Ahh yes.

That does look better.


click for a larger view

Halfway done.

I can't believe it, but I'm actually halfway done with my calendar. If all else fails, I can hand them out with half a year and it won't be that weird. Okay, it would be.

Check it out! I'd be proud to display this on my desk! Although, I don't know how I feel about April. Since it's the only one so far with one large graphic instead of a bunch of scattered small ones, I feel it stands out. I may toy with changing it to a few smaller umbrellas. Not sure yet.


click for a larger view

2 More Months

I was able to get two new months of my calendar done. I vow to finish these by Christmas! I'm happy so far, but I have a fear that I'm going to run out of ideas around June. Or it's going to start looking boring or stupid. Guess there's only one way to find out.

Mission: Failed

Well, as you may or may not have noticed, I gave up on my "post every day" goal. I missed on Thanksgiving, and then I realized throughout the weekend, if I post, it's going to be a generic, "post 'cause I have to" kind of thing. So I figured I'd wait until I actually had something to say.

I don't right now.

But I felt guilty, so I figured I'd better say something. I sent out some invitations to our holiday party. Here's how they looked.


I printed them on Stardream Quartz and mounted them on this awesome red corrugated cardboard that I found. I'm still paranoid that no one is going to show up and there's going to be four of us sitting in my living room, scarfing down a tray of wraps and a platter of pigs in a blanket, washing it down with pitchers of appletinis.

I also have hopes of finishing a calendar to pass out to family for the holidays. I snagged 20 of those calendar jewel cases that are ever-so-popular nowadays. I'm keeping the designs as simple as possible. Easier for me to design, and generic enough that everyone should enjoy it. So far, I have one month done. How lame is that?


I know I'm going to be scrambling on Christmas Eve to get the other 11 months finished. It's just how I do things!

A tag? Really?

I didn't really think anybody read my blog. But I have been tagged by Bianca (thanks for thinking of me!) and will follow the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

In high school, I was really into crazy manicures. I had all sorts of brushes and rhinestones. I even used to do my friends' nails before dances l for money. The best, though, was when I painted a different Looney Tunes character on each nail with the WB logo on my thumbs. They were so accurate that everyone thought they were decals.

When I was 7, I took a year of dance. But one day I couldn't master a particular jump, and I hated feeling like a failure, so I quit.

I am so athletically challenged that I can't do a pull up, a push up, or even a cartwheel.

A few months ago I entered a contest held by my favorite band, Belle & Sebastian. They were looking for singers for a film, so I submitted an entry. If you're curious, here's one of my submission songs. I didn't win, of course.

And though this isn't very interesting for you to read, my last fact is that I get to leave work early today! Woot woot!!!

Let's see, now who do I tag? How about these folks:
Mary #1, Mary #2, Maria, Jenn, and Tomoko.

Gift Card Boxes

I had mentioned in an earlier post how I planned on decorating gift card boxes this year. I went a little overboard at Michael's. Well, I really want to jump into this, but it'll probably be a while before my gift boxes arrive. So I did a test run on one of my card boxes. (Forgive the awful camera phone picture.)


It's plain and very traditional, but a fun start. I love wrapping gifts, which is probably why I'm looking forward to this project. I stocked up at Giftwrap Wonderland at The Container Store, and I'm ready and raring to go! C'mon US Box! Send me my stuff!

That's MY Dirt

For the first time in months, I drove by the plot of our future home on Saturday. They were supposed to have started by now, but it seems like there's been no breaking of ground just yet.

It was still exciting to see though. There were some people working on the building next to ours. This was the building we initially wanted, but we were a day too late, and the spot had sold. So we had to take the next building, which happened to be $5000 more expensive for the same EXACT home. But I'm not bitter.


Here's our dirt! They had a sign out front with our new address. I can't wait to see what it's going to be like! I wonder how our neighbors will be. I wonder how long it'll be before they build the clubhouse and river promenade. I wonder how the commute into work will be. I wonder how big the master closet is going to feel.

A Year of Holiday Cards

I made these a while ago, but I never photographed the finished result. This is my Holiday Set of cards. I'm trying to think of a catchy name, but I've been unsuccessful so far. Basically, it's ten 3.5"x5" flat cards with matching 4Bar envelopes, and each card represents a different holiday of the year.





