these.

I mean Summer is part of the name of these for criminey sake. I've gotsta make em. Or at least attempt to. Even if they don't look as pretty, they will for sure taste yummy. Thanks Chaos in the Kitchen for the idea!

LURV and Summer Rolls,

~Valiant V

P.S.- Also going to try and get off my lazy vacationing butt and craft some more today. And take some pictures of the new items.

Alcohol and Fruit a Recipe

2010-07-07T13:49:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow enjoyers of summer and spirits!

Saturdays in Oakland mean the Lake Merritt Farmers Market.

And I always buy too many yummy things and they end up going bad before I enjoy them.

So this time I said NO, you will not be wasted yummy things.

I purchased a basket of ready to go strawberries. Boy howdy.

I ate some, gave some away, and still had some leftover at the ending of the day.

These bad boys were so ready they wouldn't have lasted the night. So what to do with tasty sweet strawberries that doesn't involve having to bake desserts in the hot summer night?

Infuse Booze!

I just found some alcohol my hosts were not planning on drinking (they're whiskey drinkers)

And sliced up the strawberries into the bottle et voila!

There are plenty of recipes/instructions out there in the interwebs. Go check em out!

*Keep the booze in a dark, cool place while it's working it's magic. *And go check how long you should be letting it sit, cause that timing depends on what you put in it.

I only let mine sit for a few hours before I tried out some cocktails that night.

Here's a serving suggestions for you lazy drinkers out there. 8)

Strawberry Ginger Lemonade!!

Portions may vary depending on how sweet or ginger-y you want this but basically...

*1 shot strawberry infused vodka

*Splash of simple syrup

*Juice of half a lemon (juice from the store works as well but won't be as bright tasting!)

*Grated fresh ginger

-Pour all into shaker with ice and shake shake shake seniora. Then strain into glass and enjoy!

It took a couple times to perfect the right ratio for my taste but once I got it ooohmm doggies it was good. You can do a non-alcoholic variation of this too. Maybe puree the strawberries instead and add lemonade and grated ginger. Yummy either way I think!

Cheers!!

Love and Infused Booze,

~Valiant V

New Location For An Unknown Time

2010-06-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys!

Sorry I have not posted much lately. I am in Oakland, California for the time being! Taking a little vacation before I start some intense work training.

But enough about that. You want to know what I've been up to since I've left Merry Old.

Well...

I have to say when I took my first BART ride into town I got a little misty eyed seeing those infamous cranes on the water. IM HOME!

Saturday: I have arrived!

Sunday: ...I have jetlagggg!!!

Monday: Im in Cali the first day of Summer. How perfect is that? Was invited to a summer solstice celebration at Ocean beach. Bonfire, adult drinks hidden in water bottles, crunch n munch. Perfect combination.

Plus this guy in the group dressed up as a fishing boat captain. Mustache, pipe, etc.

Jason and Brian joined me in the bonfire fun

Plus Brian has been puppysitting his friend's dog Tatum and I got to get dragged around the beach by her. SO beautiful, I love the ocean at night.

Tuesday & Wednesday: Uh....nothing major to report. But I'm sorry there was no interview posted on Wednesday, but I will be getting some great ones done while I'm here!

Oh Wait...hey yeah I got me a tattoo. Duh. I'll post it when it's healed.

Thursday: Received a newsletter from an awesome artist collective down the street. ROCK PAPER SCISSORS. Inviting me to a hat making party! Apparently there was an overabundant amount of hats donated to them one day and they decided to use them to get some crafty people together. I started making it there but there are still some finishing touches I need to perfect before posting pictures up here. Suffice it to say, it's pretty much the best hat I have ever made.

More to Come!

Love and Home Sweet Home

~Valiant V

Bees Love Rape

2010-06-12T23:43:00.001-07:00

Just a quick update. It's been super busy and lots of things are happening soon. But more on that later.

Had THE best time yesterday in Highgate. Jesse and I were in recovery mode from the night before (I'll post about that separately) and a website suggested we head over to this cafe in Highgate to eat some tasties. And we did BUT we happened upon this festival that was on the way to food and it was awesome. A classic ideal English fair, faire?, and in such a quaint but modern little town. And of course there wasn't a camera between us. I always do that. The one day I go out of the house without my purse (which always has a camera) and it's a great day for taking pictures.

There was a bee keepers booth, with information and displays and local honey for sale. I saw a few different hues of honey and always wondered what the difference was, and they were very willing to explain. One of the most interesting parts of the lecture was when they told me that bees love rape...it was just the way they were explaining it combined with the fact that they didn't realize what they sounded like.

" Bees love rape. The nectar is very easy to extract, usually the bee's flying radius is about 3 miles but they will go 12 miles for rape... rape honey tastes awful though.... luckily there's no rape in London ".

Rape the plant, as in rapeseed oil. But they just kept talking about bees and rape. Very weird experience. I also went up to that booth because I am having the worst case of allergies I have ever had I think. And I heard that if you eat local honey it will make it go away or at least lessen the symptoms.

Love and the strange habits of bees,
~Valiant V

Mid-Week Creative Speak!

2010-06-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

And yet again this friggin thing is late. Sorry to all of you who are salivating for the next installment.

Week 3 of Artsy Fartsy Interviews!

This, is Jason.

A cyclist, a wine & beer tasting connoisseur, an awesomely talented music man.

Let's get started shall we?!?!

You are a musician yes? What are your musical influences? What drives you to make music?

