I've been distant...

but i'm here today and that's all it matters! Sadly I haven't had too much to write about. I do have more garden photos to show you. I hope you're not getting too bored of it, after all this is a craft blog. Although I do consider gardening as a craft.
8 ball zucchinis already! These are sooo tasty grilled up with olive oil, salt and pepper.
yummy chives. See the flower bulbs about to burst, providing us with pink-lavender flowers. Did you know they are edible too?

For those of you looking for a new recipe book this one is awesome!

I haven't made these cupcakes but I intend to.
Now, I have made the risotto and the risotto balls and as Rachael Ray would say Delious!


I received this cupcake book in the mail the other day:


Popcorn and corn on the cob cupcakes (All made of cupcake and candy)! Who could resist!

Tune in tomorrow for Sunday Show & Tell!

"The important thing is not to stop questioning."
- Albert Einstein

I'm here this weekend...

To show you what I bought last weekend!

I heart these beaded earrings. They are my favorite type of vintage jewelry, next to the rhinestone bling of course! The peach set in the upper right corner are tiny shells! Someone must have donated this bunch recently to the thrift store because I never usually score these there.

What I do see at the thrift stores a lot are bags of faux floral. Usually, they are the newer plastic type. But when I picked up this particular lot, I saw white floral tape covered stems (not so typical these days) at the bottom of the bag. At $3 I took the risk and ended up with gorgeous vintage and new floral!
I also had a chance to check out a park sale and found this adorable vintage laceMy favorite is the baby blue lace at the bottom left corner.

Edit: I wanted to give a shout out to Resi! Thanks for the lovely email! and Thanks to all who drop in to visit my own little corner of the world!

Have a lovely weekend!

"Too much of a good thing is wonderful."
-Mae West

Beep beep beep beep....

We interrupt this blog to bring you a news update:

How's the garden you ask? See for yourself!


ooh, Eight Ball Zuchinni

ahhh, Sugar Snap Peas

nut-ahh, Beet Sprouts

whoa, onions!


oh, and how did the sprouts turn out?


"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments."
- Janet Kilburn Phillips

Zazzle Love

These were recently delivered to me from Zazzle
Front of card
Back of card

Zazzle is not only great because my cousin works there, but it is a great local company to support. One of the benefits ordering business cards from them is you are not committed to thousands of cards. You can just order 100 for an affordable price. If you're not the creative sort there are tons of cool templates to choose from (I was tempted but I know I wouldn't hear the end of it). Need another excuse...Mochi is plastered all over the website!
And you know those photostamps you see everywhere? Yup, Zazzle does those too among other things (custom shirts, signage, mugs, magnets, etc.). Check them out today!

"Beauty’s where you find it."
- Madonna

Happy Birthday, Happy Nurse's day...

and Happy Day for the rest of you!


My my, spring always brings many birthdays to celebrate! Which also brings many photos to show you too! The first photo above is the campfire cake I made for Kevin's Birthday. I first read about the cake from this post. I made a strawberry cake with chocolate filling! Yummo! Although I used a different frosting (Duncan Hines) and didn't like it as much as the frosting (Pillsbury) I usually use. No, I didn't hand make the frosting, I wish I had the time!

The second photo is my new-old typewriter I picked up down the street today at a yard sale. It came in it's own case and is compact, which works out due to the limited space I have! It's in good shape and I was surprised that there was any ink left. I always find the best stuff from my neighbors!


For my hubby's birthday gift, I bought him a sprouter! He loves sprouts on his sandwiches but every time we buy them from the store, they are rotten in 3 days. The system I gave him can produce sprouts in less than a week and grows right in your kitchen! Here we are loading the trays with organic sprout seeds (China Rose Radish, Broccoli and Mung Bean)
and after 3 days of watering morning and nightclose up of the China Rose Radish Sprouts
Can't wait until I have fresh sprouts in my sandwich!

