Wahkuna Mae-lyn

Welcome to California!

2012-01-13T15:35:00.000-05:00

Background image from Kameron Walsh

So lately I've been thinking about how crazy life can sometimes be. It's proof that nothing can really be planned or pre conceived because everything in life has the potential to change, at any given moment. The truth is, we can never really know what to expect, which is the beauty of it all!

Bearing all of this in mind, today makes two weeks since I picked up and moved to SoCal, in search of sun, sand and a better lifestyle! If anyone had told me last year this time that I would be living in California right now- I never would have believed them, but this is a typical example of how crazy and unexpected life can be. These days I find myself waking up to clear blue skies and the warmth of new possibilities! I'm a firm believer that if you ever have the chance to just pack up your belongings and start fresh- you should certainly take advantage of it. The thing is, we only live once and you never know where these risks might take you. Like I said in my last post- I don't know where this new path will lead, but I'm absolutely ready for the journey. I see a lot of new adventures and exploration in my future- it's all a part of the process. So here's to more soul searching, risk taking and spontaneity in 2012! xo

The Chive

A New Start (and a little break from blogging)...

2011-12-28T21:45:00.000-05:00

Hey there friends! I'm sorry I've been gone for a while...but it seems the holidays and preparing for a huge move across the country has totally consumed me lately (I didn't even get to finish my December Daily album again this year...uuuggghhh!) I'm also a little disappointed that I didn't have a chance to post my last Weekend in Review for 2011. But sometimes you just have to do what you have to do, and let life take it's course. Anyway, I hope you all had a chance to enjoy the holidays with family and friends. And if you don't celebrate the holidays, then I still hope you've had the chance to spend time with loved ones and just enjoy life.

As I said before, I've been preparing for a big move, which is actually taking place tomorrow. It was a little over a month ago when I made the decision to pack up and move to sunny San Diego by the end of this year! A great opportunity presented itself to me, which I just couldn't pass up (not to mention that I've always wanted to try living on the west coast). Although, I can't believe this is happening, I think it's definitely going to be a turning point in my life and what better time than NOW- on the heels of the new year!

I know I don't usually get too personal here, but the second part of this year has been very difficult for me. From being laid off over the summer, to going through a separation with my husband and having to move back home with my family in September. It's been a whirlwind of craziness- a complete roller coaster ride, but I definitely know now for sure, that everything happens for a reason and regardless of what happens, in the end I will be OK. The hardships I've dealt with for the past 6 months have taught me many valuable lessons, that I would not have learned otherwise. I can now say that I'm a better, much stronger person thanks to these challenges and have the ability to pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again...

I'm excited for the new possibilities that 2012 will bring and looking forward to a much brighter and more successful future. I don't know where this new path will lead, but I'm absolutely ready for the journey. So with that said, I will be taking a break from blogging for a little while, until I'm more settled in California and my new surroundings. I can't really say how long I'll be away, but I'm definitely looking forward to getting back to this blog just as soon as I can- hopefully with a lot of fun and interesting things to share! So until then- stay well my friends and enjoy all that life has to offer, one day at a time! Happy New Year to you all! Sending best wishes of much happiness, good health and love in 2012! *smile* xo

Weekend in Review Vol.#9- In the Bean

2011-12-19T12:12:00.000-05:00

This weekend was spent catching up in Boston with family and friends. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to take pictures really, but I still wanted to document what I could. Above is a picture from an alley in Boston by Salem Design. I love it because it captures the city in such a beautiful way! It's getting really cold here now, and I'm hoping that we will experience a white Christmas this year.

I spent some time with the most adorable baby, my little cousin Audriana (who is already going on 4 months)! She is so precious, and I love that little hat so much- I just had to get a picture of her in it!

And while getting in a little Christmas shopping yesterday at Kohl's, I cam across this wall art that I love- perfect words to live by! xo

December Daily 2011- Day 13

2011-12-14T16:19:00.000-05:00

Supplies: Patterned Paper & Number Tag- Making Memories; Digital Tag- AE Studio;

Chipboard Accent- Echo Park; Glitter- Recollections; Gold Metallic Marker- American Crafts

So since there are NO RULES with scrapbooking or the December Daily project, last night I decided to focus on that day, instead of trying to catch up with days 7-12 that I haven't done yet. I don't want to get stuck worrying about catching up, because then I'm afraid I won't finish. I'm thinking that if I can try to keep up from here on out, once I get to the end and every page is done (except 7-12) then I will be able to finish those and have a complete book for 2011! So let's just hope this tactic works... *crossing fingers*

So day #13 is about the holiday cards that I mailed out yesterday morning. I took a picture of the cards in the mailbox and added one of Ali Edward's digital tags on top, along with the sentiment that is inside the cards. On the back of day #13, I used the front of my "prototype" card, to decorate my DD album and to have a keepsake of the card I created this year. I really like how it came out- simple yet effective! xo

Weekend in Review Vol.#8- It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2011-12-12T12:32:00.003-05:00

Favorite Ornament Tag- AE Studios

My, how the weekends fly by! Everything is getting a little crazed around here for the holidays and time is definitely winding down! I'd have to say that December definitely goes by the fastest (out of all the 12 months of the year- for me)! This weekend I was able to catch up with my best friend, over dinner and then the Muppet's Movie, which was pretty cute!

I also sent out a few holiday cards, we decorated the tree and some other areas of the house. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... I just wish time would slow down a little bit, so I can catch up with everything! Well, tis the season! *smile* xo

Photo taken by: Wahkuna

December Daily 2011- Days 4-6

2011-12-09T12:03:00.001-05:00

The overlay quote reads: "Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold

everything is softer and more beautiful"~ Norman Vincent Peale

Supplies: December Memories Tag- Ali Edwards; Smile Stamp- Technique Tuesday;

Patterned Paper- Making Memories

Happy Friday! I'm back today to share my December Daily day 4-6 with you! Day #4 is documenting our search for the perfect Christmas Tree as described in a recent post here. I love this picture of the four of us in front of the tree we chose and knew I wanted it to be the focus of this page. Now that we are all getting older, it's rare that we take photos like this (just the four of us), so it was definitely an important memory to capture!

Supplies: Four Tag- Making Memories; Christmas Tree Accent- K&Company;

Rhinestones & Ribbon- Other

On the back of day #4 I added images from the Christmas tree search and the lyrics to O Christmas Tree (which was so fitting for the occasion). The Christmas tree accent was cut from K&Company patterned paper. I inked the edges in red distress ink, then added gold ribbon strips and rhinestones to dress it up!

Supplies: Patterned Paper- Making Memories & Jenni Bowlin;

Glitter Alpha- Making Memories

Day #5 features my "little" Christmas list. The sentiments were stamped with black ink and then outlined with a gel pen. I also straight stitched underneath each word to add emphasis.

Supplies: Patterned Paper- K&Company & Making Memories;

Alphas- Making Memories & American Crafts

On the back of day #5 is another Christmas wish of mine, for a fresh new start...soon, and very soon.

Supplies: Overlay- Hambly Studios; Overlay Title- K&Company; Flowers- Prima;

Brad- Echo Park; To/From Tag- Ali Edwards

Supplies: Picnik photo software; Alphas- DCWV & Anna Griffin; Tags- Making Memories;

Button- Pebbles Inc.; Chipboard Accent- Echo Park

Day #6 is all about my holiday cards that I posted about here, along with the process of how they were made on the back.

I'm really enjoying this December Daily process of documenting my holiday memories, and I'm already so much further along compared to last year. *smile* xo

Photos taken by: Wahkuna

December Daily 2011- Days 1-3

2011-12-08T11:22:00.001-05:00

Supplies: Paper Flower- Prima; Glitter Alphas- White Blossom; Sticker and Tag- Making Memories

I've been doing a bit of catching up on my December Daily album in the last day or so. Around this time of year, the days seem to get away from us, which makes it hard to keep up with a daily project such as this one. Nevertheless, I've finished a few more pages and wanted to share them with you. The image above, is the back of my first page shown here, where I decided to document the CMA Country Christmas special that I watched on TV that night (while creating my first DD page). I collaged images I found online from the show and then added my own personal touch. This year, I've decided that I'm going to try to document 2 events for each day. The front page being the main story and the back of that page, being the second story (which could be a movie I watched that day, or a poem, quote or song lyrics that pertain to that day's story). So far it's working out quite nicely!

Supplies: Patterned Paper- Cloud 9 Design; Rhinestone Spiral; Want 2 Scrap;

Word Stickers & Circle Alpha Stickers- Authentique; Chipboard Accent- Echo Park

DD day #2 documents the Beyonce interview on 20/20 with Katie Couric that I watched with my cousin Faithe. I'm a HUGE Beyonce fan, so I just had to watch this interview! Here I also used pictures that I found online from the interview and Beyonce's Roseland Ballroom Concert (since they spoke about it during the interview). I absolutely adore this picture of Beyonce performing that I found here. To personalize it, I added some of the lyrics from her song Best Thing I Never Had and part of a rhinestone spiral from Want 2 Scrap.

Supplies: Patterned Paper- K&Company; Number Tag- Making Memories

The back of day #2 is dedicated to the movie A Golden Christmas 2 (which is what I watched later that night). It was the cutest Christmas movie with a beautiful love story! *wink*

Supplies: Patterned Paper- K&Company and Jillibean Soup; Tag- Jenni Bowlin

On day #3 I went to the mall for the first time this season, and Santa was already in the building! Of course they also had all of the decor up, and I couldn't help but get a picture of the winter wonderland! The title is part of the patterned paper background that I used by K&Company. I wanted the pictures to look like Polaroids, so I created the Polaroid frames in adobe photoshop and placed them over the pictures before resizing and printed them for my DD. The quote at the bottom of the page says; "Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace & goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas."- Calvin Coolidge

Supplies: Patterned Paper- American Crafts; Paper Flowers- Prima; Tag- Making Memories;

Brad & Chipboard Accent- Echo Park; Decorative Punch- Martha Stewart Crafts

On the back of day #3 I added the song lyrics for It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (which coordinates with the title used on the front of the page- and the pictures). I printed the lyrics on brown kraft paper and flicked a small paint brush (dipped in Mister Huey's holly berry ink) over the page to create little ink splatters. I also inked the edges of the page with tea dye distress ink from Ranger Inks. The bottom edge was die cut using the eyelet lace punch from Martha Stewart.

Now to catch up on days 4-7! Gotta keep the December Daily flow going! *wink* xo

Album photos taken by: Wahkuna

Holiday Card Making 2011

2011-12-07T11:41:00.001-05:00

This week, I've been working on my holiday cards! For this year's card- I was inspired by a design from Cards 2010 Christmas Card magazine. The inspiration was an image of a Christmas tree stamped out of green spirals, with the sentiment Merry Christmas stamped across the tree in red ink, about 3/4" down on the card. So for my own spin on this, I found a Christmas tree graphic made of birds from the Graphic's Fairy and added a Season's Greetings garland along with my own digital sparkle button with a red/white twine bow. Here's how the card was created;

First I created the design using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop and printed it on 6"x8" blank white cards from Studio G (that I bought at Michael's for $1.50 for a set of 8 cards/envelopes).

After printing all of the cards, I used tacky glue along with a tooth pick for spreading/smoothing and created the base for fallen snow on some parts of the tree. Then I sprinkled extra fine white glitter over the patches of glue to make the snow.

