$$

dare 160 is up today: if money was no object
I love this because I have wishlist on all my favorite shopping sites, some I get to splurge on others well they are left for my "one day" list, lol. This is a mixed up lo because it has a short list of some of my favorite designers but really pays homage to the late Lee Alexander McQueen as well, seriously loved his creative vision, talent and guts. For me creativity in any form is seriously amazing.
don't forget to add your layouts to our flickr pool...effer dares, love looking through everyone's takes on the dares.
xo

bliss

okay, the purge and organize dream was a lot more fun in my head but I am well underway in this task of reorganizing my closet. I took a pic of the before yesterday and it wasn't pretty but I did fill two large bags of clothes yesterday to haul off to the thrift store tomorrow,now that felt really good. I am organizing everything by color in efforts to actually be able to see my clothes (which will help in choosing what to wear to work, i am the worse at decisions) and plus it looks pretty. :) The goal is to get organize and stay that way!

a few layouts to share from the april cocoa daisy kit, caribbean bliss. my so far layout is the featured layout of the day over at 2peas, was shocked when I saw it there.
more of my cocoa daisy gallery can be seen here.
can you see i am addicted to my fiskars star punch?! :)
xo

i can show you better than i can tell you

a perfect sunday morning walking downtown taking in one of dc's most treasured scenes (the cherry blossoms) and our nation's history (FDR memorial).
just before the winds came in and before the water rises any higher, some areas by the tidal basin are under water and sure to become worse as we are getting more rain tonight and next few days.
off to purge and organize!
xo

temporary empty nester

photo credit: the selby

that's me for the next week,s2 are off to their nanas for the week for spring break which leaves me flying solo for a week.
does that mean a long week of partying,late nights and in jammies all day hmmm... no, well maybe the last one, lol
but i do have plans.... nothing spectacular and probably boring to most but i am pretty excited about organzing their closets and mine.  things are totally out of control and i am going to do a BIG purge this week.
my closet currently looks a lot like the picture above (minus the wire hangers) and it is driving me insane!
and lets face it any excuse to go to ikea is a bonus for me, lol.
any plans for the weekend that you would like to share?
happy friday!
xo

10 things

i always love reading list and a happy list seemed fitting for today
10 things that make me happy:

*being able to drive with the sunroof open and the music blaring to over by drake
*the harem pants I am wearing today...ultra comfy
*a great burger from BRG
*warmer days where high heeled sandals are making a daily apperance
*listening to synai read to me yesterday, love her little voice and hearing her confidence get stronger with each word
*my mother's voice
*this season of grey's anatomy
*my sister's recaps of her daily commute and conversations
*ranunculus flowers
*god's grace

what are you happy about today?
xo

. . .

love it when wednesday rolls around, especially when the weather is near perfect!
you know what i love even more, sales! sometimes patience pays and you end up picking up a totally fru-fru skirt for $6 instead of $20 and some new sparkly kicks for a very girly girl (synai loves skirts and dresses, the more "spiny" they are the better, lol). I love deals like that especially when it comes to children clothes since they grow so fast.

two sneaks for the april cocoa daisy kit, it is gorgeous! it has some of my favorite papers from crate paper's brook line. It goes live 3.28!

in what reality

bravotv

i am know a watcher of the entire real housewives franchise!
this is my first season of the new york edition and omg, what took me so long?!
i know the show is filled with petty over the top arguments but it is shamefully entertaining
bethenny is my favorite and if I have learned anything from watching the first few shows of this season is that jill does need to get a hobby, lol!
seems like their is a "vicky" type on every one of these

as you know my love"reality" tv  has no bounds, these are my favs: for the love of ray j, keeping up with the kardashians, khloe and kourtney take miami, kendra, teen mom, rupaul's drag race, kell on earth,the hills, the city, fantasia for real, project runway,the rachel zoe project,the t.o. show,real world challenges and jersey shore....

but i do have my limits no daisy of love or tool academy, lol lol
xo

a new week

as always can't believe how fast the weekend goes by and here we are back to the start of another week! we had a great weekend spent it outside kicking it around the dmv. i really love living here especially in the spring, it is so beautiful and this weekend's weather was perfect. of course i didn't do a thing i needed to do but i am fine with that. ;)

i am going to suck it up this weekend and venture out to the tidal basin to see the cherry blossoms, which truly kicks off tourist season too...yeah sucking it up for beauty. :)

a few layouts to share that i created for last month's couture cardstock gallery. i really do love cardstock a lot, most of my layouts are primarily cardstock. i love starting with them as a blank base and adding paint,shapes and embellishments as accents,sometimes too many patterns clogged the flow of the layout for me and causes me to over think it.