I had them for sale at the last craft show I attended, but I didn't even sell one set. Then again, I didn't really sell much of anything, so that probably doesn't mean much. But I listed them at my etsy shop here, so we'll see what happens.

I really want to work on my gift card boxes. I hope they arrive soon.

Woah!

I'm sitting here at 11:27 PM, realizing that I never posted today! So here I am.

I picked up this great, red corrugated cardboard to use as the backing of my holiday invitation. I think it'll be neat. I ended up going with design #1. You guys convinced me!

I also drove by our "land". They haven't broken ground yet. But they are putting up the building next to ours, so that was fun to see. Also, there's a sign in front of our property with our future address and the word "SOLD." Hurry up and build it already!

Anyway, got home from the Flyers game a little while ago, so I'm going to head up to bed, catch an episode of Extras or Flight of the Conchords and get some sleep. Hope you're all having a great weekend!

It's all in the presentation.

I know I said a few days ago that I was giving melissahead a little rest, but I thought of a fun new item that I want to make. I don't know if anyone else would be interested, but I'll toss a few in my etsy shop when they are done.

For holiday gifts, I'm very anti-gift card. Don't get me wrong, they are probably my favorite thing to receive! But I hate giving them. I pride myself on my thoughtfulness and attention to detail. Rob, on the other hand, is all for finishing up his holiday shopping at the gift card rack of local grocery store. But instead of tossing the card in an envelope with the recipient's Christmas card this year, I thought it would be nice to make beautiful, decorative gift card boxes. And the more I thought about it, the more I loved the idea! After all, it's all in the presentation.

So I picked these up from usbox.com. The left one I ordered in white, and the right one I ordered in black.


I can't wait until they arrive! And then last night I stopped at Michael's to pick up some pieces to use for embellishing the boxes. Here's a sneak peek at some it.


I could throw on some flowers, berries, ribbons, fibers, sparkly shit, bells, mini ornaments. You name it! And I was thinking about printing out custom monograms or holiday sayings. Stuff like that. It'll be a fun project. So I'll keep you all updated as I go through it. At least having a beautiful box will make me feel better about giving a generic gift.

Invitation Color Palette Help

I need help. We need to get these invitations out soon, if we really want to have this get-together. But I'm having a tough time deciding on colors. And do I really need to coordinate my holiday decorations with my invitations? Because that would make things more difficult for me.

Anyway, I'd love to hear/read your thoughts about these color options below. THANKS!

Oh happy day!

I think a Polyphonic Spree show is natural Prozac. They are so positive and hopeful. Kind of the opposite of Bright Eyes, if you think about it. But I was sitting there last night, enjoying the show, not thinking about work, and I felt truly happy!

Some blurry photos of the show:

I was able to get a few pieces of video, just to show people who have never heard of the Spree.


Here's a little snippet of them performing Nirvana's Lithium.


I tried so hard to get video of the confetti canons, but I was always a few seconds off. They seem like they have so much fun. I think I'd like to be one of those singing and dancing girls, but it seems long hair is a requirement.

Quick!

Just enough time to tell you that I don't have any time!

Things are brutal for me at work right now, so I can barely squeeze out a hello. But I made my promise to post every day in November, so as lame as this is, it's my entry for today.

Despite being swamped at work, I have to rush out of here, go home, change, head to a "wine and cheese" at a friend's home, and then go to the Polyphonic Spree show tonight. Egads!!!!!!

"A Song to Pass the Time"

Last night was the first of three shows this week, and what a great start. Bright Eyes is one of my favorite bands, by far. And not to sound like one of the 13 year old girls from the show last night, but "I love you, Conor!" And I'm grateful to him for delighting my ears and breaking my heart.


If you're unfamiliar with him, here's a song to pass your time.

Bright Eyes – A Song to Pass the Time

Oh, and if you're interested, I have a really crappy video from one of my favorite songs last night. The visual sucks, but the audio isn't so bad. click here

It was completely worth the little sleep I got. Now where's my Starbucks?

O Christmas tree!

Okay fine. I know I keep going back and forth with our holiday party, but I think we're sticking with the December 15th date. And it'll be less of a "family" type thing and more of a "friend" type thing. That's fine. So now we need to figure out our guest list and catering and all that other party stuff.

