Wall Street Journal, what?

I'm going to toot my own for the last time, because well, it's really not much to toot about. It's not exactly profound but when you're name and company is in the Wall Street Journal you have to tell your friends and family about it right?

P.S. Sorry to throw you under the bus Kirby!

Zoey's First Birthday!

My secret baby project has finally come to fruition. Baby Zoey turned one this week and I gave her  her present (even though her mom probably likes it more at this point than she does.)

I picked out purple and green glass to create a mosaic project with her name on it. I found the wooden frame at Michaels, which was perfect because it had hooks already attached for easy hanging.

Check out this cuteness in her adorable tutu. I hope she had a wonderful first birthday!

 

 

RT Gobble Gobble

My sister's-in-law super awesome Thanksgiving cake.

2007 is done!

Scrapbook Meeting:11/21
Jen, Stacy and I were attendance. It was a small group and I'm not sure if more scrapbooking or girl talk (babies, theme parties, bras and home remodeling) was accomplished at the meeting.

I only had ONE page left for 2007 so I quickly just glued the pictures on and labeled the event (camping) and moved onto my surprise baby gift. I know, it's not scrapbooking, but it's still be creative AND it had to get done.

So scrapbook meeting results were album 2007 was completed and baby gift is progressing. I'm currently working on it, I just decided to take a break. Fingers crossed, I think I can finish tonight and then I'll be free to work on sister-in-law Christmas gift.

America's Historic Trilogy

That is how LibertyStatePark.org describes the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and CRRNJ Terminal.


On my way home from Jersey City I decided to just drive through the Park and see if there was anything interesting too see and take pictures of (besides the NYC skyline of course).

I was pleasantly surprise to find the Central RailRoad of New Jersey, better known as Jersey Central Lines.

 

I never knew about this station nor it's history. It was opened in 1880's and closed in 1976. After immigrants were cleared through Ellis Island many headed to this station to begin their journey into the US. The Wikipedia page as a lot of great information about the history of this terminal and where the lines ran.

 

 

I was not dressed properly for a windy day out by the water so I took a few more moments to pay my respects at the 9/11 Memorial and headed home .

Phase I of the New Jersey "Empty Sky" 9/11 memorial.

4 hours of mosaic

Finally went to the glass store (Rainbow glass in Bristol, PA) and they didn't have the right pink glass that I needed for the secret project. I was heartbroken. Regardless I substituted for light purple (hint alert) since the gift is for a baby girl.

After getting home, the husband wanted to play video games so lucky for him I had a project to work on. I headed to the arts and crafts room aka basement, put on 30 Rock Season 3 and got to work! I cut glass, used the nippers to cut them into pieces and laid out the project. I decided I wanted to add some embellishment so I stopped and will head out to Michaels today. 

NOTE: The deadline is next Friday so the sooner I get it done the better because life always gets in the way of things as you know.

Four hours later my projected was planned, started and I cut a ton of glass so that gives me a head start on new projects. Yea!

Upcoming Project...it's a secret

Well one project is a secret. Baby cousin Zoey is turning one soon and I have a project idea; I'm going to start working on it this weekend. More details to come...

Mosaic

Inspired by my emerald coasters and the fact that my Etsy site is stale I'm adding a new item, Christmas coasters. What I have in mind is four coasters with red and green tiles of glass but different patterns. These will go up on Etsy hopefully soon.

Arts and Crafts Room

Not to be outdone by my fellow crafter at papercutslikeus.com I need to give myself a kick in the butt and finish my room (which is my basement.) I need an organizational wall. I can't decide on:

a. whiteboard paint

b. chalkboard paint

c. buying a magnetic whiteboard

Will the whiteboard have marker stains? Will the chalk dust be too messy with chalkboard paint? Do I want to spend $50ish vs $20ish and buy a magnetic whiteboard big enough? I'm leaning towards chalkboard paint because it's the easiest to do...but maybe I should take that as a warning. Thoughts?

