Ella-May. Every minute is good.

Ahem.

2011-01-05T21:22:00.002-04:00

After several years of blogs, i'm beginning to think i seriously suck at blogging.

Very good intentions.......

Then life gets in the way. Rather, I LET life get in the way.

So when I figure out some new plans and get it all together i MAY blog again

but most likely at a different address.

Thank you for reading.

Thank you for supporting me.

Thank you for being a friend.

xoxo

Kris.

Crispy Evening!

2010-11-10T18:57:00.005-04:00

What a lovely evening to curl up with a good book and a cup of tea!

I have achieved absolutely nothing today.

NOTHING.

This was my only day off till sometime next week so I felt like being selfish!

I surfed around the internet and just relaxed - or tried to.

I felt so guilty all day like i should be doing the dishes/laundry/cleaning/organizing/getting my life together/saving the world. You get the idea.

Why is it so hard to just relax and be okay with taking time out to do nothing?

My anxiety over doing nothing just ruined my day and of course anxiety = stress eating. So now i feel guilty for eating crappy today too!

I've been feeling guilty for not posting any vegan goodness either.

That's because there hasn't been any!

My darling husband has been vegan for about ten days now and I haven't made a single step in that direction yet.

I have been busy at work and haven't taken the time out to research some portable breakfast options for a girl who loves a warm filling breakfast...pooh.

Another thing to feel guilty for!

I really need to quit being so hard on myself - any ideas/tips on how ?

I think i need a yummy holiday evening.

My fave holiday movies, a sea of blankets and some yummy warm tea or hot chocolate! (my vote is for the hot chocolate)

If only!

I'm off to find something to wear to work tomorrow and try to quit feeling so guilty and also sad because I wasted my relaxing day feeling tense and guilty!

So instead of refreshed i'm off to work even more stressed and wound up tomorrow.

Ugh!

In other news, my school stuff arrived so that's just another thing to feel guilty about - seeing my little red box of supplies hanging around waiting to be loved!

VeganMOFO!

2010-11-03T12:57:00.004-04:00

Love how that sounds!:D

What a wonderful time to start figuring this whole vegan thing all out :)

It's Vegan MoFO or Vegan Month of Food.

I might have to give my husband access to my blog so that we'll get some daily posts out on our adventures this month and beyond :)

It all started with Bill Clinton and a chocolate cupcake.

Perhaps it even started before that.

When i read SkinnyBitch in 2008 I was horrified and grossed out - my eyes were peeled WAY open and I haven't eaten meat since.

For about 4 months I ate vegan and that's probably a sad term for what i ate. I consumed cheerios, granola bars and apples.

It didn't end well, naturally!

I'm ready to make another attempt with a little more information and educated choices and just good old figuring it all along the way.

Where does Bill KiKi come in? (my cousin's little boy who is now 16 used to call him bill kiki - it was one of his first words! tee hee).

Well he's had some health issues and has embraced a vegan or mostly vegan lifestyle in order to reverse them. Yes, health problems can be reversed. You don't have to be slave to the pills they throw at you on tv.

I wonder how many people go to the dr requesting pills they see on TV?

I'm not knocking drugs, they have their place. But food cures too.

My sweet husband mentioned an article he read about Bill's veganism. Around that time I had planned on making cupcakes for his birthday art show and he presented me with a recipe for vegan cupcakes.

I told him it was a stupid idea to serve vegan cupcakes to these meat eatin folk and that i'd probably screw them up in three thousand ways and they'd be eating rubbery cupcakes.

Um, no. They were WAY easier to make than regular cupcakes soooo much less hassle and they were AMAZING!

UH MAY ZING!!!! So much so that i doubt i'll ever make a regular chocolate cake again - there's no need to!

That got me thinking and I hated that I started eating cheese again and cream in my coffee since returning to the states.

(thanks for that husband)

Added to that, my HORRIBLE diet from this past summer (omg...really..i can't even believe i ate what i ate).

Things need to change.

I really hate my breakfast options at the bakery cafe too.

So i'm going to get over bringing my breakfast. I will bring it and eat it there but I will purchase a coffee/tea so that i'm at least buying something :)

So this month I will get the husband to help me in the documenting/posting of our vegan culinary adventures:)

Tonight I will probably bake some bars that I can take with me for breakfast and I will pack my almond milk to add to my coffee.

I'm spending most of my day off researching bar recipes. Anybody have any that they like?

eta: it was too late to sign up for the vegan mofo blog roll but i still put a button on my left nav bar so you can go read about all the coolness:)

Buh Bye Cookies (and other assorted tales)

2010-11-01T20:43:00.004-04:00

If anybody is wondering about my 'other assorted tales' references- we can't be friends anymore.

It's an Enid Blyton reference.

I've worked a shit ton. Really...a shit ton..

I haven't really made any art or any effort to make any art.

I haven't really felt like it either. I'm not rushing or pushing it. I know it will pass and I will jump into a making/doing frenzy.

The time of year for glitter is here! (insert jazz hands and spirit fingers here).

I have a glorious 2 hour period of time to myself EVERY morning to sit and read or make lists or think about things.

While i still hate getting out of bed at an ungodly hour (my body loves getting up at 9am naturally no matter how early i go to bed)

I enjoy that two hour me time and it passes surprisingly quickly.

I use the time to trick myself into thinking its ok to go to work. But it just feels like putting one foot in front of the other to get back home and to bed to go back the next morning to do it all over again.

The company i work for is closing our division so there is an end in sight.

I'm not fretting too much about what is next. It will come.

My thing right now is making mornings bearable for the next few months - especially as it is getting colder out!

I have to layer up (because i walk to work after my 2 hour me time)

It is a short walk - maybe less than ten minutes but it feels like 20 or more in that cold!

It is a pain in the butt to put it all on, take it off for my 2 hour wait then put it all back on but it is what I have to do if I don't want to freeze on my walk to work!

I'm trying to 'hack' my morning routine so that my mornings can run smoother.

I'm sick of scrambling to find something to wear and to figure out makeup/hair etc.

I know that making my morning more bearable will mean night time preparation.

I'm currently trying to beef up my wardrobe so that i can have several outfits pre assembled that I can grab in my sleepy stupor.

This isn't an easy task for someone who is quite happy washing and wearing the same thing everyday.

I miss uniforms!

It is also so much easier in the summer to find clothes!

I'm sick of being cold in the morning and by lunchtime i'm sweating because it is so hot! There is only so much I can peel off!

I'm averaging half hour to 45 mins right now. I'd like to cut that down to 20 mins.

20 mins for a shower/teeth/makeup/hair/outfit/accessories/layering up.

I've started washing my hair at night to save time. I can't really do wash and wear hair - especially in the winter. BRRR!

I only wash my hair on alternate mornings. My off days are Psssst Days! I LOVE that stuff!!!

Its essentially a fine powder in spray form that sucks up excess oil so you don't look like a drowned rat. It really is a life saving product for someone like me.

I keep meaning to pick up some hair bands and clips to try wearing my hair up sometimes too.

Makeup is pretty basic.

As long as i get my foundation/ concealer done i'm happy. Anything else is a bonus.

I don't use any lip products religiously because i end up with that icky ring around the lips thing from talking so much all day.

Mascara is a must.

I don't feel like me if i'm not wearing eye liner but lately i've been swiping on grey eye shadow instead and it works..not necessarily faster though.....

Once i get my foundation on I have spare eye products in my purse that I can apply during my 'me time'.

I'm rambling and who the fuck really cares about my morning but me?

I'm just trying to make sense of it and maybe writing about it will help.

Anyways...another new problem is breakfast.

I've been spending my 2 hours at a bakery cafe type place and I feel the need to buy something in order to sit there for 2 hours.

I COULD just get a cup of tea but since i'm in too much of a hurry to eat at home, I get breakfast too.

It is getting expensive budgetwise and diet wise.

There aren't the best options there.

My husband and I are trying to be vegan and I've been before without much thought and that didn't end well.

There isn't a single option at that place for me so I'm thinking of making breakfast bars and the like to bring with me and just grab a cup of tea or coffee there. (any other ideas??!)

If i'm getting coffee i'll have to bring my own almond milk in a little bottle (really?! more shit to think of that early in the morning? )

So that complicates things a bit further but I think I can do it. No, I know I can.

I just feel so bad not buying much there anymore.

I have to find a couple bar recipes and have some fun baking and experimenting :)

I just feel a little rushed in having to figure this all out. I want to do this yesterday and that never works out well for me.

I'm definitely having to learn some patience.

I will try to keep up with my posting so I can update you on my progress/findings and if miraculously I can get from bed to car in 20 mins :)

p.s. byebye to cookies really means bye bye to sugar. I'm indulging too much and if i do have cookies they'll be vegan and hopefully just lightly sweetened with brown rice syrup or something like it :)

Then this would happen.

2010-10-07T20:18:00.002-04:00

Enter Mondo Beyondo.

I heard of mondo beyondo before it was mondo beyondo via Andrea Scher's blog some years ago.

Back then i was living elsewhere, a totally different life and I made a mondo beyondo list with a very AS IF! attitude.

Fast forward three or four years and a lot of things on that list have happened. Even though i totally forgot it existed.

The price was right last night and I signed up for the fall Dream Lab session. A subset of mondo beyondo, if you will.

Several things shifted after I wrote my last post.

Plans are being made, hopes and dreams are being rekindled and life is looking brighter.

All because I decided to believe................in me. :)

What If

2010-10-03T00:14:00.001-04:00

I just went for it.
Created like there was no tomorrow.
Believed.
What if I just gave in to what really feeds me instead of depleting myself
day after day, expecting something to change?
Hm......:)

Idea Hatching.

2010-09-13T10:52:00.000-04:00

It is pretty exciting when I allow myself to dream.

Idiom.

2010-09-06T22:47:00.004-04:00

Photo taken from the Kate Spade website.

I'm a longtime fan of Kate Spade design.

I always loved her purses, then i stumbled across her book Style at a used book store in Baltimore a couple years ago.

That's when the love affair really began!

I recently started collecting Idiom Bangles and i am in love!

I can't wait to get some dishes but i'm waiting for that :)

Today I got the pink bangle that says ' its all fun and games'

A few days ago I started my collection with the navy blue bangle that says ' The calm before the storm'. I thought it was funny seeing that i bought it when hurricane Earl was set to hit!

The manager of our local store is a sweetheart. I started my collection some days ago and told her how much i loveeee them. She promised that she would call me whenever they got any in so imagine my excitement this morning when she informed me that she had one and that i should pop by to take a look.

I ran over there this evening and i squealed over this pink beauty! (pictured on the bottom)

I'm so excited...I can't wait to collect more...I just wish she made them in silver too!

Hello September!

2010-09-02T10:26:00.002-04:00

So i absolutely couldn't resist picking up a tiny little notebook at michaels last week.

Something about september and fresh notebooks :)

I can't wait to fill it up!

I'm SO HAPPY to see september!

The leaves are slowly beginning to change and soon we'll have crisper weather.

I am in the last days of my job ( I was asked to stay on, I declined) and i'm looking forward to a crafty month with time for ME and some drawing :)

I have to renew my library books. Shamefully i've had them for a few weeks and haven't even opened them.

I gotta renew them so i can read them.

One of them is the Domino book from my wedding registry. I just briefly skimmed through it and I fell in love.

Can't wait to dig in and I'm probably going to buy it. Just wanted to take a peek since it was there:)

Here's to pumpkin spice lattes and love this september!

Sketching.

2010-08-31T22:33:00.002-04:00

I started off my morning with a large cup of chammomile tea and a huge lump of anxiety.

I got to work early and there is an area with benches/trees and lots of little sparrows hop around and tweet.

I sat there and set my tea aside to cool as i chatted with a friend via gchat on my phone.

My phone was dying and I decided to pull my old sketchbook out of my purse and look through.

I had a REALLY strange response to my work.

I've always thought it was crappy/mediocre but this morning i completely marvelled at my drawings and paintings and actually allowed myself to think that i AM enough and i AM good enough and my work IS good enough.

Wow. Powerful.

I sat there with a smile on my face and suddenly felt like drawing.

I sat cross legged on a bench and got lost in sketching a hibiscus in two different stages.

I never got to finish but just the act of sketching around the outline and just filling in a bit of detail gave me so much hope!

I didn't care how rough it looked - instead of 'hating' on my work and finding fault with every little thing. I actually allowed myself to feel good about my attempt.

I carried that little spark of hope and self love with me all day and it made me glow :)

Him.

2010-08-30T21:40:00.003-04:00

My love, my rock, my hero.

This guy gets up at the crack of dawn everyday, out of our warm, snuggly bed to go

teach kids art.

They ADORE him.

I know just how they feel.

He is the most giving, loving, patient, understanding and gentle soul ever.

He has been there for me SO MUCH this summer.

He takes me to work, brings me home between jobs and makes me sit with my feet up while he prepares meals and takes care of me.

He makes sure that my laundry is done so that i have clothes to wear to work and he just generally keeps a hold on everything going on around here.

I know, he is amazing.

I am incredibly lucky to have him.

He has been there to hold me through this crazy summer where I have felt like i was losing myself and my mind amidst two jobs, one of which is unbelievably soul sucking.

He has been there to tell me its okay to quit and to go ahead and do what I need to do.

I have no idea what i would have done without him this summer.

He makes me nuts, he makes me laugh and he is the hugest support system ever.

I love you so very much.

