Denami Christmas Giveaway!

Just so you all know, Denami Designs is having a great Christmas giveaway! Here is a link to their blog: http://denami.blogspot.com/2009/11/christmas-giveaways.html

Their new Christmas Chickies are too cute!!

Scentsy Candles

My friend Charmaine is selling these really wonderful wickless candles called Scentsy Candles. You plug the warmer in, put a Scentsy fragrance bar on the top, and the bottom part warms the bar and releases the wonderful fragrance. There are a bunch of different scents and designs to please everyone!


One of the things I thought was really neat was that you could design your own warmer. They have these blank warmers that you can use their rub on packs to match your decor. How cool is that!!

Check her site out at: www.girlsgonewickless.com

More embroidered logos

I spent today working on a couple of embroidered logos, two down one more to go. :) This is what they will look like before I've stitched them out, so I'll have some tweaking to do more or less. And I'm not sure how the "Outdoor sports" will stitch out since it's not with the programmed in letters. Hopefully it will work!!

The logo above is for a friend of ours who has opened up his own shop in the central valley. We used his logo from his business card. I'm getting better at scanning in the logos and drawing them out I think. On his logo the words "Outdoor Sports" is located between the "P" and the deer, but since it's hard to embroider letters that little, I hope that having the words under the logo will be ok.
And the tennis logo is for a friend of mine. I'm thinking that I'll have to take out the outline of the black on the racquet. It might not stitch up as well as the computer drawing. Plus the ball needs to be a teeny bit bigger. So we'll see how it will turn out on version two. Plus we're putting names underneath the racquet which looks really cool.

And this week I've been thinking up things to sell at a boutique. I know I'll be in jewelry making mode this weekend, and I want to sew up some stuff. It's just getting motivated. And I'm finding that it takes a lot of time to put stuff up on ebay. So, we'll see how things work out for the boutique. I'll update you all when I get stuff made. And I'll let you know where the boutique will be if you're interested as well, it should be a ton of fun!!

Gumbo

Tonight Phil made Gumbo. Last night he made it at his sister's house. His Brother-in-law is learning how to cook, and he and his friend made Gumbo one night. Phil was over there watching football, and they decided to cook gumbo for dinner. OMG, it was SO good that I had to ask Phil to make it again tonight.

My only experience with anything Gumbo before was listening to a band called Mumbo Gumbo. Yes, last night was the first time I've ever had Gumbo. And I thought that it would be really spicy and have things in it that I didn't eat. Boy, was I wrong.

In Phil's Gumbo, he cut up a Polska Kielbasa and some Hot Links and browned them, then put them in a pot. Then he cut up about 5 stalks of Celery and 4 carrots and sauteed them for a bit, then put that in the pot. He cut up 5 chicken breast pieces and browned them with some garlic, and put that in the pot. He also put in a can of niblets corn, just cause we thought that would go well in it.

He then put in some chicken stock, one of the cartons of chicken stock. And he added some Zatarans Gumbo Seasoning. After a bit he added some corn starch to thicken up the broth. Then let that all simmer for awhile.

Can you say, "Yum-o!" All together now....YUM-O!!

When it was done we served it over some white rice. not sure if you're supposed to put it on something else, but I've gotta put it on white rice. LOL

So easy to make, and so yummy!!

New ebay listings...

I just put up some new listings on ebay, and these are some of the stamps I've had forever that I've either haven't used at all or I really lightly used. I figure I can't possibly use all the stamps I have in my collection, and since my stamping style has changed I'll destash some items. The link to our ebay site is to the right. And I'm also selling stamps on etsy as well.
I just think the little girl who is cutting hearts is so cute!

And I bought that one with the moose to make cards, but never did. And I didn't realize that it was an enesco product, so there's probably a figurine that matches it somewhere.

My cousin is also selling some really cool figurines on her ebay account. Plus some really fun martini glasses. I just LOVE martini glasses, I just don't drink alcohol! lol They are too fun to look at and use though. Her ebay name is: Shaddzz

Do some early Christmas Shopping. :) Very fun stuff!!

