December 15th

It's my birthday......
It's an unusual day, cloudy with rain.  Hardly ever happens around here.  It's gonna be a great day... hot coffee, warm bed, stay in my pajamas, maybe a DVD movie or two, some reading, some studio time, some not so good for you foods, turn up the music and sing out loud, let's get this day started!

Packaging fun

I remembered this roll of heavy rough brown paper.  I cut it up and sewed envelopes for some special packages I'll be sending out this week. 

 

I used red thread and different stitching.
  Used decorative scissors to trim.

I combined the Santa keys and
reindeer food along with a little note.
 I'm totally pleased with this project!

Christmas project 3

Next project is making tags for the special reindeer food I bagged up.  I made enough to pass on to a number of kids!! 

 

Found a vintage image of Santa with his reindeer.
 Needed to cut and round the edges.

Needed bells and twine

Added some rich green ribbon

Tied the jingle bells to the ends of the twine.

The reindeer food is birdseed
with a tad bit of magic glitter!

They came out so damn cute. 
I'm so pleased with the way they came out.

Christmas project 2

I bought bottle brush trees in various sizes and bleached them white.  I plan to use some for snow globes and the rest for little vignettes around the house.  Honestly, I haven't started decorating my house.  This doesn't traditionally start until after December 15th....pssssss my birthday!

 

Christmas project 1

This project is Santa's Magic Key.  I found a vintage Santa image to use on the tags.  I cut them out and decided on some fine glitter for the edges...by the way, glitter is a must any Christmas project!  I didn't like the look so out with the silver glitter glitter. 

 

Cut out tags, rounded the corners and added lots of glitter.

 

The sliver glitter gave the tags a vintage look I wanted.

I found the keys at Hobby Lobby and they were perfect.

I tied a aged twill ribbon and rusted jingle bell.

Photo fun

yeah, more photos to come......

 

Laurel and Miranda

 I've been camera crazy this past couple of weeks, but I haven't had time to process them. 

Jackie & Aaron's wedding

In previous posts I talked about helping Jackie with her wedding/reception.  They got married and the whole ceremony and reception turned out perfectly.  It was one of the nicest and funnest, is that a word?  Anyways, the whole event was great.  I didn't take many photos since I was having so much fun eating, visiting and dancing the night away.  I do wish I would taken some photos of the details I helped with.  Maybe I can get some from Jackie and share them later. She looked beautiful and so so so happy. 

 

This is Meghan, my new little bestfriend.  She's so cool, it's too bad she lives so far away!

 

 

Look at my little hero all dressed up!

Cookie exchange 2012

Last year I didn't host a cookie exchange for a variety of reasons.  The point was I missed it and I missed the social part of it.  So, this year it's on again.  Here's the invitations I made.  Got the cookie spatulas at the Dollar Store and made the tags.  I like the way  they turned out.  I can't wait to join nine friends to laugh and eat cookies!

 

Dear Blog...

I promise to quit ignoring you....but I've been busy and soon you will see....cross my heart!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Got the turkey in the oven on time while watching the Macy's parade and football.  Now the turkey is done, working on mash potatoes & corn, oven baked rolls hot, on to the gravy!  Happy Thanksgiving from me, Tom & my brother, Jason from sunny Arizona to your family!

Back in the studio...

It's been a full couple of weeks for me and I've not spent time in the studio.  I have unfinished business in there.  Monday = studio time!

Great idea!

alisaburke: paper cup topiaries: With a little paint, glue and everyday materials you can transform just about anything into something creative!

I saw this on her blog today and I remembered I had tons of sno-kone cups!   A box of 200 for a dollar!!  I'm going to make christmas trees and use wooden spools as the base.  I'll paint them and glitter them up... can't wait to show you.

Election is over....some interesting facts

Women and Latinos got out & voted and made a difference!  One fact was the Latino vote made up 10% of the total vote and this is the first time in history it's been this high.  This country's politicians can no longer ignore Latinos.  The other thing is Arizona mainly here in Phoenix there are 600,000 ballots that have not been counted and many Latinos had trouble casting their votes. I just don't get it.  The lines were long at polling places.  One thing I notice at my polling place.  No signs indicating it was a place to vote.  Not signs no balloons no nothing.  Weird.
I'm happy the election is over and I must admit I'm happy Obama was re-elected but I sure am disappointed with Arizona.  Proud of the voters in Colorado & Iowa.  I'm proud my whole family got out and voted, three generation Mexican Americans!  Our Grandparents would be so proud of us. 

Vote!

The smell of home...

The electricity went out in our neighborhood tonight for several hours.  I was in the middle of making refried beans for dinner.  The power wouldn't be restored for several hours so we went out for dinner.  When we got home the electricity was back on, no harm done.  I wasn't sleepy so I made tortillas.  I love the smell of homemade tortillas.  It reminds me of home.  When I was really young my Grandpa Jose made tortillas every morning, loved walking into his kitchen.  My mom always made tortillas, too.  My Grandpa Ramon made her a wooden board and palote (rolling pin).  She still has them.  I have my favorite handmade palote, too. My mom taught me how and I was eager to learn...but only to realize that was going to be my job.   I really haven't mastered the getting them all the same size and roundness like my mom, hers were perfect.  My family used to make fun of the shapes of my tortillas, the fifty states...ha ha

Breakfast burritos...yumm yumm