Estate Sales

I think I like estate sales more for the chance to see the houses and gardens. I love seeing how other people live. This one we went to last weekend was in a very nice area and the family had lived there for decades. There was a nice studio in the back. It was on a hill, three stories tall and each story had been made into a separate unit. We had to climb stairs outside to get to the front door at the top. And the house had wonderful views of the golden gate bridge and SanFrancisco. I am not looking for more furniture or stuff. I am still trying to arrange all the furniture my parents gave me when they moved and pieces from my sisters house that I inherited. I really just like to look at other peoples life styles. I love seeing things that remind me of the 60's and 70's

Marin Handmade Fall Sale

 I have been busy making stuff to sell at the Marin Handmade fall sale.  Here are a few of the things I will have on hand at the art walk sale.

                                                                  Cork wreath

                                                              Cork bracelets

                                                                      key rings

                                                              small cork wreaths

                                             Purse made from recycled plastic bags

                      Lavender Sachets made from vintage fabric and buttons stuffed with organic lavender

                                                      wine glass charms

                                                           wine glass charms

                                                                bottle cap wreath

                                                 Here is an idea for setting up my table. I have lots of cork jewelry and some of my recycled credit card jewelry and some of the colorful fabric set in resin stuff.

For more information

http://marinhandmade.blogspot.com/

Here is an idea for recycling credit cards, hotel key cards and gift cards into jewlery

This used to be an American express credit card. I cut it and set it into a silver plated bezel and then cast resin over it. The idea came to me when I bought these silver plated bezels late at night when I should have been sleeping. These were about 4 mm wider than I needed. I figured it was no big deal I would find a use for them. Over the last several years, I have been collecting expired credit cards, hotel room keys, and gift cards for use in my art. They make great scrapers and pallet knives. I have been wanting to try resin and thought I would experiment with setting pieces of cards into bezels.

These were all made from hotel key cards.

After going through my collection of cards and trying out a few I moved onto fabric scraps.

I am having fun experimenting with resin and have moved on to setting photos.

Who knows whats next?

CORKS

It has been a busy winter. I have been happily working on my etsy shop, making orders and shipping them out as soon as possible. Thanksgiving came and went. We did a non traditional thanksgiving this year. We had a gathering of friends and family and we served appetizers and pie skipping the turkey and all the traditional trimmings. Of course we had tequila. It has become a tradition. Christmas also flew by. We had family and friends, homemade waffles, mimosas to start the day moving on to pots of soup and lots of appetizers along with tequila and cheep Chinese fireworks from chinatown. We played cards against humanity. We had a blast! My husband and I went to Maui for a week the end of January. I was thrilled to learn that they have banned the single use plastic bag from shops. I see a time coming along soon where I wont be able to weave baskets out of plastic bags. It is ok as my art comes from living in the moment. I have been very busy designing new items for my shop using recycled cork and moving on to recycled credit card and gift cards. I am very excited about this new direction and cant wait to get the items made, photographed and listed! I have been making necklaces, bracelets and earrings using cork and have some prototypes of necklaces I am making with my extensive stash of credit cards, gift cards and hotel key cards. I am in desperate need of corks though. I love personal collections more than the selections I get from local wineries because of the variety. If anyone has been saving their corks but don't know what to do with them I would gladly pay for shipping if you would like to donate them to me. Maybe we could work out a trade. I have lots of beads I am de stashing. If anyone is interested, Contact me at Sarahracha@gmail.com

here is one of my cork necklaces

One of my cork necklaces