Whats In Maria's Purse

Yup we have seen these "whats in my purse" blog posts a lot around blogland... and I decided to post one myself!
What a fun way to get to know more about someone! :) 

Here is thee purse.

I fell in love with the ruffled heart!!
And the fact that it was an $80 purse that I got for $20 at ROSS!!! Gotta LOVE that store!!

 Here is a top view looking it.. this is a medium size purse, that is very wide and hold sooo much stuff!
Which is good because I carry around a lot of stuff. LOL 

(apparently I REALLY need it all.. just in case)

Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this?

 Ok so breaking it down here is what I've got in there:

~My pink wallet purse

~My small bag of everyday makeup 

(yes I said small.. I have a much larger bag filled.. ok OVERFLOWING.. with makeup.. this is just the makeup I for sure use everyday)

~ My notebook.. I always have this handy for jotting (lol jotting) down any notes, prayer requests, lists, and for doodling when Im bored!

~And there in the bottom right corner are some of my sermon notes from Church. :)

Next up we have:

~Bag of random candy! No this isnt just for me... LOL This is my bribery tactic! For keeping an impatient  child well behaved!

~ Baggie with cough drops and rolaids... JUST IN CASE! :)

~ 4 Random Lip Gloss' yeah I lurve the look of pretty glossy lips! I always need to have some handy

~ And then of course my nifty TIDE TO GO PEN!!
With 3 kids.. you never can stay clean! I would say just in case.. but this is ALWAYS gonna be the case! LOL

THEN:

OK so dont make fun! LOL

You may have noticed most of my purse items are "just in case" items! LOL 

Also in my purse:

~ ADORABLE tissues!! If youre gonna have tissue.. have some with style.. just cause! :)

~Baby Nail clippers.. ok so if you have an infant/toddler..
you know how freakishly FAST their nails grow..and they are always so sharp! :( 

Ive gotten CUT too many times from baby nails.. not to keep these babys handy!

~ Hand Sanitizer!!! Am I the only one who hates the hassle of washing kids hand in a public bathroom... I just wanna get out of there!! So I keep hand sanitizer handy... not to mention I just like using it every so often. 

~ My adorable tin box of CUTESY bandages!! Bought from OLD NAVY.   

Just in case!!!

Its always more fun to use these bandages than the ugly plain ones... Ive also bought super hero bandages and put them in here too since I do have 2 boys! :)

~I always have GUM of some sort in my purse

~ Those ECLIPSE mints are bomb.com... LOVE them. 

(And YES when I bought them I giggled to myself thinking of the Book Eclipse from the TWILIGHT series! You KNOW you were thinking it too)

~ Then my packages of Dental Flossers!!
I get very irritated when food gets in my teeth, and Im always a LITTLE paranoid I will have food stuck in my teeth when Im talking to someone. So I keep these in my purse to use when ever we go out to eat. :)
JUST IN CASE!

HAIR SUPPLIES:

A must have!!
I love how my hair looks down, but with 3 kids its not always convenient to KEEP my hair down! 

So I have my:

~Bobby pin case (in case I need to keep my bangs out of my face)

~ My quick go to headband (that I made) for instant added cuteness!
In case I happen to be having a bad hair day.

~Then my elastic band ring.. for quick pony tails...

And LASTLY:

You can see I probably have a problem here:

I have WAYYYY Too many pens!

But I ALWAYS seem, to need one. And I have extra JUST IN CASE someone else needs one! :)

Of course I have to have all sorts of pretty colors. 

They come in handy when I want to dooodle fun stuff!!

~Then you will see I have FOUR, yes 4 thumb drives... 

Why do I have 4? IDK... MY BFF JILL. LOL

No Honestly.. its because I like to take some work with me where ever I go...
and if I happen to be working on something at my sisters house and need to bring it home with me..
well I have a few thumb drive to do so with.. you know.. just in case.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alrighty.. now that you see that Im a total freak.. and carry too many "just in case" items in my purse,
I hope you will still stick around... and maybe follow the crazy my blog! HEHE

Hope you enjoyed getting to know a little more about the woman behind the blog! :)

And if you have a "Whats in my purse" Blog post... leave a link in the comments!!
Id love to get to see whats in your purse and know all you as well!!!

~Maria-Isabel

Red Bluff Photographer | Studio Portrait Sneak Peak

Hello all! Here is another one of my recent photo sessions. A sneak peak for the gorgeous Andrea Martin, and her adorable daughter Hailey! 

Here is a preview of one of their Christmas Card Options:

Andrea you two were so much fun to photograph! 

I love when people come in with their own props and ideas fully taking advantage of me as a photographer. Tell me "I want this to happen", and expect me to do it! LOL Of course I dont mind posing people myself and using my own creativity. But when someone already knows what they want, I love when they speak up and tell me. So you can be fully happy with YOUR session! :) So thank you for bringing that to your session!

I for one LOVED all of your ideas, your pictures turned out AMAZING! :)

Mother & Daughter, so beautiful!

 These pictures are just DELISH! :)

 Check out this sweet little chick! She was so fun... I loved that when the session was all done, and mommy was looking through the photos, she was playing dress up with some of my fairy costume props!! :) She had to try on each color. And she looks so cute doing so!

