My bad!...not really

Sheesh! I cannot believe how long it has been since I truly took the time to write on my blog...I miss it! Truth is, having an infant (with acid reflux being treated) all over again is super time-consuming (both kids are watching Baby Einstein as we "speak") and I have been making tons of tiny little girl stuff while crocheting and using fabrics.

Here's a quick low-down of what I've been up to and hope you can get into it too!

I just recently discovered the Crafty Chica blog and I'm lovin' all the latina-inspired, and culture rich materials and projects.  Don't take my word for it, check it out! It's like nothing out there!

Now, I've also noticed that while I love DIYing and crocheting and creating and etc...Pinterest has totally eased up the inspiration (about 60% of the time) while searching.  Mind you, it IS addictive, but as long as you do all your house chores and bathe/dress your kids in the morning then you're set for the day to be a mom and a Pin freak at the same time ;-).  For those of you who aren't into Pinterest yet, I think of it like cutting out catalog/magazine stuff you love and compiling it all in one place divided into your own categories to reference later or do at the moment.  It's easy and you can download an app for your phone (I have android) so you can use it anywhere at any time!  You can follow what I pin by searching meo86 in "search" under "people" setting since I'm going to start pinning up everything I've blogged about too. Here's a peek at things I post about, most with tutorials included:

Yeah, I pretty much want to marry Pinterest...almost. Though I've been happily married 4 years now (this past October 1st! whoo hoooo!) and it was quite a memorable one. Celebration at home doesn't stopped (not like that!) and hopefully we can fully enjoy it this weekend!

Ok, gotta go since the Einstein video is finished and I need to start "school time" with my kid before snacktime, then playtime and naptime (while diaper changing and breastfeeding in between ♥).

Much love, muchachas!

DIY Magnetic Board / Clipboard deco Tutorials

So, I ran a quick search for something I really want to get done since I am working on a long-term project here at home.  I need a magnet board and noticed my dear mother also could benefit from one as well.  Here are my  fave tutorials I found online. I really should've quit while I was ahead, but then I just so into it and ended searching another tutorial...for decorating a clipboard!  Feel free to click on the image of your choice and follow the link to the designated tutorial-maker :-)

DIY Natural Eye Makeup Remover

So I pretty much do this when I have the little bit of extra time early morning to play up my eyes.  These days usually include weekends and date night (Fridays), so before I go to bed, I will take this little potion and lean up my eyes.  The best part is that it doesn't clog your pores nor have negative long term effects...in fact it's very beneficial for you skin round the eyes in the long run (wrinkles...*wink, wink) ;-)

WHAT YOU NEED:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
Cotton balls



WHAT TO DO:
1.  Take some EVOO and add it onto your cotton ball that you will be using, keep an extra nearby just in case.  I used an empty spice jar from my spice rack in the kitchen in the meantime.  Remember that EVOO is delicate, so you never want to store too much, expose it to too much air, nor direct light.  It DOES effect it's potency (it will turn to plain old oil, which I'm not sure is good for your skin).

2.  Gently take the skin around your skin and start to wipe.  Whatever mascara and shadows you have on will come off, even the tough waterproof kind.

haha, you can see my puffy fingers here ( I'm 30 wks preggers)

Eyeliner and mascara, be gone!

Easy peasy, lemon squeesy!

3.  That's it! You're done.  Now, I usually let my skin soak up the EVOO for the rest of the night as an eye potion.  You can also follow up with your nighttime routine, but as you can see, I wash my face beforehand and end with this :-) ...all CLEAN!

Mother's Day Gifts - DIY

Here are some of my top favorite gift ideas for my special mommy! YES, I love her.  She gave me life, she raised me, she supports me and she loves me ♥.  So, I hope you all take the time to get something done with some little effort on your part besides shopping...instead make something UNIQUE and HANDMADE and spend some quality time with her.

Paper flower bouquet

Rosette bracelet

DIY spa gift basket

Chalk plates PB knock-off

Mother's day breakfast

Cupcake gift box

Paper heart in frame

Rice heat therapy pad

Burner cover memo magnet board

Mod podge frame

Fabric wall flower art

Pencil holder (I'd just make more romantic flowers for it)

Also, if you're running really low on cash, then opt for giving mom some at-home-spa love.  This means give her a facial, a manicure, do her hair and makeup, and give her a pedicure..and bring it all in a basket early in the afternoon before your mom's true love (her hubby) comes through the door and takes her on a date.  It'll just take some time on your part to plan and execute.  Believe me, I've done this in the past when I've been dirt poor and my mom has LOVED it!

If you're a mom yourself, still take the time to appreciate your mommy a day before and let her feel extra special (since she is special everyday), and that way you can have a free night to yourself as well ;-)

Have you looked into my "Sites I love" page lately?  It's right up top under my blog header!  Take a look at it since I do update this page regularly.  My latest addition to the page is A subtle Revelry blog.  This is an amazing site with so many ideas and from a professional about styles for your home and accents and also party planning ideas and D.I.Ys! I would rave more about this blog but why not let you look at it yourself...

