contest: got messy hair?

Yesterday was insane.

My EMBRACE MESSY HAIR print was featured on both Etsy's blog, The Storque, and on one of my favorite blogs, A Cup of Jo.

My shop made 103 sales for the day, which is incredible, especially considering that between July 2010 (when I opened my shop) and December 2010, I had made a total of 32 sales...in six months!

I love the idea that my little prints are on their way to places near and far (Canada, England, Italy) and I love the idea that there are fellow messy-haired people all over the world.

Big thank you to Etsy, Joanna, and all of you who have visited Funnelcloud Studio and my blog. I can't thank you enough. My mind is totally blown.

So, as a thanks to everyone who has ordered a print, and to celebrate messy hair, I am running a contest.

Contest: Got Messy Hair?

How to enter: E-mail a photo of your messy-haired self with the EMBRACE MESSY HAIR print (you can be holding it, it can be hanging on the wall behind you, etc - just as long as the print is visible in the photo) to funnelcloudrachel @ yahoo (dot) com. Be creative! Got a husband with messy hair? Messy-haired kids? Include them in the photo!

Note: I will be posting the photos on my blog!

Deadline: February 4, 2011 (11:59 pm EST) EXTENDED! February 18, 2011 (11:59 pm EST)

Prize: One winner will receive a free print from my shop - more details to come. I hope to have some new prints in my shop in the coming weeks!

In the interest of full disclosure, I will be posting a photo of myself with messy hair in the near future - stay tuned! (Here it is!)

Good luck!

gravy is a finalist!

I got some more good news today. I entered the CEA/Photojojo Best Shot Photo Contest last month and today I got the news that my photo is a finalist!

The photo is one of my favorite photos that I've ever taken (a lucky shot!). It's of Gravy jumping through the snow during Snowmageddon 2010 last February:

The pic was selected by the judges to be a finalist in the Pets category and the winners will be chosen by popular vote. I generally hate any contest that relies on popular vote (and I hate soliciting votes!), but the CEA/Photojojo Contest is a great contest. The other submissions are excellent. Anyway, if you like my pic, please go here (and scroll down) to vote. Thanks so much!

Go here to see the rest of the photos of the dogs in the snow and the big snowstorm of 2010!

bad dog!

Ever come home from an errand or a day at work and think OMG as soon as you walk in the door...
because something like this has happened?

Paper Killer! from Funnelcloud Rachel on Vimeo.

I've shared Gravy's love of tearing up paper before. But these instances occurred under supervision - such as at Christmas when we allowed him to open wrapped presents. Evidently, we shouldn't have encouraged this behavior.

Last night, Larry returned from a trip to visit his parents with a bagload of Christmas presents. It was late, we opened them, and then stuffed all the wrapping paper in a shopping bag. And left it in the living room. Oops. Today I returned home from a quick trip to the post office to mail out shop orders and found that Gravy had had a ball. Not only had he shredded all the wrapping and tissue paper, but he destroyed the shopping bag, too. Bad dog!

He wasn't the least bit sorry.


In fact, when I collected all the paper into a pile, he put his face on it like he owned it.

Anyone need any confidential documents to be destroyed? I think I know the right guy for the job...

in with a bang!

2011 is off to a great start!

We had a fantastic New Year's Eve Party, my shop exploded (that's a good thing!) on the first day of the year, and the Caps won the Winter Classic - all in the first 24 hours of 2011! I can't seem to wipe the gigantic smile off my face.

We had our usual group of friends (minus a few who drove up early to the Winter Classic) over for an international wine/cheese/dinner party on the 31st. It was delicious. So, SO delicious. Our friends really went above and beyond - bringing fantastic cheeses (Gravy snatched a hunk of expensive Australian bleu), cooking several dishes each, and tackling such things as homemade petit fours and flan!


I chose Germany (a country not known for its wine or cheese...or cuisine, in my opinion). I think I wanted to do Germany just so I could make foods with names like jagerschnitzel (hunter's schnitzel - pork cutlets with a mushroom-wine sauce) and fingernudeln (finger shaped potato noodles - also, called schoppala)! Seriously, how fun are those words? Jagerschnitzel! Fingernudeln!

Both the jagerschnitzel and fingernudeln turned out delicious, though I certainly didn't win any awards for plating. I guess that is what happens when you try to tend three pans on the stove simultaneously, after you've guzzled wine from New Zealand, Spain, Germany, and Austria. I did manage to singe all the hair off my arms in the process, though.

Among our guests was the cutest rookie ever...



And a two year old who reminded us to dance our way into the new year.

At midnight, we ate skewers of grapes for good luck - each grape representing a month in the new year per Spanish tradition.

Grapes...on a stick! (Not to be confused with jalapeno...on a stick!)

So glad I have these guys to celebrate the new year with...9 years in a row, and counting!

