The Fabulous Life of a Bean

Neon Crafternoon

2012-02-10T21:57:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite scenes from the movie Bridesmaids is when Kristen Wiig opens up a package, which happens to be the invitation to her best friend's bridal shower. And the butterfly flies out and keeps getting in her face. Makes me laugh just typing it.

When it came down to picking a color palette for my friend Julie's bridal shower, I wanted something vibrant without using any color palettes she is already using for her wedding events. Neon seemed to be the answer. I have been totally obsessed with this neon trend that I've seen lately. It's everywhere.

I had a hard time figuring out what to do for invitations after I picked the color palette, though. Aside from having crafter's block and making about 4 different versions of the invite, I got a little cocky while ordering supplies and didn't feel it necessary to order plenty of extra supplies for mistakes. Not sure why my confidence suddenly took over because I make plenty of mistakes, but it did and I had to go with Plan B. Then USPS didn't seem to love my ideas either. They delivered one of my packages of supplies to Pennsylvania. No where near where I actually live. So that left me with Plan C, which turned into Plan D once I realized I was really short on time and Plan C wasn't going to happen. But, sometimes Plan D turns into Plan Delightful and you can't complain.

This was the final product. Even though the neon colors on my computer didn't translate to colors that printed, I think the invite looks vibrant. I backed the invite with neon pink paper, but forgot to take a pic of that.

I made separate hotel cards since most of the people invited are from out of town. Since I couldn't find or order neon yellow baby envelopes, I made them myself out of neon yellow cardstock. The pink flag is a high visibility label from Office Depot that I cut down to the size and shape I wanted. These may or may not resemble the labels that may or may not be missing from our office supply cabinet at work.

For the envelopes, I decided to get fancy and do some calligraphy. Here is where I got cocky. I didn't think I'd make enough mistakes to warrant purchasing another set of envelopes - they came in sets of 50 - so Plan B came into play when I realized that I am not as perfect as I thought I could be. A huge blow to the ego, but I'm a survivor. I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to stop. I'm going to craft harder. Sorry. Had to do it.

I used Dr. Ph Martin's Bombay White India Ink as opposed to Dr. Ph Martin's Bleed-Proof White - what my old calligraphy instructor suggested - because that was all I could find at my art supply store and I'll just say - for other calligraphers out there - I didn't love it. Buy the Bleed-Proof.

I printed the mailing address with a white pen on more of the high visibility labels. Obsessed. I use these for everything at work, so it makes me happy to see them used on something like a bridal shower invitation.

Here is the entire ensemble together.

I am a big believer that all envelopes should be lined. So as much as it hurts me to cut pretty paper, I made sure to find some awesome paper to line the envelopes.

And just because nothing makes me happier than seeing a stack of envelopes, here they are all ready to be mailed.

I was never happier to finish these particular invites since it was Murphy's Law from beginning to end. But, I would have never finished them without Mandy. She came to my rescue and helped me assemble everything and didn't say a word when I asked her to help me line 42 envelopes. Thanks, Mandy. You're wild!!!!!! Inside joke. Just ignore me. And thanks for listening to my crazy brainstorming sessions and not hitting ignore when you saw me calling you, Seester and Sarah. There are very few people in this world that will sit and talk envelope liners for an hour and you ladies are two of them.
Julie and I are neck deep in stuff we have to finish for the wedding, but I can't say I don't love every minute of it. I'll have another post for you soon. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Oh, and if you haven't already guessed it from the title, I've been singing this song in my head for the last two weeks or so.

Lately....

2012-02-07T09:17:00.000-08:00

Ha. Saw this today and had to share. Totally feeling this way lately. Via 365 Sharpies.

Material Girl

2012-02-06T11:45:00.000-08:00

We are living in a material world, my friends. So when I was making out my lists of "must buys" for my India trip, material was at the top of the list. I've bought some beautiful silks before, but I was looking for textiles with patterns. Unfortunately, while I was in Surat - the textile capital of India - I did not get a chance to visit the factory there, but it is definitely on my list the next time I go to Gujarat. However, just walking into a sari matching store is a treat for the eyes.

Most people don't know that when you buy a sari in India, that there is quite a bit of legwork involved. First, you buy the sari. The fabric for the blouse is usually attached to the sari so the store will cut the blouse off for you and keep the sari to add the "fall." The fall is a length of fabric that usually matches the sari in color that is sewn onto the bottom inside edge of a sari. It adds weight to the sari to help the sari fall well once it is draped around you. When you buy saris here in the states, they usually have this already stitched on them. In India, they typically do not.

So, you have to get the fabric for your blouse cut from the sari - which may take a few minutes or you may have to wait for a couple of days to pick up. Next, you take your blouse to a sari matching store, like store pictured here. This is for the lining for your blouse. The man above was actually getting something matched when I snapped the pic.

You may also purchase a ready made petticoat here (the third step) at the sari matching store, or you can buy the fabric for your petticoat here to have one stitched. Pictured above are all the ready made petticoats that this store was selling. A petticoat is a long flared draw-string skirt that is worn under your sari to give it shape and to act as a slip for thinner saris. The sari is tucked into this petticoat at the waist and the remainder of the sari is draped and pleated around you and then over your shoulder.

The fourth step is dropping off your blouse, the lining and or the petticoat fabric to a tailor to have a blouse stitched. It may take up to 2 weeks to get your blouse back, depending on how busy your tailor is and how accurately it was made. Often times you have to go back several times to get it to fit just right, but typically if it's just a blouse, the adjustments are minor and don't take as long.

The final step is going back to the store to pick up your sari with the fall stitched in. So basically, it is not just like walking into Nordstrom and picking out a dress. However, the process is fun for me because I get to stare at all these lovely fabrics and colors.

Look how amazing these fabrics and colors are! This was a vendor that had a small stall in a market. I've seen some of these fabrics here selling for up to $25 a yard. There? About $4-5 dollars.

I got some gold blouses stitched for my friends at the stall above. Just his little store had 5 different gold fabrics to choose from. I kind of died and went to heaven. Yes, my friends, I am definitely a material girl....

Lost in E-notion

2012-02-04T00:10:00.000-08:00

I've always said that India is like Vegas. Every time you go, it's a different experience. My most recent trip was all about shopping. For three weeks. Dream.Come.True. It was Mr. Bean's dream come true, too. Three weeks of shopping with someone else's money. It was a win-win.

Ever since I met my friend Julie's life back in 2003, I ~~demanded~~ offered to go to India with her to shop for her wedding. Because of that, if it had been up to me, I would have married her off a long time ago just so that I could have done this trip a lot sooner. But, it was definitely worth the wait. Having been to India before, I was somewhat prepared with what to expect. If you've ever shopped in India, you know that it is also a roller coaster of emotions. You leave here thinking you know exactly what you want but once you get there, you are flooded with options and opinions. Or you can't find what you want. Or you find something so amazing, you forget what you wanted in the first place. Or you just simply run out of time. But, if you know me, you know that I love a good roller coaster. Well, actually I don't. I scream my head off on the real ones. Let's pretend my roller coaster statement makes sense and I'll move on.

The worst part about India, for me, is that I could spend my life savings there and never think twice about it. But that's also the best part.

The moment I stumbled upon this gem - a stall filled with trims and notions for sari's - I wept a little. It was so beautiful to see. This is definitely one of the top 10 craft wonders of the world.

Each one of those spools is 9 meters of trim. Those shelves are about a foot deep, too. Do you see my dilemma here? Having my craft room look like this store? Or saving for a rainy day and all that crap? I don't know. Too hard to decide.

This is also where I curse airlines and their 50 lb per luggage rule. And now most airlines are only allowing one check-in. The torture!!! I could have bought that entire stall and still went looking for more.

The colors and patterns were amazing. I would just sit and stare and imagine all these lovelies in my craft room. This guy clearly did not share my enthusiasm.

Now, my friends, I've got to confess something. And I'm not proud of it. But I've made my bed and now I must lie in it. The thing is, seeing all these trims and notions actually overwhelmed me to the point of not buying much. Seriously. If you've been in my situation before you know exactly what I mean. My biggest issue was that the majority of the shops I stopped at were wholesalers, so I had to buy in bulk or 9 meter increments. I knew I didn't have much room in my luggage to actually bring everything I wanted back. And since I couldn't buy in small quantities or in one or two meter increments, I just left it there. And now looking at these pictures I can pick out at least 10 that I should have told myself I can't live without. I hope I can still maintain my street cred as a craft hoarder.

So, I had a bunch of other pics to post for you today, but I somehow deleted them. So, I'll leave you hanging on the edge of your seats - humor me here - and I'll post some more pics on Monday. Until then, I've got a long weekend ahead of me! By the way, the title of this post is a play off this song. That was one of my jams back in the day. Awwww yeah.....

January Obsessions

2012-01-25T15:14:00.000-08:00

OK, so I know I've been promising a post for a while now. I just can't find time to sit down and sift thru all the pics I wanted to share with you. We've started up all the crafting for my friend's wedding in April and I'm fighting the clock for a Jan 31st tax deadline. So technically I'm not supposed to be blogging right now at work but seeing as how I've already chewed off all of my nails, I figured I'd better start doing something else with my fingers before I start gnawing on other things....

This list will be short because I've really been avoiding the internet like the plague since I got back from my trips. Turns out missing 4.5 weeks of work isn't all it's cracked up to be. Probably not one of my most thought out decisions, but I can't say I regret it. :) Anyhow....

{Image via Amazon}

Martha Stewart's Scoring Board. I've been boycotting this product ever since it came out because I thought it was pointless. I've always said I made up this product long before Martha Stewart did. I've used a Tonic Studios Guillotine for at least 6 years now - the same one, in fact. It has little grooves in it at each half inch mark so while I was making my wedding stuff over 5 years ago, I started using it as a scoring board as well. Works like a champ. Even though I am a self admitted hoarder of craft products, I don't like buying all sorts of crafty contraptions unless I really need it because I simply don't have the space. So I've never seen a reason to buy a second product that just scores, but man, is it addicting. I played with it last night and decided I forgive Martha for getting inside my head and stealing my million dollar idea.

{Image via Amazon}

Tissue Paper. I know this is not a new discovery or anything, but this has been a long time obsession of mine. And as of late this obsession has really kicked in. It is so versatile and inexpensive. I could look at tissue paper for hours. In fact, recently, I have. Love.

{image via L'Occitane}

Almond Delicious Soap. I've always been slightly obsessed with L'Occitane, but just recently picked up this Almond Delicious Soap to take with me to India so I didn't have to deal with a loofah and a bottle of liquid soap. It's only 1.7 oz so very small and light weight. It totally changed my perception of bar soaps. My skin was amazing after using this for 3 weeks. Now I buy the trio. Can't get enough. It lasts a lot longer than I thought, too. One bar probably lasts about a month.

OK, that's all I've got. I need to get back to work so I'm not here too late. I am heading out for San Francisco and Napa tomorrow, so probably no posts until February. Yes, I know. I have a rough life.... I'll be sure to drink some wine for you. ;) This trip will be the calm before the storm tho. When I get back it will be hard core crafting until April. Can't wait.

Mile High {Craft} Club

2012-01-08T18:44:00.000-08:00

I'm back!!! Happy New Year!! I know I said I'd post some pics of my trip, but work got the best of me and then Mr. Bean and the fam went to visit Billy Bean (my BIL), my amazing friend Sarah, and some cousins for Christmas and New Years. So I took some time off of reality and pretended I was a Pacific Northwest-er for a week and a half. Now that I am back and sweating it out in this southern winter weather, I figured I'd return to blogland. It will still take me a few days to sift thru the pics of my trip that I wanted to share, so in the meantime I wanted to show you how I became apart of the Mile High Craft Club.

Mr. Bean and I were kind of stuck on what to give the cousins we would see for Christmas. What do you buy for the people that have everything? One thing we do know is they love music. Which helps, because we are big believers that a mixed tape is the best way to show someone you love them. Isn't it though?

We attend the contemporary service at our church, and man, does that band rock it out. So we downloaded a bunch of our favorite church jams from Amazon and created a playlist to burn on CDs for everyone. But, you know me. I had to craft it up a bit. So I typed up a playlist that was a play off Beats by Dre. And since I like to live on the crafty edge, I waited until the morning of our flight and got up only 30 minutes earlier to make some CD covers, cut everything and threw it all in my carry-on to work on the plane.

The hardest part was figuring out how to cut the paper to fold to fit a CD. Well, it wasn't hard, it was just time consuming when I only gave myself 30 minutes.

Above was my workstation compliments of Continental Airlines. It was a little cramped but I got it done.

And the final product. I am a hoarder of scraps and leftovers - it is always a huge time saver when you already have something to work with - so you may remember the tag from Sharmee's shower. I just cut a circle and covered the writing that was already on it. I stuck the playlist on the back and the white cardstock is leftover from my Christmas cards last year.

Mr. Bean was pretty impressed with my craft skillz. He kept saying "you are crazy" over and over again. He was expecting me to just print out the playlist and put it in a plastic sleeve. I told him he doesn't know me well enough yet. :)

Don't you (forget about me)

2011-12-19T13:12:00.000-08:00

I'm back from my trip! I have soooo much to share. It will take some time to put up a post, but I didn't want my loyal ~~fan~~ fans to forget about me! I will try to post something in the next couple of days!!! I am glad to be back to the chill of winter in the south....when I got back it was all of about 75 degrees outside. But, I'll take it. ;)

Happy Anniversary, Mr. Bean!!!

2011-11-18T01:00:00.000-08:00

You know I love you more than my craft room.....right? :)

A Tisket, A Tasket. Another Chai Pani Gift Basket.

2011-11-09T14:30:00.000-08:00

Edit: I've added the photographer's pics of the baskets at the end of this post. Love. :) Photo credits go to Rachel Kabukala Photography.

One of my closest friends is getting married. And I couldn't be happier. Ever since I met her in 2003, I've been dreaming of her wedding. It was pretty much a given when she found The One that I'd be helping her plan her wedding. And so far, I've enjoyed every minute of it.

For her chai pani (engagement), she asked me to decorate the gifts and basket she would be giving her fiance. The color scheme for the event was lime green, royal blue, and cream. She wanted me to keep everything masculine (i.e. no ribbon). She loved the basket I chose for her (future) sister-in-law at her brother's chai pani. And she loves peacock feathers so she wanted me to include peacock feathers like the basket I made for her (future) sister-in-law at her brother's chandlo. So, the big decision was what to do next.

Hobby Lobby came to my rescue. As usual. When I went to look for ideas on what to do, I purposely avoided the ribbon aisle so I could think outside of the box, but the Christmas ribbon aisle called me. And when the Christmas ribbon aisle calls you, my friends, you must answer. Because it always means something good. And guess what? I found some ribbon that matched her sari perfectly. So even though I was instructed not to use ribbon, I bought 4 rolls. I secretly wanted to hoard this ribbon, but it matched her sari so perfectly, it seemed rude of me not to share it's awesomeness with ~~the world~~ Jackson, Mississippi. It was my duty to use it and let it be seen. So I made a decision to use it.

I also bought some gold rope that I thought seemed masculine. Then, I pre-cut what I could and packed up my carry-on - oh yes, my friends, I am a traveling craft room - and hoped that I had everything I needed. You wouldn't believe how much attention I attracted at the airport with my peacock feathers sticking out of my bag. Too funny.

I never like to put anyone out with my craziness, so usually when people offer to help, I almost always decline. Especially because I never really know what I want to do until I sit down and stare at it for 4 hours. This time I knew I was in over my head so I accepted some help. Ashley, Asmini, and Swati pretty much saved my life. They were very patient with me as I decided what I wanted to do and made me feel confident in my choices. They actually put everything together for me while I worked on the basket, so I cannot take credit for how lovely they all looked. All I had to do was snip ribbon. You don't know how grateful I am for their help.

Here are the baskets on the day of the ceremony just before their debut. The photographer took lots of good pics of them. I did not. Ha.

Here is my friend holding one of the gifts. Look how perfectly everything coordinated!! I'm telling you, when the Christmas ribbon aisle calls you, you must answer! Oh, and she loved the ribbon. :)

Here is the basket. I kept it very simple. I couldn't resist the blinged out peacock feather I found on the same aisle as the Christmas ribbon. And, as I was walking to check out, I saw some 4" gold letters and snatched up a "D" - the groom's first initial. If you've ever been to my house, you know I'm a big fan of initials. And even though I wasn't sure if my friend would go for it, I bought it anyway. I love those last minute things you pick up. No matter how well thought out my creative plan is, the last minute purchases always seem to be the best. Love when that happens.

Here are all the gifts in action - including her gift basket from the groom's side of the family. It is always a cool feeling to see the things I create in action. :") Well, in this case, it was the things Ashley, Asmini and Swati created. Ha. Thanks, Ladies! You don't know how relieved I felt when everything was done.

My friend Anita jokingly calls me the Basket Whisperer now that I've had my fair share of decorated baskets under my belt. This is just one more set to add to my repertoire. :)

I have a couple of things I am working on but I am not sure I will have time to post it before I head out on my trip. But, you never know. When my craft room calls, I always answer.... (I'm think going to just keep recycling that phrase....)

