Saying Goodbye to 2010!

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!

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

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

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...

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!

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

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

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)

 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

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

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

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

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

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;  &lt; MF artiste  &lt; 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!