babo lizard

weekend at the flea

2010-01-26T22:33:00.000-05:00

I spent this past weekend selling at the Brooklyn Flea and it was fun! The traffic was a bit slower than I would've liked, but it's always so great meeting different vendors selling different things! I told myself that I wasn't going to buy anything but my boyfriend and I just HAD to get this vintage typewriter, practically in mint condition! The seller is Donna of Re-Surface Design who makes these amazing lamps like the microphone lamp I blogged about before. She's become a friend and she cut us a sweet deal on the typewriter. Her new hobby has become buying these vintage typewriters and fixing them up, cleaning them, putting in a new ribbon, etc.

I also bought a couple of bracelets from a young girl named Charlie who goes around selling handmade friendship bracelets (like the ones I used to make as a little girl) with her friend. Their parents both sell at the Brooklyn Flea on a regular basis, so they spend the day making these bracelets, convince everyone to buy them, and spend their loot on cool things they find at the flea. So cute! I bought one for each of my girlfriends back home in California and dropped them off in the mailbox today along with a letter on some handmade stationary I make, typed with my new typewriter!

Here are some pictures!

letters, bracelets, and typewriter with the lid on

close up of letters + stationary

p.s. selling at the Flea again this Saturday only. come by!!

m i a

2010-01-21T09:14:00.000-05:00

I haven't been posting in a while, but will start to regularly do so again. This one is going to be short and snappy since I'm about to run out of the apartment to go to work, but I wanted to share this d.i.y project i found online. Definitely my next project, if I can ever find the time!

Felt Flower
click on this link for a full how-to.

Also, I will be at the Brooklyn flea this weekend! My first weekend there so wish me luck and come visit!
It is located at 1 hanson place
Every Saturday + Sunday until March
10am - 5pm

Brooklyn Flea
click on this link for directions to the flea

It's the most BEAUTIFUL place, so you should definitely come and check out the space and the neat vendors.

xo

a quick share!

2009-12-29T01:30:00.000-05:00

What a busy season! It's been a while since posting, but I recently moved homes and for a small person, I come with a lot of stuff! with the move, work, and the holidays, things got a little crazy around here for a second, and the frenzy hasn't dissipated completely yet, but it's slowly getting there.. I'm looking forward to a day when I can relax. with a book. and not have to put on shoes to go run an errand outside. just to walk the dog.

Even my 'vacation' days have been used to clean, work from home, and run errands upon errands. I did get to do a little bit of online shopping from home though....

I've been revisiting this since I first saw it a few weeks ago, and I decided I gotta have it!

You can pick yours up here...

All of her work is SO beautiful. I'm itching to get the 'better days' print too... and if I didn't already have a lifetime's supply of business cards, and if I could afford it, I would SERIOUSLY consider getting her custom made ones.... Maybe she can do my wedding invitations, when and if it happens. I just love sweet things that make you happy just looking at them.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season.

Gifted recap

2009-12-14T23:37:00.000-05:00

My run at Gifted, the holiday fair is done but it's still open until December 24th with a few of the vendors changing around every few days, so go check it out if you can! 20 E. 4th street, at Lafayette in Manhattan.

It was a fun run and I met A LOT of really great people! Made some sales, a bit of a profit, and got some good exposure I think ( I hope! )

The most popular items I've sold i'd have to say are....

the dead spider pins and the magic mustache kits! They were definitely big hits, especially the dead spiders (which personally were my favorite) and I was sure to wear mine everyday. The handmade holiday cards also did well! I sold them individually at the fair, but they're up on the shop as a set, and discounted, since the holiday season is practically here. and of course, these guys always do well.

One of the best things about these fairs is that I get to meet really nice people who are willing to talk to me and give me advice on my work and how to market myself a bit more. It's all a bit new to me. I've only been selling since this summer, and I've only done two fairs, but no matter where, people are just nice and super willing to share what they've done and things they've found helpful. So after the holiday fair, I've decided to sell at the Brooklyn Flea, at least one weekend a month (YES! even in the wintertime!)

the other reallysuperawesome thing that happens at these fairs is you trade your stuff for some REALLY COOL STUFF with other vendors. I did some serious Christmas trading here, especially for the boyfriend, who already knows he's getting it, so it's okay for me to blog about it and share with the world...

It's a microphone LIGHT! it's so beautiful and the designer, Donna of Re-Surface Design had her booth across from me, so I was basically staring at this beauty the whole time. It's SO beautiful and it's so exciting to see it lit! And she is one really cool chick!

I also did a great trade with Rebecca of Moontree Letterpress. A SuperDuper sweet person and her stuff is really sweet. These were prints from a project she did with Design Sponge and the NY Public Library, and I was even there for the party they threw for it, so I saw her work there, and was so excited to do a trade for one of her pieces! She got a hand beaded zip pouch for this pretty piece here! Bicycles in Manhattan : )

And here are some items from k g + a b

porcelain pieces! I've met Katherine a couple times and in the beginning of the year I bought the drawstring bag (third picture) while she was at the Brooklyn Flea, but I got these porcelain pieces as an early christmas present from the boyfriend! I was oogling them the whole time I was there, I'm sure he was glad to shut me up! I have a thing for ice cream, even when it's cold out... I'm always craving it... and cupcakes because I love to bake! They're beautiful and the tops can be removed to hide little trinkets...

(the walnut is porcelain too and part of a set of nuts)

like mustaches and earrings...

Another sweet trade! 3 sets of these book jackets from Book City Jackets, all designed by different artists for a handpainted Enoki tote! The founder, Jeremy, was super nice and so pleasant to talk to. They come with a set of crayons so people are actually encouraged to take these illustrations and morph them into something... not better, because they are SO beautiful the way they are, but interesting in an interesting way....

