Domestic Diva Day 2024

It was really hot so I decided to make today a domestic diva day. I tackled all those little projects I've been putting off for months. Finally got all the artwork I've picked up in the last few months up on the wall. 

I still have boxes of misc stuff that I have to get into Cottage Crafts. I swear the stuff multiples!

For lunch I BBQ a steak and sauté mushrooms, my favorite combo. This evening I made peanut butter cookies and brownies for my ice cream sandwiches. With all that going on in my tiny kitchen I decided to steam up some green beans instead of pan frying them with bacon. My XL Costco size mayonnaise jar has to be use up this month so I went with the standard Japanese dipping sauce, mayo and soy sauce. I added Trader Joe's sriracha sprinkle (new to me), which is pretty good. Sesame seed oil and garlic finished off the green beans. I would have eaten all of it but I wanted a little to go with my leftover steak and the fried rice I'll be making in the morning. 

Picked several bowls of apricots before the squirrels get all of  but now I have to think of what to do with them all!

New Wedding Trend

At the Happy Dragon, we get A LOT of fancy china. Beautiful stuff that we can't give away most of the time. It's been an on going battle about pricing and what it actual can sell for. There's also the problem of taking up a lot of retail space for something that will take a very long time to sell, if it sells at all. 

I guess there is a trend for weddings where each table is set with a different china pattern. I think this is a fabulous idea! The set in the picture is Limoge from France and was very high end back in the day. I think it would look beautiful on a wedding table. The whole set is only $25.00.

Iris Folding Class - August7, 2024 1

Back in the saddle again teaching at FabMo! Starting out with an oldie, a class that I've taught for years. Even with all my downsizing, I still have enough supplies to do this class as a volunteer. Doing the fan and kimono, two of the easiest ones to learn. 

I'm working on two more new classes that I hope to get done this month. I don't have any babysitting gigs lined up so I have no excuse not to get the samples done. :)

I'm not sure how FabMo will let people know about the classes as it's a new department for them but will keep you posted.

Sumo

This is Sumo, the little frenchie I'm babysitting. It's a little bit different babysit this type of breed. I have to be really carefully with we go out for a walk. I have to pay attention to the temperature and cat poop. Yes, Sumo likes to snack while on our walk - totally gross. 

He also likes to scream at anything moving. I'm guessing his eye sight isn't very good and I'm pretty sure his sense of smell is the same. I think it's funny and most of the neighbors know him so they just laugh. There's even a cat who was so calm even when Sumo went banshee less than a foot away from him. 

I dressed him up for a daily update to his owners. He was not happy and I think he even did a little growl at me. :) 

Brenda Walton - Country Cottage 3-D die

I've been working on gnome houses for my garden and I was asked if I could do workshop at FabMo. Wooden houses wouldn't be cost effective (unless they get a big donation) so I thought about Tim Holtz's paper houses. Because his dies are steel blade, they would be able to cut through wallpaper, which FabMo has a lot of. The secondary market for retired TH dies are crazy expensive. I asked my crafty friends but even when these dies were new, they were pricey.  About a month later, a good friend came through with a Brenda Walton house die. From the thick dust on the cover, this die hasn't seen daylight in a long long time. :) 

It's very much like the TH so I'm going to start designing a class. 

Thinking, Christmas scenes, ornaments or inside a pop up card. 

Right now I'm reading up on how to make do pop up cards. I've done them in the past through trail and error but thought maybe  I could find some short cuts. 

Single serve Donabe pot

Another Thrift Store Score

I've been in search of a single serve donabe pot since I found the family size one a few months back. I want to get some practice in on recipes before the boys arrive this winter. Having a small one works so much better for me. 

The pen in the picture is so you could get an idea how small this one is. Found it at Savers for $2.39, use my 20% coupon. :) I'm currently dog sitting but the kitchen stove isn't gas, so I have to wait until I back at my place to test it out. 

Collection from the beach

Carmel City beach isn't known for its beach combing but I'm always hopeful. I'm happy to see parts of abalone shells, hopefully that means the population is coming back!  Abalone season has been closed for several years now. Abalone diving was a favorite family camping trip for many years. We would go up north to Salt Point State Park, which is known for its great abalone sites. Really miss those days. 

