Challenge #1: Birthday Vacation Wish

Is it finally time to this party started?!!



If the tiny birthday fairy came to visit and could grant you a Vacation wish, where would you wish to spend your vacation?

I actually have to split my answer into 2. If it were just Peter and I (and Grandma had the kiddo's) I'd wish to go back to Hawaii. Good food, unbelievable scenery and perfect weather. If it were a family vacation, Disneyland! It was the best family vacation we've done!!

Leave a comment for a chance to win!

Blog Party!!!

Are you ready for a blog party!! Here's the details: Throughout Saturday I will be posting a challenge/game or question about every 2 hours during the day. and what would a party be without party favors? I've made up 6 gift bags full of handmade goodness, one gift bag to go with each post. Stop by and leave a comment, or play along with each post! Hope you can make it!

busy busy bee..

It's been an incredibly busy and crafty week here! I'll share some photos, but first!! I'm being featured on the blog A little bird told me. and the best part is that I'm also hosting a giveaway there too.

Some little handmade goodness to share, that's all happening tomorrow so don't forget to pop in and check out their blog! and because I love pretty packaging;

I made this for the Bad Girls Blog!! It's my Element's d'Art project. My goal with each of these projects will be to highlight different techniques and maybe a simple tutorial. I needed to spruce up our front couryard gate, so I made a welcome sign.


I love the fallish colors right now, especially cream/carmel/wine and lime green!



and finally a bracelet I made just for myself. I was looking for something in a mustard-yellow color, since it's one of my favorite colors, but couldn't find anything! Sometimes you just have to make it yourself! I forgot how fun and relaxing it is to string beads togther. I should try it more often.



Is everyone getting ready for Halloween? I think this weekend I will get out the lights and decorate the front yard, and maybe take Alaina to pick out a pumpkin or 2. :)

Trick-or-Treat Bags

I wanted to post this project early, so there's lots of time to whip some up before Halloween! Every year I make special bags of candy for the littlest trick-or-treaters who come to my home. This year I'm filling the bags with mini Oreos, Graham Cracker Bears, mini Marshmallows, Gold Fish crakers, soft Twizzlers, mini coloring books and packages of stickers. Hopefully alot of things younger children will like!

Here's my supply list:

mini kraft paper bags
Crepe paper
ribbon
plastic spiders
tulle
flowers (I used Kaiser Craft)
carnival tickets



Directions

1. pleat the crepe paper and staple about 3 times (don't worry, the ribbon will cover the staples, if you have a sewing machine, pleat and sew crepe paper in the center)

2. cut the tulle into squares and layer:

ribbon, tulle, carnival ticket and flower, staple onto crepe paper

3. add the plastic spider and glue onto flower (I used Aleene's original tacky glue)

4. after the glue has dried on the spider, glue the crepe paper to the kraft paper bag


These were so simple to make and there's lots of variations that you could make too! Instead of a spider try a button, or a pumpkin sticker. If you don't want to use flowers, little velvet leaves would be cute too! Hope this might inspire you to get out the craft supplies and make something cute!

Fall is in the Air

Here in the desert, our weather (crossing my fingers) seems to have shifted and now there is a more Fall-ish feel to the air. I love this time of year, especially growing up in northern California, Autumn was always so pretty. Living here in Phoenix, and before in Honolulu, there is no real Autumn. Just a little cooler and a little windier!

some things I'm looking forward to this season:

1. Halloween!
2. decorating for Fall
3. pumpkin pie
4. warm cinnamon-pumpkin candles
5. our little road trip up to Prescott
6. apple cider
7. friends visiting
8. family visiting
9. sweaters
10. getting the little-kid treat bags ready for Halloween

Here's a few of my fav. photos recently:
a layout I did for Bad Girls



a little bird I found while down at our business



the last of the Autumn dandelions



walking under the canopy in Sedona




What are you most looking forward to this Fall?

miss me?

