Lastest finds at GoodWill

I like to go thrifting on Tuesdays because of the senior discounts. Savers is 30% and Goodwill is only 10%. The stores are packed with old people, like myself, no surprise there. :)

Everything I got at Goodwill was something put out that day. Their price tags are easier to read the processing dates. Not sure what this brass tree cut was a part of but I think it will make a great stencil for the bleaching and sun printing. $3.45. When I saw this tiki glass I thought it was interesting. Haven't seen one before so I picked it up. $3.45. Got it home and found out that it was a vintage cocktail mug.  I'm planning on doing a Hawaiian theme display in my booth at some point so it was a great find.

 

Hero Arts Coloring Stencils & Distress Oxide Inks

$1.00 from FabMo

Being a night owl I did a quick card with my new to me Hero Arts Coloring Stencils. I picked it up at FabMo during this month's sale. From the packaging stickers, the pervious owner also brought it second hand too.

I switched it up and used Distress Oxide inks. I know I should be using something else but my blending brushes were all ready with the inks pads. I'm going to try and gather up different colors and inks later today. It's an OK stencil and it works for making a quick card in colors I would probably never put together. For just a $1.00 it was worth it but I would never pay eBay prices. 

Michael Miller Fabric & Hero Arts Coloring Stencil

Ok my haul for FabMo this week. I've been eyeing this fabric for my daughter as orange is the national color for king's day in the Netherlands. It's a day they celebrate the King's birthday. Not to be confused with No Kings protest here in the states. Since I now streamed lined how make the banners with less sewing, it's not as stressful. The fabric (first four striped ones) are from the Michael Miller collection and is top tier, $3.00 a yard. The difference in weight and quality from the other flowery fabric was amazing.  The other things I picked up was some stencils, yes more stencils. Got lucky and found another Hero Arts coloring stencil for $1.00. Interesting to see how it turns out but it's not a design I would pay full price for. 

 

Cole & Son at FabMo

FabMo is a non profit who's original mission is to keep things out of the landfill from what they gathered at the San Francisco design center. Million of fabric and tile samples were headed to the dumpster after each season was over. Fast forward to now and they get fabric and art supplies from everywhere. This week I was in charge of stocking the wall paper sample books for the sale this weekend. Not sure why I flipped through this book but it has amazing Japanese themed wall paper. When I saw the persimmon tree design, I knew the book was coming home with me.$2.00. If I was ever to build another big house, I so would spend the $$$$ to use this wall paper. It's a work of art all by it's self! Prices are very very low to help keep things out of the landfill but they do have to make some money to keep the lights on. 

Bleach Printing

 

practice tee shirt

I've been collection a ton of  stuff for my bleach printing project. Lace table clothes, doilies, stencils and even placemats. I have a rack of dark clothes out in the garage for me to practice on. 

I did learn bleach will get weaker the longer it's mixed with water. Guess that could be a good or bad thing depending on the look you want. 

I was so thrilled to see the rubber coasters I picked up at auction last month worked out super well! Not sure how long they will last getting blasted with bleach but I didn't pay much for them. Also plan to use them for sun printing so doing double crafting duty. The lace strip came for a very worn pillow case and that worked out well too!

rubber place mats and coasters

,

Using what you have - African Violet Pot

I've been looking for a African violet pot but the prices are a little too high to justify getting one. So thinking about, I just need a porous clay pot sitting in the glazed pot. All of my clay pots have holes at the bottom but late last night (I'm a night owl) I thought why not just seal the bottom with a rock and hot glue. Walked around my yard tis morning and found what I think is the perfect pair. I like the bright yellow and the clay pot is tall enough. Have no idea where I got these pots from but they have been sitting just waiting to be used. :)

Update: Went to Savers and guess what I found? It was in the exercise and furniture section. I first found the inside pot then searched for the outside pot. $2.00!

Two year project banner project done!

One of the many projects that had been on my  to do list for two years is finally finished! One of my daughter's good friends ask me to make a party banner with fabric she brought back from her travels. I think maybe she got the fabric while she was in the Peace Corp years ago. 
 I made a lot of banners for my daughter when she came out to visit a few years ago. The hand cutting, finishing off all the edges took a long time. On top of all that working in a tiny space made it even more difficult. Fast forward to now and what I learned along the way. I researched getting a Acc Cut banner die. It is very pricey and I waited over a year for the price to go down on eBay but it never did. Finally pulled the trigger and got. Then is sat again for another year.  Then after seeing how other crafters made their banners, I picked up some fusible interfacing at FabMo. No more having to finish off the edges. Those two things were game changers. Finished two banners in one day! Also having the space now to spread made it go even faster! 

