confetti by lexi

sailing away

like the tubes in florida, i had a little bit of a boat obsession in connecticut.  this shot of the hunters all lined up on the beach was my first and my favorite, but it didn't stop there...

parked & bright yellow, with a splash of red--picture perfect!

parked on the water is perfect too--i love the scattered bits of color from the sail covers.

i wish i had a lens that could get me closer, but i still love the shapes of the open sails.

and how could i resist the baby boats at playland park in rye, new york.  the girls really wanted to ride them, but sadly they were over the height limit!  how did that happen?!

:) lexi

zooming in

you've probably noticed, but i've been taking more and more pictures lately.  two trips back to back is one reason, but i'm also just trying to get better.  one thing i really enjoy is finding interesting things to zoom in on, things that can fill the frame.  a table of russian nesting dolls caught my eye on the streets of new york, but instead of taking a picture of the whole table, i zoomed in on a frame-full and i love the results.

similarly, a wine shop window display in old greenwich caught my eye.  it was "filled" halfway up with corks.  i took one picture of the overall look, but then i zoomed in and filled my frame with corks for another cool shot.

zoom, zoom!
:) lexi

home sweet home--again!

there we are--lost in the crowd in times square on friday night.  forever 21 has this huge tv screen billboard with a video camera focused on the street.  it was hard to find ourselves at first, but we finally did thanks to a lot of arm waving and jumping up and down, so i snapped a quick shot.  it was a whirlwind tour of old greenwich, connecticut and new york city, and we had lots of fun!  but i'm happy to be home sweet home for a few weeks straight.  time to catch up and get crafty again...

:) lexi

vintage charm card ~ craft critique

here is one more look at the vintage groove jewelry line i reviewed for craft critique.  as i hinted in my last post, i didn't make only jewelry.  many of the charms are perfect for card embellishments, too.  as soon as i saw this one, i pictured it on a wedding card, so this mini wedding gift card came to life, with a sweet tin plate pattern and ribbon detail, both a muse.  i made a few more paper crafted pieces for my article, so if you haven't read it, click on over to see them all.  and while you're there, leave a comment--the giveaway ends today...

:) lexi

disclosure

vintage groove ~ craft critique

vintage groove by jill schwartz is a new jewelry making line from making memories.  yes, you read that right, making memories has crossed over from scrapbooking and paper crafting to jewelry!  a few of us at craft critique were given a mix of the products to create and review, and you can read all about what we thought this week.  i made several jewelry pieces including this one, but i didn't stop there!  to see what else i created, you have to read the article, which will be posted this afternoon, around 3:00 pm est.  so be sure to stop by craft critique now to read the ones already posted, and again later for mine.  oh, and there's a giveaway...

enjoy!
:) lexi

p.s.  finally, something crafty again, although i really enjoyed photographing these pieces on my front steps, so it's kind of photography related, too!

disclosure

one last beach post...

i figured i'd do one last post of beach pics--a random group of extras that didn't make it into the other posts.  and since i shared my tube obsession, i started with yet another tube shot!  i loved the "shadow" the clear blue ones made on the sand, which i guess is what started the obsession in the first place.

       

     

more from seaside--beach access, the mini seaside post office, central square records, and the vera bradley inn by the sea.

the girls were obsessed with coming to this little ice cream shop/candy store in rosemary beach.  now they're sporting the t-shirts, advertising their sugar love!

bikes are key in these beach resort communities, so a bike with baskets was the perfect candy display.

     

a patriotic house and another with pretty trim and shutters, both also in rosemary beach.

     
the dock on western lake in watercolor, taken from the bike bridge, where they have these beautiful blown glass "flower" lights on each end of the bridge.  they were so pretty when they were lit up.

a single sailboat still on the water after everyone left to avoid a quick rainfall in rosemary beach.  a sunset would have made this picture even more perfect!

thanks for stopping by!
:) lexi

big kahuna

we day-tripped to destin one day to enjoy big kahuna water park.  i'm not so much into water park slides, so once again, i took the opportunity to photograph my surroundings.  i got various wet shots of the kids in tubes, but i had the most fun scouting out other pictures...

lifeguards were everywhere--standing, watching, and ready for action.  i loved the waterfall behind this guy.

