Mia Sogni Dolci

Anatomy of an Organizing

2012-02-03T12:27:00.000-08:00

Phew!! It took me a few days to complete, but my scrap stuff is organized....somewhat. It still is a fugly closet shared with the kids's games and some other odds and ends, but it serves its purpose. This is what it looked like during -

I found this idea on Pinterest for paper storage. To be honest I don't know how long this sucker is gonna hold up. It's a hanging sweater organizer for your closet. Paper is so heavy and this one I bought was in the dollar section of Target and only cost $2.50 so odds are I'll need to replace it with a sturdier one, but right now I rigged it a bit with hangers and thick chipboard in hopes that it'll hold for a bit and it seems ok. Till I open the door that one day and my paper is all over the floor!!

I know I know it's really scary looking, don't yell at me. At the bottom underneath the last square, I also put a small box to try to take some of the pressure off. Ya know what I've come to understand? I have WAY too much paper!! No joke folks, besides what's in this hanging do-hickey, I have, are ya ready, 13 DCWV 12x12 stacks used to various degrees, 4 8x8 stacks never used, 7 4x6 stacks and 2 6x6 stacks. HOLY CRAP!! That is a lot of paper, I could make a ton of mini-albums not to mention lo's. Maybe I shoulda made one of those paper dresses for my daughters wedding instead of buying one ;) I need to stop buying paper and focus on using what's in my stash *said with not much conviction*

I came to terms with letting go of stuff I have that hasn't been used in years or ever for that matter. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think scrappers lean towards the hoarding type, and that show makes me wanna vomit so I looked at my belongings and said "Self, you never even opened this thing, or used that in at least two years, so kiss it goodbye." My son's school is doing a yard sale fundraiser so I put it in a bag for them, along with guitar hero and rock band that the kids haven't touched in at least two years as well. I cleaned out the playroom too. I was feeling randy ;)

I actually found a place for all the things I bought at the Prima parking lot sale this past August. Yeah you heard right, August. All those things were still in the damn bag I brought them home in! So with some rearranging and purging I put all my goodies away, there are no boxes or bags on the floor and I'm happy :)

I moved my old paper holder to this side shelf and keep my 8x11 paper and 12x12 diecut sheets as well as some large sticker sheets in it-

I love my little plastic containers that basil comes in that I buy from Trader Joe's. Hush hush, this Italian doesn't grow her own basil, but I want to. Anyway, they are perfect for bling, small stickers. and rub-ons. They are all filled to the gills!

Ya see that white rubbermaid draw on the right, that's filled with my Big-Shot dies and my Martha Stewart punches. HSN had a special on her punches, Christmas, Halloween, Springish, and all occasion. You got 4 punches in each set for $39, the punch around the page, corner, boarder and one that you can place right in the center, and they would be auto-shipped. The deal was just to good to pass up since these punches are heavy duty, great punches. Not little either. Most know punches of a decent size average 12 bucks. The one on the left, well Mr.Potato Head lives in there :p

Put all my ribbon on my tension rod and in my gutter. Heehee that sounds funny, got rid of the little box with dowels that was holding some ribbon, well I didn't get rid of it, now all my colored tulle and furry boa pieces are in that.

All in all it works, my stuff is up off the floor, I can see what I have, get easy access to it and can scrap with ease. One day when it's just me and my hubby, I'll have my own scrap room :) A girl can dream right?

What's New and Lots of Thoughts!

2012-01-27T12:02:00.000-08:00

What's new and going on in your life right now? Something happened on Wednesday and it showed me that there are still kids out there who are decent and good, more than we probably imagine. We were all getting back from picking MaryAnn and Sophia up from school. We get to the door and hear a crash. Me and Mare say what the heck was that? I told her to go inside with the kids I'd look. I get down the driveway and two doors down I see a person has fallen off a Vespa type bike. I can't tell if its man woman young or old yet. Walking over I'm asking if they're ok when he looks up I see his face is bleeding right under his eye pretty badly. He's about sixteen and scraped up bad on his hands too. I made him come in to wash and gave him some water. He was so grateful saying thank you and how could I ever repay you, I told him not to worry just go home and if something is hurting to have his parents take him to the dr. The next morning getting back from bringing Santino to school there's a thank you note in our door from him saying thanks for letting him into our home to clean up. I hope that if something happened to one of my children there would be someone to do the same.
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I've been working on a few projects just about at the same time scrap-wise. One is a Christmas mini inspired by Jennifer Priest at Hydrangea-hippo. She does gorgeous work and I lifted it a bit to put together this mini that is almost finished. I used a combo of papers, g45, reminisce, imaginations, just stuff that's been in my stash. I also started a mini for my sis-in-law for her birthday that she can put her Italy pics in from their summer vacation. I REALLY meed to finish the 50th anniversary album for my sis in law. She brought it back home with her and I need to get to it. I also have a cute little Fourth of July mini that's just about done.

Here's a bit of a peek at these, I'll show the rest when they're done -

Christmas mini, I also got to use my bind-it-all for the first time!!! Loved it, and I am into layering layering layering now.

The shapes were made with paper from an old book and my cricut.

This is for my sis-in-law, made with yellow envelopes, inspired by Laura Denison of The Paper Trail

I used Bo-bunny's Liberty line for this album that I started back in September and is just about finished.

All this falls into the category of my word for the year. That little Ali Edwards project she does. Now, I'm not going all out like she does with those who're joining her, but my word is dedication and I need to be dedicated to finishing projects. I also have to be dedicated to cleaning out the playroom and my scrap closet, Holy Moly!!!

I have been SO lax in my lo making. I haven't done one in months, really focusing on minis and I really need to get back on track with that, though I have another mini idea of quotes I've been saving that I think would be so nice.

For those who are scrap addicts like me or crafters, CHA - or the Craft and Hobby Association convention, is coming here to sunny so cal in just a few days. You can't IMAGINE how it kills me that that damn thing is less than an hour from my home!!! Every scrap rock star is there and I so wish I could go. That sucker costs something like $150 to get into and you must be in the biz : (

Many of the designers have been giving sneak peeks on their websites as to what will be new in their line this year. I have been drooling for days now. Tim Holtz has been teamed up with Sizzix for a few years and something absolutely amazing is coming, Sizzix's electronic die cutter, the e-clips, their "cricut" if you will, has made a cartridge to go with Tim"s amazing stamps. Whats the biggie you ask, well you stamp the image on your card stock, then you lay the clear template over it make little black dots in the 2 corners remove template line up the dots with the e-clips blade cutter and viola your stamped image that would take you 10 minutes to fussy cut by hand with your exacto and not be half as neat is cut out in a minute perfectly!!! Don't believe me, check out this youtube video -

Is that not freakin phenomenal?! Could you imagine just stamping an image and your machine cutting it perfect for you in a snap? Of course I had to comment on both his blog and on Cricut's forum about this saying along the lines of, ya know how there are the same video games for PS3 Xbox and the Wii? Only problem, I think Tim is exclusive to Sizzix, and the technology the e-clips has for this, the cricut does not. It would require a new upgraded Expression and I've invested more than enough $$$ in these machines and the cartridges they need for you to cut the various shapes, so barring me hitting the lottery, my little exacto blade will have to do.
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I have found some really great recipes on Pinterest that I want to share!! That site is just fantastic, I love it.

One is for crack potatoes, this dish is YUMMY!! No wonder its called crack potatoes. The only thing I changed was using actual bacon instead of bits. It's cheaper and tastes better : )

Crack Potatoes or Loaded Potato Casserole

2 (16oz) containers sour cream
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
2 (3oz) bags real bacon bits
2 packages Ranch Dip mix
1 large (28 - 30oz) bag frozen hash brown potatoes - shredded kind

Combine first 4 ingredients, mix in hash browns. Spread into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 400 for 45-60 minutes.

The next is for slow cooker pork carnitas, another goodie! My family loved it.

Pork carnitas
serves 6.

2 pounds pork shoulder
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (about 1 large orange)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 1 large lime)
7 cloves garlic (whole intact)
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon cumin
1/2 cup beef broth
corn tortillas
sour cream, salsa, sliced avocado (optional)

The Directions.

