etsy finally owns up

http://tinyurl.com/askv38
as to why newly listed items are not showing up on the front page nor on the top of category sections, which are listed chronologically.
any etsians out there? your thoughts?

indie fixx: small business tips

I just happened upon this great guest blogger post on indie fixx via twitter. (it's my first week on twitter, and wow- I don't know what to say.) Such a lot of great tips for the small design business owner. I might have to use some of them myself.

all stocked back up

okay, that didn't take too long. I have one more sweet little heart key chain that didn't get photographed, but will make it up in the next few days.

btw, now would be a good time to join my mailing list, hint, hint.

bits + bobbins asks

american apparel- love or loathe?

a little love

the sweetest of romantic necklaces are now available in the molliedash shop. all made from reclaimed and repurposed vintage and thrifted materials. coming next to the site: new key chains, including some valentine styles. my favorite thing about this collection is that hearts are in style all year long.

old hollywood

a couple of weeks ago b and I made an outing to greenpoint. despite it being a bitterly cold day, we ventured to the northernmost tip of brooklyn, as I was developing cabin fever from working inside so much. I had the new fred flare retail shop on my list (it's great! you'll get lost in their selection of books and novelties) as well as a couple of cafes in the meserole/manhattan aves. area. much to my surprise, I happened upon this (new!) little boutique of vintage and reworked clothing and jewelry, old hollywood. a little internet magic later, and I'm now selling my work there. It couldn't be a better fit. the shop has the best selection of repurposed vintage jewelry I've seen. the displays in the shop are magical and the staff super friendly, so stop on by if you're in the neighborhood.

molliedash site update coming

if you've been around my website lately, you might have noticed the tumbleweeds rolling down the pages. that is to say that lots have things have sold and the site is pretty empty. but not to worry- we've been working on loads of new items. necklaces, new earrings!, new key chains!, and of course some new bracelet styles. valentine-themed goodies are included in this update. I've been saving all the heart-shaped charms I could find since last year, which I thought would work well in my collection. many of the new pieces are photographed and ready for editing, so look for the site cleanup in the next couple of days! (ahem..maybe even tonight. too damned cold to go back outside!)

love this tutorial

ruffeo hearts lil' snotty shows how to make a cowl hoodie from old sweatshirts on threadbanger.

I need to do laundry

•and clean the apartment
•go grocery shopping
•and get rid of the "giveaway" clothes that have been by the front door since september
•cut back my jade plant (any advice on this? I apparently did it wrong last time. one very long branch is growing towards the light)
•get my tsubo's resoled if this is at all possible
•have b take my passport photo and send in the renewal
•have enough jewelry ready to meet with two shop owners this weekend
•photograph some new work and update the site
•there's more but I won't bore you any longer

path lifestyle store

molliedash jewelry can now be found in texas! austin salon path recently expanded to include a lifestyle store. what a beautiful design and array of products. never been to austin (yet!) but check out the mix of businesses in the south congress neighborhood where path resides. can't wait to visit.

photos by Charles Divins.
(click on them for a larger view)

new etsy

in my shop.

animation 101

the hummus

While making the hummus from the rest of the garbanzo beans I did a quick mental calculation. Both the veggie burgers and the hummus combined only cost around $2.00! Buying them pre-made would have cost between $8.00 and $10.00, and that's only figuring in a four-pack of burgers. (my batch will yield around six, I guess)

Here's my hummus recipe, using rough measurements:

•mash the remaining beans in a medium bowl with a pastry blender.
•add one clove of minced garlic
•whisk about a tablespoon or more of tahini with a dash of olive oil in a small bowl and add it to the mashed beans
•add half a lemon, squeezed
•add a pinch of salt and a dash of cayenne

blend the whole thing together, adding more olive oil to desired thickness. I use a wand blender, and it turns out fine. minced parsley is a good addition also. (add after blending)

resolutions

I wasn't really planning on making resolutions this year. Because I tend to be the constant-correcting type, always striving to do things better anyway, and practicing yoga has taught me to enjoy self-acceptance. So instead of making resolutions, where I resolve to do or not do certain things, I went ahead and changed my habits before the end of the year, almost effortlessly. Tired of the extra weight I had put on over the past couple of years, I started practicing yoga (online and free!) through yoga today, every day to every couple of days. It really is great. The classes are taped in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, at the base of the Teton Mountains. There is a rotating schedule of class levels and topics, taught by three different teachers. I love that I can take one hour out of my day and feel like I've done something. Also, yoga is the type of exercise where you can learn something different from each teacher. There are so many different styles and ways of teaching, that learning is unending.

Meshing well with my yoga practice is my return to being (mostly) vegetarian. I'm not going to freak out about it, but I am going to make it a major part of my diet. I thought this would be a good time to start cooking more and buying fewer prepared foods. I always feel guilty about the amount of plastic waste from hummus, and it truly is one of the easiest things to make. I'm also a sucker for veggie burgers, and the frozen packs of four seem to disappear before I know it. I found a recipe online a few months ago for bean and grain burgers, and it seemed like the same recipe was all over the web. I tweaked it a bit while making them tonight, and I'll share with you the recipe.

I really prefer to cook dried beans, rather than using canned. They're less expensive, lighter to carry home from the store, and you get many more servings from the package. Plus, they're just beans- no salt or other additives. I cooked one cup of garbanzo beans and it was enough to make a batch of burgers, and I'm saving the rest for hummus. Cooking beans is easier than you might think- it just requires some forethought:

Place one cup of beans in a large pot and cover with a few inches of (filtered) water. Let soak overnight, or start soaking in the morning. Drain off water, and fill pot with fresh water, to an inch or two from the top. Bring to a boil, then lower temperature to a mild, rolling boil. You want the beans to cook, but not for all of the water to boil off or the beans to fall apart. Check and stir a few times, and the beans should be done in an hour to an hour and a half.

My modified bean and grain burger recipe: (I cut it in half)

1/2 med. onion, finely chopped
1 T oil (or less)

1 c. cooked garbanzo beans
1/2 c. fine bread crumbs (I crumbled one slice of 100% rye bread)
1/8 c. tahini
1/8 c. tamari (or a little less)
2 cloves garlic, minced

1/8 c. chopped parsley (I was out of parsley so I used one grated carrot)
1/2 c. cooked brown rice (or a bit more)

•sauté onion in oil till soft.
•mash garbanzos.
•add next 4 ingredients and mix.
•stir in onion, parsley, (carrot) and rice.

at the last minute I threw in some (1/4 -1/2 c.) raw sunflower seeds.

form into patties, sauté and enjoy.