Make your own Celebration Platter

This morning I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at the computer to browse on The Find when I came across this Celebration Platter:

The description from Exposures says, Our Celebration Platter is the perfect gift for any occasion that's cause for celebration. New baby. Graduation. Job promotion. Commemorate the moment with this high-gloss white ceramic platter. It's large enough for all of your friends and loved ones to chime in with a special message. Just sign the plate with pen (one pen included; additional available for quicker signing), and bake in the oven for warm wishes that last a lifetime.

Their platter is on sale today for $46.99 and the pen is $11.99. Exposures charges $6.50 shipping for up to two pens. Yep, both of our plates use the same kind of food safe ceramic paint pen!

If you're like me - too thrifty and crafty to spend that much money on something that you could create yourself, you're probably thinking about how to make your own. And with all due respect to Exposures, our paint pens sell for less.

We currently sell them on Etsy for $10 each and shipping is free for up to 6 pens.

Here's how to make your own:

1. Get some of our pens in a couple of different colors. You could buy your own plate or platter at Target or another store for about $15-20. Just make sure it's ceramic or stoneware. Plastic will melt in the oven when you make the paint permanent.

2. Make sure your platter is clean - the paint pen is water based and surface oils on the plate will resist the paint. Make sure all your party guests have clean hands, too, so oily fingerprints don't cause the same problem.

3. Ask everyone at the party to use the pen to write something on the ceramic plate or platter.

4. When everyone has signed the platter, bake it in an oven for 30 minutes to make it permanent. (Instructions are written on the pen.) And it's dishwasher safe after you bake it, although I recommend hand washing all handmade items.

5. You could have everyone sign the platter at the beginning of the party and bake it during the party. If you're sneaky, you could get away with this without the guest of honor knowing what you're up to. The plate will be cooled and completely finished before the party's over and your gift will be the hit of the party and the guest of honor keeps your platter as a memento of the occasion.

This is a very personal, sentimental gift idea. Got a wedding or wedding shower, anniversary, or birthday coming up?

Wow, what a perfect gift!






PS: How is this platter different from a Pass It On Plate? Our plates have a tracking number on the back and they're intended to travel from person to person. We include the pen so each person can write something on the plate as it travels - just to add to the fun.

Urban Camoflauge

I love this.

I'm a huge fan of Ikea (where these are shot) and can imagine this kind of goofiness going on in my local Ikea store.

Here is some creative (albeit risky) fun for you to giggle at...

See the messy pile of boxes on the right?

... see the feet under the pile of boxes?

And this one cracks me up.

There are many many more pictures of the folders and boxes that are sure to make your inner child grin from ear to ear.

These kinds of shenanigans not only make me smile but put my creative side in gear. (And make me wish I had the guts to try something like this myself.)

Visit Urban Camoflauge to see that they do with the Ikea's yellow bags.








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I {Anatomical} Heart You

Happy Valentine's Day to all my dear readers.I {anatomical} heart all of you.

I {anatomical} heart you., originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Last year at my day job, we exchanged valentines. The treat that I brought in last year was pretty well received, so I think I'll make this year a repeat of last year's treat.

First, I went to a restaurant supply store and got narrow poly bags that are food-safe and have a zipper seal. A hundred 3x5 bags were only about $2 and I have a LOT left over. (Incidentally, these are the same type of bags I use when packaging Pass It On Plates Lite.)

Next, I went to the bulk section of my grocery store (I love Winco!) and bought a couple pounds of candy jelly hearts. I poured 1/2c of candy into each bag and zipped it shut.

Last, image was printed on card stock to make a foldover type of card that was stapled over the zipped top of each bag.

It looked great and everyone was talking about it.

So since I did red jelly hearts last year, what kind of candy should I use this year?

(Yes, I'm kind of a dork. I can't do anything normal. (Proud of it, too!) )

Sweet Valentine's Picture Frame

Sweet Valentine's Picture Frame, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Sweet Valentine's Picture Frame
I made this picture frame as a gift for my Dad one year for Valentines' Day. The frame was a purple wooden frame on clearance for $.50 at Target and I couldn't pass it up. I liked the shape.

