Amy Nieto Photography + Design

YES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, the Star Magnolia Shop is open for business!!

Okay okya, SORTA. Unfortunately, all I have in stock is a total of 12 letterpressed notecards (all very beautiful, trust me). There are no bags or anything else, due to the fact I've been away from Georgia for the past month of December. But I come back in a week (January 3rd), and PLEASE DEAR HANDS, WORK FASTER! I am very slow at crafting. So if I'm ever to do a New Year's Resolution it would be to quicken up my hands. And to not distract myself so much. With trivial things such as blogging mindless entries. Ten times a night.

So, if y'all wanna wander around the very empty store for a little while, be my guest. If you see anything wrong PLEASE contact me, it's very important (there's a nifty message form you can use). You can place orders on the notecards. Just nothing else, cuz there ain't not'n else (except for gift certificates).

Allright, that's it. Wow, I can actually go back to sleeping early. Wish me luck.

I'd love it you linked back, but if not, it's okay, I still love you to della reeses pieces (I can never get that right). If you'd like to replace the text link with an actual banner (please smaller than WIDTH 150), send me the image, it'd look prettier!

THANK YOU!!!

My totally awesome cousin (TAC, as she shall be known from here on) gave me the cutest Yoshitomo Nara journal!! athird of the pages have those square-y math paper pattern (hate my English sometimes). The cover features an awesome acrylic + color pencil painting, which is the first image on the left (below). Can I hear a WOW on that Little Wanderer in the middle??? Too adorable for words. I love discovering wonderful artists!

Brother got me the Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader novel, whose author, James Luceno, also wrote The Swarm War, to be released this tuesday (I CANNOT WAIT ANY LONGER), bringing the tally up to FOUR FREAKIN BOOKS I am dying to read! And I haven't even finished the Asimov book...but yet, I started reading the Unifying Force (another SW book, man, I'm gonna end up like the 40 year old virgin [which i saw today, hillarious], minus the virgin part, but by that time, i'd be a born again virgin, *sigh*)

I lead such a sad life. Oh and I didn't flip thru the latest Martha Stewart Weddings magazine today. Or that I woke up a few days thinking of possible plotlines for the recently confirmed Star Wars live-action TV series (it would be dark as hell and very CSIish.. with cameos by Grissom, mm). No I did not. I deny any and all accusations.

Things left to do:
01) Write the Info page, the About SM page, Sold Gallery
02) Collect ALL the massive crafty links
03) Add the mailing list form AGAIN (don't know how to add it to the template)
04) Create more images for the main page
05) Get some beta testers

This amazingly cruel picture brought to you by the most awesomest and coolest Norwegian I have ever met in my life, Bard! This Summer he had the exquisite opportunity to sail the piratey Caribbean seas and made a stop in Puerto Rico to collect his pricey booty (like Pirate booty, u know), which included a handmade Bob the Angry Sixtopus.

It was one of the highlights of the Summer, finally meeting my long time Internet buddy (and by long time I mean 5 years) in person! And his grandma presented herself to me as Grandma. How cute was that, seriously!

Here's to more Norwegian Bob adventures (perhaps in your new London town, eh, Bard? *hint hint*)

Just finished watching the entire Firefly show. I hate you FOX. Really do. Movies comes out on dvd (who says video anymore) this Tuesday. Kinda developing a thing for the Capt'n.

Just as I already developed a humongous crush on Gil Grissom, the bug lovin', trivia collector from CSI. OH DEAR GOD. HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST LINE. Sarah agrees with me. All the way.

Enough of weird short sentences, for I NEED YOUR HELP. Okay, I am 83% done on configuring, customizing, pimpin' out my store/shopping cart!! Can you bloody believe that! In just three days. And I registered this doman 1.5 year ago. I hate you osCommerce with robbing so much time off my life.

ANYWAYS...What I haven't been able to figure out is the actual credit card processing thingy (and the SSL encryption). There's authorizeNET, there's Paypal (the Pro service), and others. I just don't get it. I mean, Paypal is pretty easy to understand, it's just that it charges a $20 monthly fee, plus a small percentage out of every transaction. Le suck. And I can't see if the Authorizenet thing charges me for the service. Plus, I have to contact a reseller??

I'm so lost. Somebody with the proper experience help me please? Thank you, you will recieve a lovely Walgreens Xmas photo card from Gil and I.

PWNED!!11!!!

Woo..okay. Yes, as you can see for yourself le shopping cart fantastique is looking quite like the Star Magnolia design. Plenty of things left to be done, of course, but you know it was 7 AM and something deep inside told me to direct my ass towards the bed.

Still, I'm very happy. At this rate, Y'all just might get yourselves a little Star Magnolia lovin' before the end of the year. ;)

ZENCART! I believe I have given up on osCommerce, so downloaded Zen Cart. Installed it, configured it (while watching Firefly) without absolutely any problem (unlike osCommerce). Now, the tough part will be customization so that it resembles my existing Star Magnolia design. I believe I will have to simplify that motha, as well, so that it fits with the structure of Zen Cart without causing too much tragedy into my life. Take a look at One Good Bumblebee's adorable website so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. (btw, isn't that one of the cutest store names ever? JEALOUS!)

So wish me good luck as I tackle this mothafreakin shopping cart and attempt to finish all your lovely Christmas cards. Grrrrr *sigh* not even my vacations are stress free!

