Halloween Banner

Last week, I completed this banner for our upcoming Halloween party. In the meantime, it's hanging above the French doors in my family room. This was a fun project to make! (Click on each image to view larger!)



I used old Scenic Route papers from my stash, as well as some new paper that we got at SPARK from My Mind's Eye. I created a template and cut up cardboard banner shapes to mount each patterned paper so that my banner wouldn't be too flimsy. I painted the edges of each one with Claudine Hellmuth black paint. I also painted the large corrugated letters black and covered each one with black and purple glitter that I mixed together.




I wanted each letter to stand out and read well so I mounted each one on a large orange or green scalloped circle (from Archiver's and Stampin' Up). Then I punched a smaller scallop circle out of my leftover patterned paper and glued the letters onto that. I kept the embellies pretty simple, with some pumpkins, spiders, a bat, a cat and some words.








It's strung on a garland and I attached rubber skeletons to each end! Hope you like my "SPOOKY" banner! :)

I also made some treat bags for the kids that will be attending our Halloween party.



And I bought these sticker labels and attached them to straws to make fun signs that I will place on the buffet table.



Happy Halloween week to all! More fall goodness (and a giveaway) coming up soon!

Six years

Today we celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary and I cannot believe how quickly the time has passed!

He is indeed my soul mate and he makes me happy. I mean, yeah, he gets on my nerves sometimes -- don't all men get on their wives' nerves? LOL! Us women, we're perfect... we never criticize, nag or annoy our husbands. Nah! We're always right. Men just cannot see it. :) Well, I love my honey bunny even when we drive each other crazy and there's nobody else I would rather be with (or annoy!). He's still the one for me, the one I adore, the one I cherish, the one who loves me unconditionally. He has a heart of gold, a silly (and stubborn) personality, a fun and adventurous spirit, and he's always looking to help others -- not to mention he always wants me to be happy!

I love you, Richard, and I am looking forward to spending a lifetime loving you (and driving you crazy as you do me!). Who knows what blessings the next year will bring! You mean so much to me. Forever and always. Te amo.

Birthday Recap!

First of all, thank you so very much for all the well wishes on my birthday! I really appreciate it. It meant a lot to me :)



As you probably gathered from my last post, I started out the day very sad... in fact, my wonderful hubby went out and brought back these beautiful flowers for me and I broke down and started crying! He couldn't understand why and that's when (in between sobs) I explained that I miss my Mami and my Mom and I so wish they were still here to celebrate another year of my life... it just always gets to me, especially on special days like this! :(

I told my family and BFF's that I wanted to go to my favorite restaurant, CVI.CHE 105 in Downtown Miami. I had already introduced most of them to this wonderful Peruvian place, but for a few, it was their first time and I think they're hooked! LOL! We had a group of 12 and we ate -- a lot! It was all about the food! YUM!



I spent a wonderful evening with family... here's my step dad and I (doesn't he look great? I am so happy that he has done so well after chemo and all!) I love him so much!



And these are my sweet aunts (my Mom's sisters), who hold a part of my heart!



My BFF and her hubby -- so lucky to have them in our lives!!!



My awesome honey bunny who made my birthday very special indeed!



I also opened some presents :) I received everything on my wish list... My mother-in-law bought me the 7Gypsies photo carousel. My honey got me LOTS of goodies, including a Ruche gift certificate and some milk glass planters I wanted. Here I am with my fab new Fuji Instax mini camera from my BFF -- love it!!!



There are so many other photos, but I just included a few here for you to see...

I am a lucky girl and I am truly BLESSED...

I'll be back soon with my finished Halloween banner!!!

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!

Today is 10.16.10. My birthday! :)

It's funny because I have had a hellish week at work. In fact, I was going to do a layout about one "very bad, no good, horrible, stinking day" because it was so bad. And I felt down, a bit depressed. Maybe it was because I was thinking about my parents and grandparents and missing them soooo very much! I still cannot believe that I have no Mami and Papi. No Mom either. I just cannot comprehend that. It makes me so sad... even on happy days like this!

I don't want to make this a depressing post and I don't want to cry either so let's move on...

What's on the agenda for today? A few errands, some ME time and a wonderful dinner outing with family and my bestie.

If I am lucky, maybe I can even scrapbook (or work on my Halloween banner) since I haven't had some crafty time in so long!!!

And here's 5 things you may not know about me (just for fun!):

1 - My fave color these days is YELLOW
2 - The name Vanessa means butterfly (which I LOVE)
3 - I dislike pickles (cannot even stand the smell!)
4 - My fave cake is strawberry shortcake (but I am craving banana cream pie today!)
5 - Sometimes I wish I lived in a place with mountains and fall colors

But, most importantly, I AM BLESSED.

Have a wonderful weekend!!! I'll be back soon to share photos!!!

Halloween Projects & Ideas

This year my hubby has decided to throw a BIG Halloween party complete with a haunted house and all. Yes, he's transforming his parents two-car garage into a haunted house. It's a huge amount of work and I cannot believe he's taking on such a massive project, but he's realllllly excited about it! He's always LOVED Halloween, but it's never really been too big a deal for me. I mean, I like to dress up and hang out with our friends. We've even gone Trick or Treating with our friends' kids. Last year, I made my first ever Halloween mini album.

But this year is different. This year my hubby's excitement has rubbed off on me! I've helped with some ideas for the haunted house. I took the hubby shopping at the dollar store (wow - you can find soooo many cool things for a buck!). I'm making a Halloween banner, filling some treat bags with candy for the kids and I may even do another fun craft project! Teehee! Stay tuned!

