Diana Droopy Eyes, Mouth Breathin' Betty, Slouchy McGee, Frightened Frida

an evening with Gladys Knight at the Meyerson
(Jen, Jenn, me, Mami)

Go On, Sample Me

Tefi Designs is thrilled to be a part of The Sampler for the month of May. I donated 50 fabric bobby pins to the cause, which has turned into a potentially bigger deal that I will tell you about later...It starts with an M and ends with a TV. Very exciting!!

See my listing here, 17th crafter down the list.

The Sampler is a subscription bonanza where you get a box full of handcrafted promo items each month from crafters and artists from around the world. Subscribe today or contribute your own handmade goods!

More Love for the Olives

Just check out these great photos taken by yours truly, with a little help from the hot supah-stah model Brenda B.Liscious showing off my new needlefelted olive hairsticks. Oh, you know you want a pair. available exclusively here

Love from Across the Pond (and in My Own Backyard)

Thanks to Sara of Etsy Profiles blog, Tefi Designs got some major face-time. She included my shop bio, buying info, and these pics: Mornington Crescent pendant available exclusively at The House of Dang! Zen I necklace available at http://www.tefi.etsy.com/ Sara lives and blogs in the U.K., and also has her own Etsy shop full of sweet, original felted and polymer clay goodies: Sara's Texture Crafts. Thanks for the nod, Sara! And Tefi was feeling more love right here at home. Thanks to my fellow Etsy Dallas-ite, Randi the Designing Diva, my new felted olive hairsticks got some major action in her blog. She even took some great pics that I used to list my items at http://www.fiddleheadsbytefi.etsy.com/. Oh! And of course she bought a pair at the recent Oak Cliff Earth Day fest. They look great in her hair!

The Best Thing to Do in Dallas on a Wednesday Night

Thunder, faulty microphones, and ad-libbing. Greatness. Missed it? Ah, too bad. In the changer: a mix of Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, naturally

Honey White

Last night I took a break from Etsy Dallas Beer-B-Q planning and Tefi Designs stuff. Amazing. I revisited some old photographs I'd taken. Was ashamed at how boring they were! So I took them to ye olde Photoshop and here are a couple results: "Chicken Run" S. Hindall, 2007 (taken at the old Oak Cliff Cemetery) "Coit Tower Bubble Gum II" S. Hindall 2007 (taken at Coit Tower in San Francisco) Check out the rest of them here. In the changer: Morphine's Yes and Cure for Pain

Good Records, Indeed

This past Saturday J and I went to an estate sale. I bought a large, beautiful antique sideboard from my pal Santo Gay for $100. What for? Hmmm, let's just say it's for future use, and leave it at that. Afterwards, we headed over to Good Records to help them celebrate their 8th anniversary. I had a raspberry sno-cone. Also, I knew I was in store for a week of pledge drive crud on KERA-NPR (Give if you haven't already!), so I wanted some new tunes to listen to on the commute to and from work. Here's what I bought: The Pogues - Hell's Ditch Kelly Stolz - Below the Branches Broken Social Scene - self-titled Camera Obscura - Underacheivers, Please Try Harder Elliott Smith - Figure 8 Sufjan Stevens - Come On Feel the Illinoise Forgot to buy: The Stills - Without Feathers Portastic - Be Still Please The Sea and Cake - Glass Dangit. I must be cute b/c because the boys at Good Records handed me a goody bag chock full of CD's, a magazine, and some pinbacks.......hmmm. I'm especially stoked about the Matador Records sampler. Oh, and The Kooks single I got is going straight to Nikola. He digs those young Brits. Swell!

Favorite Photographs I

Dunno what made me think of this. Sometimes things just POP! into your head. Joe Strummer, 1952-2002 I want this framed and mounted on my wall. I'd credit the photographer if I knew who s/he was.

Memory Lapse

I can't believe I didn't blog about this. Man.

About three weeks ago I finally made it through all five seasons of Six Feet Under. I delayed watching the last disk because I simply did not want it to end. It was like saying goodbye to an old friend. I finally did watch the last episode and made sure my surroundings were perfect. I was alone, in bed, lights down low, Oliver at my feet.

When the final scene came on, I was silent. Just silent. It didn't really sink in, but I knew it would eventually. The next day I watched the last scene again, and this time I sobbed silently, tears staining my bedsheets, strange looks from Oliver. If you haven't seen the series, do it now. Get yourself a Netflix membership and start from the beginning with season 1, episode 1.