Once all the glitter was completely dry, I used Fabri-Tac permanent adhesive glue to adhere red and green rhinestones used as ornaments on the tree. And here is the finished product;

There's a sentiment printed on the inside of the cards that says; "May the spirit of the season bring you love, happiness and joy!"

I made 24 of these cards to send to family and friends. There are a few more to finish up today and they will be in the mail by the end of the week! And soon this will be another holiday project crossed off the list. I'm slowly but steadily getting things done over here. *smile*

I hope you enjoyed this overview of my holiday card making process for 2011! Happy Holidays! xo

Supplies Used:

Photos taken by: Wahkuna

Weekend in Review Vol.#7- Our Christmas tree search

2011-12-05T00:05:00.001-05:00

This weekend was full of holiday cheer! Christmas decorating is in the midst, and we also took a trip to A Quiet Place Tree Farm to find our lucky tree for 2011! We actually visited two tree farms, but the second one was the charm! We spotted our tree within 5 mins. of being there, and realized we lucked out this year with a beautiful white spruce!! Mom is totally excited, and I'm happy because it was my first time searching for a Christmas tree at a tree farm, of which I picked out (yyeeaayyyy!). While we were there, I also met the cutest little dog named Netty...she was so sweet and naturally had to be featured here on my blog! Anyway, there will be more pictures to come once our tree is up and decorated! I hope you're enjoying this festive time of year! Be back soon...xo

Photos take by: Wahkuna

December Daily 2011 Part 4- Getting Started

2011-12-02T16:06:00.001-05:00

So yesterday was officially December 1st, and the December Daily days have finally arrived! Here are a couple images of my first page. Nothing much happend yesterday, so page one is all text with a little description of my thoughts on the holiday season and being joyful for the "everyday" blessings that we often overlook.

Today is another day, and another page...looking forward to the progression of it all. *smile*

A preview of my first digital scrapbooking collection!

2011-11-30T11:13:00.001-05:00

My first digital kit sneak peak

First came my love for traditional scrapbooking while shopping the isles of a local craft store in early 2007 and then came my love for digital scrapbooking- once I joined a few online scrapbooking communities and discovered the beautiful digital creations of others! And if you know the software, then digital scrapbooking is just as creative as conventional scrapbooking, if not more! I say more, because you can easily manipulate paper and embellishment colors and customize anything to fit your style or whatever look your trying to achieve! I've dabbled in the world of digital for a few years now...more for my career in fashion design, but also for scrapbooking and have recently decided to create my own kit to incorporate into a baby memory book. It's been a slow process, but it has been going much better than I expected, so I'm pleasantly surprised! First I decided on a theme and then created an inspiration board and decided on a color palette;

Images on the inspiration board are from; Bump Smitten and On to Baby

And from there, I started to create my first digital scrapbook collection. I'm far from finished at this point, but very happy with the progress I've made. I'm looking forward to the finish product-a personal goal that will finally be accomplished!

The best part of scrapbooking for me is the tangible elements and how you can add so much texture and dimension to a flat page, but with the nature of digital scrapbooking, this gets a little more complex. But I've found that I love digital scrapbooking kits that are very realistic with a lot of dimension, texture and look as if they are popping right off the page. One of my favorite digital designers is Vinnie Pearce. Her work has a very realistic look to it, so I love working with a lot of her products. Unfortunately I don't scrapbook as often as I'd like (let alone digitally), but I still love to have all the options! I'm also a big fan of hybrid scrapbooking, where traditional meets digital scrapbooking. All the possibilities are awesome, which is why I love this hobby so much!

What are your thoughts on digital scrapbooking?

Weekend in Reveiw Vol.#6- Thanksgiving & my 100th post!

2011-11-28T12:06:00.001-05:00

I can't even believe that Thanksgiving has already come and gone! We are now on the heels of December!! The holiday season has rushed upon us yet again! It's so crazy how this time of year always creeps up on us before we know it!

I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving with family and/or friends. I know I sure did! It was quiet and really gave me time to reflect on what matters most in life- family. I came up with the menu this year; from appetizers to dessert and prepared the whole meal myself for the first time (with some guidance from mom of course). It was really fun and felt rewarding to sit at the table on Thursday afternoon, knowing how much hard work and love I put into everything that was there. I must say that the turkey, dressing and everything else came out pretty delicious (for a first timer). Everyone was proud, including me!

I'm also proud to announce that I've FINALLY made it to my 100th post! It's a little sad to say that it's taken me a couple years to make such a benchmark on my blog, but in another way, it's definitely something to celebrate- a sign of great progress (especially within the last couple months). Since taking the Blogging Your Way e-course by Holly Becker of Decor8, I've kept up with my posts much more often and feel that I've come a long way in such a short time! I highly recommend this course to anyone who has a blog and wants to learn new ways to improve it or if your someone who is interested in starting a blog, but haven't taken the plunge just yet! There are so many helpful lessons, filled with invaluable information and resources! So if you are the slightest bit interested, I suggest you check it out! *wink*

Thanks for stopping in and reading my 100th post! I appreciate YOU, the readers who take the time to visit and add feedback which is always welcome! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! xo

Photos taken by; Wahkuna

December Daily 2011 Part 3

2011-11-23T11:15:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!! I'm popping in today really quick to show you the progress I made on my DD yesterday. I finalized the cover (except for a possible handwritten quote I might add to the bottom) and added a shiny textured "Christmasy" ribbon trim. It looks very festive (like a trim you'd see on a Christmas tree), I like it.

And here are some of my transparent overlays to go before each page. I designed most of them on the computer, except for the chicken wire and green circle overlays from Hambly Studios which came in my DD kit. I created the overlays in all different sizes, to mix it up a little and add variation to my DD.

Here are a few close-ups:

Yesterday my mom and I were both working on our December Daily together. It was really nice to spend quality time together while creating something that we will cherish for years to come. We also did this last year and plan to make a tradition of it! I'll be back later this week to share more photos of the DD progress...

Right now we're off to finish our shopping for Thanksgiving dinner! I hope you all are enjoying your day so far! xo

Photos taken by: Wahkuna

December Daily 2011 Part 2

2011-11-22T00:06:00.000-05:00

December daily is finally under way (for me)! A little late, but it's happening nonetheless! I spent some time yesterday afternoon planning the outside cover of my album, and this is what I came up with. I really like it so far- I'm a very traditional Christmas kind-of girl, so of course it's red & green. As I said in my previous post here, I'm using the December Daily kit by Ali Edwards & Studio Calico and I'm loving it! I'm also using some things from last year's Christmas stash that I still have, after all, that's what scrapbooking is all about right, using up those "scraps"!

The numbers and title in the above pictures are not stuck down yet...I'm still deciding if I want the cover arranged this way, or slightly different. But the general look will remain the same- even if some of the placement changes. The background paper is already adhered to the album, so that part is permanent! BTW, I strongly suggest that if you are doing a December Daily, and you're on Pinterest, check out all the DD inspiration there, because there's A LOT! Good luck with your DD, and I'll be back soon to post more updates with mine. *wink*

Photos taken by: Wahkuna

Weekend in Reveiw Vol.#5- A low-key fall weekend

2011-11-21T09:05:00.001-05:00

Our neighbor's front gate (a photo taken during my fall stroll).

Hello and happy Monday to ya! My weekend was pretty low key mostly, but I did get a few things accomplished. Friday was spent cleaning and organizing- I don't know about you, but I always feel more energized when my space is clean (which also helps my creativity and productivity). When everything is a mess, I feel stifled and don't feel like doing much of anything, but now, all is right with my world and the creativity is flowing!

On Saturday I met up with a close cousin for dinner and drinks. It was a much needed break from everything and some good quality time spent together catching up. Sometimes it's nice to just walk away from everything and recharge a little, and this was just what the Dr. ordered!

Mom and I also did most of our shopping for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, which was fantastic! I'm in charge of the dinner this year, and added a few new items to the menu, so I'm looking forward to it. Unfortunately I didn't get around to working on my DD album...however, I'm hoping to do that sometime this week. The positive thinking is key *wink*.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend. Be back soon! xo

Friendship Card for a Special Person

2011-11-18T11:03:00.001-05:00

Supplies Used: Patterned Paper- October Afternoon & Fancy Pants Designs; Distress Ink- Tim Holtz/Ranger ink; Brads- American Crafts; Sentiment Label- Designed by Wahkuna

I know from experience that receiving an unexpected but thoughtful greeting in the mail can make your whole day! I've taken notice of this feeling and I'm trying to spread that same cheer around to more people in my life. This friendship card was created for a special person (who will remain nameless for now). The mix of patterns and colors fit perfectly together and the sentiment expresses exactly how I feel about our friendship. I used the Lawn Party kit by Studio Calico to create this card and my favorite part is the crochet lace ribbon, which adds a homespun touch-not to mention that the aqua color is just GORGEOUS!

I can't wait to mail this to that special someone, and hopefully make their day too! *smile*

Happy Friday everyone- enjoy your weekend!

Photos taken by: Wahkuna

December Daily 2011 Part 1

2011-11-17T13:02:00.001-05:00

I can't even believe it's that time of year again, to start working on my December Daily album! I probably should've already started thinking about how I'm going to set up and decorate my album this year, but I haven't! Life always gets away from us and before you know it, you have to think fast! Luckily I took enough initiative to order the December Daily kit by Ali Edwards and Studio Calico before it was sold out- PHEW! I also tweaked the design of my pages from last year and was able to get the file to the printer earlier this week. I picked up the printed pages yesterday (for my mom and I) and now need to focus on the fun part- decorating!! The possibilities are endless and that's what I love most about this album...I'm so excited!

Unlike last year, I plan to complete my December Daily and be proud of the outcome! So I'll be back sometime soon with updates on my progress. Until then, happy crafting my friends!

BTW, are any of you working on a December Daily album too? If so, how do you go about creating your album? Please feel free to share your crafty tips!

Photo taken by: Wahkuna (via camera phone)

New Card: A Baby Boy Is...

2011-11-15T11:20:00.001-05:00

Supplies Used: Animal Crackers Jack Collection- Making Memories; Ribbon & Metal Decorative Bobby Pin- Making Memories (Chloe's Closet); Cardstock- Bazzill; Font- CK Ali

It seems this has been the Year of the Babies (at least in my family). We've already had 2 new additions and have 2 more on the way (one who's expected any day now). It's so exciting to see all these new little faces, fingers and toes- they are too cute! I'm happy to have an ever growing family full of amazing people! *smile*

This card (with matching envelope) was made for one of the newest additions- Jaydin (whom I blogged about yesterday). I'm working on his baby memory book which will have a similar theme, but in the meantime- this was his "welcome to the world" greeting!

Tip: To get the sentiment on the journaling tag I first found a quote that I thought was appropriate from Scrapbook.com. Then I copied it- opened a new document in Photoshop and pasted it into the new document. I resized it and printed it out on all purpose printing paper. Once I felt the size was perfect, I taped the journaling tag right over the printed quote and re-printed the document (using this same piece of paper). The quote was printed onto the tag (which was placed directly on top of the original print). After it was printed, I carefully removed the taped journaling tag from the paper (being careful not to tear it) and adhered it to my card.

Enjoy! xo

Photos taken by: Wahkuna

Weekend in Reveiw Vol.#4- Meeting the newest family member + NYC

2011-11-14T11:00:00.001-05:00

This past weekend was really nice! I was able to meet the newest little family member (baby Jaydin) who is a little over a month old now and SO adorable! I also made a quick trip to NYC and did a little browsing (while my brother was auditioning). It was such a beautiful night in New York yesterday, you almost didn't need a jacket...

