Welcome Atlas!

On September 25 at around 8pm, Yves gets a call from David saying that Amy has been having contractions all day! The baby’s due date was October 12th! So I rush over there to bring them to the Birthing Center, which is very close to our house. Get a text and photo the next morning at around 7:30. It’s a boy! Atlas Derrick John was born at 7:05 am. The procedures at the Birthing Center are different than at a hospital where you only stay about 5 (or7?) hours after giving birth. They were able to leave around 1pm. Amazing!! I picked them up and drove them home. I couldn’t believe Amy was up and moving so soon.

The new family!

The new family!

Just 5 hours old!

Just 5 hours old!

Loved how he was holding onto my shirt!

Loved how he was holding onto my shirt!

Aunt Natalie (Atlas’ grandma) wasn’t due to arrive until October 1st. I picked her up and brought her over there. She stayed with them for about 3 weeks to help out. I’ll have a more specific post about her visit later.

Hi Grandma!

Hi Grandma!

JP also came to visit for about a week.

JP also came to visit for about a week.


Yves and Atlas.

Yves and Atlas.

Because I got a letter home from Sienna’s school about someone having Chicken Pox, I wanted to wait 2 weeks (incubation period) to make sure she was ok. She was vaccinated for it but with the newborn, didn’t want to take a chance. Then she had a minor cold (mostly just stuffy nose) that I didn’t want to expose Atlas to so Sienna didn’t get to meet her cousin until almost a month after he was born.

Amy helps Sienna hold Atlas.

Amy helps Sienna hold Atlas.

Sienna and Atlas

Sienna and Atlas

Here is a bib and onesie I made for Atlas. I asked if he was named after the Greek God and they said it was partly that but also because they had traveled around the world a lot together. Plus they liked the sound of the name.
AtlasOnesieBib

I look forward to watching Atlas grow and getting to know him more!

Summer 2013

01SiennaMust
02SylMust
03NicoMust

Mustache Fun at our first BBQ of the summer season!

Mustache Fun at our first BBQ of the summer season!

Sprinklers!

Sprinklers!

My 44th birthday dinner at a favorite, Tanoreen!

My 44th birthday dinner at a favorite, Tanoreen!


Lopsided birthday cake because my mother almost dropped it. HA!

Lopsided birthday cake because my mother almost dropped it. HA!


Joy took me out for my birthday to Fletchers BBQ. This is the lamb shank. Tasty but nothing outstanding.

Joy took me out for my birthday to Fletchers BBQ. This is the lamb shank. Tasty but nothing outstanding.

Wedding card for Heather and JW!

Wedding card for Heather and JW!

Free summer bowling, managed to go once!

Free summer bowling, managed to go once!

Finally made it to Rockaway Beach! Awesome beach.

Finally made it to Rockaway Beach! Awesome beach.

Nom nom nom. One of the best pizzas I've had! New Park Pizza in Howard Beach.

Nom nom nom. One of the best pizzas I’ve had! New Park Pizza in Howard Beach.

The first dance at the wedding! Held in the Hudson Valley. It was beautiful.

The first dance at the wedding! Held in the Hudson Valley. It was beautiful.

Fun at Rockefeller Park in the city.

Fun at Rockefeller Park in the city.

Luna Park

Luna Park


Coney Island!

Coney Island!

Me and Starr and the Wonder Wheel!

Me and Starr and the Wonder Wheel!

Big smiles at Red Mango.

Big smiles at Red Mango.

Lady Liberty

Lady Liberty

Central Park Zoo penguins

Central Park Zoo penguins

Dylan's Candy bar. There's candy in the stairs, Mommy!

Dylan’s Candy bar. There’s candy in the stairs, Mommy!

Attempting to turn the cube during Summer Streets

Attempting to turn the cube during Summer Streets

Feeding the llama at White Post Farms

Feeding the llama at White Post Farms

Playing house with Vinny at White Post Farms

Playing house with Vinny at White Post Farms

I got to go to Bead Fest in Philadelphia!

I got to go to Bead Fest in Philadelphia!

Took a soldering class with the fabulous Kate Richbourg!

Took a soldering class with the fabulous Kate Richbourg!

Sienna requested her ears pierced and we got them done at the doctor's.

Sienna requested her ears pierced and we got them done at the doctor’s.

She also wanted a short haircut! My baby is growing up so fast!

She also wanted a short haircut! My baby is growing up so fast!

