Sugar and Spice and Everything...Handmade for Christmas!

Hello, my dear reader :) …I feel like I’ve been neglecting you :(

And in a way I have for I have been playing a game of catch up with my “To Do” list for the past three weeks.  However, this blog comes to you with much merriment, cheer, and exhaustion from my beloved northeast. I am now in New Jersey in the home I grew up in, wrapped in a couple of cozy blankets, sipping on a cup of spicy hot cocoa, and surrounded by holiday adornments by the mother of yours truly which inspire and provoke many a memory. It’s bitter cold outside and the chilling wind is tapping at the windows, a complete 180 turn from the 70 something degrees back in sunny Los Angeles. I have been here since last Thursday and not sure I am used to the bone chilling, freezing weather as of yet. The only thing I would like frozen is time!

Since I’ve arrived, there have been lots to do and I foresee myself making my “To Do” list even longer during these next few weeks. Last Friday my eldest sister, JD, held a Christmas Piano Recital for her little students at her home and it was the perfect time to get into the holiday mood. The house was full of musicians playing Christmas songs and the performance included my cousin K and a family friend J who sang and caroled and put everyone in the holiday spirit. I use the word “spirit” loosely because the excitement and laughter from all the kids in the house could have been caused by the sugar high from the cookies, cakes, and brownies being served.

On Saturday night I was able to meet up with a small group of my closest friends in Hoboken, around the block from the Cake Boss’s Carlos’ Bakery, at the gorgeously designed W Hotel. We had so much to talk about, especially about my thoughts on moving back to the east coast, and I’m looking forward to seeing them again at our upcoming ladies night dinner in NYC’s Buda khan. Seems like our Sex & the City times are here again ;)

On to another TV series, I spent Sunday with my loving auntie who lives in the city where the opening sequence shots of Soprano’s were taken. She’s planning a Christmas dinner next week and asked if I can help her decorate her apartment. Ignoring my jetlag/slight hangover from the night before, I created my own sugar high by drinking glassfuls of Hawaiian Punch and worked in my magic using things she had around the house mixed with a few items we picked up. Alas, I only had my 7.1 mp digital on me but here’s a sneak peek:



Using a cake plate, vintage china plates, ornaments, and glass vases
to create a Christmas centerpiece for auntie.

 

I will be coming back with the finished shots of auntie’s dinner taken with my new and improved Canon 12.3 mp baby! (Btw, I now have two lovers, well three if count D, my sewing machine and this Canon… ;)

Back in my childhood home, I now turned my attention to my gifts. I’m seriously thankful that I chose a hobby that allows me to make presents rather than buying them, especially since I have a boatload of nephews and nieces to buy presents for. Luckily, I’ve been brainstorming since turkey day as to what I’ll be making for the kids and this will be the first time I chose to make most of my presents for Christmas (with the exception of my 3 nephews). If this works, I’ll be doing this every Christmas... so I’m crossing my fingers that this experiment works. I so want to be that cool auntie that can hand make really cool things and since I do not know how to make video games (I’ll leave that to my stepbro), this is the next best thing I can do to be too cool for school.

My baby nephew A will be turning 1 year old in January. I made him a set of fabric play balls with jingling bells inside and a carrying bag made from 100% cotton linen complete with his initial:



Flannel and cotton fabric jingling balls for baby. 



Personalized cotton sack.



My niece S is 4 years old. She was the easiest since you can hand make a variety of items for little girls. The little lady she is with pink being her favorite color, I made her a flowery and fluffy skirt:

A fluffy, flowery, and pink skirt for my lil niece.

Her mom said she needed hair accessories as well, so I made her some flower headbands and clips:

Roses and pearl hair accessories.

I will be selling these flower items in my Etsy shop, coming soon!

Then there are my three nephews, J age 9, D age 8, and N age 6 whose gifts I cheated with. These little boys were harder to make things for since they are at the age of video games, super heroes, and Nickelodeon. They’re also at the age where you have the chance of giving them a toy they will play with for a few months and then totally forget about it. So after googling and groaning as to what I should make them, I decided to head over to the dollar store and local art store, pick up 15 items that were $1 each, wrap them all up, thrown them in a bag, and have each boy pick a gift from the bag five times. I then made a sack for each of them, also with their initials on it and to act like their own Santa’s bag.



More personalized carrying sacks will act as Santa bags when
filled with their grab bag gifts.



I plan on selling the complete alphabet in my Etsy shop :)

So there you have it! Last but not least, I would like to share some photos of my modern Thanksgiving motif.



Pinecones, candles, and leaves cut out with felt that
protects my wooden table from the hot dishes.



Gunmetal vases filled with branches will add a more dramatic
and modern presence.



I do wish I was able to post this on the actual day of Thanksgiving, but as you can see… I’ve obviously been losing at this catch up game.

Tonight: Karaoke night with the cousins. Oh boy, aside from singing in the shower, I haven’t belted out a tune (in public) in quite a while so I’m actually looking forward to channeling my Lauryn Hill like the good ol’ days…

Enjoy your Wednesday :)   

Yes, I've been MIA...but for good reasons!

