ink and scissors

Featured on WedLoft.com

2011-01-14T12:39:00.000-05:00

I received a lovely email today from Michelle saying that my Hand-stained Red Merlot Wooden Heart Tags were featured today on WedLoft. I'm pretty honored to be featured, especially after looking at all the other beautiful creations.

I guess it's that time of year again when people are starting to plan and focus on weddings. I know I've been getting asked for custom orders or bulk orders on items and I'm loving every second of it. "Love" is such a lovely theme.

Featured on Indie Spotting!

2010-12-04T11:18:00.000-05:00

I just received a lovely email from the Indie Spotting blog that one of my Christmas gift card holders was featured on their 12 days of shopping series. Take a look at it here!

My item is the one on the top row, middle picture. Lovely cute candy canes. Always a favorite of mine during this season.

Where in the world...

2010-11-22T07:35:00.000-05:00

I know I know...I've been absolutely terrible at keeping up to date with my blog lately. I blame this entirely on regular work and Etsy work, but I'm not complaining! I love that my shop has been doing very well these last 2 months and I hope once the holidays slow down a bit, I can think about dedicating more time to my blog. In the meantime, I'll try and put together a post on some of the things I've been doing and what I plan to post in the new year!

Monday Etsy Find - Winter Rose

2010-09-27T07:40:00.001-04:00

This week's Etsy Find is these absolutely beautiful handmade Winter Rose ornaments done by IndianSummerGardens. This year, more than likely, I won't get the chance to decorate my home for the holidays. I think that's one of my favorite parts of Christmas is the decorating of the house. I started out with a simple tree with a handful of regular ball ornaments and a few special ones that we had found. Last year, our tree was pretty amazing with lots of lights, colorful ornament balls, red wooden beads, and a ton of special ornaments that we had picked out during our travels.

Since we are planning on having a new home built, we've emptied out a lot of our extra stuff in the closets and that included my holiday decorations. But...if I had the chance to decorate, I think these Winter Rose ornaments would look beautiful hanging from the garlands I put on the banister. Beautifully rustic and natural.

Holiday Shop Updates

2010-09-20T20:43:00.000-04:00

Just a few updates for the Etsy shop. I have been having a lot of fun lately coming up with ideas for some holiday gift tags. I'm really loving the country handmade look lately and I'm sure it shows in the tags I have been creating.

Visit my shop for even more Christmas gift ideas.

Monday Etsy Find

2010-09-20T08:14:00.000-04:00

Returning to my Monday Etsy Find. With all this cool crisp autumn weather we've been having, it has me thinking of the upcoming holidays. Ever since I started living on my own, I've been excited about this season every single year because it means another chance to decorate for my favorite season. How can I not enjoy Christmas when I'm born just a few days before? It's double the fun!

My find today is this beautiful handmade ornament by OneClayBead on Etsy. I love the wonderful lacey look of it, the handmade details, as well as its whimsy nature. This type of ornament would look perfect on one of my trees. Every year, I like to buy unique ornaments for our tree. I even get my fiance into it and he just loves to look for those humorous ornaments. For instance, we found this I, on the other hand, go for the pretty ones!

Postponing Monday Etsy Find for this Announcement...

2010-09-13T18:29:00.000-04:00

I just got engaged!!!!

How completely amazing is that? Nestor proposed to me last night and though it wasn't like how you read about it in romance novels, I still love the way it was done. It sure makes for a funny story that I think is thoroughly us.

I had known he'd bought my ring when I was away on travel. This entire past week I was asking for clues on what it looked like, what's its style, etc. He initially planned on proposing to me in October when we went away for our week-long vacation. I guess hearing a week's worth of questions about the ring showed him he should just propose to me now.

Sunday night as he's packing his things for his own bit of work travel, he gets this plastic bag from the closet. Thinking I'm going to get the ring, I get this cute fuzzy white bear instead. As I'm hugging my new bear, he opens the bag again and pulls out a silver colored jewelry box. I'm watching and he flashes it open and all I see is sparkle.

We had been joking around earlier that he'd propose to me in a weird way by flinging the ring at me. If I caught it, I'd get proposed to, but if I missed I'd have to wait for a month. He literally flung the box at me last night! I thought it was hilarious. Amazingly, the ring fit perfectly on my finger and I take that as a sign.

I've loved this man for over 3 years and now I can't wait to spend my life with him.

Wishful Dreams

2010-09-10T09:33:00.000-04:00

I'm always looking for new storage to use in my future creative space. You should see the list of IKEA furniture I've bookmarked. Honestly, who can get by without an Expedit in the scrapbooking world? Do you know how hard it is to find something that perfectly fits 12x12 paper without having a bunch of wasted space around it?

That being said, I was browsing around and this beautiful piece caught my eye. It is a Vintage Solid Oak Library Card Catalogue found on lilakah's Etsy store. I've always wanted an item just like this! All those little drawers perfect for tiny embellishments and supplies, all those label holders for organization...can it get any better than this? Oh how I wished something like this were available in these parts. *sigh*

One can always dream right?

Monday Etsy Find

2010-09-06T08:20:00.000-04:00

Today's Monday Etsy Find is a White Rose on Robin's Egg Blue pillow by bedbuggs. I was just browsing etsy last night and decided to check out the home decor section and came upon a gorgeous autumn colored pillow with this giant rose on it. I remember thinking, "It's gorgeous! Too bad they don't make one to match my bedspread." Well, all it took was looking at their full listing and here this sweet number was. Definitely on my immediate wish list! I've been looking all over for an accent pillow to put onto the bed, but this is the first time I've seen something that just made me say "perfect".

Sitting in the Airport

2010-09-02T21:02:00.000-04:00

It's been another long day for me, and it's going to get even longer. Currently sitting here in San Diego airport waiting for my flight which won't be for another 4 hours. Have I mentioned that I've been here for 3 hours already?

It really isn't super terrible. I've been killing a lot of time reading my new Better Homes & Gardens magazine and diving a little bit into a book I also bought. I think that's one of the perks of traveling, buying magazines and books I normally wouldn't use my money on. I always go for the home decor magazines, especially those country home ones. Something about that style of decor really speaks to me as "home". Hence my love of all things antique-y and the lived-in look. So what if there's a scratch? That's what life is about. An accumulation of dings and knocks which form the entire picture of your life.

I arrive back in my state at 8am and Nestor has graciously agreed to pick me up, driving his way through early morning DC traffic. His payment...breakfast in the place of his choice and me driving the rest of the weekend and consulting him first about changing my travel orders if it means that he has to drive close to two hours to come pick me up since I'll be super tired once I land. That man drives a hard bargain. I was just really worried that after pulling over a 24 hour day, I wouldn't feel awake enough to drive home once I landed.

Just a few more hours to kill. Hopefully my laptop doesn't die before then. Also, learned my lesson about not bringing an actual backpack and bringing a messenger bag instead. Only cool if you don't bring your entire life with you in the bag. I have an extra pair of pants, the laptop, the noise-cancelling headphones, Nintendo DS, associated chargers, and two sweaters, not to mention my regular purse. My back is killing me! Coming home soon Maryland.

15 Random Thoughts

2010-09-01T23:03:00.000-04:00

Looking forward to coming home a little earlier than expected. Not looking forward to a 10:00pm flight and arriving back on the east coast at 8am. The things we do to be home.
Extremely happy that I completely aced my exam today! Training has been going really well and I'm glad I was able to take it.
Just so grateful for the three great friends I've had since high school. I can't express how happy I was spending Monday night with them. It's almost like things never changed between us. I couldn't be more blessed.
Happy with the little acts of kindness I've experienced on this trip. First act...a gentleman gave me his aisle seat on my first flight when he realized I was going to be sitting in the middle. I was so disappointed in not being able to snag an aisle seat and here a gentleman gives it to me out of the blue.
Not looking forward to these coming weeks. Nestor is going away again for a conference a week from now. Why does it feel like I never see him anymore? Don't get me started on the other trips I'm already aware of in October.
Really needing my upcoming vacation in October. An entire week away from work, from travel, and from everything that drags us down.
I just realized that this trip marks the fifth week that I've been on travel this year. I have a feeling it won't be my last.
Really cannot wait to be home again! I miss my cats and I miss Nestor.
Second act of kindness...I had an order at my etsy shop that the buyer requested ship out quick so she could have it before next week. I didn't want to wait until I arrived home at the end of the week because that would be cutting it close. Here's one of the many reasons I love him so much. Nestor searched my craft room for the item, packaged it carefully in a box and even searched for the thank you cards I had pre-made and made sure he put one in. He fumbled his way through my shipping account and had it all ready to go by Tuesday. I knew I could count on him.
Going to be studying for my last exam tonight. Doing some reviewing but I'm feeling more confident after this first test.
Rediscovered my love of cross-stitching. I can honestly say that is a perk of traveling. Since I can't bring my scrapbooking supplies with me on a trip easily, I bring my ongoing cross-stitch project and make a lot of progress while I'm away. Current project...a scene from Italy complete with canals and gondolas. It will match perfectly with the painting in the living room when it's finished.
I have more items to post in my etsy shop when I return! I completed some really cute favor/gift boxes before I left but I wasn't able to take any photos yet.
Crossing my fingers that the house viewing scheduled for this weekend will go well.
Looking at a nice long weekend at home. *sigh* I really am a homebody.
Did I mention that I can't wait to be home?