I hope you forgive this sappy post too, my love. I know you hate to be the center of attention :)

xo.

Wharly

2010-08-26T10:14:00.002-04:00

Felt like drawing a little whale.

No time for paints so i did some illustrator- ing.

His name is Wharly and he loves to splash!

He also likes vanilla ice cream swirly cones...go figure!

The one where I am finding me again.

2010-08-23T23:03:00.000-04:00

Slowly but surely!
Today I had a glorious day off.
I started it by not sleeping much last night, because I made up my mind to go to job #2 and give my 2 weeks notice.
I made my mind up. I chickened out. I made my mind up, I chickened out and then I just made my mind up to go do it.
I am the only one who can make decisions to change certain things in my life.
The energy there is stifling and I can't keep doing this to myself.
As one friend said - a 13 hour work day just isn't healthy.
I was SO nervous. In this day - who in their right mind quits a job when so many have none?
Someone who needs to find her passion again and pursue it, thats who.
I skipped out of there giddy and happy and treated myself to a sweater i'd been wanting.
I also treated us out to a day at the vineyard.
Lovely, relaxing.....really I felt like i was cheating.
Came home and took a nap...a text from work had me a bit wound up so I called and took care of it (it was nothing)
Didn't finish my nap.
Had a mini snuggle session with my hubby.
Hubby's friend is visiting so they can go to a concert so off they went and I cooked pasta for myself and a friend. She brought the sauce. YUM! Fresh home grown tomatoes that she made into sauce. The energy of the home loved, home grown, sun ripened, chemical free tomatoes along with the bright colour of it...wow!
We realized that we both indulge in the same trashy reality show so we sat on the couch and watched two episodes.
Me crocheting, her doing sudoku and us just chatting.
It was REALLY lovely.
The lights were off and i had yummy smelly candles lit.
When she left I took a yummy eucaluptus scented shower and i lay here in bed now blogging and about to exchange my computer for a book and a snooze.
Hope you had a lovely monday:)
I know I did!

Crochet.

2010-08-16T13:22:00.003-04:00

I grabbed those pics in the car on the way home from ohio.

I LOVE yarn.

Crocheting is such a good car/portable craft.

I love that i can de stress while letting the yarn slip through my fingers and onto my needle.

I've made several coffee cup cozys for my friends at work.....still have about 6 to go before I get done. It is a quick fun project.

I'm also working on my first afghan!

I took a pic of the beginning of it and I need to grab another shot.

I'm at a standstill till i get another colour of yarn that i feel it needs then i can continue.

I'll definitely post a pic of it soon.

I should probably take pics of the coffee cup cozys too! They're so cute.

Off to work but felt like blogging.

snippets of summer.

2010-08-09T23:22:00.000-04:00

My first creative project of the summer my camera cozy (which has been MIA since ohio!)
I think it is in one of my unpacked scrap totes. oops.
A craving for a java chip chiller lead me to find a java chip frap at starbucks....i'm on 3 since summer started and trying not to let that number climb. I'm usually a peppermint tea (tall refresh) gal at the bux.
Yummy blue skies.
Pretty yellow flowers at the wedding garden Ida Lee Park.
Lots of kissing (not just a summer thing :)
Er..somehow my camera cozy ended up in this collage again. That's ok its pink and i heart it so.
I enjoyed a lovely, rare day off today.
We ran a long errand today that ended somewhat frustratingly (dat a word?) and I was able to let it go SO easily.
I wanted to cuss my head off but I said to myself...ya know what self? Its over...it happened and its all good.
We enjoyed the long drive home together and then enjoyed a mostly lazy evening with a trip to the library and our local ice cream parlour for vanilla swirled cones.
mmm.
I actually scrapbooked a little tonight and i feel very creatively charged!
I am looking forward to brushing up my portfolio as I tiptoe back into graphic design!
A love turned icky relationship and I think I've figured out why and have matured enough to make another go at it.
I love design and I need to revisit it and see if we can love each other again or if it really is time to break up and move on.
After a few (a lot many) years in design I began to be more of a photoshop/illustrator monkey and less of a designer but I am willing to fight for my creative rights :) If ya came to me to design it -lemme design it! I'm not as much of a pushover as I used to be and I doubt i will freelance as much if at all. I think I need to have someone else play AE while I just stick to design:)
Excited about it already!
I have spent a LOT of time lately thinking/dreaming/wishing/praying/crying/reaching out to the universe for answers/direction and this one has been recurring and I am excited to give it another run.
I think it is going to be good :)
Now.......to find that time to create. I'm going to tuck a little sketchbook into my purse for lunchtime/breaktime/sneak time sketching!
Here is to dreaming and following those dreams. There ain't no harm in trying but really its all about just going for it.
Go brave.

Busy Life!

2010-08-05T23:07:00.003-04:00

(One of the last scrapbook layouts I made)

Should I apologize for being MIA?

There are no real rules for blogging frequency are there?

It might be nice to blog often or people forget about your blog or lose interest.

I guess i'm letting go of things that aren't a priority.

I'm trying not to feel guilty over things that there is REALLY no need to feel guilty about!

I always thought that I would NEVER become the kind of person who works themselves to the bone, unless maybe I was so passionate about my job that it didn't feel like work and melded seamlessly into my life.

Ahem.

Work is my life and it is most definitely not my life's work.

It is meaningless.

Something I do - a means to an end.

I like it well enough, but I don't love it to bits and pieces.

I am now averaging WAY more time at work (60+ hours) than I am being at home or pursuing anything I am remotely interested in (hence the super lack of blogging).

I work. I work. I work.

I am grateful to have a job (or two) but I can't keep going at this pace.

I forget to eat, I forget that i'm tired. Sleep is never enough and my brain keeps whirring in my head.

Fitting into smaller pants is a small bonus but I wonder what the higher price I am paying really is.

Is it forgetting to dream? Forgetting to pursue dreams? Forgetting who I am?

I feel disconnected from me, my friends, my goals/dreams etc.

But I am earning a living. But not living at all.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not sad or down. Just wondering about it all and trying to figure out what is next.

Trying to remember what the answer to the 'what i want to be when i grow up' question.

I'm just a bit afraid that i've gotten caught up in the rat race and forgotten how to live/dream/thrive.

Simply existing has never been of any appeal to me. It has to be good and it has to be worth it.

Now to remember where I was headed and go there.

Back!

2010-07-27T15:02:00.001-04:00

Oh i missed my little bloggy!
I need to start setting up auto posts when I have time to sit and blog!
We've been on vacation and as soon as I got back home - WHAM! Work work work!
We went to Ohio. I went to a Tally Rally and my husband came along to be my chauffeur and for us
to turn the end of the rally into our little summer getaway.
When I had a summer getaway in mind I had a beach in miami on the brain.......however I fell in love with Ohio!
A state I never even thought to visit before! I think i left a part of my heart in Ohio.
My husband blogged about this in a couple separate posts and my pics and stories will follow once I have some time.
There was much laughter, lots of crafting, crafty shopping and mojo finding.
There was a little sadness (i seriously didn't want to leave Ohio) and a little puking (i have the most sensitive tummy!) - but all those stories will be coming shortly along with pics :)

Sunday.

2010-07-12T22:32:00.001-04:00

When i got off work on Sunday evening, I was spitting nails.
Won't get into details except to say that i have spiffed up the resume.
This job experiment was interesting but I gotta get back to a 'real' job.
One that makes me happy and fulfills me.
Not that I don't like this type of job sometimes - i love people (when they're not total tools).
But yea.....
Moving on.
I was so pissed i just wanted to dive headfirst into a vat of liquor.
So the hubby and I along with his friend who was visiting, went to a local mexican place and had some much needed libations.
MAN.
Mango margarita and chips and the best salsa around.
Heaven. Add to that some cool breezes and salsa music.
I pretty much wanted to stay there forever. But they closed at 10 so we went home.
The boys played foosball and watched old music vids on youtube while i spiffed up the ole resume.
Gotta love the push of a good margarita and a crazy day.

Summer Faves

2010-07-08T11:57:00.002-04:00

Books
Blue skies
Air dried hair
Puffy and wispy cotton clouds.
Yellow.
Flowers Trees Bushes
Butterflies
Frozen drinks ( we allowed ourselves one last week because i had an INSANE craving that would not go away for 2 days...yum!)
Fresh fruit
Colour
Warm grass
Pink toes
Flimsy cotton skirts
Bare legs

Sweet Summer Vibe.

2010-07-07T23:10:00.001-04:00

Gotta love the summer sun that stays around for some yummy extra hours every day!

I can't believe i haven't used any of my extra hours for crafty pursuits!

I'm a little bit more used to my work schedule and I can see the beauty in it.

Going on my scrapcation next week!

So excited!

I need to start making lists and finish my scrap packing and start thinking about clothes etc.

It will be nice to get away and to spend time with my love outside of town for a while too.

I look forward to discovering new coffee and used book shops and perhaps a thrift adventure or two.

I am REALLY looking forward to some scrap shopping as well.

Haven't bought a pin in months.

Really hoping this trip will recharge me creatively.

8 more sleeps :)

4th.

2010-07-06T10:41:00.003-04:00

Okay so i'm liking my camera a wee bit more.

We're bonding. No returning..i don't think.

I got a card error twice in a row but...returning is a hassle so i'll give it another go.

We had a fun 4th.

I worked most of the day and everyone was in a very festive and fun mood at work.

Not too busy so that was a good thing.

Then after work we went to the town celebration.

My hubby had been talking about it since I met him and we went to his uncle's amazing fireworks show last year instead.

His uncle's backyard bonanza blew the whole town of Leesburg's celebration out of the water.

I was excited by all the hoopla..the vintagey looking funnel cake stand etc.

But the fireworks weren't as exciting as I heard they were in the past. I was told that the budget had been cut and I forgive them for it. There are other important things that need budgetary attention. All in all it was a fun experience and i'd definitely do it again minus the strawberry banana smoothie.......yuk.

My faveeeeeeeeeee kettlecorn was as awesome as usual but I have to say i enjoy the kettlecorn more in the winter than in the summer! Hop on over to check them out and order some online.

Blue Ridge Kettle Korn.

Here's to vacation in 2 weeks and some extreme crafting on that trip!

Thursday.

2010-07-01T23:01:00.003-04:00

Can't figure out if i like my camera or not yet.
Not loving the shots I got today. The top one is through my sunglasses so that's why it looks all vintagey.
The middle one - my flip flops are a LOT brighter than that but i was messing around a bit with the settings at the time.
The bottom one is too grainy and 'smooshy' for an early evening shot.
I'm going to go around grabbing some more shots tomorrow evening and if they haven't improved - back it goes to amazon.
I'm kind of bummed. The camera is adorable....but it might just be that i'm so used to my SLR pictures as well.....we'll see.
I'm excited though as July 01 brings me 15 days closer to my vacation!
My first proper vacation as a working girl :)
I am going to Ohio with my hubby. I'm going to scrapbook with my Tally girls and he's going to explore Akron.
I have so much to do before I leave - first being sorting out this camera stuff!
I bought an adorable 'vintage' suitcase...i say vintage because it is older than I am but my friend Jess says its just a suitcase from the 70s.
I say if it is older than me - it is vintage :P
I have to clean it up and it's so small it will do nicely for all my girly accoutrements.
I'll put a pic of it up as soon as I have it spiffed up.
In other news - I'm actually crocheting.
Yea..i'm sorry about the spilled coffee on your keyboard!
I'm doing the Starling Handbag crochet along.
I finally figured out the foundation chain thingamawhatsit.....not mastered but definitely figured it out.
I don't have a single bit of cotton crochet thread that i care to use in my current stash.
I HATE the feel of the darned acrylic stuff i got from a friend for christmas so i'm going to have to go to JoAnns to see if I can find something suitable.
Or maybe i'll just use the cotton candy pink lily stuff........eh...i can't see myself rocking the cotton candy pink purse though......maybe in the name of saving money i'll make a small sample purse in that pink and gift it to someone.hm.
Well i'll update the camera info as soon as I experiment a little more.
xoxo

ITS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-06-26T23:00:00.000-04:00

My adorable orange camera is here!
Those photos were taken with the same camera (hubby's blue one) straight out of the box.
Not much light in here at the moment so I didn't expect the quality to be stellar (and it isn't) but I grabbed a few test shots
of my tired self after work when I got it - no you'll never see those.
But I will tell you the photo quality was impressive!
I crocheted a little cozy for it last night and tonight appliqued a little felt camera on it.
Loving it :)
I might make another case by hand quilting some pretty fabric i have laying around...maybe.
So far I love the size of this little camera and I look forward to taking and posting more photos :)
Yay for being able to document our life together.
I missed out on sooo many shots last year because I never felt like i was put together enough / cameraworthy and I was just
constantly stressed out.
I realize now that it was stupid. I plan on taking way more photos of us to document our second year.

Beauty Surrounds Us.

