Garege Sale and Nina's Lemonade Stand

Last Saturday we participated in a big neighborhood garage sale. We have collected lots of stuff in our basement, garage and storage since we moved in this house in 2008. Also we got to have more properties to rent out (this is my husband's another job) . We bought old houses to repair. There usually we find some or lots of things which the former owner left behind. Furniture, light fixtures, and many kinds of knickknacks and so on. And we have some leftover materials used for repairing houses. Tiles, tools, and even windows and doors! So the sale was a really good occasion for us to clean out those things. And we did a pretty good job! So Now our storages look a bit cleaner than before the sale. (^o^)

And there was an exciting event at the sale. Nina opened her first business "Nina's Lemonade Stand". She had fresh cold pink lemonade and homemade yummy sweets.

She decided the prices for her products, and made menu signs all by herself.

There were Nina's Mom's famous chocolate cookies and banana breads. Banana bread was a hit in the morning, because they were perfect breakfast for early morning customers. Then the cookies got very popular later. Once customers tried them, they got to buy more! Its such good cookies! Two customers bought seven of them at once! So there wasn't any left after the sale. Only one unfortunate thing was that we couldn't have a chance to get some leftover cookies!

There were lots of preparation before the sale. Nina and I made a banner for Nina's lemonade stand with some pretty card stocks I had in my stash.

On the colorful solid squares, we glued on some patterned paper strips  in shapes of each letters.

Using paper strips are very simple and fun. Little kids can do this easily. Playing with colors and patterns is so much fun for kids and crafty Moms as well!

We punched small holes in two top corners for threading and connected all the letters with a string.

Nina's good friend Lily came to help the stand. They made up a cute jingle for their shop and sang it to customers out loud several times. That drew applause from the audience. How could you just pass through those cute girls' shop without purchasing anything! Girls, that was a good strategy! You will become tough business women in the future!

Running a lemonade stand was a very good experience. Girls learned many things. Greeting to customers out loud, being careful when pouring lemonade in a cup, counting money and give right amount of change back to customers etc. As a result, the business was a big success. They made about $60 in a day! We shared the profit with four of us since Mommy made the treats, Daddy built the stand, Nina and Lily sold all the things. It was so much fun. We would love to do this again sometime in the Fall or next Summer.

Thank you for reading. Please have a great weekend you all!

Sewing for travel #2,3,4 / Passport, Boarding pass bag and more

Since School is over I got busier just like all the Moms are. These projects were done a week ago and I just didn't have any margin for time to update about it. Okay, I made a little bag for carrying only our passports and boarding passes. I have been thinking to make this kind for years every Summer we go to Japan. While checking in (and going through all sorts of the procedures at air ports), it always bothers me getting passports and boarding passes in and out of my purse. This bag sizes just perfect for those contents and  I can wear it as a cross body or a waist pouch. My hands will be free to carry other carry-ons. (And sometimes you need to carry your shoes, you know!)

This bag has three compartments. A zipper pocket in front, a slip pocket in back and a main deep compartment in the middle.

Two passports perfectly fit in the back pocket.

There are two little pockets hiding in the front zipper for storing my very important cards. And also a passport fits in there. My daughter has two passports so I usually need to carry three.

The main compartment is deep enough to hold boarding passes.

Sorry about the quality of the photo in a dark room! A detachable strap makes it a three-way bag. It can be a cross body, a waist pouch and a simple pouch without a strap.

I also made a couple of pouches with laminated cottons. The polka dot one is a pencil case for Nina, and pink floral one is a cosmetic pouch for myself.

Choosing fabric for linings and zipper colors are the most fun part of making little pouches. I always love that process!

The travel to Japan is getting closer and closer. I should start thinking about it more. The time flies amazingly fast!

From Garden

I started working on my garden a couple weeks ago eventually. It was very late start so I had been missing lively flowers and plants around the house. Then now my desolated patio and front yard have gotten some pretty colors and full of life.