{Me adjusting the bows :)}

November Obsessions

2011-11-09T12:23:00.000-08:00

It's November!! And I'm less than three weeks away from my crazy shopping trip to India. I.Can't.Wait. I am freaking out just a little bit because it is starting to hit me that this will be the longest I've ever been away from Mr. Bean and Freddie. I haven't ever left him for more than a weekend. But, I am pretty sure that the three weeks will fly by quicker than I'd want.....we have a lot to get done there! Anyway, here are my obsessions for November!!

{image via the Purl Bee}

Echo! Lotta Jansdotter's new fabric line. I became obsessed with Lotta Jansdotter last year when I happened upon a book of her stencils. A friend bought me that book of stencils for Christmas without knowing how much I loved it and I've been coveting it ever since. I love her clean, simple designs. I kind of want to stencil my entire house with those. And she just seems like she's cool. Like she was probably always the cool kid at school. Like myself. Hehe. When the Purl Bee announced the launch of LJ's new fabric line, my jaw literally dropped. So.In.Love.

{image via iTunes}

Fuzzle. Best game ever. I am known to get obsessed with games here and there. Lately, this game has been occupying all my free time lately. I wake up and play a game. I play just before I go to sleep. I play during lunch. While I am microwaving my lunch. While I am cooking. I play anytime I have at least one hand free. It is so addicting.

{image via Bravo}

Mad Fashion with Chris March. Yep, another Bravo TV show that I can't get enough of. I was a fan of Chris March when he was a contestant on Project Runway season 4. Not just because of his crazy designs, but because he was so funny. His show is just a fun show to watch. As expected.

{image via Amazon}

Modern Minimal: 20 Bold and Graphic Quilts by Alissa Haight Carlton. I happened upon Alissa's blog a little while ago. Lately, I've been wanting to sew a quilt, but not a traditional one. Her book Modern Minimal is not out yet, but it gets me so excited. Now I just need to figure out when I can get started. :)

That's it for November! I've got a post to share with you that I hope to put up soon! Until then, I've got to get packing!

Pretty Packages

2011-10-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

The weather is playing tricks with my mind because the calendar clearly says it's almost November but the temperatures still feel like it's....well, not November. But, I think we have a ~~cold~~ cool front coming this weekend and I hope it's here to stay for a few weeks so I can be all "Hello, Fall. Why don't you stay a while?" But, first things first.....

Since I haven't made anything in the last couple of weeks, I figure I'd post some pretty packages since gift giving is a year around thing. Some of these are old school, but I figured I'd post them anyway. Because I'm WILD!!!! Inside joke. Sorry.

I love cardboard boxes. Actually, I hoard them. True story. This one was really cute, but had lots of writing on it. Instead of covering it with wrapping paper, I used some scraps to hide the writing. Slapped on a tulle bow. Added a tag. And called it a day.

My nephew Alex is 16 and not a fan of pretty packages. He has an awesome, clever sense of humor, a taste in music that'd make an aunt like myself proud, and a style all his own. He is quite the artist and appreciates design, but doesn't really care for bows and pretty tags. So, for Christmas last year, I decided to make his Christmas present stand out from the others I've wrapped for him. I basically wrapped his present and then beat it up and patched it up with duct tape. It was honestly the first time he'd ever said anything about the wrapping on his Christmas presents. He smiled and said in his low, raspy voice, "Sweeeeeet."

For any party I am attending, I like to wrap gifts according to the theme instead of sticking with traditional wrapping paper. It just kind of starts the party early for me.

I am a big believer that the wrapping of a gift is as exciting as the gift itself. So I treat my gifts almost like the cards I make and add and take away and add and take away until I feel like it's just as fun as what's in the box.

If you know me at all, you know that I am obsessed with four things: 1. doilies, 2. ribbon, 3. washi tape, and 4. anything that clips.....clothes pins, binder clips, paper clips....you name it. This is what it looks like when I combine all of my obsessions on one gift. Love.

I used to be really concerned with how difficult a gift I wrapped would be to open. But that's what scissors are for, isn't it? At the end of the day, if it is going to look pretty, I just go with it. And sometimes I spend too long figuring out how I want to wrap a gift and don't have time to make a card. But then I am left with a gift receipt. My solution? Stick it inside a baby envelope. It's the right thing to do.

Well, I think that's all for tonight! I'm doing the unthinkable and busting out the Christmas decorations this weekend so I can start putting everything out. I don't usually like to skip holidays, but I can't wait to get Christmas going at the Bean's since I will be missing 3 solid weeks out of my most favorite time of year. Crazy? Maybe. But it's going to be so.much.fun. Maybe I'll throw a Christmas party. In November. :)

Engaged in the details

2011-10-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

I have some fun stuff to show you today. I was trusted to design and create almost everything for my friend Julie's brother's chai pani (engagement). He's become sort of a little brother to me so I was happy to do it. I love weddings and all that they entail, but mostly I love the details. I'm sure you've noticed that by now.

Bhavik is one of the most fashionable guys I know. He's the kind of guy you want to dress, only he can probably dress himself better than you could. So, as far as design, I wanted things to look clean, modern, and...am I aging myself here?....hip.

Since it was an engagement and not an actual wedding, I could take some liberties and veer away from the traditional Indian aesthetic. Julie and her sister wanted to use fall colors for the event, but since I wanted to keep it fresh, I came up with a color palette that was sort of a modern take on fall colors. I chose a modern font, and, since I've been obsessed with stripes lately, I incorporated it into the look and designed a striped pattern that would pretty much go on everything. Overall, the combo really fit the vibe I was after and showed a bit of Bhavik's personality.

I started with the itineraries. I wanted something that didn't waste a lot of paper, was unique looking, and was, of course, functional. Each itinerary was 1/3 of an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper.

I made the itineraries into a fold down card using the striped pattern I designed and took that as an opportunity to put some color on the front. The front side was folded shorter to reveal 1" of the inside of the card. On this reveal, I included a message from the family saying 'thank you'.

They were all attached to the white welcome boxes (I love gable boxes and loved that Julie let me buy them for this event) using a clothespin (I love clothespins and use them whenever and wherever I can. It's sort of my thing now).

When choosing favors, I like to go with the edible variety unless there is something you can find that really fits the couples personality. Most people toss the favors at some point anyway. For this event, the bride loves yogurt covered pretzels and Bhavik loves the color orange, so Julie and I packaged the pretzels with orange gummy bears. While we were packaging everything, my house smelled like a dreamsicle. :)

The tags I made were simple. I think it goes without saying, I used up a printer cartridge or two, but totally worth it.

We used small cellophane bags and attached each tag with a mini stapler. Above is a close up of the favors when we finished.

And here they are all ready to go.

And here they are in action. They looked sooooo cute on the tables. In hindsight I probably should have take a snap of the entire table so you can see how cute they were. But, oh well.

One other detail that Julie requested was signs to put at each event. On Saturday, there was a cocktail hour and dinner. Sunday was a breakfast and then lunch following the chai pani ceremony.

This was the one thing I was a little afraid of making because of the size of it - something about the size intimidated me - but Staples came to my rescue and printed the signs I designed and had them ready within 24 hours. Very simple. And it was a nice touch to each event. I felt like it personalized it a bit more.

I am pretty angry with myself that I did not get a picture of the guest book I made. It was pretty cute, but you'll have to take my word for it. I just might email the bride to see if she'll send me a pic of it at the risk of sounding crazy.

My next duties were centerpieces. We hired a florist for Sunday's lunch following the ceremony, but we wanted something simple and cost effective for Saturday. Something I've realized about myself is that flowers make me happy. So, I almost see it as a must at these types of events. Luckily, Central Market carries an awesome variety, so I bought a few stems and placed them around the bar tables at the cocktail hour and the other round tables.

This is one of my favorite flowers ever. I am not big on sunflowers unless they are the giant ones, but these colored ones just make me smile every time I look at them. It fit our color scheme and make such a statement as just one bloom since the bar tables had black linens on them.

Since the sunflowers were a bit pricier than other flowers, I also bought these spider mums to put at the other round tables that were there that were going to have white linens. The cocktail hour was supposed to be outside by the pool area, but unfortunately we got rained out - hence the wet centerpieces - so we had to move everything inside into the hotel restaurant. My centerpieces were too small and simple to make an impact in such a dark, large area, so they were basically non existent. :( That was upsetting, but I guess that's what I get for not thinking of a plan B. At least I got some snaps of them before they were moved, though. These centerpieces were reused for the breakfast. Nice call, Julie.

The next centerpiece I put together was for the welcome dinner on Saturday night.

Again, we wanted something simple and cost effective, so I stuck to just one bloom per table. I scored some orchids from the florist, so I included those as well. For more color, I used some sashes that my mom and grandmother made for my wedding as a table runner. And don't be fooled by the rocks that I got.....I'm still Pintobean from the block. Yeah.....Mr. Bean got sick of me saying that over and over again.

Moving on....I miscounted the number of tables I had to put blooms on - I am still confused as to how I did that - but the orchids came out to play and pretty much made it look like they always meant to be included.

I was also able to work with a florist for the lunch on Sunday. I was able to do what I wanted here as well. My friend's family really trusts me!! Ha! I tossed out my ideas for the centerpieces and, man, did the florist deliver. I've worked with her before, so when I got the preview she said in her South African accent, "I know what you like. You like 'different'." Yes, I do. In fact, I love 'different'. :)

The first centerpiece was small. I wanted to incorporate moss, unique flowers, and lots of color.

The second centerpiece threw me for a loop. I wanted just small, short vases with moss, rocks and a floating flower. The florist surprised me with this. Love.

The third centerpiece I wanted square moss boxes and orchids. Since the florist was working within our budget, she gave me this. And I couldn't be more pleased. This centerpiece was my favorite one. Love. Love. Love.

No, my friends, my duties didn't end there. I also needed to decorate the basket that was going to be given to the bride. Much like the basket I made for Bhavik's chandlo. Only this time, the family wanted the basket to be open, so my options were limited. I decided to keep the basket simple so it wouldn't clash or compete with the items inside.

I added a layer of glitter onto the basket using mod podge for some subtle bling. Over the glitter layer, I rubbed on antique gold acrylic paint. It really added a sheen to the basket that I did not expect. The pics don't do it justice. Finally, I added some trim from India. Thanks, Sharmee. It was hard to let go of the trim because I intended on keeping it in my archives, but it pretty much made the basket and the items inside it come together. Definitely worth the sacrifice.

Here is the finished product. I think it looks pretty amazing. The antique gold paint really highlighted the antique gold in the outfits. And the trim highlighted the border on the sari, the shoes, and the purse. It really came together nicely.

Julie's sister Alpa and I worked on the linens together, but Alpa really put her a lot of work into the backdrop. My only input was to add the orange to it instead of it being all that mulberry color. Alpa had the decorator add some crystals for some bling and it looked really amazing. Awesome job, Alpa.

You'll see the bags I made at the front of the stage here. I was really, really disappointed that they chose to turn the hand painted fronts away and show off the plain, unpainted backs. But, what to do?

Here is their close up. Disappointing. But it was cool to see them being passed out to the 11 people they were intended for. Hopefully the photographer got a couple of snaps of them facing forward. :(

Overall, the entire weekend went really well. I was pleased with how everything looked and grateful that everyone seemed to enjoy it all. I cannot tell you how cute this couple is together. I swear they could be the stars of a Bollywood movie. They are pretty awesome people so I can't wait for the wedding and to see their future babies. They will be so beautiful. :) Congrats, Bhavik and Asmini!!

October Obsessions

2011-10-03T23:26:00.000-07:00

It's beginning to look a lot like fall! The weather is cooling and I'm already itching to get my Christmas decorations out. This year I'm starting Christmas early because I'll be gone for 3 weeks starting November 23rd. Since I won't have time to put everything out after I get back, I told Mr. Bean I want to have the house decorated by November 1st. That way at least he'll enjoy it while I am gone. I'll be missing 3 weeks of my most favorite time of year, so I think I will be motivated enough to start early, but we'll see how that goes....

This month's obsessions is dominated by TV shows. I know it seems like Mr. Bean and I watch a lot of TV, but we really don't. We do, however, make time for watching things we like. Here's some shows that are on the top of the list of my list....so far.

{image via Beyond Hollywood}

Pan Am. I've been counting the days for this show to begin. Mostly to see the clothes. I have a soft spot for '60s glam. Everyone always looked so chic back then. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the show has some weight to it when the pilot aired last Sunday. Can't wait to see more ~~of the clothes~~.

{image via Hulu}

The Sing Off. Mr. Bean and I got addicted to this show when it was first aired as a four night special. We were ecstatic when it came back for a second "season". And when we heard it was coming back a third time as an actual show? We jumped up and gave each other a hi-five. Because that's what all the cool kids do. My favorite performance yet? The Beezlebubs' "Magical Mystery Tour". So.Much.Fun. But, you can't deny the talent of the season one winners, Nota.

{image via Kube57}

Anderson. Need I say more? I have had a crush on Anderson for probably a decade now. I love watching him on AC 360. Love his RidicuLists. I joined twitter just to follow him. For real. But I really love watching him when he fills in for Regis on Live with Regis and Kelly simply because I love to hear him giggle. The first time I saw Giggle Gate, I watched it about 25 times in a row. Now every time I watch it, I have to watch it at least two times. My absolute favorite part of the show? The very end of the credits where they show the production company.....there is about 2 seconds of AC giggling. Love.

Violent Femmes. It's been a Violent Femmes kind of month for me. I've been listening to my old school faves lately and I've kept Violent Femmes as my Pandora station for a few weeks now. Kiss Off is one of those songs that I always like to listen to when I am pissed off. And lately I've been listening to it a lot.

That's it for this month. The last couple of weeks have been an insane roller coaster ride for me. After this weekend, I aim to do something for myself. And that just might mean some late spring cleaning. I feel the need to purge.

A Reminder

2011-09-29T22:23:00.000-07:00

From one of my favorite songs.

{painted with acrylic paint and a makeup brush}

Sometimes I need to have this on repeat in my head.

Everyday I'm Stenciling

2011-09-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

Hello! I thought I'd put up a quick post to show what I just recently made. Remember the basket I made for this chandlo? Well, my friend's brother is now having his chai pani (engagement) next month. My friend's family has somewhat adpoted Mr. Bean and I, so I do what I can and in turn reap the benefits of awesome homemade Gujarati food. It's a win for the Beans for sure.

My friend's mom shares my same affection for jute bags. She received a small gift sized jute bag as part of a favor at a wedding and loves it. It had a pretty red jacquard ribbon on it and an ohm painted on it. Really, really cute. She asked me to find some like it for her for the chai pani but with a Ganesh on them. I just knew it'd be easy to find, but after about 4 days of many internet searches and a million different combinations of keywords, the only thing I came up with were vendors that sold with a minimum of 1000 pieces. We couldn't really justify buying 1000 since we only needed 11 of them. I did find some mini jute bags that were blank, so I made a promise I wasn't sure I could keep. I told her I'd put the Ganesh on them myself. When I hung up the phone, I asked myself out loud, "Now, why'd you go and say a thing like that??"

My friend sent me an image of the Ganesh she wanted and I pretended I knew what I was doing. Since the image was so small and somewhat intricate (for it's size), I didn't want to hand cut it. Instead, I used the Silhouette's trace feature to trace the outline of the image. I say this very nonchalantly, but the trace feature was a discovery I made at about 1:00 am when I was desperate for a solution to the problem I volunteered myself for. It is probably the most awesome discovery known to man. Or at least to me. I should go down in some crafty wall of fame somewhere. Seriously. It's that awesome. I even woke up Mr. Bean to tell him. He didn't find it quite as awesome at the time, but once I finished everything, he was sure to pat himself on the back for getting me the Silhouette.

I ~~stole~~ borrowed some transparencies from work, closed my eyes, and hit "cut" on the Silhouette. And it worked.

I placed cardboard inside the bags and placed my stencil on top. I taped the stencil down with painter's tape and just used a cheap sponge brush to dab the paint over the stencil.

We wanted to keep the bags simple, but you know my obsession with rhinestones by now, so it won't surprise you that I decided the bags needed some bling.

So, I added a rhinestone as the bindi. Just stayin' classy, my friends.

And here they are! My friend's mom will see them tomorrow. I hope she likes them. I'm kind of hoping she doesn't because I kind of want to keep them.... A girl can never have enough small jute bags with a Ganesh painted on them, can she?

Old School

2011-09-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

This one is old school, but I figured since everyone was back to school this month, I could legitimately post it. That and I am procrastinating. I have an audit at work on Thursday and I don't quite feel the pressure yet. Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow? That's my motto.

A cousin got married a little while ago - back in 2009! OMG, time flies! - and I co-hosted the bridal shower along with her two sisters. She answered her calling to be a teacher. And she loves it. So, we figured we'd throw her a school themed shower. So fun.

The color scheme was chalkboard black, chalk white, and Granny Smith Apple green - aka chartreuse. Humor me here. I wanted to do a modern take on the teacher-apple concept so instead of a red apple we went with green.

The envelopes were black to resemble a chalkboard. I addressed them in my best old school penmanship using a white pen. I remember when I was in elementary, penmanship was actually my worst subject. I would get marks against me because I wouldn't slant enough. Or I slanted too much. Annoying. The ironic thing? Now, I get soooooo many comments about my handwriting. Ha. Take that, Mrs. Denniston!!!!