The holiday lights were draped on the tree lined streets and it seems everyone is starting (or possibly finishing) their holiday shopping already! In passing, I heard a few people saying that they've finished their shopping and I can't even fathom that idea, because I haven't even started! Although, there won't be much shopping for me this season, but I will be doing a little something *wink*. Have any of you finished your holiday shopping yet? I often wonder how early people start!?!

I stopped at Paper Presentation (which is one of my favorite stationery stores in NYC) where I picked up a few novelty pieces of decorative paper. While I was there, I also discovered a new stationery line that I'd never heard of before; Bonnie Marcus Collection- Where Fashion Meets Paper. I love her style- where she combines fashion illustration with stationery for all occasions! Check out some of her collections if you haven't already!

And lastly, the view of the Empire State building from 18th st. & 5th ave. was beautiful (in honor of Veterans Day). I hope you all enjoyed your weekend too! xo

Photos taken by: Wahkuna

Handmade Inspiration Board #3: Thanksgiving

2011-11-10T13:34:00.001-05:00

It's about that time- to start thinking about Thanksgiving and I can't wait for the day! I love this holiday the most because if focuses on family, thankfulness and AMAZING food! This year I am in charge of the Thanksgiving dinner (it's my first time, so all helpful tips are welcome *wink*), so I thought I would gather some inspiration for the day and build from there. Here is my inspiration folder, I hope you're able to gather some ideas from it as well! xo

Supplies Used; Patterned Paper- Cosmo Cricket and Crate Paper; Cardstock- American Crafts and Bazzill; Transparent Scroll Design- K&Company; Doily Rub-Ons- Hambly Studios; Gem Brad- Making Memories; Paper & Crochet Flowers- Prima Marketing Inc.; Alpha Stickers- Making Memories; Stitched Brad- Basic Grey

Images Used;

Leaf Printed Linens- Martha Stewart

Thanksgiving Table Setting- Martha Stewart

Fall Floral Basket- Martha Stewart

Give Thanks (Gobble Gobble)- Better Homes and Gardens

Thanksgiving Poem- Better Homes and Gardens

(Photos of inspiration board by; Wahkuna)

Comfort Food from the "Old Country"; Cachupa

2011-11-09T10:58:00.001-05:00

This soup is part of my Cape Verdean culture (a recipe passed down from my Vozinha). Its also a staple meal in Cape Verde (also known as Cabo Verde to the locals). A very flagrant and hearty stew that is perfect for this time of year, however if it's your first time making it, be sure to allow yourself plenty of prep/cooking time. Maybe try it out one weekend when you have the extra hours to spare...

Ingredients;

1 pkg. Pork Bones or Pigs Feet (you can also substitute smoked turkey bones or ham)

2 cups Dried Corn (also known as yellow samp)
1 cup Dried Red Kidney Beans
1 cup Dried Lima Beans
1 Medium Onion Chopped
2-3 White Potatoes cut in 4 (sweet potatoes optional)

Olive Oil

Spices- Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Paprika (to taste)

Cooking Instructions;

In a large pot, saute meat & chopped onion with

olive oil until golden brown. Fill pot half way with
water. Add salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika to taste.
Bring to a boil. Add corn & beans. Cook on
medium heat slowly until corn & beans are soft.
Add potatoes close to the end to help broth thicken.

Serves; 10-12

Cooking Time; 2.5-3hrs.

I must say, it's very yummy (not because I'm bias or anything *wink*), but if you try this recipe, let me know how it comes out! Good Luck! xo

Photos taken by: Wahkuna

Colors of Autumn

2011-11-08T13:33:00.000-05:00

The other day I purchased a fall inspired bouquet (pictured above) and knew I had to capture its beauty some how! So I had the idea to create a fall color palette, inspired by the photo of my flowers and the photo of wine & pumpkins that I took while visiting a winery not too long ago (mentioned here). And to top it all off- today is such a lovely day to dedicate a blog post to the beautiful colors of autumn! Enjoy! xo

Photos taken by: Wahkuna

Weekend in Reveiw Vol.#3- Sleepover at Vozinha's

2011-11-07T01:07:00.000-05:00

Lately, I always find myself reminiscing about the "good ole days", when I was young enough- not to have any "real" problems or responsibilities. Of course those days are long gone, however it's nice to think back on them every now and again, to remember where we came from and what made us the people we are today. Some of my fondest childhood memories are the sleepovers I had at my Vozinha & Vovo's house (which means grandmother & grandfather in Cape Verdean creole). Sometimes I would sleepover my grandparent's house alone and other times I would be with my cousins, which was a real treat (considering they all lived an hour from us)! There was always plenty of love, laughs and good food to go around at the sleepovers. Oh how I miss those days!

Now that I am a young woman, I'm still lucky enough to have Vozinha in my life. She's 80 years old and still kicking! Vozinha is quite the feisty one (which is why she has outlived the rest of my grandparents), not to mention she's like super woman! I'm so grateful to still have her in my life. And lets just say that now-a-days when I have a chance to sleepover there, it's so much more special, because it makes me feel like a kid again, like I'm reliving my younger years all over again. This weekend my cousin Lanita and I slept there one night and she brought her new little baby, Audrianna for quality time with Vozinha (her great-grandmother). It was 3 generations having a sleepover- something you don't hear of everyday, and most certainly doesn't happen very often. Here are some images I captured with my phone while we were all together;

Isn't she the cutest baby ever? I mean how can you resist that face! *smile*

As for the rest of my weekend- it was pretty low key. I finished working on a scrapbook/guestbook for the Bat Mitzvah event I posted about here, which I will share with you soon. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and was able to spend some quality time with family too...

That's it for now, be back soon! xo

Photos taken by; Wahkuna

Personalized Bat Mitzvah Collage

2011-11-02T00:00:00.000-04:00

Recently I worked on another personalized Bat Mitzvah collage (for an event coming up in a few weeks) similar to the one posted here. It's a very special keepsake that measures 32x40", made up of personalized photos and memorabilia. Its displayed at the Bat Mitzvah celebration for guests to enjoy and preserved in a large custom made shadow box. The theme for this celebration is different shades of purple with a splash of zebra print. It's always so fun to make these keepsakes, they tell a big story and there's so much to look at, you'll never get bored! Also, this type of collage can be made for ANY occasion! The sky's the limit! xo

A few close-ups...

Photos taken by; Wahkuna

Just for you!

2011-11-01T12:43:00.000-04:00

I can't even believe it's already Nov. 1st! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this time of year?!? I'm pretty sure I have, but I still don't think that's enough! So today I'm here to share another fall inspired card that I created.

I used products from the Mind the Gap kit by Studio Calico, a lace punch, lace trim and ribbon with scallop to create the feminine feel. The colors are ivory, green, orange and brown- perfect harvest inspired colors! The pumpkin in the background was actually picked during my visit to the Westport Rivers vineyard- which I posted about here. And speaking of fall, I think now that we are officially in November, I need to get started on my Thanksgiving inspiration board...so stay tuned, there will be more to come on that! xo

Supplies Used: Cardstock- Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper- My Mind's Eye, K&Company; Buttons- My Mind's Eye; Lace Trim- TPC Corp.; Rose Trim- Webster Pages; Letter Stickers- Sassafrass; Ribbon- Making Memories; Kraft Envelopes- Pebbles Inc.; Lace Punch; Martha Stewart Crafts; Distress Ink; Ranger/Tim Holtz; Stamps- Other

Photos by; Wahkuna

Weekend in Review Vol.#2- Halloween weekend in NYC

2011-10-31T14:34:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend and if you were as lucky as me to get stuck in the snow storm of October 2011, I hope you were safe and didn't lose power! I can definitely say I wasn't prepared for the snow that hit the north east this weekend, however I survived nonetheless, and still made it to the Halloween party! It was a great weekend, full of quality girl time with my good friend and fashion stylist Tiffani, of Accidental Chic. On Saturday (the day of the storm) we lounged around with a hot cup of tea and scoured through a bunch of her great magazines for new inspiration, before heading out that night to a Halloween party that our friends were having in Brooklyn. On Sunday, I had lunch at Chocolate by the Bald Man in Union Square (best place for all of you chocoholics!) followed up by drinks at Heartland Brewery to cap off a great weekend! So all in all, it was a good time! Happy Halloween! xo

photo taken by; Brad Johansen-Pirates of Brooklyn

Photos taken by Wahkuna (unless otherwise mentioned above)

Handmade Inspiration Board #2: Fall + Halloween

2011-10-28T10:15:00.000-04:00

Hello, and Happy Friday! In celebration of Halloween weekend, I wanted to leave you with an inspiration board to help stir up some creativity for the festivities! I pulled together some great Halloween/fall images and embellishments to help get you in the mood! So enjoy, and whatever you're doing this weekend, please be safe! xo *wink*

Supplies Used; Patterned Paper- Crate Paper, Melissa Frances and Hambly Studios; Sitching Rub-On- K & Company Studio 112; Burlap Trim-Canvas Home Basics; Paper Flowers & Crocheted Flowers- Prima; Pocket Holder- Ki Memories; Mix Tape- American Crafts; Buttons, Ribbon & Embroidery Thread- Other

Images Used;

HalloweenBunting- Craft Zine

Crochetedweb- Betz White

Diningroom setup- Country Living

PumpkinGarland- Martha Stewart

Trickor Treat boxes- BrownPaper Packages

RhinestonePumpkin- Better Homes & Gardens

(Photos of inspiration board by; Wahkuna)

Handmade Inspiration Board #1: Fall + Quilting

2011-10-25T16:54:00.000-04:00

I recently learned of a great (compact) way to create inspiration boards from the very talented Holly Becker of Decor8. I love the idea of creating a board the size of a file folder that you can fold up and take anywhere- to use as reference or store very easily! It's large enough to include all the important details, but small enough to take on the go!

The first board I would like to share on my blog is inspired by fall + quilting (very similar to the card I posted here). Obviously I can't help but create fall inspired things during this season, and now is the perfect time to share it! The colors are; brown, ivory, red and navy. I hope this board helps you to come up with some great ideas for your next craft project! Enjoy! xo

New Series; Weekend in Review Vol.#1- Halloween Party & King Richard's Fair

2011-10-24T16:56:00.000-04:00

Hey there, welcome back! I hope you all had a great weekend and had a chance to get out and do something fun, as well as relax! I'm here today to introduce a new series on the Wahkuna Mae-lyn blog called Weekend in Review which I will run every Monday (at least until the end of this year *fingers crossed*). Its where I will share little clips of my weekend.

So to start it off; On Saturday I went to my good friend's Halloween party at her brand NEW house! First of all, I'm SO excited for her new home (of which she bought all on her own at age 26! I'm such a proud friend!) She's done a lot of work on it, and the whole downstairs was renovated (which is right up my alley, with my HGTV obsession 'n' all!)

It was a great party, full of new faces for me, but was really fun and I was happy to be in attendance! My costume this year, is basically the same costume I wore last year (a Native American). I love it and was able to save a lot of money by recycling and reusing it for this year! A win/win situation! My friend Katelyn's costume was the bride of Chucky! The costume was brilliant, and looked great on her, don't you think!?!

