it has been a while since i’ve posted with good reason, although to me, there really is no good reason to go missing from a blog that you love so much.

i found out that i have lurkers {HI LURKERS! =o)} which is fine and dandy… i tend to be a lurker myself.  and it kinda surprised me because i didn’t expect to have many people outside the ones required to blurf because of blog groups.  hahaha.  (just kidding friends!!) however, i also learned that some of these lurkers have been taking things i’ve said online and making their own conclusions of how my life is and interpreting what i say in their own way.  on one hand, i knew this and expected this when i made the decision to include snippets of my personal life in my blog, when i made the decision to have a facebook account…  so i tried to keep things light but not fake, sarcastic but not snippity… and i consciously tried to keep negatives and super personal things off my accounts.  i can honestly say that i haven’t said anything that could be used against me.  but i’ve been proven wrong.

and the lurkers i’m talking about are people i don’t even personally know, which makes it much more sad and frustrating.  it’s the whole 6-degrees of separation thing… somebody’s friend’s cousin’s brother or something distant like that.  on one hand i’m flattered they take an interest in my blog and what i do, but on the other hand i DO believe that there is such a thing as BAD press.  i don’t try to please everyone in the world and reputation shouldn’t be a big deal to me personally but as a businessperson and a mother, yes, i do care about it.  i do care that someone i don’t know tells other people that i am selfish, rude and spiteful.  because i really don’t know where they got that from.  i am really hurt that someone could take my saying “i want to take care of my family” and twist it to mean that i’m burdened with that task or imposing my unwelcomed self and control over my family.

so i had to take time and step back and re-think all of this online blogging/social media stuff.  the fear of people judging me based on what i said versus who i am and what i do almost kept me from doing this.  because yes, i am afraid that those lurkers that are taking these words that i type and spreading their own stories will think i am accosting them personally and calling them out or calling them names but that is not at all what i am trying to do here.  i am calling out the situation and trying to explain to my blogger-friends why i haven’t been posting.

but if you haven’t figured it out yet – i’m back.  haha.  the decision was that i will continue to do this and continue to post snippets of my personal life and continue to do my very best to keep positive and know that people will continue to make judgements of me and my life for as long as i do so…  but that the positivity will always triumph over the negative and that i CAN do this because i have friends out there who legitimately support me.  so i thank those of you who are friends and i can’t wait to put this behind me and keep moving on.

lovies, =o) kel

nothing really to share but wanted to share something.  so enjoy!  and still trying to figure out how to embed video in posts.  not working for me yet.

Billie Jean by Aloe Blacc & The Grand Scheme

lovies, =o) kel

sorry!!  it’s been a crazy couple weeks here with filling orders + the pond excavation outside + purging, reorganizing and cleaning the bedroom and the craft room + getting the kids to their summer classes.  somehow my mind went into vacation mode and refuses to get back to work!

i did manage to place an order for 2500+ pictures (about 2400 are allllllll different pictures!) from winkflash (use coupon code 5cents for 5-cent 4×6 pictures!)  and even with the shipping it came out to around 6-cents a picture.  it’s been over a year since i ordered pictures that weren’t last-minute for a specific project and i have been I-T-C-H-I-N-G to scrap!!!

here’s to hoping that i can finish cleaning and reorganizing both the bedroom (should be done early this coming week!) and the craft room before the pictures get here so i can just sit and scrap my ass off.  i hope the pictures take another week.  haha!!

be back somewhere between done and gone crazy!!

lovies, =o) kel

i was fortunate enough to be able to create a guestbook/wedding album for my cousin/best friend.  you know, i posted all those pictures a few weeks ago from her wedding and our mini-vacay. the rest of the pages for the album all pretty much look like these… she needs to give me themes and pictures so i can finish putting them together for her.  i’m working on a 2nd sample WITH pictures and will share that when it’s done.

her colors were a demin/navy-ish blue and cream and silver.  beautiful stuff.  my florescent lighting doesn’t do it justice.  one more thing i need to retake pictures of when i have some natural light.

the title page is 6×12, and looks beautiful with a collage on the backside.

included their invitation – i actually used the invitation to come up with the color scheme for the guest book.  i wanted the emphasis to be on the pictures + words versus decorations and accents and anything else that would draw away your eye.

title page for the guestbook part.

cards fit into individual 4×6 pockets.  can be horizontal or vertical.  or both.  haha.  you can also switch out cards and pictures.

one card.  the idea is to have people write a little note, sign their name, draw a picture… do something more fun than write their name and address.

close-up of the decorative part of the card.  each one is hand punched and glued and glittered.

and i do custom-make these, just let me know what you need!!  thanks for looking!!