The invitations were file folders much like a teacher might assign a student to take home. I couldn't resist adding a black label on the front to write A + P, her and her (now) husband's first initials.

The invitation was inside the mini file folder. I designed it so that it looked like a loose sheet of paper filed away. For the RSVP, I added "remember to do your homework by the due date" at the bottom of the invitation.

I've seen my nephews' take home folders from school many times, so I knew there was always some sort of spreadsheet that teachers include to show the students - and parents - what their homework assignment was. Usually it is handwritten by the student. So, I included "homework" for each guest to RSVP and gave all the information they would need to RSVP as well as the registry information. I then paper clipped it to the file folder to prevent anyone from losing their homework. :)

Here is a full shot of the invitation. I started out writing each guests name on the file folder tab to personalize it a bit more, but I didn't like how I wrote some names so I left it off for the majority of the invites.

Andrea's sister's took pics, so you'll have to trust me when I say the shower was really cute. We made a ton of decorations. I had to throw in a penant banner, of course. We played charades - an aunty favorite in our family - with wedding words. Then, we surprised the guests with a true or false "pop quiz" about weddings.

Andrea has her students do an "All About Me" posterboard so they can all get to know each other, so her sister created an "All About Me" for Andrea with pictures of Andrea growing up. She can now use it in her classroom for her students to get to know more about her!

You know I couldn't leave out the classic old school lunch bags. These held the favors, which were personalized for each guest.

Inside the bags we included goodies like erasures and pencil sharpeners as well as these pencils which I had custom made to say A + P = 12.19.09, their wedding date.

The shower was a big hit and so much fun. It was a good mix of friends and family so we partied for a good 6 hours. It was probably the most fun I've ever had putting a shower together. My girl cousins are pretty awesome, so the planning process was just about as much fun as the shower itself. I can't wait for the next one....

I like big books....

2011-09-08T10:25:00.000-07:00

I love books and I love a cute bookmark. I started a tradition with our book club back in 2007 when I brought back bookmarks from the Sydney Opera House for all my book club friends. Since then, everyone has brought us bookmarks from all of their travels. So, I've got a really cute collection of bookmarks from India, China, Turkey and even Marfa, Texas. Since my book club was celebrating it's 6th anniversary, Anita and I wanted to do something small for everyone. If you remember the totes we made for our 5th anniversary, you'll know Anita is a magician with the silkscreen. Recently, she dug into her magic hat and pulled out a pretty awesome idea for our 6th anniversary gifts.

I saw a t-shirt online that I wanted to steal the quote from so I basically threatened to hold my breath until Anita came up with an idea on how to incorporate it in our gifts. It's a good thing she's so crafty because I wouldn't have lasted long, but we'll just keep that between us.

She came up with the idea to make to make some button pins, but that didn't pan out because it required us to buy or rent a machine. She then discovered that you can make fabric buttons with just a simple cover button kit and refills available at Hancock Fabrics. And suddenly all of my dreams were fulfilled. Making fabric buttons has sort of been a dream of mine for a while now. I have weird dreams, I know. Then, I was stumped as to what we would do with these fabric buttons and she came up with the ingenious idea of a book band. And that, my friends, is how the bookband was born.

We decided to silkscreen the quote onto some fabric I have in my stash. I designed the button with the quote and Anita worked her magic with the screen and got it ready for us. You can see the quote here.... "I like big books and I cannot lie." In case you don't get it, it is a play on Sir Mix-a-lot's song "Baby Got Back." Cracks. Me. Up. Needless to say, I had this song in my head for a few weeks.....

We originally went with a yellow paint on linen so this pic is from our first couple of trials. It didn't show up well on the fabric - and linen is not the best fabric to use when silkscreening such a small surface area because the weave is so large - so we ended up going with black ink and another fabric. It actually looked better that way anyway.

We cut up all the quotes according to the size specified on the cover button. Our buttons were going to be 1 1/2", so it was maybe an additional 3/4" of fabric that is required to wrap around the button.

Our first ~~good~~ button!!! The kit was easy to use and push the back onto on the front but the "refills" aren't. We had to coax them with a couple of taps of a hammer. One thing: The "refills" aren't refills. They don't require the kit. I want to write Hancock a letter to tell them to get familiar with what they are selling but I'll let it go this time since the box on the "refills" say 'no extra tools required'.

Our pile of buttons!!!! We took those and strung 3/8" elastic thru the back and sewed the edges together to create a loop. Then, we burned the edges to ensure they wouldn't fray.

Our book bands!! This is them in action on my Kindle. Trust me. The irony was not lost on us.....

And here they are all wrapped up!! Our fellow book club members loved them. We figure this will be the beginning of our bookband empire. :)

September Obsessions

2011-09-07T15:28:00.000-07:00

Hello, Friends! Sorry I've been neglecting you. Work has been really busy. Every year I have the same audit and every year I let it bite me in the butt. In my defense, I usually delay the audit for a couple of months, but this time I decided to get it over with. And I am paying for it now. Anyway, enough work talk. Because that is just boring.

My September Obsessions will be short. I haven't had time to obsess over much so I am kind of in an obsession slump. But here we go....

{image via Lifetime}

Project Runway. This is a yearly obsession for me. I've been watching Project Runway since Season 3 after having caught a marathon of seasons 1 and 2. As soon as PR is over for the year, I honestly feel a void in my week....until it returns. Love Nina. Love Heidi. Love Tim. His "Make it Work" is something I tell myself probably twice a day. Love Michael Kors. Sometimes I have to rewind the DVR because I'm laughing so hard at his comments, I can't hear what happened next.. Some of my MK favs......

“Next thing you know, it’s big button earrings and you’re on ‘The Facts of Life.’”
“She looks like a Pole dancer in Dubai.”
“She looks like an Amish Cocktail Waitress.”
“She looks like a transvestite flamenco dancer at a funeral.”

Oh, MK. You make me laugh. My favorite designer this season? Anya.

{image via Helen Musselwhite}

Helen Musselwhite. Totally inspired by her work. There isn't much else to say other than she's kind of my idol. Every time I look at her work, it makes me happy.

Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson's Relator. I love everything about this song. I heard it the other day on my iPod. I'd forgotten I bought it. Love when I rediscover a song on my iPod.

Pop Goes the World

2011-08-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

Remember that song? I'm sure some of you are going to say no because you were born the year it came out, but it was my jam back in the day. And I've been singing it for the last couple of weeks while working on this next project.

You may remember Priti. She created the amazing dessert table at the shower I co-hosted. She's co-hosting a baby shower for her sister and she will be putting her mad skillz to work again to create another amazing menu. She asked me for help with the invitations since she couldn't really find anything she liked, so I came up with a concept and crossed my fingers that it worked. And luckily it did.

The colors? Mint green, light blue, and brown. The theme? She's About to Pop! Love this theme. I'd filed a few ideas away for friends already so I had a few directions I knew I could go. For this project, I stuck with bubbles because, well, bubbles are cute and they pop and they remind me of polka dots - which I kind of have a thing for.

{image via Iman Sadhegi}

I love when bubbles look like they are glued together in multiples and look like they are attached to each other, so I used that as my inspiration.

I designed the invite in my Silhouette to fit an A7 envelope and used the print and cut feature. Once they were printed, I cut 6 different sized circles.

I had to make 60 invitations, so I cut 360 circles in total. Don't they look cute all stacked together like that? Then, I invited my friend Mandy over for a night of ~~hard labor~~ crafts and we glued them together by layering them.

Essentially, each bubble contains information on the shower. And, while you can't exactly tell in the pictures, the invite is just the bubbles themselves. The brown background is just cardstock so you don't see my ugly craft table. :) Cute, huh?

I couldn't resist using a pop up dot to make the word "POP" pop off the invitation. Not sure how many people will catch that, but I thought it was a pretty darn cute idea myself.

But, I didn't want the envelopes to feel lonely. I love a hand addressed envelope, but I have to admit I am a sucker for labels. When making invitations, I am always torn between hand addressing the envelopes or using some cute labels. When there are a lot of invitations to send, I think labels are an awesome option so that one isn't stuck hand writing 60 invitations.

So, I printed out labels in the same fonts I used on the invite. Not pictured is the return address label on the back. I made it green. The labels were a splurge, but I imagined that when guests received their invites, they'd see the envelopes and know something really cute was inside. :) Because there is.

I'm not going to lie. These invites took me a long time to make. Without Mandy's help, I would probably still be putting them together. But once they were finished I was literally about to pop with pride. Love them.

August Obsessions

2011-08-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

I'm baaaaack!! I wish I could say I've been busy in my craft room, but I really just took a break from crafting. And blogging. And life. But, all work and no crafting makes Pintobean a very sad girl, so I did manage to fit in one project. I will be posting about that shortly. But until then, on to my August Obsessions.

I have basically been vegging out in front of the TV lately or reading (on my Kindle!!), so this month is a short post. But, here it is....

{image via Amazon}

Sew Wild by Alisa Burke. I stumbled across Alisa Burke's blog and became an instant fan. She does some pretty amazing things. But, what I was most in awe of how she creates her own fabric with paint. How pimp is that??? I am totally obsessed. She is offering a class right now ($10 off this week!). Sooo tempted.

Alexander's A Million Years. Love, love, love. I can't say much else.

That's it! I have another post coming soon. Promise. :)

Pin-wrist

2011-07-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

Does Pinterest overwhelm you? It does me. Anyway, I've been walking around aimlessly in my craft room with lots of ideas but no motivation to make anything because I know I will have to clean it all up. That is what happens when I clean my craft room. I don't want to mess it up. So, this next project is something I like to do because it makes me feel like I am making something but cleaning up at the same time. Pincushions.

These slip over your finger or your wrist. Cute, eh? My grandma used to make these all the time only I didn't appreciate them until I actually started sewing. And I didn't appreciate the scrap busting aspect either. Or the upcycling aspect. My grandma always says that the best crafters use what they have. So when I make these, I like to pretend I am the most awesome crafter around. Feel free to do the same.

All you need is:

A glue gun.
Plastic caps. For the finger pincushion, use a soda or water bottle cap. For wrist pincushions, I use caps from the Simply Orange Juice bottles, but any larger caps will work. Am I the only one in love with the Simply Orange Juice packaging? Yes? Oh.
Elastic. I used a 3/8" width, but use what you have. You will need enough to wrap around your finger or wrist plus a couple of inches.
Fabric scraps. Start with a piece about 2" larger in diameter than your cap. You can trim it down if you feel like that is too much fabric.
Trim scraps. Enough to wrap around your cap.
Fiber fill. I actually got mine from an item I ordered on the internet. The seller used this as packing material. Trust me when I say I am a pack rat. I will bite my tongue here and not say how ridiculous using fiber fill for packing material is because it has proved very handy in my pursuits to be the most awesome crafter around. I think my grandma would use cotton balls for hers when she didn't have fiber fill. That grandma sure is a smart one, isn't she?
A needle and thread. I forgot to put this in the picture, so just humor me and pretend it's there. I thought my picture was too cute not to share.

For this post, I am making a wrist pincushion. A Pin-wrist, if I can be witty. To make these, glue the edge of your elastic to the inside of your cap forming a loop. I add some glue to the outside of the cap as well, just to make the elastic more secure. The top of the cap is what will rest on your finger or wrist. And make sure you make a curry just before starting this project. It will make your nails look awesome for pictures.

Start with a small chunk of fiber fill and begin basting your fabric along the edge. As you baste, pull on your thread to make the edges start to gather. This is will start the shape of the cushion. As you form the cushion, keep adding fiber fill. You want it to look full, so add plenty of it. If you have too much fabric, you can trim here. It will basically look like a mushroom top. When you are satisfied with it, knot and trim your thread.

When you complete your mushroom top, apply glue to the inside rim of your cap and place your cushion inside. You may have to manipulate it a bit to squeeze it all in there. This is a make-it-work moment.

Once your cushion is secure, then glue your trim all the way around your cap, making sure conceal your cap. I fold in the end slightly so I don't see a raw edge, but it is not necessary.

Slip it on your wrist - or finger - and marvel at how crafty you are. And then feel good about yourself that you got rid of some scraps and upcycled something cute - I really do love the Simply Orange packaging - into something cuter.

July Obsessions

2011-07-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

So, does anyone know where the year went?? How is it already July??

It is pretty much one week since Sharmee's wedding and I think I'm almost recovered. I am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. Once I do that, I think I will be fully recovered. Mr. Bean has been studying for an exam he has to take for the last three weeks, so between my wedding crafting duties and his studying we've pretty much been roomies the last few weeks instead of Mr. and Mrs. Bean. But, Mr. Bean's exam is today and I know he'll do well. And I am making some pulled spicy pork for tonight because Billy Bean is in town!! Woot! If there is one thing I have learned about being a Bean it's that you must have pork on hand at all times. So, I am looking forward cooking tonight for two of the most important men in my life.

Now, on it my obsessions....

The Beatles. I am a Beatles fanatic. My freshman year in college, my friend and I kept her 6 CD disc changer filled with Beatles. Six CD disc changers were pimp back then and my friend brought hers to college which made me pretty pimp by default. She owned pretty much every Beatles album ever made, so we basically jammed to the Beatles our entire freshman year. She had an awesome Bose system, so we'd have to turn it down really low so that we wouldn't bother our neighbors, but by second semester that didn't keep our neighbors from yelling from the other side of the wall "CAN YOU LISTEN TO ANYTHING ELSE BESIDES THE BEATLES?" We'd add in some Jagged Little Pill for posterity's sake, but we kept The Beatles in for the most part. For Christmas last year, Mr. Bean bought me a wifi internet radio. Probably the best gift anyone could give me. It connects to my Pandora account and I can stream music from all over the world. There is one station I found that is entirely Beatles music. And I dig. "Come Together" is one of my favorites. It makes me wanna move. It makes me wanna clean. It makes me wanna craft.

{image via Amazon}

Rhinestones. Is this a surprise? I am crazy for rhinestones lately. In the last few weeks, I've developed quite a repertoire of rhinestones in my craft room. And me likey.

{image via Chick-fil-a}

Chick-fil-A's Deluxe Spicy Chicken Sandwich. I've kept this secret for a while. But now my spicy chicken sandwich pride must not be contained. This sandwich pretty much fulfills all of my chicken sandwich desires. And it is actually spicy.

{image via Paper Source}

Smash Books. OK, so apparently I am not the only one obsessed with these Smash Books. Every where I looked they were sold out. These.Are.So.Cute. The concept is not new, but just goes to show what great marketing can do. Check out the awesome video they put together. Marketing at it's best, I tell you. Ever since I saw the video, I've been on a hunt to own one. I am not a scrapbooker per se. I call myself a well intentioned scrapper. I am notorious for keeping little pieces of papers and magazine clippings and notes with the intention to use them on a scrap page but when it comes down to sitting down and scrapping, I don't know where to begin. But these books make me feel less intimidated and make me want to smash some stuff in them while singing the cute Minnutes song.

That's all I've got! I hope everyone has a happy and safe fourth of July!

Happily Ever crAfter

2011-06-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

It is finished. My friend Sharmee is married. It was a long weekend, but a joyous one. I was honored to be apart of it and to have had a role in her entire wedding weekend. We started working on her wedding about 3 months ago, so it's been non-stop crafting since April.

Unfortunately, I didn't take many pics of the things I was in charge of. Mostly because we were working quickly so I didn't have time to think about it. But I did take a few pics of some of the stuff we made/decorated/wrapped with my iPhone. Our biggest issue was the sheer size of each of the events, so we had think of how to do things as cheap as possible but as pretty as possible.

This was how we wrapped the favors for the mehndi night. I used Sharmee's outfit as inspiration. We used gold tissue and green satin ribbon, tied in a knot to minimize the amount of ribbon we'd need. Since we couldn't afford to wrap the entire gift with cute paper, we cut up small squares of some mehndi inspired paper and taped it to the top.

The next major thing we had to put together was welcome baskets for the groom's side called the jaan. These went inside their hotel rooms and included itineraries for the entire weekend. We had to make 90 of these so, again, cost was a big factor. Instead of going with baskets, we decided to use these gold colored gift boxes. The guests were already getting reusable containers that we decorated filled with snacks (not pictured) so providing a basket as well just proved to be too much to me. We filled them with crinkle and stuffed them with snacks and sweets. Sharmee had some stickers left over from her invitations, so we attached the stickers to the boxes with ribbon and included an itinerary. I will spare you of a pic of the itinerary I made, but we personalized the itineraries for the most important guests. Simple, but thoughtful.

Another thing I was in charge of was decorating the sign that would be displayed in her house. The original one that they had made in India got lost in the shuffle of all things they brought back, so they ordered a new one and asked me to decorate it. Traditionally, it is decorated with a glitter pen, but I, of course, knew nothing else to do but to bring on the bling. Glitter pens just seem so 80's to me. So, we used some gold trim Sharmee purchased and attached it to the border.

Then I blinged it out with rhinestones and pearls. Luckily, I had a bunch of rhinestones left over from the basket I just made that happened to match the colors in the sign. It looked really good in the photographer's light, if I do say so myself.