With the party in mind, I was browsing around Crate and Barrel's website yesterday (while sitting in front of the fire with a cozy blanket.) The outlet section had so many great bargains! I really had to stop myself from going all out. I promised Rob I wouldn't buy a bunch of new junk that we'd only have to pack and move in March. But hey, I don't have any entertaining pieces. And my holiday decorations are limited to a tree and a Santa figure.

One of my favorite buys was this set of eight porcelain tree dishes for only $10. What a deal! They'll be perfect for little snacks like cashews or hershey's kisses.


I also picked up these goodies.

Holiday Shapes Cake Pan
Snowflake Ice Cubes
Cinna Sparkle Pinecone Bag
Five Pillar Candle Holder

Thanks HOW!

I didn't mention this earlier because I wanted to wait until I showed my parents. I held off until the issue was released, just in case there were any delays (or anyone changed their minds.) But anyway, I was featured in the December issue of HOW! (On newsstands now.) It was way cool, and I'm grateful to HOW for this opportunity.


Despite that, I think I'm taking a little break from melissahead. I'll still have my shop, but I probably won't have any new items any time soon. And since I don't really receive any orders, it's not going to be much of a change. But I think I need to focus on the job that pays my bills, especially since it's been so high-stress lately. I'm still going to craft, of course. Although I think it's going to be for personal purposes. In a few months, or after we move into our new home, maybe I'll get back into it.

Tomorrow starts our "concert week". Bright Eyes tomorrow. Polyphonic Spree and Rooney on Wednesday. And Clap Your Hands Say Yeah on Friday. I'm going to be very tired next weekend.

2 hours to spare

I was afraid I wasn't going to make a post today, but I'm squeezing in a short one.

Atlantic City was a success! After many struggling hours, I was able to convince my mom to go. The only catch was that we'd have to take the bus. Easy peasy. And my mom was a big winner! She hit a $1100 jackpot! And somehow I stayed on the plus side, even after some bad roulette rounds. So all in all, a very profitable birthday trip. Yay! Although I have to say, casinos are some of the ugliest places I have ever seen. The carpets. The graphics. Icky.

On another front, our party might be moved or cancelled. Just found out that Rob's family is going to be busy that day. Hmm, so maybe a New Years Eve party instead?

Jackpot!

For my mom's birthday, I'm going to offer to take her to Atlantic City tomorrow. She loves that place, but now that her dog has taken over her life, she won't leave it at home for longer than an hour or two. So since Rob and my dad will be around to puppy-sit, I might actually get her out of the house.

My mom is a big gambler. Video poker mostly. And I can see how addictive it is, but I try my best to avoid casinos. One too many bad roulette incidents. Damn that "0" and "00"!! Maybe I'll bring a book and hang out at the bar.

So anyway, I promised I wouldn't be diary-like, so let me share some shopping notes. I want to have a holiday party on Dec 15th. Despite my challenges regarding what time to hold the stupid thing, my other big question has to do with paper plates. Well they have to look nice! Here are some of the ones I was checking out.

Crate and Barrel - Samovaari Paper Plates
I love the pattern, and square plates are a nice change of pace. But it might feel like too much red.



Plum Party's Solid Scalloped Plates
These might be fun with a funky patterned cocktail napkin. Not crazy about the shape. Plus, I don't even know if I want to do red and green. I was thinking maybe a deep red and ice blue. Then again, I'm a sucker for a lime green.




Plates & Napkins Funky Diagonals
I think I'd like these with a solid color dinner plate and solid napkins.



Or, on a totally different level.

Bambu's Veneerware
They don't scream "Christmas", but they are very earth-friendly. Who knows? With the right napkins, these could be very cool! It's not glitzy, that's for sure. But I could decorate around these, I think.



What do you think????

Happy Birthday, Mom!

It's my mom's 50th birthday today! I'll be heading up there this weekend to "celebrate." By "celebrate" I mean lie around and do nothing, except maybe take a nap. I just have to say, I am so proud of her. I just found out that she quit smoking a month ago! I have been pestering her for my entire life. I really hope she sticks with it because I need her to stay around as long as possible.

In other news, I spent 4 hours of my life nearly crying over Leopard yesterday. The stupid thing screwed me all up. It ended up just being minor, and easily fixable issues, but it was high stress. Especially since I'm swamped at work. So my advice? Upgrade at your own risk!

