Using what you have list

I follow the Susan Raihala blog "Simpicilty" and in 2014 she posted she wanted to use everything on her list of supplies during  the 2015 year. I edited her list a little, since there are some things I no longer have. Being a list person, I love this!
So the things I have used in 2016 are highlighted in red.

1. Stickles
2. Stardust pens
3. Baker's twine/twine/embroidery floss
4. Wink of Stella pens...keep easy access
5. Alcohol markers (Bic/Sharpie/Copic)
6. Watercolor pencils
7. Watercolor markers
8. Twinkling H2Os
9. Colored pencils
10. Embossing powders and enamel
11. Geometric shape punches (circles, squares, ovals)
12. Punches
13. Deco Scissors
14. Border punches
15. Gold leaf
16. Rhinestones--cannot function without them!
17. Pearls
18. Water pens
19. Blender pens
20. Metallic markers...pry from my cold, dead hands
21. Chalks--Keep easy access
22. Ribbon
23. Scor-Pal
24. Brayer
25. Sponges
26. Stippling brushes...Keep easy access!
27. Glimmer Mist
28. Corner rounder
29. Metal embellishments 
30. Buttons
31. Fabric (muslin, burlap)
32. Assorted templates (Fiskar's ShapeCutter, plastic, brass)

When you see a list like this and start checking things off, you can tell the supplies you don't really use and have to wonder why you still have them in your stash!

Lawn Fawn - Gleeful Garden stamp set

Gleeful Garden

While I was down in Carmel last week, I got bored so I went off looking for some stamp. Coming from the big city, there are many places to shop, not so in a smaller community. I went to the only Micheal's in area and they had nothing. It was a newer store, bright and clean but really lacking in the stamp department.  The next day I went to Beverly's Fabrics which is the only other hobby type store in the area. Their stamp selection was pretty sad too. They did have all of the Lawn Fawn stamp sets but you had to ask to see them. I talked to the store manager (who had to get the stamps out of the office) why they were under lock and key. She said so many were getting stolen, they had no choice. I guess with stamp sets now costing $25 a pop, makes it a hot item. 
Can't decide on this card if I like the small font "snail mail". I know design wise something has to go there but can't find the right "thing". This will be a make n take at some point, once I find the perfect sentiment. 

Beach time 2016 Lawn Fawn Sushi

Twinkling H2O master sheets

I spend the last 2 weeks down at the beach house in Carmel. It was great being able to walk down to the beach twice a day and walk along the surf. I always sleep so well when I'm down there. Not sure if it's because of the 3 hours of walking everyday or just being away from having to be an adult. ;)
As all crafters, I take way too many projects to work on and forgetting important parts. I totally pack my card so even Annie has to curl up into a ball for the ride.
I totally forget to take ink pads, which is something you really need if you plan to stamp. I had to break down and go buy one. It was a tough call (since I would only buy one) of which type to buy, one that works with water or one that works with Copics. The Memento won out so I could use my Copic pens. I did make dozen background water color pages, which is a very relaxing creative activity. Now that I'm back home I have to figure something out to do with them.

Lawn Fawn and Hero Arts Stamps

Watercolor

I was inspired by Charlene's water coloring card she gave to our card making group. I don't do a lot with watercolor but it doesn't stop me from buying the products. :) I sold off several sets of watercolor pencils :( because I never used them. So I only have a sample case of basic colors. As I struggled with the pencils, I broke out my copic markers which take less time to work in the shading. 

Frog Card - Eat that Frog

eat that frog

On Friday I have to do a presentation on being organized. 
One of my favorite book is "Eat that Frog" by Brian Tracy. It's old school and bent toward to men when it was written but I found it helpful. 
I plan to hand out this card to the women in the group. I saw a you tube where they stacked up card stock behind the image to give it a little punch. Hard to see it in the photo but it does look good. :)