To answer the third question first: really, no idea. Cause music is awesome? hard to argue with that one. But yes, I'm a musician. I'm a guitarist mostly, but musician is a better definition of what I do, what with all the singing and other instruments and songwriting and whatnot. As far as influences go, my early influences are pretty typical of teenage boys - I liked grundge and classic rock. Hard to say after that - I like a lot of experimental and indie rock, a lot of 20th century "classical" music, and a lot of modern jazz...it definitely comes out in my music, if you know what to listen for. To put it succinctly I could just say I like Bartok & Radiohead. That probably gives people some idea, and will probably make me look like the kind of guy who like whiny British music, which would be true. Soooo, yup.

Is there anything that has influenced you that you actually wish hadn't? Like majoring in classical guitar or being forced to listen to all the Beatles albums by Brian Fidler?

Ooo, good question. You know what sucks? Majoring in music (or anything disciplined really) means you learn to be critical OF EVERYTHING. ug, it's so awful. Being part of an institution like that, you get in the habit of tearing everything apart, into little analyzable bits, from famous work to your friends' work and your own. Not that I don't understand the importance, but institutionalized music doesn't focus on the emotional elements of music, the human bits very much, so you get very intellectual about everything. And snotty. I'm really trying to work back from that. I like melodies, and tension and release, and repetitive rhythms...and epic choruses! Nobody's teaching that in the programs I'm familiar with. Popular music is great like that - it's an example to me that at least in some ways the system is working, cause people under 30 don't generally get excited and go run off to listen to Beethoven, they want to see something new, something like St Vincent, Jake Shimabukuro, Animal Collective. As for the Beatles, there was a time when I hated them. I have no idea what was wrong with me, but it was pretty damn wrong.

If you have to choose to live the rest of your life as a duck or a lemur, which would you be?

Man, those are some awful choices. Well, the sex lives of ducks are particularly curious, and lemurs look constantly surprised and are sometimes known to pee on their feet to help them grip things. Or is that a bushbaby? Is a bushbaby a lemur? Given my choices, I'm going to stick with Mogwai.

Are you mostly musical or do you do anything else artistic or creative in your life? What are you working on at the moment, in any field of artsy fartsy creative stuff?

Artsy fartsy creative stuff, eh....hmmmm....mostly finishing two albums - one of my own, and one with my band,Farewell Typewriter. Both rock, but very different. Probably release them mid-late summer if all the art and mastering goes quickly. I did that super-lo-fi-song-a-day project January. I'm still uploading it, but what I have so far is available free at jasoncountryman.bandcamp.com. Other than that I'm writing new songs, learning new instruments. I guess I do little bits of drawing and photography, and a lot of things in my life could be considered to require creative thinking, but no crafts at the moment. I am picking up fire dancing again, so maybe my lack of crafty output is just that I'm feeling very kinetic as of late.

What is your creative process? I mean do you have a usual pattern to how you write a song?

HAHAHA. My process is a mess. If I'm writing a song, well....you hand me an instrument I can write a song in a matter of minutes, just melody, chords, 3-5 different sections. No problem, on whatever - ukulele, piano, guitar, banjo....even stuff I don't play, like cello. Without an instrument I can write a song on a post-it pad (used to have to do that at work if I had an idea, work it all out by intervals). Absolute no brainer for me, it just comes out. Lyrics? That's like...I just think of Terry Gilliam's cartoon foot coming down at the end of the opening sequence for Monty Python's Flying Circus...like a wall. That happens to also make a farting noise. For lyrics I have to sit down in complete isolation, in a park, in a near-empty coffee shop with earplugs. I stare at the paper and just try stuff. Or lately I find improvising in front of a video camera on my bathroom floor helps. Then I go back and see what worked, pick out the bits I like and work from there. Starting that process, setting the time aside and just letting my mind go blank, and then once I start it, getting into a flow. That's the hardest. I'm very distractable.

Once turned into said duck or lemur, then thrown in a battle rink with opposite choice, who would win?

Mogwais always win.

Especially with the whole multiplying-and-turning-into-Gremlins thing. Unless it was during the great flood of the Old Testament. Then ducks would win.

There you have it folks!

Go get some free awesome music from Jason! I especially like the tribute to Dr. Who.

Love and Lemurs

~Valiant V

Well this is off to a great start...

2010-06-03T05:22:00.000-07:00

2 weeks in and I already forgot to friggin post the next interview. It's been a pretty crazy week.

This week is the lovely lady Jill!

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She's a ~~Jack~~ Jill of all trades. Especially in the art world. She creates, curates, organizes, slices and dices. You name it! Plus she's a happy homemaker with a mean sewing machine ready to handle any project that stands in her way.

She's a crafter like me but on hiatus to rekindle her artistic romance. You can go to her shop and ask to be updated if she graces us with her etsy presence again though.

Do you consider yourself an artist? If not then what would you call yourself?

I consider myself to be an artist among many other things. It's interesting how we identify ourselves and I think that I am many things, an artist, a business owner, a music/art/media junkie, a part time smoker, an animal lover, a gallery curator, a helpful person, impulsive at times and other times quite contemplative, a meditator, a lover, a friend...but one thing has always been constant and that is I love to create!

When did you realize that you were an artist? Or that you wanted to be one?