 

Probably the worst Halloween ever

I knew when we didn't get our Halloween costumes together last weekend they weren't going to happen. I was going to be Joan from Mad Men and my husband was going to be Don for Tommy's cousin annual Halloween Party. Being too worried about the game Saturday, Tommy was ok with just wearing his Phillies gear. I on the other hand felt bad because I knew if I was having a themed party I would appreciate the guests wearing costumes.

I finally threw together a robe, pearls, martini glass, slippers and went as a rich old housewife. It really was mediocre but at least it looked like I tried to be something. 

So after an hour and 20 min rain delay, the World Series Game 3 got going. Started off great with a 2 run lead and then it all went down hill. I decided to trash the robe and throw on the lucky Phillies sweatshirt. Approximately three hours later I was sober, not wearing a costume and sulking about an 8-5 loss to the Yankees.

I guess there's always next year.


P.S. Our downstairs lights were off while we were getting ready for the party so only one group of kids rang the doorbell and I was in the shower at the time. So add to the list that we have 3 full bags of candy leftover.

Pierogi Party

Might as well keep going while I'm at it right? My cousin organized a Pierogi (Polish spelling) or Perogi (English spelling) Party this weekend. First of it's kind, she asked our grandmother and her mother to show us, first generation Polish-American women in the family, how to make them. We started off the afternoon with an appetizer of homemade chicken soup.

My aunt and grandmother made the filling (farmers cheese and potato mixture) and the dough (flour, egg, water and a hint of olive oil.)  The dough had to be rolled out and cut into circles (here we used the top of a pilsner glass to make life easier.)

Next you put a dollop of the filling and pinch it close. My grandmother was attempting to show us her technique she had mastered over the past 50 years and expected us to figure it out in 2 minutes. The MOST important thing is to seal them so they don't open and "explode" in the water.

Then you drop them in a pot of boiling water. When they float to the top, they are done. Add a little melted butter to the bowl of hot pierogies and as an added treat, put fried onion bits or caramelized onion bits on top. Enjoy!

By the way, I think I was too busy eating the finished product that I forgot to take a picture of them.

Coasters: A Housewarming Gift

I finally got around to making these coasters for a coworker. At first I tried out these round, unadorned dollar store coasters. I made one and used green tile and green colored grout but I was not too happy with them. I realized I should just hit up the Home Depot and get regular bathroom tiles. Even though they are slightly larger than your typical coaster size, it did the trick. 

Because the coasters new home would be in a living room with hunter green couches, I purchased a dark green, opaque glass with a little bit of white swirled throughout. Since I bought sheets of glass, I made sure I cut it into mosaic size pieces right away. I opted to leave the white edge of the tile showing and use white grout. My coworker was so happy and they will be a housewarming gift for her boyfriend!

Uh, just ignore the messy table the coasters are on. I also forgot to wipe them down before I took the pics. These took be a few hours to make and I just took the pics quickly before I fell asleep. Anyone can make this gift, you can easily buy pre cut glass from Michaels, and the grout and tiles at Home Depot. I'm thinking I need a set of my own.

Baby Book and Fondant Adventures

I can't believe it has been a whole month since my last post! Since we've last met...

 

I've been experimenting with cake decorating:

My sister-in-law has introduced cake decorating to me and we had an experiment with fondant and decorating evening. I tried this non-cook fondant (a Better Homes and Gardens recipe) but...let's just say I don't think it's the kind they use on Ace of Cakes.

 

I've been scrapbooking:

I've completed the baby scrapbook. It was a one year birthday present. This is the page I left blank for baby's momma to add a picture from the party too. 

SmugMug

In an effort to tie projects together I finally created a SmugMug site to house all the pictures that hang on the walls of FD Subs.

