photo splendor

my favorite photographer ever posted a lovely slideshow of some of the photos she took of my family this past weekend.  oh she is so talented, i know i have mentioned that before. enjoy

until next time...

monica

masterpiece monday

i love the blog oh, hello friend and i am always so thrilled to enter her weekly giveaways.  they are so much fun and she gives away fabulous things every week.  this week it is "a sweet coral crochet headband with vintage beads, a pair of heart earrings, and a crochet flower bobbi pin" from Dear Beatrice and a "mini wallet, wristlet, and girl emergency kit" from Polly Danger.  i would so happy to win either one.  so thank you to oh, hello friend for being so generous and to your crafty friends for making us all feel so special.  here is what is being given away.


 i will leave you with some photos of my chiquitita that i took and attempted to enhance in photoshop.  (i use enhance very loosely.)

until next time...

monica

happy weekend

today was fantastic.  we had our photos taken by a very talented Aggie, Rachel Brooke.   lilly was trying her very best to be good and she did pretty well for most of the time.  lucky for us the weather was beautiful!  i can't wait to see the finished photos.  i highly recommend Rachel.  she is sweet as pie and so easy to work with.  as soon as i have some photos i will post them.

on another note, i am very excited!  i went to Goodwill and bought some old shirts.  i really think that only one of them is "vintage" but they are all great fabrics.  i'm in the process of ripping them a part to get started on a new pair of glovelies.  will keep you posted.

i will leave you with this.  this is a new addition to one of my favorite etsy shops, louandlee.  enjoy shopping.


until next time...

monica

does this template make my butt look big?

i don't know about everyone else out there in the blogging community but i am having the hardest time finding a blog template that conveys my personal style.  this one isn't bad but its not me either.  i have adobe photoshop and i thought, "hmph...i'll just make my own".  does anyone know how difficult that is?  i mean, i'm sure its not hard to those of you that actually know what an html and a css are but for little ol' me its very scary.  so i jetted over to Amazon and ordered a book.  now this book may not teach me how to biuld my own template but i really like the author.  i'm guessing the book teaches you everything else about blogging. 

authored by: Tara Frey

she also has a blog and i am loving it.  its called tara frey {typing out loud} . 

i'm going to have to google some tutorials on this template making business. 

until next time...

monica

boring tuesdays

whats that about?  why does it seem that every other day of the week as some kind of meaning except tuesday?  what is tuesday known for?  its not a manic monday and we all love hump day wednesday.  thursday is the day before the weekend and of course you have freak-out friday but poor tuesday is all alone.  so to livin up my tuesday i will post some of my favs from etsy. 

Chiffon Flower Handbag

Keyhole Flats

Stitched eco-friendly clutch

i love etsy.  it's my favorite place to be and it makes me smile.  i <3 tuesdays and etsy.

until next time...

monica

inspiration if you please...

what is it that inspires us?  one of my favorite fellow bloggers has become a part of the first ever blog it forward. i am the kind of person that doesn't have to look far for inspiration.  now, whether that inspiration is put to use or not is the question.  its so fabulous that everyday i get to read a new blog and see what inspires them as an individual.  sometimes what inspires them doesn't do so much for me but when you stumble upon a post that just chills you to the bone it is oh-so-fantastic.  i love oh, hello friend and what inspires her.  we are the same level her and i. 

inspiration for me comes in many forms and inspires different things in my life

i am inspired by photographs that catch moments of hope

i am inspired by words, simply worded

i am inspired by nature

i am inspired by whymsical decor


inspiration cannot be defined singularly.  thats what is so great about it.  each individual is free to interpret at will.  there are no wrong answers. please see here for the schedule for the 1st ever blogger mash-up.

until next time...

monica

bloggin' aint easy....

so i have discovered that am totally not any good at this.  my blog template is completely uninspiring and i am so confused about these dang gadgets.  good news is i have ordered a book to help teach me.  so maybe there is hope afterall.

