Suzi Finer: April Fool

Where in the World is Suzi Finer?

You may have been wondering why there has been a lapse in my personal blogging; I have had some major banking issues, which resulted in my switching accounts out of WaMu into First Bank of Beverly Hills. The change resulted in my having to wait for my new ATM card (with which Typepad bills my account,) and while my new card was en route to me, I was in virtual limbo. Not a fun place to be, as you can imagine!

Anyway, I got my card, and all is well in my world once more. I also got a new full time gig: I'm back at Hansen's Cakes, decorating, designing, and having loads of fun as the Outside Sales Coordinator as well. This means that I get to represent at all of the glam bridal shows (which I adore!)

Yesterday was the first of these shows that I'm doing for the legendary bakery, at the Sofitel (home of Simon LA, and across the street from the Beverly Center.) The name of the show: Same Sex in the City! (Yes, this was one of the very first wedding event shows directed specifically to the gay & lesbian community.)

Here is a pic of our booth (I got to design it!) You can see more details on the new blog which I set up last week by clicking here: http://www.hansencakes.blogspot.com There was lot's of media coverage (I got a couple of on camera interviews!) and I got to meet a lot of very nice people!

Yes, this is the fabulous bakery where we made the Alice in Wonderland cake for that Tom Petty video years ago, where Warren Beatty put his arms around me as I taught him to decorate cakes for his scene in the movie Bugsy, and where just about every celebrity and studio orders their special cakes (Check out the blog for the cake we made for the upcoming Hannah Montana movie!)

Tomorrow: Brunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel!

It's good to be back home after all of these years!

Baby Can Cook...

Allie took it upon herself to scramble up some mighty fine eggs. Can you tell from the photo just how small my kitchen is? There is a wall (with a window) right behind her...what you see is the extent of the counter space, which is why I don't use this room very much!

More Summer Fun...

Last night was a blur...The Kodak Theater at Hollywood & Highland, for a few hours of Eddie Izzard live made for a laugh-filled evening in which the clever Brit fast-talked his monolith of a monologue (explaining everything...) in the massive room that lacked for nothing except for sufficient oxygen. Both my friend and I experience a sort of "sleeping behind the wheel" sort of uncontrolled drowsiness; after the show we confirmed our mutual lack-of-ability to be alert (we both felt drugged*, though we weren't!) We could only deduce that the airflow in the theater was just not right! 

This is not to say that we did not have a fab time...Izzard's performance was brilliant; we loved him! We had a bite at The Grill before the show, sharing the mixed seafood grill (ooh, that giant scallop...yummy!)

*Not drugged...my one cocktail's effects had worn off well before the performance began.

Re-running the Episode...

Well, if you're city runs Merv Griffin's Crosswords in back-to-back episodes, tomorrow (Tuesday, August 5th) you'll see the episode on which I won showing as the second part of the back-to-back line-up in a re-run. 

Whoop-de-do.

Cake...

This deliciously tempting example of a lavish Italian dinner is actually an artful grouping of cake, from the illustrious bakery Hansen's Cakes. Seven generations of bakers have made this cakery not only a legend in Los Angeles, but internationally.

I began working there as an apprentice right out of college, and honed my own skills over the years in each area of yummy decor. Airbrush, sculpture, portraits, piping, lay-ins and more...Ace of Cakes has nothing on this place. It seems that every studio and every celebrity enhances their parties with a cake from Hansen's (and they're Kosher!)  I left for a while, returned in the nineties, then again retired from the profession when my son was small.

Do I hear a buzz?

More Books...

I'm on a mission: I'm making hand bound Coptic art journals to benefit the Beverly Hills High School Madrigals & Minnesingers. We're having a fund-raising night of fun on Thursday, October 30th featuring the always entertaining Legendary Bingo, starring Bingo Boy and the effervescent Belle-Aire (7pm, Hamlet on Sunset!) More about that when it gets closer to the date. In the meantime, since I don't knit, during my leisure time I'm binding away, doing my best to make as many of these tiny tomes as I can before the event date!

This lengthy book is filled with regular 8.5"x 11" paper folded tall instead of my usual...it features actual sheet music from a very dilapidated book of the opera Faust (from 1902~) that I have in my personal stash. The green and brown additional paper is flocked (Making Memories) with a brown ribbon closure.

The signature covers are made from shiny brown Waste Not Paper cut to a demi-length inside...

This next baby features replicated old-fashioned Bingo cards (gift wrap) with Fax-parchment pages.

Note: The green numbered embellishment is rasied, made by covering a smaller piece of book board with a complimentary bit of the paper and attached with more PVA adhesive. I love the color.

Big Plans Tonight...