One of the most important things I had to decorate was the basket that Sharmee's sisters would be using during her wedding ceremony. The basket would contain rice for her sisters to toss periodically during the ceremony. So, I did what I know best here and spray painted it gold. I added some gold trim to it that followed the lines of the basket. I like that the lines were at an angle and not completely straight. Then I used some paisley elements that Sharmee bought in India that happened to match our bridesmaid saris perfectly. Totally on my list of stores to visit when I go back. My friend Anita is the rhinestone queen, so she brought over her bin of rhinestones and I helped myself to her stash.

Since we had plenty of supplies, I added a few elements to the side as well. I was really proud to see it being used during the ceremony. :)

That's about all I got snaps of. If the photographer got pics of the other stuff I made, I will definitely post them!

This was an amazing process to be apart of. It was really touching to see an entire community come together as a family to make sure this wedding ran as seamlessly as possible. Congrats, Sharmee and Nikhil! Here's to your happily ever after!

LINKwithlove

2011-06-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard about this already, then I encourage you to check out LINKwithlove. It is an awesome initiative started by Kal Barteski - one of my favorite bloggers - after she discovered some of her artwork was used - a lot - without her knowledge or consent. LINKwithlove is about respecting each other's works, words, and ideas.

Read more about it on the website. Like LINKwithlove.org on Facebook. Follow @LINKwithlove on Twitter. And always link with love.

A Rhinestone a Day Takes the Blah Away

2011-06-17T17:09:00.000-07:00

I am always down to do something out of my comfort zone. When my friend gave me free reign to decorate a basket as a gift to her future sister-in-law, I ran to Hobby Lobby before she had a chance to finish asking. The basket would be part of a Hindu ceremony known as a chandlo. It is basically a short ceremony that announces that a couple can be wed. The groom's side brings gifts for the bride -- which might include a sari and/or an outfit, jewelry and anything else they'd like to gift the bride-to-be -- as well as snacks for the bride-to-be's family. I had to decorate a large basket for the bride and six small bins for the family.

I wasn't going to write a blog post about the basket I made, but I searched the ends of the internet for some idea of what I was supposed to be doing exactly and it seems no one ever really posts pictures of the baskets they've been given or the baskets they've made. How sad is that? So today I am going to put an end to the silence that is these baskets. Especially because I find that my Hindu friends require a lot of baskets for various ceremonies, events, gifts, etc. And these baskets deserve to be seen! This is, of course, my version of a basket that could be used for these types of events. At the end of the day, it's just a pretty basket. IMO. :)

The basket I was given to use was just a plain, flat basket, so I gussied it up with some gold spray paint. I am a big believer in gold spray paint. In fact, I always have a can on hand just in case I feel something needs some gold spray paint lovin'. Hobby Lobby sells mini cans that are perfect for small craft projects.

I wanted to keep it within the same color scheme of the outfits that were going to be in the baskets: red, blue and green. So I basically blinged it out with red, blue, green and clear rhinestones. I am of the mindset that the more rhinestones the better. I think the world would be a better place if everyone would just use more rhinestones. Am I right?? Am I right?? Inside joke. Sorry.

And, of course, I added some ribbon. Because ribbon makes everything prettier. I ended up switching out the ribbon color at the last minute from the pic above so I don't have a pic of the 'before' with the color I used. I am never afraid to rip everything off and start over again if I feel like something isn't quite right. And I did that quite a few times.

Since I would have to wait until the day of the chandlo to assemble the baskets, I pre-cut the wrapping that would go around the basket. I'll just say really quickly that I hate cellophane. I try to avoid using it at all costs for no other reason except I cannot use it. Every time I've tried making a basket, I end up ripping the cellophane or there is a big whole in it because my basket is too big and my cellophane is too small. I hate cellophane. Or cellophane hates me. Either way, for the basket I used tulle. Tulle is the greatest fabric ever invented. I use it for everything I possibly can. Tulle calls my name and I always answer. Love it.

To save time, I decided to eliminate any potential problems by making my bows ahead of time. I have been in love with fascinators lately, so I used that as my inspiration. I simply made the bows and attached pins to them that would be attached to the outside once I assembled the baskets, then I added peacock feathers to the outside. I scored some peacock feathers that had a red tint to them which fit my color scheme which made Pintobean a very happy crafter.

The rest of the basket making process had to be finished the day off the chandlo, so I don't have pics of that process. Actually, I forgot to take pictures of it until we were walking out the door with it, which is one reason why these pics are terrible. But, what to do? Here is the final product.

And I love it. Love the sheerness of the tulle. Love the feathers. Love the ribbon. Love the rhinestone on the bow. Love all the rhinestones. Love it. Here is a close up with the red sari.... I added a few more rhinestones at the last minute.

And here is another shot of it. I couldn't stop taking pics because I knew I'd never see it again.

And here is a pic of one of the snack bins from the back of my car. Of course, it coordinated. See the red-ish peacock feather? So pretty!

And another shot. Last one, I promise.

So, there it is. Now I have to think of how I will decorate the baskets for the engagement ceremony. That is, if I get the job.

Party Like a Princess

2011-06-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

Recently, I had the opportunity to use my powers for good rather than evil. My Seester's coworker, Brenda, asked me to make some invitations for her daughter's 1st birthday. All I had to hear was "princess party" and I was all over it.

Since Brenda had a clear vision of what she wanted, the only thing I had to worry about was ruining this little girl's first birthday party with horribly constructed invites. No pressure.

This is what Brenda fell in love with.

{image via Paper Chick}

Obviously, Paper Chick is in a whole other league from me, but I told Brenda I would see what I could do. So I got to work and tried to figure out how to produce something that would end up being the same concept Brenda wanted minus the skills Paper Chick has. This is what I came up with.

Naturally, I consulted ~~my Precious~~ my Silhouette. Side note...The more I work with my Silhouette, the more I feel like I become invisible and am consumed by crafty thoughts. Love that machine. Anyway, the Silhouette offers a couple dress options, but nothing that would work as is, so I chose this shape and modified it slightly to fit what I envisioned. I made sure that the invite would fit in a standard A7 envelope and that there would be enough room on the skirt to fit the text Brenda wanted.

I recently saw The Count of Monte Cristo and was a bit enamored with the invites he sent for the extravagant ball he threw for himself. The font was basically consistent throughout the invite and I felt like it looked really regal that way. So I kept the font consistent despite my inclination to use one or two more. I think it made this particular invite look really girly. And what's more girly than a princess party??

For the details, I chose pink tulle and pink ribbon. You can't really tell the tulle is pink, but it has a sparkle to it that the white tulle didn't have so I basically had to use it. I have a reputation to uphold after all. And just because I think pink and pearls go together like tulle and ribbon, I added a pearl at the neckline.

I couldn't get a good shot of the tulle - the light wasn't working with me this morning - so here it is from another angle.

And just because I thought they looked so cute all together, I had to share a snap of them all packed up.

With as much love as Brenda has poured into making her daughter's 1st birthday a true celebration, I can't help but be honored to have had a small part in it. Thanks, Brenda.

June Obsessions

2011-06-03T13:28:00.000-07:00

Wow. I can't believe it's June already. Well, you know what they say, time flies when you're having fun. And apparently I am having a blast.

It's Friday, it's hot, and I'm ready for a nap, so I won't bore you with too much talk today. I'm just going to jump right into this.... Here are my obsessions for June!!

Color Combo: Kelly Green and Navy. This is my beautiful friend Sarah. I've known her for going on 23 years now. She is hands down one of my most favorite people in the world. And not just because she's kind of awesome, but also because she has always had such a great sense of style. In her home and with her clothes. I'd kill for some of her accessories and I'd die for some of her purses. After I got to wear them, of course. She's definitely my go-to person anytime I have a design decision to make as well as when I feel like having a good hard laugh. Anyway, I have been obsessed with kelly green and navy ever since she showed up to her nephew's birthday party wearing this awesome navy dress, a green cardi, and the peacock brooch I've been coveting forever. How cute is she??? And how awesome do those colors look together?? Love.

{image via Ciao Bella Gelato}

Ciao Bella Key Lime Squares. This is one of those life changing moments that one must splash all over the world wide web. I happened upon these at Costco with my friend one day and I've never looked back. Except to make sure I knew what aisle there were on so I could go back for more. This is now one of my staples in life. It's key lime flavored gelato nestled between graham crackers. Yum. It's like an ice cream sandwich all grown up. Mr. Bean doesn't even like key lime, and we have to fight every night over how many the other has eaten. Check their website for where you can buy these. Then call me and tell me how they've changed your life. OK. They might not change your life like they did mine, but if you live in a world of chocolate like we do at the Bean home, this is a nice refreshing treat. Perfect for summer. And winter. And fall. And spring. I think Ciao Bella needs to change the saying to: "When life gives you key limes, make key lime gelato sandwiches." What, not as catchy? I'll work on it.....

{image via Polyvore}

Stripes. I'm going join the rest of the world and admit I am a tad bit obsessed with stripes lately. Something about them screams summer. And although I can't stand the summer, a dress like this might help beat the heat. I can't really say much else except: awesome.

Well, I guess that's it. It felt like a much longer list when I started typing. Oh well. Enjoy your weekend! I should have another post up soon that will have you thinking pink. :)

Book Club Gone Wild

2011-05-25T21:42:00.000-07:00

I know I've mentioned this before, but I am in a book club. It is a pretty rad book club with some pretty rad chicks. We are close to celebrating our 6 year anniversary, so over the years we've laughed, we've cried, we've loved, we've lost, we've partied and along the way we've read some amazing books. Good times.

Since my friend and fellow book clubber, Sharmee, is getting married, we decided we'd send her off with a bang with a book club bachelorette bash. For our book this month, we read erotica and danced the night away to Madonna at a club that was having Madonna-rama night. Madonna wasn't there, of course, but we still rocked out with our books out. Who says book clubs aren't cool?? We're bringin' reading back!

We all gifted Sharmee with a little something that night. Since I am working on about 6 different projects right now, I didn't have time to actually buy her anything, so here is what I made for her.

I drew out the shape of a bra, cut it out and cut up a doily to use as lace. I added a bow and some bling (you can't really see it in this pic) to the front of the bra for the cuteness factor. Then, I wanted the bra to look like it was hanging on a clothesline outside, so I added some twine and mini clothespins. The blue cardstock looked too bare, so I added some swirls to give the effect of clouds. It still looked too bare, so at my Seester's suggestion, I added some bling to the swirls. Love it. And I think Sharmee liked it. :)

I only took the one pic of the card with my iPhone, so I will update this post with a close up pic/better pics when I get the chance. I asked for the card back from Sharmee so I could take pics of it at home, but she kindly told me I could take pics of it at her house. :)

May Obsessions

2011-05-13T20:32:00.000-07:00

I missed last month's obsessions list, but I'm pretty sure you all were obsessed with the same thing. The Royal Wedding. I am not ashamed to admit I woke up at 3:30 am to catch what I could and I'm so glad I did. Loved every minute of it. I didn't want to do a Royal Wedding post since there are much better blogs/bloggers out there that would do it far more justice than I, but just know this: I can't wait for the next one. So, back to reality.

April and May have been pretty busy, but I've been wanting to change up my blog header for a while now, so I spent a few nights working on something summer-y. Show some love if you like it. :) Other than that, I've been pretty busy trashing my craft room - I will share my latest project soon - so this month the list is short. Here are my obsessions for May!

Birds. I don't know why but I have become completely obsessed with birds. I see them on the stretch of highway I take on my way home from work. Every evening, there are thousands of them sitting on the electrical wires along the side of the road. Suddenly one of them will start flying and it will start a frenzy. They'll all start flying around in loops and eventually land back on the wires. Then it will start all over again. It just makes me giggle. I need to make something with birds. Think I could get away with something like this on Made By Bird in my living room?? Too cute.

{image via Cooking with Trader Joe's}

Cobbler. OMG have I been craving some cobbler. When we were in junior high, my dad's mom came to live with us for about a year. Every day we'd come home after school and she would have dinner ready (yes, at 4:00 pm) and a fresh cobbler waiting for us. Every day. Eventually, my sister and I would want to puke at the sight of cobbler. But, as they say, time heals all food aversions so now that the grocery stores are filling up with lots of beautiful, cheap fruit I can't stop thinking about a plate of warm fruit cobbler with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Totally making some this weekend. Maybe this one?

Bon Iver. I've been in a funk for a the past few months. I won't bore you with the details. It's not really important. I just get like this sometimes. And sometimes I like to just have a pity party and get really melodramatic and listen to sad music and watch sad movies and put on some sad, DVR'd Oprah shows so I can ball my eyes out so I can get it out of my system so I can get my butt up and smile and tell myself I'm just being melodramatic and continue to live the fabulous life that I've been blessed with. Anyway, I turn to Bon Iver when I am feeling down. I love "Skinny Love."

{image via Trailers Hut}

Guillaume Canet. I caught Last Night on Apple TV a few weekends ago. I didn't know it was just out in theatres, so kind of cool. Not the best, but very thought provoking. I don't know that it'd be a good date night movie unless you and your SO like to analyze things. I can see this movie causing lots of fights between couples as they leave the theatre. Ha. But, I have to say, the entire movie I kept asking myself, 'Who is this Guillaume Canet??' Patrick Dempsey's French brother? I've never really cared for Patrick Dempsey, but I need to see more of Guillaume. Ruggedly handsome, yes. But he's actually a really good actor. Totally going to catch whatever films I can of his.

Alright, it's Friday night and my bed is calling me. It'd be rude not to answer....

April Shower: The Details

2011-04-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the details! With 60 people attending, I knew the bulk of our budget would go toward food and drinks. So the challenge Anita and I had was to pack a big punch on a relatively small budget. I think we mostly succeeded. Lesson learned here....when you make something, take a picture of it at home if you want a picture of it. Setting up was pretty intense, so I didn't get pictures of everything. Boo. But, here's what I did get pictures of.....

The advice cards. This is something I like to do at showers because showers can get hectic. This serves as an opportunity for each person attending to write down something special for the guest of honor that they might not have a chance to say at the shower itself. Their thoughts, words advice, or wishes for the guest of honor can later be kept as a keepsake for the guest of honor. I usually like to keep them private but often people like to have them read out loud.

Here is a close up. I designed the cards in PSE using the same elements from the invite. I kept them long so they coordinated with the invitation. The pens were made by one of the hosts, Priti. She's an amazing cook/baker/crafter - as you can see from my previous post. She covered each pen with floral tape and added a silk flower to the tops. It's hard to imagine that something so cute was also functional. We ended up placing each pen at each place setting along with a little box of chocolate covered raisins - Priti's doing - and it looked really nice....but you will have to take my word for it. That was yet another one of the pictures I didn't get a chance to take. :(

The favor bags. Priti got these cute white lunch bags for guests to fit all their goodies in. Despite how roomy they were, some guests still filled two and sometimes three bags up. I don't blame them. If I was a guest, I would have hit the dessert table up before the food. Just sayin'.

Here is a close up of the tags I made. I used my silhouette to cut out 60 tags and wrote "Love is Sweet" on each one.

I wanted something guests could just clip onto the bags to close them with, but I couldn't find any red medium sized clothespins. So, I did what any self respecting craft addict would do. I called my friend Mandy over and we hand painted 60 of those puppies. And I don't regret one second of it. It was the perfect shade of red and the perfect amount of cuteness.

Then, as if that wasn't enough fun - it really was - we tied bows around the tags and placed a glue dot on each one so that guests didn't have to fool with adding their own tag. They just had to place the clothespin on their bag and call it a day because the tag was already attached.

Here is what they looked like in action on the dessert table. Oh my. I'm so proud of them. I think I just teared up.

The napkins. Since there were so many people, I wanted the buffet to run smoothly and didn't want to have anyone having to go back to get their plasticware. So, I wrapped the plasticware with a napkin. But, well, you know me. I can't just leave it at that. So I added a doily and some ribbon. Doily, have I told you lately how much I love you?

The tables. The tables were 72" rounds, so I knew I needed a centerpiece that made a statement. I would have loved to have had real flowers, but it wasn't in the budget. So, Anita helped me make some tissue flowers that tied our whole color scheme in. Much to Mr. Bean's chagrin, I used our cereal bowls as vases to hold said flowers in. He only missed one morning's worth of cereal, so no worries. Then, I added ribbon because, well, I'll say it again, ribbon makes everything prettier. For an extra punch of color, I used my old fall back and cut wrapping paper. Priti brought her left over silk flowers and we tossed them around the centerpieces. What I didn't get a snap of was the favor boxes Priti made with the chocolate covered raisins in them. The tables looked pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

The photo wall. OK, so here is where I get a little crazy. Only here though. ;) Sharmee loves: red, hearts, and taking pictures. So, I thought, why not incorporate all three into her shower? So I did. I made a photo wall. Anita was ~~forced to~~ wanted to make some tissue poofs that we hung around the photo wall. We bought a lot of other elements that we didn't have time to hang but I love it all the same. I was really nervous it would look cheesy. And, well, it did. In a good, Sharmee kind of way.