I've seen some awesome things all around the internet and I thought I'd share some of my favorites. I found a lot of these projects through the Scrapbook Trends magazine newsletter.

Kerri Bradford created this Halloween kit to be used with the 7Gypsies Printer's Tray below. Each piece is perfectly sized to fit inside each cubbie. LOVE this project!



And here's a cool FREE Halloween digi kit by Jen Allyson that you can download for your layouts or other projects :)



And check out these cool 4x6 bingo cards for Fall from Designer Digitals! :)



I think I will be getting one of these for our Halloween party! These are Halloween labels you can resize and print out to use on just about anything -- even scrapbook layouts!

These Poisonous Labels are by Sande Krieger



And these Haunted Labels are by Rhonna Farrer for House of Three



And last but not least, I love all the Halloween projects that Suzanne Sergi is creating. Here's a look at one of them -- a ghosts and goblins frame!



I hope this inspires you to create a spooky Halloween project! Have fun and please do share your projects with me!

Blog Redesign & Wish List

Isn't my blog pretty!? I LOVE it!! :)

I started with an idea: something simple with vintage flair.

Then I asked around and my search led me to Kristina Proffitt from Blog Designs by Two Happy Mamas. I chose one of their pre-designed backgrounds (the light blue damask), used a vintage doily kit from House of 3 to create my banner and post divider, and we customized some "happy art" elements to finish it off... (sounds simple, but it wasn't! LOL!)

You'll notice I also have a typewriter font that's used on my banner, blog posts and for my signature. Across the top of the blog, you'll find links to my creative space (office/scrap room), some layouts and my music play list.

I cannot say enough positive things about Kristina. She was AWESOME! So enthusiastic, sweet, friendly, professional and patient. Hee! Since I work in the design and editorial field, I wanted everything a certain way (yeah, I am a little anal!) and she stuck with me until we got it to my liking :) What a trooper! Kristina ROCKS!! I highly recommend her if you are looking to redo your blog. The only thing is that you'll have to wait a little bit because she's about to have a baby and is taking a little time off right now. She's worth the wait though!

Now on to a different topic: my upcoming birthday! :)

I love October because I get to celebrate both my birthday and wedding anniversary. My hubby has been struggling because he doesn't know what present to get me (he likes to surprise me!) and I keep telling him to "Check my blog!" Why do men not get it? LOL! After all, I always have a running list of things I want under my wish list sidebar... I think the only one that ever checks my wish list is my BFF (thanks, Ady!). In any case, it's the thought that counts and I know that I will love anything he gives me... (I love you, honey!)

But since we're on that topic and I like to include pretty pictures on my posts, here are some things that I like:

Fujifilm Instax Mini Camera (Chocolate)
This cute camera shoots small polaroids that are perfect for my crafting projects and the quality of the photos are really good! I also love the instant gratification.


7 Gypsies Artist Trading Card Display
I wanted one for a while but I didn't know what to do with it... Then I saw a project that Elizabeth Kartchner did where she simply used Instax photos and displayed them on here. Love that idea!


Faux Leather Strap Handle Tote - Large Black
I need one (or two) of these to finish organizing my IKEA Expedit bookcase. I will likely use these for punches and/or kits. (sorry for the tiny photo!)



Chance Meeting Necklace
Yes, I know this is an expensive item... BUT it makes me so very happy :) I just love all the details on it. The butterflies, silk, embroidery, beads... the handmade nature of it! It's so pretty!


Capture Life Necklace
Here's another cute, less-expensive necklace that caught my eye...



And who wouldn't be happy with a gift certificate from Studio Calico or Ruche?

So my honey-bunny, if you're reading this, I hope this gives you some idea of what I would like :) Heehee!!!

Happy Friday!

Happy October!!!

***NOTE***Please pardon the dust. I am in the midst of a blog makeover so pretty soon you will see the whole thing in all its glory... (Isn't it coming out awesome though? I'm so excited!) But for now, it's a work in progress :)

October is here. The days are getting a bit cooler (okay, at least not as steaming hot as last month!), Halloween is near and fall is in full swing... I just wish I could see the changing leaves! :( It's also my birthday month! Yeah! And so I felt it was okay to do a little online shopping. I visited Ruche and I picked up this blouse:



And this necklace:



And today I wore my lovely, big, beautiful bib necklace from Miss Ruby Sue that I bought after seeing her amazing creations at SPARK. This necklace makes me happy :) (Sorry for the grainy iPhone mirror pictures!)




That's all for today! Be back soon...

Peace and happy scrapping,
Vanessa

On the Easel

The weekend is finally here! Hooray!!! What a loooooong week it's been. Too much stress at work with deadlines and more deadlines and a gazillion magazines and books to complete.

But looking at this beauty makes me forget about that stress :) This is the Studio Calico October kit, On the Easel, which is still available by the way. I LOVE it!! I cannot wait to play with it (sometime in 2011! LOL! Just kidding!)



I bought this add-on, Watercolor (sorry! it's sold out!), because of all the goodies in it. I especially loved the Seaside papers, that dot stamp and the banners.



And then after I looked through the sneak peeks posted by the design team (specifically, Stephanie Howell), I caved and just had to buy a second add-on, En Plein Air (still available!) Those yellows are calling out to me!! Yeah!



On a different note, "Operation Get Rid of Stuff" continues... Here's just some of the stuff I emptied out of my scrap room. Now I will organize it all for an upcoming garage sale and start with other rooms in the house. Fun, fun! It will all be worth it in the end.



Peace and happy scrapping!
Vanessa