Angela Harris

Our New house

2011-09-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

5 months ago we visited our dream starter house and wished that one day we'd make memories there. Today we are blessed to call this home!

Willow Lake Boutique

2011-09-15T21:03:00.000-07:00

Saoirse Growing Up

2011-09-15T14:28:00.000-07:00

My sweet little puppy has turned into my 3rd daughter. I never thought it would happen. I have always had dogs growing up but I still always maintained that dog people were crazy. In particular the ones who thought dogs were like having children. In reality I know it's miles apart but in my heart she is in fact my sweet fur baby. She is now 11 months old and turning 1 year old on October 11th. I've already begun shopping for her birthday dress and scoping out dog bakeries to make her some birthday dog treats. My kids and I can't wait to throw her a little puppy birthday party :)

Me and My Girls

2011-09-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

My girls often like to play with my camera and take photos of eachother and themselves. One night as I was putting clean laundry away in my bedroom the girls came in with the camera and asked to get some photos with Mom. They are blurry and weird and fantastic all at the same time.

These are the times I'll always treasure with my girls.

Ring Bearer Pillows

2011-09-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

These gorgeous creations were inspired by a store called leftovers we have by us. It carries a wide variety of lightly used items from eggshells to tile to lace! these were created with a gauze cheesecloth type material that i coffee dyes, sewed a pillow out of and stuffed. Then I added embellishments such as vintage lace, sola roses and faux pink rosettes.

Pinecone Birdfeeders

2011-09-11T17:47:00.000-07:00

I know this project is mostly done in the wintertime but working at Michaels has my head in the holidays. I'm so incredibly ready for fall and I just want to celebrate it! The whole family went this weekend to the park to collect pinecones. Then we went to the store to collect our other supplies...Peanut butter, birdseed and yarn.At our new house we have a fantastic back porch that's covered. Perfect for messy projects like this. The girls spread the peanut butter over the cones and i tied string onto the tops.
Then they rolled the peanut buttered pinecones in bowls of birdseed. We then placed them lightly on a cokkie sheet and spread them around the yard.

Our puppy Saoirse loved these because she got to sneak some of the birdseed that fell on the ground :)
They look so pretty and they remind me of fall that's right around the corner!

At the Park

2011-09-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

The weather was fantastic today and it felt like the first day of fall. A beautiful 72 degrees with a soft constant breeze. We had to head to the park and enjoy the weather.

Getting in the car to go!
A beautiful view from laying down on the slide.
My husband likes to bring a favorite book a comfy spot to read, this time it was the slide :)

Pretty Pink Jacket

2011-09-03T22:50:00.000-07:00

As I was wondering along in my favorite consignment shop I happened by this fluffy pretty pink jacket in the 24 month section. The size happened to be a 4 and it fits both of my girls.

When they saw the jacket they lit up. After all, it has fur, rhinestone buttons and bows. What more can you ask for to use in the fall.

Valencia goes to Kindergarten

2011-08-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

My sweet little Valencia is 6 years old this year and is SO excited to being starting school. Last year she was so ready and missed the cut off by 3 days. So finally it's her time. And now her little sister Valoria is wishing she could go too.

There of course was plenty of paperwork for the parents to fill out but Valencia was glad to see she got to write her name on her cubby badge for the year. She always puts a heart for the i in her name:)
After her Kindergarten orientation her Dad and I took her out to a restaurant all by herself. She brought along her favorite stuffed animals. "Belly" the Penguin and "Daisy" the Lemur.

Good Luck Pretty Girl~! Have fun at School~!

Blue Tipped Roses

2011-08-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since I played with the technique of crepe paper roses. I've been making them about the same way for 3 years and decided to add a touch of color to the tips of white roses. The first batch is lightly drawn on with a blue highlighter.

The look I like best though came with a soft touch of acrylic paint on the very tips

Goodbye old home

2011-07-10T00:37:00.000-07:00

It's been an absolute amazing 7 years in this little starter home. My husband and I were first engaged when we moved into that home. It's a mobile home that had all the makings of a house. beautiful cabinets and sturdy wood blinds. A garden tub and skylight and a walk in closet.

I know I will miss so many things about it. Including the way I had gotten it all perfectly shabby chiced up. It took 7 years but finally the horiible wallpaper was painted over and I was so proud of the outcome. I was pregnant for 3 years in this home. Raised the children here until they were 4,6 and 7 years old.
It was a tight sqeeze on space toward the end when our family began to grow. My kids had a few friends from around the neighborhood they will be sad to leave. Only I know they will make more. They think there will never be any more friends in their lives.
Our little family put up our christmas tree every year here, sledded and did easter egg hunts.

It's now time to move on and we'll miss you so much. Goodbye old home. You were wonderful!

Visiting the New house in June

2011-06-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

This is our third or fourth visit to our soon to be new house. We just keep going back. Longing for it to be ours. We can't wait to see the kids and dogs run around in the back yard. To plant bulbs in the fall and sled down the hill in the winter. Fingers crossed this home will be ours soon!

Saoirse-6 months

2011-04-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

She's stolen our hearts with the little things she does. Those little white paws and her black beady eyes. her soft fluffy ears and curly little tail. She's only 6 pounds but she fills up my heart.
My sweet little Saoirse (Ser-sha) is the lovliest puppy in the world :)

Etsy in April

2011-04-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous white rossette and pearl necklace...

Vintage Pearl necklacepink lacette tags.
frilly embellished flower girl baskets.....

Vintage crystal necklace

Jaedin in Baseball

2011-04-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

My oldest is Jaedin, a 7 year old boy who needs alot of energy outlets. This spring we tried

softball. He was a natural. He was a lefty pitcher and could bat right or left. His couches loved him and he loved the whole experience. We brought his sisters along to be his cheeraleaders.

Here is the be cute for mom picture.

And now the getting goofy pictures...

Jaedin going onto the field alone....

and a nice refreshment after the game. Good Job buddy!!

March in the Etsy shop

2011-03-20T22:44:00.000-07:00

March is such a fun month for creating. I love to use the soft pastel colors for Easter creations.
Here is a pink and white set of trim tags embellished with a beautiful vintage brooch.
A very sweet simple white bunny I found and embellished with a tulle and ribbon skirt, a bracelet of pearls and some soft pink vintage lace bows for her ears.
Vintage buttons displayed on vintage borders printed out on the computer.
A lovely soft brown coffee filter banner embellished with pink satin ribbon and Marilyn Healey's vintage glitter glass stars.

A mini composition notebook that has been covered with a fabric skirt that i found from goodwill, I then cut it into strips and then sewed it into frills to cover the book added some vintage cream lace and a sparkle star.

Happy shopping in My etsy shop this March!!

Book Page Roses

2011-03-15T14:54:00.000-07:00

Recently a bride-to-be contacted me through Etsy to ask if I could create a bridal bouquet, boutonniers, bride's maid bouquets and flower girl pins for a geek-chic wedding. She is getting her PhD in Literature and does not like the normal frilly flowers.

To make these roses I used the same concept as I would to make a crepe paper rose with individual petals. Cutting out center petals and heart shaped larger petals for the outer rose.
I curl each side of the petal and wrap them around a floral wire or pipe cleaner and wrap them with floral tape

The result is a lucsious rose head that measures about 3.5 inches across on a stem of about 7 inches long.

They are for sale now in my Etsy shop! 5 roses for $15!

Giveaway Winners!

2011-03-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

The kids and I are having such a lovely Snow day this Monday. It's a beautiful snowfall but I hope it will be the last snow of this winter!

Thank you so much to everyone for coming to enter my garland giveaway!

The Random number generator has selected the following winners~

#24- Julie

and

#6- Ella

I will be having another giveaway the first week of April so I would love if you could come back and visit!

A girl and her puppy

2011-03-13T00:21:00.000-08:00

Two of my three daughters. My 6 year old Valencia and my fur baby Saoirse (Sir-sha)

Intertwined Hearts Garland Giveaway!!!

2011-03-07T13:48:00.000-08:00

I'm SO glad to be back blogging and to celebrate I'm giving away some beautiful heart garlands . The exact garlands featured in Stampington's Holiday's & Celebrations Magazine!

The beauties were handmade in Missouri by me and shipped to California to be photographed for the magazine and sent back to make it into this very Giveaway!

Just make a comment on THIS post and you'll be entered once

Become a follwer of my blog (on the sidebar) and you'll be entered TWICE!

There is a large and mini Garland. Two winners will be chosen. I will ship them internationally as well! End date is Sunday, March 13th.

Winners will be announced on Monday MARCH 14th!

Thank you for coming by! Stay a while and drop me a note :)

Chalkboard Trays

2011-02-20T22:32:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2011-02-14T13:29:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! This is by far my favorite holiday when it comes to creating Art. All of the pinks and reds. Vintage laces and romantic,vintage, paris themes.

