{creating myself}

i really wanted to make a freebie for my readers...

the only problem is, i don't have a scanner here at my mom's. so! i made this cute-sy 2010 goal sheet, and took the best photo i could get. and i saved it as a PDF file for you! yes, i am becoming quite the technological wizard (ha!)  i hope the quality is okay for you... feel free to print as many copies as you like and to share it on your blog as well! i think it would be a great addition to an art journal/scrapbook/goal journal.

happy new year, dear bloggies. i look forward to a lovely evening of drinking + dancing, and of course, a new year full of inspiration. <33

Download 2010

P.S. i recommend printing on high quality cardstock. if you print it and discover that the quality sucks, i will be glad to scan the image next week when i get back to florida.

"i hid under your porch because i love you."

last week i had the greatest playdate with one of my favorite scrappers, julie. she is sweet, funny, and above all, ridiculously talented. watching her work with prima and paint was eye candy. :)

we chatted a lot (a LOT) but i managed to get a few things done! three layouts, and i spent a little time working on my fall minialbum (which i'll share in more depth later... there are a lot of photos.) the bottom line: i'm not sure how i ever scrapped without a sewing machine, let alone for the past ten or so years that i've been scrapbooking.

thanks for a great day, julie! and thanks to john, (also supersweet) who took these great photos for us!

here are some of my favorites of julie's, so you could get a taste of inspiration as well. :)

all images via her blog.

hello bloggies...

i spent the better part of yesterday re-doing the ole blogski! i now have a navigation bar, a blog button, a winter banner, and several friend's blog buttons listed on my sidebar. if you're reading this through a feedreader (google reader, bloglines...) i would love for you to go directly to my blog and take a look at my new digs! let me know if you like it or have any suggestions! i still have some questions/issues, but i'm slowly figuring it all out.

also... i love trading blog buttons. if you have a blog button, please comment here or e-mail me me so i can share your lovely blog with the rest of the world! :)

p.s. huge thanks to kara, lindsay, and ashley. these girls are masters at typepad and their help + tutorials are what made this possible! :)

in the spirit of listmaking... (who am i kidding, i'm always in the mood for a good list.)

+image via

• 500 days of summer
• sidewalks of new york
• whip it
• paper heart
• sunshine cleaning
• the invention of lying
• up! (i know.....)
• vicky cristina barcelona
• before sunset
• then she found me
• about a boy
• sideways
• duplicity
• snatch
• adventureland
• the brothers bloom
• four christmases
• away we go
• the diving bell and the butterfly
• where the wild things are
• insomnia
• virtuosty

if you have any thoughts or suggestions, please comment! :)
for more amazing lists Re: movies, music, indie art, check out this awesome site.

have a holly, jolly!

it's here! it's here!

i love christmas. i anticipate, i plan, i dream.

and then it finally sneaks up on you, and it's over in a blink. i plan on living today like i try to live every day: with love, graciousness, and of course, lots and lots of documentation. whether you celebrate by going to church, giving gifts, sitting around a fireplace telling stories, watching christmas movies, sleeping under the tree... can i make one suggestion? take a moment. take a photo. take a minute to tell them how much you love them. and take it all in.

i love you! xxo

+all via

merry christmas eve to you :)

what an exciting season. :)

for those of you still catching up on last minute gifts and holiday ideas (me!) i wanted to share some photos of my own handmade christmas (so far at least!) possibly they will inspire you. :)

more on these handknit gifts later this week.



some merry christmas calendar gifts for my family.



some holiday cards, finally ready to go out. :)



am i the only one who hates decorating the tree?

some orders, ready to go out, and a photo of my christmas card.

a peek at my christmas wrapping 

thank you for reading. :D

it's not a christmas playlist

... but it's still awesome! i added a new playlist to the left sidebar filled with some of my favorite (mostly indie) beautiful music.

e n j o y :)

i've been taking fun/silly photos all day!

i am secretely obsessed with these buttons. i'm using them for something extra special. i must have accidentally.. ;)... slipped them into the huge box of scrap hand-me-downs i passed on to my mom a couple of years ago.





and i suppose these are some she already had! love this collection.

hey! wait a MINute!

i just realized after posting all of those lovely holiday light shots that i failed to post my OWN christmas decor! photos taken before i left for new york. here is a bit of my home at the holidays:






(guess which door's mine?! this makes it very simple for my guests to find me). :)












okay, i'm done. :)

it's definitely christmas around these parts.

boxes everywhere, cookies baked, mom mumbling under her breath about how far behind she is with holiday prep (right now), nuni using a ruler to draw sketch lines on her christmas card envelopes, ensuring that the names + addresses are perfectly straight, we're snowed in (yay blizzard 09).. i would be happy about this but we missed our family holiday party today. :(
we just put up the tree and strung the christmas lights. we were watching CMT, but then i started singing this lovely tune instead. it makes me giggle every time.

speaking of gorgeous christmas lights:


via





(i love this town.)


