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. 

Got creative with my holiday tree.

view from my window

I couldn't decide if I should spend the money on getting a real tree since it would be over $100. It was worth it when the boys were here to hike around the hills and cut a tree down, but it's just me now.  I've been looking for a fake tree too but again the prices are just too high especially since I know after the holidays everything will go on sale. It's the thrifter in me. :)  I saw an old post of what I did when I lived up in the Cupertino hills. I used a tomato cage to make several trees. So I decided why not give it a try here. For the topper I used a dog topiary frame I had. Makes me smile because it looks like the dog is doing her business. Not sure how to fix that issue. :) 

When things make you feel old.

It was one of those surprised moments when you just slap your forehead. When I was going down to the Carmel house a lot, I would take a portable CD player. Had the same old one for years. Then I dropped it while unloading my car and it broke into a thousand pieces. I didn't think finding another one would be so hard. I've been searching for over 2 years now. All that I've picked up (5 and counting) either from the thrift store or friends, the CD part doesn't work. I guess there's a shelf life to the CD part. 

I picked up  what I thought was only a DVD player. I still haven't figure out how to connect my old devices to the big screen TV in my place. I don't watch enough TV to pay for a service which with all these high tech screens you have to do. The ads for everything else are longer than whatever movie I want to watch.  I'm guessing this small player was meant to be used in the car back in the day. As I was cleaning up and I looked at what device this booklet went to. Then I saw it - it was both a DVD AND CD player. Who knew one player could do both! That just makes me feel old. I've had this player for a few months now and never knew. So of course the first thing I did was gave it try and yes it works. :) 

 

My mini Savers haul 2025

I had things to drop off at Savers and of course I had to go in to check things out - market research. :) Tuesday is senior discount day (30% off) so it's always busy. 

A friend was looking for a big French press but none have come into the store and the online auctions have gone way too high. I not only did I find one at Savers but it was also PYREX (all upper case) which was an added bonus. $5 after the senior discount. SCORE!

My impulse buy was these ashtrays that were hanging in a bag on the wall. For small things at Savers, they bag everything. I don't smoke but ashtrays do resell well. The other reason I got them was to use them as pen/paint brush holders. I follow Sandy Allnock an artist (check out her You Tube videos) who does a lot of pen and ink. She has a little crab pen holder which is super cute and made me want one of my own. I was thrilled when my ink pen fit perfectly in these ash trays. I like to think it's a little more up scale with an Asian twist. :)

My version of up-cycling and to justify buying all 12 of them. :) Yes, I will sell off most of them. Set of four was $4.20 after the discount. 

 

Fly By Jing Noodle Kit

There are specialty YouTubers who do reviews on the Asian foods at Costco. With the large Asian population in the Bay Area, it's no surprise what you can find at Costco. My daughter is a big fan of Fly By Jing, so I wanted to give this a try. It's a wheat based noodle so it's not something I can eat all the time. I think it's a little on the expensive side but I grew up with cup of noodles. :) It broke down to $2.00 a packet. Overall it was very good. Add a little protein and it would make a nice side dish. Not enough for a full meal, at least for me. :)  

Now the debate is if I should keep it or ship it off to my son. Because of my gluten issues is the only reason I wouldn't keep it.  

Mini retreat

One of the things I miss about the Carmel house is the gas fireplace. Years ago when I remodeled my big house I decided not to add a fireplace. I knew having a wood burning fireplace would be banned at some point and I would rather have the wall space for art. Now gas fireplaces are a thing but I think I would still choose not to have one. 

I'm hanging out at my friend's house binge watching the Great British Baking show and doing some cooking. They have a lovely gas fireplace, something I think they just converted. Very cozy with the storm that's coming through right now.  Just need to find a good book to read. :)

1950"s Vintage Luggage Set

These 1950's vintage suitcases came into the store this weekend. It was an immediate YES when asked if we took old things like this. Not only are they very cool but the insides are in pristine condition. If I had to guess they never used the big suitcases. No funky odor either. I was so excited that I got them out on the floor asap. This is what makes the store stand out and what collectors are looking for. Because we have almost a complete set (there's a medium size one missing) in excellent condition it should sell fast. 
 

Blooming Chocolate A Thing?

Every morning I make a big mug of coffee. I use the pour over method because it takes a lot less room on my limited counter space. Love the smell of coffee but not so much the taste. Being lactose intolerant I use oat milk.  Trader's Joe chocolate oat milk was my go to but after they discontinued it, I had to make my own. Which is a healthier way to go.  I read that coco powder has to be activated with something warm to get the full flavor. I've been trying it so see if that method is true. I would like to think it's working as I think my coffee is a little more chocolatey tasting but it could be just wishful thinking. 
 

