la dee da

always playing catch up. thinking about a cinnamon dulce frapp right about now. and making more stuff for the upcoming QBM while the kiddo naps :)

my oh my what a whirl wind this month has been for us. it's all in a good way. very blessed and happy. this month the mister and i celebrated 4 years of marriage. I'm all like i need banana cream pie + flowers + a chick flick + dinner and we did all that. it was fun. even better we went on a trip to utah! and oh my word. 20+ hours in a car with a little babe of 16 months and you want to die. but the never ending breaks were good for all of us and we made it safely back :) Vacation is not the same my dear friends. not after you have a kid. It's like a far distant dream. sleeping in. eating a romantic dinner together. holding hands. lol! oh but this is only a little part of our life, and we know it's not gonna last forever. well at least that's what they say ;P

so guess who i met at SNAP in Utah?!

I had a scrapbook hollywood moment.  i was in a daze. i think i shrieked like a little teenage girl. Meet my real life scrapbooking hall of fame friend Margie.  i LOVE her style, her creative heart and have been a huge fan since i started scrapbooking! why am i yelling?! i'm still so excited!!! heheee :)  oh my goodness the mister was SOOOOOO jealous, i think i pushed him off to the side just to talk with her. i can't remember ;P

but i do remember i once won a jar full of bubble gum she gave away on her making memories blog. umm...i don't think i shared. good times.  anyway, i also met my sweet friend Jamie but i don't have a picture with her :( She is a sweet soul just like i thought she would be. I love that. when people are as authentic in real life as they are in their blog persona. Both lovelies were so encouraging and i'm so grateful to have met them. It's pretty sweet. xoxo

so this is what spring looks like in our home. i bought a bag of pom poms at the dollar tree and used a needle to thread through and make a garland :) i can't tell you how many times little r asks to be carried just so he can play with the pom poms ;) he can even say pom pom in the sweetest voice. xoxo 

and the only way i can take a photo of him still. hahahaa! he was napping so i grabbed his awesome shoes and snapped this photo. he's always on the go. always moving, falling, pulling himself up and over things. he basically gives me a heart attack about 100 times a day ;(  i remember when i was pregnant and we saw these on sale at target, totally had to buy them and now he fits into them! mister showed me a pic of the first time he put them on him while i was having sister time at starbucks and i started crying in public. i never cry. not for sappy movies. not for anything the mister says i'm heartless ;) but i cried and i had to take a photo of these little baby shoes that i'm pretty sure won't fit him come next month. crazy how time flies and how fast he grows and learns cool stuff :) xoxoxo

look at that hotness. he's stopping traffic ladies! hahahaa! he loves showing off his belly button. *rolling eyes* he'll walk by the mirror, back up and pull up his shirt and show off his belly button and laugh hysterically. xoxo i die xoxo

back at the zoo and the photo booth is always a must. i love his little hands holding our photo strip. xo

he loves roaring at the giraffes. they don't really make a noise so he likes to make them seem tougher than they look. :) he roars and they look at him and are like "what the?" hahaa 

our family portrait. bwahahaa! (just kidding mister ;P)  even if he's not looking at the camera, my heart just bursts into a million pieces when i see his smile. thankful for a happy baby. (although he's not like this all the time, hehee, just being real here :) he has now entered the "NO" stage. and i'm like SI! hahaa! oh dear. : /  

And you know i'm documenting those "precious" moments with my little guy with these cool stamps i designed  ;)   i think my little guy is getting to be so funny and crazy and doing something all the time that it seems i'm always trying to remember every bit of it.  oh my word, can you image if our mom's had instagram and facebook back in the day?! girl i'd be in all kinds of trouble ! lol! 

& this one is another favorite. i'm always asking mr.handsome what his favorite things are about little r. it's funny how different his interaction with him is than mine. I try to write everything down and put it in my project life page ;) still behind but progress is happening!  i try to forget about how far along i need to catch up because anytime i get anything crafty done i'm happy and that's enough for me ;)

And guess what? Not only am i getting my crafty on but i'm also taking this class by my sweet friend Jen over at Studio Calico, they were sweet and asked me to be a teeny tiny part of it :) i know, you're like WHAT? she still scrapbooks?! hehee ;) Starting off May with a little awesome!  Very happy to contribute and I'm most certain there is going to be a ton of inspiration from Jen & all the lovelies that contributed to the class xoxo.  

so to end this all off, i'm going to be a big ol nerd and ask you if you have something to ask me. although i'm not sure who still reads this sporadic blog hehee. I've had a few questions regarding the furniture in the studio + a CTS update + my camera specs etc so i wonder if there is anything else please email or leave a comment as anonymous if you'd like. I have a post half ready to go for each subject and i'd just like to get everything in rather than have to do another post :) it's been a while since i've posted about the above subjects so this will be good and i can't wait to share!