When I was little I lived with my mother's family for about 4 years. It was a full house which held not only me, my sister and parents, but 2 aunts an uncle and grandparents. During that time I marveled at my Grandmother's crocheting and gardening, my uncle's drawings and vinyl collection, my aunt's sewing and design skills and my grandfather and father's wood working. The arts and culture became an integral part of my life from that point on. One one hand art acted an easy escape, entering an imaginative and strange world on a whim...and on the other it took care of my antsy side by constantly using my hands. Later on after high school I took a break and worked in the "real world" for a while. It left me uninspired and stressed out so I went to college not knowing what I wanted to be, but that I had to be involved with art somehow.

You have multiple things that you do to earn a living, do you ever wish for a single nine to five, five day a week kind of job?

YES! But as with anything there are pros and cons. Part of why I even ended up as a small business owner with my husband is that the economy is so bad that no one is hiring in our fields. So we capitalized on our freelance work and made a business to assist artists with their own juggling acts. I love the fact that I did not settle for a job I did not want just to buy me time. It is a struggle though and my biggest challenge is making enough money to take time off. In a regular gig you usually have some vacation or sick leave. Since I have no one to tell me to take a break, let alone pay me to do so, I am somewhat of a work-a-holic because I am constantly looking ahead for more work. I am still dreaming up a life that let's me do what I love and will pay me to take breaks. I hope someday that a regular weekday job will fit in somewhere and these days I am considering going to graduate school for art therapy.

What is something that you've always wanted to do?

Travel to Europe--Germany in particular since that is my mother's heritage and all my life I have felt attracted to all things German. Travel somewhere not in North America at all would suffice. I did get to Tahiti once and that was wonderful! However, when I returned it was very apparent to me that I have been missing out on the real experience of culture. I feel like most of my cultural experience has been a bit watered down, especially living in America where we get a version of something like Chinese food. I seem to live vicariously through books, music, theatre, and education than actual experience--almost more imaginative than real at times.

How would you describe your work? Or at least your most recent things you're working on. What ARE you working on right now?

A couple beautiful pieces from Jill

I would say my work has no real voice yet because I am at one of those in between stages. I took time off after college and crafted away, making whatever I felt like--a great relief after plugging away on an art degree for nearly 8 years! The break was good and although I enjoy crafting and sewing, I have recently put down the fabric and scissors in favor of painting again. I am picking up on some recurring themes that appeared in my undergraduate portfolio but giving them new life and a more deep and honest look at what it is I am trying to say. I have two paintings in progress, one oil and the other mixed media. I am planning a series that will be shown in October at the Oakland Professional Development Center. The series is vaguely about my ancestry and memory. I am tying in American Indian and German symbolism and staging scenes where animals are the main characters and act out fragments of memories that I have from childhood. I have always been very interested in how memory works-or doesn't. Part of this series, that I am in the planning stages of, will actually incorporate my families memories. I have asked them to choose an image, family related or not, and write about a memory. Then I will see how my own memories tie into their's and make a piece of art based on it. It's exciting to be back in the studio working on something that is so far outside of an academic environment!

What do you think popular art will look like in 5 years?

Chaos. Pandemonium. The thought actually makes my head spin. I think the art world is so vast and full of emerging artists right now that whatever you can dream up there will be/already is a home for it. Old hats, new hats, brown hats, blue hats. On a fine-art-trendy-level I think the trend of craft meets fine art world is just lovely and I can see it holding strong in 5 years. I also see older processes of film, such as cyanotype or alternative darkroom techniques like scratching the negative being more in the lime light. In general I think artists are reacting to the overly digitized world we live in... so here's to handmade everything and subverting mainstream anything!

Some cross stitch pins at her craft fair booth

These interviews are going great! But I still don't have a title for this segment. Jill's significant other Phil suggested "You Gotta Date Wednesday, Baby"... Mmm it's close but not there yet.

Until next time!

Love and Lotsa Artsy Friends

~Valiant V

Dia De Los Awesome

2010-05-30T12:05:00.001-07:00

Holy Crap Saturday night was great!

It was a semi impromptu party event Jesse and I attended. A day of the dead themed pop up club. This group who puts it on does other themed nights as well, there is another party coming up called Shore Leave and it's nautical themed (Oh I hope someone actually comes dressed up as Shore Leave from GIJOE though). I don't know all the details. So if someone knows the full info let me know!

It wasn't too traditional mind you, mostly people dressed up semi gothy with sugar skull face paint. But it was one hell of an evening.

There was a face painting booth in case you forgot to do your own makeup.

There were some charleston dancers, a fire dancer, a contortionist, and Nosferatu was playing on the wall above the stage.

Even a pinata filled with "guts".

I think the major reason this all worked out was the fact that we barely even remebered that this was happening this weekend, which in turn made me not over think things too much.

But I ended up having the perfect outfit for the night and it was awesome.

I even made extra paper flowers with a little homemade business card attached the the stem. There is no harm in pimping myself a little while having fun.

I've had friends show me how to make these before but I researched a little bit just to be sure. This tutorial was the best I found. They're so easy!

Ooh Ooh!

2010-05-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the crappy pictures but I really think it's so cute.

Unfortunately it was not my idea.

My friend Lori asked me if I could make a custom item for her.

Great idea! Dang it. 8)

Love and Polka Dots

~Valiant V

Mid-Week Mayhem!!!

2010-05-24T11:45:00.000-07:00

Ok I haven't gotten a catchy name for this weekly segment yet. But I just started it so gimme a break.

I've decided to start interviewing artistic, creative people, so that you may know, how awesome they are...because you should.

First up is Chase!