Use a 6 quart slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine the salt and cumin. Rub mixture all over the pork, then plop into the slow cooker. Add whole garlic cloves. Squeeze on the citrus, and pour the beef broth evenly over the top.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until the pork shreds quite easily with a fork. If your meat is still fully intact after 8 hours, remove and cut into chunks, then return to the crock and flip to high for about an hour or two.
Shred meat fully and serve on warmed corn tortillas with desired toppings.

Now this one I haven't tried yet but it sounds just so darn good!

Homemade Oreos

Cookies:
1 Devils Food Cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil

Filling:
4 oz cream cheese
¼ cup butter
1 ½ cups powder sugar*
½ teaspoon vanilla

Yield: 24 cookies, 12 sandwiches

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix Devil’s food cake mix, eggs, and oil together. The dough will be very thick.
3. On a greased cookie sheet or on parchment paper, place dough balls about the size of a golf ball. You will need to make sure they are round and then pat them down with your fingers.
4. Bake for 7-10 minutes. Wait until just after they start to “crack” on the top.
5. Let cool on sheet for 2-3 minutes and then remove.
6. Filling: Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add vanilla. Add as much powdered sugar as desired.
7. Refrigerate filling in Tupperware or in a piping bag until firm and cookies are cooled.
8. Frost cookies and make into sandwiches.
9. Refrigerate cookies for at least 2 hours and serve chilled. Trust me, this makes them much better.

*I don’t measure my powdered sugar, I just taste test while I put it in. So depending on if you want the filling to taste more like cream cheese or sugar, adjust your amount.
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if you try any let me know what ya think.

On a side note can you believe January is almost done what the heck, where is the time going?!

Have a great weekend : )

O M G !!!

2012-01-12T16:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to Michaels, Joann's, then my lss (local scrap book store) and spent bubkus, nada, NOTHING!! I was in shock as I drove home at the fact that I had not a single bag from any of them. I just wasn't feeling it as I kinda browsed through them. Nothing caught my eye that I just hadda have. I guess that's a good thing cause I have got to get into my scrap closet, that thing is filled with stuff that I know I'll be surprised to find.

Shows are coming back from their holiday hiatus, Vampire Diaries, House, then some are gearing up for their knew season like Justified I love this show! Timothy Olyphant just rocks. . Biggest Loser is up and running again, Anna Kournikova didn't come back, but Dolvet did. I like him better than Jillian. Idol is next week and The Voice is right after Super Bowl. Enjoyed that show too.

Really love Pinterest! They have some awesome ideas for organizing which I borrowed. Get a tension rod put it under your kitchen sink cabinet and hang all your spray bottles to free up space, look -

We also got a new grandpuppy!! His name is Gizmo and he is an adorable French Bulldog -

ZuZu is not good with him, Bruno is wonderful. He is like a little pot bellied pig, he snorts and runs so cute!!

Have a great week people!

Resolutions...Yes? No?

2012-01-03T13:57:00.000-08:00

Nope, not here won't do em don't like em. In my humble ole opinion, they're vehicles of self loathe and depression. If you fall short, you just can't help but feel like you failed at whatever it is you tried to accomplish. But this is just me. I tend to not be good with mapping out specific goals. I don't do well with knowing I have to do something by a set time, I'm much better with just doing when the mood hits me.

This even spills into my crafting. I got an email for design team entries at scrapbookpal.com in which you are required to submit at least two projects a month for March through December. I don't really like the idea of "have to" so I think I'm going to pass on this. Here in lies the rub for me. The same for this project by Ali Edwards, One Little Word. You choose a word for the year that you think will move you inspire you, whatever else it might make you feel and she'll send little prompts each month to either journal, scrap or photo something related to this word. Something with this is just not sitting with me. I did One Weekend Two Shots with Dedra Long from Between Us and that I did great with that. Taking two photos each weekend for a year was a lot of fun took no time and really not much thought or effort.

Maybe this is just me, I'm a little weird I guess. I will say this as far as a word for me for the year, I think it will be determined. I am determined to get my knee back to where it was so I can start to run again. I really want to lose 25 pounds once and for all, so if what I put into my mouth matches the determination I put into my exercise, I can do this! Just be the best me I can be, not any more, not any less and I should be fine : )

Holidays Holidays!

2011-12-30T10:51:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! It flew of course and tomorrow is already New Years Eve. This year was an awesome one for my family, ending in the beautiful culmination of our gorgeous daughter's marriage to our new son.

I baked some yummy delights, Italian Struffoli, or fried honey balls, red velvet cake balls, dipped pretzel rods, my fantasmic chocolate chip cookies! These suckers are unreal. You measure out the dough on a scale, I cut it back from an 8 oz cookie to 5 and then put them in the freezer to firm them up and keep them from spreading too much during baking. I really like them to have height. They are filled with not just chocolate chips, but chopped chocolate as well. I have never had the ones sold at Levain's bakery in Manhattan, but they look just as good to me.

Here are some pics -

Red Velvet Cake Balls covered in white chocolate, a couple in milk chocolate

Caramel/Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods -

Peppermint Bark -

Mega Chocolate Chip Cookies -

Struffolis can be tedious. I made the dough the day before, then Sophia helped me roll them into balls and fry, you cook honey sugar and water then put the balls into that and coat. Hubby helped me with the honey part. I use Lidia's recipe for this.

Here are pics of that -

Some family shots -

Our kids have been taking a Christmas pajama pic for years now, its become a tradition.

My Christmas table and our tree -

That Santino is quite a clown!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that your New Year is full of happiness and health!

Teachers Gift and A Tag

2011-12-15T15:53:00.000-08:00

I finished the mini-album for Santino's teacher. It was made using white 6"x9" envelopes. Again, Laura Denison's mini's were the template I used. I picked my papers from DCWV Christmas Stack that I've had for at least 4 years, my cricut and lots of distress inks, stickles and some beads that my daughter Sophia has. and ribbon. It had plenty of space and pockets for pics. I hope she likes it.

Here are the pics -

Okay, the tag I did was for the 4th day of Tim's tags. This sucker looks like the spastic brother of the tag that Tim did!! I tried crackle paint for the first time, and the snowman I had just wasn't quite right. Oh well, I have a few more I'm gonna give a go to ; )

Here's mine -

I like the crackle effect, but you really should use chip board or grunge board. Cardstock just doesn't quite hold up as well. I'm really improvising here, not buying anything to make these babies!

Here's Tim's. What a difference! Oy Vey! -

Tim Holtz 12 Tags!

2011-12-08T16:58:00.000-08:00

Are you participating? I am. I don't know if I'll get all twelve, but I've done two already and enjoying it immensely. I even won a prize for leaving a comment! I did a bit of improvising since I don't have all the supplies he used, but I'm real happy with how they came.

Here are my two so far -

Just Love It!

2011-12-04T11:46:00.000-08:00

I completed an awesome paper-bag mini-album inspired by Laura Denison who I gave some blog love to a couple of weeks ago. Most of my paper came from g 45's abc Primer collection, with some filler from a school line foofala put out that I've had for at least 4 years and a sheet of DCWV.

Laura is a wizard at paper engineering, cutting and folding to make various envelopes do amazing things, as well as creating this unreal binding methods for your mini-albums. She does say that she prefers to use the Michael's Recollections paper-bags for them, but you can use the regular lunch brown bag its. I will say this, you really have to work with the lunch one's cuz they are all askew, so employ your bone folder to try and correct that. I did buy some of the Recollections so that I could have some fancier ones. I also bought the smaller sized white handled gift bags to form the cover for the album.

I used my cricut to cut the mats and the apples I used for embellies, of course I employed stickes, did some fussy cutting and other embellishments for what made just an adorable school memory album that I'll fill with pics of my kids at various stages of their younger school years.

Here are some pics, and I'll post her video for this specific album style as well.

I tied ribbon around the bag handles for some prettiness, also I inked the bag a slight vintage photo brown with Tim's inks. The cover is a combo of foofala accents and the g45 pieces.

Here is the first binding that attaches the cover to the bags themselves.

Tons of real estate as Laura likes to say. Loads of pockets, you can see the alphabet paper binding becomes a pocket as well as the bag that holds the tags as well.