Here is the close up. Anita and I made cut out the letters with the silhouette, which was hung using clothespins to cut down on time. I then made a few doily banners and then attached lots and lots of streamers and ribbons to a pre-made tinsel curtain. Unfortunately, the photo wall wasn't used but twice. And by twice I mean only two pictures were taken in front of it. So, it was a lot of work sort of wasted but at least I got to try my hand at a photo wall. I did learn a few things about these backdrops, though. No matter how huge it looks in your house, it will look very puny in a 34' x 26' room. Also, I shouldn't have let the tear down crew at it so quickly. There were plenty of people helping me tear down that could have taken pics with it. So. Better luck next time.

All in all, I have to say I will never do this again. Ha. Seriously, though, about 50 people ended up coming. That is a lot of people. We couldn't really do a whole lot with decor, but I think Anita and I managed....what do you think?? :)

I hate to make this out like an awards ceremony, but....thanks to everyone that had to put up with all my crazy emails. I know they were almost a daily thing. :) A HUGE shout out to Priti. You are amazing and so talented. And to Julie for helping coordinate everything. And to Anita for putting up with my obsessive craft-pulsiveness. And to all the people that helped set up, namely Sonal, Bhavik, Mehul and Kishan. We couldn't have finished everything without you guys. And to Mandy for always willing to put in some hard labor for events you will never see in person. That's dedication. And lastly, HUGE thanks to Sarah and my Seester for having to listen to my worries and woes. Love you guys.

April Shower: The Food and Dessert

2011-04-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

Although I can't take much credit for it, we had a pretty fab display of food and dessert. For food, we chose catering and had a bhel puri, samosas, and khaman dhokla. For drinks, we had sangria and lime sherbet punch. Unfortunately, I didn't get too many pics of the food. In fact I just got one pic. And no pics of the sherbet punch Priti, one of the hosts, made. Or the sangria we made. Yes, I already kicked myself in the butt for that.

I will, however, take credit for the food labels. Although, you can't really see it, I used the same floral element from the invite on the food labels.

This was the khaman dhokla. Naturally, I had to apply ribbon everywhere. Because ribbon makes everything prettier.....

For dessert? Priti created a dessert bar that was amazing. Everything was homemade except for the candy. She started baking on Wednesday morning and actually packed it all up and drove for 4 hours on Friday. That woman is a saint. See for yourself.

The only bad part of the table? Priti now has several people that will be expecting this at their showers!! I'm not going to judge, though....I'm one of them. :) I told her I'm going to have to get married again or have a baby because that spread was to die for. Or at least have a wedding and a baby for. :)

There was also a banner on the dessert table that Anita and I made that read "Love is Sweet" but I didn't get a snap of it. More tears.... The aqua vases were also mine leftover from another shower I threw. Anita and I made some tissue flowers to put in them and tried to fashion them like the floral design on the invite. Not sure if many people got that, but that's what it was meant to look like. One last post left!!!

April Shower: The Invite

2011-04-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

I will break this post up for those that have short attention spans because, well, it's a lot of pictures....

I co-hosted a bridal shower for my friend last weekend with 5 other women. Four out of the six of us coordinated everything and poured a lot of blood, sweat and tears into the decor and food. The blood was negligible, because really, you can't be a paper crafter and expect to escape paper cuts. The sweat was, well, sweat. The tears mostly came from Mr. Bean every time I told him we'd have to order in again, but he managed to stay alive.

We anticipated 60 people would attend - 78 were invited - and had only an hour to set up. This was definitely the biggest event I'd ever worked on with the most number of hosts, so for about 2 weeks I literally lost sleep trying to wrap my head around how we would pull the shower off. But, I think we did a really good job considering. Half of us were working from out of town so big props to the iPhone, email, FaceTime, email, camera phones and email. Yes, there were a ton of emails....thank you internet and Steve Jobs!

Once Anita and I hashed out a color scheme, we got to work on the invitations. Sharmee's favorite color is red, so Anita and I were sure to incorporate that in the color scheme. I pretty much drove Anita crazy because I couldn't make up my mind whether to make the invitations or buy them despite the fact that in a few days I was leaving the country for almost two weeks. To me, the invitation sets the tone for the event, so I am always careful to choose the right invite. And, I will admit, sometimes I over think it. Handmade invitations aren't always the most cost effective approach despite the perception that DIY is cheaper. Especially considering we had to make at least 65 invites. But, it is a labor of love. I think anyone that crafts will agree with me on that one. But, I'm hard headed ~~and crazy~~ and paper is my thing so we went with handmade. Since I used quite a bit that I already had in my stash, these invites ended up costing a lot less than buying something online.

I designed the invite in PSE and went through about 200 different design options. But, I finally decided to go with a long invite since we had so much text and I wanted to keep it as clean looking as possible.

Originally, I wanted to add double faced satin ribbon to make a bow that would wrap around the invite, but the floral element threw me for a loop since I couldn't get it to not completely clash with the envelopes and the ribbon once it was printed, so Anita came up with the clever idea of using our scraps to make sort of a mod belly band around the invite. Awesome idea.

The invite fit into a #10 standard sized envelope. I created some labels for each envelope since addressing 65 invites wasn't exactly the best use of my time 4 days before I left for Ireland but I still wanted them to look pretty and not like we just slapped labels on. So I created some cute labels with fonts from the invite. Anita was kind enough to put up with me a while longer and cut all the labels down and apply them while I was gone. The label folds over the backside of the envelope and reveals the return address. The invite was not what I envisioned originally, but everything I wanted it look like. Love when that happens.

Update

2011-04-13T12:58:00.000-07:00

Blog posts with no pictures make me sad.

I just thought I'd let everyone know I am still here. I am working on a shower for my sweet friend and 60 of her closest friends/family. Luckily I have a team of 3 awesome, talented, patient women working with me so it has been fun working out the details with them.

The shower is this weekend, so hopefully I will have some pics up soon!

March Obsessions

2011-03-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

Miss me?? Mr. Bean and I took a little trip to Ireland this month. We went for a wedding, but in between rented a car and road tripped the island as much as we could. I will upload a few pics for you soon, but I almost don't want to lest I make a mad dash to the airport with a one way ticket in hand. It was that amazing. Until then, I will show you my obsessions for March.

{photo taken off the west coast of Ireland along the Ring of Kerry}

Pano for the iPhone. This app replaced my crappy camera while Mr. Bean and I were in Ireland. And I think it speaks for itself. The views could not be properly captured on my little Canon Sure Shot (I desperately need an upgrade) so after a while I gave up and let Mr. Bean take over. This gem was one of the many that Mr. Bean took with his iPhone along the Ring of Kerry.

{image via A Lovely Garden}

Daffodils. Speaking of Ireland, there were daffodils everywhere. It was hard not to become obsessed with these as you walked by them. Don't they just scream happiness?? I've been daydreaming about a planting these in my front yard.

{image via Amazon}

Adele's 21. I bought this album just before I left for Ireland. I wasn't disappointed. I am sure you've guessed by now that I love music. This album proves why. Check out her cover of Lovesong. I am very pleased (but also probably biased because anything that involves The Cure kind of rocks my world).

{image via Apple}

Jo-Ann's iPhone app. Jo-Ann's has an iPhone app!! My friend showed me the light with this life changer. After the Jo-Ann's near me shut down a couple of years ago, I haven't really gone out of my way to go to the next closest one. It's just too far out of my way. I downloaded the app just to see what it was all about. Total awesomeness. That's what. They allow you to download digital coupons that can be used in the store. Or you can have the coupons texted to you. Finally a sewing store that has jumped on the bandwagon with this fad we call technology. Love it.

{image via Little Willow's Thinking}

The Hunger Games Trilogy. I am the first to admit that I judge a book by it's cover. For some reason, I can't stand to pick up an ugly book. Reading it doesn't excite me like a book with a beautiful cover does. I wasn't too keen to read The Hunger Games when my friend picked it for March's book club pick simply because it didn't look interesting, but I read it anyway. And I was addicted. I was in Ireland looking at the most magnificent views I've ever seen in my life yet I couldn't wait to get back to my hotel room to finish reading this book. I started Catching Fire last night. I just hope I put it down long enough to feed Mr. Bean. For his sake. He'll need his energy to buy me the third book in the trilogy, Mockingjay.

That's all for March!!!

I learned it from watching YouTube.

2011-03-03T23:59:00.000-08:00

I figured I'd post a few things I learned and used while making my quilt in case anyone is interested. It'll save you some time and energy.

Pre-wash all of your fabric. I know this is a quilter's mantra, but I was really surprised how much the fabric shrunk when I measured the before and after. I use Seventh Generation laundry detergent.

I went with a bamboo/organic cotton batting. I know this is a personal preference, but it was a no brainer for me.

I basted my fabric like it was going out of style. I never had a problem with the fabric pinching and clumping. The only problem it created for me was that it messed up my flow so a lot of my lines are crooked at the points where I stopped to remove my safety pins. Using safety pins to baste was new to me so that is probably just a problem for me because I am a beginner.

I chose to use two different colored threads. The pink layer has the orange thread and the orange layer has the pink thread. That was just a design decision on my part. My grandma would like me to note that I didn't buy quilting thread and would recommend using quilting thread. I didn't have the right thread so she had to use a different type of stitch to make sure my binding would be durable enough to stand the test of time.

On that note, I also didn't have the right type of needle for hand sewing the binding. A hand sewing quilting needle is smaller and stronger than regular sewing needles. Please feel free to laugh at me. Or, check out this explanation.

To make my binding, I used the method Angry Chicken describes in her book, Bend the Rules Sewing, for continuous bias tape. This tutorial describes the same method. It creates bias tape cut on the bias. I opted for this style versus straight cut binding because I thought it would show off the polka dots the best. I cut my strips at 2.5" width.

Quilt binding is different from bias tape. I did not know that. It is much easier to make and requires much less ironing to fold. That may just be my opinion, but after spending hours making bias tape and then realizing it's not what I need - I could have used it, but it would have been too thin - quilt binding seems a heck of a lot easier to make. This video was my aha moment.

I went with mitered corners on my quilt. This two part video is a great explanation. This is the second part.

I wanted my binding to look like one continuous strip. I didn't want to see a fold where the strip ends/begins. To join the ends of my binding, I followed this video. I never quite got the hang of what she did in her video, so I ended up figuring it out myself by using that video and just knowing how to join two ends of bias tape. This video describes what I am talking about.

I am not sure how long the quilt took me. I worked on it a little bit every day last week and then some on the weekend. And then one hard core night on Monday. And then of course, my Grandma worked on it one night. It sounds like a lot but it really wasn't. Very quick.

YouTube is a wonderful thing. So is Grandma. When I have questions about how to do something, I usually check YouTube first. When I have a problem, I call Grandma. I call her The Sewing Hotline and the Sewing 911 Operator. She laughs.

Overall, I really enjoyed making this quilt. I am already thinking of making myself one for my bed. Can't wait. :)

Sew Perfect

2011-03-03T17:28:00.000-08:00

I finally attempted my first quilt. :) My friend just recently had a little girl so I pretty much made my mind up I would make a baby quilt. And finish it. This is key.

Quilts have always intimidated me. But ever since I went to Quilt Festival, I have been enamored with quilts and the idea that I will start making quilts and then one day become America's Next Top Quilter. Then, I will write a book titled I'm Bringin' Quilting Back: Them Other Quilters Don't Know How to Quilt and be featured on Martha Stewart where I will start a quilting revolution that will spark a quilt-making frenzy across the nation and then, ultimately, around the world. But, first things first....

Every time I go to Seattle, I pretty much flip when I see Amy Butler fabrics in a regular fabric store. Seattle fabric stores make sewing seem so much more hip than a Hancock fabric store here. And they actually carry designers I recognize and usually just gawk at online during my lunch break. Since I've got a good fabric stash going, I told myself I couldn't buy any fabric unless I knew exactly what I was going to do with it. When I saw AB's Camel/Full Moon Polka Dot for the first time in person, I knew it was going to be the fabric that I would use to start building my ANTQ resume.

I love it. It's not a quilt in the traditional sense. But that's why I love it even more. It's a lovely, simple, modern quilt. I followed this tutorial, but I did cheat a bit. I am a horrible blind stitch-er. I don't have the patience for hand stitching. I am a perfectionist and I much prefer the perfect stitch of a machine over my crooked ill-spaced stitches. So I asked my mom to blind stitch it for me. I told her to take her time. I wanted it to be perfect. When she took it home, my grandma decided she wanted to do it for me.  And that makes me so happy to type that.

My grandmother has been sewing since she got married at 14. She's now 84. She was really just a kid when she got married. My grandfather was always gone, so she says she would just be at home waiting.  She said one day her mother-in-law took pity on her and sat her down and taught her how to sew. And she was hooked. And she couldn't stop. She says she sewed every day after that. She would eventually become sort of the seamstress for the town.  She never made much money doing it. People came by and promised to pay her next time but never could quite pay. They'd offer her food as a barter. They'd run errands for her if they were short. When people asked "how much?" she'd often times say, "Just whatever you can pay" and take what they gave her. One time a lady stopped by while I was visiting and my grandmother took $4 for altering 4 shirts. When her customer left, I said, "Grandma, you need to ask for more money! Four dollars isn't enough! She's taking advantage of you!" She just said, "Mija, I can't ask her for more than she can give. It's so nice to just sit and visit. I don't need much. Besides, I enjoy doing it."

Two years ago, she had to leave her home and her hometown of 50+ years because she needed someone to care for her full time.  Naturally there will be an adjustment period, but the part that worried all of us was that she quit sewing. She's had glaucoma for years and that never stopped her. But, when my mom brought home my quilt to sew, my grandma looked at it and said, "Well, I guess you better get me my thimble." And she started sewing. My mom said she told my grandma she didn't have to finish it in one night. But my grandma kept on sewing. And she sewed until she finished it. And my aunts, my mom and I all cried. And I cried again when I saw all her little stitches this morning. If you look at them closely, they aren't all perfect. But yet they are.

I talked to her last night to thank her for working on it. She said, "Well, when are you going to make another one? I need more work." And then I cried again.

{My Grandma, taken with my mom's camera phone}

I have yet to meet the little girl who will be receiving this quilt, but I already need to thank her for what's she's done for my grandma in the short time she's been here. Her name is Farhana. In Arabic, it means happy or happiness. What a perfect name.

Sleepy in Seattle

2011-02-23T13:23:00.000-08:00

Last week was a nice break in an otherwise hectic month. Mr. Bean and I took off for some good TLC with Seattle and all that it offers. Namely, my BIL (I like to call him my Billy or Billy Bean), my good friend Sarah, and some cousins. Unfortunately, I was not feeling well most of the trip so I basically slept a lot while Mr. Bean and Billy Bean went skiing, but I can't complain. There is nothing better than waking up to the sights and sounds of Seattle even if you aren't feeling too hot. I still got to get in some shopping and sight seeing and some good eating and even took in a concert, so it basically solidified my desires to pack up the Beans and head west. Pacific northwest, preferably. Here's some snaps of my trip.

A special shout out to my Billy and Sarah for always showing us what we are missing out on. I can't wait to go back....

All the single ladies

2011-02-14T19:18:00.000-08:00

I saw this on PostSecret a couple of weeks ago and thought it was Valentine's day worthy. For my single friends....

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2011-02-14T14:45:00.000-08:00

OK, so I dropped the ball on Valentine's this year. :( My favorite card making time of the year, too. So double sad face. I designed something in my Silhouette and was all ready to make something really cute this year, but my allergies got the best of me. I have still not recovered so I've been acting like a big baby and driving Mr. Bean all sorts of crazy in between my Benedryl binges. But, in case you still haven't sent anything out to your loved ones, Kate Spade has some really cute (free!) e-cards you can send. Oh, how I love you, Kate.

{image via Kate Spade}

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

February Obsessions

2011-02-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe it is actually February already. 2011 has already proved to be flying by faster than 2010 seemed to. I'm just going to keep holding on tight and hope I can keep up. In the meantime, here's my latest obsessions for February. Since February is a short month, I thought I'd keep my list short this time.

Hearts. So, I know this is a bit cliche seeing as how it's February and all, but I have become obsessed with hearts. And I kind of need these punches to satisfy my hunger for the perfect heart punches. My Seester has both of them so I might have to take them off her hands next time I visit her craft room.

{image via Amazon}

Heart Breaker (L'arnacoeur). My Apple TV/Netflix affair is still going strong and I don't see us cooling off anytime soon. I caught this movie by chance one evening and I can't stop watching it. It is really, really cute. It's the perfect definition of a romantic comedy but it's also got a bit of action to it so that it's not too painful for any significant others of the male persuasion. Just watch it. You'll see.

Jaymay's You are the Only One I Love. I've been jamming out to Jaymay at work lately. This one is one of my faves, along with Gray or Blue but I wanted to stick with heart/love themed obsessions. But check out the entire Autumn Blue album. Love her voice. Love the lyrics. Kind of obsessed.

That's pretty much all I have this month. Work has been insane lately, so I've had very little time to obsess. But, no worries. I'll have a nice long list for you next month!

Let them eat cake

2011-01-29T15:32:00.000-08:00

My friend's little girl, Makenna, turned three recently, and she asked me to help her with the decorations for the party. Makenna is as girlie as they come, so it's no surprise that the color scheme for the party would involve the color pink. Far be it from me to argue with a three year old little girl. Besides, pink is probably my one of my favorite colors, so I love to get some pink in when I can. I threw some ideas out to my friend. She loved them and basically let me loose.