May and June in Photos

Grandma visits

Grandma visits

Made toilet paper roll crafts with Grandma

Made toilet paper roll crafts with Grandma

BBQ at the Balds!

BBQ at the Balds!

Frogs at AMNH

Frogs at AMNH

Frogs at AMNH

Frogs at AMNH

Pavan's BD party at Chuck E's

Pavan’s BD party at Chuck E’s

Isabella's BD party at bowling alley

Isabella’s BD party at bowling alley

roller skating!

roller skating!

Postal Service at Barclay Center

Postal Service at Barclay Center

Miss Cregg card I made

Miss Cregg card I made

Pandora bracelet for Miss Cregg

Pandora bracelet for Miss Cregg

Stepping up ceremony

Stepping up ceremony

Stepping up party

Stepping up party

Camera Obscura class at Little Bird Studio

Camera Obscura class at Little Bird Studio

Nico's birthday at Owl's Head

Nico’s birthday at Owl’s Head

Last Day of School!

Last Day of School!

Last day of school!

Last day of school!

Metric at Mazda event

Metric at Mazda event

March Crafts

Now that May is upon us, time to post March crafts! Ha! I was going to combine it with April crafts but I did not do much in April. I’ve been slowing down the swapping so I can better concentrate on other things. My mailbox will surely be lonely! I haven’t stopped swapping completely, just being more selective.

I’m kinda being lazy to write descriptions but they are all for swaps except for the 6 shirt, which I made for Sienna’s birthday. The wire bracelet with red seed beads and hemp and leather bead bracelet was for a Covert Robin swap.

3BeadWrapRing

PurpleBeadWrapRing

GreenSeedRing

EasterCard1

EasterCard2

EasterCard3

6shirt

StampedStickers

SkullVinylPendant

SkullBowPendant

4BeadBracelet

AlienCard

WireSwirlBracelet

LeatherHempBracelet

PinkStarsJournal

UnicornCards

10beadNecklace

5PeasinPodNecklace

MatryoshkaEmb

Crafty Weekend

It’s very rare for me to schedule 2 personal events in one weekend. I signed up for a resin jewelry class at Little Bird Creations months ago and was really looking forward to that. Then when I found out Dyan Reaveley was teaching at a LSS on Long Island, I had to go to one of her classes! I decided on the collage workshop since I find that to be my biggest weakness and that was on a Friday afternoon. My hubby reluctantly agreed to take the day off work so he can pick Sienna up from school. Well, poor Sienna picked up a stomach virus from school and threw up Thursday night after she had gone to bed (at 7:30! should have known something was up!) She proceeded to wake up numerous times throughout the night to throw up or almost throw up. Needless to say, sleep was not on my side. I considered canceling on the class but it’s not cheap and thankfully, Yves was going to be home. Really no point in canceling, he can handle it. Off I went in the morning trying not to worry about my family!
DyanReaveley1
Well, Dyan is a hoot!! We got a brand new Dylusions journal as part of the class. Knowing that most people are afraid of messing up their brand new journal, she had us rip out a page at the seam. EEK! Then rip out another page at the seam! YIKES! Then rip out half of a page! Then pick a spray ink and spritz it on a random page! Then spritz a random page on our neighbor’s journal! Well, now the journal wasn’t brand new anymore! We started doing some backgrounds, techniques I’ve done at Little Bird but still neat to do with it’s creator!
JournalBack1

JournalBack2
We started looking for some images in a magazine and once we picked something out, we had to give it to the person across from us! Aack! LOL! Basically, she was reiterating that it wasn’t about the end result but the process of doing the journaling. Here’s what I came up with:
JournalPage
This page isn’t complete and I added a few more details to it since then but Dyan didn’t want us to finish the page as she wanted to teach us other techniques. We did some doodling on images from magazines and also some more collage work using color copies of cut up collages she had done. Did not take any photos of these pages but perhaps I will show some in a future post.