She's a super crafty lady with more talents in her little pinky than in my entire body. Seriously I think she is the most highly skilled person I know, her hobbyist ways know no bounds.

Can you remember your first craft project?

Barely. I don't remember doing it but my mom keeps everything so I have seen my first drawing, collage, etc. My mother and grandmother are both artists and my mom made sure art was a big part of my life growing up. The moment I was old enough to hold a crayon I was given free reign to do whatever I wanted except draw on the walls. My grandmother's medium was collage so after crayons I moved on to that, and we were always making toys and decorations from recycled materials from around the house. And my first sewing project was when I was, I dunno, maybe six, and it was a heart-shaped pincushion with a felt heart center that I embroidered with a C. I still use it.

I know you love Zombies, but would you really want to become one?

Yes, actually. I have an immense fear of my own mortality so the thought of sticking around as long as possible, even as a flesheating ghoul, appeals to some part of me. Not that I want to eat people and make a mess of things though. I would be fine with the voodoo version of an undead slave with a little sentience left. But mostly I like zombies just because the movies are cool, the games are fun, and there is usually a strong female hero in them kicking ass and I want to be that chick. But just in case I fail at that, I wouldn't mind being a zombie.

Do your hobbies ever get in the way of your work? Or vice versa?

Nooo, never! (Okay, maybe a bit.) Actually, when it is really slow at work I can bring my knitting, etc. But I have not had a slow day in a while. More often my job gets in the way of my crafting. I have a really long commute where I can knit, but I end up getting home at eight and I am usually so tired I cannot do much. And to make it worse, everything is closed by the time I get home so I have to spend my days off running errands which distracts me from my crafting. I would love to cut back to 4 days a week at work and just do more at home, but since I am the manager now it will not happen for a long time.

Have you ever had absolutely no desire to make anything at one point? If so, did you do anything to get outta that funk?

I do not think I have ever lost the desire to make things, but I have most definitely lost the will to get my butt in gear. For almost a year after I had a big breakup and moved into a new place I just wanted so much to sew or make jewelry, but I could never summon the energy to do any of it. Then one day I just kind of snapped out of it, must have been time to move on I guess.

In your opinion, which is the hottest United States president ever?

Grant. I just looked at the place mat we have at the toy store with all of them on it, since I never really thought about it before. Obama comes in at a close second mostly because he plays with light sabers.

Any projects you're working on now?

Besides the gigantic Me-Made-May handmade clothing challenge**? Where do I start... Organic cotton shopping bags, elephant plushies, quilts, it never ends. I have never not had a project in the works!

**At the moment Chase is challenging her self to wear only clothing she has MADE for a month! And she's been on a crafty role and is ready to share her creations with us soon. But first, a sale to make room! Out with the awesome, in with the awesomer.

Thanks for the fun interview Chase!

Love and Sexy Dead Presidents

~Valiant V

Clothes Experiment

2010-05-18T06:42:00.000-07:00

Stripes are very in right now. And I being the fashionable one already have a striped shirt for the season....AND then I shrunk it. Damn it!

And now I have no money to git me some more trendiness.

So I took matters into my own hands and created my own striped awesomeness.

I had some clear tape that attached very well to an old v neck undershirt.

When I ripped off the pieces the edges were very clean.

And some leftover black fabric paint from another project.

Now I know it looks a little funky but I'm touching it up and adjusting a few things.

I'll post pictures of the finished product when I wear it.

Love and DIY

~Valiant V

New Project: Jewelry?

2010-05-14T14:36:00.000-07:00

I don't know. It was an idea I've had for a while but wasn't sure about it. I like the first try.

Denim and gold are a good combination. It was a pain in the aeeiiiasss to work with the chain part though. And the boob shot won't hurt trying to sell it either.

I Rack Diciprine. But I made a sandwich. eh?

2010-05-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

So this is the second day of me sleeping way too late. And being fairly unproductive and not going anywhere. So I thought I'd perk up a bit and post a recipe entry.

It's from a favorite book I randomly discovered in a used bookstore in Oakland, CA.

The Pooh Cook Book's: Radish Sandwiches with Bread and Butter Prickles.

I love radishes.

The recipe basically calls you to grate some,

add some mayo (made from scratch for the first time!)

and spread that onto a piece of bread or cracker and top with "prickles" or pickles cut into thorn shapes.

With the pickles, and fairly watery first try mayo, it kind of tasted like KFC coleslaw actually. It gave me the idea to make a shreddy slaw with my grater. For someone's bbq later or something.

Love and Prickles,

~Valiant V

Berlin in May

2010-05-11T10:07:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was great. Jesse describes it in better detail. The travel time was very quick and easy, despite the transfer from train to plane to bus in one evening.

Upon arrival (12:30am mind you) our gracious host Mary whisked us away to a back room club called Schwuz. There were three rooms filled with hedonistic goings on. Scream Club and the Electrosexual were performing that night.

We danced the night away. I believe we stayed up until about 5am. Came out of the club with daylight starting to show and birds chirping.

After a bit of snoozin came Prater Garten. A lovely place that's usually packed during the season (we were a little early), we were also too early in the day for the restaurant but not for the concession stand. They know that the bun is merely to keep your hands mustard free.

Best. Sausage. Ever.

We went to a lot of underground places. Literally. Kliene Riese was one such place. Owned by some lovely Irish fellas. One in particular, Carl, was awesome enough to talk to us losers who showed up like two hours before the action all started.