James Taylor at The Greek Theater...what could be better on a warm summer night!

Finally, a moment...

Here are some photos from the past week:

The program from Monday Night's Babyface tribute (front and inside...) Funny coincidence: the Percussion player (Steven Aho) just happened to have been the Percussion player two days earlier for Ben's Song & Dance performance at Idyllwild Arts (where the piano player just happened to be his voice teacher's accompianist...)

A peek into our Idyllwild weekend (I didn't take photos at the performance, as the flash can be harmful to the performers, so you just get a couple of pretty shots!)

Hitting Benihana on the way back, I enjoyed the seared Ahi...

While Allie riced it up...

Our chef was very clever...

Others in our group enjoyed the lobster, scallops and shrimp...

While steak and chicken made the boys happy (no photo.) Now that my digi-card is empty, I best be going out to snap some fresh images. Have a great Thursday!

Summer Sale in the Diva Zone...

Looks like there are some major savings available for the stylishly savvy shopper over in the iamadiva.com official online store.

Click here to see what you can find: http://www.iamadiva.com/store/home.php?cat=298

How to Systematically Destroy America's Small Businesses.

I was first shocked, then sickened, when the reality of an email that I received today from the Craft & Hobby industry; the very organization which has been the champion of small business owners world-wide, sank in. The organization who made small businesses believe that they were in their corner, as independent retailers, to stand behind them and group together to grow the craft & hobby industry with the knowledge that they had a strong kind of "union" behind them.

Not anymore. Take a look at this:

The CHA Summer Show will be moving
to Orlando, Florida in 2009!
 
The CHA Summer Convention & Trade Show will be held July 28-30, 2009 after which the doors will open on the first-ever CHA Consumer Show which will take place July 31-August 1, 2009.
 
To answer any CHA member questions about this exciting news, the following conference calls are planned:
-        Friday, July 25th                  11:00am-12:00pm (Eastern Time)
-        Friday, August 8th               12:00pm-1:00pm (Eastern Time)
-        Tuesday, August 12th          3:00pm-4:00pm (Eastern Time)
-        Monday, August 25th          2:00pm-3:00pm (Eastern Time)
 
While all of the details are not finalized, we want to address any and all questions, suggestions and ideas that you may have.  Limited space is available.  Conference call participation will be scheduled with pre-registration only and on a first-come, first served basis.
 
To register, please email your first and second date preference to Tara Smith, Marketing Coordinator, at tsmith@craftandhobby.org after which you'll receive an email confirmation.  If you do not receive a response, contact Tara at (201) 835-1223.
 
We look forward to hearing from you!
 

Steven Z. Berger
CEO

____________________________________________________________________________________

Now do they possibly think that the small businesses that make up the membership of the association are going to benefit in the least from this tremendous leviathan that will add to the decline that is already impacting the industry as a whole? Recession is already upon us...having wholesale suppliers become the competition (which has been going on for years on a much smaller scale) is going to wipe out the traditional mom & pop brick and mortars that are the backbone of the industry.

I am shaken by this announcement, but not completely surprised, as the moral compass of a good faction of our industry suppliers seems to be losing it's magnetism and showing a lack of support that not too long ago was unheard of. Remember when there was a thing called loyalty and customer service?

I still know a few places where that can be found.....

Now, where were we...

We were at Republic last night for the 1st Annual Jean Gibbons Steel Magnolila Award, presented by Leeza Gibbons and Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds. It was a tribute event to "Babyface", and the stars were all out (including the fabulous music man David Foster.

Why were we there? Because Jenny Gordon made it possible for my daughter Allie to be the only child performing (solo-ing with the talented pianist Willam Joseph,) singing The Power of the Dream (from the 1996 Olympics.)

Allie was interviewed on the red carpet along with the celebrities, and got to be the belle of the ball for one night. What an experience. I didn't attempt to take any photos during the event (ticky-tacky) but I'll load up a photo of the program when I have more than a moment.

Thank you Jenny (and Ryan!~)

Made a book today....

Went with my fave Coptic stitch, with a Teresa McFayden-designed (for the 7Gypsy line) metal edge.

Want one for yourself? Shoot me an email; any theme, blinged or whatever. We'll talk.

Interesting (at least to me...)

For the past couple of weeks, I've had the pleasure of being a Beta tester for Hasbro, as they've been getting the kinks out of their official Scrabble application for Facebook. You may already be aware of my penchant for the game, and can just imagine my pleasure at being asked to participate in this endeavor. It goes along hand in hand with my whole crossword habit I suppose.

 I'm thrilled. Now, I've been informed that they are ready to allow others to join in the fun. I recommend giving it a go (I like to play in the wee small hours of the morning, when my sleeplessness is acting up.)