Monday Etsy Find

2010-08-30T20:13:00.000-04:00

Here is my find for the week...a beautiful handmade sign created out of linen with a sweet crocheted doily on top. This item was created by TheNakedSquirrel. I love the simplicity of it and the vintage feel of the fabric and crocheted piece. Definitely something I can see being put up into my room or in a special spot in the hallway to remind me everyday that there is love in our home.

On another note, I am currently in beautiful San Diego attending a week long training for my job. The weather is absolutely gorgeous here! I think if I didn't have my ties to Maryland, I would give it all up to move to San Diego just for the beautiful weather. *sigh* Really looking forward to coming back home though. Crossing my fingers that I can book the red eye Thursday night and arrive home before noon on Friday.

Featured on Etsy Finds

2010-08-26T08:59:00.000-04:00

This was my first paper house gift box that I had listed on etsy. I was just searching around today and came across this site which allows you to search for places on the web that have referenced you by shop name.

And here's what came up. I was featured on the Etsy Finds Treasure Hunt back in July. This really makes sense now since that's around the time that I started having a lot of people come to my shop and they always kept visiting that particular listing. Even now I'm noticing people drop by to that listing first.

Thanks so much Etsy!

Monday Etsy Find

2010-08-23T19:00:00.000-04:00

I want to try out a new feature with my blog...Monday Etsy Find! Every Monday, I will post a new item that I have found while surfing through the wonderful pages of Etsy.

Today's find is this set of frames called Eye of the Storm by funkiefinds. Absolutely beautiful colors used in this collection and my favorite part...the intricate scroll work on some of those rectangular frames. I have been searching high and low for a set of eclectic frames to hang going up my stairwell. These would look beautiful there, the perfect mix of funky and vintage. This item is definitely going into my favorites!

50+ Items!!!

2010-08-22T13:30:00.000-04:00

I finally passed the 50 item mark! Since my craft supplies are, for the most part, packed away, I have been making little tags here and there. I've been having a great time going through my stamp binders and seeing which images go well with these small shipping tags.

Just listed in the shop today, that set of zoo animal tags above, relaxing moose tags, and frog prince tags.

Posting rather soon, another Christmas Holiday Paper House gift box which I think is one of my favorites. It reminds me of the striped candy canes always around during the holidays. The color combination really makes me happy.

It may be a while...planning on showing the house to two other folks today. Crossing our fingers!

Browsing Etsy

2010-08-19T13:27:00.000-04:00

I just had to post this. This is a coffee mug cozee from knotworkshop. I was just browsing the forums and saw her hilarious avatar and just had to check out her shop. Now, for everyone who knows me, I am a self-proclaimed coffee addict. Nestor worries about my addiction. For me, adding to this addiction in the form of accessories is even better! I would love to order one of these funny cozees, but I'd probably have to get one custom made for my gigantic Starbucks mugs. Anyone else love the fact that you can fit 3 cups of coffee easily in those?

I love making fun discoveries like these on etsy.

Short update on things right now...creating items for my shop will be slow going for a while. Things have been moving ahead with the house so I'm sort of limited on craft supplies on hand, as well as time. I hope to get a few things up this weekend, but no guarantees. *sigh* Already I'm missing my crafting room now turned back into a guest room.

A New Adventure...

2010-08-15T20:14:00.000-04:00

Who knew two weeks ago that we'd be looking to buy a new house? It all happened with a visit to a new subdivision down the road. It wasn't our original destination, but I figured why not? Then we fell in love with the homes. We loved the community, the large private lots, and the quiet area. It all happened with another visit to the same builder, but the actual home we were considering. We fell in love with the house we would soon call home. We loved the open layout of the first floor, the sunlight that filters in through all the windows, and the amazing master bath.

Yesterday, we paid a visit again to the community we were considering and had a chat with the agent. She drew up a cost estimate of the model we liked and all the options we were looking to upgrade. Then she took us on a walking tour of several of the available lots, focusing on our wish for privacy and a flat backyard for Nestor's volleyball court. Five lots later and I think we were sold. And after hearing the price they could offer us, after doing the math with the numbers...nothing could have stopped us.

Today, we did our research. We checked out the prices of storage units. We estimated the cost of a new mortgage. We estimated the cost of handling the current mortgage and the rent of an apartment in the meantime. Can we do it? Can we handle all that? I think we just might be able to pull it off.

Today, I started packing up my craft room to return it back to its original state, the guest room. Nestor began packing his drum set and his video games. While I'm typing up this post, he's listing our townhome.

I'm so excited and yet so scared. This will be our first home together that we'll have bought together. I know we can do it, but it's still a scary thought. That's a big leap for us financially and emotionally. Already, this new house is all we can talk about. We daydream about ceramic tiles and upgrades. This has become our every waking thought and I love it!

So...with my craft room being packed up, my scrapbooking will be limited. I'm trying to plan ahead, trying to pick and choose what to keep with me and what I can pack up for possibly 6 months until we sell the house and our new house is built. It's so hard. I know I'll be spending Christmas in an apartment most likely so I need what I planned on putting into my Daily December album. Then I wanted to have another mini for our upcoming trip in October. It's only partially completed. How about all the items I wanted for my etsy shop? Oh goodness...all the things we need to think about. But still...I can't wait for our new adventure...

Shop Update coming soon...

2010-08-13T07:13:00.000-04:00

So...I've been a busy bee lately. I have a few things waiting to be posted in my shop, but they will have to wait until we get some sunshine back here in Maryland. It's been a gloomy couple of days and really not conducive to lighting in my photos.

A few of the items I have coming are two new house gift boxes.

One of them reminds me so much of a beach house. I added two gables to the roof and wrapped a beautiful velvety ribbon around the top. The house itself is colored what I call "beach blue" with stripes and I added dark blue shutters and a door. The cutest feature...the grass! I finally received my grass puncher and I just had to use it to add grass to the base of my house. Couldn't get any cuter than that.

The second house is more of a Christmas theme with red walls and snowflake patterns. I'm still trying to figure out a few things on that one. I was really excited to try hanging pearl ropes from the roof, but stringing the pearls last night wasn't going to well. Let's just say I have more pokes on my fingers than I have pearls on a string. After that fiasco, I found an already strung pearl string, but it wasn't giving me the curved shapes I wanted to I tried adhering it to just the edges of the roof in a straight line. Hmmm...round objects and flat adhesive don't seem to be loving one another. I'm scared the pearl string will just roll off of the adhesive and I am not about to give something to a customer unless I know it's top-notch!

I also have two mini albums I have pre-made. I think I mentioned this before. They're based on large heavy duty manila shipping tags which I think are the perfect size for 3x5 photos. The journey album uses paper from October Afternoon's Thrift Shop which I just love and the halloween album uses paper from Basic Grey's Ambrosia line which has beautiful colors that match the theme but aren't obviously too theme-y.

I am also planning on offering ticket bunches with color themes such as fall colors, neutral colors, and summer colors. I'm really in love with that ticket die. I have a few bunches of tickets I plan on putting up soon, one is 4 6-ticket strips of orange tickets with halloween phrases such as "open if you dare". I would love to see these put onto little baggies after punching a hole through one end. The other set is of textured creme cardstock with phrases leaning more towards Christmas gift giving.

Then...hehe long post...a small venture into journaling tags. I had a great time making a set of kraft tags and going stamp happy making collages. Definitely thinking of keeping a set for myself. There is also a set of boy-themed gift tags mounted on small lightweight shipping tags.

