Twilight Cards....wait, am I actually early for something?!

So as I mentioned in my "6 Random Things" post, I am perpetually late.  And that's why on Face Book I made this post the first day school started up again and we didn't make the bell:

I may be on a quest for self improvement, but I know my limitations! ;)  I think that tardiness is just part of who I am at a subatomic level.


So I surprised myself when last week I had this urge to make something that I wouldn't need for a couple more months, and I actually finished the project!  Now I wasn't sure if I wanted to reveal these, but I can't help it.  This is a February finish for me, and since I'm lacking on actual finishes, each one has to count, and count now!

So, I'm not going to post individual cards close up; I'll save that for when the goodies have been sent to my Coven buddies whenever we do our next exchange, which should be right around March 31st, our official Anniversary.  There's actually one more card that did not make this picture because one of the backgrounds I set aside had been hidden under the mess and I didn't complete that card till the next day I wanted to keep at least one a secret.

Dear friend Wanda, the sweetest woman I've ever met, sent us Coven members a little surprise for Valentines day - The Immortal Love mat stack by Die Cuts with a View.  I was looking through the latest Keepsake Magazine issue the night before I made these, and saw a layout that incorporated butterflies cut out of different text/grid/ledger type papers.  "I recently purchased a butterfly die", I said to my inner self.  And I've drooled over seen several Twilight crafts that used actual pages from the books.  My mind started turning over the possibilities and the next day I was driven like an obsessed mad scientist to spend most of my afternoon and evening making these.  I had a blast!  And yes, I was anal thorough enough to make sure whatever part of the text was cut in the butterfly matched the scene/mood of the background paper.   =D

Can't wait to share these with my buddies!

Gone Fishing???

Actually, gone to the Linkin Park concert at the HP Pavillion in San Jose at 7:30pm.  =D  (and as an added bonus going to see the movie I am Number Four)

Woohoo, so excited!  I got these tickets as Jason's Xmas present.  It was sheer luck that I happened to google Linkin Park to see if they were having any concerts anytime soon, and they just happened to be doing the pre-sale at my closest venue the very next day!

For those of you that don't know Linkin Park, they are sorta a blend of rock and rap.  I do not like rap.  But there's something about their songs that makes it ok. :)  Actually, in their older albums that made them famous I only liked a handful of songs.  Alot of screaming.  Their last two albums were somewhat a disappointment to some of their "hard-core" fans because their sound has changed - less screaming, more melody.  They've really evolved their sound into something pretty sweet!  Here's a selection of my favorite LP songs.  (they aren't in any particular order) Oh, and their song "Leaving Out the Rest" is on the Twilight soundtrack, but it's not one of my absolute favorites so I didn't include it here.

Off to check out the cover band, The Progidy.....

6 Random things about me

1.  My introduction to craftiness started when I learned how to crochet from my Titi (Auntie) Yoli when in Puerto Rico when I  was 8 years old.  I promptly forgot again.  It wasn't till HS that I started doing some cross-stitch and then late college when my MIL introduced me to the wonderful world of quilting.

2.  I am perpetually late for everything.  Appointments, dropping off kids at school, finishing projects.  You name it.  As my sister once put it, we  run on Puerto Rico time.  (Right now in Puerto Rico is 4 hours behind my Pacific Standard time but that really refers to life moving at a slower pace over there)
 
3.  I was in the Airforce ROTC for 6 months my freshman year in college.  Had to drive down to LA from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo every Friday (4 hr drive), stay at one girl's grandma's house, get up at 5am, and spend the whole Saturday in a state of anxiety over all the rules and regulations and all the gung-ho cadets that I was physically inferior to.  Didn't take me long to realize the military was not for me.

4.  I eat chocolate daily and I'm a chocolate snob.  No Hershey's and Nestle for me, they are just waxy nastiness, IMO.  Bring on the premium chocolatiers like Ghirardelli, Scharffen Berger, and Vosges.  I'm a dark chocolate kind of gal.  Milk chocolate is "bleh".  White chocolate is ok.  And never ever mix chocolate with fruit. (Yuck)  But bacon in chocolate gets my thums up!  My current favorite is Ghirardelli's Twilight Delight.  ;)

5.  And speaking of Twilight....I estimate that I've re-vamped the Saga 19 times all the way through.  Only 2 reading, the rest on audiobook.  (Thank goodness for audiobooks cuz otherwise there would be 2 years worth of "stuff" piled up waiting for me to do. )

6.  I trump Elizabeth on scissors.  I have 25 scissors on my property! (See Elizabeth's post here.)
  ~ 2 in the master closet - 1 general pair, one hair shears
  ~ 1 general pair in the master bedroom in Jason's desk
  ~ 1 small  pair in master bath
  ~ 4 general pairs in my crafting studio, 2 large 2 small
  ~ 2 large Gingers (fabric scissors) in my studio
  ~ 2 embroidery sized ones in my studio
  ~ 1 embroidery sized one w/ my current hand project in the living room.
  ~ 2 on Claire's desk
  ~ 4 kids sized in the kids arts and crafts nook
  ~ 1 general pair in kids arts & crafts nook
  ~ 1 kitchen shears in knife drawer
  ~ 2 general pairs in garage
  ~ 2 kids size out with arts & crafts in the back patio