Used my glossy accents for the little alpha squares. Just look at all the flaps!

Love the apples, I made em from some of the scraps, love them!!

The hop scotch paper is the DCWV, where the ribbon and rick-rack is I only taped down the ends so pics will still slide under it.

This paper is just too cute. Love the little girl with the umbrella!

Made my own pocket for this tag.

Look at how cute he is!! The bottle cap I picked up at my local lss, put a scrap inside it. I will have a few more embellies and finishing touches to do once the pics are put in, but I wanted to share who cute this is.

Her video -

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Just a quick note, I'll be having knee surgery on the 9th :p oh well guess it's better than it happening before the wedding, or even worse, by myself while running errands. I said to the dr, "so on Monday I'll be like nothing happened?" He laughed at me and said NO!! While I have to be up and with my weight on it right away, I can't go nutty. It'll take 6 wks for full recovery, I can start exercising in a few, but he said we'll talk about the running. We shall see....

It Is Finished!!

2011-11-28T15:38:00.000-08:00

Yay the living room is done! My hubby busted his buns to get the final pieces of the ceiling done at 9 last night. It was tedious and killed his neck and arms, but it is now finished. The only thing left are drapes and artwork which will take some time so that we can find stuff that goes best.

A couple of pics for you to see, but click on the link to see more -

Here is a slideshow of the room -

*Living Room Done!*

What a true labor of love for my husband. I'm glad he's done cuz he deserves to relax after all this!

On a side note, I blew out my darn knee!! It's been giving me various degree's of trouble for a few months now, but for the past 4 weeks or so it's been really annoying. Last Monday I ran on the treadmill and 4 1/2 minutes in it hurt too much so I slowed the speed and upped the incline instead of being smart and getting off. I was limping from there on in. On Tuesday I had several errands to run for my baking and such, picked up a glass table top for our new coffee table, and had MaryAnn help me carry it in instead of telling hubby. Got up the porch steps and to the front door when, POP! my knee just went, and yes it made a big popping sound. I froze then started screaming for John who ran to the door only to start screaming at me. "Why in the world would you do this for!?" I'm hysterical crying asking him not to yell at me right this second, he went to pick me up but it hurt so bad I asked him to just lay me on the steps next to our entry way. I stayed there for 15 minutes feeling like I was going to faint or throw up! I have never felt a pain like that, and that's saying a lot considering I've had 6 kids. His ortho surgeon is such an awesome guy, John emailed him asking if he could see me and he called John's cell and told him to bring me right in the next morning at 7:30, thought is I have cartilage stuck in the joint, hence all the pain. Going for an MRI tomorrow and will probably need surgery. Oh well such is life, I'll just roll with it and hope I have a quick recovery!

The Situation

2011-11-16T14:07:00.000-08:00

Yup that Situation :) I am so happy to hear he is suing Abercrombie and Fitch. I'll be honest when Jersey Shore first came out I thought what a disgrace, but I became addicted and have learned that this isn't a knock on Italians, but entertainment plain and simple. These people have scored themselves a money maker and good for them. Yes I think some of the girls leave a lot to be desired in the rep dept.but that's their parent's problem not mine.

A few months ago that waspy snob store asked Mike to stop wearing their clothes and offered him money for it. Meanwhile they are marketing shirts that say things like GTL...You Know The Deal, and The Fitchuation. Sorry guys, that's is copyright infringement plain and simple. To bad he doesn't have the vacant waspy far away snobby ass look, but tough. I hope he gets every penny he's suing for.

You can read the article *HERE*

Sharing Some Blog Love

2011-11-14T21:40:00.000-08:00

I have to take a minute to spread some bloggy love around. These blogs are filled with scrappy goodness and the artists are just amazing. They both are on g45's design team which makes it all the better!

The first is such an elegant artist, so very beautiful, I could look at her blog all day long -

Each Moment, Only Once owned by Tara Orr. This gal has such an exquisite style. Some of her creations are to die for. Love, love love looking at her work.

The Paper Trail owned by Laura Denison. Wow, this lady is mucho talented, what she can do with envelopes and paper bags just makes me drool!!! Now some of you may know that I kinda prefer the mini-albums and such to the actual lo making and she is a dream come true. Laura is SO innovative, the hinges she's made for her albums is quite frankly freaking awesome. I love how she says "this album has lots of real estate" :) I subscribe to her you-tube videos and she does weekly classes on ustream! Go to her blog and check it out so you can see just what an amazing talent the woman is. I stop by her blog almost everyday to see what's new. Oh and guess what!? She knows the big man himself, yeah that's right Tim Holtz!

Here's a video of one of her albums so you can get a taste of what a talent she is-

Enjoy and create!

Wedding Pics

2011-11-12T16:33:00.000-08:00

It truly was just a beautiful day! The sun was shining, everyone looked incredible, we had a blast! What touched me was seeing all five of my children crying on the alter while their sister was being married. Even little Santino was crying these big tear drops. When I asked him why he said he's gonna miss Desi, I told him she isn't going away she just got married and he has a new brother.

The kids had a great time dancing, that Santino got down all night long. We were cracking up.

My daughter looked so beautiful, she was breathtaking.

Here's the slide show.

Here are videos of my son Santino getting down and my niece Nicolle's boyfriend in the red shirt dancing. Santino had stripped down to his t shirt and what ever my nephew showed him to do he did it. They were awesome and we all danced all night long. My legs were killing me the next day!

It's The Final Countdown!!

2011-11-01T22:44:00.000-07:00

Yessiree, it's finally here in four more days. We're just doing some final prepping, getting organized, but we are ready for a wedding!!

I can't wait to see the girls in their gowns, Santino in his tux, he is so stoked to be the ring bearer, boy he keeps telling everyone! My brothers and their families get in on Thursday evening my husband's former partner from NYPD is coming in on Friday, it was unexpected but made my hubby's day and we're excited. Desirae has been pretty calm, as has my son-in-law to be. Drama has been to a minimum and that's a good thing!

Here's a peak at my gown -

I'll definitely post picks after I know there will be a ton. On Monday we'll be going to Disneyland with all the family I know we'll have a great time.

Banner Fun

2011-10-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend I finished a banner that I made with some major inspiration from Jennifer Priest. Her banner is gorgeous and I tweaked mine a bit to make it my own. I love the way it came!

Here is Jennifer's -

And here's mine -

I used my Happy Hauntings cart for the letters and the pumpkin, and one of my other carts for the scalloped circle that the Y sits on, sorry my memory stinks big time! Lots of tulle, some glue stamping and sprinkled with glitter, I made little pleated flowers for the letters to sit on, ribbon and done. It was a great way to use up some paper I've had in a DCWV stack for years.

Here are some cards I've made, they're going to be part of Christmas gifts this year -

They're a mix of holiday, birthday and just whenever. Some have sentiments inside, others are blank for the person to put what they want. I'll wrap them with their envelopes and I think it makes a nice gift. Most were made with my paper scraps that I keep, it's whittled down quite a bit.

Hope you like :)

Another Awesome Gift!

2011-10-12T17:41:00.000-07:00

Yup that's right, an iPad 2!! My hubby gave this to me for my birthday on Sunday :) It is just awesome. I love it. He gets me the greatest gifts ever. This is right there with my kindle, and my cricut expression 2, actually I think I love this one the best. The next day, he ordered me the screen protector and a little case for it. Truly the man spoils me, I do love him so!

We're still waiting on that wallpaper. Don't know how much longer but I know Hubs is dying to get it up! Since it's taking so long, I'm going to post some pics of the paper.

This is going to be on the ceiling -

This will be the center of the ceiling, you can see it a bit above too -

The walls will have this -

Needless to say we are anxious to see this done! To give an idea of how rooms with ceilings and walls papered look here's a pic -

We didn't want to go with the bottom papered like in this pic. That's called the dado, we felt it was too much. In the meantime Hubby has started stripping the outside of the house. I've changed my mind on colors about 3 times already. Now we're leaning towards yellow what do you think -

I love how the porch floor is a high gloss gray. So far I think this might be it. We'll see....

So Interesting...