All this and more coming soon!

Update on Etsy...and a question

2010-08-09T09:06:00.000-04:00

I have added a few more items to my etsy shop! Getting into the swing of the upcoming holiday seasons! Added two new handmade house gift boxes with a Christmas-y theme to it. I love the candy cane look of the one above. The patterned paper is from Papertrey Ink, last year's holiday pad. I just think it's so adorable with the button flowers and vines. Those were attached with little glue dots. I handstamped the upper portion of the house with a background stamp also from Papertrey Ink and finished it off with a light blue crocheted ribbon. You can find it at this listing: Handmade Christmas Paper House Gift Box with Button Flowers.

Here is the second house I have added which has patterned paper covered with snowflakes and swirls, also from Papertrey Ink's holiday paper pad. I think the clear beads add a festive look to the whole house! You can find it at this listing: Handmade Christmas Paper House Gift Box - Snowflakes and Beads.

Lastly, I have crafted up this newbie...my first Halloween-themed paper house gift box. It's not exactly spooky, but I still think it's so darn cute with the halloween stamped banner around the roof and the pumpkins peeking out from beneath the eaves. Finding that black and white ribbon sealed the deal when I made this house. I think it would look perfect filled to the brim with candies and goodies! You can find it at this listing: Handmade Halloween Paper House Gift Box with Pumpkin images.

Just a question to anyone out there reading...I've been going back and forth between posts I've read in the etsy forums on house to price your items. Current prices I have now are based on those posts. My question is...do you think they are too high? Each house takes nearly 2 hours to complete from start to finish and this does not include the time I've spent brainstorming on how to accessorize it.

Featured on Crafty Dream

2010-08-05T12:23:00.000-04:00

I was so excited when I received an Etsy Conversation from earringsnation. She found my doily tags and featured them on her blog, Crafty Dream today! I was so honored to be one of the items featured on there. The theme was doilies and I thought it was amazing seeing some of the items featured on there. I'm just so happy to be one of them!

On that super happy note, I am also pleased to say I joined their flickr group for Crafty Dream. Just browsing for a few minutes really had me inspired and I just can't wait to get into my room and craft like crazy. Some of those pictures on there are just beautiful.

Thanks again to Eaindar for featuring me on her blog!

Dream Homes

2010-08-03T13:16:00.000-04:00

I know I've mentioned this before...I am in LOVE with Victorian-style homes. I love absolutely everything about them, from their pointy spires to their beautiful bay windows. Throw in some gingerbread siding and I'm in heaven!

That being said, there is a Victorian-style home made in 1917 currently up for sale. I stumbled upon it one day while cruising the classifieds online and I literally gasped. Here it is! It's a beautiful home that just went up for sale, four bedrooms and 2.5 baths. It's bigger than our current home and it's also sitting on an acre of land.

Looking at the photos posted on the listing, I fell in love with the house even more. The current owners decorated almost completely with antiques and if you couple that with the hardwood floors and exposed beams, it's just perfection. I couldn't stop looking at those photos!

They are holding an open house this coming Sunday and for sure I will be there with bells ringing. I'm over the hill happy about seeing it in person and I hope that maybe my dream can be a reality. I just need to convince Nestor that a house built in the early 1900s does not mean it will fall apart as soon as you walk through the door. It may be old, but that's just part of its charm.

Etsy Update: Carnival Tickets

2010-08-02T08:42:00.000-04:00

It's been exciting having my own etsy shop and coming up with new ideas to try and sell. Granted it seems like the hype has died down on the houses for now, but I'm planning on making several more with a holiday theme. I just fine them way too cute to not make!

My next venture has been these carnival tickets. It's one of Papertrey Ink's new sets from July and I have been having a ball die-cutting and stamping away on these little numbers. I've already made up several for myself for my vacation mini album. I just think tickets are that perfect little something to add onto a page, something that sticks out a little bit from behind a picutre much like a tab. I plan on making some up for myself that include numbers so I could have them for each day that I'm there. In my shop, I have made up a set with the entire alphabet that I can see using on my layouts. I've always loved anything to letters on them.

Lastly, I've been working on creating some gift bag tags. These curly label shapes are just perfect and the cork gives it this tactile look that is really meshing with what I like. That doily is just the cherry on top! I plan on making several sets of just the little label to be used for journaling or as a title spot. I already have a few made up that I think are just too cute.

Well, on to finishing up this rainy day and looking forward to heading back to my craftspace!

Etsy and Houses

2010-07-26T07:01:00.000-04:00

For a long time now, I have been a big fan of etsy. I'm just amazed by all the handmade items that can be found on there. Hehe...I really have to hold strong and not try to buy everything on sight.

That being said, I decided to take the plunge a few weeks ago and start up an etsy shop of my own! I really do love making fun items out of paper and this seemed like the best way to continue my love...make beautiful and cute items and send them out to buyers that love them as much as I do. For a while, this didn't seem to be happening. I listed some of my favorite cards I've made, these cute little gift card holders, and a single house gift box. Nothing for over a week and I have to admit I was getting a bit down.

Then, just this past weekend, it's like the doors to my shop were finally visible and people started visiting and checking out my items! I was in heaven! Sure...nobody had bought anything yet, but I was happy enough to know that they were looking. I literally jumped for joy when I was added as a favorite onto people's lists. Even better, Ivy from San Francisco became my first ever buyer and she purchased my single house box. I hope she loved it so much that she felt moved to request three more! You should have seen me careening down the stairs yelling at the top of my lungs to Nestor that I had made my first sale. I will be sending out her full package today and I do hope she loves what I did with the remaining three boxes.

I have had a few orders since then, all of these house gift boxes. Aren't they just adorable? When Papertrey Ink came out with this set, I knew I just had to get it. I can honestly say it's almost like a labor of love. One single box came take me close to two hours to complete once all the measuring, cutting, stamping, and embellishing is done. But I believe the results are well worth it!

Hopefully soon, depending on whether or not I have to work overtime this week, I plan on finishing up a few more of these houses to post onto my shop. I already have three sets of the sides cut out and one of them is waiting for its little house and windows.

really slacking here...

2010-06-16T07:25:00.000-04:00

My attempts at keeping a somewhat daily blog are failing. Life just happens, you know?

For example, this will be my second first full week at home after previously being away for almost 2 straight weeks on work travel. Garrr!!! I love seeing new places, but I hate being away from home. Most especially if I have no clue where I'm going. I'm admittedly a terrible driver so any new place intimidates me. Don't get me started on my adventures at close to midnight trying to drive home from one of our airports nearly 2 hours away. Darn GPS wanted to discover a new route for me.

I'm so happy to be home again, but things just seem to keep coming up.

Maybe it's all that time spent away, but I'm not really getting the creative vibe I normally do. Last night was the first time I had done a layout in WEEKS. I would like to post that soon to prove to myself that all my shopping is at least going onto something. I've been starting mini books here and there, but halfway through, I just lose it. I always have that problem. I love starting minis, but I can't seem to finish them! Right now, I have three ongoing minis that need to find some closure. Not going to mention the other two that were started at the beginning of the year and have been neglected.

Once again, I have an infection in my left leg. This is number THREE!!! I finally went ahead and made an appointment with an infectious disease specialist. Hopefully this afternoon she can tell me more and help me out a little. The antibiotics I'm on don't seem to be working this time although they did work in the past. So I'm still in some pain and my leg literally looks deformed from the lumps. Not a good thing when it's a humid summer and you want to cool off.

On a brighter note, we decided to have landscaping done on our tiny yard because after three years, I was tired of looking at weeds. So we sucked it up and admitted we would never do it on our own and found a local contractor to do the work for us. Getting the entire front and back resodded and a paver patio installed, along with some new plant beds. Yesterday, I came home to a yard full of dirt because they had stripped it completely. I'm so excited! They have our plants all laid out ready for planting.

Here's my other downer...we turned on the water to the faucets leading outside for the first time this year since winter. Disaster struck. It turns out that the pipe that had burst over two years ago has burst again somehow and we're back to square one. Back in early 2008, the pipe leading to the faucet in the front had burst while we were away and leaked water all over our first floor. What a mess. It was stressful coming home, but it was also a little funny seeing my big cat, Booda, walking on the carpet and seeing the carpet billow around. Not cool that it was doing that from all the water underneath, but still kinda funny. Anyway, same issue happened this time and apparently it's not uncommon with our type of townhouse. Several of our neighbors have had the same issue and I'm very upset with the workmanship done by the builder. On top of that, it looks like we might have mold growing in the walls. I can't be sure, but when the cut open the wall to see what the cause was this time, this smell just came out. My allergies have been ridiculous this year, but they're even worse at home. I feel great now outside, but being home it's terrible!