2010-06-25T14:05:00.000-04:00

All of the above photos were taken within the last year in the DMV area.
There is no shortage of gorgeous trees and flowers around here.
I find myself taking pictures of flowers more than anything else.
I have always had an obsession with them. I don't grow them...I've tried (whoa boy).
I might try again as I walked over to the master gardener booth at the farmers market a few weeks ago and they encouraged me to give it another go with their help. Thinking about it :)
Right now I'm just sadly living for my vacation in about 3 weeks!
Scrapcation in Ohio!
I haven't felt like scrapbooking much. Perhaps the lack of time or maybe it is the lack of organization in my craft area!
We bought our new desks shortly after I started my new job.
We spent a couple nights putting up the desks and situating them and also moving stuff off of our old workspaces and shifting it all around.
Um...we never really got to putting it back together. Ahem.
I figured why not just pack for my trip while i try to make sense of the madness in there.
I started last night and I made a decent dent in it.
I really feel like carving some stamps or painting or just trying something else for a bit.
I get really strong urges to feel the motion of a paintbrush over watercolour paper......watching the bristles either embrace or bypass the ripples in the lovely cold press paper. Or the feel of the crochet needle as i stitch, stitch, stitch. Or even the sound of my shutter or the almost yogic twists I contort myself into to get that shot.
Lately I have been craving the painting and crocheting.
I crocheted last night and it felt sooo good. Meditative.
I feel like painting some of the lovely flowers that I shoot.
But one would need to find one's desk first one supposes :)

Wednesday rambling.

2010-06-24T01:19:00.004-04:00

No, it hasn't arrived yet.
But my prize from the makeup contest on facebook did!
I am hoping to photo it with my new camera tomorrow.......according to the suddenly brilliant tracking info, it is at our local Post Office.
So excited...so hoping it comes tomorrow!!!
I was going through some of my old photos on flickr, realizing that I used to take a LOT of pictures and life seemed a lot simpler.
It WAS A lot simpler.....I think it can be again.
I just have to work at it. I don't have as much free time as I did back then but I need to work on being more carefree in my free time and not putting unrealistic expectations on myself.
I spent the day today really getting in there and cleaning most of the apartment. Feels really light in here.

Tomorrow.....I tackle my studio/scrap space...wish me luck.

Hopefully I can post a few pics with my new camera either tomorrow or friday!:D (proprietary battery i have to see how long it takes to charge!)

The Robins are singing.

2010-06-20T11:53:00.001-04:00

We placed our camera orders separately ( did i mention hubby is getting one too!? For some reason the free card with camera wasn't being applied when two cameras were in the shopping cart). So we placed 2 orders about two minutes apart.
The second order shipped first - yesterday. Mine hasn't shipped yet.
Grr. I want to take some pics sooooo bad.
I'm going to have to be patient.
In the mean time i've decided to do a meme...been a minute huh!
Copy paste and give it a go when you're done reading.
I got it from her.

listening: robins singing hopping around in sun dapples outside the window.
eating: i just had cereal and cantaloupe.
drinking: water
wearing: my pjs which were a tank and undies. Tmi?
feeling: tired but need to cook some lunch and carve a pineapple before work
weather: It is soooo sunny out I am happy i only work a few hours so I can enjoy it :)
needing: some time in the sun :)
thinking: that i really should hurry up and cook lunch so i have time to look decent for work.
enjoying: the sounds of nature from outside while sitting in the cool air typing my blog post:)
Happy sunday!

2010-06-19T00:59:00.000-04:00

Oh BOY.
I just did something semi- naughty.
I was tired of not feeling like taking pics and missing out on simple moments because I did not
feel like lugging around my sweet SLR.
I feel the need to document my life - especially since its coming together so stylishly lately:)
I just ordered a cute compact little orange camera.
It arrives in about 6-8 days.
I can't contain my excitement!!!
Cannot wait to share snippets of my life more regularly!YAY!

June Tally Kit

2010-06-18T13:07:00.001-04:00

These are my three LOs using the June Tallyscrapper Kit.
This is my last kit as a DT member. Gotta move the blinkie down to the past DT area.
Jen's House of Scrap is the only remaining DT that I am currently serving on and the House of Scrap is on Hiatus.
So technically i'm not on any teams as of June 30th.
I think i'm going to keep it this way for a while. Just have fun creating and trying new things.
I absolutely adore being on DTs especially one such as Tally where you do more than create - you motivate and help foster the community spirit.
Tally has been the most awesome and supportive scrapbooking community and the size of it is quite manageable so there is a more intimate vibe.
Check it out and check out the DT call going on right now!
Thank you to LJ Nikki and Brandy the Tally Staff and to LJ and Nikki for being so understanding, supportive and encouraging as they manage the DT.
Thank you also to the girls who served on the DT with me - Heather and Mikki. Their LOs were always so inspiring and I have gotten to know Heather pretty well and will be heading out to Gettysburg to scrap with her sometime before the summer is out :)
Look out Heather!

May Faves!

2010-06-16T23:25:00.001-04:00

In May I started my new job and i decided to treat myself.
Some things were much needed and some I got because of the awesome gift with purchase items :)
I felt this need to return to the Kris who really had fun dressing up and playing with makeup and for the first time ever - REALLY giving a crap about my wardrobe.
I'm never gonna mess with the more daring items. I know what I can and can't wear. But i had fun mixing and coordinating the heck outta my starter work wardrobe.
Some stuff stuck out as my faves and my go to items so here they are in no particular order :)

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion. I have been using this since i was a teenager and i love it. I am getting some dry patches on my skin and the clinique lady told me i should try putting moisture surge over it. Will try that as soon as the budget allows:)
Clinique Creamliner in 02 True Black. This has been a makeup bag staple for years now. I saw my MUA friend wearing it and i was sold instantly. I never use anything else on my bottom lid/waterline.
L'oreal Lineur Intense in Carbon Black. WOW. This one has also been a longtime fave (i might be on my 50 something tube - wish i'd counted!) I never tried this darker black but i love it a lot more than the regular black. I also love this one in brown. This stuff never flakes off on me. It is my go to for my top lid.
Smashbox photofinish Foundation Primer. I never really 'got' foundation primer. To me it never made a difference (i previously used mac's prep n prime'). Okay NOW I get it! This primer is lovely. My makeup goes on much smoother and stays on forever. For. EVER. I just don't like the smell but it doesn't linger so i put up with it.
Clinique High Impact Mascara. I hate paying a lot for mascara so I fell in love with the sample. I wish they sold sample sizes like sephora does. This mascara thickens without spidery tendencies. i LOVE LOVE LOVE!
Estee Lauder Double Wear Concealer. Perfection. Insanely good coverage. Before I got it I was on my way to ulta to try the medical grade concealer Dermablend. The MUA at Estee Lauder put this on me and i was tres impressed. It feels so light compared to the MAC Studio Finish concealer that i'd been using for the past 2 years.
MAC fix it spray. I use this all the time to set my makeup and i love it. It takes down that horrible powdery finish that i hate. I also used it to apply pigment as eyeliner last week and it held up through a crazy 8 hour shift. Yay!

I haven't found any lip products that are making me happy. I hate frosty lipsticks and not all creme ones are equal either. I'm a gloss lover but hate reapplying and i hate that line you get when you talk too much and it dries out. Any suggestions?

Not loving any cheek products right now either except my usual chanel bronzer which needs to last forever with that price tag.

I know it sounds like I use a lot of pricey stuff but my mom always drilled into my head that i only get one face.

I just like nice makeup. I don't own a ton I just buy what i know i will use. So rather than buying 20 eyeshadows in 20 colours i'll splurge for good quality ones that i love. I have never found a drugstore foundation that did it for me and i hate buying at the drugstore because i can't test them out.

I recently won a makeup contest on Facebook though and i've been told that my eyeshadow palette prize is has shipped!:D

I will take a pic and review it when it gets here.....

Is this blog turning into a makeup blog? Maybe, maybe not. But it is turning into a me blog indeed :)

Stress Free Zone.

2010-06-10T13:07:00.002-04:00

How about we get some paints out...and mess around?

Experiment, play, explore, feel.

How about it we make it less cute.

How about we pretend we still had some studio skills that were taught to us in 1998.

hm.............

Bravo's Work of Art makes me wanna paint.

2010-06-09T21:51:00.000-04:00

She needs:
A new job
A vacation
A cupcake
A shot of something (preferably whilst dancing to some LOUD as hell music at a dark as hell club)
I'm not one for clubbing (did too much of it when i was younger) but sometimes I miss that freeing feeling of just dancing your ass off and not having a care in the world. Coming home with the sun and sleeping for hours and hours. Ah..

She has no desire to:
Decorate
Craft
Scrapbook
Socialize

She wants:
A trip back home to see her <3s
Time with real people who understand her and who love her as faulty as she is.
To know what /who she is supposed to be when she grows up.

She:
Decided against an etsy shop for the time being.
Decided to stop selling crafty items for the time being.
Doesn't need any advice/commentary about her decision.
Is having a pre mid-life crisis
Really wants to stop talking about her self in the flapping third person.
Should drink a glass of water and go to bed!

Summer :D

2010-06-08T14:15:00.003-04:00

I work near to Crate and Barrel and boy can that be dangerous!

I passed by with my hubby and saw that adjustable height desk in the window.

The sweet price was just too good to pass up since i was about to LOSE it with our former studio setup.

I was using a too small table and for someone who crafts as messy as I do....it was frustrating!

We ended up getting two of them so our studio looks neater and more cohesive.

When we went back to pick up his table I spotted the yellow marimeko bedding that i liked the last time i was in there. The price was a bit much so i pretended it didn't exist.

This time though? 75% off!

I snatched it up and it makes our bedroom look so bright and inviting!

I'm excited that we are finally replacing old furniture and making this apartment ours.

Our first year was a giant adjustment as it usually is when moving countries.

I'm excited to feel settled again and look forward to more yummy design at fantastic prices :)

In other news - i might have a lovely new desk but i have not much time or interest in making stuff lately!! IIIIIIII know!

I don't get it either. I just got my kit from Tally Scrapper and it is GORGEOUS i am hoping that revs me into creating. Maybe a fun minibook for the summer.

I'm not getting crafty but i am being creative with fashion. I guess it takes turns!

I haven't 'decorated' myself in a while so i'm having tons of fun finally using all my awesome makeup and nail polishes (currently rocking bright turquoise nails and schoolbus yellow here and there ) loving loving LOVING it.

It is so very me. The 15 year old Kris is very, very happy right now. Wish i had her polish collection!

(re) finding myself.

2010-05-30T23:17:00.000-04:00

(no that's not me but i did that makeup in 09)

I started a new job almost a month ago.
It is completely different from any other job i've ever had and i quite like it (most times!)
It takes a LOT out of me and i work a ton of hours.
Almost everyone who works there is young and trendy and they are snazzy dressers.
I'll be honest..the past year i made zero effort to look stylish.
Part budget part interest.
I'm a girly girl. I love hair, I love makeup and i like fashion.
I'm interested again and have been beefing up my wardrobe and wearing different items.
I'm having fun picking out new pieces and wearing lots more makeup lately.
I'm having fun pushing my colour limits and enjoying all of it again.
I feel so confident and pretty and a lot more like me than i have in well over a year.
Looks like i'm finally settling into me again :)

Recent Scrapiness

2010-05-21T21:22:00.003-04:00

Those letters and butterfly came from the May TallyScrapper Kit!

Hop on over to Tally to check out how you can be a guest DT member! How fun is that?!

This was a fab challenge from my friend Heather over at Tally. She's on the DT with me and her challenges never fail to get my creative juices going! Thanks Heather :)

Sweet challenge on Tally from my friend Susan. I didn't do any journaling on this one because i was in a hurry but i'm thinking i'll go back in and add some around the perimeter:) Like the pretty organza flower?! The tutorial is a few posts below this one.

This challenge was by awesome LJ from Tally. Its called Me Myself and I.

I'm thinking i need to do another version of this with some intense journaling too but i love this lighter one :)

This beauty was inspired by my chicas over at the Pink Ninjas!

Sigh..the inspo there just kills me. LOVES!

Happy Anniversary, Love.

2010-05-21T00:15:00.000-04:00

Happy Anniversary my love :)
I love coming home to you and waking up next to you,
making meals together and just sharing so many sweet and memorable moments.
This is my fave pic of us from the wedding.
I am so excited/happy/cold my shoulders are all scrunched up and your smile is just so adorable :)
I love that a year later we are still this happy and excited about each other and I am so thrilled to be married to you.
xoxo

Dandelion Wishes.

2010-05-12T20:12:00.001-04:00

I was excited to get out of work this afternoon to photograph my goodies.
Imagine my surprise when I looked outside and It. Was. Pouring.
Gah!
Too grey for any kind of decent shots.
I am wishing, hoping and praying for good weather tomorrow.
I really want to take pics and list everything as soon as i get home.
Cross your fingers and blow on many dandelions for me!!!

2010-05-11T19:30:00.000-04:00

Need some colour to cheer me up:)
Rainy dreary day with zero energy and NOTHING accomplished.
Oh so i tidied up a bit, cooked dinner and did some laundry..big deal..everyday tasks!
I wanted to shoot some jewelry this evening but the light was non existent!
I hope its brighter around here tomorrow. I'm itching to update the shop!
I ran through some of my albums just now and realized that almost a year later - I am still all over my wedding
colours!
I haven't gotten sick of them and I don't think I ever will.
Swoon.
Love me some pink and orange :)

2010-05-10T22:21:00.000-04:00

Busy busy busy bee working on lovely things for a shop update this week:)
Photoshoot with my lovelies tomorrow evening when the light is at its most charming.
Magical!

Overdue Birthday Post?

2010-05-05T12:57:00.003-04:00

Um yea, i'm 4 months into year 29.

I'm going to be Thur-Dee!

It excites me! It scares me a little!

I'm exactly where i should be for MY 30.

The birthday was met with little to no fanfare.