hope you are starting the week off good! xo

comforts of home

i am in full spring joy fever mode, it is totally gorgeous which make it so difficult to stay inside. The light in the morning has been so beautiful this week, so I took a few photos of the things that I love.  I am a home body and enjoy being inside with my little unit and cluster of things but will for sure be spending some time out doors this weekend to welcome spring!

also loving seeing images and being so inspried by this blog: forever is today.

thank you for the lovely words on my blog's new format, I have the best readers! :)
happy friday and oh have an even happier weekend!
xo

under construction

changing the look of things around here, was totally bored with the layout.
I wanted larger pictures, so I am thinking I like this format better, only time will tell because I can be very indecisive...guess that is the libra in me! :)
see ya tommorrow and I haven't been crafty at all this week. :(
hoping to have some mojo soon because I have to start playing with the new cocoa daisy kit this weekend!
xo

pretty much

pretty much my favorite piece of jewelry right now...

favorite nail polish and I usually don't like pink but trust this is the perfect neutral shade (pop art pink).

white  watches, I have this on by Nixon only down side is the the band is effected by the dye in my dark clothes.

so ready for LOST tonight, so eXcited! Things are finally getting good, I can't believe after tonight we will only have seven episodes left...insert sad face.

the in betweens.

we had a very wet and dreary weekend, so a trip to chocolate chocolate was a must to lift the spirits! Everyone deserves to have a little sweetness! :) I had one of these yummy chocolate toffee pretzels, another favorite of ours was the milk chocolate marshmallow....yum!






also made a few more pages in my la mini, love the last photo of me in the photobooth captured by jamaica=perfect!
off to tackle another week...
xo

and the la la mini continues ♥

first off, it's friday...yay! :) It is a rainy one but Friday none the less! :) As promised I have been playing with paper and still cutting, printing and painting up my la mini. below are a few more pages....
love this hotel, srsly could live here and because I know what the rooms look like instantly spotted it on be good johnny weir the other night ( love him!):


checking in and letting my family know I arrived safely, photo by jen...thanks girl!:


walking the show floor with my girls and taking photos with super sweet girls:


including lots of fabstrips, they are one of my fabric products to use and of course paint, threads and spray ink! I am hoping to finish this lil' book up this weekend. You have any plans for the weekend? I am not sure what mine are, like it better when things just happen on the fly! Hope you have a great one, xo!

♥ -

crafty post coming tomorrow...promise. :)

thoughts to minis

happy tuesday y'all! nothing exciting going on today but work oh yeah and it is totally gorgeous outside! I made this wooden minibook (genuinely jane studios) for couture cardstock last year. I painted the cover white and lined the insides with white cardstock, added  lots of circles (punched and hand drawn) throughout and dropes of paint mixed with typed journaling.  All of the photos were color that I converted to different variations of b/w. So happy I was able to sneak one of him and his daddy while doing homework one day.

looking at it makes me happy but the thought of another episode of nonsense tonight with lost does not! :( I0 episodes left, lets hope some questions get answered soon besides these people are obviously suppose to be on the island....
xo

weekend, wish you could last one day longer

we had a great weekend, of course it went by way to fast but we did see alice in wonderland, which in my opinion could have ended a lot sooner, sorry kids, I loved how gorgeous it was and of course j.depp but the 3D effect didn't add anything for me... a.hathaway and helena bonham carter (actually she was totally brilliant) were totally fantastic as well!

finally excited that warmer weather is starting to trickle into the area which means better flowers arriving at the supermarket. I was beyond happy to pick up two bunches of ranunculus after the movie on saturday and quickly put them in vases. :)

had a wonderful family meal with some help from a recipe from the pioneer woman...pasta w. bacon & mushrooms, it is delish, i did use all half/half instead of the 1/4c. of heavy cream that the recipe calls for, it will make the cream sauce thicker if you use it and I didn't mix in the bacon into the sauce, added it last and tossed with the pasta, because I like to keep my bacon crispy!  Everyone loved it, if you are looking for a new recipe, this one is a keeper!





