Create Loveliness

2011-03-10T15:20:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has been a while. I've been wanting to blog but the lack of inspiration and motivation has stopped me. I have to admit that a lot of it comes from my blog design, both of them. I've been seriously considering a makeover but until then, I'll have to work with what I have.

One of my favorite things to do is "Internet surf" which means looking at a lot of my favorite blogs. Many of them are photography blogs and have lately been inspired by those who still shoot with film. I love everything about film. There's a unique quality you just can't get in Photoshop. Allister Ann, Laura Reaux and HulaSeventy are among some of my favorite bloggers.

A few months ago, I finally went to the Rose Bowl Flea Market and took my Minolta. Click Here to see a few of my images from that day. And as you can see, I hope to makeover my photo blog soon as well.

With St. Patrick's Day coming up soon, how cute is this Leprechaun Spirits Tutorial?!

Motel Polaroid Monday

2011-01-24T17:53:00.000-08:00

Double feature today. I couldn't decide which one I liked more.

Sun Valley, CA

An Update

2011-01-22T23:29:00.000-08:00

I've made it through 2 weeks of the Insanity workout routine and have been watching what I'm eating. I have lost 5 pounds so far. YAY ME!!! At the same time, my opponent has lost 10 pounds. BOO!!! But then again, he is a guy and they tend to lose weight faster so I'm trying not to let that get to me. I'm still pretty pumped though and most of the time I have more energy than usual. I can't wait for the day when I get to wear my size 5 jeans again.

(source)

Last week I was supposed to post my motel Polaroid but I forgot to shoot for it. My plan was to do it after work but by the time I get out, the sun is already setting. I got one shot today and it's a pretty cool motel. I'll have it posted up on Monday.

There are so many things that I want to accomplish this year. I'm planning on either vamping up my Etsy shop or starting a different one to include the different things I want to sell rather than just vintage items. I also want to invest in a lighting setup for my photography and print out my portfolio because you never know who might want to see your work. I'm also looking forward to giving my photography blog a makeover.

Are there any changes you wish to accomplish this year?

Back in Business

2011-01-10T18:26:00.000-08:00

I've been gone for a while and quite a lot has happened. I guess I just haven't been in the blogging mood due to the holidays and a cluttered apartment. I guess that saying is true: "A cluttered home is a cluttered mind". I got through some of the clutter and at least now I have a decent living room. The holidays were fun, I received a Kindle which is something I've been wanting for a long time. I love it so much! Currently, I'm reading David Sedaris' When You Are Engulfed in Flames. I'm hooked and I'm pretty sure I'll be purchasing more books of his.

For the new year, my friend and I made a bet of who would lose the most pounds in 6 months. The loser owes the winner $100. That's motivation enough for me. I wanted to blog my progress here but my opponent's girlfriend reads this blog. I don't want them getting any ideas. Heehee. All I can say is that I started the Insanity program and I've been eating better. My goal is to drop 20 lbs. if not, 1 dress size will do.

My friend and I are also planning a bridal shower and bachelorette party for our best friend who's getting married in June. We have an idea for centerpieces that involves milk glass vases. I didn't realize that they are hard to find in thrift stores so we headed to the Rose Bowl Flea Market. It was my first time there so I was excited. We found only 2 of the 7 milk glass vases that we need and I also found a Polaroid Spectra for $10. I was stoked because I had been stocking up on film in hopes that I could find my Spectra somewhere in my storage unit. I still haven't found it so I'll be using this one until I do. So that means...Motel Polaroid Mondays are back in business. Starting next Monday. So that has been my life so far, I'll try to keep this more up to date often.

-Judy

Vegas Baby!

2010-12-17T14:22:00.000-08:00

Tonight I'm heading to Las Vegas to celebrate one of my best friend's birthday. I haven't been to Vegas in a while so I can't wait to go. I did some shopping and got Rosa a gift. I decided to get a little creative in the wrapping department- somewhat of a practice for Christmas- and got out paper bags and washi tape. This is what came out of it:

I added the crocheted flower for more appeal. Well, I better get back to packing, cleaning and laundry before I leave. Hope you enjoy your weekend.

2010-12-15T19:03:00.001-08:00

How cute are these X-Mas labels?! They are free to download thanks to My Paper Crane. It's a unique alternative to regular store bought tags.

At the Park

2010-12-10T21:48:00.000-08:00

I did a shoot a few weeks ago for Lily who is turning 1 along with her sister. I just finished editing the photos and here are some of my favorites.

It ended up being a rainy day but we made the best of it.

I'm so excited about getting more photo jobs lately and I'm also currently working on my new business cards. I'm really looking forward towards the new year where hopefully things will take off.

2010-12-09T22:12:00.000-08:00

Christmas is fast approaching and no sign of Christmas cheer at home. All of my decorations are still in storage and really have no desire to decorate. I barely had enough enthusiasm to decorate the tree at work. That's pretty sad. Luckily, one of my best friends bought me a live 5ft Doug Fir tree. I pick it up on Saturday. I really don't want to buy more ornaments so I figured I could buy lights at the dollar store and make all of the tree ornaments myself. I searched high and low through the internets for ideas and I think I found some pretty good ones.

Pipe Cleaner Candy Canes

Printable Ornaments from Wild Olive

Star Flower Ornaments

I also have a few ideas of my own which I will show later when I get started on them. Now I can't wait to get started.

"I Adore..." Tuesday

2010-11-30T08:29:00.000-08:00

Hi all. It's been a while since I've been around and there's been a slight interruption with my Motel Polaroid Mondays. I ran out of my good film and ordered more through The Impossible Project. It's some sort of color shade film and I'm having trouble exposing for it. Womp womp womp. I will continue this project as soon as I can get more film or learn to expose it, whichever comes first. Anywho, here are 5 new things I adore this fine Tuesday.

Danielle Thompson's home decor

(via Smile and Wave)

This cute paper-stitched place cards tutorial

World's smallest postal service

This lovely space

Miss James' outfit

Have a wonderful Tuesday.

Motel Polaroid Monday

2010-11-08T19:53:00.000-08:00

North Hollywood, CA

Feature Friday

2010-11-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

I know I've been behind on posts or at least the feature posts. I guess I gets random bursts of inspiration here and there. Well, today at work Shiri Appleby came by to purchase hardware. I tend to get really weird around celebrities especially when I'm a fan. Today, I hid in the back until she went away. Yeah, weird!

Anywho, today I will feature Here's Looking at Me Kid. Mandi's blog is super inspiring when it comes to fashion and home decor. I love her apartment and her wardrobe posts.

Stop by and visit her blog and Etsy shop. She sells wonderful vintage clothes at reasonable prices.
Enjoy your weekend!

2010-11-01T21:51:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to show you my costume for Halloween.

Joe and I were Amish. A friend took a Polaroid of us at night with PX/600 film. I didn't expect it to come out this way but it suits the occasion. We look ghostly, don't we?

Motel Polaroid Monday

2010-11-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

North Hollywood, CA

Day of the Dead

2010-11-01T00:03:00.000-07:00

I spent my Saturday at the Hollywood Cemetery celebrating Dia De Los Muertos or Day of the Dead. It's the Mexican Halloween where people honor and remember the lives of loved ones that have passed. The festival was amazing and I can't wait to go next year. This is the first time I've gone to one of these events, and I can't wait for next year.

"I Adore..." Tuesday

2010-10-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late in posting this but here we go, 5 new things I adore:

This cute dress from Peppermint Vintage

This unique ring

I collect unique salt & pepper shakers and these are pretty perfect

This unique cat scratching post

And I love this tea mug, although I'm a bigger fan of coffee.

Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday!

Motel Polaroid Monday

2010-10-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

Tulare, CA

What's Happenin'

2010-10-21T18:42:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm in my PJs and watching the Wonder Years, I'm ready to blog. I have skipped a few posts due to me being pretty busy. Even though October is almost over, I've decided to make a list of goals for this month, and every month concerning my career and financial situation. I graduated with a degree and photography and I'm still working my old job with the same pay. If I want to move farther in life and do what I love, it's up to me to make that change. I already have most of those goals accomplished and others will be ongoing but it just feels good to actually take some action rather than just wallow around and settle. With that said, I'm ready to share my website to the world. Let me know what you think. I actually built it from scratch and I've had it up for a while but now I'm ready to put it to good use. Here's a link to Judith Cebreros Photography.

My friend texted me today and asked me where "Wishlist Wednesday" was. Haha, well here it is even though it's a day late.

I have been wanting a Skunkboy creature for a while. This one is adorable but I especially love her owl bride & groom creatures.