October Birthdays

During the month of October, Joanne and I celebrate our birthday together with a trip to Ohana Hawaiian BBQ to get their Volcano Chicken. Volcano Chicken is pretty much Chicken Katsu with a spicy Katsu sauce. It's Joanne's most favorite thing to eat whenever she comes to Fremont. :)

It was so very yummy. It is my favorite dish to eat at this chain of Hawaiian BBQ restaurants. Just love it!

We also had a fun time going to Michael's and to JoAnn's Crafts. They don't have either store on their side of the hill, so it was a treat for Debi and Joanne. I hope Joanne wasn't tired of us asking her about how to make things creative every time we heard that darn commercial on the loudspeaker in the store. LOL

I SO enjoy our get togethers, I do wish I lived closer to them so I could see them more often. :) And Happy Birthday Joanne!

A birthday gift...

I spent tonight making a birthday gift for a very dear friend of mine. I don't know if she'll like it, but I really love how the colors go with the gold color of the bracelet. All the charms are just too much fun. The beads are either swarovski crystals or czech glass. I'll let you know tomorrow if she likes it. :)

Funny Kitten Picture

I was cracking up at this picture of two of the kittens in our yard. It looks like fluff ball is talking back to me while I was taking his picture. Kinda like, "Whatcha doin' lady? Feed me already."

Phil named the orange one Julius (get it, Orange Julius), and I just call the fluffy one, Fluff ball for lack of anything else to call it. They are the friendlier ones out of the bunch so far. The mom is just starting to wean them, so we figure they'll be more friendly in a week or so. It's fun seeing the little furballs outside the kitchen door.

We have Hot Water!

OMG, we have hot water! I can't believe it! After a week of warming water on the stove and sticking it in the tub, we have running hot water!! I'm so excited. I had to go use the shower tonight just so I could stand in the warm water, and not have it turn cold after 5 minutes. LOL

I still can't believe how terrible a job they did on installing the pipes. And they did a really funky layout job on the main hot water line. Good thing we could bypass it!! I couldn't go another week without hot water. It's been just crazy!

Things are looking up!

Crows on a Wire

I have been working on the Crows on a Wire embroidery for the past couple of weeks, and wouldn't you know I forgot to take a picture of the shirt before it left my home. But my friend Sandra took a photo for me of their luncheon for their boss on Boss' Day. Here's a picture of the ladies with their "Crows on a Wire" t-shirts! They all look so darn cute! Here's a little background to why they are "Crows on a Wire"...

"While on a break from doing a Longs to CVS conversion of the Hallmark section, we were all sitting along the curb of the shopping cart cement parking spot in our purple Hallmark shirts. The FedEX guy drives up, and while passing us said, "You all look like Crows on a Wire!" One of us shot back, "We are NOT CROWS!" Inside the store later, while we were working, he came through our aisle and he said, "Bluebirds on a Wire." And that's how we got our name."

They wanted to have the shirts done for Boss' Day which is today. And for their boss Alison, who is the woman in the middle of the picture. And it was a double celebration because they had just finished their last Conversion in all of the Longs/CVS' in their area.

Thank you for the photo, ladies!

Hot water pipes

We've been having hot water issues for awhile. So last Friday Phil decided to break open a hole in the floor to see if he could start to repair the pipes. So he spent Friday chipping and drilling the concrete where he thought the leak was in the pipes, and this is what he found, pipes wrapped in plastic bags. And he also found that instead of using curved pipe when it went from the wall to the floor, they bent the straight pipe with pliers. We're guessing they did that to save money?


This is how they bent the pipe. Parts were SO bent and squished that we were surprised that we got any hot water at all. The plastic bag obviously didn't prevent the pipes from being crushed. And where they bent the pipes with pliers, we figure that's where we're going to find all the leaks. They didn't even use a pipe bender.

So, Phil's been working on it for a few days. Yes, that means we've been without hot water since Friday. I can't wait till it's finally fixed and we can take a real hot shower!

Eydie & Kiana's visit

My sister Eydie and niece Kiana came for a short visit Monday -Thursday. They live in Southern California, and we don't get to see them very often. So it's nice when they can come up to visit us.

