summer boutique & a great cause :)

Tomorrow my HSM ( Handsome Stud Muffin :) and I are heading up to long beach to be a part of an awesome summer boutique.  Penelope Lane boutique is sponsoring a lovely craft for a cause: Ms.Wheelchair CA foundation and we believe it's such an important cause to support. So that's where we'll be :)

If you can, come and say hi :) 

We would love to meet you and share a smile xo.

I promise we don't bite hahaa. 

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We also will be having a pretty little sale on several items you might love. New garlands, crochet flowers, party jars ;) and new paper kits. 

I for one LOVE these handmade boutiques because i love shopping :)

hey, as a handmade artist, i can appreciate hehee.  And it's all for a great cause xoxo even better xo.

I hope you are having a lovely friday!

woo hoo! 

xo

-d 

celebrating and baking xo

oh my. so it's been a while :)

here we are and it's starting to look like a lovely 4th of july in our part of the world. It's little r's first and even though he is still working his way through solids he's not gonna be having a pretty cupcake anytime soon ;) but look at this cheesy face! ha! oh he melts my heart. mr.handsome took this shot around little r's 6 month birthday. he's such a goofy kid. kinda like his daddy ;P

and look how fast the time goes! it's july!!! well, i decided enough was enough. time to say hello again :) so i took some pretty photos of some happy baking i got to do last night. patriotic and all xo. 

i used some pretty baking liners from martha stewart + a sugar sheet from Michaels ( I punched stars our of it, mmmm yum edible stars :)

they look so ordinary right?

and surprise! ha! red + white + blue layers of goodness! awesomeness. red velvet, white cake mix  ( i set aside half of the white mix and then added blue food coloring to the rest of the mix. ) perfect.  so happy with it. even better, i had 3 already heehee.

we're wishing you a lovely day of celebration and honor. Thank you if you or your loved one serves in our military. from the bottom of our hearts. thank you xo.

happy 4th of july!

xo

-d

*hello new love*

my goal for my very first mother's day was to play with paper after a long hiatus from my art journaling days. i really wanted to put into words and paper my journey to being a mommy :) and even though i remember in my pre-mama days it taking me forever to finish a single page... this little book took me a bit longer than that now that i have my buddy little r. but i did a bit of planning and grabbed a paper kit ( i used this paper kit in the shop ) to simplify my creative process ( i have so much stuff! sometimes its hard to choose ha!)

i made a little time here and there, played with my sewing machine, cut up some of my favorite photos, reminisced and enjoyed the process from start to finish. good times. just like last mother's day...when we first announced to our families we were pregnant. one of my favorite days ever. happy times xoxo.

when my baby bump started to show :)  sometimes i would catch my reflection walking by a window and i seriously would not recognize it. it was kind of hard to believe i was pregnant. so thankful and so happy for what was to come.

i tucked a bit of journaling in the glassine envelope about how we told our families we were pregnant. it was something special i cherish deeply. although this year i'm sure both our families were expecting another bit of baby news. but alas, no extra special baby news except that little r is our cutie patootie and whipping us into mommy & daddy shape every day :) i really think he knows he's in charge. yikes hahaa!

a bit of journaling about how we felt when we found out we were expecting a baby boy xo. it made me teary remembering being so anxious and the waiting...and then knowing...peace xo.



and me having to retake my dmv photo and knowing it was extra special since little r was in it too :)

i'm so thankful mr.handsome took photos of the entire journey. even though it felt silly at times. i'm glad  i have them xoxo.

since knowing i was having little r i've adopted wearing the color blue. it's quite a fun color to wear :)

and our last photo of the bump before meeting little r in person. sometimes when little r is kicking away next to me it reminds me of when he was kicking away inside. now i get to kiss he little toes. watch him grow ever single day. it's amazing. that little guy has stolen my heart. every bit of it.

i finished the book with my favorite quote: "al infinito y mas alla" ( "to infinity and beyond") from toy story. my love for mr.handsome has multiplied remembering our journey to today. these are just a few of the happy good times. our journey had its ups and downs like everyone else's, but i'm glad we are holding onto these happy ones. each one reminding us to be thankful for every little blessing along the way.

today i remember that we are blessed to infinity and beyond
:)
thanks for letting me share
xo
-d

where did she go?

between lots of baby drool.
tummy time.
a million diaper changes.
& loads of laundry.
and sticky kisses and smiles.

alas, i am back :)

and my little ninja too :)