And this shirt is pretty awesome. I realized I have a lot of dresses but not enough nice shirts - only t-shirts

I love owls and have a pretty big ceramic collection but who wouldn't want and owl pillow?

I love this hoodie by Replicca. They are so unique and feminine.

And lastly, I've been wanting moccasins for a while. I know I should have bought the pair I saw in New Mexico. Although I would not mind having these.

Motel Polaroid Monday

2010-10-18T18:22:00.000-07:00

Ventura, CA

Wishlist Wednesday

2010-10-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

I love Etsy. I love seeing what people are making and selling. I have closed my shop until I no longer need to keep my belongings in storage. I'm thinking that I can still list my prints and handmade stuff and hopefully I'll be able to list vintage items as well. Any who, while browsing through etsy, I found some very beautiful items that made my wish list.

I take my lunch to work a lot and these bags would be the perfect "green" lunch bag.

How beautiful is this cowl? Everything about it is awesome, the color and style.

I'm still working on one of my 4 Simple Goals, riding my bike more (exercising). I think once I accomplish that, maybe I can get myself this dress.

Okay, maybe this dress instead? They are both cute!

This necklace would go perfect with either dress. I love that it's a dual purpose necklace.

I'm halfway through the week, phew that was fast and tonight I'm meeting with friends for our weekly crochet/knitting circle. I'm bringing zucchini bread. Yum!

"I Adore..." Tuesday

2010-10-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

My week has been pretty good so far. I'm working on a wedding album for the couple whose wedding I shot. I'm making it through Blurb and I'm so excited. My classmates and I made a magazine with them before and the quality is professional grade. I also picked up some new yarn from Bernat. Their chunky twisted yarn is so beautiful, I'm really excited to start making baby blankets with it.

(source)

Here are 5 things that I'm adoring lately and I hope you do too.

(source)

Isn't this photo amazing? I love everything about it.

I'm also really excited to try this pattern. Hmmmm, I'm thinking X-Mas presents this year. (Heidy, pretend you didn't read this) You can find instruction from the Purl Bee.

I'm feeling a change coming soon, a frame change. These frames are pretty awesome, aren't they?

Now I know not very many people like Crocs and neither did I until I started wearing their slip ons--not the tacky clog looking ones, these kind of look like Sanuks. Anywho, since then I haven't been able to where any other shoes, even though I had to, they don't go with dresses. I began looking on their website to find different styles, tell me these aren't cute.

And I'm loving this bedroom. I can't wait until I have a decent sized bedroom for me to decorate.

(found via design is mine)

Hope your Tuesday is an inspiring one.

Motel Polaroid Monday

2010-10-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

Ventura, CA

Feature Friday

2010-10-08T06:12:00.000-07:00

Today I would like to feature Our City Lights by Diana. I love her blog, I read it everyday and visit her blog when I want inspiration and tons of eye candy. Diana started the Slow Readers' Book Club which I am now a part of. I don't think I really got back into reading books until I joined and now I always have to have a book with me wherever I go. It was just the thing I needed to get me back into reading.

Diana likes a lot of the things I do and I can relate to a lot of her entries. Oh, and she loves photography and has some of the cutest cameras.

Diana has a love for tattoos as well and she has some beautiful artwork on her.

I love this little birdie, he's my favorite :)

(All images from Our City Lights)

Daniel and Gaby

2010-10-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

I finished editing the photos from the wedding I shot for the first time all by myself. Once I got to the location, I wasn't nervous at all. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly which put me at ease and let me concentrate on the job. Here are a few of the shots from that day.

Wishlist Wednesday - Photography Edition

2010-10-06T06:44:00.000-07:00

Today I'll be geeking out on some lovely items that I really wish I had. I'm sure you'll agree with me that they are practically a necessity. Let's begin...

Who wouldn't want this Lomogrpahy Tazza Grande set? Perfect for your espresso or cappuccino during this chilly weather.

I still want one of these even though I shoot Nikon.

Ookay, so straps are definitely a necessity right? Right. I can't decide between the cream and blue one.

How cute are these cameras??? I would definitely want the rainbow colored one. They are Double Shot cameras which means you get double the exposures because it shoots two pictures on one exposure like this:

And I reeeaaalllly want this Diana Mini case. The top and front come off so you can carry it around with the case still on.

Happy Wednesday!

"I Adore..." Tuesday

2010-10-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

Hope you're enjoying your Tuesday so far. I definitely am, it's getting colder here in Southern California and I couldn't be more excited for Fall. Here are 5 things I adore:

Kaylah's adorable kitty. I wish my cats were perpetually kittens.

This cute cupcake costume made out of felt.

I love this jar, I want to use it for buttons.

Bakerella's amazing cake pops.

And this beautiful "Autumn Kiss" necklace, just in time for Fall.

Happy Tuesday!

Motel Polaroid Monday

2010-10-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

Ventura, CA

Feature Friday

2010-10-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Since this is a new feature, I'll tell you a little bit of how this will work. I have A LOT of favorite blogs that I read and there are so many that I can't list them all. This spot will be a way for me to feature one blog per week that I love. For my first feature, I introduce to you Little Bird Crafts by Silje.

I can't even begin to tell you how talented she is, I swear she does it all. Silje is an excellent knitter and she's made a few pretty awesome sweaters. One of my favorite things that she's knitted is a pair of slippers which she then felted to make them cozy. Aren't they amazing?! I love the color.

Silje also makes the cutest scented soaps and are available on her Etsy shop. I love this blog because Silje is such a talented artist all around and I love reading about her crafty adventures. Did I mention that she is also a talented tattoo artist in Portland, Oregon? Yeah, she's a pretty amazing and inspiring person and I recommend visiting her blog for a dose of inspiration.

(All images taken from Little Bird Crafts)

Have a great weekend!

Wishlist Wednesday

2010-09-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

Hello there. I hope the week has been treating you good so far. I still have to edit the pictures of my friends skydiving which I will do very soon, hopefully tonight. Watching that experience from the ground was so unreal!
Here are 5 things that I wish I owned, which makes it my "wishlist".

I've been wanting white or off-white shoes with a teeny heel for a while and these are perfect.

But if I had to choose, I'd get these instead. Aren't they cute!?

And how cute is this dress from ModCloth? I love it.

It's about that time again, the Fall season is here and although we probably won't feel it for another month here in Southern California I still want to get me a new coat. This one is just lovely.

I've been a fan of The Black Apple for a while now and I never get bored of her artwork. I would love to add this print to my collection.

Have a lovely Wednesday!

"I Adore..." Tuesday

2010-09-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

Hello. So far, I'm liking my scheduled blog posts and even though it's only Tuesday I can't wait for my Feature Friday post. Anywho, here are 5 things that I adore this week.

(source)

This awesome chain guard. I'd probably get one if I didn't have a mountain bike.

These beautiful key necklaces from mucho mucho bueno bueno.

These really cute hair clips from Giant Dwarf

This adorable owl keychain tutorial from Katja

And this incredible bunting from dottie angel

Hope you're enjoying your week so far.

Motel Polaroid Monday

2010-09-27T18:29:00.001-07:00

I already started a little late with this new post. This is a project I'm working on because I love Polaroids and interesting motel signs. Enjoy.

Ventura, CA

The Weekend is So Close

2010-09-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

This week has gone by so fast, at least for me. For most of the day, I thought yesterday was Tuesday. I'm really excited about Saturday though, two of my friends are jumping out of a plane! Now there's something I'd never want to do.

I found this Market Bag Makeover tutorial on yes...Design Sponge. It's such a cute idea and anyone with basic sewing skills can do it. Check it out.

2010-09-22T18:42:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty much excited about Elsie's new Autumn class. It includes two of my favorite things: photos and journals. Anyone else taking this class?

(source)

2010-09-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

(source)

The wedding I shot this weekend went pretty well and it was actually fun. It was a simple and beautiful ceremony, I'll have to post pictures as soon as I finish editing them. The couple to be wed were so laid back so I wasn't nervous in the least bit.
I decided to start a new blog regimen to keep me going as a steady blogger. It's going to start on Monday and this is what the schedule will look like:

**EDIT**
Monday- Motel Polaroid Mondays
Tuesday- "I adore..." Tuesdays
Wednesday- Wishlist Wednesdays
Friday- Feature Fridays

The rest of the days will be free days for anything. This should get me back into the swing of things. I'm especially excited about Mondays and soon you'll see why.

2010-09-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

Well, tomorrow is a big day for me. I'm shooting my first wedding...alone. My old classmate will be doing the video. I'm not nervous yet but I know I will be when I get there. I have confidence that I will do well and that makes me excited. Wish me luck!