on another note, i am thinking about redoing my back bedroom and converting part of it into a workroom.  i am in the market for a desk, preferably vintage, that i can redo as my workstation.  i need a handy-dandy place to sew besides the diningroom table.  i also will be adding shelves and such to give me more storage.  i've been looking for inspiration on the web and so far i have come up with nothing.  apparently i'm not any good at googling either.

well i will end this uninspiring blog with some new photos of my latest glovelies.  these were made for a 12-yr-old girl.  i hope she likes them.

these are the ones i made for myself to match lilly's little pink plaid ones.

so now i will work on some more glovelies for lilly.  maybe out of the zebra print.  i'm hoping that i get good enough that i can open an etsy shop.

until next time...

monica

isn't it glovely...

so i have always had this uber-love for fingerless gloves.  lets call them glovelies, because lets face it, they are the perfect accessory and quite lovely.  anything that i can wear to keep my hands toasty warm and eat at the same time without the worry of getting fuzz in my mouth is lovely to me.

when i was in college (early 2000's) you could never find them in Texas.  so i would just dream of them.  i then came across a pair in Conneticut that fit so well it was as if they fell right out of one of my daydreams. anyway, since then i go out of my way to find them. the quirkier the better.  i love the idea of them.  i love the way they look.  when i'm wearing them i feel like i just stepped out of the above mentioned daydream where i am the extra-fit supernatural being (i.e. Kate Beckinsale).  don't ask me why, its just one of those rainy-day famtasies.  lately i have decided that i can no longer find gloves that fit the spunk needed to fuel my ongoing obsession.  to remedy this i have taken up the art of making my own.  now let me let you in on a little secret.  i have no natural talent.  so if it is possible i am trying to create myself some talent.  here is my first pair of glovelies that i have completed. 

they are for my chiquitita so they are oh-so-tiny.  she looks precious in them.  they are plain but still quite lovely.  see for yourself...

so now that she has some uber-cute glovelies to keep her toasty it was time to set out to make my own.  easy, peasy right?  wrong.  this is a lot harder than it looks!  making these bad boys take skill and some form of mathing ability.  look, you can tell i don't have any mathing abilities because i don't even think mathing is a word!  but fun to use nonetheless.  so i am teaching myself how to do this and i am keeping patterns and what not.  i have been quite successful so far.  now don't get me wrong.  i have thrown away many a tubesock due to epic failure.  but i see the light at the end of the tunnel.  i have started with fleece seeing how it is the easiest fabric to work with.  i will soon move on to a jersey knit since it will be summer here in just a few short months.  i think glovelies are totally functional for summer as well.  who doesn't go to the movies and freeze?  how about church?  chilly much?  so, still functional and fashionable all at the same time in all seasons. 

as i (hopefully) get better after much trial and error my glovelies should start to develop a little bit more personality.  right now i am keeping it simple until i am a pro.  i will post some photos of the grown-up glovelies later.

until next time...

Monica

the beginning has wings...

there is a favorite framed picture of mine that sits on our mantle that says  "hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul."  it is a quote by Emily Dickinson and it sings to me.  i can't say why.  maybe its the way it sounds, like some old bit of wisdom found jotted down in a dingy journal left by Jane Austin in an old dingy desk.    i love to look at it.  i love the words, the actual words, not just the meaning.  hope and feathers.  don't they sound beautiful.

this is the beginning.  the beginning of a blog that i'm not sure i will be any good at.  i'm writing with a little bit of hope and a whole lot of faith that i will not bore anyone to tears or make them feel as if i have wasted their oh-so-precious time.  i'm also hoping that someone else besides my momma will read this.  maybe i should introduce myself.  my name is Monica and i am married to a handsome aggie named Kent.  we have one oh-so-beautiful chiquitita named Lilly Faith.  she is our heart and soul.  she is the feathers to my flight.  we also have one brave little hound named Sarge and 2 frisky kitties, Bob and Goose.  our home is a happy home.

well this blogging thing might be kind of fun.  what a fabulous thing this internet is.

until next time...

Monica
p.s. i apologize if the layout/font style/signature changes frequently.  i will be trying on different "blogging outfits" to see which one suites my personal style best.