I am still having a love affair with my Gocco. I printed these skulls on black stock with white ink and lightly embossed them with a ‘distressed’ powder.

I love how they came out.

Tags: gocco, halloween, skull, stationery

Gorgeous, gorgeous stuff winged its way to me in February, thanks to some very talented and generous Gocco-ers who were part of the Mid-Winter Gocco Swap. I was more excited about this than I was about the pen pals I had in elementary school, and for good reason:

(from upper left): 1. From the UK, Beth sent a very happy, innocent image of a girl in the snow and some delicious tea (also, Beth? *love* the notebook).
2. Wendy sent lovely recipe cards from Florida. Now I have to decide if anyone’s worth of them…
3. From Massachusetts, Kristen sent a beautifully, custom packaged print that really cheered me.
4. Laurie’s early Massachusetts flowers were beautiful and reminded me that Spring really is just around the corner.
5. I love-love-love Sarah’s image of little bird feet in the snow, sent from Minnesota.
6. Briana from Arkansas sent many lovely images, but this red bird was my favorite.
7. From North Carolina, JoJo sent the most cuddly image of a robot I could’ve ever imagined.
8. Jennifer from Kansas sent a anatomically correct image of a heart, reminding us that “when it’s cold, we draw inward.”
9. From New Zealand, Charlotte send a printed and stitched (!) image of little clothes.
10. Last but not least, Erin sent sepia-colored, embossed images of a pagoda (was that photo taken in your homestate of Maryland, Erin?).

Thanks, Ladies! I LOVED receiving these little goodies these past few days. And, Sarah, thank YOU so much for organizing this!

Last month, I participated in Sarah’s very brilliant Mid-Winter Gocco Swap.

This inspiration for my contribution was a lonely scene from a park near my house, an empty playground that has been covered in snow since late January. It’s printed on two different cards. The first is a gravely gray that gives the image a melancholy feel and the second is a pool blue that reflects happier winter days when the sun shows itself.

I hope my swap pals enjoy them as much as I enjoyed receiving their packages!

The Recipe For amandamonkey

3 parts Difance 2 parts Understanding 1 part Devilry Splash of Creativity Finish off with a little umbrella and straw

Thanks, Jaichan

I’m head-over-heels for my new Gocco. What better way to honor this fleeting stage than to make a series of Valentines?

It’s -2? here in Chicagoland. The photos were taken on our relatively sultry porch, whose temperature reads 15?.

Don't fall for the yummy-looking Peppermint Patty Pie trick at Burger
King. This 'promotional pie' tastes like ass.

Rock Star and I met up with some good friends yesterday at Bob and John’s La Hacienda in Buffalo, NY. The blue cheese pizza and the chicken wings were delish - as was the conversation.

We then took a trip to the AmVets for some cheap fabric hunting. I found three shirts that, once washed and cut up into little bits, will work well together in a project or two from Denyse Schmidt Quilts. All this for less than 10 bucks!

Next, we headed for Caffe Aroma for a double espresso to fuel us for the afternoon. A quick trip to a sweet indie bookstore, Talking Leaves Books, right next door yielded some stationery to add to the stash.

We went to some other places, blah, blah, blah, then we found Elmwood Village Fabrics - woot!

Sandy, the owner, had a great collection of fabric. I finally settled on a couple of yards of ‘Bird Seed’ from The Alexander Henry Collection. Unless I think of something better, it shall become a layered Barcelona skirt.

I can’t wait to get home to Stitch…

Here's hoping all your wishes and dreams come true…

Just like Barley's did.

Materials: All kinds of bits and baubles from Vogue Fabrics in Evanston.
Pattern: ‘Robot’ from Wee Wonderfuls
Recipient: My 3-year-old neighbor, who has been known to wear his robot pjs under his Halloween costume.
Thoughts: Super-fun (and fast!) to make, though it did take me a while to stuff those tiny claws.
Mods: None, really. I loved the one on the pattern book so much that I even kept the same colors on the same parts.