Synai's loves to set the table, she takes her job serious, :).





it is nice to be able to be outside without multiple layers!
to truly feel the sun and enjoy longer days
the oscars were predictable, loved the dresses but not how long it is, fell asleep just before best actress was announced, that too was predictable, haven't watched an entire show ever, lol.
here's to monday and all that the week brings!
xo

giveaway winner

congrats Marlene!! email me your details and the lonely print will be on its way to you! :)

Marlene said...

"Lonely" is my absolute favorite by a long shot! LOVE that photo!
9:56 AM

thank you Sam and Emma for the giveaway...

+1

I am so excited for the weekend that I can hardly contain myself! The weather is going to be perfect and we are going to see Alice in Wonderland. The entire family is stoked for that one! :) We have more signs of spring with the predication of the Cherry trees blooming next month!
16 more days 'til spring! :)

+ I leave you with this week's dare! all about the shenanigans and convos that take place on facebook. currently in love with my martha stewart's star punch, adding those bad boys to everything!
xo!

sponsor intro & giveaway: sam and emma

Happy Hump Day!! What better way to celebrate making it half way thru the work week than to introduce you to a new artist and a great giveaway!   Sam and Emma is creative blessing newest sponsor, Kristina has a great eye for detail and has one my favorite photostreams on flickr.

Sam and Emma is Kristina's new etsy store where she sells fine art photographs. A lot of her images have come from her project 365, which she is currently in the middle of.

You are assured to be inspired by this portrait and still life photographer.


Kristina is giving away a free print of your choice from her shop today, leave a comment of which print is your favorite for a chance to win! super easy, I will post the winner tomorrow!


-learn more about Kristina at: shop | flickr-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
if you would like to be a sponsor, email me for more details....

things are getting better all the time

I can already tell this week is going to be a quick one! I am ready for it because this weekend is going to gorgeous in the dmv, weather is suppose to be in the 50's! I had a great night sleep and feeling super creative and productive today. I finished up this layout this morning for cocoa daisy, current things I am into at the moment. I can't wait to look at this again in a year to see what is added to the list or how it has changed!

+
answered some questions this morning, have a question for me ask it here :)

+
wanted to share with you a new adhesive (glue glider pro) I just love and stumbled across in ac moore last week! I am in love with this adhesive! First, I run thru adhesive like water, you too?! :) Why do I love this  so much you ask, it is super easy to use, it's small (love using things that are easy to store/travel) and there is tons of adhesive in each application plus it is more value for your buck! I've used it nonstop since purchasing it and went back to the store to get refills just because panic set in, and was thinking I need to get refills just so I will have them and guess what they were already almost sold out, yeah... but I do see that scrapbook.com has it as well.

also love american crafts this to that dot adhesive for smaller paper pieces, embellishments and overlays. The dots are really small and very tacky!

just sharing a few of the things I love to use while creating, do you have a favorite new product?

I have a great giveaway tomorrow from sam and emma, newest creative blessing sponsor! Off to prep my brain for tonight's episode of LOST, can only hope it is going to get better as the season progresses....

xo

ps. couture cardstock is having a BIG contest and giving away a prize a day for the month of March (awesome right?!), more details about the contest can be found here*

?monday already, hi there march!

I can't believe it is already monday & a new month to boot, :)!
I am getting excited at just the thought of leaving winter behind, two weeks to spring! 

cocoa daisy march kit went live over the weekend, below is one layoutand the rest of my gallery can be seen here. I have another layout in progess, will share it tomorrow. I purchased the add on bewitched but I think it is sold out,but the main kit is still available! It has lots of new goodies straight from CHA in it! I love how manufacturers are getting products to the market quicker now!





a more detailed view of the mini for my good stuff mini workshop, that I am teaching at inspired artist workshop in may! If you are interested in attending, registration is now open here.  I am excited to be teaching at this event and if you are attending please leave me a comment so I can say hi! :)

thank you all for reading my blog, my piece of space in this virtual world. You all continue to amaze me with your kindess, support and nice words! This month marks the 4th yr. of this blog! thanks for checking in on my daily musings, tv obsessions, family, life routine, etc... :)
xo