Flea Market Studio

Tamales for Christmas......

 Tradition. Its finally my turn to take over. I have been making Tamales with my Family since I was a little girl. They are work. I could never get them just right. After making 200 of them with my Mom, I think I finally got it.  Some of my Family members were supposed to come and help..... Oh no, they showed up today to pick them up. Thanks Family. I did have one of my Best Girlfriend over. She has been asking for years to learn how. She helped for 3 hours. She loved it and she said they were the best Tamales she ever had. Thanks for your help Laurie! We started at 10 and we were finished at 5:30. 

Here is the process:

YOU SOAK THE HUSKS

 

YOU MARINATE AND COOK THE PORK, PREPARE THE MASA AND CHOP THE VEGETABLES

HERE IS THE ASSEMBLY LINE UP

1. 

2.

3.

4.

5.

It was fun doing something like this with just my Mom. 

Here I am with proof that I helped. I plan on being a little more ambitious next year and making a batch by myself. Merry Christmas everyone. 

        

Its finally feeling a little like Christmas....

My little Girl had the flu.. and then gave to us... Yuck. Had some much needed down time. Time to sleep, time to take in the Holiday and time decorate gifts. I feel like I am always rushing around the Holidays and not really taken it all in. Not this year. Nothing is on my plate at the moment and I love it! I love to wrap presents... but never get them to look the way I want. I spent the day just making gift toppers. Here are a few...

 

 
 

I love to give gifts...  

I finally got our  Holiday card done. Thanks to my friend Kat, I went to Costco and paid $15.00 for 50! Shutterfly has great cards but what a difference in price.  Here is the photo that made the Card... and some that are on the cutting room floor..

 
 
 

It is that crazy time of the year for the kids at school... Will miss them over the Holidays, but cannot wait for this week to be over. Hope everyone is enjoying their loved ones and taking it easy this Year..... Tamales are being made at my house on Sunday, Mexican style if anyone wants to learn how (not from me, but my family) hugs...

Joli-paquet.... and recap on Thanksgiving

This is the Kit for Joli-Paquet  ! They will be available tomorrow on my Etsy... I will also have more things added tomorrow for the Christmas Holiday. The Felt gift card holders will be a kit also..  

I cant believe I actually got some Christmas things up this year....                                                                      

Please go check the Joli-Paquet blog for other Amazing Kits!!

In other news.. We had the best Thanksgiving! Mother in law came to visit for a week. We love her... so grateful for her... and now miss her. We had 3 Thanksgiving dinners... now I am looking like the Turkey...

Here are some pictures of my Family... 

So happy to be with my favorite people in the world! They make me so happy. I grew up with my best friend and we were little girls we would talk about raising our Families together. Its so amazing to see this finally coming true. I love the way her little boy smiles when he looks at Darianne. Glad we can see them on Thanksgiving because every year they go to New York for the Holidays... and yes her husband is a Yankee fan..... and if you know me, you know I cant stand the Yankees... or the Cowboys. I have to give it to him, he did not rub the World Series in..... thank you Michael.    

I am going to try to have a stress free..... Holiday. Yes I say that every year... and then I keep adding more and more to my plate.  We will see...... Hugs

Christmas Shop update...

 I finally got around to updating Flea Market Studio Holiday Shop  Lots of new creations to Share! Here are some things in there now... please visit me on Tuesday for my tutorial on Joli-paquet.blogspot ! Thank you!

Here comes Santa Claus...... yup he is on his way ...

Wow... Santa. Where did the year go? I am trying to find it. Hey, anyone know where it went.. should I post a sign??  Worked on my first Christmas project here it is....

 

It is not all my idea just the decorating of the matchboxes.... Ive been wanting to do one for a while now... Ive seen them around. You can buy one from this gal.. Artsy Fartsy Fairy , and if you know of anyone else please let me know. Mine was done for my little girl. Here is the top of the Advent..