On Sunday, I head up to the Upper West Side for an all day resin jewelry class with Isolina Perez at Little Bird Creations. I was really excited for this! I’ve done some resin before but not much. I was also excited to try Crystal Clay and Resin Klay.
We did the resin first since it would take the longest to cure (3 days!) Picking out images to use was the longest process! Next was Crystal Clay, I think that takes 24 hours to cure and we stamped into it embedded swarovski crystals into it. The last thing was transfering an image into Resin Klay and we had to work fast for that one, since it only took 7 minutes to cure! We got to do some metal stamping and banging texture into copper to add to the resin klay. That was a lot of fun!
Here are how my pieces looked after class:
ResinToCarry
Here’s what I did with some afterwards (thanks to fellow classmate, Eileen, for posting her finished pieces and motivating me to finish mine! I tend to procrastinate!)
BelgiumEarrings
These images are postage stamps from Belgium! I’m not sure who the guy is but I liked the pink! The hearts were earrings from Isolina’s stash. I added some crystal dangles and made ear wires with crystal to match. This could probably use another layer of resin. Maybe I’ll add some one day!
ResinPendants
I tried to do a bit of layering with these. I think the star was also an earring. For the owl, I tried to keep the glitter contained to the edges but it spread. I’m ok with it, tho!
ResinPieces2
The last of my resin pieces. The purple piece is a bead and maybe one day I will turn it into a charm and make a matching necklace for the earrings. This definitely needs more resin! The square piece was just some glass glitter and red glitter and I popped a crystal in the middle. Not sure what I will do with this!
SkullClay
This is using the Crystal Clay. I have to be honest, when I first saw Crystal Clay on the market, I wasn’t really impressed. It’s not my thing and after working with it, I did not change my mind. Maybe the problem is, it needs more crystals! Here are 2 more. The one on the right is stamped. Again, I think it needs more crystals!
MoreClay2
And finally, here is the piece with the Resin Klay. This was my favorite after the resin. I hadn’t done image transfers in awhile and this reminded me of how much I enjoy it. I also had a lot of fun adding texture to the copper! At home, I had to file the edges of the clay and I added some vintage photo distress ink on the edges. I wish I added more. You can hardly tell! Anyway, I then glued it to the copper and added a bead dangle. I plan on doing more of these!!
ButterflyPendant
All in all, a very fun and creative weekend even if my mind wasn’t always fully there in the classes. I felt bad that Yves picked up what Sienna had and stayed home from work on Monday and Tuesday! Sienna went back to school on Tuesday. I’m happy to report that everyone is back to their happy selves again! Yay!

January/February 2013 crafts

A quick update of the creative things I’ve been doing. There’s more than what I am posting but these are ones I want to remember (for good or for bad!) I hope to update with a March one!

Journal page swap. My word for 2013. Not doing so well with it so far! HA!

Journal page swap. My word for 2013. Not doing so well with it so far! HA! Done with gesso, stencils and ink sprays. Word handwritten but style copied from graffiti creator


Rainbow journal page swap. Do no like but posting in the hopes that I will look back at this and marvel at how far I've come!

Rainbow journal page swap. Do not like but posting in the hopes that I will look back at this and marvel at how far I’ve come!


For a handcarved stamp swap.

For a handcarved stamp swap.


Made this for Sienna's bestie using spray inks and stencils

Made this for Sienna’s bestie using spray inks and stencils

ZachFront

For a friend's son's birthday. He's a Monty Python and dragon fan!

For a friend’s son’s birthday. He’s a Monty Python and dragon fan!

StampBoard1
These 2 were for a stamped board swap. Tutorial here.

These 2 were for a stamped masterboard swap. Tutorial here.


YrofSnakeCard
These cards are pretty self explanatory!

These cards are pretty self explanatory! The first card was used with a stamped masterboard I received. The Valentine’s card is used with Shimmer Sheetz and Sizzix embossing folder and sanded (maybe alcohol ink too? Can’t remember!)


Made this for Yves for Valentine's day. File from the Silhouette store.

Made this for Yves for Valentine’s day. File from the Silhouette store.


DoodleNoteCards1
For a doodle me some notecards swap. I really am happy with how they came out!

For a doodle me some notecards swap. I really am happy with how they came out!


KeepsakeBook
For a Keepsake Book swap. Front and 1 spread shown. Too lazy to post all the spreads. Tutorial here.

For a Keepsake Book swap. Front and 1 spread shown. Too lazy to post all the spreads. Tutorial here.


EnvelopeBook
Envelope book swap. Front and 1 spread. This uses business size envelopes and scrapbook paper. Tutorial here.

Envelope book swap. Front and 1 spread. This uses business size envelopes and scrapbook paper. Tutorial here.


Gift tags using hand carved stamps

Gift tags using hand carved stamps

Handmade Christmas

I may have not posted much, especially my crafts, but I’m still making stuff! For Christmas I decided to sew some pencil cases for the kids and wanted to try a new pouch pattern. I probably have only pulled out my sewing machine twice before my sew-a-thon the week before Christmas so I guess I made up the time!

