Julie Haymaker Class

Today, Julie Haymaker came over and taught us a wonderful class - made of paper clay, wood, fabric and other embellishments. Julie is from New Mexico and was out for just the weekend. Here's Julie's blog: (http://www.juliehaymaker.com/site/Home.html) . Thank you Diana for arranging this great class. The class included a delicious brunch & lunch. She brought over some amazing scones, chicken salad, croissants, nuts, cookies, drinks - what an amazing spread.

Our good friend Ruby joined us today too - we were really happy to have her create with us! Unfortunately, our other sister, Pat was on a bike ride and couldn't make it.





....and here's our finished girls - oh so sweet! I love how the group of women and girls look together - like going to a black & white party! We learned so many different techniques, & wonderful tips.

It was a great class - what a wonderful way to spend the day.

I also want to post these adorable cake pops Rachel made - they turned out yummy.

New Necklace & Tag

I made a couple new items this week. This one is a necklace made from a gift box top that I embellished. I was inspired by these necklaces made by Gina Gabriell. Mine aren't as great as hers, but it was fun to make and I'm happy with how it turned out.

Next, I just made this quick little tag, I call her my "ticket girl". If you go to the Alameda Pt flea market, there's this one booth that sells british trolly signs that I always stop and admire. I took a miniature version of it and used it for my background. The girl is a Catherine Moore stamp from her Inner Child collection.

Pottery Barn Friends & Family

To my family & friends, Oct 14-17th is the Pottery Barn Friends & Family event. I'd like to share with you this discount for visiting my blog. Email me your address and I will send you a post card for a 20% discount at our Pottery Barn stores!

Have a great week.

J-Pop Festival Today

Today was a great mother-daughter day. Rachel's favorite plush artist is Heidi Kenney from Pennsylvania. Heidi came out to the J-Pop festival at Japan Town in San Francisco for an outdoor festival. Here's Rachel with Heidi at her booth.

These are the softies that Rachel bought from Heidi today.

Many of the girls at the festival dressed up in this Lolita look...

Rachel was also in heaven with booths of mini cupcakes. Of course she had to sample a couple of them. This one was her favorite: peanut butter chocolate.

Then I found this booth that sold altered clothes. The artist made this bustle out of vintage doll clothes, it's so cute! The photo doesn't do it justice, but it's adorable in person. I had to buy it and I'm definitely going to wear it on my bday. She sold me matching cuffs too. The artist's name is Janay Rose. She was asked to be on Project Runway, but she turned it down! Here's her etsy site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/thewindowlady. She is also at Alameda Pt every month.

I don't wear cuffs, but I'll be wearing these with my bustle.

When we came home we did some baking together. Rachel found this recipe for Oreo popsicles. We froze them in these mini Starbucks paper cups. We have to wait 5 hours before we can eat them, so tomorrow will be the sampling.

So I bet you're wondering "where did she get Starbucks cups from?"...where else, Craft Depot! Don't worry, they were sealed in a plastic bag - not opened.

This is what they're suppose to look like when we take them out of the cups.

We also went to the book store today cuz Rachel couldn't wait to buy this cookbook: Cake Pop. Stay tuned for her creations from this one.

Frozen Charlotte & Catherine's Die Cut Skirt

Here's a couple of my latest projects. I picked up a few oval frames at my last company sample sale and I knew I wanted to make a 3D picture with it. I dressed a frozen Charlotte doll with some of my scrap fabrics and added some miscellaneous items. The crown is made from a Martha Stewart crown punch that I just glittered. I added a typewriter key at the bottom of the frame.

For my other project, I wanted to use one of my latest purchases from Catherine Moore, her die cut skirt that goes with one of her French Laundry stamps. It's cool how the die cut works so perfectly to cut the tiny squares between the skirt pattern. I couldn't wait to make something with it. I accordion folded a sheet of music paper to layer under the die cut stamp of the French Laundry skirt. I then added pieces from her other stamps to complete the girl: arms, bodice and mansion. The head is from an image from one of the Dover CD books.

Weekend Projects: Necklaces & More...

Saturday, Frances and I took a Twilight Scrapbook class from Marah Johnson. Frances is a big Twilight fan and I was looking for something to do in the morning. This is the book I made. I ended up inserting the Julia image inside the front pocket.

Saturday night we had the my nephew and his wife and two boys over for dinner. The little boys were both so adorable. Here's my nephew and his son, Owen, sitting up & watching tv.

This is Rachel pulling Lennon around the house on a blanket.

When Lennon comes over, he loves to draw and always wants paper and pens.

Today, I made a few things, one is a necklace made from a china doll head. I was inspired by a project CGS made that Lana had. I reduced an image from a Catherine Moore stamp . I made my girl into a necklace by just putting a shank button on her back and threaded a black seam binding through the shank.

Today, I also put together the necklaces that Ornamentea.com had on their site a week or so ago. It's a series of three necklaces. I used some of my own supplies and incorporated some of their ideas. They're three separate necklaces that can be worn together or apart.

Sunday, I did a quick trip to the Addison Doll sale and picked up this adorable baby from the 1930's. I love her face.

Friday Finds...

Since I get off early on Friday's I couldn't wait to go down to craft depot since all the vintage items are now 50% off. I found some good items left: some embroidery pieces that I can cut up and re-purpose, a beaded purse that I can embellish, buttons in these old cellophane bags, a big bag of chains , some old blank post cards, mailing labels and some red border Dennison labels (my best find - it was hidden in a small envelope between the air mail labels).


Today in the mail, I also received my order from Ornamentea.com - some fun jewelry pieces. I'm going to make this series of 3 necklaces that they showed on their web site a couple weeks ago. I'll post it once I finish it.

Sister Play Date

Yesterday morning Maryl and I went to Alameda Pt Flea Market. I didn't find a lot, but I did get a few treasures. I bought a couple of adorable dolls - just couldn't resist. I picked up some hankies to make a book and a couple other assorted items for future projects.

In the afternoon, the rest of the sisters (except Pat who's in Europe) came over for a artful play date. The theme was stuffed doll. We all picked different images to use and I think they all came out great.

The sisters concentrating on their projects...

Collage Photo Slides & Vintage Finds

I've been reading old issues of Somerset magazines and marking projects that inspire me. I thought that I should make at least one project per magazine and it would be like taking a private class taught by the author. This also lets me justify buying the magazines. I liked this idea from Norma Kooi who was in the Somerset Studio Gallery Winter 2009. She covered notebooks with old photo slides that she collaged. For my project, I put my photo slides on a painted canvas. I do love using that Julia face on the upper right corner. At the craft depot store you can buy these old photo slides for ten cents each.

Speaking of craft depot...this morning was the vintage sale there. Here are my goodies that I picked up: assorted lace, ribbon, rhinestone jewelry, doll parts & clothes, paint tubes, tobacco trading cards, books and this large sectional draw that everything is laying on top. Not sure how I'm going to use the drawer, but it will be great to put all my tiny treasures in and be able to see them all at once. I think one of my favorite items is the tiny china doll in the left corner. Maryl, I picked up an old Safeway needle book for you. You probably have it already, but you can add it to your collection.