30 years, plus food, plus wine

This weekend was filled with good food and family. Those are my favorite weekends.

Half of my extended family lives in Las Vegas, and it's pretty rare that they can all come out and visit.

The gathering was for my aunt & uncle's 30th anniversary!

Kelley & Kelly (how cute is that?!) were married January 31, 1981. That's a long time, and quite a commitment.

Whenever we get together, we eat. And we eat well!

The fare consisted of smoked tri tip and chicken, mashed potatoes, pasta salad, potato salad, garlic bread, and more.

We also like to get down on a variety of appetizers. I brought these chips that I found at the grocery store, and couldn't pass them up.

I got them because I thought the name and packaging were hilarious. Plus they were the same price as the chips I usually buy. As a bonus, the company is involved in giving jobs to youngsters on the streets of LA so they don't end up in gangs. I'll support that.

My sister Bari had this wine that was perfect for me. She isn't much of a wine drinker so she gave the bottle to me.

The label is the perfect rendering of my sisters and I.

I guess now is a good time to confess that I suffer from chronic middle child syndrome. It's been a struggle, but I have learned to deal with the constant need for attention, and the nagging urge to be different.

The wine helps.

Aaannnd lastly, here is a picture of Bari with one of my favorite little squirts, Lyla. She is dressed like a ragamuffin because, well because these are the clothes she chose.

That was my Saturday.

On Sunday I lounged around and did a little bit of homework. I also made a few little things.

I'll show you tomorrow. My Blackberry camera is doing its job, but I'd like to take better photos with a real camera. I'm going to check one out from the school library today.

Hope your weekend was filled with food & fun.

Half the Earth

Have you seen these pillows on Etsy? They make it to the front page quite often, and they always catch my attention. I thought these were super cool because i LOVE where I live. Plus I think the shape of California is kind of iconic... it's a symbol of sunshine and laid-back-ness.

I've had this picture in my mind for awhile. I wanted to incorporate my home state of California with my boyfriend's home country of South Africa.

I've always thought it was kind of fateful that we came from opposite sides of the Earth and we somehow found each other and fell in love. I don't think I believe in fate, but I'm thankful for the happy coincidence that we were in the same place at the same time.

I looked it up, and the distance between us for most of our lives was something like 10,870 miles. But not anymore.

I made up this pillow to remind us of where we came from and how wonderful it is that we are together now.

 Here is a brief rundown of the steps I used to make my new favorite pillow:

1. Print map images from Google to trace onto fusible web.

2. Cut out appliques and iron to front of pillow. I used this tutorial for the applique.

3. Stitch around the edges. I hand-stitched the hearts to make them look more homemade.

4. Insert pillow form. I made a simple envelope pillowcase. Here is a great tutorial for that.

So that's my pillow and my love story. 

It was very simple to make, and I hope some of you will try it. You could use two hearts in the same state, or country or continent. It would make a great Valentine's day gift for your sweetie, or give it to someone you know who traveled far away for love.

I'm entering in the Bloggers Pillow Party! See the rest of the entries here!

ETA: These photos are not the best quality. My camera is broken so I have been using my Blackberry. I did what I could with Picnik, but please know that I am capable of better photography. Try not to cringe :)

Things are getting real around here

On Friday I went to the Board of Equalization to get my sellers permit! So now I am licensed to sell my wares online and at shows and fairs. I had a booth at the Ventura arts & crafts walk last June, on a trial basis (you don't need a permit your first time around), and it did not turn out the way I would have liked. It is held as part of the flea market, and let's just say my products did not fit in with the other items being sold. I ended up just breaking even... I made about as much as the booth cost.

My family and I had a lot of fun getting all of my things together and setting up the booth, but we ended up doing a lot of standing around looking pretty. See?

My sisters Jessica, Bari, and me.

After that I was kind of scared of doing another craft show. I finally think its time to try again. I have been looking into setting up a booth at the Santa Clarita Street Fair at College of the Canyons. It is held the 4th weekend of every month, which would give me time to build up some inventory.

I went this weekend to check out some of the other vendors, and it looks like my stuff would be a good fit. I also took some notes on how the booths were set up and the displays others were using. I talked to a lady who was there for the first time. She made crochet hats and headbands and really cute stuff. Everyone was really friendly.

I think I'm gonna go for it!

So now I start working like a crazy person and turning my sewing room into an assembly line-style sweat shop.

And in addition, I start school today. Just a little something extra on my plate.

I forgot to mention another cool thing about getting my sellers permit is now I can buy my supplies at wholesale prices! Awesome!

Hope you had a good weekend :)

In my spare time...

In my spare time I have been know to potty train a toddler or two.

When I say "spare time" I mean "while I'm at work."

One thing I forgot to mention in my 'about me' post is that I am a nanny. Which I love. It is very convenient to have little ones who I can make all those cute crafty 'kid projects' for, but that I did not actually have to birth them myself. I've worked with this family since their youngest was 3 months old, and now he is almost 3 years old. He and I pal around all day while the older kids are at school. I recently taught him how to use the big boy potty, and he has been pretty consistent with going on his own. He picked it up like a natural.