Changing the subject, I love everything about Design Sponge but I've been especially loving their DIY tutorials. Here are a few of them that you should try:

Recycled Scrap Paper Notebooks

Peaches' Coffee Filter Flowers

Faux-Embroidery Quote Hoops

Hope you enjoy these and have a great weekend.

Simple Goal #3

2010-09-12T17:39:00.000-07:00

I've been riding my bike a lot more, well about three times since I posted it on my goal about a month ago. But that is still more times than I've ridden it when I was living in Ventura, which was zero. I spent a good part of Saturday having it a "me" day. I rode my bike down the bike path which runs from Burbank to North Hollywood.

That path is pretty new but there's a lot of artwork on the side of the buildings to make the ride a little more enjoyable.

I plan on doing more solo bike rides after work to get my stamina going. I felt really good afterwards and hopefully I'll get to fit into a smaller dress size soon.
After the bike ride I headed over to Samy's camera to get my flash fixed. I'm shooting my first wedding next weekend and I don't want anything to go wrong. I'm so nervous! Afterwards I went to Barnes & Noble to pick up a few magazines and books. It was such a nice day so I went to the park to read my books. Here I have:
-Water for Elephants
-ReadyMade Magazine
-Foam Magazine
-Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet
-Ceremony Magazine (for research)

I'm almost finished with Water for Elephants. It's been a really good read and I can't wait to see the movie. I get the feeling I'm not going to like it as much as the book though, that's how it always goes but we'll see.

Later that night, Joe and I went to eat pizza at an Italian restaurant. Their regular crust was better than the thin crust but it was that kind of pizza that if you ate too much of it, you can't have it again for a few months.

I took a picture of this wall because I thought it looked cool and I had never seen it before.

Simple Goal #1

2010-09-09T18:16:00.000-07:00

I got my hair cut yesterday and I feel great. I ended up donating 10 inches of hair and it was shorter than I thought it would be but I don't mind. The only thing that bugs me is that the ends poke my neck, I'm not used to short hair.

I now get to use hair products that I've had since the last time I had short hair which was probably about a couple of years.

Have any of you accomplished and goals lately?

4 Simple Goals

2010-08-19T10:27:00.001-07:00

I've decided to join in on Elsie's 4 Simple Goals challenge. I think this is just what I need to start knocking things out on my to do list for the longer term. Here are the guidelines. I'm usually supposed to pick a reward after completing these goals but some might be a reward in itself. Here are my goals:
1. CUT MY HAIR!!!

My hair has gotten ridiculously long, almost to my butt and that's only because I'm really bad at making hair appointments. Hopefully I can get this done next week.
I think getting my hair done is a reward itself because I always feel shiny and new when I get my hair washed and cut.

2. Take more pictures.

(source)

I usually have a camera with me now everywhere I go ever since there has been times where I kicked myself for not having one. I really want to start documenting places that I see and visit and also experiment with different photography mediums.
I really don't need a reward for this one, I love taking pictures so this will be more of a learning experience.

3. Ride my bike more.
I've been wanting to exercise more and eat healthy. I'm staring to get the latter down now I just need to dust off my bike and use it. I'm a bridesmaid for my best friend's wedding in June 2011 so that will be my motivation to start.

(source)

I believe the end result from this is reward enough but maybe I can buy myself a new dress for extra motivation :)

4. Blog more.
I've been thinking of ways to improve this and I have come up with some ideas that will help me to post more on both blogs. One of them is a project and I'm really excited about it. As soon as I'm settled in to my new place, I will put this into practice.

(source)

My reward for this goal will be a trip to a few thrift stores. I haven't gone in a while and the itch has come back.

Do you have goals you wish to accomplish?

Giveaway Time!

2010-08-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

*Giveaway has been extended until Friday August 27th*

It is finally time for my first giveaway! Since I'll be moving for the second time this year (and possibly a third), I decided that I really need to de-clutter starting with my crafting room. I'm going to miss it so much.

Here is what you can win if you enter:
-craft foam (regular and sticky)
-4 pairs of craft scissors
-2 rolls of ribbon
-Sculpey polymer clay in green, purple, white and pink
-a mini composition book
-cute erasers
-thread
-perler bead characters
-2 rolls of patterned packing tape
-2 VHS tapes: Virgin Suicides and The Beach
- a Lego set
-mini envelopes with cards
-craft punch
-crafting brads
Yep, it's a lot. I added the VHS tapes since I won't be keeping my tv that comes with the player. I loved The Virgin Suicides and of course, Leonardo DiCaprio only gets better looking with age.

Anywho, to enter you must be a follower of this blog and answer this question in the comments: What was the highlight of your Summer?

For 1 extra entry, you can blog about the giveaway (make sure to leave a link in a separate comment)

You can also tweet about the giveaway for 1 more entry with this link @judyjetson6 (also leave a link in a separate comment)

That's 3 total possible entries!

**Edit** The deadline to enter is August 27th so there's plenty of time to spread the word.
Have a great weekend!

2010-08-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I finished an amigurumi project! I joined the Great Owl Crochet-Along and got started about two months ago. I had the ears, eyes, beak, belly and feet done but hadn't touched the body since the first time I tried it, he came out like a cone. I used a stitch marker this time around and it came out the way it's supposed to. The deadline was Sunday so I think what motivated me to get it done was that I didn't want to disappoint the other person I was going to swap the owl with. It does feel like a great accomplishment though because I never thought I could make any of these things besides scarves and granny squares.

I'm still putting together items for my giveaway. The box isn't full yet so I'm trying to add more stuff to it. More than likely I'll have the giveaway around next week because I'll have to focus on packing again. I'm seriously the only person I know that has moved as much as I have.

And here is the photo booth picture my friends and I took at Renegade.

In the meantime, check out this Etsy shop and blog for all things retro. Cut*Copy*Create makes the most adorable items that include designs like vintage typewriters and cameras.
These are some of my favorite items:

Happy Wednesday!

2010-07-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

It's only Wednesday but already I'm pretty overwhelmed with work and homework. I have about 1 month more before I graduate school then I must move again. I'll be moving back to L.A. and I really need to downsize on the stuff I have. Most of this "stuff" that I have is in my craft room. As a result, I having a huge giveaway soon. I have a medium size flat rate box that I'm going to fill up with craft goodies. "If it fits, it ships" and that's what I intend to do so stay tuned.

Renegade L.A.

2010-07-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was very exciting. It was my first time attending this:

And it was a really awesome, inspiring and wonderful experience. Here are some pictures from yesterday.

We got to make coffee cozies at the Sew L.A. booth.

And I was the Renegade mascot for a moment.

And I also got to meet the beautiful and talented Ruby from Cakies. This was the first time I've ever met anyone whose blog I read so I was excited.

We also went into the Threadless camper. In there, we got to design our own little paper t-shirts.

That's my masterpiece and here are a couple that made me laugh:

I already can't wait for next year. I'm off to go finish my homework, I took a break to post about Renegade so I best hop to it. Goodnight.

2010-07-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

As I was surfing the internets the other day, I found this website that is pretty much amazing. It has the most unique items and really made me wish I had some monies to be able own some of these items.

I love this necklace

Okay, this ring has to be mine.

Ha, this knife magnet is awesome.

This is seriously the most beautiful pot rack that I've ever seen.

And of course, anything cat related I have to check out. Those mounted cat beds would probably prevent my cats from climbing tables and counters and those catch scratchers would look so cool because they would "blend in" with the decor. But knowing my cats, they would use those things for a little while then go back to jumping on tables and scratching the carpet.

My Awesome Weekend

2010-07-18T16:02:00.000-07:00

This weekend was one of my favorites! It started on Saturday when I drove down to L.A. and had lunch with my besties. We had some Stewie's Shaved Ice which I've never had before. It was goood especially since the weather was in the high 90's - it felt like 110 degrees. On Sunday, me and a few friends went to the Hollywood Bowl to see The Swell Season. If you've never heard of them, check out the link because they are awesome. The opening bands were The Bird and the Bee and She and Him. The entire show was amazing but the icing on the cake was when I met Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova from The Swell Season. Joe and I had to wait at the artist entrance like groupies for almost 2 hours after the show but it was so worth it. I want to kill myself for not having a camera because besides meeting them, Colin Ferrel, John C. Riley and Jason Sudeikis from SNL passed by us. Lesson learned :(

(source)

In a few weeks, my friend Rosa will be having her engagement party and I plan on making a ton of these:

(click on the image for source and recipe)

I even have a color theme picked out and I'm also going to make the banner for the party. I"ll be sure to bring my camera there.