It's been a month. One month of more downs than ups, and it was a month that I needed a break. A break from everything, to sort out feelings and adjust to new changes. Thank you to everyone who called, sent cards, emailed and left comments, it truly means so much to know that there is a community of caring people, and most of whom I've never even met irl. Thank you- thank you.

Moving on. I have news. Big news! Back in Aug. I was asked to be an Elite Artist for Bad Girls. I have loved the art they create over there, so you can imagine my total shock at being asked to join the team. Because I believe that most ideas need to be reevaluated, I've decided to stay, and make it an awesome 5 months of creating art challenges and tutorials! Here's a little sneak, coming this week!



They're having a party tonight for the kit reveal! These parties happen on the last night of the month. Promise I'll be better at giving everyone enough notice to join in on the contest and challenges! Oh, you have to be logged in too, so skip over there and register!!!

a project for tonight!


thanks again! I'm still planning on having a Blog Party in the middle of this month. Stay tuned for more fun details! xoxo~ T

Guest Designing

for
Jenni Bowlin this month! Here are a few sneaks of what I created with their September Kits. I love the vintage pieces in each kit, the new Amanda Johnson papers, and a little Halloweenish ephemera... perfection!








you can see my entire guest artist gallery here. and if you get a chance check out the JBS Blog for extra inspiration!!
I'll be back with some more photos and exciting news!

Brown Sugar + Lemons

That's my secret for the best Lemonade, and maybe a handful of strawberries or raspberries! If you don't mind your lemonade having a tea-like color, lemonade and brown sugar is wonderful!



Directions:

Juice of 5-6 lemons, (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 pitcher half full with cold water

1. boil 1/2 cup water and brown sugar, stirring until sugar has melted and let cool

2. Add lemon juice and sugar syrup to the pitcher of cold water. Stir to combine

** You can add more or less, sugar and lemon juice depending on your personal taste. I always add extra sugar, because I like everything to be on the sweet side. Peter and Alaina like their lemonade to be a little sour. Life's a compromise!

Try adding in some extras like strawberries, sprigs of lavender from the garden, ice-tea or raspberries. The perfect drink for hot summer afternoons!!

sweet distractions

Did you see the giveaway on the SEI blog? Who doesn't love the chance to win cute scrapbook stuff!!

One of my favorite photos from this week.



I was doing laundry, and then got a little distracted by a stack of pretty books and warm lighting. A girl can daydream right? and I started to update my shop!! So many ideas and so little time. I'll be working on updating my store all weekend.


Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend planned! I think mine will include lots of swimming and watermelon! xo~ Tara

Hello 28,

it's going to be a good year..

Let's Talk Orchids

This post is for Jessica in Utah, who asked if I had any tips about growing orchids, which I just happen to!



I adore flowers, but was not graced with a green thumb. Quite the opposite actually, as I can't keep any flower or plant alive for more than just a day a two, at best. With the rare exception of orchids. Go figure! I now have a little collection of orchids that I've received as gifts over the past 5 or 6 years. Here's some notes I've made on how I keep my orchids alive, growing and re-blooming.

1. I keep my orchids on a table next to a window, where they have lots of indirect sunlight all day.

2. I only water my orchids once a week in the winter, and once every 5 days in the summer. (I'm convinced that my orchids don't like getting water on their leaves, so if I spill any water on them, I dabbed it off with a paper towel. My daughter likes to tell me 'it's because they are sensitive' :)

3. How much water? I use 2-3 oz. of room temperature tap water for the small orchids, and 3-4 oz. of water for the larger orchids.

4. My orchids only bloom once a year, however, they grow lots of new roots and leaves in between blooming. I keep their leaves clean by taking a lightly damp cloth and wiping any dust away. *I also remove any leaves that have turned yellow too*



It really is that easy! I think keeping orchids on a consistent watering schedule is key, and finding an indirect-sunny location for them will insure orchid growing success. It has for me! (The photos are of Alaina's orchid from this past Spring, the flowers are gone, but it has since grown 2 new roots and 1 leaf!)

Happy Orchid Keeping! xo ~ Tara

want to spend a week with me?