I had wanted to make Sienna a pencil case since the start of school and I’ve used Noodlehead’s pattern before so I knew it was a good one. I made Sienna’s and Emma’s using Princess fabric and Sylvie’s using Hello Kitty, both fabrics from Japan.

SiennaCase EmmaCase SylvieCase

I used my Silhouette to cut out the names. I actually made a mistake with Emma’s and Sylvie’s (the names aren’t on the same side) but when I did it first on Emma’s, I liked it so repeated it with Sylvie’s. I made Nico’s using Superman fabric.

NicoCase

I liked how I positioned his name on each side. I also made a Snoopy one for a swap. It was also my first time making a key fob from this tutorial.

SnoopyCase

The new pattern I wanted to try is called a mini clutch from Sew4Home. Since this was the first time making one, I made one for myself first to work out any kinks.
PacmanBag

I think I actually did better on the first one than I did with Jessica’s (Emma’s mom). The sizing on hers is a little smaller but her phone is smaller than mine so it worked out!
JessBag

I also made Jessica this bracelet, since she admired the one I made for myself:
JessBracelet

I was struggling to figure out what to give for Sienna’s teacher, since she lost her house due to Hurricane Sandy (she lived in Breezy Point. The surfer that died in Puerto Rico was who saved her and her husband!). What do you give someone that lost everything? Your standard smelly soaps seemed kind of silly. And Sienna’s suggestion of buying her a house was noble but not realistic! LOL. So, remembering that the teacher has an art background, I decided to make her one of my coptic stitch journals. Only the 3rd one I ever made! I covered it with mulberry paper and used watercolor paper inside. I think it came out rather nice! I also sewed her a bookmark/pen holder (I’ve made before) and key fob. Sienna picked out the fabric for the key fob. You might not be able to tell but it’s owls. The teacher told Sienna how she was just saying the other day how she needed a journal!
TeacherGiftKeyFob TeacherGiftBook

Up to date on crafts

This might end up being a big post so I can be up to date on the crafts I have done. Some date back to March, like this shirt I made for Sienna’s birthday!
5shirt.jpg
Me and Sienna made this pirate hat and eye patch together as part of the monthly kit I signed her up for called Kiwi Crate. She loves getting the box in the mail!
piratekiwicrate.jpg
I also made a few notecards that I’m showcasing each separately since they are all different. I had a lot of fun with these, using stencils, stamps and embossing folders.
powstampedcard.jpgsunheartcard.jpgbirdnotecard.jpgtreebirdcard.jpghellocard.jpghinotecard.jpgtreebirdcard2.jpg
This embroidery was for a swap via Wild Olive’s blog. My partner loves unicorns.
wildolivestitchswap.jpg
This was for a swap to carve a set of stamps to create a scene. My partner is a gardener.
carvesceneset.jpg
I made this juggler stationery using a stencil I made with my Cameo machine.
jugglerstationery.jpg
This kit was for a DIY art-o-mat swap. Learn more about art-o-mat here. I provided materials to make a macramé bracelet and made a little booklet of instructions.
diyartomat.jpg
This is the outside of an egg carton decorated for the Easter Egg Hunt swap. I put little Easter themed items inside eggs. Unfortunately, I got flaked on for this swap!
springcarton.jpg
A butterfly pendant
butterflypendant.jpg
A faux dichroic glass pendant using Friendly Plastic. Looks a lot better in real life.
fauxdichroic.jpg
A felt skull keychain
skullfeltkeychain.jpg
A skull wire wrap ring
skullring.jpg
A t-shirt for Nico’s 6th birthday! Made with vinyl and Cameo.
nicodinoshirt.jpg
A macramé bead bracelet for Sienna’s Pre-K assistant teacher.
macramebeadbracelet.jpg
A set of notecards for Sienna’s main Pre-K teacher.
notecardsset1.jpgnotecardsset2sun.jpg
The card I made for her
shumelcard.jpg
And the necklace I made her (the pendant is glitter, resin, vinyl)
jschain.jpg
Another faux dichroic pendant, I think I like it better smaller and with a focal point.
flowerfauxdicpendant.jpg
I did the same pendant again for a swap via Craftaholics Anonymous Summer Gift Exchange but I also made the cord. Her favorite colors are pink and black. I used the kumihino technique.
jbpenkuminecklace.jpg
And finally, a nerd pendant. I was inspired by these awesome pendants and wrote out nerd myself and scanned it in.
nerdpendant.jpg
Whew! I made it through! If you are still reading down here, thank you! I haven’t done much crafting in July but the month isn’t over yet. But don’t think I haven’t been creative! I’ve been taking Joanne Sharpe’s Letter Love class (part of my birthday present from the hubs) and getting into some zentangle with another Joanne, Joanne Fink.