The girls and I started out our day with these adorable heart sprinkled cupcakes from the bakery. When we got home from grocery shopping, and while we were putting the groceries away. There was a knock at the door. It was a delivery man with a delivery of lillies, a teddy bear, bath salts and a box of chocolates. Thanks to my sweet husband.

and we finished off our Valentine's Day at Our favorite antique/ handmade home decor boutique called Willow Lake. The owner Eileen created an irresistable collection of delicious goodies! You can "like" her shop on Facebook to see gorgeous vignettes that are ever changing in her store here...

Hope you all had an absolutely lovely Valentine's Day!

Handmade Wedding Invites

2011-02-03T22:41:00.000-08:00

For an Etsy order this Summer a bride asked me for the first time to create wedding invitations.

I'd never done this before so I made her up a sample with coffee dyed background and cream cardstock on the front. Then sewed them together with some soft pink seam binding frills.I threw in with the order a gorgeous embellished Guest Book and she chose to order corespondence tag cards as well. The turnout was so pretty it inspired me to use these colors in my other areas of work such as garlands, roses and trim tags.

Indoor Picnic

2011-02-02T22:39:00.000-08:00

Today my girls and I had a fantastic girly day of shopping and decided to have lunch with an indoor picnic at home. We got out the fancy picnic wear and set up their lunches with the windows open and some pretty lanterns.All of their stuffed animals were even invited and had a fancy tea party picnic :)
Life is good when life is simple!

Wood Burning

2011-01-27T13:16:00.000-08:00

Wood burning is becoming a popular technique in personalizing weddings. Birch vases, wood slices and wooden tags are being personalized with the bride and grooms initials. The perfect addition to a rustic outdoor or nature inspired wedding.
For these Bride and groom Chair markers I used balsa wooden hearts and burned Bride and Groom in a script font onto the hearts. The addition of some crocheted embelishments and vintage looking rhinestones creates a old world romantic feel.

Tree slices are also becoming a beautiful trend in weddings. For centerpieces, cake stands and more. Here is a simple heart woodburned onto a beautiful oak slice.

The woodburning tool can even be used on such material as paper mache. Here is a simple paper mache journal from Michaels for only 1.99 that is made into a beautiful keepsake for photos of a wedding.

2011 Wedding Creations

2011-01-15T10:04:00.000-08:00

Every year in January I love to begin dreaming up new creations for weddings. For the 2011 wedding season here are some beautiful ideas using vintage decorative border images.

Tent Cards to use as placecards, thank you favor cards, or escort cards

Love and appreciation tags with pretty seam binding ribbon from the bride and groom

blank decorative border tags to use for name/placecards, escort cards or wishing tree tags

Coffee dyed used Manilla folders cut into 5 by 7 cards to mark table numbers

Cream crepe paper poppies

2011-01-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

Using the highest quality of gorgeous cream crepe paper folds from blumchen.com

Here are some beautifully delicate paper flowers with pearl stamens.

Our Newest Addition

2010-12-20T08:48:00.000-08:00

So here she is! My 3rd daughter :) (Yes, I'm one of those crazy dog people now)

My little furbaby. She is the sweetest most adorable puppy I've ever seen and I'm completely in love!

After our lost puppy run in with the perfect breed of dog for our family (a Maltese mix of some kind) I searched the whole wide web for a match. I looked on adoption agencies across the country and felt out what my husband considered far. Just wanted to see if he would let me travel from Missouri to Texas to pick up a puppy. Which he did not find very amusing! :)

The breed I was looking for was very difficult to get a hold of.
Not many Maltese mixes near me in adoption centers that were available to me.

My search only turned up about 6. Out of those 6 sweet dogs, only 3 were female (which we wanted) and of those 3. One was special needs and 2 would not be adopted out to families who had young children.

I then begun to look at breeders across the country. That was hard to dive into because there is so much push now-a-days to adopt. The breeding industry is so hard to dig through because you never know if they are reputable or just out to make money.

When I was frustrated and at the end of my research on the comoputer I went about life wondering why nothing was working out.

I knew that it was meant to be that our family was suppose to get a puppy now, and I even knew what breed and gender was perfect for our family so why was it so hard to find the right puppy!?

As I grocery shopped at a store about 3 minutes from my home I put the groceries in the trunk and walked my cart to the cart collection. On my walk back to the car I noticed a store I hadn't noticed in the 6 years we lived here. I'm not sure when it opened but I had never had pets so I guess my eyes weren't open to the existance of the store I didn't need.

So this day, I decided to stop in and look , hoping they would have cute clothes for the puppy I would hopefully find soon. But when I walked in, I heard some barking and saw some fish. This store actually sold animals. Although I had a bad opinion of buying a pet from a store I looked at the puppies and came across the most visually appealing breed there . A Malshi.

I asked the girl working there if she ever had any Malti-poos since that was what my research online was for. She said these Malshi's were the closest they had. At first I said "no" and began looking at toys on the other side of the store. With a quick change of heart I decided to visit with the Male and female Malshi in a little cubicle. I fell in love instantly with a little fuzzy ball of happy. They were excited and tiny and so cute!

After learning they were what I thought was an absurd amount of money to pay for a dog. After all, When I was about 6 my daddy had found a little beagle puppy in the newspaper for $40. I had to remember things were different now. Even after she told me the puppies price. I knew I couldn't walk out of the store even today without her. I caught alot of flack from my husband about the cost and the sudden purchase but I have never ever regretted paying that much or getting her from where I did in the 4 months I've had her. She's been an absolute dream. She's brought so much more joy to our family than I ever expected!

Her name is Saoirse (Ser-sha) Fionnoula (finn-ula). They are Celtic names that I did alot of research on before deciding on them. My husband wanted a boy dog and I just couldn't deal with not gettting to make dresses and hairbows for it, and naming it Gunner, or something manly like that. So I looked for a name that had a meaning and history I thought he would like. Saoirse is a name that was popular in Ireland in the 1920's. It means freedom or liberty and has strong republican political meaning.

Her middle name is also gaelic. Fionnoula means "fair haired" which fits because she is all white. There is a Irish legend about the name that is so charming.

In my Etsy shop December

2010-12-09T08:30:00.000-08:00

Custom Wedding Tags, Beautiful script on coffee dyed paper with soft seam binding ribbon ties.
Each Guest's name inscribed on their own appreciation tag

New~! The use of Burlap to make a tag. Embellished with sparkling soft pink flowers and matchign ribbons

Mini White Hang Tags would make beautiful price tags at your Craft booth or Tahnk you tags at a Little Girls Birthday party

A deep coffee dyed tag with key image and embellished with rhinestones.

The exact box as featured in Greencraft magazine. This is a technique I call Cardboard Carving. This project was requested by Jenny Doh for a publication and ultimately used my Amanda Crabtree for her beautiful magazine. Greecraft..Volume 3
This very box traveled from Missouri to California and back. Now awaiting it's final use as a gift box, or supply/storage box for millinery or crafts.

Gorgeous papers adorned with sparkles, paint and pressed flowers. These are packs of specialty paper for scrapbooking and cardmaking for a next to nothing cost!

And finally.. A stunning sequins and beaded embellished bag with no pulls or missig beads.

Get Well Soon Cake and cookies for Papa

2010-12-01T17:52:00.000-08:00

Recently my dad (the girls's Papa) had been having shoulder problems and had to take some time off work. He loves when people cook for him so I made up the only thing I really cook which is vegetable soup and the girls wanted to make something to send him also, so we spent an afternoon baking and packing up some cake and cookies.

Here is the adorable teamwork that ensued :)

They took turns stirring the batter.

They floured their pans
They hugged because they realized they weren't arguing over anything.

Such little sweet hearts~!

OUR NEW BABY GIRL PUPPY!!!

2010-11-27T22:39:00.000-08:00

I'm SO extremely excited to introduce you to our new baby girl puppy! She is about 5 weeks old in these photos and will be 8 weeks old when we get her.
We don't have a name for her yet. We will be making name lists and voting on names before we bring her home.

This is our little sweetie with her 3 brothers. She is the only female and as you can see the only one who is all white.
I'm SO excited to start this new journey with her. We had such a great time with the puppy that came into our lives for only 2 days and 1 night and I really believe that little Sweetie pie was a big piece of fate that brought me to our new baby girl puppy. Without little Sweetie Pie, we wouldn't have ever thought to get a puppy or a dog or this breed.
This new little girl is a Maltese & Poodle designer mix which are known for being great for people with allergies. They are non shedding & hypo allergenic.
Perfect for people like me who have suffered with allergies to pet dander all my life.
Of course there will be many posts to come of our kids playing with her and her milestones. Can't wait to share them with you!