There's everything in a nutshell. Life is not always peachy. Putting in overtime lately here at work. Suffering from yet another infection in my leg and trying to determine the cause and cure. Having beautiful landscaping done, but right now have no way to water the front yard. And now we might possibly have mold in our walls. It's a little ironic since we watched a King of Queens episode not two days ago about the mold in their house. Oh how I laughed.

Let's hope life picks up a little bit soon.

finally...

2010-05-10T21:23:00.001-04:00

After a couple of extremely busy weekends, I'm finally back on this blog! Two weekends ago, my absolute best friend in this world married the love of her life and I was chosen to be one of the maids of honor. I couldn't have been happier for the two of them. It's such a sweet story. The three of us had actually been friends since high school and my best friend and I couldn't have been closer. I mean...how can you get any closer than having the same first name? We called ourselves twins and she really is a part of me. I love her dearly and I couldn't have asked for more in her husband, Scott. He is the sweetest most caring individual I have ever had the opportunity to call "friend". They actually discovered that their friendship could become something so much more when they both came to visit me here in Maryland seven years ago. Even then I knew where their story would end. I could see how much he loved her and I think she may have taken longer to fully appreciate the man he is, but she did and here we are. Can you tell how happy I am for them?

Nestor came along with me on this trip and he was absolutely amazing the entire time. On the actual wedding day, I probably saw him for a handful of hours. I was busy helping out Christine and getting ready. He was a sweetheart, always there to help me out with last minute details and taking care of me when I finally had a chance to rest. I was so scared doing the maid of honor speech, but as soon as I sat down I received a kiss and assurance from him that I did great. It was exactly what I needed. I really love this picture of us taken by my friend, Cathy.

On to a scrappy project. I have to admit I haven't been feeling too creative lately. I think it might be the fact that I haven't spent a full weekend at home in a long while. Totally killing my mojo, but I have a few projects I finished a while ago that are perfect for this post.

This was a layout I created soon after my last bit of work travel. Three days after I came home, Nestor was off on his own work travel and it was killing me. I missed him so much. Three days together after being apart isn't enough. He was on travel for almost two weeks straight. *sigh* I love my job and I know he loves his, but I don't know if I'm cut out for being away from home so much.

On that note, I'm coming up on almost two straight weeks of travel myself. I was almost looking at three weeks today, but I honestly admitted three weeks is just too much for me. A week from now, I will be in Texas. I should be home that Friday, but that coming Monday I'm off again this time to Denver for another class. I'm looking forward to these trainings, but I'm starting to get bummed about the time apart. That's just the way it is right?

P.S. Happy thought...today is the three year anniversary of the day Nestor and I met! How glad I am that we did. I couldn't be happier. A week from now will be the anniversary of our first date!!!! This weekend we're celebrating with a trip to D.C. and a bunch of activities he planned out while I was busy doing wedding stuff. That's my mehmee.

long time coming

2010-04-18T20:16:00.000-04:00

Wow...I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted. Time really does fly. Life just happens right? I went on travel to Orlando for about a week, but then Nestor also goes on travel pretty much right after we get home. He was on travel all last week and, once again, he's away all this week. Just three days together.

All this time alone has really gotten me out of sorts and my creativity has suffered because of it. I did manage to get this layout done today in response to Shimelle's scrapbooking weekend challenges. This particular challenge is to scrapbook about an adventure. Gotta admit, I haven't really had much happen yet this year that would classify as an adventure in my book. A few trips here and there, but that's not what I call an adventure!

So I had to fall back to our trip to Puerto Rico. We had the chance to do a boat ride tour of Las Pargueras with Nestor's sister and mom. I thought it was amazing! The sights were just beautiful and I loved being out on the water! My favorite part was probably seeing all of the iguanas lines up on the pier. I didn't include them in my layout, but I just thought they were so cool. The only iguana I've ever seen up close was in a classroom and it was probably only a foot long total. These iguanas were easily over a foot.

Anyway...I had a lot of fun working on this layout. It probably took me all of this afternoon to complete. It's hard to get started up when you've been down for so long. Sorry for the bad photos. I didn't feel like dragging out the good camera so I had to use my little pink camera which doesn't have the greatest ability to take photos indoors.

i'm back!

2010-03-15T16:11:00.000-04:00

Hello there! It's been awhile, but I have a good excuse this time. I have been in Reno this past week on work travel so it's not like I've had much free time until now. What a week. Let's just say I'm not cut out for traveling alone. Pretty sad right? I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually. How can I possibly not? I leave again for work travel to Orlando this time starting Sunday. Only one week home and it figures this is the week Nestor goes away on work travel. I swear I'm never going to see him this month!

Anyway, just to show that I was creating before leaving, I finally got down to it and took photos of several of my finished layouts. How I love to play with stuff!

Here's a layout I did awhile back. The photo was taken at the B&B we stayed at in Virginia. Love the candid shot of Nestor in the mirror. I was secretly wondering if I would catch a glimpse of a ghost, but thankfully no such luck. Really loved playing with a bunch of layering and bits and pieces from past kits.

Another layout of the inn we stayed at, but this is a photo of their Victorian Suite which is a house all by itself. Here's my confession...if I could have a dream home it would be just like this. I don't know what it is about Victorian houses, but I'm in love with the spires and old world look. Gingerbread siding...even better! Seeing this house just brought all those wishes to the front.

Kinda just playing around on this. My very first time EVER using mist so I just randomly sprayed here without any thought as to how it would look but I love the splatters. This is a photo of Horton Vineyards grape plants, one of my favorite wineries down here on the east coast. Cannot wait to visit even more vineyards the next time we venture down that way.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one waiting for winter to go away. I'm counting it a blessing that all we're getting this week is rain and no sign of snow. Come on Spring! Not looking forward to the allergies, but definitely looking forward to warmer weather.

Have I mentioned that I love my Studio Calico and JBS Mercantile kits? They really have opened up doors on new products I wouldn't normally get for myself and I love trying to combine them with products I already have. Definitely recommend these two!

This layout is one I finished today. I decided to do a half day today rather than stay in at work. Finally got diagnosed correctly about the infection on my leg and I'm hoping this new round of antibiotics does the deal. Six hours in medical facilities just waiting really tired me out yesterday and by the time we got out I couldn't even get my pills because the pharmacy was closed. So yes...with throbbing in my leg I decided a half day was called for.

Anyway, this layout was done with an old photo of me and my mom. She looks so pretty here and there's little me. I'm guessing I'm around 3 or 4 since we're still in the Philippines. I used a bunch of Studio Calico March kit items since it was sitting in my room just waiting for me when I got back. I love the happy and bright colors. Of course, had to mix it in with some of my own things just sitting around. And I used my vintage typewriter for the first time! Found out I needed to clean it just a bit more to get the ink smudges out, but I just love the type. Definitely love the type.

Will be back later to post a layout I did for a Page Maps challenge!

Venice Stamp Project

2010-02-26T20:25:00.001-05:00

Here's my project using the Venice Stamps I won from the 7Gypsies blog. I finally had a chance to really sit down and work on it after a busy couple of weeks.

I used a Papertrey Ink printable template (Homemade) to create the house gift box, also using PTI's Turning a New Leaf papers for the pattern. The house structures were stamped using PTI's stamp set also called Home Made. I loved using the Venice Stamps to accent the house giving it this wonderful vintage feel to it. I especially love the font used for the Molto Bello phrase. Doesn't it look so rustic? As a final touch, I painted some sky blue shimmerz paint onto the windows to give it this beautiful glittery quality and attached some lace to the eaves of the roof. So cute! I definitely see myself making even more things with the Venice Stamps.

I'm actually working on a mini album with some of my favorite baby pictures. The vintage feel of the stamps is really complimenting the older photos.

Thanks for looking!

i wish...

2010-02-26T20:18:00.000-05:00

I was reading Lisa Leonard's blog today and I came upon her post about wishing. At the end, she asked us what our wishes were and really, it made me think about it. When was the last time I really wished? I mean...just wished without trying to plan it all out for execution and thinking about whether I had the money for it, etc. It felt so good to wish, almost like daydreaming and I felt all the much better for it.

