23 December 2011

And just two more days to go!

Can you believe that Christmas is just two more days to go?  Craziness!  I was not happy with my holiday setup this year, so today I re-did the mantle and figured out a new way to display my holiday cards.  I added touches here and there besides.  What do you think?




10 December 2011

Pinterest Inspiration - Holiday Decor

Pinterest constantly inspires me. Here is some of the holiday inspiration I've found:









15 November 2011

The big score!

I walked down to a nearby Family Dollar this past weekend, impressed by the great buys I had seen other bloggers show off on their blogs.  Well, I scored big time.

I found:  A three-pack of narrow bins (along these lines) to use for drawer organizers at just $1.75; metal lanterns for just $3.60 each (not bad at all when you think about the price of similar metal lanterns the same size from Pottery Barn at $29); and a large air-tight mason style jar too, for just $5.00 (like this one but larger).  For $13.95 I got what would cost at least $55 elsewhere.  I'd call that scoring big time!

The lantern:




10 November 2011

The Pink Chair

A house that does not have one worn, comfy chair in it is soulless.

- May Sarton



I have this big pink chair.  A faded fuschia chair.  I have had it since my junior year of high school.  I have brought it everywhere post-college I have moved.  I keep it because it is comfortable and because if I am blessed with a child one day I would like to rock my child(ren) in it.  It matches nothing, but I can't imagine it anything other than faded fuschia, so it remains.  I bought a throw to cover it, said to be red, but it looks no more red to me than the chair.

05 November 2011

A new home.

One of the big changes during my blog sabbatical was an unfortunately necessary move back to St. Louis.  My unemployment situation had gone on too long, so I returned to search for work here.  I found a job quickly and found a new space to live.

Here are some photos of my new home:




As more is done with my home and a few projects are completed more photos will be shared.  The crafting is put on hold until I find a storage solution that makes supplies accessible.

31 October 2011

Hello, hello.

I did not expect to be away this long, but life takes us in unexpected places and so it did with me.  I would like to get back to regular posts soon.  For now, though, I would like to share a couple of pictures of my Halloween decor.






01 April 2011

For now.

Life is pretty difficult for me right now.  Instead of taking forever to post to my blog, I am going to take a break from blogging.  I will return to blogging when my life calms down some.

I may pause with reading blogs as well, but please know I will return to reading those too when life calms down some.

I will continue to sell on Etsy, so feel free to check out my Etsy shop in the meantime.

25 March 2011

Finally. Friday Favorites.

I have been experiencing some challenges here, so I have been slower in posting.  I have come up with a Friday Favorites post this week, though.

  1. Book covers for matchbooks.  So cute!
  2. Very old pet photographs. Fantastic photos!
  3. Moss graffiti.  A great landscaping idea for any homeowner.
  4. A fun Mod Podge project.  I failed at this project, but maybe you'll do better.
  5. Before I die:  A New Orleans public project with great meaning.
Check out the links and let me know what you think. Any links you think I should check out?  

Also:  If anyone would like to guest post for Friday Favorites, please let me know.

24 March 2011

I post!

I spent much too much of this evening catching up on others’ blogs. I realized a couple of things by the time I had waved the white flag, giving up on trying to win the battle against the backlog.

First, I realized that I am having a blogger dry spell of sorts.  Life has been pretty challenging since my guy & I moved to Austin, TX, and because of that my blog is not as wonderful and energetic as I know it can be when I am at my best.  I do continue to try to post and hope that readers will be patient and hang on for those here and there posts I share.  Be patient and as life’s challenges come to pass I assure you the blog will be better and better all the time.  *smile*

Second, I realized that I have shared so little about my life and myself. Along with that, I have shared few photos, aside from those of cards and layouts. I realized this evening when I was perusing everyone’s posts that many, many bloggers include posts that are short descriptions of their days or their weeks and/or photos of their families and their lives. Since I began a pretty theme-centric blog I had pigeonholed my posts. I am going to try to round out my blog more as time goes on.

16 March 2011

So there's this thing called life...

Life seems to be getting in the way of consistent posts as of late.  A lot is going on and it takes much of my focus.  I do hope that readers will stick around, though. As time and energy allows I will post.  :)

I have added a bunch of new card sets to my Etsy shop recently, so do take a look there for some of what I have been working on.  You are always welcome to buy one of the sets too, of course!

12 March 2011

Flower Birthday Card Set

I made this cute birthday card set recently.  I will add the set to my Etsy page, of course.



I do intend to get back to scrapbooking, but for some reason I am on a card kick.  Also, I find that cards are quicker to make.

10 March 2011

A new card set

I made this cheery, fun card set yesterday.  The set is now listed on Etsy.

07 March 2011

New cards!

I have been added new card sets to my Etsy shop and have been making cards like mad. 

Here is one card set I made recently.  I will post it to Etsy soon.

05 March 2011

63 years old.

