Foto Friday...reclaiming my mojos

Hello there! It truly has been way too long. You may have noticed or not, but whichever the case I'd like to make my way back into your lives. There are so many reasons for not posting a good majority of this year. The major reason being a lack of time, an increase in work (which is a problem to have), too much of real life happening, but then again when isn't that going to be the case. but there were others. My creative mojos- writing, crafting, picture-taking, baking, had all been hijacked! How? I hate to admit it but mostly by my own demons of insecurities, fear, true lack of interest, but there were others.  I just couldn't muster up the ability to get anything going.

I guess I felt that it didn't really matter what I had to say, no one cares what I've been doing, and that it wasn't worth my time to put myself out there anymore. I felt creatively stunted for sure. On the other hand, I was pressuring myself to get out there, but instead I think my mind instinctively knew I needed a break. I've sat back and just let things happen. I've mentioned before that I usually do my best work when I kind of let it happen, so in turn, I've been sitting back waiting for the "right time" for my mojos to come back. Waiting for my mind to spark, for my crafty fingers to itch, for my eyes and ears to gather information, and for my heart to desire and put stuff out there for me to take interest in.

 So I've been listening and it seems that the first mojo that wants to surface is picture taking. My fingers and eyes have been itching to get back my photography mojo. Its not like I haven't been taking any picture, but I do more so now on my phone because of the sheer ease. I really began to miss the feel of a big formal camera and that it takes to make it work to get a picture you want. I have not touched my dslr in almost a year and just a week ago, I picked it back up again.

They're not perfect, nor did I expect them to be but it was just fun to do. Katarina made it very easy for me to do because she was having just as much fun getting the camera's attention.


I'm not sure where this mojo will take me. I'm just going to continue to listen and try and do and put it out there for anybody who might be interested. My heart be damned.

Foto Friday- Katarina's 2nd Birthday

Well my baby niece, Katarina, has turned 2 and it was time to celebrate once again. Casandra planned a Doc McStuffin theme this year which gave us plenty of room to implement many a cute thing to go with it.

Last year I had mentioned that Casandra's creative side was blossoming, but let me tell you, this year it has fully bloomed. She was in full control of what she wanted and her vision for her baby girl's b-day party. The truth is she has party planning gene, but is now truly inspired to use it.  I really loved her ideas, and I added more of the smaller DIY details to her vision via signs and little homemade extras. It was a lot of fun!

All the added details were DIY ideas we got from either Pinterest or things we've seen before. I ventured into making sugar cookies in the shapes of band aids and mini thermometers that Casandra felt she really wanted instead of cupcakes this year. I found these cute paper straws at the Target $1 section and hot glued on some cute felt flowers to match the flowers that Casandra cut out to decorate her super cute Doc McStuffin headbands for the girls. Even us big girls got to don these headbands to add to the day's fun.  I had a great time making sparkly tongue depressors and painting signs for the table centerpieces and the buffet bar.

 

It always works in Katarina's favor that her birthday lands right around Valentines day because the candy assortment and heart shaped marshmallows made available are so easy to gather and then place into pretty mason jars or candy kabobs. And fruit kabobs are always an easy and healthy addition to any table scape.

For food- 
Casandra had set up a hot dog and sausage bar with all kinds of fixings and variety of breads (even pretzel bread rolls- omg!). She also had this amazing homemade Mac-N-Cheese recipe that was the absolute bomb even for the adults along with Soup Plantation broccoli salad. Yumm!






 After all the set up was done it was time to take pictures of the birthday girl...

 She was a little overwhelmed with all the fuss so the smiles were not readily available, 

but she's as cute serious as she is when she's not.

These are my favorites...

All in all, she had a lot of fun playing in her jumpy with her little friends and that's all that mattered to us. It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon for this beautiful 2 year old little girl who continues to steal our hearts.

Happy Birthday Katarina! We Love You!

Thank you for stopping by.

From my corner to yours...Have a nice weekend.

Foto Friday- Updated Christmas Card books

Christmas is over and its time to put away all the decorations. Thankfully, I took it all down earlier this week with the help of my boys in record time of under an hour! It was so great... Aaah! As much as I was loving my garland this year, it was nice to see the house all back in order.

