What a busy day

Finally all the craft events are over for this year and it seemed like crazy days were calming down, but no, no, no.
I actually have a day to day tasks other than house work even though I am a stay-at -home-mom. Lots of sewing and thinking, designing (this is the most time consuming and the most difficult part).

Thanks to Christmas and the customers who adore my creations, I am getting busier and busier.
SaSa started in September 2009, and this year was a blast!
I am so happy that I could spread SaSa creations out there.
And also I thank every customer who came to see my crafts and who showed interest on my creations.
I made lots of connections and friends through the events this year.
I had so much fun:)
Not only I could sew (this is my hobby and stress releaser), but also there were people who buy my crafts and I can buy more materials for the next project!!!
I really wish this could become my full time work.

Anyways, I have to go back to my house work and then make more stuff (mostly custom ordered and I am going to start making Christmas presents).

♪♪♪

Here are some creations I recently made :)

Wintery, furry, vintage feel head band

furry Christmas brooch

winter head fascinator

silk rose on earmuffs

Christmas themed apron

Latest creation

I got a custom order from my friend last week.
She wanted a pair of ear muffs so I went out to look for something that can be the "base" of the ear muffs.
On that day, I couldn't find anything. What I was looking for was cheap but sturdy ear muffs that can be recovered.
Later on, I was sarching for some ideas to make ear muffs and I finally found it!


A clothing wire hanger!


What a brilliant idea!
Next day, I went to shopping again to buy some hangers.

Oh my goddness, I made a cutest ear muffs!
And also it fits just perfect. The best thing about this ear muffs is you can adjust the shape of it so it fits perfectly on your head. You don't have to suffer anymore bacause it's too tight or too loose.

I am very happy and feel confident about this ear muffs so I will make more for the next event.

Royal Bison Craft Fair

Fruit series

Fruits are so cute.
The color, the shape,,,it's so much fun.

Here are some pieces I made so far.

Green apple bum monkey pants sz2-3

apple bum monkey pants sz2

Grape kids hat sz2-5

Apple kids hat sz2-5

I am definitely going to make one of these for my son, they are too cute.

And also I will make as many fruits as possible by the next event which is on Nov.20,21.

These sure will be the perfect Christmas presents for kids!

Handmade mafia tomorrow!!

I know I am too late to update this, but I will do it anyway :)

Handmade Mafia tomorrow!!!
Here are the sneak peek pictures of what I will have tomorrow.

Jumbo bunny key chain

fluffy tote

crying monkey pants

skull rock monkey pants

shark face monkey pants

Time	Saturday, November 6 · 10:00am - 4:00pm
Location	Orange Hall (behind the Strathcona farmers market)

Christmas piece

There is less than a week until the event at EJCA, but before that, I have a stack of orders to finish.
Here is a couple of the order made pieces.

Christmas head band

 (dupioni silk, antique lace, velvet leaves, french netting, antique earring, black goose feathers)

Shabby chic head band. (dupioni silk, french netting, white goose feathers, antique look pearly button)


These french netting and feathers make a big difference: add extra elegance and a touch of softness.
I am so into making these head pieces. It is so much fun!
I will be bringing them to the events too, so if you have special color orders, just email me and I can bring them to the events.

Upcoming events

The next event will be the Fall Bazzar at EJCA (edmonton Japanese Community Association) on October 30th.

From my last years experience, this event will be very busy.

This year, they are expecting more people. Their Bento boxes, rice cakes, sushi are very popular and people come early to line up for these.

There are also some crafters too. (maybe 4 or 5 exept us)

EJCA is kind of cozy so it's going to be a zoo.

Make sure you come early to get what you want.

Quantities are limited!

On November 6th, there will be the Handmade Mafia show at orange Hall as usual, but I am not sure if i can be there yet, so will inform you later.

On November 20 (10am-5pm) and 21(11am-5pm), we will be attending to Handmade Mafia Winter Wonderland.

This is going to be a big event too.

Lots of vendors are coming so you will find neat handmade Christmas presents for everyone.

Please make sure the place as it's NOT held at orange hall.

