Birthday Week

I had originally had some patterned paper but I decided to use  the negative with whtie font (which I love). It was nice to have my picture perfect photo and actually put some realy journaling down.

Happy Birthday Mia and Rico!

Many moons ago (now it seems) we celebrated my sister and bro-in-law to be's birthday. My camera sucked at the time. I was really excited to buy this Canon point and shoot. The pictures were so awful and kind of repetitive, so I used Pixlr-O-Matic to edit them and make them more interesting. I have been sooo busy that I haven't had much time to upload or post anything. I spent some time colllaging them together. I'm quite excited.

P.S. I don't have access to cool fonts on the computer I'm using, but I realized with my portable GIMP, I can copy the image from a font website and then remove the text and apply as a layer. This has been a huge life saver.

Congratulations Josette!

A couple of weeks ago my sister got her Masters in Social Work from USC!!!

We are so proud of her. Below is the home video I made of her ceremony.

For Little Baby Vance

I had seen this picture on Etsy of a tie on a onesie. I knew this was something I had to try. I drew a tie on paper and placed it accordingly. It had been some time since I embroidered anything, I figured this was a good time to whip something up again. Luckily I had this piece of scrap fabric and matching floss. It took about an episode of Korra (Avatar, must see show) to complete using a backstitch. I then placed on onesie, topstitched then zigzag stitched.  I was really happy at how quickly the onesie came together.

Booties.

I had made booties before. I believe they were kimono; being girl shoes, they were easier to me as fastenings on girls shoes are kind of decorative. I approximated the size (hopefully they'll fit) and used an old pattern I traced off the computer a while back. The fabric is like cargo pants fabric ( I know, I don't know what it's called). I wanted a thicker feel for the shoes. I had doubled the fabric and this made it quick thick. Also, the smaller the project and thicker fabric, it's harder to manage. Buuuut, I did get it done. And I was quite excited about it.

Love Yourself

I received this cool email from "The Daily Digi" and it had this free download from Paula Kesselring. It originally had this kiss that I covered with this journaling tag from Promise from Shabby Princess (it's like my favorite kit ever, I think I have like of their kits and nothing else).


Journaling reads:
I don't know when it was that I "woke up" and not to say that
I was really ever insecure. But one day I just realized that as long
I try to be the person I want to be and try to be good, things fall into place.I have my body issues, sure. But when I try to fill myself with other good things,weight and crooked teeth have less room
and impact on ME. Try to be the best you inside and out. That is beauty.

Weekly Calendar

This is what I am looking at this week. Seeing it organized kind of makes me eager to do it. 

To a hopefully wonderful week!!!

Drawing A Blank

I haven't scrapbooked in years. I started scrapbooking after I went to a store with my high school French teacher. I remember thinking all the Jolee's Boutique things were so cool. She made these handmade cards for Christmas and one had a Charlie Brown type of tree made out of a real twig and real mini Christmas lights! So cool. Forward a year or so and I had wanted to give it a try. With a baby on the way and nothing but time on my hands, I was able to scrapbook.

I like scrapbooking because I love looking back and seeing what things I thought were important enough to create artwork out of. Forward a year, I have pictures, no supplies. Then supplies, no prints. It became too much catch up and I lost my way with it.

I had seen digital scrapbooks and at the time was all paper. I didn't like it. About a year or so ago, I had seen this thing on a different scrapbooker's blog that said "There is no right or wrong way to preserve your memories"

That stuck so much with me. True, I didn't care for digital and didn't know what to do or where to begin, but I saw that years now had gone by that were unscrapped just because I never seemed to have the time, money, space, or pictures all at once.

I use Photoshop CS3 or GIMP to digiscrap. I'm not that good, and I have the same digi stash from the day I decided to start. I plan to do more.

Anyways, so off topic. I love scrapbooking. I have found that the pages I love to see and to make are the ones that don't necessarily document an event. The ones I like are the "deep" ones. Where you say something from the heart.

Buuuuuuut, I always draw a blank. I'm intimidated by the "important" or "right" words to say. I made these layouts a year ago. To date, of the minimal scrapbooking I do, only few have the completed journaling.

Tom's Farms

Looking for something cool to do, we headed to Tom's Farms in Corona, CA. It was my first time :)

Armed with my cuties, we headed to the home store.

Bella really wanted to check out what this wizard said.

Aren't the men in my life so handsome?

My amazing mother-in-law was in town visiting.

Family Time.

He was a little under the weather, excuse the snot nose.

Vanilla Egg Cream soda. Was pretty good,but creepily creamy.

Our 8 year dating anniversary.

Pretty cool 50 cents spent.





I forgot what we named our friend.

Bread, cheese, and chase.

This day was so much fun. It was relaxing and the weather was perfect. I chowed down on some cheese and bread. I only started eating cheese and love it so much, I probably over do it.
I loved it all, the country theme of the home store. The interesting soda. The cheese. The warm bread. The perfect breeze. The chocolate covered gummy bears!
I am so thankful for this and can't wait to go back. Next time, I'm getting wine.

Chalkboard

I'm late to this whole chalkboard paint craze. But I found a tutorial on how to do it and gave it a whirl.

Bella, is my beautiful assistant for this tutorial. She likes blue.

I think a specific paint was instructed but we just used good ol acrylic craft paint.

Unsanded grout from the hardware store. Buying this intimidated me.

These are the materials we used. The butterknife is for mixing. We used a sponge brush to

paint on the wood board.

We needed very little paint. So we poured right into the  measuring cup.

The measurements asked for 1 cup but this was waaaay more than we needed.

1 tablespoon of grout.

We used the butter knife to mix.

And painted away.

Make sure to get the sides.

And write.

Books and Blooms

I asked my sister what she wanted for her birthday. Answer: handmade jewelry.

Response: Yes!

I had stopped by Joann(s) and went looking for some jewlery inspiration on a budget. I have been really into the pearls this spring and gravitated toward the pearly glass beads. My sister likes cool, interesting pieces.

I had seen these pretty pastel colored flower beads. I knew this needed to be a necklace.

I had entertained the idea of putting handmade gifts in hollowed out books. Only to be told that's what drug dealers and criminals do. Boo. But then I saw this adorable blog pulled it off. I knew I had to give it a go.

But hollowing out pages on a time budget is hard, so I slit the book apart from the cover.

And this is what you get when opened. A feminine and softish, bold pair of beauties.

A bouquet of flowers around your neck!

I used pale pink glass beads in the center of the flowers with 26 gauge wire. I wrapped 20 gauge pink copper wire to make the stem of the bouquet. I didn't want the feminine look to be lossed on the long chain, so I broke it up with some glass pink glass pearls.

I think coral is the color this spring, but this "peach" flower stuck out to me. I used the glass pearls in 2 different sizes. This flower is removable and stands out like a broach.

I held the silk flowers together with a glass pearl.

I had some left over leopard fabric. Red and leopard. That's a good mix.

I had seen on etsy this adorable bite sized owl. My sister is an owl lover. I had to attempt. And, I did it! I figured this would be awesome as a pendant on a necklace. But perfect with a real twig as a branch. I glittered it just a bit.

Eh, slightly heavy on the glue on the right eye. But, I still love it.

Happy Birthday Mia. Hope you like your gifts!