So I am back. After a month of sheer madness, I think I am finally ready to be back. This week is amazingly busy. I am taping my class for TrueScrap and doing some filming with My Craft Channel for my show CraftTech.

So you may be wondering where I have been… well… just caught up in life.

I have said before, that my creativity has its peaks and valley’s. And the business of life, the stress of work, and some major life changes has left me with little creativity. During these times of creative low, I choose to not fight it. Instead I like to simply keep it at a low simmer. I look for inspiration in the world around me, online (Pinterest is like CRACK for these dry creative times), and even by just taking time to reacquaint myself with some of my favorite products. Fighting it just makes this part of my creative cycle painful. I feel guilty because I am not creating. I feel terrible that I don’t have the house decked out in its usual seasonal sparkle. But like life – my creativity ebbs and flows.

Now, after some weeks off – I am feeling that spark again. And I promise.. very soon to share some spring fabulousness.

So.. I had this fantastic idea to create some banners and tack them onto an old window and hang it up on my wall. Step one.. banners accomplished. NOW – getting the thing on the wall in a manner that the window won’t come crashing down on someone’s head – still working on that. But here it is. Of course, you could make the banners sans window and just hang them  up anywhere you please! {which happens to be my plan B}

Here is the finished project. {excuse the terrible photography}

Start by cutting out your letters. I cut “MERRY” using my eClips – setting the letters to about 3″. The paper is American Crafts POW glitter paper. {this paper has changed my life}

Punch two small holes at the top of each letter and string onto some bakers twine.

Next, I cut out more letters for my sign – but this time mounted them onto Hambly Screen prints printed overlays. With very thin die cuts

Finally.. I added some trim to the top of each letter.

The whole project only took about an hour! I hope you will try this with your own color scheme. And… I will post a picture of this on my wall once I find a way to get it up there without killing my loved ones.

Don’t forget to leave a comment to win a fun prize! Today’s prize is an ECHO PARK holiday kit of your choosing! Winner announced this Friday.

Here I AM! Since Christmas I have been pretty low tech. Taking time to hang out with my fabulous family and enjoying the winter break.

Once the kids were back in school… OPERATION AWESOME is underway. Basically it is my multi point resolution to be a better me. As so many people do this time of year… I have chosen a “word”… BALANCE. I have chosen this word before, and quite honestly failed at attaning anything that even slightly resembles it. This year I am hoping it will be different. The big thing is that my mindset is different. My goals are about long term improvement. So rather than simply losing weight – I am resolving to get healthy. I have set some ambitious goals for my professional life, which in the past felt like I was working against balance. But the reality is that “balance” is different for everyone. I am a single mother of three awesome and active daughters. So what balance means to our family will be different than what it may be for yours.

Other resolutions revolve around enjoying life a little more. Taking time to soak in the little moments that are so easily missed in a crazy busy life.

To be better equipped to make these goals and such… step one is operation organization, leaving my studio for last.( Of course I will share the journey once I get to it. ) And getting each room in the house clean has left little time for anything else.

Phew. So let the journey begin… and I wish you well on what ever journey you are embarking on yourself!

In short…

This is Sedona.

She is the youngest of my three totally amazing daughters. Tonight, she showed me what the holidays are all about. I was sitting on the couch in the living room admiring the Christmas Tree and enjoying the neighborhood lights. In walks my little one. She plops herself next to me, and with out any hesitation asks me to sing with her.

So sing we did. Christmas tune after Christmas tune… laughing all along the way. Joking the way only Sedona can. Lea and Xander joined us. The Xman added his own special brand of dancing – complete with kick ball change, marching, and even a little break dancing. Sierra and Savannah joined in adding more love and laughter.  And ending our little “program” with our own rendition of the 12 days of Christmas - ”and a pickle in a white plastic tree”. All the glitter, tinsel, and lights are the outward expression of what this season is about. LOVE. 

Thanks Sedona, you rock.

I will no longer be working for Northridge Publishing as their Director of Social media. That’s right, in the crazy world of publishing I am again a free bird. For those that are wondering, the split was mutual. I have accomplished a lot of what I set out to do with Northridge. And with the business moving in the direction it is, it was just time to step down. These changes have been coming for some time now, so it was not a complete surprise. The split just happened a little sooner than originally planned. However, it is a happy split and we already have some special projects in the works so we will continue to work together for sure.

So what does this mean? For sometime now, I have had an almost nagging feeling that it there is something more. That, I was not living the fullest life that I could. But with the responsibilities on my plate it has always been a little hard to find the time to “scratch that itch” so to speak. Well, no better time than now to change that I say! What that means exactly… I am not sure. Whatever it is, I want it to be fabulous…

stay tuned!

