NOTW: I've Got My Eyes On You

Halloween is the BEST time of year. You'd think I'd do more to celebrate it on here with how much I love it, but it kind of snuck up on me this year. I just barely broke out my Halloween decorations at home, and Andrew and I were total party poopers last weekend when we decided to skip out on a themed party we were invited to.

I've got to make up for it somehow, right? And what better way is there than even more eyeballs on my nails! Inspired by this photo.

I can't even remember the last time I used glow in the dark nail polish, but it's so fun! It was probably around the same time as my obsession with glow in the dark stars on my bedroom walls and ceiling. I know I'm not the only one, right? Admit it! We all had a Spencer's phase.

From left to right: Fright Night Claw Polish in Ghostly Glow, Sinful Colors in Cross My Heart, Wet n Wild in 2% Milk, Fantasy Makers in Darkest Hour, and Finger Paints in Paper Mâché. I immediately posted a photo when I finally found the tombstone and coffin-shaped polishes because I was so excited! They're so cute.

This manicure is super easy to recreate with a little patience and a steady hand. I free-handed my half moon shapes but you could easily use French manicure stickers or reinforcements to help. Using different sized dotting tools, layer whatever color iris you choose, black for the pupil, and white just off-center. That's it! If you want to make it extra spooky, using a thin brush or toothpick, make small squiggly vein lines. Finish off with your top coat of choice, or use glow in the dark nail polish!

An INKling of Spontaneity

One thing I hadn't planned on happening for a good, long while was new artwork of any kind. Especially not on my person! But life just happens sometimes and when an artist I've loved for years took up tattooing, I hoped I'd one day get to NY and carve out a little time to have her tattoo me.

Downright Despicable, 2007


Abominable Snowhugs, 2007


The Death of Winter, 2009 | The Vomit Twins, 2009

Sara Antoinette Martin's work is the perfect mix of creepy and cute. In 2008, while working for Kid Robot, she released a super limited run vinyl toy, El Chupacabra. I immediately bought both versions as quickly as I could! I used to be obsessed with vinyl toys a few years ago and only recently have I calmed down about it. It's really expensive to keep up with, though I still pine over new releases all the time. How adorable are these two bloodsuckers?

Ghost Edition & Regular Edition, 2008

When I saw she would be in Chicago I got unbelievably excited! Dipping into savings was a must, and I ended up with a brand new tattoo. I always loved the lady heads she filled her paintings with and the gap between my crochet hook and my avocado seemed like the perfect spot for them.

I adore the vermillion and steely blue, it's such a good color combination. Afterward, she gave me her sketch and I totally intend to hang it once I find a small frame.

Sometimes you just have to be spontaneous, right? I'm so happy with it! Even if I'll be pinching pennies for a li'l while...

Kitchen Experiments: The Fanciest Cake I've Baked

It dawned on me after my cookie post that I have yet to bake a traditional cake from scratch, which is weird. After some recipe searching, I decided to try out Magnolia Bakery's Hummingbird Cake*. A cake made with ripe bananas, pineapple, pecans and cream cheese frosting? There was basically no question, plus Andrew raves about it all the time because he's lucky enough to work near the Magnolia Bakery downtown.


My first time making homemade frosting was quick and painless. I'm sold! Homemade frosting is totally worth the extra effort. I ended up with a smaller amount than I'd hoped for, which was a bit of a bummer. I was dead set on decorating my cake like this beauty, but there's always next time.


As always, I was happy to use my gadgets. I mean, how fun is chopping pecans? Well, chopping pecans with an adorable little baby food processor is THE MOST FUN.


After allowing the cakes to cool, I started cutting down the tops to level them off. Now that took some patience. I had to keep telling myself there's no time to be a perfectionist. Why did I start baking at 8pm...?


I bought my first angled spatula to be fancy. It's totally not necessary, but I felt cool using it (I'm such a nerd). While cutting the excess cake to even out the shape I kept thinking what am I going to do with all these leftovers? They're still sitting in my fridge! Maybe I'll try cake balls.


Not too bad for my first crumb coat, though it seems people usually use less icing.


I was thrilled with the result, and it's wasn't just eye candy either! Be warned: This cake is extremely dense. It's incredibly rich, moist, and fresh tasting, but above all else, it is as dense as can be. I had to take half of it to work because there was no way Andrew and I could ever finish it. Everyone loved it!

*A word of advice if you follow the MB recipe: Don't forget to add your eggs! There is no mention of eggs anywhere other than in the ingredients list. I was about to pour my batter into my cake pans when I realized I had three eggs sitting on my counter.


Do you guys use all of your dishes when you cook and bake, too? Just me? Ok...

Happy Valentine's Day

Once upon a time, I would actually sketch random adorable things. Shocking, I know! Then I'd obsess over these little sketches and make them into more involved projects, like this one that went from a dinky little pencil sketch to this illustration:


Which then turned into a printed Valentine's Day card I sent to friends and family:


Then it turned into a small sculpture using clay, a glue gun, and a 2x2" wooden base:


The sculpture has since broken into tiny little pieces from moving but I'll always love the photos. It was just so cute. If you've checked out my design website, this is old news, but if you haven't, I hope you like it as much as I do! Happy Valentine's Day ♥

New Look

This weekend I set out to finish what I started because, let's face it, I'm terrible at finishing things. Which unfinished project am I talking about now? Revamping Hippopotamuslee! I first blogged about redesigning things here back in November of last year. Though I didn't switch to WordPress, I've finished my mark and created a proper header! It (she? I?) started out as this pencil sketch and vector drawing:



I'm really happy with how it turned out! Knowing me and my perfectionist ways, I'll probably end up reworking the lettering some. What do you guys think? Do you dig the new look? I certainly hope so!

UPDATE: I drew the lettering! It's based on my handwriting & originally looked like:

STUFFED

When I first started this blog I was obsessed with swap-bot. Eventually I had to wind down because I couldn't afford all of the postage, and now it's been over a year since I last signed in! To motivate myself to get back on the bandwagon of crafting adorable, small, albeit useless things, I decided to post some of my past creations :)

The guys above and the turtle below were all 2" or smaller; the smaller, the better!

Amigurumis were actually how I started crocheting more regularly. I called this little pooch Guccigurumi because it's supposed to be my uncle's Maltese, Gucci!

Unfortunately none of the groups I was a part of are still active on swap-bot, and most of my family is totally not into this sort of thing, so I can't even make them as small holiday gifts! Maybe I can swap with some awesome crafty bloggers? Right??

Halloweenies

This Halloween I had a fun opportunity to stretch my illustration muscle and create a small series of posters. They were used for different activity stations at a client's annual Halloween party; a party that was held at, and I quote, "the most socially prestigious club in Chicago, the Casino." I'll admit to being a nerd but that sounds absolutely ridiculous and awesome. I've obviously never been...


I hope you all had a great weekend! Happy Halloween!