I'm scared to touch some of them, because they're so beautiful, but I think I'll definitely get around to playing with some of them.. maybe adding some color, some texture, and... glitter

Okay and one last trade I will write about tonight.. It's late and I'm exhausted!

This I got for myself.. I was originally just going to buy them, because I fell in love with them when I saw them from outside the window, but then I worked out the most marvelous arrangement with Val and Andy, the lovely couple who run Blue Canary Vintage. Basically, I got these Vintage frames (so I can make them into sunglasses) and in return, I am going to... Decorate a Cake Tier for their wedding in February.

WHAT?? I know! it's so funny how it worked out.. a lot of smiling and hand gestures and girls being excited.. It's quite a blur actually, all that remain from the conversation are their 'save the date' card and an illustration Val drew with my notes on it. Well, I got a great pair of frames and an opportunity to do something really fun, and the crazy thing is.. the frames I just got are the same brand that made my vintage glasses which I've pictured here too. The new ones are the purple, and my own are the blue. I didn't even realize it until I got home : )

goodnight world. It's been an absolutely exhausting past few weeks, and the craziness is not quite yet over yet.

New items have been posted to the shop. and I have oodles of pictures of other great things I found at the fair which hopefully will go up soon.

sleep tight.

gifted, days 1 & 2

2009-12-10T22:50:00.000-05:00

hello world!

It's been quite a week! I've been at the fair for two days now, and it's been fun! I wish I took the time to take more pictures.. I'll have to do that tomorrow when I'm there. Now that the fair has started I'm a bit relieved. I don't have the pre-fair anxiety, and I'm kind of just taking it as it goes. It's only my second fair, and it's a biggie! But it's been fun and I've met cool people. Wednesday morning was so awful in the weather department, raining like crazy, and it was my day to set up! But it turned out to be fine and as soon as the weather let up, the fair was opening in the early afternoon. That was such a long day, getting up early after sleeping really late, setting up, manning a booth for 9 hours, meeting a lot of people, going out for drinks, and then falling asleep at the neighborhood diner...

Today was better, since I got to roll in about 11:30, have my coffee, quickly set up the booth and just wait for people to show up. It's always amazing to meet people who's work you've seen and admired. A few friends and family have stopped by, and it's been so great to see them and so sweet of them to support. And everyone who stops by the table seems to be happy with what they're seeing, wether they make a purchase or not. It's so great to see people come and smile and laugh at some of the things I've made like the dead spider pins. It makes me really excited! This one lady came by today and I thought she was going to throw up because she loved the tooth for the toothfairy pillow so much! It was awesome!

Here are a few random pictures of the set up and a couple items. I'm slowly going to start posting some of them on Etsy... even while I'm working, because there's some down time, especially during the day.

counting elephant stuffed animals. gotta keep track of that inventory!

prepping teeth for the toothfairy....

booth set up

window display! You can probably see me if you are walking down 4th Street!!

his and hers - dead spider pins with mustaches (we had a bit of time to kill before selling on wednesday)

blackboard display: holiday cards, flower pins and fabric necklaces. click to enlarge

this morning the sun was perfectly shining on this vase of fabric flowers!!!

and in between sales, there is a bit of time to kill, so if I can, I like to sew little things. Here I'm stitching up some mustache wands for the magic mustache kit.

If you're in the neighborhood, I hope you can stop by! I'll be there everyday until Sunday, from noon-7. CLICK HERE to see what's available, and CLICK HERE to see a list of other vendors.

goodnight, xo

inching closer....

2009-12-06T08:57:00.000-05:00

The first day I'm selling at Gifted is only 3 days away! Last night I did a little mock set up of what my display will look like, and also sat and made a bunch of felt flower hair clips!

100% handmade...

Fair info:

And don't Forget!!!

You can find me at Gifted, the Holiday Fair hosted by The Brooklyn Flea (www.brooklynflea.com)

20 East 4th Street @ Lafayette

DEC 9-13, BOOTH #22, DDOTT

Hope to See you there! (p.s. there will be free pumpkin cupcakes + chocolates with purchase)

oh, by the way....

have you seen the new WEBSITE yet?

productivity feels real nice

2009-12-03T23:03:00.000-05:00

I was quite productive today! Finished up Christmas cards and did a bit of organizing. I've made 3 designs of holiday cards for this season: the "Mistletoe" design, the "Loving Gingerbread" design, and the "Dunnard, the Reindeer with Converse Glasses" design. Here are some pictures!

dunnard's glasses..... boy, these were tricky

dunnard, sans eyes + bifocals

and completed dunnard card! (the inside is blank)

and here are the Mistletoe Cards, which read "Kiss me" on the outside...

and the inside reads, " and be quick about it!"

and the Loving gingerbread cards:

"give a little love this holiday season"

inside reads "and all year round"

And don't Forget!!!

You can find me at Gifted, the Holiday Fair hosted by The Brooklyn Flea (www.brooklynflea.com)

20 East 4th Street @ Lafayette

DEC 9-13, BOOTH #22, DDOTT

Hope to See you there! (p.s. there will be free pumpkin cupcakes + chocolates with purchase)

p.s.

2009-12-01T00:34:00.002-05:00

oh, did i mention there will be some snacks at my booth as well? I think it's #22, by the window, and I'm working on making pumpkin cupcakes + chocolate bon bons... the filling is to be determined, but it will be delicious..

i promise!

they'll be free with a purchase : )

it's been a while!

2009-12-01T00:32:00.000-05:00

Hello world,

It's been quite a while since I updated the blog, but the past two weeks have been busy busy busy

I made what felt like a gazillion pies for the Restaurant's thanksgiving dinner, and spent 15 hours baking before heading off to Buffalo where I met the boyfriend's family for the first time. wowy! It was fun! I was nervous, of course, but everyone was so great and I got to meet the most amazing cat....

world, meet maegu.