      

      

after lunch, i found a nice cool(ish) lounge chair to rest on, watching the lazy river float by.  so many empty tubes were going by at one point that i became obsessed with taking pictures of them.  it was fun to try to get just one, or the perfect shot of a few.  it took many loops around the river to get the perfect single yellow shot!

      

from the top of one ride to the bottom of another!  and we all live in a...

i'll take pictures of anything yellow!!

all in all, it was a great day under the blue metal palm trees!

:) lexi

more than just a pretty beach

as promised, pictures of more than the beach.  awesome snowballs--and that's saying a lot considering the snowballs we have in new orleans!  the ice is light and airy, and the taste is just decadent.  and how cute is the airstream?!  this picture makes me want to add a vintage effect.

      

a simple bike--the way to get anywhere and everywhere.  watercolor's main bike path, with a little fountain river and lots of flowers, is so lush.

      

colors, colors everywhere--from the cute houses to a taco restaurant on 30a, both in seaside.

     

another super cute airstream, this one filled with yummy bbq!  they're up for being featured on the food network.  i love the flip flop order numbers and the waiting games on the table--and the sliders were yummy, too!  i hope they make it!

grits à ya ya--the best shrimp and grits ever!  from the great southern café in seaside.  how did this end up being mostly about food?!

:) lexi
 

picture perfect

we spent last week on the florida gulf coast and i took the opportunity to really play with my camera, taking tons of pictures.  of course, the girls & our house buddies were major subjects, but i also found a lot of interesting things to focus on--silly pun intended!  here are a few of my beach front favorites...

   

   

   

    

i hope you don't mind if share a few more tomorrow.  watercolor and seaside are so much more than just a pretty beach!  i heard that tar balls started washing ashore there today.  we just missed them.  it makes me so sad, and i really hope that it doesn't get too bad before it can get better...

:) lexi

red velvet cupcakes

red velvet cake with cream cheese icing is one of my husband's favorites, so the girls and i made cupcakes for him today.  the result was yummy!

happy fathers' day!
:) lexi

cute & campy

as important as it is to send kids to camp with writing supplies, it's even more important to have friends write to them while they're there.  and of course, the notes should be cute and campy!  my girls wrote their first letters to friends this week and the tent, campfire, and sun from a muse were just right for the occasion.  even better--it was the perfect project for the girls to do on their own.  it doesn't get cuter or campy-er than that!

:) lexi

turtle time

another challenge, another invitation!  i was given the line drawing of the turtle, created by the grandson of the birthday "boy," and asked to turn it into an invitation.  after scanning it, i used photoshop to touch it up and fill it with color.  a couple of other tricks were copying and pasting the balloon to add two more to fill some space, and scanning and reducing the artist's signature from another drawing since he hadn't signed this one.  i love photoshop!

:) lexi

a good challenge

i love challenges--boy invitations since i have girls, new party themes, two different themes tied together, fun wording, etc.  the request for this invitation was definitely a challenge.  a family party to celebrate three different occasions on the same day--a graduation, a homecoming, and an anniversary.  it was one of those requests that came with plenty of time to get it done.  sometimes last minute invitations are better than perfect.  i actually work well under pressure.  but sometimes i need time.  time to take lots of showers, drive many carpools, and drift slowly off to sleep for several nights in a row.  because those are often the times when the best ideas hit me.  and that's how it was with this challenge.  since it was the end of school, and graduation was the first occasion of the evening, i came up with the concept of a doodled notebook test question.  i had a more mainstreamed back up, but i was so excited that the family went for this one--it's fun and unique!  and that was part of the request, too.  i hope it was a good night for all!

:) lexi

camp notes

another camp necessity is stationery--and cute stationery makes writing home more fun!  this set includes a stack of personalized papers, envelopes, and return labels to match.  like the laundry bags, i usually design around camp colors or, in this case, the camper's faves.  i've also created fold over cards and flat note cards.  my daughters like the stationery pages for camp since there's a little more room.  hopefully they use more than one piece when it's their turn to write home this year!

