Merry Christmas!

Hola!

I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas.  May peace and joy fill your hearts today and every day.

Peace and healthy days!

On Christmas Vacation

Hola!

I have so much to share with you this Christmas!  But it won't be until the beginning of January, as we are taking a little Christmas Vacation this year.

So, Merry Christmas to all!!

Peace and healthy days!

Operation Christmas Child

Hola everyone!

For the first time, last week we were honored to be part of Operation Christmas Child.  We just found out about this beautiful effort of Samaritan's Purse and inmediately joined Operation Christmas Child Puerto Rico and began filling out our shoe boxes.

For those of you that don't know what this is, it is an effort that sends thousands of shoe boxes filled with gifts to children all over the world who don't get to have Christmas.  You get to pick a girl or a boy from different age ranges, and fill out you box with gifts according to their age.  This year, our first year, we selected 2 girls and 1 boy ages 10-14.  

Along with your box, you should enclose $7 to cover shipping expenses.  Where else can you fill a child with happiness for $7?  I can't even get lunch for that amount!  

After my initial excitement, I inmediately began researching what I should place in my boxes.  I found out that each box should contain the following:  something to wear, something for school, something to hug, something for hygene and something to play.  So, I brought out my sewing machine and came up with these for the "something to hug" for the girls boxes:

Handmade felt owls

I then filled the boxes with flashlights, soaps, shampoo/conditioner, lotion, t-shirts, school supplies (pencils, crayons, sharpeners, erasers), washcloths, toys (dolls, cars, balls), stickers, puzzles... And most of them had 2 of each, so they could share or save them for later. 

Our boxes

It was not expensive nor complicated to fill out the boxes.  I basically hit my dollar store and my stash of school supplies and hotel mini toiletries.  Next year, I plan to use plastic shoeboxes, as I just found out the family can use it to carry water or to store food.  

Unfortunately the collection period has finished, but... you can build a shoebox online!  Just click here to begin creating your box and fill a child with joy this Christmas!  

Check out this story about how a shoebox changes lives:

Peace and healthy days for you all!







Linking to:

2 Sisters Challenges
Suzie Bee's Blooming Challenge Blog
4 Crafty Girlz
Crafty Ribbons Challenge
7 Kids College Fund

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

Hola everyone!

Happy belated Thanksgiving!!!  I've been so busy getting ready for Thanksgiving, that I've had no time to sit on the computer at all!  This year, for the first time, Thanksgiving was at my house, and I wanted everything to be perfect.  

I gave thanks for all the wonderful things that have happened this past year, as well as for another holiday to spend with my family.  Yes, I kicked cancer's butt, and I am thankful, grateful and humbled.

I have so much to share with you!!!  Let's start with some of the decorations I used for this special day.  

I decided to place some sunflowers as centerpieces, along with some vases filled with corn and candles.  I got the inspiration for the corn filled wine glasses from the Pinterest board of Amanda Jane Brown.  I must confess I really don't like to decorate with food, but I figured that popcorn kernels were safe, as we can later just pop and eat them.  (And we did last night...)  

I had no small vases for the flowers, so I improvised by using some cleaned out Tostito's jars which I covered in jute.  Great way to recycle those!  

I also had flower bouquets and candles all over the house, which gave an intimate and relaxing atmosphere to the place.  The sunflowers I then gave away to my mother, my mother in law, my husband's aunt and a long time family friend that also joined us for Thanksgiving. 

And here I am with the turkey!  Yes, I made it all by myself!

Me and my turkey!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.  Remember to give thanks each and every day, for everything is a gift: life, love, family... Everyday is Thanksgiving Day.

Peace and healthy days!

Blog redesign

Hola everyone!I am remodeling my blog, so if you see something off or missing, don't worry.  I will continue postings of my recent creations in the next few days.Peace and healthy days! 

Guest Designer submission LO

Hola everyone!

