Williams Sonoma 20% Discount Coupon

Hi everyone, I'd love to pass on this 20% coupon to you...

As some of you know, I work in the corporate office at Williams Sonoma and we are offering for the first time a 20% discount at our stores. Enjoy! Hopefully, you can download this image and bring it to the store or just email me and I'll send you the attachment. I personally just purchased the Breville Panini Press and the Breville Compact Countertop Oven - love them!

Kawaii Clay Charms

"Kawaii" is the Japanese word for cute. It usually refers to the cutesy-style popular in Japan. My daughter, Rachel, has been creating kawaii-style clay charms for over a year now.

She's made hundreds of these charms and has also taught a couple of private workshops in our home.

This weekend, she set up her very own etsy site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/KawaiiSweetWorld. I'm so proud of her! She has just a few items for sale now, but will post more in the future. Here's some more of her charms.

Rachel also has a Youtube channel with over 2,000 subscribers! She's amazing and has posted over 70 videos. It's incredible to me how motivated and creative she is at such a young age - 13yrs. old!

Be sure to check out her etsy periodically to see what's new. Also, a dollar of every purchase will go towards the Children's Wish Foundation (http://www.childrenswish.org/). She also takes special requests, so send her a message on her etsy account if you're interested. Prices of specially requested charms may vary, but she'll give you an estimated price range after you message her.

Published In Somerset Studio Gallery

What a nice surprise when I came home yesterday to find my complimentary issue of Somerset Studio Gallery in the mail.

I have a couple of projects in this issue. The one below is a collage I made on a small canvas using vintage photo slides. This piece measures 5"x7".

The second project is a Santos doll. I stamped the Santos image on burlap fabric and sewed the sides up, stuffed it and embellished the doll. She's sitting on a wooden spool held up by a chopstick.

This is a really good issue, lots of great projects. A couple of my favorite artists are in this magazine: Lisa Super & Nancy Gene Armstrong.

There's also a great article by Chris Capista. I was recently introduced to her through email. Chris, Catherine Moore, my sister Lana and I are collaborating on an upcoming project. More to come on that in December.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cavallini Warehouse Sale

This weekend I went to the Cavallini warehouse sale in South San Francisco. I've heard about this event before, but this was my first time attending. Let me say now...it won't be my last! This is what it looked like inside.

We got there at 9am, an hour after it opened. We heard there was a line at 7am. They sold calendars, journals, stamps, stickers, wrapping paper, envelopes, folders, cards, tags, picture frames, and some mini embellishments.

 This is my sister, Pat, as we were waiting in a huge line (about 200 people) to check out.

This is some of what we purchased: file folders & stickers...

And about 500 sheets of wrapping paper.

 This was my trunk after loading the first round. The prices were amazing...I'll be back next year!

Last night, we went to the House of Prime Rib in San Francisco to celebrate our birthdays: my friend, Ellen and I.

If you're a fan of prime rib, you'll want to try this restaurant. The beef melts in your mouth. We're not big red meat eaters, but if you're going to eat it, might as well go all out and have the best!

 They bring the prime rib out in these rolling carts and carve your piece to order.

You also get delicious sides: yorkshire pudding, mashed/baked potato, salad, bread, creamed spinach/cream corn. There's never any room for dessert after eating here. Happy Birthday Ellen!

Computerless

It's been a series of unfortunate events lately. I got sick on Friday. I didn't get to go to our company sample sale, because i was in bed for 24 hours. We returned my new computer because it kept robooting by itself, so now my husband and son will be building me a new computer. It's the busiest time of year for me at work! My daughter is home sick. Thanksgiving is next week - yikes, already! So, needless to say I'm not posting on my regular schedule. Hope to be back in a week or two. Sorry for any inconvience.

Alameda Pt Flea Market Finds

Last weekend I went to the Alameda Pt Flea Market and it turned out to be a beautiful day. Thanks Lisa for letting me cut in line. I got there just before the 7:30 am admission and the line was about 100 people deep. Lisa let me sneak in with her and saved me a few minutes. I found some great finds to share with you.

This was my first purchase, a little suit case in mint green and black accents - so cute.

I love tin types, usually the mini ones, but I came across this set at a great price that I couldn't pass up. I learned from the seller that you have to keep these out of the sun, otherwise the image will disappear.

After taking the ribbon flower class from Candice Kling, I've been on the hunt for this variegated wire ribbon. I found these two rolls (made in France) for a great price.

 Then some other miscellaneous items. My favorites are the small roller skates and that mini book.

But what I really stocked up on was rhinestone pieces! All but three of the pieces cost $1 or less. Most of these came from just two vendors where I spent a lot of time digging through boxes and bags of jewelry pieces.

 Included from one vendor were these mini metal books and religious icons.

Now I feel I have enough bits and pieces to work with...

Last item was this vintage album for $5, filled with cabinet cards of all sizes. Yes, the outside of the album is mess, but it's worth it for the items inside.

 Here are just a couple of pages.

That's it! I'm sure glad I went and the weather held up considering it was pouring rain the day before. Speaking of good finds, this weekend is our last company sample sale of the year. I know I shouldn't be going, since I don't have any more room for stuff in my house, but it's so much fun and it's only held 4 times a year. I'll just try and be very selective in my purchases - ha.

Anna Corba Class

We spent a wonderful day with Anna Corba (http://annacorbastudio.com/index.html) in her beautiful home in Santa Rosa. We made these wonderful collage pieces.

We were celebrating several birthdays: my sisters Lana & Dee; and our friend Diana G.

Anna and her husband, Nick, served us a delicious and beautiful lunch.

The table was set up so elegantly! Anna's husband Nick was our fabulous chef.

Anna has a beautiful two story studio where the class was held.

 

This was upstairs where Anna was demonstrating splitting apart a book, which was our base for the collage.

My sister Dee

My sister Maryl

My sister Pat

My sister Lana

My sister Frances

Our Friend - Diana G.

Our Friend - Ruby

And me

 I also wanted to share some pictures of Anna's gorgeous studio with you...

And last, I wanted to share one of the projects I made for Lana, for her birthday. She asked for this piece from Restoration Hardware...

What a cool piece huh? Needless to say, it was a bit expensive, so I opted to make a cheaper version for her. This is how it turned out...

I used a mason jar turned upside down for the glass. I used my molds and made 5 frozen charlottes from Sculpey clay and inserted some sticks in them to secure to the base. A mini version of the real thing!

It was a wonderful day creating in such a beautiful, inspiring atmosphere. Anna was a wonderful teacher and host. Happy Birthday girls!

Today, I went to the Alameda Pt. Flea Market - I'll share my finds later this week. Stay tuned!