It's at Strathcona Centre Community League on 10139-87 Avenue, Edmonton.

The last weekend of November, we will be attending Royal Bison craft fair.

There are over 60 vendors!

Go to their website and you can see vendor's webpages.

I missed the spring show, and I was waiting for the fall/winter show.

I am so excited to be there the first time!

Please come and shop to get ready for the Christmas!

There will be a couple of Handmade Mafia shows in December too.

I should be there if I am accepted to the show.

Please order early before it gets crazy busy.

If you order by email (contact button on the left of this article), I can bring it to these shows or send them by mail.

You can see more pictures on Facebook SaSa.



For Halloween and Christmas

I started working on Christmas stuff.
Christmas decorations and thinking about Christmas fun are always exciting, but before that,
you can't forget Halloween.
My kids decided to be Batman, Luigi, and zombie.
Actually I made Mario and Luigi (and toad mushroom) costumes last year, but my oldest son couldn't have fun because he got really high fever (he ended up going trick or treating for 5 minutes and couldn't walk anymore..poor guy)
So, he decided to wear Luigi this year for the party in school and be a zombie for trick or treating.
I am going to make my 2nd oldest son a Batman costume this year and some decorations around the house.
Anyway, I can't quite finish up my outside decoration because my house's exterior hasn't been finished yet (although we bought/built this house last year around this time! Soooo frustrating!)

My sewing/crafting room is already getting to be a crazy mess (it's always messy but now it's messier! lol) from making/creating lots of clothes and accessories for sales coming along during Christmas.
November will be really busy for me as I have been accepted to be a vendor for Royal Bison and expectantly, for the Handmade Mafia and its special event.
I will inform you later about EJCA(Edmonton Japanese Community Association) Fall Bazaar.
You don't want to miss it because you can eat Japanese food and see lots of beautiful crafts.

Tomorrow, I will be at the monthly event, the Handmade Mafia.
It's from 10am-4pm at Orange Hall that's behind the Strathcona Farmer's Market in Edmonton.
There are lots of cool stuff that is all handmade by voendors.
No admission.
I will be there with lots of new stuff for fall and winter.

Just playing around..

I know there is no time to play around because I still have bunch of stuff I have to do, but it's nice to just play around in my spare time (although I dont have any official spare time, I dont have any working time either).

I made my cat's outfit.
After I bought a cheap pet clothes on sale at local drug store, all my mind went to making pet clothes. ( yes, my heart goes everywhere, in every week. lol)
I downloaded a free pattern on the internet and made him a hoodie.

It turned out very cute but he didn't like the hood. He didn't mind wearing clothes though.
Mission accomplished!


My playtime is not finished.
Since I ordered some silk from India, I couldn't wait to make something!
I am going to make some headbands with the silk I bought, so I was playing around with some of my scrap fabrics I already have.
Made some rosette out of Thai silk scrap that my mother in law gave me long time ago adding a vintage button, vintage lace, Japanese chirimen leaves, silky ribbon.

Took me long time but I had fun. I really like the color scheme, pretty and gorgeous!
Now I don't know what I am gonna make with this piece.
Maybe a brooch?

Photo shoot of SaSa products

I have been having hard time taking good pictures of my products.
Although I tried bunch of times taking the same thing again and again in a different places, I only get ok pictures one out of 50 pictures....

I am so happy to be friends with Bonnie Herschmiller who is a professional photographer in Leduc, Alberta.
She is a really sweet person and she takes exact photos I wanted my products to appear in pictures.
I also have cute girl and boy models!
By the way, she is originally a wedding and baby photographer and she takes fabulous photos! I just love every effects and colors!
Here is the link to her webpage.
http://www.bonnieherschmillerphotography.com/
And here is her blog.
http://bonniemarieh.blogspot.com/

I always look at the photos she took and wish I would have known her when I got married and when I had babies. I always jealous of her customers. LOL

Anyways, here are SaSa's promotional photos.
Jinbei, Monkey pants, animal hats, a hair clip : everything is made by me.

