Sick... With busy hands.

Ugh.... So I think I'm coming down with the same cold everyone in the office had/has.

Suuuuuck.

I hate getting sick.

I should have known since all I wanted to do today is sleep and relax. Especially since my nose would NOT stop running. Annoying!

Some little yellow paper roses. Lady night, I was practicing in case I wanted to make a red rosette wreath.

Mira...(look)

Isn't it delightful?

Since I'm also making our Christmas cards this year, we'll see how ambitious I am with all these crafts.

Until then, I hope this DayQuil that I just took, starts working and gets me feeling better real soon.

G'nite.

Memories of Christmas past.

I've been thinking a lot about how joyous and wonderful last Christmas was.  It was heartwarming and full of love.  On Christmas morning, I had everyone I love the most, under one roof.  I truly loved it. 
I loved preparing our lil Christmas tree with handmade ornaments that my Mom & I came up with:

I remember the late nights staying up sewing ornaments together with my Mom.  Sometimes we'd sit in silence, concentrating on the task at hand, and other times we'd have on Hawaiian or Christmas music.  This Christmas, I miss that.  I miss late night sewing sessions with her.  

I miss sewing ornaments for a Christmas tree.  I don't know how to describe the beauty of homemade Christmas ornaments.  I see burlap Christmas ornaments and wish I could make them with her, but I think I'll just wait til next year when I have a sewing machine of my own.  
As I've been reflecting back to last Christmas, it made me miss having all my nephews & niece together.  I wondered how my oldest two nephews would spend their Christmas away from home, living on their own. 
It made me miss them more. 
Then I received the wonderful news that my oldest two nephews would be home for a visit.  That cheered my heart so much! I miss having them all under one roof.  I can't wait to see this again;

 These boys...I love them so much!! Them, along with their sister, are the joy strings of my heart.  
This is just what I need to make this Christmas so much better (than it already is, thanks to Santa Levi---more on that later)

Workin' some wood!

When I first started talking to Levi, he mentioned that he made wood toys with his Dad on the weekends.  They were gettin' ready for an arts & crafts convention in New Mexico.  At first, I thought he was making little wood toys that are found in dollhouses.  I didn't think much about it til I visited his Dad's house and saw him at work.  Man, I was blown away!!!  It was NOTHING like I had thought! Nothing remotely close!

I was completely wrong and I was taken back by the beauty of the wood toys he & his Dad had created.  I wish I had taken pictures of all the wood toys I saw that first night.  Man, they were just so....beautiful!  I loved each piece and in my heart, I was hoping and wishing my future children could have toys as beautiful as the ones I saw.  There were wood bulldozers, tractors, helicopters, airplanes...a lot of other farming and construction equipments that I can't recall the names of....but he had the whole lot of them.  Not only were they beautiful, but they were fully functioning and worked together.  Seriously, I was in love!
I've always marveled at the craft of woodworking.  I think it's such a beautiful art--to take a piece of wood and shape it into something, even more so, something beautiful.  I love the fact that Levi knows about this artform and has this talent of creativity.
As soon as he mentioned woodworking, I immediately wanted a box.  I wasn't sure how to tactfully ask him, but I did.  I cannot wait to see the box that he'll create for me.  I don't know exactly why I'm so enamored with the idea of having a handcrafted wood box.  Maybe it stems from when my friend was dating her then boyfriend, and he knew he wanted to propose to her.  So he went home to his Grandfather and they created a jewelry box for her, and he proposed with the ring inside of it.  I was completely captivated with that gesture of love and hoped that someday a special man would make a box for me, as well.
I'm so fascinated by this beautiful talent.  I just wish I could watch them cut, shape and sand the wood into the pieces that they create.  Thankfully, Levi & his Dad are perfectly okay with that and luckily, I had the opportunity to watch them work last weekend.  Trust me when I say that I've been making a mental note of ALL the things I would LOVE for Levi to make for me.  Let's just say I've already got a "HoneyDo" list of wood things that I'd like him to [help me] create.

Oh April! Surprise, you're already here?!

Wow, it's already April?!?! CRAZY, how fast time flies!! 
It was General Conference weekend. I'm not the biggest fan of watching it.  However, I did watch the Sunday afternoon session.  It was really good and, as always, I enjoyed the choir. That's always my favorite part of General Conference...that and the Prophet's closing remarks.

I've been spending a lot of time with my sister's family and thoroughly enjoying it. Oh I love them so! I especially love taking photos of my very photogenic nephew & niece.  The light, on Sunday, was exceptionally wonderful! Loved it!

I'm so glad that they're such happy and willing subjects! It makes it so much more fun to photograph them!  They've always been that way, and I'm grateful!!  

I've been juicing A LOT more lately. Oh I love it!! It's so much fun!! And so dang tasty!! I LOVE fresh juice!! It makes me think twice about what I put in my body. 

On Monday, I went biking with my niece & two cousins. Oh man, my niece is a riot! I love that girl!!  She's seriously so funny!! I had fun with her and I was SO proud of her biking the 20 miles round trip!! No complaints or anything!!  She was quite the trooper! She's never biked long of a stretch before and she was fast too!! That's my girl! :) I can't wait to bike with her again!

Alrighty, I'm off to run an errand.....but man, am I itching to go for a bike ride!! I seriously love biking!! Especially biking the Strand!  On the Strand, you have the SD Bay on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. Seriously, it's beautiful! While I was out and about yesterday, I came across a bike path in Chula Vista and I started to get giddy with anticipation!!  I NEED to try it out!


