Snowmen and Penguin Ornaments

I'm on vacation and I began creating again. It felt good. I wanted to make something that would produce quick results, so mini Christmas tree ornaments came to mind.

The wintery friends are snuggled up together, warmed by their merry scarves and cheery company.

These are simple to make.

If you want to make them. You will need:

1. Yarn in Black, Winter White (or pure white), & Red

2. Darning needle (in knitting section)

3. One bag of wooden beads w/drilled hole (in peg doll section at craft store)

4. Wood glue

5. Craft paint in black, white and orange (in paint section at craft store)

6. #8 paint brush

7. #0 paint brush

8. blush (the one you use)

9. eye shadow sponge-New

Instructions:

1. Use darning needle to get the yarn through two beads using your thumb to hold a loop at one end of the beads and making a double knot at the opposite end. Look at the ornament to get a visual of the result.

2. Put a dab of glue to keep the knot secure and tight against the bead. Also put glue between the two beads to secure them together and let them dry. Set aside to dry. When it dries cut the tail off the knot.

3. Paint the two beads (bodies) using your #8 brush and white paint. If you are making the penguins, follow up by painting on the black tuxedo.

4. Using your #0 brush and black paint, make dots for the eyes. If you are making the snowmen, then make dots for the button mouth and buttons down his body.

5. Wash your #0 brush with water. Use your clean #0 brush to make the carrot nose and/or beak.

6. Dab the tip of the eye shadow sponge in your blush and apply to the cheeks of your snowman and/or penguin.

7. With your Red yarn gather together 3 strands about 6 inches long. Tie a knot on one end and braid, then tie a knot on the other end. This is the scarf, and you can play with the length.

8. Wrap scarf around the neck gently and hang on your tree.

San Gabriel Mission: Part II

As I mentioned in my previous blog. All the small bells are cracked, thus no longer in use. Only the larger bell is rung. Mass is still held every Sunday at San Gabriel Mission and they host many weddings and Quinceaneras (15th birthday, rite of passage ceremonies in the latin community for young ladies). I love the palm tree shadow reminding everyone we are in sunny California.

This painting was said to be the first Christian painting done in California by a Native American. This is a replica. The original was available for viewing, but we were not allowed to take pictures of it since flash photography messes up the paint.

This was the wine room. Our guide stated that Lucille Ball saw and heard the background of this grape stopping room and was inspired to make one of her most famous episodes of all. Now the room is filled with original equipment used by mission dwellers.

The class.

Me and my baby in front of the Church door.

Fourth Grade Mission Trip

Mission San Gabriel

I was fortunate to go on this field trip with my youngest. It hit me that this was the last missions field trip I would be going on. My baby is growing up. Whaaaah!

Ok, enough self pity, now for some short journaling.

The large bell is the only one still in use because the smaller bells have cracked.

I just loved how the new sprouting ivy is beginning to make its home. I can only image the beautiful canopy it will make in a couple months. The priest cemetery is on the right and church on the left.

There is a small garden in the priest cemetery with this beautiful statue in its midst.

An example of what a native home would look like. I will remember this hut, the next time I wanna complain that our home is too small.

Their outdoor kitchen had several brick and iron pots like this one. This was the only complete example. The others were remnants. Can you envision the many women and girls cooking for all those living in the mission.

The giant clam shells were their wash basins. I think this was their version of double sinks. In the background is an old cart or buggie.

Another clam shell basin. The size can better be appreciated with Eli in front.

What? I know I downloaded more pix. Well, I guess this means part two is a coming.

BLACK OUT

Soccer season has begun.

Victor is coaching again and I am the team mom (or manager as they call it now).

We never know what the new season will bring, and so far it has delivered its downs and deep valleys, with a slight light trying to shine through the depths. The boys named the team "BLACK OUT". So, I guess it's living up to its name. Very dark place we are in right now. J.K. All kidding aside, I gotta say that it's a cool name.

Everything else is pretty comical and at times just plain sad. We look a lot like the Bad News Bears, or the team on that kid soccer movie, Kicking and Screaming. They have a lot to learn and plenty of team building is required.

I tried adding our team logo, but couldn't. It came out soo cool. Done by Victor... of coarse. I don't know how to download a document onto blogger, only pictures. I'll have to take a picture then post the team logo for you all to see.

