Where to find creative inspiration

 When I'm in a creative slump I go to the library. There's always a local artist's exhibit which is inspiring. This month (May) at the Saratoga library this artist show cased a few watercolors using home made pigments. Sorry I didn't note her name. I was wondering if the paint was light fast = will fade over time. Which at my age isn't really that important anymore. :) Making my own paint is on my list of things I want to try. Wondering if there will be workshop at Craftcation? 

I picked up several books on quilling hoping it would inspire me to get out all my quilling tools. As any paper crafter, I have all the supplies to make a ton!

In my yard I get a lot of birds in the morning. Not being able to have a bird feeder because it attracts rats, it nice to open my front door and hear all the chirping. There are several nests and I hear the babies chirping all day. The birds like chewing on my plants leaves like they did back at my old place up in hills in Cupertino. Posey doesn't care about them flying around, just like Annie. Brings back a lot of happy memories. 

Lonely Road - Feng Shui

I was listening to a Feng Shui  You Tuber and she said not to have artwork of a lonely road in your house. Guess it manifest a lot of negative things especially in the bedroom. I really like this 1964 photo of a road down in Pebble Beach. Would I love to walk down that road and imagining how quiet and peaceful it would be. I could see Annie walking along checking everything out and hearing the ocean waves. I had it right next to a pen ink drawing from an artist from Monterey so it made a nice sentimental grouping.

I picked up this painting of oranges at the estate sale I did this past weekend. It was dusty and has some damage so that was the reason everyone passed on it. I dragged it home, cleaned it and touched up the missing paint. It's not an original so I wasn't worried about ruining it. I love the pop of color in my otherwise very dark room but still not sure it's the right vibe. Of course the clock doesn't work at all now so the hunt for something to replace it or I go back to my black and white photo. 
 

Dowdle Puzzle Haul 2026

I like doing puzzles and the Dowdle brand is a favorite. I prefer the 500 piece puzzles because I can get them done in one day. It's something I take when I dog sit. Can't take them when I cats sit as the cats like to "help". Once I've done the puzzles I sell it off at CCB. It's not a money spinners but I at least get my money back. This was another cross town pick up I did on Sunday. I no sooner got home when these got posted. I hopped back into my car and made the drive. Paid about $3.25 for 36 puzzles. 12 are new in the box, which doesn't really mean anything to me as I'll be opening them but I did pay more for them. I now have a nice back stock when I babysit the Frenchies. 

Claw Machine Found

$15.00

For months I've been looking for a claw machine. I thought it would be fun for the boys during their visit this summer. As much as they love the gnome house, it's time to up grade. Of course thrifting this was a challenge. Many were either over priced or played with a little to much. Everyday I searched Facebook market place and finally found one! Took me a week before I could pick it up as it was across town. I did a lot of cross town driving on Sunday, more on that later.  When I showed the boys via a video call, they were thrilled. Mees gets the whole reward system because he is a rule follower. Henkie thinks he can do it but we'll find out. I did make sure it was ok with upper management as I'm not up to date with the latest parenting trends. The plan is to fill it with candy and tickets for toys that don't fit into the unit. I thought easter eggs would work but it's a little hard me to make it work. Now I'm in search of those little plastic balls you can fill. 

Estate Sale

I helped out at an estate sale on Friday. It wasn't a big one and there wasn't a whole lot there. If I had to guess this was a second home just close enough to the big city. What was left was really good stuff and the artwork was impressive. Guess there was some original artwork that was suppose to be at the estate sale but the family removed them. That was sad not to be able to see it all but even worse for the estate person as it didn't leave a lot to sell. She takes a % of the sale and if there's not a lot to sell it's really not worth her time. 

One of perks of helping out is that we can pick before the doors open. Most of the nice stuff was way over my price range to resell so I went for the basic household stuff like dish soap.  I would normally not pick up bags of dirt but I've been thinking about getting some perlite for my violets. I'm boycotting HomeDepot so I would have to make a special trip so a local nursery. That also means I would be paying top dollar for something I really don't need. I did pick up this pan rack for my son's condo. He's kitchen is tiny and doesn't have a lot of storage space. We had talked about getting one of these so it's perfect. Hand foraged with a narrow profile. Took a lot of running up and down the stairs with a ladder to get it down. Now the challenge is getting up to Tahoe!

ATC cards in the making

Messy Desk Is A Happy Desk

I have a stack of test sun printing samples and I just hate to throw them out. The watercolor paper I used is expensive. 

I decided I would make ATC cards for Craftcation 2027. 

I think I'm the last person to still use twinkling H2O watercolors!  After many, many years I'm finally use up some of my favorite colors. It's still my go to watercolors when I'm in a creative rut. The plan is I'll add my contact information on the back. Sort of an over the top business card.  The other design I plan to do is a mini iris folding circle. Still working on how to get the pattern that small and still be able to see the folds. 