YES! That is a CAT! He's over 40 pounds and looks more like an ottoman than anything else, but he's a sweetheart and yes, he does get exercise, limited it may be.... I think the breed is supposed to look somewhat like that... what it is exactly, I'm not sure, but I can find out if you'd like. He must be about feet long... those snazzy kicks to the left are a men's size 10, to give you an idea of how LARGE this cat is.

other than the cat, I met some nice people and ate a lot of things that I maybe should not have, like a garbage plate from rochester, jim's, mighty taco... you get the picture.... A lot of napping, tv watching on the sofa, and naps were involved too... and trees! and wild turkeys in the driveway! and deer in the backyard! basically everything that I don't get in the city.

the trip was a very much needed vacation. Other than the restaurant, I've been super busy preparing for a Holiday Craft Fair, GIFTED, hosted by the Brooklyn Flea and it will take place in Manhattan this year. It's actually already started, and I'm booked to sell DEC 9-13. Mark your calendars and come do some Christmas Shopping!!

here's a little preview: crepe flowers (for wearing or decoration), handpainted enoki tote in blue medium, dead spider pins, magic mustache kits, wallet / checkbook cover, heart with stache notecards.

I've uploaded some photos on flickr of available products, plus there are a couple more items still being tweaked, like handpainted watercolor christmas cards and flower felt hair pins... Those pictures will be up shortly, maybe even by the end of tomorrow!

Here is the link to flickr photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ddott/sets/72157622903913034/

stay tuned for updates! Now that i'm back in the city and well rested from the sweet town of buffalo, I'll try to be good about updating frequently until I start selling at the fair + during.

Back to cutting fabric for hair pins.....

i heart times a million!

2009-11-17T13:58:00.001-05:00

a great week : )

new business cards + vintage kitchen goods!!

front + back (click to enlarge)

more photos coming soon...

for the tooth fairy...

2009-11-12T14:06:00.000-05:00

My cousin's son has recently began losing his baby teeth, so I've been inspired to make these tooth-shaped pillows with a pocket to put under your pillow for the tooth fairy. The body of the tooth is made with a cotton fleece, printed with images of nursery rhymes and the pockets are sewn of a solid cotton blend fabric (in pink, blue and yellow).

here's a tooth

pockets... (I like the dramatic lighting from my sewing machine...)

maybe with the scraps I can make a little garland....

new business cards!

2009-11-12T09:15:00.000-05:00

good morning world,

It's cold and gloomy in ny, and I'm all bundled up in my apartment with a cup of hot tea. A major craft day today, testing out a new screen I made and hopefully getting a lot of sewing done. I just finished the design for my new business cards + ordered them yesterday and I can't wait till they come! In the meantime, isn't this the sweetest gift?

sugar, graham crackers and ants. all on a cake.

2009-11-09T19:34:00.001-05:00

busy busy!

I had such a busy weekend... on Friday I had to make a cake for a guest at the restaurant, attend a party that my friend was throwing for castreach at the Gates, helped plate for one of the busiest nights at the restaurant, and I attended a party that my roommate was the guest of honor for at Kiss + Fly in the West Village.

No photos from the crazy festivities, but here are photos of the cake from Friday! It was her 30th birthday and I played off of a facebook picture I found of her at the ant exhibit at the Melbourne Museum. Luckily the cake came out as imagined and I hear it was well received. The dots all over the cake are little chocolate ants. Here are some pictures...

bird's eye view... can you see all the ants?

birthday girl inside the sugar dome. in front of her, ants and a juicy STEAK

back view... the ants are crawling into the cracked sugar dome

if you look very closely, she's actually got her hands on the sugar dome

The birthday girl really does wear silver ballet flats, and she works for Botkier.

This is my fondant version of the Botkier "Jackie" Bag.

they're perched outside the entrance of the ant exhibit.

Here are some pictures of the cake in the making....

painting her face... the facial expression she has in the actual photograph that I pulled

Botkier "jackie" bag

steak + arms

resting.... she has a pink flower on her blue shirt

silver flats.

Things aren't slowing down any time soon... I have another special cake to make this week and I'm updating my website with the help of a special friend... here's a quick brainstorm of what the homepage will hopefully look like....

(sneak peak!)

halloween + other sweets

2009-11-04T22:48:00.000-05:00

Hello world!

It's Wednesday evening, and as I am doing my laundry, I'm making sketches for a custom cake I am making for Friday evening... A young woman who works for Botkier is having her 30th birthday at the restaurant I'm a pastry chef at and I've been asked to make a cake! This is so exciting because I feel like I haven't had any time to work on cakes and cake toppers which I would eventually like to sell online, so this is a good opportunity to actually make one. The sketch I've come up with so far is this:

The setting is an interactive display at the Melbourne Museum, where visitors get to look thru the plastic dome and find themselves surrounded by Ants. So, I'm going to make a cake with herself in the plastic, looking frightened, surrounded by ants and a piece of steak (she's a vegetarian). On the side of the cake I plan to put a couple of items about her personality, like silver ballet flats, a botkier bag, a scarf (because it's really cold in new york), and these items will be propped next to the entrance.

I hope it turns out as planned and that they love the cake!
Wish me luck, I've got such a busy schedule for the rest of the week... or more like the rest of this year. I feel like I don't have a moment's rest!

Oh, and here are some halloween pictures, trick or treating with my family...

ninja!

feet! and...paws?claws?