+all via

as for me, i've written but not yet sent my cards. i've made some, but not all, of my gifts. i mailed a stack of orders this morning, but am still taking/making orders to ship monday. i've not yet wrapped anything, but have a good idea in my mind. and i'm furiously sketching ideas for my winter shop update- i'm in love with one of the items. let's just say it encompasses several of my favorite things including polaroids and glitter. lovee.


where are you on your holiday planning?

the journey of a painting

this is a custom painting made for a friend, and i thought it would be fun to take some step by step photos! this is pretty much how all of my etsy orders go down:


main elements (hearts, and some "paint-heavy" circles for texture.


background color: painted around the hearts but over the circles. (step 2 raised several questions + eyebrows from my family.)


added quote in middle + dark glitter around all hearts.



hug beautiful + happy customer.
love you, andi!
xo

p.s. i'm still taking orders for christmas... paintpaintpaintsleeppaintpaintcoffee.

eat, pray, love kits?

hey guys. i have one eat, pray, love kit left and i'm wondering if anyone wants it??
it won't ship until after the holidays, because i'm on vacation.. but still....
they are extra cool and inspiring and only $13!

click here if you want it... when it's gone it's gone. :)

here's some of what i did with the kit...





here's some of what guest designer ms. kara did with the kit...



you can see more in our flickr group here.

xo.

ETA: thank you, jamie! i can't wait to see what you make... i'm 150% sure you'll rock it!

it's not that i can't think of things to blog about. it's that i have so *many* things to talk about, i'm overwhelmed. and when i get overwhelmed, i step away. i make lists. i attempt to take things step by step. let's start with this.

this is my very favorite new website.

or "my new very favorite website." (?)
either one.

it is freaking amazing.

here are some of my faves for your inspirational pleasure:

















if you do visit the site, be sure you have hours to spend. and don't say i didn't warn you.
xo

about me: the basics.

i'm a pretty open person, but i feel like i don't share a lot on here, personality-wise. i thought i would start journaling a little bit more about me- here's what i call the basics.

who:  i am 23 years old. i come from a big italian family and i love my friends. i like to make pretty things. i like movies, music, and dancing. this is who i am.



what:  i teach at a high school. i'm a server at a sports bar. i run an online business. i am finishing my masters in mental health counseling. this is what i do.



where:  i was born + raised in new york, and i moved to south florida eight years ago. i went to florida state (go seminoles!), and now i go to florida atlantic. this is where i live.




when: 3.5 years ago. and loving, growing, and learning from it more every day. this is when i started blogging.  you can see my old archives here or here.



why:  because it makes me happy. it defines me. it brings me peace + fulfillment. it allows me to be creative, meet people, and make stuff (my very favorite). this is why i do what i do.

this is how i interpreted the Question Words- feel free to interpret them however you'd like, and then link me up!
oh! and also feel free to ask me anything you would like to know, in the comments. i'll answer pretty much anything. :)

handmade holiday, volume five. :)

this is a great project if you answer yes to any of the following:

• you want a superfast way to get crafty
• you want a supereasy project
• you need a supercute way to store your headbands, and find that you use your stuff more if it's out in the open.
• you need an inexpensive way to get crafty

(this is the bottom view, so you can see where i glued the fabric.)

if you have a roll of paper towels, a swatch of fabric, and a little fabric glue... you can make this! :)
i gathered the ends and tied them, first with a pink hair tie and then with a piece of lace. sort of like a candy wrapper.
but if you want, i'm sure you could tuck them in and glue them, like a wrapped present.
if you have any questions, of course you can leave them in the comments or e-mail me.

and in other "hand"made news... i finally grew out my nails long enough to give myself a french manicure!! :)

xo.

now that my fall decor is wrapped up + safely stored in its drawer...

and my christmas decor has creeped it's way into my home...

i can finally show some photos! :) i'm only doing this because i reallyreallyreally want to show you my christmas photos tomorrow. :)  here are some highlights of fall 09:

xo.

happy december!

ever since i was little, i would wish my mom a "happy first of the month". i love the beginning of a new month. it's so.. promising. i also love making a list of goals for the month, and seeing how many i could get through. often times, they carry over to the next month... that's okay too.

here was my november list:

• make a granny square
  
  i left it in new york and i didn't take a picture. but picture a mis-shapen octagon. in purple.
  these are not them.
  
  
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  i didn't say make a "correct" granny square! thanks to aunt delle who showed me how to do it, even though i couldn't pull it off. yet.
  
  
• finish my gloves
  
  
  
  
  it's actually one glove, and it's actually more like a sad, demented potholder-type thing. but it was my first solo project and i taught myself the stitch and the pattern, no help from the internet or youtube. i'm abandoning this project because it sucks so far and it's ugly. and i don't remember what kind of stitch i even used, because i made it up as i went along.
  
  
• save $400
  i did make an excess of this amount, but it's not in my savings account because i'll probably need it over the holidays. i'm crossing it off anyway, because i worked extra hard for it.
  
  
  
  
• get a short haircut.
  i still haven't found the time, or the cajones, to get this done. i want something along these lines, though. i should find one of those sites where i can photoshop my face + the haircut so i can see how it will look first. also, i'm a little scared because the last time i donated it i asked for ten inches off and she cut eighteen.
  
  
  
  i'm smiling but i'm actually crying on the inside.
  
  
• take one photo a day.
  i'm crossing this off, because although i'm not sure if i took one EVERY single day, i definitely took hundreds of photos in november. and did a really good job documenting some crafty adventures + my thanksgiving vacation, and blogging almost every day.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• start a recycling program at work.
  i work at a bar, and we throw away an unsightly amount of bottles every night. i haven't had the time yet (i've been away the past week) but hopefully before my next shift (thursday) i can call up the recycling people and get some bins to distribute. even a few bins full of bottles is better than none, right? i mean, without recycling, the following projects may not have been possible:
  
  
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tomorrow i will share my december list. :)