playing with toys

I've been playing with some of the toys Santa brought me for Christmas this year. Today, I got out the Jelly Lenses my mom gave me. I have to say they are pretty fun. The only problem is that they only fit on my old, point and shoot camera. My husband has decided that it's his camera now, so I have to wrangle him for it whenever I want use my new lens.

The lenses are soft rubber and have a bit of adhesive on them. You simply lay them over the lens of your point and shoot camera or cell phone camera and then take your photos.

I took the above photos with my favorite lens, the Starburst.

This one was taken with the Six Image Mirage lens.

My least favorite was the Wide Angle lens. I think I need to play with it more to figure out how to make it give me the results I'm looking for. The packaging says it can be used to produce a fish eye technique, so I'll have to keep trying.



As you can see from the photo above, my dog, Jack, is pretty tired of being a model today. Was Santa good to you? Did you get some good toys to play with?

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FTC Disclosure: I am not affiliated with the manufacturers of Jelly Lens and have not received payment or goods in exchange for my review of this product. If you click on the Jelly Lens link, I will receive a small commission from Amazon if you purchase anything via my affiliate link.

The Perfect Circle Cupcakery

The thing I love about my "job" as an artist and designer is that I rarely feel like I'm actually working. Seriously, how lucky am I to have business meetings at a cupcake shop? Last week, I met with my friend and business collegue, Priscilla Burris to talk about getting ready for the upcoming CHA Show. We decided that as long as we needed to meet somewhere, we might as well as hit a cupcakery we've never been to before. I mean a girl can't do business on an empty stomach, can she?


We visited The Perfect Circle Cupcakery in Orange, California. The shop was darling. Who doesn't love Tiffany box blue?

And the cupcakes were delicious. If you live in Southern California, it's definately worth a visit. After all, I'm sure you have some sort of business meeting to arrange, don't you?



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FTC Disclaimer:
*I have no affiliation with and have received no compensation for this recommendation.

happy holidays

My husband is off work this week and I'll be taking some time to enjoy the holidays with my little family.

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for reading my blog, encouraging me when I need it, and for generally being a sweet voice in the big, wide, Internet world.

Wishing you a Christmas filled with joy and a New Year filled with excitment.

Trash to Treasure Gift Wrap

Today I feel like Cinderella. My husband has a holiday work party at lunch and my daughter has her school party and then is throwing a cookie decorating party here. The only holiday party I had on my calendar this year was last night and fifteen minutes before she was supposed to arrive my babysitter called to cancel. All dressed-up and no party for me. There wasn't a Fairy Godmother in sight either. So today I'm sitting here having a little pity party for myself.

I spent yesterday wrapping gifts for teachers. Guess what that paper is? Trader Joes' grocery bags! I carefully cut-out the parts of the bag that had some cute holiday sketches on them, glued a doily onto the side (I think I got that idea from Martha Stewart), and tied up the package with bakery twine. I think they came out pretty charming and the cost was very minimal! Now I keep humming a song from The Sound of Music. "Brown paper packages, tied up with string...."

For the tags, I just cut some cardstock from my scrap pile, hit one edge with one of my Fiskars Border Punches and glued a glittery, chipboard monogram onto the tag.

Take a few minutes today to wrap your presents. I know I'm guilty of just throwing wrapping paper on in a rush, but it's so relaxing to take your time and be creative. I know that I LOVE to get a beautiful package and it's very rewarding for me to be able to hand something pretty to someone I love.

*I have not received any money or products for the mention of any companies or products.

Trash to Treasure Bakery Boxes

I'm driving my husband crazy. For the past three months, I've been saving every clamshell, egg carton and jar we use. They were all piled high in the garage, waiting for my holiday baking.

I don't know about you, but I feel pretty guilty about the amount of plastic etc. I have been using to package my Christmas Cookie Gifts. So, a few months I ago I hatched a plan. To reuse the containers that store bought bakery and fruit come in for the my holiday gifts. Hence the pile of garbage in my garage!

It's so easy to do this project! Just wash and save your take-out clamshells. Measure the top and then cut out some old wrapping paper or festive scrapbook paper to fit the top. I used my Fiskar's Border Punch to make the edge of the paper look extra special. I used double sided tape to attach my paper to the top of the plastic box. Then I downloaded Vanessa's free holiday tags and taped one on top of the box. To finish, I nestled my cookies in some tissue paper.


My husband is finally seeing that there was method to madness. I saved money and helped the planet. See? I'm not so crazy after all!

Bib Necklace

SHHHH! Don't tell my Sister-in-Law, Reina, but I made this necklace for her birthday. We were supposed to go to tea last week, but the rental car I was using (my car was in the shop getting repaired after the accident) broke-down and I never made it to tea. Yes, that's the kind of week I had. Car accidents, unreliable rental cars, rain on my holiday boutique day. I'm thinking this week can only get better.

