New Uses For Vintage Butter Dishes

I love vintage butter dishes, but don't like keeping butter in mine so I use it in the kitchen for keeping rubber bands, twist ties, and clothes pins that I use to close up packaged food. Vintage butter dishes would also be cool to use in the bathroom to hold jewelry, hair bands, nail clippers, etc!

Website Re-Designed

I still need to add press clippings etc to the gallery page, but otherwise the new website is up!
berryunconventional.com

Octopi

This is the cutest thing I have ever seen.

Rubie's Delivery

I'm taking more clothes to Rubie's Salon & Boutique today, including this Bride Of Frankenstein mini dress I finished last night and a few skirts. Every time I stop in there are more goodies for sale from local artists!

Rubie's Salon & Boutique
2008 E. Michigan Ave. Lansing, MI
Open 7 days a week! Across the street from The Green Door and Gone Wired. Parking in the back or on the street.

Recycling Wrapping Paper

Happy Holidays! Don't forget to recycle your wrapping paper and tissue paper this year! There are so many fun ways to recycle it:

1) Pieces that aren't too destroyed can be trimmed around the frayed edges, flattened, folded, and used again next year.

2) Use for backgrounds when you frame holiday pictures.

3) Use in collages, scrapbooks, and paper mache. If you're not crafty look for local art programs you can donate the paper to, such as schools, colleges, and after-school centers. (One Lansing, MI after-school program you can contact is the Reach Center on Washington Ave.)

4) Cut into squares and use as scrap paper for notes and lists.

5) Cut, fold, and tape into envelopes for future gift cards and letters.

6) Cut rectangle pieces, fold in half, and use as holiday cards next year with your greetings written on the inside, or if you have a computer and printer you can write something with a snazzy font and then print on the paper. Keep in mind that a lot of wrapping paper has a glossy finish so be sure not to touch the ink until it has dried or it might smear.

7) Cut into strips for bookmarks. If you make them big you can write a label for the bookmark on the blank side.

8) All left over paper scraps can be thrown in the "mixed paper" bin at your local recycling center!

"Unauthorized Listing"

In accordance with the law I always state in my ebay and etsy listings that I use "licensed t-shirts", meaning that I don't screenprint my own band shirts and therefore am not ripping anyone off... And yet once again one of my listings has been deleted because of "trademark violation".

Full Ebay Shop

Tonight I listed 23 items on ebay. Many are totally new designs!

*Visit my ebay shop*

The Jesus Lizard

The night before Thanksgiving I went to see The Jesus Lizard with my boyfriend and a couple friends. They are awesome! Every band member is exceptional. I was entranced. The sound at the Crofoot in Pontiac was really good and they have neat orange plastic and chrome Jetsons-style bar stools. It was also easy to find and had a well-lit parking lot across the street.

Sneak Preview

I'm preparing to list a bunch of t-shirts I have altered next week on ebay. These are a couple of them...

Turn It Down

Turn It Down! started as an independent Lansing, MI zine and then became an article in the weekly local paper City Pulse. Rich Tupica covers local music, shows, and artists. The artists he chooses to write about are usually off the beaten path and more interesting than the typical 'let's interview whatever famous person is in town this week and ask them the same lame questions we ask everyone'.

Turn It Down Lansing website

Turn It Down Lansing Music on myspace

Turn It Down blogspot

Rubie's Paradise Salon & Boutique

Rubie's Paradise Salon in Lansing, MI started a boutique in their backroom about a year ago. More and more local artists have been adding to the shop and there is some really neat stuff! I have about 30 pieces for sale there now too: guys and girls clothes I have altered, handmade purses, and some un-altered vintage clothing and jackets. They are open 7 days a week!

Rubie's Paradise Salon & Boutique
2008 E. Michigan Ave.
Lansing, MI
(517) 367-2206

Samples of what I have at Rubie's...

Late October Sunset

Shoe Printing

Last night, while drinking Witches Brew, I got a couple ideas. I was working on altering a giant black hoodie, tried to fix the zipper(you know how they get warped and bubbly and make you look like an alien is poking out of your tummy), ended up removing it all together and now it's a "cardigan-hoodie". I thought about spray painting something on it, but then I got the idea to put shoe prints instead. Here are some instructions if you'd like to try it!

Shoe Printing

1. Find a pair of shoes you don't mind slopping paint on and have an interesting pattern on the bottom.
2. Find clothing or fabric you want to print. Paint may soak through the layer you are printing on so be sure to protect your table surface and/or the layers of fabric underneath with tinfoil, glass, box board, etc...
   
3. Quickly brush paint onto the underneath of one shoe.
4. Press the shoe onto your piece of clothing or fabric as hard as you can, pressing down all areas...or not, depending on the look you want!
5. Lay a piece of thin cotton fabric over your prints and set with an iron to be sure the paint won't wash out in the washer.
   
6. I recommend then dipping the clothing in water and drying it in the dryer to further set the paint. Then when you're ready to wash it, wash on the delicate cold setting or hand wash.

Witches Brew

I tried the spiced wine called Witches Brew from Leelanau Cellars in Michigan last night. They only make it until Halloween and then you have to wait until next Fall. I really liked it! I didn't know what to expect. It was on sale for $5. It's really spicy and really sweet. Especially spicy and fragrant when it's heated up as the directions on the bottle recommend warming it in a cauldron. I used a microwave... A nice cold October night treat.

IF YOU CARE

I found a tip in a magazine about baking brownies in cupcake cups and I thought that would be fun to try. When I was looking at baking cups at the store I came across some brown paper cups from the company IF YOU CARE. The name made me smile because it's kind of sarcastic and makes it sound like you'd be an ignorant fool to buy anything else.

And their products are awesome! Their baking cups are unbleached, grease-proof, and no grease is needed. Their parchment paper is coated with silicone(natural), making it re-usable and no grease needed, instead of quilon(a chemical containing chrome, which is toxic and leaves trace elements when incinerated). They also make 100% recycled aluminum foil and coffee filters.

Cereal Boxes = Mailers/Gift Boxes/etc...

Cereal Boxes are:

1) Great for mailing non-fragile items like clothing.

2) Light-weight so they keep postage cost down.

3) They're recyclable.

4) They're free! There's always a ton in the box board bin at your local recycling center if you're not a cereal fanatic like me.

5) Gives your packages/gift boxes character or turn them inside out so the graphics are on the inside.

6) Clean, any runaway cereal crumbs can be shaken out!