To fill the void, I'm now working my way through The Tudors. It's good, really good, but it's just not the same.

Funny how imaginary people and places can really grab hold of you.

Big Fat Bummer

Back in January I was accepted into Indie Finds, an online ad-sharing and gallery site for handmade biddies just like me. I submitted my photograph and bio in February and waited, and waited, and waited to see my profile up on the site. Then lo! and behold! last week I get an email entitled "Indie Finds Closing". I never got to bask in my Indie Finds glory, nor partake in their shared ads in such cool magazines as ReadyMade and Adorn. Boo! Hiss! I can't help but hum Europe's "The Final Countdown" in the wake of Indie Finds' demise. *sniff sniff*

Lipitopo Turns 90 (and I wasn't there)

It was a bittersweet milestone. My grandfather - a man I honor, respect, and think of every day of my life - turned 90 two Sundays ago, and I wasn't there to celebrate with him. He lives in Bogota, Colombia; I live in Dallas, Texas. That's a few thousand miles between us.



But I called and we had a nice conversation, as we always do. We often use this Spanish gibberish language he taught me way back when. Mimic that I am, I picked it up quite easily. The speaker adds a p+preceeding vowel after each syllable. Thus "Lito" becomes "Lipitopo." Lito is short for abuelito, which means "little grandfather." According to my uncle Mauricio, every noun in Colombia becomes diminuitive at the drop of a hat-ito. If it were up to him, every diminuation would mean immediate deportation. Eh.



Here's the whole Clan. As you can see, we eat our males:

Camila (cousin), Lita, Irene (cousin), Yolanda (aunt), Adriana (aunt), Emilia (cousin), Julia (cousin), Alicia (aunt), Mauricio (uncle), Lito, Genoveva (long-time, loyal family maid - Yes, I said maid.)

Oak Cliff Earth Day Festival

Put those recyclables down, hop on the DART rail, and mosey on over to the 2nd annual Oak Cliff Earth Day Festival at the beautiful and scenic Lake Cliff Park. Learn about composting, get gardening tips, check out the latest hybrids, enjoy food and family fun...OH! And why not stop by the crafty booths and visit me and a ton of other Etsy Dallas members: Tefi Designs - gemstone jewelry, felt & fabric crafts B.Liscious - photography, bags, journals, baby onesies Julep 115 - upcycled, reclaimed metal jewelry Texas Tarts - vinyl record bracelets Scribbles - beaded pens Pamela Michelle - graphic art and jewelry Designing Diva - metal and glass jewelry TP Design - paintings, graphic art Tara to the T - vintage-inspired hats and accessories When: Sunday, April 20th Time: 11am - 5pm Where: Lake Cliff Park Parking: at Methodist Hospital, 2 blocks away Map: www.oakcliffearthday.com/where.html More Info: http://www.oakcliffearthday.com/

Seek and Destroy

Okay, so I live my life in a more "Seek and Create" sort of way, but since I have 13 Metallica songs on my Seeqpod changer right now, I thought I'd throw a little metal inspiration your way. I love this necktie! If I were a guy, I'd wear this to every wedding, graduation, and mass I was forced to attend. Check out SimplyNeckties Etsy shop for other pop culture neckware. This one here is a close second favorite. I pity the fool don't pay no $14.99 for jibber-jabber handmade neckties!

Saturated Yucca

Our front yard is sort of on the fugly side. Grass dies on the spot, and we can't even get some good weeds (a.k.a. Texas wildflowers) to grow there, so we decided to do something about it. This past Saturday, just after Wolfgang introduced himself to us (see previous entry), we made this:



Jason did the digging and planting; I did the mulching and landscaping. So vibrant! (thanks to the saturation tab on Photoshop)