Back to dear Reina. She's over 9 months pregnant now and could have used some birthday treats. My little nephew was due December 7, but he's refusing to appear. Keep your fingers crossed that he comes soon. I'll be giving her this necklace just as soon as I can.

To find out how to make a necklace like this one, visit my new favorite blog, Ruffles and Stuff. Everyday I read about a new project that I can't wait to try. Here's the link to the Bib Necklace Tutorial. I also recently posted about making a darling, no-sew flutter cape from this tutorial. Seriously, I thought about listing all the tutorials I loved over there, but I would be here all day. Take a few moments to go back and read some of the older posts. There's gold over there.

What's your latest blog obsession? I'm looking for some new blogs to get hooked on and would love to hear about what you are reading now.

gingerbread ornament pattern

I decided to start a new tradition this year. Every Thanksgiving, I'm giving the children in my family a handmade ornament. I figured that giving it to them on Thanksgiving will allow them to enjoy the ornament during the current holiday season. (Don't you hate it when you get an awesome ornament for Christmas? You have to wait a whole year to really enjoy it!)

I found this darling half-eaten Gingerbread Man Ornament on Elsie Marley's blog. He reminds of the Gingerbread Man in the Shrek movies. The pattern is FREE! And it's pretty easy. It took less time than I thought it would to make it. To download the pattern, click here. (Sorry for the crummy photo. I'm still getting used to my new camera, plus the light has been really bad here lately.)

FTC Notice: I have no affiliation and have received no compensation for this recommendation.

clothespin dolls

Thanks to everyone who sent me emails about my accident. I'm feeling much better now. My car is in the shop and the insurance company is taking care of everything. I'm sure my rates will be going up, but I'm moving on.

So let's get back to being crafty, shall we? Did you notice the new banner I made? Those cute clothespin dolls are Snow Queen ornaments for the Crafty Crow's Kid's Ornament Exchange. I love how they came out. I went overboard and even hand embroidered their teeny, tiny outfits with some special metallic embroidery floss.

Once I started making clothespin dolls the other day, I couldn't stop! My daughter and I found some acorn tops on the way home from the school the other day, so we used them as hats for a few dolls.

Then my daughter, aka "Super Butterfly Spy Girl", wanted a doll that looked a butterfly, so I came up with this doll.

I was also inspired by Vanessa Valencia's elves, so I made one of those too.

So are you like me? Do you get obsessed with something and can't stop? I can spend hours making different versions of my latest obsession. But then I always hit a wall. Everything is going beautifully and then suddenly, it all turns to poop. Yep, poop. Suddenly the faces are smearing and things aren't sticking. It's like the creative muse says, "Enough!", and if you don't listen, she fixes it so you have to stop. Tell me, does it happen to you too?

do over!

Remember when you were a kid and you would miss kicking the ball completely in a game of kickball and you could yell, "Do Over!" and everyone would pretend your last try never happened and you got a second chance? I've never wanted to yell "Do Over!" as much as I did this weekend.

After going to see Santa with my daughter, sister and niece on Saturday, I pulled into a parking spot at my sister's condos. One minute I was gliding my car easily into the spot, the next my car was wildly out of control, going over the curb, up a small embankment and heading for the wall of the condo building. I'm really not sure what happened. All I can think is that my foot slipped off my brake and onto the gas. I remember seeing the wall come at us and thinking, we were going to through it. I remember wondering how I could prevent it. I thought my foot was on the brake, so in that split second, I couldn't imagine how to stop us. I think I threw the car into reverse because then we were speeding back down the hill. (We did hit the wall, but didn't go through it.) But we were again out of control and speeding towards a wall behind us. I pulled the emergency brake and we stopped without hitting anything.

Luckily no one was injured. My car has enough damage to need to go to the body shop and the condo building is going to need stucco, but it could have been SO much worse. I spent Saturday night awake the entire night. Every time I would close my eyes, I would see the accident. Then I would think of all the terrible things that could have happened. I didn't think I could take it anymore. I'm feeling a bit better today, but I'm still shaken up. I'm also so grateful that we are all safe and sound. That no one in my car, or anywhere else, was injured. I feel stupid too. Wondering how this happened. Seriously, I'm a pretty good driver. I haven't had a ticket or accident in over 20 years. (The last accident was in college when I hit a coyote in the middle of the night as it ran across the freeway-not really anything I did there!) So how did I end up going from parking to accelerating? I'll never know. You see these accidents on TV, where someone went through a fast-food restaurant wall or something. The driver was usually 100+ years old or drunk. I was neither. I feel like I can't trust myself anymore. I feel like my life went briefly out of control and there was nothing I could do about it.

