11 years ago..

my first boyfriend
my first love
Brandon Anthony Miceli
I'll never forget you

Banded

So I'm totally pathetic because I was feeling lazy tonight and decided to finish up watching the last episode of "The Hills". Okay, Okay, so I watched some of the season finale aftershow too, so sue me! But that's not what's pathetic. After it was over I wanted more....so I watched all 6 episodes of "The City". I'm lame. But. I really liked the little floral knit headband Whitney was wearing...

...cute, huh?

So, I did a little Etsy search and found this... It's from Creative Yarn's shop and you can find it here. I wonder if it can be made with velvety yarn so it could become the new boo?

Go Digital!

There are SO many digital-fun things to do online, I swear it's totally endless! It's so easy to get overwhelmed too cuz with each new thing you encounter, there's the time it takes to download, figure out what it really does, try it out for yourself, fail, fail, fail, then, OH COOL!! I'm so excited about a couple of things I've seen on my travels online.

Things that do stuff like this:

(mosaic maker)

and this(Warholizer)

you can do both and more with Big Huge Labs

Then there's also this

it turns your pictures into Polaroid images

and you can find it from Poladroid

If you're looking to start digital scrapbooking, I think a good place to start is Scrapblog. I've made all my banners there and you can get a quick tour--it's so user friendly and I'm really excited cuz they now offer this.

If you want to do more with your digital pictures and want step by step help you can even take an online class with Adrienne Looman. Her pictures are so yummy!

The cool thing about going digital is that you can still create without making a huge mess, you can work in small increments of time, you'll never run out of your favorite supplies, and, in a lot of cases, you can do it for free. Speaking of free, check out this program called Gimp, for photo manipulation, to help you use the digital scrapbook tools you can buy, and lots of other stuff (I just really wanted it cuz it's a great alternative to Photoshop. Hm, lets see, free...or hundreds of dollars...I know how much I want to spend!)

Once you're geared up with all the right tools, and have learned a thing or two, there's all kinds of trouble you can get into: Heidi Swapp, Prima Hybrid, Rhonna Farrer, to name a few!

That's probably enough to keep you busy for awhile, at least it has been for me!

a thrifty installment

(not thrifted, but signify the putting up of ornaments)

As I was putting away my Christmas decorations :( I realized it has been awhile since I posted about thrifty goods. I only have a couple, but after all, it isn't about the quantity, but...well, you know what I mean.In the midst of the Christmas decorating season, and while I was knee deep in all my unpacked ornaments, I decided to go to the Sunday flea market at Redwood Acres to see what I could find. I'm all about doing one new thing when I should really be finishing up another! Well, I'm glad I did because I found three packages of these aqua globes with gold tops-they match perfectly with my colors! The cool thing is they are exactly what I was looking for even though I wasn't really looking for anything in particular-I'm convinced that's the best way to work a flea market-or yard sale for that matter. In the future these babies will be very versatile due to the fact that they are made of plastic-I know, you couldn't even tell, huh?! They'll be able to go outside and hang in a cool little grouping, or hang from a doorknob as a festive kitty toy (okay, that might be going a little too far, but you get the point). This year I divvied them up between the tree and a festive little display behind my couch. Oh, and they were only .75/pkg!

(look in the upper left on the tree, there's a light shining from behind)

The other thing I got that day was sitting on the floor, half concealed by the fabric on the table cloth above....
..it was this! O be still my aqua beating heart! I didn't even know what it was but I saw all I needed to see to know it needed to come home with me-the worn aqua paint, and a worn wooden handle, oh, the butterflies, I feel them all over again! For $7 it was mine. The cool thing is it's still a functioning water bucket, but I'm not going to use it for that so I don't really know why I think it's so cool that it still functions in it's original capacity, but I do. I think it would be cool to house gardening tools, or as a vase for a big arrangement of sunflowers and hydrangeas.

Fast forward to this past weekend when we had such beautiful weather and yard sales were back again......I found this shelf and stuffed diny for 50 cents apiece. You're jealous, I know.

Isn't he so cute?

She thinks so. And her reaction was all that I needed to confirm I made a wise purchase. (please forgive her cut off forehead-I'm new to making these.)

Christmas gifts

Santa was especially generous this year...
...decorating and home inspiration books because I'm totally obsessed with these topics right now...