But the one thing I don't just throw away are the Christmas cards I love getting throughout the holidays. They usually hang on the back of our front doors during the holidays for everyone to look when they come over, but I hate the thought of throwing them out just because. So I used to put them into an album, but as of 2012 I found this idea and started putting them into my own Christmas Foto Card books. Its was a super easy idea and it was a practical way to bring them back out every year to look at just because.

So I wanted to share with you my updated version of those books just in case you were looking for a new way to store and keep your Christmas cards.

For many years,  I've ordered our Xmas cards through Costco because they've offered some great options and are priced just right. The last 3 years they have given customers the choice to order 4 free calendar picture cards with your order and I took them up on it each time. They came in handy and I always kept one for ourselves. So as I was putting our cards away this year, I found all 3 years worth of calendars and decided to use them as the title card covers for my books.


Once again: Super easy.  All I had to do was update the book I had made books for 2012 since it didn't have a cover yet. And since I hadn't done a book for 2013 yet, I pulled out those cards and this years cards, punched holes at the top instead (for a flip book effect), and put the calendars as the covers with the colored rings (available at the dollar store). And I did it all in less than 30 minutes. Perfect!




I also added to the end of each book our Xmas card for that particular year to make sure we remember what we sent out.

For 2014 I wanted something very different for our Xmas cards from what we had done before. I wanted a smaller card, simple and crafty so I made them myself by using my own computer graphics, craft paper and good old scrapbooking skills.  I loved it and will probably do it again.  But because I didn't order our cards this means I will not have a picture calendar to use for our 2015 book. Oh well, it just means I'll just have to come up with something new. Can't wait to see what else I can discover to do.

You can also add anything extra you'd like to them. For 2012 I added a Christmas card that Mikey had hand drawn for the family and it was too special not to include.  This year I included the envelope our SIL's family card came in because it was so cleverly and beautifully addressed. She has great writing anyway, but I loved the idea and the detail involved.

 There's 3 more years to add to the collection. 

I'm going to have to get a bigger basket next year, but they look really nice on display.

 

Ready to preserve your Christmas cards?

From my little corner to yours...Have yourself a crafty weekend!

DIY- Minnie Mouse B-day decorations...

Did you all have a good weekend?

 Well, thankfully we did as well. It was not only a busy one, but it was very fun as we celebrated my niece, Katarina's 1st B-day. My SIL, Casandra, had a Minnie Mouse Bowtique Tea Party theme as the ideal theme for her 1st birthday party. She picked out her vision via Pinterest (we love Pinterest!), and I just helped her execute her plan. She is self declared as being "non-creative" but I have to say that motherhood and wanting to do everything possible for her first child is clearly waking up that creative side in her, and I'm so excited to see that bloom. It will be so much fun to work together.  So I will have pictures to share later this week of the party, but today I wanted to share some of the DIY decorations I came up with for the party and for Katarina.

Sweater Pillow and Hand warmers

Its hard not to come across a multitude of different blogs that have their own amazing DIY ideas, and I love them because its always fun and amazing to see the stuff some of these ladies come up with and share with their readers.  One of those blogs I follow is the eighteen25. I was introduced to them a few years back when I followed their idea for Christmas Card books that I now I make every year for our household. I follow them on Facebook as well, and a few weeks back they posted this cutest idea for a heart shaped sweater pillow for Valentines season. (click on the picture for link). The idea is to take any old cable knit sweater from your closet or a thrift store and you can make any pillow out of it. Soo cute, right?! I hadn't sewn anything in a while so it was a great chance to do something for Valentines...But as the idea swirled in my head along with planning Katarina's party, I took the idea a step farther and figured that I could "easily" convert this pillow into a Minnie Mouse pillow idea.  So Thank You ladies from eighteen25!



So following directions from eighteen25, this is what I did:
* I found a cable knit sweater at a goodwill store for $3.00 (washed it of course), and laid it out on the  floor inside out.
* Made a cardboard stencil of half a Mickey face and just turned it around to trace both sides of the face. (I had to modify my drawing as I went along to get the right look. It wasn't perfect, but it worked)
* I pinned the two sides of the sweater pieces together, cut it out and then machine sewed them together
* Turned it inside out and stuffed it.
* I hand stitched the top to close it up.