I know this all be a distant memory someday. I know I will feel better. Right now, though I feel scared, vulnerable, sad, stressed, confused and about a hundred other emotions. I am trying to settle on grateful though. Grateful that the accident wasn't as bad as it could have been. Grateful everyone is okay.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. That all goes well with insurance adjustors, body shop mechanics and building owners.

cupcake sewing cards tutorial

I received the book, Cupcakes! for my birthday. While reading it, I found a great tutorial for creating children's sewing cards shaped like cupcakes. In the book, fabric and fusible interfacing are used. I changed out the fabric for paper and the fusible webbing for cardboard and drew my own template. It was a super-fast project that had fantastic results. In fact, my four year old daughter spent the ENTIRE day yesterday playing with them. She told me it was like "sewing with angels". I'm not sure what that means, but I'm pretty sure it's a compliment.


Here's my version of the product using paper crafting supplies:

Supplies:
Cardboard
Scrapbook paper-one design for "frosting" and one design for the "wrapper"
Mod Podge Glue
1 yard of cording per cupcake

Tools:
Scissors
Crop-A-Dile

Instructions:
1. Draw a cupcake-shaped template onto cardboard, cut-out and trace onto scrapbook paper. I just laid the template down on the frosting, stopped where I thought the frosting should stop and then did the same with the wrapper. You can overlap the frosting a bit over the wrapper, but if you allow too much overlap, you risk the paper peeling up. If you want to cover the cardboard on the back, be sure to cut-out the entire shape of the cupcake template on another sheet paper.

2. Using the cupcake template again, cut-out the entire shape of the cupcake from the cardboard.

3. Glue frosting, wrapper and back papers to the cardboard shape. Use a thin layer of Modge Podge and be sure to cover the entire surface with glue. Gently press down and smooth out the paper. For added durability, you may want to add a light coat of Modge Podge over the entire surface of the front of the cupcake. Allow the glue to dry.

4. Once all the glue is dry, mark holes around the entire outside of the cupcake. The template I'm giving you has the holes marked, but you can add the holes as you see fit. Using a Crop-A-Dile or other sturdy hole punch tool, punch the holes out. With two layers of paper and cardboard, you need a tool that can hole punch through a fairly large thickness. Again, if you want the toy to be durable, you could also place brads or grommets in the holes.

5. Take cording and tie a large knot in one end. On the other end, wrap tape around the end of the cord to form a "needle" that won't fray.

6. Hand-over to your favorite toddler, pour yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy the peace and quiet.

ghosts of christmas' past

I'm famous for sharing crafty ideas for the holidays when the holidays are already in full-swing. Giving my readers little time to actually use the ideas for their holiday season. (Sorry about that-it's hard for me to get in the mood to make Christmas themed crafts in July!) Since it's nice and early in the season, I thought I would link back to some of my favorite projects from last year. Maybe they'll inspire you and you'll actually have some time to make them for this year's holiday!

The Catholic Feast Day of St. Nicholas is one December 6. Last year, I dressed-up some chocolate Santas for the occasion. Read the post about it here.



I made some ornaments out of old cookbook illustrations and a Cupcake Topper out of one of my photos for my Bakery Themed Tree. Get more information about these projects on this post.

Martha Stewart inspired me to make some darling Scrapbook Paper Xmas Trees and some cute sugary snow globes.

If you try any of these projects, let me know. I'd love to see your interpretation! I've been making ornaments the last couple days, so check back soon and see what I've created!

(If you need more information for creating any of these, let me know. Maybe I can whip-up a tutorial or two for you!

shower curtain and hand towel update

The thing I like about my new found hobby of sewing is that I can dress-up just about anything now. When I first discovered collage, I was collaging everything-from lampshades to jars and now I'm adding material to anything I missed. I joke that my dog and husband better not sit still too long or they'll end up getting embellished too. There's just something so satisfying about taking something store-bought and personalizing it or making it "better". I feel like in some small way, I'm truly being a homemaker. That I'm making my family's little corner of the world beautiful and comfy. People who don't craft or sew often scoff at the time I spend doing my little projects. The words, "Martha Stewart" are often used. (As if that's a bad thing!) My hope is that one day my daughter will look back fondly on her childhood home and remember all the little details I put into it. Maybe some of the things I made will be looked at by her children and stories will be told about how I made this or that. In a world that is becoming increasingly commercial, I'm here, holding on as tightly as I can to the "good old days" and putting a homemade touch to things I make for my family. And that's why I love all my blog readers. Because you are right there with me, sharing ways I can bring a little creativity to my home.