2012 challenge: One-A-Week

Well, being mildly addicted to Etsy, I started a new team: One-A-Week, basically in a nutshell its a challenge to make/post at least one new item each week in 2012. You can read more here: http://www.etsy.com/teams/11248/one-a-week?ref=pr_teams

In 20 days, it has almost 80 members! =) I'm so excited that I actually started a blog as part of the challenge. I'll post my items there to help keep track of them: http://moyoworkshop.blogspot.com/


Also, I have an FB page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Moyoworkshop/157584004260986

so why do we need all of these outlets? I suppose it is replacing other forms of advertising, etc. However, it still feels very self-endulgent. that's something I'll figure out at some point. =)

What are your challenges/resolutions this year?

Onesta Shampoo!

I got my haircut yesterday and my hair was washed with this shampoo. Onesta is made with all natural ingredients AND is honest about social responsibility...not to mention the best shampoo my scalp has seen in years. If you're looking for more natural hair care, this is an awesome product and worth the money, I think!

Here's some more info:

Updates from the mobile workshop

We've really stopped posting things this year, haven't we?

I've been doing a lot of random, weird things in the craft world lately. Bleaching and then re-dyeing a pineapple sarong in my washing machine, helping a friend make her ikea light fixture less horrible looking with lace in Chicago, lost wax casting a sterling silver ring, making jewelry from shrinki-dinks, and raku pottery. Those last three new opportunities have come because of a class I'm teaching (Materials Science) - I'm learning right along with the kids, but what a fun experience to see the lost wax casting process! Wish I could get that setup going at home. I'm considering starting with PMC clay...

Before

After!

The two most successful and time-consuming hobbies this year so far have definitely been my first foray into soap making with Jenny (5 batches in - 3 really good ones, 2 mediocre) and attempting to pick up sewing again. I will write a post soon with our recipes for soap in more detail, but right now, I'll post some fun pictures! (I'm also attempting to make shampoo right now...I'll post when I get something remotely useful)

A (surprisingly) great nightgown (Jenny came to my rescue via gchat on this one)!

Some photos of the inaugural soap-making adventure over Thanksgiving weekend in Portland!
(Left) me with the lye, (Top Right) Jenny stirring the oils, (Bottom Right) Tada! Bergamot-Clove-Rosewood-Oatmeal Soap. My favorite batch yet.

____________________________________________

Jenny, you said you made some lotion? Can you tell us about it? What other projects have you ladies been working on? Share some pictures/stories!

new etsy site- moyo workshop!

hey kids! check out the new etsy site for me and Dad!

experimenting with crackle finishes

crunch, rough, raw, stale, aged, lovely

A year or two ago, I bought some crackle finish (valspar) for my bedside table. It worked great! I put gold on first- it shows through the light teal color = awesome!

Fastforward to the last two weeks, Frankie (beloved cat) insists on jumping up and knocking crap off of our walls... really annoying... so, I took our knick-knack shelf off the wall and replaced it with a new canvas. I like the placement.

Emmanuel and I painted the three canvases various green hues. I thought to myself- "self- why not try crackle finishes on these three canvases?" so, we did. Little did we know though, it's suttle when used with this kind of paint/on canvas... so, we'll likely need several more layers! I'll keep you posted when it's finished.

For now though, we're so busy! so, we've hung them and we'll work on it in the coming days.
you can see the finish on the smallest one, we haven't done it for the other two yet. I'll let you know how it goes... =)

making things to hold the things you've made

I've been wanting a jewelry organizer for a long time. Not a box that covers everything up and results in tangles, not the several small dipping sauce plates I have held my stuff in for years, but a nice, wall-hanging organizer. I was drooling over a few on etsy, but never actually got around to buying one.

So, this morning I decided it was the day; I gathered some cardboard, paper, ribbon, mesh from my TJ's garlic and tons of hot glue and went to town.