On Sunday I went to the King Richard's Fair in Carver, MA with friends. I've never been, but it was AWESOME! It's like going back in time to the Medieval days! Everyone who works at the fair dresses up and also a lot of the fair goers do too (even the little kiddos)! It was crazy! There was; a tiger show, archery, bag pipers 'n' belly dancers, jousting matches, sword fights, little Medieval shoppes, plenty of food/drinks and much, much more! It was such a great time, and I will definitely go back! It's only open for 2 months out of the year (between September & October) but well worth the visit! Sunday happened to be the last day of the season, so it was pretty packed but I'm glad we made it this year!

So it was quite the eventful weekend I must say. Stay tuned next week for a review of my adventures in NYC during Halloween weekend! Be back soon! xo

Inspiration on the book shelf

2011-10-21T11:13:00.000-04:00

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all are doing well, and made it through the week nicely! I know I'm excited that the weekend is here, I have a Halloween party at a friend's house this weekend, which will be a lot of fun, so I can't wait for that!

Anyway, to get to today's post; I was at my local Barnes & Noble bookstore a couple weeks ago, where I almost always head to the crafts section first. On this particular day, I was in a decorating mood (probably from all the HGTV I watch regularly) and decided that the below two books are at the top of my MUST HAVE list for inspiration; (don't mind the photos-taken from my phone)

Design Sponge

Meghan Carter

And these to support my baking habit;

And of course we can't forget the decorating magazines! I'm a magazine junky, and I absolutely LOVE Flea Market style for it's vintage flair and crafty projects for the home, Storage by BH&G because they always have such cool ways to store things in your home or office that can be decorative too (dual purpose). And last, but not least, the NEW HGTV magazine!! I'm so excited they have come out with a magazine and it's just AMAZING! It's like having the HGTV channel, in a book :-), it's so necessary!

HGTV Mag, Flea Market Style Mag, Better Homes and Gardens Storage Mag

So as I said before, I gather a lot of inspiration from these types of books/magazines and I'm always on the hunt for new inspiration that will get the creativity flowing! So that's it for today, hope you all enjoy your weekend and I'll meet you back here next week! xo

Missing You...

2011-10-20T00:00:00.000-04:00

Hello darlings! In the spirit of the season, today I'm going to show you one of my newest fall inspired cards. I created this card using the Napa Valley Studio Calico kit from November 2010. The colors and prints are truly fall and I love them! I referenced the tear sheet pictured above (in my mood board) from Flea Market Style magazine for the quilted stitch detail. I love the stitched quilted basket holding the apples (its so cozy) and thought it would be a great feature to incorporate into this card. Hope you like it!

Supplies; cardstock- American Crafts; patterned paper & gem brads-

Making Memories; ribbon- Sweet Petites; thread- other

images by; Wahkuna

That's all for today. Thanks for stopping in! xo

A day at Westport Rivers vineyard

2011-10-19T00:00:00.000-04:00

Hello all! I'm finally back from the weekend (better late than never)! I had a pretty awesome "fall" weekend which consisted of; visiting the Westport Rivers vineyard in Westport, MA where we tasted 6 (really good wines), went on a hay ride around the vineyard, picked pumpkins, took a tour of the winery/wine making process & enjoyed the gorgeous scenery! It was a lot of fun, and the best part of the experience was that it was a random stop- totally unplanned (which usually ends up being the best time). I'm really happy to have discovered this hidden gem in the area and would like to visit more frequently. It's definitely a great place to enjoy with a group of girlfriends or for a nice date. Wine + beautiful scenery = simple luxuries of mother nature. So if any of you are ever in the area, please do check it out! That's it for now, I'll be back tomorrow to share one of my most recent creations. See you then! xo

Tutorial; How to create zebra striped wooden letters

2011-10-12T00:00:00.000-04:00

For today's post, I wanted to share an easy tutorial for creating your own zebra striped wooden letter accents. The wooden letters & paint can be purchased at your local craft store. I recently made these particular letters to use as a personalized embellishment for a project that I will share on here soon, but in the mean time, I invite you to try this technique for yourself, it's really cool, fairly simple and doesn't take very long.

Step #1- Paint wooden letters white (use 2-3 coats to ensure full coverage).

Step #2- Draw in stripes with pencil (lightly, but make sure the lines are visible to use as a guide).

Step #3- Fill-in stripes with a black paint using a very thin brush for detail (only one coat is necessary).

***Please allow paint to dry completely in between coats.

Enjoy!
xo

Baby Memory Book

2011-10-11T00:00:00.000-04:00

Just as promised, here are some images of the present I gave with the baby boy card from yesterday's post. It was a Baby Memory Book I designed, with pages for record keeping such as; baby's arrival, birth announcement, birth facts, etc and pages dedicated to photos to document all of the little ones special moments. In keeping with the elephant themed baby shower, I designed a cute little mommy/baby elephant design for the top border of each page and used some elephant embellishments to decorate the front cover. And to make it more personalized, there is a 3x3" window on the cover to add baby's photo. This book is about 35 pages- a great handmade keepsake for baby's first year.

Baby Shower Card- Boy

2011-10-10T15:47:00.000-04:00

Hi all! I hope everyone is doing well and enjoyed their weekend! The weather here has been ABSOLUTELY perfect! It's quite amazing because this time of year (in the northeast) is usually pretty chilly! But I'm taking it all in and thanking mother nature for gracing us with this FANTASTIC-ness! (and you gotta love my "made-up" lingo too) *wink*

Today I wanted to share a cute little baby boy card that I recently made for a cousin's baby shower last month. The elephant themed shower was super adorable, which usually comes with the territory of a baby shower. It was an intimate gathering with her closest family & friends. There was plenty of food and cute desserts which included; an adorable baby boy cake, cupcakes (decorated oh-so-adorably), cookies, candy and tons more! We played a few games, had a lot of laughs and just enjoyed good company and the relaxed atmosphere.

I made this card in about 15 minutes (literally) and most of the products used are from the Animal Crackers Collection by Making Memories (by far my favorite baby scrapbooking collection to date). The cutest part of this card are the mini clothes pins used to hang the "boy" letters, as if it were a clothes line. When I came across these clothes pins from Creative Impressions I couldn't resist- they are SO tiny and cute, they add a little charm, right?! So stay tuned, because I will be back tomorrow to post about the present (which went along with this card). Be back soon...

My Best Friend

2011-09-22T11:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, I received the beautiful card above from my best friend Jill. It was totally unexpected, but definitely made my day (again, its the little things in life that make us smile). We spent part of our weekend together, and the card was a thank you note for the time we shared. As the front says; happy friends day, and the inside reads; I just made that up 'cause I wanted you to know how special you are to me (along with a personal note of encouragement). I definitely felt special to have received something so thoughtful and I'm so lucky to have her in my life!

Through all of life's difficult times and challenges, one thing remains important- that we have our best friends. They are the kind of friends that will always be by your side, through good times and bad and through all of life's ups & downs. They are happy for you when your happy and they are supportive of you when life doesn't work out the way you expected. There's no conditions, there's no expectations, they love you unconditionally and would never turn their back on you. Good friends pick you up after a fall, wipe the tears from your eyes and help to send you on your way, because they know you can do it, they know you have the strength and courage but also plan to be there every step of the way to help you through it. So when life gets too tough, or almost unbearable, this is what I'm MOST thankful for, for a wonderful friendship, that withstands the test of time, through grade school to real life and everything in between. We may not have been as close at times, but the bond still remains the same. We can pick up the phone, or grab a cup of coffee after an unspecified amount of time, but still be right back to the way it was- where it all started so many years ago. I love her for her thoughtfulness, for her caring ways and most of all for her strength, because without my best friend, life would be incomplete, in so many ways!

Over the years she's taught me a lot, and I believe I'm a better person with her friendship. And though there may not always be time to stop and be thankful for the amazing people in our lives, I wanted to take the time today to thank my best friend of 21 years (that's right, 21 years!!) for always being by my side and lifting me up when I need it the most. I love you. xoxo

Crafting Spaces #2

2011-09-21T00:00:00.000-04:00

Hello friends! Today I wanted to share a few creative craft spaces with you that have caught my eye lately. I think these places are so stylish but yet functional for all your creative needs! Have a look and while you're at it, add some of these fabulous details to your craft space list! Enjoy! xo

Image Source; Becky Oehlers

Image Source; Unknown

Image Source; PB Teen

Btw, if you have a fun craft space that you love and would like to share with us, shoot me an email and it might just be featured in my next Crafting Spaces post! Don't think about it, just do it! *wink*

Memory Books & Journals

2011-09-20T00:00:00.000-04:00

Smash book Image

Yesterday I received my newest issue of Creating Keepsakes for October 2011, and there is a whole section in the back dedicated to Memory Books for Everyday Scrapbooking. In this section they feature Smash Journals and other sketch/composition book type memory keeping. I love this style, it's unconventional and full of character. To me, it's the new alternative to traditional scrapbooking. Looking at these books, filled with pictures, ephemera and memorabilia is so interesting and exciting. It's almost like every time you look at the pages, there's something new to see- like looking at it for the first time. It's busy, but fun and that's what I love about it!!

Kim's Book Image

Here is the perfect example of this unconventional creativity that I love so much! There's so many places for your eye to wander, and it keeps you coming back for more! All of the layering and color is so exciting! These types of books remind me of the inspiration journals I used to create while studying Fashion in college. The content within the pages tell a story and are inspiring all at the same time!

I definitely think that creating an unconventional memory book is something we should all try at some point. As usual with crafting, there's NO rules and NO right way to do it, which is the beauty of it all! I dare you to try it- you won't be sorry!

Simple things that make us smile

2011-09-19T17:31:00.000-04:00

Meet Arthur. He's super friendly, likes to be where all the action is, and clearly even likes to share other people's beverages! This is my best friend's little guy, and while I spent time with her over the weekend, I caught him sneaking some water from my mug! It was so cute, I had to capture the memory, because it's the simple things that make us smile. And just imagine- a little while after this picture was taken, he couldn't stick his head in far enough to reach the water that was left, so he had some clever tricks. He would stick his paw into the mug to get the water and then lick it off! Lol, it was too funny, all I have to say is; animal's do the darndest things!

Anyway, I had a pretty good weekend-catching up with old friends around a fire pit, showing my support at a cancer benefit, and watching the new SJP movie and enjoying some good Riesling with my best friend *wink*. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend as well.

Inspiring Inspiration Boards

2011-09-16T12:22:00.000-04:00

I don't know about you, but I just LOVE inspiration boards. To me, they are the first step toward any design. Creating an inspiration board, helps you to visualize all the elements that make up your final work of art. They also help guide you through the design process ensuring that important design details aren't left out and helps you to stay clear and focused along the way. It's almost like brainstorming for artists!

Now there's many places to find inspiration boards that have been created by countless others, to help jump start your own board. So here are a few resources I turn to often and you'll see why...

Ivory/Pink/Gold Vintage Notions Inspiration Board

This first lovely board was taken from the book French General Treasured Notions, written by Kaari Meng. I absolutely love this book. The photos are beautiful and the history behind this book and the story of the Tinsel Trading Company in NYC is incredible! If you appreciate good design, I would highly recommend this book to add to your inspirational library, you won't be sorry! The details on this vintage notions board are priceless, and the old world elements are rich with a history all their own!