Let me tell you, the two of them are Power Shoppers. I mean I like to go shopping, but I'm pretty much a "let's browse around the store for a while, and move on" kinda gal. These two can stay in a store for an hour trying on clothes, maybe finding a top or two. LOL They do find the bargains though, Kiana found a purse for $4!!

It was fun cause I got to go to Japantown, I don't go there very often. And we found some really great ramen at Kumako Ramen on Jackson Street in San Jose. The noodles were awesome!! I was in Ramen heaven! LOL

Before they left, we had an eventful morning. One of the grey kittens had gotten his back foot stuck between the trunks of two trees in our backyard. The trunks were pretty thin, so I could see how he got his foot stuck. So Eydie woke me up cause she spotted the kitten. Good thing they were here cause he would have been there for awhile cause I was really sleeping. LOL

The mom cat wouldn't let Eydie near it, cause she doesn't know her. And she said while she was trying to figure out what to do, all the kittens were comforting the kitten, going up to it and licking it while it was stuck in the tree.

So I went over to it, and it was hissing and meowing. And the mom was on the fence kinda growling at me. But she let me walk up to the kitten. I tried touching his foot to get it out, but it was freaking out too much. So then I thought to pull on the trunk of one of the trees so that it could loosen it's foot a bit. That worked well, instead of having his foot stuck, he got his head stuck too. GREAT. LOL

But then it finally got its head out and took off into the ivy. Thank goodness! I could just see us trying to cut down part of the tree to get the cat out.

How was your week? :)

Rubber Stamps

I've been going through my rubber stamps the past couple of weeks. Man, I knew I had a lot of stamps, but until you go through them all, you never really know how many you have. Ok, yes, I could be on one of those shows... "She who has way too much stuff...the obsessed crafter."

And until you go through all of your stamps, you don't really know how much your style of stamping has changed, or how the world of stamping actually has changed. When I started out rubber stamping, I bought cute. Lots of cute. You like cute? I got cute. Cute country, cute cats, cute cute cute.

When I joined my rubber stamping group way back in 1997 (?), my world of rubber stamps had opened up. No longer was I stamping cute cats or Mickey Mouse. The world of collage opened it's doors to me, and I was hooked. We taught each other stamping techniques, everyone took their turn during a live chat, and we learned to stamp on candles, to use shaving cream to make fun designs, to emboss, to use stippling, you name it, we learned it.

And the change in what types of stamps I bought was evident. Lots of little flowers, antique watches, leaves, words, and very ecclectic designs were what interested me. It's so fun to see how the stamp companies grew with our ever changing needs.

I don't stamp as much any more, so I'm downsizing my collection. But there's still the stamp or two that I can't seem to part with yet. Ok, more like 10 or 20...200 or 300?? LOL

How has your stamping world changed for you?

Yay for ebay!

This week was the first week of our auctions on ebay. I'm putting up some rubber stamps on ebay that I know I won't use anymore. And I realized that some of the stamps are selling for a pretty penny. I had no idea that Precious Moments and PSX stamps were going for so much!

It's really fun watching the bids go up. One stamp we were watching actually sold for $117! I was in shock. It's a PSX stamp, and it's just amazing to me that someone would pay that much for a stamp. Where have I been??

So, that's how I've been spending the past couple of Saturdays, figuring out how much things cost, what they're worth, and if anyone would really want a certain stamp. It is a lot of work. I'm just glad that I can get it to someone who really wants it.

And if you haven't already heard, Domo has invaded 7-11. Yep, he's here!! He has a slurpee named after him. It's a red apple slurpee, why? Because Domo doesn't like apples, so you'll get to drink it without him wanting to steal it from you...yep really. LOL

I've already gotten all of the straws, and a domo slurpee cup. Cause I just have to. Not sure that I want to get the figurines. But we'll see how I feel about them if I actually see one. I thought it was funny that the whole store is Domo-tized, and the workers have no idea who Domo is. I got asked who he was, and he still looked at me funny after explaining it to him.

This week I am working on finishing up the crows shirts, and I need to work on a couple of logos. My sister and niece are coming in Monday to stay at my house for the first time. So I'm going to be in major cleaning mode tomorrow (or later today). They'll only be here a couple of days, so I'll be back working on stuff on Thursday. I have a lot of ideas for things running through my head.