..to actually look like this:

PLEASE be nice to me and work. I'm really eager to open up my online shop.

Thank you,
Always yours,
Amy.

Seriously.

Thank you,
Best Wishes,
Amy's pond of drool.

Seriously, Wills, could you be any hotter!! Look at that face, the lips! And oh, he's so tall (isn't he like 6'2, *swoons*). I remember back in high school, my best friend Janice and I made a pact in where I would marry Will Smith and she would marry Prince William and then we'd both divorce and switch partners. Because we were BEST FRIENDS 4EVER like that and we shared men.

Tenth grade would've been an absolute waste of my time if it hadn't been for Janice. So here's to you Janice, we hope Jada Pinket and Random MoneySucker girlfriend of Will's each suffer an... unfortunate accident.

The writing will go on the back of the brown cardstock (which I adore, it's got some subtle dark speckles here and there). This is just a prototype of course, I might just change the whole design.

And here are the other shrinky dinks. Mucho thanks to Sarah from The Small Object who showed me the way to The Shrinky Dink Revolution (that pretty much took place about 30 years ago?).

Okay, to all of you who I'm sending Xmas cards out to (or more like postcards in an envelope), ummm, due to my extreme slow speed at crafting, y'all might get the cards after the 25th. It's Christmas every day, ain't it!!? But here's hoping I finish them soon.

Anyways, did I already mention the Holiday Market at Union Square? Perhaps not. Well it's an on-going (well till the 24th) market with various vendors selling all sorts of things, from body products, to handmade baby onsies, to belts, to nifty watches, to jewelry. You name it, it's there (if it's neat and NY worthy, of course). That's where I met the Delong Ceramics lady. I counted at least five booths with handmade products, which made me quite happy! This lady from Australia had the nicest jewelry, somewhat similar to Dottyspeck's Cloud Necklaces, but with other shapes, like birds and butterflies. They were lovely, I SO wanted the bird necklace. *sigh* Unfortunately, she didn't have a business card, so I don't know her name or email/website. Has anyone stopped over her booth???

Images from the Market:

Awesome chairs at MoMA:

Hehe these cute plushies represent bacterias, germs and diseases. Homeboy in the middle is the Black Plague. How bloody cute. I wish diseases were this adorable.

And yes, I went to the Ribbon District. Okay I have no idea if it's really called like so, but come on, an entire block (39th between 5th and 6th avenues) full of ribbon, beads and trimming stores. Come on. It deserves its own map. Or something. These ribbons down here were bought at MJ Trimmings (dear God a whole store dedicated to ribbons! ARGHH TOO MUCH!) and some other store... was it called So Good Ribbons? Or somethin'.

Today I finally tried my Shrinky Dink thingies! Oh they turned out so lovely and cute! Yes there was actual evidence of this success, but said evidence turned out blurry and ugly. So tomorrow you shall see my glorious shrinky dinks. Started a prototype for the X-MAS CARDS*. Me believes it looks quite sweet. Oh also bought Interpol's Antics. Good stuff so far.

* People! Send me your addresses! These cards are lookin' hot, won't you want to receive one??

This was by far my favorite. I totally forgot the name of the store (anyone??) but it had about four displays depicting a bride posing for an imaginary camera in the snow. Her bride is none other than a very slim Snowman. Well, that long nose might come in handy, I assume. (tsk tsk amy).

Cartier's red Christmas:

Really liked Versace's butterfly and flower decals on the windows:

And I believe another lady in the Delong Ceramics brand creates some of the most stunning collage work I've seen around. Oh man I so wanted to buy one.

I want to share some of the wonderful things that caught my immediate attention during my stay over there, for those of you eager to find out the crazy ass things Amy did. Which add up to zero. Anyways...

01) My totally awesome $4.80 electric green scarf from my new favorite store, Forever 21. It doesn't compare to the fluffiness and comfort of my roommate's handknitted scarf, but it'll do for less cold days. (Also sporting my new electric stripe combination sweater) (Jesus H. Christ! My boobs look huge!!)

02) At the comics and toy store, Forbidden Planet close to Union Square(was that the name of the store) I found this really lovely pop-up book called Animus by artist Seonna Hong. The book was based on her solo exhibition show held a few years earlier. I couldn't find any more images of the actual pages, but here are a few of her other works. Loved 'em!

03)On my stationery hunt I came across an excellent store called Kate's Paperie full of wonderful paper goods, scrapbooking supplies, and even awesome ribbons. I had never heard of this company, Galison, but upon going to their website I fell in love with some of their porducts. Some are very dull looking notecards, the kind you would see a bad Impressionist painting on, but then there are these colorful offerings:

I figured this entry would be image heavy so if you still want to find out more, clickie here! And by here, I mean below.

a) email me your address at [amynieto atatatat gmail dotdotdot com] (I hope u can figure that out).
b) Write your address in the comment box, the comments will be screened so you shouldn't worry about evil people stealing your info.

I shall email you back with me address and soon you shall get your card! You can be in the US or international, doesn't matter. I'll try to send these out before the 25th. Or maybe later, who knows.

Yes, I'm trustworthy.

By the way, New York was fun, update and pictures to come soon!

No, no intentes disculparte
No juegues a insistir
Las excusas ya existían antes de ti

No se puede vivir con tanto veneno
No se puede dedicar el alma
A acumular intentos
Pesa más la rabia que el cemento

For a really crummy translation of the song, visit here.