Hello & Goodbye Sweetie Pie

2010-11-25T23:10:00.000-08:00

This little darling here is Sweetie Pie :) and here is the story of how we had to say hello and goodbye....
Thanksgiving day my husband & I dropped off our kids at Grandma and Papa's house and had a fantastic date day. Watched a movie and had lunch then came home in the late afternoon. As we pulled into our driveway we noticed a cute little white puppy across the street.
My husband & I were outside bringing in Bins of Christmas Decorations, Preparing to put up our Christmas tree, which we always do the day after thanksgiving.
As we was carrying bins in, this little puppy comes running across the street and onto our porch and right to me. I picked her up because she looked freezing. I wrapped her in my coat and carried her back over to the house she was standing in front of when we first saw her.

I knocked on their door for about 3 minutes and got no answer even though 2 cars were in the driveway. So I took her back over to what we were doing because no one was coming outside to get her. About 10 minutes later when my husband & I had completed bringing everything inside I wrapped her up in one of the girls blankets and took her back to the house and knocked again. This time I knocked harder and waited for 5 minutes. Still no answer.
So I walked to a couple other neighbors that I knew were friendly and asked them if this was their puppy or had they ever seen it and no one had.
After another 15 minutes of talking with random neighbors I took the puppy back to the house where I found it and knocked again. Still no answer.

So I brought her into our house thinking, a puppy this small can not be forgotten about for this long and she obviously doesn't live around here because no one has come out to get her and no one is looking for her. So I just tried to keep her warm and wondered what to do with her.
Next I tried calling my local animal shelter to see if someone could pick her up. but it was Thanksgiving so no one was working.

It was getting to be time to go pick the kids up so I took the puppy in the car with me to go pick them up. We stopped on the way home to get some flea shampoo because she had a small case of fleas. While at Walgreens the employees oohed and awwed at how precious she was and one employee said they had a lost dog flyer at the front of their store that might be this dog. While the photo of the lost dog really didn't look like her, I called anyway to see and it wasn't the correct owner. The lady who had posted the lostdog flyers for her dog had been reunited with her loved puppy and suggested I make a listing on Craigslist that I found her.

So we brought her home and gave her a nice warm flea bath and I made the craigslist listings.
While I did this the puppy snuggled up with the kids, the kids really enjoyed bringing her stuffed animals and chasing her around the house.

The next morning the kids were so excited to have another day with her and knew we were looking for her family so we posted found dog posters in our neighborhood.
By Noon there was still no response to the flyers or craigslist postings so I gave her another bath and braved the cold and the black friday shoppers to take her up to Petsmart to get scanned for a microchip. I asked the lady there what kids of dog she thought this was and about how old she was. She said that it was obviously a cared for animal because the puppy had her toenails painted and had a decent coat of hair. But no microchip. So while we were at petsmart we got her a tag, I wasn't about to lost a lost dog that I had said I found! :)
We also got her toys, a little bag of food, and a little coat.

Next we took her to Grandma and Papa's house to get a leash from there so we could take her on a walk and so she could meet their dog, our final stop was Kennelwood, a grooming and board facility where my sister in law worked. I wanted to see what breed she thought the dog was. She said maybe a maltese/ spaniel mix but didn't know for sure. My sister and law then clipped her nails and trimmed her paw pad hair.
Finally we got back home and got the kids all bundled up to take a walk.

I enjoyed the kids working together to all take her for a work and took many photos. Only minutes after this photo was taken truck pulled up on the road and asked if I just found this puppy? I said yes, and he called his 18 yr old daughter who had been worried about her all night.
It turns out that her owner's dad lived at the house that I was knocking at all night but no one ever answered. I still don't know why, & it bothers me a little. I was SO disappointed, The girls and i had both had grown to like her alot. This experience brought alot of joy into our daily life for the 2 days she was here. & I believe that God just wanted to send me a message about what breed and size of dog was right for our family.

Post Filing~Rest a While

2010-11-20T18:56:00.000-08:00

I have been working diligently the last few days on getting caught up in my posting about the 5 months of life I didn't get to write about yet on my blog.
Our home computer went down in late July and made it very difficult to blog. I didn't have my photos, thought I was going to loose 2 years worth of photos. I have a laptop to use but it didn't have any photos on it that I wanted to blog about.
Finally our home computer came to life for 4 days. Long enough for me to retrieve my photos.
Since then, it has shut down again. But I'm just glad my blog will be back to life~!
Thank you for coming today! and please feel free to go through these posts I've just made.
In order to maintain order I've filed them in their proper date order.
Enjoy!!
Beautiful Good for you Foods

Father's Day

What's a girl to do

Pink and Cream Paper Bouquet

Papa's Birthday Party

Valencia's 5th Birthday Party

They grow up so fast

Vintage Embellished Nut Cups

Wine Country Gardens 2

A Shabby Christmas

Luscious soft pink bouquet

Wedding Trim Tags

Etsy Destash

Etsy Destash

2010-11-20T18:17:00.000-08:00

For the last 3 years I have had a room dedicated to my Art and Etsy supplies. My family called it the craft room. I have 3 children who have up til now been so small that there was no reason for them to have separate rooms. We basically had a playroom in the largest room and they slept on the couch which is like a giant bed or they slept in our bed.
Now that my son is 6 and in 1st grade he has a firm bed time and needs his own bed and room to fall asleep peacefully in without the girls waking him up. So I cleaned out my craft room. It was so much more packed than it looked and I found some really really lovely supplies I had been hanging onto for the perfect projects.
I decided they have stayed their time in my home and I had my chance to create with them, It is now time to pass them along to someone who has plans for these fantastic supplies.

All of these beautiful items have been listed in my Etsy shop.

Wedding Trim Tags

2010-11-15T16:52:00.000-08:00

This month a Bride named Megan contacted me through Etsy to request my Trim tags but with her Bride's maids names on them. Her idea was to tie these onto Mason jars that will be holding the bridesmaids bouquets on a table also doubling as decor. She is having a fall vintage themed wedding and requested that there be any fall charms I had as well as using the colors of her wedding. A soft orange, light green and brown.

These match the Vintage Fall theme to a T and I can't wait to see photos of how she will be using them~!

After she received her Bridesmaid's tags she loved them and decided to request some custom made tags for her Sand Ceremony Jars as well.
On the center jar, there will be trim tag with their names and wedding date as well as a gorgeous vintage rhinestone pendant. And on either side of the center jar will be a jar with each of their names on them.

She also needed some small custom tags to tie onto her edible favors. I thought this was the best sentiment for these tags.

Luscious Soft Pink Bouquet

2010-11-10T00:26:00.000-08:00

These luscious peachy pink roses were created with a new crafting material I've wanted to try out for a while. I have worked with regular crepe paper folds for 3 years. I've loved the ease of working with a thin paper and it's very pliable. This is a double fly crepe paper fold.
A bit more expensive to use. What's nice about a double ply instead of the thinner paper is that these folds have two slightly different colors on each side.Another great upside to using the double ply is that they are incredibly durable. The thinner paper gives a lovely softness and they turn out delicate. Which is a nice look but usually need to be fluffed after shipping where as these are sturdy enough to hold their shape.
The only draw back I could tell was that it was more difficult to work with because it was bulkier.
When it came time to pinch the petals together and wrap with wire, it was a bit of a handful but the outcome is well worth the extra time.

My daughter Valencia holding a bouquet of only 6 roses shows how effortless it is to use them as a flower girl bouquet.

A Shabby Christmas

2010-11-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

Some GORGEOUS shabby chic items I've just added to my Etsy shop!

Halloween Costumes

2010-10-28T18:51:00.000-07:00

This year for Halloween I decided to scower the thrift stores looking for costumes. We were able to find 2 costumes each for the girls. Here are the first set. A dance themed mermaid and a unicorn that just happened to match perfectly! We got the leotard for $1 and already had the purple tutu and strand of pearls. We bought the unicorn outfit for $6

When we had finished shoppimg, they were so excited to get home and try them on!

The 2nd set of costumes we found were a cowgirl ($5 for the outfit and $3 for the hat)

and a bride(a slightly used flower girl dress $15) The veil I made just by cutting an oval shape out of lace and used 2 bobbie pins to secure in her hair.

Crepe paper Rose Garlands

2010-10-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

The most recent custom wedding rose order I did was for this beautiful bride, Heather.
She sent me these lovely photos to show me how she used them for her special day.
She said the weather did not cooperate and they were forced to carry out the wedding in the reception area and the roses then got to be the backdrop for the ceremony.

Her beautiful wedding was featured in a Private Country Estate Blog The Monte Verde

To make the rose Garland I add my delicate crepe paper roses to a strand of pretty ribbon and add simple little leaves to the back.

I have this lovely bride Vanessa to thank for the Rose Garland idea. She contacted me last year wanting to create garlands to hang from a very old Ginko Biloba tree in France. She thought my Crepe paper roses would be good for this. I tried it and the outcome was this..

They made such a gorgeous couple and their stunning day was featured on a
French Blog called La Mariee Aux Pieds Nus

Vrai Mariage Blog Part 1
Vrai Mariage Blog Part 2

Most recently I was contacted by BRIDES magazine to send them Garlands for a Nov. 4th photoshoot . I am excited to see in the next couple of months if they make it into an upcoming issue!!

