Sweet Escape

Lots going on this month for me! I've been swamped with orders and things to do at home. I've been spending a lot of time sorting and organizing my craft room. We are getting ready to remodel that entire room and I have to take out every thing out!! It's a little scary but I can't wait to have that room done...it's going to look beautiful. We started thinking of colors for the walls and we'll be setting the floors soon.

So aside from that...Jorge and I had a really sweet valentine's day. We are short on cash these days so we wanted to stay home but still celebrate in a special way. Since we got married we often use our "The Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook" and if you don't have this book in your collection you should definitely get it! Super delicious recipes for all occasions! We chose the Valentine's Day menu but changed up the dessert. It was Lamb Chops with Mint Sauce, Couscous with leeks, roasted asparagus and we added strawberry shortbread sweethearts!
We had so much fun and it was so romantic! We ate outside in our backyard where he had hung heart lights on our awning. It really makes me feel blessed of what we are able to do when we are together and how special our love truly is. I'm sharing some pictures of our shortbread sweethearts and my sweetie which are just delish!!

Enjoying the Rain

It's been raining a whole lot these past couple of days and it's been real nice for a change. I decided that I would enjoy it and not complain about it like I always do! Sure it adds another 30 minutes to my 1 hour 1/2 drive home but when I get home I get to enjoy my sweetie, sip on hot chocolate, and I even started to organize my scraps and crafts area too! I get to hear the rain outside my window and usually play the jazz channel on my tv and enjoy it. It's too much work to try to complain about the weather when you can just dress up for it :) This morning I took out my boots and threw on a long sleeve shirt and sleek pants, paired it with rain coat that's been sitting in my closet unused for over a year now!! I picked out a matching scarf my mom made me and off into the rain I went.

Tonight my husband and I are going on a movie date! We are finally going to see Avatar on IMAX 3D! yay! So I probably won't be doing much crafting again...I haven't been doing any serious crafting in a couple of days because I've been organizing my scraps and last night I just couldn't help myself...I was craving it so bad so I made 2 cards and stayed up till past 1 am! I will be sharing those soon because it was just way too late to take pix...so I have another one to share...I got brave with stitching all around on this one! I will go back to enjoying the rain and thunder every now and then :)

Shaped Fruittilicious!

My friend loves shaped cards and she insists I should do more of them. So last week I made a few shapes I'd never tackled before and I'm really happy with how they came out. Found a few inspirations here and there but I thought I would do fruits for a sweet take on Valentine's day cards...and who doesn't love cupcakes?! Don't they look delish?!

The 32 Blues

Thirties...are they really the new Twenties?? This morning as I stumbled out of bed feeling lethargic and almost hungover but not I thought I could definitely use some more sleep. A friend complained of similar sleepiness today and he said maybe its coffee withdrawal symptoms (we are both quitting coffee for a while) or it's the "32 blues"...and I thought we're supposed to be feeling better about our health and our bodies with better food options, new technology, reinvented workouts and so on and so on...but I'm definitely not ripping the benefits of all that goodness. I miss my body of 10 years ago!! I even find myself saying "oh I don't bend that way" which is funny/sad because I probably could 10 years ago! Well one of my goals this year is to be more conscious of my health...not gonna call it a resolution but just a new way of thinking. Like whatever I ingest better be something I like and its good for me. I won't eat just because I'm bored, or just because someone brought their homemade brownies to work, or for no reason at all I reach over to eat someone else's fries. I'm sure if I was to add up all that munchin' throughout the day the calories would start adding up!!

If I keep this up maybe by the middle of this year when another birthday comes around I will be embracing the "thirties are the new twenties" concept. There's hesitation now but I'm sure it'll begin to show if I stay positive!

Hope your day is Fabulous

Congrats "I" did it

I have been playing around with my mom's sewing machine and I have also been wanting to try some of my new stamps I got from PapertreyInk as a Christmas gift to me! So I gathered up all my goodies and this is the card I came up with.

I'm really happy with how the zig zag stitch matches the jagged edge I did with my scissors on the middle cardstock. I did some light inking and by the time I was done I couldn't decide which stamp to use from my Signature Greetings set...I was so proud of myself so "Congrats You did it" was perfect :)

2010 yay!!!

So excited for the new year! I'm really looking forward to new beginnings and the new season. Yesterday my sweetie and I put down all of our Christmas decorations and tossed the tree. It was nice packaging everything in brand new boxes that will soon make it to our newly remodeled attic! Now my living room is back to its normal state and I couldn't be happier :)

It was extremely hard to wake up and come to work today...after 2 weeks off it was a struggle but now that I'm here it's not so bad...seeing coworkers and catching up with everyone's holiday adventures. I'm also back in business! My etsy shops are up and running and I've already had my first 2 sales of the year!! Whooohooo!

I'm looking forward to creating lots of beautiful cards and invitations, trying new techniques and challenging my creativity. I'm really proud to share that I learned how to stitch on my mom's sewing machine!! It was so nice having her teach me and very sweet of her to let me borrow her machine for hhmmm I don't know a "few" months :0 Now that I'm done from being completely addicted to holiday cards I can finally focus on my favorite of them all...Valentine's Day cards! I can't get enough of the sweet vintage images of cupids and cherubs, hearts, glitter and shades of pink and red! Here are a few...

Long time no see!

I've been totally neglecting my blog! I miss it and have it in the back of my head to update but I just never get around to it! No more excuses...just been overwhelmingly busy. I did a couple of craft shows that went really well and I was so excited about! I have another one coming up next month so I should probably start getting ready for it. I cannot believe Thanksgiving is next week!! yikes! Time is just flying by ssoo fast!

