Year: 2021

skeleton.

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#tbt to last year’s Halloween festivities! I learned how to create a skeleton look during one of the online Yelp events. I was never big on face paint – something about sharing a palette with others and germs grossed me out – and also I was never sure of safe make up or how to remove it all afterwards (now I know – coconut oil for the win!). This was the perfect class for me because I didn’t have to share a palette and I learned some pro tips! Sabrina Lopez of Rabbit Rye based out of San Antonio, TX led the make up tutorial. Before the event she provided a list of make up and tool recommendations. She’s the pro so I got all the things on her list. I gathered a cream-based make up palette, paint/make up brushes, and make up sponges. Plus, I opted in for face glitter – I had been looking for an excuse to purchase body glitter! Here we go! First, we felt around our face to find our …

paper bag.

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It’s the easiest Halloween treat bag ever! If you’re pressed for time or need something foolproof for Halloween crafting, look no further. All you need to create these treat bags are Paper bags – Size will depend on what you plan to use for filling. I found these smaller bags at Daiso. A black marker Treats – I picked a few types of candy and stickers. Optional materials: Brown or green felt for the stem (You can also use paper.) Fabric scissors (or paper scissors if using paper) A stapler Work on a flat surface. Fold ~1 inch of the top of the paper bag to the backside. This helps with centering your jack-o-lantern drawing. Next, draw a jack-o-lantern face with marker. If you’re using a permanent marker (or thin paper bag), consider using a piece of paper or cardboard inside the paper bag to prevent the marker from bleeding through. You can write a note on the backside of the paper bag, too. Then fill with treats. If you’re adding a stem, cut out …

hello dah-ling.

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Some major flower crown inspiration here! I’ve been wanting to visit the dahlia farms in Petaluma. I didn’t have the opportunity to go this season, but I did get to visit the dahlias in Golden Gate Park. This garden is near the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers and is maintained by the Dahlia Society of California. It’s a small garden but packed with so many varieties of dahlias! Apparently, dahlias come in a range of sizes from 2 inches in diameter to over 10 inches! Some, I didn’t recognize to be dahlias. They are all so different! Lucky me, they were in full bloom on my visit (first weekend in October). I later learned that dahlias are the official flower of San Francisco, so it seemed fitting to go see the San Francisco dahlia garden first (before Petaluma). Are you a dahlia fan? What’s your favorite variety? Mine is all. 🙂

laser pumpkins.

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The same friend who laser beamed craft goodies for my Crafty Bebe Shower last year also created these laser beamed geometric wood pumpkins for a special Halloween DIY kit to gift to my fam. I gave my friend a photo of what I wanted and she created pumpkins in the perfect size. These kits were really fun to put together. I included paint pots filled with Martha Stewart acrylic paints (my fave) and brushes. Here’s how I packed them up. I included a string of orange lights, snacks, pumpkin spice goodies, googly eyes, and a fun Halloween card. I love putting together items to make the unboxing super fun! Some of the creations! I got in the fun, too, of course. Here are my pumpkins: What’s on your Halloween craft list this year? Share!

sunflower.

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Since I’ve been back to work full time I’ve found myself working long hours most days. So I’m doing my best to carve out some days where I can take a break. I’ve been averaging one day off every two months. It’s not much, but it’s a start. I’ve spent my days off with my little family visiting somewhere new together. So far, we’ve gone to the beach in Pacifica, strolled a Petaluma neighborhood, and went sunflower field hunting in Dixon – featured here! We even made a music video. There are so many sunflower fields in the area. Take your pick! Just note, the ones we spotted were all on private land so we stayed on the outskirts of the property, was careful not to damage any of the plants, and of course did not take any blooms. It was such a treat to catch a glimpse in real life. What do you like to do on your days off? Share below!

go big!