Wedding Placecards

2010-10-23T12:02:00.000-07:00

I have posted photos of place cards before and thought I would collect the photos of all of the design options for place cards I offer in my etsy shop. Throughout the 3 years I've been on Etsy, Wedding items is really where I have the most fun. When I was young. Probably around 11 or 12 I started keeping a binder full of wedding dress and decor ideas. I kept them up until I was 18 and married. It has always been an interest. I thought it may manifest itself with me being interested in being a wedding planner but as organized and patient as I can be. Wedding planners are a certain type of angel :) They can really pull off miracles with all of the responsibilities that need to be pulled together. I'd rather create quitely alone than be around all of the comotion.

I'm so excited to be back to be posting regularly! I have missed it a great deal. We've had computer problems, kids growing up so fast that I've put everything on hold to pay all of my attention to them, and my blog was 344 posts old and therefore full. Blogger informed me I couldn't upload anymore photos so I had to go research what sites would turn blogs into books so I could go back to the beginning and delete some posts and photos. I wasn't terribly attached to the very fist few posts . I'm sure if you're a blogger you can relate. Blogging is kind of like scrapbooking. In that, if you create a whole album and look at it a couple months or years later after you've grown and become a better scrapbooker. All of a sudden the last album doesn't look so good. I was thrilled to find Blurb.com that has a program that can be easily and quickly downloaded. It's called BookSmart and it is incredibly user friendly!
I was able to create a 180 page hardcover book that includes my whole first year of blogging.
The book totaled about $61 with shipping and it will be here in a week. I will show it to you then and let you know how the quality turns out and if I'm pleased with the value :)

Thanks for coming back to my blog to ckeck in and I hope you will continue to as well as I have been away for about 5 months and have about 30 posts to catch up on:)
Pop me a comment and say hello!

Fall Wedding Bouquets

2010-10-20T00:14:00.000-07:00

An enchanting bright bouquet requested by a bride on Etsy. She is having a fall wedding using bright orange as one of the main colors in her scheme.
I made 6 bridesmaids bouquets of 6 roses each wrapped in a jute burlap. The bridal bouquet was made up of 10 roses and was wrapped with the burlap and embellished with vintage lace. She has promised photos of how she uses them in the wedding, and I can't wait to see!
I used a special sturdy doubly ply crepe paper for these roses which creates a bit of a different look than the delicate thinner pink roses that I'm used to making. A little hareder to work with, but these roses hold their shape beautifully.

Coffee Dyed Tags Tutorial

2010-09-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

This is a post months and years in the making.
So here are my tips and how to's about how I've developed my dying over the course of a couple of years. There are suprisingly many many factors to consider before trying this process and many tips that I've come up with to master this technique for the best looking dye possible.
So please enjoy!

Tools:
Scissors
12 inch paper cutter
9 by 13 inch glass pan
cookie sheets
oven
hole punch
Bath Towel

Materials:
Manila Folders
String
Instant Coffee

Folders:
I began using Used manila folders from an office. The first couple hundred tags I made quickly knocked out that stack and so I was left to find the cheapest folders I could. I use this brand from Walmart. There are 50 folders in a box that costs $3.44
There are other options such as Target, but these folders usually always have a brand name printing in the inner folder, which is very aggravating having to cut around and there is more waste this way.
This though is only a problem because I do make so many. So other brands will still be a good value if you are only dying a small amount of tags.

Cutting tool:
The first tool you will need is a paper cutter. This fantastic purple Fiskars 12 inch paper cutter. I bought from Michaels many years ago on my very last day working there. I was just starting my journey at becoming a stay at home mom and I had no idea that this $5 tool ($9.99 originally, I used a 50% off coupon) would be a huge staple in my at home business to come. The orange replaceable blades are inexspensive and last a long time. I would estimate 10,000 tags worth.
I would love to someday move onto a cutter with an arm, that will cut more folders at a time. Thus cutting down on my production time. But, with my 3 little ones around, I opt to keep my cutting tool as safe as possible.

Folder Prep:
There are two ways that I often cut the folders before dying. Sometimes I will cut the tabs of each folder and cut along the fold in the folder so that I'm left with what looks like two sheets of card stock. This allows me to have coffee dyed sheets of paper that will allow me to cut the tags the size as needed as they are ordered in my shop.
Other times I cut the folders to tag size, hole punch and string before dying.
My standard tag size is 1.5 by 3 inches. I alos have Mini (1.5 by 2 inches) and a large size ( 2 by 4 inches)
When deciding which option you will choose, also consider that the cotton string ties will get coffee dyed along with the tags.

Workspace:You will only need a small amount of counterspace when doing this project. A place for the pan you are dipping the folders into, a drying spot and a spot for storing the sheets or tags that have been dried. I do recommend cleaning the counters so that no liquid or food items can be transferred onto the folders.

Kind of Coffee:
The best coffee to use for my purposes is an off brand instant coffee jar. I get the largest because of the amount of dying I do. If you accidentally use a coffee that is not labeled as (instant) you can still dye the tags, you will just be inconvienced with coffee specks on the paper and when they are all dryed there will be many of these specks to wipe off the paper. Thus making the process incredibly more messy but still with a suitable outcome.

Mixture and Soaking:
If you are soaking sheets of folders, you will want to use a 9 by 13 inch glass pan. If you are dying tags cut down smaller, you can oviously use a mixing bowl or something similar.
I use about 4 tbsp or more of coffee and fill the water about 2.5 inches in the pan.
The more coffee you use is one factor in how dark the tags will be. (The second factor being the length of time the tags sit in the coffee and the third factor being how long the tags are in the oven being dried)
Individual sheets need to be dunked under the coffee mixture one at a time. I do this by setting one sheet into the mixture and pressing down with a spatula. It is best to have a small plate near by to rest the spatula on, so that your counters do not get dyed with coffee.
This step will assure that the sheets don't stick together, allowing coffee to fully coat each side of folder.
When dying tags already cut and strung, they can be thrown in all together.

When dying sheets, I put in about 30 sheets at a time. When dying tags already cut and strug I thow in howeve many will fit.
Soaking time if based on your desired look. For 5 minutes or less of soak time your end result will only be a slight bit darker than the creamy color the folders are originally.
The best soak time will be about 10-12 minutes.

Ringing out:
Make sure your towel is folded in half so that half of your towel is setting on the counter and half is ready to be folded over the wet tags.
The paper will be wilted and thin. When ringing out a pile of tags already cut and strung, you risk accintally pulling out the strings because of how fragile the paper becomes after sitting in the water.
To ring out the water from sheets you will want to grab all of the sheets you've put into the pan and hold over the pan. This will allow for signifigant amount to drain off the paper. Then squeeze around the sided of the papers , turing the whole pile and ringing until you've gotten out as much liquid as you can.
Then set on the towel resting on the counter. The free half of the towel can then be folded over the sheets and pressed on top of them, getting as much moisture out as possible before putting into the oven for the drying process.

The first time I did this project I spread each individual tag out onto many bath towels on my counters and kitchen floors. I left them to dry overnight. This is a very nice way to dry the tags however here are some factors to consider before deciding if you will dry them this organic way or in the oven.

When drying on towels overnight:
*It takes quite a bit of time laying out each tag so that they can dry properly
*It takes alot of room depending on the amoung of tags your dying
*If you have children, this project will need to be done after they go to sleep so that they do not *Pick up a towel full of tags and drag them across the house :)
*You run the risk of the tags getting mold spots if they are too wet
*Because of the mold risk, full sheets of paper really shouldn't be dried like this because sheets hold in so much more moisture

When drying in the oven:
*It will take a signifigantly shorter amount of time to dry out the tags or sheets
*Depending on how often this done you may want to consider energy cost in running the oven.
*Even at the low temperature the oven will be on at, if you are dying many tags. you will want to run the oven in the evenings during the summer and daytime during the winter.
*You must watch vidulantly over the tags for their duration in the oven (especially if kids are around)

In the first few months of making my tags I decided for me personally, the best way would be to use the oven to dry the tags. This cuts down signifigantly on production time.Spread already cut and strung tags onto the cookie sheet. Consider that any overlapping tags will be stained in an uneven manner.
Sheets can be laid out 3-4 on a sheet. Usually about 2 will cover the length of the sheet and you can only have one layer of folders or the underneath 2 folders will not dry.

I keep the tags in the oven at 290 degrees for about 10-12 minutes.
Once this time is up. I pull them out and slide them off the pan onto the counters to cool of a bit.
about 5 minutes later I move into a basket to be taken to my stamping station.
I hope you will have much success with this technique and
Please feel free to contact me anytime at my E-mail address YourAngil@Hotmail.com for questions concering this tutorial :)

Here are just a few of the many ways coffee dyed tags can be decorated....