My dad would have been 63 years old today.  He died, though, at 48 years old.


Happy birthday, Dad.
(I miss you).

03 March 2011

Another set of layouts for you

Here are another couple more layouts I did the week prior to my travels. I am all done with 2010 layouts now and just one layout from up to date on 2011 layouts.  I am waiting to do that layout until I have another to do, so that cardstock colors coordinate.


01 March 2011

Back to posting!

My trip to and from Iowa to see my family was exhausting!  I had more delays and more layovers than I have ever had.  I spent yesterday recovering from the travels back from the visit.  Not that the exhaustion stopped me from being productive, mind you. Heh.

Here are a couple layouts I did the week prior to visiting my family.  I will share a couple more layouts in another post.


21 February 2011

Away

Due to a serious family situation I will be out of state through Sunday.  I will return to posting sometime at the beginning of next week. 

18 February 2011

Friday Favorites

This has been a busy week for me.  I did make time for scrapbooking, though, and will hopefully get some layouts posted this weekend.  Before I get to Friday Favorites, I want to encourage you to read this post:  Thoughts on comments.  I absolutely agree with her. Read it and feel free to comment to this post with a link to any comments you submit for the post.

Now onto the Friday Favorites!

11 February 2011

Friday Favorites

Without further adieu, I give you this week's Friday Favorites:

Check the links out and if you have any links I should check out, add them to comments. No spam links, of course. *smile*

08 February 2011

Top Ten Tuesday

My Top Ten Date Ideas
  1. Go out for gelato (and not at Whole Foods).
  2. Take her to a cupcake bakery for something yummy.
  3. A romantic picnic at sunset.
  4. A hike in a state park.
  5. Dinner at a favorite restaurant.
  6. Make your honey dinner and follow it with massages.
  7. Take him or her to see a favorite author for a reading or signing.
  8. A game day in.  Scrabble or Monopoly or Quiddler or Uno or…
  9. Volunteer together.
  10. Spend the night or weekend at a bed and breakfast.
Linking to:

Top Ten {Tuesday}

06 February 2011

A fun get well card

I have the worst trouble coming up with get well cards, but this image was too perfect for a get well card not to use it.  Isn't it fun?!

05 February 2011

NYE 2010

I did these layouts of our New Year's Eve date and the NYE party that followed our date.  I am not fond of the letters I used on the party layout, so I may eventually figure out a color of stickers that would work on the blue cardstock background and use the stickers instead.


04 February 2011

Friday Favorites

Without further adieu, I give you my fab Friday favorites!

  • The cutest lil' thing I may have ever seen:

Kid cards

I made these cards as congrats cards of a sort for kids, though I would love to get a robot card for any occasion and I am an adult, so maybe the robot card is a card for all ages.  *smile*



03 February 2011

Chinatown

This is a layout I did for my visit to Chinatown.  I loved these photos the best of my Chinatown shots.  



I would like to get some sort of China-related dimensional or chipboard sticker to add on the right of the title.  Eventually I will find a set of China-related stickers I like to add one onto this layout.

02 February 2011

Housewarming cards

These are some housewarming cards I made recently.  The only differences between them, aside from subtle size differences, are the color choices. 






I hope in time to learn more about proper blending with markers and I could use any tips on how to get every card the same size (when using 8 1/2 x 11 paper in the printer) as well as the exact placement of font/words for cards in MS Word docs.  I am rather challenged with these things. Please post a comment or send me an e-mail with any tips! Check out my profile for my e-mail address.

01 February 2011

Golden Gate Bridge

This is a layout I did for our trip to the Golden Gate Bridge.  I insisted that we go there so I could get some good shots of it.  I hope to go back there the next time I get to San Francisco and get other shots with different perspectives.  I can't wait to visit San Francisco again!  It is an amazing city.


I was out of black stickers for the vowels and various other commonly used letters, so I used a font I found on Dafont that I thought would work for the title.  I guess it is time to find some funds for more fun black letter stickers!

31 January 2011

Simple cards and an exciting announcement

I made these very simple cards, with quotes and blank insides to leave room for a note from the sender to the recipient.  Since my more recent posts have been all layouts from our trip to Cali, I thought I would break up the layout posts and have every other post be cards and the others featuring layouts.  I hope my lovely readers aren't getting too bored!





The exciting announcement? I opened an Etsy shop!  Click here to check it out.  I hope to add more cards and some craft items to the store in time.  Hopefully, crossing my fingers, I start selling soon.  :)


Holler if you have suggestions on how to improve my blog or the posts themselves.  Constructive feedback is always accepted and appreciated.

28 January 2011

Elephant Seals!

I did this as the corresponding layout to the Morro Bay layout.  We stopped to see the elephant seals on the way to the Bay Area.  My guy was intent on finding the vista point and I am so glad we did!  The elephant seals sure are cute!  And there were babies! 