I've had quite a few customers ask me about the pictures over the years and if I sell them. Finally, three years later I uploaded them and added some other local flavor pictures to the site. I then pointed the SmugMug site to http://photos.fdsubs.com to tie it altogether. Hopefully, the Ewing-ites will enjoy the photos.

 

Baby Scrapbook Update: I've gotten so much of it done! It needs to be finished before this Saturday, so this might be record time that I've begun and finished a scrapbook. I think it's coming out great, of course it could help that the baby in all the pictures is just adorable haha.

Grand Reopening

Busy, busy, busy! I've been helping the husband for the past few weeks getting ready for his grand reopening.

 

We created new menus and had a sandwich board sign out front with helium balloons.

 

 

 

Gave out free samples during lunch, which included buffalo chicken salad wraps. I probably ate half of the tray myself.

 

 

And of course we had balloons from the Thumann's vendor. All in all it was a success, but of course we can never have too many customers! The husband has many more ideas I am helping him plan into action for FD Subs so my "makes" have been put on hold for the time being (although I did start that baby scrapbook for my friend, more on that soon.)  

 

Socialnomics

I know it's an arts,crafts,etc blog but a friend just sent me a great video on YouTube. Being a sucker for facts I thought it was super interesting and being that I'm blogging I felt it was relevant.   A few facebook stats I've heard before but many other social media facts were new to me. I'm pretty sure I will be reading this book. Check out the Socialnomics video for yourself.

Unprepared

I can't believe it. I went to Waterfront Park and South River Walk Park in Trenton today to take some pics. I brought my dog for some outdoor fun and Dan came with to also check out the scene. I get there, take my first shot and its not focusing. What? What's going on? Oh, I see I forgot to put the battery in after charging!! What a rookie move.

Skip to 2 hours later, I'm going to take a few pics of the West Trenton Train Station for FD Gallery, er I mean FD Subs and I take a pic and look at the display. What? What's going on? I get the dreaded NO CARD message. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I typically carry a spare card in my camera bag but I decided to just grab my camera. FML.

wallflower wall decor

I try to avoid Bed, Bath & Beyond as much as possible but I really wanted something for above my fireplace on either side of the mirror.

So me and sis hit the stores and ended up there. I fully intended on either something tall to stand on the mantle or some sort of metal wall art. Then I found these Umbra wallflower wall decor. "Is it too weird, too trendy?" I thought to myself. My sister reassured me they were cute.


I didn't want overkill so I put up less than half and I totally love it. Now I wish I could paint my wall the color from the website as well.

Disco Fabulous

I finally grouted two mosaic pieces I had finished over a month ago. I hit up Michaels and bought some grout coloring. Five little bottles: blue sapphire, terra cotta, wine, emerald green and charcoal gray. Now I only have to add what dye I want to white grout, and I can create custom colors.

I also made a trip to the glass store yesterday and picked up a couple new pieces. The hunter green will be for coasters that a coworker requested, more on that later. You can check out my mirror vase/candle holder and autumn-colored tea light holder on Etsy.


I these dark purples and white with light purple streaks will look so good together. Now, I just have to figure out what I'm going to make. Any suggestions??

Baby Scrapbook

It's friday night, I'm home sick and bored! I can't really do much so I decided to start organzing for the baby scrapbook I'm making as a gift for a friend. She ordered prints online and I picked them up locally, all 170 pictures! I went thru the pics and organized them into different potential section/pages:

(in no particular order)

• baby and dad
• baby in the wilderness
• clowning around
• mom, dad and baby
• baby fun (museums, parks, playgroups, etc)
• baby costumes (this child own an exceptional about of baby costumes!)
• Chow time
• baby's first day
• baby and mom
• Monthly montage (a picture of the baby holding the card with his age that month)
• Baby and other family members

I'm really excited for this scrapbook for a couple reasons. It gives me an excuse to buy a theme baby set of scraps and because it's a gift. Someone will be able to enjoy my pages for years to come!

