Splash of color and fun

Now with all the holiday decoctions put away the front porch looks very boring. The metal furniture is practically but feels very harsh. I've been in search of outdoor pillow to soften everything up. When these came into the store I knew found what I was looking for. A little splash of color and fun doggy theme. There is a third one but I still have to find a pillow form for it.  I've been growing plants to add to the porch because I just can't bring myself to spend $$$ on something that may not get enough water. 

 

Lego Christmas 2025

For Christmas this year the boys got to pick out what they wanted at the Lego store. Henk was under budget but Mees went way over. :) It was nice to see their excitement going to the store and shopping. Guess there were a lot of other kids who got Lego money as there was a line to get into the store. They happily spent the weekend building their set, along with dad who's a big Lego fan too. 

As included was going out to dinner. Choice was McDonald's or sushi. I voted for sushi and the boys agreed. :) 

Life of a reseller - Vintage Niagara Falls Panoramic Views

It's the frames that make it.

I've been looking for artwork for my son's place up in Lake Tahoe. He would like more outdoorsy type of artwork. My requirement is it has to be big enough to fill a large wall. Home deco isn't his thing. 

I haven't been to DGW auction in over a year but they had a few gold rings up for auction and my daughter is looking to make a mother's ring. While I was there I spotted these vintage photos of Niagara Falls in very interesting frames. It was the frames that got my attention. So here is where the story gets interesting. I asked Tami (who's a psychic) as I was leaving the store if I was going to get the artwork. She said, yes but keep an eye out for the lady on your left. This art lot was toward the end of the auction and all the women who sat to the left of me were long gone. At this point there were only four men left at the auction. I started bidding and out of nowhere another woman reseller pops up to the left of me. She sells at the Oakland flea market and buys all the junk lots if it goes cheap enough. I've never seen her pay more than $10 for anything. As the bidding got higher and higher, I could only smile that Tami was right. I think the other reseller ran up the bidding but it's like playing chicken, one of us was going to have to cave. I ended up paying $215.00 that includes all the auction fee too. If she wasn't bidding I would have gotten it for $60.  I paid up because I personally want the Niagara Falls photos. I would have stopped way sooner if I only planned to resell the lot. There are several other framed artwork in the lot that I will sell off and hopefully get my money back. 

Beaver Creek Santa Score

During my buy out of crafting supplies I found Santa and Mrs Claus (she a rare find) in the storage unit. It was like I was suppose to find them and add them to my collection. I'm a big fan of hand carved Santas and they were just sitting loose on a pile of stuff in the unit. 

I did a little research on them because they are marked on the bottom. Made in 1985, around the time the Beaver Creek company closed down. They used local carvers to make the Santas. The simple carving and painting just makes them. I would guess they didn't cost much back in the day. For now they get to hang out with my Paul Bollinger Santas but they will join the rest of the pack in my hutch when the holiday season is over. 

Life of a reseller - crafting supplies and dolls

My Haul

 I've been waiting for over a year to get access to this storage unit. It belongs to an estate clean out person and she had a crafter's estate she's been trying to sell off. The family had no idea how much their mother had in her house because they never visited her, like never. Not sure why but her house was filled top to bottom with crafting supplies. I had to wait for the family to realize unless you have to ability to resell something in a market that will buy it, it doesn't matter what you think the value is. They finally gave up and said sell the whole lot. Happy dance for me! Everything is off the ZZ booth at Cottage Crafts. 

The other great part was the gold and silver guys got to come along and dig through the boxes. They did find some silver but the more interesting part was their knowledge on dolls. There was another storage unit filled with dolls, which most of the time aren't worth anything. The guys said they have a buyer for a very specific type of doll. One with articulated limbs so people can fit clothes on them. Sorry can't remember the name of dolls but they are rare. Guess fashion designers use them to make mock ups samples. They know the brand so well they can tell from just seeing the top of the boxes, which was all we could see since the unit was packed. I made to small path and we pulled out five, which was a major score for the guys. They will make more money on the dolls than the silver, at least in the short term. 

The silver they found

Mini All Clad and Julia Child Ruler

 I'm a big fan of All Clad and have a lot of it. Funny that the most used pan in my house is a 10" cast iron pan. Buying habits are hard to break. :)

When I saw this mini All Clad it just had to come home with me. Not sure if All Clad made a child's set but can't see what use this pan would have being so small. It was in very rough shape and I can only guess someone left it on the stove a little too long. Still working on cleaning it up. Now I'll be on the look out for the lid as the hunt is the fun part. 