I had been sick for a week at that point and wasn't in the mood to do much.

We tried to take a christmas shopping trip but it didn't last long or go that well.

I had a make up birthday a few weeks later and it was nice :)

Those pics above are me/us on my makeup birthday..cabin fever pics!

My make up birthday cake was a little vanilla thing from Target.

I've never had much luck getting birthday cakes if i didn't make/buy them myself!

I insist on gorgeous birthday cakes from now on. Especially for my 30th!

(this might just be left over angst from a wedding cake gone bad/ugly too ahem!)

My 29th year is going SWELL if i do say so myself.

Getting it together, reveling in the magic, finding my passion,kicking fear in the butt and picking up on fading dreams, finding new ones and celebrating every. little. thing.

Happy Birthday Baby!:)

(yes the crafty posts will resume:)

(IN)focus

2010-05-04T21:49:00.002-04:00

I'm discovering that focus, at least for me, takes practice.
As i said in this post, I was sick of over multitasking and being muddled.
I got to a point where being frazzled was making me flakey.
I realized also that this was MY doing. Nobody else's.
Yes a lot of people ask things but it IS up to me to say no if i want to/ can't instead of trying to grow and extra arm to accomodate things.
I made a list two weeks ago of all the things I needed to get done without adding new things to my to do list (other than my usual to do things/mandatory stuff).
Saying no was difficult.
At first i fudged it 'oh no..um..i can't go out today i uhm...have to......(insert random untruth here).
That got old quick. I am not down with the lying. I am far too hairbrained to keep lies straight :D
So i started being honest and you would be surprised how okay most people are with ' I just need me time.'
I'm enjoying crossing off old promises/ tasks and being careful which new ones i accept right now.
There are some things that are worth my time and it took me a while to figure out what they were.
I didn't realize that there was a word for all this. But apparently it is called clearing. (what a perfect name for it)
Reading Andrea's blog never fails to gently steer me in the right direction and I look forward to doing her mondo beyondo class sometime soon :)
So many things on my last mondo beyondo list have come true!
Putting myself and my needs and dreams back in the picture is making me a much better and much happier person.
One of those dreams? My neglected shop!
Crochet necklaces are coming next week and i am SO beyond thrilled about that :)
I will post when they are up!:)

Gossamer Flower Tutorial

2010-05-02T16:42:00.004-04:00

The instructions below are for the bottom flower in image #1. From there i'll explain how I did the top two flowers - without pictures. Uh...there was a bee in the living room and hubby went nuts trying to get it so i quit taking pics and retreated to my scrap corner (the only non bugspray smelling room in the house. yuck.)

What you need:
Chiffon I think its called? Its sometimes wrapped around flower pots at the supermarket to make it pretty?

I think taffeta works well...basically any fabric that will singe well without..well...catching fire lol.

Thread/needle
Beads/gems/bling/vintage buttons/ regular buttons
Candle/flame

Scissors

2. Cut out rough circles in three different sizes - eyeballing it is fine because you'll get a more fun random flower :)

3. Light a candle. Don't be scared.. but if you are (ahem like someone writing this tutorial was...) do it in the kitchen sink or have a bowl of water nearby.

Just hover the circle near to the flame - as close as it takes to start singeing the ends of the fabric. This happens super fast. Keep turning till all the edges are nicely singed - they'll curl however they want to making it look really pretty and ruffly.

4. Do this for all your circles before u assemble your flower/flowers.

5. Sample of how the singed edge looks :)

6. Nest the circles one inside the other and secure with some stitches and either glue on a button or some bling or sew on some beads/pearls.

These take almost no time to make.

TOP LEFT FLOWER.

Cut a 2 inch wide strip of fabric - as long as you want. The longer the strip the bigger the flower.

Fold fabric in half and do a running stitch along the open edge.

Ruffle it slightly by pulling the fabric down the thread.

Roll the fabric into a loose spiral and stitch the bottom of the spiral together. The top of the 'petals' will be puffy. The 'raw' edges of fabric will be on the bottom.

You can add an embellishment to the middle and leave the flower as is or - run it over the flame and singe the tops :)

TOP RIGHT FLOWER.

Cut a bunch of circles and singe as though making the first flower.

Instead of nesting them, place one 'petal' in the middle, stitch through the middle of it to attach the thread, arrange petals behind the first petal all around and stitch them on.

Add another layer of petals in the back and stagger them between the first petals - just like a real flower. If you use enough petals it ends up looking like a nice fluffy peony:)

Fun stuff!

I used fabric that I saved from a present I can't wait to try different kinds of fabrics and different colours!

I think taffeta might make some fun flowers!

Post a link if you try this I'd love to see what you make:)

2010-04-27T11:19:00.002-04:00

Tofu Teriyaki from last friday...MMMMMMM

No fancy recipe...you just prepare your tofu however you do it and add it to sauteed veggies and top with some teriyaki sauce from the healthf ood store. The grocery store stuff has too much crap in it. I should really figure out whats in it and make my own..hm.

Can't believe I was on such a blog roll and haven't blogged since friday!

Weeelllll, i was a smidge busy this weekend.

I spent my saturday grocery shopping and putting back our furniture and stuff in the studio

after the mouse incident.

Mmm hm...little fieldmouse got scared during a storm and ran into our apartment.

He was the cutest thing but ohhh how he discombobulated us!

We moved EVERYTHING!

I had to clean everywhere cuz i was paranoid of where he'd been.

Zoikes. Hopefully he's long gone..we haven't seen him in a while.

It is really nice to be in my studio again!

Wish i could find the perfect setup for how i work!

I have my papers sorted into this fab carry case a friend gave to me. But i realize i need them out...to be able to choose papers without shuffling through a file folder.

There's not enough room for that right now so shuffling will have to do :)

My friend also gave me a rolling scrapbook tote and i'd say 90% of my stuff fits in it. So that helps me to keep things nicely organized as well.

I bought some $6 cloth bins from walmart too that i can dump things in by category.

So far, so good as long as i keep on top of tidying up after each project.

REALLY difficult for me to do but i'm learning.

Oh - If you're a friend of mine on FB i made a group for my photography.

It's called NoVA Photogirl :) Go check it out!

Pink Ninjas - Dream!

2010-04-23T11:20:00.004-04:00

Oh Em Gee!!!!!!

I haven't played with the ninjas since i left!!

I felt this need to play along with the team that inspired me so much!

So i went to the blog and saw their latest prompt and holy wow.

HAD TO PLAY

This is my very badly photographed LO.

I decided that i'm just gonna take photos of my LOs wherever they are in the house so that i get them up and shared vs sitting there waiting for their pretty portrait session.

Here you are :

My take on their challenge.

Who Says The Sky Can't Be Made Of Pink Button Clouds?!

Truer Words Were Never Spoken

2010-04-22T21:43:00.002-04:00

Photo: Me!

Model: Tiffany Martin

Taken from an email - don't know the original source so if you do please let me know :)

How you think is everything: Always be positive. Think success, not failure. Beware of a negative environment.

Decide upon your true dreams and goals: Write down your specific goals and develop a plan to reach them.

Take action: Goals are nothing without action. Don’t be afraid to get started. Just do it.

Never stop learning: Go back to school or read books. Get training and acquire skills.

Be persistent and work hard: Success is a marathon, not a sprint. Never give up.

Learn to analyze details: Get all the facts, all the input. Learn from your mistakes.

Focus your time and money: Don’t let other people or things distract you.

Don’t be afraid to innovate; be different: Following the herd is a sure way to mediocrity.

Deal and communicate with people effectively: No person is an island. Learn to understand and motivate others.

Be honest and dependable; take responsibility: Otherwise, No’s. 1-9 won’t matter.

On and On and On

2010-04-22T14:12:00.003-04:00

I'm usually doing forty things at once - all not very well.

Lately I've started to focus on one thing at a time (VERY hard for me to do)

I grew up believing that multitasking was a MUST. The more things you can do at once the more important and efficient you look.

Um..no...it just ends up driving me batshit insane.

Nothing gets done the way I'd like it to and somewhere along the line, I stopped doing things as well as i'd like to, in the name of just getting it done.

The only things i take time and care in finishing, are pieces of work for others e.g. my jewelry and art (to be sold or given away)

Why not take that time and care, focus that good energy on myself too?

Why am i always rushing and then putting off things I want/need to do for myself?

I've started saying No more.

This is something I've tried to do for years unsuccessfully. Now, i'm learning!:)

Promising less of myself gives me more time to do me.

Another thing I need to master would be less time on the computer.

I've accepted a part time job that has so little/ no computer work involved that i will be forced to get off of it (YAY!) so i must make efficient use of my time on here.

I've been really good about tidying up the house at night so I have more time to myself in the day.

Now i'm making a list of what is truly important to me - growing my jewelry business, painting etc and figuring how to work all of it in.

Learning process, learning curve.

I just needed a dose of 'I believe in me' along with a tincture of courage, strength and determination :)

Have you made any changes this year yet?

The One Where I Believe In ME

2010-04-20T11:35:00.004-04:00

I make beautiful things.

Often out of almost nothing.

I file away pretty colours from my life.

They find their way out when I start creating.

I love playing with wire.

and chain.

Sometimes I get a little scared that people aren't going to like what I make.

But then i remind myself that it is okay because I LIKE IT. Love even :)

and making stuff makes me really happy.

So I will.

I will make it.

They will come.

I love what I do

and that love attracts the like.

2010-04-17T16:01:00.004-04:00

Yay!

I finally got through an insane week and a half of making jewelry.

It kinda, sort of blows my mind a bit that that necklace up there used to be thread, chain and some swarovski pearls sitting in my little plastic jewelry bin.

I love putting together my different talents:)

I also realized that i get inspiration from everywhere!

That necklace was inspired by my photo so i paired them together

and I realized that some of it is inspired on some level by my makeup too!

Check these out!

I could go on and on :) I'm in love!

Speaking of love. Today we've been married for 11 months. Um. Wha?

At the risk of sounding like a lovesick cheeseball, it really DOES seem like we were married

yesterday.

I still like him 11 months in so i guess thats a good thing :D

11 months down, a sweet lifetime to go :)

New Layouts!

2010-04-13T13:16:00.004-04:00

These were done using the April Kit from Tallyscrapper.com

I had so much fun creating again! The cyber crop this weekend really got me back into things!

When this spate of jewelry making is over I want to visit all my old DT challenge sites and do some challenges.

I've been meaning to but my head and heart weren't into being creative at ALL through most of the winter.

Should i shut up about being traumatised by winter already? LOL

Onto my layouts!:)

Oh...apologize for the sappy pics! We hardly have any pics together and my friend Jess took the most amazing shots of us last weekend! Thank you Jess!

Goal list update:

i've sent one set of photos

Going to put together another batch now.

I've deleted some files - not nearly enough but its just tuesday:)

Making my world pretty one day at a time.

2010-04-12T10:46:00.003-04:00

I just feel like smiling.

Hot tea, peaceful mid morning.

Absolutely not one second of productivity yet!

I think i am going to sit and edit some pictures, then delete more delinquent files off of my computer.

I need to be more diligent about that!

I also think i need to make a list of weekly goals so i can have fun checking them off on Friday:)

Goals for the week April 12th - 16th.

Email all pictures that need to go out.

Delete unnecessary files.

Make and photograph loads of earrings.

What's on your goal list this week?

I'll post my ton of layouts from this weekend in another post tomorrow :)

Happy week!

2010-03-29T12:43:00.001-04:00

What,No Money?

2010-03-22T20:44:00.002-04:00

The cutie in that pic is my friend Jess' one year old daughter, Gwyneth.

Her mom is a DT member at Tallyscrapper and this LO, done with their march kit - I submitted for a chance to be on the DT!

I quit all my DT work last fall and i'm so glad i did - winter stole all my enthusiasm for creating - I thought i'd be wicked inspired being stuck indoors, to get all my crap out and create...nooop!

Now that I have more of a handle on work and all that i'm plenty happy to apply to a new DT.

I finally feel the scrap bug again :) Can't believe it was ever gone!

I was poking around Tally saying hi and i saw this awesome giveaway!

Go over and enter for a chance to win - i'm off to go poke around her blog and get to know her better:)

Its gorgeous out and my heart is light:)

2010-03-18T11:39:00.001-04:00

Just another tease...my pretties won't be available online for a little while. I'm still placing a new order for supplies.

I finally feel like creating again - I feel like winter picked me up, punched me around and then set me back on the ground all dazed and confused!

I survived my first winter!

Now let's get movin' with Spring shall we?

Huzzah!

I'm going to a handmade event tonight. Crossing my fingers that some of my handmade lovelies will be sold there too eventually :)

Getting ready to pick it up and market hard.

A little less of the giving away and a little more of the selling :)

Selling art is difficult when you've almost always just given them away as presents.

I believe in my art though and I'm ready to share it with the world.

Off to the gym and then back to work

xoxo

2010-03-09T23:30:00.002-04:00

I've been having some fun making some pretty baubles for the Siouxland Crop for The Cure.

Jamee Carlson, the founder of the Siouxland Crop for The Cure is a hard working individual with the biggest heart you can imagine.

How she does everything she does is BEYOND me. Jamee - Thank You for all you do. Good Luck this year!

I donated these pieces in honour of my MIL and my husband's friend.

My MIL was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and thankfully she is now in remission. My husband lost one of his friends to breast cancer last year too - so this is me trying to do my part to help.

