Family Locket - Facebook

Over forty years ago my mom gave me this locket. I know who the baby on the right (cousin) is but never knew who was on the left. Out of the blue, I saw a posting from my cousin on Facebook. My mom was the youngest in her family and I'm the youngest in mine, so all of my cousins are much older than I am. I'm more the same age as my cousins' children. So I thought it was interesting my cousin was on Facebook. I sent a message and my cousin's son answered back. They have the same name and he his profile photo is his dad with his grand kids. So the mystery of who the other baby is was answered, another cousin. I decided the locket should be passed on to my cousin's family (his grandchildren) since the next generation in my family wouldn't have any attachment to the locket. My mom would be pleased that it's new home is with Don's children. 

Grateful Garments - Fabmo

Women helping women

Today I volunteered at Fabmo to help sew things for their Grateful Garment program. Volunteers come in and sew garments (basic scrub type) that go to local hospitals for rape victims, who sometimes have to leave their clothes behind for evidence. The hospital can only provide one of those open end gowns. The founder of Fabmo started the Grateful Garment program when she saw the need.  Over 60 outfits are made each month.  We also sew small cosmetic bags for girls rescued from being a sex slaves. The bags are filled with basic toiletries, since they  have nothing when the police shut down the operation. We also make XL tote bags for the homeless. The tote bags are made with heavy duty fabric (most of the fabric comes from the S.F. design center - samples) with extra long shoulder straps. Not only to help carry things but to be used as a pillow. We sew with fabric that otherwise would have been throw out and put it to good use. 

Fabmo - April 7, 2015

I've been volunteering for the group "Fabmo" which is a local non profit that recycles all the designer fabric samples coming out of the San Francisco show rooms. It's pretty amazing to see top of the line, can't be found in your local fabric store fabrics. Almost all the fabric is linen or silk. I keep telling myself I will not bring home any more fabric samples, but I just can't pass up bold linen prints or "obi" (Japanese belt) silk fabric which you could only get from Japan.  Check out their calendar - http://www.fabmo.org
Since my sewing skills are very rusty, I plan to make a ton of XL totes and pillows until I get back into the swing of things. 

I did pick up some silk samples that look like leather (can't tell from the photo) for an up coming book binding class.

Seriously how can anyone pass up high quality linen fabric with lobsters on it? Not sure it will be turned into a tote or pillow. 

tweetie bird mug rug 2016

Another quilt creation by Patty N

I have an upcoming team building event. The theme is the letter "T". It's for my Bay Area Women in Business group. We will meet at Steeper (tea shop in Campbell owned by a woman) to sample teas, make our own blend etc....
Asked my good buddy Patty to make a some Mug Rugs with a "tweetie bird" theme to go along with the tea cups. The menu will be assorted tarts and tea sandwiches. Thinking of doing turtle races but having a hard time finding wind up land turtles, most are made for the bath. 

Carmel Thrift Buys

Finds from the Carmel Thrift Shops

When I'm down in Carmel at the beach house, I always make a stop at the local thrift shops. Besides the clothes being top notch, they're also clean. The places (there are 3) are run by volunteers and the money goes to charity, which I think is a super bonus. I've joined the movement of not buying anything new (other than under wear and shoes) to help reduce my impact on the earth after reading the book, The True Cost of Cheap Fashion.  Of course I'm not a clothes horse to be with, so it's been pretty easy. ;)

Carmel City Beach Before the Tourist Arrive

Dome Jar Cover 2016

One of my crafting buddies (Charlene) made this dome jar top for our monthly meeting. 

It's just too cute!

Carmel 2016

I'm lucky enough to get to spend time down at the beach. One of the major reason I try and spend as much time there as I can, is because Annie loves to run in and out of the waves.  It's peaceful and having the space to leave out my projects is a luxury. With all the storms we've had lately, there isn't much of a sandy beach. As it turns out, it's a plus because it's easier to walk (hard packed sand_ and Annie doesn't get covered with sand.  

Bunny Butts 2016 - Make Mine Chocolate

Buuny Butts

I think bunny butts are just too funny! Took me awhile to make this card because I had sold off my SU oval punches. It took some time to track a set to borrow from another crafter. Since I plan to mail the card to some folks who don't follow Easter, I decided to make it a Happy Spring card. 
I stopped off at Annie's favorite snack shop "All Living Things" to pick up her monthly treat supply. The front window display banner read "Make Mine Chocolate". Knowing chocolate is not good for most animals, I checked it out. It's to raise awareness on not giving live bunnies for Easter. The rescue groups will be over whelming with unwanted bunnies right after Easter. The store is donating the profits from the sale of Schurra's Chocolate (which is my favorite) bunnies to the non-profit  bunny rescue group. So if your'e going to buy a chocolate bunny, pick one up at the pet store in Sunnyvale. Annie and I did are part and picked some up for our human friends. :)

Make Mine Chocolate 2016

Just a little note postcards

I was checking out Jennifer Mcguire's blog (she has amazing how to videos) and she did a one on making quick note cards (really post cards but you put them in an envelope) and I thought it was a super idea! She was using a big bubble word die cut and I thought about getting it but didn't really see that I would every use it again. I had to also remind myself that selling product is Jennifer's business and she did come up with a great idea for that die, but it does have limited uses. So I pulled out my corner rounder, all my mini stamps and did a modify version. I plan to take a set to my Bay Area Women's group as a quick gift to all the members. 

Visit to my local smoke shop - butane score!

I'm learning how to enamel and I needed to buy butane for my torch. To have it shipped (at least here in CA) there is an extra hazardous material shipping fee, which is a lot. So I finally broke down and walked into a smoke shop or what it was called in my day, a "head" shop. They last time I was in a store like this was over 50 years ago! So, I was just a little nervous about walking into a incense filled, dark dirty, poster filled place. Well, much to my surprise things have changed. The store was very clean, bright lights and filled with sun light. They did have head banging music playing in the background really loud but over all a really nice place. I did take my torch in and the clerk there knew exactly what I needed and gave me a quick lesson on why refined butane is needed when  using a torch to make jewelry. The price ($3.99) was so low compared to what I could find online (before the high shipping) that I said I would take 10 cans. He said no, that was way too many. If I was using my hand held torch that much (each can has a burn time of 2-3 hours) I should invest in the bigger propane torches. So I settled on getting just 4 cans. Thank you Monster of Rock 2!

Enameling

For my birthday my daughter took some enameling classes with me and then surprised me with getting me all the tools. Now the hard part of finding good grade butane, which is pretty hard to find! 

Cranberry Hill Flea Market 2016

 One of my favorite things is finding a good deal, especially when it has something to do with one of my hobbies. The annual used rubber stamp sale at Cranberry Hill is the best. It's a whole lot of work for the store to host a used rubber stamp sale but it's sure lot of fun. I've been wanting to make this card for awhile but didn't want to spend a lot for the stamp. Finally I found it at the flea market for only a $1! 

Now I did go a little crazy buying up some Copic markers from someone who was getting rid of all her stamping supplies, who does that???Thought it was time I rounded out my Copic collection. I was bad but in a good way. :)
At the flea market, you can pick up some super deals and things are cheap enough to try out. The best thing is that you can always sell off what you don't use at the next sale in 2017

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