Also, you can see some of the products I made for her baby sessions on her webpage and her blog.
She introduced SaSa on her blog the other day.   HERE
A big thank you to Bonnie :)
She is now offering Holiday Mini Sessions!
Prices are very affordable too :)

 

Fall Winter Collection

Hi there, I didn't notice how time flied quickly.. it's been long time since I last blogged here.
I have been very very busy making stuff for fall and winter and you know school started and everything.

At last Handmade Mafia, which was on last Saturday, I had so much fun.
Monkey pants seems like it's catching customer's hearts and the animal hat were also top selling items.

On the other hand, clay rose jewelries are also becoming popular items in my shop.
I fell in love with semi precious gem stones and combined them with my clay roses.
Aren't they look gorgeous?

I still like shabby and natural looking for my creations so those gem stone chips suit really nice to my style.

I also made some Halloween inspired earrings.

This orange stones are Carnelian.

This earrings are made with purple chalcedony and garnet chips.

And this one is made with red corals and garnet chips.

I will be at Little Monster's Swap Meet on this coming Saturday selling children's clothes.

I gotta make more animal hats for sure and some neck warmers and Monkey pants.

Little Monster's Swap Meet on Sep.18

TransAlta Tri Leisure Centre, 221 Campsite Road, Spruce Grove AB

11:00-15:00

Admission:
Early Bird (Come first and get all the big ticket items!) $5. 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Regular $2. 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Free!!! 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Newbies and Okonomiyaki party

First, I forgot to take pictures of Okonomiyaki party :( Booooooo.
But the party went fantastic! We all had fun eating my home-made Okonomiyaki and Maccha ice cream with Shiratama Dango (Rice cakes).
What is Okonomiyaki?? It is a Japanese style cabbage pancake.
It's not sweet.
You put mayo, sauce, and bonito flakes on top of it.
"Okonomi" means "as you like", and "yaki" means "fry", so literally you can put anything you like in it :)
My suggestions are cabbage, pork belly, squid, cheese, Kimchi, mochi, green onion, bean sprout.
This time, I only put cabbage and pork belly and cheese.

Here is my recipe.

Ingredients (for 5 adults)

Eggs   7
Flour  500ml
Baking powder  1tbs
Bonito powder (Tuna broth called "Dashi" in Japanese)  1tbs   (you can go without this, but tastes much better with it)
cabbage  3/4
water 500ml approx.
pork belly (sliced)
shredded cheese (I recommend cheddar cheese )


1. Mix eggs, flour, BP, Bonito powder in a bowl.

2. Add water. ( don't add the whole water! Just add half and mix, then add little by little until the mixture gets pancake thickness)

3. cut cabbage in little pices (approx 1in square, doesn't have to be square though) and add them in the bowl and mix.

4. Heat the pan in medium heat and put pork belly first (lots of oil come out from pork belly so you don't need oil), then put mixture on top and fry with a lid on.

5. Fry until it's get nice brown color. Then just before you flip it, I put shredded cheese on top.

6. Fry the other side (with lid on for a while and off for a last minute so the surface gets crispy) and you are done!

7. Put Mayo, Japanese Tonkatsu or Okomomi or Bulldog(it's just a product name, it doesn't contain dogs..lol) sauce, and Bonito flakes (Katsuo-bushi is what it's called).

Yum!
Email me for any questions!


And at the party, I also showed everybody my newbies.
Here are some new stuff I made for fall and winter.
These are neck warmers for kids and adults.
It stretches a little bit so it fits everybody.

I like neck warmers because they are compact and don't flopping around like scarves do.
Mine are made out of 2 layers of fleece so it's warm and soft.
I used fluffy fleece for the inside layer for extra warmth and cuteness :)
Most of the time I spent to make these pieces went to do this cute applique, but they are necessary!!!
A mushroom, an anchor, a leaf, a car and a heart :)
Applique make good focal points.

I am also working on new fleece hats for both kids and adults (I will make 2 sizes).
Hopefully I can bring them to the next Handmade Mafia.
It's getting cold real quick here!
So much pleasure to work on warm fabrics!