Our Inspire Lovely Giveaway winners are:

Please e-mail me at belladrummer@gmail.com and I will get your coupon codes to you :)

pardon my absence.  adjusting to motherhood has been crazy around here. i can now safely say i've underestimated, under appreciated and not praised my mother enough now that i see what kind of crazy she had to deal with raising me & my siblings. :)  My mama is amazing. She raised 5 kids. 3 girls three years apart + 2 after a five year hiatus.  all i can say is i'm the cute one. hahaa. i kid. its my middle child perspective talking. ;P

and now i have a cute little one. look at my mangy baby :)
i've always wanted to rock my hair like this. so far i've been his chew toy and he's like my little pigeon ready to splatter me with anything and everything. never a dull moment :)

the only bad thing...
i don't smell the same.
no matter how hard i try.
:(

I wish i had more time to do a million other things but i have to remember i'm a mom and that always comes first. Everything else comes after that. But thankfully had time to do some fun things and we even got to do a market

had a date complete with a new dress + shoes and starbucks. :)

driving mommy bananas... check!

made and enjoyed a delicious breakfast with mr.handsome while little r naps :)

got my crafty on by making some big 'ol bibs for little r. ( i'm surprised they are still holding up :)

and i made him his first crinkle toy. quite the experience. 

celebrated our 3 year anniversary ( our first as mom & dad )

FINALLY got to make something pretty from some wooden salad bowls i picked up while thrifting TWO years ago! two years. wow. i almost gave up and gave the bowls away thinking it was a ridiculous idea to upcycle salad bowls into planters...

my mom is the queen of succulent plants so it was nice to work on this project together.

i even scored a bronze t-rex...  kitschy and appropriate in this house full of guys :) roar!

And yesterday i celebrated my first mama's day ( mexican mothers day ) and little r gave me a gift.  sexy right?  i even ironed the darn dress!!! ( i never iron anything ) oh geez.  

and this is us last month. before little r got his hair cut. we're still alive and kickin'. still holding on and trying to figure everyday out. Holding onto every good moment and tucking it away for safekeeping. and if all else fails, thankfully starbucks understands... hahaaa! We head to starbucks to enjoy happy hour and that my dear lovelies is where you will see a mangy lady and her cute mangy baby :)

xo

-d

friendship month xo

it seems all holidays are going to roll into celebrating all month long. that's the way it goes with a 2 month little r :)  yesterday we went to visit mr.handsome and his wonderful co-workers for lunch. we brought sweet presents for our dear friends. a little late valentine's love is always better late than never :P

I made french vanilla cupcakes in gold liners. I dyed the mix a soft petal pink. I bit into the cupcake to take a picture after snapping this shot... i wanted to show the pink cake under all that frosting... but somehow didn't put the cupcake down and just scarfed it down. 

oops.

 ;)

i swirled caramel sauce over the frosting and added a dash of salt ( mr.handsome's idea :) and finished them off with pretty mini pink heart sprinkles ( from jo-ann's ).  they were pretty darn good.  i wish i could send you one. all i got to share is a pretty picture. alas. xo 

we also gave each of our friends a little chevron baggie with 2 dove chocolates inside. i LOVE dove anything. i especially love that little message inside each one :) 

these pretty little bags will be making there way into the shop tomorrow. i love. i adore and i really can't stop filling them with everything and sewing them up.  :)

i added a few tags i designed especially for valentines. sweet love indeed.

 

i added a bit of sequin love ( also from Inspire Lovely ) for some extra sparkle and shine. love the glam.

we only used the red and pink bags this time but the shop will also be stocked with yellow, black, aqua, green & note book bags. i love color. i also LOVE cute bags. but i love giving lovely packages the most  :)

i can't wait. the shop will go live tomorrow, Saturday and i hope you will come and swing by to wander the shop once again. and just for fun, i would love to give a $10.00 credit to 2 lovelies to our Inspire Lovely shop ( Excludes shipping cost. International entries always welcome. :)  

So you could be a winner! it might be you. you never know, you could win something this time :P 

( i always say i never win anything but i actually did one time! yay for free stuff :)

so with that excitement please leave a comment just saying hi, tell me something fun you've done or share a link to your site to show me something you've made. i love sharing and i would love to see what's going on in your little corner of the world. :) Oh and leave your name and where you are from. i hope to pick one international & one domestic winner.  I will pick a winner soon!

xo

-d