Next week I'll be packing my suitcase and spending the entire week on the SEI blog !!




Come join me for lots of photos, new projects, a birthday cupcake or two and a giveaway at the end of the week!! Hope to see you there! xo~ T

back to school,

means back to school shopping! I think I might have had more fun shopping for the long list of art supplies than Alaina did.



Alaina had a back-to-school night tonight. She passed an early entrance exam back in June, to start school a year early, so our little 4 year old starts Kindergarten this Thursday. She's so excited, and so ready. I know ever parent says it, but the time really did go by so fast. Alaina got to meet her teacher, art teacher, and her music teacher. She is especially thrilled to be taking a real music class. We came home and she wanted to know where my trumpet was. I got it out, oiled the valves (the heat really does a number to my poor brass and woodwind instruments) and started playing. Lainy could actually make some noise, pretty impressive considering how much air it takes to make loud low notes. So proud of her!

Is everyone ready for back to school?!! For summer to be over? Are you dreaming of Fall already? yes, yes and yes for me. Sweet dreams! xo- T

blog party @ Shimelle.com!!

I was oh-so lucky to be invited to take part in the weekend long party going on at shimelle.com. blush*blush I got to play with the photography printables that are part of the Go To Press class, an online exclusively at TwoPeas in a Bucket. So here is my project! I created a set of tags using the printables. Super easy to print and use!! ** All of the printables for this project were printed onto Kraft cardstock.**



I just adore photo negatives, so when I saw that the printables included 2 sets in different sizes, I knew exactly how I wanted to use them! They are the perfect sizes for tags! Her class is all about stress free scrapbooking, which I think is super fabulous, because scrabooking shouldn't be hard or difficult!!! Just fun, easy and pretty!!!



My book is called Life Through a Double Lens, it's a photography journal about TTV photography. A place where I can include my photos and take notes, write down ideas and add to it as I go.





I also found my old box of actual negatives, and cut the edges to sew into some of my tags. Yes, I love my sewing machine! I sort of challenged myself to use the left overs from some projects that I've been working on this week, and because I never throw anything away, I had lots of little bits and pieces of paper and embellies. I'm such a pack rat! Every pretty little piece of paper got sewn onto a tag, until I was content with the overall look.





Hope you enjoyed the photos of my newest creation!! I'll be sharing more as I add my photos from this summer to it! xoxo~ T

it's a party!!

all weekend there is a party going on here lots of ideas, challenges and tutorials and some other fun things!! I'll be back tonight to show you the project I created for the party!

and the winner is...

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

the boy tags & stamps go to:
#7
Daniela said...
I am your new follower. Found your blog from Elle's Studio. Would love to win some goodies. Awesome layout and sketch. Love your style!

July 16, 2009 9:25 PM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and the girl set goes to:
#36
Mama Tuttle said...
Cool . . . I hope that you haven't already picked the names yet!! I checked into Elle's Studio and loved your projects so here I am!!

July 19, 2009 10:30 PM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

congrats!! just email your address to me at rosas07@msn.com and the package of Elles Studio tags will be on their way to a new home. :)

Something pretty and simple for today.



Today is a bit hectic. The boy is sick, he had 4 vaccines and a blood test yesterday, and now has a fever today. We had a storm come through last night, and my favorite tree in the backyard is in 2 pieces now. Alaina's been singing the clean-up song, because that is what the backyard requires at the moment. If I get a chance, I'll squeeze in some scrapbooking, and more brainstorming on topics for guest-blogging. So many possibilities!!

Hope your week is off to a great start! xo~ Tara

1 sketch & 2 give-aways

The second part of being a guest designer for Elles Studio, I got to make a sketch and then scrapbook with it. Sketches are fun, I don't use them often, but I can see how nice it would be to play along with some of the sketch blogs out there.... especially when the mojo is on vacation. :) So, here's the sketch:



and the scrapbook page:



**photo credit goes to Elsie F. who took this super photo of a girlfriends daughter. Molly and my Alaina have been long distance pen-pals for the past 3 years. :) We've since had many conversations about having her visit and vice-versa. Some day!!