Sunday was a clothes swap event that Mary hosted. A really good idea actually. She was moving into her new place and had all these extra clothes that she didn't wear that often. What better way to get friends together and enjoy the outdoors too?

Jesse trying on a few things. The weather could have not been better, starting out at least.

There were parks everywhere! And art and monuments in said parks everywhere. Such a nice balance of forest and city in Berlin.

There were "pieces" of the Berlin wall for sale in a gift shop we walked by. The pieces looked individually hand painted actually.

Club Der Visionaere. This was a lovely place we went to Sunday evening, kind of a precursor to our night out. You can lounge and drink and talk and eat pizza. So relaxing and great to just buoy about on the barges.

We ended that night with a giant art show in what can be best described as gutted out university buildings. It was awesome and OF COURSE my camera battery dies early that day.

There were so many more things that we saw and did while there that would be too much to describe now. But maybe I will add more entries to this later. And there will for sure be another trip here, hopefully in warmer weather so that we can enjoy a few special places we didn't get to.

Berlin-ing Points:

*The night doesn't really start until 11:00pm. And it is very easy to find things to do all night.

*Bring an eye mask to sleep with to counter the sunlight you experience after said night out.

*If you learn the basics in language and smile and you will find a lot of nice people willing to practice their english speaking skills on you.

*One way to make a friend, have rolling papers on you, everyone rolls their own cigarettes!

Love and Recovering

~Valiant V

It Has Been Decided...Berlin!

2010-05-07T06:13:00.000-07:00

Its the home of chess boxing and roof golfing?

We're off to visit my friend and apparently not sleep. I am so excited and I will try to take as may pictures of the mayhem as I can. In the mean time here are a few things you can do while you wait for me to post them.

*If you're in London and love to watch men shakin their booty. Thanks Londonist!

*Make beautiful music without even trying. It's so FUN and ADDICTING.

*Try a daring new recipe. Will it be yummy or yucky?

*Do you have a gps and good shoes? Who wants to be a treasure hunter this weekend?

Liebe und Ferien!

~Valiant V

Upcoming Events

2010-05-05T07:45:00.000-07:00

So Jesse has a long weekend away from work coming up and we want to go away some where. But with crazy volcanos and unpredictable weather we're still not decided on where the best place would be. Jesse had the great idea of just packing up and heading to the train station to see what's available. I don't think I have ever attempted to try a surprise vacation. How would you even begin to pack for one?

Polyvore helped me figure it out. Well more like created a wishlist wardrobe for the next trip.

Gawd I would love a leather jacket with the slouchy front like that. And granted this is not including tights or any scarves or hats that would be needed for colder weather.

What would you pack if you had no idea where you were going for the weekend?

Love and Surprises,

~Valiant V

Shop Update

2010-05-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the photographing styles of Jesse and the awesome British backyard backdrop I have great images of some new shop items.

And as soon as I posted the red felt bow it sold! Things are lookin up.

Love and Check Out My Shop,

~Valiant V

A Home Project and Highgate Cemetery

2010-04-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

I’ve been working on a little project on the home front. There is a wide sill next to the kitchen so I thought I’d get a little planter box going.

Chamomile, thyme, chives, and strawberry!

I’ve never had my own garden. And this is about as close as I’m going to get for a while.

We took a trip to famous Highgate cemetery the other day. Karl Marx and creator of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams reside there among other note worthy dead people.

The gatekeeper is hilarious and changes his accent to whatever nation you reside from. I think we said California and we got a “Well HOOOOWWWARDY ya’ll”! And as we left (trying to leave without him seeing) we got a “yar’ll come back now yaHEAAWWRRR”.

We went through Parliament Hill on the way back. Again, like Regent Park, I cannot show in pictures how beautiful this place is. It is THE ultimate family/picnic/outdoor fun destination. There were a lot of people there and still plenty of room left on the bright green rolling hills.

Some cockney prison rhyming slang experience. Grass, as in grass in the park, and park rhymes with nark! She told on them ooooooooooh!

Love and Warm Weathered London (Finally!)

~Valiant V

Something New-ish

2010-04-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

Jesse's coworker's daughter is turning One! and having a party and she'll cry if she wants to!

I don't actually know them. But it's a chance to meet new people and see a new place. The party will be in lovely Kent. At least I think its lovely. We'll see.

I'm not sure how girly this girl is but I wanted to make something to say Happy Birthday. It's little blue bows with tiny cobra clips. Might start making these more often. Hopefully pictures on the recipient to come.

Love and BIRTHDAY CAKE YAY!...ahem...

~Valiant V

Hello Kitty?

2010-04-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

I tried the bow in felt.

I like how it turned out.

Crafting A Bit Now

2010-04-13T09:48:00.000-07:00

Made some new bows. A little green one and a bigger black one. mmmhmm.

I need to figure out ways of marketing myself while I'm here. Sigh. The need for money sucks.

Challenge from Home!

2010-04-12T06:53:00.000-07:00

The wonderful owner of DiBartolo Café in Oakland requested...no...demanded that I post some of his stickers around town. The tube, the double deckers, etc.

I will not fail you John!

~Valiant V

Update 4/13/10: Big brother is all around. It's hard to put up stickers on buses and the tube with all the cameras. Gonna need some ingenuity with this challenge.

Regents Park

2010-04-11T00:59:00.001-07:00

There are so many chunks of green glory in this large city.

One of which is Regents Park. Gorgeous. Pictures cannot show how epic and beautiful this place really is. There were a few crazy scenes witnessed while walking through it.

