Studio Peek

Sooooo....you wanna see behind the curtain do you? You wanna see "where the magic happens"? I dunno...can you handle this much excitement?














Ok....I'll give you a peek into my design....ummmm....let's call it a studio. It's really a table in the guest bedroom in my current temporary house but I pack a lot of creatin' into this little nook.


I took these pictures while I was working on a big custom baby shower invitation order. Look how sad my beads look in their boxes! They must be jealous of all the time I spend with my new friends paper and ink. Wow, this is sounding a little kooky...I blame the sushi high I am on.....mmmm....crunch rolls....







So that was just a little peek into the process....you get to see some of my tools, the table my in-laws let me borrow that is now mysteriously covered in ink, my husbands guitar amp that also serves as a spot to throw a tarp to spray my glitter inks all over the place and if you look close enough, you can see all kinds of little paper bits working their way into the (ink stained) carpet....don't worry...my in-laws told me they want new carpet anyways!

New Line of Custom Baby Shower Invitations

I am having so much fun with my new custom invitation line that I have just launched in my etsy shop!

These invitations combine handmade crafty beauty on the front with fully customizable insert for all your party details. All the papers are torn, distressed and inked in my signature style. I use stamps to create the designs and then I color in the designs with markers, chalk or glitter. I accent them with ribbons, rhinestones and brads.

The inside is a fully custom...I can use pretty much any font (thanks graphic designer husband lol), you tell me what you want it to say or I can help you out with the wording and I even add a hand stamped design as well. I have three options in my Baby Shower line that I will feature here right now and am working on a few new designs for other types of celebrations too, let me know what I can do for your event!




I also have gift tags that match with each of these designs so you can have a totally coordinated event. I can also make menu cards, place cards or name cards :)

Caught With Handmade Goodness Part 2

This installment: adorable owl stuff! I know, I know....you etsians are all thinking noooooooooo! Not owls! Are they wearing cowls? Are they moustacied? Well suck it. My kid loves owls! She'd be pleased as punch to see all owl front pages on etsy so you are lucky she is not an admin :) Anyways, here she is wearing the cutest koo-koo (she calls owls koo-koos lol) hair clip from etsy seller RileyBowtique.



And here she is wearing her adorable handmade owl skirt from etsy seller Creativebee706.



More to come...including more koo-koo cuteness, some kitty cat cuteness and more :)

Caught With Handmade Goodness Part 1

I buy a lot of handmade goodies. I give some as gifts and I keep some all to myself. I thought it would be fun to show those goodies in action (except the soap....unless there is great demand then you can pay $1.99 per viewing after just $19.95 sign-up fee lol).

I buy my girls all kinds of handmade stuff- clothes, hair accessories and most recently these adorable friends from buttercupbloom.etsy.com. She worked with me to come up with just the perfect owl and kitty for my girls (who happen to super adore owls and kitties!). So here they are in action....




....can you tell they love them?! I sure do :)

Handmade Weddings are my Favorite!

I've been thinking about weddings lately...all of my friends and most of my family are married and my kids are too young to even consider thinking about their weddings (let's get through grade school first for gods sake)...but I do love helping out with a wedding. Etsy does this whole "handmade wedding" thing and it got me reminiscing about the fact that almost all the weddings I have been involved in were "handmade" to some degree. I wrote and printed my own wedding invitations, made my own bubble bottles and let mother nature decorate with bouganvillas...for another friends wedding we made the pew bows...for another friends we stuffed the almonds in little lacy things...but my favorite was my friend Tammra who got married at a contemporary hotel in San Diego. She didn't want fussy centerpieces so we went with square vases with rocks and a few orchids. It was so gorgeous and expensive looking but it was pretty cheap! I love the ingenuity of handmade weddings but if you are not a crafty person (or don't have one like me who jumps at the chance!) then why not shop etsy to get that handmade uniqueness? Here are just a few things I adore...

In a treasury yay~

I love the surprise of finding one of my items in a treasury made by someone I don't even know! It really makes my day. Here is the pretty treasury made by AMIdesigns (who has a pretty great shop too!)...

Summer Line Sneak Peek

Whew! Been a long time since I blogged! Guess I haven't had much to report- just plugging along here in the SoCal sun. Thought I'd do a quick blog pimpin' my new summer line- especially now that I am getting the kids rounded up and ready for a trip down to South Orange County for some Mission viewing and beach combing. Enjoy!

Snagged a Treasury West yay!

I finally had the time to sit down and stalk the treasury on etsy. I almost missed it though so it was meant to be! The colors are oddly similar to the ones in my last post. Must be in that kind of mood. Probably because I don't have any beads that are that color right now so it's be an excuse to shop!
Here's the treasury (click to see- link will expire after a few days though)...

Some Notes on Materials AKA I love rocks

I just love going to the mailbox and finding it is stuffed with beads! I mean I know I bought them and all but it's still like a total surprise and fun! I just bought some little moonstone briollettes and they are too wonderful. I love the imperfections and inclusions. It all makes me want to tell you how much I love natural stones. Especially not-AAA stones...maybe it's strange but I like to work with the cracked, included, flawed rocks. It's so much closer to nature. I also love pairing these natural bits up with Swarovski for the contrast between the machine perfection and natures perfection...just some thoughts on what it is I do and why....

with a subtle hoot...treasury

Here's the Treasury I got on etsy just moments ago. All that stalking paid off!
I call this "with a subtle hoot..." and it features pale yellows, browns and bronzes.I just love it and hope it gets lots of happy views! (Just click the image to go to etsy and see it in all it's glory)