This is all very ironic because I myself was not a natural. I was a bedwetter. And an occasional daytime pantswetter. It took a few solid years of dry sheets to move on, but now I can laugh about the fact that every member of my family referred to my bed as "Lake Amy," and about that time my mom had to bring me extra clothes (including shoes and socks) at school because I peed while on stage rehearsing for the second grade musical performance. It doesn't bother me anymore. It's like that time I went to camp with a secret stash of diapers in my suitcase never happened. And it's like every sleepover I ever went to at one of my friends' houses didn't end with that friend's mom sending me home with borrowed clothes and my wet jammies in plastic grocery bag. I'm completely over it.

I'm so over it that I potty trained a two year old without batting an eye. And he's a pro, so it totally cancels out all that other stuff.

Disclaimer: The blog title "A Case of the Yellows" was in no way influenced by urine. But now that I think about it, it's a little serendipitous.

New Digs.

So this is the new blog.

Welcome!

I had previously been blogging at Fancy Funky Fresh, which was mostly about my sewing and crafting projects and occasional tidbits about my Etsy shop (also named Fancy Funky Fresh). I decided to switch because I often found that I had things to say that were not so crafty. And as a result I hardly got around to posting at all. So I thought I would just smush everything together into one really cool place. If you are looking for a particular post from Fancy Funky Fresh, I have kept that blog intact, but won't be posting there any longer.

Onward and upward.
I named this blog "A Case of the Yellows" because yellow is cheerful and pleasant to look at. I really like things that are visually beautiful and part of this blog will be to share those things. Whether it is a craft, a design, something made by me or someone else, I'd like to share it here.
I have a lot of interests: food, movies, books, decorating, sewing, weddings (my sister is getting married this year!), and anything else that happens to grab my attention.

I thought in order for you to get to know me I would post a little about myself in the form of a questionnaire, courtesy of the Oprah website.

Who was your favorite celebrity as a child? If we're talking about celebrity crushes, it was Leonardo DiCaprio all the way. I recently fell back in love with him after I saw Blood Diamond. He puts on quite an attractive South African accent. If we are talking about favorite child celebrities, I'm going with Mary Kate & Ashley.

 

What type of pets do you have? One dog. His name is Forrest, and he's a puggle. Expect to see plenty of photos like this one:

What is your favorite color? Blue. I actually thought about calling this blog "A Case of the Blues" but that sounds like a super emo sad girl blog that I wouldn't want to read. Yellow is my second favorite color.

What is most memorable about your high school years?Wanting to be somewhere else. High school was not the most fun for me. But I did find my best friend; that was lucky.

What word describes you best? multi-dimensional. Haha the hyphen allows a 2fer.


What is your greatest accomplishment? So far, it is becoming a person I'm proud to be. I have some more specific goals, I just haven't accomplished them yet.
What drives you every day? Sometimes I'm not really sure. Maybe just the fact that I'm curious about what the day will bring. Although I do have to admit that my normal daily activities don't require a ton of "drive."

What is your favorite food? There are very few foods I don't like. Actually I can't even think of one thing I will absolutely not eat. With all those options, how am I supposed to choose a favorite? I will stick with my favorite genre of food and that is Mexican. Italian is a close second.

Where do you want to retire? Leave it to Oprah to ask this question. At the ripe young age of 22, I haven't really thought about it. I do know that it would take an army to get me to leave California though.

What is your business goal this year? Another Oprah question. I really just want to expand my Etsy store and start selling more at fairs and craft shows.

Where do you like to vacation? My favorite vacation place is Leo Carrillo state beach in malibu. My family camps there every year, and some of my best memories are from there.

Who do you admire? People who aren't afraid to be unique.

What is your mission? To experience as much of my life as possible, and to inspire others to do the same.

If you were invisible, where would you go? Hogwarts. Hey if invisibility is possible, then so is the wizarding world. I love magic.

What traits in others are you attracted to? Kindness, confidence, sincerity, sense of humor, creativity, willingness to listen to me.

What would you do with a million dollars? Isn't it kind of sad that a million dollars doesn't go very far these days? I think I would just pay off all of my debts and then travel. It would be cool to not have to work for a few years.

If you were on an island, who would you want to be with? Why? I would definitely choose Brendan, my sweetie. Not just because he is my mate and I'm in love with him, but also because he is incredibly handy and resourceful. he could probably build us a shelter or an escape raft. Plus he would make me laugh the whole time and take my mind off of eventual starvation.

You have a 10 minute speech to give at a high school, what is it about? Being open-minded and respectful of people who are different. Young people could do so much more if they were willing to accept other cultures, religions, lifestyles, and beliefs.

Ok, let's see here... I think I have covered mostly everything I wanted to say for my first post.

Oh yeah, the header for this blog is from Yummy Lolly. Its very cute, right? My design skills are touch and go. Any help or suggestions would be welcome.

Also if you have any other questions about me, my shop, or the blog, feel free to ask. I love comments.