Trends I hope to not see in the new year

Nails so long they curl and make you wonder how going to the bathroom is possible.

Track pants with text emblazoned across the tush.

Toe rings.

Dudes in pants so baggy their tushes hang out.

Ugg boots and other furry, eskimo-like boots.

Rutching.

Yarn woven in hair.

Sneakers as high heels or high heels as sneakers.

House slippers tarted up and worn as if they're acceptable footgear out of the house.

I'm sure there's more to come, and if you've fallen victim to any one of more of these trends...it's ok. We all have. This is nothing personal. They're just irritating.

Inspiring Images from Craft Books

Shelf O Craftbooks,
originally uploaded by The Paper Doll.

I've been part of a Flickr group called Inspiring images from Craft Books and I have to say that it's hightened my awareness of craft books. I have quite a few as you can see, but I'm always trolling around for some really good resources to keep me inspired. I recently spent an afternoon at Barnes and Nobles sifting through craft books in order to find a few that I would like. Here's a list of all of the ones that really interested me.

Papercrafts & Stamp It: Treasury of Tips and Tricks. ISBN 1-57486-572-2

Vintage-Style Quilts
ISBN 1-58011-172-6

Simply Beautiful Beading
ISBN 1-58180-563-2

Summer Crafts
ISBN 1-59258-131-5

Sashiko, Japanese Traditional Hand Stitch
ISBN 1-889682-37-3

Felt Crafts
ISBN 1-84476-189-4

Collage Sourcebook
ISBN 1-59253-101-6

Designer Style Jewelry
ISBN 0-8230-2601-9

Fabulous Fabric Flowers
ISBN 4-88996-192-5

Colorful Stitchery
ISBN 1-58017-611-9

In total, it will cost me about $340 to buy them all at bookstores. Maybe I should look into buying some of them used online.

Me Want!!

I found this super adorable "unazukin" on Jlist today and I have to say, I totally want it. Here's a description of what it does, taken from the site iteself:

"Unazukin is the latest interactive toy from Bandai -- a small "fairy" that is actually a good listener. The voice activated doll actually reacts to your voice, nodding and shaking her head whenever appropriate. Battery powered (the battery is included -- make sure to remove the protective slip first) with an on off switch, the cute two inch high doll has four different movements, shaking head back and forth once or twice; and nodding once or twice, An adorable toy that makes a great gift or a display item. This doll is part of the Nature series -- named "Star", she is red emblazoned with white stars. "

Hah, finally, someone to listen to me! They had a bunch of little cute ones in the Nature series, a yellow one with flowers, a blue one with big round circles, a white one with rainbow stripes...but it's the red one that I want. For $12, that's not bad.

Wow so here's what I'm working on at the moment. I got this great book called "the new crewel" by Katherine Shaughnessy(ISBN 1-57990-680-x). It's really fantastic, the pictures are great, the instructions are excellent and the projects are really pretty and easy to adapt to your skill level. I created my own sampler by combining 4 of the patterns. You can check out more of the projects and places to buy them and the book here at Wool and Hoop.com. There are mostly mod designs with a few more traditional patterns thrown in for good measure.

I've been busy as usual lately, but I have a list of things I want to blog about, I figure I'll list them here so I can catch myself up as I go.

Fri. 13, Jan. 2006
Blur the Lines/Soulsledge/Bella Morte show
Craft books I want
Flickr Addiction
Why I don't write about other people often.
Emily's Crow

BLARGH!

I have all these images from my cell phone that I finally uploaded to my server at home and what happens? I find out that I've maxed out my upload space allotted for the month on Flickr. So I ask the hub if it's ok to upgrade the account to pro status and you know what he says? He says NO! Why? Because he wants to use me as an guinee pig for a photo share gallery he's creating at work. Why I ask. There's Flickr. Oh those scheming people at work. I'd tell you why they're creating it and when it will be up, but then I'd have to kill you. I guess it's a good thing no one reads this thing. That'd be a really tall order to fill.

So the pic is from ISBN 1-893352-11-0, Sew Simple by Making Memories. I love these little scrapplets and the pockets. I want to make a layout or two with them and maybe a collage...but I have no projects that need them at the moment. *sigh* I guess I'll just have to wait. Ok, back to work.