As promised, here's the LO I submitted as a Guest Designer for the Scrapping 4 Fun Challenges blog.

It was really fun to create this LO, so step on over to Scrapping 4 Fun to take a look and see more details.

Would love for you to leave me a comment with your blog address so I can take a look at what you've created this Christmas.

Peace and healthy days!

Linking to:

Crafts 4 Eternity

Brown Sugar Challenge Blog

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge

Craft My Life

Crafting Desert Divas

Guest Designer and a Christmas LO

Hola Everyone!!

I've been invited to be Guest Designer at Scrapping 4 Fun!  Isn't that fun?!?!?  I am still in shock!  Thank you so much!!

While we wait for me to share the creation I submitted for their next challenge, let me share with you this LO I finished this weekend.  This is me and my mom on Christmas 2007.

 Hope you  like it!  Stay tuned for when I share my creation as a brand new Guest Designer!  Woo-hoo!

Peace and healthy days!!



Linking to:

7 Kids College Fund

Through The Craft Room Door

Crafting by Design

Papertake Weekly Challenge

Oldie but A goodie Challenge

Our Daily Bread Designs

Allsorts Challenge

Blog all funky!

Hola everyone!

I made a tiny tiny change to my blog, and now for some strange reason, it copied the template of my Spanish blog, http://estepequenorincon.blogspot.com!

I know I have a backup of my blog somewhere... so I'll be working on that, getting ready for some challenges I have ready to post.

Thanks for visiting! 

Peace and healthy days!

Recycled Halloween Box

Hola everyone!

I've been really busy this week, and is not until the last minute that I decided to do something Halloween related.

I had some empty Truvia sweetener boxes laying around waiting for some craft, so I decided to use them for my Halloween box.

I covered the box with ModPodge and black cardstock, and used a Martha Stewart Halloween border punch for the border of the box.

Using silver glitter glue, I hand drew a spider web to place my cute little spider, which I made with a mini-foam ball covered in white glitter and white pipe cleaners for the legs.  I added some googly eyes to make it kind of cute and funny.

Well, hope you like my simple, yet cute recycled Halloween box.  I hope it inspires you to do something with those recyclables!

Peace and healthy days!

Linking to:

• 7 Kids College Fund
• Creative Moments
• Fab 'n' Funky
• Little Red Wagon
• Through the Craft Room
• Creative Belli Blog

Clean and Simple Card

Hola everyone!

Hope you are having a super Tuesday!  Mine is a little busy, but I stopped for a few to share this quick and easy CAS card I made this past weekend.

Hope you like it!

Peace and healthy days!

Linking to:

• Inskspirational
• Sketch Saturday
• My Creative Moments
• Retro Sketches
• Jo's Scrap Shack
• A Creative Romance
• Keep it Simple
• Sister Act Card Challenge

Personalized Composition Notebook

Hola Everyone!

Wow! 2 posts in one day! LOL

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!  And if you are in Puerto Rico, I really hope you are enjoying this wonderful sunny Sunday.  It is beautiful out there!!!  As for me, as soon as I finish this post, I will head out to see a play in the theater.  So, yey for Sundays!

I wanted to share with you the gift I gave my wonderful boss for Boss' Day.  She loves anything Paris, so I thought it was an appropriate theme for her gift.  She LOVED it!!!

This is a basic composition notebook, the ones you can find for less than a dollar at the dollar store or your favorite school supply store.  

I used this Bella Boutique Stack from DCWV to cover the notebook.

Fabric and glitter Petaloo flowers, a spray painted initial chipboard, a glimmer misted doily and a cut Eiffel Tower from this svg, completed the look.

I hope you like this personalized composition notebook.  It was very easy and fun to make.  Oh, and inside the first flap, I placed a handmade string envelope.

Leave me a comment with your thoughts or a link to your version if I inspired you to make your own!

Peace and healthy days!