Max from "where the wild things are"!

johnny cash

He doesn't realize it, but he's standing in front of a "where the wild things are" display

A catapulting woman

shark + wolf are good friends

protecting his brother from any more pictures. can you hear his roar?

sigh* laundry is done and needs to be folded. I love the feel of warm fabrics against my face, especially when they smell like lavender.

goodnight**

diy: fabric flowers

2009-10-30T22:50:00.000-04:00

sstttrreeettcchhhh

It's friday evening, and instead of being out and about, I decided to stay in to catch up on some sleep and because I'm realizing how little time I have until december. It's already november 1 in 23 hours, and I feel a bit behind on producing things for a holiday craft fair. sigh* But all is well and it's nice to have an excuse to sit in front of my computer with a movie (the last selection was the nightmare before christmas) and just sew, cut, glue, color, etc...

I wanted to start writing about crafting projects since I am such a big fan of d.i.y. and I have one to post about tonight... they're the fabric flowers i posted about in my last link, made from a fabric shoe bag that my roommate was about to throw out before he left for Japan two weeks ago. He's coming back tomorrow! yay!!) He was there to promote his t-shirt line and work on the new stuff that he will soon be releasing, first in Japan. It's great to be around someone so productive all the time.. My past roommate, artist Lan Tuazon, was also quite the productive little bee. Sure we spend most of our time in front of a computer when we're home, but it's just kind of nice to share the large studio space we have with each other... otherwise it feels really empty. Anyways, back to the project!

Here are the supplies I used to make a fabric flower:

Materials

1. one pipe cleaner (for the center) Some flowers I also made with the edge stitching of the bag, (it looks like the inside stitching of your t-shirt), and also with some suede ribbon that I had stashed away.

2. 22 ga. wire, cut double the length you want your stem. (the thicker, the more stable. You can use thinner if you'd like, but you might want to double up for stability.

3. Fabric of your choice - I tried using both very thin fabric and some stiffer, like felt. they all come out a little different, but still very sweet.

floral tape - from any craft/florist. (It's non toxic too, which is a plus for sugar-paste flowers on cakes)

scissors

Instructions

1. Cut petals for your flowers in a similar shape to the image shown. they don't have to be perfect, and in fact some inconsistency adds character to the flower. no petals are exactly the same in a real flower. I used about a dozen petals per flower.

2. Cut Wire double the length that you would like the stem to be and fold it in half. If you think that it is not sturdy enough, just double, triple, etc... until the stem feels sturdy enough. Otherwise, your flower will droop.

3. Fold the pipe cleaner so it looks like an M and hook the folded center of the pipe cleaner with the folded end of the wire and twist a couple times so that it stays in place.

You can use pretty much anything you would like for the stamen of the flower. I also made some using the edge stitching of the bag i originally cut up for the fabric, and also some suede ribbon/rope that I had lying around. alternatively you could bead very thin wire and fold it until you have the amount of stamen you like, or you can cut fabric in thin strips. You can also use as many pipe cleaners you'd like to make as many stamen you'd like. since the pipe cleaner is pretty thick, I liked the way it looked with just the two, but with the suede and bag edge, I made about 4 or 5.

4. Wrap the floral tape tightly around the stamen, exposing about 1-1.5 inches. You want it to be about half an inch shorter than the petals that you'll wrap around it, and you want to wrap the tape all the way to the bottom of the stem. Otherwise your wires will be swinging all over the place.

Some advice on Floral Tape: in order to get it to be "sticky" you need to stretch the tape before trying to stick to itself.

5. Wrap a petal around the center, making sure that the tape comes in contact with itself to secure the petal and repeat with the next petal placed opposite the first petal.

6. This is optional, but helps to add volume to the flowers. You could always just apply the flat petals to the flower and spread apart with your fingers at the end. But after I put my first two around the center, I folded the next 5 in thirds and wrapped them that way so that they looked more voluminous.

(pink flower, with folded petals in the center)

(brown flower, without folded petals in the center)

7. With the final petals I just wrapped flat to hug the folded petals in so that the outside of the flower doesn't look like it it just went through a convertible ride.

And voila! a vase of flowers. Have fun with the colors and textures. You can always make them super full, super large, or super tiny. I hope you find someone special to give them to : )

They won't die, but they are prone to dust.

a very long week

2009-10-26T02:05:00.002-04:00

holy shmongolian, I'm exhausted...

I've been at the restaurant almost everyday this past week, testing, tasting, testing, tasting, testing, tasting. It's been fun, but exhausting. What was exciting though was that on Friday, we started serving a few of the desserts I've been working on: cinnamon churro thumbs with a side of raspberry coulis and chocolate ganache; gougeres (cheese puffs with bacon and gruyere); and toasted banana bread with chocolate peanut butter spread. Please stop by and say hello.. later this week we'll be adding more sweet treats, like cookies! (chocolate chip, peanut butter, white chocolate chip-macadamia-cranberry... all your favorites!) Jo's 264 Elizabeth, just south of Houston St. The space is cozy and rustic, and the food is rich and delicious. Maybe I'll be there and I can come up and say hello : ).

On top of all the restaurant work this past week, my cousin, Michael Joo, had his opening at the Anton Kern Gallery in Chelsea on Thursday night. (click on the image to the right to get Gallery information) I met up with my special friend Don and we hopped on the bus to get to the gallery for the opening show, then to the opening dinner at Malatesa Trattoria in the West Village and Bongo West for the After party. It was a long night, a lot of mingling, eating and wine consuming, but it was all very lovely. The most interesting thing happened too... During dinner, I was seated next to one of the owners of La Esquina, my absolute FAVORITE taco place in the city, who also happened to be good friends with the owners of Jo's, the restaurant I'm working at. What a small world...