I sanded off some of the purple paint, then painted it with red craft paint, rubbing off the excess with a rag. A second coat of red, then a coat of gold craft paint on top and that was done.

Next, I took some lace, ricrac, and four buttons to finish decorating. I'm impatient, so it's all held on thanks to my trusty glue gun.

If the picture frame looks dusty, it's because Dad's now doind some serious downsizing and he gave it back. I love this cute picture of me and baby Rachel on her (and my hubby Frank's) first ever visit to Oregon. Rachel is 13 years old now. (See - that does explain the dust, doesn't it?)

...Huh. I still wear that coat...

Picture frame side detail, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Picture frame side detail
Here's a close up of the ricrac that runs around the edge of the frame.

Back of the frame, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

On the back, I took a paint pen (ok well actually it was Tulip paint, for t-shirts) and wrote on the back of the picture frame.

Like I said earlier, never mind the dust.

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Don't forget to enter! Our February Giveaway runs from Feb 1-7, 2009

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What do you think?

I've always turned to crafts in the past when trying to figure something out - or when I was restless and needed some kind of change. You know when you have a restless creative moment and you feel compelled to just create to calm the inner crafty beast for a while?

Even when I'm trying to figure out a new Pretty Little Doo Dad to go with a new PlateWrap fabric, I turn to other craft projects to help me think.

Write a letter - frame, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Lo and behold, I have a LOT of other completed crafty projects made when I couldn't figure something else out or when I just felt compelled to create. The dilemma now is I need to figure out what to do with all these creations and I don't dare craft away to figure it out. Not until I do something with all the other neat stuff filling my shelves and storage bins.

Stamps frame, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Aha! How about a little Etsy shop filled with all the nifty items I felt compelled to make? This is a totally random collection, but maybe that would do the trick. What do you think?

The pictures shown here are two picture frames I made from a decoupage of stamps, address book entries, air mail envelopes, and a pencil...

Are they Etsy-Worthy?

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Andi's Dresser

Andi finished her dresser!, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

I have mentioned my friend Andi in other posts, especially on my family blog, The Adventures of Pam & Frank. She is such a neat girl that I'd like you to get to know her better.

Andi is the most talented and interesting girl I know. Not only does she have a blue belt in karate, she is a very skilled violinist and teaches violin lessons, she knits fun hats, she makes thought-provoking word collages from magazine clippings, she keeps a hand-written journal of funny things, and she paints stuff.

Recently she bought an overhead projector. You know, the kind a teacher uses in school. She used it to project a picture onto a dresser to aid her in painting (by hand!) the picture onto the front of the dresser. This is not paint by number, mind you. This was a picture from (I think?) a calendar that she had, and she decided it would look great on her dresser.

She's right.
Andi says, "I'm totally in love with my dresser!"
She used an overhead projector to help her paint the image on the front of the dresser. Very cool, Andi. Very cool.

Join the Pass It On Plates Flickr Group!

This new Flickr group is all about Pass It On Plates.

Have you made a Pass It On Plate with one of our kits?
You can upload your pictures here and then email us a link at myplate [at] passitonplates.com to activate your plate. This email address is also in the instructions along with your plate's tracking number.

Laurie B from Laurie *Beggin Glass Musings* made this plate!

Have you received a Pass It On Plate or passed one on?
Have you seen one at a pot luck dinner or party? Have you received one as a hostess gift?
Post all your Pass It On Plate related pictures here.

Suzanne from Brambleberry Row made this plate!

Include your plate number with your pictures either in the title, tag, or description, and we'll post it under that plate number in the online plate diary, giving you the credit and linking back to your Flickr photostream or any other link you want promoted. Just make sure your picture is set as public so we can blog it directly from Flickr.

Suzanne from Brambleberry Row also sewed this PlateWrap and made the Pretty Little Doo Dad on top!