Terra Farms - Total Fail 2026

Sunday is my domestic diva day. Getting things done around the house as I avoid going anywhere. I like to meal prep for the week so I only have to clean the kitchen once a week. 

I've been wanting to order from Terra Farms for at least a year. It's a local farmers group that delivers to your area at one location for you to pick up. Because I was always at the thrift store on Saturdays, I could never do the pick up. Since I'm not at the thrift store anymore, I finally was able to place an order. I was so disappointed and shocked with what I received. It was so bad that I'm sure the stuff was pulled from a compost pile. The onions were already going bad, ends were moldy. The broccolini was so old the ends were dry and hard. Had to be weeks old. The cherry tomatoes were soft and mushy, again picked a while ago. I really hate to leave a bad review, but paying premium prices for subpar food isn't ok. 

 

Persimmon Soap - Does it work?

With all the recalls/lawsuits on shampoos and soap, I've gone down the rabbit hole looking into alternatives. Many years ago when I traveled a lot to some very remote places, I tried solid shampoo bars. Back then it felt like  you were washing your hair with straw and grass clippings. Didn't like it at all. Fast forward to now and small companies are making good solid soap bars, using very simple ingredients. During my search I came across persimmon soap. As we age, we get a build up of oxidized lipid = old person smell. The persimmon tannins in the soap is suppose to neutralize the body odor. There isn't any solid science behind this claim, but it's been popular in Japan for years. I was at the Japanese grocery store picking up several boxes of green tea for my daughter. She flying back for one of her best friend's birthday. It dawned on me I should check and see if they had persimmon soap. Bingo! On the very bottom self  there was a whole line of soaps. The upside was they didn't cost an arm and leg either. This type of soap is very pricey online. One of the many reason it's great living is the bay area with a big Asian population. 

 

Vintage paper & Lawn Fawn HB

This background paper has to be at least 25+ plus years old! Don't even know how many moves it has had with me. I also found out I have three of the Lawn Fawn happy birthday die. I know one came from the big buy out I did several months ago, but not sure where the other two came from. The little beaded cupcake was an extra I made awhile ago. I thought the card needed a little something. I'm still in the process of trying to use up my crafting supplies. Doing the Gentle Art of  Swedish Death Cleaning, crafting version. :)

I'm finally back home after pet sitting for almost a month. I once again have piles of stuff that I swear multiplies when I'm gone. Sorting and tagging on high on my to do list today. 

 

Life of a reseller - Savers and Goodwill Haul

 I wasn't planning on doing any picking when I did a drop off at Savers. It's been a few months of finding nothing at the thrift stores. 

First thing I found was this Waterford vase - $10. Vases in general are hard to sell but Waterford is the exception. Doesn't sell for a lot but the name recognition is everything.  The pumpkin ($12.00) is a hobbyist piece, but very well done. Paid a little more for it because I liked it. If it doesn't sell, it will just go into my collection. William and Sonoma ginger bread men candle holders, new in the box $2.45. 

Since I was having such good luck at Savers, I stopped by Goodwill on my way home. This is a smaller store and most of the time I find nothing. They get a ton of donations, like traffic jam to drop off donations. Not sure where it all goes, because it doesn't end up in the store. Found several uranium glass pieces. Candle holders $3.45 each and toothpick holder $1.45. Covered turkey dish $6.00, covered candy bowl $3.45.

The best score was the wine glasses made in Czechoslovakia. There are millions of wine glasses at thrift stores. I been looking for ones with a flat rim, which I've been told by wine snobs are the good ones. These wine glasses are still current and sell on Amazon for $86. Having the box is a plus and the labels are still on the glasses so I know the glasses are legit. Paid $3.45 which is way cheaper than buying the cheap ones individually priced for $2.50.The only impulse buy was the large German Christmas market tin $3.65. Thought maybe my daughter would like it for storage as she actually goes to that market during the holidays. 

The Christmas Stocking Die

I was happy to find out my Christmas stocking dies from FabMo will cut felt! I'm going to try and cut Warm & Natural batting next. If I had to guess this was originally purchased from Temu. The quality just feels off and it came with no packaging information. I think I paid $3.