Lavender/Lime Parisian Themed Inspiration Board

The second board is from the book Paperie For Inspired Living by Karen Bartolomei of Grapevine Paperie. This is another wonderful resource, full of stationery and decor ideas for weddings, parties and other special occasions. I love how this book starts out by explaining the design process and how to be a great host (2 key points to throwing your own successful gathering). In this book, Karen Bartolomei explains how she begins each new project by creating an inspiration board (like the one above), to get all her ideas in one place, and she often takes it with her and references back to it when choosing elements for each event. This Parisian style inspiration board has a vintage feel with sophisticated details. How inspiring?!?

Naturally Elegant Inspiration Journal

The last inspiration board I want to share with you today, is more casual in presentation. It's a "working" design journal by Leslie at A Creative Mint. Leslie has such a beautiful blog, with so many amazing photographs! When I stumbled upon this picture, I found it so inspirational, with so much depth and character because it's literally a work in progress and that is the beauty of it. The style of this inspiration is feminine yet natural and simply elegant. You should definitely stop on over to A Creative Mint and explore all the lovely photographs and beautiful inspiration there, you'll be glad you did!

Thanks for stopping in and I hope you enjoy these great resources! Also, how do you usually plan for your next design project?

New Beginnings

2011-09-14T00:00:00.010-04:00

Image from; Insomnious Nights c/o Tere Arigo

“When something doesn't work out the way you expected, whether a dream, a goal, a friendship, or a relationship its always hard and always sad. There’s a lingering thought of what went wrong and questions that will never be answered. But I came to realize that as a page of my life turns, somewhere, somehow, a new chapter is waiting to start.”-Unknown

With that said- there's been a lot of changes in my life as of late, and although this is a challenging time, I look forward to the new possibilities and places where life might take me. And with faith, strength and courage, I know I will be OK in the end.

Learning to celebrate the little things.

2011-08-09T10:19:00.000-04:00

Well here I am, back again after a long hiatus from blogging. I do apologize for disappearing. Sometimes life just gets away from us, and before we know it, 6 months has gone by and we can't even say where the time has gone!

So much has happened since my last post in February, too much to touch upon in just one post. However the main things are; we moved to a 2 bedroom apartment (about 10 mins. from our old place), where I now have a craft room (yeeaaaayyyyy!!) and the other is that I was recently laid off from my job (not so good). Losing your job is always tough and now so much more personal for me, but with the way the economy has been, it's really no big surprise. Sometimes you clearly just have to take the good with the bad, try to see the brighter side of things and realize that perhaps your situation may be a blessing in disguise. Maybe it's an opportunity to do something greater, to be happier, to pursue what it is you truly want to do. I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and there's always experiences that we can learn from and then move on.

Which leads me to the point of this post- no matter what happens, and no matter how bad things may seem, we always need to remember to celebrate the little things. It's the little things that make up our lives, and tell our stories. Life wouldn't exist otherwise. They are the things that make you- YOU and me- ME! So regardless of your next obstacle or challenge, never forget to celebrate the little things along the way. And here's my interpretation of that;

I came across this color palette on Pinterest via Piradee Talvanna from the Photo Card Boutique (and pinned it to my color palette inspiration board). So I thought it was perfect for creating a card about celebrating the little things in life. These colors are so happy and fun!

I recently joined Pinterest within the last few months and I think it was one of the best things I could have done! It's basically a website where you can store an endless amount of virtual inspiration or "pin" boards. You can "pin" any image that can be found on the web to your boards according to theme or category. It's awesome! The best part about it is, all of your inspiration can be found in one place and is easily accessible! Definitely check it out if you haven't!

On the right is my hand sketch of the card (which was inspired from a LO by Piradee Talvanna in the September issue of Creating Keepsakes entitled; Fall) . I've realized that planning out my projects ahead of time, definitely helps to cut down on time and makes the final product look more cohesive.

And here is the final product! This card is 5x7 and most of the products used came from the Studio Calico Lawn Party kit. I love it's vintage feel! I used a lot of layering and dimension to add interest. I also like how adding the ruffle gives a more finished look and the yarn with butterflies create movement.

Butterflies symbolize change and celebration, which is why I thought they were perfect for this card. With every change, no matter how big or small, we should celebrate.

Happy Greetings!

2011-02-23T00:00:00.002-05:00

Today's card is a happy greeting, meant to put a smile on your face! I used the Pink Paislee Queen Bee collection. I love the colors!! I don't know what it is about olive green, gold, ivory & yellow, but when they are combined, they make me happy! It's funny because if you know me, you know that I often wear a lot of olive green and browns-earthy tones. So naturally this card is one of my favorites!

I created a pearl edge to separate the border sticker from the background paper & made the die cut paper for the title be the center to draw your attention. The center was distressed with sand paper to help the stamped title be more visible. I hope this card helps to brighten your day! :-)

Parisian Love

2011-02-22T00:00:00.002-05:00

Since February is the month for love, I thought I would share this love inspired card I created using the Pink Paislee Parisian Anthology collection.

The wording on the kraft paper was scanned from the fancy filigree pattern paper and placed in the middle of the card front. I also added a few extra Parisian clip art images to the top & bottom of the card, provided by the Graphics Fairy.

The embroidery floss and ivory floral button, act as a faux closure to the front of the card.

This card was a lot of fun to make, and I absolutely LOVE this collection! Enjoy!

A Lovely Weekend

2011-02-16T00:00:00.002-05:00

This collage captures our lovely Valentine's Day weekend! We had a great time together and with family. It all came to an end Monday night with a dozen pink roses, wings & beer and red velvet cake to top it off! It was perfect and I loved every minute of it! I'm so thankful for such a loving husband and wonderful family! Now we're looking forward to our Bed & Breakfast getaway this weekend in NH, it's going to be a blast!! I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day too! xoxo

Valentine's Day wishes for you and yours!

2011-02-14T13:54:00.000-05:00

Image courtesy of; Graphics Fairy

Wishing you all a very Happy Valentine's Day, filled with love and happiness! Enjoy!

Crafting Spaces

2011-01-26T00:00:00.001-05:00

Where do you craft? Do you have a room all to yourself? Or maybe a quiet little corner in your house? I would have to claim the latter. Unfortunately I don't have a whole room to myself yet, but I'm definitely planning for that in the near future!

There are SO MANY possibilities out there and you can practically turn ANY area into a crafting space, you just have to be creative! (How ironic! *wink*) One of my biggest fascinations on this topic of a crafting space, is the "Craft Closet"....and some of you may be saying, "how can that be?" I'm here to tell you, "Oh, it can!" This may be the most practical type of space for most people, since most of us aren't lucky enough to dedicated a whole room to our most treasured hobbies/work and all you really need is a closet, we all have those...don't we?!? Well, with a little determination, creativity and organization, you can turn just about ANY closet into a craft oasis! Now, there's tons of books and videos etc, out there that provide great tips on transforming areas in your home into an office or a creative space, so all you need to do is....go for it! It's never too late and once you create a space of your own, for what you love to do, it makes what you love to do that much more exciting & enjoyable! Trust me, I don't have the greatest space, but I do at least have a corner, or should I say a side of the living room that I can call my own. Get started this weekend, you won't be sorry!

And while you're psyching yourself up and getting ready to take the plunge...take a look at a couple cool closet crafting spaces (and a craft cabinet) that I found out there! I don't know about you, but looking at these little spaces makes me want to create something FABULOUS!!!

image credit: Our little nest

image credit: homegoods

image credit: shoponline2011.com

Enjoy and while your at it, tell me about your space! Also, if you'd like to have your creative space featured here, email me at- wahkunamaelyn{at}msn{dot}com. Tell me what your favorite part of your craft space is and what you would change about it (if anything) if given the chance. I'm really excited, so hurry, don't be shy, show me!! :-)

Love is a friendship...

2011-01-24T06:52:00.001-05:00

Supplies- cardstock; bazzill, patterned paper; sassafras & basic grey, rhinestone flourishes; prima, mini metal brads; making memories, distress ink; ranger/tim holtz, lace trim, thread & cameo embellishment; other

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend! Today I wanted to share my newest creation. This is a love card that I made using some papers from my Studio Calico Metropolitan kit and some of my own supply stash. It's girly and cute with a hint of vintage. I also did something a little different by off setting the title to overlap off of the side. It adds a bit of interest, you know!?! *wink*

Steps;

1. Make card from cardstock
2. Print sentiment on contrast colored cardstock and cut to tag shape, ink edges. Then cut another tag out of the same cardstock used to create card, but 1/8" lager and use this one as the tag border. Attach with 2 mini metal brads on either end and add rhinestone flourishes. (put aside)
3. Cut patterned paper 1/8" smaller than size of card and distress edges.
4. Fold down top right corner and secure with a mini metal brad.
5. Cut strip of a coordinating patterned paper to adhere to bottom edge & stitch a piece of lace trim on top edge. (lace trim is distressed with ink)
6. Sew 2 rows of wavy lines around both pieces of patterned papers to add interest and adhere to card.
7. Create a bow with the lace trim and sew a cameo embellishment to bottom center, adhere to card.
8. Attach tag/sentiment to card using foam squares to add dimension.

Finished size: 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"

A diamond in the rough...

2011-01-19T00:00:00.001-05:00

Living in a bustling city like New York definitely has it's pros, like the fact that you can always order-in no matter how late (or early) it is. The nearest "Bodega" or (corner store as we call it), is never further than your nearest corner, for all of those household emergencies, at any hour. But most importantly the best shopping & inspiration you'll find around. I love to wonder the streets of NYC in search of a new gem, a place that is bursting with culture and history. A place like Tinsel Trading Company! This store is one of THEE places to visit for vintage trims, treasures and notions! It's unbelievable and the story behind it is even better. Check out the book dedicated to the finds from this lovely place and if you're ever in the area (37th St. between 5th & 6th ave.) stop in for endless inspiration and lots of new possibilities! It's a crafter's oasis!

I've heard that this shop is one of Martha Stewart's favorite places...and I can totally understand why. I'm so very thankful that my job is literally down the street and around the corner. If I'm in the mood for an inspiring lunch break, I just walk on over and I'm in paradise! :-)

(Images; vintage spools of thread-www.suchprettythings.typepad.com; outside image of shop-www.knityoursocksoff.blogspot.com; flowers-www.colettepatterns.com; book-french general )

Family Bonding

2011-01-03T00:00:00.001-05:00

kraft cardstock; bazzil, patterned paper; studio calico & making memories, border stickers; crate paper, clear stamps; studio calico & glitz design, paper flowers; prima, rhinestones/brads; making memories, paper lace ribbon; basic grey

Happy Monday!! Today is officially the first day back to the grind this year! Hopefully you all were able to have a relaxing yet wonderful Holiday season with your families.

Today I'd like to share my first LO of 2011. I worked on it Saturday night after a fun day out with the hubby and sister in-law in NYC.

This LO is of my mom and I, we went to the NJ Scrapbooking Expo together back in May 2008. This was my mom's first introduction to the scrapbooking industry and she LOVED IT! We both bought so many cools things and she discovered a new hobby! Little did we know that this "new hobby" of hers wouldn't really take off until this past November, when I introduced her to the December Daily project by Ali Edwards. Since then, she's been full speed ahead! Every week she's picking up some new supplies, becoming a scrapping addict like me!! I'm loving it, while I was visiting my family for a few days over the holidays, I helped her pick out some new organizing systems and we set them up together for her new crafting space in my old room. It was great bonding time and now I will also have a space to use when I'm there...perfect!