Andi's Andes cookies on plate #0803049.

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Spiffied up CD jewel case liners

Here is a nifty CD case insert
Originally uploaded by passitonplates

Boring and Bland are my two enemies. Their evil plan is to make life as boring as possible, and we just can't have that now, can we?

Whenever possible I try to foil their evil plan... with as little time and effort as necessary.

Maybe I'm cheap and lazy. No, don't try to be nice. I admit it.
I am cheap and lazy.
With all kinds of fabulous stuff that I made myself. (wink!)

And it's fun on the inside, too
Originally uploaded by passitonplates

See?
Fun fun fun on both sides of the insert.

It's just a single sheet of scrapbooking paper
Originally uploaded by passitonplates

Yeah, I'm thinking those "design your own CD case insert" programs are awful and my printer is not that great. This is faster, easier, better-looking, and I can do it when it's someone else's turn on the home computer.

See? Tell your mother it's not a such bad thing to be lazy. And when you admit to her that you're cheap, be sure to point out you mean financially. Not . . . the other kind of cheap.

The paper has designs on both sides
Originally uploaded by passitonplates

This was so easy and looked so great that I made a bunch and then scoured the house looking for more vacant CD cases to spiffy up.
Ok, ready? Here's how to make yours:

1. Select a sheet of two-sided scrap booking paper that you want to use for this project. Decide which side will be shown when the case is closed and which side will be shown when the case is open.

2. Fold the sheet of paper, making sure that the paper on at least one side of the fold is as large (or larger than) the CD jewel case.

3. Align an existing CD insert with the folded edge of your scrap booking paper. Using the CD insert as your template, and a really light touch with your pencil, trace around the remaining 3 sides of the CD insert.

4. Cut along your traced line.

5. Embellish as desired. I traced the shape of the CD on the front and cut it out.

6. Slide into place.

Ta dah!
Now poke through the house looking for more boring CD jewel cases to spiffy up.

You know you want to.

Here's a little teaser

Bird's Eye View
Originally uploaded by passitonplates

I have a fun tutorial coming up for you and your sewing machine. And a pair of pants. And a fat quarter of some fabric that looks great with those pants.

This is pretty easy and requires only basic sewing skills.

Another handy (and fun) use for paint pens

The paint pens sold with Pass It On Plates have a variety of uses. Have you tried one yet? A recent pot luck dinner dilemma had me wondering if I would ever see my shiny new cake pan after the party. No prob. I whipped out a few of these special paint pens and went to work on the cake pan. Not only is it distinctly mine, it's prettier, too.

Using the two green colors and dots in pearly white, I drew leaves and vines on one side.

cake pan vine side
Originally uploaded by passitonplates

Then I took the pearly white color and wrote a little message on one end. It's only visible when the light hits it right. I wanted this to be a funny surprise when noticed.

Funny thing, this is the end that people always start to cut from.

(I had to take a little cut, myself. For quality control purposes, of course.)

calorie free
Originally uploaded by passitonplates

Last, make no mistake, this is my cake pan. More importantly, the extra big name says "Pam Hawk MADE THIS FOOD."

People trust my cooking. I don't know why; when it comes to practical jokes they don't trust me...

Cake pan name side
Originally uploaded by passitonplates

The instructions on the pen say to bake it in the oven at 300F for 30 minutes. I cheated and baked it at 350F for about 20 minutes. The cake brownies were in the pan and I didn't want to mess them up. (Yeah, this was a last minute project thought up at the last minute while I was making the brownies.) I don't recommend cheating, but I figured the retained heat in the pan would continue cooking the pen for a little while longer. Everything stayed intact through the dishwasher, so that's a good sign.

If you are interested in this recipe for made-from-scratch cake brownes, keep your eye on the Plate Diaries blog. It's scheduled to be the weekly recipe in the future. These brownies are so quick and easy and taste better than boxed brownies that you'll never buy another boxed mix again.

