how lovely indeed

it seems we are all pretty much sisters :)

a little me time, a little family time, a bit of chocolate, a nice cup of coffee, enjoying words from our loved ones, a patch of sunshine, happy mail, reconnecting with friends, all so very lovely and dear.

I love you a bit more for sharing with me :)

Our first winner:

Our International winner:

Ladies, please e-mail me at belladrummer@gmail.com with your address. You have one week from today to e-mail me and claim your prize. If I don't hear from you I will pick another lucky winner at random :)

i have to explain our international winner... because after i posted the giveaway to my blog i immediately called mr.handsome at work and asked him what lifts him up? I was totally serious and really expecting something deep and meaningful like an answer with me in it :) but he responded... An elevator.
oh geez. i rolled my eyes. okay mister. he laughs at his jokes that silly man. So anyway i said, if anyone answers "an elevator" they for sure win as his choice. Because sometimes a good sense of humor is the perfect thing to lift your spirits. :) So congrats Dee!

my favorite right now is cuddling with mister handsome. i know you are all probably sick of me crushing on him but my goodness he just really has the right personality, character and humor to balance me out.  even if his jokes aren't super funny, i love laughing with/at him. :P

come what may, we are better together.

even if he makes funny faces after i ask him not to.
even if he repeats cheesy Twilight movie lines that sound super unromantic...it's so bad!
even if he doesn't really laugh at my jokes ( which are SUPER funny because i like to make jokes about the mister ha! )
i still love him to pieces.
we ate at corvette diner recently and had some free tokens to play a few games. Ski ball and some basketball hoops were played. And with the remaining balance we took these photos in a makeshift photobooth.  he actually offered to pose. and then he made faces while i was trying to be all lovey dovey. oh well, the kids will at least know i'm the good looking one hahaaaa! just kidding.

he's my only one.
i've never kissed another man
my heart has never loved anyone but him.
he's right up there with cute puppies and ferrero rocher chocolate.
it's more like a 3 way tie and it's a close race. :)
i'm thankful for the blessing that he is and has been.
I love our time together and that my sweet friends is what lifts me up
xo

thank you all for your kind words about the cards. I believe the cards are only available in UK stores. I know boutiques will carry them but i'm not sure if they will be available online for purchase. I might just have to make new ones to sell in my shop :) I'm sending you all a very big hug xo

happy friday!
xo
-d

bella by akadaisy giveaway

Once upon a time... a long long time ago. ( last july ) i received a lovely e-mail from a sweet and kind soul, Kathryn from Hotchpotch publishing in the UK about a possible collaboration.  At first I thought... goodness... design cards. hmm... when was the last time i even sent a card out? :P oops. you know, i buy them and i never really get around to sending them. :)



But I initially figured it would be fun to design a few and I said yes. Then a few days later i found out i was being laid off from my job where i had worked 7 years. Even though the transition to becoming a full-time self employed worker seemed totally overwhelming... i really felt like i needed a change from the negative people and environment i had been dealing with for several years.  I left that job but the negativity from the past was something that left me with little faith and confidence to create anything from a safe place in my heart.  This collection almost didn't happen. Through and through mister handsome and the lovely miss kathryn always showed me they had faith in me. I'm very grateful for the kindness miss kathryn showed me. Not even knowing me, never having met me. She sent kind words my way. I was lifted to a better place. A place i couldn't get to alone. I can now tell you with pure conviction looking back now, i really credit them both with the success of this pretty range. In a very difficult time for me personally, something lovely, sweet, generous and fulfilling came out of it.  That makes it all worth it i think :) And i haven't looked back, this little collection is dear to me. It reminds me to never lose hope. Move forward and the good will rise up to meet you.

My dear sweets, i give you the Bella range of 12 unique cards lovingly made to share with sweet friends.  I hope this little collection moves you and sends you a little cheer your way too. Each card is full of beautiful details. I'd love to share a few of my favorites xo

The collection started with this pretty card. The picture is special as it is that of mr handsome and i on our wedding day. this card was easy. it came from a very positive place. i love him. and this my thank you mister for your happy love. xo

I love the cute mini gem placed on the ring. ( that's mr.handsome and my hand :) I kept thinking about mr handsome... he makes my heart pitter patter. swoon xo



this card was pretty fun. I love the little banner so much. I think you can never have too much paper love. :)



so this card was fun too, from the paper design, to shooting the photo ( mr.handsome and my hand again :) what a lucky guy right? he gets to be my hand model hahaa- ) to using up my paper punches. it was pretty sweet even with the added silver foil details too. I love that. I think they did an incredible job printing these.