 Andrea, girl "GET IT!!!!" *hehe* 

You are such a gorgeous person inside and out. You are such an inspiration to me as well!!

 So Fabulous!! :)

Thank you so much for your session!! 

~Maria-Isabel

Christmas Tree Ribbon Sculpture Hair Clip Tutorial

Here is a quick and easy little tutorial for a Christmas tree hair clip or brooch. :)

The supplies you need:

One alligator clip or pin back

Green ribbon

(I just recently also found some cute green ribbon with white polka dots on it that would be cute too!)

Brown Ribbon

Star bead accent (I found these adorable stars at Walmart)

Hot Glue gun

Line your alligator clip with the brown ribbon:

 Cut your strips of green ribbon, I don't always measure.. I usually eye ball it and it turns out fine... so don't really worry about being exact if you don't want to. :)

 Fold them in half and use your hot glue gun to secure the ends.

 From the bottom up, start adding the tree layers.

 Until you have reached the top.. then you add the star, or any other embellishment, you wish to use. Like a small bow or whatnot. :)

 And here is is complete :) ready to make you or your child look adorably festive!! :)

If you would like to make this a brooch, all you have to do is use a strip of the brown ribbon by itself, the use your hot glue to attach it to a pin back. :)

 Here it is modeled by my daughter Kiah!

Simple and cute.. just the way I like it!! :) Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial! 

And if you want to see more ribbon sculptures from my Ribbon Works collection, check out my facebook page!

Be sure to check out the linky parties I will be joining this week!

~Maria-Isabel

Happy Thanksgiving && Upcoming CSN Review

Hello all! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! :) Hope youre having a good one so far! Ive been working on 2 pumpkin pies and 3 apple pies, a green bean casserole, and 120 deviled eggs!! 

Yeah I wasnt joking! :) We are going to have a house full!! about 45-50 people. :) Ill be sure to post pics in my next post! Anywho, I just wanted to stop and take a quick moment from my busy day to say Happy Turkey day to you all. And to let you know about an upcoming CSN review I will be doing!

YAY Im so excited to be working with CSN again! You all know from my CSN giveaway I did not to long ago how great they are!! They have everything you can think of buying from flat screen TV stands to toys and fun crafts supplies.. with over 200+ stores to look through, you  can find pretty much everything on your Christmas list!! And you can do it all from the comfort of your home.. in your jammies even! :) You HAVE to love that! :)

Not mention that they gave me an exclusive insight to their black friday deals.. going on now until supplies last!! So check them out here:

(Since these sites are offering exclusive savings at incredibly discounted prices, gift codes and other promotional codes won't apply, but there are still some pretty amazing deals! )
http://www.csnbaby.com/holidaydeals
http://www.everygameroom.com/holidaydeals 
http://www.fitnessequipmentandmore.com/holidaydeals
http://www.toysandgamesonline.com/holidaydeals

And be sure to check back for my review to see what I bought!!! :)

Many warm blessing, enjoy your day with family and friends!! 

~Maria-Isabel

Keep Calm and Kiss On Printable

So as I mentioned yesterday in my Merry Christmas to All post I have a another free printable for you.. and here it is! I was inspired when I was walking around our property with the hubs and spotted a tree with a HUGE bunch of Mistletoe in it. ;) I kinda felt bad for the tree... I said hunny look! I think that tree will die, I read that mistletoe is actually bad for a tree, its like a parasite and will slowly kill it! And that tree has soo much on it! He jokingly told me to calm down and he was sure it would be fine. Then gave me a kiss. :) And so... two and two came together and my creative brain was set in motion.. and here we are now with my newest printable. *hehe*

Click on it to bring it to full view, then save it to your computer. 

 

Pin It

I really like this one, because it has a story. :) And maybe also because my favorite color is green... and well also just because I LOVE decorating for Christmas!! :)

Anyways.. if you download for yourself, it would be wonderful if you comment to let me know. And if you like my blog, dont be a stranger, became a follower! Thanks!!

Much Love & Hugs,

Sponsor an "In Post" Ad!

For more info Click {here}

Merry Christmas to All Printable(s)

I know these Keep Calm and Carry On posters have been all the rage for a while now in blog-land. :) And there has been so many cute variations. They look adorable for different holidays! What inspired me was all the ones Jessica from Craftily Ever After made for Halloween, thanksgiving, and Im sure she will continue on through the holidays. She is a clever one and definitely a favorite blogger of mine! :)
So I decided to jump on the band wagon, since I absolutely LOVE decorating for Christmas... I wanted to make my own version of the poster to put in my home for Christmas... and decided I may as well share too!  So here is my version using the phrase Merry Christmas to All and To All a Good Night.
Only problem is I cant decide which little symbol to use! Maybe you all can help me decided which one you think looks the best? Let me know in the comments!
And if you download for yourself, it would be wonderful if you comment to let me know. And if you like my blog became a follower too ( I do have another cute version coming tomorrow!!!) Thanks!!
Alrighty so here are the variations(click to view full size):

Pin It

Much Love & Hugs,

Sponsor an "In Post" Ad!