This weekend though, I got to take a break from the restaurant... but not the kind of break where you get to lay in bed with a book or movie while it's pouring outside... I was actually outside, getting soaked while roaming the streets. Went to a premier of an independent movie, In Search of Sound, profiling different musicians mostly of the electronic genre. I then had to show Don all my favorite shops in my old neighborhood on Avenue A... Exit 9, the Giant Robot Store, Alphabet.... And I made some of the best purchases I've made all year.....

This book is absolutely AMAZING. It's very informative and it has the best illustrations! I highly recommend it! $6, Exit 9 on Avenue A

I love candy... and the little pacman ghost candy tin had the best surprise inside...

the candies were actually shaped like the outside tin!!!

They're just a thousand times more fun to eat when they look like that.

The rest of saturday was very wet... got to my friend's birthday dinner at Grape and Grain sopping wet, but with the food, company, and wine, I didn't mind so much.

I've also been trying to slowly work on some new craft projects for my etsy store and to hopefully sell at a holiday craft fair... I'm looking into "Gifted" which is hosted by the Brooklyn Flea people, and this year they're teaming up with Lucky magazine and hosting the fair in the city! More information on that to come... but here's what I've been working on today...

some fabric flowers... The fabric is a shopping bag that I cut up and my roommate was going to throw away.

a tooth (nursery rhyme themed fleece) with pocket....

for the toothfairy

fleece eggs!

I love eggs. Maybe these will be keychains...

and this carrot print is from Lena Corwin's screen printing class from a couple weeks ago. I posted about it here. Maybe I will make a small tote bag with this Linen..... I'm still brainstorming my options, but I also love just having it hung up on my wall to look at....

I am so pooped beyond belief. It's a bit past 2 am, and I have an early start at the restaurant tomorrow.

Time to crawl into bed and read my new poop book until I fall asleep...

Goodnight world : )

Hump Day

2009-10-21T09:28:00.004-04:00

It's Wednesday! finally the middle of the week, and I'm enjoying a nice warm breakfast since my apartment insists on being the same temperature as it is outside or colder.. French press and steamy corn soup in a mug : )

(available colors of global goodness bags, click on image to purchase)

Yesterday was a busy day for me.. woke up early, caught up on some work and emails, went into the restaurant for some more recipe testing, had a chat about getting in a new freezer and gelato from .... il laboratorio! (delicious!!), did some serious mailing of craft goods and bags bags bags for global goodness and finally got to watch Where the Wild Things Are!

I've been dying to see this movie since spring and it was so wonderful and magical. I wish I had my own real pile to sleep in every night, especially since it's been so cold and the temperature inside my apartment is the same as that outside. I wish i could curl up and stay at home all morning, but I am rushing through this post so that I can go to the UPS store for more shipping and head to the restaurant. What restaurant am I talking about? Jo's at 264 Elizabeth, just south of Houston. I just got signed on to be their pastry girl and I've been working on adding more pastry items to expand their dessert menu. It's been a productive and tedious couple of weeks, full of baking, tweaking, baking again and Eating. Hopefully things will be up on the menu by the end of this weekend, and I'll keep you all posted. The food is delicious, and hopefully the desserts will be enjoyed just as much!

Enjoy the rest of your day and I hope you get a chance to stop by the restaurant soon : )

babo lizard + afternoon tea

2009-10-15T15:25:00.000-04:00

good afternoon!

it's tres cold in brooklyn, especially in my studio where there is absolutely no insulation and a terribly strong draft coming in from all sides of the air conditioner that's over 200 pounds and too heavy for me to take out myself (the sheets, fabric, and jacket we've taped around do help a little, but not quite enough...) sigh...

but here I sit with a hot cup of barley tea my winter coat on a scarf around my neck and a story to tell...

I realized the other day that I never wrote about what "babo lizard" means and what inspired the name. In Korean, "babo" translates to "stupid" and lizard is well... a lizard. When I very young I remember how a lizard had startled me while I was in the backyard and the rest of my family was in the kitchen. It was a peaceful and sunny afternoon, and I was so scared and startled by the rustling of the lizard and the way that it looked (I don't think I had ever seen a lizard before then) that I yelled "Babo!" at it. My parents then came running out, fearful that someone was in the backyard, and I had a 'talk' with them about how I shouldn't use that word, etc..... For whatever reason, I have always remembered that incident very vividly and it has been replayed in my mind especially since my mother passed away a bit over a year ago, perhaps it's because I remember exactly the reaction of my parents at the time of the incident and the vulnerability that I felt, that it's been so present in my mind.

Anyways, fast forward to a couple months ago, when we had to complete one of the biggest projects of the our Pastry Education at the French Culinary Institute, the Menu Project, where we each had to create a restaurant concept, design a menu, produce selected items from our menu and present it to the instructors. I chose to do a korean and western fusion dessert restaurant where each item was based on the desserts that I loved eating as a child. Hence, the physical menu has a storybook-like quality to it and is hand assembled and hand illustrated. It think my favorite part about this project was illustrating it and seeing it come together. The image in the front is a self portrait of myself in a lizard costume. I'd love to do another project like this and get paid for it (living in new york ain't cheap). does anyone have any suggestions on how one would go about doing that?

cover, hand illustrated on tracing paper, colored with color pencils from muji. the red floral frame around the illustration is just a sheet of origami paper I had. and the silver paper thats covering the menu i purchased a couple years ago from from dickblick

inside menu

drawn on tracing paper, colored with muji color pencils

strawberry shortcake was (and still is!) my absolute favorite dessert.

even now, I eat this every year for my birthday, ordering a whole cake and devouring it with my close friends, without cutting the cake. It's just us, forks, and the cake.