The one thing that still amazes me, is how badly I'm adjusting to the hustle and bustle. I would think that I would get used to it by now, I guess adjusting always takes time, otherwise it wouldn't be called adjusting and be called something else.

We have a game this Saturday. Gooo Black Out!

Least Favorite

The least favorite part of my job isn't the paperwork involved, although not a favorite either, but my absolute least favorite is calling in a Suspected Child Abuse Report. They are never a happy situation... founded or unfounded.

I pray God's wisdom go forth and His justice prevail.

Granola and Protein Bars, Working out & Advocare

If you are interested in making your own granola and protein bars then hop on over to Alton Brown's recipes to make these homemade healthy treats. I made a few alterations to Alton's recipes. I used different dried fruit than the recipe calls for, and I swapped out the sunflower seeds for raw pepita seeds. Oh, yeah, I used a blender to mix up the wet ingredients for the protein bars. The blender was faster and better at smoothing out the tofu than my arm & whisk.

As mentioned in a previous blog, my summer vacation is over and the entire family is back to our busy schedules. Making lunches, taking kids to school, and getting ready for work doesn't give me time to eat breakfast every morning (especially if there is a hiccup in our morning routine). That's when the protein bars are an easy yet solid breakfast. The granola bars are perfect for my mid-morning snack.

Another reason, I became interested in the protein bars is because I started working out after taking a 9 yr. break. I used to be very active and athletic up until I got pregnant with my last child. My hubby pushed me into exercising again by purchasing the infamous P90X workout videos, and declared we were all gonna workout as a family. The family workout lasted one day. Our unique schedules were not compatible to workout together. We did and do keep each other accountable and motivate each other to keep it up. I'm very excited to say I am in my 5th week and I have lost 1.5 inches off my waist and 1 inch off my hips.

I also began taking my Advocare supplements, and I've noticed a huge increase in stamina when I take Catalyst before each workout. Catalyst along with the workout has also increased muscle definition. The MNS helps CUT my cravings to eat all day long and for sweets. MNS also provides me with my daily vitamins, minerals & omega-3. Can't say enough good things about Advocare.

Have a wonderful labor day everyone.

Happy Birthday To Me....month

Calming Colors and soft fabric. hehehe. giggle,giggle. Happiness.

My birthday introduced this lovely month of August. Our family loves to celebrate the entire birthday month, so in my world, I can still speak of my birthday. On my actual B-Day, I enjoyed it with my lovely family and delicious food.

I received many wonderful birthday gifts, not all on my actual birthday. We truly celebrate our entire birthday month. The relaxing striped fabric above is a duvet cover I'd been eyeing at Crate & Barrel and was able to purchase it with the monetary gifts I received.

I had purchased the pillow covers previously and was hoping to own the comforter eventually. Yay! Eventually came.

Anthro surprised me with another birthday month discount this year. I wasn't sure they would do this again with the economy being what it is. Well, I put that discount to work on two work blouses. Gigi did me the favor of modeling the lavender blouse with a Goya Designs' bird pendant puff necklace.

My hubby gifted me this very pretty Coach purse that he got in Carlsbad when we visited my sister. The neutral color will go with most anything.

It feels so soft and smells divine.

The petal ruffles were so beautiful they caught my attention quick.

This is the second Anthro blouse with a Goya Designs' pendant (Earth's Sugar)

I also received a wonderful eye shadow set from my sista of summery corals & tans.

Working Girl

I'm officially back to work, although it's hard to call it work when it's more a blessing.

I have the opportunity to train new social work interns and marriage and family therapy interns before they see their very first client EVER. It is an awesome responsibility and a lovely privilege. The cherry on top is providing therapy to kids in schools that would not otherwise get services. I love seeing the Lord do His work through people. I am always humbled that He uses me.

Although, I was excited to return, I walked into what is suppose to be my new (shared) office to find two desks, chairs and one bookshelf. No telephone, no computer, and an empty building. I wondered if I had made a mistake initially. The place didn't look like they were expecting me to start. Oh, well. The positive about all of this is....I get to decorate! I'll take before and after pictures.

Boring to Pretty

I ended my summer vacation with one last DIY project.

I transformed our boring cork boards into something that make my eyes and mouth smile. :)

Here's the before and after.

Here are the two afters.

Now, where they belong.