Lots of birds.

You know those large blue cranes we see every once in a while? Well there are lots of them here. Saw an old lady feeding a group of them like little pigeons.

Giant swans that growl at one another, intimidating.

Quaint and actually comfy green folding chairs that turns out you have to pay to sit in. No wonder no one was sitting in them. We snuck a sec though, ahhhh. I almost fell asleep in these.

ROW BOATS. Oh hell yes we are going back and riding in one of those bad boys. I'm looking at you Jason and Brian.

And finally... THE BATHROOMS ARE CLEAN! Need I say more.

We ended the adventure at our favorite pastry/tea shop Maison de Bertaux.

I couldn't wait for the tea. HAD to bite into that thang.

Love and Cranes and Eclairs

~Valiant V

National Geographic Presents: Ashley's London Discoveries

2010-04-10T01:09:00.000-07:00

This Friday was the first official "nice Friday" of the year. Gorgeous evening weather.

So everyone was out in swarms in the downtown area (SOHO). I have never seen this before. Huge crowds of people surrounding outside areas of pubs. Huddled around smoking and drinking in the streets! There were police officers specifically patrolling to keep people from getting run over by taxis.

We met up with Jesse's coworkers for a drink at a pub called The White Horse. You can buy a bottle of wine and bring it outside and drink it. I know this sounds silly but it's just amazing for this Californian to see.

Love and Public Intoxication

~Valiant V

Late Update YEEEHAAAA!

2010-04-09T05:36:00.000-07:00

There were a few things I did before I left that I wanted to share.

FARLEY'S

Pimped myself out at Farely's. Farely’s bathroom in Oakland has a blackboard wall that changes every once in a while. Before I left I posted my info one more time. Is it still there?

THE CIRCUS!

I went to a performance that my friend Gina helped put on. A wondrous circus from a local troupe at a center in Oakland. I think the show has already finished up BUT you can learn how to do the same things I saw that night!

HANDMADE HO DOWN.

Oh yeah! I went to a craft and cuisine show a few days before I left. It was a little smaller than I expected but there were some really great artists there.

I met Melissa from Blue Ribbon Salvage. She finds lovely antique medals and findings and creates unique jewelry out of them. There was one in fact that, I think, was a medal from china for ping pong honors! I immediately thought of Jess (he luuuurvs ping pong). Saving up to get me some of that antique awesomeness.

Lee was there from the World's Smallest Postal Service. I've heard about her great work from my friend Jill who was able to help her during the busy seasons but I finally got to see her in action there. On her little writing table, so cute. I LOVE getting and receiving snail mail but these cuties are just too ridiculous for words.

Another thing there that caught my eye was this photobooth in the corner. I got there just before the line was across the room. It was donation only and they had these props if you wanted. And instant digital 4 set picture. It was a shame I was there by my lonesome. You can reserve the booths for private events to capture “the faces and instants that define your event”. So fun.

And a shout out to the some of the providers of loot for the swag bags!

More to come!

~Valiant V

I Have Arrived! Cheerio And What Not.

2010-04-08T02:02:00.000-07:00

A few days, and many cups of tea later, I am finally writing to tell you that I have arrived!

I am writing this very early in the morning. The entirety of Great Britian's bird population apparently roosts right outside my bedroom window. I feel like a deranged princess with all those animals chirping me awake.

I’m still waiting on my packages to arrive with the rest of my worldly possessions, including all my craft things, but that is not at all a bad thing right now as I am still trying to get my bearings here on this crazy island. Jess has been oh so helpful with giving me time and space to adjust. Thank you babess.

With all this free time there should be more posting to come. Tali Ho!

I miss you guys.

~Valiant V

A Little Something To Tide You Over

2010-04-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

Which candy should YOU eat?

Love and Plane Tickets

~Valiant V

Picture Source: AA

Gypsies. Tramps, And Thieves

2010-03-30T22:55:00.000-07:00

My lovely housesitting gig has ended and so I've been moving around and couch surfing these past few days. As soon as I get my wits about me in London then I will get this blog back up and running. Oh my goodness this is actually happening! Thank you to everyone who has been helping me get ready for this adventure.

Picture Source

Craftiness Brought To You By A Special Request

2010-03-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

I put my craftiness on hold for a while for the sake of the move but someone in the interwebs requested a custom item on my etsy shop! I was so glad to do it, it felt good to make something again. Thanks Kevin from Los Angeles.

I actually ended up making another flower because I had to go through my box of fabric to find the black felt. It's from fabric of this 70's cotton dress that didnt quite fit but I could not leave that lovely thing to the oakland goodwill. And since its a whole dress I can totally make like ten other little things out of it. I plan on making a bow tie, maybe another flower, originally I had plans for it to turn into a clutch purse of some type. Yay the possibilities.

UPDATE!
Kevin from LA got the flower and sent me an appreciation photo. It makes me so happy.

Thanks Kevin!

~Valiant V

Some Birthday Fun Before Shipping Off

2010-03-07T21:02:00.000-08:00

My friend Tiffany had a surprise birthday party this weekend in Los Gatos. A lot of great friends piled into a limo going to wineries and getting very silly.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIFFANY!!!

Love and Hangovers (that was totally worth it, I love you Tif)

~Valiant V

PS: Tried the egg basket at Farley's East down the street. Gah so good. Like super duper egg in the hole.

I highly recommend it with prosciutto.

A New Addition To The Shop!