On this LO I used the Napa Valley kit from Studio Calico and the inspiration sketch came from one of Becky Fleck's Nov. sketches (see below);

I loved using this kit, the papers are so colorful and coordinate so well! The stitching and layered border embellishments are my favorite part...

Bringing in 2011!

2011-01-01T21:33:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to all!

It's about that time again, we're out with the old and in with the new! I hope you all enjoyed your NYE festivities! We kept it low key this year, but enjoyed ours very much. There were dinner reservations at 9:30pm, the food and service was excellent and we were home by 11:15pm. We turned on Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve celebration and watched the ball drop in the comfort of our own home with a bottle of beer and a glass of wine. It was simple, yet fun and we enjoyed every minute of it!

So now it's on to a new year, new possibilities and new goals ahead. I have many things I'd like to accomplish this year, but I'm going for a simpler/smarter approach. I want to do what I say and not just say what I want to do (as I have in years past). This will be the year of talking the talk, walking the walk and putting the money where your mouth is (so to speak). I have a few important resolutions, but I will keep them to myself and with each passing day of 2011, I hope to prove to myself, silently, that all things are possible and will be achieved.

I'm wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! Live, Laugh & Love often but most importantly, cherish the moments that matter most, the small ones, the everyday ones!

That's all for now, enjoy the rest of your weekend...be back soon. ;-)

Saying Goodbye to 2010!

2010-12-31T11:58:00.000-05:00

As 2010 draws to a close, I thought I would post my top 10 favorite creations of the year! One of my New Year's resolutions is to be more creative and CREATE more! My horoscope from this morning seems to be right on track for the New Year, so here's to staying on track and checking off my goals one by one until they are completed over this next year! We have to live life to its fullest, document our day to day lives as much as possible and cherish the time we have. With that said, here are my favorites;

One last thing...while blog hopping this morning I found this great poster (see below) here which originally came from this blog.

Stop by and check it out and get your own free download to put up as a reminder of great words to live by in 2011! Enjoy your NYE and be safe! See you next year! :-)

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-20T00:00:00.001-05:00

Since we are now in the final days leading up to Christmas and the festivities are in full swing, I thought I would share my digital holiday card with all of you and wish you a very Merry Christmas!! Below is the card that I designed and printed to send to all of our family and also emailed (in an effort to be more "green") to more family & friends. I hope you all are enjoying this wonderful time of the year with your loved ones too!

Sentiment inside;

Wishing you

sparkle,

Wishing you cheer,

For a bright

merry Christmas

And a happy

new year!

Studio Calico- December 2010

2010-12-10T00:00:00.001-05:00

Metropolitan is here!!!! And this my friends, is why I LOVE the beginning of every month! I always get SO excited when my new kits arrive and this month is NO exception! I'm already thinking of new ideas and looking at all the goodies makes me want to create aaaaall the time! (If only...*sigh*)

METROPOLITAN;

Coordinates with the following:

Mists: Lunch Tray, Applejack, Sunshine, Calico White, Calico Cream, Dark Calico, Warm Calico, Classic Calico
Inks & Paints: Lemon Drops, Malted Milk, Brown Sugar, Stick Candy

Complete kit contents:

Cardstock:
Kraft (Bazzill)
Hazel (Bazzill)
Lima Bean (Bazzill)
Cinder (Bazzill)
Vanilla (American Crafts)

Patterned Paper:

Exclusive Designs - 2 papers (Sassafras)
Digits (Studio Calico)
Swatch (Studio Calico)
Perfect Embossed (Pebbles)
Lagoon Calendar (KI Memories)
Metropolis (Basic Grey)
Pattern Dot (Making Memories)
Ledger (Making Memories)

Embellishments:

Tiny Type - Yellow (Cosmo Cricket)
Parisian Anthology Tickets (Pink Paislee) 5 tickets
Ledger Envelopes (Making Memories) 3 envelopes
Shimmer Alpha - Silver (Making Memories)
Entwined Blooms Turkish Turquoise (Sassafras)
Green Grid Mixtape (American Crafts)
Weekdays Black Scribbles (KI Memories)
Velvet Pleated Ribbon - Cream (Maya Road) 1/2 yd
Crystal Star Pin (Maya Road TK1411) 2 pieces
Globe Stamp (Studio Calico)

How to Create: Homemade Christmas Tree Ornaments

2010-12-09T00:00:00.002-05:00

or·na·ment

[n. awr-nuh-muhnt; v. awr-nuh-ment, -muhnt]
–noun
1. an accessory, article, or detail used to beautify the appearance of something to which it is added or of which it is a part

Today I wanted to share a festive idea for homemade Christmas tree ornaments. They are really easy and cheap to make- it doesn't get much better than that!

First to give you some background on these ornaments; I was in Target with my mom during Thanksgiving weekend because we were in desperate need of a tree (not just some table top decoration). So knowing that you can usually find a bargain at Target, we headed there in search of the perfect tree. I found a tree...AWESOME! But still needed all the decor- lights, ornaments, ribbon or garland and a topper! Oh my, how much money was I really willing to spend?!? I found a package of gold ornaments (shatter-proof, perfect!) but wanted to add more color to accent a gold tree. So then we found these little knitted people ornaments in packs of 4!! They were so cute, I grabbed 4 pks. But still needed more! (You can NEVER have too many ornaments especially for a 7ft tree!) I really didn't want to spend a lot more money...so we found ourselves in the gift wrapping isle and low and behold there was a package of kraft gift tags each with a yarn tie (either red or green). They were really cute and mom had the BEST idea! She said "Why don't you use these as your other ornaments!?! You can design anything you want on them, they are personalized, cheap and serve the purpose!" She was soooo right! It was a perfect idea! So we do have her to thank for this idea...

So here we go!

Step 1- Start out with blank holiday gift tags. (Ours were $3 at Target for a pack of 12). Then figure out what you want to put on them. For my designs, I chose to use assorted holiday stamps, black, red & green ink, glitter pens and stamp markers.

Step 2- Lay out the stamps and start creating your designs. The possibilities are endless, you can stamp, doodle, add rub-ons or any other type of embellishments. They can be simple like ours, or as elaborate as you want, it's your choice! (Gotta love that!) I stamped both sides so that you can see the design no matter how the ornament hangs on the tree. In the image above, I started out with black ink.

Step 3- Here I wanted to add some color to the ornaments, so I used the red & green ink on some.

Step 4- Here are the ornaments all together and I was able to personalize a few of the tags with our names, just to add a special "one of a kind" touch!

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial for homemade Christmas tree ornaments and hopefully you'll get a chance to make some your own festive holiday decor! Good luck! :-)

Just a glimpse...

2010-12-08T00:00:00.001-05:00

It's been pretty busy around here lately! Between work and the holiday season its been non stop! I love this time of year, but wish that time would slow down long enough so we could catch our breath and enjoy it all...even just a little!

This past weekend was extra busy for the hubby and I! We were on a 8:30am flight to Boston on Saturday morning, which lasted all about 30mins in the air (definitely not enough time for us to catch some Zzzz's!). Once we landed it was off to my cousin's house for some preparations for a festive family gathering (more to come on that part soon). But all in all- the weekend was really nice and we were able to spend time with family which is so important, even with all the hustle and bustle...I wouldn't trade times like that in for anything. Life is for living, so we might as well LIVE more than SLEEP! Right?!?

We ended this weekend by putting up our Christmas tree! Yeay! I LOVE doing that! Makes me feel like a kid again, I would get SO excited when mom would put on the Christmas tunes and we would take out the tree/ornaments and get to work. Now we're putting up our own tree in our own place...*big sigh* so many memories to capture! Here are a couple pictures of us building our first "real size" tree (we've finally graduated from the table topper this year! :-)

There will be more pics of the finished product coming soon!

I'm also in the process of making my holiday cards! This year I have a list of about 30something, so I chose to take the digital route-to hopefully save time (especially with assembly!). Here is a sneak peak of what I'm working on. I'm hoping to finish the design by the end of this week so that I can print and send! We'll see how that goes!

That's all for now! Be back soon....

Season's Greetings!

2010-12-01T00:00:00.001-05:00

sea·son

1. a period of the year immediately before and after a special holiday or occasion.

[see-zuhn]
–noun

Origin:

1250–1300; (n.) ME sesoun, seson < OF se ( i ) son < L satiōn- (s. of satiō ) a sowing (VL: sowing time), equiv. to sa- (var. s. of serere to sow) + -tiōn- -tion; (v.) ME seso ( u ) nen < OF saisonner to ripen, make palatable by aging, deriv. of seison

I can't believe it's already December 1st! My, how this year has flown by! Which brings us to the matter at hand; its the first day of the 25 days of Christmas and 'tis the season for Holiday cards. I still need to work on mine for family and friends (which will probably end up being something simple), but I thought I would share this Christmas card that I made a few weeks ago...

The title was stamped onto textured card stock with black archival ink and then outlined with glitter gel pens. The snowflakes were stamped and then I added pearl rhinestones in the center.

To break up the card I added borders out of patterned paper and some gros grain ribbon with stitching & a loop/tie. The button is sewn onto the ribbon loop with green embroidery floss.

Below is the color palette;

Hope you've enjoyed the card for today, thank you for stopping by!

December Daily 2010: Sneak Peeks

2010-11-30T00:00:00.001-05:00

de·cem·ber dai·ly

[dih-sem-ber] [dey-lee]
–noun –adverb
1. the twelfth month of the year, containing 31 days. Abbreviation: Dec.
1. every day; day by day

Origin:
Ali Edwards 2008

Yesterday I mentioned that my mom and I were able to spend some quality time together while I was home this past weekend. We spent a good part of Friday and Saturday working on our December Daily albums which I first posted about here. It was so fun to work with my mom on this new project because she is new to scrapbooking and gets so excited when she learns something new! In the first image, I'm sorting out the holiday themed papers that I brought and in the second image, my mom is just getting started! She was definitely a trooper this weekend! I'm so proud of her. :-)

Below are a few sneak peaks from my December Daily album. I'm still working on the "body", and hopefully will be done soon, so I can focus on filling it with festive holiday memories!

Have any of you created a December Daily before? If so, what was your favorite part of the process? And do you have any good tips for a first timer?!? Do tell...

A Weekend to Remember

2010-11-29T00:00:00.002-05:00

re·mem·ber

[ri-mem-ber]

–verb (used with object)
1. to recall to the mind by an act or effort of memory; think of again.
2. to retain in the memory; keep in mind; remain aware of.
3. to have (something) come into the mind again.

Origin:
1300–50; ME remembren < OF remembrer < LL rememorārī, equiv. to re- re- + L memor mindful ( see memory) + -ārī inf. suffix

This long holiday weekend was a much needed break from all the hustle and bustle that is my life! It was so great seeing family & friends. I was able to catch up with my best friend and spend some much needed quality time with mom! We ate lots of yummy food and slept in with no worry of having to be at a certain place, by a certain time, or waking to the sound of a really loud, annoying alarm. I cherish these moments, because they are so far and few between. But as they say, all good things must come to an end, so welcome back to the grind! I'm hoping we are all able to settle back in with little difficulty.

Here are some images from my holiday weekend, enjoy;

34th St. Preparing for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (11/24/10)

Friendsgiving (mushroom soup shots...very yummy) 11/24/10

A glimpse of our Thanksgiving table (11/25/10)

A Message of Thanks

2010-11-25T00:00:00.003-05:00

image: Thanksgiving 2009 with the in-laws

thank·ful

[thangk-fuhl]

–adjective

1. feeling or expressing gratitude; appreciative.

