I’ve been a bit busy with various things lately, thus the lag in posts. I’ve been attending a few crafty events and was also cleaning up a bit in my craft room.

We had our regular monthly meeting of the South Bay Craft Group (SBCG) the week before last, and it was fun as usual, with plenty of candy to go around. We have another “in-between” meeting next week too, at a new cafe in Cupertino, so I’m looking forward to that.

I also found out about a new craft group at the local library here in Saratoga, and thought I’d check that out, though I wasn’t sure what to expect. There were only 5 people in attendance, including myself, and most of them were a bit older than me. It was quite different from my usual group, with everyone quietly seated far apart from one another, and with healthy snacks provided (ack, fruit!). Fortunately, Amytha, who started the other craft group, showed up too, so we just chatted with each other the whole time. I’m not sure if I’ll go back, but we’ll see.

There have also been a number of craft fairs going on, in preparation for the holidays, so I’ve attended a few. The first was at a church in Los Altos, but it was really not my thing. Most of the stuff for sale was the “grandma-cute” type, with teddy bears dressed as Santa and knitted baby hats, so I just breezed through there before leaving. It was kind of funny though, to see the contrast of all these items with the “feature” artist (Allison Kreft), a glass artist who looked close to my age. She had quite a crowd of people around her table, and her pieces were a lot more contemporary and modern than everything else for sale at the fair. Nice stuff, but it just felt very out of place.

Yesterday morning, I found out about a craft fair with a Japanese/Asian theme to it, possibly organized by the local chapter of the Japanese-American Citizens League (JACL). It was lot like the Daruma Crafts Boutique I went to earlier this year, but I didn’t see any ads for this one and only found out when I passed by the community center it was held in. I’m glad I did though, because they had more of items I’m interested in, though I chose not to buy anything. It’s hard because some of the stuff I would like to make myself, though I might not have the exact fabrics or papers I saw. Here are some links from a few of the vendors there:

Baloney Girl - trendy bags and accessories
Nishikawa Designs - handmade cards and other items
Clayvision - cute charms and gifts

Project-wise, I’ve mostly been working on my cross-stitch project to try and get it done as soon as possible. I’m definitely not going to get it in time for my friend’s reception, but I’m sure she’ll understand since it’s handmade.

I am also trying to tidy up in the craft room a bit more, since it’s turning into a storage room for all kinds of stuff that really bothers me when I’m in there. It’s not so bad that boxes are falling on top of me, but for awhile they were pretty much surrounding me. I’m planning on shifting things around some more, but I moved enough to make room to work on envelopes and these cards this weekend:

Now I definitely have way too many Halloween cards at my disposal, but I’ll figure some way of using them up.

Oh, and I also did this today:

Last year, I drew faces on plain candy corn stickers, but I wanted to do something different this year, so it’s pumpkins and leaves instead. The faces were inspired by Japanese-style smileys, and drawn on with a thin black Sharpie marker.

Otherwise, I’m just trying to figure out what to do for Halloween mail goodies, including putting together a swap with Aoi, but so far I’ve only made a few batches of Halloween/fall-themed envelopes. If you’d like me to send you a Halloween treat, just let me know