expo loot

last weekend my sister and i went to sacramento to visit the scrapbook expo.
got to love having a little sister trip and spending some money!! honestly i haven't really been scrapbook shopping, since i haven't been productive with it. an embellishment here, a little "thinking of you" gift from my sister there.. haven't really had a shopping "blowout" since the last expo in march. but it is a great way to find deals. here are some of the things i scored on.. (pardon the bad quality camera phone photos)
free reusable totes to stash my loot in? yes please!

ADORABLE paper from pinecone press

wow.. just wow. i love these. some bits and pieces of paper collections from pink paislee

some always fun goodies from eyelet outlet

.99 cent bling anyone!? yes please!!! from want 2 scrap

goodies goodies goodies from queen&co!

okay, i SO love these. and i can find a lot more uses for them other than scrapping! picked these up at the tall mouse booth

if you haven't noticed already, i can't really argue with the dollar embellies. these ones were from the scrapbuck booth.

ok. i forget where i got these from. but $3 for these rad inkadinkado stamps! i would've paid it just for the sugar skull one!

ok and these autumn leaves stamp sets that i picked up for $1 a set!? normally i would say no because i wasn't in love with the WHOLE set, but come on.. a buck!

picked up some fun thickers, 4 for $10! come on now this is the only way to shop! and aren't you just in love with the ones on top!?

this is some of that rhinestone ribbon stuff, i kept seeing sprinkled about the place... i don't know what i am going to do with it yet, but i am determined. if anyone has any ideas/projects let me know! i'd love some feedback.

i picked up WAYYYY more stuff than i showed here... and honestly the day was kind of a blur, i can't remember where i got everything from. some of the other great booths that we visited included cozy's scrapbooking, dollar scrapbooking, krazy kreations, sei, scrapmart,and scrapbook grammie, just to include all the ones that i remember!

mother daughter date

lately i have been enjoying a new schedule. two days off in a week, allows me much more creative time!! it has only been two weeks on this schedule and so far i am loving it.


yesterday, i had a great little lunch and shopping date with my mother. we decided to set out to wander nearby towns one by one, and find new things to do out of the ordinary :) this time, we went to sebastopol. i took my mom to a little gem that a friend of mine introduced me to... an all craft supply thrift shop, Legacy ! probably one of my new favorite places.. fabric galore!!! depending on the type it ranges between $1 and $3 a POUND! load on up!!! there are large cuts of pretty much anything you could imagine, as well as bins full of color coordinated scraps. shelves full of yarn, old patterns, notions and findings, buttons, you name it!!! every time i go there i load up for cheap!!! on my first trip, i got a bag stuffed full of random goodies for $5. this last time that i went with my mother, i spent a whopping $12. the volunteers there are so friendly and fun.. one of the regular thursday gals just cracks me up!!! definitely worth a visit if you are ever in the area, or if you need to offload some of your craft supplies that you just don't know what to do with, definitely go and donate them!!




the next stop on our tour was to Balls and Skeins, an adorable little knitting store just a block or two down the road!!! This was our first time there and i have to say, i love it. the lady working, unfortunately i did not catch her name, was very kind and helpful. i have to say that i love when i can go into a higher end craft-type store, and regardless of my crazy hair and tattoos, that they treat me nicely and like an equal. this is a challenge that i knew i had set for myself in life, but it truly blows me away when i can go into a little shop like this and be treated as a serious knitter!! while we were there, i picked out this fun, fuzzy black and white twisted yarn. project in mind? why, yes!!! days before while i was in Cast Away (the local yarn shop which happens to be right across the street from my work) shopping for yarn to make xmas presents with (yes i am sick and twisted and starting those already...) i saw a beauuuuutiful cowl laid out all nicely, which said that they had the pattern available. as soon as i saw this black and white yarn at Balls and Skeins, i knew that i wanted to go back and get that cowl pattern and make it with this to produce a unique effect!!! and let me tell you, i am VERY picky about cowls... they always feel too thick or bulky or like they are too tight or choking me, etc. but this one at the shop... glorious. i am halfway through this project hehe!!!! sneak peek? yes of course!!

i will share a better, more high resolution photo of it when it is all done and blocked and lovely. sooooooo soft!!! i love the way that it is turning out and it has been an easy knit so far, seeing as how i just started it late yesterday evening! you can just call me quickdraw.

we ended our little trip with a bite to eat at the newly opened gypsy cafe on main street in sebastopol, and of course a trip to screamin mimis!!! you cannot go to/through sebastopol without making a stop here, the ice cream is so ridiculously good!!!! mmmmm!!!!

next months stop... healdsburg? petaluma? windsor? who knows where these things will take us. all of these have little hidden fabric stores that we are all ready to check out!

so i should be working, but...

instead, i am drooling over things online!!!! aaaaaaaaaaah i want this dress from Modcloth!!!! payday happens to be friday... think i am going to have to make a purchase!!! :)

just ordered some fabulously cute business cards for my little side business, expecting them in about a week.... there is a LOT of crafty goodness going on right now... gearing up for all of the fall time car show booth collaborations with my dear dear bestie Anna from Mama Kat Kustoms as well as her talented husband El Joe who is a pin striper... exciting things to come. we will be selling at Billetproof in Antioch on the 17th of this month, as well as at the Swanx Fall Fiasco.. more information to come on that one!!! sneak peeks of my goodies to follow!

