So creative rice crispy treat for the holidays!

When these walked in to Cottage Crafts, I thought what a cute holiday treat! Rice crispy treats (colored orange) shaped like a piece of pumpkin pie with a whip cream (cookie) top. 

My son like rice crispy treats so much when he made them he would just pour it out on a marble slab. Pretty much looked like a bowling ball. He said he was going to eat the whole thing anyways so why dirty another pan. 

Tent

This tent is proving to be a big hit with the grandkids. 

Last night Mees decided he wanted to sleep in it and made it through the whole night! Of course we were at the beach for a few hours after going to the farmer's market in town so both boys were wiped out. Weather has been breezy but very sunny. During the week the beach is pretty much empty so for us adults it was great.

I think this is an Ikea tent that I picked up at Happy Dragon. Goes together super fast and very stable. 

Banner Project Almost Complete

I've been happily sewing everyday making these pennant banners for the boys. Guess it's a Dutch thing to hang banners for parties so my daughter asked if I could make some out of fabric. It was a lot of fun to find the fabric at FabMo. I only had to buy some solid colors to round out the banners. 

With all the loose threads hitting the floor, it's like having a very hairy dog again. I have to vacuum almost everyday! Good think I like to vacuum. :) A few of them will be send to some of my daughter's friends because how many does one family really need? :) 

Koru posing with one of the banners

Brown Spotted Cow Designs

A few months ago I found a new pair of brown spotted cow hide print jeans at Goodwill. If you've been following my blog, you know that was my mom's lucky charm. 
I thought it would be fun to take the jeans and make it into purses. I can sew but I can't sew something with all this detail so I ask my good friend Patty (who made my cat purse and an amazing quilter) if she could make a few for me. They turned out so stinky cute! I asked that the jean pockets be used on the outside of the bag if possible. I don't carry a purse anymore for safety reason so I  now use a small cross body bag mainly for my phone. Patty was able to get four out of the XL  jeans so I plan to give my daughter and niece one for Christmas. I know it's not their style and they will roll their eyes but it's the memory of their grandmother who they loved.  

Creative moment

A friend posted this on Facebook and I just love the font and total l over all look. I liked it so much I hope another crafty friend Roz, who repurposes flannel shirts will add this to her collections. At some point I will make my version of it in some form or other. 

Roz currently makes some shirts for the boys for Christmas with the saying below. I think it's funny and having them added to shirts was more interesting than a tee shirt. 

Birthday Banner

sea creatures one is my favorite!

I was asked to make a birthday pennant banner for the boys. I guess it's a thing in Holland and a standard party decoration. 

I decided I wanted to use bright and colorful prints. I call it a California thing. :)

The first fabric I found was the black and white vintage IKEA fabric which lead me down the rabbit hole in search for more interesting designs. 

I visited FabMo's online store and when I saw the ocean creatures print, well things just ended up in my cart! Prices are so reasonable, I have enough fabric to make several banners. The plan is to send the extras out to all the of my daughters friends who have children the same age as my grandsons.  

Sixth sense ?

Yellow roses are my favorite flower, well maybe favorite rose.

There are some people who just have to sixth sense or psychic ability. I believe we all have a sixth sense but some have it at a much higher degree. 

Yesterday at CCB I was in a discuss with another vendor who has having a hard time selling her tiny house in Nevada. I been talking about the house in Sunnyvale that I had just cleaned out and how much it sold for. It went 500k (yes half a million) over the asking price. Sold for 2.89 million.  

She was complaining about not being able to sell her small place in Carson NV for just $250k. The house has a ton of structural issues so getting a bank loan would be almost impossible.  Sounds like it should be a torn down.  Anyways, I said you have too much emotional attachment to the house because your'e unwilling to sell it "as is".  Then Tami (owner at CCB who's at a much higher level psychically) said "Let go of your house, tell it good-bye". For me the light bulb clicked on and the air around us just got calm. I know as weird as that sounds but you could feel the change. 

The vendor had said in our conversation that the home had a lot of memories (most not good) and emotions attached to it because of her mother. You could tell she wasn't ready to say good-bye so very good chance the house wouldn't sell until she can. 

Another clean out almost done

I know a very boring photo but I'm doing another house clean out. What most listing agents do is just have a dumpster pull up and throw everything in the house out. Now days if time permits, they have someone like me come in. As I'm clearing the house of junk that can't be sold or donated post online to sell or give away. There isn't enough in the house to do an estate sale or even a garage sale. It's much faster while the house is being cleaned up to find new homes for what I can. 

I took 8 loads (I drive a very big SUV) to Goodwill and Savers. I was amazed how fast I filled the bins at Goodwill - 2.5 bins. 

It's a very old house that hasn't be update or taken very good care of. Hopefully today will be my last day before the dump truck comes to take away what is left. 

 

Another great piece of art

I went to an open house next door to Buzz's house in Monte Sereno. This house belonged to the original land owner (pre 1960's) of the whole hill where about dozen plus estate homes (each lot is at least an acre if not more) are now. I could tell the minute I walked into the house, it had to be an old Japanese family. Every room had an antique tansu, large and small. The artwork wasn't your typical Japanese artwork either, which I found very impressive. I just love this painting hanging in the stairwell and if I had to guess the owner is one of those ladies. It's a painting I would love to have but I'm sure if it's going to be sold, it will cost way more than my budget can handle. Fingers crossed they will do an estate sale and I can least buy one of the small tansu cabinets. 

Picasso in the house!

Still Life On Pedestal

I posted on Facebook I may not own a Birkin bag but I now own a Picasso! I helped unload a car full of over sized artwork  at the thrift store last week and when this one walked pass me I said wow. I'm not a fan of Picasso in general but I liked this one for some unknown reason. Even with it being a print, I know the framing alone had to have been $500-$600 back in the day when this was framed. Everything is over sized and done really well. The original painting is huge! It was a challenge hanging this all by myself and I was so proud when I was done. Then I remembered I have plans to raise my sofa up by 6 inches after Christmas. So now the big question is do I do it or just leave well enough alone. 

Crows (maybe) left me something.

I think that my local crows left something for me! I found it in my backyard that I cleared of all the bamboo that basically went unchecked for years. The ground has been left bare because I'm waiting to see if any bamboo pops up. 

My neighbors are never and I mean never out in their backyards so I can't imagine they would have throw it over the fence. 

At Buzz's house I've been feeding the crows grain fed mice and rats. With all the bird seed everywhere it goes without saying there are rodents. I do have some crows that hang around my house and feeders.  Maybe they found out where I actually live. :) 

Anyways it was a nice surprise no matter how it got there. 

Family Tomato Salad

One of my favorite things is making my family's version of caprese salad. Since I grew up on a farm, eating vine ripe tomatoes that are still warm from the sun is really all I knew for many, many years.  The tomato plants here at Buzz's house are on their last leg, so there's only a short window of time to make this. Tomatoes from the store just aren't the same so I was lucky that Buzz's family had all the makings on hand. Fresh basil, mozzarella cheese and Italian spices. Growing up in California and living on a farm, I never ate a lot of canned or processed foods. It wasn't something I realized until I became an adult on how healthy our meals really were. Mom of course was a great cook. Nothing was ever over the top but everything was made from scratch and fresh from the fields.