Lovebot Giveaway

2010-07-15T22:54:00.000-07:00

Visit The Dainty Squid's blog for more information. Good Luck!

Road Trip Recap

2010-07-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

I finished sorting through my road trip pictures that do not include the ones on my friends' cameras. It was so much fun and i'm glad I went. I made a play list specifically for the trip and here are a few of my top songs. The first and second songs I cannot get enough of right now. I love it when songs can change your mood completely and these songs make me happy.

I hope you like these songs as well.
Ok, so here we go....

Our drive went straight from Los Angeles to Eugene, Oregon where we stayed at a friend's house. The next morning we began driving along the coast and it was amazing. I took the picture above because I saw this repeated a few times. Does anyone know why they leave a single giant tree where all the others were chopped down? I just thought it was strange.

Our first stop was the Sea Lion Caves. It was interesting and smelly.

This was setup on a self timer. Yay that's me on the left. When you're the main "picture taker" you realize that you hardly show up on anything. I just wanted proof that I was actually there :)

Our next stop was the Tillamook Cheese factory where we tasted some cheese and got ice cream.

Looking at this picture I realize how dumb it is to have a human face on a cow :|
After that, we headed to Astoria where of course had to find the Goonies House. It was a mission to find it I tell ya. There was construction going on that was blocking streets but we made it.

We were also told that if we were up here, we had to see the Astoria Column. It was a gift from the French. That is all I know about it. I also know it was really amazing to look at.

Yeah, it's REALLY tall even though you can't tell from here. And this is the view from there.

From Astoria we drove straight to Portland where we stayed at a lovely Comfort Inn. I've never been to one so I was amazed that we got to make our own waffles! I was excited beyond words. The first place I wanted to go to in Portland was Voodoo Doughnut. I have heard great things about it and they didn't disappoint.

Isn't the voodoo doughnut cute? And this was my doughnut, it's called "old dirty bastard" and had crushed Oreo cookies and peanut butter. It was sooo good!

We didn't do much else in Portland so we then headed to Seattle. I had made plans that night for us to go see a burlesque show because my friends had never seen one before. I was glad to know that they enjoyed the show. The next morning was spent walking around downtown and then went to see the Space Needle.

And this is where my proof of my being there is gone. I swear I went.

Oh wait, there I am in the center with the camera in my face.

Pretty view from the top.
After seeing the sights, we went to Pier 57 where my friend Rosa wanted to eat crab. I'm not a big fan so I got fish and chips.

But she was pretty happy with what she got.
That night we headed to Vancouver, B.C. and stayed at a lovely hotel there. Although we had no trouble with the currency situation, I have one question for Canadians or anyone else who might know; we passed by gas stations and could not tell how much gas was. The sign would show 118.1 and was clueless as to what it meant. We googled and that was no help. We did everything but actually go into the gas station and ask. We ended up having enough gas to take us back into Washington and fill up there.

Our day in Vancouver was spent visiting the Capilano Suspension Bridge.

It was amazing! Not scary at all and it was very beautiful. After the bridge we went to Gastown and got some souvenirs.

The Canadian/U.S border is so pretty. I'm used to seeing more of the Southern border which looks like the opposite of this.

After much discussion and debate, we decided to save the money we would have spent sleeping in a hotel for a few hours in Medford, OR and drive straight from Vancouver to Gilroy, CA. Yes, we drove 16 hours straight- taking shifts of course so about 6 hours each at the wheel.
Our last destination was at Rosa's cousin's house. I didn't know anything about Gilroy but that day I learned a lot about wine. Yes, they have lots of wineries there so why not go wine tasting?

That day was 4th of July so we spent it watching fireworks. It was the perfect ending to our trip as the next day we headed home.

I hope this post didn't bore you but I just wanted to share.

Back to the Grind

2010-07-06T20:29:00.000-07:00

I just came back from my road trip last night and even though there was a lot of driving, I hate that it's over. We saw lots of beautiful sights and stayed in some nice and not so nice hotels but most importantly, my best friends and I got to do some girl bonding. We really needed it since we have all been busy with work and school and really don't get to see them all that much. I will post pictures of the trip as soon as I'm finished editing them.

I'm still editing my best friend's engagement photos- I love so many of them that it's tough to narrow them down. Here are a few from the shoot.

It's so exciting to be a part of the wedding (I'm also a bridesmaid), and it's going to take some adjustment to realize that we are growing up -yikes- and ready to move on to the next stage in our lives. I'm so happy for them and can't wait for the "Big Day" next year.

I'm off to go to sleep early, I'm so so tired from the drive.

2010-06-22T17:52:00.000-07:00

I've been MIA lately and that's because I've started working full time for the Summer. I have to make some money if I want to go on a road trip. I'm really excited though because my best friend got engaged and I got to shoot their photos this past Sunday. I thought I was going to be nervous like I always am but I just kind of told myself that I can do this, it's something that I love to do and I will do a great job at it. I'll be editing the photos all this week. I'll post as soon as they're done.

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I wish this was the office I have been working in. I definitely would not be falling asleep.

2010-06-16T18:28:00.000-07:00

This session at school is pretty much over. I still have a class on Friday but my documentary is finished and showed it in class. I will have three weeks off for the Summer and then I go back for my last class ever. Yup, I graduate at the end of August with a Bachelor's degree in Visual Journalism. It's really awesome to know that I finally finished something in my life even though I really wanted to give up. And speaking of finishing things, here are a couple of projects that I have been working on. Since Father's Day is coming up, I made my dad a few beer cozies.

I got a free tutorial here and you can register for free. The yellow blanket in the background is for my soon to be new baby cousin. I'm taking it on my road trip to work on it. I'm actually taking a lot of projects with me on the road because I know there will be lots of driving.

Here's something that I finally finished and I'm so proud of. It's my first time making one of these and I think it came out pretty cool.

I recently finished making all of my granny squares for my first afghan...all 108 of them.

I really give credit to all of the grannies out there because putting the squares together has been back breaking work and it's also very tedious.

Because it's so repetitive, I also began to do a scallop edge to distract me when the job got too difficult. I'm hoping I'll finish this before I start school again.

Sew Friday

2010-06-11T11:21:00.000-07:00

After having purchased a few old dresses from yard sales and thrift stores, I decided to show what I have reconstructed do far.
I got this dress at a yard sale for $3, it was not that complicated to reconstruct, I just wish I took a better before picture of it. It was way too long and you can't quite see here but it also had puffy sleeves that I wanted to get rid of.

So I shortened the dress and made the sleeves into straps. I pretty much loved the way the dress looked but now I customized it for me.

This next dress I bought brand new a couple of years ago and I've had it collecting dust in my closet as it didn't fit my style anymore, however I still love the pattern on it.

It also had this beautiful crocheted detail. I carefully removed this detail and I'll probably make a headband out of it. This was the only thing that was keeping this dress together so then I just sewed black elastic to the waistband. And voila, a skirt.

I like it way more as a skirt now and I'm glad I didn't get rid of it. I will work on some more dresses later but this is what I accomplished this week.

Happy Friday!

A Current Favorite

2010-06-09T22:04:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to be thrifty lately since I'm saving up for my road trip this summer. The way I do this is by shopping at thrift stores. Although I really don't have that much patience looking through the racks, I'll find a piece here and there that just stand out. After buying them, I kind of get an idea of how I want to reconstruct it but not really. I forgot how I found this blog but it's amazing. Marisa from A New Dress A Day decided to stop buying new clothes for a year and spend only $1 a day to reconstruct something from flea markets, thrift stores, estate sales...etc. She has given me all kinds of awesome ideas so I posted some of my favorite outfits.

Her blog is definitely an inspiration for me. I've already reconstructed a few pieces of clothing myself.
Happy Thursday!

2010-06-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

So ever since I finished watching Arrested Development I felt like I needed to start watching another show that can make me laugh as hard as that show. Since no other show can compare to it, my netflix suggested I watch Party Down. I'm on season 2 now and it's really funny. The 1st season had Jane Lynch in it which was a plus and now I can't stop watching it. The humor is different but in a good way, hey and it's directed by Fred Savage. You know, The Wonder Years? You can watch it instantly on netflix so for those who have it, I recommend you add it.

I have 2 more weeks lefts before my summer vacation. Luckily, I have had a little bit of down time and decided to go thrift store shopping. I hadn't gone in a while and I felt really good when I got back into it. I guess I can say I "scored". There were some things that I was looking for and found and others were a nice surprise. Here are some of my finds on Sunday:

(From left) bed sheets, a green owl family, a sweet plaque, another owl, vintage flower looms, a retro photo album (it has black pages inside) and a couple of vintage pillow cases. They had the matching bed sheets but I couldn't bring myself to pay $7 for each set. Maybe next time.