Easter Eggs!

Marine Park had an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids a week before Easter. I thought it would be fun to take Sienna. They did a pretty good job with organizing it. We ran into Emma and Leah with their grandparents and joined them on the line so that saved us from going to the back of the line. Each kid got a limit of 5 eggs to find. In each egg was a slip of paper with either small prize or medium prize written on it. You can only pick 1 prize to redeem so obviously if you had a medium prize, you would redeem that one. Well, all Sienna’s eggs had small prize in them but a kind dad gave us one of his medium prized eggs. I guess his kid found 2 eggs with medium prize. The majority of the medium prizes were candy and she picked chocolate covered marshmallow eggs. The small prizes were mostly paper stuff so I’m glad she didn’t get more of that junk! They had 2 bouncy slides and face painting. It was quite windy and we didn’t dress as warmly as we should have.
egghuntgroup.jpgegghuntgroup2.jpghuntrun.jpg
Running to ger the eggs
egghuntslide.jpgfacepaint.jpg
Sienna picked a heart
On Good Friday, I invited Sienna’s best buddies and their mom’s over for some Easter Egg dying in the “back yard.” I ordered pizza for lunch. It was a little bit chilly but the kids had fun.
eggdye.jpgjessemmaeggs.jpgmishvinnyeggs.jpgsiennaeggs.jpg

Wire Wrap Addict

I had a groupon for Brooklyn Bead Box that I bought last year. I finally used it last month for a wire wrap ring class even though I had pinned a wire wrap ring tutorial on my pinterest. I like to take classe as you never know what tips and tricks you can learn and it’s focused time. No other distractions (except all the beautiful beads and jewelry that surrounds you!) Well, I loved the class! The teacher was super cool and the class was small (we were 3 and it goes up to 4). I think I made about 4 rings. The technique they taught was slightly different than the tutorial on my pinterest. At home I tried the tutorial and I like both ways. So, can you say addicted? Here’s the rings I made in class.
wwfirstring.jpg
This was the very first ring I made. The stone was like 50 cents so I was ok with it if I screwed up. I think I did pretty well!
wwovalstonering.jpg
This stone was pretty big, that’s why there is wire across it as well. I have yet to wear this one. I’m ambivalent on this one.
wwamberring.jpg
I think this one is my favorite. I love that it’s not round and I like the colors.
pinkskullring.jpg
I couldn’t resist this pink skull! This one is a little awkward as I wanted to make the skull look right side up, which means the holes are on the top and bottom. It’s easier to wrap when the holes are on the sides. I might do this one over as the bead is a little loose.

Here is what I made at home from the tutorial.
greystoneredwirering.jpg
The stone is from the bead shop and I thought it would be fun to use a bright wire for it.
wwblackwirering.jpg
Bead from my stash. I really love how this one came out. I wear it the most, I think. Until the black started scratching off. I realized that the wire I used is square, as opposed to round, which I guess makes it more prone to scratches. The scratches are on the other side, I wanted to show the good side!
siennaring.jpg
I made this pink stone ring for Sienna. She asked me to make her one after seeing all the rings I was making for myself. She still hasn’t worn it for more than 5 minutes!
beemoodring.jpg
The bee is a mood bead that I bought from beadaholique. I thought it would be fun, although I don’t know how accurately it reads your moods! HA!
swcrystalbuttonring.jpg
I just made this ring today for a swap. I haven’t mailed it yet so I hope my partner is not reading this! The bead is actually a swarovski crystal button and it changes color depending on what it is reflecting.
And some earrings too:
rhinewrapearrings.jpg
Wire wrapped rhinestone chain around a ring. Got the idea from ornamentea. Their so sparkly and kinda fancy. Haven’t worn them yet!
bluecrystalovalearrings.jpg
These earrings are copied from the bookA Bounty of Bead and Wire Earrings that I got from the library. Lots of inspiration in the book.
ouijapendantwrap.jpg
And here is the last item, a wire wrapped pendant. I usually glue a bail to the back but thought this would be more interesting. I made this for a swap and my partner should be receiving it any day now. I hope she likes it.

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