Wolfgang & Possy

This weekend saw two rescues at the Tefi homefront. Wolfgang, a beautiful white huskie, came up to me on Saturday as Jason and I were unloading the car after a trip to the nursery. With a nudge Wolfgang introduced himself and wouldn't leave my side. Now he's in our backyard waiting for us to find him a "forever" home. He's super sweet, neutered, well-mannered, knows "sit", loves car rides, and hates no one. I took him to Rutherford and am currently treating him for a severe ear infection, but other than that he's per-fect. We named him Wolfgang, and he likes the name just fine. Then today, after spending most of the day in bed sick with sinus crud, I went outside with Wolfgang and Oliver for some fresh air. Suddenly, Oli started going ca-razy over in the bushes. I finally got sick of his barking and went to see what he was barking at. I shoved him over to find this curled up and shaking: When I realized she wasn't dead, I scooped her up and held her swaddled in a towel for about 20 minutes to warm her up. I knew enough about stress and trauma to get her warm before doing anything else. I dubbed her Possy, and she was with me for about 6 hours. Joe from DFW Wildlife Coalition came to get her. He said she's about 3 months old and was recently abandoned by her mother. Apparently, that's what mother opossums do when they've got too many babies to schlep around. He also told us that opossums do not carry any diseases -as marsupials, their body temp is too low to harbor parvo, rabies, etc. They also don't bite, and are very slow and docile. Possy lay cuddled in a precious hairy lump for a couple hours, then spent the rest of the time huddled in a corner and on a hot water bottle that I put in her cage. Joe will rehabilitate her for about a month and then free her (and others in his care) up near Denton. Fare thee well, little Possy!

Storytelling

This morning on Etsy I found this on the front page:



It's just beautiful! I love the colors; so attractive. It's a limited edition giclee print by apak called Storytime. Oh, and I recently learned that it's pronounced: zee-clay. Now I don't feel so dumb...

This print reminded me of the delightful album Storytelling by Belle + Sebastian. Well, it's actually a soundtrack for the Todd Solondz film. So strange and beautiful...

Weepy Boy Music

Lately, I've found my changer to be chock full of weepy boy music. So sweet! Love it, love it. Elliott Smith, Figure 8 Rufus Wainwright, Poses Devandra Banhart, Heard Somebody Say Sufjan Stevens, Illinoise And always and forever in my changer: Jeff Buckley, Grace

Redesign!

I have finally made the leap to redesigning my web site. I had to completely wipe out the old version, and re-input and re-format all of the content. It was a lot of work and took a good couple weeks, but it's finally up! I love it. The design reminds me of swanky Amy Butler fabric. So chic! And it incorporates my two favorite colors - orange and green - without looking like a 70's sitting room. No macrame here. From now on, you can do all of your shopping at my two Etsy shops: Tefi for gemstone jewelry, and Fiddleheads by Tefi for fabric + felt goodies. Check it out: www.tefidesigns.com

The Ol' Switcheroo

My dear aunt Sylvia snapped this pic at the Mambo Room about a million years ago and I just got it in my inbox last week. This is the four of us in an alternate universe: me + Justin and Jen + Jason. How funny would that be?

Speaking of alternate universes, I'm sorry to hear of Heston's death over the weekend. His politics leave much, much to be desired, but he made some great flicks: The Ten Commandments, Planet of the Apes, and Soylent Green. After all, Soylent Green is....PEOPLE!

Tefi at House of Dang!

Starting today you can buy some of Tefi's fabric bobbies, bookmarks, rings, and necklaces at House of Dang, located on Bryan Street b/w Haskell and Peak. Yippee!!!!!!!! Visit H.O.D. http://www.thehouseofdang.com/

Etsy Dallas Beer-B-Q!!

On Sunday, May 18th Etsy Dallas will kick off the summer season with a festive trunk show at the home of one of its members, Larry, a.k.a. the Kessler Craftsman.

Etsy Dallas’ first annual Beer-B-Q will boast over 20 local artists and crafters selling their handmade goods. Shop for jewelry, stationery, photography, bags, hair accessories, glass art, soap and bodycare, clothing, home décor, and so much more!

Customers will also be greeted with the delicious smell of grilled meats and veggies, cold beer on tap, soda, and live music – all free to the public! The first lucky 25 customers will receive a goodie bag chock full of promo items and coupons.

Etsy Dallas will also offer a Make-&-Take booth for all ages. Customers can explore their creative side for free and experience first-hand the joy of the handmade way! All unused supplies will be donated to a local children’s charity.

So bring your appetite, your creativity, and your support for local artists and crafters, and get ready for a day full of handmade food, music, and fun with Etsy Dallas!

Where: 1027 N. Windomere, Dallas 75208
When: Sunday, May 18thTime: 11am-5pm
What: shop for local handmade goods - jewelry, bags, stationery, accessories, home decor, glass art, bodycare, and more!
Bonus: FREE food, drinks, live music, goodie bags, and Make-&-Take booth for all ages!

So Darn Desirable

I was super-duper suprised and very, very pleased to see one of my fabric rings - Scotland Is for Me - featured in the blog desirable.co.uk. How awesome is that? And here's the ring that made the cut. It's named after a Belle+Sebastian slogan:



http://www.fiddeleheadsbytefi.etsy.com/