I am excited that the sunlight cooperated long enough for me to take some photos of my pretties!

I have so many more ideas i need to start sketching them out.

I'm ordering some tools and equipment soon so i can make it a bit easier to make my ideas happen. Hammering on the head of a wrench with another wrench probably isn't the best way to go about it but it does the trick for right now LOL.

I'm planning on ordering a proper chasing hammer and a real steel block in the coming week.

I can't wait to make and add some of these to my etsy shop!

Happy Hump Day!

Pieces

2010-03-09T22:57:00.000-04:00

I love those components up top!

My first foray into something other than sterling silver...well no thats not exactly right.

For the craft fair back in December, I decided to try some pretty dull, plain, stacked bead,base metal earrings because that seemed to be what was selling around here.

Psssht.

It was a little annoying how mindless it was to thread beads onto a head pin and attach to an earwire......i decided right then that I didn't give a flying finoodle if that was 'what was selling'.

It made me pretty miserable to go through motions without being creative and innovative so i dumped that idea!

P.S. I think i sold two pairs of those simple earrings. I made a killing on my more sculptural, fun pieces..........but I think i priced myself under the table...learning...learning...always learning (always the hard way too!)

I placed an order for some more supplies last night and didn't quite order everything I wanted.

The price of silver leaped mountains overnight!

I wanted to play with more brass but buying all the components I needed just added too much to my bill and buying just a couple pieces would make my end product too spendy. Hopefully next order I can get those.

I'm itchin to receive my packages and start creating! I have sooo many ideas!

I really wanted to get some fat silver wire to pound into fun shapes for earrings but that will have to wait too! For now I get to have oodles of fun with what i ordered and i have a tiny bit left over in my budget to go buy a couple fun pieces at the bead store.

Now....here we go stalking the mail for the next week!:)

Oh The Spring Excitement!

2010-03-08T16:18:00.004-04:00

I feel like i'm about to BURST

Working from home was hellish today! I totally wanted to go sit in the grass with my laptop but i know i wouldn't have been able to see the screen.

The next best thing was to sit on our porch and look out while i worked.

Needless to say i stared at the sun dapples and our squirrel friend fritz and didn't get quite enough work done...oops.

I'm so excited - so much possibility!

I feel like creating again.

I'm excited to go on another walk this evening. I'm already dressed and just waiting for the husband to get home.

Wheee!

Oh oh its almost here!

2010-03-07T19:13:00.002-04:00

We walked outside today - on the grass.

The WARM grass!

The sun was shining, shining, shining.

NOW i understand why my husband always wants to get outside in the spring and summer.

I've always loved staying indoors- it was always too hot outside.

I guess I never minded staying in because i didn't feel like i HAD to - i just wanted to.

NOW i totally get the cabin fever/stuck inside feeling.

I can officially say that i'm not a fan of winter, but wouldn't go as far as saying I hate it.

I appreciate it for what it is, but i'm excited to see signs of spring arriving!

These gorgeous yellow daffodils helped brighten a grey, chilly week last week.

Then today the real sun came out and oh how glorious it was!

It felt great to finally walk hand in hand with my love and feel his warm skin vs feeling nothing at all through gloves or frozen nerve endings!

I look forward to more warm days - though i have a feeling we're being slightly punked!

I had fun making some jewelry today - this onset of spring has me feeling all crafty and motivated again. Ready to start fresh and new!

I actually feel like lacing up those gym shoes and getting out there for some much needed exercise!

Hey, Spring! Welcome! Let's go play!

I sell things.

2010-02-24T09:42:00.002-04:00

I make pretty things

I make cute things

I make fun things

I make silly things.

and now?

I sell things.

Here. I will be adding my jewelry in the spring. For now - its plushie mania :)

Thank you to all who have bought in the past, supported me at my various craft shows and who have encouraged me to open this shop. I love you, I appreciate you, you are my rocks and my rockstars.

2010-01-30T00:16:00.002-04:00

I am SO excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No not because i finally baked a sponge cake........lol

My best friend and her sister are coming to visit!!! Aaaaand on top of that my other friend who was also a bridesmaid at my wedding is coming to visit too!!!!!!

Aaaaand on top of THAT another friend i met through her on facebook - but haven't met in person yet - is driving them out here!

So so SO very excited.

This all happened on tuesday and I have been having a lot of 'EEEEEEEEEEEEK!!! YAYYYY' moments since then!

What do i cook? I need to clean. What do i feed them? Do we have enough blankies? Where's everyone gonna sleep? SLEEPOVER!!! Yes! My first married sleepover......LOL that should be interesting! Poor husband!

It is going to be a 4 day non stop shopping and drinking and cupcake eating girls weekend.

I needed this SO BAD.

This is all coming at a GREAT time:)

Added to that I've seen my friend Jess twice this week and my friend Melissa once - a very friend filled couple of weeks after my anti social behaviour of late.

So excited. So much to do!

Also? I really need to take more pictures! That one above is one of the few i've taken all year.

I'm sort of in an experiencing first hand and really being in the moment kick lately. Instead of constantly looking at life through my lenses. I really do love taking photos and it definitely is an extension of me - but i need to live that life too.

Here's to new friends, old friends and finally some fun :)

Wish the weather was warmer but hey - it'll be plenty warm in here :)

January Layouts for Jen's House of Scrap

2010-01-27T12:56:00.005-04:00

This kit is ADORABLE!

I totally luuurve it. The instant inspiration was explosive! Hubby was quite excited to see me excited about a scrap project after so long!

I tried not using extras - so 98% of what you see is from the kit (i'll note what isn't)

I even made two cards -i am NOT a card maker but man did they turn out cute!

Sooo since i should already be out the door - here they are! :) Happy Wednesday!!

This one is making me salivate for spring like if i wasn't craving it enough!

Card 1 - everything from kit...sorta valentine obsessed lately... this is a cute, girly and classy.

This didn't scan in right buttt we're just gonna look at the preddy girl in the cute red headband right? :)

This layout makes me so happy its going in my clipboard (i hang layouts on my clipboard from time to time for inspiration :) (the diecut green and white flower in the middle of my ribbon flower isn't from the kit )

Love the sassy look on my face in this one! Hubby looks so GQ in a suit...swwooon.

Could jen have picked better papers? NOOOOOOOP magic eyes she got!

I might just love this guy...ya think ? :) The papers ooh the papers !!!

The middle of this ribbon flower isn't from the kit but EVERYTHING ELSE is!!!!

Oh what a night......late december back in

2010-01-25T20:05:00.002-04:00

Well ok more like what a day but as soon as i thought that, that song jumped into my head......and will remain there for several sleepless hours i'm sure.

I had some disturbing news via facebook (that'll teach me to go reading around before bedtime) and it kept me nervous and awake all night! I woke up feeling queasy and spent most of my day worshipping at the you know where/what. I finally pulled it together for an appointment i had at 3 and i am in dire need of some sleep.

I also need to scan in some layouts i did for Jen's House of Scrap and post pics of my latest crochet projects. (whatever it can wait till i feel HUMAN again!) Seriously...i'm over feeling guilty for not being instant enough in our instant constantly available world.......a little digital detox ain't too bad right?

Speaking of crochet -

Visions of this - Image via Apartmenttherapy.com

Have been dancing around my brain for MONTHS i can't stop thinking about making one.

I don't even want to try to figure how much the yarn would cost for such a colorful piece of art but i'd be down for trying it out with another combination.........

Soooo i spent some of my christmas giftcards on yarn - i went with acrylic (gasp i know - get over it, I have.) I bought beige, a light tan, seafoam blue and a dark turquoise. I'm toying with adding some brown in there. This is the color combo that the husband and i actually agree on for the bedroom (whatever i'm SO adding some gilded yumminess and a touch of old hollywood glamour but he won't know it till it hits him soo...).

Now i have to choose my pattern......traditional? Circle in square? Wacky? Wonky? Nutty? Waves? I'm thinking waves would be loverly but i'll wait for that - a more portable project like granny squares would be great but ......hm what kind? It doesn't help that i took out two library books that each have 101 and 201 granny squares respectively.....hm. Traditional is sounding kinda good.........

Any advice/tips/patterns or if you just want to yell at me for buying acrylic - leave me a note.

thanks luvs:)

The Creative Project List & Progress

2010-01-24T13:34:00.003-04:00

Those two paintings above came out of a time of CRAZY amazing productivity for me.

I painted those in 2007 for an environmental group fundraising event (along with 20 other pieces).

So i'm using these in this post because a) I'd like to remember that time and throw myself into some creative work and b) i made a collage of two of them for a scrapbook page.

I decided to list some of the creative projects that have been bouncing around my head.

Some i really want to do some are just thoughts but i'm going to list them and maybe link to this post in the side bar and cross things off as i do em or add to it as i feel like it.

Scrapbooking

Create a few mini books :

Me and the hubs - just silly things about our relationship i swear we have our own language!
Wedding mini - i started our album but i want a little mini for little things i remember that i don't really want in an album that everyone will be seeing.
Add to our places we go mini - Maybe i'll add our 'regular spots' and not just vacation stuff.
Minibook about 'corners of our home'. I'd like to start documenting our various furniture arrangements and artwork and pieces we've gotten from different places/ people because all too soon we'll be out of here ...well not really but it will feel like it and i don't want it to be a regret! This is our first home together.
Leesburg mini - I love our town!! I have tons of pics i'd like to put this into a minibook.

Needlework

Make some of my own designs. I have some designs in my head i should put them into illustrator or in my sketchbook so i can begin stitching! I bought a book on various stitches i'd like to play with that as well. Maybe sell some of these in my etsy shop eventually.

So this list should read:

Make designs
Learn new stitches

Jewelry

Make more necklaces
Learn new techniques
Possibly play with chainmaille
Make use of my silver clay
Get over the fear of using a torch

Crochet/knit

Crochet more one skein scarves as presents
Crochet an afghan for next winter
Knit gorgeous cream coloured cable throw (i think this one isn't just a skill problem its a budget problem!) Perhaps i'll learn to knit cables on cheap yarn and make a table runner or something and when i can afford delicous yarn i'll make the throw!

Mixed Media

Top secret project......hmmm....hehe

Prosperity. Happy New Year.

2010-01-22T14:58:00.003-04:00

I didn't intend to have a blog break - it just happened.

I opened up the post window sooo many times and nothing would come out.

Today i decided to just do it. No whining, no excuses, just blog about whatever comes out.

I've never paid too much attention to the 'one word' thing though I think it is a fabulous idea:). I chose one the first year and never paid it any mind. But this word has been bouncing around my brain for a few days now and just will not leave me alone!

So i guess IT chose ME this year and I intend to make good on it.

The first thing that probably comes to mind when one hears the word prosperity would be money. Money would be lovely, yes but i hadn't thought of the word in other ways till listening to my favourite lady Louise Hay. She talked about being prosperous in other ways such as health, time, comfort etc etc and i realized that i'm lacking prosperity in a lot of areas because of how i think or things that i do! So i will be working on that in 2010.

Other than that - there were no resolutions made. I didn't vow to lose weight or get more haircuts (i only ever cut my hair when it tangles soooo badly i can't deal anymore ..yea...) or anything like that. I just want prosperity in many areas of my life.

I floss like a mofo though so GO ME! :D

The year started rough but i just *know* it will be so much better and I can't wait!

Crafting will resume at some point. I only feel like crocheting and cross stitching lately. Mostly because I have supplies for that and i'm trying not to spend what i don't have - so its a good thing that i like doing that right now!

Happy 2010:)

Artist Interview: Elspeth Duncan (multifaceted artist)

2009-12-28T23:59:00.011-04:00

2009 is almost over! The years are flying by.

I've known Elspeth for just under a decade now. We met when i was working in advertising and she asked me to design a CD cover for her.

Fast forward nine years and I consider her one of my dearest friends.

The adventures we have together are simply magical. I think that anyone spending even a moment with her would have some sort of magical experience!

Elspeth's art, mostly interactive and conceptual in nature (some would call it installation art) is fascinating to say the least. She is extremely spritual and to leave one of her events without having a complete shift in something is impossible. Her photography is a perfect example of how she sees the world. The things that she captures may otherwise go unnoticed, but with her trusty camera around she highlights some of life's wonders.

I could go on and on (and on, we know) but i'll let her speak for her self.

E, thank you so much for agreeing to be Miss December :) Much love!

When did you begin to call yourself an artist?

I was always an artist (creating) in the being and action sense of the word. Art isn't something I studied. I always saw it as who I naturally am and what I naturally do so I didn't apply the word as a label until I had my first solo exhibition in 2001 and someone referred to me in a newspaper article as "Elspeth Duncan, multimedia artist". Then everyone started referring to me as that and referring to a lot of my work as "installations". The term "multimedia artist" made sense at that time because of all the different media in which I work (photography, writing, music, film/video). I don't generally like labels because they can be limiting, but I see how they are useful in a world where people want to categorize in order to understand (from their perspectives) who others are in relation to who they are.

Whats usually your first thought in the morning?

Might be a dream that I had, sometimes I might wonder what the time is or depending on if I’ve traveled I might wake up and wonder 'Where am I?'

You eat a raw foods diet. What is your favourite raw food creation?

(kris here - had to jump in and tell you that i've been privy to some of her raw creations and WOW. Mouth party!!)

I’ve become less intricate with my creations and now its more simple like I’ll eat an avocado. but my favourite creation, i’d say raw bread. I don't remember correctly because it's been a while since I've made it but it has flax seeds, flax meal, vegetable remnants from juicing but you can add anything and dehydrate it.