I also got this awesome crocheted blanket, an old book, Jane Austin Book Club book (I got it mostly because of the design on the cover), a glass and a pitcher. I used to have the matching creamer and sugar set but probably not exactly the same shade of orangey-peach.

I love this glass, I just wish I had a set of at least four. Oh well, I might list it on my Etsy. Someone else might need it to complete their set.

I went on a walk today because I wanted to visit some interesting shops that are near my apartment but I just never bothered to stop by and look. A consignment shop also opened and I just wanted to pop in and see what they had. Well I didn't get to make it to any of them. A thrift store that I never knew about stopped me in my tracks and I just had to see what was inside. Everything was VERY reasonably priced and the first thing that caught my eye was this Polaroid camera. Only $4! I don't know if it works but I'm a camera collector so I'll find out sooner or later. I also found a few more owls.

I ended up taking with me a camera, 2 owls, a vintage plastic thermos, 2 round frames, a few records and I was really excited that I found a Catherine Holm casserole dish and an empty ledger. Since finishing Elsie and Rachel's journal class, I left very inspired. I'm going to paint the cover of my ledger and make it a journal.

Oh I love thrifting! I also got a dress, a blouse and some shoes which I will post later. This has been an exciting couple of days for me. Maybe I'll even take that long walk tomorrow and hope that I can make it to those shops.

Road Trip!

2010-05-31T10:36:00.000-07:00

My girlfriends and I decided the other day that we need a vacation. We haven't gone on a vacation -just us girls- in two years. Since our schedules are so hectic and different, we decided it was better to plan something sooner than later. So we decided to drive from Los Angeles to Vancouver June 30-July 4th. I'm not sure if that's enough time to make it back because we also want to stop and see the sights. Does anyone have any suggestions on what we should see and visit? I'm so excited! I've never been on a road trip before.

Right now, I'm also working on one of these:

I've never done amigurumi before so I'm excited to learn something new other than granny squares. I'm almost done- I just need to work on the body. On my first try, it started to look like a cone. I need to figure out what I'm doing wrong. Click on the image if you want to find out more about it.
Well, I'm off to join my classmate. We need to put a rough cut together for our documentary. It's not the best feeling since I'm sick, my head feels like it's going to explode, my sinuses hurt and I can't hear that well. yay :/
Happy Monday!

2010-05-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

It's a rainy day today here in Ventura. I wouldn't mind as much if I didn't have to run errands all day. I got the "scaries" today because I'm going to try to donate blood today. It's usually a hit or miss for me because of my iron levels, sometimes I have enough and sometimes I don't. Then I get to drive down to L.A. and see my dad for a bit then hang out with my girlfriends to see Sex and the City 2. I'm excited to see it but I don't know how I feel about Adan coming back. Didn't he have a kid during the show? It makes me feel like it's just filler because I thought that relationship was long gone. But that's just my opinion. How is your Thursday?

All images via weheartit

Finger Puppets

2010-05-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

I found a new favorite Etsy shop today where you can find the most interesting and delightful finger puppets. Here are some of my favorite puppets from abbeychristine. I think they are pretty awesome.

Steve Zissou

Harold and Maude

Richie, Chas and Margot

Bob Ross

Haha, and Johnny Cash.
She has some pretty amazing stuff. She also has Peewee Herman and Madonna.

An Owl Giveaway

2010-05-21T11:23:00.000-07:00

Who loves owls? I know I definitely do. Visit My Owl Barn for your chance to win. The best part is that there will be four winners so your chances are greater.

I wish I could win them all!
Happy Friday!

2010-05-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

I stumbled on Sandra Juto's website while I was looking for inspiration for my granny afghans on Flickr. Turns out she sells afghans, unfortunately the one I wanted sold. I checked out the rest of her site where she also sells prints. I like her style and the colors she uses. Here are some of my favorite prints of hers.

This one is at the top of my list. I like the look of the geometrical shapes with the muted colors. It's something that my eye is always drawn to.

She also sells wrist warmers in many different colors. I like how she added the "buttons" on them. Which reminds me, I need to find a really good tutorial on crocheting fingerless gloves.

Blankies

2010-05-12T23:49:00.000-07:00

I've been coming back to my crocheting and realized that I always start something but never finish. I'm currently working on 3 different afghans because I get bored of crocheting the same thing. I decided to stop doing that and get at least 1 done by March (it's on my 28 before 29 list). I think it's do-able since I only need about 13 more big granny squares to finish. I figured if I do 1 everyday then I will definitely reach my goal way before March. Does anyone have any good tutorials on how to join the squares together? It will be a huge accomplishment for me when I finally finish my blanket. I also want to learn how to make hexagons too. Here are some pretty blankets that are keeping me motivated and inspired.

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I'm also going to crochet a pillow to match my blanket. I'm off to start my weekend. It involves cutting scenes together for my new documentary class and scouting possible subjects for it. It's kind of scary, we have to make a 30 min. doc by the week of June 14.
Have a great weekend, I'm going to try and spend it outside as much as possible. What do you have planned?

The Craft Room...

2010-05-10T19:25:00.000-07:00

I finished rearranging my craft room and I'm only half happy with it. As soon as I finish school, which will be at the end of August, I'll be moving out so I'm not really going all out with decorating it...as much as I really want to. Since the living room/dining room is out of commission and probably will be till I move out, I decided to bring in the dining table for a bigger workspace. So here is a peek at my little space...for now :(

I scored another typewriter for $5!

My favorite part of my little space. I love owls. And yarn. And thread. And Fall :)

These are 2 dresses I want to work on since it's getting warmer. I'm thinking of shortening the patterned dress and get rid of the puffy sleeves.

Working on journaling right now. I love it so much now since I started taking Rachel and Elsie's Journal class.

I'm currently drinking this, which is Malt-o-meal but I added sugar, cinnamon and evaporated milk. My mom used to make it when we were kids and it was sooo good. Especially if you dipped your toast in it. Mine came out more liquidy than I wanted so I'm drinking it instead. I'm hoping to get my shop updated with a few things tonight so I better get to work on that. I post as soon as everything is up.

EDITED: I've listed some items in my shop and even added one of my favorite prints. My goal is to have more items up this week.

New Faves

2010-05-08T20:16:00.000-07:00

So I was googling online to see where I can get some washi tape at a local craft store, somewhere I didn't have to get it online. I didn't find anything but I did find my new favorite cute online shop. It's called cute tape and they have so many things that now I feel I "need". I purchased this set of 12 washi tapes.

Sooo pretty. And here are some other things that are really cute on their site.

I want these hand made labels so bad.
I also want/need this journal so bad. It's for multi-taskers because it's a planner, calendar, journal and account book. I'm definitely getting this next time.

Yes, it comes with the wooden stamps!!! :)

Well I guess I'm going to have to wait for my tape to get here after all. But I'm excited. I love ordering things online because I feel like I'm getting a present, even though I paid for it. Must be the whole unpacking thing of it.
Have a great and crafty weekend.

Journaling

2010-05-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

I'm loving the journal class I'm taking right now. I'm so inspired! I hadn't done any journaling in a while and this was just the spark I needed. I'm also really inspired by my classmates. Seeing other people's creativity somehow sparks my enthusiasm to join in on the fun. Here are some pages that are truly magical.

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Is there anything inspiring you lately? What do you do when you lose inspiration?

My Weekend

2010-04-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

I have to say my weekend went pretty well. It began on Friday when I attended a film workshop at the Lomography store in L.A. It was fun going out and shooting with other people interested in photography. I have yet to develop that roll since I'm not completely done with it yet. I did manage to buy the Diana 110mm lens and adapter for my Nikon camera. I used it right away.

Saturday, me and my guy drove up to Solvang, a cute Danish little town in Santa Barbara County. The drive was beautiful but it was longer than expected. (Yes, that is a plaid VW van!)

The drive was truly scenic. Reminded me a little of Little House on the Prairie :)

Afterwards, we drove back to Santa Barbara to see the comedian Daniel Tosh. It was an awesome show. On Sunday, we went to Disneyland to see Captain EO. Something I haven't seen since I was around 8 years old. 3D back then wasn't that great and hurt my eyes. It was funny seeing it again though. Very 80's!
How was your weekend?

It's Been A While...

2010-04-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

Since I've posted and that's lame. I have to get into the habit of posting or at least taking pictures and sharing daily. I have 3 more days until school is over (for now) so I've been a little busy working on putting together my portfolio. I have been working on a multimedia project all session on a group called the Society for Creative Anachronism or SCA. They are an awesome bunch and welcomed me to their events. Here are some images from this weekend's shoot.