NJ Monthly: New Faces NJ

Yea! Emily's article about Timmy finally came out in NJ Monthly, including a photo credit for myself! I hope it will be in the print edition too. Check out the article about Timmy Waldron and his awesome book World Takes...and my pic of course! World Takes can be purchased at Word Riot.

M.I.A.

So I've been slacking on the blogging. Things I've been busy with:

1. working on fdsubs.com (my husbands subshop)
2. working on a new menu
3. working at the sub shop
4. relaxing down the shore

I haven't really done anything crafty or around the house lately but I do have a new scrapbooking project on the horizon. I'm making aBaby's First Year scrapbook for one of my girlfriend's for her son's first birthday. She's giving me a CD of pictures and I'm going to make it into a scrapbook as his gift. I would love for this to become a tradition.

I did get a chance to take some pictures down the shore. That's what I was looking at for the past 4 days, enjoy!

A Photo Credit in My Future

Timmy Waldron, author of World Takes, is of friend of my husband and I and will be featured in the September issue of NJ Monthly. Since he will be a part of the New Faces New Jersey section, he needed a photo and asked me to shoot it! I've never taken a photo in any sort of professional manner nor do I typically shoot people but I was happy to take advantage of the opportunity. He wanted to emulate the famous picture of author Raymond Carter. It wasn't meant to look exactly the same but to have the same feel and I think we accomplished that. Perhaps there will be a photo credit in my future?

Raymond Carver

Timmy Waldron

Peel and Stick Appliques or

what regular people call decals. I finally put these up in my basement. I've had them for a few months now and I always do this. I buy stuff and can't commit to what I want to do with it, where it should go, etc. Tonight I decided I just need to put them up already.

These are called RoomMates DECO Peel and Stick Appliques and I bought them for around 20 dollars. The pattern is made up of several different pieces.


The package gives you a pattern you can follow and the height and width of the entire design.



For the most part I followed it. I wanted to take up some more wall space than that design though. The cool thing is they are removable, so you can peel off and adjust them as you see fit. I think you can only peel and restick a limited number of times before the plastic gets stretched out and the stickiness wears off. So this is my basement (or soon to be studio) wall.


This is a wider angle so you can get a perspective. Yup, that's He's Just Not That Into You on the tv. I thought it was a pretty cute movie. I had it playing while I applied the decals, er appliques :)


*EDIT: wow I really massacred the title of that movie, corrected now.

Cruising around Manhattan

I was lucky enough to spend my Saturday evening cruising around the island of Manhattan on a friend's boat with a cocktail (or two.) A college roommate was home from California so we had a mini reunion, with 4 four us from The College of New Jersey meeting up. How gorgeous is that skyline??

New Banner/Logo

A coworker of mine (a graphic designer) was kind enough to create my Monica Makes banner for me, so check it out (top of the page!) He made a couple of designs but I really like the colors and the playfulness of this one so it was a keeper. If you ever need an design work let me know, I'll pass on his information.

Claiming Monica Makes at Technorati

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boo yah!

So Simple Yet So Hard

I'm working on my etsy profile. All these websites today make it "so easy" to create your website, blogs, shops whatever. Yet, my public profile has a signature that instead of "monica" says "female"...why??? I see nothing to change it. SIGH

what I'm working on

Since it's been almost a week since the last post and I'm fresh off the beach today I figure I'd update the blog. I'm working on mosaic project that involves a small vase with a flower design on it and a set of votive candle holders. I've also recently ordered a shipment of new glass and wheeled nippers. Now I can make some nice clean cuts!

It's too nice to stay inside and be artsy so I'm either off to the park with the dog or off to the driving range with the husband. Either way I think I win. :)

Jersey Shore...enjoy!

monicamakes.etsy.com

My etsy shop is now open for business. So far just the Love Vase and smaller Striped Mosaic Vase is up. I'm really happy with how they came out :)

Tomorrow is a mosaic meeting where I will start working on a round mirror. Robin and Bonnie's instructor will be there tomorrow and I can't wait to pick her brain!