Greatest recent achievement?

Waking up this morning.

Is there any artform you've wanted to try but haven’t been able to yet?

Funny you should say that. I brought paints and some small canvases with me here (she was house sitting at the time of the interview) because I would have some time. Whenever I say I’m an artist people ask what kind of paintings I do and I tell them I don't paint. I often wish that I really could paint because there’s something in your head and you want to translate it and you can’t necessarily do that with a photograph but you can do it with a painting. I go for the essence of what I’m seeing rather than the form.

How do you handle the business side of your creative endeavours?

I intend to sharpen myself more in this area and explore what the word "business" can mean. I consider myself primarily a creative person and not "a business person", but "Business" can be creative too and I want to clear any resistance I have to it and apply it successfully to what I do.
How and when did you get into kundalini yoga and what is your favourite kriya?
Can you explain what a kriya is to those who don't know?

Started Kundalini Yoga in October 2000 after going to a class some friends were attending in my area. Took to it like a fish to water and never looked back. It has greatly transformed my life and continues to do so.

For me it's hard to single out one thing as a favourite in any area (food, colours, etc) - but if I had to pick a 'favourite' kriya, right now it would be the exercise set for the chakras and electromagnetic field.

A kriya is a set of exercises done in a specific sequence and designed to work on a specific aspect - e.g. elimination, kidneys, willpower, chakras. A kriya can also be one exercise (as opposed to a series) - e.g. sat kriya (http://www.mrsikhnet.com/index.php/2007/03/12/sat-kriya-dealing-with-sexual-energy/)

What do you do to tune out?

One long “Sat” and a short “Nam” or 3 long Sat Nams often followed by “Long Time Sun”

What colour/colour combo absolutely makes your heart sing?

The rainbow

Do you ever feel like getting a 9-5?

No.

2010?

Money money money - much more coming in than going out

Chocolate or vanilla?

Both
Elspeth also makes these wonderful window lamps- she has a post on her blog about their evolution which you can find here

Above is a photograph of the first one i ever saw and it is definitely my favourite one (though i love them all). I just wish you could see these in person! It is really an experience to be had - perhaps you might be lucky enough to attend one of her future launches. The picture below is of a lamp who's launch i was lucky enough to attend. It was indeed magical.

2009-12-25T20:18:00.001-04:00

Quiet christmas night.
Breathing, about to get a cup of tea but i don't want to uncurl myself from this warm blanket!
The crud overtook me/us for the past week and a half almost.
Christmas shopping/cooking etc didn't quite get done exactly.
We shopped for each other but didn't finish much else.
None of the christmas baking/cooking got done.
We did a small brunch this morning and had a pasta dinner.
We drove around a little this afternoon, taking pics of our snow covered town.
The weather outside truly is frightful but I am loving listening to the chilly raindrops hit the window and slide down.
I feel calm and peaceful and still slightly icky!
So i'm getting some tea and pulling this blanket around me and settling in with a book.
It is lovely to look over and see my husband napping on another couch, his grandmother's blanket wrapped tightly around him just as if he were a little boy, spending the night at his baba's house.
All is quiet except for raindrops and the sound of my typing.
Merry Christmas. You are blessed.
Goodnight!

Crafty and yummy.

2009-12-19T15:28:00.005-04:00

Part of my table at the Doener Bistro Christkindl Market:

Yummy fudge in process. My friend Jess made the most delicious fudge and i swear she packed me up with a TON of it and i'll be eating this till the end of the century :D

While she made fudge I wrapped her presents. I heart wrapping presents. I can wrap presents for a living. Seriously. I have issues.

Part of my husband's splotch monster table at the Doener Bistro Christkindl Market. Aren't his monsters soooo amazing? Everyone was going nuts over his stuff and he sold a lot!! I was so proud!

More of my table. I tried making costume jewelry to see how it would sell and hm.....they sold okay but my sterling sold way more. I prefer making sterling too. We'll see. Going to put the rest of everything in my etsy shop. I <3 my displays!! so cute and fun to set up!

Ok these are Jess' grandma's kris kringle cookies. OMG these are just about the most to die for cookies. No bake too. My husband went nuts over these. I'm so going to make these next year.

My costume earring display - It was an old cutlery stand my husband had.

Part of my delicious pink christmas tree!

Some softie trees i made for baby Gwyneth out of fabric her mom had leftover from her nursery decor.

Merry Christmas :)

Christmas update

2009-12-17T16:29:00.001-04:00

Cards: Done not sent.......still debating which ones i shouldn't bother sending..trying to be smart.

Presents: Haven't done a stitch of shopping except buying something for my hubby online.........that he already has. SERIOUSLY? eff.

Cooking /baking: uh uh.

I gotta get a move on next week. I will be greatly reducing the stuff that i do this year.

I feel like my throat is on FIRE. Totally coming down with something.

I need to slow down. Been doing too much and i'm just plain ole tired and run down.

nitey nite.

Cute huh?

2009-12-07T11:45:00.002-04:00

Ok so silly me...the last ninja prompt was Kawaii.

I sat there going huh? I've never been to hawaii what the - ?

So i turned to my bestie - google.

Googlebear pointed me to my other love - wikipedia. Wikipungkin said that kawaii meant cute in japanese or cute stuff anyhoos pretty much a lot of the stuff i've been loving is called kawaii.

Who knew??? i guess almost everyone else..........d'oh.

Giveaway winner!!!!! EUPHORIA!!!!!! Yay girly i'll have to get ur address soon!

It SNOWED here this weekend! I was soooo excited! It was really wet and mushy though.......and it didn't taste as good as it looked......and my cute steve madden boots totally failed the snow test.

So i gotta get proper snow boots. It is sooooo cold out there today! BRR!

I'm doing a craft fair this weekend - if you're in NoVA come on down to the Doener Bistro - they've closed down the street next to the bistro and we're going to be outside fuhreeezzing in the name of all things crafty! If you sing me a christmas carol you can dip in the bucket to pick out your discount!

Crazy crafting resumes as soon as i publish that post!

Ooh and - the ninjas are lookin for a few new scrappers - check out the blog for more info!

Kreativ Blogger

2009-12-02T13:28:00.006-04:00

I got this award from these two sweet girls so i guess i'm doing this twice!:D

Thanks Carrie and Nely!! Muah!

To accept this award do the following:

Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
Copy the logo and place in on your blog.
Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
Nominate 7 Kreative Bloggers.
Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

Hm 7 things about me that you might find interesting:

I am such a barbie girl but i dont like newer barbies. They're fugly. Their stuff is still cute though!
I totally prefer stale next day popcorn
i'm trying hard to be an organized wife (i am not doing so good in this tiny apt)
I'm eating the most amazing vegan bar as i type this. yuum
I'm a blonde trapped in brunette hairs!
I love creating and selling cute crafts but i think i've decided that i don't want it to be my mainstay. (gasp...i know!)
I love my husband way more than when i married him 6 months ago- didn't think that was possible but i look forward to falling in love even more deeply as time goes by:) Sigh...sweet *sweet* love!

Now that i've made u lose ur lunch.....I tag:

Don't forget to enter the giveaway on the last post. Still don't know what i'm giving LOL but i'll be drawing on Friday!

Artist Interview: Ally and Nely (Girl ninjas who scrapbook!)

2009-11-24T10:49:00.004-04:00

There were a couple people I wanted to interview before the year was over and I decided to combine two sweet girls into oe. Why? Cuz they're inseperable and we like it like that!

They are Ally and Nely - creators of the Pink Ninjas and two bad ass scrappers.

I met them a couple months ago when I signed up for the DT at the Ninjas.

I have been so crazy inspired by these two and their AWESOMELY FANTASTIC work that i HAD to interview them. They're so sweet they agreed to do the interview! Enjoy their spunky words and amazing, fun,inspiring and just WOW work!

Thanks for doing this girls! Muah!

When and how did you two meet in real life?

Once upon a time ally would teach classes at the pink pineapple and nely was her trustie and ever so faithful card classer taker girl. from there on, life was gooooooood,,,

2. How did you guys decide to create the pink ninjas?

We wanted inspiration with a little more edge, outside the norm. we both both agreed that what we wanted, didnt exist,,, soooooooo,,, hence the birth of the pink ninjas,,,

3. Why the name ‘the pink ninjas’?

Because we are ninjas, and we love the color pink. duh,,,,

4. Who is Ally & Nely behind the Pink Ninjas masks?

Ally is a rock star, mama and wifey,,, i stay at home with my kids are drive them around from soccer, to dance, to horse back riding lessons always finding time to take em to the zoo, sea world or disneyland,,,i love to create and play and have a great time doing whatever it is that i am doing at the moment. my kids are the spring in my step and keep me going non stop. i try my hardest to do everything in my power for them and making them happy. i love being a mama ~ oh and an artist, oh yeah, and a rock star ninja chick

Nely is a dental assistant by day and a wife by night with an amazing hubby that she tends to practice her ninja moves on when he steps outta line,,, a punk rocker at heart and hates to clean the house {but lets be honest, who does like to clean??}. she likes long walks on thebeach and a closet full of new presents that her rocking hubby surprises her with, like all the days,,,

5. When did you discover scrapbooking and what attracted you to it?

Ally ~ i started when i had my first child, ive always loved photography and never knew scrapbooking existed,,, i always say i wish i woulda started sooner,,, ahhhh if only i could go back,,,,

Nely ~ twos ago nely came to the conclusion that scrapbooking didnt have to be for old ladies with purple hair and a ton of kids,,, once she realzied that she could whip out some rocking layouts of just her and her hubbs, she took off from there,,,

6.Do you find your style always evolving or do you stick with one main thing?

nely ~ mine is always evolving, always keeping an open mind,,,

ally ~ *ditto*

7.What is your fave snack while scrapping?

jack daniels and diet dr pepper. game over.

8. How often do you scrap?

sometimes everyday and sometimes, like once every two weeks {for both of us}

9. Crop or scrap alone?

sure ~ either is okay for us both

10.Fave scrap products/brands?

ally ~ sassafrass lass, maya road, american crafts, prima bling and flair!!! ohhhh, and i loooooove random non~scrapbooking items!!!

nely ~ sassafrass lass, american crafts, hambly, you know, the usual,,,,

11. Do you do/like any other crafts?

yes!!! we love to quilt and nely love knitting and crocheting and embroidery

12. What holiday crafty goodness are you cooking up for your home?

not a damn thing!!!! thanks for asking,,,,

Thanks ally and nely!!!

Its the beginning of the holidays and because these girls are rad - Enter to win something supercute! (i uh..dunno what it is yet but i'll make u sumpin cute!)

p.s. blogger is really messing with my post today pardon the weird looking spaces etc.

Once Upon a Time

2009-11-24T00:20:00.002-04:00

There was a girl who wanted to be EVERYTHING and then some.
So she did.
She was a:
web and graphic designer

Illustrator

Artist
Tutor
Assistant to the production planner of a major corporation.
Scanner at a local newspaper (gained some MAD editing skills there)
Sandwich maker (for a caterer)
Nail tech
Mural painter
Art tutor
Translator
Student
Admin assistant
Front office manage
Photographer
Makeup Artist

Girl loves and is good at:

Photography

Graphic Design

Makeup

Crochet

Making cute felties

Scrapbooking

Girl is good at but doesn't love:

Making websites.

Girl has a BS in Computing and Information Systems.

Girl is ready for a single job. In a single field. Well, girl thinks she is anyways.
Girl is tired of being a Jane of all trades (though part of her enjoys this VERY much). Girl would rather have a steady income from one thing.
But WHAT thing?
Girl is passionate about many, many things but which to turn into a full time job and which to keep as lovely hobbies?
Girl is torn, girl is a bit lost and girl thinks about this too much without any action.
Girl has some time before she can legally work in her new home but she needs to start narrowing down......or perhaps girl should leave it to the universe to unfold what is in store for her?
So girl is putting it out there.
To the universe, to herself, to you.

Girl needs a job where her talents are recognized, in a field she is passionate about and girl strongly believes that the perfect fit is being drawn to her and her to it and all is well in her world.
Even though girl isn't sure sometimes, sometimes she cries and girl doesn't quite know what she wants to be when she grows up - girl is certain that her next step is going to be GREAT.

Crafty goodness!

2009-11-17T14:32:00.002-04:00

So i've been MIA for VERY cute reasons.
Sorry i couldn't post these as i was making them but everything was done in stages and they weren't fit for photographing till the end! Instead of individual pics i'll put up a ton along with stuff i liked/loved and learned :) Thanks for putting up with my mostly silent blog for the past few weeks! Muah.

I decided to put a slideshow of my photos on my laptop so i could advertise my photography. It was fabulous and i got loads of compliments.

Some of my canvases that got a lot of compliments also but i think my prices probably scared some people away?
Whatever...those are hugely time consuming and my materials aren't exactly cheap either so I consider my prices to be a steal and they're staying that way.
They'll get bought by people who love and appreciate them as much as i do :)

I really struggle with pricing my items and end up selling them for the cost of the materials which does me NO GOOD so i'm done with that. They are worth what they're worth and those who think so too will buy them.

Deals and coupons are killing value.

Some cute fabric/felt plushie trees dressed up my display nicely! I heart buttons and i totally recommend buying buttons from
THIS girl. She was a dream to do business with and if you order from her friend's shop too they'll combine shipping. How lovely is that! Perfect for the holidays.