Yes, yes...I haven't written much since...OMG, before Thanksgiving?!...but don't you fret dear reader, I am still alive & well. I have been extremely busy attending events, designing, working on a few projects, making presents, preparing for my holiday trip back home to Jersey & NYC, and trying to ace my last MBA class. Reason I'm writing today? To tell y'all about the Sunday Showcase party I joined at this very inspiring blog, Under the Table & Dreaming, which features cool and amazing handmade projects by the blog's author, Stephanie Lynn. (Even cooler, we have the same middle name, heehee) and features many other creative crafters who have shared their handiwork. I will return soon with a blog about the past few weeks & the projects I have been making, specifically the ones I have made for my niece & nephews. Can't wait to share & showoff the pics!  In the meantime check out:




Enjoy your Saturday night :)

The Advent Conspiracy Challenge

Surprise, surprise! I am writing two blogs on one day! But it’s coming at a good cause.

Last Sunday at our Christian church, they showed a video about a movement called the Advent Conspiracy. The message was pertaining to the true meaning of Christmas, to “Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, and Love All.”

The minister talked about how the true meaning of Christmas went from worshipping the birth of Jesus to shopping lists and buying presents. It made me realize how blind we can be to what is going on in other parts of the world as well as here in America, with families who are less fortunate. People tend to spend countless amounts of money to buy their children and spouses the best presents they could ever have, while there are families with children who don’t even have clean drinking water. He asked truly thought provoking questions which were something along the lines of (and I’m not saying his exact words but you’ll get the idea):

“Does your child really need that extra toy? Are they really going to die without it?”

“And are you just buying the most expensive presents because you are trying to buy your spouse or your child’s love or show off how much money you have when they open the presents in front of people? If so, there’s something wrong with that relationship.”

Then he challenged us to sacrifice and buy one less present this Christmas. With that money, we can donate it to charity. 

The Advent Conspiracy is such a charity who is collecting donations to help build or repair water wells so families in third world countries can have clean drinking water. So that’s my challenge this Christmas. I’m going to hand make all my presents and with the money I would have spent buying mindless gifts, I’m going to give it to charity!  So hope you can join me in this movement too! 

You can see the Advent Conspiracy website here: http://www.adventconspiracy.org/

When your Strategy Fails, make Custom Designed Stamps!

I have just completed my Implementing Strategy class and entered my very last class for my MBA degree! Come January, I’ll be holding that Masters degree in my hand, baby! I’m extremely proud of this announcement and plus it’s a good excuse as to why I only write in this blog once a week. I have papers to hand in every single week which totally blows but considering it’ll make me a Master at something, it’s a fair trade.

My last class is Taxes in Small Business. Unfortunately, I could care less about taxes and the only reason I’m excited for this class is because it’s my last one. I don’t know what it is about the subject of finance that bores me to death. What I learned from finance class is that I’m going to hire a financial manager. What I learned from my accounting class is that I’m going to hire an accountant. But still I’ll accept the fact it’s a smart move to know exactly how your financial department is handling your money and when dhd actually becomes a business entity, I know I’ll be reading my financial chapters again and trying not to let my mind wander to something more cool…like blogging about how taxes totally blows.

Aside from school work, I’ve also been thinking constantly about design.  I really wanted to follow-up on my Thanksgiving ideas but I’m in disbelief that Thanksgiving is less than two days away and by the time I actually post a cool Thanksgiving tutorial, it will already be Christmas. Geez, I’m banging my head against my desk as to what is taking me so long. People have been planning their Thanksgiving décor since, like July. I’m thinking that I better start implementing some sort of strategy here. So you know what this means? I’m going to start planning for Easter. Joking…but wouldn’t that be a good strategy?

So I was about to scrap all my Thanksgiving projects and just start them next year when I thought, what the heck…let me show my dear reader one of my ideas in the works…

A friend of mine showed me a cool way to make some stamps so I decided to see what I can make with the stamp idea on fabric. I took some sketches that I played around with…from my Inspired by Nature photos and thought about how they would look on textile…

 

My Nature Inspiration

A few sketches inspired from the above photo

Pinecones can inspire too!

I then turned these sketches into my very own handmade stamps.  (Tutorial is at the end of this blog). I only had 1 ½” X 1 ½” acrylic blocks on hand, so this limited me to only use some small design sketches. Since this was just a test, I didn’t mind.  (Plus, I don’t want to give away my really awesome designs just yet!) With the stamps, I had an opportunity to brand anything; stationary, walls, cloth, and my first trial run of formal dinner napkins which can also be used as handkerchiefs. 

 

Featured here are designs inspired by pinecones I picked up while hiking…

The plan view

The elevation view

 …and since a turkey would be so cliché for Thanksgiving, thought instead I’d bring some good luck with a wishbone.

They are each 100% cotton cloth, stamped with acrylic fabric ink, and bordered with its own unique décor stitch.  Best of all, they can be thrown in the washer for cleaning! The stamps are not perfect and concise as a stencil, but that’s what I find loveable and quirky about them. I do plan on testing them this Thanksgiving to see how they hold up. And if they pass inspection, I’m moving onto luxury linen for Christmas!