Alrighty my sweet friend, time to head out and get to living. May you have lots to be happy & thankful for, until next time xoxo

-d

Welcome Spring :)

Well lookie there...I'm all up early blogging and my do i feel all kinds of awesome. Jammin' to some group love - tongue tied. i totally yelled at the intro too ;P  ooooohhh yeah  ahahaahhhhhh

sigh*

gotta save my energy hahaaa.

Alrighty, so spring huh? In my neck of the world it's been sunny with a bit of grey gloom that burns off throughout the day. I can't ever do winter too long. i think san diego just breezes right by the seasons and makes us wimps for real weather. And i'm a happy wimp. i might be wearing my leopard snuggie. With a warm cowl and double socks. i'm so bad ;(  i hope you are braving the weather in your 'hood. If spring has not yet started then i also hope these pics of our new spring items for the shop with cheer ya right up ;)

I'm normally not a huge pastel fan but i'm so tired of the lingering gloom. Pastels are a welcome change ;)

I normally wear black. i think having worked in an art gallery, being an art school alum and having been a drummer i like black. you blend. you don't have to worry about clashing patterns ;) and black is slimming heheee *wink*

but no black here ladies. it's time for color!

Purple, white, petal pink, sweet green, baby blue and bright yellows woo hoo so cute!

I think i might try wearing more purple.. it might make me look more alive ha!
will you try wearing a new color?

hello pretty!
butterflies never get old. i brought some back from a trip to vietnam but i have to say that i love making them and adding polka dot patterns ;)

I love these cute heart stickers now in pretty pastels

xo

perfect easter goodies xo

also designed these exclusive remix hearts. 9 fresh designs ;) 

I will be adding a free sheet of one of these pastel beauties to each order placed ;P  gotta share the love ya know what i mean? *wink*wink*

SO now for a drum roll!
*insert drumming ;) *
I'm super happy to share these beauties with you! Finally, after waiting so long they are here! New exclusive stamps yay!

I have so many things i'm stamping up - heck little r is not at all safe from a nice stamping hahaa ;) just kidding.  but i have caught him running out of the studio with a few stamps! that little sneaky kid hahaaa! i think he loves stamps as much as his mama. ;)

i'm going to use these beauties to document my project life pages. i'm a few pages behind but it's fun knowing i've got these stamps to make it a bit easier. i think now i need to stock up on ink pads hehee. 

my favorite from this release. Love never fails. i feel like this one is my everyday reminder. no matter  what happens, nothing else matters but this. being a new mom i think i need this reminder every minute hahaa! no matter how hard i try at doing what is right for little r, love is always going to be the best thing for him. for both of us of course ;) A few things have happened that have really made me think beyond my everyday routine. What memories will i look back on? What would i change? For instance, will i look back on how well i sleep trained my baby? or the feeling of holding him in my arms as he falls asleep? (which makes me tear up every time). no matter how looooong the day seems to be i like thinking back on the day and remembering what i loved most. that i am here. i'm blessed to be little r's mama. and in his silly way he is starting to show his love back. i'll be sitting and playing with him and he sneaks up from behind and all i feel is a big kiss on my shoulder. or now he learned to tickle (and realized mama is super ticklish) so he likes to do tickle drive bys hahaa! anything for a laugh. my heart continues to grow.  

sigh. i'm such a sap hehee.

i feel as if i could stamp this on everyone's hand ;) in a bright pink.