Now I have to decide what size I should make. The plan is to make a garland with stockings and ginger bread men. Still working on how I will embellish them and stitch them. 
 

Stitched Christmas Card - WhMemory Bite and Gold

Memory Box Stitch Die

I tried something different with my stitched Christmas tree cards. I've almost used up all my green DMC floss, which is a major goal! Even with selling off a lot of my thread stash, I still have a ton if it. For some unknown reason, I have a lot of white. Thinking maybe a white tree would be interesting and maybe adding pink rhinestones? I also have a lot of gold metallic thread but it's was really hard stitching on paper. Not sure if metallic embroidery thread is just hard to work with in general. 

I think the die I'm using to make the holes for the tree is a Memory Box die. 

Hero Arts Color Layer Stencils

Today was a meal prep day. While I was making my standard pasta dish, I whipped up some peanut butter cookies. By making them super big, it cuts the baking time. 

When I finished all the cooking and baking, I gave my new Hero Arts color layering stencils a try. Not as impressive as the poppies set but still fun. Very tight fitting on a A2 card size. Getting them to line up was a challenge too. Plus the very skinny parts would lift up if you weren't careful. I think my distressed inks aren't the right colors to use. I'll have to dig out the older ink pads I have. Fingers crossed they are still good. I'm glad I didn't pay full price for them stencils . 

October FabMo Crafting Haul

October Fabmo Haul $30.00

Do I need more crafting supplies? What a silly question. :)  

One thing I have been looking for is the Hero Arts color layer stencils. I had so much fun making the poppies a few months ago, that I've been waiting to see if more would get donated to FabMo. Was so thrilled when I found three in designs that I liked for $3 each. I was also looking for small cling sentiments stamps so pick up this set ($4.00) which I think is a Tim Holtz design. The snowflake die, embossing folder and stamps I'm pretty sure came from Temu but for a $1.50 thought I'd give it a try. The Christmas stocking die is another Temu item which you can get for $1.50 but FabMo priced it at $3.00. Planning on make some mini felt Christmas stocking like I did a few yers go. Fingers crossed it will cut felt or if all else fails, thin fabric. 

Quilts and FabMo

In the guest room where I'm pet sitting, there is this lovely quilt. Made for their daughter by her grandmother. It was done really well, grandma must be a pro!

I'm schedule to volunteer at FabMo this morning to help set up for the sale this weekend. Because morning traffic is so bad in that direction, it's a toss up if I'll have time to go home first to shower and make breakfast. I do have everything here except coffee. Sit in traffic or just take care of business here?

This is what I picked up last month at FabMo. I went late so it  was slim pickings in the paper crafting section. It was still fun and I did find a few things that just had to come home with me. :) 

Thimble holder display is for my booth $4, rusty felting needles and handle .50 (going to find out if that works), stencils .25 each (for my sun printing) and felt sheets bundle for $1

Coffee Cards & Tim Holtz Stamping Platform

I'm stilling pet sitting but I do go home everyday. It's just easier for me to shower and make breakfast at my place. Thankfully owner doesn't require me to be at their place all day. 

I'm still having a lot of fun making cards. This coffee set came from the crafter's buy out I did several months ago. 

When Tonic (Tim Holtz) lost the trade mark lawsuit with Misti, I went out and brought 3 of them. Those three cost the same as one Misti back then. He was able to sell whatever was in the stores at the time but could not restock them. That really was a bummer as his stamping platform is so much better. I do have two Mistis that came in a bulk buy, I don't like them at all. Very cheap plastic feel for such a high price tag. The hinges are known to break and the measuring tape sticker fades quickly. Plus your limited on what you can do with it compared to the Tim Holtz one.  I only keep the Misti ones around as back up for my classes. What I like about Tim's besides the cost at the time, is the removable lid. It's great when I'm stamping with different stamps (clear or red rubber) and not have to take my card out of the base. Being able to use both sides of the lid, using multiple lids and open ends is a game changer. Tonic who made the stamp platform discontinue making them after the lawsuit, which is sad. Paying anything on the secondary market of Tim Holtz if super $$$$.
 

Christmas Tree Card 2026

The crafting project I'm working on while pet sitting. I may have finally used up all my green DMC floss!  One of my life goals is to use up my craft supplies. This was one of the cards that was scheduled for the FabMo workshop so I had all the parts ready. 