lovies, =o) kel

of course, i forgot to take a picture of the teacher gifts i made until we were taking them out to give away at school.  haha.  but i went simple and cheap and QUICK, the latter being almost more important than the first two.

take a cute stamp, and stamp every single page of a jr. legal pad.  i got mine at wal-mart.  and had i planned better (than the night before), i could have gotten them for even cheaper at sam’s.  slap on some cute patterned paper and stick it in a bag with a pen and ta-da!!  i think it took me all of 5-minutes per pad.

just a quick bit of craftiness while  i mourn the loss of 3/4th’s of my baby tomatoes… apparently, forgetting to water and only being reminded when the soil’s dry and the plant’s wilted is NOT a good thing for tomatoes.  and i’m new to this gardening thing, but i think it’s safe to assume that it’s not a good thing for plants in general.  haha.  in tomatoes, it causes their bottoms to turn black and it’s called “blossom end rot”, which is what happens when you go from extremes in watering (too dry to too wet) so i guess i’ll be watering every single evening now.

lovies, =o) kel

… we spent hours prepping and setting up her reception tent.  after we spent a couple hours getting her favors done we carpooled to the site and spent another 3-ish hours getting the tables/tent set up.

and then i watched my cousin/best friend get married.

the boys were her ring bearers.

she actually only wanted Albert, but i told her she should’ve known better, as illustrated by the following picture of Albert and his shadow, more commonly known as Amare.

the beach was right off the ceremony site so of course, the boys had to go play in the sand.  if they weren’t wearing shoes, they probably would’ve been in the water.

Albert was joined by the groom’s nephew.  they’d met once before and have a TON of fun together.  (Albert is the short one on the right if you didn’t know)

and then we got to drink and watch the sun set.  and then drink some more.

the hubs and i had a blast.  and we definitely want to go back… maybe one day just the two of us.  and next time, hopefully without the farmer’s tan.

took me a couple days to get back into a home routine, even without the excuse of jet lag.  haha.  spent the weekend tidying up and crafting, always a good thing.  i hope you have a good start to your week!!  it’s the last FULL week of school for Albert.  then he’ll be home for a couple weeks and then off to summer school half-day.  love it!

lovies, =o) kel

… we drove to the north shore/kahuku via la`ie for a fun weekend vacay.  this is Chinaman’s Hat.  and some fishermen.

we drove for about 45 minutes past shoreline like these:

when we checked into our villa, the first thing we did was go out the lanai (patio) and check out the beach, which was right over the wall of our “backyard”.

the hubs wanted to check out the rocks and scope out some potential late-night fishing spots.

Albert and i got tired of navigating the rocks and decided to look for creatures on the shoreline.  he asked if he could walk in the water and i said “sure”

and in hindsight, i should have expected that he would walk IN the water.

and if you’ve ever walked in water with slippers (flip-flops) you know that it’s probable that you’ll lose one of them.

and quite possibly my favorite pictures from the whole weekend.

back tomorrow with the rest of the pictures!

lovies, =o) kel

tons of pictures to finish going through but wanted to leave you with this beautiful shot i took on vacay.  and yes, that’s amare on the right side.  will be back tomorrow after we give blood!! =o)

(click picture to see it larger)

lovies, =o) kel

off to see my cousin/best friend/sister get married… can’t promise that i’ll have internet access but i’m taking my laptop and memory card reader to upload and iphoto-edit (versus photoshop-edit, which is only on DH’s computer) pictures so that i can post when i get the chance to!!  have a wonderful weekend!!

we’re staying at the turtle bay resort, right above the surfer dude on the top left side.

and this is what it looks like from the hotel… we’re staying at the villas and i promise to share pictures because it’s sure to be awesome!

i just hope it doesn’t rain… and that the vog clears up a bit.  fingers crossed for a wonderful afternoon/evening tomorrow for my cousin!!  and see you monday, if not sooner!

lovies, =o) kel

so i know i’ve been posting a lot of NON-crafty stuff recently so i just wanted to pop in and share a card i slapped together the other day.  again, apologies for the picture.  still haven’t figured out a good setup, especially at 10:30pm.  so you’re stuck with the built-in camera on my laptop.

i used a super fun card kit… don’t remember from who or from what swap but since i’ve managed to build up quite a collection of these suckers i just randomly grabbed one and forced myself to make something.  i am really not a card maker, and am soooo out of practice as a scrapper too, so i’m happy with how it turned out.   trying to get some posts lined up for the weekend since we’ll be gone… but i’ll definitely be back on monday!!  taking my laptop with me and though i don’t expect to have internet, i’m hoping i can get some pictures uploaded and edited so that when i do have a moment of internet access, i can post them!!

lovies, =o) kel