another favorite. i would stamp this on mr.handsome's arm everyday if he'd let me. for now, i just send him off to work with a pink zip lock bag full of trail mix. ;P i kind of want to stamp bomb everything with this stamp! hahaaa! i kind of think it would cheer someone up. i will tell you if i work up the courage ;)

and a little booth love xoxo! We are so excited about a few upcoming handmade shows and all the new product we are adding to the shop! We will be at the Queen Bee Market @ the SNAP conference in April ;) Never been to Utah but boy are we so ready to explore! I don't even know where to begin. if you have a few ideas of where to go and what to do please let me know, it would be awesome to learn from some of your experience ;) 

and currently, i'm having to fight off these guys for a spot on the couch. i will have to admit that i was a bit reluctant to include Ultimate Warrior into the club but he likes chick flicks as much as i do and now we're buddies hehee. (isn't that bambi cute? mr.handsome's grandmother made it for him when he was little and now little r enjoys wrestling the heck out of it. :) 

i've had this project on my mind for such a long time. this is the entrance to our home now. jazzed it up a bit with the only plants that like me. and they are still alive! they transplanted very well and love their new spot in the front of the house. the bucket is from IKEA and it's huge and tall. i filled it up 2/3rd with mailing foam and then added the dirt and plants. so glad i didn't fill the whole bucket up with dirt because i don't think i could move the darn thing hehee.  anyway, the new mat is also from IKEA. oh i love thee.

and yes i totally did it! woo hoo! i braved the spray paint, the fear and the doubt!  I found this HUGE globe during a thrift adventure. she's a beauty. she measures 48 inches in diameter.  A few scratches so it made her the perfect candidate for a chalk make over ;)  i love it! i have drawn 3 designs on this right now and i just turn it to change it up. super satisfied. never mind that i own 3 perfectly good globes plus this one. girl. you know a good deal when you see one. and now i have a cool place to jot down notes ;) 

 

and the end. a pic of my long hair. i need a trim bad. but i decided i would take a curling iron to it instead and have curls for a few minutes ( my hair never holds a decent curl ;( sadness, hence the picture for proof.) i called the mister and told him i had curls and by the time i saw him the curls were all gone.  darn you straight hair! double darn you!. hahaaaa!  i think my curling iron was laughing at me too.  : /

well, you are still here. you get a hi-5

;)

i'm going to go clean something now. bleh... but  before i do i wish you a lovely spring :)

time to change things up!

have fun 

xo

-d

pretty hearts xo*

Hi lovely ;)
Is your year going fast at lightning speed ? Mine sure seems to be. I've made so many attempts to come here and share and well lookie there, bye january! oh boy. ;)

well this here post is a little of both: shop news and creative news mixed in with a little photo fun. awesome. oh yay ;)

Back in mid december i was thinking and planning on all these lovely items to share this month. so cute right? hearts will never go out of style. they are so adorable. 

Gold. Silver. White. Hot Pink. Red. Black.

*xo hearts xo*

paper heart doilies xo i can see these on a few of my scrapbook pages ;)  

i also stocked the shop with these pretty canvas bags. I LOVE the DIY goodness. I bought paint (gold, hot pink, neon orange, coral, sea foam aqua) at Michael's and got polka dot crazy. easy and fun. no better way to spend the evening in front of the telly. Although i might've gotten paint on my sweater - oops. *blushes*

I made feather transparency embellishments... added a little neon pom pom and a gold spray painted wooden tag... love! 

i even used them on my december daily pages. ( it was more like a december week if I'm really being honest ;) but even still i made stuff! it's been forever ! I want to say also that i think polaroids should come glittered in bronze. it's just the coolest thing. glitter paper that is. my wildest dream came true! hahaa. 

and this mini page is about my love for these lyrics ( had it on repeat while in labor with little r) and this instagram photo above was taken a year exactly from that day. holding my little r making faces at the camera. (something his daddy ALWAYS does too! or is that just a guy thing? they like to ruin a photo by sticking their tongue out? i can see a whole album of these *rolling my eyes* ;P  ) anyway, the song is tattooed into my heart forever. it's peace. it's a reminder of a prayer answered. it makes me so happy.

now to fill your bag with heart swag :) let me see...

fill this cute box with ...

a little bit of sequin love ;) 

chocolate is a must!!! am i right? 

 a dash of mini wooden hearts ( i glammed one up with my handy spray can -it's amazing how much fun you can have with a little bit of gold spray paint! hehee ).

i added it to the bottom right corner of this page. ;) all about our new favorite place... the ZOO. it's even better when they have photo booths ! we were in the never ending forest and kind of felt lost a bit and then out of nowhere, hello photo booth! it's a must every time we go. good times. xo*

these larger wooden hearts make great tags too xo ( or embellishments )

a 2 more pages to share... 

our every day.  gosh this little guy has fun. makes me want a bubble bath! hahaaa! 

and this one... i feel for you if you are in snowy cold icy grey gloomy weather and are tired of it. i freeze up at 65 degrees.  what a weenie i know! i would crochet all of you a cowl if i could just to help keep you warm and cozy!

or an owl hat like i did for little r. :)  

look at that little goofball. sheesh. I want him to stay this happy forever and always. (Even after 4 shots in the morning) He makes me so hAppy more and more each day. Look at that face! I want to stay in this moment. Stay present and not forget.

so the start of the new year brings something new and i'm super happy to try something new... i'm picking a "word" for the year. and mine is ....wait for it...