Issys

Linking to: 

• Jo's Scrap Shack
• Scrapping4fun
• My Creative Moments

DIY - String tie envelopes

Hola everyone!

Hope you are all having a great weekend!  Here in the Island of Enchantment, is nice and sunny, kind of a summer day, even though we are still in hurricane season.

I LOVE string tie envelopes.  To me, they are just so cute and feminine!  And with the right paper, they can just be a very cute addition to any layout or album you want to make or gift.

I am going to share with you the envelope template/tutorial I used to make the envelope inside the gift I gave my wonderful boss for Boss' Day. (kinda of a sneak peek of the gift... wicked me!)

Surfing the web the old way (using Google instead of Pinterest), I came across an oldie but goodie tutorial on string tie envelopes from MinieCo over at the UK.

One thing I did change from the original blogger, is that I added a lining to my envelope to make it a bit more personalized.  And instead of string, I used a rubber hair band.

Hope you like my envelope!  For the tutorial and the template, click here.

Peace and healthy days!

Issys

World Card Making Day - Christmas Joy

Hola everyone!

This is the last card I worked on during World Card Making Day.  It was also inspired on Latina Crafter's sketches for WCMD.

Hope you enjoy it!

Peace and healthy days!

Issys

See the Spanish version here.

Linking to:

 Crafting Desert Diva's 

World Card Making Day - You are Special

Hello everyone!

Still sharing my creations for World Card Making Day!  This card is inspired in Sketch #3 from Latina Crafter for WCMD.  I would love to know what you think!

I used American Crafts paper, Kraft paper, washi tape from My Mind's Eye and the stamp "Eres Especial para Mi" from Latina Crafter.

Peace and healthy days!

Issys

See the Spanish version here.

Linking to:

 Crafting Desert Diva's

 

World Card Making Day - Birthday

Hola everyone!

Still celebrating World Card Making Day! LOL  Here I have a Birthday Card, also inspired in Latina Crafter's theme challenges.

Hope you like it!

I used American Craft papers, along with papers from "The Paper Stack" collection from Crafts Beautiful magazine.

Peace and healthy days!


Issys

See the Spanish version here.

Linking to:

 Crafting Desert Diva's

 

World Card Making Day - Christmas

Hola everyone!

As you know, this past Saturday, October 5th, was the World Card Making Day!  I was a busy bee, making cards all weekend!

So, here's my first card, inspired by the theme challenges posted in the Latina Crafter blog:

I used American Crafts and BoBunny papers.  I embellised with jingle bells and ponsettia.  Stitching was done using my sewing machine.

Hope you like it!

Peace and healthy days!

Issys

See the Spanish version here.

Linking to:

Challenges 4 Everybody
Crafting Desert Diva's  

World Card Making Day!

Hola everyone!  This Saturday, October 5th, is the World Card Making Day!  I will be making Christmas and Birthday cards.  How about we do it together? 

Stay tuned, as I post my creations all throughout the weekend.

Peace and healthy days!

Issys

A Pool Party for my baby brother

Hola everyone!

I've been busy!  My baby brother, JR, turned 15th last week, and my birthday gift to him was a pool party.  We had so much fun!!!

Believe it or not, it was kind of hard to find summery/beach related decor and toys at this time of year.  Completely insane, since we live in a Caribbean Island!  Won't ever understand that...But once I did, it was great, as most of them were on clearance!  Woo-hoo!

I hit the web for inspiration for a super cool, teenage-approved pool party decor and toys, and this is what I came up with.

Lots of inflatables and balls for them to play, along with water guns, water balloons and beach balls.  I got some plastic whistles that they could put on their wrist and get in the pool with.  That was a big hit!

I placed a sand bucket with medium sized beach balls and lots of Sharpies for them to write/decorate their own beach ball.  I got the idea from somewhere in Pinterest, and the idea is that they take them home as a party gift.

 

Most of the items were labeled with my Spanish version of the free Splash Bash Pool Party printable I found at The Celebration Shoppe.  It was easy to customize in Photoshop.  I printed them on photo paper and then laminated them.