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Wordle.

When I was about 8 years old, my mom joined the local theatre group and I spent the rest of my growing-up years backstage, on stage, or involved in a theatrical production one way or another. Part of the fun was learning how to take on the characteristics of the people portrayed on stage. Even as a props girl or running a follow spot light, it was fun to pretend to be someone else (and the other back stage personnel was my only audience.)

One year, Mom directed the Rogers and Hammerstein musical "Oklahoma!" and the title song required nearly all the members of the cast to take turns and sing one solo line. Some people could sing very well; others couldn't carry a tune if you put it in a bucket for them. I learned how to mimic the singing voices of the entire cast. (What can I say? I was bored one evening at rehearsal.) With an operatic old lady voice I would belt out "Flowers on the prairie where the June bugs zoom," then I'd change my voice to a soft and gravelly gentleman's voice "Plenty of air and plenty of room." For a week or two I kept it to myself, then one day I sang the whole song with all the voices for my mom. She was dumbfounded as I began, then burst into fits of laughter as I sang the line from the one guy who could not sing no matter how much coaching he had. I warbled out his line just like he did and Mom just lost it. From then on, I loved learning how to mimic voices and accents. I only do phrases that I've practiced, but it's a lot of fun.

A little footnote here: In 2005, Mom was cast as the Old Woman in an indie horror film, "Harvest."

Have you ever seen the ad on tv for the Magic Bullet blender? At one point the Australian guy exclaims that you can blend and serve smoothies "Right in it's own frosty mug!" We make smoothies for breakfast at least once a week and when I serve them, the Aussie guy's exclamation comes out of my mouth. And my too cool for words 12 year old daughter rolls her eyes, takes the smoothie, and exits the room. (I secretly think she's impressed.)

In fact, most of the time I like to embarrass my very hip 12 year old daughter by not acting my age or demographic. At home, I keep the voices alive by using a fake French accent, a fake Indian accent (which Indian? Both feathers and dots; I'm lousy at both,) as well as talking like I'm from the 'hood, Marlon Brando, Casablanca, you name it. Poor embarrassed Rachel nearly blanches when I refer to her friends as her homies (and I say that in my best suburban-mom-goody-two-shoes accent) and when she questions my authority, I give her my little speech about 'respecting the mom' and end it with "Word."

Why so I do this to my tortured middle schooler? Control. I can threaten to talk like this in front of her friends if she "disses" (disrespects) me. No, I don't threaten-threaten her; we have a strict rule at home about treating people with respect, regardless of the situation at hand. But she does know that I can break out in Valley Girl if she's with her friends and things get out of hand. I know she doesn't want any funny talking from me and she knows I don't want any back talking from her. One snotty comment out of her, especially in front of her friends and it's "OMG! Gag me with a spoon!" She's very polite after my outburst.

On the other hand, she's just as goofy as I am, talking like a German Chancellor while making spaghetti with me, or her latest: "LOL Speak" via email to me while I'm at work. What's LOL speak? A sample email from her would go like this.

"OH HAI, MOMMEH. DO U KNOE WER I CAN FIND MAH BLU HAT? IF U DOAN KNOE, I CAN HAS UR BLU SCARF? LET ME KNOE, K?"

(Hi, mom. Do you know where I can find my blue hat? If you don't know, can I have your blue scarf? Let me know, ok?)

At home we love words. A few years ago, Mr. Pass It On Plates and I built a ten foot wide by six foot tall wooden bookcase to hold all our books. (Problem is, it doesn't hold them all.) Words are interesting in print and interesting when spoken. The funny thing is that even though we're fascinated by words, Mr. Pass It On Plates is Deaf and we communicate at home in sign language. Yes, I have a fascination with signs and that's a whole 'nother blog post.

That said... (*sigh* ok you have just been exposed to my innate weirdness. I had been holding it back for several months now. Yes, I agree - I think it is hereditary. Maybe the last 9 paragraphs were just TMI - Too Much Information?)
Here's a 180-degree turn from what I just told you but ... (and BTW, I love the name of this website and my have to work it into my various languages with my 12 year old punk.)