Simply Stamped ( I would only recommend Staz On ink Pads) all others will smudged.
(These tags as seen in Artful Blogging)

Made into earring Cards (these measure 3 by 5 inches)
(These Earring cards were featured in Belle Armoire)

Glue or sew on Ephemera pieces and fabric and lace stripsQuilt tops cut into hearts and other small fabric pieces sewn onto the tag
(These particular tags were featured in Art Quilting Studio Magazine.)

Stamped and adorned with rhinestones.

Wine Country Gardens 2

2010-09-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

This year we took our 2nd annual trip to Wine Country Gardens in Missouri. Only about 30 minutes from our home is a grouping of gorgeous wineries. This happens to be the first you come to but it is one that my Mom and Dad are fond of. Last year we were able to get a babysitter for the kids so my husband & I could go with My mom and Dad. This year my husband was kind enough to watch the kids while I accompanied my parents.
First order of business when we walk in is always to do some Wine Tasting. We taste 3 wines and buy a few bottles of whichever we like. Then we come out to the covered patio looking over rolling hills. This is where we sit and enjoy our first bottle and have lunch and visit.

When we are done with lunch and we're ready to stretch our legs we take a little walk over to the pond about 15 yards from our lunch patio. On the way there are huge trees and beautiful blooming plants. All of which my parents like to tell me the names of.

Around the pond there is a family of ducks and 2 Swans. The ducks are so used to the people visiting that they walked right across our path on the way to the pond.

By this time we are almost done with our second bottle and the visiting turns into jokes and laughing. This is always one of the funnest parts of our trip. I think that must be one of my favorite things to do on this earth, is to laugh with family.

After we've completed our walk all the way around the pond we rest at an old picnic bench sitting on some unbalanced rocks. By this time we are on our 3rd bottle usually and the joking turns into reflection and deep conversation. A time of learning. And what a view to cause reflection~!

Vintage Embellished Nut Cups

2010-09-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

These delicate nut cups came about when I had these little cups laying around left over from last years Mops group meetings. I thought I may use them for the kids lunches to hold ketchup of something like that but I wanted them to have a longer life than that.
To save them from eternally sitting in a dumpster somewhere I thought I would wrap them with valuable vintage laces and buttons. No one in their right mind would throw away these pretty little cups that could house jewelry or craft supplies. Or could be used as favor cups at a luncheon or bridal party. Maybe even a little girls tea party.

And some more lovely white and satin pink Washcloths for a Shabby cottage kitchen on powder room.
All available in my Etsy shop!

They grow up so fast.

2010-09-03T16:35:00.000-07:00

The kids are ages 3, 4 and 6 and I can recall the days they were born like it was yesterday.
Sometimes it feels as though it's been a lifetime since they were born and I can't remember what life was without them. I can still remember thinking after I had Valencia, "I wonder how many kids i will have". Then I realized it is up to us. And I couldn't have life with just 2 so then came Valoria.
After Valoria I felt like I was done for a while but thought I maybe wanted one more little boy. When I was a little girl I told everyone I was going to have 2 boys and 2 girls but after 3 consecutive years of being pregnant, it was time to be done. I was 18, 20 and 21 when I gave birth to them and my husband & I had only had a few years of having a home and being married together. And never without kids.
I still feel sometimes that our family isn't complete, and I don't know where that feeling comes from because this family of 5 is all we will have. We chose to be done after 3 and can no longer have anymore but maybe along the lines of life there is a plan I have a feeling about but not plans for. An adoption or maybe it's even just a closer relationship with God that needs to be added to our family.
At this moment though, my life feels amazing. These 3 special babies make me happy.
And they are growing up so fast.
As this feeling grasped on to me today, I told them they must stop what they were doing so we could go outside and take some photos so I could have photos of them this age forever.
I'm so glad we did. You can see the girls made a game out of trying to kiss their brother and that made for some excellent pictures. They were all just glowing today.

New flooring

2010-08-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

Jaedin's Room

We had lived in our starter home for 6 years now and our carpet took a beating. Raising 3 toddlers, it was no surprise that there would be some accidents. There always are. There have been food, paint and potty accidents that I was less than thrilled about. I have always felt bad about it though. I'm not incredibly strict about keeping things spotless. I know moms who are neat freaks and it just doesn't suit me well but it bother's my husband quite a bit to see a stain that has been not cleaned up. So after 6 years we were in desperate need of replacing our flooring. We were unsure if we would though because of our plans to move at the beginning of 2010.
Girls Room

That still hasn't worked out for us yet and so I thought sure it's going to cost a good chunk of money but we are going to feel so much better to look into our house and take some pride in ownership because of how nice it looks. I took the plunge and ordered new carpet and vinyl for the bathrooms and I couldn't be more pleased. It feels so fresh and new in here. I even did a huge change with the furniture, taking out many large pieces that were of the shabby chic nature because my tastes are changing a bit to a darker feel. I will be repainting early next year and the whole replacement of the carpet gave me the motivation to condence my craft room so that I would be able to give my son his own room. of course he has to share his room with my sewing machine table but still I'm glad he has a place to get away from mom and his sisters if he needs some time.
Hall way

It's going to take a while to save up for all of the necessary items to get the house to where I'd like it. I have a full page wish list of things I'd like for our home eventually. But we're a young family. We'll get there. For now, I find it extremely helpful to write down a list of things I'm grateful for each day. It's a gratitude journal with the date at the top of the page and a list of blessings I found in my day. I will be making a series of these for my Etsy shop and I'll get into more detail on them then :)

Master Bath
Living Room

All of the furniture moved outside on the porch

August Etsy Additions

2010-08-13T07:21:00.001-07:00

For the month of August I've added some soft petaled flowers, new inspiring word tags and a variety of new muslin tags.
These special roses are called Sola Flowers, Sola shell flowers are carved to look like they are made with shell. They are beautiful handmade flowers that are made from tapioca wood peel. It is a soft wood so you can easily string them together with a needle to make natural garlands for decoration.

Inspirational words stamped onto handmade coffee dyed tags.

The beautiful delicate pink coffee filter roses started out life as plain white coffee filters. they've been dyes pink with a special color mixture of dyes. then baked in the oven and finally cut and spun into roses. These are beautiful additions to Guest book tables, Wedding cake platforms or can be made into long strands of garlands by attaching them to ribbon.

A classy Thank you tag for weddings and special events was made with coffee colored paper, a custom message and a beautiful bird in a branch stamp image. Finished off with seam binding ribbon ties.
Muslin tags stamped with light pink damask hearts make for the perfect base for place cards tied around the stem of a wine glass or around napkins. They can even be customized with names and date, or a thank you message.

Please come and see my Guest Curatorship this week on Crescendoh!

Valencia's 5th Birthday Party

2010-08-05T23:49:00.000-07:00

This year my Sweet little Valencia turned 5. She requested a Snow White Birthday Party.
This must have been the 3rd of 4th Princess Themed Birthday party we've had :) I assume it will be this way until they're 8 or so. To stay on budget we borrowed a cousin's Snow white dress and the new snow white heels were a gift she got right away when she got to her party so she could wear them. We always have the kids Birthday parties at Grandma and Papa's house because that is their favorite place to be. They have a Wii, 2 floors of toys, a trampoline, a puppy, a sandbox a swing and most importantly Grandma and Papa.
We placed a pile of her gifts wrapped in princess paper on the table which was enough decoration for her liking.

She requested some princesses on her cake with orange frosting which is her favorite color.
The girls are so naturally dramatic that when they saw what was inside each gift they took turns placing their hands up to their cheeks and oohed and awwed with excitement.

Instead of buying new toys in their pretty packaging I scoured the thrift and consignment stores for collections of things. I found a wonderful collection of small houses. A ballet studio, a pet store, some houses and little people to go throughout the town.
I'm so proud of my sweet little princess...
Here are some of my favorite things about Valencia this year...

* She's perfectly happy playing by herself but is still outgoing around her friends.

* I call her my Snuggle bunny because she'd rather be snuggling with me on the couch than playing in her room with her sister and brother.

*She loves food! and this year has really sprouted. Sometimes when she awakes in the morning I can't believe how big she is.

* Her best friend is her Grandma Tina. so almost every morning during breakfast she asks if it's the day that we get to go to Grandma's house.

*She is the funniest of the bunch. She says the funniest things in the most lively ways. I think she was maybe meant to be an actress.

Papa's Birthday Party

2010-07-31T23:22:00.000-07:00

My Father's Name is Rick, he is a very important part of my life. One of my few best friends in life. He's an incredibly talented human being. He is compassionate and very giving to his family. It truly means the world to me that he is helping to raise my children. We are all incredibly blessed to have him as the Papa in our family.

Every year now it is tradition that my 3 kids have each of their birthday parties at his and my Mom's house. It is our kids favorite place to go and so there is no real other logical place to hold a birthday party.
This year it just so happened that we were doing some upgrades to our home and wanted the whole family to come over and see the new carpet and decor. I scheduled it for the last week of July. My Dad knew that my brother and his family would be coming along as well but had no idea that we had all pitched in to throw him a little surprise birthday party as his birthday is July 31st.