STAY.

yep. it seems counterintuitive. maybe? stubborn? demanding.

but for me it just means: i want to STAY( among other things- this is just 1 thing on my loooong list :)

- connected

( how do i even still have friends!? i never call. never write! never leave messages. never even stay in touch via social media and that's supposed to be "easy" right?  

more girl dates. more talking, listening, laughing. chillin'.  

SO i called, sent e-mails, left messages and really really LOVED it! i used to make excuses for being anti-social. i would put it off. it's just SO easy to put things off and that's just not cool. not when they are people you LOVE. i made a promise to each that i would get in touch at least once a month. i sure hope that it's more than that though. i can't get caught up with what's going on with just me. And so here it is, i promise to stay connected with you too. even though i don't go into detail about everything here i promise to share my little random bits. even if it's only pretty pictures hehee.  I'm here on instagram if you want to see more weekly pics. i'd sure love to see you too ;)

your long lost friend xo*

 ~ d

happy birthday, merry christmas :)

happy birthday december babies! We celebrated little r's first birthday with a mini birthday party in our home a few days ago. Its so hard to plan december parties outside! I never really thought about it until now with our little guy. The morning of the party we woke up to light rain and next thing you know, by the afternoon the sun was shining and so bright. It's such moody weather :)  I loved it. it was perfect and our little guy didn't seem to notice since he was having a blast playing and sharing his toys with his 2 fun cousins. 

So does this garland look familiar to anyone? I had seen it in an at&t commercial early this summer and everytime the commercial came on i was always drawn towards the garland in the background hahaa :) I found this pretty wool garland at the rose bowl flea market early this month. It is even better in person! Little r loves looking at it as much as i do hehee.

see? he gave it a round of applause ;) jk. he was actually clapping at everyone cheering him on to smile for the camera. what a ham. Always the center of attention that silly guy. 

When i was planning his party i knew i wanted a cute zoo animal theme but not too over the top. So I bought a few cute bento goodies to decorate his cake and bento boxes for the kids to snack on at the party. i LOVE that sweet lion! And the lego candle is of course more for his daddy who is a die hard lego fan. they both were very fitting ;)

We had decided to take little r to the zoo for his birthday ( his first time ) and he LOVED it. he kept OOOOOH! and OH! at everything. here his is bird watching. he kept trying to whistle at them but it sounded like a funny hissing sound hahaa. poor birds.  

and here he is with his girlfriend the happy hippo. she loved the camera too. she kept going back and forth and bobbing up and down showing of her cute smile. little r got scared towards the end and i think he thought she was going to come through the glass. at least he has a new friend ;P

So this is our little version of our fun at the zoo. I LOVE the bright colors and animal figures. 

and party love inside the cake too! I made the cake again ;P Vanilla + strawberry filling & white fluffy whip frosting on top. I added orange and yellow layers for a bit of fun. I loved how it turned out, even more, i love that it was super yummy ;) The tiger agrees. ( i did eat this for breakfast the next day ha!)

The decorations were simple. I made this cute little shadowbox for the centerpiece. The r is a last years anthro ornament turned superstar surrounded by my lovely collection of felted balls. I kept buying them thinking i would make a garland out of them but in the end i loved them best all scrunched together here ;)  

so all in all, a very happy birthday was had. I am thankful for the blessing that our little r is to our family. He is a happy little guy. He is surrounded with friends a family who love him very much. And I am counting my blessings for that the most this year.  nothing we could ever buy him could ever matter more than that. 

so this is our second christmas as a family. ( also a bit of proof that my december daily has a least once page finished! hahaa! and then i turned it into our christmas card ;) i hope we show little r that christmas is all year blessings.  Not just one day a year.  so here's a little smile from us to you.  may your day be filled with love and blessings too many to count. 

We send you our happiest, merry christmas love,

xo 

d, mr.handsome & little r