I invited a friend over to come help since I wasn't exactly sure my ideas would work. My friend Mandy is pretty much the only friend I have that I can say, "Um, I've got an idea of what I want to make but it's probably going to take hours and hours to make, and it might not even work because it's just an idea in my head. Wanna help me?" And she'll jump right in, no questions asked. So when I asked her she said, "I can only come Monday, Wednesday and Friday." Awesome.

This is the invitation to Makenna's birthday party as shown on Tiny Prints.

{image via Tiny Prints}

Cute, eh? If you aren't familiar with Tiny Prints, they are pretty awesome. It's hard to justify making invitations when there are invites that cute out there. And very affordable.

The stipulations for the party were that balloons are not allowed and that it had to be set up and torn down within 30 minutes since parties were scheduled back to back. What that in mind, here's the decorations I made.

For the centerpieces, I took the invitation literally and we made cakes using cardboard, toothpicks, and paper. I used my Silhouette to cut out little flames for the candles and attached those to the candles with floral wire.

Here's all six of them. I alternated between light pink and dark pink since the invite had two shades of pink. I also tried to match the candles to the invite.

Here's the cakes in action with the rest of the decor. I kind of wished this was my party, only somehow I don't think 33 candles on each cake would have looked quite as cute.

And another shot of the party area. Mandy and I cut wrapping paper to make table runners to lay over the table for all the cafe tables -- something I love to do for parties because it is very inexpensive and always adds a huge pop of color -- and then punched a million circles out of cardstock and scattered them on the runners to create polka dots. Have I ever told you about my obsession with polka dots? I can't get enough. It's funny. My twin sister has a thing for stripes. For me, it's always been polka dots. They complete me.

For the tables that did not have cakes on them (my friend wasn't sure how many tables there would be), I used my Silhouette to cut out large M's and we glued those down to large circles. It took probably 10 minutes to set everything up and about 5 minutes to pack it all up with some time to spare for the next party.

And I can't leave you without showing you the cake. My friend had it made. And I think it was perfect.

The real cake couldn't have been any cuter. Love.It.

I think the biggest compliment I got was from Miss Makenna herself. She was playing with one of the paper cakes and my friend asked her, "Do you like it?" Makenna replied, "I like it. It's pretty." My heart melted.

Happy Birthday, Makenna! Thank you for allowing me to be apart of your life. I look forward to getting to know you as you grow into strong, beautiful woman. A woman that will hopefully love to craft. ;) Know that you are loved. By so many people. Eat your cake now, Makenna. Because all too soon you will start thinking about how many calories it has in it. :)

Carried Away

2011-01-20T10:10:00.000-08:00

Here's a little project I've had in my head for a while. Anna Marie Horner has a fab tutorial on tote-able towels on her blog. Since I'm not really a beach towel kind of person, I just made a mental note of it as a possible gift when my friends' kids get older. But, the other day as I was walking into yoga carrying my purse, my water, my mat, my towels, and a bag of my clothes, I thought I should probably invest in some sort of carrier for my yoga mat to free my hands up a bit so that I can pick up my water, my towels or my clothes when I drop them. Because I am always dropping something. I don't like traditional gym bags and prefer something cute and, well, non-traditional. So I thought I'd just make one.

I wanted something simple in design, quick to sew, and something that could easily be folded up and tossed into one locker along with all of my other things. I was also wanting something flexible so that I would not have to worry about how tightly I wrap up my mat. One day, as I was rolling out my mat, Anna's tutorial came to mind. So, I thought I'd modify it a bit to carry my yoga mat. Here's what I did for Version 1.0.

I cut one piece of linen and one piece of interfacing to 16"x12" and then a second piece of linen down to 15"x12". The 12" width is the portion that will wrap around the rolled mat. I then pressed the linen. I know some people are opposed to using interfacing, but with this project the fabric needed some weight to it for it to lay properly. And I had some in my stash from some project that I never started so I was glad to use it up.

To add some color, I cut a 4" wide piece of printed fabric down the width of the fabric. My printed fabric measured 44" wide. This would be used for straps and the outside of the carrier. I simply chose linen because I scored about 3 yards of it on clearance at a fabric store that was closing. But I also love the look of linen when it is paired with another fabric. I just feel like it makes the printed fabric pop so much more - a concept I got from a fellow sewer friend.

To create a decorative outside layer, I cut 12" off the length of the printed fabric and then cut the 12"x15" piece of linen in half to get two 7.5"x12" pieces. I sewed the three pieces together using a1/4" seam and pressed the seams open.

For the straps, I followed Anna's directions and pressed the printed fabric in half lengthwise and then folded the edges toward the center crease and pressed again. So, the strap is 4 layers of fabric and an inch wide. I top stitched it 1/4" from the open edge to close it up and pressed again. I am a big believer in pressing, if you can't tell by now. Once I was finished, I cut 9" from the length to create one long strap and one short one.

I ironed the interfacing onto the wrong side of the fabric then pinned the straps to the right side of the fabric equidistant from the edge of the 16"x12" fabric, making sure my straps were going to lay properly and not end up twisted. It came out to be about 5" between each strap end. At this time, I trimmed the decorative layer down to 16"x12". You could also do the math and measure exactly how much linen you need for the decorative layer, but I am too lazy for that. So, I trimmed mine down to 16"x12".

All of the layers were then pinned together and sewn together using a 1/2" seam. I left a 3" opening on one side to pull the fabric right side out. I made sure to backstitch several times on the straps to secure them.

I then clipped the corners and pressed the seams open. You could probably trim the edges at this point, but I left mine there.

Once I was finished, I blind stitched the opening to close it up and pressed the entire thing one last time.

Here is the final product! I am debating whether to add a top stitch to it for an extra cuteness factor, but it's pretty cute without it.

To use it, just pull the longer strap through the shorter strap, and....

Voila! It's a yoga mat carrier!! It took me 2 hours from start to finish, including water breaks, taking pictures and a seam ripping for a dumb mistake I will not mention. I have a reputation to uphold, after all.

Here's a close up. I love it. Yes, it is basically a glorified placemat. But, it is one less thing I have to hold and it's pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself. There are so many ways to modify this pattern. Trust me, I've already got a few ideas how to improve it and make it more functional and even cuter. But for now, I am happy.

January Obsessions.

2011-01-13T10:55:00.000-08:00

Still no crafting for 2011, but here's my January Obsessions. With the holidays just a couple of weeks behind me, I really don't have much I have been obsessing over. But, you know me. I need just 20 seconds in a hardware store and could give you 20 things I want. So here we go!

{image via Estee Lauder}

Estee Lauder's Sumptuous Mascara. I am forever trying to find the perfect mascara. Mascara is one of life's necessities for me. I rarely do without. My friend always gives me her free Estee Lauder samples so I get to try out different mascaras when I get lazy and run out before buying a new tube - which is how I discovered this mascara. From the first use to the last, it keeps my eyelashes looking really...well, sumptuous. Love.It.

Glen Hansard's Say It To Me Now. I know I am totally behind on this one, but you can't deny it's an amazing song. And, well, Glen Hansard is amazing. I finally caught Once over the weekend after many, many attempts thanks to Anita + Apple TV + Netflix (a life changing combination I might add). I've heard so much about the soundtrack to Once that I purposely waited to see the movie before listening to it. Now that I have seen the movie, I am addicted to Glen Hansard. Especially to this song. If by chance you are one of the few people in the world that hasn't seen Once, you can check out the entire soundtrack here.

{Image via Two Peas in a Bucket}

Basic Grey Micro Mono Stickers. I love these stickers. I've used them on several cards and can't get enough. They are such a perfect size for cards and smaller projects and come in so many different colors. Apparently, I am not the only one that thinks so. They are never in stock!!

{image via Amazon}

Soundtrack from An Education. Like I said, I got a chance to catch up on some movies last weekend that I've been meaning to watch. For a long time. So please forgive me for bringing up old stuff here, but I absolutely loved the music in this movie. It's got an eclectic mix of artists including Duffy, Melody Gardot, and Madeleine Peyroux, which happen to be three of my favorite ladies. The movie itself had me wanting to transport myself back into the 60's so I could wear all of those fabulous clothes. I die.

Julie Chen, Book Artist. I recently got to watch PBS's TV Series Craft in America. The series explores different crafts, artists and their techniques. And it is truly fascinating. In the "Orgins" episode, Julie Chen's amazing work is introduced. She is a book artist and she is spectacular. Love her concepts and clean lines. Check out her portfolio here.

This weekend is already looking to be busy but I've got a project I'm trying to work out in my head that I hope to get to tonight. Wish me luck!

Sorry...

2011-01-10T21:59:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I haven't stepped one foot into my craft room since New Year's Eve. I planned to work on a couple of things this past weekend, but I got caught up on some general laziness. And some movies. Mr. Bean left Freddie and I for another love. Electronics. He went to CES in Las Vegas for the weekend and I don't know that even our wedding day compared. He was basically in heaven all weekend. So, basically I got a chance to catch up on some good movie-watching and some not-cooking and some not-cleaning. I don't get a chance to watch them as often as I'd like, so I basically watched 5 movies (seriously) not including the ones my mother watched while I napped. Yeah, so Mr. Bean wasn't the only one in heaven. I've got a ton of stuff to clean up, put up, work on, shop for and finish. Some fun and some not so fun. I'll post about the fun stuff soon. Until then!

Cupcakes Need Banners, Too

2011-01-03T15:08:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!! I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays! While I am sad the holidays flew by so quickly, I am glad they are over. I think this holiday season I slept less than when I was in college cramming for finals.

Since Mr. Bean's birthday is on New Year's day, I tend to slack off in the party throwing department. He likes to just sleep in and veg out and I don't argue. Usually we are out late with family the night before, so when the clock strikes midnight we all wish each other well for the new year and then we always sing Happy Birthday for Mr. Bean. I usually have a cake - if the host doesn't already have one for him - but this year I bought his favorite cupcakes for the party. Since I was already slacking off in the party department and the gift department - he wanted to go skiing for his birthday, so his present is our airfare - not to mention slacking in the baking department, I decided to dress up the cupcakes a bit more and make him a banner for his cupcakes. Because banners make everything cuter.

I cut scraps of paper and sewed them together exactly like this card. But for some reason my sewing machine didn't like these pennants as much, so it didn't come out as well. Last time I didn't have any problems and I am not sure why I did this time. But I am pretty sure it has something to do with the machine and not the highly skilled operator.

Anyway, I attached the ends to some lollipop sticks with glue dots and knotted them in place. I used Basic Grey's Micro Mono Stickers to spell out 'Happy Birthday'. The Basic Grey stickers are an awesome size for cards and projects like this one. My only complaint is that they only provide two capital Y's. So one 'Happy Birthday' and you are done with the sheet.

Here are the cupcakes in action. Oh, and yes, when I ordered the cupcakes, I kept in mind the paper I wanted to use for the banner so it would coordinate. Because that's how I craft.

I think it's safe to say Mr. Bean and I started the year off with a bang. We went to an uncle's house for a family party. Don't let the words "family party" fool you, though. Mr. Bean's family knows how to party. We didn't get home until almost 6:00 in the morning. I didn't get into bed until after 7:00 since Freddie needed some TLC with the backyard. Luckily, Billy Bean was there to keep me company every step of the way or else I probably would have fallen asleep on the floor by the back door waiting on Freddie. I didn't even dance that much, but I woke up at 3:00 in the afternoon feeling every bit my age. Good times.

I have some good stuff planned for 2011! I hope you guys do too! Please leave a comment or email me and share it with me! I'd love to post of pics of it all here so that this is less an all-about-me spot and more about crafting a cuter world.

Huge thanks to Prithwi for taking these pictures of the cupcakes for me. Sometimes an iPhone just doesn't cut it.

A day late, but....

2011-01-02T01:37:00.000-08:00

{Image and brushes via Pugly Pixel}

Wrapping Up the Holidays

2010-12-27T22:28:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd pop in for a few minutes. I'm actually avoiding my craft room right now. I really don't know how it got so filthy in there so quickly. But it will undoubtedly take me longer to clean it than it did for to me to get it in the state it is in now.

Anyway, I figured I'd post a few pics of some presents I wrapped for anyone interested. I probably enjoy wrapping gifts more than shopping for them. Which, if you know me, says a lot because I love shopping. It is kind of rush for me to find a gift for someone that I know they will love. I often fail at finding that perfect gift, but when I succeed and the person loves it....that's really the best gift for me. I think people often feel guilty about receiving a gift when they have nothing to give back. But that always leaves me feeling bad that they feel bad when I wish they'd just enjoy their gift and let me enjoy them enjoying it, you know?

I have a couple of friends that are the best at wrapping gifts. Every gift is such a treat to receive. It made me realize that pretty wrapping makes the gift that much more special. This year, I decided I wasn't going to buy anything new. I'm trying to turn over a new leaf and start using all of the stuff I am ~~hording~~ ~~saving~~ not using. I tell Mr. Bean it is because I have too much stuff, but it's really because I want to make room for new stuff. I am a horrible person. I know. I feel too guilty adding to my already full drawers. Plus, I've discovered it feels pretty good to actually see my stuff in use. This is a new concept to me, so bear with me. I have not gotten to the point that I will use everything, but to avoid appearing on an episode of Hoarders, I am taking baby steps. Baby steps, Anita!!!

Above is how I decorated for all of the lovely ladies that bless my life. I stamped kraft colored wrapping paper with gold ink then decorated with tulle, bits of gold paper, and gold ribbon. I included doilies when I could. Love doilies.

On the soft gift, I just used tissue to wrap the gift. I try to avoid using boxes when possible so that I am not using a box and tissue for every gift. It not only keeps my box storage down - I will admit I hoard boxes - but it also keeps my gift wrapping stash to a minimum - which is also why I like to stamp kraft colored wrapping paper instead of storing tons of rolls of wrapping paper. I stamped the gift tags with the same stamps I used on the paper and used some gift tags I brought back from India - which is big for me because I don't know that I will ever get any more of those tags ever again. Please hold all applause until the end of this post. Thank you.

Here is how I wrapped the gifts for the men in my life. I used tissue paper on the wrapping and some fabric scraps instead of ribbon. I love that the edges frayed as I tied it around. I had some old felt poinsettias that I added to the gift tags with brads.

Alright. Enough rambling. Time to get to bed. I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays. I've been doing my best to stretch them out as long as possible. I even recorded a bunch of cheesy Christmas movies on Lifetime at the last minute so I could watch them after the holidays. I know. I'm crazy. The holidays are flying by way too quickly for me. But, I suppose it's as to be expected. This year flew by faster than any year I can remember. Goodnight!!

2010-12-25T12:06:00.000-08:00

Just in the (St.) Nick of Time....

2010-12-20T22:52:00.000-08:00

So much for getting a head start on my Christmas cards! I got them in the mail on Friday just in the nick of time. I actually bought everything I needed by Halloween with the best of intentions to have them all finished by December 1, but....well....that didn't work out. I am pretty sure I was busy doing something good in the world because nothing else would have kept me from making my cards.

The idea was to keep them simple since I was making 70 of them. But, what I learned is that no matter how simple you think they are, 70 of anything is a lot of work. I also learned that no matter how quickly you cut everything, assembly takes twice as long as you think it will...but I will spare you from my nuggests craft-tastic wisdom and get on with it.

I designed the card in PSE and printed them out with a color printer. I didn't have anything specific inspiring me other than I wanted them to be simple and clean.

I cut everything to size and rounded the corners. I used my Silhouette to cut out tags and then stamped each one. I then took a break in the assembly and addressed the envelopes. In the interest of time, I drew in the calligraphy instead of using ink and a nib. I just never had the time to make it to the art supply store for red ink.

My copperplate calligraphy instructor used to give customers a cheaper option to use a gel pen rather than traditional calligraphy ink. This was an excellent option when a customer wanted the look of copperplate, but didn't want to pay the price for the real thing. When using a nib, it is all about the pressure you apply with each stroke while rolling your wrists, so it takes a lot time and it takes a lot out of your hands. I decided I would draw it in since I'd procrastinated enough that these were looking like they were going to be 2011 cards and not 2010 cards. Talk about pressure!

I've blogged before about how I am obsessed with Betsy Dunlap's work. I kind of wanted to evoke the same drama that she does so well on her envelopes. I know there is no comparison, but I really like the way they turned out. Above is one of the ones I am most proud of. It helps that their last name is pretty cool, too.

After the addressing was done, the assembly began. I wrapped the white cardstock with bakers twine and added the tags. I used pop up dots to attach the (gorgeous) white cardstock onto the card. That is pretty much it!

Just for grins, below is a close up.

I am kind of obsessed with that embossed paper.

That's all I got for now. Mr. Bean and I are up late trying to see what we can of the lunar eclipse. Unfortunately, it is too cloudy to see anything, but every once in a while there is a break in the clouds where you can see the moon. And it is kind of amazing.

I am not sure I will have a chance to post again before Christmas, so Merry Christmas!! I hope everyone gets everything they want and more. :)

Weekend Crashers

2010-12-10T13:14:00.000-08:00

Wow, it seems like it's been so long since we've spoken! I have been busy decorating the house and making my Christmas cards and enjoying the weather. Mr. Bean and I have been drinking lots of hot chocolate and apple cider and listening to Christmas carols as much as we can. I've been recording whatever lame movies Lifetime offers and lovin' every one of them. I love this time of year.