Now, you may notice that it doesn't always load in properly (one of the kinks they're ironing out) and that the colors of the bonus point squares don't jibe with the actual game...I'm hoping that Hasbro and EA Games will switch that up as well...) but you'll love all of the bells and whistles they've virtually put in.

Now, this is not to say that I am giving up my beloved Scrabulous application, but honestly, with the legal issues that are all a-boil over these entities, I may not have a choice. I prefer the Scrabulous, but am confident that this new game, when enhanced, will give me just as much pleasure.

I can't wait to see how it evolves once everything is tweaked!

Everything came up Roses...

At the Rose Bowl Swap Meet at the crack of you-know-what this morning, my sister Donna, Allie, Izze and I met up with Linda Woods and Kim Kwan for a few hours of fun. You would not believe how hot it was at 7am (and humid to boot!)...I really don't like to be outside at this time of year, usually reserving outings to these kinds of events to an overcast day in February, but meeting up with the ladies made it worth the exposure to the sun. Donna smartly picked up a parasol and wandered of for a very long time while we found...

Flava-flav? I don't know, but I really wanted to take this baby home, where we could have staged our own version of Wagner's Ring Series...

All hail the Grand Poobah...

...and a very scary clown. The girls carefully selected the most treasured of trinkets to bring back to their troves; I'll let you take a gander at their blogs to see what booty they pirated home. Love those ladies. (I'm assuming that you've already picked up your copies of Visual Chronicles and Journal Revolution, and have signed up for Silverbella...)

After we left Linda & Kim, my entourage and I went to visit uncle Leon & Paul (and Lucy, of course) where the girls took a refreshing dip in the pool before we headed over for a brunchety-lunch at:

Dinah's Famous Chicken (and waffles!) in Culver City. Take a peek at the naughty, naughty nibbles that managed to find their way to our table (and into our waiting bellies!

A gi-normous German Pancake (with lemon wedges, butter, and powdered sugar on the side...

An equally monstrous Apple Pancake drizzled with cinamon, baked to a delightful crisp...

Golden fried Chicken...

...and the best damn waffles in the entire world. Really. Even Donna agreed.
I dropped her and Izze off at their place for a nap, came home to shower again, and now I'm off to The Hollywood Bowl with Ms. M to see Carmen (up there with my all-time-greatest-score-faves!)
Thinking of the 'bowl makes me laugh, as it reminds me of the time when I was hosting a crop for a couple hundred women in Las Vegas...one of the sweet ladies was creating a layout of the Super Bowl, only she wrote "Super Bowel" as the header by mistake. Bowls, Bowels...Whatever!

This is a day of excellent occurrences.

Too much anger...

Some people have to just calm down and take a deep breath. Relax.

A Template just for you...

I've created this butterfly template just for you...click on the image to open it to the full size, and then you can copy and paste it for your own use. I recommend printing it out on inkjet transparencies (I use the cheapest ones I can find from office depot,) and then having some fun painting in the wings from the back. I'll suggest that you try Twinkling H20s or my favorite Lumiere acrylics. The dainty shapes are easy to cut out, and if you give 'em a fold down the middle, they can really set off a gift wrap presentation. Add some glitter to key points for extra WOW!

Here's an example of a good use for them; I've added names and table numbers via Photoshop. Placecards anyone?

Painting away...

 I really enjoy my Pebeo Porcelaine paints that I got online from Dick Blick. I found a bunch of plain white plates at a local 99 cent store in a variety of shapes. The fact that they are pre-glazed and not suited to pre-sketching out the design, is just fine with me, as I prefer to paint directly on the surface free-hand.

I created a couple of Audrey Hepburn-ish plates, inspired by some google images. 

It also works well if you enjoy creating stencils. I took some Eclipse sheets and drew out a couple of shapes, cutting them out negatively. You can use any kind of sticker paper for this, as you would just need to stick the negative image on the blank plate, then brush the color of your choice all over the top.

I took it up a bit by adding some gold swirls around the image, then let it set for twenty-four hours before baking it off according to the directions on the paint box. Easy schmeezy.

Ha! Lice Check...

Nephew Elliot is off at Camp JCA Shalom (our own childhood camp) for three weeks. The clever camp people figured out that before they check anybody into the session, each camper had to undergo an intensive check for head-lice. Elliot, of course, was clean, but woe to the little girl in the seat next to him, whose dry scalp caused her to be checked for a full half hour (better safe than sorry!)

Big hugs goodbye by the amphitheater...

Donna packed him a Yahrzeit candle for the anniversary, and told his counselor about what went on with daddy last year. It's Elliot's first time at camp; he's so excited!

This is the old gong that use