Oh yeah, I came across two pretty patterns yesterday. One's for a dress and the other's for a trippy bohemian top! I can't wait to make 'em. Before then, I've got a pretty sundress pattern that I wanna try out for my niece.  I love sewing! Well, I love creating!  Can I just say how much my creativity thrives in fabric stores and any other arts & crafts stores?! When my niece and I last walked on the beach, we came across several cool shells with holes in them. Luckily, I had them in my purse yesterday and bought some silk cord to string them up as necklaces. I gave them to her yesterday and she loved them. I'll take a picture of them and post them a lil later. 2 cool & unique necklaces for the low low price of 39 cents! Love 'em! Ahhhhh, I just wanna create something NOW!!!

Ok, but right now I really have to run an errand.... kinda near the beach.....hmmmmmmmmm.....

Happy Wednesday-ing! :)

When life gives you leather...

....make leather earrings!

A couple months ago, I made earrings from some leather cord my nephew gave me. I love those earrings.  They're just simple but way awesome because of the texture and the fact that they're leather.  A friend bought a new leather saddlebag for his Harley, cut some pieces off and gave it to whoever wanted it.  FREE LEATHER?!?! HECK YES!!! Well, as you can see, that's what I did with the leather. I kept the feather-like earrings for myself (they kinda look more like pine cones) and gave the earrings on the right to my niece and sister. I actually wanna make a pair of the lil black knot earrings for myself.  They're simple and I always LOVE simplicity!! Plus the leather earrings are SO light!! LOVE EM!! I've still got more leather left, I'm just trying to think of what I want to make with them.  

p.s. This is from Mother's day..... I'm several weeks behind on my Sunday outfit pics:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that dress!! It's such the perfect dress!! No wrinkles and falls oh so perfectly!! Plus I love the design.  As for my Mom, she made her entire outfit the week before Mother's Day.  Everything she's wearing [excluding the shoes, of course], she made.  That's where I learned it from.  Thank you, Mom. 

Oh Thursday, I LOVE you, as always!!

*I was doing a lil blog surfing from a friend's and came across this lil jem! Probably my new favorite blog!! Check it out, it's so visually appetizing!

*After looking at that blog, it makes me miss having a camera.  I REALLY REALLY miss having a camera.  I need a new one, QUICK!! I can't stand NOT having a camera.  I've been using the camera on my phone--NOT. THE. SAME. DIFFERENCE. !!! :(  

*Also, after looking at that blog, I just want to create, create & CREATE!!!  I want to sew everything under the sun. I want to paint.  I want to put things in frames that I've created.  I'm stoked for the jewelry class I'm gonna take this summer. I just love to create.  

*Today's Thursday...I always LOVE Thursdays!! I get to see my class tonight & work towards my goal.  I also get to play Volleyball with my friends.  LOVE IT!! Tonight I've gotta teach class. I'm a lil nervous.  Well, not really, I just hope it goes well!  It's on "The Family: A Proclamation to the World".  I'm stoked to teach, I love to do it!

*Ok, that's about it.  I'm hungry.  

Weekend Update: March Edition.

So I made the melted crayon shapes this weekend! It was pretty fun! It took a while to peel off wrappers and cut them down, but it was GREAT!! I'm going to Michael's this week to buy a star mold and will make some more this weekend. I can't wait!! The Primary kids and teachers all loved them!!

Oh....

And if & when I get married, I'd REALLY love to receive this:

"Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer true!

I'm half crazy over the likes of you.

It won't be a stylish marriage;

I can't afford a carriage.

But you'll look sweet

Upon a seat

Of a bicycle built for two."

Please & Thank You.

I can't wait to make these this weekend:

My co-worker and I were talking about how fun it is to make melted crayon shapes. I figure with all the broken/small crayons at church, this would be ideal!! I can't wait!! Looks like so much fun!!

♥♥♥

One of the girls in the office received a HUGE floral arrangement. I think that'd be so sweet to receive flowers at work. Oh how I would love that so much!!

Deep pink roses, please :)

...and thank you.

I Wish...

...I could just create all day. Everyday!

That is seriously my dream come true--being free to create ALL day. I would be the happiest person, EVER!!

I wish I could photograph everything and anything. I love being behind the view finder of my camera. I still wish I had my own darkroom...and I guess a Mac with Photoshop's cool too, it's just not the same. I wish I could work in my own garden again and plant all types of seeds, bulbs & plants. I love working with my hands. After my flower bulbs grow I would want to create the most beautiful arrangements and give them away, I miss doing that. As for the fruits of my garden, I would love to give them away in a basket that I made myself. I wish I could play my piano & violin all day and then just listen to music the rest of the time. I love those random times in my week when I can sit at my piano and sing. I would love to sit down and write music & poetry. I wish I could just draw and paint...and create everything and anything with my hands. I would love that so much. I miss pottery. I also wish I could scrapbook all the time and create cards as well. At night I would love to sew and sew and sew! I wish I had the time to cook [from scratch] for my family and bake for others...oh how I love that so!

If I had the time, energy and means to create everything in my head, I'd be ecstatic! I'm so lucky to have a Mom who challenged me and encouraged my own creativity. I'm thankful she taught me how to cook, sew, sing like her, allowed me to take violin lessons and had an organ in the house so that I could teach myself how to play.I love the love I have to create. I love my art filled life!