Craving for tofu

I haven't been to the Japanese grocery store in a while. I had a craving for fresh tofu and I was going to pick up some snacks for my son. I normally don't pay too much attention to food prices as I'm only shopping for one.

The sticker shock was no joke. What I would normally get for my son would be around $30 but now it would have easily gone over $100. I had to pass on getting the snacks. 

After the pandemic I've gotten into the habit of stocking up on shelf stable basics. I once cooked with only what I had to see how long I could go without buying anything. I think I went three solid weeks with no planning ahead of time. I now make a point to stay stocked up. 

I've been looking for some big artwork for my son and I liked this painting that came into the store. It would look good on his wall but the general vote was to pass on it. Guess I'll keep working on getting the snow boards rack made. It's a long story so when I get a photo I'll share. :)

 

Day in a life of a reseller

 Months ago this artwork came in. I was interested in it so put my name on it to have it priced. Then it just disappeared and no one in the art department knew where it went. It was gone for months, so I just guessed someone else brought it. Everyone at the store knows I resell and many feel that it's just wrong. So if I want anything priced they will double if not triple the price because I must know the full resell value. When this came back into the store it had gone somewhere (maybe the auction house) to be priced and of course priced high. I had a little chat with the art person about it and we came up with a price we were both happy with. 

I have very little wall space to hang art so if I add anything to my  space I have to really like it or be willing to take something down. I'm slowly moving into a black and white phase with just a splash of color right now so this may end up on my wall. 

Mini score on silver

I don't normally deal in gold and silver but it just seems to find me. While I was at the Goodwill bins in Salinas I went through the very picked over cutlery bin/table. I went through it because no one else was around it. I saw this butter knife and noticed it was monogramed. Very hard to see, but it's there. Thinking someone would only do that on the good stuff and with metal only being .99 a pound it wasn't going to cost me a lot. The gold and silver guys came in today, so I had them check it out. Turns out to be the real deal and I made $10 which covered the cost of my entire Goodwill haul. I know it doesn't sound like a lot but I only paid about .10 for the knife. That is a very good return on my investment. Now I'm wondering if I should have looked for more of that set. :) 

People waiting for the new stuff to come out

 

Auction Adventures 2025

I made the drive down to Salinas this weekend which is over an hour away. I was a little nervous as it was hard to find the house on Google maps. There are two streets reasonable close to each other with the same name. The address numbers were almost the same too. I bid on several Eldreth Santas so had a lot of money invested not to go. It was in a neighborhood of big custom homes up in the hills that surround Salinas. The home looked like it was built in the early 70's (very stylish) with beautiful views of the mountains. I was sad that I didn't get the whole collection of Santas but two pieces went way over the resell value. I was disappointed that the one piece I really wanted was the wrong size. That is one down side to online auctions as you don't get to see anything in person. Would I have bid on the collection if I had known the true sizes, probably not. But it was my fault for not doing a deep dive in researching what sizes these Santas came in. 

Since I was there, I went to the Goodwill bin outlet. There you pay per pound. Books are .75 per pound, metal and glass are .99 per pound. Not sure what the clothes sell for as I didn't get any. It was a slow day at the bins and not a lot of people there. Not sure if it was because it was Sunday and most resellers are selling at the flea markets or because of the fear of ICE raids. I was one of the few who did not speak Spanish. 

I picked up an American Test Kitchen cookbook (2001-2015) that weighs almost 7 pounds. No, I do not need another cookbook but this one was in perfect condition and I don't have it in my collection. The other things I picked up were't super special. I'm hoping the butter knife is silver but the whole lot came to $6. I think because the vintage glass pitcher was heavy.

 

No King Day

No King Day 10/18/25

When I dumpster dive I save the used canvas the art department throws out. Yes I saved a lot of them to make protest signs. I was planning on making very professional looking signs using my Circut machine but then I thought this is a grass roots movement.  I would have loved to do the frog but my free hand drawing is very limited. I did make extra is case your in my area and need a sign. 
 

Creative Play Time

I'm a night owl and it's really kicking in now that I don't have to get up at any certain time. My body still wakes up at 7:00 am no matter what time I've fallen asleep but my most creative time is after midnight. 

