Kuretake Water Color Markers are the bomb!

Kuretake Water Color Pens

I've been rubber stamping for over  30 years and after a while, I knew what to buy and what was just a flash in the pan. Even when I had two art studios, I was very selective. Some things I had to buy in order to teach classes like Copic markers. When Copics were discovered by rubber stampers (they had been around and used by graphic artists) they were reasonable and being able to refill them made them a good deal. Now the demand has gotten so high, the prices (IMO) have gone through the roof, making them too costly for the beginner stamper. I like Copics, but I was also very happy with my plain old markers.
One of my card making buddies is passionate about rubber stamping. Instead of traveling, she prefers to spend her money on crafting supplies. Last week she shared something she thought was worthy of our notice. If you haven't seen or heard of the Kuretake watercolor pens by ZIG, well you just have to go out and get a set! It makes blending color so easy and you don't have the hassle of having to add water to everything. I was very impressed, so impressed I ordered a 48 piece set. I now have a firm rule that if I bring anything new in, something has to go. I have a month to decide what I will be giving away since the pens are being shipped from Japan.
Can't wait to post my first project!

Card by Charlene

Auction June 2015

I'm an auction rat. Hanging out at dirty, dusty auction houses is something I really enjoy. The hunt is the most fun because you never know what you will find and the icing on the cake is getting something super cool for pennies on the dollar! Sitting through a whole auction is the not so fun part since most auction houses don't have AC or heat. This weekend was auction week and I scored on this metal junk lot. Junk lots are just boxes of random stuff and usually don't go for much. The upside is they go cheap but the downside is you have to deal getting rid of what you don't want. One of the reason I went into the antique business was to have an outlet for the leftovers. It's rare for German Shepherd items to come to the auction house. Saw these GS bookends and just had to have them. Overall the lot wasn't bad, most can be sold off at my consignment booth at Cranberry Hill in Sunnyvale.
I also picked up a vintage quilt. Everything on it was hand stitched. Such a shame these beautiful quilts get over looked. It does have some staining on it but overall in great condition for it's age. 

watermarking - a skill still in process

I've been posting photos of my cards for years now and friends have been telling me to watermark everything. A friend sent me a link to a washi paper site she said had some cool cards posted. Sure enough, it was my cards but with no watermark who would know?
So I was challenged (by my writing group) to learn how to do the whole watermark thingy. 
I was told Pic Monkey was super easy to use. I don't know what their definition of "easy" means but it took me awhile to figure things out. Really, the photo above (my test subject)isn't really a watermark,but text add to the photo. It's close enough for me and I think it will work if anyone is looking to pirate a photo of a toddler with a halibut on her toy jeep.  

Abalone Diving Sea Ranch 2015

Abalone Diving at Sea Ranch 2015 - Pebble Beach

 I love to travel and I usually plan a trip to some far flung place in the world. Trips that are very much off the beaten path and not for the faint of heart. I realized my children (who are now adults) are at the age when getting married and starting a family is possible. Time with mom (especially being divorced from their father) will be limited with the demands of parenthood and their spouse's family. As a family we use to camp all the time up at Salt Point State park to abalone dive when my children were little. It's been at least 5 years since I've been up ab diving. I didn't get the camping gear in the divorce so I decide to rent a house at Sea Ranch this past weekend. I still love the idea of camping but I have to say it is nice to have a warm bed, shower and flushing toilets. Both my son and daughter love to cook so it was nice to have a full kitchen to work in. My son came up with Uni Crostini (that's sea urchin on toast) with a honey wasabi glaze. I know it sounds yucky but it was really very tasty. 

June Card Class 2015

Crazy start to the day today! Woke up to the sound of rain, which we have not had in a LONG time. Annie gets up at 5:00 a.m. every morning for breakfast, which today was a good thing. I had left a some of my car windows open because of the heat wave we've been having. Mad dash out to the driveway in my PJs.
Another card class down at the senior center today. I usually do simple cards (less than 10 minutes to make) but I was running short on time so I pulled some kits from my upcoming craft-a-thon in August.

Ever Changing Patio

Adding the patio 2012

I've  been at my little studio for almost 3 years now. Scaling down as fast as I had to after my divorce was definitely an eye opening. Going from a big house to a little 450sq studio, well things had to change. One of the great things about where I am now, is all the open space. The property is just under 2 acres and the landlord (in the big house) doesn't water anything - well because there isn't anything to water. He also doesn't care what I do around the yard. By adding the patio area I almost doubled my living space.

 When I first finished the patio, I went very traditional but as time went on my personality took over. Plants were moved in, an orange umbrella replaced the white one and now a vintage 1050's kitchen table instead of the round glass table.

Patio 2012 - table moved to the vegetable garden

The Vintage table was something I picked up at an auction for daughter 6 years ago when she moved to San Francisco. She is upgrading her furniture, so the table came back home to me. The patio now feels much more inviting and a little more like me - eclectic. ;)

Patio 2015