2011-10-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, I gotta blog about this. I LOVE the Most Interesting Man In The World commercials, the advertisers for Dos Equis are just geniuses! They are witty and we just crack up!

Some of my favorites -

When he's in Rome they do as he does
Both sides of his pillow are cool
If he were to pat you on the shoulder, you'd list it on your resume
The weight of his words would break a lesser man's jaw

A few of my most favorites. Stay thirsty my friends -

Finished

2011-09-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

Hubby finished the wall with our fireplace and boy it looks just beautiful. No one would know that it wasn't original to the house if we didn't say it. My hubby is truly a rock star! What he has been doing inside this house is just amazing. I worry about him since he is working so very hard, but boy he truly is quite talented.

Here are the pics -

He ran the electric for the sconces, put it all in himself, it looks great. He and the kids ripped the carpet up two weeks ago and the floor is in fantastic shape. We like the high gloss so we will do that. Now he's just waiting for the wall paper. Wait till you see that! He's doing an elaborate ceiling design traditional to the Victorian homes. I'm excited!

I Finally Did It!!

2011-09-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday I finally took a class at my lss, Collective Journey! I am soooo glad I did. I happened to look at the calendar they put out and saw that the class was going to be an altered graphic 45 Magic of Oz mini-book. For those of you who aren't familiar with graphic 45, this paper line is just amazing. They have vintage looking wonderful designs and I love them. I also have a major problem cutting the paper but after Saturday I don't think that'll be the case any loner.

You can see their Oz line *HERE* The class was taught by Andi, who was just an awesome teacher and fantastic artist. You can check out her blog, Kutz Paper Scissors by clicking the title. Very patient, took her time, had all the details cut out for us and each page paper clipped together for us. I had a blast. Here are the pics from my book -

Didn't it come great!! We used pop dots to add more dimension to the pages and stickles, glossy accents and crackle accents, some glass glitter, twine. So many textures. Graphic 45 lends itself to so many gorgeous ideas. One funny thing, when we got there Andi asked each of us to pick a book. They were hard covered books with no cover jackets. Then we had to cut out the pages and just use the front and back covers! I said to the other gals at my table, "this feels sacrilege cutting up a book like this." we were all giggling, but now if there are some books that are just shot, well I know what to do with em. I was looking to see if it was a good book or not, me with my book blog and love of reading!

Another Passion

2011-09-21T15:16:00.000-07:00

Another hobby I really enjoy is flower arranging. I love to make my own centerpieces and wreaths. Usually I'll be in Michael's, get my inspiration and then buy what I need and make it myself. It certainly is much cheaper and I love creating them.

I was in my favorite boutique, Mozart's, while my mom and aunt were here and they had a gorgeous piece up on a hutch hanging over the edge. I knew I could make it myself so I went to Mike's and bought what I needed. Not exact but just as beautiful.

Here's some shots -

And now on it's perch -

It sits up there with all my roosters that I just love!! My kids forever tease me about having so many.

Have a great rest of the week ;)

Sound Off

2011-09-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

Ok I just hadda say something about Sarah Jessica Parker. She was on Anderson Cooper's new talk fest on Friday (yea just what we need another one) pumping her new movie, I Don't Know How She Does It. Not really interested in seeing it, not a big fan, didn't catch the SITC craze like so many did. Here's my beef, she comes on and the two are chatting about her life and she's trying to pass herself off like any other red blooded American mom. SAY WHAT!!!! And there are all the gals in the audience smiling with dumb looks on their faces that say "see she's a regular person like us." Uh, no she isn't!! She's a multimillionaire with babysitters and nannies and assistants at her beck and call. I'm sure her closet is the size of my bedroom and we know it's filled with top designer clothes, shoes and accessories. Look I know these entertainers have money up the wazzoo, can spend and live, travel and experience in a way most of us can only dream of. More power to ya, this is a capitalist society and if by some stroke of luck I could ever do that I sure would. What sickens me is them trying to pretend they are like us and thinking some of us are ignorant enough to buy into that fallacy. They aren't, they become cocooned with people who are at their beck and call and reality becomes a distant memory real quick, it's human nature. I'm not saying that she isn't a nice person, but a regular gal, no sorry.

Ok, back to our regular scheduled program....;)

I Hate Excercise!!

2011-09-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

Yes I do I hate exercise but I do it five times a week with my two personal trainers Tony Horton and Jillian Michaels. Ok, they aren't my real trainers, but they do help me. Tony Horton does the P90X video which I do 3 times a week and it is killer, and Jillian has i-fit cards that go into my treadmill and boy does she work me out. Sometimes I walk outside instead, but it isn't as intense as the treadmill since the card controls the speed and incline, whereas when I walk if I get tired I tend to just slow down. Amazing intensity in both the workouts and even though I've been exercising for 2 years now, and doing the P90X since May it still isn't a habit for me. I'll take not doing it any day. It's a very conscientious effort on my part to do this even though the desire to not is so overwhelming, I'm not one of those people who if they have a headache hit the gym to feel better, or can't function without their workout, but I do it and I feel better for it.

Banner

2011-09-14T11:36:00.000-07:00

For Des' shower I made her a banner which spelled out her name that I hung above the table she and her bridesmaids shared. I love the way it came, and I used cereal boxes as the base and then glued my paper over it so it has some substance. We have cereal up the wazoo here so saving the boxes beats buying chipboard hands down! It's the right thickness for the cricut and I no longer have the cutting issues with it. One thing, make sure it's trimmed properly so that it doesn't hang over the tacky part of the cutting mat or the guide wheels on the bug will get knocked askew by the board and it'll mess up the blade alignment on the 2nd pass, then setting the multi-cut to 3 and you're good to go. I used my lost and found paper, I believe the musical notes was 7 gypsies but not 100%, some tulle and various lacy material that I glimmer misted as well as some Tim Holtz embellies and other knick knacks from my stash and viola!

Here are some pics -

I also made the favors, double heart bookmarks with some DCWV paper I had in my stash.

I put the bookmarks in clear cellophane bags with purple swirly lollipops. I was happy with how it all came.
*******

A little cricut cutting mat resticking tip. I googled this and found a video on you tube. I find this works better than zig, or spray adhesive, I've tried many different things and at one point had to just trash the mat. I've done it twice now, had to since when I made her invites there was glitter aaaaall over the darned mat so it needed to be scrubbed then resticked...hmm new word there :) I picked up the Aleene's tack-it over and over at Michael's and just followed the instructions in the video, make sure you do comdition your mat like she says so your paper doesn't stick heavily and tear when you try to remove it. Take a peek, I don't think you'll ever buy another mat unless you absolutely demolish it.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

2011-09-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

On Saturday John went to see the Yankee's play the Angels at Angel Stadium. This was his Father's Day gift from both me and Johnny-Boy. He took John, MaryAnn and Santino. This was Sonny's first pro game and he had a great time! Sophia and I went shopping and for sushi which was great :)

Sadly they didn't win Saturday, but Mare got some awesome shots. She is a major Yankee fan that girl!!

Here are some pics -

Mmmmm, churro's, two for 11 bucks, what a rip!!

Mark Teixeira stretching

At bat

Brett Garndner, Curtis Granderson, and C C Sabathia pitching

Saving the best for last!! What a great shot of Derek Jeter!!!

On base

True Blood - That's A Wrap

2011-09-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

Well this season is over and on the whole I give it a B-

Previous season ratings -

Season 1 A+

Season 2 F - MaryAnn Debacle what a mess!! Only redeeming part, Godric.

Season 3 C

Alan Ball has twisted and rewrote it to his liking and making it just ok. The first season which followed the book the closest was the best so far.

This would have ended so much better if he would have let it be the all out war with the witches. Instead he had ghosts come (including Sookie's Gran) to take Marnie's spirit were she had to go. One problem, Marnie KILLED Jesus and her other little witch friend so what should've happened is the evil spirits should have dragged her to hell. Leave it to AB to not want that to happen.

Andy's storyline was dumb and who the hell was that fae that had a little tryst whit him in the woods? Again pulling junk from no where.