I know I have been a bad blogger. In fact, I have been downright MIA. But I have some fun things in the works… and promise to start posting faithfully again in the next day or so.

Until then.. come visit me at my food site!

ExplorationFood.com

Thanks for stopping by!

Another iPhone app for crafty types or anyone who likes to play around with photos. As always, I use and test the apps using an iPhone 4. So I can’t speak to how they work on other iPhones.

Photoshake 1.99

This app allows you to quickly combine several photos into one image. {click on the image to see it larger}

The app does a great job of laying out the images and allows you to go in and make adjustments.

You can colorize, adjust the shape of the images, choose the borders, and more.

You can also choose the resolution. The highest resolution is ok for small prints, so this is primarily fun for online use like blogs, Facebook, etc.

When you are done, you can post directly to your favorite social network or simply save it locally.

Overall, I love the results, and using the app is simple. Great for on the go, instant editing.

A few weeks ago,  we discovered a little gem – after taking a wrong turn on the way home from Jackson, WY … Bear Lake. It is sits on the border of Utah and Idaho. And I have to say, this place has quickly become one of our favorite getaways. Just a few hours from home… I simply LOVE how gorgeous this place is. And I REALLY love how you can drive right up to the water. (great since I am usually the one who has to unload everything!) We’ve taken three trips up there in two weeks.

Sierra and Lea have found a new activity that they can’t get enough of… Wave Runners! Sierra is incredible. She has such amazing control and is totally fearless. She likes to jump wakes, take crazy turns, and go full throttle across the water. Even Mama loves riding the SeaDoo. We did have a little incident though… while Sierra was taking us for a spin and jumping wakes, the key popped out. The wave runner was dead in the water just as a wave hit us broadside, flipping the SeaDoo. Mama is deathly afraid of water… so she had a few moments of real fear -but we were fine. Sierra really impressed me at how she kept her head together, flipped the SeaDoo back up on her own and helped get us back on.

Even Sedona got in on the action taking her turn driving across the lake.

Savannah and Xander like to make giant sand creations. Savannah is also my swimming buddy always wanting to take a dip in the cool water. Bear Lake water is cold, but I have to admit, still quite swim-able.

No Cabrera outing would be complete without tasty treats. We have a bit of a tradition now to make some yummy sandwiches on the way up. And we grill a hearty lunch right on the beach. We usually end the day with a dinner at one of the quaint restaurants in the neighboring small towns. And with the summer season ending, I can’t help but be a little sad that we didn’t discover it sooner.

This past labor day weekend was pretty awesome  I have to say. My lil sis had a gig up in Jackson, WY…so I decided to tag along. Savannah and I watched “the boy” while she worked. And now, I am totally in love. In love with Wyoming. (yes really)

It was too short of a trip I admit. I could spend a week just laying by the snake river, or eating under the stars. As most road trips that Lea and I go on.. it would not be complete unless we got a little lost, and hit a dead end or two. I ”saw” the sign that said the road was closed ahead, but I didn’t read it. I got as far as the word MANHEAD and didn’t read the rest of the sign. So after doubling back we finally were on our way.

 We did take time to enjoy some quaint shops in the small towns we would pass through. We even got some new cowboy boots from the Boot Barn, a new camo hat, and an amazing sausage skewer from a truck stop. They were having a sale. Savannah liked the Jerky stand selling all types of beef and game. Savannah enjoyed the Elk.

The food on this trip was hearty. Savannah and I enjoyed some buffulo and homestyle bread with all the fixens for dinner. And there is nothing like small town breakfast – biscuits as big as my head!

But what I really love, is just how amazing this part of the country is. I would live there in a heartbeat. Really… as I get older, the thought of living out on a ranch away from the world just strikes my fancy. Of course, if I have a ranch, my gate will be pink and I plan on having some flood lights installed seeing I am afraid of the dark. Until then, Jackson is most definitely on my rotation for places to visit.

NOW FOR OUR WINNER! The lucky Scarlet Lime winner is. . .

Email your address to anacabrera@me.com to claim your prize. And be sure to check out my creations in the gallery!

Well, I have been a busy girl. I have so many fun projects coming up this fall… as you can see. My workspace has suffered a little. Not to mention taking a last moment vacation to California right before school started. I don’t know about you.. but I need to hit the reset button of my life. I think it will take me another week to get back into the groove of things.

So first up…I am so thrilled to be the guest designer for Scarlet Lime. The gallery will be going up tomorrow rather than today… so you still have time to leave a comment for your chance to win! I will announce the winner of the kit LATE tonight.  Be sure to swing by a little later too… I am photographing some projects today and would love to share. Once the gallery is live, I will post a link here.

I am really feeling the creativity rushing back to me. So let’s play! Creative Daily will resume after the weekend.