slateblu

happy mother's day!

I'm having breakfast with my side of the family with aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. and then having an early dinner with my husband's immediate side of the family in the East Bay.  It will be a busy day.

I was busy sewing for little mother's day gifts...and some lite shopping.  At work we were given a special deal on some skin care from one of our affiliates.  I got these olive oil soaps:

I wasn't sure how to package them until I saw these little plates at Japantown.

I'm including this book with the soap:

...and FYI: I'm quoted on page 55:

I packaged everything together in fabric bags:

It was the first time I did a buttonhole...and sew a button with my sewing machine! I'm so proud of myself - haha!  I had to interrupt my husband from his online poker playing so I could watch how on YouTube. 

I had lots of practice since I made 8!

Have a Happy Mother's Day! I hope you all have a good one.

heath ceramics

I finally went to Heath Ceramics in Sausalito.  I've been wanting to go for awhile so when I received the postcard in the mail about their open studio sale I figured that would be a good time to go.  My sister and I did browsing, picking up and putting back but finally made a decision on what to get.  Here are the pieces I got:

sugar bowl

serving platter

vase

tea/coffee mug

I'm so glad we went.  It's hard to pick because you want everything.  It was crowded because of the open studio sale but it was nice seeing the owners.  There was an article about them in the newspaper the other day.

more origami...

Folded this fortune cookie...instructions here.

Created pop-up origami card - modified design from this book:

Used photoshop to figure out where to place text and inserted into a see-thru envelope!

cherry blossom festival

Yesterday we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival.  I picked up this little bag:

Nikonina had a booth there.  Anne saw the booth first and when me and my sister saw the bag she got, we had to get one too!

Linda Mihara was there and showed people how to fold this:

She let Jason have the sample and so I made one at home too!

...And another one:

They're fun to make.  Maybe good for when Christmas comes around again.

cupcakes and yarn

I haven't been crafting lately.  I've been busy with Jason's 5th birthday party.  Now that's it's over I can rest a bit.  After work today I had to go to Crate & Barrel to buy a $3.95 butter dish but came out with these extras:

Frivolous, I know.  I usually buy books on Amazon but just bought full price here.  I'm craving cupcakes and wanted to try a different recipe.

I'm starting to knit this in the greenish yarn.  I put it down and haven't picked it up but I will soon. I like that it's knit in the round.

I'll post pictures of the spiderman party on flickr!

Have a good rest of the week!

5 years ago...

I gave birth to this little boy...how fast they grow...

The picture was taken here w/ Pepe Le Pew.  Jason had no idea who he was but later in the day he said "Mommy, where's my picture with the skunk?"  I didn't even know he knew what a skunk was...haha!  Lots of party planning to do for this Saturday...

Also quick post on a real instant gratification knitting project...

a blythe sweater...

pattern from here.

paris comes to me...

I've been to Paris once.  That was my senior year in high school.  I've been wanting to go back.  My husband's cousin just went a couple weeks ago and picked up some requested treats for me and then some...

tea and French Macaroons from Lauduree

and the Blaise Mautin candle from the Paris Vendome Hyatt ...

knitting and porn

I bet I caught your attention with the title of the post.  Shall I start with the porn?

I'm sure you're familiar with this book.  This a new one.  Porn for New Moms.  Pick a copy up and look specifically at pages 21, 31 & 87.  You will see a familiar face on those pages.

...and I share with you some knitting photos of a baby hat.  My sister was going to a baby shower and wanted me to knit a baby hat for a girl.  This project was fast and easy...instant gratification:

This is my favorite part of knitting a hat...the decreasing part =)

All finished:

sewing and pictures

I wanted to experiment with sewing nylon.  Inspired by Yorktown Road's supply sack which is made out of a heavier nylon, I set out to make my zippered pouch with a very light weight nylon.  It came out great.  I didn't even have to sew interfacing. The nylon pouch is the one on top.  The pink one on the bottom is my regular cotton sewn pouch.

The inside:

We also set out to Yerba Buena Gardens so I could take pictures of Jason for his 5th b-day invitations:

Someone was not a happy camper:

another photography class...

I took another photography class...trying to hone my skills and practice with CS3. These are pictures I took at lunch and during our shoot assignment.  I learned a lot in this class.  It was a full weekend of class time, reviewing fundamentals of photography and learning more about my camera (which I've actually had for almost 4 years now).  It helped that the teacher was familiar with my camera and that the rented cameras for the class were the Canon 20Ds.  Just two photos now - I took all RAW pictures and I don't have the energy right now to convert them all.