I decorated with gold and red balloons to match his Guitar themed gift packaging. One of his many many talents is being a musician.
My Mom and Dad spend so much time on us kids and our families throughout the year that they don't get much pampering for themselves so together we gave them a gift certificate to a beautiful spa to get a couples massage.

We had pizza and cookie cake so no one had to cook and clean up. The kids ran around the house and had so much fun being together.
Days like this make life so joyful~!
Happy Birthday Daddy! We hope you had a good one!

Vegas

2010-07-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

I ha taken an impromptu break from blogging. Didn't see that coming. But it was a nice relaxing little break. And now I'm excited to jump back in and share what I've been up to the past month. I'm currently in Las Vegas seeing some incredible sights.

Next week I am going to be featured on Jenny Doh's new site Crescendoh as a Guest Curator so I hope you all will check in over there and see some amazing friends posts I will be linking and how Art works in our lives.

It's taken me so long to post again I guess because I didn't know where to begin so I will start with these beautiful new roses that I've been making with a new supply to me. It is double ply crepe paper folds and they are so sturdy and beautiful. I think these will be perfect to sell by the dozen for anniversaries and Valentienes day. And they will be perfect as home decor around the house this Christmas :) Hope you like them as well~!

Cream and Pink Paper Bouquet

2010-07-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

Over the summer , new Wedding ideas always pop up. This year I wanted to create a soft and delicate looking bouquet using coffee filters. The coffee filters are bought when white and hand dyed in a food coloring and coffee/ water mixture. Then baked in the oven and cut and wired into a rose.
I added in some cream crepe paper roses for variety and although it is a little less tailored looking, it still creates a fanciful bouquet. It would make a beautiful bridal or flower girl bouquet.

What's a Girl to do?

2010-07-08T22:41:00.000-07:00

Now that Jaedin (my 6 year old son) has headed off to first Grade. My 2 daughters and I are left to spend the day together. I do work during the day every week day on my Etsy shop. Every day while they have 1 hour blocks of tv time I use that time to come up with product ideas, create new items for the shop or complete orders. All of the other hours are filled doing girly fun activities. I enjoy so much staying at home with these 2 little darlings! How did I ever get to be so blessed~! Alot of our day is spent changing, and I can't say it's a surprise. I have done this for 15 years to my mother. Clothes scattered about my room and as a teenager always covered my floor so that there wasn't even a walkway. So it's only natural that I would get back two fold what I dished out :) Tutus and leotards and swimsuits are their favorites.

Painting and Play-doh are another set of their favorite past times. Here we did it with a family friend that is their age. My mom and I save egg cartons to use as paint cups and i lay down a colorful table cover I got on clearance at Walmart a couple years ago. Doing this activity on the floor allows for more creative room to move about. Instead of sitting at a table where you may not be able to reach something, this allows you more room to move about and get what you need.

More dress up of course. With jewels and mama's shoes and upside down sunglasses. In the background you can see Valencia playing with ou all time favorite past time, a collection of houses and stores that open up. We have a whole town's worth with little people and furniture and vehicles. Purchased at a consignment shop for only $35!

July 4th Weekend

2010-07-06T02:25:00.000-07:00

We started off our weekend right by heading to the "Water Park" it's our regular every season park that has a small area of water fountains to play with .
Next, we headed over to my Aunt's neighborhood pool. This pool had a fun whirpool feature and girlfriends for the girls to play with. The girls who were there just happened to have little barbie dolls they shared.
From one pool to another. This time going to a family barbecue on my husband's side of the family. We had so much fun this day with cousins!
My sweet husband and (an unsure about this raft) Valencia

Valoria was a little stinker all day and kept wanting to take her floaties off. Needless to say she didn't spend much time in the water since she wasn't listening :)

And finally to the exciting Fireworks event. We did some little sparklers and waited for the large city fireworks show to start.

A Happy Day

2010-07-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

Some days just fall together. You wake up assuming it is just another day. With no real zest for life. Undriven and maybe a little unfocused. and throughout the day it gets progressively richer.
Conversations with loved ones are sweet, the children's smiles seem brighter and make my heart happier than the day before.
Some days God reminds me of how life should be lived. Today was one of those days and in the grocery store as part of the glorious day that fell into place, so there was a cookie cake that expressed it all. A day that had no particular meaning or theme but wound up being a refresher to life.
Such a Happy Day!

At the Beach

2010-06-30T21:16:00.000-07:00

Our Florida Vacation was stunning and fun and too many hours of driving. But after these photos there is no doubt in my mind that we will go again. It's a few months since we've been back. I jumped right back into my Etsy shop and haven't sat down to show you these lovely photos until now. This was my first time to Florida and only my4th time out of Missouri.
I've been to Cancun on my Honeymoon, Iowa to see my husband's family, California for a romantic getaway and now our first ever family vacation.
Valencia at sunset in a dress I made her for this trip. She wanted an orange dress because it is her favorite color. The top of the dress is a 18 month shirt that I sewed a peachy fabric to for the bottom of the skirt and added some vintage lace from the Antique Mall.
Jaedin wearing his big bright smile :)

My sweet Valoria and I doing Eskimo kisses.
My sister deserves the credit for these beautiful photos! Thank you Jen for helping me capture such loving family moments.

Muslin Tags!

2010-06-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

I am extremely excited to show you my newest Etsy addition. Muslin Tags! It has to be one of my favorite creations I've made for the shop throughout these 2 years. Right behind the coffee dyed manila folder tags. With weddings becoming more rustic and natural these would be so beautiful tied around napkin rings or wine glass stems. Custom Calligraphy is offered to be use as place cards or escort tags.

Father's Day Cake

2010-06-20T13:06:00.000-07:00

For Father's Day my sweet little girls and I worked on making an all chocolate cake while Jaedin, my son wanted not much to do with it. Jaedin made Dad some cards but baking just wasn't his thing this year. The girls absolutely love any step of the cake I will let them do. They are finally old enough to start measuring and stirring. Still, I won't allow them to help crack the eggs. My little Valencia (on the right) loves to get out the eggs from the carton while I'm not looking and draw faces on them. I'm pretty sure she names each one so I 'm sure to crack them in the bowl while she isn't looking :)

Valoria took interest in working the icing bag. This is her 3rd time working with it. She did a fantastic job last christmas when she was just barely 3. I couldn't believe how controlled she was with a bag of icing for having just been 2 years old but now with this Father's Day cake she proved she can do some really great dots. So we lined the outside of the cake with dots.And here is the final product. Proud little girls and one happy Daddy :)

Summer Activities

2010-06-17T20:48:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness! It's been a busy Summer. We woman have an incredible knack for having to fill every second of every day. But, I suppose these are the funnest times in life. The kids are with me every second of every day accept when my lovely parents take over for a full day, and sometimes even my husband will take them for the day so my mom and I can have a day of rest or shopping:) This time, we went shopping ~! and here are just a very few of the things we got on our incredibly successful shopping spree.

We found Valoria this magnificent tinkerbell costume. we bought it for her Halloween costume this year but she will wear it about a hundred times before then. The wings light up and it came with a wand. All for only $8.50! As you can see in the photos she beyond Loves it.

Alot of what I can't show you today is Miss Valencia's Birthday Presents. She got a rocking pony and snow white shoes and a few other gifts she will love. I'll show those in August after her Birthday party. She will be 5 this year but will not be headed to Kindergarten yet, She missed the birthday cutoff by only 3 days. Oh well, I'd love to have her home another year :)
Here she is with her new Birthday party dress (for only $5.50)
Mr Jaedin is headed to 1st grade in August, so for summer we've been working on homework every day. He is really great at Math and writing. He's showing off his Yoshi candy despenser Grandma and I found for him

We also bought some more bathing suits. At $4 or $5 a pc these are just too cute. And Valoria's Strawberry suit was only $2.50
The kids and I went on a hot morning to the waterpark. We packed up Ice water, grapes and apples for snacks and I packed up some "basket projects" I call them. These are small projects that I need to work on for Etsy orders. Such as tying tags, and wrapping rose stems.
The kids had such a great time and for a good portion of the day, had the water to themselves. I sat under the pretty pavilion where there was a nice breeze and worked on orders. In front of me the kids play happily and to my right this beautiful view of a lake with a fountain.

Here are the Crepe paper and coffee filter roses that I completed while at the park.
Hope you are all having a Happy Summer!!

June Tags

2010-06-15T23:02:00.000-07:00

New rustic coffee dye tags for the shop. These new stamp designs are refreshing to work with. Always fun to add something new.

Among adding new regulars to the shop, here are some custom order requests for the month of June.