 

Then you take an 8x10 square of black felt and you pinch it in the middle and sew it in place. I added the little extra piece of hot pink felt for an added touch.

And within less than hour I had myself what looked like a "Minnie Mouse" pillow.

Cute, right??

Minnie Handwarmers:  I am not one to let good material to go to waste so as I sat and looked at the remaining parts of the cut up sweater I realized there was enough space on the arms to make little Minnie heads with a smaller Mickey head stencil I had printed up. But what to make them into? Hmmm...it has been really cold so I thought- hand warmers! Perfect!

So in the same fashion as the pillow, I actually hand stitched them, pulled them inside out, filled them with rice, and stitched them closed. I added little bows on them and voila...Minnie Mouse hand warmers!
You stick them in the microwave for 10-20 seconds and you can put them in your coat pocket to warm up your hands. 

So for $3 I made a big pillow for Katarina (which she loved btw) and 24 hand warmers for the guests at her party.

Not a bad deal for a DIY craft,
 and they made for a cute party favor.

Planning a party for me is always an excuse to get creative with my hands so here are a few other things I made to make Katarina's party theme come together:

Centerpieces-

 

These are the centerpieces I made for the party tables. The circles are foam circles (Target $ section) that I had previously used and painted yellow for Casandra's baby shower so I  re-purposed them by painting them hot pink (2-3 coats to cover up the yellow). Then I found these pretty boa's at the 99 cent store (Valentines section) that was long enough to count into 4 pieces and put them in the middle. 

Casandra had a friend make her some cute Minnie Mouse Cricut cut outs that I hot glued onto sticks and stood up in some painted foam bases (also from the Dollar tree) to complete the pieces. This is how the final centerpiece looked on the tables.






Candy table:

One of the things that Casandra really wanted was a small candy table for the kids so we made that happen with appropriately colored Valentine candy readily available around this time, so it made it pretty easy to fill up and decorate empty jars and vases I had around the house.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels:

But in addition to the candy, I had been wanting to make and decorate chocolate covered pretzels that my SIL, Adriana, had made for a baby shower. I couldn't find the pretzel sticks she used so I bought a barrel of thick pretzels from Costco and used those instead. And they came out really cute.

This was again another super easy DIY food craft, and it also took less than 1/2 hour to make about 50 pretzels. This could also be such a versatile food craft for any occasion just by changing up the chocolate color and/or the sprinkles or decorations you'd like to use. Target always has sprinkles in the dollar section, and I found these pink circle sprinkles that were perfect for this occasion.

Minnie Mouse Cake:

Katarina had a smaller little get together (she's a first child what I can say ;) the night before her main kiddie party and I attempted to make a Minnie Mouse cake.  I couldn't promise Serg and Cas that I'd be successful, but they were happy with what I came up with.  As you can see, I made 3 seperate cake cirlces and cut out the smaller ones to make the ears. I crumb coated the cake the night before and then re-frosted the cake to make it smooth the morning of. 

I added another felt bow and left it nice and simple.

Mom's touch:

Casandra added some great creative touches herself by making these cute chocolate Minnie Mouse cupcakes. A first time attempt for the new mom and they turned out fantastic! She added mini-Oreos for the ears and tiny fondant circles to get the look she wanted and they were a hit with the kids of course. 

They matched soo well next to the special homemade cake that my friend Sarah Salazar made for us. 

She did such a beautiful job on it just from a picture Casandra gave her from Pinterest.

 

One of Casandra's initial inspirations for the menu was a sandwich cutter in the shape of a Mickey head she already had for Katarina. She used that to make ham/cheese and peanut butter/jelly tea sandwiches for the kids in addition to the delicious gourmet sandwiches she made for the adults. What a great way to add that special touch to the overall theme. Again, another big hit with the kids and some of the parents too ;)

As you can see, this party had a lot of homemade touches and it honestly all came together really nicely to make it a magical 1st birthday party for our little Katarina.  She may not remember all of this right now, but she'll look back on these pictures to see just how much love was put in to make her day special. 