I ordered the baker's twine from My Friend Amy. I also got some glassine bags i didn't end up using but i have a fun package idea for them so i might do some christmas stuffies with it. They were also fab to do biz with. I love supporting small and handmade biz whenever i can! Especially in regards to supplies for my creative endeavours.

I really <3 href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9jGAM16EPw/SwLsiIqRT5I/AAAAAAAADDM/a2FPE0gD-2s/s1600/craftfair+023.JPG">

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more of my display:

Earrings:

My pink paper flowers. The cuteness!

I had so much fun. I learned more about interacting with customers and I had to get very brave to introduce myself and my products. I loved it when people couldn't contain themselves and just shouted out OHMYGOSH HOW CUUUUUUUUUTE!!!

I had a fun time and even though my sales were moderate. It was totally worth it.

Can't wait to put some of my inventory on etsy soon!

Things i learned:

Be brave, approach customers and tell them about the products like how they were made or interesting tidbits. Don't over talk and allow them to ask questions.
Make sure you bring more change than you think you'll need. My husband had to run out once for change!
Try to group your merchandise by category and use cute displays like trees or cake stands or sweet silver trays and cups (i got most of my stuff at the goodwill for pennies!)
Make sure your prices are written clearly and placed in a good spot (some of mine were a bit hard to see..oops)
Keep a watchful eye out..some people have sticky fingers.
Put out biz cards and other advertising materials where people can easily reach them.
Wrapped candy is always a bonus :) I put mine next to the email sign up sheet as a thank you for signing up/ visiting my table.
Bring a friend if you can. They can watch your table while you walk around to stretch your legs. Alternatively you can make friends with someone at a nearby table who can keep an eye on your stuff if you need to run to the bathroom.
Bring something to drink/eat if you're gonna be there a while.
Wear comfy clothes.
Finishing up projects while you wait for people to walk by is a great way to attract customers. They want to see what you're making and they get excited that they can buy a fresh project off of you OR that you REALLY made that stuff they're buying.
Keep smiling, keep talking and just rock out and have fun!:D

Dare to DIY!

2009-11-10T18:12:00.001-04:00

This is such an AWESOME idea by this amazing girl of the newlywoodwards!

DIY for fun here i come!

I've been doing so much 'work' crafting in the past month that it would be nice to just DIY and get crafty for me :)

I'm sooo looking forward to this.

Sometime this weekend there will be a MONSTER post of all the goodies i made for the craft fair along with a lot of lessons i've learned along the way:)

xoxo

me.

Dreamy

2009-11-04T11:11:00.004-04:00

I spent a whole week and some away from my blog! The blasphemy!

Everytime i said "oh i forgot to blog" the husband said shhhhh its OK not to blog sometimes.

So i gave him a look and then actually listened to him.

Then we went to whole foods and i fell in love with their newest brown paper bags.

These need to make an appearance in some crafts soon.

But not only is it a gorgeous bright pink and kraft (SWOON). The wording was just plain AWESOME.

Simple,sweet and something we ALL need to hear.

So i decided to let wholefoods write my post and i figured i'd pepper it with some sweet pics i took this weekend.

Enjoy:

Value simple pleasures

Savour what is naturally good.

Reuse and renew.

Cook with humor, eat with meaning.

Give3 thanks for farmers and support bountiful oceans

Give and give back

Share home cooked favourites

Do good and be well.

Sat Nam.

Harmony.

2009-10-26T03:24:00.006-04:00

I took a walk with my husband and my camera.

The evening was so crisp, but not too cold to be out.

The light was gorgeous.

Appreciating nature and God's work - breathtaking.

I have always been obsessed with trees and leaves, petals and stamens.....always the little things and never just the whole. Hm.

I woke up a while ago around 2:30 am not feeling too great.

I prayed, i meditated and i sat still with a cup of chamomile tea. Delish and calming.

I thought about blogging the photos i took and i thought about the tone of my blog lately.

Yes, I am very excited that i've been making things and making things make me happy. But a little less cheerleader and a little more humble/grateful would be good. Would be more me.

A little less caffeinated sounding...more like the herbal teas i seem to favor of late, yes?

Loving this morning quietness and solitude.

Lately i have been holding on to some stewing emotions about moving here and leaving my family and I know that i really must let go.

I made my decision and it was a good decision. I love my husband and i love my new home too.

Yes, there are many things about home that makes it lovely and unique and I also need to remember that in many ways being here is a lot healthier for me. New place, new environment, good changes and lots of opportunity.

Being with my husband is easy, its without a doubt the best part of it all.

If i ever start to think of home and miss it, I only need to slip my hand in his or catch his gaze and i know that i'm in the right place.

The homesickness is natural and normal. I just need to keep in better touch with my friends and family and i'll be just fine. New adventures and lots to learn and look forward to.

Maybe a little affirmation would be good yes?

I embrace all that is new

I release anger and resentment

I receive healing, peace and wonderful new opportunities.

That said, here are some of the shots i took today. I didn't whip out photoshop but i'd like to play in there again soon. It was my backbone for years and years and in the past year i haven't used it too much . But i get so excited when i'm in there playing around :D

Oh oh OH the colours of FALL!!!

2009-10-22T11:34:00.005-04:00

mmmmm

Mmm yummy

Ooh ooh ooooh!

These yummy felties can be yours! Coming soon to a fabuloyummy fall scrap kit near you!

Stay tuned to find out exactly where :D

Here are a couple of tiny peeks into what i've been up to.

From top left yummy clay buttons. Loves! The color of those make me so happy and i haven't used them on a LO yet!

Flowers from my sweetheart for our 5th month wedding anniversary! The tealights in the back were my stand ins for deyas on divali.

Knitting a coffee/tea cup cozy. Cute and pink. I made a yellow and pink one in crochet and i think i prefer crocheting them but it was lovely to knit after so long!

Creating those cute felt trees for a scrapbook kit dun dun ta dunnnnnn lol

Decorating our mantle with cute fall things. I left some of our wedding pics up and some hand made flowers i whipped up around the time of the wedding. I added a tiny pumpkin and some decorative gourds and fall candles and sprinkled some of my felt leaves in between. I was going to make a leaf garland to drape but something else requiring my felt came up so i'll just make those next year. Almost time to change to christmas decor anyways :D I'm a christmas NUT i start early!

Working in a sketchbook from a local sketchbook exchange.

I had so much fun just ignoring my computer and painting/ stamping/sewing in this one girl's book. I hope she loves it as much as i do! I'm going to duplicate that page for a wall decoration somewhere.

What have you been up to? :)

WINNERS!!

2009-10-19T21:02:00.000-04:00

The winners of my last drawing
Brey's Gramma- you win the coffee cup and beans magnet set!
Jan - you win the set of three leaves!!!

Awesome!!!!
I'm so excited!
Send me your addresses ladies!

Artist Interview: Adrienne (Scrapbooker)

2009-10-16T10:41:00.015-04:00

I met Adrienne last year on TallyScrapper and we bonded over our shared birthday (the unfortunate getlostinchristmas Dec24th birthday to be exact.) Her scrapbooking style was so fresh and fun! Completely sassy. I instantly became a fan. I asked her to be my october interview and she agreed even though her schedule is a bit wacky at the moment. She also asked that i do another giveaway! She specifically asked that i give one of these:

andddd.....

since blogger ate my post yesterday, i'm also offering a set of three of my fall feltie leaves.

these are fun to add to your fall decor ( i have some in a basket and some propped in between my fall stuffies on my mantle).

Leave a comment to enter and i'll draw two random people this on Monday!:)

Enjoy getting to know Adrienne!:)

How did you discover scrapbooking?

OMG. Well, I was taking photography back in my sophomore year of high school (so, around 2003-2004, ha, that dated me didn't it??) and we had to make a 'photo journal' using the photos that we took for class and then adding some journaling and such to it. And of course. I just couldn’t hang with just the blank pages and everything so I had decided to head to the local craft stores to see if they had any cool stickers... and THEY did, SO MANY! I had a freaking hay-day! And from then on, I was addicted to scrapbooking product. I still didn’t really know that I was 'scrapbooking'. Then a few years later I started just going to Craft Warehouse and checking out all the stuff that they had there, and they told me about their scrapbooking club that they had every month. and then from then on, I was addicted! :D Officially a scrapbooker!

Do you belong to any scrapbooking communities? If so, give 'em a shout out J

I do, I belong to Tally Scrapper :D Other than that, I have joined many and abandoned many to be honest. But I just keep going back to tally! :D

Do you have an MO when you scrap? Do you follow a particular ‘pattern’?

Lately I kinda try and keep it simple and that makes me pretty happy. Sometimes I go all out and do something crazy. But I am usually very happy with simplicity. especially now-a-days when my mojo is non existant...

Crop or scrap alone?

I really enjoy crops to be around people, because it is just a blast... you know but I seriously HATE packing things up to go somewhere to scrapbook! I don’t feel whole when I have to figure out what to bring, and then I get all brain farty to where... I just don’t know what to do at all. So I definitely really like being at home to scrapbook its much less stressful to me!

What colors or color combinations absolutely make you swoon?

I am pretty much an all kinds of color kinda girl. I like all colors together. Lately I have been liking this color blue ... And my fav. color used to be green. I had green everything and I wanted to use it on everything... But lately... I am not sure what I like a ton. I have been gravitating towards like a dandelion yellow, and rust orange...

What can u absolutely not scrap without?

Home. I need to be at home. I never get anything done that I love when I am trying to scrap other places. If I ever am able to host a crop. It is GOING TO HAVE to be at my house!!

Fave manufacturers?

When My mojo is gone I am mad at all manufacturers for a time... LOL. But lately I havent really seen anything that really makes me want to buy it. But I could always use American Crafts, Pink Paislee, Hambly, and Theresa Collins.

Design team shout-outs?

PINK NINJAS FOR THE WIN. :D

Any other crafty hobbies? Any you’d like to try?

I have been trying my hand at embroidery. I am liking that so far. I would love to be able to sew something... lol Like, not by hand. I would love to have a sweet ass sewing machine!

What do you love best about the fall?

Um. Being able to wear jeans, I suppose. But I generally don’t like fall much. I like warm. And fall just tells me that winter is about to start. And it is going to go by too quickly... And then It is going to snow. And then... it will be lame. LOL

Chocolate or chips?

Chocolate... well.. both. Chocolate when I am on my monthly thing... and then chips every other time! :D LOL

Bugger.

2009-10-15T19:21:00.002-04:00

Had a yummy interview done up for today and BLOGGER ATE IT??

I saved it as a draft, came in to put some more pics in and wham..no post.

Geez. I'm so bummed!

There is a LOT going on around here tonight - we're swapping the studio/bedroom rooms to make this space work better for us so i better get back to supervising.

I'll get that interview up for you guys tomorrow.

To make it up to you i'm just gonna have to do an extra giveaway!

Yummy Columbus Day Weekend

2009-10-11T20:38:00.005-04:00

Saturday was a lazy allergy filled day so i lounged and napped and the husband got takeout for dinner and then went to a concert. I must admit - the alone time on saturday night was yummy! Reminded me of my single gal days where sometimes i'd stay in and veg out and just watch TV allll night. Good times!

After lunch today, we packed up and headed to the chilly park to watch fall leaves and just relax on a blanket and read (and work on my top secret stitching project tee hee)

I brought along some of my plushie canvases to photograph.

I'll share a couple pics if ya twist my arm!:D

This sweet little giraffe makes me so happy! He's just adorable.

He's on a mini canvas - 5x5 inches.

We stumbled across these cuties in the woods!:

This coffee cup plushie was stuck in a tree oh no!

A tree stuck in a tree too?! The cuteness!

Adorable little birdhouse in the garden hm...i see some plushie bird houses in my future :)

This flower was so delicate and beautiful!

The colour of this one was simply stunning!

Love seeing insects perched on bright blooms.

This sweet pumpkin is sold!

Breathtaking!

This is where we sat..I should probably have shot this at a different angle! We were on top of a hill and that stuff in the distance was below us.

Loved seeing the yellow leaves and yellow curb line. Pretty.

And that was the beginning and middle of the long weekend.

Tomorrow we have some not so fun stuff to do but i'm happy to be getting it done!

After that we'll be in one of my favourite areas - Reston. So we're going to walk around after lunch and have a pumpkin spice latte and read some yummy inspiration at barnes and noble and then head home for our nightly ritual of dvds in bed:)

Hope your weekend was as restful and lovely!

Quickie post

2009-10-09T10:14:00.004-04:00

I have been a little absent this week...think i blogged a total of three times!

Busy bee- some crafty projects and some other stuff as well. I'm also hoping I get a big studio redo this weekend! We'll see.

I borrowed that pic from my hubby.

He scanned in my stamps i made. Im having so much fun carving these guys! I originally got all this stuff to carve stamps for my clay button designs but the material i got would get embedded in the clay so i need to find a more rubbery one i used before. This stuff is too 'eraser like' too much 'eraser dust' so i can stamp with them but i can't clean them off!

Its so great to just zone out and stamp!

I've had this stuff sitting around for a while and needed a camera stamp the other night.

I ended up doodling the camera on my LO( the LO in the last post) but i had camera on the brain and hunted out my stuff and made the stamp.

All downhill from there!

Tonight i'm cropping with my girls and i have notttthing packed and a billion things to do so before i have to go out butt nekkid tonight i better get my laundry on :)

enjoy your weekend!!What are your plans for this delicious long weekend?

