Pomly

Click the pic to see some photos of the plushes. If you are in Seattle, this show is a must see!

Plush You!
Schmancy, Fancy, and Nancy
Starting October 10
1932 Second Avenue Seattle WA

(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

Here is a kitty that I made for my crafty pal Becky. Becky is traveling the USA for six months with her suitor Aitor on a mighty crafty fair and performing tour. They stopped by to visit us as they were passing through the state. It's always fun to see those guys. I love to hear stories of their travels. Now I've done some traveling in my life, but I am generally a homebody, so I don't really get out much. I must say I am a tad jealous of her huge craft fair adventure! You can read all about it on Becky's blog. She wrote about their visit with us too. Actually, she wrote about it two months ago like a very good and prompt blogger. I just caught up on some blog reading and was happy to see some cute pics of my kiddies over there. Awww.

Here is a picture of Aitor when they visited us a few years ago when we lived in Ohio and they were in town for Craftin' Outlaws.


Well despite my hermit tendencies, I went out and partied this weekend! Here is my party outfit.

My friend from my old days in animation had a birthday party. She is now a shoe designer and I am a plush designer. Isn't it interesting how life unfolds? The party invitation stipulated that guests come dressed as the universe. Do you think I look like the universe? Not Miss Universe, just the universe. That would have been fun if somebody came dressed as Miss Universe. Or Mister. Well nobody else dressed up. Seems like the story of my life - me being the only one to dress weird. Gotta love it. I was voted "most unusually dressed" in my high school yearbook. It was foretold! Life unfolds!

Here is the birthday present I put together for my pal. I thought it was a fun idea worth sharing, so here you go.

The original concept was to gather all the ingredients to make some fancy mixed beverages. Well I forgot a few things and added rosemary. I don't think rosemary has any place in a drink, but it makes a nice smelling mini bouquet. I should have added sweetened condensed milk for the thai tea and some seltzer for the mojitos. I remembered everything else though. I like to save cute jars and bottles for projects such as this. It wouldn't make much sense to rebottle seltzer anyway, and a can of milk is not so pretty. Or so I justify. I used a sharpie on some blank sticker paper to make the labels. The pot has mint roots in it so there will be more mint later.

All together now:

I might have made the final presentation more exciting, but I think the garden fresh herbs helped me pull it off with simplicity. It's nice that I still have usable herbs growing out in the yard in October. I should probably make a final harvest soon, though. Death to plants is coming soon.

(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

As if I didn't have enough tummyache for one week, all this political poppycock and bailout bulldunky is making this me quite queasy. So I've gone and plastered web banners for my favorite pick all over my website, MySpace, and Facebook. Hopefully it will get a few extra people to remember to register. If you haven't registered yet, do it now. Time is running out! I mean now, like right now. Don't even keep reading this! If you wanna spread some web graphic Obama love around too, you can get your banners here:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/downloads

My favorite coat:




(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

I just voted! Can you guess who my favorite Crafty Bastard in the running is? Some hints: She makes awesome plush, is a mother of two, and is the wife of a tattoo artist. No, it's definitely not me, it's Heidi of My Paper Crane! It's a heated race with Heidi and one other nominee running neck and neck for first place. Every vote counts! I, on the other hand, am nominating myself for the UNcraftiest Bastard. I am at home today with a tornado in my tummy. I should be hanging out at the fabulous Crafty Bastards Craft Fair with my creatures and saying hi to all my crafty friends. UNfair. But I must not dwell. I have two huge bags of plush and all sorts of other schtuffs that now must be photographed and added to the Pomly shop instead. But for now, it's some more Pepto Bismol and a nap for me, the Uncraftiest Bastard, J.H.


(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

I just joined Twitter. I didn't think I would, but then I caved. Total peer pressure! Seems like it could be fun. I'm pomly. Are you a twitterer? Let's be twittering pals!

I must go finish for packing up for Crafty Bastards now. I will shove off in to the deep dark night and head south at 3am! I'll leave you with some randoms...




(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

Here are some pics of the guys I sent to Plush You! this year.


Mommy Swami getting hugged by my big boy. (I did not send big boy to Plush You!)