Love is My Fave

Ta da! I's my first piece I created on my own start to finish. Yes, I know nothing to write home about but I cut the glass, cut the strips into pieces, laid them out, grouted and cleaned it up so that's a success in my eyes. I have charcoal grout that I felt was too dark so I mixed it with some of the white grout to create a light grey. I felt it looked better against the purple and green tile. I put a little votive candle inside so you can see how clear the purple is. I'm thinking I want to sand it down and maybe seal it, especially if it's used as a vase with water.

My first mosaic tile vase (or candle holder) woohoo! Thanks to Robin and Bonnie for their instructions.

This is vase number two. I'm using off white solid tiles on opposite sides and turquoise-ish solid tiles on the other opposite sides with white grout. I'm not a big fan of it, nothing too special but sometimes those things turn out the best so we'll see. I think it will make a decent vase.

This is my third vase I'm working on. It's going to have one letter on each side and will spell out Love and I'll be using white grout. I'm going to start experimenting with words and other shapes. My next pieces will be smaller than these vases. I don't have enough creativity yet for such large pieces!

Dollar Store Score

I knew the dollar store would be a good idea! I scored 3 flat sided vases for less than $10! (woot woot) Below is a picture of some of my glass I bought the color is funky because it was in my dining room which is dark but has a chandelier so hence the weird tone and reflection. Home Depot was a bust when it came to looking for pliers and wheeled nippers so I'm going to either hit up amazon, ebay or another glass store. SIGH.


If you can't tell the one with the straight up reflection is solid black glass, the next is solid yellow then a marble green.

It's Okay, It's a Gift

The Glass Crew took a ride out to Rainbow Stained Glass in Bristol, PA. I've never been to a glass store but they had a huge selection and what seemed to be reasonable prices. I bought several sheets of colored glass for under $20 and by first glass cutter! Next stop will be to Home Depot to get the other tools I need to cut glass, like nippers and something else but the name escapes me. Oh yeah and different colored grout.


Back to Robin's and we grouted our projects we started two weeks ago. Robin and Bonnie are working on about a thousand different projects and Erin and I continued with our "beginner" trivets. Grouting turned out to be fun. Robin prefers wearing the swine flue gloves but I definitely thought barehanded was better.

Below, is my trivet mid-grout. I think it would have looked really sharp if I had some charcoal colored grout but I guess that's all part of the learning process. I'll post a pic of H trivet when it's all cleaned up. Next project will be a mirror! And I need to throw in a CONGRATS to Bonnie for selling a vase on Etsy :)

Sometimes Simple is Good

I decided to get my Aruba 2006 page out of the way and just looking at my new "south beach" color card stock I decided I would make the page a beach scene and it was so easy! I really needed a colorful background since the pics are b/w (I ran out of color ink mid printing 2006 and was too lazy to reprint them heehee.) Also, I stole my sister-in-law's lobster she stamped for an envelope once...hope she doesn't mind.

Sale notice: AC Moore has the brand Top Load scrapbook albums 2 for $8!I bought some plain ones because it's really about the pages inside right?? :) Don't forget you can print the coupons from the website.

Michaels Scrapbook Sale (and this week's projects)

Although Michaels (the arts and crafts store) annoyed me today, I'll make sure everyone knows scrapbooks are on sale this week. The annoyance came from the fact that they had a 50% coupon this week and coincidentally the scrapbooks were on sale 25%. Soooo of course I can't use the 50% on them. This was obviously on purpose and its irritating! But anyway, just an FYI the scrapbooks are on sale this week. The Michaels (in Princeton at least) had a giant selection of scrapbook paper pads on sale pretty cheap, so this week is a good time to pick some up.

Projects this week: Relining the kitchen drawers and shelves with new paper and cleaning up the guest room. The husband was good enough to rip out the carpet today and then its time to redecorate!