Allison Kreft Abad

1960's Typewriter

Sperry-Rand Remington Personal-Riter 1960'sWhen I was down in San Diego during October I bought this typewriter at an estate sale. I was so excited to see that is has a cursive/script font!  Since I was flying, I couldn't bring it home so I left it at my sisters. (and thought there was a chance I might never see it again.) Luckily she drove up here for Thanksgiving and brought it with her. I just love it!  This is the first real typewriter I have owned, so I'm still trying to figure out how everything works. I have a new ribbon of ink that is being shipped to me, plus a manual (both found through etsy). Still works great with the original ribbon, I made a few Christmas tags to test it out.

Salted Caramels

Every Thanksgiving my mom likes to have little treats for all our guests at the dinner table. This year I decided to make salted caramels after my friend kept talking about them. Here's the recipe I used.  I wasn't planning on doing a blog post, but I just started taking pics of the process since I never make candy. The first batch never really set, so I tried it a second time cooking it longer at 257 degrees, and they turned out great. It was neat seeing the mixture starting to look like caramel while it was cooking.  The best part was drizzling the chocolate over the caramels once they were cool & cut. I lightly sprinkled pink Himalayan salt on top when the chocolate was still warm. While shopping at World Market for Thanksgiving supplies, I found this holiday parchment paper. It's not quite the right colors for our Thanksgiving table, but I found it was much easier to use for wrapping instead of normal white parchment paper.

 These would also make great Christmas gifts. A bunch of them in bags with handmade labels would be just perfect for the holidays. The only thing is they taste to good to keep around the house. 

Art Faire

Our Art Faire was a lot of fun this weekend. I shared a booth with Cara & Melissa, they both were selling some great purses and jewelry.
Here's how my rings turned out. I've been wearing a different one everyday since I made them, and I put some for sale on my etsy site. It was a fun change from blowing and fusing glass! 

 My sister Cassie also stopped by at the end. Always fun to see friends and family at these shows, especially when it's pouring rain and cold outside.

I thought this picture was funny. We used my Instax camera, and Cara is pointing at my tummy...I was feeling very pregnant & tired by the end of the show!

Vintage Finds

This is what my kitchen/craft table looks like tonight, it's a work in progress. My friends and I are doing a little art show this weekend, and I wanted to make something new for the show. I can't blow glass while I'm pregnant (it's too hot and can be an unhealthy environment) so I decided to use some vintage jewelry and buttons to create new pins, rings and hair-clips.

Vinyl Wallets

I've bought these wallets from Dear Sukie in the past and absolutely love them. When I found out Kristy was on Martha Stewart and shared a tutorial I decided to give it a "try" using some of my favorite papers. Here's how mine turned out.

It was fun adding the rub-ons, and the little custom tags like she does on the back.

The best part was picking out an assortment of papers for each wallet. It's fun to see my designs used like fabric for the wallets.

The rest of the project didn't go as well as I planned. It took way longer than I thought it would, there are a lot of pieces to keep track of. Sewing through the all the layers of vinyl was a little tricky. Next time I think I'll contact Kristy at Dear Sukie and have her custom make a few more for me. Her prices are really reasonable, and they would be great gifts for the holidays!

This did inspire me to create a new project using vinyl for purses. I'll be posting that project/tutorial closer to Christmas.

Hello Baby Bump

As some of you already know, Zach and I will be welcoming a little baby girl into our lives in March! I'm about 24 weeks pregnant, and It's really starting to hit me how much our lives are going to change. (Plus this little girl kicking inside me is a constant reminder.) We are extremely excited!

December is filling up fast!

I'll be doing an small art show in the Bay Area on Dec. 4th. I'll mostly have a nice selection of glass for sale, including my hand-blown glass ornaments!

SF Bizaar Bizarre

This year I'm excited to be a part of Bizaar Bizarre in San Francisco. I usually go each year as a customer, it's the perfect place to get a fun selection of hand-made gifts from all the crafters there. This year I'll be there running a booth for Hambly. (Either my mom or Zach will be helping out).  I'll be teaching a variety of make-n-takes using some of my favorite Hambly products I have designed. The "Moustache-on-a-straw" project I created special for this show. I thought they would be fun to make for holiday parties, with all the festive drinks this time of year. The show is at Fort Mason in SF Dec. 11 & 12.
If you come to the show be sure to stop by and say hi :)