working hard

I've been working hard today finishing off unfinished amigurumis and making new ones. I've got quite a few custom orders to do and I need to finish my pieces for the CandyLand Show so it's hard work time at the moment. It's good to be busy though :)

Dan Avnoj-a - a funny moment!

Tomorrow is Dan Republike - or should I say was Dan Republike in the former Yugoslavia. It was the day when the creation of the country was celebrated. The actual meeting in which Yugoslavia was signed into being took place in Jajce ,the town where we now live, on 29th November 1943. Yugoslavia is no more but there are plenty of people who still remember the good old days and for some of those people Jajce is a place of pilgrimage and they come every year for the Dan Republike celebrations. This year we were part of those celebrations playing a mixture of Ex-Yu rock and English language covers. It was great fun and we were well recieved. This video shows what happened when the vibrations caused by a band playing loud music on a slightly dodgy stage caused a PA speaker to fall over and hit the keyboard on it's way down! Amazingly we didn't miss a beat and carried on til the end of the song. And even more amazingly the keyboard wasn't damaged at all - as you can see if you watch this video of us playing another song later on!

Black Friday Discount!

I wanted to let you all know that for the first time ever there is a special offer on at www.outoftheframe.etsy.com. If you use the code BLACKFRIDAY2010 you will get 15% off any order. The offer closes on Friday at midnight. Enjoy shopping :)

a few too many works in progress?

This is what my work table looks like at the moment - a complete mess! I've got too many things on the go at once I think and I'm not being very focused in finishing one thing before starting the next. Oh well, I guess it will sort itself out in time - I will eventually finish everything.

How organised is your work space?

available to pre-order now...

The next issue of Stuffed Magazine comes out on 1st January and is available to pre-order now with free postage within the US until 25th November and reduced rates for international postage. It's an awesome magazine full of amazing photos of amazing creations made by amazing people - many of which I know, AND.... I'm going to be in it this time so buy your copy now! Click here to pre-order :)

Cupcake competition

Some of my friends have started a group on facebook called The Great FB Bakeoff and the idea is to bake stuff in whatever category they choose, post the photos and let people vote. The first category they've chosen is Cupcakes. I've never done cupcakes before. I've done muffins which are similar but the don't require the fancy icing that cupcakes do! These are the cupcakes I've made this evening still in their pre-icing state. I think icing will come tomorrow I'm too tired for that now. They are Banana and White Chocolate Cupcakes from my favourite book How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson.

Interestingly I used rubber reusable cupcake cases for the first time today and as you can see those cupcakes came out flat on top whereas the ones I made using paper cases look more like muffins! I'm sure there's a scientific explaination for that but I have no idea what it is! Anyone?

Which one looks more like ice cream?

I am trying to find a way to make Mr Whippy style ice cream for hair for this amigurumi. These are the best 2 that I've come up with so far but I'm still not 100% satisfied. Which one do you think looks more like ice crem - a or b?