Mommy Swami imploding.
I made the turning hole too small and so it took a while to turn her inside out. Little by little, nudge nudge, poke poke. I have destroyed many a creature by making the very same fatal mistake - hole too small. Luckily, Mommy Swami escaped with her life this time.


Just Mommy Swami, a proper portrait. She insisted.


Noir Neige. Do you know the translation?
N. N. seems to have a little navy in his appendages. Hmmm, He appeared to be 100% noir indoors. Well I'm not going to rename him now.


I am glad I got a nice pic of the orange mums in the picture above with Noir Neige because this is what they looked like after this morning's rain. I hope they will perk back up! I may have to intervene with sticks and string.


Babraham Blincoln

Now I am working on gathering up everything I need for Crafty Bastards on Sunday. I'll be there all by my lonesome. Well, I will be the only human permanently stationed in the J. H. tent anyway. Please do stop by and say hello to me and the fuzzy critters! Right now I've got a tickle in my throat and the forecast is 50% rain, so I'll be gargling with baking soda and doing the sunshine dance from now until Sunday.

(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

After a long summer of not much baking, I went oven crazy and made cupcakes four times in the past two weeks. First it was not my unbirthday and so you know there was no way I was not going to have cupcakes. I made vanilla with chocolate frosting. I used the Magnolia Bakery recipe. I'd heard so many raves about it being THE perfect cupcake recipe. Well it was delicious but not ultra heavenly or anything. Maybe I did something wrong. Everyone gobbled them up anyway. Maybe I should venture east and try one made by Magnolia proper so I can compare.

Then my boy had a playground date with some kids from his old school so of course I had to bring cupcakes. This time I made lemon with cream cheese icing and yellow sugar crystals sprinkled on top. I was so excited to use these large sugar crystals I got at Whole Foods that were naturally colored. They looked so pretty and cheerful at first, but the heat of the day made the color seep out of the sugar and disappear into the icing. Oh well. Delicious again nonetheless! Fresh lemon zest is the best in the west.

Then we had a BDAYBBQ to celebrate my husband's and mine combined. This time I went for chocolate because I figured it would be a real crowd pleaser. Yeah, they were the best cupcakes so far. And I made them big instead of my usual mini. Decadent! I used my rubbery square cupcake thingies and they garnered some oohs and aahs. Yay!

Finally, I made a fourth batch for no special occasion other than because I had a large amount of carrots that needed to be used up. We forgot to put out the crunchy veggies at the BDAYBBQ, whoops! I just used my standby banana bread recipe and swapped out the bananas for carrot mush. Mighty tasty. Now I am tempted to see what other veggies I can cram into cuppies. Sweet potato and pumpkin come to mind. Reminds me of The Sneaky Chef. Difference: I am totally willing to disclose all veggie usage. Thanks for reading my tale of many cupackes. Sorry no pics. None of them came out nearly as delicious as the cakes themselves. Now here is a movie that you can watch that has nothing to do with cupcakes.



This is the project I mentioned in my last blog entry that was way back in July. (July? Oh my! Where did August go?) It was so much fun making this movie with Margot and her family. But I am not an excellent blogger so I forgot to show off until now. Actually, I have been staying away from the computer for the past two months because my baby has learned how to get up on the computing chair and seriously mess things up. Thank bejeezus for our new wireless mouse that can be placed high and away. Well it's her naptime now so if you'll excuse me I am going to try and tackle Mt. Inbox and maybe read a few of the 9,114 articles that are waiting for me in my Bloglines. Hmmm... but maybe I'll have a cupcake first. Oh yeah and Mark's actual un-unbirthday is in two days, with possible celebration tomorrow, so I guess it's time to start planning the next batch of you know whats. Flavor suggestions anyone?

(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

This picture has nothing to do with our day on the farm, but I just wanted to share this picture of Spooky Rotten Apple Tree who lives with Spooky Daddy now.