my year in phone photos (part two)

catch up part two!!!!! busy busy busy. tomorrow, i am off to a baby shower for a very dear cosmo school friend who i haven't seen in FOREVER!!!! on that note... fellow bloggers, don't you hate it when you have the perfect gift for someone, cute photos of it.. and you can't share it until after you give it to them?! I fear that she will see it. oh well... guess i can just load it up tomorrow afternoon! i have to love baby shopping!!! anyways..


so the rest of the year so far has been some..


green beer making (and drinking..)

scrapbook expo loot getting

craft room organizing


and organizing.. and organizing... and hoarding.. ehehe

fun, loose hair styling

random smurf hugging

hangin with my little chuckster

getting back to hair bow making

superfan themed knitting (specially made for ms kristen, seen here in photo)

and gorgeous hair extension giving. (photo= my beautiful friend danika)

my year in phone photos (part one)

well obviously, it has been a while again. my first post of the year, ha!! it has been such a busy year so far and i can't believe that half of it has already flown on by!!! i just don't take the time to sit down and do this, although i really need to if i am going to get anywhere! i just tend to forget because i upload most of my photos to facebook anyhow. also, ever since i got a smartphone with an awesome camera in it, i barely even pull my regular point and shoot camera out of my purse anymore!! well, here goes..

it has been a year full of...sweet scrapbooking

cheeseburger eating

friend time at the salon (kristen's 30th bday)

tattoo getting (by asian john at sub culture tattoo in santa rosa)

lots and lots of coffee from those jokesters at flying goat

pink hair, and purse buying... purse from lux de ville! (ps i am still using this one months later, usually i get bored and switch it up! its perfect!)

fimo playing...

...and painting!

chuck goofin

and... birthday.. err.. boobday cake eating??

christmas crafties, part one.

it has been a crazy busy season, to say the least. what with working two jobs, and doing all of my little christmas crafts, it gets crazy. today i'm goin to share some little peeks of the ornaments that i made for my coworkers at the salon.

i wanted to be able to give everyone a little something, to show them how much i appreciate them-- but without breaking the bank. painting your own ornaments is a pretty cost effective way to go. whats more, i chose to purchase plastic ball ornaments instead of glass- for one, they are cheaper, and two, i am a giant klutz... i didn't know how i would get through painting and transporting 20 glass ornaments to the salon without a major catastrophe.

the easiest way to go about this, really, is to paint the inside. paint the outside, do whatever the hell that you want, i just know that i love the idea of the glitter being contained inside of the ornament, so that it doesn't get EVERYWHERE!! glitter truly is the herpes of craft supplies.

so, on we go...
purchased empty balls to start...

plus, the giant giant box of paint and glitter that i already had...

you just have to pull off the cap, and squirt the paint on in!!! there are a million different ways to do this, as well as tutorials on youtube. you just want to get enough paint in there and swirled around to get the ornament covered without pooling , and drain the excess out in an egg carton, or whatever works for you. i will warn you though, that if you put too much paint in there, you will have a mess on your hands... i had a couple of flops, where the paint was too thick, semi-dried in a huge chunk, and then decided to slide and leave a big empty space. the plus side of using glass ornaments would be that you could swish some acetone around in there and start over... its ok though because i had purchased a few extra balls juuuuust in case!!!

round one... now, they don't look too interesting. after you let the paint drain out of them for 10-20 minutes or so, you are going to want to rotate their position, however often you want. this will create a marbeled effect. if this is what you are going to do, i would advise you to pick contrasting colors, and if you are going to do say red and green, put white or something else as a buffer in the middle... otherwise when you shake it up, it will have yucky brown splotches

round two.... some adventures with glitter and fabric paint.

this was the last bunch. i know that they look kind of blotchy at first glance, but i PROMISE you when you rotate them they end up marbled. just try and check it out in the final photo!

once your ornaments are completely dry, throw the cap back on, and then add the rest of embellishments as you please!!! i started the first round of ornaments around the first week of december, and then did a batch more once a week for two more weeks. if you are going to do this, do it a little bit farther in advance... sometimes they can take a long long time to dry. plain paint ones arent so bad, but the ones that i had fabric paint and glitter/glitter glue in took a little longer, and i did end up having to take a hair dryer to them in the end.

i chose to glue a piece of ribbon around the top of each of mine with the ever trusty fabri-tac and tie it in a cute little bow. the great thing about being a craft supply hoarder is that i was able to find the perfect ribbon for each one of my little ornaments, matching colors and styles and everything... and i had just kind of made the ornaments randomly. i added little tags to each one, to say who they were for, and looooove mary, and the like. voila! it was a really fun little project.

everyone at the salon really loved their little gifts, and upon first look thought that they were glass ornaments. they all seemed really excited about them and had a million questions about how they were made. the best thing that someone said to me was today when riva texted me to say thank you, and said "its like christmas and easter all rolled into one!"

sharesies

ok. well, i have a ton of holiday eye candy to share... and i am aiming to get a good post with some of it in this afternoon, i should have time. been so busy with all these cupcake hat orders!! but i am happy to say, i got all of my presents bought, and they were all wrapped and under the tree on the 13th!!! go me!!!


just wanted to share a little something that has been cracking me up for the past month now. it hasn't gotten old yet... love it. so have a little laugh!