I can't decided if I should go for the minimalism or maximalism look. As I get down to the last of my floss, it may force me to do the minimalist look. :)

Bird Babysitting

I'm pet sitting for the next two weeks. First time babysitting birds. Mr N bites and he does it a lot! Every time I move, I get bit. It's like a really sharp pinch and so far he hasn't drawn blood but has some close. He's a free range bird so is allowed to fly around the house. Yes, there are droppings but not as much as I thought there would be. It's still a little gross when I do find it on the the kitchen counters. The owner said it was OK to keep him in his cage if I didn't want to deal with his bad behavior. I feel bad keeping him in his cage all day but I'm so over getting pinched. The little dog Ms M, is a sweet heart. She's a senior dog and just likes to sleep when not actively looking for food. Very very food focused. She's a small dog but when it comes to food, she can jump pretty high. :)

Fixing A Leaking Toilet

 

I'm so proud of myself, I fixed my leaking toilet! I first had to track down what type I had and then watch several you tube videos. All of them just showed how to replace the whole thing. I thought maybe the gasket was the problem because it looked loose. I had to study the diagrams of where the parts all went. I'm guessing the gasket is already attached when you buy the unit so that wasn't something anyone said to check or even talked about. Yes, Matt or his dad would have come over to fix it but thought I should at least try. :)

More Cards - flower punches

 Still putting together all the cards I kitted for FabMo and old kits from past classes. I have over 100 cards ready to go into my card rack. With all the dogs here (Posey, Annie, Lilly) I haven't gone anywhere this week. Not that the dogs really need me here but I don't like having to put Lilly in her crate when I'm out. Cards don't sell well at CCB and they take 50% so I really make no money at all. But it's the creative process that's fun and using up what I have. The little flower punch is on it's last leg and it's also harder to use, so I switched to a bigger flower punch. Still deciding if I like the look. 

Using What I have

White or brown background?

After there was a big change in the workshop I was scheduled to do for FabMo, I decided to make all the cards in the kits I had put together. Normally I would have saved them or put everything away. 

Then during my endless hobby of organizing craft supplies, decided to finish all the partial kits I've stored for years. Cards don't sell well at CCB and my card rack is full but it's time to refresh the rack. Knowing they won't  sell, I'm still having fun making them. I keep finding more card parts after years of teaching so there's no shortage of things to make!

Halloween Cards 2026

I'm not sure where these stickers came from but too cute not to turn into cards. I found them during my endless sorting of craft supplies. A lot of things got moved up to the attic when Henk came into town. Slowly working on getting everything back down into my workspace.

 Halloween cards don't sell well at CCB but I still had fun making them. Cards in general don't sell well as there are way to many card makers. Add to the mix all the AI people that have been allowed to sell there. In my opinion, not very creative or even very cute.

Dog Sitting

Now that I'm more comfortable using my counter top oven, I can whip up a small batch of peanut butter cookies. Not sure how I ended up with a big jar of peanut butter but I hate for it to go to waste. I use to always have peanut butter when Annie was with me. I filled her treat ball before I left for work every morning.

This week my babysitting two big dogs named Lilly and Annie at my place. Their cousins to Posey, so they get to sleep in the big house. Lilly gets a little nervous when alone (her family all work from home) so having the TV on helps. Since my extra large flatscreen isn't hooked up, she needs to be in the main house. I'm in charge of feeding and poop pick up. With three big dogs, that's a lot of poop! It's nice to have them around even if Lilly decided the best place to poop is in my raised bed area. At least she didn't climb into the raised beds!

Lilly is a velco dog!

 

FabMo Workshop - Advanced Iris Folding

I was asked to do a class for FabMo because there was a waiting list of people. Well what I wasn't told it was for an advanced iris folding cards. When I found out, I did offer to switch. I only did that because I had found my sample cards during my recent and on going clean up of craft supplies.  Organizing art supplies is a hobby right?

I went to all that work designing a new class but I'm lucky I didn't finish kitting all of them. That would have sucked!

It's not that doing a circle is "hard" but that you have to pay attention and keep things in order. Working with five different washi papers can get confusing if you don't keep them in order in front of you. Toward the end of the circle things aren't in numeric order either so you have to pay attention to the pattern. 
 

Auction Week

It's auction week and here are a few things I looked at. If there's something I'm interested in, I take a picture. Then when I get home I check what the opening bid will be. If it's too high, it gets crossed off my list. What I'm now in search of is a large vintage work table. There was only one table that was a maybe but is also has six gothic looking chairs that I would have a hard time getting rid of.