Many people usually think they are kind of like the Renaissance Fair people but not really. They don't do it for show, they do it for themselves and really go into doing research from anything like food to "garb". It's a hobby that they really love and are passionate about. I had a lot of fun shooting their events and I plan going to a few more.

Lomo Mania

2010-04-11T18:52:00.000-07:00

My Saturday went pretty well. A Lomography gallery and store opened up in L.A. and I have been anxious to see it. I finally went and it is amazing. They sell all of the Lomographic cameras and accessories and you can also leave your film to get it developed. Aside from that, they also have workshops on different things like film and pinhole cameras.

This store is a very hands on type of shop which I loove because I took my Nikon D200 and got to use an adapter so that you can use the Lomo lenses. This is what turned out when I used their telephoto lens:

It has an amazing soft focus and makes the images look dreamy. I'm in love with it and now my goal is to save up $ and pick one up.

Look at all the goodies! I can't wait to go back and pick up some accessories for my cameras. I want to get a flash for my mini Diana and maybe a colorsplash ring flash for my fisheye. I love plastic cameras! If you're in the area, I highly recommend you stop by.

Vinyl Lovin'

2010-04-06T22:27:00.000-07:00

This week has been both stressful and really busy. My roommate and I managed to finish moving on the 1st around 2 a.m. I right away got to working on my portfolio for my 7 a.m. class that day. Not long after I began working, my back gave out and I could barely move. I finished my portfolio with 30 minutes to spare, drove to school and dropped it off. I definitely did not stay for class as I couldn't even sit down for that long. I got home, took a nap and went back to the old apartment to clean it up. I thought I was finished with that place but little did I know that the manager likes to pester me. Turns out my roommate didn't clean his part of the apartment and now she was harassing me about it. It was a situation wasn't that big of a deal but she decided to make it one. It's a shame that she's also the manager for our new place too. Ack!

With all that, I'm also trying to put together a multimedia project, shoot more news events and trying to pass my business class. With only two weeks left in the session, I need to take advantage of any spare time I can get. This means not really being able to pay much attention to unpacking and organizing...yet.

So how do I have time to linger on Etsy? I get distracted easily. Shame on me. If you go to my photo blog, you can see what I shot on Saturday. It was pretty awesome.

Anyway, since I'm not allowed to paint on rented walls, the next best thing is vinyl decals. Here are some awesome looking ones that I would not mind putting up in my place.

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These two weeks will be over soon then I will get to decorate till my heart's content.
Happy Wednesday! (Technically, I finished this post past midnight, so yeah, Wednesday)

I Wanna Bake

2010-03-29T13:55:00.001-07:00

Now that I'm moving to a new place with a slightly bigger kitchen, I've been in the mood to bake. I haven't baked any sweets in a long time and I want to get back into it. Now that I think about it, Easter is coming up and I can use that as an excuse to bake some goodies. I was searching around Flickr to get some ideas and thought a few of these were awesome.

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I love these from my favorite baking blog.

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I also love baking cookies. Good ol' chocolate chip cookies are my favorite!

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And I am definitely not opposed to baking brownies either.

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This one is making me drool. I feel like Homer Simpson just looking at it.

Okay, now I'm hungry. I better get started on my packing again. It feels like such a long process but today should be better, my friend is coming over to help me.

Have a good Monday.

2010-03-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

I'm so over moving. Right now I'm moving boxes by myself in my tiny 2 door car. My classes are early in the morning so I get the rest of the day to move. I usually make about 3 trips then I'm exhausted. It's definitely because I have to lug everything up a flight of stairs. I'm trying to move all of the little tedious things then have my friends help me move the big furniture and boxes. My strategy has been filling up 3 big plastic bins and emptying them in the new place, then repeat. I could probably recruit friends to help but I feel uncomfortable about asking for the help. I'm kind of weird like that. I still have a ways to go and I have until Wednesday to do it. I've decided that after this move is over, I'm so going to purge A LOT of my junk! I really want my home to look like this.

P.S.
No fair, I can't believe Katherine Heigl didn't come back for a few more episodes of Grey's Anatomy before really leaving. It feels so unresolved now :(

2010-03-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

We just signed our contract to our new apartment. It's still a 3 bedroom but way cheaper. We're not going to look for a 3rd roommate so that extra bedroom will become...MY CRAFT ROOM! I'm soooo excited, I've never had my own craft room before. I immediately started looking for inspiration and this is what I found:

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How amazing are these rooms? Now comes the moving part, what a pain.

Moving...

2010-03-16T15:19:00.001-07:00

Well it seems that I may just have to be moving soon. I have lived with two other roommates in a 3 bedroom apartment but have constantly been trying to find a permanent 3rd roommate. We've had 2 in the last year and we're finding trouble finding another one right now. Me and my roommate decided to just move to a 2 bedroom and that way we won't have to worry about it. We got lucky because the owner of the building has a couple apartments up for rent across the street from where we are now. The only bad thing is that we won't have that ocean view anymore :( I don't mind moving since the building is close but just the fact that we'll have to go up and down a flight of stairs to move is a pain. We have 2 weeks to move, hopefully that's enough time.

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images via weheartit

Another good thing about moving is that the building we'll be moving to has solar panels so the electricity and heat bill is waaaay cheap.
I wish I didn't own so many things. I might have to sell a few pieces of Ikea furniture that I don't need.

Friday Friday

2010-03-12T16:08:00.001-08:00

I got this pin in the mail today! I won it on Dommie's blog. If you can't see the detail, it has one of Mark Ryden's paintings on it, Rose. It's probably one of my favorite of all his paintings.
I took these awesome looking pictures here.

I was cleaning out some of my old metal lunch pails (I have a small collection) and I found a bunch of these:

I remember when these used to be "in" like in the 90s. I can't believe I still have them but come to think of it, I still like some of them, like the green one in the middle and I might just start wearing it again.
Does anybody else have any issues being distracted? I've been trying to write a 3 page paper since yesterday and today I'm only on page 2. I guess I would just rather be doing something else than homework. I guess I should be getting back to that. BOOOO! Have a great weekend everyone!

Update! Update!

2010-03-09T19:41:00.000-08:00

So my images are up on my Etsy shop now and I'm so excited! These are a few of the prints I will have up for sale:

I swear Etsy doesn't do the prints justice. There's only so much I can do to bump up the contrast and that still doesn't do it. I'm going to keep posting more images in my shop as the days go by.

Enjoy the rest of your night.

New Class, New Projects

2010-03-09T15:37:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day of my Portfolio and ethics class. I'm actually excited to take this class because it will help me to put together and improve my portfolio. I'm also planning on shooting a picture story that will be very fun to do. Changing the subject, I gave my Etsy shop a little update that I have been wanting to do for a long time. This includes re listing my flower brooches but this time, in sets of three. It makes more sense this way given the shipping.

Also, right now I'm working on including my photography prints to my shop as well. After many months, I finally decided which images have made the cut and I'm happy with my decision. I will make a post about it tonight or tomorrow morning-the latest. After taking my Color Management class, I learned A LOT about printing and feel confident that my customers will receive quality prints.

I have also been trying to catch up on some old RVA Classes that I took in the past. So far, I got this done:

Custom Journals

Be back later tonight with an update.

Birthdays & Giveaways

2010-03-03T21:40:00.000-08:00

My birthday is coming up and I'm so excited because a bunch of us are going to Dave & Buster's...the grown up's Chuck & Cheese. I'll be 28 years old, geez how the time flies. Another person who's birthday is also this weekend is the very awesome Erin Sunday. Go Pisces! If you head on over to her blog, you can participate in a huge giveaway she's having. She and her boyfriend Will are awesome photographers and I'm a fan. Here's a little peek at what you can win, just click here to participate.

I will make sure post pictures of my birthday weekend. As for now, enjoy the rest of your Wednesday.

A Dancy Kind of Night

2010-02-24T21:32:00.000-08:00

Between editing photos and crocheting granny squares, I've been channel surfing and decided to watch "Confessions of a Shopaholic". It was the only semi good thing on and the only reason I kept watching was because of this guy:

Does anyone else have a crush on Hugh Dancy? So after watching the movie I flipped channels again and decided to watch "The Jane Austen Book Club" and I'd forgotten that he's in that too. He's also in "Adam" which is a really good movie. That Claire Danes is one lucky gal.

My birthday is coming up next weekend and my boyfriend was suggesting that we could do this:

Hehe, I could not stop laughing because it just keeps going and going. That would be the perfect birthday though, going to flea markets, probably not that one but definitely flea markets.