I'm also a big fan of Julia Child and have collected all her first edition cookbooks. Yes, I have them all now. Found this ruler at an estate sale last week. It's a list of all the well known chefs/cookbook authors at the time. Super double score in less than a week.!
 

Vintage Bubble Lights Found

I've been in search for bubble light replacements without having to go to Home Depot or Amazon. The only store that had them in stock was the Ace hardware store in Mt View. I have a vintage set I got while I was down in Carmel years ago. Lucky for me a NIB vintage set came in. Was purchased at Woolworths years ago. I also scored a fake Christmas tree for only $5.00!  Now I have to decide if I should keep it outside on the front porch or bring it in my place. 

 

Coffee Surprise

I make a big cup of coffee every morning using the pour over method. Not that I want to do anything fancy but that it takes a lot less room on the counter. I add oat milk and coco power first. Read that heat activates the chocolate to be more chocolatey. Having the hot coffee hitting the coco first thing should in theory work. Really, I don't notice the difference. 

This morning my coffee did this layering thing. Never has happened before so I just had to take a picture. Coffee didn't taste any different after I whipped it all together. 
 

Persimmon Time

 

It's that time of year! Like zucchini, persimmons pop up everywhere. It's so nice to see such a bright spot of color when the trees drop all their leaves. I like to make cookies with these when they get nice a squishy = over ripe. Now I just have to find a gluten free recipe. Baking isn't something I do well so improvising never works out. Persimmons are a very popular image in  Japan. I have a small collection of ceramic ones to go along with the ones I mom gave me. 

Crafting Haul On the Cheap

Do I need more craft supplies? No, I do not but did that stop me? :)

A large crafting stash came into Cottage Craft on Saturday and priced low enough that I just couldn't resist. I do plan to make more photo journals for the kids as I hone my book binding skills. I've been looking for a larger alphabet stamp set to personalize the journals. That's one thing I never had in my crafting stash. 

Sandy Allnock (check out Sandy's video "Favorite Fives of '25) and the Frugal Crafter, Lindsay Weirich have been using gel plates a lot lately. It's inspiring me to gather up more collage type stamps. I haven't purchased a wood mounted stamp in years but it was only a $1.00. Every crafter should check out Cottage Craft's ZZ booth for the best deal on craft supplies. 

 

Christmas Tree the Dutch Way

This is how one gets a Christmas tree home in Holland.  

They don't have access to cutting a tree down like we do here. That is one thing I miss doing with the kids. I know they loved running up and down the hills and climbing the big oak trees. Family tradition I wish we could continue. 
 

ATC Swap 2025 - Sandy Allnock

I joined Sandy Allnock's (artist I follow on YouTube) ATC swap and the theme is winter. I came across a big bag of  larger beads  I normally use at the thrift store. Since they remind me of those little jelly candies, I gave them a try. I knew I wanted to make a Christmas tree and have a watercolor background. Sandy is an amazing watercolor artist and always inspiring. I wanted to have some type of  watercolor on my card in her honor. Didn't turn out the way I wanted after many attempts but I'm still a newbie.

My finally version looks more like a Christmas card and thicker than the standard ATC but I'm going for it. Each part was fun to make and I use what I had in my huge stash of craft supplies. 

Warm and Sunny In California - 2025

It was such a beautiful day that I decided to tackle trimming back the neighbor's tree that hangs into our yard. It makes a hot mess with dropping leaves everywhere. They have a gardener come every week so it's no big deal for them. Filled two large recycle bins and still there's a pile of branches waiting to be chopped up. 

Not sure if this praying mantis was in the tree but it showed up after I was done getting what I could in the recycling bins. It hung around for a long time enjoying the warm weather. I like to think it's a positive sign of good things coming my way. :) 
 

Very Big Santa

I picked up this Santa at auction last month. I didn't realize how tall it was until I blew it up. It was a crack up when I saw that it kept getting taller and taller! Had to redesign where it was going out in the yard. That lead to having to trim back the overgrown bushes that we've been ignoring. I since have trimmed back a neighbor's tree that has been hanging over the main house's roof and raked that millions of leave from a very messy peppercorn tree. Seriously thinking of cleaning out the gutters but I'm not quite tall enough to do that without getting on the very top step of the ladder.