i remember thinking how difficult it was trying to design something that best describes sympathy. this card took a bit of work but thankfully,  i think it really shows sympathy doesn't have to be all sad but it can be genuine and pretty :)  They added sequins to the top of the card so it has added dimension! i LOVE those sweet details so much. i appreciate the little things :)



here i was channeling my sisters. i have 3 lovely sisters. i don't know how i would be who i am without them. i love that they are each so different. I have a different relationship with each of them and it's all cool :) in fact, today i gave my sister norma her set of cards and i had to hold my little tears of gratitude back as i gave the cards to her. I thanked her for sharing her love of paper with me. She, my dear friends is the reason i got into "scrapbooking". She very well gets some credit for this little collection too :) She's a great source of inspiration and love. And she even shares her extra art goodies with me too :)

So on that note... i want to share too !

I think the world needs more kind words and what better way to share them than written inside these pretty cards. There are 12 designs and they each measure 6" x 6" in size and come with envelopes.

I would love to give away 2 sets of cards to 2 lucky readers ( one domestic and one international ).
I will pick the lucky winners this friday.  I wish you a lovely day and thank you for letting me share this little collection :)
xo
-d

Here is how to enter for the giveaway please answer this question:
"What lifts you up?

february loves shades of purple

i heart all things purpley...
it was once my fav color.
i once owned a pair of nice blush purple pants from express. (they had this lace detail)
i thought they looked hot :)
i love wearing purple...
even though i rarely ever do.
i severely dislike anything grape flavored ( other than real grapes)
i absolutely love welches grape juice and popcicles. mmmm mmm good.




i also love little tangerine birds and think them to be quite handsome little fellas.
pst...... i heard this one loves to tango  *smiles*

shop update this monday with all shades of pretty purples, pinks and citrus orange :)



ps: tonight after a few days of laying low from being sick I am ready to play :)
my sweet sister is coming over, new friends, pizza, cupcakes frosted and sprinkled with love, and lots of crafting. we are ready to celebrate friendship month :) yay! I will show you more come monday!

xo
-d

live it up

so over the last few days mr.handsome and i have lived... the end. hahaa! i kid. it's much more interesting than that :)

so sprinkles cupcakes has finally hit san diego and mr.handsome and i packed ourselves into the car to treat ourselves. except that i didn't google the place. i just kind of rolled with it.

to my dismay ( and because i was the one driving) ... i was able to locate an anthropologie! ha! ahahahahahaaaaa ! bwahahaaaaa! mr.handsome gave me the stink face.asked for the iphone and sat himself on the bench.  cool. i think he's completed all the levels of angry birds.  way to go mister :P

we finally found the little itty bitty store that is sprinkles with a mother of a line wrapped around all the way to the back of the plaza. it was about an hour until closing and honestly... it looked like a line for a ride at disneyland. i was done. no thanks. i mean the cupcakes are good but not enough to wait in a line with 100 people in it. oh well. at least we made it to anthro i happily said to mr.handsome. stink face again. (gosh he's so good at that :)

next up... mr.handsome gets tickets to see conan!!!! coco! awesome. we welcome a 2 day trip to LA with some pretty fun times to be had. I know it's weird but i love hanging around mr.handsome.  we've been married for over 2 years dated for 4.5 years and he's still fun. go figure. :) We ate at our favorite place Mozza ( LOVE!!!), appeared on tv as part of conan's audience, waited for kogi's (world's bestest taco's ever) taco truck in the shadiest street corner at night. the best. shady and all. sat around in traffic forever. i sang to mr.handsome the entire way home. i made up notes i didn't even know existed. rock on :)

we came home and i forgot my studio is a mess. and i'm afraid to even look at it.
but i don't clean a thing. i'm afraid of the mess. i can't even look back. to scared and to busy procrastinating.

so I end up going to my sweet sister's 1st grade class and we work on valentine tags! yay valentines day :) at that age they get all excited. I really miss those days. what the heck right?  in fact i've always loved valentine's day even when I was single. I would buy myself a bunch of candies... my favorite combo meal AND some pretty smelling lotions from Victoria's secret. hello be good to yourselves. you're totally worth it. now, i still buy myself stuff and tell mr.handsome he bought it for me hahaa :)

so truth:  my desk is a HUGE mess. So is my hair. So is Nena. It's all kinds of crazy happening up in here. so just in case if anyone still thinks i'm normal.

eh. i'm not :)

so this super bowl weekend I'm gonna be cheering for the nachos and oreo dirt cups :)
I hope you have a wonderful and yummy weekend!

xo
-d