I love the flavor of chestnuts....

to be honest, i'd rather just eat plain roasted chestnuts than a fancy mont blanc,

but this seemed more appropriate for a restaurant

coffee... mmmmmm....

ice cream. no matter how warm or cold it is outside.

i always crave it.

The phrase "babo lizard" reminds me of my childhood and a very specific moment in my childhood, where I felt so many different emotions at once: frustration at the lizard, fear, comfort from my parents and a complete security. I often wish that I could go back to a moment such as the "babo lizard" moment when the complexities we experience as adults don't exist. I mean come on, my biggest worry at the time was seeing a lizard and I was so easily comforted by the presence of my parents. As we get older, we become such complicated people and our relationships with those around us reflect that. And I myself went thru a complicated phase with my mom (it's called being a teenager), but I have always been very close to her and especially after traveling across the country to attend NYU, we became much closer and patient with each other until her passing 4 years later.

So go on, tell your parents you love them today and everyday.

fin.

wedding bells

2009-10-13T11:52:00.000-04:00

Good morning

I started the day off right with some hash browns from trader joe's and french press. These hash browns are so delicious, and they taste just like the ones served at McDonald's breakfast (I know, gross, but I love them) ... but they're better and wider and probably much healthier : ). I started sending my boyfriend off with these in the morning when he left for work, and I would wrap them in a parchment sleeve with a handwritten "M" on them (for Mcdonald's), but I think it's more fun to put an "A" for Anne.

I really enjoyed the long weekend... I got a lot of work done and even attended a small wedding at Norwood in the city. It was so beautiful and charming, and nice to see some faces I hadn't seen in a while : ). The Bride, Joanna, wore a beautiful green vintage dress that she found at a Paris Flea Market... It even had a small weight in the back of it to make sure that the back was kept open. Here are some pictures of the bride, groom and friends : ) I wore an originally blue silk dress that I bought from Anthropologie 2 years ago, and which also had a large coffee stain in it that the dry cleaners couldn't take out... so I crossed my fingers and dyed it black two days before at home and it came out beautiful! (6th picture) Not a rich black, but more like a very dark navy. I'm super happy with the results, and I think I'm going to start dying more fabrics because it's so easy and I like the anticipation of wondering what it's going to look like when it dries. It was all wrinkled too from wringing it out and then hanging it to dry, but the tight wrinkles just made it look beautiful and textured so I didn't steam it before wearing it.

Coffee is ready! I'm going to have a productive day today, since I need to drop by the restaurant I've been working with at 2, so I'd like to get some brainstorming and sketching for Holiday craft projects done so I can sell them this late fall and winter. I realized that I never wrote about what "babo lizard" means, so I'll put a post up about that, and the project that inspired it sometime this week. My goal is to also start posting some craft projects+instructions up too...

I heart my bialetti.

p.s. These items just sold out (heart with mustache note and elephant plush) at Renegade Handmade , a consignment store I sell at in Chicago, but they're available at my etsy site.

happy tuesday : )

busy bee

2009-10-08T22:58:00.001-04:00

buzz buzz!

It's been a busy week, but fulfilling too. It was cousin Niki's birthday brunch on Sunday, eating the most delicious Bagels, cream cheeses, tomatoes and lox from Russ and Daughers, and then CAKE! Here is a picture of the cake.. it's their family: My cousin Mike, his wife Niki and the two cutest boys in the world. Jackson helped me decorate the cake by writing "happy birthday" on it, and it came out beautifully.

ready for the car ride....

decorate + candles

on a very important phone call.... with me

maxwell + helmet + cake!

jackson + helmet + cake!

After cake.. the NY Book Fair! It was fun and it was such a beautiful day! I delivered pumpkin cupcakes to Lena as planned, checked out some books and artwork, watched some bands play, and sat out on the front steps of PS 1 in the beautiful sun. Click Here for Lena's blog post about the fair. Here are pictures of relaxing and being silly. The furry art piece in the front made me feel like a monster from "where the wild things are." How appropriate since the movie is coming out next Friday!!! I am SO excited!

nice ceiling!

whoops! caught in the act...

there are monsters inside!

Yesterday I went into a restaurant and did a little tasting menu for the owners; a possible job opportunity still in the works, so I'll post all about it until things have been finalized... I don't want to jinx anything! But it was definitely exhausting.. and fun at the same time! As soon as I crawled into bed I fell into a deep sleep and woke up feeling refreshed for about 10 minutes and then desperately needed some coffee.

I also got a lot of cleaning done earlier, and looked at some cookbooks for some recipe ideas... the research will continue throughout the night and probably all day tomorrow....

Earlier this evening though, I did get to go to a really fun Screen Printing Class taught by Lena Corwin, textile designer, illustrator, and book author. I've taught myself all about block printing just by reading her book "Printing By Hand" and that's how I learned how to make stamps for stationary and bags found in my shop on etsy. Here are some pictures from today's class! The "carrot" print is mine, and the other two were done by my lovely classmates. It was low key and fun and it's always nice to meet new and creative people. sorry the pictures are not that great, but I was taking them from my phone.... I'll have better pictures up next time. We left our prints at the studio to dry, but I was itching to take mine home!

prints...

it's been a long week and it's not quite over yet, but I'm rolling into bed now so I can have a productive day tomorrow.

thanks for tuning in!

oops.

2009-10-04T08:42:00.000-04:00

I was so hungover all day yesterday from Friday Night's escapades.. I didn't get to do anything that i wanted to... sigh*

But I did manage to get myself out of bed and bake a cake for cousin Niki, who's birthday was this Thursday past. The cake people are almost done.. I'm just doing some last minute things before cousin Eungie picks me up to go to their place...

then I'll go to the NY book fair after.

have a great sunday.

will upload pictures soon : )

it's friday!

