Happy 4th!

Patriotic buttons by ThisOnesMineDesigns on Etsy

I thought I'd help celebrate what I just heard described as 'the day the UK and America had a break-up' by doing the blog equivalent of 'drunk-dialing' to reminisce about old times.  Sorry for the lack of photos - you'll have to go clicky on the links.

Here's the first half of a list of my top ten places to visit in the States, and why I like them...

Fannette Island

I took an afternoon cruise around Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe back in July 1999, and was told about an English eccentric who built a castle on the island and had her butler row her out there every day to take afternoon tea.

With a little investigation, this lovely vignette turns out to be somewhere on the scale between borderline and absolute CLAPTRAP but it's a great story and the real information behind the place is just as interesting.

Lake Tahoe is on the border between Nevada and California, and my friend Jo and I were actually there to see Tom Jones. We weren't disappointed! Although the flight into town from Las Vegas, over the mountains in a single engine plane, was pretty hairy.

Lost River Caves, near Bowling Green

Apart from playing a key role in the American Civil War, and also being the rumoured hideout of outlaws like Jesse James, the best thing about this place is the fact that it was used as an underground (literally and perhaps figuratively) nightclub back in the 1930s. A bar area is hewn into the rock and there's a substantial dancefloor area too. Our tour guide when we visited (me and Jo again, but this time in July 2007) told us that the advent of air conditioning alongside laws prohibiting the sale of alcohol did for the bar in the end, but it's great that it's been restored and kept so well - a really interesting day out.

The Intersection of 1st and 1st, East Village, New York

Before I even noticed this wonderful hidden gem, this particular intersection has some great memories for me. These are mainly to do with shrugging off hangovers on the way to the 2AV station to catch the ever-useful F train, drinking coffee outside in snow or heat to wake me up for a day's shopping or sightseeing or trying to fortify myself for a day out with family! It's just around the corner from the storefront radio station, EVR.com where you can see Mark Ronson, Andy Rourke and other well-known musicians broadcasting all day every day. I've spotted everyone from Moby to Chris Klein and overheard all sorts of bizarre conversations right here - 'you've lived in New York your whole life and you never ate felafel? We're going for felafel RIGHT NOW' - three club kids heading into SoHo at 6.30am, presumably heading for home but with breakfast first. I also had to chuckle to myself as I overheard a girl chatting to her dachshund, Nathan - great name for a sausage dog! And you know where the F train goes... Coney Island! I think that's synchronicity (or something...)

Mount Hood, Oregon

I think I've probably mentioned this place to everyone I know at least one time too many, now, but I can't recommend it highly enough! On our honeymoon, the husband and I drove up the first 6000ft of the mountain, as I'd heard about the brunch at Timberline Lodge on the internet and wanted to give it a try. As soon as we arrived, we changed our plans, we were going to stay! After the super-helpful reception staff gave us a mini-tour of the rooms available that night, we splashed out on a lovely little room near the bar bwah ha ha. Best spur of the moment decision ever. The scenery, the facilities (outdoor swimming pool!), the staff, the restaurant, the bar, the brunch (wow, the the bloody mary here is excellent), the history (and I'm not just talking about the exterior shots for The Shining, or Roosevelt's visit in the 30s) and if I hadn't pretty much ruled skiiing out of my life when I realised quite how accident prone I am without the added bonuses of snow and sheer drops, I'm sure I'd love the outdoor pursuits available almost year round, too.

Roosevelt Island
Okay, so like many of my working days in midtown, I'm back to the F train. I spent New Year's Day 2006 exploring Roosevelt Island with my cousin and his wife (who just had a baby daughter on Monday - hooray!). All of us had worked in midtown only blocks from the island, but none of us had ever made the trip across on the tram (or cable cars, as I would call them). At that time, gentrification was just beginning, and new apartment buildings were springing up or being sold off plan. We walked a full circuit of the manmade island, and managed to spy plenty of cool sights, like an abandoned and empty swimming pool (this photo by Alex Guidouk is so much better than the one I took), the former hospital at the south end of the island that was used in the creepy Dark Water movie, and even managed to fit in some time for delicious lemon meringue at a diner, yum yum.

So those are my first five....

More to come!

My workspace this week

So with only FOUR weeks to go before I'm officially back at work, I'm trying to finish off as many half-done projects as I can, especially as I've been applying to craft markets for the run up to Christmas!