I would like to find dimensional or chipboard stickers of seashells to include on this layout, or something other than seashells if they work with the theme of the layout.  I have looked for the right stickers at Michaels and online some, but again I have not found any I particularly like.  I will keep looking, though!

Friday Favorites

And here, my dears, is this week's Friday Favorites.

  1. Do you have stories of kindness and inspiration? Share here.
  2. If you've read my About Me then you know how much I love these.
  3. Robots!  This woman makes awesome robot art.
  4. Yearly time capsule jars to keep souvenirs of the year's memories.
  5. This is my new favorite blog.  I just found her blog and love it!
  6. A lovely love note for your special someone on Etsy.

27 January 2011

Comments

Evidently you, my fine readers, are still having trouble commenting on my blog.  I have posted on a Blogger forum to seek out guidance on this.  I would appreciate if anyone that has had problems commenting could e-mail me and tell me specifically what happens and what browser you are using when you try to comment.

You can e-mail me at:  gina.banina (at) gmail dot com.  Obviously don't spell it as such, just preventing spam bots from getting ahold of my e-mail address.  :)

Update:  If you are having problems, make sure you have permitted third-party cookies.

26 January 2011

This layout is of our stop at Morro Bay on the way to the Bay Area.  I bought paper with a sandy image for it and the corresponding layout.  I normally do not like to buy individual papers because of the costs adding up as they do, but sometimes that is all that makes a layout work (and some of my favorite papers are not in the various brands' paper packs (boo!).



Any layouts with my guy in them will have a smiley face over his own face per his request and private nature.  That's why his face is covered up. Otherwise why would I cover it? *smile*

25 January 2011

Top Ten Tuesday

I moved from St. Louis, MO, to Austin, TX, in March 2010.  I miss St. Louis immensely.  With that in mind, I came up with the following Top Ten Tuesday list.

Top ten things I miss about St. Louis:
  1. Amazing and wonderful friends.
  2. A pretty decent public transportation system.
  3. Beautiful parks.
  4. Cherokee Street.
  5. Local art scene.
  6. Lots to do and lots free to do in the city.
  7. Numerous of ethnic restaurants.
  8. South Grand.
  9. The beautiful, historic brick homes and storefronts.
  10. The sense of community.

Linking to:

Top Ten {Tuesday}

24 January 2011

What a view!

I used this layout to focus on the great view during our travels to and from the Bay Area.  This is the corresponding layout to the roadtrip layout, so I tried to use corresponding colors.

22 January 2011

Roadtrip!

I have finally begun to print out photos and create layouts of our trip to the Bay Area.  I will post the layouts in the coming days.  Some I am happier with than others.  Feedback is always appreciated!


I would like to add dimensional or chipboard stickers of yellow cars to the top of this layout.  I have looked at Michaels and online some, but have not yet found any I like terribly.

19 January 2011

A fun card

The inside reads "Hey, Sweet Thing".  Fun, yes? It will be fun to give to someone!  :)



18 January 2011

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Crafty Items on My Wish List
  1. Adhesive gemstones in various colors and sizes.
  2. Brads of various colors and styles.
  3. Heat gun and embossing powders/ink pads for embossing.
  4. Markers that can be used directly on the stamps safely.
  5. More clear and rubber stamps.
  6. More solid colored cardstock in black and all the usual colors, bestselling brands.
  7. Paper puncher in a very small hole size for brads.
  8. Paper with fine striped patterns (again, even better:  coordinating solid cardstock)
  9. Paper with small dot patterns (even better: coordinating solid cardstock)
  10. Thickers – All colors and styles
Linking to:

Top Ten {Tuesday}

    17 January 2011

    A Valentine's Day Card

    I rarely use yellow in any craft.  I simply do not know how to make it work with layouts or cards.  This time yellow was the only color that does work.

    15 January 2011

    A winter-themed thank you card.

    I thought this might be a nice thank you note for the winter months.  I did this card in a few different colors.  I am not sure if I like it or not.  What do you think? Too simple?


    13 January 2011

    My craft room/office

    I have owed pictures of my craft room/office for a few months now.  It has taken some time to get it organized and de-cluttered.  I got creative with storage and made labels using cardstock and tape, what with me still unemployed (sigh) we have to watch our costs pretty closely.

    My craft room/office really came together when my guy took me to IKEA and bought me exactly what I wanted for Christmas (and then put it together for me) this weekend.  What did I want? The bookcase you see in one of the pictures.

    Here are pics of the craft room/office for your viewing pleasure:


    The middle two cubes of the bookcase, in the picture below, on the top level have bins with my postcard collection. I have collected postcards since I was a kid and have some postcards older than me in my collection.



    I have some things I still need to find a place or container for, as you can see below:


    Below you will see a collection of containers I cannot yet find things that will work well with them.  I obviously need to find a place for them.  With limited closet space it may be a challenge.  I seem to be up for the challenge when it comes to creative storage solutions, though!