Origin:

bef. 900; ME; OE thancful.

The hubby and I are headed up to Massachusetts today to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family but I wanted to leave you with a message of thanks in honor of this wonderful holiday! I want to say Thank You, to all of my readers. It means a lot to be able to share my thoughts & creations with you. I know my blogging tends to be sporadic, and not at all continuous, but my goal is to work on that through the rest of this year and into the New Year, so stay tuned!

I would also like to say that I'm so very thankful for my wonderful husband, you keep me "together" and sane & spoiled- if it weren't for you I'd be lost, I love you so much! I'm thankful for my very special mom, who is also always there for me, whenever needed. I'm also thankful for my immediate and extended family, they are the best family one can have, love you all! I'm thankful for great friends who are always there to make me laugh, to have great talks and show me a good time! I'm thankful to have a nice place, a job and a car to get from point A-B. But most importantly, I'm thankful to have life, because without it, none of the other things would matter.

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy this time with your loved ones because these are the memories to cherish!

Birthday Wishes

2010-11-24T00:00:00.003-05:00

Supplies: Textured Cardstock- Bazzil; Patterned Paper- Sassafrass; Ribbon- Making Memories;

Distress Ink- Ranger; Stamp/Button & Embroidery Thread-Other

home·spun

[hohm-spuhn]
–adjective
1. spun or made at home: homespun cloth.
2. plain; unpolished; unsophisticated; simple; rustic

Origin:

1580–90; home + spun

This birthday card I created a while back and thought I would share it with you today. I used the Studio Calico Back 40 kit. I really like the patterned papers that have the decorative scallop edge, they're perfect as a finishing touch! This patterned paper is from Sassafras and I love their papers, they always have a homespun feel, very vintage. The patterned paper is attached to the card using a zz stitch with a ribbon running across the center attached at the sides with zz.

The sentiment was created with a stamp on a piece of textured card stock that I shaped using a tag stencil. The border was made using a glitter gel pen and Tim Holtz's Ranger distress ink. The button is attached using ivory embroidery thread wrapped and tied into a bow.

Below is a color palette I've created inspired by this card. Maybe it will inspire your next project! Enjoy!

Album Project

2010-11-23T00:00:00.005-05:00

Supplies: Flowers- Prima; Letter Stickers- American Crafts (thickers); Rhinestone Flourishes- Prima; Rhinestones- My Mind's Eye; Transparency Papers- Hambly & Best Creation Inc.; Floral Patterned Paper- Basic Grey; Circles Patterned Paper- Hambly; Cardstock- DCWV (Matchmakers)

al·bum

[al-buhm]
–noun
1. a bound or loose-leaf book consisting of blank pages, pockets, envelopes, etc., for storing or displaying photographs, stamps, or the like, or for collecting autographs.
2. a printed book containing an anthology of writings, reproductions of photographs or artwork, musical compositions, etc.

Origin:

1645–55; 1955–60 for def. 2; < L: neut. sing. of albus white, i.e., a blank (tablet) painted white for writing on

Recently I've been working on a new project, a scrapbook for a friend documenting her trip to Florida with her boyfriend. The challenge is not to make it too feminine, since it's essentially for both of them as an anniversary gift. Of course I reviewed the supplies that I chose with them both before beginning and there were no complaints (see above), which is a good sign! I want it to be pretty, but not "girly" if there is such a thing, anyway, I'm working on it! Here's a preview of the first page...

I created photo corners out of buttons with embroidery thread wrapped around them.

Here I made the butterfly embellishments out of a stamped image, added color using colored pencils and used rhinestones for the body.

I stitched the flying path for the butterflies using embroidery thread, following a swirl line that I sketched out by hand first. Also the sides of the ground paper is painted with Tim Holtz Ranger distress crackle paint in tattered rose & distress ink in shabby shutters.

Supplies: Cardstock- DCWV (Matchmakers), Patterned Paper- Making Memories; Transparency Paper- Hambly; Letter Stickers- American Crafts; Crackle Paint- Ranger Tim Holtz; Distress Ink- Ranger Tim Holtz; Butterflies- Stamped Image; Embroidery Thread, Rhinestones & Buttons- Other

For the title, I cut out a decorative border from a Hambly transparency paper and then layered on thickers letter stickers by American Crafts.

I'm still working on this, and the deadline is fast approaching! Trying to prioritize and make sure everything gets done in time, the Holiday season sure keeps us busy! Thanks for stopping in & come back soon!

December Daily 2010

2010-11-22T00:00:00.003-05:00

de·cem·ber dai·ly

[dih-sem-ber] [dey-lee]
–noun –adverb
1. the twelfth month of the year, containing 31 days. Abbreviation: Dec.
1. every day; day by day

Origin:
Ali Edwards 2008

Last week while I was blog surfing, I came upon Ali Edwards' site and discovered the December Daily Project. I immediately fell in LOVE with it! Its exactly what I've been looking for, to capture the special happenings of the holidays! This is an album created just to document the 25 days leading up to Christmas, or it can be whatever you want it to be. Some people choose to create an album about the 12 days of Christmas or the whole month of December, it's your choice, but it's a GREAT way to capture the holidays all in one place! The idea is to get your album ready before December even starts, so that all you have to do next, is add your photos/journaling throughout the month with no added stress of creating the album as you go, isn't that the perfect scenario?!? It think so!

I stumbled upon this kind of late in the season, since most scrappers start thinking about December Daily in October, but either way, I'm glad I did! I called my mom to get her in on this, since I've been trying to get her into scrapping for the last year or so, and she was delighted to join in! I'm really happy because it's a great way for us to spend time together and start a little holiday tradition of our own. We live 4 hours from each other, and it's hard to spend so much time together, but when we do, I like to make it quality time.

So this weekend I started creating our albums right away so that next weekend during Thanksgiving break while we're at my parent's, mom and I can decorate our albums together, it's perfect timing! I'm so excited and she is too!! Here they are so far...

I made both albums out of chipboard that I cut by hand with the good ol' exacto knife and ruler-they are my favorite, trusty tools!

This is my album, it has 4 chipboard pages with tab separators for each week in December because I decided to make our albums for all 31 days so that we can keep documenting right to the end!

Our albums side by side, as you can see, I wanted to keep them a little different, so mine has the tabs and my mom's just has the chipboard pages separating the 4 weeks. I'm thinking of adding ribbon tabs to her album so that the reader can easily navigate through it and the two will still remain different.

These pages are where we will add our photos and journaling, they are inspired by Ali's pages here. Each page has the day of the week and "December Daily" at the bottom inside a journaling block. The outer boarder is dashed lines to represent a stitched look.

I can't wait to start adding different ephemera to this album to make it come alive!! I already went through all of my holiday stash I've collected through the years and I have A LOT of stuff!!! I will upload our progress as we go so check back! :-)

Off the bookshelf

2010-11-17T13:39:00.001-05:00

art·ist

[ahr-tist]

–noun

1. a person who produces works in any of the arts that are primarily subject to aesthetic criteria.

2. a person who practices one of the fine arts, esp. a painter or sculptor.

3. a person whose trade or profession requires a knowledge of design, drawing, painting, etc.: a commercial artist.

4. a person who works in one of the performing arts, as an actor, musician, or singer; a public performer: a mime artist; an artist of the dance.

5. a person whose work exhibits exceptional skill.

6. a person who is expert at trickery or deceit: He's an artist with cards.

7. Obsolete . an artisan.

Origin:

1575–85; < MF artiste < ML artista master of arts.

I've been in a bit of a creative rut as of late and can't seem to bring myself out of it. Fortunately for me, one of my wonderful friends recommended this life changing book to help me get back in the groove and jolt the endless flow of creativity (which we all possess in one way or another). She has read this book and so has many of her acquaintances and they all swear by it, so I thought, why not?!? I've got nothing to lose and everything to gain at this point. So The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron is currently on my "reading list". If you know me, you know that I'm always "reading" something or something(s) and my favorite are books that you find in the self help section or craft section, go figure! My favorite book store in NYC is Strand, it's CRAZY!! As they say, 18 miles of books, both new and used. The best part is that you pretty much always find the book your looking for, used and 1/2 the price! If that's not an incentive, then I don't know what is!

Anyway, I picked up The Artist's Way a few weeks ago at Strand and have already read the first part. It's already very interesting and has so many great reviews that I can't wait to really get into it and learn more about my creative self! I already strongly recommend it to any artist out there...it's worth the purchase and the time! Once I finish it, I will be back with my thoughts, so stay tuned!

Inspirational Quote; "For every success a thousand failures forgotten lie. For every failure to try, a thousand successes prematurely die."- Anonymous

Now, on to the other "something" I'm currently reading; Love the one you're with by Emily Giffin. I've recently started reading novels again, after my long hiatus with just the how-to books and magazines. I'm loving Emily's books! See, I like chick flicks AND chick lits (as they call them) so natural, she's one of my favorites! Her stories have the perfect mix of love, suspense, drama and happily ever after which= books written just for me (and maybe you too)! If you haven't already, check them out and let me know what you think! So far I've read; Something Borrowed, Something Blue & Baby Proof, (note that you should read Something Borrowed before Something Blue, or else you will be pretty confused).

Well that's it for now and enjoy the good reads!

The Pen Pal Project (Post #1)

2010-11-16T21:52:00.001-05:00

pen pal

–noun
1. a person with whom one keeps up an exchange of letters, usually someone so far away that a personal meeting is unlikely
2. Also called: pen friend a person with whom one regularly exchanges letters, often a person in another country whom one has not met

Origin:
1935–40, Americanism

A few weeks back, while hanging out around the apartment, my mind started to wander and I began to think about communication outside the realm of the web. How did we get by without it? How did our lives function from day to day...there was no email, no social networks and definitely no websites. How did we send information, give information, look-up information?!? Dare I even utter the words; fax machine, phone book and yellow pages! These once daily necessities, seem so foreign now in a world where we don't even have to memorize important phone numbers because our cell phones do it for us, almost instantly. What happen to the simple days, when you had to stop at a pay phone to make a call, or reach out to a close friend via written letters. It's called personal communication, the type of interaction we once had, but seem to have lost, almost completely. The saddest part of it all, is that we are also losing the last generation that still holds onto most of the simple ideas...our grandparents.

This is when I got the idea of having a pen pal. I always wanted one when I was younger, but never had the chance. As fate would have it, I was visiting my favorite blog one day and the post was about her pen pal and being paired up with one if interested. I was delighted, it was like a dream come true-someone heard my thoughts, AMAZING! So naturally I jumped at the chance and now I'm officially a pen pal! I just received my "welcome" note from the creator, with an envelope and my pen friend's address. Its so exciting to get personal mail, other than bills or advertisements. It's refreshing, a personal note that's tangible, with their handwriting (which can tell you so much about a person). There's something about the "real thing" that all the advanced technology in the world can't replace! I'd rather sit with a friend in a cafe catching up over a cup of hot tea (since I don't drink coffee), than meet them on the web for a video chat, its impersonal and still makes you feel far away from each other.

So I'm very excited to send the first introduction letter to my pen pal, soon. I hope that we can become great friends, learn about each other's lives, share in wonderful experiences and keep a tiny part of those simpler days with us...for a long, long time.

Do any of you have or have had a pen pal? If so, I would love to hear about your experience! Don't be shy...introduce yourself!