1) first, I modpodged a piece of green-leafy paper on to some thick cardboard.
2) then, I decided there should probably be some space between the paper and mesh so that the earwires would have some room, so I lined the outsides of the rectangle with another layer of cardboard.
3) next step: hot gluing the mesh to the cardboard, which was tricky. I tried to stretch it well so that it wouldn't sag in the middle.
4) after that, I covered up all the blemishes by framing the rectangle with WAY too bright orange ribbon I had laying around.
5) then, for kicks, I used some thinner ribbon and hot glue to make some bracelet holders at the bottom.
6) hung it to my wall with 3Ms...

And, voila!


Though, I think I should have made it a bit bigger:

Update on the natural experiment

Hi ladies!

So Megan asked me for an update on my experiment.

I will say this (in a nutshell): while the no shampoo experiment hasn't been all roses, I'm still sticking with it for a while longer to see what happens. I think it would be smart to wean yourself off shampooing every day before you start with this so that your scalp isn't producing tons upon tons of oil daily. I wash my hair more rarely to begin with, so that might have helped.

Okay, more details:

Try # 1) tried shampoo recipe of 1 t soda in 3 oz water and conditioner of 25/75 ac vinegar/water (because I've read a bunch of places that vinegar kills the bacteria that causes dandruff and that's why I got interested in this method to begin with). Worked fine, my hair was SUPER soft. (I'm thinking "hmm, maybe this IS going to be amazing!")

Try #2) Same recipe, crazy static. (I do work outside, so that might be part of the reason for it)

Try #3) Not so staticy, and I read that the vinegar is more for the tips of your hair (to combat static) whereas the baking soda is most important to massage into the scalp to break up oil/dirt. That worked better

Try #4) Didn't have enough baking soda, so my hair was really oily the next day (whoops!)

From then on: I'm doing more like 1-2 T of baking soda in 3 oz (~1/3 cup) of water and now am doing ~50/50 vinegar/water. The dandruff isn't going away completely, so I'm wondering if this is worth it. On the blog, commenters were saying stuff like "my hair has never had so much body or looked so healthy!" and "I used vinegar on my head once and the dandruff was GONE!" I haven't been that lucky, but it is interesting to see how my hair reacts. Some days I have body, some, it's totally flat. One of the best times, I massaged straight-up baking soda into my scalp after soaking my hair in vinegar for a while before (for the dandruff help). It was really clean after that!

I'm hoping to hone in on a good plan and try the castor/olive oil mix soon on my face. I've been using 20% shea butter from L'Occitane since christmas, and it's okay, but not great. The dead of winter is probably not the time to make generalizations about skin items that work for me, though.

Until next time!

naturalista

You may know that I have eczema. It's not a sever case, and it doesn't affect my quality of life greatly, except that these last few years it has reserved squatter's rights on my face. Zits aren't my cross to bear - dry, flaky, red, itchy patches on my neck, chin and eyebrows are.

So, Leah sent me this link the other day to a blog of a mom/writer/naturalista who is going (what she calls) "poo free," which means she is making everything herself. Good for us, good for the environment. She's making her own toothpaste, shampoo, lotion, face moisturizer, lip balm (which lots of us do already) and more. Being a chemist naturally makes me skeptical of both sides of the coin here, but I'm really interested to try the shampoo-free approach (baking soda water and vinegar instead) and her face wash/moisturizer. I have, after more than 10 years of active searching behind and in front of the counter, still not found anything that helps my eczema. So, we'll see what happens, but for now, check out her recipes, they're pretty crazy!

Mouse pad: operation complete

Hey, thanks Jenny for the 3M idea! worked like a charm! fastest re-use project ever!

I had this great Day of the Dead fabric and I love how it turned out!


Before: with help from Frankie



















and 30 seconds later,
After: the finished product ...




















so basically, I washed the old mouse pad, let it dry and then prayed it with 3M adhesive and then layed on the fabric. took 30 seconds. what a way to spend a Sat night!

In case you didn't know, I'm totally the raddest one at the office now.

mouse pad challenge

Hey, my mouse pad at work is disgusting! In fact, I'm taking a break from work to note this... Rather than buying one for a dollar, I was thinking about how one could be made or reused!