I did find someone's massive key ring with their Jeep car fob on my last day in Carmel. It was in the surf  (at low tide) and having no way to contact the person, I just put it on top of a drift wood pole. From all the keys, I'm sure someone was having a really bad day. 

I also carry an extra doggie poop bag to pick up any trash, which the beach has very little of. 

The Beach is Back!

The Beach is Back

It's always so sad when I have to close up the beach house. My mini vacation was relaxing with many new discovery. The sandy beach is back which is nice!

I don't plan to do any more international traveling because I really do like spending my  travel money at the beach house. As much as I love it there, I could never live there full time. Of course if someone wants to leave me their cottage, I wouldn't say no. :)  It will always be my go to vacation spot. 

While I was there, all flowers were in bloom.  Almost all the homes have nice little gardens in front, even with most owners never there. 

I'm always surprised when I house is sold that a major remodeling project soon happens. These are multi million dollar homes, some it excellent condition. So during the week there's constant noise from all construction on every street. Everything goes quiet from noon to 1:00 and then after 4:00 pm. Now that gas leaf blowers are banned (which makes a huge difference in the noise level) it's very quiet. I just wish the house's gardener would come during the week instead of on Saturday. 

The house is booked up until the end of summer so no more mini vacations until the grandkids arrive in November.  

Alter Art Project

I've been doing alter art work on some old books while down in Carmel. I was hoping to get a worn leather look but so far no success. It's a project I hope to do for FabMo if I can figure out how to speed up the drying time. I had all the supplies to do the project so I packed everything down here to the Carmel house. 

The next step is to cut a window in the cover and hollow out the inside. I thought making it into a diorama or scene with found objects inside would be interesting. 

Supplies:

Mod Podge, Tissue Paper, Yellow Acrylic Paint, Alcohol Inks

1) Cover with crinkled up tissue paper and mode lodge - the smaller the better. Let dry

2) Paint over with yellow paint - yes it makes a difference.

3) Go crazy with alcohol inks or any other staining medium. Give each layer time to dry

4) Seal with one thick coat of mode lodge. 

Oh A-Hunting We Will Go

This is a favorite book of Henk as he likes to sing. I sent the book home with him as he liked it so much. This book was first published in 1974 and they had children pick the animals so it doesn't follow the other books out there. I've been searching for another copy for months so we could sing it together over FaceTime. I tried eBay but it was a bait and switch seller, they would send some random very used book and ask if I wanted a 20% discount not to return it. The other ones on eBay were way over priced. I had to find it out in the wild again. It's hard to find books this thin because you have to go through a lot of books which takes a lot of time. I usually just pull a handful out and flip through it quickly and move on. On Monday I got lucky and when I pulled out stack, this book was on top. I was so shocked and surprised! Best part was it was 50% off on all books day at the Yellow Brick Road.  Paid $1.50 

Another Book Binding

Thrift Store Find

I've been working on designing some classes for FabMo while here in Carmel. The new location in Sunnyvale isn't great for paper crafting classes as there isn't a lot of open space. I will do my iris folding cards but I would like to do some book binding classes. This spiral bond book binding machine was at one of the thrift stores. It had no price so they had to get someone from the back room. Now I already have one of these machines at home and I really don't need two. The only reason I even thought about getting it was for my future classes to speed things along. She asked me what I would offer and I said $5. Told her I already had one (it was given to me) and this would be a back up, plus it's not something that would sell fast if at all. She said how about $10? I said I would pass as I really don't need it. We settled on $6. 

The pressure to design some classes using this machine is on! 

Uchida & Company Embroidery

Last month when I was down here in Carmel I saw these vintage embroidery portraits at the Discovery shop in Pacific Grove. Something I've never seen before. The thrift store said it was from the 1940's but I think it's later than that. At $150 each (there is one of a man) it was out of my flipping price range. I had been thinking about these pieces and thought if I could work out a deal I would get both. This weekend everything was 50% off so now I had no excuse not to get at least one of them. The grandmother one is my favorite so I pick that one first. 

I thought I would do a little research before I buy the second one. 

The artwork was done by the Uchida Art company. I don't know if that's the artist's name or not but that stamp mark (signature) is translating as. I can only guess these were commissioned portraits of really people. I still would like to do my research and I'm debating is I should go back and get the second one. 