I wish for...

a little more time to relax in the future.

a chance to cuddle more on the couch with my boyfriend and our kitties.

to not be sick anymore, at least for awhile.

a giant mug of fresh hot Starbucks coffee in a Starbucks mug, a cuddling blanket, and a new book.

warmer weather and a little more sunshine.

a new house that's "ours".

a week long vacation.

a clean house.

never having to clean a litter box ever again.

Just a few things. I'm sure there are more but I feel good with this list right now.

I finally had a chance to get away from work real quick yesterday and see a doctor. Not too happy with the waiting, but at least I finally have some antibiotics. I'm thinking I might have gotten this infection from the hotel we stayed at since everything I've been doing at home kept me well, but I can't be sure.

I'm really looking forward to some creative time this afternoon. I'm not going to wish for bad weather, but that's the only thing that's probably going to let me go home on time today and not have to stay let to conduct a test. I love my job, but I need my weekend more right now. We're also planning on watching Daybreakers on-base tonight.

I am such a supernatural junkie. I admit that my reading tastes have been leaning wholly too much on fantasy novels with vampires and witches and weres. With my e-book reader and an amazing boyfriend who gets me all the books I want, I've been coming across so many new authors that I'm just overwhelmed with a ton of books. I'm not complaining though. Reading is another one of my favorite pasttimes.

here we go again...

2010-02-24T07:53:00.000-05:00

So I've been kinda busy for awhile. Went away to Baltimore's Inner Harbor last weekend. I have to say, I was a bit disappointed. We had gone there a few years ago and I remember it being so much nicer, but things have really gone downhill since then. There are noticeably less people walking around and things didn't really pick up until probably late Friday night. Regardless, I still enjoyed myself going to La Tasca, one of my all-time favorite restaurants. Yes, I know it's a chain but the food there is delicious, not to mention their sangrias.

Since then, been a little busy with work and other things. I haven't been in the mood to create for some reason. Maybe because I haven't had the time? I didn't get home from work until close to 7pm Monday night due to a project running overtime. That really threw me off for the rest of the week. I was literally at work for about 12 hours that day since I tend to come in at 6:30am. It didn't leave much time leftover for doing anything else. Yesterday, after catching up on some much needed grocery shopping, I pretty much crashed out until bedtime just feeling tired.

Here's where things go downhill. Remember that infection I had in my leg last month? Here I was crossing my fingers that I'd be doctor free for the rest of the month, but it looks like I somehow got a similar thing going on my left leg and in a different spot than before. What the heck is going on? I sort of started feeling a little pain there Monday night, thinking it was a bruise. Then the next morning, I could feel a hard lump starting and a slightly pink spot blooming. Today, it feels slightly warm to the touch and the pink spot is growing. Not the time for me to be sick. Really now...wasn't a doctor visit twice a week for all of January enough? I have things to do at work all week and I don't want to take the time off. And another thing...how the heck did I get it again? I've kept my skin all nice and moisturized so it can't be dry skin. I really don't know. I'm kind of hoping it'll get better on its own, but knowing my luck I'll have to go to the doctor anyway.

Not making for a happy weekend is it? On a lighter note, I did finally find a vintage typewriter that looks to be promising and the price was just right. There's the stock photo from etsy. Isn't she a beauty? Well, it looks more like a he to me. It looks to be in great condition and according to the seller, the keys work great minus the 'k' which sticks a bit, but shouldn't be a problem. I've even bought some tapes online so I can get started right away. I'm really looking forward to using this on my layouts somehow. I don't have the patience to print things out on the computer, crop them, measure everything twice, and then finally use them. I just don't.

So ends my ranting and raving for now. If my schedule opens up today, I'll see about making a trip to the doctor so this leg thing can just stop already.

back from holiday

2010-02-16T19:56:00.000-05:00

We're back from our holiday weekend away in beautiful Virginia. We stayed at this cute little cottage just outside the Shenandoah. Absolutely loved every bit of it and I definitely would come back. The cottage was so cute and my favorite part...the gas fireplace. I think it was my ritual for those three days to go straight to the fireplace in our bedroom and light it. It was so pretty and it gave me warm fuzzy feelings to fall asleep to the flickering of the flames.

The staff there was simply amazing. As soon as we arrived in the cottage, there was a little bottle of champagne chilling in a metal bucket and two gourmet chocolates from a nearby chocolate shop. Who can beat that? Our dinner that night was the tasting menu and the chef himself served us. After only eight dishes, I couldn't eat anymore and I was pretty tipsy from the VA wine they served with every dish. I couldn't believe how delicious the food was there and, despite being super pricey, I would gladly spend the same amount to have another experience. When we came back to our room that night, they had thoughtfully lit our fireplace and left behind a plate for a late night snack with even more gourmet chocolates. The next day when we came back from tubing at Massanutten, there was a plate with cookies and grapes. I just thought little touches like that really put them in a whole different light. If I had to choose a hotel room in that area over the inn, no doubt about it I'd go back to the inn.

Just one little note though. We were reading the guest book that was in our room and a few of the previous guests had mentioned ghosts. Now...I'm pretty darn superstitious and my imagination is way to overactive. Had a little trouble sleeping those two nights, but nothing happened. Well, nothing happened until we were leaving. I had run back to the cottage after an amazing breakfast at the inn to use the bathroom before hitting the road. I was all alone in there and Nestor had gone back to the car to grab our camera. I heard noises...these irregular thumping noises that seemed to be coming from inside the house downstairs. Thump....thump thump...thump thump...thump. I literally ran out of there and Nestor was on the porch setting up the camera. He said he had just gotten there so it couldn't have been him. I looked down the street and no one was outside. Yup, I think I might have had a ghostly experience.

On a less scary note, we discovered that one of our favorite vineyards in VA was just 20 mins down the road. We had to make a stop at Horton. This is their shop where they hold free wine tastings and I got to experience a few new favorites and came away with six bottles.

I loved the view of the vineyards as you came in. It looked so beautiful with all those empty branches and row after row of trees.

Tomorrow, I'll try posting something more scrappy!

another snow day!

2010-02-10T16:27:00.000-05:00

It's another snowed out day for us here in Maryland! Oh how happy I am! Not so much for the snow, but that I finally get a day off without having to use my limited amount of vacation leave. We were granted four hours of admin leave this morning for a delayed opening to the base. I was crossing my fingers so hard hoping that they would finally close the base down. At 9:00 it was announced that were in a blizzard warning now and to not travel unless absolutely necessary. Well, the base didn't announce closure until about 10:30. I was getting pretty worried there since I had to be in at 10:30 and if I didn't, I'd have to use 9 hours of leave. I already knew I wouldn't be going into work. Our streets tend to only get plowed once the snow has stopped so my greatest worry was, I would be able to get to work but I wouldn't be able to get home.

Anyway, this leaves me with a lot of time to relax and create. Actually spent half my morning reading, being so caught up in my new book. I'm finally getting up to my room and getting all creative.

The layout above is one I did a few days ago based on a Studio Calico layout challenge. I like how it has more open space than I normally do on layouts lately. Still got my layers in there, but in little areas. Doesn't he look so cute? *sigh* Getting down to my last couple of baby photos of Nestor. I just know that when I have my own babies I'll probably go overboard with the scrapbooking. I just know it! Can't wait until that day.

Well, I was going to post pictures of the mini album I made for v-day, but with both of us home, I sort of don't have a place to photograph it. Plus the light is absolutely terrible today. Looking out my window, all I see is snow falling almost horizontal due to the wind. So glad I don't have to step outside. Now on to creating! Received my giveaway 7gypsies prize and I'm just full of ideas!

Blog Award from Jen!

2010-02-08T10:30:00.000-05:00

My very first Blog Award and it's from the sweet Jen! Rules of the award are to tell ten things that make you happy and then to pass it on to 5 others. Since I'm fairly new with this blogging, the passing along part will be kind of hard but I can definitely tell about 10 happy things.

My mehmee, Nestor, who is having his birthday this week (hence...we call it his birthday week. really unique right?)
My kitties (Booda, Squirt, Gucci, and Mr. B) who
The fact that I got to work in one piece after the crazy snowstorm this weekend
An upcoming 2 night stay in a bed&breakfast cottage!
An upcoming dinner reservation at said b&b's restaurant to try their tasting menu
Brand new books in my e-book reader
Make-up movie night with Mehmee today
Possibility of making a snowman this afternoon
Time for scrapbooking
And another wonderful surprise...I won the 7gypsies stamp set from their blog!