Death toll, well Tommy, who I could care less about, Queen Sophie, holy crap AB you annihilated a whole damned story line there!! Jesus while nice really didn't mean all that much to me, and he told Laffy he'll always be there since L is a medium so I'm sure Jesus will turn up all the time. Nan, good riddance, Debbie Pelt, ditto, and low and behold could we possibly be lucky enough to be rid of the traitorous fickle Tara!!?? I doubt it, I'm sure Eric or Bill will come to the rescue.

And who do you think let Russel out? Had to be poor Pam. I don't like how much animosity AB has put between Pam and Sookie. By this point in the books Sook and Pam had a working respect for each other. Pam is a great character and I love her witty ways, I don't want to see her done wrong.

On the whole, I'm addicted and will continue to watch if only to see if just once he'll follow the books a bit better, and the fact that I do love the characters.

Never Forget

2011-09-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

How I will always remember my home's skyline.

One of the most iconic photos from that day

Every time I hear this song, I always think of him singing at the fundraiser the stars did days after

I can't believe it's ten years on Sunday that this aberration took place. Time goes by, but it still hurts to think of all that was lost that day. I remember not being able to get through to my Dad since the phone lines went bonkers to make sure my brother was ok. He was a police officer at the time stationed right near the towers. He was involved in search and recovery. My father-in-law was on one of the construction crews that helped build the towers. My husband's partner's brother was a police officer in the aviation unit and flew a chopper above the towers videoing the whole thing. One thing we both felt was this intense urge to go home, with hubby being a retired cop his desire to be in there helping was so overwhelming for him. My family said the ashes traveled to Brooklyn and as they cleaned it was so sad knowing that people were mixed in that debris that they swept.

This is a day we must always remember, there are still those out there that would relish our demise and who pray for it on a daily basis. I'm glad to know that in my daughter's class this whole week they talked about it.

Remember this day always.

Surprise!

2011-09-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

My daughter Desirae's Bridal Shower was this past Sunday and we had a great time! Other than the heat, coming in at about 105, all went great. I had two misting fans going to help cool us down. Des got so many wonderful gifts. Her memory album was a big hit. Going through all those pictures from when she was born to now was quite a trip for me. The second and third pages are of my mother-in-law and my dad who are no longer with us and that was a bit tough for me. Of course she cried when she looked at it as did my daughter Victoria. Memories truly are a great thing to have and we have many wonderful and funny ones to always share.

I've done a slide show of the album, and some from her party.

What made it all even more special was my mom and my aunt both being here to share this day with us. Before you know it November will arrive.

Cardapalooza....Again

2011-08-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

Yes that time has come when the left-over paper scrap fairy has to pay a visit and make cards with all the leftovers. I put a small dent in my stash of left-overs. If you thought I had a bad paper obsession, well, I have a hard time throwing away the bits and pieces that have been cut for projects too. Truly I need to make a rule that if it is less than a 3x3 piece it's gotta go. Even trying to get something that small through my cricut is a pain and I need to let go!!

Any way, here are some of the cards I created. I really love the rock princess one that I used scraps of Theresa Collins line with my new rock princess cricut cart!! Have a peek -

I still have more and I think I'll make generic or thank you's since I have a lot of birthday ones. I'm also making my own envelopes since they're odd sizes. Hope you like :)

Back To School!

2011-08-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

Yup it's true, they're back to school already!! I can't believe two whole months have went by this quick. My Grandma would say, "when you realize how fast time flies, you know you're getting old." I know it's going fast when last years first day felt like two months ago!!

Santino is now in second grade, and Sophia started Junior High, or Middle school as they like to call it here and was a bit nervous, but big sis will keep an eye out. My dear MaryAnn is an eighth grader! My granddaughter Aelyn is now in fifth, OMG I can't believe that! And Gianna is in third. Here's to a great school year :) and some pics of their first morning out -

Santino -

MaryAnn and Sophia -

We're Getting Closer!!

2011-07-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

Before you know it November 5th will be here and our daughter will be walking down the aisle! All of us are starting to get VERY excited. I have found two gowns that I am leaning towards, but I can be so fickle so we'll see. And I should say that both daughters actually found them for me. Here are pics -

Here are a couple of teasers of my dd's gown. We went for her very first fitting last week and it was just breathtaking!!

That's her maid of honor, my niece Samantha. That's all I'm going to show, I don't want to give away too much the next pics will be on her wedding day. It needs it's steaming and altering, but the gown is just amazing. The seamstress was putting in all the pins for the French bustle so we can pin it up at the reception, and the corset is just gorgeous, getting her ready is going to be something!

Fireworks

2011-07-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

I've never gotten such great shots of fireworks before. Every year the city does a show at The University of Redlands. Each year we go out front and watch, but we can't see that good. Well this year I took the kids and drove down to the college. Dumb me thinking I was the only one doing that. There were hundreds of people all around the surrounding blocks doing the same thing! I did manage to get a spot where we could see the fireworks really well and I got some great pics!

I will be doing a 4th mini-album with Bo-Bunny's Liberty line and these will go perfect! The 4th has always been one of my fave holidays. My dad was a real patriot and I think that is one of the reasons our country's birthday is so special to me. I'll always remember him instilling love of country and respect for our flag in my brother's and me.

Once the album is done I'll post the pics.

I Couldn't Wait!!

2011-07-08T15:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I go to the Prima Yard Sale, and guess what? It really was a yard sale!! Here I was thinking it was inside their warehouse, but no-siree, it was outside in their black top parking lot in the blistering heat! And there were women up the wazoo on line, some with umbrellas to shade themselves, other dummies (read me) dressed nice in heels all fancy sweating enough water to fill a jug! My scrap buddy Sophia was with me and she kept saying, "Ma, the convention we go to in Oct is much better than this." I said I know but we've gotten some good deals here. Some gals brought babies of various ages which was even dumber than wearing heels cuz they were yelling up a storm. Some of the ladies looked like they were gonna pass out and their friends would be fanning them, others said that Prima should've had ice chests filled with water for sale. Many looked like they were melting. Me, well I was just happy to be there sweat and all! They do this 4 times a year so I will go in the cooler months next time, but it was fun for me.

Here's my goodies -

All this and I spent less than $90 bucks!! When I got there some ladies looked peeved saying this is all the old junk and left. Well what'd they think, Prima was going to put out the brand new stuff for 1 buck or two? For heavens sake in the above pic, those purple red and mossy flowers in the bags was just a dollar each! Duh, yard sale, clean out the old to make room for the new. Some are never satisfied, me on the other hand left with a big fat smile on my face :)

Guess Where I'm Going?

2011-07-08T09:59:00.000-07:00

That's right, Prima's warehouse sale!! I love their stuff and I'm taking dd Sophia with me. She's my scrappy shopping buddy. She comes with me to the conventions and stuff. Can't wait to see the loot I grab! I'll post the goodies on Monday :)

One Weekend Two Shots (June 25-26)

2011-06-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

June is going by way to quick for my taste! The fourth will come and go and so will summer vacation.

Well here is my final weekend shots. This was just a great project to do. I can't wait to go back and print these pics to put in my book. Reading the stories about the shots as well as the memories they provoke will be something. Dedra truly is an amazing artist and I encourage all to stop by her blog and see just what an inspiration this woman is. Pop over to Between Us and say hi, browse around, you won't be disappointed in the least, I promise!

Preparations, preparations. Our daughter's wedding will be here before you can blink and we are getting our home and projects together. This is a birthday card I made for my bro-in-law, as well as some tid-bits I'm putting together for a banner that will be for my daughter

Tools of the trade, well just a couple of them. Hubby has been working in the living room building new built in book cases as well as a wood wall above the 2 cases and the fireplace. This will go with the rest of the wood in our home and be just gorgeous.

One Weekend Two Shots (June 18-19)

2011-06-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

We are in the final two weekends of this fun project! Here are my shots -

Have ya ever really noticed what a pretty color beets are? I love to roast them on the grill with some olive oil, salt and pepper.