2009-10-02T11:00:00.002-04:00

Today I got an early start! grabbed some coffee with my roommate down the street and started printing bags for global goodness. Made a few pink ones already and I'm going to make some blue and grey bags as soon as the screen dries.

I also need to head into the city to grab some ingredients for this weekend's cakes....

I made some Pumpkin cupcakes and cake layers last night. deliver some to Lena and surprise her with it tomorrow when I visit the NY Art Book Fair. She'll be showcasing her Lines and Shapes book series, who she curates with her friend Maria Vettese.

Today is also exciting as I will be going into the city to pick up THIS. I am SO excited! Thank you to my wonderful cousins for the Sur la Table gift card for graduation from pastry school : )

Well the screen is dry and it's time to do another round of bags! Please support if you can and spread the word... we could use all the donations we could get, whether it's monetary, or by purchasing a bag, or by donating children's books that you'd like to get off your hands. Sarah wrote a beautiful blog entry a few days ago here that really made me stop and reflect on the goodness of global goodness and about Sarah's vision. I'm so honored to be part of the global goodness team and I'm sending Sarah a big hug from brooklyn.

I'm off to be productive!

ch-ch-ch-cheerio!

brrrrrr

2009-10-01T19:42:00.000-04:00

It's cold today! I guess Fall is finally approaching, and it came so fast...

it's been a while since I posted a blog entry, but things have been a bit hectic...
Since graduating from school, I've been in the process of finding a job.. or several part time jobs, actually.

Luckily, I scored a nice internship at Cake Alchemy and I am in the process of working out the kinks for a couple other opportunities too.. but I won't get into that until things are secure.

I'll just sit here and cross my fingers.

Or rather, I'll stay in and print some bags. It would be lovely to get some sales, since it's for such a great cause.

It's also my cousin's birthday today, and I am working on a cake to make for her, which I'll bring over on Sunday. I can't post pictures yet because I don't know if she'll come across the blog before then, and also because I haven't started making yet.. I just have illustrations...

Maybe I'll make some pumpkin cupcakes too, and deliver them to Lena, who I interned with this past summer and taught me everything I know about block printing and silk screening. She'll be at the NY Art Book Fair. It's open from tomorrow until Sunday, so you should stop by!

p.s. I got a new roommate today...
He's very talented and very silly.

happy fall (finally!)

xo

graduation weekend

2009-09-21T20:21:00.001-04:00

hello world!

I just graduated from pastry school last week! sigh of relief. I'm glad to be done with school and ready to start working in the real world like an adult. Graduation was fun (perhaps due to the 2 glasses of prosecco I had before the ceremony) and I got a nice recognition for having the best average of the major projects we had to complete during our course of study (the chocolate showpiece, the menu project which I'll talk about later, the pastillage showpiece and the wedding cake) I don't have pictures from the graduation since my cousin was taking pictures with her camera and I haven't gotten them yet, but I do have pictures of my final showpiece. The theme was "The year I was born" and I chose to do it on IBM PC Compatible, which was introduced to the public that year. The guy sitting on the stool is John Akers, president and CEO of IBM at the time. Here are some pictures.

meet jeff

final piece: I had to make a quiche lorraine, an opera cake, espresso bonbons and an cinnamon-nut-raisin danish (not pictured). Jeff is sitting on the left, holding a microphone and the computer is on the right, under the spotlights.

After graduation, my cousins and former roommate and I got drinks and tapas and headed for a cool art opening, dinner and after party for Damian Ortega, an awesome artist who's exhibition is currently at the Barbara Gladstone Gallery in NYC (21st street). The afterparty was at a beautiful spot called Bongo West. Friendly staff, beautiful and spacious rooms, comfortable lounge chairs (great for a party!) and we danced the night away....

the weekend was beautiful and relaxing..... cleaning on Saturday and Sunday Brunch at 10 Downing, the food was delicious, as always.

jackson in my uniform

maxwell being sneaky

and..... hug!

how could it be any more perfect?

good times. having fun.

2009-09-16T13:00:00.002-04:00

It was a long and productive weekend! As mentioned in the last post, my roommate, talented artist LAN TUAZON, had her show opening at Socrates Sculpture Park in a show called the "Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition" which is up and open to the public (FREE ADMISSION) until March 7, 2010. It was an absolutely beautiful day, a great turnout and the day was filled with dogs, kids, artists, and lots of ice cream. Here are some pictures of the work, the buildings which are replicas of New York City Buildings cast in Resin on 3 cement platforms. It looked SO beautiful in the sun and Lan's cute little niece thought that it was candy! The white pieces were cast in plaster and my friend Don and I were manning the booth, selling these replicas like hotcakes (limited 5 pieces per building). The most popular was the Chrysler Building, so detailed and impressive!

We also had a 2-man film crew staying with us in our apartment, from Berlin, Germany. My roommate is one of the protagonists of a documentary that this Berlin production company is working on, about 4 different artists who are participating in a 3-12 month residency in a castle in Stuttgart, Germany. That means Lan is going to be gone for 10 months, and it makes me sad because she was the best roommate I've ever had, but hopefully I will get to visit her and we can run around the castle in tutus and tiaras like princesses.

crew getting ready for a day of shooting

it took him forever to do that

it looks like he's dancing with the equipment

Well the boys, Marcel and Daniel, were a fun pair. They were very sweet and even though it was weird to have a huge camera and boom microphone around the apartment, and sometimes on you, it was easy to forget that they were there. What was especially nice were the times when they weren't working on the documentary and we could actually talk to them and joke around with them. They were both fun and charming, and definitely left with a bang. Their last night here, we had cake, korean food and Karaoke in the East Village. And even after all of that, we came home and had a 4 person dance party in our apartment! Lan, Daniel and I picked these really great songs that we played off Youtube like classy people, but I'm sorry to say that Marcel's song selection was not so...... danceable? it's okay though. we are not holding it against him, but Lan and I were sore the next day because all we could do to his song choice was plant our feet on the floor, play the air guitar, and throw our head back and forth like rockers.

and this is what having fun looks like

the end.

exciting!