Oh yes...I won this beauty right here and I so cannot wait to receive it in the mail! It's so funny because I love putting my name in for these type of giveaways but I think I've only won 3 things in my entire life and I always get giddy with joy whenever I do. Best of all, I absolutely LOVE this company. All of their products have this wonderful vintage-y goodness about that and I love creating with them. Once I receive it in the mail, I have to think up a project to showcase them as per the rules of the giveaway. Kinda have an idea now of what I want but we'll see.

The snow this weekend was in a word...CRAZY. It started right on time which was a first. Almost 10am on the dot, it started snowing these pretty little flakes. We were out at the time trying to get our last errands done. Oh don't get me started with the pharmacies in this area. I have been fighting a losing battle with them, especially CVS. Consistently and without fail, they have quite literally screwed me over. Anytime I come in for a refill, it's either not ready, they haven't even gone through the big pile of faxes to input it into the computer, they ran out of the meds, they haven't cracked open the boxes and filled my meds which were already 2 days late to begin with, etc. Oh the pain I have gone through in that pharmacy. I can literally feel my heart rate pick up anytime I go into that store. That can't be healthy right? So yes, they were one of my numerous stops that day and sadly, we had to go twice since, like I stated earlier, they didn't fill my prescription.

Anyway, it snowed pretty much all day Friday and Saturday, finally tapering off Saturday night. Measuring the snow in our front yard, it was easily over 12 inches, but our backyard looked even worse. Looking through our back doors, it was so cute because our cats would stand there and the snow would be well above their heads. Needless to say, we didn't see anything beyond our driveway this weekend and I went a little stir crazy. I did get a bunch of creative time in though so I'll try and post that soon!

when you were young...

2010-01-29T21:21:00.000-05:00

See this guy here? Isn't he such cutie with that adorable smile?

That's my mehmee when he was just a kid! He FINALLY gave me a bunch of his childhood pictures and I have been having an incredible time scrapping with them. I just think he looks so darn cute as a kid. Especially here, he reminds me so much of who he is today. He has that same smile, the same "sheepy" eye...everything is him. Sometimes when you see someone when they were young, you don't always "see" them in their photos. Kind of like they haven't yet developed the personality you know them to have now. But this is so him!

Creatively speaking...I had a really fun time making this layout. I've been finding that I love adding on the layers when I scrap now. My process has changed so much from when I first started this hobby almost two years ago. Can it only have been two years? My favorite detail in this layout is that paper tape on the half circle. I smooshed it all around and then added some tiny zig zag stitches to make sure it was really on there. I think it turned out so cool! Also used a bunch of random pieces from my Studio Calico and Jenni Bowlin kits. I like how, even though it's from two completely different kit clubs, they still have a similar enough style that they totally mesh together.

On to more scrapping tonight! It'll be a late one for me. Nestor has been on travel since yesterday and he's supposed to be flying in tonight. I'm crossing my fingers that the snow holds off until he's well on his way home. Poor baby...his flight doesn't land until 1am and it'll be a rough go on the road. That's why I plan on being up! I'm such a worrier. Just the other day when he was on his way to Texas, I tracked his flight online. Come on now...I can't be the only one who does that! My coworkers thought it was hilarious and stalker-ish but whatever...I would much rather know his flight arrived safely then be left to wonder.

One last note...my doctor gave me a clean bill of health today! January has been one heck of a month for me health-wise. First a possible blood clot, then a staph infection on both legs, and the latest news...I find out I'm allergic to sulfa in the worst possible way. I break out in hives on Monday and suffer from some insane itchiness for two whole days before it calms down. Worst part, I'm in a mandatory training class for my job which I can't possibly skip out of so it was a lot of miserable scratching and drowsiness from the meds for two whole days! Thank goodness it's over and done with. Here's to a better start in February!

this is why i scrapbook

2010-01-28T19:36:00.002-05:00

Well...here's my official entry for Shimelle's challenge! The challenge is to find the best and most creative way to showcase the many wonderful reasons why we scrapbook.

I was so inspired by the mini book that Shimelle started to showcase her own reasons why she scrapbooked. I wanted to start my own! I figured laying all my reasons down in one tidy place would be perfect!

Every journal needs a small explanation right? I think I said it all here...either these are all my reasons for indulging in this hobby or this little book is giving me yet another excuse to use up my beautiful supplies.

My first reason why....ME! This hobby begins with me.

And here is my second reason...just as important as my first. It's my mehms (our nickname for each other fyi). He gives me so many wonderful reasons and moments to scrap about. How can I not scrap that handsome face?

And building on my first and second reasons is my third...US. These are some of the happiest moments of my life...all of these memories of US. I don't want to forget any of this...our everyday moments.

Noticing a trend here? My fourth reason revolves around the home...our little family who lives in this home. Yes...it's just the two of us and our "kids"....these four beautiful cats. This is my family and I can't imagine us any other way.

I love this picture. Brings back so many memories of when one of my kitties was still a kitty. This is another reason why my hobby is so important me. I want these moments and memories to last forever. Just stumbling on this photo brought back so many memories of when my two cats were still babies. This is something I had almost forgotten.

And building on that note again...I scrapbook to remember moments that can easily disappear without a moment's notice. This is our buddy, Mr. B, and less than a year ago he was diagnosed with a heart murmur. Thankfully, after several visits to the vet, we were told that it wasn't a serious condition yet. But things can always change.

My seventh reason...it's for the funnies! Here's another one of our babies...Gucci-baby! I lucked out and caught her right as she was yawning. Love it! This photo gets a laugh out of me every single time. I love how her jaw forms an almost 90 degree angle. Too cute!

My last reason that encompasses every single reason I already laid out...it's to remember the memories. Looking for the photos to go into my little book of "why" had me slowing down and really looking at every single picture. I remembered the exact moment I took those pictures as I was browsing through and this is exactly what my hobby does for us. We can flip through all those pages I create and get that "oh yeah" moment. How could we have forgotten that? That funny joke that was the thing for months slowly disappeared and it would have been lost if I hadn't scrapped all about it. This is why my hobby has become such a passion for me. Yes, I love those pretty papers a little too much and maybe I spend way too much buying all those embellishments, but it all comes down to framing the photos which stand for the memories.

And to throw in one final picture into this wonderful mix...

This is Squirt. As I was taking photos of my mini book she decided to show me exactly what she thought about me ignoring her. This definitely gave me the laugh I needed tonight.

Thanks for looking!

it's been awhile...

2010-01-18T14:18:00.000-05:00

I have a very good reason for not blogging in quite awhile. I've been suffering from an ache in my right leg and it turned out that I had a blood clot that had formed there. Just this past week, that are developed a staph infection which spread to my other leg. Let's just say I've been a bit preoccupied with dealing with the pain and doctor visits. Saturday was really not a good day for me. It's gotten a lot better now that I'm on my third day of antibiotics. I can't believe how many pills I've taken in just the past few days. Yesterday, I think I had probably 12 pills all together.

On another note, I have been scrapping quite a bit lately. A lot of that has to do with the fact that standing around too much also hurt my leg.

Here's a layout I did based on Sketch 104 from Sketch Inspiration. Haha..it's a few weeks late but better late than never. This was a picture from our last major snowfall. I swear the snow was piled up so high on our cars that it was a lot taller than I currently am at five feet.

One of the other things I've been crafting on is from Log Your Memory. Basically, it's a book of prompts to scrap/journal about for an entire year, a prompt a week. It's very much like the Creative Therapy site. I've really been enjoying picking and choosing which prompts to work on and thinking so hard about what to scrap about. I think that's where I tend to lose my creative drive is when I'm stuck without any idea on what I want to scrap about but I still want to be creative. Having these prompts ready to go has been nice.

Tomorrow is the start of a new week at work, but at least it'll be a short one for me. I have a full day of work tomorrow and then two days of leadership training that should make the week whiz on by.

We caved in...

2010-01-10T08:56:00.001-05:00

We bought a timeshare! Yesterday, we went to Alexandria, VA, to check out a timeshare 2 hour presentation starting at 9:15. Honestly, I just wanted to go to see what the details were on timeshares and to also get the free gifts (a $50 gift card and 2 night/3 day free vacation). Well...let's just say we didn't leave until past 3:00.

