If you know me even just a little ...

... you will understand why I NEED this.

The hardest part would be NOT wearing it everyday. Hot damn! This and more vintagey lovelies at thefrock.com.

bloodsugarsexmagic

I tend towards books that conatin all of the above elements. I like em to be a tad gory, a touch sweet, a smidgen sexy, and a whole lotta fantastical. So imagine my glee when I happened upon this at the library:

"Two years after the Civil War, Pinkerton agent Ed Morrow has gone undercover with one of the weird West's most dangerous outlaw gangs-the troop led by "Reverend" Asher Rook, ex-Confederate chaplain turned "hexslinger," and his notorious lieutenant (and lover) Chess Pargeter. Morrow's task: get close enough to map the extent of Rook's power, then bring that knowledge back to help Professor Joachim Asbury unlock the secrets of magic itself.

Magicians, cursed by their gift to a solitary and painful existence, have never been more than a footnote in history. But Rook, driven by desperation, has a plan to shatter the natural law that prevents hexes from cooperation, and change the face of the world - a plan sealed by an unholy marriage-oath with the goddess Ixchel, mother of all hanged men. To accomplish this, he must raise her bloodthirsty pantheon from its collective grave through sacrifice, destruction, and apotheosis.

Caught between a passel of dead gods and monsters, hexes galore, Rook's witchery, and the ruthless calculations of his own masters, Morrow's only real hope of survival lies with the man without whom Rook cannot succeed: Chess Pargeter himself. But Morrow and Chess will have to literally ride through Hell before the truth of Chess's fate comes clear - the doom written for him, and the entire world."

Basically, it's chock fulla magic, violence, gore and steamy, sexy sex. Also, Files' writing is amazing. Go read it now.

I also grabbed this lil gem on a recent library trip:

"In this stunning debut novel, Amber Dawn subverts and transgresses the classic hero's quest adventure to create a dark post-feminist vision not for the faint of heart. Sub Rosa's reluctant heroine is known as "Little," a teenaged runaway unable to remember her real name; in her struggle to get by in the world, she stumbles upon an underground society of ghosts and magicians, missing girls and would-be johns: a place called Sub Rosa. Not long after she is initiated into this family of magical prostitutes, Little is called upon to lead Sub Rosa through a maze of feral darkness, both real and imagined―a calling burdened with grotesque enemies, strange allies, and memories from a foggy past.
Written with a kind of gasping urgency, Sub Rosa is a beautiful and gutsy allegory of our times, a fairy-tale-like fantasia imbued with a grave, unapologetic realness."

I'm only about 4 chapters in, but I already love this book. Can't wait to see how the tale unfolds.

"It's time to snuggle."

Welcome to 2011, y'all! I don't do resolutions (because I DO do guilt, and who needs more of that???) but I can promise that I'm going to do some amazing ish this year. Less talk, more blog!

This is Zach Galifianakis as The Snuggler on Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!

This is my poppet doll of Zach Galifianakis as The Snuggler on Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job! (Propers to Ghilie's Pretty Poppet pattern and The Poppet & Punkin A-long on Crafster.)

This is my sister snuggling my poppet doll of Zach Galifianakis as The Snuggler on Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!

This is the poppet I made for my mom (wearing a silk scarf to hide her shame) snuggling with Erl the dog.

This is a grainy cell phone pic of Douchie snuggling with my friend's sleepy daughter.

This is me snuggling with a greasy-faced Douchie on Xmas Eve. (Somebody got into the duck grease in the roasting pan.)

This is Pigeon snuggling with a ball of yarn while mommy learns to crochet.

This is Douchie's face snuggling the TV screen.

Can't you feel the love? Now go forth & snuggle!

I hate this time of year, I love this time of year ...

On the infinite and infinitely changing to-do list in my head, the "Post Thanksgiving Recipe Blog" item has been glaring and tapping its foot for several weeks now ... At this point, I suppose I'll have to politely explain to "Post Thanksgiving Recipe Blog" that I need to bump it onto to next year's to-do, cuz uuhhh ... yeah.

Anyway! I'd really love to post some of the things I've been working on, but that would ruin somebody's Xmas! So in the meantime, here's something that *I* wouldn't mind finding beneath my tree ...

Isn't she gorgeous??? Click the pic and check out the rest of A Little Stranger's custom items - creepy cuddlies galore!

Alright y'all, back to the workshop. Toodles!

Holy needle felted wool sculptures, batman!

The other night, whilst browsing through etsy's selection of "plushie monsters," I happened upon this amazing thing:

How adorable is this??? I love the faces on the little peas - I want them to come to life and bounce around and be my little friends ... The title is "Leaning Tower of Peas" and it is a felted wool sculpture created by Kit Lane. I'd never heard of wool felting before, so of course I had to find out how it's done -

 

Looks time consuming, tedious and intensely satisfying! I'll have to give it a try one day ... Here's another of Kit's sculptures. "Snow Peas in Strangeland." Note the raccoon skull in the back - too cool.

Oh and these guys too - they're how I found her shop in the first place. I love them and I want an army of them to vanquish mine enemies.