FYI: I used the velcro "Command " Strips to mount the boards. I've used them before and they really do what they claim. I have full confidence that I can rearrange as often as I want without ruining my walls. If you choose to run out and get some, buy the ones that hold up to 5 lbs. The other ones are not strong enough.

Pictures were taken of this DIY process. I will post a "How to" tutorial on this project as soon as I get acclimated to going back to work.

How to Scrapbook when your a busy gal

Most every gal I know is behind in her scrapbooking (well, those that do this sorta thing). The number one obstacle I hear from my gal pals and myself is. "We're too busy, and scrapbooking requires soo much time". Busy + huge time commitment=No scrapbooking.

I hope to give you a few simple solutions to get you back in the swing of scrappin.

First off, set realistic expectations. I would love to have each of my pages look like they belongs in a professional scrapbooking magazine, but this desire was actually keeping me from moving forward as I didn't have what I needed to make it happen. Unrealistic expectations were my number one obstacle. Once I decided it was more meaningful to me that our family's personal history books be made it instead of having each page look like it came from a magazine I moved into action.

We're moving onto #2. Use an album that comes with the top loading plastic sleeves. I used to only use a famous scrapbooking brand with paper bound pages. I love the quality of it, but the pages limited me tremendously. Let me explain further. If you use the plastic top loading pages, you have the freedom to start scrappin with any pictures that inspire you. Once the page is created, it simply slips into the plastic page. Easy breezy. Done. After you've scrapped some more and the order of your pages need to be rearranged, no problem....if you have plastic sleeve pages. Here is where the benefit really kicks in. The plastic sleeves lets you move pages around to create the flow you desire, but the paper pages restrict you. Once pictures are mounted on paper bound pages the order/sequence cannot be changes, resulting in awkward transitions and pictures being out of order. Hopefully I've made my case.

Solution #3. Buy decorative, pretty paper the size of your plastic sleeve pages. Many hours are spent on decorating plain paper. The busy gal is better off spending those hours putting pictures down and journaling. The decorative paper requires less embellishments to look good. Pictures might only require some matting, but often the paper is enough and the picture can simply be mounted on the decorative paper. That's another benefit of pretty paper, often enough it can stand alone.

Lastly, and I already mentioned it in passing, is start with pictures that inspire and excite you. Once you start, the momentum will keep you going.

At the end you will see 9 pages I completed in one afternoon. I was happily amazed because I used to go to scrapbook parties for 6 hrs. No joke. I would come home having two, maybe three pages completed. Why? I was spending all my time decorating a page and adding embellishments. Now, if I want to add stickers, flowers, or what ever later on, there's no stopping me. I'll even have a better idea of what works best within the page.

Hope this helps all you busy gals.

Mt. Biking

My hubby and bro have been Mt. biking for many years now. They drive all over CA just to Mt. bike for a day. I usually ask Vee not to tell me too much about how "technical" their ride is, cuz my anxiety kicks when I consider the danger involved. He knows now that if he wants to keep riding he will leave out dangerous adjectives. So I thought.

Well, with all that said, he went riding this past weekend and his friend took a video of Vee making a 10 ft. jump. He shared this information with me very nonchalantly. Sooo, it is becoming increasing clear that what Vee considers a dangerous adjectives is very different than what I consider dangerous. His friend was able to take a picture within his video. How cool is that. The picture doesn't show the 10 ft. gap so my anxiety is under control.

Skull earrings playing in the Garden

Peek-A-Boo, I see you.

Our garden has been in full bloom. Thanks honey! I've been using our garden lately to photograph newly created jewelry. The colors provide the best backdrop. The roses also go with the bird and 'Day of the Dead" themed earrings I've recently made, including these cutie patuties.

I enjoyed camouflaging the earrings too.

The beads are glass, or lampwork to be specific. Lampwork is when designs are formed into the glass itself. It can be a multi-colored design like here, it can have texture, or both. The sterling silver skulls have flowery eyes with a heart nose and crown. They are happy skulls. The best part is the skulls are double sided, so any way you turn shows their happy, smiling face.

I tried to post these on GoyaDesigns, but the image was too large. I need to do some tweaking or re shoot the earrings before I try and post them again. I hope to post tomorrow if all goes well. Happy Day!

