Super congrats to Beth Lemon Cadet for the mention and huge picture of her bean onesie in the December issue of Parents Magazine! And is that a lovely baby or what?

Once again the Yetis and the Seamonsters will get to spend a day together without the usual land and sea problems. Find Lemon Cadet and Tina Seamonster at the BUST Craftacular.

Yay!

Baking a cake is really not that hard. I know these days most people reach for a box instead of a cook book, but I’m telling you this is just as easy and tastes way better! And it’s vegan. I found this recipe eight years ago online when my husband and I first started dating. I can’t remember where it’s from or who wrote it, and I don’t wanna steal any one’s thunder here so I want to be clear that this is not something I came up with myself, but I HAVE to share it because it’s the best chocolate cake recipe. Period.

Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Sift together:
3/4 c. cocoa+ enough flour to equal 3 1/3 c.
2 c. sugar
1 t. salt
2 t. baking soda

Mix and add:
3 T. vinegar
3/4 c. canola oil
1 t. vanilla
2 c. water

Blend and bake in two 9″ round pans for 35 minutes.

See? Easy, right? A baker I know says this cake tastes like cupcakes. MOM. So if you like cupcakes, you’ll be in heaven. Oh, and one more thing… Cool. Frost. Enjoy.

Yeti Loves Seamonster will be at Handmade Arcade this weekend.  Join YLS Team Members Lumpkin, Lemon Cadet, and CleoDee Saturday, November 10 from 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. and Sunday, November 11 from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. at Pittsburgh’s Construction Junction for one amazing indie craft extravaganza.

I’ll have some Yeti Loves Seamonster loot at my table so head over and say hello.

Today’s earliest memory comes from Jessica from Spider Camp. And I have to say that it is haunting and lovely and will be with me for some time. Thank you, Jessica.

The world is foggy and I’m very small. An old man puts me down gently in a boat. He rows us out between long avenues of Christmas trees growing up through the water. It’s a forest in a lake. It’s nighttime. There are no sounds in the whole world except for little splashes and maybe he’s humming a song for me. Everything smells so good, everything is clean and cold. He finds the right tree, cuts it, and we take it home.

For a long time I thought this was my earliest dream, because what on earth else could it be? I didn’t tell anyone until I was in my 20s, but when I did, it was to my mother, who said with shock, don’t you remember your grandfather’s Christmas tree farm? Don’t you remember the year it flooded?

Wow. This needs to be a scene in a movie or a painting or perhaps an animated short. It is just stunning.

You can check out Jessica’s rad bunnies at her Spider Camp Shop. Just to warn you, her bunnies swear.

I love reading earliest memories and I’ve been thinking a lot about my own. I have so many, and I’m sure this isn’t the earliest, but it’s one of the most vivid. It was parent day at elementary school and I was in first or second grade. In my mind, everyone’s mom was there except mine. (Of course everyone’s mom probably was not there… my mama worked a lot, and HAD to. I know this now, but at the time, I felt so, so sad.) I began to cry this kind of trying-hard-not-to-but-can’t-help-it cry, and Miss Fran, a friend’s mom noticed.

She said, “Oh, Shannon, did your mom make you that vest? It’s so pretty!”
And I stood up, still crying, with snot starting to run down my face. I modeled the vest for my peers and their (probably horrified) parents and announced, “I-t’s (hiccup) re-ver-si-ble.”

Today’s earliest memory comes from Cats Will Eat You:

We were at Disneyland. I was 2. I was riding in a stroller and it suddenly got chilly and started to drizzle. My mom went into a gift shop and got me and my older brother grey Mickey Mouse sweatshirts. The shop must have been crowded because I waited outside with my Grammy and sat in the stroller eating candy buttons. I wasn’t bothered about the change in weather, but I loved that sweatshirt.

Is Cats Will Eat You not the best Etsy shop name of all time? Thanks for the lovely memory!

I’m doing my baby’s room in sock monkeys. I bought a few yards of Erin Michael’s Funky Monkey fabric (designed for Moda) and plan to sew a blanket, some curtains, stuff like that.

But what to put on the walls?

These sock monkey paintings by Creative Thursday. Well, they’re prints of paintings but that’s even better, right? Each print is 8.5 X 11″ and is titled and signed by the author.

There is this one where they are swinging through the air and another where the little monkey is standing on the big monkey’s head.  All of her work is amazing. She has other prints of super cute animals and fun creatures. I love the style.

Newest YLS team member, sweetestpea, one 1st place in the General Awesomeness category over at the Etsy Halloween Costume Contest.

Yay! Read about her loot in this Storque article.

Instead of giving out loads of sugar-filled, teeth-rotting candies tonight, why not print out one of our downloads, make a bunch of copies, roll them up like cool pirate scrolls, and hand them out instead.

That’s what I’m doing. I wish I could be accompanied by this fabulous octopus wearing a ghost costume by skullknocker…