Cold Weather Cooking - California Style

The heater rarely goes on at my place. My last place had a big gas heater that didn't vent outside so it wasn't really safe to use IMO. Here with Posey, my front door is always open during the day. It allows her to come and go from the main house to my place when ever she wants. It doesn't really get cold enough for me to have the heater on most of the time. So it's a little weird to hear the strange sound when the heater does kick in early in the morning. 

I'm getting into fall cooking making country hash browns with bacon. I'm also switch to making more tea. I make a big pot and can't get through all of it when it's hot. I get all fancy and pour the leftover tea into a wine glass. In my inventory at the store, I have a lot of Waterford wine glasses. Thinking I'll bring some home for the season, as they don't sell well at all in my booth. 

Blueberry & Honey

Making a mess that sparkles

Posey

Posey really doesn't like the time change. She has her meals at 4:00 am & pm. We have been prepping her for the past week making her meal times later and later.  A big food focus dog who also has a big dog bark. She can make the walls shake when she goes full volume. This is the look I get when she comes over telling me it's dinner time. Best I can do is give her a carrot (she doesn't appreciate that at all) to keep her sort of calm. At least I don't have the morning shift. :)

Inspired by one of  Tim Holtz's videos (love the long videos) to just play with what you have. Making parts that may or may not be for something specific. I broke out my Accu-Cut snowflake die since I had my machine out. My twinkling H2O (very old school) are still on my desk from my bird cards. The snowflakes needed a little more sparkle, so I added some Stickles. No idea what I will do with them once they dry but having fun making a mess!

Heavy Weight Watercolor Paper

Old Stampendous Stamp

Part of the hobby of being a crafter is buying and organizing your supplies. I'm slowing going thru my wood mounted stamps and sell them off.  Over the pass 15 years I must have sold off thousands. I'm at the point in my life that it's time to let them go and free up some space. As I'm going through them, I pull out some that spark that creative joy and make several cards. That's the reason I can ship off 100 cards to Ohio and not make a dent in my card rack. :) 

I have no idea how old this image is from Stampendous, but it's been in my stash for a long long time!  There were many different techniques I wanted to try with it. Finally went with color pencils and twinkling H2O. The pencils resisted the water color so I could get a nice wash of  iridescent color for the background. 

Goodwill score - Viking quarter sheet pans

$3.10 each at Goodwill

If you follow my blog you know that I now live in a ADA unit that was originally designed to be a man cave. It has everything but an oven. They didn't think the guys would be doing a whole lot of cooking. :) The place is perfect for me and I couldn't be happier. There are a few times I wish I had an oven, so I got a table top model. The only thing I didn't have was cookie sheets that would fit. It's not mission critical for making cookies but would be nice to have = not going to paying full price. Yesterday I found a two new Viking quarter pans at Goodwill for $3.10 each. I'm guessing they came in a set with larger pans and it wasn't needed. SCORE!  I was more than thrilled finding them!
 

100 cards doantion

100 cards going to a new home

I don't make as many cards as I use to because I don't teach as many classes anymore. But I do have enough supplies to make thousands! In my efforts to use up what I have, my card rack is overflowing big time. 

A card making online friend I've known for over 15 years, has a card rack at her church. It's in memory of one of her friends that past away several years ago. The money from the sales of the cards goes to a volunteer support group. She lives in Ohio and with it being in the news, I thought of her. It's been awhile since I sent cards and I had a box. I don't shop on Amazon anymore so there's no big pile of boxes hanging around.  Sending 100 cards didn't even make a dent in my card rack. I was thinking of sending 200 but only 100 would fit in the box I had. 

I did break down buy card sleeves from Michael's. That was my choice as it will make it easier for Susan. All the card sleeves I use have my price tags on them and they won't come off.  

Going off in the mail today. 

 

Life of a Reseller - DGW Auction House - October 2026

I do check the all the local auction sites every morning. For me it's like reading the newspaper with my coffee. My way for doing comps. 

This cabinet is coming up for auction at DGW auction house in Sunnyvale. DGW is not really good at taking a lot of pictures or giving detailed descriptions. Very old school auction house when in person auctions were the norm. They expect buyers to come in and inspect everything, which you definitely have to do. This type of cabinet is what I love to find. Getting harder to find them but they do sell fast. The other thing is some have a very strong mold odor, which it very hard to get out. Going to check it out but I'm pretty sure it won't be coming home with me. :(

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

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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!