Calligraphy and printing, double sided

Wedding favor tags
Business Tags

Placecards with Calligraphy and scroll work

Fifi's Blog

2010-06-10T20:24:00.001-07:00

Photo by Fifi O'Niel

Hey there!! A very exciting post today!
My sweet Friend Sandy at My Streamside Studio just had her cottage photographed for Romantic Country. Sandy has decorated with my pink Ephemeral Coffee Filter roses so they were photographed by Fifi O'Niel herself!!! How exciting!
I can't wait to see the article and to see if just maybe the roses make it into the magazine as well :)

Fifi O'Niel's Blog Chez Fifi...

Photo by Fifi O'Niel

(Photo by Me)
(Photo by me)
The roses are twice as big and fluffy as seen in these photos because now I am using 2 coffee filters for each rose. They are 4.5 to 5 inches wide now. if you'd like to have some roses for yourself, they are in my shop ..right here~!

Beautiful "Good For you" foods

2010-06-08T01:31:00.000-07:00

This spring after reading Natalia Rose's Women Detox Diet Book I was fascinated by a healthier way to treat your body. I knew eating Raw would not being something I would employ full time but it certainly effects every day life after you experiment with new foods.

I'm excited about being able to use these tips for the beginning of my adult life. Being in my mid 20s now I thought it very important to think about making some new habits for myself.
I am not an extremely active person. Being an artist is certainly a blessing but it comes with some down sides for me. I much rather be inside making a creation than outside working out.
I'm just not the outdoors type although I'd like very much to be.Here are just a few of the foods I experimented with this summer. The first photo shows thin whole grain buns with a mixture of tomatoes, goat cheese, olive oil, lemon juice and basil. set on the bun along with a piece of lettuce. It is a perfectly filling lunch with a glass of ice water or a glass of natural juice.
The 2nd photo shows a delicious juice that is a mixture of raw carrot, pears,lemon and apples..
It's addicting really.
This pretty blue salad bowl is filled with lettuce, onion, olive oil, lemon juice, goat cheese and a few torn up pitted cherries. The cherries mix with the olive oil to make an incredible dressing.

Alright, this may not be a "good for you food" but it certainly is healthy as far as desserts go :)
A strawberry shortcake with whip cream and fresh strawberries.

My exciting new purchase this summer was this juicer that I've loved using. Since it is a large piece of equipment, I make my juices once a week. I make my favorite juice recipes in bulk and store them in one glass serving screw lid containers in the freezer. They recommend drinking juices right after you've juiced because you get the most nutrients from the juice the same day but that is just not ideal for me at this time in life :)

Hope these pretty foods inspire you to add a little raw to your diet!

June 2010 Trim Tags

2010-06-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

I made these Trim Tags throughout June. It's therapeutic and quite fun for me to put these together. When I have caught up on all of my Etsy shop projects I often bring out all my vintage jewelry findings and trims and match these beautiful supplies. It is my hope that these tags inspire an artist to start a project or use these in their upcoming projects.
Of course these trim tag sets shown have sold but there are many more to come for the month of November and December.

Raw Food

2010-06-01T23:12:00.000-07:00

3 years ago I was introduced to a life changing concept that is so incredibly simple but nowadays has been made incredibly difficult. Here is the concept. Eat what your body needs. Eat what comes from the ground in it's purest, safest, cleanest form. the End!
(Completely Raw Carrot Cake)

My sister in law introduced me to the Raw Food Detox Diet. I was interested in losing weight. I was about 20 pounds overweight and lost 15 pounds of it throughout the course of 6 months by eating fruits before noon and veggies until dinner. For dinner I ate mostly healthy but not raw. Usually a light pasta and wine. I thrived at that weight and habit of eating for a good 8 months until I hit a rough patch in life and became depressed. The desire to take care of myself like I should was gone and I went right back to old habits.

(Artichoke, tomato vegetable crackers)

That landed me to where I was in March of this year. About April of this year I started a gym membership with my Mom to get me out of the house, into the fresh air and to break from business and stresses in the home. Thank goodness I have such an obliging Momma because this was the number one key for me to start taking care of myself.
By doing this together, We are showing my kids that it is important to make time for yourself and care about your health.
( Cheese Ravioli with mozerella, onion, zucchinni)

I didn't jump into anything too fast. Just worked on trying to became as active as I wanted without over doing it and becoming burnt out on it. Did this for about a month while slowly reading up on some books about what eating habits I wanted to create for myself. What I was looking for in the type of lifestyle changes I wanted to make was not counting calories or cutting out carbs. But rather what will feel fulfilling, spiritual, light, simple concepts that my mind can grasp and keep a hold of. Not too many rules to remember. (Squash noodles with stewed tomoatoes with chopped carrot & onion )

What I realized after reading a few of Natalia Roses' books was it wasn't a "diet" that we need to learn. It's not rules we need to remember but rather we need to understand how our bodies work off of food. How your body reacts to food. To know what foods you can make work for you.

(tomato, tuna sandwhich)

I'm certainly in the beginning stages but when I look in the mirror now. There isn't alot of picking on certain areas of my body or mentally reprimanding myself, because I know I am doing everything possible I can for my body to be the best it can be and it will get there. It took many years of neglect to get to where I am and the body will not heal in months but it is remarkable how much better I feel eating more REAL food.
(zucchini, tomato, motzerella, basil sliders)

I've always had a bit of trouble with balance. I like to throw myself into something full force, love it and move onto what's next. What I'm trying to remember is that there is nothing else to move onto. There are really only two choices..Eat processed foods and be unhappy or eat Real food and feel light and radiant.
(mixing chocolate pudding)

The kids of course still have their desserts and I will not push this onto them. But I already see them learning about new foods and trying some of them. They will help me prepare it even if they don't want to eat it. I feel really good about the direction we're headed and I feel confident that it will last. Because the desire is driven by knowing that I'm giving my kids a gift of
confidence in their bodies and hopefully not having to many issues with body image in their young adult and adult lives. (Chicken & Vegetable grilled cabobs)

Florida Vacation

2010-05-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

This week our family is vacationing in Florida.. We are having an amazing time finding ocean treasures, dancing on the beach and relaxing as a family. This is the kids first time ever visiting the ocean and our first vacation as a family.

Here is the first day exploring the beach and the clarity and pure joy is captured in these gorgeous shots.

Have a safe and wonderful Memorial weekend.

Velvet and Glitter Basket Kits

2010-05-17T15:47:00.000-07:00

This sweet basket measures 5 by 5 inches and is inspired by a beautiful vignette on my windowsill in the hallway. Together a chipped egg bird nest and a tarnished silver candle holder make the most fanciful combination.

I wanted the kit to contain frilly, shimmery, textures. The velvet brown ribbon really makes the German glitter glass star sparkle!
To create this basket. I start with my materials...
-Nut Cup
-2 Brown and 1white coffee filter
-Strip of Music Sheet
-Pipe cleaner
-2 inch German glitter glass star
- strip of velvet ribbon

1st- Crumple the coffee filters into a ball and squeeze. Making the filters rough and wrinkled.

2nd- With Hot glue gun , run a line of glue across the length of the music sheet and place pipe cleaner over the glue. Fold music sheet over, covering the pipe cleaner completely.
3rd- Hot Glue around base of nut cup and set in the middle of a brown coffee filter.

Wrap the coffee filter around the cup pressing the filter onto the glue. Repeat with White filter and then last brown filter.
4th- Hot Glue Velvet Ribbon around the base of the coffee filter covered cup, Hot Glue the German Glitter glass star over the seam of the velvet ribbon.

You are finished! Create displays and vignettes on sills and shelves, table centerpieces, table settings. Use to hold vintage buttons or follies in your studio or fill with vintage ephemera shreds and give as a gift.
Make a basket with this kit for sale here. or order one and let me know you'd like it to arrive to you completed :) Hurry! Only 9 available~!

Valencia Love

2010-05-15T08:09:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly there are 9,277 Valencia's in the United States (courtesy of HowManyofMe.com)
but I doubt any of their middle names are Love. A break down of her name meaning is this:

VALENCIA (Brave) LOVE (Love) HARRIS (Home Ruler)

We were certainly on point naming her this. That being said, it is interesting but the meaning of a name is not really something I buy into. The only true meaning of her name is what she perceives it to be. And she believes that everyone is obligated to love her because her middle name is Love. When someone asks her name, she is always sure to never leave Love out.

In a quest to make sure I can revisit these precious years whenever I want. I've been taking video, photos and asking them alot of questions to journal for their scrapbooks.
Here are the sweet answers she came up with for her questionnaire.

What is your favorite.....

COLOR: Orange
MOVIE: Snow White
DRINK: Orange Juice (because it's orange)
ANIMAL: Penguins
ACTIVITY OUTSIDE: Playing in the Sandbox

When you are sad. What Cheers you up? "Hugging Mom"

What is your favorite toy? "Penguin stuffed Animal"

What are you afraid of? "Ghosts"

What's you favorite thing to do with Grandma & Papa? "Eat Waffles"

What is your favorite thing to do as a family? "That's alot of questions Mom"
And so with that, our question session was over :) Which says alot about her as well. A sweet , well behaved little girl who likes to sit quietly and play.