Elizabeth, what does that say about us?  Either we are perfect boy scout material, or seriously OCD!  (but we knew that already ;D )

My Xchange gift from Cat

I belong to an online quilt group called Twilight Quilters Coven, or tqc for short.  We've been a group since 2009 and have already developed a couple traditions.  One of them being a "Secret Santa"  type of exchange that we've held in January the last two years.  I guess officially we call it a New Years Exchange, but I affectionately dubbed it the "start-the-new-year-right-with-quilting-and-Twilight" exchange.  (or something to that effect.  The chat thread where we talked about it on TwilightMoms was archived last year after we hit 250 posts.  The "newer" chat thread is here.

Anyways, I finally received my gift from my secret xchange buddy, who turned out to be Cat all the way from South Australia!  In her package I found:

1. Pincushion made with apple fabric.  Très cool!*
2. Australian Patchwork and Quilting Magazine
3. Calendar with pretty pictures of South Australia
4. A selection of patterns: frilled apron, owl quilt and pillow, castle, and snowman stitchery with a stencil so you don't have to trace/print&copy the pattern
5. Box of apple shaped paper clips
6. 3 fat quarters
7. a bucket hat with Australian flag on it


*My 5 year old Maya saw the pincushion and said" your quilting buddy is really awesome at doing stuff!  She does really pretty stuff!  Can you do as good as her?"  LOL

Cat thanks so much for the goodies!  But you are such an enabler!  I already dogeared 6 projects/Block of Month kits in the magazine and love all the patterns you sent!  Maya called dibs on the hat which doesn't really fit her, but she doesn't mind that detail.  Her current favorite book happens to be "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" by Judith Viorst.  Alexander keeps saying he'll move to Australia.... :)

Everybody's doing it so why can't I

So why start a blog? Why add to the to-do list and spend more time on the computer? Well I'd been toying with this idea since my buddy Elizabeth started her blog last year and I started helping with our Twilight Quilters blog in 2009. I've argued back and forth in my head: Who will even read it?; It would be cool to have a place to share all my projects with my many online friends; How often do I post? - will I actually keep up to date; I'm not fond of writing - this would be a good way to practice; What do I have to offer? There are so many wonderful crafty bloggers out there, what do I do to belong.

Well, This year I want to enact change in my life. I want to become a doer, not just a dreamer.   I want to be more crafty and finish more fabric and paper projects and home decore; I want to catch up on scrapbooking my life rather than let all those photos pile up unseen on the computer; I want to be more disciplined to achieve my goals of spending more time with the people who matter to me, of being healthier and having more energy.   It's too easy to fall in the same rut of dreaming and planning things but not following through. Too easy to take the easy way out, just going through the same routines of getting up, taking care of what needs to be taken care of that day, meals and errands, watching TV, going to bed.....I want to do MORE. 

So I started 2011 in full swing.  I started exercising and cooking healthier. I started Becky Higgins "Project Life" and have been trying to journal often to capture the everyday stories of my life.  I've started hanging out online at blogs of crafty women, admiring their discipline and creativity and using their stories and projects as inspiration and motivation.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm good at online relationships.  I met my husband that way.  I have many friends that I've never met in person.  Most of my family and "old" friends are  scattered around, with visits and calls scarce.    So a blog is a good solution to keeping in touch with everyone that matters to me, to show off the creations I'm proud of, share the latest happenings with friends and family, and to let everyone in on "the real me".  And I think having a place to be "held accountable" might be a good motivator.

~~~~~

I started this post almost a month ago, then encountered a little bump on my road to blogging and doing all these life changes. I got sick. And sick again and again. Finally I'm feeling normal. So here goes my attempt again.

Fortunately the talented and articulate Elizabeth has once again inspired me to start this blogging thing after all with her "Favourite Things Friday: Blogging or Why I Owe My Blogging Career to Twilight"  post.  She wrote: 

In the movie, Shall We Dance, Beverly Clark {played by Susan Sarandon} says, speaking about marriage, we need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet. I mean, what does any one life really mean?   

This is the feeling I've been having the past couple of years as I have been trying to balance my life as mom and wife with all the activities that I enjoy and will all the different groups of people I've met and spend time with, both online and in person.    I've been feeling this need for a witness, to make a connection.  I guess as I'm growing older and contemplate my mortality I want to do something more with my life.  Blogging isn't exactly an earth shattering/changing move, but it's a start in my journey.

So here goes, I'm finally going to publish this post!