Windy Hump Day!

2009-10-07T12:23:00.004-04:00

Pink Ninjas - go check out the other kinds of ninjas at the blog!

Boy is it gusting out there! I'm not used to windy days so i keep peeking out of the living room window in awe!
Ted (the oak that grows outside our apartment) is sooo skinny! The wind blew off his newly yellowing leaves.
I'm kinda bummed! Ted has been lazy and not turning fast enough for me (i'm intrigued by this new fall stuff!) Now his leaves are mostly gone!! Grrr!
I have been a little stressed, things on my mind and just bust getting have to do's, done.
I took the evening off of doing ANYTHING after dinner yesterday.
We went to a local ice cream shop and had ice cream cones. We walked around the plaza eating our ice creams and talking..holding hands and looking into shop windows.
When we were done eating our cones, we went into this older little craft store and just browsed around a bit.
We went back home and changed into workout clothes and took a nice brisk walk/run around the neighbourhood.
It felt good and i can't wait to do it again tonight - minus the window shopping and ice creams!
I made some stamps yesterday!So fun!!! I should have taken pics for this post!D'oh!
I'll just have to tease you for tomorrow then:D
Before bed last night we watched vintage sesame street from the 60's.......wow oscar was orange and big bird had the SMALLEST head and he walked just like a giant bird with the head bop thing..trippy. I also saw ernie nekkid from the waist up. Traumatizing. They did warn at the beginning that this was for adults who enjoyed sesame street then and not for kids who enjoy it now...who knew that they censored and wussed it out for kids these days? C'mon toughen up! This stuff was really amazing! The writing, the animation the movie shorts which were rather long and kids today definitely don't have that kind of attention span anymore.
Oki dokies i'm off to get done some more have to dos so i can be crafty tonight :)

Manic Monday.

2009-10-05T13:58:00.003-04:00

What a crazy busy but AWESOME weekend! It was the first birthday i was able to spend in person with my hubby since we met.

His bday in 2007 he visited me a couple days after and we did a make-up birthday but this was the first actual on-the-day birthday!

It started out with running a bazillion small errands, one of which was picking up his cake - only he thought that i was picking up scrap supplies from a friend.

She put it in a regular cardboard box which was so smart!:D

The cake was sooo yummy!

We went down to the Corcoran to see the Edward Burtynsky exhibit and to listen to a lecture by him as well. The husband has more on his blog (can u handle the cross blogination?!)

The lecture was incredibly interesting but L O N G. It was okay though because you could tell how passionate the one guy was about his work by the length of his speech. Had i had lunch i would have been fine :)

Dinner was vegetarian chinese faire at Sunflower in Arlington then surprise cake at home!

The only crafty thing i did all weekend was my Pink Ninjas LO! I'll share it on wednesday i absolutely LOVE it!!!

I still hate vinyl thickers but i guess with some glue i can coax them to stay on the stinkin page! Love the fonts tho so i'll learn to deal.

Have some crafty stuff on my plate this week. Gotta get started on a cool new project!:D

Paperwork to finalize which is pretty much DONE and i'm going to kiss the envelope and send it out with happy thoughts and lots of love on its little journey :)

Then do some research for a non crafty project and i will SO be ready to scrap with the girls on friday night!! We're having an all night scrapathon and boy i cant WAIT to get my scrap on AND my drink on! LOL

I plan on indulging in at least two frosty beverages. Calories be damned.

Onto my monday.

enjoy yours!

First Friday Gallery Walk.

2009-10-02T22:14:00.005-04:00

Wow.

Totally AWESOME!

I forgot how consuming even a tiny show can be! So many t's to cross and i's to dot!

Love feeling creative exhaustion.

I haven't scrapbooked ALL week and i am seriously jonesin for some scrap time.

Be warned that this is picture intensive.

This show was my first showing of my Plushie Canvases!

I had this idea for making little plushies and incorporating them into paintings a couple months ago.

I made some and gifted them to people and the response was pretty awesome!

When this show came up i hemmed and hawed over doing a local photography show or paintings and I eventually (last week..yea i know...i like a challenge LOL) decided on the plushies and dug in 24/7. The poor husband slept alone many nights while i worked in the studio.

I was so blessed to have some of my friends stop by tonight! Their support meant so much to me and we had a blast talking and hanging out :) Thanks for coming out guys!

Here are some in progress pics and a pic of the installation tonight. There were too many pics so i'll probably keep blogging some more this week:D

There are no people in these shots because i took them just after we set up.

Thanks to my sweet husband who helped me set up and wrote ' canvas plushies' up top :)

Oh and - happy birthday sweet hubby!!!

5x5 Plushie Canvas - Aubrey.

Plushie fall leaves! These are fun to put in a bowl or basket and scent with your fave room scent! (i like cinnamon for the fall)

All the plushies on the wall. I love those old quizzes that there were in my seventeen mags( years ago) where you answered a question and followed the arrow to another question? Yea...thats kinda what i did with those arrows...later in the evening i added more style to the arrows lol

How AWESOME is this space? This coffee house - Shoes Cup and Cork Club on King street is a fabulous hangout:)

Slightly closer view. I stuck the magnets on a cork board - it was super cute i painted orange and pink scallops on the border but you can't tell in these pics!

Terrible pic but it was sooooo cute!

Stalker pic the hubby took.

My coffee cup and coffee bean magnets packaged all cute

Some of the plushies before being put on canvas. I really heart that little takeout coffee cup! I am going to make more of these for etsy - i'll blog when i list them!

My magnets in a bunch. Heart pink and orange:)

I had a complete blast making these things and even more fun showing them and talking to people who seemed to really appreciate my work :) I was a little nervous but my girl Wendi showed up just in time to distract me and give me enough yummy compliments to soothe me:)

Happy Thursday!! (highly random thurs)

2009-10-01T10:57:00.008-04:00

Oh Joy the end of the week is almost here - bringing with it my show!
I worked like a headless chicken this week tying things together and i'm ALMOST done.
Yays!
As soon as i get done posting i'm going to take everything outside and photograph it.
I will share a little peek next week so i don't ruin it for anyone who reads the blog who is coming to the show.
Just a couple more little tiny things like packaging those cute little coffee cup magnets and i'm all set!:D
Now......to figure a way to make things stick? Its going to be hung (stuck) on a chalk board wall at the coffee house - i'm thinking removable putty or painters tape - any other ideas? Command takes an hour to dry and i have about an hour to get it all up! so thats no good! Any idea where i can get removable putty??
Help!

FAB NEWS!!! I can finally spill that I am now a member of the Jen's House of Scrap DT!! So excited!! Congrats girls!!!

Cupcakes on the brain

I know...totally random but i seriously have cupcakes on the brain!
I'm going to make some mini vegan cupcakes for a vegan halloween meetup thingy although the host said bring healthy options.....hm....its tiny...little calories...its a freaking party. Bring on the cuppies!
I also have an overnight crop next weekend with my local crop buddies so i might bring some mini cuppies then too.
Oh the cuteness of a cupcake! I've had a longtime obsession with these little cuties.
I always thought they were the cutest yummiest things ever and would get soooooo excited when my mummy bought me one!

Pink Ninjas: Drink of choice.

My drink of choice ...non alco would definitely be a raspberry italian soda! I just lovvvvee the stuff! Alco drink of choice is ALWAYS an apple martini! dee lish. go visit the ninjas and see what their fave drinks are!
Speaking of ninjas - head over to the blog and check out the NEW design team!! Congrats ladies!!!
Well i'm off to finish up and box my things to take down to the venue tomorrow.
Yay!
There will probably not be a post until late saturday evening/night because its my hubby's birthday and with our courting being a long distance relationship - its the FIRST birthday i get to spend with him in person! I'm super excited.
He wants to go to a show at the Corcoran in DC then to his fave vegetarian restaurant so here we go! Happy Weekend my lovelies!!

Tuesday tuesday!

2009-09-29T19:37:00.003-04:00

So i totally spazzed on blogging today!

From the time i woke up this morning - i skipped breakfast and planted my butt in this chair to sew.

I tried to get up and walk around but i know hours passed before i moved!

I stitched and stitched and stitched some more!

These pieces are turning out so great i can't wait to show you!

I took a break this evening to go shopping to find a cute outfit for Friday night.

I got two pairs of jeans - one for $7!!!!!!! Seriously!

And i bought two tops.

Awesome - here begins the fall wardrobe building.

I'm back off to sewing but thought i'd stop in and say hi and show u a pink ninja LO i think its from two prompts ago on our collections.

I did my summer jewelry collection that i created for a gallery downtown.

I named the pieces after all my friends that i missed!

I really need to share pics of the pieces but i hurriedly took pics one morning and they were a little less than awful!

Hm....

ok back to sewing:)

luv yas!

Much craftiness, much love.

2009-09-28T11:32:00.003-04:00

I have been crafty!

I've been making buttons for my fall layouts.

Just after posting about my CADD - i finally received some lino and lino cutting tools and cannot WAIT to sink my teeth into creating my own stamps for my scrapbooking and clay buttons!

No idea when THAT will be but i had fun making these with my fave stamps and other textured items around my house.

I have decided that my fall palette will be a slight variation on my spring summer palette with the addition of cranberry tones, brown and a more caramel type of orange.

Lovey lovey having hot pink thrown into that mix!

How extremely delicious are these buttons? I love me some carolyn gavin stamps and i adore paper source stamps also! The Laugh Often is a great reminder and a great little stamp to add to notes/cards for my friends because it has ALWAYS been my MO.

These make me sooo happy!!

I have been making tinier felties - these are some i've turned into magnets! They will be sold at my first friday show at Shoes Cup and Cork in old town leesburg this weekend! I will show them packaged some time next week.

Love seeing them all lined up. yum.

Even framed they are super super cute!!!

So thats it for some of my recent crafting. I haven't taken pics of my new needlepoint or crochet stuff because they are all 'in progress' and will be for a while!

Happy crafting!

xoxo

me.

Winner of the custom book giveaway!

2009-09-25T12:09:00.002-04:00

Southern Belle!

Yay! Thanks everyone for entering and i will try to have more giveaways here and there so keep reading :)

memories:)

2009-09-24T15:25:00.000-04:00

These pink paintings were done in 2007 for a benefit concert for the project green light group in Trinidad.
Several (i think i contributed 22) cd cover sized paintings were done by various artists and sold that night. No prints.
I had so much fun painting these covers and for 2 or 3 solid weeks i happily bounded into my studio every morning just creating ALL DAY.
Really great memories :)

I was all set to upload pictures of some of my recent crafty goodness but I got sidetracked when i logged in to facebook this morning.
Apparently in trini they started playing parang today!
Parang is the local christmas music. We don't have thanksgiving so its a straight stretch to Christmas and oh HOW WE DO CHRISTMAS!
I'm going to be doing some sorta hybrid trini-american christmas this year - no idea how since we're going to the in laws for christmas but i'm determined to bring some Trini into it by making our local foods.
Anyhoos i had to drag out the parang music - that music makes me want to deep clean the house!
So that's what i've been doing all day.
All craftiness and anything else put aside for a MAJOR house cleaning.
The poor husband has no clue what hes in for when he gets home.....he better not swing his bag onto his fave chair because it'll land in the fireplace LOL
did some moving around :D
Off to clean some more - i'll share some crafty goodness tomorrow :)
Ooh and after the mad cleaning i will do the drawing for the custom book!

Too Many Hobbies!

2009-09-23T12:10:00.004-04:00

Wow what a yummy response yesterday! It is going to be so hard to pick just one person tomorrow night! There's still time to enter if you haven't already:)
Up there is my pink ninja layout for Prompt #17 - Addiction.
Can you BELIEVE we're on prompt 17???! CRAZY!
Check out the rest of the girls at our blog
Did you check out the Gutter girlz this month too? Rocking it. Seriously.
Onto my dilemma of late - too many hobbies!
I do so many things and i love them all - not trying to be an overachiever I just find SO MANY THINGS fascinating AND i always have to know how it's done.
I really enjoy crochet which i learned this summer. I'm determined to make an afghan this fall.
I will sometimes get this nagging thought in my head that i have to (draw paint sculpt crochet you name it ) and it nags till i go do it.
Also there were so many things i've wanted to try through the years and being in Trinidad i couldn't always get the supplies i needed and if i could - they were too spendy!
So i think i'm sort of going overboard now and doing it all at once - which isn't working.
I'm ending up with half finished projects everywhere!
I've managed to finish pretty much all of them but there are too many that i want to start and need to start!
There are two organizations i've promised some donations to so those take first priority.
Then there are the holidays coming up like a freight train!
I never had to think about autumn decor and all that jazz before and i'm thinking i should keep thinking that way at least for this year :D
Lord knows my husband didn't give it a second thought all his bachelor years.
But the cuteness...seeing it all when we go to the shops - its killing me!
So maybe a small vignette somewhere.
Back to the too many hobbies! At any given crafty moment i want to scrapbook/finish the scarf i've been knitting since may/ crochet/ learn or rather re learn embroidery /get into my clay/start a watercolour painting/practice my lino cutting.
I think i have Craft ADD. CADD. I'm not suffering from it though. I think i'm enjoying every rotten minute of it. Just need to work on doing ONE THING AT A TIME.
But like tabbed browsing? I need to be doing a little of everything.
So can i just be me? As cute as can be with my wicked case of CADD? :)