Fall in the City

2010-09-27T22:15:00.000-04:00

Its officially Fall in the city and I'm loving every minute of it. The weather is not too hot and not too cold, it's just right :-). Humid days are now few and far between and the two block walk from Penn Station to the office is much more comfortable. Leaves are changing color, the boots are coming out and pumpkin coffee is back at Starbucks, these are signs of the change in season.

There are many things I love about this season, but one of the main things is how apples are ripe for the pickin' and there's so many things you can make with them! Since I was a little girl, apple pie has been a fall staple in the family. It was my grandfather's favorite and he always relied on my mom to make it from scratch. She's what I call the Apple Pie Pro, she even makes her own crust, its delicious! So naturally I learned to make this tasty treat and for me, it's never really fall until I've made my first pie of the season!

Unfortunately life has been so hectic lately, that I haven't had much time for baking, but I did manage to sneak in a little Apple Crisp yesterday in honor of the season and Football Sunday. What I like about apple crisp is that it only takes 1/2 the work of an apple pie, still smells the same and contains all the yummy flavors. It's almost like apple pie cheating...who knew it would be so sweet!

So with all of this talk of yummy goodness, I'd like to share my tried and true recipe for Apple Crisp. It's simple, quick and tasty, so there's no excuse, you MUST try it!

*this is a picture of only half a recipe baked in an 8x8 pan*

Apple Crisp II

(All Recipes "Tried & True Favorites" cookbook www.allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

10 cups thinly sliced apples

1 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup water

1 cup quick-cooking oats

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup butter melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Place the sliced apples in a 9x13" pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon together and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all.

3. Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.

4. Back at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes.

Serve warm

Suggested toppings- Vanilla Ice Cream (preferably Vanilla Bean *smile*) or a dollop of Cool Whip.

(I apologize for the picture, but we were so excited to dig in, that I forgot to take a picture of the whole crisp once it came out of the oven!! Ooops!) Enjoy!

What are your favorite fall recipes? I would love to hear about them, I'm always looking for new recipes to try!

Good Quality Time

2010-08-23T07:00:00.003-04:00

Happy Monday!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

My weekend was pretty low key. The hubby and I decided to stay in on Friday night and make buffalo wings with homemade chunky blue cheese dressing, instead of going out to buy it! It ended up being a FAB idea because was saved money and the wings w/ blue cheese was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! That was the first time I've even attempted to make a salad dressing from scratch and we were pleasantly surprised with the outcome! I definitely recommend the recipes and will post them both soon! We were able to spend some quality time cooking together and enjoy the yummy results! Two thumbs up!!

On Saturday I tried to hit some thrift stores for some inspiration, but unfortunately the list of stores I found online, must have been really outdated. I guess I should have called the stores first to see if they were open, but of course I didn't and proceeded to drive to 2 stores that were no longer there and 1 that only had second hand clothes and jewelry. I was looking for more product and didn't find it. Hmmm...I'm going to have to research my next trip a lot better. Does anyone know of any great thrift stores in NY, there has to be tons!? Preferably within the 5 boroughs or LI??

I'm also happy that I was able to fit some creating time in this weekend and I was very happy with the results. Sometimes when I finish a project, I feel like it's not as great as it "could" be, but I guess that's just me being hard on myself. A trait I've always had since I can remember. Not good, but working on it. I need to learn to just create and be happy with the end result. One day...

I wanted to share a recent Friends card that I made using the Studio Calico kit- Granny's Cupboard from May. Take a look;

Supplies; Textured card stock- Bazzil; Patterned paper- C-thru Ruler Company & The Girl's Paperie;

Transparency- Hambly; Title- Dymo Letratag; Flower stamp- Studio Calico; Ribbon- Other;

Rhinestones- Other; Decorative brads- Pink Paislee; Distressing ink- Ranger Tim Holtz

For this card, I inked the edges of patterned paper and then stamped a flower image onto it. I drew some stitch lines in the form of stems and leaves with a thin black marker pen and then glued rhinestones to the center of the flower stamps to create a floral bunch. I placed lace on the bottom edge of the patterned paper as a decorative border. For the title I inked the edges of another square piece of patterned paper, placing it diagonally with decorative brads. Then I used a decorative transparency with textured card stock placed behind the transparency and typed the word "Friends" using my Dymo Letratag and placed it between the textured card stock and transparency. I then punched small holes along the top part of the patterned paper (about every 1/2") and threaded a twill ribbon through making knots on both ends to hold it in place. Finally I adhered the whole piece of patterned paper to the actual card to create a clean finish and no mess on the inside.

That's it for today, I'm on my way to work for an hour and then headed to Ohio on business until tomorrow night. Have a great Monday! Until next time-

Summer Camp is here!!

2010-08-09T00:00:00.004-04:00

I have to share my excitement with you because my new Studio Calico scrapbooking kit- Summer Camp arrived this past Friday which means it was the BEST day of the week! I love when I get my new collection because it is sooo inspiring and gets me in the creative mood! It's colorful and full of fun goodies!! I love Studio Calico, they are so great at coordinating the whole collection to be cohesive yet fun and full of surprises! If you haven't experienced a Studio Calico kit, you definitely should, it's worth it!

I receive a new kit at the beginning of every month and have one whole draw from one of the organizers in my craft space dedicated to them. I usually take everything out of the package and admire it for a while, thinking of all the possibilities and creations, then I put the whole kit in a big zip loc bag and label the kit name and date. This helps me stay organized and keeps each kit together with all it's components so that I always know what I'm using for each project. These zip loc bags are so convenient and cheap! They are sold in the paper goods section of every store and measure 14 3/8"x 16" which is big enough to hold all of your 12x12 papers and embellishments. Hefty even has a diagram on the back of the box displaying the uses for these plastic bags, which includes protecting photo albums and to store crafts. What do you use to store your scrapbooking kits?

Love You Forever

2010-08-05T00:00:00.001-04:00

Now this post is going to feel a little like fall, a little pumpkin spice, a little apple streusel, reminds me of all the things I love about the change of seasons.

This card is titled "I Promis to Love You Forever", the colors and design create elegance and sophistication. Accents of pearls give it just enough texture and pop. The solid cardstock mixed with a herringbone print is also a great touch to add interest and the stitching creats that homespun look. With the fall season just around the corner, this spicy color palette is sure to stir some delicious creations!

Supplies; Cardstock-Bazzill; Ribbon-Cosmo Cricket; Border Embellishment-Cosmo Cricket;

Patterned Paper-Studio Calico; Pearl Flourish-Want 2 Scrap; Pearl Embellishments- Recollections

My Space

2010-08-04T21:59:00.000-04:00

Being creative has become a part of life for me, since before I can remember. I've been drawing, coloring, etc...from a very young age. Art classes were my favorite in grade school and my schedule was always packed full of them! Art is my passion and creating is my heart. Life isn't full filling for me, if I'm not being creative. I've always said that in order to truly be happy, you must do something everyday that makes you happy (or try anyway) and that happiness for me is creating something new, something beautiful, and something that may be inspirational to others. I also love gathering inspiration from other creative people, the world is full of them and the internet has helped us all connect in some type of way. When I am creating, I am truly in my element!

One of the most important parts of creating, is having ample space to do so. As of right now, the hubby and I are living in a one bedroom apartment, so space is very limited...BUT rest assure that I have carved my little sanctuary out of 3/8's of the living room :-). For now, it's my little piece of heaven. Recently I've been trying to get more organized and keep things neat, (we all know how awful it is trying to be creative and inspired in a big mess) so I've been more diligent about organizing things in a way that I can keep them neat and make it easier for clean up after a new project. I wanted to share a few pictures of my space with all of you, I hope you enjoy and please note that this is only the beginning, hopefully sooner than later we will be on to a bigger and better space, where I can really have my own sanctuary (like a WHOLE room) :-)...nevertheless, I'm grateful for what I've been blessed with thus far! Enjoy;

full view from living room

work table extra work space

storage desk

What I like most about my space right now is that I share it with my husband so usually we are still together while doing the things we both love to do because I know once I get to have my own crafting room, we will rarely see each other... :-/

What do you love most about your special space??

A Time to Remember

2010-08-03T23:06:00.001-04:00

This past Sunday, August 1st was a very special day for Chris and I, it was our first wedding anniversary! It's hard to believe that a year and 2 days ago I was walking down the isle, we were ready to change our lives forever...

It was an amazing day, one that we will never forget. Coincidentally, we finally received all of our wedding photos/album from our big day this past Saturday, and it was a very welcomed anniversary present! The album is gorgeous, all the pictures are so stunning! Here are a couple of my favorites from the ceremony;

I felt like a princess and Chris was my prince charming of course! We couldn't have asked for better weather or a smoother experience. Everything was PERFECT!

Now exactly a year from today we left for our honeymoon in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. It was so beautiful and relaxing, we had an amazing time. We rode ATV's around the countryside, took a ride over to Nicaragua for a day for some great sight seeing, visited one of the area's most active Volcanoes, also took a hike in the rain forest and a dip in the hot springs. I wish we were heading back there again...if only we could rewind a year, but of course all good things must come to an end...until our next much needed vacation that is. Here are some snap shots of us at the airport in Miami waiting for our connection to Costa Rica and also when we first arrived in CR;

Here's to a happy, healthy and long life together babe! :-) I love you more than words.

Old Friends~ New Tradition

2010-07-28T07:03:00.002-04:00

At the end of last week I received a surprise in the mail. It was a card from a very dear friend of mine. We've been friends since 2nd grade (about 20 years as she put it) and have gradually grown apart over time due to distance and separate life paths. But the good thing about always remaining friends and staying in touch from time to time is that you always stay connected some how, and although it's far and few between, when you get together it's almost like yesterday and no time has past at all. That is how I feel around her...she is my special long distance friend. The funny part is that I've been thinking about her lately and how we've been needing to catch up, which was exactly when I received her card. Life is funny like that.

In response to her thoughtful card, I of course had to make one to send back. The sentiment is so fitting- I miss you. To create this card I used part of my July Studio Calico kit- Continental. I love Studio Calico coordinated kits, they are always so fun and have such great color combos/embellis! I also LOVE to incorporate stitching (whether by hand or on the sewing machine) and also some kind of fabric or ribbon. That must be due to my fashion/apparel background. I spend my days around clothing, fabric/swatches, ribbon, buttons and fasteners. It always spurs up some kind of creative ideas! Here is the outcome;

Supplies; Textured Cardstock- DCWV(matchmakers); Patterned Paper- Studio Calico;

Flower- Studio Calico; Textured Fabric- K&Company;

Distress Ink- Tim Holtz(pumice stone);

Rhinestones- Other; Sentiment Stamp- Other.

I love the color palette for this card. Its sweet yet sophisticated with a little bit of distressing to produce a worn look. For the flower design on the top left, I cut it out of a Studio Calico advertisement card that was patterned on the back side, and I couldn't resist using the pattern, it's so beautiful and adds a great focal point to this card! I definitely think my friend will enjoy receiving this in the mail. It's worth saving! I would like this card-giving to become a tradition, almost like a pen pal, a new way to stay in touch more. Since we live far apart, I'm hoping that we are able to constantly write to eachother to stay connected and keep our friendship strong, afterall...who has time to sit on the phone for hours anymore! And being a memory preserver, having everything in writing and documented makes it so much better for future keepsakes (which reminds me, I still have all of her letters from Middle School!!!) :-)