Since I had such great luck working with all of the Elles Studio products, I thought I would give away what managed to not be opened. I'm seriously the worlds messiest scrapper, and I have to open everything and then scatter it all over my table, just so I can see what I have to work with. :) I'll choose 2 names on Monday, 1 for the girly set of tags, and one for the boyish set.







Good luck!!

the weekend edition

Don't you just love when you have a super productive day!! I feel very accomplished at the moment.
Today I did;
3 loads of laundry
1 dishwasher cycle
baked 2 dozen Chocolate Oatmeal cookies
made 1 dish of sugar-free Berry Jello
cooked a 4lb. roast in the slow-cooker all day
worked on 1 custom order
almost finished 1 scrapbook page
jotted down some notes and ideas
vacuumed
& I got to watch a little of the movie The Holiday, it's cute, at least what I got to see...

I think that's it. My little baby Chase is taking 2 naps now a day, but it still allows for lots of spare time to get things done. Thank goodness for long naps!!

Peter and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on Thursday!! I got a lovely new orchid to add to my growing collection. My husband knows me so well, and had mentioned that he tried to find Peony's, but since they're out of season the orchid was the next best choice.



Since it's super hot here (116f.) we're not outside much, except for the occasional sunset photo. Of all the states I've lived in, AZ has the most spectacular sunsets. Alaina told me that the clouds looked like pink cotton-candy, and they did.



Happy-happy Saturday!!

Happy 4th!

I live in a very small town, with a population of just under 5,000. Of course, I think it's the cutest little town, but I'm reminded of how small Cave Creek truly is when they celebrated the 4th of July on the 3rd. Yep, the entire town closed on the
3rd to celebrate the 4th. (I learned this the hard way when I arrived at the post office to do my Friday shipping, but on the bright side, there was no waiting in line. :) The fire works were well worth it though! Alaina did her routine of oohs and awws after each one, and Chase seemed somewhat amused, more so with the people walking by us I think, rather than the actual fireworks, but their first 3rd of July together was a success!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe weekend!

Onto some scrapbook stuff! I'm the guest designer this month over at Elles Studio and on the 15th I'll be posting some more scrapbook goodness over on the Elles Studio blog ! If you're a fan of Etsy then you've most likely seen the shop Elles Studio, they carry super cute journaling tags and stamps, just perfect for scrapbookers! I chose these tags for the guest designer special and they'll be on sale all month! Those were my favorite, they ended up being perfect for all of my summery pages!











I'll be spending the rest of the weekend working on some custom orders and if I get a chance I really want to visit the book store. I've been looking at a few design books, that I hope are as good as their covers look! (I know the old saying, but sometimes with design books you really can judge a book by its cover.) If you have any good reading recommendations, send them my way!! Good night! ~ T

a winner, & a sneak peak

and the winner is....


Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

# 10
Timestamp: 2009-06-27


Playing with Dandelions said...
My dream job as a kid was to become a princess/fashion designer/superstar.
Maybe a fashion-designing princess who enjoys the status of a superstar... haha.
Now, anything regarding aesthetics seems to be my dream job. :D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
yay Dandelions!! you're the new owner of 4 gift tags! :) Email your address to me at rosas07@msn.com


Reading through the comments made me 1. smile 2. laugh and 3. remember back to all of the dreams I had back then. I must say though, that I always knew I wanted to work with color in some way. After attending school for business, I went back to school for aesthetics. I trained with Aveda while I was living in Hawaii, and quickly became interested in being a makeup artist. But again, it goes back to working with color. Every once in while, I'll take a detour at Target and wonder down the Crayola isle. Just browsing through the many boxes of colored pencils and markers. A sight that still makes me happy....

and the second part of this post, some sneak pics from things I've worked on this month. I'll be linking everything up on the 1st. I'm also doing a sketch this coming month of a layout! My first one... excited! More to come in just a few days!!







Hope everyone has a spectacular weekend!!