Ta daaaaaaa! It's the foodie wallet of my dreams!

It's nice to have a blog; I previously posted I would be making myself a cool wallet with chicken and pepper fabric, so it pretty much has to get done or I'll have egg all over my face, eh?

After thinking and thinking about it - mostly thinking I was going to royally screw it up then have to start all over again - I just buckled down yesterday and sewed my little heart out. It turned out pretty good! Not that there's any kind of perfection going on, but I'm pleased it's a useable wallet (!), and I learned a lot about sewing it, so the next one I make will be easier and better. I'm definitely not going to make money sewing, but it's fun and even with my poor skills people are impressed that I give it a shot.

OK, so check out the outside (top right!), when it's closed. See that closure? That's a felt chicken The Precioussss made me because after I was all done with the stinking wallet, I ironed the velcro on THE WRONG SIDE of the stinking closure. Just brilliant! But I'm sorta glad because I got a neat felt chicken to add to the whole aura of it. Very cool!

The inside of the wallet (right!) has 3 pockets for all my...Visas, obviously, and the right has a pocket big enough to stuff a goodly amount of business cards. Behind those most outer pockets, there's a divided pocket to hold cash on the left (since I don't carry much of that anymore, I just need a small pocket) and my license and other stuff on the right. You can't see it here, but the inside right pocket has a big fat tomatillo on it with the word "tomatillo". It's very cute.

That big, roomy area is for what I really have issues with - where to dump receipts. I can flatten them out real good in the big pocket (left!). Also, I made a mini card holder (right!) to keep my license and stuff in, because I switch bags a lot and now I can just grab this little holder, stuff a credit card in, and I'm on my way. The mini holder fits in the bigger wallet.

Wow-wow-wow! I feel like I accomplished a lot here. Plus it's nice not to have to look at an unfinished project anymore. I have so many...one thing at a time!

Wowie Zowie! An Octopus Chef!

Holy cow - is this cool or what?? The Precioussss (that's my darling offspring) has made me an octopus chef - well, technically it was just the octopus because she wasn't looking forward to making the hat part, but she did make me a little wooden spoon out of Sculpey. I made the hat out of a bit of leftover curtain. The Precioussss is awesomely talented, but she has no ambitions there. Not that I'll be complaining when she's reached her goal of being a housewife with lots of kids. Nope - not me!

Our 'pus is crocheted. I plan to get a bunch of different little things to hold in his other tentacles...another fun thing to kill time with, searching for the perfect utensils and tiny pans. Luckily, I know a place that has all kinds of nifty stuff like that. That would be The Jewelry Kitchen. Check it out, they've got tons of really groovy cooking jewelry.

Delicious Business Cards

OK, let's say you can't afford to have me create your logo and business card. Your budget is a big fat zero for graphic design, even by uber-reasonable me. What ya gonna do?

Normally I send people to Vistaprint.com for such things. They do a decent job and their cards aren't overly flimsy (but are just on the edge of it; still, you can't beat the price). However, 123print.com has a much better graphic selection in the food/restaurant category. The two at left are pretty cute and they have 18 pages of selections, from nice photos to simple drawings. Compare that with a measly 5 pages at Vistaprint. Sorry, Vp, you've got some catching up to do.

Do You Eat Tasty Nuf?

I have a small section in my Cafepress shop for silly-funny-stupid slogans - all food related, of course - and this one sort of came out of the blue...hence the blue color.

"I've had a nuf...and it was darn tasty"

I'm sure it can't be original. No, I didn't check first, preferring to be ignorant and just liking it. This will be one of the few text-only products I'll use for myself. A nuf is starting to sound pretty delicious!

Make Yourself Hungry - NOW!

I just got an email - it was technically spam, but sometimes you get lucky - from JustOnePlate.com. Absolutely fabulous pictures of food and...recipes from restuarant food folk. This chocolate cake put me over the edge. I've already eaten my salad and meat for the day - I need dessert! Unfortunately it will be a low fat lemon yogurt.

Logo of the Day

A Cuoco Pazzo - A Crazy Chef - wanted a nifty logo in the style of my Flaming Coffee Guy aka Flaming Chef Guy (right) for his new restaurant in Depew, New York. It turned out pretty awesome! Best of luck in your new business venture!

Foodie Needs Switchplate

Many of you may have glanced around Into the Pan - my beloved world headquarters on the net - and discovered my small work and living space redecoration project - and I never claimed the job was ever done, so now I'm in search of really cool cooking, eating, drinking or otherwise foodies related switch plates and outlet covers. Found some really nifty retro switchplates, and it so happened they also have outlet covers. It'll take a while to make up my mind which ones to order.