The kids and I spent Sunday with the fabulous Margot on her little farm in the countryside where she lives with her lovely family that includes two pigs, sixteen chickens, a doggie and and a couple of people too. They all live in a 19th century schoolhouse that is loaded with charm and color and good vibes. Well the pigs and the chickens don't live in the schoolhouse. The pigs actually have the cutest house ever of their very own. We went out there to work on a fun project together. Above is a picture of our kids hanging out with the Potter family's rapidly expanding little gang of J.H. creatures. I think Lumpers, Moldy Cloud and Snowbird are rather enjoying hanging out with sock monkey under the fancy lamp, don't you? It was so nice to be able to bring the kids with me on this little trip. Margot has an amazing studio. It's huge and well organized and filled with so many beautiful fun colorful supplies. I am very inspired to get my own space in to better shape! After we finished our work and spent some time with the animals, the Potters served a delicious dinner and then we all watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Can you believe I hadn't seen it yet? It was fun spotting my creatures on the big screen. Thanks so much for hosting us Margot, we had a wonderful time!


When we arrived home our hibiscus had opened it's first bloom. It's as big as the baby's head!

(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

Summer is strolling along quite nicely over here. How about there? Hope you are having a nice summer too!

(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

I've gathered up all my unfinished monster parts. I've got about four years worth of stray parts here. Some are just pieces. Some are sewn up bodies. All have been abandoned before completion for some reason or another. I've finally brought them together to analyze them and try to keep them organized. I think this is all of them. I'd like to use these parts, somehow. Most likely they won't end up being what they were originally planned for, but that's probably a good thing. I spread them out in the crib because that's one of the few flat surfaces that the baby can't get to and is not interested in. Yesterday she mastered scaling the dining room table, so there goes my workspace! When my big boy was this age, I walked around a lot cutting out pieces and stitching as I walked. I wish I had a tall baby proof surface. A girl can dream. Don't the bars of the crib look like rays of light? It's as if when all these parts were combined, ENERGY was formed!


I think I finally have all my buttons organized in one place too. Not organized amongst themselves, but at least gathered together. Feels good. Been doing some buttony things, so this is very helpful!


We went to the Kyushu and Okinawa Food Festival at Mitsuwa yesterday. It was so crowded. People really like food. These sweet cream puff pastries with a custardy pudding medallion spliced in to the middle of them were the tastiest things ever! We brought them home because we were full after eating dinner at the market and then we ate them for breakfast this morning. I am considering going back for some more today. They were that good. The fair is still going on for a few more hours. If I could ever replicate this recipe at home that would be just amazing. Maybe dangerous. They also had green tea cake rolls with pudding in the middle which looked so very good on the poster but unfortunately they were sold out. I think they came from miles around for that one. I did try making something like that once but it didn't turn out quite right.


On a healthier note, I've harvested some seeds from our spinach patch. Once I gather them all up, I'll start a new patch. Eating food you've grown from seed is so satisfying. Food from seeds that come from seeds you've grown yourself is ultra gratification. Ah, the circle of life.

(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

The Harada family spent Saturday in Brooklyn. Even though we live less than a mile as the crow flies from the New York City border, I rarely get over there. It's really nice that my husband now has Saturdays off because I am looking forward to more weekend family outings like the fun day we had on Saturday!

First we went to see the Murakami show at the Brooklyn Museum. It was the last weekend of the exhibit and so many people showed up! Here we are in front of a huge statue in the lobby.

I censored my stainy uncute shirt with a Murakami floating head. Sometimes mommies just have to leave the house looking uncute.

The exhibit was pretty cool, but we were most fascinated by the graveyard of architectural details that was located behind the museum parking lot. Doesn't this guy look funny nestled between the foliage? I wonder how old he is.

More "graveyard" pics on my flickr.

After the museum, we headed over to RIME where a few of my creatures are on display as part of the "In It For The Munny" show. No, my guys have nothing to do with Munnys really. I was just asked by Neil, the artist who customized the Munnys, to display a few guys because he likes my work. Isn't that so very nice?

And aren't his customizations rad? There are so many teeth in this picture! The walls at RIME are made of this awesome layered stuff that is made out of sugar cane and a bunch of different kinds of wood.

The Grand Mother is surrounded by cool sneaks. Which one do you think is her favorite?



My son recognized The Rainbow Mother right away and grabbed her and started flying her around the store! He didn't want to leave her there and cried a little when I put her back on the shelf. I guess I need to make more creatures for my own kids. They don't have very many of them at all. Like the cobbler's kids with no shoes, ya know. It's nice to know he likes them though. For the first few years, he wasn't much of a fan.