Gluten Free - Grain Brain by Dr. Perlmutter

I've been living the gluten free for a few years now. I'm gluten sensitive so I know there are some things that slip in via cross contamination or so far down the list of ingredients, I miss it but I don't have full blown episodes of IBS.
People are always skeptical about those of us who eat this way. Are we really gluten sensitive or are we just following a fad? 
In my case, growing up on a vegetable farm and eating a basic Japanese diet, I wasn't exposed to much gluten. My mom was a super cook and made almost everything from scratch. Coming from a big family, we had bacon and eggs for breakfast instead of cereal. I don't remember my mom making pancakes, which with 6 kids to feed would have taken too long. There was little or no flour used in our house. I really was raised with real, locally grown and in season food. Living in California our growing season is almost year round so fresh veggies were always available. 
As an adult I started having more and more issues with my stomach and I knew if I ate sandwich I would get really sleepy afterwards. I never linked eating gluten with my bouts of IBS. I was talking to a fitness teacher friend about my IBS when I hiked (really bad to be on the trail when it hits) and she suggested I go gluten free for 3 days. Well, it was like walking across the street, the changes were that fast. 
I go IBS free so long as I'm good with my eating. 
I post this because everyone has issues with gluten even if they don't have outward signs. After reading the book Grain Brain by Dr. Perlmutter, I understand more of the science behind it. Hard book to get through because it's very technically but does help explain the process.
Makes me sad when I meet people suffering from the effects of gluten but their refusal to even try going gluten free for a week. They would rather pop pills or under go surgery than change their diet. 

Altnew Watercolor Floral Stamp set.

Card by Charlene W. 

I have some very talented crafty buddies! Last night at our monthly get together, Charlene shared this card. Stamp set is from Altnew "watercolor floral" and distress inks. Charlene motto is, "I buy craft supplies instead of traveling". She is my go to advice person on anything crafty. I'm going to try and make this card using the stamps I already have. Even with down sizing my stash by 90% I still have a lot to work with. :) 

Hero Arts Fish

I waited for months to get both the fish stamps and matching die cuts. Ordered from two different places which was part of the problem. At first I was going to put the fish in a small glass fish bowl filled with blue jelly belly for my crafting group but after thinking about it, I didn't think the ladies would have much use for it, so I made them into cards. Late last night I couldn't decide if I should use the Hero Arts girl or the vase (sorry can't remember the name of the company) with my fish. Thankfully I have crafting buddies who are night owls so I sent them a text for their opinion. So far it's a tie, one liked the girl and the other one liked the vase. :) 
I put the eyes on the fish because I thought it was funny. Reminded me of the fighting fish that have to be kept separated. I don't use a glue pen a whole lot but the only way to secure the white ring was to dig out my pens, which of course many have dried up. I think finding a working pen took longer than make the card!

Penny Black Stamp - Using up Scraps

Penny Black Stamp

I think every paper crafter ends up with a tons of paper. I don't teach as many classes as I use to but I still have a lot of paper scraps from those classes. This weekend I started going through my class kits and using up all the left overs. These cards are made with the strips leftovers. Using full sheets of label paper as a backing makes fast work of the making background paper. 

Using up my scrap paper

Carmel - May 2016

Carmel City Beach/Farmer's Market

For Mother's day, we spent the weekend down at the Carmel beach house. It was once again a house full of kids, dogs, noise and way more food than we could eat. Really miss those days when my mom was still here and going to her house for all the family holidays. After everyone left on Sunday, Annie and I spent a few more days to enjoy the beach. One day we walked into the town to Annie's favorite snack shop. It's a self service type of place for dogs. Annie is good about not trying to eat everything in sight. She really does sniff everything before deciding which ones she wants. Another things we picked up was a rain coat. Annie is hard to fit so I have to try everything on her. This coat is a XXXL. Annie is a big girl but I would never thing of her as a 3X. 

FABMO - Totes

I volunteer at FABMO almost every week in some way. I've been working on making tote bags for the homeless. We make the totes a little bigger with outdoor fabric samples with extra long handles. The outdoor fabric isn't very popular with the crafters so there is always plenty to sew with. As the homeless line up at the food banks, many only have black plastic trash bags to carry their things in. The fabric totes are much stronger and easier to carry things in. 
My sewing skills are very rusty so I've been able to practice getting into the groove of things while helping out someone in need. The fabric samples are small, so I have to piece together the squares (can't really call it quilting, because my corners never match up) to get enough yardage to make a tote. 

FABMO Fabric

I've been volunteering at FABMO (super non profit) for the past few months and every time I go in, I tell myself that I will not bring home any  more fabric! I thought I was going to be able to leave without finding anything and then BAM, the last box I opened up had these beauties. I plan to make pillows out of the black and gray silk. The blue one has amazing embroidering and if I could I would cover a whole sofa! It and the sea pattern will go into my stash to 

 be made into something at some point. One can only make so many pillows. Only if I had a beach house!