Wordle

What the heck is Wordle? It's a super-nifty bit of programming that takes text that you type in OR it takes text from a URL that you provide and pulls out words. Wordle then arranges the words into a word cloud. You can choose from a long list of interesting fonts that I (the "font queen" at home) have never heard of, and you also get to mold the shape of the words. You also control the color.

I absolutely love this. I think I'm going to have to put this on a shirt or tote bag.

**Promotion tip - you could use your Wordle on promotional items such as shirts, hats, tote bags, jeans, book covers, magnets, business cards, your website, pillow cases, baby onsies, program an embroidery sewing machine with it, coffee mugs, mouse pads, etc etc etc, ad nauseum. And you're allowed to sell these items for a profit. I checked the Wordle FAQ and they say it's ok.

This collection of words captures the essence of what I'm doing here, and I got to pick my favorite colors. I think this looks a lot like my business personality. (My personal personality is a lot more of the goofy accents and weird language shared with my daughter. Some day I'll make a wordle based on that part of my life. Maybe around Halloween would be a good time to unveil that part of me...)

So this is my Wordle, in all it's happy-colored glory. I saved the picture and uploaded it to my Flickr. If you click on the picture it will take you to my Flickr and if you click the link atht e beginning of this paragraph it will take you to Wordle.net where you can see the original (and a better quality image.) The words are based on what was on the first page of this blog on July 21, 2008.

wordle from 7-21-08, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

I have to give credit to the fun artists who got me on to this. I first read about Wordle in a post at KMC Designs entitled: Duct tape wallet with an American Trilogy. Next, I read the comments under the post and wanted to check out Eskimimi's word cloud.

Are you as intrigued about this as I am? Go to Wordle and make your own word cloud. Save it, and then please leave a comment here with a link to your own wordle. If mine is a visual wordle-y representation of my personality, I'd love to see what yours looks like.

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Getting to know Pam

I grew up in a small town way at the tippy top of Wisconsin, near Lake Superior. My town has a Catholic Church (big surprise) a cheese factory (again, big surprise) and a bar. (What? A bar??) No, actually two bars.
Our big town motto was Eat, Drink and Be Saved.

"Blink and you'll miss it" didn't apply due to the 90 degree curve in the road. Driving eastbound, you couldn't blink or you'd run directly into the Plywood Palace (when you click this link you'll see my comment; scroll up to see the picture). If you were coming from Ashland and heading west, you didn't dare blink to miss the town or you'd drive smack into the wall of the cheese factory and knock over the Virgin Mary's blue bathtub.

If you grew up in the upper midwest, you know exactly why Mary needs a bathtub and what shade of blue it is.

Of course I was an outcast there because we went to the Lutheran Church.
We were rebels, I tell ya.
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Despite my cute girly plates...

... I have a very dark and warped sense of humor.
(No, I really don't know how to carry that over to my plates or PlateWraps. Any suggestions??)

Anyhoo, I was poking around the internet, as usual, and found this interesting local LA area blog called Franklin Avenue. It piqued my interest since I lived near Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis off and on for 13 years, and I was hoping it would be the same diverse street. Nope.

But...
I LOVE their toy store photos. "Lost" is great but I especially love the one with the sharks doing a little demo of their own.

Showing off what sharks were best known for.

Back in 1974.

You have got to see this: Franklin Avenue - Lost in San Luis Obispo
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Turn your plate into a Flying Plate (tm)

There are only a couple weeks left in this fun promotion.


What you get when your plate becomes a Flying plate (tm), originally uploaded by passitonplates.

A Flying Plate (tm) is what we call your numbered Pass It On Plates when it has been passed to at least three people in a short period of time. To qualify, your plate's diary very first entry must be made between March 20, 2008 and June 21, 2008. Then, your plate's third plate diary entry must be made by 11:59pm (Pacific Time) on June 21, 2008.