So if you want to get that “stamped” look here’s how you can make a custom-made stamp. There are several ways to make stamps so keep in mind this is just one way of doing it. (And please ignore the fact I need a manicure…I have been very “hands-on” lately!)

How to Make Custom Designed Stamps

You will need:

·         Sketch of your design

·         Clear Acrylic block (should be large enough to fit your design. I bought my blocks at Michael's; they had 1 ½” x 1 ½” blocks for $1 each.)

·         A soft lead pencil (such as a #2 pencil)

·         Scissors (small sharp scissors work best)

·         9” x 12” sheet of adhesive fun foam. (Make sure the sheet is at least 1/16” thick. I also bought this from Michael's.)

·         A bone folder

·         Acrylic ink, fabric ink or a stamp pad (this depends on what you are using the stamp for)

Your tools

1)      Take your sketch and photocopy it on a piece of white paper.

2)     Take the photocopy and turn it over so the photocopied drawing is face down.

3)     Make sure you can see the drawing through the back of the paper. With your pencil trace the drawing onto the back of the paper. If you can’t see the drawing, it helps to place a piece of white paper underneath the photocopy or head to a window and trace the drawing against the glass. Just make sure it’s daylight outside…doesn’t work at night folks!

Trace the design from the back of the photocopy

 

4)     Take the traced drawing and place it face down (meaning traced side down) onto the foam sheet. Take the bone folder and rub the back of the drawing. Make sure to rub hard enough to transfer the lead traced drawing onto the foam sheet.

Rub the drawing with a bone folder to transfer design onto foam.

Check to make sure design transferred onto foam.

5)     Place the acrylic block on top of your photocopy so that you can see the drawing right through the block. You will use it as a template as to where your cut foam pieces will go. This is why you need to use a clear block! Cut the drawing out of the foam sheet, remove the paper backing to expose the adhesive and stick onto the acrylic block in its designated area. Make sure to mark a starting point by coloring in a piece or darkening an outline on your foam drawing so you don't get confused on placement of the pieces.

Cut pieces and adhere pieces onto block.

6)     And there you have it! Your own custom-made and custom-designed stamp. You can use it for ink pads or buy acrylic ink and roll the ink onto the stamp with a brayer. Make sure to use fabric ink if you want to stamp fabric (and you plan to throw it in the washing machine).

And if you do not want to go through the trouble of buying supplies and making a mess, don't you fret my dear reader...yours truly really has been working up a strategy here and my custom designed napkins and handkerchiefs (when perfected) will be up for sale on my website and Etsy shop…coming soon!

Photo Reel: Escape to Big Bear Mountain...

Let’s rewind two blogs back about how I promised a recap on our camping escapade. I finally have the photos uploaded and ready to show. But heed warning: if you are not interested in seeing trees, trees, and more trees, I advise to skip this blog. But if you adore trees (as I do...heehee) and you don't mind seeing a thousand of them, then press play and here it goes:

A few weekends ago we packed our bags and headed out Friday evening pretty much spontaneously (those are the best kind of trips, aren’t they). Up in the mountains by Big Bear Lake, the air was brisk and refreshing with gorgeous clear blue skies …

Tree Canopy

 

Tree Scenery

…and evergreen pine trees. 

Our neighbor's tent amongst the trees

 

My Ansel Adams inspired tree photo...

There were beautiful lake and mountain views during the day and a star studded sky at night...

Big Bear Lake beyond the trees

Big Bear Lake past the trees

  

More Trees across the Lake

  

Trees and bushes along Big Bear Lake

I was surprised to see plenty of other campers around, apparently trying to escape the heat wave as well. We didn’t have a tent or sleeping bags, so instead we slept in the back of our truck and made use of the heaters (and DVD player) when the temperatures dropped to the 30s at night. 

Our bed between two trees

...best of all there were actual bathrooms complete with toilet bowl and showers. We lit campfires, roasted marshmallows, explored the hiking trails…

A fence made out of trees.

Here’s a tip, if you cannot get your hands on a map of the hiking trails, make sure to take a picture of one before you head out on your own.

A hiking map through the trees

This photo helped us out when we encountered a displacement error (as in almost got lost). But come on, these darn trees all look the same!

More trees by the Lake

The tunnel to more trees...

These pine cones fell off the trees

That's D and...you guessed it, a tree!

Big Bear Village had adorable sweet shops, boutiques, and cafes along it’s main street with the option to walk or take a horse and buggy.

Horse and buggy waiting to escort passangers along the tree lined blvd.

When we left Sunday evening we were able to catch the sun setting as we made our long trek down the mountain range.

Tree and lake view reflecting the sky

Tree and lake view reflecting the sky

Trees and mountain view as we make our way home

Trees at Twilight

Trees as the sunsets

Trees at Sunset

Back in LA…no more pine trees, only palm trees. At least we are a little more calmer, our minds (and lungs) clearer, and looking forward to going back again. Thanks for looking at my first photo reel of trees the gorgeous Big Bear Lake...enjoy your day :)