Special Contest - FREE postcard design!

This contest will run from April 15 - April 30.

Into the Pan will design the postcard for use with Vistaprint.com ordering; it can be for a regular postcard or oversized. Into the Pan does not do the printing.

Your subject/design must be food and/or drink related.

You must sign up for the newsletter to qualify for the special drawing; one winner will be announced on May 1.

GIVEAWAY WINNERS FOR APRIL 2008!

This month’s $25 Cafepress giveaway winners – actually the winners for the past 4 months while I’ve muddled around with news formats – are as follows:

Chef Shari

Kori C

Debra K*

Andrea*

I’ve only got one of each of these names on my mailing list, so if you’re listening…yes, it’s YOU! Contact me to get your gift certificate. Those marked with a *, you will be choosing from a product selection. The reason for this is because Yahoo, Hotmail, and AOL email users will probably not be able to receive a gift certificate from Cafepress without quite a bit of bounced and rejected emails. I can’t control any of that, sorry!

Don't Eat Your Veggies

I was browsing around, looking for inspiration to create some recipe books a la this one (right) I found on etsy, and came across some very groovy foodie stuff made by...real people. It boggles my mind how folks have time to make stuff; I make a few things myself, but I have to limit the time I spend on them, for sure.

This is a garden enhancement sort of a product - just something fun to stick in your vegetable garden - called "Veggie Folk", there's an onion, potato, and carrot available. You can get a trio of them for only $20 at the Gobbletygook shop at etsy.

Mental Vegetables? These adorable tags are made out of fuzzy paper (the shopkeeper likes to say "flocking") and keep your packages cheerful and fun. From the AnthroPoMorphCo shop on etsy. OK, they could've picked a more easily remembered name. I should send them an email about it. This whole set of 12 is a mere $7. For handmade stuff (the cutting part must've taken quite a while) that's an outrageously inexpensive price. Get your goods before they go bankrupt.

I heart old cookbooks, but I'm not sentimental

Some foodies would be brought to tears, but I'm afraid I can't resist any longer - I have to make note cards, and they have to be made out of old cookbook pics. My first sacrifices will be the ABC of BBQ, a Minute Tapioca, and a little gem of "world cuisine". Got all 3 from my local used book place. I've got some cookbook collage sort of note cards posted up at the website.

Fact is, these are cute pics, and the recipes are available everywhere; there will always be something out there for prosperity. I need to share the love.

So, handmade cards it is. I'm trying not to go overboard. Obsessions are just the pits sometimes. No going to the craft store to buy embellishments unless they're in the dollar bin!

Foodie Needs Wallet!

I've done a lot of dabbling lately with the sewing machine, and last year nearly went bonkers trying to make my own Handbag of Ultimate Power. Mostly because I wanted it to have nifty cool images of food or food-related...somethings...but ultimately found I need a much more powerful sewing machine (and skills!) to accomplish the task.

I settled for a pretty good bag I found at Penney's. Instead of having images all over it, I bought a bunch of my cool buttons from Cafepress (plug the shop...plug the shop...) and covered most of the front of it. I'm pretty happy! The bag has a zipper pocket on the front flap for the phone (phone placement was driving me crazy previously), and an open pocket for grocery lists and stuff, and a zipper pocket on the back for my keys (um, ditto). It's perfection, though I'll probably grow weary of the size. It's a little larger than I'd like. Don't get me started!

In the past couple of weeks I've been trying to track down the Wallet of Optimal Power. A sort of really mini handbag all contained in a palm-sized gem, where all the credit card pockets are horizontal (hate the vertical ones!), a pocket for cash and a separate pocket for receipts and maybe some other pockets for other things. A cool picture of a pepper, or broccoli, or a spoon or something would be overly fabulous; a light color because my bag is black inside and out. I'm coming up zip. Found a pretty nifty sushi wallet, but that was pretty much it====>
Looks pretty cheap, too, sorry to say.

So I was off to the fabric store on Tuesday, and found me some nifty material:

We've got polka dot chickens in a bright shade of yellow gold, and a black material with misc peppers, which I'll use for the inside of the cash pocket and some miscellaneous pockets. Got some batting, and I might even attempt a coin section - bought a zipper while I was at it. I won't get my hopes up.

Now all I need is a plan ====>
Hey - got one! My plan is to make a main wallet, then one of the pockets will contain a mini holder for my license, so when I carry my smaller bag (which is really more a pouch that hangs around my neck), I can just slip a credit card or cash in the mini holder and off I go. Stay tuned!