For more info Click {here}

EcoSysytem Note Book! {Mail Box Monday}

I was pleasantly surprised today, when I got a package on my door step! I always love getting cool stuff in the mail! Its the best! But its even better when you're not expecting it!

I SHOULD have been expecting it, but I had totally forgot that I won the ecosystem notebook giveaway at Love Stitched!! Which is SOOO awesome, cause I never win those things! And I really wanted to win that one. :) But as I said.. I completely forgot. So getting it today really was awesome! :) Look how cute it is!! PINK!! Gotta L♥VE pink!

And it even came with a hand written note. I dont know about you, but I really thought that was neat. :) And Im not sure if they do that with all their orders.. or if it was just because this was a special giveaway.. but either way.. I think its really awesome!!

Check out the pretty inside cover!! And as most of you may know.. there is even a little pocket in the back cover! So convenient!

I got the "Artist" note book. Full of beautiful crisp white blank pages for me to fill up to my little heart (and imaginations) desire!! :)

Of course I had to "break- in" my new notebook...

So I busted out all the fun colored pens in my purse and just went with it...

This song has been stuck in my head.. and I love those lyrics.. so thats what I doodled.. :)

I almost feel silly getting excited over a notebook... but I do that! :) I love to doodle, Im a major note taker and list maker...and I keep a note pad in my purse where ever I go, in case any ideas pop into my head I want to write down. Or to doodle on when Im bored... or sketching out a design idea! :) So this was a great mail day!!

~Maria-Isabel



Im gonna link this up here:

Poufy Yarn Christmas Wreath {Tutorial}

These are yarn wreaths I learned how to make over 7 years ago. I was taught by some ladies at my church, and it gave me something to do while I was prego with my daughter. :) When they taught me,they were making plain green wreathes with a red bow, since then I have stepped it up in design and color. :) And even made one for the 4th of July with a fun design that resembled our American Flag. :) 

I decided I wanted to make some again, for this Christmas, since I had given all my old ones away. And since I was making more.. I decided whats better than to share a tutorial with all of blogland! :)

The Supplies:

Yarn of your choice in colors.  

(I used about 350 yards for each wreath)

Scissors

and 

Gallon Ice cream lid

(this will be your ring, of course you can buy the metal rings sold at craft stores.. But these work just as well, and I had it on hand!)

 You will want to cut several strand of yarn about 4 inches in length, then set them aside.

 No you will take the yarn, not cut from the bunch, and start wrapping it around your pointer and middle finger as shown below:

 keep wrapping it several times.. this is a smaller bunch, but you can wrap it to make a bigger bunch.

When you get a bunch size you are happy with, cut it from the rest of the yarn then carefully take it off your fingers and place it on one of the pre-cut strand of yarn.

 Then tie it once, and pull tight. Set it aside and move on to your next one. You will want to make quite a bit of these... it can take a couple hours. I got mine down while sitting next to the hubs as he watched foot ball. :)

Here you see all that I made, for the red and green wreath.

 Now that you got as many tied bundles as you can make, get your metal ring, or plastic ring ready. As I said before I used a ice cream container lid. I folded it to make a cut:

 Then cut around the inside.

 You can continue cutting to smooth it out.. but dont make it too thin, you dont want it to be too flimsy to hold its shape!

 After you have your ring ready you can start attaching your yarn bunches! wrap the extra strands from the knot you tied around the ring and tie a knot twice! Making sure to alternate angles you tie them, so it is poufy all the way around.

 here I have tied bunches on from both the inside and outside of the ring.. you can see it forming a poufy wreath. :)

 after you have a good amount of one color, switch to the next color.. or if youre just doing one solid color.. just keep working your way around the ring!

 Until you have it completely covered!

 Then you can add any kind of embellishment you want! I found these adorable jungle bells at the dollar tree and hot glued them in place here. :) They still jiggle around because the yarn is so flexible, which is pretty cool. :)

 Here is the second wreath I made using all white yarn, it also has sparkly silver tinsel in it. So it looks gorgeous!

 and I made this ruffled flower to embellish it with.

 Here is it up on my mantel (with the fall decor LOL) just for show. I wont actually hang these until after Thanksgiving. :)

I LOVE how the flower turned out.. isnt it so pretty!

 I originally made this flower to hot glue on the wreath and keep there! But when I was done I thought it was just too cute, and decided to attach it to an alligator clip! This way i can clip it onto the wreath as an embellishment, but also wear it in my hair if I wanted to as well!! :)

Here it is up in my hair! :)

 How cute and festive is that!? :) To make this little flower, I used some very wide sparkly red ribbon I got at the dollar tree. This time of the year they have some really gorgeous ribbon!! :)

Anywho.. I folded it in half and sewed along the bottom, when I got to the end I pulled the string and bunched it together. 

I cut out small circles from felt, and used hot glue to glue the bunched ribbon to the felt in a spiral.

I added  more hot glue to the center of the smaller flower and  threw a few green beads on and thats it!

Sorry I didnt take pictures for that part.. I was just kind of in the moment, when I was doing it. :)

You can be sure I will be linking up.. check out the parties! :)

~Maria-Isabel