 

I had to find a spot for number 25..there was no room on the cookie sheet for The grand Finale..  I just drilled holes at the bottom of the tray and strung a cone with a Vintage Santa on it... Darn, My Mom already wants one... I have a feeling I will be making more and they take time to make.

 

Lots of things happening ... Doing Joli-Paquet with some Sweet Ladies. I have already worked on my tutorial, just working on my kits. So stay tuned. My sweet Girl had picture day at school... Getting so Big... So Lucky to have this Little Girl...

  

 

 

Cant wait to get those pictures back from her school.... except for the fact that I know she didn't look like this after recess.... What else is going on? Well Halloween was excellent... here are some highlights from Halloween night.. The table set up is from my friend Cynthia's house... she did a fab job decorating it! 

 

The Last one is one the of the cutest Wild Thing I know.... he is in my Class and his Mom is the Teacher next door..... she made the costume! Great job Momma.

 

Crazy movie by the way.... not sure what I think about it.. I am all over the board on it. I do like the Cinematography and the costumes for sure! Keep you posted on the Christmas kits... 

Thrift Store Treasures, Pumpkin Patch, treasure maps and more...

Went to The Pumpkin Patch.....  We Went with our Favorite little Boy.... he was wearing his skinny jeans....  Man he is so cute!! Darianne loves the Petting zoo...... 
  
I love the Pumpkin Patch, except for the price of the pumpkins, are they kidding me? I found the coolest fairy tale pumpkins at Trader Joes for 6.99.... Anyways, the petting zoo was cute. 

Darianne is one lucky girl to have a Daddy like this..... He made treasure maps and hid treasure in the backyard. She woke up this morning to a treasure map that led to countless treasure maps.. and a box of Treasures buried in the backyard..
 
    Wow! filled with coins old and new.... nail polish ad trinkets.... Lucky Girl.. I would have loved this when I was a little girl. 

I have been cooking lately.. and doing some thrifting and some cleaning. I made a homemade chicken potpie. 
I think the Family loved it.. Great comfort food. I also have been thrifting a little. Found some treasures the other day..
I finally have the set of the Pyrex sunflower bowls.. vintage sewing cards, patterns, a vintage lunch pail and a roll of vintage wallpaper. Score! I took a break on making art for a little while, but now I am back and working on a big Advent calendar... With little matchbox drawers.. cut out windows... its a project that is sitting on my dinning room table. I work on it little by little each day... have great plans for it, but this is what I have so far... I hope everyone is enjoying this time of year! I know I am!

Halloween Art Trades and more...

  
      Well I have been MIA. I know. September and October are busy months for me. With School and Birthdays and so many other things... Time slips by. I have been having a little Art time though. I taught 2 Halloween classes at Paper tales in San Diego. They were so much fun! I have also been doing some Halloween trades... here are some Art pieces that I made for some on line friends......some Halloween Paper Doll Art to hang around the house. I have  received the best Treats from friends...The first one is a book of Spells from Cassandra Walters...very cool I will be working in it soon! the next one is from my friend Mendy... it is a witch soldered charm, she is getting so good at these!

 

 

 

 

 

 

the third one is from Melissa McCobb Hubell.. it is a cool Art piece that is now hanging in my Studio.... way cool! Am I the only one that does not like the new Typepad? Every time I finally get around to figuring one out they come up with a new one!

After watching a couple  episodes of Hoarders... I decided to clean out the Studio... and I was not kind with all of my things... I let go of so much and felt soo good! Have you ever seen that show??? Wow... the only place that used to look like that in my house was the Studio... not anymore!Lets see what else? Well my Mom is now retired and has time now to get out her sewing machine ... she is simply amazing ! She made Dariannes Halloween costume! Alice! Thanks Mom!

 

 

 

 

 

So cool!

Speaking of my Little girl... here she is writing a little Birthday note for Papa on the Kitchen chalkboard.. right before they came over for his Birthday dinner... So cute. That's pretty much I have so far.. and I will not wait a month before I write again!  The weather is getting colder.. and colder is not the same for us out West.. but it feels good to be forced to stay inside for once and drink some Hot Cocoa.. I sure would love it to snow for a couple days.. Hope everyone is enjoying the month of October! And I do have a little obsession lately, Boots! I counted 6 pairs! Love the slouch kind and the ankle boots with the open toes...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I decorated early for Halloween.....