To start off our first weekend in December, Mr. Bean thought he'd get all fit on me and and run in a half marathon out of town. So we took a road trip up to the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the weekend. Luckily, we have some pretty amazing friends that allowed us to crash their weekend. It was an action packed weekend, so I thought I'd share some of the highlights.

Our first stop was Fort Worth, Texas to visit my friends, Christina and Nehme. I haven't seen them in over four years. They built a new location since the last time I visited, so for four years, I've watched their progress and been there in spirit since the beginning, but it was time to experience Chadra Mezza & Grill for myself. And I wasn't disappointed. The.Food.Was.Amazing. They are well known in the Fort Worth area for their food and have received numerous Reader's Choice and People's Choice awards, so I had pretty high expectations. Especially since I've eaten there before and remembered Nehme's lamb melting in my mouth. But, I was not prepared for the awesomeness I had on my plate. I wish I had taken pictures. If I had had a second or two between shoving my fork in my mouth and chewing I probably would have, but trust me when I say there was no time.

Mr. Bean left me in Fort Worth that night to have some girl time with Christina, so Saturday Christina gave me a tour of her 'hood. Fort Worth has some really awesome old school Tex-Mex restaurants. And by 'old school' I mean home-style, home cooked, better-than-Grandma's cooking. We stopped at Benito's on Magnolia Avenue. I couldn't help myself. I had to take some pictures.

By the way, I am working on figuring out how to size my pictures properly. I am just now getting the hang of the ratios. Just click on the picture if you want to see it larger.

We stopped by an old home supply store that I was too busy rummaging through to take pictures. Then we stopped by to bug Nehme at Rahr & Sons Brewery.

Nehme claims he was working, but after about 2 minutes there I knew why he was really there. There was live music and awesome food (provided by Chadra and served by Nehme, of course) and lots and lots of beer. It was such an awesome atmosphere. Fort Worth is one of those big cities that will forever be a small town.

It was time to say goodbye to Fort Worth after that. Christina drove me over to Dallas to meet with Mr. Bean and crew. While we waited though, we stopped by the Dallas Farmer's Market and checked out all the pretty pansies while we looked over our shoulder for Ahmed Hassan to come crash our yard. No sign of him, but I did make a list of everything I ~~needed~~ wanted for my yard in case he makes an appearance near me.

In Dallas, it was just laid back good times. We stayed with Mr. Bean's good friends. They are pretty awesome people. The kind that don't make you feel like you really did crash their weekend. We ate dim sum, played the XBox Kinect, and I got a tour of the most fabulous craft room I've ever seen in my life. It was like an Archiver's was open all night just for me. And this, my friends, is where I found myself in the presence of the most beautiful piece of machinery I've ever seen in my life. A 1903 Golding Pearl letterpress machine. And.It.Was.Amazing. I had one of those moments where my jaw literally hit the floor when the machine was unveiled. All I could say was 'O.M.G.'. I call her 'Pearl'.

I won't pretend to know anything about this particular machine, but what I do know is I was in the presence of greatness. Pearl, can I just say you are impressive? Check out her heart shaped pedal. Be still my heart. Apparently that is a pretty rare pedal. Pearl, you had me at 1903, but that heart shaped pedal won me over.

After that, nothing could really compare. My weekend had pretty much peaked. But, I can say I was left a little speechless once again when we stopped by a house in our friends' neighborhood. The Christmas lights were insane. Mr. B doesn't know it yet, but I am fully expecting something like this in our yard next year. He can't say it's impossible now. ;)

After all of that, Mr. B still had to run the race, so Sunday we all got up early to cheer Mr. Bean on. He did really well on the race. I am so proud of him. He is now inspired to sign up for some more, so next time, maybe I'll join him. We'll see. I'd kind of retired my racing shoes, but it's hard to just sit and watch all those racers run by you and not be inspired by their sheer determination. Pretty amazing.

Thanks to everyone who allowed us to crash their weekend!! For me, Christmas time is about family and friends, so it was a perfect way to kick off the Christmas holidays!

I promise to post what I've been working on next time. Until then!

December Obsessions: The All-I-Want-For-Christmas Edition

2010-12-02T20:21:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite time of year. I not only love the music and the cooler weather and scarves and being able to drink a latte without sweating, but I absolutely love Christmas. No other time of year does the city sparkle at night like it does during Christmas time. Love.It.

For my obsessions this month, I decided to show you what's on my Christmas Wish List. Since Mr. Bean surprised me with a Silhouette SD for our anniversary (we don't do gifts for our anniversary, so I really was surprised), I told him not to get me anything for Christmas and I meant it. So, this is the wish list that follows the Silhouette if I hadn't already gotten the number one thing on my list. Enjoy!

1. Jelly Roll Pans. I have some cookie sheets without a lip, but some baking just requires that lip.

2. Jonathan Adler iPhone covers....when they come out with covers for the iPhone 4. Any one will do.

3. Heather Bailey Jack & Jill Lunch Bag Pattern. I bring my lunch to work most of the time. It's about time I look cute doing it.

4. Anolon Advanced cookware. Mr. Bean bought me some really ~~expensive~~ nice cookware pieces, but despite using only bamboo cooking utensils, the ~~piece of crap~~ teflon peels.

5. Rule Breaking Quilts. I got an opportunity to go to the International Quilt Festival last month and I am ready to break some quilting rules. After I learn to quilt. Whenever that may be.
6. Denyse Schmidt Quilts. A lot of bloggers are recommending this one. I love the triangle one in the upper left hand corner. I kind of dream about having this draped over a chair (which I'd have to buy once I made the quilt. So it could match, of course.)
7. M. Flynn Earrings. Four words: Antique.Swarovski.Flower.Earrings. Four letters: L.O.V.E. Seriously, do I need to say anymore?
8. A Kindle. No explanation is necessary. I love this new color, too.
9. Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour. This was already an obsession of mine. I just want to reiterate that to the world wide web. And anyone who might be reading that might want to buy me something. Kidding....kidding.
10. Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher. The staples are smaller than a mini stapler (which usually seems like it's still too big) and it just seems easier and safer to use. The last time I was working with my mini stapler, I put a staple thru my finger. Not cool.

As you can see, I am a simple girl with simple thoughts. OK, that is a lie. But I pretty much buy myself what I want all year around, so my Christmas wish list always stays pretty tame. I hope you enjoyed them anyway!

Hippo Bithday, Shiraz!

2010-11-22T10:13:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to show you this next card. I actually thought of it while I was making this card back in February knowing full well who I would make it for. I sketched it out on some scrap paper and basically waited until this week to make it. It was hard to wait that long, but I think that makes me all the more excited to give this to the little boy it was meant for. My BIL scoffed when he found out there were no moving parts (LOL) so I hope this one doesn't disappoint. :)

Shiraz turns 2 this month. He's a pretty amazing little guy, a lot of which stems from the fact that he has pretty amazing parents. Shiraz's father is sort of the older brother Mr. Bean never had. Mr. B looks up to him and respects him and loves working for him. Shiraz's mother is a fascinating woman. She is from Tanzania, fluent in like 5 different languages (I don't think I'm exaggerating here), operates Journey to Africa, a company that specializes in customized safaris to Tanzania and Kenya (please check it out even if you aren't considering a trip to Africa...it'll make you want to go, like now), is an awesome mother, baker and, of course, crafter. She is the one who inspired me to actually sit and learn to sew and is a huge supporter of my addiction to paper. So, needless to say, I always try to make something special for Shiraz. Because I know whatever it is I create, it will be appreciated. And that is like icing on the cake for a craft addict, isn't it?

The inspiration for this card was a combination of the Elephant Baby card and Jenn Ski's alphabet cards. While I was making that card, I thought how cute it would be to have a diorama-esque card that showed animals and numbers instead of letters.

I went with hippos because, well, there aren't many animals that are cuter than hippos. Since Shiraz was turning two, I wanted two hippos sitting in a body of water - much like the grassy waters you see on any nature show. Everything was sketched out and hand cut except, of course, the Thickers and mini alpha stickers. I am really upset with myself because I actually made little party hats for the hippos and then forgot to glue them down. UGH.

For the water, I used two different tones of blue cardstock. One textured. One flat. I tried to keep it from looking like an ocean. The jury is still out on whether I was successful or not, but I think we can all use our imaginations here.

For the grass, I used two different papers. One was a light green patterned paper. The other was Bazzill Bling, but I used both the bling side and the reverse (matte) side of it. Each blade was hand cut and glued down in a pretty ugly manner to a piece of cardstock, which is one reason why I had to change my original plan to have grass along the bottom of the card.

For the sun, I used a circle punch on some scraps and just clipped it to look like rays. I added a button for more color from a huge jar that my grandmother gave me of her leftover buttons. Gotta love Grandma. The clouds were freehanded on the reverse side of the cardstock and hand cut.

I didn't originally include the pennant banner, but what says 'birthday' better than a banner? So, I used some twine to make it look like the hippos where holding up a banner just for Shiraz. I literally tied the twine in a bow around the hippos' tail and prayed it didn't rip the tails off. That's what you call livin' la crafty vida loca, my friends.

I used Thickers for Shiraz's name and placed it on a little name plate I created with blue cardstock. OK, I'm lying. I didn't do that on purpose, but don't you love when stuff works out like that?? :) What I did do on purpose was place the letters in a way that made it look like they were each floating in water. And, finally, I think it goes without saying that I used a ton of pop up dots to piece this card together.

If you are still reading, that was about it! I think with every card you make, you think of all these things you could have done differently or other things you could have added - and even things you forgot to add - but one aspect of card making that I enjoy is the problem solving part of it. You start out with a one dimensional sketch and figure out how to make it two dimensional. I love how it came out and I know Shiraz and his parents will love it, too.

Happy Birthday, Shiraz! It's been such a pleasure to watch you grow up. I hope you love your card, because I think I already know what I want to do next year. :)

Happy Anniversary, Mr. Bean

2010-11-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

Press play!

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Crafting in Circles

2010-11-14T22:40:00.000-08:00

Anita's birthday card was 100% inspired by Tara Donovan. I came across Tara Donovan's work a couple of weeks ago while I was clicking thru images in Google. Google images to me is like YouTube to a 10 year old boy. I can spend all day looking at images.

When our friend, Sharmee, and I started brainstorming for ideas for her card, we knew it definitely had to have some sort of wow factor. I was looking for some inspiration on creating something that was sort of organic looking, like coral. When I found images from the gallery who represents Tara in New York, I basically was in awe. Her installations seriously take my breath away. She is known for taking everyday materials and transforming them into these beautiful sculptures. Using everyday materials and using items I already own was a goal of mine for this card, so discovering Tara Donovan was crafty fate. Take a few minutes to check out her work. Can you guess which one inspired Anita's card?

To make this card, I basically used a circle punch to create a billion little circles out of coffee filters. My intention was to color the filters with watercolor pencils (Anita let me borrow hers a while ago and I've been dying to use them on something), but I liked the way they looked in their natural color. I then took 8 circles at a time and folded them in half.

These were hand stitched to keep them all in place and make sure they stayed folded, which is what you are seeing above. Apparently the trick here is to keep them away from your dog. After about 5 hours of work one night, Freddie ate all the pieces I made that night. Yeah. I won't lie. I cried.

I then used glue dots (sorry, Anita, I know you hate them, but they are so handy!!) to glue three of the pieces together and then glue them down as one unit. I tried to be green and sew them down, but they weren't sitting as well as I wanted, so I reverted to gluing them down in a random pattern. But some of them are sewn in.

I originally glued the circles down on kraft colored cardstock, but I decided I wanted some color to the card, so I cut the entire piece out and mounted that on textured teal colored cardstock. Most likely Bazzill.

Here is the final result. I am obsessed. Is it bad to be obsessed with something you make? If it is, then I guess I am a horrible person. Horrible. It was like having a little piece of Tara right in my craft room.

Here is a closeup of the pieces. Each circle measures approximately 1/2 inch. And, here is where you can kind of see Freddie's next addition to the card making process. After I was done, she decided to lick the card down the middle. A little extra love thrown in just for you, Anita. Luckily, it dried really well.

And one more pic of a really close closeup. Just for grins.

I know Anita will love the card as much as I do. And I know she will take better care of it than ~~Freddie~~ I will.

Happy Birthday, Anita!!! I hope you have an amazing day!!

A is for Awesome. I mean, Anita. Well, OK. Awesome Anita.

2010-11-14T18:30:00.000-08:00

Anita has a birthday this week so our mutual friend, Sharmee, and I have been trying to come up with some crafts worthy enough to give to her. Anita is the awesomest, greenest crafter I know, so we challenged ourselves to use what we have and not buy anything new to create something she'd love. With my Seester's ingenuity, I modified this lovely autumn wreath by Elise Blaha into a 'A'. And, I think I kind of love it.

Anita loves anything blue, so I dug into my craftovers - my fabric scraps and ribbon scraps - and took out anything I had that was blue or would coordinate with blue. I surprised myself with how much blue and green I actually have. Even my pinking shears were blue! A sign that this project was meant to be, no?

Then I stole two wire hangers from Mr. Bean and had him break away from his laptop for a few minutes to form a (huge) 'A'. Another sign this project was meant to be. I have an aversion to wire hangers a la Mommy Dearest so wire hangers are rare in the Pintobean household.

I cut the scraps into strips about 7" long. Then I stopped to take a picture because they just looked so darn pretty piled up like that. I contemplated stopping there and thought of ways I could convince Anita that it was some sort of art installation on my kitchen table but I was pretty sure Anita would have wanted me to use them, so I forged ahead.

I basically just knotted the strips all along with wire hanger per Elise's instructions. Simple as that.

Pretty Awesome. Just like Anita. I love how it turned out. I hope she likes it. If she doesn't, I've already figured out how to turn it into a 'P'....

November Obsessions

2010-11-08T16:36:00.000-08:00

Well, hello, November! So glad to see you! We've had beautiful weather lately, and I couldn't be more pleased. I haven't had a ton of time to sit and obsess over things like I usually do, so you get a break on the long obsession post this month. So, here we go...

{photo taken of ShakeItPhoto homepage}

ShakeItPhoto for the iPhone. This iPhone app has taken over my photo album. It's so much fun!! When you take a picture, it even makes a sound as the picture spits out...just like a Polaroid camera! I find myself taking pics just to shake them and watch them develop faster. It is so addicting!! Love the vintage vibe the pics have. Not to mention every time I shake my iPhone, I sing a little rendition of Outkast's Hey Ya. And that, my friends, is worth every penny.

{images via Chanel}

Chanel Nail Colour. Need I say more? I kind of want to buy some just to stare at all day. And a set that I can hold all day. And then a set that I can actually use. Or maybe just stare at all day. I'd be scared to ruin it's loveliness. I need these. Like, now.

Coeur de Pirate, "Printemps". I love French pop - even though I don't speak French. Mr. Bean speaks it very well, though. He attended a language arts high school so he took French for four years. And unlike most kids, he actually remembers it all. This song pretty much makes me want to learn French and then start up a band with Mr. Bean and tour the world.

That's all I've got for this month! Hope you enjoyed it all!

What I Am

2010-11-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

I saw this on Ali Edward's blog and I had to share. I love Sesame Street. And being an avid Oprah fan, I love will.i.am. He has a huge heart and always surprises me with his generosity and sincerity. To the point of tears. As soon as I see him walk out on stage, I usually grab a Kleenex. After seeing this video, I love him (and Sesame Street) even more.

No tricks. Just Treats.

2010-10-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! I don't know why I love this holiday so much. I have a very overactive imagination, so I am not big on scary movies and ghost stories and such. But what's not to love about a holiday that you can wear whatever you want and eat all the candy you want?

I typically decorate the front of our house with all sorts of spider webs and orange and purple lights, but time got the best of me this year. I am going to try to convince Mr. Bean to sit outside like a Halloween lawn ornament and scare trick-or-treaters as they go by, but he's not as into Halloween as I am. My brother's neighbor does that every year. He doesn't yell 'boo' or anything. He just sits at the door dressed like a grim reaper and every once in a while reaches over and taps an unsuspecting kid on the shoulder as his wife hands out candy. He's gotten a reputation for it, so it's always fun to see the lines of kids that walk up to his door and run away screaming.

Every year, I like to make a little something for Mr. Bean's coworkers. This year, I decorated some jars of apple butter that my grandma made. My grandma cans stuff like a madwoman, so every time my dad goes up to visit her, he brings back about 10 cases of items she's canned. It'd be a nice gesture if it was just once a year, but my dad goes to see her about 6 times a year. We got jelly, salsa, apple butter and preserves coming out of our ears!! I've been able to avoid getting a surplus of jars at my house, but this last time my dad got crafty on me. He was basically unloading cases while I wasn't looking and took off before I could object. Talk about trick-or-treat! So, what do you do with 5 cases of apple butter? You decorate them! I don't know about you, but seeing a bunch of mason jars makes me just want to slap some ribbon on them.

My grandma is the type of grandma that wants everyone to call her 'Grandma'. So, I thought it'd be cute to make some "Made by Grandma" labels for her jars.