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What happens when you haven’t created with your hands in over four months and you sign up for your first in person creative workshop in over a year and a half? You get super excited and create a larger than life wreath, question if it will fit in the car to take home after class, and wonder if it will even fit your regular sized front door. Seriously, I thought my 2019 winter wreath was gigantic. I didn’t think I could create something even larger! Abby Dale of Craft + Work taught this wreath making class in the Royal Bee Yarn Company‘s recently renovated garden space. Abby has taken some of my felt workshops at Craft + Work; it was so fun to take a class that she was leading! She provided lots of guidance, inspo, and encouragement throughout class. Abby brought a huge spread of foliage – milkweed, sage, rosemary, magnolia leaves, eucalyptus, succulents… – some from the San Francisco Flower Mart and others from her garden. You really couldn’t go wrong selecting foliage …

pumpkin fluff.

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Fall is the perfect season for felt (IMHO all seasons are the perfect season for felt, but Fall especially!). And you can never go wrong with a pumpkin craft. Let’s make fluffy felt pumpkins! For this craft your will need: Felt in your favorite pumpkin color (10” square for a pumpkin 5” in diameter, plus an additional piece for a 3” circle) Felt for pumpkin stem (any size, I used a piece of felt 2” x 3”) Nylon cord or upholstery thread Sewing needle Polyfil / fluff Fabric scissors This will make a pumpkin approximately 5″ in diameter and 2 1/4″ tall. Cut felt circle 10” in diameter. It doesn’t have to be a perfect circle. Loosely measure out cord. You want at least the circumference of your pumpkin felt + 10ish times the diameter of your pumpkin felt + a little more. Thread your needle with cord; knot one end of your cord. Sew a running stitch along the perimeter of your felt circle 1/4″ from the border. Begin to fill with fluff. Tighten …

tasting, tasting. 1, 2, 3.

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Hello Yelp Elite badge 2021! We’re already more than a third of the way through 2021 so I best recap some tasty Yelp events! So far I’ve been able to participate in a virtual beer and snack pairing, yogurt tasting, coffee run, and sushi take out! All the Yelp Elite events, though still virtual, are still deliciously fun! Here’s what I’ve been snacking on… Anaviv’s Table and East Brother Beer One of the first Yelp Elite events of the year was a virtual beer and food pairing with Anaviv’s Table and East Brother Beer, both located in Richmond, California. Anaviv’s Table, pre-pandemic, was a communal dining experience (they sat 12 max per seating) that focused on featuring local food from nearby farms. Today, they sell goods market style and a select nosh offering. East Brother Beer is a local favorite brewery (I enjoy their house stout!) among many of my friends, and it’s a family friendly spot, too. This was the first event with a delivery option for the tasting menu and if I have …

oh hi 2021.

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Remember when I took a stamped calendar workshop in Seattle? I loved the idea and wanted to share the experience with my family. We had originally planned for this to be our activity for Christmas Craft Camp 2020, but guess who stored away their craft kits through the winter and start of spring? Yuh, all of us. So for Mother’s Day we brought out our crafts for another virtual Mom’s Day activity – a bit late for a calendar craft, but still just as fun. For my calendar, I used gouache! I not-so-secretly want to be a surface designer so I decided to practice with pattern play. I tried to vary shapes and colors throughout the calendar, but I clearly had some favorite patterns – splotches and stripes for the win! My very favorite design out of the twelve months is March. It might stay March all year. 🙂 I can envision this as a fabric print! I have a long way to go before I can be a legit surface designer, but this was …

cookies at the claremont.

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To celebrate being fully vaccinated I met up with my basically-family friends for an outdoor cookie decorating event at the Claremont hosted by East Bay Provisions. The Claremont had converted part of their parking lot into an outdoor restaurant and event space. It was the perfect weekend to be outside! Each ticket came with a dozen sugar cookies (we received kitten, bear, turtle, and butterfly shapes), four icing colors, assorted sprinkles, popsicle sticks, and hand wipes. Our host came around and provided a quick demo. I was hoping for more direction, but it really was meant for open play. Since I do much better looking at samples, I watched my niece decorate her cookies first and was inspired by her creations. My favorite technique was piping out splotches of color and then taking one of the popsicle sticks to drag the color across the cookie. It made it look like watercolor and blended the colors (almost) seamlessly. I really liked how my bears turned out! In the end, they all tasted the same so we …