 

Blue Cheese Guacamole 2026

 I've never been one to toss out food just because. With food prices going through the roof, I'm even more mindful what I buy at the store. I go in with a list and I now rarely impulse buy anything. Having a Costco size bag of avocados and having them getting ripe at the same time  requires planning. 

Seeing recipes for guacamole where you don't smash them up but keep them in chunks. I thought why not? I added salsa sauce and blue cheese to go with the corn chips I picked up. I know adding blue cheese to the guacamole is weird but it worked! :)

Most Important Man in My Life

I've said for many years the most important man in my life is my car mechanic, Marco. I know nothing about cars other than how to drive. I use my car everyday or at least like the idea I can. Because of my lack of knowledge and mistrust of local oil changing places, I'm very bad about getting my car serviced. Plus having to find someone to pick me up when I drop off my car. 

Earlier this week my car AC was making my whole car shake. Which was scary. It was way passed needing an oil change too. So I made the call to Marco to set up an appointment. He knew it was the AC fan that was the problem when I dropped off  my car. I get a call later in the afternoon and Marco said to replace the fan box unit, the part alone was $3,000! He knew I wouldn't be happy about that so he took the whole thing apart. He found what he thinks was a lizard stuck on the fan blades causing an imbalance, which was causing the whole car to shake. I'm sure if I had taken it anywhere else I would have gotten huge repair bill. I'm still without a car today as one more part is still on order but it's not mission critical.  I elected to keep my car there and hopefully it will get replaced today. 

While stuck at home I made a very long to do list. One thing I wanted to do was trim back the lemon grass and rosemary plants I planted last year.  Also to make cuttings as I slowly turn the old lawn area (Posey potty area) into a more drought tolerant landscape. Took some mint cuttings just because I could, they don't really need help spreading. :)

Last of my death pile.

Used up the last of the tomato sauce I made last week. I added what I had in my refrigerator (zucchini and spinach) and I think that helped. The plan is to make it again today with hot Italian sausage. My car has to go into the shop for a long over due check up. So getting stuck at home, I have a mile long to do list. 

I'm going thorough my death pile in the garage (things that didn't sell) and packing it all up. I'm donating it all to another reseller who sells at the local flea market. I think it's good stuff  but for some reason didn't sell.  Sam doesn't have to think about his profit margin because it's all profit for him.  I'm down to the last box! Yes, I could donate to the store but we get so much that I would rather help out another reseller. I also drop at the local Salvation Army truck that's behind Cottage Crafts. Again I could take it to the store but I would have to handle it again so it's much easier for me to drop it off at the truck . The Salvation Army for all it's faults does have programs that really help those in need. It's sometimes is the last safety net for those on the streets or dealing addiction.

Craftcation 2027 Anyone?

 

When you're practicing sun printing or watercoloring you should use the best paper you have. It's really important in sun printing because everything gets dunked in water multiple times. I have all these samples stacked up on my table. I just hate throwing them out so there they sit. 

After watching "The Stitchery" you tube about her review on "Craftcation" in Ventura, I checked it out. Sounded interesting and her positive reviews made me sign up. Well after another friend said she would go with me sealed the deal. Right after that Sandy Allnock (another online artist I follow) talked about handing out mini zine books with her business cards at a watercolor conference she attended in Italy for Daniel Smith watercolors. I thought why don't I try and make those little books with my watercolor papers. I knew it would be too thick but I gave it a try anyways. It didn't work but the folded pages are the size of business cards. So maybe I'll cut them up and embellish them a little more for ATC / business cards. 

Anyone else interesting in going to Craftcation in 2027? We can plan an informal get together and trade ATC cards!

Fig Tree 2026

One of the few things I miss about my studio in Cupertino (there aren't many things) was the little fig tree. It was tiny and should have died years ago. It was my first time having one and I didn't know how easy they are to grow. That little tree produced a dozen figs on it's tiny little branch. Yes it only had one branch. This past weekend a volunteer brought in some fig saplings. I was so thrilled to finally be able to plant one in my yard! Prepping the spot in the yard and trying to figure out how to keep Posey from digging it up. 

My potato plants are doing great. A few months ago they started to sprout so I planted them. I just like having green things in my garden so even if the potatoes don't turn out well, they look lushy green!

 

Amazing Gold Cigarette Case

On Friday I met the gold and silver guys at the store. We had a shoebox of broken silver that we were willing to sell for scrap. Long story of drama about being able to to that. 

These guys pay 85% of whatever spot price is that day. That is the highest amount of anyone who's willing to come to you will pay. I set up an appointment because there are a few other volunteers who want to sell off silver and feel safer doing it at the store. That morning the guys got a call  from an estate clean out person that they had a lot of gold. This vintage cigarette case (it was tested via a scanning machine) is gold. About $18k worth of gold! Best guess it's Russian. It's was pandemonium at the store. The guys wanting to keep our appointment but also having to go to the bank to make the wire transfer and dealing with all the random questions the ladies kept asking them.  A lot of wheels spinning for everyone involved! Still very cool find for the guys!