A Red Velvet Art Birthday

Yesterday was an amazing day. I celebrated my 23rd birthday with my family and a few friends that we're willing to go along for a ride. We drove south along the coast to Santa Cruz. I am so lucky to have an amazing group that followed my every whim!

We visited a scrapbook store called Scrap It that none of us had been to before. The owner was such a pleasant woman. I found lots of 7gypsies goodies and a few sale items that I couldn't pass up.


It just so happened that there was a fabric store just a few doors down so we all took a peek in Round Robin Fabrics. We met another lovely woman there who was full of advice. I purchased a few fat quarters and Jessica purchased some beautiful fabric for her next project: a tote bag. It looks like there will be lots more sewing projects in the future for her!


We had lunch in a cute little restaurant on Capitola's waterfront. It just so happened to be the Capitola Art & Wine Festival this weekend. I really enjoyed all the people bustling around and looking at such great artwork. To top it off, I was surrounded by a bunch of happy friends!
Jenna, Kelly, Jessica, and Mom walking at the festival.


Capitola is famous for its brightly painted houses at the shore. I took a few photos but this was my favorite that my mom took:


We wanted to fit in as much as possible, so we piled back into the car and headed to Hart's Fabric's in Santa Cruz. When I walked into the store my mouth dropped at how much fabric, ribbon, and buttons they crammed into the store. We stayed there for 2 hours! Jenna decided that she wanted to make a comforter with designer fabric. She got advice from the sweet employees there and I bought lots of pretty fabrics. I was totally inspired by Rachel and Red Velvet Art this shopping trip.


Then we found 20 minute parking downtown Santa Cruz to race into Bead It. As we were walking there I spotted Urban Outfitters so I zoomed through the bead store and raced back to see Urban Outfitters. I've heard lots of cool stuff about them and I can see why.

After an exhausting day of wonderful shopping, we headed back home to have a last minute get together with lots of dessert. Here is a goofy group form left to right: Jessica, Mom, Kelly, Jenna, Me (lower), Jenny, Dan (lower), and Andrew.


Earlier this week I applied for another production assistant position. I also planned for an upcoming wedding video shoot. If you need to see a light hearted funny movie, check out Accepted.

Obsessed with fabric

Friday night I lugged all my mom's sewing gear to Dan's house so I could work on a project that I hope to finish tomorrow. Here I am laying on my favorite fabric.


We watched this great movie called The Lookout. I also saw Wild Hogs which was cute, but I probably wouldn't buy it on DVD.

Saturday was great! I took a ton of photos of the Christmas store for the website. Then I picked up Jessica and we had a grand time shopping at Joann's Labor Day sale.

Jessica caught my creative vibe so she decided to make a pillow case. Teaching her how to use a sewing machine was a lot of fun. I'm so proud that Jessica was able to go home with it completed!


Last night Dan and I tried out Netflix's watch it now feature. We've both had an interest in the Darwin Awards ever since our English teacher Mr. Litrell introduced us to the Darwin Awards in class. Can you imagine how excited I was by the thought of a movie called The Darwin Awards? There were a lot of cameos and it was somewhat amusing, but it wasn't what I expected. I did get a kick out of Wilmer Valderrama's character though.

*ta da!

Wednesday was errand day. SFSU says I should have a corrected diploma in 10 days. I went to the Apple store to get a new battery since my replacement for my recalled battery died on me in less than a year. Apple called me today and I already have a new one. they are great!

Here are a few tags I made with various stamps for a stamped journal swap:

I did get a chance to develop my black and white negatives from my vacation last night. I cannot wait to scan them and take a closer look. Maybe I'll share a little something soon.

I started working with some fabric today. Just preliminary stuff before I can begin sewing. I can't wait to make something beautiful!

Dan and I went out to dinner at BJ's Brewery tonight. Took this while we were waiting:

It was what should have been "reunion night." I ran into two classmates from high school and one from college and they were all working at BJ's! It was great seeing so many people in such a short time period. On the drive home, this caught my eye:

Lucky for me, I was carrying both my camera and tripod. Definitely a long exposure.

I got to be creative today!

I tried to use a few non-scrapbooking items on this layout. If you look closely you'll find camera tape (a.k.a. real gaffer tape), lightstruck leader (exposed film), and fabric. I used the paper I designed for this project. This is my scrapjack of Nisa Fiin.


I finally altered a frame for my August Secret Sister Swap. It was the first time for me to alter a frame and I had fun doing it.


Saturday was a great day. I've been having a lot of those lately and I'm quite happy for them! I visited a few local fabric stores in search for something very special. I found something for a new friend who is amazing! I also found somethings that I liked too.


And finally, those make and takes that I made in the Hambly Booth at the Santa Clara Scrapbook Expo. The one on the left is for my mom since she loves to garden.


I also got my cute journaling pages from Lizee. Thanks! I had a great day since I was shopping for fun stuff. After that it continued being great since my family celebrated my cousin Jeff's 24th birthday. I always love hanging out with them and talking. My cousins gave me great input on my now completed Cinematography layout.


I saw the movie Miss Potter over the weekend and really enjoyed it. I highly recommend it for inspiration and because its beautiful to watch. Rachel happened to make something that has captured my thoughts so much that I can't wait to try making one my self.

I had a nice and relaxing day of finishing my crafty stuff at the beginning of the post. I got lots of stuff ready to go to the post office first thing tomorrow. I even got to edit a few photos and get them printed by Lisa.

One of my most exciting mail days yet! Thanks to Dani, I received my Red Velvet Swap incredibly fast. I am so happy that I was blessed to get such a cool partner to swap with. I'm so pleased with my stuff that I'm sending her another envelope just to thank her for being so in tune with my favorites! Rachel of Red Velvet Art is so great for hooking me up with Dani too! I am completely spoiled!


On top of that, I received a wtf swap from Kristi and it wasn't really wtf material so I got lucky!


I was so excited to open this and so disappointed to see that SFSU doesn't feel the need to capitalize my first name. Gotta love how accurate SFSU is!