I realized that I haven't even blogged about my new etsy shop!! wow! It's EMTsweeetieWeddings yup EMTsweeetie officially went bridal! This way I can separate my cards and goods from my wedding invites, programs and such! I'm excited about it...got a lot of people looking at my stuff and hopefully little by little it'll take off. I hope to meet lots of new brides and grooms out there looking for something special and handmade!

So I've been busy making Fall cards and of course Christmas cards....lots of them! I thought I'd be bored by now but I just keep wanting to use all of my Christmas goodies I can't help myself!!

So here are a few I have to share because they're my favorites :)
Hope you're having an awesome fall and looking forward to the holidays!

Damask and more Damask

So most of you that know me know my true addiction with damask print and the whole brocade French inspired look. Our room at home will be based off that theme and I can't wait till I begin painting and decorating that room. I have picked up so many little details that involve a damask print...I don't know if it's going to end up looking like a damask flea market! lol But oh well....we'll see how it turns out. For now I want to show you a wedding invitation with a damask inspiration. I have used the typical black and white colors and added a bright aqua ribbon to contrast. Of course I have added bling with crystals at the ends of each damask. Hope you like it :)

A Wine Affair

There are times when I sit back and think of the greatest moments I've shared with the ones I love and how traditions have been established and now I can't imagine living without. Looking back I realized how I've grown next to my husband and the things we do to keep our love alive. Whether it is watching tv sitting on the carpet or enjoying a glass of wine deciding what it reminds us of. We think of how wine was the inspiration to many of our trips when we were dating and of course our wedding. The beautiful vineyard affair in the middle of Downtown LA in the middle of June! We incorporated a sweet tradition that evolved into a theme and it was truly us. I love it when couples come together to create an event that reflects their personalities, likings and little traditions they have picked up here and there.

For a while now I've been wanting to create a vineyard or wine theme wedding invitation for a couple that shares our love for the grape. I wanted to get some inspiration and wanted to flip thru a few inspirational boards or create one of my own but I came around to finding one of the sweetest surprises. I googled under images "wine and cheese theme weddings" and guess what the first picture is?!!! A picture of us cutting our wedding cake!! Our bakery Rosebuds collected pictures of all their favorite cakes for their Anniversary gallery! It was a sweet surprise that after all the searching I had done...I found inspiration very close to my heart. We drew out what we wanted our wedding cake to look like. We knew we wanted it to be unique and delicious and they delivered just that! Everything on this cake was edible except for the natural blooms...it was fabulous...they took our drawing, made it perfect and wonderful for our wine theme wedding :)

So with all that in mind...On to my recent creation...this is what I came up with. I used a Kraft box to hold an elegant yet rustic invitation for a vineyard affair. A double pearlescent cardstock is printed with an outline of beautiful grapes and tied with a deep plum silk ribbon. I have also tossed 2 unique corks for a little more texture.

Beach Wedding and BABY Card!

My husband's medic partner got married on Saturday at beautiful Santa Barbara! When I got the invite I was jumping for joy because I llooove Santa Barbara and the Los Olivos area. We drove up early enough to catch some wine tasting at our favorite vineyard Mosby and made it just in time back down to SB for the beach ceremony at the Fess Parker Hilton Inn at 4pm. It was a real sweet ceremony with butterflies and roses. Their colors were blues with lavenders...real pretty! We had a lovely time at the reception as well. The hall was gorgeous and I would to stay at this hotel next time we drive up! For a minute I teared up as we danced to the Look of Love by Diana Krall which was our first dance at our wedding :) Here are some pics of the wedding oh and I'm also including my take on this weeks 2s4y sketch! Hope you are having a lovely week. HUGS!

The Sand Ceremony

Sweetie looking around

LOOOVE the parasols for weddings!

Nautical 5 tier cake...mmmm was delish!

Our beautiful table

Seating cards/stars

Did I mention I love sea stars??!

Sweetie Pie

The sweetest of pet names are sometimes awkwardly pronounced in the isles of supermarkets, parking lots, movie theatres...etc. I always giggle when I hear a couple calling out their partner by their pet name. I mostly hear the common ones like "babe" or "sweetie" or "honey" but I find it amusing when you catch a couple so comfortable in public that they just don't know how silly and cheesy they appear to the common eye. A few that just made me flat out laugh out loud were these: skittle lips, juicybox boy, midget, tushee tush, pancake, stanky and butt-butt and I love it when it goes something like "hey tushee tush we forgot to grab toothpaste!" lol but in the spirit of sweetness and not being afraid to say it...I'll share mine with yours! We are "tickles and pickles" you figure out who is who...but to be safe in public we usually just call out "sweetie pie!" What pet name do you have?

The beauty of dreams

or the lack of...I've been staying up pretty late these past couple of weeks. I've always had funny sleeping patterns but now that my husband is working crazy hours of the night...I find myself wondering around the house not sleepy at all! On Saturday...or better yet Sunday morning my husband got home around 3:30am! I was bright awake...I had been crafting and watching random movie after movie! I stepped outside in our driveway and he was so surprised to see me out there...we chatted for a few. We realized its past 4am and we are so glad we have a chance to see each other. Well we decided while we're up why not have breakfast at one of our favorite diners in Long Beach. We drive out there only to find out they open at 6:30am...we were bit early! We drove back...went to bed and got up way after noon to homemade eggs, waffles and bacon for brunch! lol There is certain beauty in staying up late waiting for your man to get home but waking up next to him after a morning of sweet dreams is much better!
Here is my card for this week at 2S4Y Hope you enjoy your week and believe in the beauty of your dreams.