weekend outting

This weekend we ventured out to a place called Independence Grove, about 40 minutes from where we live. Apparently a forest preserve with gigantic bass and lots of it. We met up with friends on Saturday and... we actually caught nothing. But let us not dwell on the negative. SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY. We set out for revenge and headed over to IG where, for the first time this season, I caught me a bass!! (so did my husband, but his was itty bitty ;P) It was twilight, and the day was about to end again in failure, when at last I got a hit and was able to pull this sucker in. Not the largest of monsters, but a well fought one. My first fish with a plastic worm. So happy!

**kitty kat korner**

I made a run to costco to buy some things and came home with a cardboard box, which I WAS going to throw out on garbage day (which was yesterday), but since the kittens took such a liking to it, I decided otherwise. I feel like my house is full of half chewed cardboard boxes all over the place...but it's worth it cuz they're so cute...And of course the box was adorned with small holes they could slide their small little paws in which made it twice as fun!

Some fine simple die-cutting

Well here's a super solution to dull boring keys! I mean, all anyone has ever come up with was to make those small rubber or plastic caps to cover the ugly key head, but why not just recreate it! Kudos to Stat Key Designer!

from Stat Key Company.

OoooOOooo~

is for octopus! What a cool children's alphabet book by Werner Design Werks. This is the kind of stuff I would want my kid to be looking at when he/she learns the alphabet...

by Wernerdesignwerks. Follow on flickr here.

yet another cute store

I stumbled upon this website over the weekend. cute stuff indeed...From mxyplyzyk design.

papercutting kind of Friday

It seems like self-promotion is the thing right now, so I thought I'd upload a piece I worked on a while ago. I've been meaning to make it a series...but you know..the lack of discipline (and my mind wondering elsewhere)... It was cut from thin art board, and I used origami paper I had lying around. (I was later surprised to find out that origami is in fact quite expensive when purchased). If you can't tell what that is, it's a butterfly dangling upside down. The smaller circular cuts on the butterfly wings actually have shiny gold paper behind it, so it's rather pretty in light. The web is definitely not doing it justice in terms of color... Any piece name suggestions?

© Ayako Kochi

CRISTAL

It almost seems too good to be true. If I had one of these in my home...

CRISTAL (Control of Remotely Interfaced Systems using Touch-based Actions in Living spaces) is a extreme simple user interface for controlling multimedia devices and home automation systems. Check out the video. I think it's one of those, it's what you make of it things, because in the end you would have to upload all you DVDs, songs, and images yourself right? That would take forever! But worth it, I suppose, for all the organization...

rainbow watch

ouuuu. I'm liking Mr. Jones. Here's the concept for this watch, the Cyclops:

Cyclops dispenses with a conventional arrangement of hour, minute and second hands; instead a single hour marker passes around the coloured dial. Each hour is represented by a different coloured circle, the black hoop gradually passes over each circle to indicate the time.

Cyclops can be read with a relaxed kind of accuracy that offers a counterpoint to our hectic modern lives.

I never wear a watch anyway, you always have your cell phone with you...

more here.

Delicate cutting

These are just so...incredible! and so fragile...I am awed by the delicate and precise cutting! If only I was in California to see this show! By Mitsuru Koga @ Tortoise Life.

more here

more cool photography

From Patrick Runte's series called Jump 'n' Run. It features classic gaming characters in real world scenarios. How awfully cute!

more here

modern recreation

This is pretty neat. They used photography to recreate an old masterpiece. Seurat’s famous pointillism painting, “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.” I think I will spend this Friday afternoon like the bunch in the picture. Happy Weekend!

from 9GAG

pretty little store...

Pretty stuff...expensive...but pretty. I'm liking the subdued serene feel of their website too.

from ochre store.

sleepy kitty...

I don't know about anyone else, but when one of my cats actually use an item I gave them (or a toy I bought them), I am utterly thrilled. Only because most of the time they don't care for anything you buy them, and prefer ripped up plastic bags and old wrinkled paper towels. How cute is Kuro?

A special stained glass tribute to Tono

This is going to be a rather long post, so brace yourselves!

I was in Ann Arbor for about a week to start this daunting stained glass project (I think I might have mentioned it). Due to my absent-mindedness, I forgot the USB cable for the camera, so couldn't upload progress shots. But here's the story:

My mom is a fantastic stained glass artist. She's been at it since as long as I can remember, and has created some fabulous pieces. Since I had this talented teacher and resources, I wanted to make a special urn for our beloved cat, Tono. I created the design myself, though in hindsight that might have been a mistake since I really didn't understand the fine art of glass cutting. Not to give a stained glass online workshop, but you start off by cutting the glass pieces to the approximate shape of your design, then finely grinding it down. Basically you're making glass puzzle pieces to put together.

From the (top left) - that's me using the grinder to shape the glass. (top right) Loose jagged edged glass pieces pre-grind. (bottom left) The smallest glass piece I used for the project. (bottom right) The progress of grinding all the glass pieces.

Now as a post, that took a paragraph, but the whole cutting/grinding ordeal took four almost 10-hour days of hard work. I know that seems like a long time for so little, but we're talking about cutting glass!

(top left) - After the cutting and grinding, you wrap each piece with a thin copper foil tape. You put the melted metal ontop of it and solder the glasses together. (top right) - The five panels of the box soldered together and complete! (bottom left) - putting the box together. That's me using the soldering iron. And voila! (bottom right) The box put together!

At this point, we ran out of time to finish the box, and I went back to Chicago with my mom. There's tons of more steps in between (which was another whole day of work), but finally, after a week of hard work, Tono's urn was complete!

It's just as I imagined. Maybe better. It looks beautiful with the sunlight through the glass. The angel wings sticking out from the left side of the box lid and the little green feet at the bottom of the box were my mom's clever ideas. That really completed the look. ♥

And so, a fine chapter closes in the adventures of stained glass making. Thanks to my mom for her guidance and support!! Tono's gonna love it.

Oh what a long weekend!

I apologize for the lack of posts last week (I'd like to pretend there are people that check this blog daily other than myself ;P)...it was a very busy yet fruitful weekend (well...from Thursday...that is). My mom decided to join us in Chicago for a week+, and she gracefully gave a lending hand in recreating the 2nd bedroom of our house into a functioning office! I am currently in the room as I type this...and I.LOVE.IT. It makes me feel so...so...professional. Still needs a bit of cleaning and organizing, but it has come a LOONG way!I was going to clear out the wire shelves in front of the windows (or at least put them in the closet), but my cats have decided to make it their 2nd beds in this room. I decided to give them each a towel and pillow because they are so freakin adorable.


They really do mirror each other. My chest hurts from cuteness overload (again).

smart cup

I mean, everything else is digital now, so why not measuring cups? I like smart things. I'm loving the color too. Another form and function winner.

The smartmeasure cup from Priority Design.

no pictures please...

"Excuse me. WHAT are you looking at? This is private."

"No pictures means no pictures."

It sprouted!

And finally some summer weather this month of August. Along with a little sprouting on top of Shiro's little head...Oh, Shiro. You are so adorable.♥