I printed out the text onto large shipping labels and used my Curvy Cutter to cut them down into circles. You don't see it here, but I added my name on the label for it to read "Made by Selina's Grandma". I wanted it to look like an afterthought, so I hand wrote it. You'll see it in the final pics.

Then, I made tags using black cardstock and my signature white pen.

I used a plate to cut burlap into circles to go over the jars. Here is where having a mom that's a work horse helps. When you get tired of cutting, she'll do it for you. :) I went with burlap because I love the texture it adds to any project.

Next, I basically assembled everything on each jar and tied it with ribbon using a rubber band to keep the burlap in place. I used what I had in my craft room, so I chose a purple and orange color scheme. Who says Halloween always has to be black and orange?

That's it! I have a few more to make to give to some friends. I didn't know apple butter was so popular until I started giving it away. Good for me because I only got rid of one case today!

Alright, back to work. I want to get home and clean up. I have quite a bit of cleaning up to do at home. The state of my craft room is about as scary as any horror movie I've ever seen. It spooks me every time I walk in there. It's like Nightmare on Bean Street. ;)

Hope everyone has a spook-tacular Halloween!

He {hearts} She

2010-10-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I didn't get half the stuff done I wanted to around the house or in my craft room, but I never do, so it was a pretty productive weekend if you measure it against my other non-productive weekends.

My latest card was inspired by this Kristina Werner card. As you may already know, I am kind of a fan of hers. A big one. I wish I had an ounce of her creativity. And her craft supplies. I could do great things I tell you. Great things.

Anyway, Mr. Bean's second cousin, Suneeta, got married recently so I figured I'd make a wedding card. When I got married, Mr. B and I received cards from all over the world from people we'd never heard of or met before because of my MIL and FIL's vast network of family and friends. Being a lover of all things card related, it was really exciting to get so many cards in the mail. However, they were all the traditional ones you see at your local drugstore. Except one. I have a friend from Tanzania whose mother sent the most beautiful card. It was like art. In fact, it was art. Not to take anything away from the sentiments included in the cards we received, but out of the 5 or 6 dozen cards we got, that particular card is no doubt the one I cherish the most. If I was a blogger worth anything, I'd dig it out and take a picture and show it to you, but I am typing this at work because I am an employee worth nothing. :)

With this card, I wanted to make something non-traditional and something that would stand out amongst the 5 or 6 dozen cards that Suneeta herself will no doubt receive. I've been kind of obsessed with these male and female figures for a while now, and loved they way Kristina Werner used them.

I used less layers than I typically do since I am mailing this one to the other side of the country. I do love me some pop up dots but the postal service doesn't take to them too kindly.

I hand cut the figures using a white cardstock from Bazzill Bling, so there is some shimmer you can't see in the pics. The black and kraft colored cardstock is Bazzill as well. The heart is from Hobby Lobby. Very simple. And hopefully unique.

Please excuse the large glob of glue dots on the female's leg. I didn't notice that until I uploaded the pictures. I was apparently very frightened that that particular leg would come tearing off the card and wreak havoc on all mankind because it looks like I tripled up on the glue dots there. But I assure you, no glue dots were harmed in the making of this card.

That's all I've got for now. I do want to give a shout out to my Billy and say Happy Birthday! I hope you have an awesome day!!!

Bienvenidos a Miami

2010-10-12T22:39:00.000-07:00

I took a quick trip to Miami sans Mr. Bean to help celebrate my friend's 30th birthday. It was hard work but somebody's gotta do it, right? I went there feeling 21 again and left feeling....well, really old. I had a blast getting to know some of my friend's best friends and am really glad I got to see first hand why she loves them so much. It was a pretty awesome group of people. I hope to see them again soon.

Here's a few quick snaps I took. I took an actual camera, but never actually had it on me so most of the pics were via my iPhone.

As you can see, I focused quite a bit on the Cuban fare. I am not typically a big pork eater outside of curries, but I have to say, a good Cuban sandwich can convert almost anyone. I had to have some yuca and plantains in the mix and the rest of the pics are in and around our hotel and glimpses into our evenings.

I will be back on a regular schedule beginning this week. I've just about got my voice back (a result of the 'feeling like I was 21 again') and am almost rested enough that I am feeling back to my ~~old lady~~ self again. I have neglected my craft room, but I should have a decent post for you after this weekend. Adios!

October Obsessions

2010-10-03T22:06:00.000-07:00

Wow. September flew by faster than I expected. And it actually feels like fall here! This weather is making me giddy. Even Freddie loves it. She tends to get frisky with cooler weather. It's really cute. Lately she won't even come inside when we coax her with treats. I wish I could do that today instead of be at work. Only I probably wouldn't be coaxed with treats. It'd be more like, "You can stay outside...forever." And I don't think Mr. Bean would appreciate it if I came home and said I got fired because I wanted to go outside and play all day.

This month's obsessions are a bit random, but I think you'll like them.

{image viaTwo Peas in a Bucket}

Crop-a-dile Corner Chomper. This, my friends, is the greatest corner rounder ever. I've had my eye on this for a long time, but my corner rounders from Hobby Lobby were working just fine, so I couldn't justify the expense. Until I started my cards for the Latina Art Show. My corner rounders wouldn't sharpen for the life of me, so I finally broke down and bought the Corner Chomper. And I have but one regret. That I didn't buy it sooner. I used to have to pull strength from The Almighty Himself to round corners to my cards. And I thought that was normal. The Corner Chomper rounds the corners so easily and quickly - and thru multiple layers of cardstock! - I really think this is my favorite tool in my craft room. Seriously.

{image via EK Success}

Embossing Pen by Inkadinkado. I'm a CA (craft addict) and the Embossing Pen was my idea. Seriously. They need to market this pen the way Microsoft has marketed Windows 7. This is one of those products that you envision on your head and one day you actually find that someone actually makes it. I love to emboss. It takes your cards to the next level. But I hate that you are limited to the stamps you own. This, dear craft lover, is the answer. Love it. Thanks, Sharmee, for showing me the way.

{image via Small Screen Scoop}

Project Runway Season 8. This has been an ongoing obsession of mine, so technically it doesn't count, but life is never better than when Project Runway is airing. I absolutely love that they repeated the HP Challenge for designers to make their own fabric with this last episode. Textile design has always intrigued me, so it's so fun to see these designers create and then use the fabric they made on a design. Great marketing, too, because it really makes me want one of those HP TouchSmart systems. For when I become a famous textile designer, of course.

I am totally take by one designer this season. Mondo. I love his point of view. This last episode had me bawling so much, I had to stop the recording so I could clean myself up. Several times. If you haven't watched it, Lifetime has the full episode here and you can actually download Mondo's (and all the other designers') pattern here. I think I might use Mondo's for a card in the near future. I can't wait to see what Mondo will be producing the rest of the season. I don't see how he won't be at Fashion Week. I really think Mondo will win it all.

{image via Calico Corners}

Calico Corners. Um, so when did Calico Corners become cool? The last time I went inside a Calico Corners store, I think I was 8. And I don't remember blown away at the fabric choices. (Even as an 8 year old, I would have remembered fabulous fabric.) But, the other day, I was doing some online searches for some cool, affordable fabric and I stumbled upon Calico Corners. They have some really awesome fabrics to choose from that vary from traditional to ethnic to a more vintage feel. I am really impressed. And then, SHUT THE FRONT DOOR. Take a look at Iman's collection, sold exclusively at Calico Corners. I've seen other fabrics with comparable designs, but not for that price. I DIE. I need about 500 yards of every style. Please.

The Girl by City and Colour. I don't really need to explain why I love this song so much. Dare I say that Dallas Green just may be the new Jack Johnson in my heart? I don't know....you tell me....

That's all for this month! I haven't created anything lately because I have been playing around on PSE a lot. (Show some love for the new blog header!!) Man, I could play all day with that program and never get tired of it. Quite possibly the best purchase of 2010 in my book.

I actually took a last minute trip up to Iowa to visit my sister again. She got an infection that almost landed her in the hospital so my mom and I flew up there as quick as we could to be with her. It was a shame we were there under those circumstances, but it was really nice to just be there with her with no real agenda except for her to work on getting better. I got lots of Colt time, too, which is always an exciting adventure. So, I'll leave you with this pic I snapped on my iPhone.

{This is Colt. Hanging out on the couch - even though he knows he
isn't supposed to - but looking quite pleased with himself nonetheless.}

And this article on creativity crushers. It's a good read. Laters!

A Gleek-y Birthday

2010-09-21T08:38:00.001-07:00

I think it is pretty obvious what this card was inspired by. I am a HUGE Glee fan and so is my friend, Blanca. She's kind of my clone in the sense that we have the same sense of humor and the same interests...fashion...books....food....trashy TV...you name it. I met her in college at a time when I really needed my own set of friends. I had just gotten out of a bad relationship, and I found myself in that position where I realized all of my friends were actually his friends. So, she took me under her wing and showed me how much more fun college can be without a boyfriend. She's been my partner in crime ever since.

Blanca is only 9 months older than I am but was born the year before I was. So basically we are only the same age for 3 months out of the year. And, since I like to be a pain, I like to give her a hard time about that. And it never gets old. Well, she does. Not the joke. Ha ha ha. [I hope she's reading.]

Anyway, this card is for her birthday. I solicited the help of my friend, who is pretty awesome to allow me to use her and abuse her crafty awesomeness, so let's just give a shout out to Anita. She was my hand model as well as my Cricut extraordinaire.

Pretty simple. Anita used Sure Cuts A Lot on her Cricut to cut out the letters in the font I wanted. We took a picture of her hand and had it printed at the Walgreens photo center. I cut out the hand in the picture and used pop up dots on the letters and the picture. The black letters are Basic Grey's Micro Stickers (my fave). I didn't have them in black, so I used a Sharpie.

Here is the inside.

The inside has a quote from the show: "Wait, so old people can join Glee Club now?" - Finn Hudson

All the paper is Bazzill, of course. Love it.

It's no coincidence that I posted this today. Glee premieres tonight!! If you don't already watch it...well, you deserve a slushie. ;)

All caught up and nowhere to craft.

2010-09-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

I finally sent off the cards yesterday for the art show that I blogged about last month. They should arrive by Thursday. Yay. I have been up late the last couple of nights trying to get them out in time, so it's a relief to have that checked off the list.

The idea was to have two cohesive cards that were also unique in their own way. So, I used the same paper, but a slightly different pattern. This second card was sort of a crocodile inspired look.

I am not quite sure I pulled it off, but I am fairly pleased with how it turned out. Especially when the two cards are sitting next to each other.

This is a shot of them as I was packing them up. The card I re-made has an orange butterfly and the crocodile inspired one has a yellow butterfly, both with Bazzil Basics cardstock. The kraft colored cardstock is Bazzill as well. The patterened paper is Hambly. Since the cards are so much like the one I already blogged about, I didn't take a ton of pics, so these are pretty much all I got. Enjoy!

And just for grins, I'll show you a pic of the girly burp cloths I made over the weekend. I've made these before, but I tend to err on the side of 'functional' when making/buying things for newborns so these are perfect. Since I don't know but one little girl, it was so much fun to break out into the pink fabric I've had in my fabric stash forever. I love pink fabrics, but I can't ever use them because everyone has boys!

This is my favorite go-to gift to make and give. I basically do something like this. I am a slow sewer, and even I can churn out 3 of these in under an hour from start to finish. Very simple to do. The fabrics I used are Amy Butler (of course!) and Heather Bailey.

That's all I got! I am pretty much caught up on everything I wanted to do! So now back to reality. I need to do a serious reorganization of my craft room but I am not sure how to just yet without just taking everything out and starting over. And I am not quite ready to do that right now. But we'll see. I am getting to where I have different things I am working on in the extra bedroom, the kitchen, the living room as well as my craft room. So, it's getting harder and harder to clean up all that mess. And find everything. So, I need to find a solution. A solution that doesn't involve buying a bigger house or kicking Mr. Bean out.

Hope everyone has a great week!

September Obsessions.

2010-09-10T12:04:00.000-07:00

I figured while I am trying to look busy at work, I'd fill you guys in on my latest obsessions.

{Image taken from the header of Elements of Style}

Elements of Style Blog. This blog has so much eye candy, I can't stand it. I basically want to live in this blog. If that were possible. When it is possible, I'll let you know. I'm sure I could use the company, but mostly I'd be that kid that shows off all their toys and won't let you touch anything.

{Image via Green Your Decor}

Cloud9 Fabrics. As much as I'd like to think I am livin' La Vida Verde, from the sewing perspective, it's kind of hard to make the full switch to eco-friendly fabrics. They just aren't that cute and there aren't that many options. Cloud9 Fabrics is changing all that. And me likey. Seeing this fabric is making want to consider making a quilt, but really it's just so I can buy it all and keep them all in my "collection."

{Image via Martha Stewart}

Vacation Memory Jars. Why didn't I think of this?? I always have the best of intentions when I travel to make a scrapbook, but I never follow thru. Then I think, 'Oh, I'll just make a shadow box' and then that falls thru. Everything I save basically stays in a photo box on a shelf in my closet and all the pics remain as little thumbnails on my hard drive. This idea is basically the answer to all of life's vacation memory questions - because I know you have them. My love of jars + my pack rat-tiness + my travels = a perfect solution for displaying all of my memorabilia. Love it. I'm planning a trip to IKEA to look for some cute jars STAT.

The Blessing Basket Project. I went to a blessingway ceremony recently for a friend and one of the hosts presented the mother-to-be with a basket from The Blessing Basket Project. I love baskets to begin with, but their baskets are really extraordinary. They are all made by artisans in Uganda, Bangladesh, Madagascar, Ghana. All of their images are protected, so check out their products here. And read more about the project in a more eloquent manner here.

That's all for this month! Like I said, August flew by way to quickly for me. I've got a lot to catch up on in my craft room, at home, and on TV. Yes, I have a rough life. ;)

Are you there, Fall? It's me, Pintobean.

2010-09-09T19:51:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the hiatus. August flew by way too quickly for me. I'm not sure I totally believe it's September already, but I'll take it. The weather has been playing tricks on me and it actually feels like it's cooling down. But, I won't hold my breath.

I hope everyone had a good Labor Day Weekend. Mr. Bean and I took Freddie Girl up to visit her new cousin, Colt, in Iowa for the weekend. 18 hour drive there. 20 hour drive back. But, seeing this face as we were leaving.

{Love how it looks like she's actually smiling}

And this face when we got home......

{Love that she let us put a jersey on her. That's how tired she was.}

Makes it all worth it. Even the part where we ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere.

However, I am completely exhausted. I have a couple of things I need to finish up before I can post anything interesting. I don't think I've stepped into my craft room once since the last card I made, so I need to get busy! I'll post a few pics from my trip, in the meantime, but I'll need a couple more days to recuperate.

Two Birds. One Card.

2010-08-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

Recently, a good friend of mine, Christina, asked me to take part in an event her organization is hosting. She and her husband, Nehme, own Chadra Mezza & Grill in Fort Worth, Texas. If you are ever in the area, you must stop by. Just tell Nehme "Drunk Girl" sent you. Long story.

As if owning a restaurant wasn't enough, Christina is also the president of the Fort Worth Chapter of the Hispanic Women's Network of Texas. Every year they host the HWNT Latina Art Show as a fundraiser that goes toward college scholarships for Latina students. This year, Christina asked me to make some birthday cards for the event. I, of course, accepted but was hesitant because what on earth would I make??

That brings to me Mr. Bean's cousin. She and her two sisters are the only girl cousins Mr. Bean has on that side of his family. She just finished her undergrad and is on her way to get her masters with the PPA program at her university. She's sweet, stylish, beautiful and extremely talented (there is one painting she did that I am tempted to carry out with me every time I go to her house) and she loves crafts. My sister and I always lived far away from our girl cousins until we were much older. But, I don't actually have too many girl cousins to begin with, so the fact that Mr. Bean's only girl cousins have welcomed me with open arms means more to me than they'll ever realize. So, I wanted to make something special for her.

I have a bookmark of Stonehenge that I brought back from our India/London trip in January. I have it at work on my cork board, so everyday I see it and wish I could be anywhere else than at work. While daydreaming, I've been sort of inspired by the shapes of Stonehenge and how, even though each piece is unique, they all fit together to form a cohesive pattern.

This isn't the bookmark. It is a pic I took while we were there, but you get the idea. I used this as inspiration for Mr. Bean's cousin's graduation card.

I basically randomly cut out the shapes I wanted and put them back together so the wood grain pattern was pieced back together.

Here's a close up. I added the butterfly for some more dimension and color.

The "congratulations" is written on the inside of the card, so I cut out the dark brown metallic cardstock and the front side of the kraft cardstock so it would peer out. I love looking at demolition drawings at work with all the dashed lines, so I added a faux stitch so it looked like that one piece of patterned paper had been demo'd.

This shows the layers. I used foam pop up dots for each layer. The kraft cardstock is Bazzill. The brown metallic cardstock is similar to one sold at Paper Source. The patterned paper is Hambly.

I ended up liking the results so much that I am also going to make it again and use it as one of the birthday cards I am submitting for the Latina Art Show. I have one more card to make for the art show, which I am still trying to work out in my head, but I will post that as soon as I get it done. Until then!