I went dumpster diving Wednesday as I prepped the bins for the Hope truck pick up. I like to the have things in boxes or bag (as they requested) so the loading of the Hope truck is easier on the guys. I found a big basket to cards by Theresa Robinson that were on their way out. Her original artwork was done in pen and ink. They were turned into greeting cards that I can only guess didn't sell well. At first I thought maybe my friend who does collage would like them but she passed on them. I had to think of something else to do with them as I didn't want them throw away. I first separated out the envelopes that I can use for my workshops at some point. Then I decided to practice my using my color pencils and gamsol to color in the images. Using the images like a coloring book and a jumping off point to make alter art. I can also practice using my ink pens to alter her images as the ink doesn't bleed on her cards. At some point I will break out my water colors pencils and paints.  

This morning plan is to make a few No Kings Day signs for this weekend. It's been on my list of things to get done before this weekend. 

Eldreth Pottery Santa

Eldreth Santa

I use to collect Santas years ago when I had a big house to decorated every Christmas. Now I just have the ones that are super special to me. Twenty plus years ago I saw this Santa at a small store in town. The woman in front of me picked it up and I waited to see if she would put it down. Yes, I followed her around the store. She didn't so I've been on the hunt for it all this time. Took me many years to figure out who made the Santa, way before Google or even eBay. Someone (on MaxSold) collection is up for auction. So now I have to decide if I should buy the whole collection to make it worth the long drive. It's way out of my normal driving zone.  Sell off the ones I don't want to cover my costs? Is there still a good secondary market for these Santas? 

Ink Pen Nib Storage 2025

I think crafters fall into two categories, those who do and those who collect. I lean more toward collecting and organizing. :) Yes, most of the time I know what to do with my "stuff" and now know where it is but do I actually use it? 

I've been on the search for a way to store all my pen nibs. That's a big part of my hobby,  craft storage. Do I know how to use all the nibs and inks I have? No, I do not but I did find out there aren't as many sizes as I thought. After sorting them out by size, finding a storage system was easy. I picked up some pill boxes at the thrift store, which are donated all the time so super cheap. One of my "when I'm bored" tasks is to try out each nib size and practice. Some inks flow better than others but it could be because of the age of the inks. The pricier inks seem to hold up better than what I can only guess are the cheaper brands. Since I got all my inks at estate sales, I have no real idea what's good. 

Trader Joe's Mini Bags

 

As a reseller I try to stay away from fads, think beanie babies. When the first release of mini Trader Joe's bags came out, I just happened to be at the store at the right time before reselling them was a thing. They are a big hit in Europe as it's something you can't get there. I didn't like the colors they had for Easter so I passed on them. I do like the orange and lime green handle ones. The black bags are the most popular if you planning on selling. 

While I was standing in line (only did this because my daughter wanted them) I watched some Japanese ladies from Hawaii (yes, I know them) get at least 50+ bags. The store limits how many you can get at a time, 12 in total. So grandma stands in line and when she gets close she switches places with her daughter. When her daughter buys them, she comes back out to the line hands them to grandma and switches places again after she's taken the bags to the car. Have to say everyone was very nice in line and it went pretty fast. The guy in front of me wasn't even there for the bags, just wanted something for breakfast. :) 

Pen Nibs and Inks

Just a few nibs in my collection 

Once again Sandy Allnock got me to break out my very large stash of pen nibs and inks. Go check out her new series about working with pen and ink. 

If you go to or do enough estate sales you will find boxes full of nibs. I've been collecting them for years. Don't ask me why when I'm left handed and calligraphy is a right handed thing. I've also found bottled ink at estate sales but most of the time they are way over priced. It's better to buy a new bottle even knowing the ink doesn't really go bad. So I'm looking at all these nibs and not knowing anything about them wondered how artists know what each nib does when you have hundreds of them. Went down the rabbit hole but never found anyone who showed how they store their nibs and keep track of what sizes they have. Yes, you can break out a magnifying glass and look at the numbers on each nib and I'm guessing if you work with them enough you'll just know. But what about us crafters who just break them out when we're bored?

Since I'm also working on my book binding projects I made a little booklet. It's a design in progress so don't judge me. I like the idea the nib is on the same page that shows what it does. 

I also have several very old fountain pens that need to be filled or need new cartridges. Sandy has a tutorial on that too so I at least know what I'm looking at. 

Joy of Cooking

There are days when the small wins are great. I found a copy of the Joy of Cooking with the how to cook squirrel at the library book sale. Years ago when I was in Michigan, the family talked about when the squirrel population got out of control, Grandpa would say it's time for a squirrel dinner. For some reason I looked up how to cook squirrel in one of the few cookbooks at the cabin. To my surprise I found a recipe! Alton Brown just talked about having the Joy of Cooking book with the squirrel recipe, which I thought was hysterical. It must be a thing as he was very proud to mention it.  :)

No, I'm not making squirrel for dinner but I am using my table top oven for the very first time! Baking chicken wings until crispy, sautéing eggplant and broccoli with a big pot of rice. I don't use an oven very often anymore so it was no big deal my place (designed to be a man cave) doesn't have one. The smell is amazing! :) 

Paper Weaving Covers

 

First Go Around

I did some paper weaving with my washi paper because I have a lot of it squirreled away. They turned out just ok. The tricky part is to get the right size to fit into the binding machine. 

