Having a beer with Santy

Sometimes cleaning and serving drinks just isn't enough to get me through the day. That's when the snacks come out and the creative juices start flowing. And I don't mean the tequila.
This took me multiple sheets of A4 and at least 6 goes at getting the face to not look too evil. I am not much of an artiste, in the drawing sense, so it was hard work. He is actually leaning on the bar leaner and having a pint with the locals.
I am proud to say that he has already caused much mirth and merriment.

Drat!

I just made some gingerbread cakes. I put some leftover batter into muffin tins. The darn things wouldn't come out! The tops broke off, leaving the stumps behind. :( Which is funny :) because last night or the night before I was watching a Seinfeld re-run in which Elaine has a thing about muffin tops, and doesn't eat the stumps. Someone ends up opening a "muffin top" store, but then they can't get rid of all the stumps... hilarity ensues (but no too much, because it is Seinfeld after all).

I also just made chocolate christmas trees with M&M baubles, with greater success, though some of them look a little developmentally retarded.

More monkeys also. Thank goodness the monkey breeding season is almost over. The Orphange can't take many more!

What I've been up to.

Retail therapy ahoy!


As usual, christmas means an excuse to buy myself presents! And other people of course. :)

The gleanings of my Craftwerk excursion:
The diary (top right) wasn't my first choice, but while I went to get change, the lovely pale green print that I wanted got snapped up. You'd think I would have learned by now wouldn't you? :)
Ninja xmas tag/tree decoration by R.W.Scissors. Labels and notepad by Nut and Bee.
Croissant earrings by R.W.Scissors.

Bobbin earrings from Toggle stall.

Pencils from Jellybones.

I made experimental chocolate coconut truffles last week. They are WAY too much work to make on a regular basis! They are also incredibly rich and will make you feel sick if you lick the leftovers too much.

I designed myself a Christmas Wreath of pohutukawa and fantails, but when I printed it out on A4 it was kind of dinky looking. I really need to get it printed on A3 card. In the meantime I turned the image into cards and tags. :)

And finally, these are my secret books, which I have been meaning to photograph for ages. One day soon I'd like to make a giant one, from an encyclopedia or something. For really big secrets!

P.S ~ I had my strawberry apple jam on scones with cream for Sunday lunch. YUM!

Accidents with scissors.

Sock Monkey Orphanage will not be at Craftwerk this time, as our application was not accepted. (But I will still be there doing my christmas shopping!) Poor little monkeys. I've seen someone else selling monkeys, so maybe that's why. We wouldn't want the place to be over-run with monkeys! That's why we neuter them! :) We'll still be at Kraftbomb on the 22nd though!

New addition: Uncle Charlie, he is rather large is comparison to the others, as you can see! I'm not sure if I can give him up!

In other news.... I has a new camera! Small and dinky and able to be squirreled away in my purse! So I had to try taking one of those "myspace" photos that all the kids are shooting these days...
Yes? No? I'm not sure I have the hang of it. I also has new haircut, thanks to a small episode with the scissors when I got out of the shower on monday. Shouldn't leave monkey tools lying around like that! So dangerous!!!

Won't be long now!

I forgot to take photos of my "secret books" I've been working on. They were a bit of a hit at the last Craftwerk, so I've made sure and sourced some pretty books to turn into secret stash holes for emergency chocolate rations, cash, hip-flasks, stuff-you-don't-want-the boyfriend-to-find...
Photos coming soon!

In other news, Kraftbomb went pretty well. I didn't sell all my cakes, but I sold enough to make it worthwhile. I did forget to take photos though. :( I think I will rush out and buy myself a small camera before the next market, so I don't have to contemplate lugging the huge Nikon DSLR around. Mmmmm... retail therapy!