2009-09-12T17:35:00.000-04:00

Busy Saturday!

My roommate is an artist and she has a show opening tomorrow at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, Queens. Please come if you would like!! It's called the "Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition" and will be open from 2-6 p.m. She's doing this awesome piece called "riot city" and I've been helping her do a few last minute things all day. We're both taking a small break because we've been up since 6 a.m. but will resume right after I finish this post...

I will try to upload some pictures later today or some time tomorrow, but I will definitely have stuff to share after tomorrow's opening.

If you can't make it tomorrow, it's open for a few months, so stop by anytime!

in the meantime...

come check out the store... there is a sale, buy two get one free!

here's a plush elephant from the store, and there are other prints and other items like stationary and hand printed/painted totes.

happy weekend xo

global goodness. be good to the world.

2009-09-09T10:28:00.000-04:00

oops. I know I was supposed to make my last post about a project I am doing for a non-profit, but I got distracted by the amazingness that is the mustache sisters. Now that I've calmed down, I'd like to talk about Global Goodness, a non-profit that was started by a friend of mine, Sarah Lynch, from my undergrad days in NYU.

Sarah started Global Goodness about a year and a half ago, and already they have collected over 10,000 books for a small community called Jamestown, just on the outskirts of Accra, Ghana, Africa, just from collecting from local schools, the NYU community, friends, and families.

I was moved by the purity and humbleness of Sarah and the organization and wanted to help, so I offered to make bags for them to sell to raise money for book shipments, and supplies like simple hardware tools to build bookshelves for the books that they are sending over.

Sarah is currently in Ghana right now, blogging as frequently as she can about the progress she is making for Global Goodness, and arranging for local Ghanaians to build these shelves. You can purchase a bag here (available September 15 in pink, blue or grey) or just simply donate any children's books or funds to help the impact of Global Goodness.

If anyone has any recommendations on how we can spread the goodness of global goodness, or would like to contribute, please send me an email at ddott.madebyanne@gmail.com.

we have already made arrangements to set up a table outside of the Park Slope co-op in Brooklyn (dates tba), but if anyone knows of any other stores/companies who would support our cause, any information would be super helpful!

Thanks for tuning in.

love,
global goodness and anne

wowy wow wow wow!

2009-09-09T09:47:00.000-04:00

omg omg omg omg omg omg!

this

just

magical

mustache sisters

speaking of mustaches, want to be invisible?

YES!

finished!

2009-09-03T12:53:00.012-04:00

hello world!

Last night was a feat! My classmates and I finished our wedding cakes, and they came out lovely, indeed. It was a long night and it started off with transporting my bride and groom for my cake topper from home to school....

I knew I had to keep them in the sitting position in case they lost an arm, head or shoe. Suri especially was a delicate case since she had such an intricate and fragile skirt. My solution? a square tupperware case, bride and groom sitting back to back on an upside down ramekin, everyone cushioned with toilet paper (clean and soft!). I put a piece of plastic wrap to cover them during the journey, which was funny because it was like putting a veil over a bride. Thankfully they made it thru the subway ride and walk in pristine condition.

I'm so sore today from rolling out all the marzipan to cover my cakes. I would have used fondant to cover them, but I love love LOVE the flavor of marzipan and I think it's so beautiful in it's natural state. Each of the tiers are covered in marzipan, and the white piping is of Royal icing. The red poppies and pink rose petals on top are made from sugar paste, and my bride and groom are sitting on a bench also made from sugar paste. The brown branches behind them are pussywillows. My hands were shaking, so my piping came out not great, so don't pay too much attention to it, but I was pretty happy with everything else : )

Here are some pictures of the final cake.

front

back

poppy close-up

bride and groom close-ups

rose petals close-up

here are some pictures of chef kir and chef jae, two very awesome people.

you can't tell from the first photo, but chef kir is QUITE the troublemaker....

of course they both LOVED the photo-op

this is chef toni, from level 1. she is amazing

There were a lot of beautiful cakes.. and one of my favorites one was made by my classmate Audrey. She's a sweet lady with a creative spunk and her artistic talent really showed! The cake is covered in fondant, and all the piping and illustrations are done with piped chocolate.

so simple and beautiful!

Thanks for tuning in again.

Next time I'll share about some bags I am screening for a non-profit, started by a friend of mine from college.

g'day

happy face

2009-09-02T13:21:00.000-04:00

hello world!

This is my first blog entry, of hopefully many more to come. Today is the perfect day to start babolizard because I finally have something SUPER exciting to share with the world! I'm currently a pastry student, about to finish my studies in a couple of weeks, and our current project that we are working on at school is our wedding cake project! I had been waiting for this assignment I think since the first day I started school...

I have been working on this project for a couple days already, and tonight all the tiers and pieces will come together. We are given the story of the bride and groom, their occupations, how they met, and all the wedding details. Meet Suri (Student at Cal) and Chris (Tattoo artist), getting married at the Japanese Tea Gardens in the San Francisco area. Here is the wedding cake topper I've been working on all day yesterday and this morning for their cake.... The bride and groom are finally finished! It was so much work, but I enjoyed every second of it.. it's so nice getting lost in a creative project, especially when I'm satisfied with the results : )

Here are some pictures of the process, including the initial illustration I made of the whole cake...

Thanks for tuning in : )

I will upload pictures of the finished cake tomorrow!!