A little Bit French

2010-05-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

All of the wonderful creations seen in this post were made by
Rhonda at A Little Bit French

A great blogger friend of mine, Rhonda sent my girls some gifts through parcel and we sat to open the gorgeously wrapped items, that had been made and packaged with care.
Just for my sweet little girls. Thank you so much Rhonda~!
The girls were all dressed up getting ready for their dance class when we stopped to admire all of their new treasures. These amazing stuffed dolls looked as thought he image is printed on a muslin fabric and sewn and stuffed. The girls each claimed theirs right away and haven't since let go.

Little French notebooks for their letter writing.
And sweet little pillows to set in their doll houses.

Journal photo book

2010-05-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day the kids and I made this little photo book for Grandma. It has me wanting to scrapbook all of our photos like this. I do certainly love real scrap booking but I don't make any time for it. This we could definitely keep up with though. We printed off muted colored ink photos of the kids in wallet size photos and glued them to these little photo book/ journals I sell in my Etsy shop.

Then we went through every page and doodled with rainbow colors. for this project we attempted to make rainbow melter crayons. Unfortunately the project failed because we used cheap dollar store crayons which were made from some kind of wax that doesn't color after melting. Next time we will be sure to use crayola crayons.

It was fun though to show the kids how crayons can change into wax so they can then see how crayons are made.

These gorgeous journals can be ordered as a kit or can come to you completed for no additional cost. They are for sale here in my Etsy shop!

Altered Toddler Dress

2010-05-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

Having 2 little girls means I have many dresses. To keep them worthy of wearing we have to give them updates every year. I am by no means a skillful seamstress. I've never tempted to sew a dress from fabric but I can alter dresses I find from thrift shops for next to no cost.

This simple cream dress the girls have had for 2 years. It is a 3T dress. The straps were shriveled, there was a remnant of an old bow on the bodice, a few stubborn stains. So I did a layout, just as you would for a scrapbook page.
First, the straps ad to be replaced. I used this gorgeous floral fabric from A Little bit French

I cut a slightly longer strap using the old straps as a general template.
Laying out the materials.
cutting the bottom edge of the dress to lengthen. This step is by far the most useful tip when altering children's clothes. Often it is not that they are getting rounder, they are growing taller. So adding a 3 or 4 inch length to dresses and the bottoms of jeans gives new life to your clothes for another years worth of wearing.
And the finished product on Valencia. She's been wearing it often because "Mommy made it for her". (That term is used loosely :)

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

Absolutely every hard day is worth the blissful moments with my babies. Here is the gorgeous Valencia and her remarkable card for Grandma. She said "I will draw Grandma and me and a heart"
on the inside she drew a rainbow and wrote all of the letters for Happy Mother's Day. I'm so proud of her!
Grandma and Papa are away on Mother's Day so for Grandma's gift we took beautiful photos of the kids doing what we all love the best. Playing in their garden. Here are the amazing shots.
I'm claiming that these beautiful close up shots all turning out on divine intervention. I've never gotten so many seamless shots in a photo shoot ever!

Miss Valoria who adores her Mommy almost as much as I adore her.
I find myself taking alot of video of her talking to me because I will miss her sweet voice and all the funny things she says.

A springy, cheery bouquet made for my Mom "Grandma Tina" to welcome her home.Jaedin who gives random hugs throughout the day was my first ever Mother's Day gift 6 years ago. I think all the time about what kind of sweet gentlemen he will grow up to be. And when he's 18 and towering over me , he'll still be my first little baby.

The adorable cards the kids made...

A white crepe paper bouquet for Grandma Shirley.
If you are, or desire to be a Mom ...Happy Mother's Day!!

May Custom Weddings

2010-05-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

Another month of pretty wedding orders...Thought I'd share what I've been up to.
Here are some wonderful garden stake escort cards for a antique/garden themed New York wedding.

Made of mini wooden stakes from Michaels and commercial printer paper that has the the coffee dyed look these stakes are the most adorable addition to any outdoor or garden themed event.Custom printed tags with the addition of a filigree stamp and some calligraphy
Giant 18 yards rolls of crepe paper frills for wedding decor.
100 of these whimsical cream bubble petal flowers to wrap around branches for centerpieces.

Table Number Tent Cards
Custom designed signage

Gorgeous Classic style of Script font Thank you Tags
French Vanilla Roses on peach seam binding ribbon creates a beautiful rose garland for draping at weddings.

Ballet Class

2010-04-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

My sweet little girls who love to twirl and sing together are finally in ballet class together. They love dressing up, driving too and being in their class. And when they get back home, they quickly teach their big brother all he needs to know to lift them, twirl them and be their "prince" to dance with :)

Some absolutely adorable photos I'm sure I will cherish forever!

Djembe Drum

2010-04-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

I've thought for a while that my daughter Valencia might have a talent in music. She can dance and sing a routine after seeing a movie or tv show. She is amazing at remembering words to songs from the radio in the car. So I found this absolutely amazing website called Palumba and went right to their music section and found this Djembe Drum. It was beautiful ,natural & handmade. Everything I wanted it to be. It is a great value and shipped very fast.

We received it only 3 or 4 days after ordering so we were surprised to get it this day. We had our rainbow fort all set up outside while grilling and the kids played some beautiful music for us with their xylophone, djembe drum and their claps.
Getting a hang of the sounds......
Tuning with the xylophone........
Stretching her fingers..............

she astounded me with her creativity in how to play it. We've never seen someone play it but she jumped right in by stretching her fingers. (Have no idea where she got that?) and began to tap the sides and then clap.
Like I said ......must be talent.
I can't wait to try out some more products from Palumba. She's already asking for the Lyre.

(Girls beautiful bright dresses are from Delany's Den)

Dying Playsilks

2010-04-25T21:51:00.000-07:00

This is a look into our first go at dying these wonderful Habotai Scarves (Playsilks)
Playsilks are gorgeous natural "toys" for imaginative play...including dancing , wind socks, flags, capes,skirts, blankets, tableclothes, window coverings and wall art.

Above; we created a fort on the deck with wood beams , a bright handmade quilt by our Great great grandma Leota and our new playsilks. The hanging playsilks you see on this fort were used and hammocks for the kids stuffed animals and also serves as some great entertainment blowing in the wind.

We started by covering the table with a $1.50 large plastic roll from Home Depot. We re-use this one cover for all of our major art projects.

Before sitting the kids down I prepared our dye which is just containers of water with 5-10 drops of food coloring. I gave each of the children a paint brush and a little spoon to decorate their scarves.
I let each of the kids decorate one 35 by 35 inch silk My husband and I dyed the large silks. We used a 35x84 and 35x108
After thoroughly spooning all of the dye we wanted on the scarves in the desired design we rung them out in a separate large bowl and placed them in large quart size ziplock bags and placed in the microwave for 2 minutes, then let sit on the counter for 5 minutes to cool down.
The silks were still a bit damp, so we hung them to air dry on hangers overnight and fluffed in the dryer in the morning.

We celebrated our first successful silks dying session by making some homemade cookies.

And here is the gorgeous finished product. The colors are vibrant and lovely and I am completely addicted. I want to make curtains, bed spreads & canopies. I will definitely be having another round of silk dying in the near future. Feel free to suggest new techniques, dyes and of course you can e-mail me for tips :) at YourAngil@Hotmail.com
Ms. Valencia's amazing rainbow birdie dress is handmade by a wonderful Etsy seller
Delany's Den. Valoria's green dress in this photo is also one of her creations. I highly recommend her outfits for everyday wear but are especially perfect for professional photo shoots! I love the bright fabrics!

(Can you tell they've had "How to sit like a lady" lessons recently?) Adorable!
A few more shots of this beautiful dress in action :)

Happy Playsilk coloring!!!

Refreshment

2010-04-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

Love is the greatest refreshment in life ~ Pablo Picasso

When I am so tired and excited and busy all at the same time. I remember that I can refresh myself with more oxygen, water and love. A very simple few things to get by.
Taking some deep breathes while looking out into this doesn't hurt either.

My weeks are busy with keeping a home clean for showings to sell our house , Kindergarten, Girls Dance classes, the Gym, My husband and my business.
Every week, something new refreshes me so I don't fall into the mundane life. One of my favorite tricks is to plan one special activity day each week to really look forward too. Last week my creative juices were refreshed by something so small. I needed to create some rose garlands for a wedding. This time I added pearl headed stamens to the centers. Just by looking into the rainbow colors of stamens I was mentally refreshed and inspired to create many colorful tissue paper bubble petal flowers. (Which will be for sale next week in my shop)

Here is another variation of the crepe paper rose I am working on. Trying to get better at this technique of cutting out, curling and attaching each individual petal. Coming soon on the blog are technique tutorial posts on coffee dying and crepe paper roses.

I feel very refreshed that my son's ear tube surgery went excellent. I'm so grateful he had no discomfort at all!
Life is all better~!