May Alameda Pt Flea Market

I made it to the Alameda Pt Flea Market this past weekend. My sister Lana and I were there at 6:30 am! It was a beautiful day, no clouds, not too hot and it wasn't that crowded either.

These are the items I bought...

I picked up some vintage linens ($1 each), bags of vintage lace ($1 each), mini tin types ($2 each), a couple jewelry pieces, salt & pepper shaker ($5) , old album ($5) and another talcom tin ($2). It was a good trip and had fun seeing friends/family there. Debi - sorry, we missed you!

Workshop with Kristen Robinson & Ruth Rae

I attended a wonderful workshop taught by Kristen Robinson & Ruth Rae on Sunday at A Work Of Heart in San Jose. This is my finished project...it's going to be a wall hanging. Did you notice I found a home for my cloth doll?

Below is a picture of Ruth and a dress she made embellished with free motion sewing. The dress is amazing...Ruth sewed words in beautiful script all around!

Here we are just getting started and to my amazement, we each had a sewing machine to use during class.

Below, Ruth is demonstrating some of her special techniques.

This was my messy work in progress...

Here are the projects the other students made...

This one is my sister, Lana's.

This student made a pouch.

Lana, Ruth, Me & Kristen

Thank you Kristen & Rae for a great class, I had so much fun and love my project. Thank you Andrea and Lex for hosting a wonderful workshop.

Stuffed Cloth Doll

Tonight, I copied some images onto fabric in preparation for my class this weekend with Kristen Robinson and Ruth Rae. One of the images I used was a doll that I got from Somerset Studio magazine. After seeing the doll on the fabric, I knew I had to make it into a stuffed cloth doll.

I don't know if she should be a necklace or just a pin...what do you think?

Below is the insert that came inside the Somerset Studio magazine (May/June issue).

I used a Computer Printer Fabric made by Tailor. You can find this at Joann's. I buy the cream color fabric (it comes in white too). You use the fabric like a sheet of paper and insert it into your printer. I filled up the page with other images I had.

I cut around the doll image and I added some stuffing between the fabric. I use embroidery thread and hand stitched around the image.

 

After sewing around the doll, I trimmed the edges and added a few embellishments.

Here are the other fabric sheets I copied and ready to use for another project.

I'm looking forward to Sunday's class at A Work Of Heart in San Jose (http://www.aworkofheart.com/)....but first I plan to go to Alameda Pt. flea market Sunday. It's going to be a long, but fun day!

Daughter's Bday Weekend

My daughter had her 14th B-day party this weekend, so she decided to wear this special necklace we made.

She made a polymer clay birthday cake and then cut a piece out of it. I used my new power drill (woohoo) and drilled some holes to insert eye pins and attach it to a chain.

She decided she wanted to take her girl friends to San Francisco Japantown for lunch and shopping!

We ate at Mifume. The popular dish of the day was the Teriyaki Chicken Ramen...7 of the 9 girls ordered it!

For dessert we had crepes and ice cream...it was a beautiful day in the city!

One of the best parts of the day was when the girls took a group photo in a oversized Japanese photobooth.

After the machine takes your pictures, you get to embellish your photos with assorted digital images. How adorable the photos came out!
Then the girls were off and shopping. :-)

This weekend, I also had a calligraphy class, "Introduction to the Pointed Pen", at Castle in the Air. The instructor was Bill Kemp.

Did you notice that small potato at each station? The potato is a cool trick to clean your nib, if it's been sitting with ink.

Below is a sampling of my writing. What a fun class! I'm signed up for another class next week, Spencerian Upper Case letters. I love the ivory ink on black paper!

I also went to an estate sale by my house this weekend and picked up some fun items at great prices.

See that mini trophy? I've been searching for them lately...the women checking me out gave it to me free. I think they'll make fun holders for odds and ends. That pair of glass ash trays will be a holder/water bath for my calligraphy pen. Ashtrays are perfect for holding your pen because of the groove on the edge of the dish. Love that pink talcum powder tin...perfect for a doll body. That large silver bowl was a steal at $5. I picked up a pair of mini salt and pepper shakers and then I'm always picking up vintage rhinestone pieces.