When your plate becomes a Flying Plate, we'll send you one of our mugs with our flying plate logo hand drawn on it, and your choice of beverage: gourmet coffee or gourmet cocoa.

All you really have to do is start circulating your plate as soon as possible and encourage your friends to keep it moving.

No purchase necessary; even if you received your plate free as part of another promotion, you can still quality for this Flying Plate promotion.

Mommyfest 2008 contest

Update: We have a winner! This PlateWrap will now be called "Wait A Minute, Mr, Postman."
For the winning announcement, click here.

Here is our latest new fabric on the sewing table. Before sewing it into PlateWraps, though, it needs a name. Can you think of a good one? Can you think of several good ones?

This fabric features a scattering of envelopes, mailboxes, stamps, and fountain pens over a black background. Dominant colors are red, pumpkin yellow, dark sage green, and lavender.
Here is a close-up of the print (or just click on the above image for a larger version) :

Add your comment here with the name you think we should use for this particular PlateWrap. Enter as many name ideas as you like, but please just one name per comment. Make sure you include your email or a link back to your site so we can contact you if your name suggestion is the winner.

How will we pick the winner? At the end of the blog party, May 16, 2008 at 11:59pm PST we will enter all the names here and the whichever one ends up in the number one spot will be the winner. We'll announce the winner in this blog and notify the winner by 11:59pm PST on May 17, 2008.

So what do you get if you win? We'll send you a Pass It On Plate with this PlateWrap on it. This is a complete Pass It On Plate with not just the numbered plate and PlateWrap, but we'll dress it up with a coordinating Pretty Little Doo Dad and special paint pen, and we'll even include a dozen chocolate chip cookies. How cool is that? The plate alone is a $49.95 value, and the cookies, which are usually only available locally, are another $9.95. Holy cow, that's almost $60 worth of traveling-cookie-plate-goodness. Better think up a whole bunch of good names for this PlateWrap.

What if the winner can't be contacted? That's a good question. We will make every effort to contact the winner and get their mailing address so we can send out the Pass It On Plate. After two weeks with no reply to our contact attempts we will award the prize to the second name on the list. Hopefully this won't happen, but if it does, that's the plan.

Good luck!

No purchase necessary. Due to shipping constraints, this contest is open to addresses in the US only.

Well... Pass It On Plates is all about food and friends, so it's only natural to include a recipe for the MommyFest Potluck.

Ooh, ooh, before I forget, I have news! Just in time for the Cause 4 Paws show we're doing on May 24, 2008, we've got a great new item available in the Pass It On Plates product line. Check out this blog post for more details.

Ok, back to my Potluck recipe:
This is so easy and hard to stop eating once you start. Plus, if your family is like ours and you occasionally like to have an assortment of appetizers for supper, this is a big treat to add to your menu of hors d'ouvres.

Easy Cream Cheese Salsa Dip
1 - 8 oz block of cream cheese, room temperature
1 - 16 oz jar of salsa, try mango or pineapple salsa, or any fruit salsa from Harry & David
1 - big bag of tortilla chips

Place the cream cheese in a shallow bowl. Use the back of a spoon to spread it out a little, if you like. Pour the jar of salsa over the cream cheese. Serve with chips.
M-m-m-m-m. Addictive.

Hey, you know... You could put a package of cream cheese and a jar of salsa on a Pass It On Plate and take it to a party. When you're there, assemble it in front of everyone then leave the plate behind for the host/hostess.

I may have to try that next time I go hang out with my sisters.

Mommyfest 2008!

Hi and welcome to the Pass It On Plates blog! Glad you could stop by!

To introduce myself, my name is Pam and I started Pass It On Plates about 5 years ago, so this is also my 5th year working on a project I live, breathe, sleep... and love doing. I'm a mom of a 12 year old 'teenager,' a 3 year old 'puppy,' my husband of almost 15 years (yes, I mother him too,) and a hamster named Paul. We live in the Willamette Valley in western Oregon where it's lush and green pretty much all year-round.