The first round, the ends were a little ratty so I had to cover it. I didn't like the way it turned out. The second one just by accident was the exact size where I could just fold over the strips. A little too exact to do for a class. The other down side is that it's just a faction too big for the binding machine. If you look at the top left corner it's a little too close to the edge making it very thin.

My next attempt will try a patch work design and see if I can get that to work. 

Second Try

Washi paper to the rescue

In the beginning of the day yesterday, I made this little book. Finding the right size to fit a machine that was made for the standard 8.5X11 paper has been the challenge. Then getting the thick wallpaper once wrapped around chip board to fit has been another hurdle. 

As I was housecleaning during my domestic diva time, I found these stamped images from Hero Arts.  I made them several months ago when I was dog sitting. I decided to whip out my very large stash of washi paper and make a little book. Washi paper is much easier to wrap around the corners and easier to glue up. I'm still trying to make the wallpaper work as that is what FabMo has in stock.

I'm a night owl so around 10:00 pm I got the idea of making a book cover by paper weaving using my scrap washi paper. Today at some point I will try and turn it into a book cover. :) 

Testing Binding Machines

Today is going to be a domestic diva and creative recharge day. I need to put things put away and do some general house cleaning. If the rain stops I'll even do a little gardening.

I picked up two more spiral binding machines at an estate sale. Did I really need two more (and one was broken) to make my total of four? No, I didn't but I thought for class I could have each machine set at the correct size for each project. Last night I tested if the machines were cutting exactly the same and interchangeable. Found out they're not. I made a 7X10 book of watercolor paper as my first test. In my mind I will someday go outdoors to paint so thought the bee cover would be appropriate. The arrow shows where the two machines didn't line up with each other. They looked like they would but they didn't. I also have to figure out how thick the cover can be with each machine. The orange one can handle thicker (not by much) covers than the gray one. The broken one can still punch holes but the binding part is broken. I took the machine apart only to find the plastic parts inside completely broken. Someone had to really strong arm this machine to break so many internal parts.

Catch Up Time

It's was a long week of helping out at an estate sale. Mainly cleaning up and organizing after the family had gone through the house to take what they wanted. One of the family members pretty much ransacked the house dumping things on to the floor. I was tasked to make it safe for the public to walk through. Because it was very physical labor, I was exhausted when I got home. All of my side projects just had to wait. 

I'm slowly getting my jewelry carded and ready to go into my booth at Cottage Crafts. I've only kept the more interesting pieces the rest went in glass jars and sold off in bulk. 
 

Things You Think Of After A Long Day

 

I picked up some samples of wallpaper at FabMo for my future book binding class in 2026. Wall paper is a little too thick to wrap around regular chip board. That has been a challenge for me to get it to work. On my drive home after a very long day helping out at an estate sale, when I wished I had a self driving car. The thought of wetting the wallpaper to make it more pliable to turn the corners on thick chip board. Since wall paper already has the glue on the back it should work, right? The butterfly wallpaper will be the one I use in class as there's enough but I'll practice with the bee print. 

By The Teashore - New Place in Town

Not even sure how I found out about this new high tea place in Half Moon Bay called "By the Teashore".  After my research, I thought it would be a nice place to take a good friend for her birthday. 

One of the things that really interested me was their request for nice china sets. Almost every intake day the store gets a set of china. That's like 12 china sets a month! It's not something that sells well or fast but takes up a lot of space. Being able to donate them to someplace that will actual use them is super! At least they get a second chance to be used even if in a restaurant setting probably won't last long. It's a very nice place to slow down and chat with friends. It's a small place in a tourist town so going mid week is the best option. Prices are around $40 for the whole high tea service, which I think is reasonable. The food is simple but fresh. I gave it a 5 star rating. :) 
 

Mini Scrapbooks Done!

Finished the mini scrapbooks for the boys. During the glueing process I weigh the pages down with my hole puncher.  It came out of storage when a friend asked if I had a way to add an extra hole to his leather belt, he's lost a lot of weight. :)  While I had this out I thought it could also be used in my bookbinding projects. I'm working on doing a bigger book of water color paper for those trips I plan (in theory) to make to the beach to paint.