I hope you found a little inspiration and some easy ideas to try yourself for any future special occasions you might have.  I  hope you'll enjoy trying something new as much as I do. 

From my corner to yours...Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life Tuesday- Catching up Weeks 37- 44 (Part3)

Ok, so we're getting really close!!! I've been able to pack this post with quite a few weeks for you to catch up on so I hope you'll hang in there with me for just a little bit more.

So here we go...

WEEK 37- This week was another multiple page week as you can see.  Aside from a Back to School night for Mikey, and getting to speak at my Weight Watcher meeting, this was the week of our 3rd Reunion of the year- the 2nd annual "We are Family" Reunion. 

We got a little more organized this year and sent out an E-vite instead, so to get that in the album I went back to the e-vite site and took a screen shot of the invitation, cropped it and saved it as a j-peg file so I could get it printed through Costco.  Voila! I also added some journal cards to write in the families that were represented at this year's reunion.


 




And I added an insert with the pictures I took that week of Katarina and Samantha as well.








 Then I finished the back side with the rest of the pictures of the reunionn, and I made sure to include the group pictures so we can compare them to next years.  I had fun adding some color with the kit cards too.

 

WEEK 38- A week of seeking new opportunities for me, a new running gadget for Mikey, and new way of going green, and a possible new acting career for Mikey. lol. On the flip, Chris found my old typewriter which he got a kick out of comparing to his new "technology," and we went to celebrate an early birthday dinner for Jerry. ;)







                                                                                                                                                                 

WEEK 39-  Another short week where I didn't really get any pictures until the weekend, but those were the ones that mattered the most. Jerry's b-day was actually that coming Monday, but we decided to celebrate the Saturday and Sunday before. Jerry's birthday coincides on the same day as our dear friend Jehad's b-day. They were born the exact same day and year! Go figure, but we had never celebrated their birthdays together so this year we did. Then Sunday we went to church and met up with the family and my little Sofia had a Candy Crush game with Father Ramon.Gotta love it!


WEEK 40- Omg! Week 40! Can you believe it? Anyway, let's just say that as soon as Jerry's b-day hits it becomes Birthday season for our family. This week was my Aunt's b-day, we got to see the baby at the family dinner and Christian and his band Big Brother got to perform at the Guitar Merchant. Oh, and my Lulu got a picture in this week just for looking so cute when she sleeps.

WEEK 41- This week started off special with my little niece's 8th birthday (see what I mean- the 3rd b-day in less than a week and more to come), some random B/W picture taking, a Throwback Thursday picture of my childhood home (Thanks Jess!), and an awesome Bon Jovi concert with Danny (his first and last one apparently), and a fun time at the local parochial school fair with the boys and Mrs. Robinson. 

 WEEK 42 and 43- These two weeks are a good example of where I've tried to make two separate weeks look symmetrical just by using similar title cards and positioning. I also happened to have to Facebook posts (at the top corners) that I print screened once again, saved and got printed like a picture.

 Other than that these two weeks were actually pretty productive and full of some nice memories. I started week 42 off with a clean house (its rare but it happens), we listened to the Dodgers playing in the playoffs on the radio, the boys went on a dinner date with their uncle, and we baby sat Jellybean. Week 43 started off with a high school visit, a beautiful rose least expected from my sweet hubby, and a weekend doing our part for others, and then a Halloween party to celebrate.



WEEK 44-   This was actually one week where it FELT like it was 2 different weeks! It went from celebrating Halloween with the traditional school parade/functions, and trick-or-treating for the kids, to celebrating a wedding all within a few days time.

I love getting decorative items from something as simple as the back of my monthly subscription of Real Simple. They have a monthly calendar and a small picture copy of that month's cover. Love when it can be that easy and super useful!

So I think I will end it here for this post! 

I have weeks 45 and 46 already done, but I will post those along 

with Week 47, (this current week) and then....I am COMPLETELY caught up!! 

WOOHOO!!!

It feels so good to have followed thru on this challenge, and I can 't thank you all enough for 

stopping by to check out this fabulous project once again.

From my corner to yours...Have a great day!

Note: For more information about Project Life please visit www.beckyhiggins.com or you can find Project Life products for sale on Amazon.com and Michael's craft stores.