Have a Great Sunday!

Ramen Girl

Yesterday I watched Ramen Girl. I have been watching the trailers for awhile now, and really wanted to see it. And while in Target, I saw that they had the DVD. So I bought it. And I really enjoyed watching it.

It reminds me of all those Japanese dramas you watch on the international channels. It really reminded me of the Manga/Anime Nana. Where she leaves her home to travel to live with her boyfriend, and he leaves her. So she has to figure out what she wants to do with her life, cause she doesn't want to go home. But she doesn't know what to do.

I won't ruin it for anyone who wants to see it, although the trailer pretty much sums up the plot of the movie. I think Brittany Murphy really looks like an anime character. LOL I really enjoyed her acting in the movie. And loved her Sensei, Toshiyuki Nishida. He played his character very well. You get as frustrated with him as she does.

It did really make me hungry for a great big bowl of ramen! LOL

I love these types of movies, if you like them, you'll really enjoy it.

Diving into ebay...

Today I put my first ever item on ebay. I am still amazed how much people are paying for old rubberstamps. And now am bummed that I didn't put some of them on ebay much sooner. I also have put some on etsy as well. Just to see which store does well.

I have so many rubber stamps, and so many that I don't stamp anymore. I figured that it would be better for someone to have it who actually will use it. Unlike myself the hoarder. It's that releasing items back into the world thing again. Can you imagine? I still am having a hard time releasing some items into the world. But eventually they will find other homes.

I've finished most of the feed store shirts, I just have to find 5 more tshirts, then deliver them all. I have a few more art designs to do as well, so I'll post those as I finish them. I want to get some things up and running, and try to figure out how to make a little ebay widget if I can.

Happy Saturday everyone!

Crows on a wire Embroidery

So a friend of mine wanted me to do an embroidered design for her with crows on a wire. I guess the group that she works with is nicknamed "Crows on a Wire" so she wanted something to do with that. So I thought of a crow telling a story, cause they like to talk story, and then the rest of the crows listening to her.

I couldn't find a good clip art of crows on a wire, so I made mine up. I was first going to do a country crow kind of drawing, but they looked too plain. This way they look a little more animated.

I think it looks kinda cute! :) I am going to embroider the wings and tails in black, but I used grey to show her the lines.

I hope she likes it.

New batch of kittens

So the mom cat had 7 more kittens. Count 'em, 7! Well, you can only see the bum of one of the kittens. LOL But OMG, I can't believe she had so many. I think she's pregnant yet again, so we can't take her in to get fixed yet. But when she's done she's SO going in to get fixed.

I like the darker grey striped one, but I think that one is more of a calico. It's got a lot of different colors in her coat.

They're getting a bit more friendly, it's really funny watching them play in the yard during the day. I love watching kittens.

Pizza Dough

Yesterday I made Pizza Dough in the bread machine. It was my second try. The first try I made a 2 lb batch of pizza dough, and used it all on one jelly roll pan. Big mistake! It was really thick. And I like thinner crust pizza.

So this time I split the dough ball in half and made 2 pizzas! I think that I should bake the dough a bit before putting the toppings on, so it will be more crispy.

This is what the second pizza looked like. We used the spagetti sauce from the night before. It had chunks of hamburger in it. So all I had to do was put the cheese and the pepperoni on top.

Here's the recipe from the Oster manual:

Combine the following ingredients into the bread maker (I put the liquids in first, then the other ingredients with the yeast last)

All ingredients must be at room temperature (70 degrees F - 80 degrees F)

1-1/4 c to 1-3/8 c Water
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp. Active Dry Yeast

-Combine all ingredients into the bread pan
-Select Dough Setting
-Press Start/Stop button. When the unit signals and the display reads "0:00" press the start/stop button and remove dough.
-Pat dough into 12" x 15" jelly roll pan or greased 14" Round Pizza Pan
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
-Spread pizza sauce over dough and sprinkle toppings over sauce.
-Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

I made mine in an Oster Bread maker, yours might differ. Consult your manual.

enjoy!!

Dr. Horrible on the Emmys

I just love Dr. Horrible!!