For those of you who work in the medical industry, I hope you had a nice nurses day! I really want to give a thumbs up here because it's the nurses and medical assistants that do all the "dirty" work! Koodles to all of you! I showed my appreciation with these gorgeous violet Campanulas!
The "flags" are made of scrapbook paper and skewers. I put them together last minute to add some whimsy!

Hope you had something to celebrate this weekend, if not maybe take this quote into account:

"Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!"
-Amanda Bradley

Not Monkey Business...

Chimp business! For some reason I have had this calling to learn more about chimps! I recently finished reading Nim Chimpsky The Chimp Who Would Be Human. The book itself is a bit sad and ok, but Nim Chimpski is fascinating! He is probably most famous for learning American Sign Language and communicating with it.
But I haven't stopped there...I've also been watching Escape to Chimp Eden on Animal Planet. If you've seen it please give a hoot out because I love this show!!!! My favorite chimp is Cozi Why you ask? He's the goofball and trouble maker of the group! All this chimp talk has got me running around pretending to pick off bugs (a sign of affection in chimp behavior) and hooting at friends and family. I'm sure, those who know me think I'm a bit strange anyway! Maybe that's why I love not only Cozi but chimps in general so much!

“Once I saw a chimpanzee gaze at a particularly beautiful sunset for a full 15 minutes, watching the changing colors [and then] retire to the forest without picking a pawpaw for supper.”
-Adriaan Kortlandt

Sore Legs...Really?

It was only 6.2 miles, and my legs are sore. Ok, Ok I get the hint. Time to hit the gym more often. I must say I feel really good about walking and raising monies for a good cause. I can't thank you enough for supporting me and donating to March for Babies. I, being the dork that I am forgot the camera! I know, what kind of blogger am I?

"The worst bankrupt in the world is the person who has lost his enthusiasm."
- H. W. Arnold

Little Miss Resourceful...

Happy Belated Earth Day! I hope all of you did or was influenced by something Green. Here's my contribution! Lately, I've had the urge to save every container that may be usable for something else (flashbacks of my Grandmother's container collection). See the little sprouts peeking up? Those will grow into yummy tomatillos. I also reused an old six pack and a plastic croissant container (used as a hot house) to sprout Hidcote Lavender.

For those of you who read about my trip to Art in Ashland in Oregon and want to attend but it's too far...check this retreat out:
http://www.znestore.com/page/page/5095933.htm I signed up for this too! I couldn't help myself. There will be really good artists there such as Pam Garrison, Sally Jean, Jennifer Murphy, Kari Ramstorm and many more right here in the Bay Area! If you decide to go, please let me know and we can get together!

" I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority."
~Elwyn Brooks White, Essays of E.B. White, 1977

Happy Birthday Mama Joy!

I hope you had a wonderful day!

"Getting old ain't for sissies."
- Betty Davis

::March for Babies::

As some of you know already I decided to walk for a good cause this year and I signed myself up for March of Babies. I thought it is a good opportunity to shed a pound or two and make some $$$ for babies in need. If you interested check out my March of Babies homepage http://www.marchforbabies.org/romytam For those of you who have donated, I was shocked and pleased at the amount everyone pitched in! I love you guys and Thanks a million for supporting me!

In other news:

As I was taking a break from working on my veggie beds, this little one couldn't get enough of the "poo" ball. The ball started out as a brilliant green but kept getting dropped on a pile of mushroom compost and by the smell of it, manure! She loved it and we thought it was hilarious.


We finally filled the beds with FREE mushroom compost and I planted them up. But I didn't get a chance to snap any good photos. Included this year in the veggie garden: Black, Green and Grape heirloom tomatoes, eight ball zukes, Jalapeno, chocolate and red bells, basil, parsley, borage, green onion, cantaloupe, tricolor beets, eggplant and sugar snap peas. Boy, now that I typed it out I hope I didn't over plant!

"Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration."
~Lou Erickson

City Wide Garage Sale

I love the city wide sale! But I missed my dear friends and family (Karin, Mama Joy, Pam, Levi) that have scavenge with me in the past! I did however, bring along a very willing co-pilot:
She even got to do a little o' bit of running through the park.