This is my thought- take it home, wash it, cut a new shape and then affix fabric to the top?
So, what kind of glue? I may have to try this a few times...

Any ideas for materials (glue/adhesive)? Please help!

Urban Craft Uprising

I keep saying that I'm gonna get my act together for this... I think I'm gonna try this year. I'm not sure if my application will be accepted but I think that it would be worth a try! If anyone wants to share a table, that would be sweet!!! Applications are due mid-Sept so we need to get that together ASAP. any takers?

Pistachio love.

The other day my dear friend Drea came over and brought some of the most amazing peaches I've ever seen! I could have just stuffed my face with them, but I've been wanting to try these raw dessert recipes so instead I made the "peach cobbler" from Ani's raw dessert book. Pistachios and Peaches are so good together, needless to say this did not last in the refrigerator very long.

It is pretty scandalous how simple this is. Here are the ingredients:
Peach & Pistachio Cobbler

CRUST

• ½ cup shelled pistachios
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup Medjool dates

FILLING

• 4 cups sliced peaches
• 3 tablespoons agave nectar
• 1 vanilla bean
  

pistachios + peaches = food fireworks
















The rest is pretty self explanatory. Food process all the crust ingredients and chop and stir the filling. Blend together and eat! For storage it's better to leave the crust and filling separate until you want to eat it because the filing can make the "crust" less crunchy.



the final product. full of flavor minus the guilt!

I should have been a...

I could finish that phrase with so many things! Lately, I've been wishing, along with getting MUCH better at sewing, that I could be a photographer. I know it's so cliche, and everyone and their mom has a digital SLR now, but there's something about creating beautiful, artistically composed, unprocessed original photos that I am drawn to. I hope it's something that I can continue to get better at...unfortunately, that means shelling out some serious cash for some good equipment. Meanwhile, on my europe trip this fall, I promise to take good pictures and post a few good ones to this blog!

I've been randomly happening upon amazing wedding photos lately. Take a gander (at these collections and the rest of their stuff)!

http://lovemedophotography.com/blog/?p=540

http://www.ourblogoflove.com/index.cfm?postID=326

http://blog.emilyjohnstonanderson.com/2008/12/blog-post.html

Finally, some original handmade jewelry

If you're anything like me (slightly cocky, somewhat pessimistic, definitely high expectations), you go to markets or arts/crafts fairs and think "ok, that's lame" or "I've made that." Where is the original stuff that I could never make or (even better) the items that pique my curiosity and creativity? Show me something different than delicate glass beads on a head pin attached to an earwire, please!

So, thanks to google reader, I happened upon Penguina Designs tonight. Some typical stuff, but she has some insane brooch talent and pretty interesting earrings! Meg, can you do brooches like that? I'd love to learn...

Sugar Monster!!

Okay. My mom recently checked this new recipe book out of the library and just loaned it to me. It's called Ani's Raw Food Desserts and although I have not made any of the recipes yet I can tell they will be life changingly delicious! (I will post some photos as soon as I try them.) Her webite (linked above) is packed with great videos and recipes. Plus, double bonus for the the summer, none of them require using your oven! Check her stuff out if you get a chance! I always love a new raw food recipe and these are so simple and are made from things easily found around the kitchen or in any store...triple bonus!

Tis the season

for raspberries!

My good friend Katie (who I invited to the blog and who I write a food blog with) has been here all week visiting before heading off to Indiana for grad school, and we went on a little raspberry-picking adventure at Remlinger Farms yesterday in Carnation. Yay for farmer's markets and $2/lb fruit!

A sampling of our creations:
Katie^2 (I'm such a nerd) with our 6lb loot.

Raspberry Crisp (this got the dad seal of approval!)

Raspberry Almond Scones (taken from the Betty Crocker Cookbook, with slightly more flour to compensate for the juicy fresh berries)

I'm planning on trying a chocolate zucchini raspberry cake, raspberry crepes (for a French-themed bridal shower this weekend), and possibly a raspberry pie if I have enough left! We'll see...