2010-02-21T21:32:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, how has your weekend been? My weekend went pretty well. I finished my portfolio for class yesterday so that means I'm pretty much done with all homework for this last week of school. Hooray! I rewarded myself by going thrifting. It was a really good day too. I visited my favorite shops and got all of these goodies.

I was so excited to find a vintage Royal Corona typewriter. I've been wanting one for a while but I didn't have the moola to buy it online. I got this one for $13. I also got milk glass vases, dress patterns, a wire paper basket and a Singer sewing box.

I was surprised I found one, let alone a pretty blue one.

Aren't the dresses cute? Now I either have to learn to follow a pattern or fly my mom over here and have her make me one :)

And the fabric in the background is a giant pillow case.

This weekend I also worked on a few projects from Style School. I'm pretty excited about them.

Tomorrow I have to wake up really early because our class is meeting at the printers. We are getting promo cards printed and we get to see the process. Sounds fun except for the 7:45 a.m. meeting time.
Goodnight everyone.

Black and White

2010-02-19T15:07:00.000-08:00

I have found a new appreciation for black and white images. There's just something about it that makes an image look more interesting and sometimes mysterious. I'm finishing up my color management class and we just learned how to convert and print black and white images. I knew how to convert images before but now I know how to make them look good and almost like film. Here are some of my favorite black and whites so far.

Next week is finals week and I have to turn in a portfolio of my work. I'm really excited to print my images out and mount them on matte boards. That's pretty much how my weekend is going to go except for the occasional break to step outside and look for possible cool black and white pictures. Yup, it's my new obsession. Do you have a current obsession?
Have a great weekend!

Shoe Envy

2010-02-17T15:07:00.000-08:00

It's so funny how I always think I "need" shoes when I really don't. Nowadays since I can't really afford them, I can't get these unnecessary shoes that I "need". I am allowed to look though and it's hard to resist, but I'll move on. I still really am looking for the perfect pair of white flats or like a 1" heel. I really can't do high heels, but they are pretty to look at.

(Source: Modcloth)

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(Source)

These shoes are awesomely funky. Way out of my price range but they are still awesome.

Theses shoes are so cute!

(Source)

(Source)

My Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T22:13:00.001-08:00

I had a pretty awesome Valentine's weekend starting with Friday. My best friends and our boyfriends went to see the movie Valentine's Day. I have to admit that it was a wee but cheesy so I gave Joe a lot of credit for being a trooper. I didn't do much on Saturday but on Sunday morning, I went to shoot my cousin for an assignment and when I came back I saw this:

I love his drawing of cupid.

He wrote all over his mirrors with soap, how cute.
Joe got me delicious cupcakes from Yummy Cupcakes and they were super delicious! We then went out to lunch and had some Pinkberry for desert. For dinner, we went to our favorite Italian restaurant and I was so excited that they had my favorite plate on the specials menu. This was definitely the best Valentine's Day ever. Here's what I made for Joe.

I got this idea from Elsie and Leigh-Ann's Style School class. There are paper airplanes inside the house each with lyrics from a song that Joe made up when I was feeling really low. I also got him a pair of his favorite REI socks and a card holder with his name engraved in it. Yup, I had an awesome Valentine's weekend.

2010-02-10T12:45:00.001-08:00

Hi hi hi! I don't know why but today I feel very excited, happy and ready to take on the world. It might be because I had coffee and no breakfast or because I feel like I have everything under control. I have lots of things that need to get done before the weekend (including a Valentine's gift) and I know I can get it done. I went for a walk today to look for pictures to turn in for an assignment. I got my shot along with some other cool things I saw.

Have a greeeeeaaaaaaaat day!!!

2010-02-08T21:40:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's Monday again. I guess it's a good thing my days are going by so fast. I feel pretty accomplished so far at school. All my homework is done and I'm halfway done with my final assignment. There's two more weeks left at school so I'm pretty much set. With so much done, I feel inspired to start working on my Valentine's Day gift. I can't wait to get it done. With that in mind, I'll leave you with some inspiration for today. Birds are awesome, especially the images people can make with that subject.

These images give me a calming feel. I love it. (All images found on weHeartit)

Rainy Friday

2010-02-05T14:22:00.000-08:00

Today is starting off to be a good day. I had the urge to crochet so I decided to continue with my blanket. It's also raining today and there's a Twilight Zone marathon on t.v. I couldn't ask for more on a Friday.

Super Bowl Sunday is coming up. Anyone doing anything special for it? I'm not a huge sports fan but it's a good excuse to have a big family gathering for the game and good food.

Sooo...

2010-02-03T17:17:00.000-08:00

I have an over abundance of red yarn that I bought for a school assignment. We had to use complimentary colors of whatever we wanted so there I went and got a ton of yarn to roll into balls for the shoot. With Valentine's Day coming up, does anyone have any ideas what I can do with it?

I Joined a Book Club!

2010-02-01T17:38:00.001-08:00

Hello all. This week as I was reading some of my favorite blogs, I stumbled on one that had joined an online book club. I love reading books and especially love it when the book is so interesting that I'm able to finish it in a week. A few of my classmates and I were going to start a book club but it just never took off. Now, I've never been in one but I just wanted to find a place where I can read a good book and share with others what I thought about it and also find out other people's reviews. So this was perfect for me! If you would also like to join, click on the image below.

I can't wait to start reading the first book!

Idea Time

2010-02-01T15:59:00.000-08:00

Eeeep! Valentine's Day is just right around the corner. I've been surfing through Etsy to try and find ideas for my boyfriend. I stumbled on a few and decided to share some of my finds for those of you who also need help. Here's stuff that I thought would be cool for him:

Source
Little love robots!

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I think this is pretty cool. I'd make it myself if I had the tools and knew how.

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This is perfect for the coffee drinker in your life. I think these are beautiful.

source
Once again, if I knew how to make them. I like the colors, very manly :)

source
This looks so romantical! It's simple and straight to the point.

source
And this I thought was really cool. It's a DIY cross-stitch packaging set.
And this last image is for the ladies

I definitely wouldn't mind getting this for Valentine's Day. It's from Lara Lewis and she has a lot more beautiful goodies. It's worth stopping by at least just for a gander.

Happy Monday

HSD Giveaway

2010-01-29T18:26:00.000-08:00

Lindsay at Her Sunday Dress is having a huge giveaway on her blog. Here's what you can win:

Pretty awesome right? Click here to enter.

2010-01-27T13:16:00.000-08:00

My internet was down once again this week but this time it wasn't the router. The cable guy came to fix my roommate's cable box and when he left, our internet was down. It finally got fixed today and it's supposed to be faster. It's kind of been frustrating because I've been wanting to update my etsy shop and made a goal to blog at least every other day. Arghh. Anywho, I stumbled upon these amazing dish sets by Alyson Fox .

This has to be my favorite set. Very simple and very beautiful.

***P.S. I hate blogger, don't know why the top text appears this way!

I Love the Internets!!!

2010-01-25T20:05:00.000-08:00

My internet is back and I'm glad to be catching up on my blogging and reading other people's blogs. I never really knew how much I used the Internet until my roommate's router was down. I couldn't blog, check my email or watch Netlfix. It was a sad week. I'm glad it's over. This weekend I had a chance to go down to Big Bear and snowboard. I live about 2-3 hours away but it took us 15 hours to get there because of the extreme conditions. It was really worth it though and I'm glad I went.

Me, Andrea, Rosa

I had a blast at Big Bear and with this being my 4th time snowboarding, I think I'm getting better at it. I need to work out my legs because I had to keep taking breaks on the mountain because my legs got tired very quickly. I hope I'm able to go again this season.
Happy Monday!

2010-01-20T12:13:00.000-08:00

Hello.
I've been away for a while involuntarily. I haven't had internet since last week due to my roomate's router. He hasn't been home to fix it and I'm not sure when he'll be back. It's a bit frustrating but here's nothing I can do. I wanted to update my shop this week but now it looks like it won't happen until the end of the month. I'm at school right now and getting ready to leave. As soon as I get the Internet at home, I will do a post.
Happy rainy Wednesday.

2010-01-12T22:04:00.000-08:00

Hi hi. Today was my first day of class and I learned a ton! I'm taking a color correcting class so I can learn how to tone my images. I'm in my last year of school and barely learning this...and it's an elective. It's pretty ridiculous! It should be a requirement and one of the first classes you take in a photography school. I guess when you're a visual journalism major, color correction isn't a priority. Whatever. Enough of my rant, I'm just glad to be taking this class.