Some blue and red pinwheels found at Wal-mart for like $.50, provided some bling to some of the decorations.   Especially some jars with foam beach balls that I painted myself after finding Kelly's tutorial of a DIY Beach Ball Garland.  

We had candy, chocolates, lemonade, chips and fresh popcorn.

 

For the paper beach balls, I just punched a 1 3/4 inch circle, which I then painted with Sharpies.  Very quick and easy!

For food, we had sandwiches, fresh fruit and watermelon "popsicles" which I found super cool after discovering them in Melissa Camara Wilkin's Pinterest board, Fun for Toddlers .  A couple of hours after the party had started, pizza arrived!

I had soda, lemonade and bottled water for the kids.  And home made Sangria (made by moi) for the adults.

My favorite thing of the whole party was the Photo Booth!  I got the idea from Pinterest, and I used some of the free printables from Creative Juice, as well as some I made myself using SCAL and my Cricut.

We had tons of fun posing with the props!  To make them sturdier and sort of water proof, I did 1 hand of ModPodge on each prop.

Everyone had a blast on JR's pool party.  JR said it is the best birthday party I've ever done for him.  So much that his friends are asking when is the next pool party!

I should mention that it was really cool of Domino's Pizza to let me order the pizzas 24 hours in advance, and got them delivered at a pre-arranged time.  That was definitely a super time saver!

Issys

Happy Kidney Birthday to Me!!!

Hola everyone!

Today is a special day… Today is my “Kidney Birthday”.  

5 years ago today, I became cancer-free.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  I remember everything: what I was thinking, how I was feeling, what I was wearing, even what my doctor said to me right in the OR.  I remember how we wrote on the right side of my stomach and my abdomen.  He signed it with a Sharpie… he marked where he was going to operate.  I knew exactly how he was going to remove my right kidney along with the 5 inch cancerous tumor growing on it.

The 3 weeks between my diagnosis and surgery, have been the most intense time I have ever lived.  Nothing compares to it, not being in the Army, not even Basic Training.  I don’t think anything will ever compare.  Scans, tests… preparing physically and mentally for the surgery and then the recovery process… Intense.  Stressful.  But I did it.  We did it. 

I have the most wonderful team of doctors anyone could ever ask for.  I feel blessed for that.  And I have the most supportive, loving family in the world.  They never let me loose myself in my own mind, in my fears or in Google.  I was never alone, for they were all carrying me or more like we were all carrying each other through that time, and I think we all became stronger as a family because of it.

The OR waiting room in Puerto Rico hospitals only allow 1 family member to accompany a patient.  Other family members can wait in the lobby of the hospital if they so desire.  I had 10 people with me that day, right in that packed waiting room.  I had my support system with me while we waited for my name to be called up to get prepared and rolled out to surgery.  It looked like a party, although it didn’t feel like it… We were joking and laughing, trying not to think of the time ahead.  Trying to make time stand still for a little while.  Or trying to turn back time.  It doesn’t matter.  They were there, and I was there, looking at all of them, trying to engrave their faces, and their love, into my mind forever.  And I did. 

Today, I am cancer-free.  I’ve reached the 5 year mark! I AM CANCER FREE!!  And I think their love has had something to do with it.

Happy Kidney Birthday to me!

Disney TP Mini Album #3

Hola everyone!

As promised, here’s the Disney Mini TP Album #3, I made them for the daughters of a friend of mine, who visited Walt Disney World this summer.  

Just like with the other 2, I used digi paper to cover the toilet paper rolls, Mod Podge and digi kits from TrixieScraps and No Reimer Reason.

I really loved working on these minis!  And I truly love how they turned out!  What do you think?  Leave me a comment with your thoughts on these adorable gifts!

If you missed Album #1 or Album #2, you can see them here and here.

Peace and healthy days for you!

Issys