The timeshare company we went with was Wyndham and, honestly, I think this was an amazing deal for us. We got our homebase in a location that's been completely sold out for years and is highly sought after. I definitely want to stay there at least once. And we got an amazing amount of points for the first three years so Nestor and I are super psyched about using a lot of them on an all-out resort. The best part about this whole deal...we can use portions of the points instead of all at once, we have access to the RCI network which is international and HUGE...and it gives us a chance to really travel.

Here's a photo from their website, just a quick view of one of their master bedrooms. Beautiful. National Harbor is definitely another place I would like to go. Simply amazing! For our free week that we were also given, I'm really leaning towards Newport, RI since it's a place I've never been to. Haha...now I really need to ramp up the comp time at work so I can have the time off for all these vacations!

Christmas Recap

2010-01-08T20:38:00.000-05:00

Well...we're well into the new year and the holidays are definitely over, but I still have holiday decor all over the house. I really loved our tree this year. I think it came out so well with my handmade cross-stitched ornaments that my mom turned into little pillows for me, our eclectic assortment of ornaments collected throughout the year, those cute red wooden bead garlands...LOVED all of it. True, it's still our old tree which we have to put up one piece at a time and string every single strand of lights on, but it's OUR tree.

Here's Nestor putting up our tree, branch by branch. Yup...he was not a happy camper, but he volunteered himself. A BIG improvement over last year when he complained and moaned about putting up a tree because of this long assembly time. This year, he actually volunteered and I'm glad of that.

Here's an up-close shot of one of my little 12 days of Christmas cross-stitched ornaments. Haha...I think I posted the layout I made using this picture. It took me AGES to get this picture just the way I wanted it. All you could hear for probably 15 mins was the shutter on my DSLR shutting every so often as I kept adjusting the settings. I wanted a "glowing" look, but I kept getting either a washed out photo with too much light, or just enough light, but not enough detail on the ornament.

Ahh...probably one of my favorite memories of this past holiday. I really REALLY wanted to create some traditions for us and I figured, how hard could a gingerbread house be? Especially if you purchase the kit from the store at half off! Yeah...we were in over our heads. First off, it took us three tries to get the house assembled since the frosting was much too hard, we put the walls on incorrectly so the roof didn't lay out right, etc. Pretty sad that we're both engineers and we completely failed at this. Next, our next batch of frosting was way too runny and well, just take a look at the front door and "windows". Yup, it all dripped off. Haha...and this was us trying really hard!! At that point, we had gotten the roof, door, and one window and I called it quits. I was way too fed up with the crappiness. I think Nestor had more fun eating the frosting than anything else. I have a layout I did of this which I definitely want to post.

Last, but not least, here's a photo of Nestor as he shoveled our FIRST layer of snow a week before the holidays. We got completely snowed out and he wasn't too smart about it either. I had told him we were getting a snowstorm a few days before it hit and I reminded him that our previous snow shovel had broken the year before. Guess when he went to the store to look for a new shovel? Literally HOURS before the storm hit. Yup, and guess how many shovels were left? Absolutely none! So, if you look closely in the photo, you can see our repaired shovel with the duct tape on its handle. FYI...the shovel completely broke the second time he shoveled our driveway. The metal strip on the bottom fell off and is flapping in the wind. Being the engineer he is, he made do with it and the next time we hit Lowes, he bought a shovel. Now, it's not exactly a snow shovel. It's categorized as a grain shovel, but it sure looks a LOT like a snow shovel.

Christmas was spent at home together. Nothing big that day. For dinner, Nestor cooked us up a beautiful honey-glazed ham and we decided that would be our tradition. For some reason, he likes choosing meats like 5 pounds too much for two people so we spent the week after Christmas eating ham several different ways. Along with ham, we had some roasted potatoes, strawberry vinagairette with salad, and hummus with pita chips. Delicious!

finally posting...

2010-01-04T19:48:00.000-05:00

Isn't she adorable? This is my little sister, Jen, when she was probably around 3 years old or so. I love this picture of her. She and I don't always get along, but I love her and this picture really reminds me of how she was as a baby. Such a cutie. This is so her.

I was just going through a couple of photos my dad had burned onto a dvd for me when he came to visit in November. Finally got a chance to just look through. I had asked for my baby pictures, but somehow I ended up with mainly my sister's. Still loved looking through them.

As I had mentioned, I was going to post a couple of layouts I've done since like...several months ago? haha...pretty bad I know. I really love this page I did. For my 26th birthday, my boyfriend surprised me with this bouquet of tulips sitting on our kitchen counter. When I got home from work, he had me stop at the door with my eyes closed as he led me to the kitchen. I LOVE THEM!!! Can you believe this was the first bouquet of flowers he'd ever given me after over 2 1/2 years of being together? I think this was maybe one of the best gifts. He had also gotten me Sims 3 since I'm such a fan of playing queen and ruler over someone's life. Last gift was dinner out to our favorite restaurant where I ordered anything I wanted on the menu. One last note, really loved this line from Crate Paper. Such wonderful papers with beautiful colors...just perfect for the soft touch I wanted. Definitely might use these for my sister's picture!

Here's another layout I made. Went a little mad happy with the sewing machine and paint, but I love it nonetheless. A little out of my normal style, but inspired by Ronda's idea of multiple layers, I went crazy with it. That clear sticker didn't work out as well as I had though it would, but I still love the effect it left behind. House of 3 has some amazing digital art. I think I really got into hybrid scrapbooking because of their designs.

This photo has been scrapped a few times, but I just love how we caught the sunset at the perfect moment. Had just bought our Canon Rebel and Nestor was totally psyched about taking some scenic shots with our new lenses. We went to the island so early just so we could be sure to catch the sunset. I think we had maybe 45 mins to kill and it only took us 5 mins to set up. I kept laughing while we were waiting to take the photos because people walking on the boardwalk kept asking us if we were with the newspaper. I guess with our camera bag, five lenses in the bag, our tripods (yes...we have two), we looked like we were doing it for a job.

Okay! That's my layouts for today! I have a couple more I want to show on here, but I'm feeling like finding some photos and embellishments to match my sister's picture. Feeling a little nostalgic tonight. That's what happens when you know it'll be more than a year before you see your family again.

Tasks for the Year 2010

2009-12-29T08:29:00.000-05:00

Whew...it's been a while since I blogged! I guess the holidays have really gotten to me. So many more things to do.

I need to catch up on my JYC pages. I'm all the way up to the 23rd, but I still need to fill in the last couple of pages. After that, I'll probably set up my tripod and snap away at my entries. I really am glad that I decided to try this out. There were days where I didn't follow the prompts exactly, kind of tailoring it to fit my needs, but it did provide so much inspiration on those days I didn't feel like I had much to document.

I also submitted several layouts to Shimelle for her submissions call for publication. I'm trying not to get my hopes up on this. I have been trying and trying to get onto design teams and whatnot, but no luck so far. Still, the trying has been really fun for this pubs call. I just felt really inspired by so many things, one of them being Rhonda Palazzari's technique she posted on Cocoa Daisy about how she adds layers. Ever since then, I've been going a bit nuts with the layering and I'm really liking the effects. It was so much fun reading her posts on it because it's a lot like how I create. I just add a few things here and there, step back to look at it, either add some more or move things around, then keep looking at it. I never paste anything down until I'm completely finished. EVER. I think my cats have also learned this and they have stopped trying to jump onto my desk now.

I have also been creating tags following Tim Holtz's tags this year (and past years) and also the 12 tags with a Feminine Twist on Ellen Hutson's site. I think I may have gone overboard with buying the majority of Tim Holtz's stamps. I liked getting the inky fingers, embossing powder EVERYWHERE, and a general MESS in my room. It's like a disaster area after I'm done creating. I'll post a few of those tags that I've done soon. I think my favorite one so far is the snowman one that Tim did back in 2008. He used a mixture of UTEE and glossy accents and glitter to make snow. Well, let's just say my version of that mixture didn't turn out the same way. I figured out how to fix it though so all is well.

I'm thinking of attempting a Project 365 for 2010 and then also create a photo carousel out of my favorite photos throughout the year. I'm just about done with my album of fave photos for 2009. Yeah, I've been busy.