Moving on, I have 35 followers! Yay! Thank you for reading my blog and even having an interest in it. This is the only place I can express myself creatively and to share my passion for photography and crafts so I'm thankful and glad that other people feel the same. I'm thinking of doing my first giveaway when I hit 50 followers. It will be a good giveaway, I already have some ideas brewing. For now, I'll get back to my crocheting. I'm making neck warmers in hopes that it will be a teeny bit colder here in Ventura, otherwise they will be gifted to my sister who now lives in Iowa. She'll definitely need them more than me!

Better Late Than Never

2010-01-11T16:57:00.000-08:00

That's the thing with film, no instant gratification. I finally got around to developing and scanning my New Year's photo that I took with my Lomo Fisheye. I love it because it came with different colored gels for the flash to give different effects. We didn't have any big plans for New Year's, just went to a house party with my guy and friends. Here are my images.

My Joe eating his peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

My besties, Heidy and Rosa.

...Or Happy Monday.

2010-01-09T21:46:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of favorite blogs that I read everyday. Sometimes, it's hard to try and read all of them. One of my daily reads is The Clothes Horse. Rebecca has killer style and especially inspires me to figure out what my personal style can be. With Style School starting today, it will be one of my goals to solidify my personal style whether it be fashion or anything else that I do in life. Take a look at a few pictures from Rebecca's blog then hop on over to her blog for some fashion inspiration.

I took a free crocheting class today. I kind of know how to already but I just wanted to make sure I really knew how to make scarves. I was a little off, but not too bad. I'm 1/4 of the way through, I can't wait to finish it and wear it.

The class I took was at The Little Knittery where I also bought pom pom makers.

Have a happy Sunday! I have to get packin', school starts on Tuesday and I need to get back home.

Leggings Galore

2010-01-08T19:14:00.000-08:00

I love tights/leggings. I love them especially when they are bright, colorful and patterned. After wearing tights with my dresses, I can't see myself wearing dresses without them, my legs feel naked. Here are some images that inspire me and might male my collection grow.

(Source weHeartit)

(Source The Clothes Horse)

(Source ModCloth)

Boo for Me!

2010-01-05T20:58:00.000-08:00

I have been really bad blogger. I got a job during my winter break so that has kept me busy. Luckily, today was my last day. I haven't even talked about how my Christmas went or anything. Well, I got a lot of goodies and one of my favorite gifts was this:

I got a weighted hula hoop for exercising. I haven't done it since I was a kid but I can last a while with it.
I also got a few crochet books that I need to start reading...or learn to read.
My New Years went pretty well also. I spent it with my guy and friends. I only took pictures with my Lomo Fisheye and I just developed my pictures today. I need to scan and upload those babies this weekend.
This week I purchased this:

I just had to because it takes 35mm film instead of 120N film which for me, is difficult to load. I love it, it's so much fun.
I also bought some colorful tights at Target. Later tonight, I will dedicate a post to tights. I love them sooo much. I prefer them over jeans. Time for dinner now.

2009-12-30T00:13:00.000-08:00

Where has the timed passed? I've been pretty busy with the holidays ans spending time with friends and family. My little sister is in town and that has been fun. Also, I managed to take a part time position at my old job while I'm in town for winter break. I actually have been working in the day and spending time with friends and family at night. I did finally changed my playlist music and I've fallen in love with this band and this song that is currently playing.
What is your current band/song obsession? I always love hearing new music and bands.

It's Cold Outside!

2009-12-23T18:52:00.000-08:00

I know, I live in Southern California and I should be the last person to be complaining about the cold. But maybe that's why I complain. I'm used to the warm weather and as soon as it hits 40 and below, I feel like my bones are going to crack. With that, I realized I only have one really good pea coat. My sister gave it to me years ago and got it at Old Navy. I love it, it does it's job but it's just black. I want a new coat but I need the "perfect" new coat. Here is my "ode" to coats.

Sources all from WeHeartIt.

3 More Days!

2009-12-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

I've declared that 2010 will be my most productive year. I'm going to do a big update for my Etsy shop in January. I'm so excited! I'll be adding more items and finally some of my prints. I will have a lot of time on my hands this coming month since I'll only be taking one class. (Thank you to too many students and not enough classes to go around!) Anywho, I'll be graduating in August so I'm really going to start working on my portfolio and shoot what I want to do for a living. I really want to shoot bands and concerts. Wouldn't that be awesome?! I have to start making connections and apply for internships. I just feel like I've been in school and I just rode the wave and now I'm here with still not a lot of experience and I need to change that. I just have to keep positive and busy. Here's to 2010!!!

I got sooo much done today. I'm done with everyone's gifts, decorations...done, finished editing my baby cousin's pictures and now I'll be working on some headbands and put together my Style School folder. I love winter break!

I also need to got grocery shopping for my X-Mas dinner. Here is some inspiration from WeHeartIt for creative ways to use food this holiday season.

And I plan to make a bunch of these for everyone:

James from Bleubird Vintage shows you how to make them here. Yummy!

2009-12-20T11:45:00.000-08:00

It's been a few days since my last post. My weekend has been pretty uneventful but this week I'll be busy wrapping a few presents and setting up for my much anticipated (at least by me) after X-Mas dinner with my sisters and best friends. Tomorrow I will be shooting my friend and his baseball team play at Dodger Stadium. That should be fun. Ever since I started school, I had decided that I wanted to be a sports photographer and shoot for the Dodgers. Well, I won't be shooting for the Dodgers tomorrow but I will be shooting at Dodgers Stadium. It's okay though, I don't want to be a sports photographer anymore.

Anyway, I stumbled upon another awesome tutorial over at zakka life. It's a genius idea for gifts and the pouch can be used year after year. I might decide to do this for next year.

Eco Christmas Gift Wrap

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend !

2009-12-16T17:07:00.000-08:00

So here it is, my tree that I got for $20 at Big Lots. It's only 4 feet but it works. It came already set up with lights and I added some colorful ones also.

The only other time I had a cat and a Christmas tree at the same time was 3 years ago when my cat "Jack" was a kitten. He didn't mind it. Now that we have "Batman" in our lives, he's made us a bit paranoid on what he can do to furniture and trees. At first, he deceives you into thinking he's just admiring the tree...

...and then this happens...

Almost looks like he's trying to use the tree as a toothpick. And then "Jack" decides to join in on the fun.

Here's my garland that I've been working on. It turned out great, except for the fact that I forgot I was going to make it hang twice so the bottom part of the garland faces the wall. Duh!

I really wanted to make stockings but I did not have enough time between classes and shooting assignments. These will do, until next year.

Merry Christmas To Me

2009-12-14T23:53:00.000-08:00

There's about a week and a half left until X-Mas gets here. How exciting! I went to UO the other day to see what they had on sale and they had a Diana camera for $30! I snatched it up quick. I can't wait to use it and see how the pictures come out.

Isn't it pretty? I always wanted the black with turquoise but it is still expensive. I like this one though, when you take off the lens, it turns into a pinhole camera. Earlier that day I went to the thrift store and bought another Polaroid camera for 99cents! I love when that happens. And it works really well.

It used to be a camera for Slim Fast because it had the stickers everywhere. All I did was cover them up with deco tape and I plan to take pictures of my friends for our post X-Mas dinner.

Sorry for the short post but I have to get back to getting ready for my finals. Wednesday is my deadline to turn in all work and after that, I'm pretty much home free. I'll make another post on the tree that I got for $20. It's only 4 feet but it works.

These are my X-Mas lights. I did the heart effect with a filter for my lens out of construction paper.

X-Mas Tutorials

2009-12-10T11:00:00.000-08:00

Hello there. About 2 weeks left till Christmas...eeek! I'm not that panicked though as I have most of my presents done. Does anyone have a good source on how to crochet small stars? I was following a youtube video but they keep looking like circles. Oh well.
Anywho, here are some sweet X-Mas craft tutorials that I've stumbled on the web.

Origami Glitter Cranes
by zakka life

Crochet Christmas Ornaments via Craftstylish

I'm going to enjoy making these.
Gingerbread Man Puppets via Craftstylish

And Holiday Bird Ornaments by The Purl Bee

Have a happy Thursday. I hope there's a new episode of Grey's Anatomy tonight. :)

Prep and Landing

2009-12-08T00:15:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Tonight's the night! A Charlie Brown Christmas will be on and also Disney's Prep and Landing. I think everyone should watch it because I think it will be funny and cute. Oh, and also my boyfriend worked on it heehee. I'm so proud of him because he worked so hard to get where he is and loves what he does for a living. It all starts at 8 p.m. PST on ABC.
Let me know what you thought of it, if you see it.