Oh yeah, and we bought a new tv last night! It's a 26" LCD that was on clearance at Circuit City. Not that big, but way better than the 20" tube from the 90's that we had in our bedroom! It's so thin and light. Purty cool. So we said that's our Christmas present to each other. A little early.

This is gonna be hard!

Things are so busy for me right now, so even if I have to post something small, I have to make sure I post something.

So I have three things to mention for today. First, I just installed Leopard on my Mac. Operating systems are never a huge deal to me, and this one is no different. But there are some neat features that I'm sure to become dependent upon. "Spaces" being number one. And "Stacks" in the new finder is pretty sweet as well. What I really need, though, is a new desktop wallpaper. Anyone have any good resources for that?

Number two. Here's a photo I took out of my work window yesterday.



My old office had a view of the hubbub of center city. Now I have a calm view of the northeast, but it's still pretty cool. I can see much further without all the skyscrapers in the way. I liked how graphic the parking garage and buildings looked when I punched up the contrast and saturation. I wish that's what it looked like outside, instead of being so...brown.

And finally, it's date night! Rob quit his third job, so now he's down to two. Yay! That means we can still go for weekly sushi, but it won't feel like he's never home. So tonight we're going to see Lars and the Real Girl. Should be fun!

I hope you all are doing well this fine Wednesday!

I can't contain myself!

I am ecstatic about the opening of the new Container Store in Cherry Hill, NJ! The grand opening was Saturday, so of course I dragged Rob out there. The wuss couldn't take more than 20 minutes of crowds of people excited about organization. I have a feeling I'm going to make regular stops there. Thank goodness it's on my way home from work. You know, if I take a different route home.

I picked up a few things.

A little pocket record book from Buttoned Up. I always worry that I'm going to get into an accident and the cops won't know who to notify. I know, I'm weird.

But not as weird as Rob. His paranoia is intense. Even though we have an alarm on our home, he insists on barricading the bedroom door, since it doesn't lock. He wants a few extra seconds to prepare himself to fight the burgler, I guess. So for him, I bought this little travel door alarm. He loves it! I thought this would help him rest easy, without creating a fire hazard. But I woke up this morning to my vanity stool propped up against the door. *sigh*

I also picked up some new microfiber dusters, since I just read how great they are in the latest issue of Real Simple. New file folders, even though I don't need any. A greeting card organizer and ribbon container. Everything is so delightful! And I went back last night for a portfolio to hold magazine clippings (mainly of decorating ideas), and two canvas bins for towels.

In a few months, I'm going to be an organized fool! At least I have the fool part covered.

NaBloPoMo?

Yes, it certainly is fun to say. I think I may name my first child NaBloPoMo. Or NaBloPoMa, if it's a girl.

Thanks to Mary over at suffix.abuse, I have a reason to blog. I joined this group, still not really sure what it's all about. All I know is that I'm supposed to post every single day during the month of November. Okay, so I'm a few days late, but I'm sure you'll forgive me.

I was thinking earlier yesterday how I need to get back into blogging. But I don't want it to turn into a giant bitch session or a diary. I'd rather get back into sharing things that you might be a tad bit interested in. Mainly crafts, design, and shopping. Hence my posts about the brooches and woodgrain stuff. I promise to have a little more substance.

And also, I think I'm going to attempt to have a holiday gathering of family and friends this December. And I can't just call people to come over for chips and beer. I have to make it an event. So I may blog about that. Cheap, festive decorations. Easy food prep. Fun holiday activities.

So, thanks for popping in! And special hello to any new folks that came over from NaBloPoMo!

Is wood is the new black?

I've stumbled across woodgrain patters in three different blogs today. Is this the new trend?

Wood Fabric
On the Craftzine blog, they link to this awesome wood fabric.


Wood on Paper
Then Paper Shop ink made mention of this print from Geninne's etsy shop which features a pile of wood.

Woodgrain Folders
And also, from one of my favs, Hostess with the Mostess, there was a link to these gorgeous woodgrain folders from delight.com.

So, is wood going to be the "bird silhouette" of 2008? Hmmmm.

Rhinestone Cowgirl

I'm always on the hunt for my new "trademark." Now that the novelty of my hair has worn off, I need a trend that I can latch on to. So I think I'm going to become a brooch-wearer. Sounds like fun, yes? I've been wearing so much black lately, that a splash of color might be nice. Eye candy.

I bought these two lovlies from raineydays on etsy.



images courtesy of raineydays