I feel that I made out like a bandit on this round of shopping:
The most I spent on the items pictured here (actually all my items) is $5. One sale or should I say lack of sale was giving everything away for free. Hence the thermos and enamel plate.



I also purchased these from the sweetest old lady:

It was as if she knew exactly what I was looking for! She asked if I crafted and told me what she used them for in her own crafts. I adored her, I practically bought everything she had!

This was my first purchase:
a mushroom jar displaying a game of Jacks!

Oh, and for the grand finale...drum roll please...
Remember back on this post when I mentioned I needed a cart? This one was perfect! I was going to drive right past the sale and decided to stop, as soon as I walked up I saw 2 carts. This one and a newer one. But like I said in the previous post I wanted a cart with history! It was only $3!!!!

All in all I spent $30. That's really good since I'm trying to pinch my pennies! Hope you all found some great treasures this weekend.

"I was at a yard sale one day and saw a box marked "Electronic cat and dog caller -- guaranteed to work." I looked inside and was amused to see an electric can opener."
-Anonymous

Hidden Villa

Hi! Just dropping in. I haven't checked in for awhile! I'm bringing you photos of what I did last weekend:

Borage plants. These gorgeous flowers are edible!

These sweet peas are growing on an expandable bamboo lattice. Brilliant!

Goats, Chickens, Pigs! Oh My!




Fresh air!

Hidden Villa...check it out!

I've been working on a project of my own...

More to come!

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people."
- Victor Borge

Book Review

Remember the days when we read books over the summer and came back to school only to do book reviews to our class? Well, I never would have thought I would be doing this when I grew up! Here are some books and magazines I was catching up on during my internet outage (I still haven't let it go).

Art books:

I've written about Teesha Moore's Art and Life zine before. This issue (#11) is filled with her journal pages done while she was in Japan. She also includes her own book review, which I love (if you're a book connoisseur like me)! ***Kudos


I received this book the other day in the mail. I love the "country crafts" in this book. But I must admit I probably wouldn't sew the stuffed figures offered, not my style. Although I would sew the fragrant strawberries, slippers, bags and needle cases. The fabrics used are sweet and delicious. I believe in every book, you can learn something from it! **Kudos


I know I'm not the only one that "collects" stuff to be made into fantastic creations someday and receiving this book only confirms my "obsession". It features artist collections like Gail Rieke's and Lynne Perrella's fabulous items. It also features their artwork too! ***Kudos

For the cook:

I ate at a restaurant in Santa Cruz, Cali called Malabar. They serve vegetarian dishes that are full of flavors and the dishes were unique. I even stole one of their paper menus, foolishly thinking I would be able to "recreate" the dishes at home. But instead I found this book filled with many vegetarian dishes from around the world. I haven't tried to cook any of the dishes yet, however just reading the recipes makes my mouth water. ***Kudos after skimming through the recipes

For the Farm Girl in all of us:

I've been on this kick lately about wanting fresh eggs, which lead me to checking this book out from the library. It's an easy read on how to care and raise chickens for eggs in a city dwelling. When the day comes where I don't have a shared backyard I WILL get me some chickens! ***Kudos

True Crime:
Bitter Harvest by Anne Rule :: NO IMAGE AVAILABLE-SORRY
I love reading true crime stories-it is really unbelievable what humans are capable of! I've read a couple of Anne Rule books before but this one was finished in 1 week (after work reading)! It's about a Dr who has a wonderful career, lovely family and immaculate house and jealousy tears everything apart. I would highly recommend this book if you're into this sorta thing. **Kudos

There are many more books, but not enough time. If you have any recommendations for me, please leave me a comment I would love to read what you're reading!

"I no longer feel bad about my stuff. In fact, I now classify it all as 'collections'. They are my tools. They are both the materials and the art itself".
-Lesley Riley from Art Making Collections and Obsessions