I built a new little flower bed in front of the big window of our dinning room. There never grows grasses well around one of our cherry blossom trees so I just dug the ground in a curvy shape and placed old bricks around. Covered the soil with a big plastic sheet for avoiding weeds growing and it is waiting for being covered with river rocks

I planted mostly herbs and perennials like lavender, sage, rosemary, thyme and rose etc. The photo below is taken a week ago so the plants have grown taller now. They are giving a little more interesting view from the street for strollers.

 

These are plants I got for my little patio behind the kitchen. Half of them were from a clearance section. They didn't look so beautiful since they were not in good shapes loosing flowers and had some dry leaves. They just needed a bit of help and love then made a pretty little container garden in my patio.

What do you have in your garden this year? I hope you are enjoying your gardening as I am. Thank you for reading! Happy gardening and have a great week!

Sewing for Travel #1 / 17" Laptop Case

We are planning to visit my family and friends in Japan this Summer again. So I am trying to get ready for it slowly especially with sewing things relative to the travel. I got a new laptop this winter and it has a 17" wide screen. Carrying a heavy laptop over seas is always a big trouble for me. I wish I could buy another one which is more portable for traveling but we cannot afford it for the moment. And also I cannot find a case I like for my big Toshiba. Well, Okay, if I cannot buy it I have to make it.

I had these 3mm thick quality felt sheets. I purchased them in Japan last Summer when I was there. I have been thinking what I should make with them, and it is the time to make good use of it.

The closure is a simple pair of large snaps. There are many products using Velcro, but I usually try to use alternatives. Those tapes pick up particles of little trash. And also I am afraid of scratching the contents with those rough surface of the tape when getting things in and out of the bag.

3mm thick felt was pretty tough to sew with my machine. I needed to undo it a couple times when it got three layers in the seam.

I designed it very simple. It might be too plain. But I like it. I like the colors. And I like the square shape of the closure. I am thinking of making a cross body type bag to carry the laptop and some other belongings on a plane.

Oh, I cannot forget to tell you that the number of followers of this blog has reached to 100! Yeah! Thank you so much to be a reader and interested in what I am doing. All of you encourage and inspire me to create. I am planning to have a little giveaway soon for celebrating 100 followers. I have not decided when and what I want to give, but it will be coming soon. So please stay tuned.

Hoping you have a wonderful weekend and ..... HAPPY SEWING!

The Last Day of School

Today was the last day of the school year. The school had Awards Assembly in the morning and many parents came to celebrate students' effort and improvement. (All the kids received at least one award!) This is Nina (in a black shirt) standing in front of audiences as an awards winner with the principal Mrs.E and the school mascot Pow the Tiger. We are so lucky to have the greatest teachers in town. Nina had a wonderful school year!

Every year before the last day of school, we, Nina and I impose ourselves an assignment. Making Thank you gifts for the teachers and the bus driver! And these are what we made this year.

I let Nina draw pictures on pieces of fabric with fabric crayons. Then I sewed them into little pouches. This one above is for Nina's class room teacher Mrs.R. Nina says she wants four Mrs.R(s) so she can be in her class every year! We loved you, Mrs.R. Thank you so much!

The back of the pouch.

And this one is for Mrs.M the art teacher. Nina loves art and crafts and Mrs.M was her favorite art teacher.

It is a pallet and a paint brash Nina drew.

This doggy fabric is super cute isn't it? Nina is an animal lover so I bought this to make something for her but the color of the background goes perfect with Nina's drawing. So I snipped  off a little part of it and it worked so well. We made a very cute one of a kind thing together.

Of course! This one is for Ms.D the bus driver. She is a nice and happy person and likes kids on her bus so much. The bus Nina draw looks really running with a growl!

It feels Summer is really here now. We don't have specific plans except for going to Japan. We need to find some good activities for Nina to get her exercise and lots of fun. I am sure this is gonna be a good Summer and we are looking forward to everything in the new school year after a long long vacation!!

Thank you for reading. Hope you have a beautiful weekend!