Cutiemonster at RB Alive Expo!

I'm super excited to announce that Cutiemonster is going to be at RB Alive Expo on June 5th in Rancho Bernardo, California, located at Bernardo Center Drive.  I'll be at booth 319, all the way across the street from the Jack in the Box, selling all sorts of fun, fashionable accessories, trinkets, and jewelry.  Come say hi!

Wedding Photography Tips and Pictures!

So on Saturday, I had my first wedding photography shoot as a professional.  Have to tell you, it was a blast, but boy was I exhausted afterwards!  The setting was beautiful, however, and the family was amazing - so nice, and filled to the brim with personality.  I filled up 22 gigs of space on my cards - three cards combined - which is about 1300 photos shooting in RAW.  Everyone there had such a vibrant personality, there was almost nothing I didn't want to photograph.  The family/wedding party also did most of their own decorations, the cake - and you definitely wouldn't have known!  I have to give a special shout out to the maid of honor/bride's sister - she was my lifeline when it came to getting the family together for photos, and helped style the bride's gown during the formal shoot.

Tips for newbies like me!:

-Always bring twice as much memory as you think you're going to use!

-If you have time, try and talk to the pastor before hand and ask him not to move during the first kiss!

-Make sure you have lots of water - you get dehydrated very quickly

-Find that person that can get the family in gear early on, and ask for their help!

-If you don't have a wide angle, BORROW ONE!  You never know how many people will need to be put in one picture, and having a super wide angle makes it so easy.

-If you can't afford a $1000+ telephoto lens, try and get a prime lens of 50mm or 85mm.  They have absolutely excellent lens quality, and with low fstops you can get creamy dreamy backgrounds and shoot in very low light conditions easily without flash.  You can always zoom in and out with your feet, even if you can't with your lens!

-Don't be too proud to take suggestions from family members - they know their family best!

-Always ask what the most important pictures to the bride, groom, and parents are - you are there to make them happy!

-Sometimes its the reaction of the crowd that makes a picture - watch everyone, not just the bride and groom.


Some of my favorite moments from the wedding:

Proud Parents

One of my absolute favorite portraits

He said she couldn't skip in heels.

You can tell they are so much in love

I love how she's looking at him

The wedding party was announced with flamethrowers - how cool is that?

The groom tried to get her first

He told her not to catch it

The groom takes off the bride's garter...oh, wait...

 Congratulations, Drew and Rosanna!

Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cutiemonsterberg/

Flikr!  An online gallery of my photos.

New Materials!

One thing I love about making art for a living is buying new supplies.  I feel almost guilty, because it's so much fun shopping for them, and when I get them, it's like opening a box of treasure.  But then I realize, hey, this is all so I can make more stuff to sell.  Then I don't feel guilty, I just feel warm fuzzies.  If I can make this work, I think I'll be the happiest girl in the world!

A sneak peek at my new supplies:

- 100 varicolored zippers
- marabou feather boas
- 30mm plastic eyes

What could I be making?

Xmas in May, or Peppermint Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies!

So, my boyfriend and his friend outsourced some baking to me for their class potluck tonight.  To make it easy on myself, I made one big batch of chocolate chip cookie dough, divided it in half, and then added new flavors to half the batch.  We have these three HUGE - we're talking like three feet long - candy canes left over from xmas, so I decided to use one of them up.  What's good with peppermint?  You guessed it - chocolate!



Absolutely to die for!  Chocolate chip cookie dough is my absolute favorite base dough, so adding more chocolate and mint and candy cane...so so good!  Plus, the house smells absolutely awesome now!

Recipe for Peppermint Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies


1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 - 1 cup cocoa, depending on how chocolaty you like your cookies
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup softened butter, or some type of margarine
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (dark brown is best)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon mint extract
2 large eggs
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup crushed candy canes or other peppermint candy, plus extra for garnishing


Preheat oven to 375.  Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy.  Mix dry ingredients in a seperate bowl until well combined.  Add eggs, one at a time, and blend with hand beater or stand mixer until fully incorporated, then add in the mint and vanilla.  Slowly beat in the flour, scraping the sides with a spatula until the dough is one uniform mass.  Stir in the chocolate chips and candy canes.  Drop onto cookie sheets covered in parchment paper/foil, and sprinkle extra crushed candy cane or peppermint candy on top, as much as you like.  Bake in the center of the oven for 7-10 minutes, until solid but still soft.  