This is "Duende" she hangs in our kitchen. A revelation for me was hubby telling me he loved the pic because it reminded him of me :)

Anniversary Album

2011-06-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

My sis-in-law asked me to make her parents a 50th Anniversary album. This was a bit intimidating at first. I've never done something this important before. I also only had 5 days to do it, and a lot of people didn't get all their pics to her in time. It was a large album, about 14x12, and instead of it going up and down, I flipped it and had it going side to side or wide ways. I think it came so very nice. I used my cricut E 2 for the whole thing, I cut and welded some great titles and flourishes that I made custom myself! They came great, I need to save them on my Gypsy to use again. My DCWV stacks ( I can't remember the names) were employed almost exclusively except for one page that was BoBunny's timepiece collection. Here are the pics, and my sil just loved how it came, as did everyone who was at the party this weekend for my niece's b.f's graduation and saw it too! She'll bring it back from New York with her when she returns so I can finish it.

My bro & sis-in-law and their kids. The words on this page says Life's Celebrations which I then welded together with a flourish. I also put quotes about daughters, grandchildren and friends on the pages, printed on velum and inked around the edges -

On the bottom I used a gorgeous gold tulle to make a pretty bow

Her sisters children all follow on these page. Not all the pics were in so I left an unglued mat on this one

On this one I used my Tim Holtz Big Shot bird cage die and added little beads on the bottom

*****
On a side note, the baseball album for Coach went over so well the parents asked if I would do various albums for them and they would pay me! Getting paid for doing something you love, imagine that!! I may have to have hubby make a brochure of my work to give to people. Hope you like how it came.

One Weekend Two Shots (June 11-12)

2011-06-13T11:37:00.000-07:00

This is from Santino's Baseball party. He had a blast diving!

Their cake cam great!

One Weekend Two Shots ( June4-5)

2011-06-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

We're coming to the final weekends of this awesome project! Again I'd like to thank Dedra Long from Between Us for putting this in motion. It's been a lot of fun and I think my picture taking skills has expanded dramatically!!

From my bedroom window on the 3rd floor of our home, the gorgeous magnolia tree on the side of our house -

In the beautiful morning sun, a basket of Bath and Body Works goodies that Mom got me for Mother's Day -

My Baseball Mini-Album

2011-06-03T14:53:00.000-07:00

For my son Santino's coach I have made a baseball mini album. Sonny had such a great year I wanted to make a memory book for his coach to remember his team by. I think it came so nice!

I used my cricut like crazy for this. The Sports Mania cart, Plantin Schoolbook and Cricut Sampler. I cut chipboard in the shape of a ball field, and used various papers, some baseball some not for the pages. I had baseball stickers and used pop-ups for dimension in the book. I think the parents thought I was crazy with all the pics I took at the games, but I had so many great pics to choose from. Here you go -

One Weekend Two Shots (May 28-29)

2011-06-03T14:27:00.000-07:00

Here are my shots-

Cupcakes from my fave bakery downtown, Martha Greens Doughlectables

A mural done by my daughters graduating 5th grade class, the starfish was Sophia's -

One Weekend Two Shots (May 21-22)

2011-05-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

This past weekend -

This clock hangs in my dining room

This is one of 2 chocolate pots I got off of ebay and have in my china cabinet

One Weekend Two Shots (May 14-15)

2011-05-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

Behind again.

More flowers

Old Glory waving

Baseball and Piano

2011-05-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

What do the 2 have to do with each other? Well Sophia plays piano and Santino plays baseball. Here are videos of the 2. Sophia played Let It Be at her recital yesterday. Santino has been doing so well with bb and he hits every time he's up!

Some Lay Outs

2011-05-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

I've done a couple of lo's the past couple of weeks. One is of the kids together, the other for the MMM challenge I post.

This title is the absolute truth. This boy adores his Daddy!

Hope you like them!

One Weekend Two Shots (May 7-8)

2011-05-11T15:01:00.000-07:00

We're winding down on this project. Here's this weeks -

Notice how Santino's team-mate's feet are off the ground!

ZuZu plays ball with herself, she puts the pom pom in her mouth then tosses it as she chases it all over. Ir's actually mid air here.

One Weekend Two Shots (Apr 30 - May 1)

2011-05-11T14:50:00.000-07:00

Here are my pics. A little late but that's ok :)

Geraniums on my porch

From my yard. Sometimes the sky can be beautiful

My Boy and I

2011-04-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

I did this lo for the MMM challenge I post every 2 weeks. This was from the Mother's Day Tea last year while he was in kindergarten. He was so excited and had to wear a tie, what a handsome boy he is!

I used papers I've had for years in my stash. The Bohemian line from I can't remember who. Using my Stamping up! roller I did the pattern on the yellow paper, in the corner of the blue paper I inked a stamp with marker and stamped away. I like the way it came, he's my baby boy :)
*****
Here are a few Easter shots of the kids -

One Weekend Two Shots (Apr 23-24)

2011-04-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

Here are my shots -

Grapes on the vine, actually my neighbors but they have climbed to my side

MaryAnn intently working on an egg.

One Weekedn Two Shots (Apr. 16-17)

2011-04-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

Santino is on Coach Pitch baseball and he is doing SO good! We are proud of him. In this shot you can see the ball coming right before he hits it.

I've had this Victoria Secret gift card since Christmas I love the packaging!

Scrapping the Music

2011-04-13T21:05:00.000-07:00

Here is my lo for this challenge. I really love the pics for it!! The journaling says, "Knotts Berry Farm was a blast! You can see by Santino's face he had a great time."

One Weekend Two Shots (Apr 9-10)

2011-04-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of my favorite things -

Bagels from Panera's yum!!

Look at these gorgeous strawberries! Delish!

Some Work

2011-04-04T12:51:00.000-07:00

I did a lo this weekend for the MM challenge I do on the board there, and I finished my ATC cards for the swap that Lori hosts, if you wanna be surprised for the swap don't go all the way down! Here are the pics -

First the challenge itself the colors and page-map-

The papers were from K and Company, Brenda Walton's line, so were all the embellies. Really nice line and the colors were perfect for the challenge! The pics were from Sophia's winter recital.

Now for the ATC -

I like the Tin Man better of the 2. I used my cricut and stickles, got the images off the puter. They're cute.

Waiting Sucks!!

2011-04-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

Yup it sure does!! They had a new promo this weekend with Eric and Bill, but it's not up on YouTube yet so I did this one, and it's not gonna be on the 12th the first show is on June 26th (Sun) *sigh* . It does look like it's gonna be good though!

remember to stop the music to hear :)

Some other shows I really like? I love Justified with Timothy Olyphant . He's just great and so is this show!! I like the Defenders with Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell it is upbeat and pretty decent. We also watch Lights Out about a former heavy weight champ making a comeback but it got canned and we're angry cuz it was good!

One Weekend Two Shots

2011-04-04T11:04:00.000-07:00

Here we go -

My Mom bought me this magnet and boy ain't that the truth! Imelda Marcos has nuttin on me ;)

Staying in the vein of shoes, this wkend we went to my dd's fiance's home for dinner. He lives on a ranch and ya know what? These shoes ain't made for ranching!

To Do

2011-03-28T13:18:00.000-07:00

"A goal properly set is halfway reached." - Abraham Lincoln

Yup ta do lists, we all got em, and they vary into so many different categories too! I have a bunch of organizing to do, laundry to do, clothes to sort and get rid off, school stuff to do, wedding prep to do...you get the idea. I'm talking about a scrap to do though, and I think I'd rather call them goals, it sounds soooo much better! Some things I'd like to accomplish scrap wise in the next few months. I say months since I get side tracked with other projects and life itself. Here they are -

The Year In Holidays (mini-album) not sure what shape yet but would love just the holidays
One Weekend Two Shots (mini-album) when this project wraps up in I believe June I can't wait to put it togehter
My Dad (mini-album) this is something I've been wanting to do, I need to go through all my traditional pics so I have a great selection.
Make more cards so I have them on hand instead of scrambling at the last minute
Get busy creating layouts with all the pics I take!! I think we're all guilty of leaving the pics on the memory stick *hey that rhymes ;)* so I want to make a conscientious effort to start printing and scrapping them.

This is a small list, but I know I'll think of other things I want to do and will add to it, I always do. How about you any scrap goals?

One Weekend Two Shots (Mar 26th-27th)

2011-03-28T12:30:00.000-07:00

I took the kids to Knott's Berry Farms and here are the shots -

Mare and Santino riding this little car. He is a corker!