I went to search for my Halloween boxes and before I knew it the Halloween spirit posessed me to decorate........ at least that's who I blame........ This is just part of the living room.  Melissa Mcobb Hubble  made the banner for me last year in a trade. I love it! Here are some Trick o Treating amigos that crack me up.. and the witch is from last year....  My favorite is this little bat... one of his wings was broken when I took him out of the box... he is so cute.. I think he is made by  Lori Mitchell one of my favorite Halloween Artists......  Here is his Mommy I think...... She is so great.....

I have some deals that I found and wanted to share........ the first one is from the Dollar Tree.. little Halloween cat ceramic candy container...... The other one is from Michaels at 47 cents each, the recipe box and the recipe cards are a steal to put all your Fall recipes in!  and my favorite find was 3.99 from Marshalls this Witch coffee cup..  Love her! Of course there is nothing like making your own Decorations! I made this sign..... kind of crazy and artsy...  and these Whimsy Halloween buttons .... for sale on My Flea Market Studios Halloween Party  with some Halloween goodies and ephemera packs...  The last one is a chenille Halloween ornament ..... been making these for the Halloween tree... in the next post I will give a tuturiol  on them so stay tuned

Working on Some Halloween Art.....

 Ive decided to start my Art lately with My favorite Holiday Halloween. This is  a new Class that I will teach  at Paper Tales in the first week of October. There will be 2 classes, 1 spooky and 1 sweet. This is the the Wicked Witches book..... here is the cover:I have been having so much fun making this book..... here is more of the inside of the book:  I think  I am liking the spookier book, but here is the Sweeter one:I will show more of the inside in the next post.. so fun! I also made some Halloween Art for my Etsy... they are my new creations...  Did these all in 2 days...... I guess when you love a Holiday like this you go kind of crazy like I do. Planning on doing a Party this year, last 2 years was kind of hard too much going on.....     

Besides the Halloween projects I made a couple of necklaces. They are inspired by Anthropoligie.. didnt want to pay 60 dollars for one so decided to make my own for under 10.  Now I am getting a couple of orders from friends and family. I dont plan on selling them.. just gifts for them. I am so not good at jewelry making.. Need to take some classes from someone. Maybe my friend Amy Hanna. Now she is the Queen! 

I am heading to  Mesa Arizona to Mystic Paper for my Fabric Art House class....  The class is Saturday  September 12 there are still some spots open if you are interested.Love those girls At Mystic Paper!  Well thats pretty much for now..... I think Ive made up for the lack of Art this past Summer.... Wasnt feeling it when the Weather is so nice and the outside is calling your name.  Now time for School to start! 

Finally getting motivated to do some Art.....

  I am finally feeling inspired to start doing some Art again. Teaching at Papertales this past Saturday got my juices flowing. This little flower arrangement was given to me by Jenifer Morgan. This is her 3rd time taking classes from me.... and she brings me gifts......... The Sweetest person! I am going to encourage her to teach her own classes, she is so darn talented! The Sweetest people were in my classes! Wow, thank you ladies for coming! One of my Favorite stores in Phoenix is Melrose Vintage. I had the pleasure of having Dianne the owner in both of my classes..... What a Sweetheart!! Working on a Halloween project to teach again at Paper Tales.. Thank you Michelle and Helle for your kindness......

I have been doing some baking this summer.... Grandma's easy Strawberry Shortcake dessert...  frozen strawberries, strawberry jello, Angel food cake and Whip Cream. Yum!

Darianne baked her first cake.....   She will be cooking for us in no time, thats the plan anyways. 

Its been a Great Summer and we still have about 4 weeks left... Its official we Love the Beach.....

And our Family...  And blogging is not really a priority during the Summer....... hugs!