To top off the day, we had some tasty Indian food at Raga which was one block up from RIME. I must look up how to make mango lassis at home. They are so yummy!

I thought it was nice that they had this breastfeeding art hanging up at the Indian restaurant. Do I look crazy? That's what happens to me at the end of a long day out in the big city.

(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

Some of my plush has infiltrated this custom Munny Show! Thanks to Nasty Neil A.K.A. Wasted Talent for inviting the fuzzy little critters along. Opens tonight in Brooklyn!





(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

This is who happens to be hanging out here at the house right now. They say hi.


We've been away at the beach. This was quite a windy day. Our little bee tent almost flew away! We filled the bottom with sand so it would stay put and this picture is the dump out. It was very helpful to have this bee protection from the wind. Bzzz.

(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

Revealed!
Find him at Rotofugi.
I don't have many words right now because I am leaving to go to the beach soon. Yay! Have a nice week. xo

(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

Margot is having a Kewpie dress up contest. I was so excited to get my little naked sweetie in the mail today. My son seems to be in love with her too. They are off having adventures together right now. I managed to keep her away from him just long enough to take this picture. What should I dress her up as? A penguin? A robot? A watermelon? Whatever I come up with, it will be a teency weency costume. She is only two inches tall! Would you like to play dress up too? More info about the contest here:
margotpotter.blogspot.com/2008/06/let-kewpie-mania-begin.html

(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

grumble...grumble...grumble...

(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

The microwave is off limits for one week! I am challenging my family and myself to not use it. Just seven days. If we are successful, I'd like to get rid of it. It would be nice to free up some counter space. I've been reading a lot of nasty news about the magical heat box. I always did have my doubts about it. I never even owned one until a few years ago. It was so easy to fall under it's convenient spell though. Just google "microwave bad" if you wanna know what I am talking about.

On to happier food subjects...

Almost the end of the spinach from the garden. When it starts to put it's energy toward making seeds, it grows a bunch of little tiny leaves that are impossible to pick individually, so I just cut off the whole top and then we nibble it off the stems.


Eating spinach is fun!

And because I feel like blabbing some more about my little urban garden, just one of the reasons why summer is my favorite, here's a closeup...

It's pink it's pink! I was so excited to see that it was pink! Grown from seed. This plant takes up so much room in my tiny garden. I didn't know how big it would get. I unstrategically placed it in the front and it is blocking view of all the things behind it. Last year, it's first year, it made no flowers but somehow I decided not to rip it out. I wanted to see what color it was and if it was white it was gonna be out of there. But it's pink! How could I rip out a huge pink flower? There are so many buds on it! Well if it's gonna stay, it definitely has to move to a better spot. I'll decide it's fate at the end of the summer.

For anyone interested in my costume wedding photo album, here it is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pomly/sets/72157605737710223/
Warning! There are 117 photos, edited down from 848!
I've been telling people about this day for five years, and now I finally compiled the photos!

(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

I am sworn to secrecy! I can not show you this guy until after the opening of the Plushform show on Friday. But here is a sneak peek.



PLUSHFORM release and custom show
June 27th, 6 - 9pm
Rotofugi Designer Toy Store & Gallery
1953 W. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622
ph. 312.491.9501
(beverages and snacks will be served)

(x-posted from Harada Blogada)

Here's Molasses McGee and Ms. Nitro-Sweet hanging out by the spearmint patch. These two are always arguing over which is better, all natural sweeteners, or low calorie alternatives. Both go well with mint.


I'm Molasses McGee and I believe firmly that my rich intense natural sugar flavor is the best for all your sweets and treats!


My name is Ms. Nitro-Sweet but you can call just me sugar. Why load up with calories when you can have all the yummy without the tummy?

Will they ever stop fighting? I've got a friend named Stevia. Maybe he can help them figure it out. Did I tell you that Molasses and Nitro are engaged to be married? You know they say opposites attract. What will their kids be like?





Show starts tonight!

Speaking of sweeties, today is my fifth anniversary of being married to my numba one BFF 4eva sweetheart. Happy anniversary my dear!

(x-posted from Harada Blogada)