Childhood Trauma

My two older sisters and I were signed up for music lessons as kids. This might sound impressive initially. Three girls taking weekly musical lessons at a studio. The reality was that we had to practice our instrument daily for 2 hrs. Do you know how long 2 hrs. is for an elementary school kid during the summer? Torture! We also had to play the songs in front of the class as part of our tests. It was a wonderful opportunity for people who love to be in the lime light, but that is not me. I would get stage fright and miss notes and my nerves would get the best of me. All that aside, playing an instrument would have been cool if, and this is the kicker, the instrument wasn't an....accordian. Yes, people my parents thought it was worth money to put my sisters and I in accordion lessons. Go ahead and laugh, I know I just did.

I thought it was all past me, until my daughter's boyfriend (yup, my daughter has a boyfriend ) gives this to my 8 yr. old son.

The funny thing is that my munchkin loves it, and finds it to be "so much fun". I had to take a picture of his joyful smile. This picture will be framed and given to grandma on Mother's Day. I hope she likes it.

Red and Purple are a Winning Fall Combo

I've always thought red and purple are a bold and wonderful pair. Both colors were traditionally worn by royalty, and aren't we all royalty some how? Maybe you are the Queen quilter, a baking Princess, or just a royal pain :). Any who, apparently, Crate and Barrel also thinks red and purple are a winning combo. Check out the link to their 2010 Fall Catalog.

Below the dynamic duo are showcased in bead form. The beads were hand formed and painted by me, and will be available for purchase at GoyaDesigns. The posting expired, and I will repost the item Thursday (8/12). I hope these beads inspire creativity, beautiful jewelry making, and pride in your craftsmanship.

If you struggle embracing color, start with small accents.

Silver & gunmetal accents would work well with this set.

P.S. I tried posting the actual catalog picture but didn't figure it out. If anyone knows how to do it, can u please share your wisdom.

Wild Animal Park

One of the mini vacations taken this summer was to the Wild Animal Park in Escondido, CA. During our "safari" we saw God's creatures roaming free in great open land, not behind itty bitty cages like in a typical zoo.

I'm not sure if this horned fellow is an antelope, but it was majestic.

These giraffes are siblings. They were very young, and could barely reach leaves on the lower branches. We saw plenty of baby animals during our visit.

These babies were soo adorable. Don't remember what they are called anymore,

but they look like Bambi.

The Lorikets were my favorite bird. They bring back good memories of when Nina and I took "Subreena" and "Aletz" many years ago. One has the opportunity to feed them nectar, but their bellies were full by the time we got there. The benefit was that they are so used to people that they allowed me to get close and snap some pictures with great ease.

Had to get Eli on Mr. Rhino. We saw a momma Rhino with her new bundle of joy as momma stood on guard. I was sad to hear that only 7 white Rhinos live today, and the park has 1.

Momma and Daddy Perez in front of the Gy-gormous bird nest. Oh, yeah, I am showing off my recycled, Bohemian Burlap Purse. What better place to sport it, than a conservation park.

My munchkins! They are so darn cute.

Miss Cheetah Girl. She has a twin sister. We made sure to watch the cheetahs get fed. Since they were born at the park and fed by humans, the trainer said the cheetahs were domesticated. Despite that, she was very aware of their whereabouts and kept her sight on them at all times.

Mr. Leo could care less about the paparazzi trying to photograph him. He wasn't gonna turn and smile at any camera. This exhibit was new. A thick glass separates the lions from us. I wonder what will happen when the "Big One" hits CA?

Momma elephant was so protective of her baby. It was super cute. Additional good news was that our admissions cost is a tax write off because it is considered a donation since it's a conservation park. I'm glad the "safari" guide announced this tid bit.

Carlsbad Sunset

The family paid a wonderful visit to Nina (my sista) and Tio Jorge (Uncle Jorge) in

beautiful San Diego. After a delicious dinner and wonderful conversation, we

headed to the outlet mall in Carlsbad. The sunset stopped us and we had to

stop and capture the moment.

The kids with Tio Jorge and Nina. The ladies really balanced out

the photo with their position and red sweaters.

The Perez Family.

I think its cute that Sabrina slouched and tilted to appear shorter than me, or

was she just trying to be extra girly?

Relaxing Beauty

Beauty fades quickly.

Time to shop.

Carlsbad outlets watch out!