At last month auction, I thought this hutch was interesting. Thinking that it would sell for more than I wanted to pay, it didn't make my list. It sold for $30, which totally shocked me! Today I saw it was still there which was odd. Then I checked the catalog and it had been "withdrawn" from the auction. I can only guess the seller wasn't too happy with the sale price. I also think the auctioneer made a mistake and didn't see the bid was way below the seller's opening bid requirement. The auctioneer has to keep track of several things on each item, so it's understandable that mistakes are made. Still a very nice hutch and if I had room for it, it would come home with me.

 

Barilla VS Banza Pasta

Barilla $2.50 VS Banza .99

With all the bad press about what is going into our food, I'm always sad when I brand I like is on the hit list. Barilla gluten free pasta has been my go to for years. They never have gotten good reviews from the food and health experts even before I knew about the two added chemicals. Not sure what the extra ingredients/chemicals do but I guess it's bad. 

Gluten free products have gotten a whole lot better from when I first started out. Back in the day, most were not edible at all. When I was up in Incline Village this summer there aren't many places to shop. I would normally not even look at the Banza brand because in the early days anything made with chickpeas were terrible. I really had no choice because that's all the store had at a price point I was willing to pay. Being a vacation town everything is very pricey. All the "experts" said to go with Banza, but in my mind, have they really try it? Did they just looked at the list of ingredients? I decided since I didn't really have any other choice, I picked up a box. It's was actually was pretty good if used with a good sauce. It's basically tasteless (just rice flour and chickpeas) but it holds together well. I'm slowly using up my stash of Barilla and stocking my pantry with Banza. I could make my own pasta (I've done it before) but I like having a stocked pantry.  

Newsletter Deadline - Final Four

The final four for my up coming class at FabMo in October. The Christmas tree took a little longer because I can't find my vellum paper. The news letter deadline is today, so I just had to take the photo. It wasn't because I was procrastinating. I was only given less than a week to make the samples. My classes are different than the other teachers. There are a lot of different projects, doing various techniques. Since I'm using what I have in my stash, I have to make sure I have enough for ten people. I'm basically kitting while I'm designing which adds a lot of time. Plus FabMo would like that I use what you can find at FabMo. I'm still in search for my vellum!

FabMo Class - Project change

Update: Change in what the project will be. 

Samples of the projects I'll be teaching next month for FabMo. There will be another card but I have to make sure I have enough vellum for ten people. These are old school techniques and using what I have. 

I like the Hedi Kyle pocket book because it uses a 12X12 scrapbooking paper, which most of us have. It's pretty simple once you've done it a few dozen times. :) 

I watched another card maker do color smooshing and thought that would be fun for the class. I like making a mess and everyone's combo will be different. I think people in my class will have fun with it. 

 

Hedi Kyle Pocket Book Fold

I've been asked to do a  card making workshop at FabMo in October. One major roadblock is that I'm insisting on only charging $20 -$30, which all goes to FabMo bank account. It's my volunteer service to them and I really think they need workshops that are affordable. Not saying the other workshops aren't worth what the other teachers get paid but I'm not doing it for the money. There is a wait list of people waiting for me to do another class, which is nice. I think because my class are very low key and fun. Time spent with other crafters and not break the bank. Now days, it's cheaper than a hamburger!

I found this Hedi Kyle pocket book pattern  online and thought that would be perfect for the class. Something a little different using what you can find at FabMo. Took me several tries to get it right. I watched Hedi's videos but there are a few steps that weren't very clear. I finally had to research if anyone else has done a how to video that was better at explaining her pattern my brain could follow. I did order her book from the library to see what else she has done. Look interesting!

Homemade Kettle Corn

I like kettle corn but at the farmer's market it's now over $10 for a small baggie. I remember the days when a huge bag was only $10 and that would last me at least a few days. It's always been in the back of mind to make it at home. 

I really like tender white popcorn, which I have a lot of. Use to make popcorn all the time so have a ton of it around. It's not the brand that they suggest you use but I went for it anyways. Overall it went well if you don't count all the very hot kernels flying out of the pan. You have to let the steam out so the lid has to be kept open a little bit. Even with that small gap they shot out like rockets! On top of having to keep shaking the pan while dodging the kennels was a challenge! The one thing I didn't expect was the fried oil smell. So if I where to do this again, I would use the side burner on my outdoor grill.