I woke up the next morning to find that Etsy had featured my EMBRACE MESSY HAIR print on Facebook and Twitter as a new year's resolution! Many many thanks to Etsy and to the 2,000 (!!!) people who visited my shop on New Year's Day. I spent the day packaging up orders and grinning from ear to ear - so excited and inspired to focus on my shop in 2011.

I also have some potential commissions in the works and was invited to apply to the Ballston Arts & Crafts Market - which is perfect, because one of my goals for the year for Funnelcloud Studio was to sell at another art fair - and the opportunity just fell into my lap on January 2nd. If I'm accepted, you'll see me in Ballston in the spring.

And the icing on the cake for the day? The Caps kicking the Penguins' butts at the Winter Classic! Larry got a last minute ticket to the game and drove up to Pittsburgh (unfortunately, he forgot to bring his beard head), but I was more than happy to watch the game from my warm, dry, couch in front of the fireplace.

A fight!

And a win!

Go Caps!

Bang! 2011, we're off! Hope everyone's year started as well as mine did!

P.S. Jagerschnitzel! Fingernudeln!

a clean slate + a new year's sale

New Year's Eve has always been my favorite holiday. A party for the sake of partying - no pressure, no gifts to buy, just the celebration of a fresh start.

Larry and I have been ringing in the new year with the same group of friends since 2002 and tomorrow we are hosting a dinner party for this group at our house.

While shopping for wine for the party today, I saw this bottle. Clean Slate - what a perfect sentiment for a new year!

I'm looking forward to 2011 and can't wait to share my goals for the new year (along with a recap of 2010). Before I get to that, I will be focusing on getting things together for our party tonight. It is an international themed wine/cheese/dinner party and we've asked all our guests to choose a country and bring a bottle of wine, cheese, and a dish to share from that country. I chose Germany - a strange choice since I typically find German food to be disgusting - so my goal is to make something that is not disgusting. (Which is a pretty good goal for all cooking endeavors!) Larry chose New Zealand. Looking forward to seeing and eating what everyone else brings.


In celebration of the new year, I am having a sale in my shop. 15% off any purchase made on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Just enter coupon code CLEANSLATE at checkout. (Offer valid until 11:59 pm EST on January 1, 2011.)  *Sale is now over. Thanks to everyone who stopped by my shop!*

Best wishes to all in 2011!

P.S. Gravy made us some confetti for the party:

christmas 2010

Christmas morning was just me, Larry, and the pups at home. I set up the camera on the tripod with a remote to capture our present-opening. Please excuse the huge bags under our eyes. We were up late the night before wrapping them. Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow...

I call this series We Are Dorks.

Testing, testing.

We had quite a bit of help with the opening of the presents...

Ooh! A meat thermometer!

A Weepies t-shirt! (If you're wondering what's on it, Larry says they are stoned whales.)

Monster trail mix! A Wiggle Worm!

A Matt & Kim CD!

Pajama pants!

Rolla Roaster marshmallow sticks!

A sweater! A headlamp!

Then my camera ran out of memory. But the hit gift of the day? A Beard Head!

Mrs. Beard Head.

Yukon Cornelius! 
Silver and gold, silver and gold!

The pups got spoiled, too. I got eight new dog toys FOR FREE by using a gift certificate I won in the 
Pampered Puppy May Photo Contest. (Check out 7th place.)

They love opening gifts.



My possum. Mine.



This was the first year since we bought our house that we didn't host Christmas dinner. While we didn't have 
the stress of preparing a big meal on our shoulders, we missed being able to hang out in our own house.

I cooked Creamed Haricot Vert & Corn Casserole and we headed out to my aunt and uncle's for a delicious 
Christmas dinner.



The Beard Head was once again the hit of the day. I gave one to my brother, too.


Bearded Ladies.

When we got home, arms loaded with loot, we found that the pups had laid their own loot out across the living room.

Hope you were all as spoiled as we were!

christmas eve

We had Christmas Eve dinner at my mother's house.

This is my beautiful mama.

And here she is giving me the finger for taking her photo while she is wearing a dishrag as an apron.

We opened gifts.


Lucy was the most enthusiastic about the presents.


She also hoards chew sticks. See the chew stick in the bottom right of her bed? That's actually a pen.

Mom baked me a birthday cake. She never lets a birthday go by without cake!

Then we headed back to our house bearing gifts for the pups. They snatched the gifts from my hands as soon as I got them out of the bag.

Gravy got a squirrel. Banjo got a skunk. They loved them.




Then Larry and I realized that neither of us had wrapped our presents to each other yet. All we wanted to do was sit by the fire and relax. So we sat on opposite sides of the couch and wrapped into the early hours of the morning.

Gravy helped.

I had the dog presents in a box sitting behind me on the couch. Guess who found them?

Presents! I want them!

I'll just stand here and rest my eyes until the presents are ready.

Larry finished wrapping and I busted Banjo snuggling him on the other side of the couch...

And whispering sweet nothings in his ear.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!