...go on...get started.

Here I will list a few more sites with similar categories in my page:

Inspiration and Tutorials 

A Subtle Revelry - Craft stylist and party planner shares her ideas and D.I.Y.
Think Crafts Blog - affordable creations for everyone's budget.
Gifts - a good source for ideas when your stumped on gifts for someone and need some fresh ideas ASAP.
One Pretty Thing - craft tutorials and inspiration for a handmade lifestyle.
Scrapbook Soup TV - Tutorials and one-of-a-kind ideas for making beautiful paper artwork.
Homemade Mamas - Cleaning supplies, fabric softeners, wrinkle releasers....just a crumb of the whole cake that this creative and money-saving mom has set out to do for her home and shares it with everyone.
C.R.A.F.T. - creating from what you already have for you wardrobe, home, and kitchen.
Home Life - home deco and diy projects.
Craftzine - cute, modern and evolving crafts.
Green Wedding Shoes - Southern California wedding inspiration and tutorials with DYI tips for great ideas.

A new favorite site!

Look at how beautifully simple and organic these pictures and decorations are.  They were used for a wedding in California.  Now, you probably think the look even too simple, but believe me, this took so much time and effort because once you take a look at the rest of the decor and ideas, you will be in awe...just like me!  I love how every detailed mattered!

So, these featured weddings are actually from a new site I found a few weeks back and I'm liking everything on it.  It's different and down-to-earth.  It's refreshing and easy on your eyes with still amazing elegance and sophistication.  I've even been inspired for parties and home decoration!  Well, Green Wedding Shoes is the name of this wonderful site.  Check them out and be inspired!  If you have any friends asking for advice on decorations or wanting ideas and yearning for something unique, send them over and let them thank you later.  There are also DIY tutorials so there's no reason why one can't use everything they have to offer from a glance!

Sheet Music Deco

I just LOVE music and art and so why not combine them both in a much more visual and chic way? Well, I ran into these tutorials while searching some quick deco makeover ideas and I really want to try it out. Now, since I do play the piano and sing, I typically can't find it in my little heart to permanently use music as decoration only because I'd much rather play it.  So, I have to find a printer or copy machine somewhere so I can make enough copies to work with and use as beautiful accessories for my little home.

So, I'll be making these soon and hope they come out as pretty as the DYIers made them look here!

These decoration ideas, and much more, can be found at Tip Junkie, or just click on the image for the specific tutorials and references.

Birthday Party ideas!

SO, my son;s birthday party is coming up this Saturday.  He turned 2 on June 11th we took him to the zoo and he loved it so much.  Hugo took the whole weekend and Friday off to help me out.  Andrew loved seeing all the different animal and he got to touch fur and ate yummy Dippin' Dots with mommy ;-)

Well, we've handed out all the invites last week and because he now, sadly, only has one pair of grandparents in Utah, we had to wait for Hugo's(my hubz) parents to return from taking some children off to El Salvador on the weekend of Andrew's real birthday.   Thius, the celebration of the birth of my only son was delayed one week and there are no children coming....bummer.  The only kids that were coming for sure were my two youngest brothers, who now live in beautiful California.

So, this week is also Girl's camp for my Young Women in my ward and I'm going this week to support since I'm the president and I've been liking being around them a lot too.  I've been so busy...you have no idea.  I can literally fall asleep standing up right now.

Also, here's the birthday card layout all my friends in Facbook got to vote on since I couldn't make up my mind.  The colors are dark, but the prints came out GREAT and I'm getting discounts since I keep returning!

There will be no kids at my little one's birthday :-(, and we only invite family to come, so I had to resort to making it fun for him and interesting for the grown-ups and teens.  I'm making up games and I'm probably going to use about 3-4 more ideas from Minute to Win it games site.  I like the show, since I glance at it when my hubz lays to watch TV, and EVERYONE always wants to participate.  Plus, I made a colored theme and a general theme too!  So, I hope everyone has fun because this has been a hectic month and I've been so tired.  I wanted a simple dish to serve at the park too, but my husband wants carne asada, which I don't mind, but he can chose that since he'll be picking up everything after too hahaha.  Well, I'll post pictures of the event later and I need to drink some good juice since I'm also detoxifying this week ;-)

Summer Pinwheels!!!

So, I haven't posted in a LONG time, so I need to do it right at this very minute, or else I'll get busy with something else.

So, I've been perusing around for photography inspiration lately and boy, have I been so amazed!!! I realize I still need to move up in equipment, and soon too, but luckily, I have a thing called creativity in my back pocket and studied a lot of art in college too so that helps.