This was one of those weekends where it seemed like I needed a vacation for my vacation!

Wooden Art Dolls

Laura Robberts has created these wonderful wooden art dolls. She has an online class at Paperwhimsy (http://www.paperwhimsy.com/classes/) with great step-by-step videos on how to make them. These are the ones I made after taking her online class.

Thanks to Jackie Peters who shared the wooden dolls she made on her blog. They're so cute!(http://goodgriefgirdie.typepad.com/blog/2012/04/more.html)

I had so much fun making these dolls and I learned a new method for doing image transfers that works perfectly. I ordered supplies to make another 15 dolls and just might sell some :-). Another great aspect of this project is that I was able to justify purchasing my own drill. (Shh! :-)

I've been wanting a drill for a couple of years now, ever since I saw Gina use it in one of our classes. I purchased the cordless Dremel 8200 with a flex shaft and a multipro keyless chuck (wow, I sound like I work in a hardware store). The flex shaft is that long cord with a marker size tip, which makes using your drill very easy to hold. The keyless chuck enables you to insert your drill bit without using a key. I love that it's cordless too. I read the reviews to find the recommended accessories. I can't wait to find more things to drill!

My Jewelry Workshop & More

Yesterday, I taught my first workshop on jewelry making...the focus was creating a found object necklace - as well as learning some basic jewelry making techniques.

The necklaces above were all created by the students...they're all beautiful! I love how they're so unique and I'm sure they'll receive many compliments.

Above is a picture of the calm before the storm. If you look at each person's workstation, I collaged the cover of a jewelry box for each one of them. I actually used those large numbers I bought the other weekend.

It was a wonderful group of friends & family..I love being with them all and creating.

 I didn't have to do much, as these girls were quick and caught on fast.

What a fun day it was...thanks for everyone's support!

This week is my daughter's birthday. She came up with making hand-delivered bday invitations. So, in the car are balloons and bags with the invitations attached.

Inside the bag, Rachel made hand painted rocks. We were looking for something to weigh down the bag. I suggested oranges, she suggested rocks...but not just plain rocks...rocks painted with faces, designs and words. She used a glue pen and pink glitter - how adorable are they :-).

Rachel also made her own bday cake - a little larger than the size of a dime.

This week I started working on Laura Robberts' wooden dolls. I first saw it on Jackie Peters' blog and fell in love with them. I'll share them with you later this week.

Banana Upside Down Cake

My daughter found a great recipe for using up ripe bananas, Banana Upside Down cake. We always seem to have ripe bananas around. My husband is the only one in the house that eats bananas and he likes to buy them, but for some reason, never eats them. Sometimes, I think he does this on purpose so that we have to make a dessert with them before they spoil. Our normal pattern is to make banana bread, but we felt like doing something different this time.

Rachel found the recipe from Dulce Delight, http://delightdulce.blogspot.com/...there's usually an accompanying video to her recipes too. We've made this recipe twice and both times it came out perfect. You should try it, it's a keeper!

Ingredients:
3 large ripe bananas
1/2 lemon
8 tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature) , plus 4 tbsp butter for carmelization
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350.

Slice bananas 1/4" thick and toss with lemon or lime juice in a bowl and set aside. Take a 9" round pan and put it on the stove over low heat. Add 4 tbsp of butter and the brown sugar to the pan. Stir and heat until brown sugar is dissolved and is caramel like. Turn off heat. Place one layer of sliced bananas on top of caramel and set aside.

Cake: Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a mixer, whip butter until fluffy - about 5 minutes. Slowly add sugar and mix together. Add 1 egg at a time and mix. Add sour cream and vanilla extract and mix. Add dry ingredients just until incorporated - don't over mix at this point.

Pour cake batter over pan and spread out evenly. Bake for 40 min. Let cake rest for 15 minutes before turning upside down onto platter. Enjoy!