This week I've mainly been finishing off envelope and notecard sets that I needed new glue in order to complete. There's a specific kind of archival glue that I use which is kind to the paper and really durable, and I had run out. After a mercy dash to WH Smiths last week, all the cut out and scored envelopes can be finished off and packed away. With the offcuts from my envelopes, I try to use as much as I can for confetti shapes and also price tags. Here's a snapshot of (one of) my (three) desk(s) with it all going on!

Eagle-eyed Suede fans, look out for a special PIF on Monday...

Strange coincidences

So I was getting ready to send out the latest zines from the Answers on a Postcard project to one of my subscribers, as well as the winnings from my recent Haunt contest and I was looking for a postcard to write a little note on.

Would you believe that the first one that came to hand was one from the same area where Haunt is based? I visited the Catskills in 2000 on the most amazing rickety old Adirondack Trailways bus out of Port Authority with my room-mate Sophie for a fun weekend out in the wilds.

Photo by: http://www.seaoats.etsy.com/

Also, I was randomly browsing Etsy and this pencil case by seaoats leapt out at me from someone in my Circle's favourites list... The photo the designer has used to make the screen print for the fabric shows the skyline of Exchange Place, a swift glance to the left from where I used to live, and a very familiar sight from days when I would take the World Trade Center ferry in to work. I tried to find out if the ferry still runs (it doesn't) and this led me to the PATH website, and their photographic archives, which are available for sale. I love this shot from 1912, the railroad has only added a handful of stations in the last 99 years.

And now I feel all homesick for NJ, so I put together this treasury to help me wallow in it then feel better. Enjoy!

Next time, I may bore you with places I have lived in Edinburgh... or Paris maybe.

Another Hank purchase

I knew this gorgeous bag reminded me of something when I saw it in the Made by Hank shop...

The view just around the corner from our house as I drive towards the motorway! It's hard to get the full effect here, but with all the bunches of greenery on the landscape I always think of the tough ruffles on my Made By Hank bag.

With all the rain we've had recently, it's looking extra lush and gorgeous, don't you think?

I almost can't believe those blue skies are real, given the bad weather we've had recently (Force 8 gales nearly destroyed our roof!) but I assure you, I really don't have the photoshop skills :)

Zines are here!

I finally did it! Zines are up and listed in my etsy shop, get 'em while they're hot! A pillar box red cover for our first issue, and a big thank you to all my contributors. If you took part and haven't sent me your answers yet, I'm still very much accepting responses so do get them in to me asap. And if you want to take part but haven't got around to it yet, drop me a line (my details are in the top right hand corner of the blog, just use an @ instead of writing at). There's a great discount for contributors so hop on board.

Next issue, 28 February.

In the meantime, enjoy!

Getting carried away with fabric transfers

I've been customising t-shirts for my niece and couldn't resist 'updating' a few hankies for my husband.

What do you think?

Getting away from it all

A selection of photos from my weekend in the countryside - would you believe this is all a half hour drive from my flat in Glasgow?

I'm in a book!

So this is big news!

My black damask envelopes have been featured in this awesome book. Lots of the projects in 1000 ideas for creative reuse (by Garth Johnson) are a familiar sight from Etsy and Craft, but there is plenty in there that is more on the the art side than the craft side, and it's a lovely book to browse through and be inspired by. Garth's blog, Extreme Craft is also well worth a read, I love the fine balance between cutting edge ideas and traditional techniques.

One of my favourite things about the book is that each page is organised by colour theme, making it really easy on the eye. I also like the way that everyone is properly credited, by name, by company and in an easy to read index that identifies each contributor and his/her/their item. After being misquoted, falsely attributed and altogether omitted by certain other publications over the years, it's very refreshing to see that someone is capable of doing it properly.

Wedding photos

I'm still catching up with various bits and bobs so the blogging has taken a bit of a back seat. I have plenty to talk about, though, so hopefully I'll be updating you over the course of this week.

In the meantime, our wonderful wedding photographer, Malin Widstrand, has blogged about our day, here.

And my security envelope notebooks were mentioned on this blog by Monami.

We also had a fabulous time at Inver Cottage. They are launching a newsletter to go with their shiny new website so you can sign up for information about future events. There is always something going on and it is well worth a visit.