I like quirky silly things and would like to include a monkey or alien motif on everything I do... but I practice great restraint and haven't done that. Yet. On the other hand, I love my glue gun and will happily glue all kinds of weird things like beer bottle caps and tiny plastic farm animals to magnets and pins. Painting is also a little addiction of mine: furniture, walls, picture frames, shirts... I'd love to get an old junker car some day and paint that into a funky painted art car - and of course hot glue stuff to it as well.

Hoping to meet lots of other moms - so please leave me a comment here and introduce yourself!

Cleaning up for the party

Gosh, this is easy; I didn't even have to vacuum or dust. Too bad it wasn't this easy in real life.

The Pass It On Plates blog will be having an open house at the 5th Annual Mommyfest Blog Party, which runs from May 12-16, 2008. Bookmark me and stop by for a virtual cuppa joe between those dates to meet all kinds of moms and try your luck at our new fabric naming contest.

Mmmm, I love entertaining.
Especially when I don't have to tidy up the sewing table.

A kind of a spendid brassy apple thing

I have been looking for inexpensive ideas on how to spruce up my wardrobe for spring and summer. Two weeks ago I bought a "Make It Mine" magazine and was reading through it, when I came across this picture. Boy, it looked really familiar.

Today I was visiting the blogs in my blogroll - and I sincerely recommend you check them out my blogroll, as there is a lot of talent in that little list! - Lo and behold, I saw this shirt! Aha - that's where I had seen the shirt before! It's a creation by Megan from Brassy Apple. Her use of fabric and color inspire me. Really, between visiting her blog and walking into an Ikea store, I get all sorts of good ideas to try out.

I've been agonizing about how to use the technique on the shirt in the magazine... what shirt(s) to use? Which fabrics? What kind of motif? Being a little goofy, I thought of a motif involving a UFO abducting a cow.

(I still have some cow print scraps from my MooMooMoo PlateWraps.)

My sensible daughter quickly put the kabosh on that idea.

Anyway, a recent post on Brassy Apple was about this much loved but holey sweater from Jeanetta of Splendid Things. Jeanetta won a packet of fabric pieces from Megan and went to work on her sweater.

Click here to see what Jeanetta ended up doing with her sweater.
It's much nicer than my UFO/cow idea. Bravo, Jeanetta! I love your sweater.

Photo credits go to Megan for the magazine picture and to Jeanetta for the sweater picture.

Mountain View, CA

About the only thing I know about Mountain View, CA is that Shirley Temple Black lives there. At least she did, many years ago when I worked for a national moving company.

About once every week this blog has yet another visit from someone in the Mountain View area. (This shows up on the Feedjit visitor bar, to the right - you may need to scroll down to see it.) Now I say 'area' because that's what shows up, but my frequent visitor(s) could be from another small town in the vicinity. Ben Lomond, for example. (Sometimes my own visits to this blog show up as a town about 40 miles from my computer.) My Mountain View visitor could be the same person stopping by again and again to check on things, or it could be a handful of different people visiting from Google.

You might even be searching for the Pam Hawk at Periodik or the Pam Hawk Real Estate Professional and you ended up here. Those two are in California, there's me up in Oregon, another couple of gals named Pam Hawk in Ohio and I think maybe another one of us in Pennsylvania. There aren't very many women with this name and I'm proud to be one of them. (Yes, you heard it here first: I'm a Dork. With a capital D.)

Either way, I'm intrigued, since I don't really know anyone in CA, it makes me smile every time I see another visit from Mountain View.

Because of the frequent visits, I'd like to send a plate of cookies to Mountain View to say thank you for visiting.

If you're from Mountain View, will you please add a comment with a link so I can contact you? Or just email me at pam[at]passitonplates[dot]com.
Thanks! :o)

Oh, heck. If your name is Pam Hawk and you live anywhere in the world, drop me a line via email for your free plate, too.