Japanese Craft Books with ISBN - take one

As I had alluded to in earlier posts I hit the mother load of Japanese craft books while on my trip to San Diego. So not to overwhelm and overload everyone I will do a few at a time until they have all been listed.

For each book I have the cover and one of my favorite projects from in the book. With Japanese books especially it is hard to judge a cover of a book as to how many oh so great projects are inside. These first three are my absolute favorites!
I can not begin to describe how much I love this book, tons of inspiration on seriously every page. I love to that they take one design and show you tons of different alternatives. Besides these super cute totes there is a even cuter pillow as well as a teeny sewing kit that may be my next "mini" project. A must buy for Japanese craft book lovers!




This one had so many different items to make my favorite though was the make-up carrying case. They also had a super cute cut out circle curtain that I really liked.

And finally to round out my top three... I went in for sewing books and came out with a new project I wanted to try, fabric flowers! I absolutely love the two styles on the cover so it was hard to pick a favorite inside shot without duplicating the front. I am really excited to try this, I haver never really had the urge to create fabric flower, but boy is the urge here now!

That's it for now! More to be added later in the week.

So the freak out begins

I am starting to apply for my first few craft show. And I am starting to freak mostly about how I am going to set up my booth and that I need to start sewing like a mad women so I have enough product available.

Ken hasnt been extremely supportive when it comes to the craft shows mostly because frankly (and these are his words not mine) he doesnt like craft shows. Big whoop he doesnt like craft shows, he will like them if I can start to earn an amount that means he can work less. His dream is to ultimately be a stay at home dad which I would love but right now he makes the big bucks and has to work. If I can create a business that is profitable then I would love to be able to support us all but in order for me to support him financially I need his support emotionally and he doesnt really get that. Though he is a pessimistic at heart as well as skeptical of everything so for the most part he is taking this all very well, for him that is.

But I digress, I am freaking A LOT I am starting to search the internet (mostly flickr) to get ideas of different displays people have come up with I like this, this and this one. I also LOVE Alicia's display that she had in her once upon shop. I am also trying to pull inspiration from Heather's studio and vibe.

I am starting my list of things I need/want and have start going to my local thrift store and antique store on a weekly sometimes daily visit to start searching for accent pieces to make everything just right.

I am so determined to make this work and will do everything to help myself succeed!

9 months and 1 day

In the midst of a crabby teething baby, my little girl turned 9 months old. Wow has time flown I can not image 9 months ago how different but perfect my world would be. Leila, you amaze me everyday and no matter how hard of a day we have you make me smile effortlessly. I love you and I am grateful for each day that I get to watch you grow.

Teething baby

Sit, stand, lay down nothing makes her happy this weekend.
I am going to get nothing done this weekend.

I love swap meets

I was lucky enough to experience my first ever swap meet (flea market). In San Diego Ken and I attended the Kobey's Swap Meet which is the largest one in San Diego. It was in one word amazing. I am an avid garage sale/rummage sale/estate sale shopper though in Wisconsin the season for these is the spring and summer. Winter doesn't yield great turn outs for garage sales even though I would brave the weather for a good one!

At the swap meet I literally looked at Ken and said" this is my heaven you know" and it really is trash and treasure at ever turn and I love rummaging through it! The people you can meet at these are also amazing. There was the overly enthusiastic plant man who loved shouting about how crazy he was about his plants. There was the older photographer who wouldn't budge on his price, I wish he was a little friendlier on the approach I have a feeling he had a lot of stories to tell. And I even found a women from the Wisconsin area that said she thought I was admirable for liking the cold Wisconsin winters ( I really do like winter, call me crazy).
I didn't find a whole lot, I went in looking for vintage fabric and sewing notions. I came out with a collection of flower pins and a beautiful beaded purse for my best friend Katy. She like me is nuts about garage sales. We sometimes go out searching for the "its so ugly its cute" finds there are a lot of those out there! She collects purses and I have started collecting purses for her as well, vintage ones that is every time I go to an antique store I never seem to be able to leave with out a purse for Katy.
My love of thrift store shopping may have some pay back one day I just read this article I will have to show my husband that one day my hobby could actually pay off.

Recap of San Diego

Our vacation went really well. I got to meet more of Ken's family (even though we have been together for almost 7 years).

I love going to large diverse cities there is so much to do and such great food to eat!

Ken was such a great sport as well he basically drove me to where ever I wanted to go. I got to go to a Japanese book store, not once but twice. More on that most likely next week (stay tuned all you Japanese craft book lovers, I will have a huge amount of ISBNs and reviews for you!)
I also got to experience my first swap meet. It was literally my heaven. It was like a town garage all at one spot. There were also street performers and yummy yummy food! I didn’t have as much luck as I would have liked with finding treasures in the trash (seriously some of the stuff people are selling) but I do have a few goodies that I will post next week.

We also did the typical San Diego Zoo trip as well as going to the ocean. We basically took advantage of the beautiful weather and were outside as much as possible. The best part of the trip though, Leila and I got to take a few decent pictures because I was actually showered and clean when my husband brought out the camera!

I enjoyed the trip but I am so glad to be home, ask me if I am glad to be home though next week the forecast for this weekend is a possible blizzard, maybe I will get to sew a few things… we will have to see!

Black n' White fashion

I have found once again an awesome find at my local St. Vinnie's this time I came across a box full of black n white large fashion photos. The cost was a little more then what I usually pay at St. Vinnie's (you cant barter there I dont think) at $20 but once I got them home I knew I found a great thing. Now I just need to find more picture frames so I can get these lovelies on the wall. Otherwise I am thinking of making some "fabric matting" and hang them as is.