:) lexi

camp laundry

summer time means camp time!  while my girls don't go until later, several of their friends are already gone or going soon, and a few of them wanted personalized laundry bags.  i sew them out of white twill, with a drawstring at the top--they're folded lengthwise in the pictures--so they're durable and ready to be stuffed.


i hand cut the letters in a mix of upper and lower case, usually in two coordinating fabrics, either camp colors or just two fun faves.  of course i'm open to special requests--wouldn't a rainbow of color be cute for a 6-letter name?  the letters are both ironed on and sewed around the edges.  the result is a really fun laundry bag--and it's one less thing to label!

:) lexi

i-sing for cake

one of my little friends came up with the theme "american idol meets icarly" for her birthday party and asked me to make the cake.  she found the topper and wanted a cake similar to the one pictured with it, so that's exactly what i did.  i added the fondant lettering to make it more about her!  she's a very detailed client, and also sketched these for me to create...

the idea was that the newest american idol constestants (i.e. the party guests) were being featured on icarly, performing their songs.  so of course each guest needed a vip stage pass, while the birthday girl received a special all access pass.  i've done these for a variety of birthday party themes--they're super easy and always a hit!

happy friday!
:) lexi

fun in the sun!

i feel like i'm finally knocking things off of my list, including blog posting!  specifically, i really wanted to highlight this little book that was featured on the a muse news blog last week during the inspiring ideas for summer time.  for my non card item i was asked to create a trip journal.  so, i challenged myself to create it from scratch.  i started with the covers, covering two 4 x 6 pieces of recycled chipboard (notepad backings!) with matching pieces of the new cobalt card stock--it's such a gorgeous blue!  i had so much fun creating the title piece using the fancy alpha set, along with various summer images and the tiny numbers from the cupcake builder set.  the sun and the title are stamped directly on the white panel, while the palm tree and surfboard are cut out for perfect placement and a little depth.  the sand is a torn piece of the new wheat card stock--it's a perfect color for sand!  next i moved on to the inside...

since the purpose of the book was journaling, the school lined card stock was perfect for the inside pages.  i wanted two pages per day for a week long trip, so i cut two 4 x 6 pages from each of 7 pieces of card stock--that way, i would have 7 with a top margin to add the coordinating daily titles, as shown above, and 7 without to follow each titled one.  since the backs are blank, you could add drawings, clippings or small photos as you use it.  with that in mind, i bound it all together with my bind-it-all, choosing a larger than necessary wire so that there was room for the book to grow a little.

while the book was pretty complete at this point, a lightbulb went off.  i decided that if you were taking it on a trip, you might want to toss it in your purse, so an elastic band to hold it closed would be a good idea.  a couple of eyelets on the back with elastic strung and tied through are all you need!  of course, i only had white elastic and, while it looked fine, i thought green would look better, so i colored it with the same copic i used on the stamped images and voila!  matching green elastic.  i was really excited about this little book--i think it's so fun to have customized pieces like this for trips, parties, gifts, etc.  oh, the possibilities!

thanks for stopping by...
:) lexi

summer fleurs

after i made the bottle packages that i showed yesterday, i got stuck on the cabana/ready set combo for summer gifting and had to use them on the little stationery sets i made for my girls to give.  luckily, we go to different schools!  i printed sets of my best selling fleur de lis note card design in bright summery colors, so i decided to color the cabana in similar colors so that it coordinated with all of the color combinations.  these round stickers are great for gift tags and i love that so many of my a muse stamps fit on them.

ready, set, recline!
:) lexi

summer time essentials

 
remember the back to school essentials from the beginning of the school year?  i've done those little treats every august for many years, so i was excited to work on a new summer time version for my nephews' end of the year teacher gifts.  the essentials we decided to include:  book store gift cards, lip balm, and summer stamped nuggets, all tied to a bottle of flavored margarita mix.

of course, a cute tag was necessary, and the cabana and ready set sentiment from a muse said it perfectly.  i wanted the nugget labels to coordinate and speak summer, so i picked a few smaller summer images--sun, sand dollar, and beach sign--and randomly stamped them in blue, orange, and yellow to match the tag colors.  school's out for me, but if you're still looking for a fun gift idea, i hope this helps...

happy summer!
:) lexi