There were chickens and this rooster just hangin by the parking lot

Edward and Jasper, Yup!

2011-03-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

For my two Granddaughters I made them Edward and Jasper books. They asked when they saw the one I made for my niece, which I didn't take pics of since my brain has many hiccups :p I used the Twilight Stack from DCWV, some flowers, inks, stickers, tulle, ribbon and stickles, various carts from my cricut and voila, they love em!!

I really love making the mini books! I have a great time with them.

One Weekend Two Shots (Mar 19th-20th)

2011-03-21T11:21:00.000-07:00

Here ya go -

One of several plates on my wall

A Dad and his Boy after some catch

Top O' The Morning To Ya!!

2011-03-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

And yes that's what this little devil was saying to me as he tipped his hat. He was just too funny. I made the lo for my MM challenge and I love the colors and how it came!!

I used DCWV paper for the base, then just a green stripe for the next layer, my bazzil stack in the yellow and a green 8x8 print I've had forever. A piece of rick-rack, flowers I cut on my cricut, some shamrocks I had in my stash and some dots. The title is my George cart for the cricut.

Here are some pics from St. Paddy's day -

One Weekend Two Shtos (Mar 12th-13th)

2011-03-14T11:59:00.000-07:00

Caught up!!

I got these gorgeous masks when I went to Nola in Oct'09 had a blast!

Banana nut muffins yummo

One Weekend Two Shots (Mar 5th-6th)

2011-03-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

Lagging behind as usual. Here's last wkends shots -

Book club reading

product pushing. ordered this from QVC and love it!! look at the steam rising :)

A Lay Out

2011-03-09T12:42:00.000-08:00

I have to put my pics from One Weekend in the puter yet, but I did do a lo for the Memory Maker Color and Sketch challenge I do twice a month. The 3 main colors were black red and crumb cake. You can use all are just some.

This is my dd Sophia and my niece Amanda. The tow are bff's without a doubt! Always on the phone chatting away. I also did a New Moon mini book for Amanda and forgot to take pics! Grrrrr anyway here are the pics -

One Weekend Two Shots (Feb 19,20,26,27)

2011-03-01T09:26:00.000-08:00

Fell a weekend behind so here's both -

peeking inside a Victoria Secret gift box the color is so vibrant

cardapalooza! my work all over

Sssshhhh, the bottom of my daughters gown

Santino inside a giant ball that he can roll around the yard in

can you believe we're almost coming to an end on this project, we're 3/4's through, time flies! Thank you Dedra for hosting this!

Some Work

2011-02-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

I've been fiddling a bit with my scrapping, just wanted to show some of my work. I finished the color/pagemap challenge I posted on MM's board.

No I don't miss the snow, though I do miss that initial peace and tranquility that the city gets blanketed in with the first snow.

These are some cards I've made the past few months. I need to do some more, I have a ton of scraps that I have to use!!!

Hope you like

Guilty Pleasures

2011-02-18T13:44:00.000-08:00

Yes, yes, it's true, and we all have em. What are mine, well I gotta come clean, at first I thought this bunch were just plain morons, and while some of em still are that way in my book, I love the Jersey Shore!! Not the girls, if it was my daughter there would be some big beatings going on. These girls are banging guys they met not an hour before leaving a club and I think it's just degrading to them. I'm not saying having a mimbo for a son is ok, but having a whore for a daughter has got to be really sh*tty. I do not think what is good for the goose is good for the gander in this case. I think we all know the guys always have since the dawn of time and always will try to find the milk for free. Most don't expect much from the boys, they aren't taking any of the girls they're with home to Mama anyway, and the ones they really do like they treat differently, but those dumb girls are looking for guys to be their boyfriends and the guys they find are thinking just like Mike, Vinny, and Paulie, not home to Mama, just the sack and out babe. These are my opinions, I'm not writing for a debate to take place just speaking my mind.

Also, as silly as the Situation can be, that guy has a decent heart and knows when trouble is coming and when to step in, alla what happened with Ronnie and Sammy. I thought Ronnie was gonna slap her and Mike got the other guys to come up and try to help quell the situation, no pun intended ;)

My other g.p.? The Vampire Diaries, yea that True Blood light has really gotten good! And it's doing a great job of helping quench my T.B. thirst till it comes back in June. Take its place? Nah no way, but it's got some decent drama and the cast is very easy on the eyes ;) Of course I love the bad boy Damen Salvatore. Like him better than Stephan but all in all they are a great cast.

Speaking of True Blood, it's back on Sunday June 12th and this season is book 4 where our Norse hottie develops amnesia, I sure hope that Mr. Ball plays it fair and square with Eric, cuz it's a reeeeeal good one!!

One Weekend Two Shots (Feb 12-13)

2011-02-18T12:51:00.000-08:00

I had surgery on 2/9 so the wkend I really wasn't up to seeking out photo-ops, but on Valentines Day I did get a couple of great pics.

I made these for all the kids they loved em!

Santino the goof as always.

One Weekend Two Shots (Feb. 5th-6th)

2011-02-08T11:50:00.000-08:00

Super Bowl Weekend and we had a really nice one! Nothing major took place, lazed around a bit on Saturday, baked some muffins in the morning and made chocolate chip cookies in the afternoon to bring to my bil's for Sunday.

Here are my pics -

Blueberry mega muffins. These suckers are giant and delish!!

The spoils of The Super Bowl

One Weekend Two Shots (Jan 29-30)

2011-02-01T10:16:00.000-08:00

I decided to use pics I took of flowers I received for our anniversary. 30 years we've been married, sometimes I can't believe that much time has gone by it doesn't feel it!

these are from hubby :)

these are from mom, they both brighten the kitchen!

Little Wonders

2011-01-24T12:39:00.000-08:00

A friends who's son was in Santino's Kindergarten class made a beautiful dvd collage for us and I just got it last week. On it was several songs along with pics through out the kid's school year, it was so touching and this song by Rob Thomas just got me but good. Go to the bottom of the blog to my music player and click on #63, Little Wonders and listen to that song, it's just beautiful. I did a lo based on the song and here it is -

I did the pic collage with my adobe photoshop elements, had my chip board leaves for a while, cut the gears with Timmy's distress cog diecuts and my big shot, and the title is my cricut with the gypsy font.

One Weekend Two Shots (Jan 22-23)

2011-01-24T12:30:00.000-08:00

Here's my shots -

This pic isn't the best, but I love the fun they had with dry ice

Tummy aches were abounding in the house so we needed the pink stuff -

One Weekend Two Shots (Jan 15-16)

2011-01-20T11:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, now some of you have just been having yucky snowy cold weather, and while here in so cali we don't get below zero we do have days of low 50's and nights as low as 30. I mean right before Christmas we had such a cold snap and so much rain I thought we'd need an arc!! Well that has passed, and every so often we'll get several freakish days of 80 degree weather smack dab in the middle of winter. It doesn't last and it doesn't happen every single month, but this past week has been just glorious and my pics reflect that.

These bush/trees, yeah, to big to be a shrub but not quite a tree, have buds and blossoms aaaaall over them. I have white ones, reddish pink and this pretty baby pink.

These are my kumquats, kinda like a tart little orange, you roll em between your fingers and eat them skin and all. Ya know, these suckers go for 4 bucks a pound in the grocery store and I gotta have at least 60 pounds on my tree!!

One Weekend Two Shots (weekends Dec 18th - Jan 8-9)

2011-01-14T12:41:00.000-08:00

This is the BIIIIIG catch up!!! I need to post 4 weekends of pics here!! The holidays have come and gone, so it's time to get back into this project :)

My Fairies, I love them!

This pic of the Jenga blocks was awesome. It looks like it's just floating! We have been playing some games.

Oh the love of silly bands and Santa!

Holiday baking

Final Tags of Christmas

2011-01-03T13:55:00.000-08:00

Here are the last 6 for Tim Holtz's Twelve Tags Of Christmas. I really had such a great time making these. I'll definitely do it again next year. It was a great stress reliever for me!

This little snowman was cute. I made him and the star with my cricut. I stamped the snowflakes on the tag then ink-blended with the blue.