Sweet Mandala

Turq&Pink Mandala

...PapaYa! Canvas Giclees from TT&C (they really do have all the best stuff)

Of course, my good fortune in the gift department could have had something to do with the fact that just as fast as I could swipe my debit card for purchases made during my Christmas shopping adventures, I was texting about items I spied that I would have liked to have for myself. I mean, it was the least I could do to help those who love and wanted to give me the best and most thoughtful and wanted gift I could ever receive, to relieve their Christmas shopping angst--you get how I was thinking of others here? All of the items above were texted about, as well as a teal ceramic spoon rest for my stove top, sawhorses to aid me in my furniture re-do projects, various kitchen utensils, gift certifs to favorite stores, oh how good it was!

It was a b*e*a*u*t*Y of a day

We have had a full week's worth of b*e*a*u*t*i*FUL weather here on the north coast, and today was just no exception! Oh it felt SO good! I went to Trinidad to spend some time with my honey...

(the abovementioned "honey")

..who had a little house cleaning to do so I walked to the end of the street, hot debit card in hand, to my favorite store EVER, Trinidad Trading Company...

(the abovementioned Trinidad Trading Co., or
TT&C as Elena and I have affectionately dubbed it)

...I had hoped to find a planner like this one, or some other treat, and since they were out of the planners I "settled" on 3 little painted tin mirrors from Mexico. You see, I chose to treat myself with all 3 because I couldn't choose just 1. I can't wait to see where they will want to live in my home...

(the abovementioned treats to self)

...upon my departure from TT&C (cumon, don't you read the captions below my pictures?) I continued around the bend to catch a glimpse of the bay and ocean beyond...

(glimpse)

(my favorite spot in the whole wide world)

...ready for lunch, I returned to fetch my man, who, by this time I'd hoped was finished with his house cleaning. He was. Hand in hand we strolled to find us a place to eat. Catch Cafe? Nope, closed. Lets go to the hippie cafe!...

...the little cafe in town where you can get coffee, lunch, sweet treats, and even...

Beer.

In a customized handled canning jar I might add.
But if you want coffee, bring your own cup or they will let you borrow one and return it at your convenience. Or you can buy a hemp covered jar for $1, but they were out today. But I didn't want one anyway.

Bellies satisfied, thirsts quenched, we walked around back via the alley and through the gate to the kittie's castle. After all, they miss us!...

...Stewart was no where in sight, but oh, that Buster Brown, isn't he a b*e*a*u*t?

And that, my friends, was how I spent my day.

Giddy

Okay, so I'm a total nerd, but I just have to share that I'm totally excited because Rhonna Farrer left a comment on my last post. Eeek!!! That means that at some point in her day, her eyes were actually looking upon my little pictures on my little blog. Okay, that sounds a little on the verge of creepy, but I assure you that I'm just a tiny bit star struck, that's all. I totally LOVE her! I've mentioned her on here before as she is my VERY favorite digital scrapbook designer. Anyhoo, I just had to mention that just in case the whole world didn't know what a dork I can be...now the whole world can. And I'm not ashamed.

Christmas

Decorating for Christmas was a blast this year! I love how cozy all the lights and glittering touches make a home feel.

I made this wreath...

...and this wreath last year. It was so nice to just be able to take them out of storage to hang and not have gobs of glittery piles to swiffer up for the rest of the year :)

These candles were a little project I'd like to share. They were red and purple metallic candles that I bought to go with my roommates' decor while living at my last place . They'd been packed away until I could come up with some idea to make them work at my home now. Well, inspiration finally struck and I got out my stash of metallic paints, added two coats on each, let them dry, then added glitter to strips of double sided adhesive tape that I applied.

I picked up these paper snowflakes (okay, they're flowers, or just round shapes, but for the season I'm considering them to be simple snowflakes) cheap while Christmas shopping, then added glitter around the edges. They're extra great cuz I can get them out at any party I might have!

I thought this little arrangement was clever enough to share (if I do say so myself--and I do!). I bought some cinnamon scented pine cones and set them on paper doilies that I'd cut in half. Then I wove in a wired gold bead strand and placed some leftover green glittery doo-dads. voila!

To see more of my Christmas decoration pictures, visit my Flickr.

While decorating is a highlight of the season, my very favorite tradition is to go to Grannie's house for Christmas Eve. It's so great to see my family, especially now that my cousins don't live close to home. Just makes it so much sweeter to be together.

Queenie of the night

three generations

she's a natural

had me laughing all night long (and even now when I just think about it)

good to be together

me and my sisters

one so little, loved so much

should see them more

cousins

so good to have you there

white elephant gift getting can be pretty fun...

...and sometimes not

Christmas Day finds the five of us at home, early-ish, to open presents in our jammies, sip on hot cocoa, snack on finger foods, and lounge, lounge, lounge til we're so tired all we can do is take a nap. Oh, the life!

I'd have to say, that a good Christmas season was had by all!