January Obsessions

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

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)

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!!!

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

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

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

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

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. :)