Next is Santa. This is one of my faves!! I stamped his image on a piece of paper and used it as a template on the tag so I could stamp the letter stamp over it then re-stamped the Santa onto the blank space. Ink-blended with red and green did his suit and then I stickled his beard and hat. Cut out Believe and accent essentialed it added the photo corners for accents.

This window one my hubby gave some help with. I love it! The picture is from my vintage postcard book, the window I cut from cricut along with the vine along the top. Ink-blended with the green. Hubby said to cut the card down so the window covers it completely and it came great.

This ornament I made with grunge paper. Ink-blended with green and walnut over some florishes that I stamped on first, added stickers and some tulle and beads.

I thought a winter like scene would be nice. I cut them from the cricut, ink-blended the tag and glittered the Season's Greetings which kinda makes it hard to read, but an ok tag.

Last but not least, with it being the 12 tags of Christmas what else, but 12 Lords A Leaping! Followed all the same techniques I've used in the others and I like how it came.

I hope you like them as much as I do. I actually gave some on gifts to those I knew wouldn't throw them away. It's kinda like giving away a kid....well not quite, but you feel that tug as you let it go :)

My Christmas Stocking

2010-12-29T12:42:00.000-08:00

Here are the goodies I received from Melissa for the Christmas Stocking Swap put together by Lisa! Stop by their blogs and see how talented these ladies are!

Melissa packed it with so much wonderful stuff! I can't wait to use it all. She really did a great job. This was a fun swap and makes the season so much fun. I love getting goodies in the mail.
*****

I'm still finishing up my tags. I have two more to go, one-n-a half, really, since I'm working on eleven, and I'll post the final six when I finish.

Heehee, Enrique's Baby I Like It is playing while I preview, I love that song!! Makes me wanna get up and dance!

A View Of Christmas

2010-12-29T12:32:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from my holiday. Some are leading up to the day and then the day itself. We had such a wonderful Christmas and I hope you all did too!

Making gingerbread and sugar cookies. What a goof ball Santino is!!

Sophia helped me make stroffoli. They can be tedious with rolling all the tiny balls.

Every year all the nieces and nephews put on their Christmas pj's for the annual pic.

My table all set for dinner.

Christmas morn.

Phew, all this Christmas stuff is sooooo tiring!!!

One Weekend Two Shots ( Dec 11-12)

2010-12-16T12:52:00.000-08:00

I said this was going to be a blingy sparkly glittery month! Here are the shots -

These I keep on my dining buffet -

These are in my apothecary jars on the dining table -

Twelve Tags Of Christmas Inspired By Tim....

2010-12-10T11:27:00.000-08:00

Created by moi. Let me say this, in no way do these come close to that man's work. He is in a whole other caliber of talent, but I really had fun doing this!! I only have 6 so far, I will make the rest and post them when I finish.
*******

I really like this tag. From my DCWV Christmas stack that I've had for about 3 yrs and still haven't put a dent in, came the paper. I glimmermisted with the iridescent for some sheen. I used my Heidi Swapp heart ghost shapes and put them through my xyron sticker maker then put doodlebugs glitter on it and glued them onto white cardstock with the accent glossy glop. The wings are from a glimmermist pkg I have, then I cut the doves with my cricut Joy of the Season cart. They got some glitter as well. Sprinkling of bling here and there, some pearly beads to dangle and there you go

This one I made with my ink blending tool, some red and green and blended away on the tag. Glimmermisted with the iridescent. The deer was from cricut, same cart. A shiny Merry Christmas sticker on top, and I stamped with Tim's holiday postcard stamps then added some little pearls. I think it came nice.

This one is too cute, I love that polar bear, I made him for a swap hosted by Lisa 2 yrs ago and thought he'd look great here! Same cart again, as well as the peace. I used some chunky glitter I had for peace and on the snowflakes as well. I blended the tag with the blue inkpad, glimmermisted with the iridescent and some red and black stickles for the bear.

I love Santa! I collect Santas, and this came from a postcard pack I have. I cut him out and glued him on the tag, which I blended with red ink, then stamped over it with a large composed letter stamp from Stampin Up! inked up in the same red. Glimmermisted with the iridescent for sheen. I did a bit of stickling on the tree with green, glimmermisted and gold stickled the flowers and cut out the little tag with the cricut, then stamped that with peace at Christmas and added the gold star.

I think this one is very pretty. For this, I used a mask (Tim's) then blended with the olive green ink. Removed the mask and blended with walnut. I also used my iridescent glimmermist to give it a sheen, glimmermisted the flowers and stickled too. Used a stamp from Rhonna Rarrar, a Christmas collection and some bling.

Hands down, this one is my fave!! Again, the Santa comes from my postcard pack, it is very ethereal. I blended with blue, then used my Stampin Up! roller with the baroque stamp inked in the blue and rolled away. Stickled the border with the silver, cut out joyful with the blackletter cart for cricut and sent it through the sticker maker. Sprinkled the glitter then covered it in the glossy accent goo. I also smeared Santa's beard with some glue and sprinkled some white glitter on him and used iridescent stickles on his hat. A little bling on the bottom and there ya go ;)

And here is the group together. I hope you like them!

One Weekend Two Shots (Dec 4th-5th)

2010-12-06T11:47:00.000-08:00

We are into Decembers shots! I'm sure this month will be filled with glitter and goodies :)

This weeks contributions-

I got this little lady while in New Orleans for my birthday in "09" They had several different ones and I picked up two. I love the sayings on them.

This is a pretty little box from my most fave boutique in town - Mozart's, click on the name to check it out. When I go, hubby shuts his eyes reeeeeal tight. I love that place!
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I have been working on my own 12 tags of Christmas inspired by Tim Holtz, I'll be posting those soon
so check back.

One Weekend Two Shots(Nov 20-21, 27-28)

2010-11-29T11:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, got behind a bit here, it happens, and will probably happen more the closer the holidays get. I'm still snapping away, just gotta get them up ;)

I call these pics embellishments -

from a wedding gown my dd Desirae tried on

the top of a cookie jar Mom bought me

the bow from a wreath I made

the centerpiece on my dining room table

hope you like :)

Sharing Life...

2010-11-19T12:57:00.000-08:00

And some of my thoughts on Dancing with the stars, but first -

Here are some pics of my Grandaughter Aelyn from her 9th birthday on Tuesday. NINE!! Time goes too fast. She is a real card let me tell ya! She had dd Desirae fix her hair and makeup so I could snap some shots. Note the outfit change ;) For her and Gianna's bday, we got them American Girl dolls, and on Monday I'm taking them and Sophia along with their dolls, Rebecca, Molly, and Felicity to The American Girl Doll Store in Los Angeles. They are stoked!

Here are Gianna and Aelyn with Molly and Rebecca.

Some shots of my home, I made the door wreath and swag around it -

Here is a lo I did, and it was the HARDEST lo I ever did. Why? Because I scrap lifted it. While going to lunch with hubby one day we went to a lss near him and they had these lo kits all over. They were 18-20 bucks and I snapped a bunch of pics. The mistake I made while doing the lo was not having everything prepped and ready to go so I had to keep referring to my phone pic for the fine details since it didn't print clear. I really like it and originally was going to use a pic of Santino but changed my mind to the pics of Des from her sinner or saint contest with Kat Von Dee and Sephora cometics -

Those 3 red glitter brads under devil were from Lisa in a swap. They came awesome and look like buttons!! I used my cricket and stickles for the embellies.

I think it's hot!!! Not exact like the original, but nice :)
******

Now Dancing With The Stars. Some are ticked with Brandi getting the boot. If I was the one who picked the contestant there wouldn't be a Brandi, or Jennifer Gray, Pussy Cat Doll, Yamaguchi or Gymnasts for crying out loud, skaters and gymnasts take ballet!! Pop stars make videos that are choreographed up the wazoo. The whole point is to take someone with no dance background and turn them into Baryshnikov or Cyd Charisse. I know you younguns are saying Cyd Charisse who da fuhh....Anywho, that's the real success, so Bristol should be there along with ~~Cory~~ duh I mean Kyle Massey, Cory is his tv character :p. That's the real challenge. My 2 cents ;)