Last crafty task on my list...when I went to visit my relatives after Christmas, my aunt was telling me how much she loved my paper creations and that I should think about selling them at the holiday craft fair next year at my cousin's school. I thought that was a great idea! I have spent way too much on this hobby and it'd be nice to get a little back, but I also love creating and it'll give me a break from my regular crafting. Her favorite was the house gift box I made using PTI's templates. Those are way too fun! I've made two this year for friends and family, and making more would be even better! Probably going to make some Christmas Tags as well since I love how those look hanging from simply kraft colored gift bags with a big bow holding them on.

Alrighty...that's all for now. I'll take some pictures tonight of my crafty endeavors while the light is still good and try and put some up.

Holiday Tags: Tag 1

2009-12-12T18:23:00.000-05:00

I've heard of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas, but I never did have a chance to follow, much less play along. This year, I decided things would change. I've been following along since the first, but I didn't really have the time to try it out until just recently.

I was a little intimidated at first. I didn't have very many of the supplies being used so I had to improvise A LOT. I didn't have any of the stamps he used, but I did have some holiday and elements grungeboard that I thought would do.

I stamped the reindeer with versamark ink using my text style stamp and heat embossed it with black embossing powder. I then painted it with some white acrylic paint and smeared it around with my fingers before wiping it off with a rag. Yup, getting really messy here. I next added some rock candy stickles and, for an extra oomph, I also used angel wings shimmerz. Can't see it too well in the photo, but I loved the look. I used sky blue shimmerz to paint the fluorishes which came out this lovely gray tone. I'm pretty sure that's the color I used! To further improvise, I used the fluorishes stamp from PTI. Love that huge stamp it comes with. Biggest improvisation came when Tim used rock candy crackle paint. Don't have that yet, so I wondered...how would some layered UTEE look? Why not?

I actually thought it was pretty funny that half of the UTEE flew off the card and onto myself, my desk, the carpet...everything but the card it was supposed to be sticking on. Since I was trying to emboss such a large surface, it was a little difficult to keep the entire card hot so not all surfaces received extra layers of UTEE. Still like the bumpy texture it came up with and the pretty shininess of it all made it just fine with me.

Sketch Challenge: Handmade Ornaments

2009-12-12T13:17:00.003-05:00

I made this layout based on a sketch from Sketch Inspiration. Wonderful new website for sketches. Another site that I liked to gain inspiration from was 52 sketches 52 weeks, but it seems they'll sadly not continue on next year.

The store behind this layout is that, for this year, I really wanted to go all out with my holiday decorations. I've learned that I love the look of handmade ornaments and well, since I am a crafter at heart, why not make my own? I found this website that sold cross-stitch patterns and I found one for the 12 days of Christmas. Come on now...how could I resist? What I didn't know was it would take me forever to get them complete. And if you decide to count, I only have the first 11 complete and I have yet to finish the last. My mom was wonderful and sewed them into little pillow ornaments for me while she was here visiting.

As for the page itself, I had a great time using up little things I had lying around. The KI Memories snowflake lace paper was just remnants which I wanted to use as a background to my photo. Also a few journaling spots here and there, a ton of my brads even though it didn't seem to make a dent in my stash, and my sadly underused shimmerz paints. For some reason, I haven't used those in a while and I wish I used them more. Love the wonderful effect they left on the jingle bells border.

Sketch Challenge : Our Tree

2009-12-06T16:54:00.001-05:00

Surfing around the internet, I found a sketch challenge on Shimelle's blog. I have been wanting to scrap about our tree for quite a while now, especially since I love it so darn much! We have been collecting ornaments throughout the year, none of them really matching or having any theme about them except for the fact that we liked them. One of my favorite things about this tree...the cross-stitched 12 days of Christmas ornaments I made myself (minus the 12th day since I haven't finished it yet) and those red bead strings. My mom was nice enough to stitch the cross-stitch pieces into actual pillow ornaments since I really do such at real sewing. Let's just say I don't know how.

I really enjoyed using the new Very Merry line from October afternoon. Really fun and festive colors, enough of the traditional in there to appease me, but I love that wonderful shade of blue they used. Since I've been hoarding Christmas supplies since the summer, this was a wonderful way to use up some of those things.

Christmas Journal 2009: Day 1

2009-12-02T17:38:00.001-05:00

This is my first year of doing a Christmas Journal and I'm so excited! I signed up for Shimelle's JYC class, Jessica Sprague's Holidays in Hand class, and I've pored over Ali Edward's previous December Daily. Yes...I am totally psyched for December to begin. I actually put together my journal back in October. That's how bad it was.

Here's the cover of my Christmas Journal!!! I really had a hard time deciding what I wanted to do, but I ended up with clear acetate pieces leftover from a Fancy Pants 8x8 set.

I decided not to really change the Manifesto that came with the JYC class. Made it easier for me and it pretty much said everything I wanted to say.

I have to admit...I got a bit carried away on my first day adding a few more pages than required. But hey...it's all about the way I want it right? Exactly! I chose to take a picture of our tree this year. Even though we had put it up before the first, I figured, this is really what the start of the holidays is for me. I love our tree this year! I've been accumulating ornaments here and there, noticing that all of them are a bit vintage-y and classic. I really love that look. I had a heck of a time hanging up those lights and beads, but...shhh...there's nothing on the back of the tree. Nestor and I figured that, since the back couldn't be seen at all, why waste ornaments there?

I'll be posting my Day 2 photos tomorrow!

Furniture Shopping

2009-11-23T07:22:00.000-05:00

I have been literally searching and searching for THE perfect headboard for our bedroom. Ever since I got the "go ahead" from the boyfriend, it's been furniture store after furniture store after that. We're talking about two years here of searching.

We have always admired this bedroom set from Kincaid Furniture, called Highland Park. In this photo taken from their website, they show the lighter color. I think it looks a bit too modern for me when it's this light, but thankfully, they came up with a line that had the darker color, a cherry stain that was very similar to our current bedroom furniture. PERFECT!! We've gone back a few times over the last two years, but each time the price we were quoted kept changing and was a little out of our comfort zone.

On a whim, I dragged Nestor over to the store on Saturday just to see if the prices had changed yet again. We were in luck! They were having a 50% off sale on all their items. At first, I thought it would still be too much since the price tag on the bed had changed to almost double what it was before. We sat down with one of the salespeople and what do you know...the price was just right and with the 50% off, we closed the deal.

I know I know...I'm waxing poetic about a simple bed frame but it seems almost like a victory for me that we finally have one. Since they are made to order, it should be several weeks before we can even think about seeing it. I'm fine with that though. The quality of their products is amazing. Our new tv stand is from there and I loved the construction and the look of it and I know I can expect the same from the bed frame.

Baby Card

2009-11-19T18:17:00.000-05:00

[supplies: all PTI stamps and cardstock, PTI palette ink, chalk ink]

Oh what a week! I just feel all tuckered out and it's not even Friday! Thank goodness I got some creativity in yesterday or else I'd be in an even bigger frazzle of mind.

This card is for Nestor's best friend's baby boy who had a christening a while ago. I know I know...a little late, but better late than never! This particular card was partly inspired by pine. She made this adorable Christmas tag/card using the text stamp as a background layered on top of another image. Loved this look! Especially loved using several of my new PTI stamps!

Thanksgiving Dinner Plans

2009-11-16T08:03:00.002-05:00

It's been ages since I've really sat down to blog. Haha...had great intentions in October to actually keep a semi-daily blog going, but apparently that was a little too high of a reach for me.

With Nestor's family coming to visit us in just over a week for the holidays, I'm starting to stress just a little bit trying to figure out what to have for this holiday feast.

Here's my menu so far (and it will probably be tweaked a few more times before the actual day):

Fried Turkey from Popeyes
Roasted Garlic (or Pesto) Mashed Potatoes
Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Cornbread Stuffing (still need to try out that new cornbread recipe I found)
Buttermilk Biscuits
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Pumpkin Pie / Cheesecake Bars for Dessert

I really need to get cracking on trying out a few of those recipes in smaller form before next week!

Blog Manifesto

2009-10-01T09:05:00.002-04:00

Here is my next attempt at blogging and hopefully this is one I can stick to.

To make it clear, here is my Blog Manifesto:

to record little tidbits of my day to day life
to share some of my crafting endeavors (i.e. the beginnings of my knitting journey, scrapbooking, cross-stitching, etc.)
to have a place for other random thoughts that I am given to

There...simple as can be.