2010-03-04T22:32:00.000-08:00

I was inspired by the bows in this designers spring line. Big assed bows fo sho.

Thanks to my ex-neighbor Natalie for helping me take this picture. She took it a few days before I moved out. She happened to be up on the roof looking for her runaway kitteh.

Thanks for your patience on the lack of crafty postings.

~Valiant V

All Packed Up But Not Ready To Go.

2010-02-27T12:23:00.000-08:00

Would love to be here today. Thanks for the lovely picture thepinkballoon!

I don't really have anything craft related to post because I've packed up most of that for my London adventure. The Gaskell ball I spoke of last time is happening tonight!

So much time and so little to do.

I'm also moving out of my apartment this weekend. If I have promised something to you please remind me and come and get it on Sunday. Or let me know if I should save it for you and I'll bring it with me to my temporary gigs.

Here are some things I've collected for your entertainment in the mean time.

*My friend Jill is participating in this craft show in March! Come support local arts and crafters.

*A super awesome water conservation commercial from Brazil. I conserve water this way too.

*The Car Of The Future!!!...is very expensive, and still in the works. But dude what if !?!

*I think this is the best piano duet I have ever seen. I involuntarily applauded to the computer screen, it was that good.

*In the SF Bay Area? Love to learn about music theory or want to learn a new instrument? This awesome community has pretty much everybody covered. And dance classes are coming soon as well!

That is all for now.

I'm so excited for tonight. Gotta go and get ready, I've only got 6 hours left!!!

Love and Victorian Themed Balls (no time),

~Valiant V

Preparations for a Dancing Adventure & Some Yummy New Food

2010-02-20T17:45:00.000-08:00

Oh stop it, no it's not.

One of the many things I wanted to do before I go over to the big british island is go to one more Gaskell Ball! Yes its my nerdy side coming out and its happening this Saturday. Come join me won't you?

I heard about a special place in Berkeley called Stagecraft Studios. I went there to rent a victorian costume. But there are lots of other great things in there. A little bit of digging is required but its so fun!

It's from the future!

So many hats, so little time. Sigh.

Another new discovery this weekend was a great local restaurant called Mexicali Rose. A very low key mexican restaurant. They even have menudo on the regular menu...BUT their chips and salsa were tasty and the drinks were strong. Always a good sign.

There's more craziness to come. But maybe less craftiness for a while though. I've packed up most of those things already. GEE!!

Love and Warm Socks

~Valiant V

Valentines Adventure Update

2010-02-15T17:08:00.000-08:00

Love

~Valiant V

Pee Wee sent me something special!

2010-02-14T17:57:00.000-08:00

I'm on the mailing list of the official peewee website. They sent me this for Valentines. Swoon.

So I actually didn't really end up doing anything for Valentines. So far. I might go to La Pinata with some pals later tonight.

My Tattoo is Done!

2010-02-13T18:04:00.000-08:00

At least I hope it is. Jill and I made a date of it. We both went to Lighthouse Tattoo to see Jason Storey for touch ups. He touched up the color of the other two birds and I think I want to leave the branch without color. If anything Im done with it for a long time.

A little ink smudged on my arm and Jason thought it kind of looked like a caveman. So he finished it for me.

I donated Jess's Armadillo to him. Here's Armadillo on route in BART.

Met up with Jason & Brian & Reynaldo later... to let the healing begin.

Went to the dollar and up store for ice cream dessert and found myself a kite. More pictures to come.

So when it stops being red and swollen I will show pics of my tattoo. THANK YOU JASON!

~Valiant V

Quick Another One!

2010-02-11T20:00:00.000-08:00

That's it, I'm going to start making these bows now. That's how my creativity works unfortunately. I make something once, it works, I make it like ten more times and I just can't do it anymore. But Ashley "gasp" does that mean no more flowers?!?!?!....Meh maybe.

Working on other ways to wear these.

In other news...I want to do something for Valentine's day.

Here's something I found from a fellow blogger. I think I might actually attempt to check it out. mmmm horchata. And something else that I'll keep a secret. Mostly cause I'm not sure if I will end up going.....yeah.

Love and Yummies (you'll only get this ending if you take a chance and click on the links)

~Valiant V

A blast from the past and a little project on the fly.

2010-02-08T18:48:00.000-08:00

I have been sick for a few days. Bed ridden with my Netflix and crafts to comfort me. And my wonderful friend Jason to bring me breakfast bagels. Part of my day was spent going thru my surplus fabric. I happened upon this piece that I wasn't sure what to do with. And it just hit me.

BIG ASSED BOW!...yeah that's what I'll turn it into.

So I did. And I love it.

I've never made one before. Needs a little work. I attached one of my dual pin backings to it (like the ones on my flowers) so you can put it in your hair or pin it onto your blouse. Was not that difficult to make but it could stand to be prettier.

On a more nostalgic note. I had a song stuck in my head that came from a great stand up bit from Dana Carvey's Critics Choice HBO Special. Do you remember this one?

Hope you're feeling well

~Valiant V

A little Art Murmur, a little billiards, a little korean market

2010-02-08T15:22:00.000-08:00

This last weekend was busy. I've been doing good with my plan to get rid of at least one thing a day. I'm slowly starting to organzie boxes of things. I took a break on Friday night and went to Jason's art murmur show at Rock Paper Scissors. It was jam packed but great to be in that sea of craziness. I met with some old childhood friends Packy and Trent and Packy's wife Shayna. It was so crazy I forgot to take pictures of the actual artwork we viewed. But I did snap some shots of us at a random Korean market down the street.