Update: I did go back and get the other one.

Finally found it - Trader Joe's Kimbap

I've been looking for these for months after seeing all the positive reviews. I could never find them at my local Trader Joe's in Cupertino. I can only guess because of the big Asian population.

While here in Carmel I finally found them. I have to say I didn't think I would like them. The seaweed part was rubbery, which is to be expected. The rest was surprisingly good. Now I have to decide, do I like them enough to stock up while I'm here?  I probably won't find them when I get back home. What would you do?

Strawberry Short Cake

I made strawberry shortcake this week. Went to the farmer's market and I always buy way more than I should. :)

Now I wished I packed my mini ice cream maker to make strawberry ice cream which is a favorite. 

I picked up an angel food cake that I had to soak with the  cut up strawberries as it was very dry and tasteless. :( 

This morning I made my smoothie with strawberries, lemon, ginger, banana and coconut water. Turned out super!

Favorite Carmel Dinner.

Went to Carmel By the Sea farmer's market today. I hike into town to get my two favorite things, the dried fruit kabobs and shrimp with pico de Gallo. 

It was hike as it's all up hill but it's worth it. Passed some older couples who I'm sure they didn't know how steep the walk was into town is from their hotel. On the map it looks doable. I'm sure it was way more than they thought. :)

I added some extra hot salsa sauce from Trader Joe's and put everything on a bed of arugula with a healthy dose of black pepper. 

Heart Shape Hag Stone

On my morning beach walk (trying to get my 10K steps in) I found a very rare heart shaped "Hag"stone!  I'm always looking for Hag stones which are hard enough to find let alone a heart shape one.  

I'm working on altering a book cover to make it look leathery and old. I'm planning on cutting a window into the  cover so I'll need something to go inside it. When I found the stone, it was just meant to be! I also decided I will cut the inside of the book out and make a diorama. Mainly because the author had published family photos of herself and I wanted to make sure they were covered. 

Don't worry about the books, as they were heading to the recycle bin anyways. 

Yes more books

One of the craft projects I'm working on while I'm down here in Carmel is to make a faux leather cover on a book. I stopped by the local church bookstore because they do have a free box of books they know they can't sell. I have to use relatively new hard bound book until I know what I'm doing. There were some very old antique books in the box but I didn't think they would hold up to all the gluing and painting.  It was funny the only "new" books in the box were ones writing by the crazies at Fox News. They must have known their books weren't' going to be best sellers because they used very cheap paper that doesn't last very long.

Of course I also had to check out the cookbook section just to see what was new. Simple Soirees (over 20 years old) isn't the type of cookbook I usually pick up - how to plan a party, menu planning etc. It was a James Beard winner and some of the recipes looked interesting so thought I would read through it. Have to say after reading it, some of the menus sound good. 

The author at the time was based in Paris and San Francisco so the recipes are still relevant here in California.   

The second book (another 20+ year old book) is a William and Sonoma "The Best In Taste" from their food and travel magazine. Didn't know WS had a magazine. It just cracked me up that one of the recipes is called "Nun's Breasts". It's an Italian recipe for a cookie. Not sure it would be called that now! :)

After Breakfast Snack.

One of the many outings I do when here in Carmel, is going to the farmer's markets. It's very pricey so instead of going out to eat, I spend my money on locally grown fruit. 

P&K strawberry farms is very old school. They sort out their berries on the spot so you only get the best ones. 

3 baskets for $19.00. I can't remember the name of the dark cherries, it's a variety I never heard of before. Was told 

they're suppose to be less acidic than Bings.  $18 per pound. The Rainers (my favorite) were also $18 per pound.  

Going to make strawberry shortcake for dinner tonight. :) 

Needle Point - Hot Trending Item.

One of my crafty friends passed away a few months ago. As her estate was being settled, I was asked to take a car load of things to Happy Dragon. One of her hobbies was needle point and she was very proud of the this picture. Since I work mainly in the back room, I usually have no idea who is buying anything. I just happen to walk out to finish a display when I saw Sandy's needlepoint going home with a new owner. It hadn't been on the floor for more than a half a day! Finished needle point work is very hot right now. Can't give the kits away but people like the finished work. Sandy would be thrilled that someone else appreciates her hard work.