I hope you all enjoy these as much as I am!

Have you ever seen an elephant sneeze?

I have.  It looks something like this.

Taken at the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park in Escondido, California.

Contain your inner monster!

 I wanted to show you all something fun and furry I cooked up recently!




I call them MONSTER CUFFS!  They're faux fur cuffs, lined with satin, with so many snaps and baubles and chains they make me happy!  I used snaps to close them, and used pop rivets to secure the d rings that hold the chains on.  You can take the connector chain off, too - it's got these awesome big lobster clips.  I figured such a long chain could get dangerous if you couldn't take it off =P but it's 18 inches long so you can still wear it while you type!



Here's a piece by piece view so you can see all the little details!  All the fur is from Mendels, which has just about any faux fur you can imagine!  They also sell assorted fur remnants if you just want to play, like I did =D

which brings me to....



FUZZY RINGS!

These are so easy and fun to make (though your hand cramps up a bit after making a lot in a row...) and a great way to reuse your scraps.  If anyone wants a tutorial, I'd be happy to oblige!

Two of my favorites:





The fur from Mendels has such great personality, and I think it really shines through with these rings!


You can find all these things and more on my Etsy - Cutiemonster
Special thanks to my friend Jessikah for modeling for me!

Enjoy, everyone!

Monsters for your daily routine!

If there's one thing I love more than faux fur, it's vintagy stuff like powder puffs.  So, I've combined my two loves in these fuzzy MONSTER PUFFS!!







They're stuffed with this awesome silky polyfill I found at my local fabric shop.  It doesn't bunch up so it's easy to work with.  The faux fur is from Mendels (http://www.mendels.com/fur2.shtml), which is really an awesome site!  I also found some great plastic eyes that I glued onto the ribbon handle in lieu of a rhinestone or similar.

An action shot:



I also cooked up a homemade scented shimmer powder to use with them...I was looking at scented powders, and shimmer powders, and realized they're never sold as one thing.  So, I went to my local organic market and got some rice flour and tapioca powder, mixed it with some lip and eye safe mica, and scented it with some scented oils using the cotton ball method (I'll make a tutorial on that if anyone wants!).  I found some cute sifter jars to put it in:



I'd have loved to have gotten a picture of the shimmer, but it's very subtle and doesn't show up on camera well.  It smells amazing, though!


You can find all these and more on my Etsy - Cutiemonster

Special thanks to my friend Jessikah, who modeled the puff for me!

Enjoy!

Cutiemonster on Etsy

I like to make things.  I like to make cute things.  I like to make monstrous things.  To support this habit, I am now selling original handmade creations on Etsy.  Go visit my Etsy: Cutiemonster - Cute, Monstrous You to take a gander at this stuff, and if you wish, you can be my craft enabler.

What is a Cutiemonster, you ask?  Well, originally I was thinking it was something cute with a bit of an edge.  However, apparently Urban Dictionary already had an entry to describe a cutiemonster:

A Cutiemonster is a cute girl who is so sweet and so cute, it hurts just to look at her. She is beautiful in every single way imaginable. The type of girl who makes your palms sweaty and your heart skip a beat. Despite this fact she will never admit to her own beauty or use it incorrectly.There are only a few of them left on this planet and they tend to have special abilities, including the ability to make you fall in love. It is said that Cutiemonsters created rainbows because of their love of colors, simply by wishing upon them.

The term Cutiemonster is actually Tongue-in-cheek.

Me: is my Cutiemonster cute?
Cutiemonster: nope 

Me: awwh how cute :]

I like it.  So be a cutiemonster, and visit Cutiemonster for all your bright, colorful, cute, fuzzy cutiemonster essentials.

Ahar, Me Hearties: Here Thar Be Blogging

Who: It is I

What: A blog

When: Nao.

Where: Interwebz

Why: to showcase and share my art, ideas, tutorials, etc.

How: I am being assisted by a series of tubes

Rock on?