Look ten large dried squid. yum!

Shayna about to express her true feelings on the subject.

Saturday was the Farewell Typewriter show at the South First Billiards in San Jose. Pretty cool place if at least friggin expansive. We stopped at a fifties themed restaurant before the show. The waitress gave us special portions of ketchup....to make the crappy food taste better I guess.

On a more crafty note, the Valentine T-Shirt project is advancing. I do not know if it will actually look good or if I'll eventually scrap the whole thing. But it is coming along.

Love

~Valiant V

Present from a present

2010-02-04T21:33:00.000-08:00

I finally got to visit with my best friend Tiffany who now lives in San Jose. It's so sad that we never get to see eachother. For example, at this visit I was given my christmas present...

It was a pair of shiny pink knitting needles and some pretty pretty yarn. I decided to crochet it into a scarf for HER christmas present. She gave me two colors, one of which was this wild neon yellowish color. And I've been seeing some connected scarfs, really cool super long ones. The amount of yarn I had didn't exactly get to the size I wanted. But I think its still going to be cute. We'll see how tiffy likes it. I smell photo shoot.

I want to give a shout out to Jill for the boxes in the background. Their almost filled up!

Warm Thoughts

~Valiant V

Packaging Idea From Boneheaded-ness

2010-02-01T21:27:00.001-08:00

I have so many fond memories from my London vacation. Souvenirs and keepsakes, little scraps of papers and ticket stubs, help keep those memories alive.

But your boyfriend's camera battery charger is not something you should bring back home with you.

Oops, sorry Jess, I thought it was mine.

But this little mess up made me think of a cute way to ensure my parcel a safe international adventure.

Blurry Murphy Checkin In Out

I wanted to insert some sort of padding to the package (no time). But not just tissue paper. Then I thought of cutting up an old magazine BUT with my circle cutter. Then I remembered kindergarten class making tissue paper flowers by pushing and twisting pieces on the tip of a pencil. And VOILA! Just a cuter, more personalized way of protecting your stuffs.

What were on those pieces of paper you ask? Why images from the most recent issue of BUST. I love that magazine. Pictures that I thought Jess would like or think were funny.

I'm such a dork and I never take pictures of the final project. Sorry guys. Will update when Jess receives the package and gives a reaction.

Cheers!

~Ashley

February Free A Day

2010-01-31T18:58:00.000-08:00

I just gave my 30 days notice to my lovely landlady. That's it, I'm moving. There's so much to do. Mostly I need to clear out all the things in my apartment.

Last month my friend Jason participated in the Fun-A-Day project. Everyday he would do something creative, in his case with his music, and at the February Art Murmur he's going to showcase what he did during all those days in January. In my case I'm going to change the rules a bit and try to purge myself of something everyday this month. Weather it be a piece of furniture or a box of clothes or a can of tomatoes. We'll see how dedicated I can be with this. Either way I need to be outta here by the end of the month. I feel I work better under pressure.

Readyyyyyy GO!

~Valiant V

New Projects Bow Tie & Shirt

2010-01-27T19:29:00.000-08:00

Started a couple of projects. Life has been hectic but exciting. Slowly working on these. Hopefully will have them ready for valentines day. What WILL I do? We'll see.

Here's something awesome to watch while you wait.

It's Official!

2010-01-23T14:22:00.000-08:00

(squishing big ben)

I am leaving for London on April 5th!

To live with my long time boy toy Jess. No no now don't start crying. Cause if you start then Im going to start crying and its going to be all bad and my computer will get wet.

Here are some things I will miss.

*My lovely friends and family (But then again you are all welcome to visit, just as soon as Jess and I purchase an air mattress for you)

*Bacon (real bacon, not the fatty uncured pieces of ham they have there)

*Temperate weather

*My great job and super wonderful coworkers.

*Netflix.

Some things Im looking forward to.

*Being an international pen pal instead of just writing to my friend down the freeway from me.

*Seeing Jess for real again and not just on Skype.

*Living in Europe! I never thought that would be part of my life.

I can tell you that I am for sure anxious about the big move. But I have access to a storage space. And friends who have transportation to help with the move.

Im starting some craft projects that I probably wont sell but still will post on here. You'll see. So much time and so little to do! Strike that, reverse it.

Peace, Love and Butterflies in my Stomach,

~Valiant V

P.S.- PEOPLE! I have not yet taken my belongings to the thrift store. So come check out all these free things in my apartment. I have art supplies (Noelle I found the brushes for you) and arts n craft supplies and kitchen tools and food stuffs and some kitsch items. And some clothes too. I even have a few pieces of furniture too.

Im back in the states!

2010-01-03T11:31:00.001-08:00

And feeling pretty good. No jet lag to speak of. But am in no mood to update you with the rest of my trip as yet.

I will say one thing.

I missed Netflix.

Be back on a regular blogging schedule soon!

Cheers

~Valiant V

Quick! While I have internet.

2009-12-29T15:40:00.000-08:00

I miraculously have more than two bars this late hour! And I wanted to use this time to show you something I've been playing around with for the shop. Yes I know its a little late but I think it would still be a lovely flower to add to the patch.

It's a pink poinsettia. Made of felt with little white fabric cyathias.

More modeling of the flower to come in photos of my London adventures. I think my next stop is the tower bridge. and then most likely back to borough market for another pie or two, Jess cannot get enough of em!

Love and Cheerio!

~Valiant V