Anyways, I found this also to make for my little Andrew.  He turns 2 this Saturday, June 11th, and we're taking him to the zoo!  I'm exited, but because of relatives being out of town on his birthday, we had to move it out to the following weekend :-(  Oh well.  Luckily, it gives me more time to collect stuff for his birthday - like decorations, candy, and DIY cute stuff.  So, I found this, and I REALLY want to make them for his birthday to decorate and stuff.  It'll be so much fun!  The invites I designed also had a special note at the bottom letting everyone know to wear the 3 basic colors on the card for a prize....which is mostly to encourage people to get involved too.  So here's the site that I will surely follow to make these great pin wheels:

From Northern Cottage

super cute, huh?!
So, I'm off to fulfill other duties in my life, but I hope you try this out and start feeling that summer happiness and dust off the winter cold ;-)

Hasta luego! 'Til next time!

Check out this great vendor!

If you're a DIY kind-a girl, then you will LOVE Belletristic for weddings.  This vendor makes custom monograms, invitations, wedding stationary, and even customer labels.  Everything she has is unique and special. So, if you have a friend or family member you know is getting married, help them check out Belletristic.

This is how it works:  Belletristic offers an array of designs and styles so you have a wide variety of choices.  Pick your design and style and order it.  You get a file sent to you for unlimited use!  You can use it not only for the invitations, but for isle runners, envelopes, favors, a flag, candle wraps, thank you cards, any decor etc, etc!  Seriously, whatever you can print on is good.  Plus, she is exceptionally nice.

CHECK HER OUT!

DIY Fabric Flowers

Here some tutorials for making your very own fabric flowers.  Don't forget to add your own flair and not limit yourself to using only the material being mentioned.  Be creative and first visualize what you want the end result to be.  I've made most of these myself already and still want to try the rest.  You do have to use felt for most to fimly attach them to clips and make them have stronger bases that won't fall off.  It is addicting and beautiful too!  They can worn to adorn the hair, shoulder of a dress, near the opening of a cardigan, on a clutch or purse, hats, beanies, headbands, and even a thin belt...you name it!!!!!  I love flower clips and I know you will too!  The best part, you can make as BIG or small as you want.

Flapper flower clip at Under the Sycamore 

Bib sewn on onesie from Under the Sycamore 
I recommend making the outer layer smaller, but stuff like this makes me wish for a baby girl in the house....I can dream right?

This cute one is from V and Co.  You can definitely add more and make them all different sizes!

Ribbon peony flower pins from Make it Do.

These are all from Martha Stewart. The top rose and lower peony flower templates can be found here.  The middle dahlia flower template can he found here.

A pretty flower made of ribbon with hardly any sewing involved from V and Co.

Easy flower pin from rnl musings.

This one is one, from Design Sponge, I love to make and mainly use solid colors from satin material and tulle, but patterns are okay too.  I actually learned while watching the news one early morning and a fashionista came in for some tips and quick DIYs.  The early bird does get the worm!




A Pom Pom Pins tutorial by Love Stitched.  Super easy and cute!  I just recently tried this out as an accent for a pictures frame...turned out quite nice.  It looked delicate and whimsical.

DIY bags and totes

I've made quite a few bags in my lifetime, which have all been given away, but summer's on it's way and I want something cute!  I have my own sewing machine now and needed some inspiration of what people have out there.  Well, I ran into all these free patterns for bags on the web. There are so many! The coolest part is that you can put your own messages with iron-ons or fabric markers to personalize it more.  I also looked into my top favorite stores for ideas, like Anthropologie, J.Crew and Forever 21 with prices ranging from $15-$400.  Still, even if you buy 1 yard at $5 (or use an old tee) and buy the bag's buttons($2) or clips($2), you spend less than $10 and will still have money left over for splurging on something extra or just saving it instead.  If you are obsessed with bags and need some inspiration or just don't want to come up with your own, check these out:

Totebag by Skip to My Lou
Handbag by Sew Take a Hike
Keisha Bag by Lola...again
Buttercup Bag by Made By Rae
Pleated Purse by My Spare Time
Shoulder Bag by Tiny Happy
Spring Tote by Homemade by Jill
Book Bag (literally) by Remodelaholic

Like I said, there are tons. These are just a few of the many I have found. Check them out, they're cute!

DSLR Poor Man's Ring Flash

So, as you may well know, I have become very attached to my camera and sometimes lament at the fact that accessorizing it is very, very expensive.  So, I've looked up ways of incorporating recycling and improving my images without all the editing needing to be done.  I found this great and very simple way of making my flash photography, which I seldom use, better and less harsh.  Well, it's more of a flash diffuser:

Can you guess what it's made of?????  Yeah, by far the cheapest way to diffuse a built-in flash.  Here are some pictures I took and see if you can see the difference.  None of these have been edited to see the real differences:




No flash, natural lighting from window.



Normal, built-in camera flash.



Flash diffuser.



If you want to make your own, follow Duncan's small tutorial and enjoy the softness, the non-red-eye nonsense, and overall aesthetic improvement of your indoor flash photography ;-)

Tratalo! Try it!

Positively Splendid: Framed Burlap Earring Holder Tutorial

from: Positively Splendid

Positively Splendid: Framed Burlap Earring Holder Tutorial This is a beautiful way to make anyone's day! It's so funtional and decorative....definitely for me!!! All I need is the supplies now. You can make your own as well, follow the link and this woman's savvy ways of decorating too.