We couldn't ask for a better day to put on our costumes, roam around, and truly enjoy the autumn chill, gloom, and rain for this weekend! For my costume, I simply spent $5.99 on a sailor hat, added on a stripe shirt along with a thick rope as a belt- I was a sailor sailing away! I made simple Halloween cards this year. Keeping with the tradition, of course I had to do an owl for Owleen! 

While i'm still adjusting to a new work environment. I've grown very fond of the folks I work with. When it comes to work it's so important to be comfortable with my surroundings, people, and environment. So far, so good. I can't wait to see what's in store. Along with getting comfortable I got to know the folks a little better by jotting down when their birthday is.. It just so happens that one of the gals had a birthday during the week and didn't tell any of us. I knew I had to do a little merry unbirthday for her:


Materials On Hand:
Glue dots from Joanns, yellow floral washi tape and vintage scraps from Michaels, Vintage bingo cards from the Philippines, and accent lines from target.

I bought a card stock pattern set from Joanns this past weekend. When I got home, I wanted to play and craft instantly. I was so attracted to the deep green stripes {It also reminds me of Blue's Clues!}, and it goes so perfectly with the washi tape I wanted to use for the card. I brought the card to work and everyone signed it, I surprised the belated birthday gal with a chocolate cake. It was a small sweet gesture. I'm so excited for whats to come in a few weeks since Halloween will be here. Which means I gotta start crafting on that now! Cheers!

As it's still Summer here in Southern California, I spent last weekend at the LA County Fair. It was the last weekend before closing up, and surprisingly it sprinkled a little. Rain is far from us now, as it's 100 degrees as i'm typing this. It was my first time going to LACF. Next year I would plan to go on a week day as it's less people and more room to roam and run around. I was surprised with how huge it was compared to OC fair. Here are a few stills from last Saturday:

In my previous post was all about the location and the actual party. Prior to the party, I spent a few weeks figuring out what I can craft to display, use for props, and add finishing touches to the dessert/table setting. Since I knew the color scheme was Black & White, I knew I needed to add the iconic Chanel sign all over and everywhere (but not over do it). The first thing I thought of was making cat masks to use for props and photo ops. I used a template from a card I received during Halloween from Paper Source. I had jewels that I've gotten as a gift to craft with, I knew those would be the perfect accent piece to add on the cat masks. The Chanel logo on the right hand side was from Etsy. They have such a great selection in printables!




TC made the cake that you saw previously, along with a dozen custom Chanel sugar cookies. I knew I wanted to make handmade tags, while re-using the printables from etsy, and a Merci stamp from Paper Source, with a template of the tag worked out perfectly for the little giveaways. As for other little things, I got the paper straws from Michaels, fabric ribbon to wrap the cake stands and jars from Walmart. With managing my time and planning this out, it all worked out perfectly!

All this black and white talk is sure making me think of Halloween ideas now, with a splash of orange of course! ;)

Traveling and celebrating took up most of my Summer between- Long weekends, 4th of July, and of course Birthdays. Every year I always sit down with Trisha and ask her what theme she would like for her birthday. Previous years it was the Great Gatsby, the year before that was Stars & Stripes. This year she wanted a Coco Chanel theme. I instantly thought simple colors: Black, White, Pink. Trisha confirmed she wanted  to do black and white, very simple, very elegant. She let me know she wanted her party at the Culver City Hotel. We got all dressed up in black and white dripping in pearls and diamonds. We ate cake and drank until the early morning here a few stills from the party! I apologize for the low quality in photos- the lighting at the hotel was very dim!

I can't believe Summer is at an end. I spent the beginning of  Summer enjoying the chill weather in San Francisco. I spent the day with my best friend/cousin Chan. Anytime I'm up north I always have to spend an entire day with him or even the whole weekend. I've consistently visited him ever since he moved to SF for College about 5-6 years ago. He's with Airbnb and now he's settled in his gorgeous Lower Haight Home. I fell in love with his place right when I walked through the door. Here are a few stills of his space:




Chan has the perfect home to hosts dinners, have birthday parties, or even a sleep over. He knows exactly how to put accent pieces together. I'm also such a sucker for high ceilings and wood floors and his charming place had it all!  I was so impressed and was so in love with everything in his home. The only thing that is missing is a few little craft goods from yours truly! ;)

Now even if it's the first few days of Fall, it feels like Summer still. Today is going to be 97 degrees, it's so tempting to just head to the beach and feel sun kissed. I'll be spending my last weekend of September at the LA County Fair and poolside during peak hours. The next few months are going to be crafting, running around in pumpkin patches, and hopefully a trip to my home away from home. I hope everyone is staying cool, and feeling festive for pumpkin flavors and Autumn decor!

My work schedule has always been off. Sometimes i'll have a Friday and Saturday off. During the week I get random days off, it's all in the process of working at a showroom. All that will be winding down and coming to an end. As work transitions, so does the seasons. Before Fall starts I will be sharing with you guys my Summer Highlights which includes my trip to France, San Francisco, more little bistros, and of course tea rooms. As things are changing, I wanted to savor this week and really enjoy my days off. I woke up early this morning and spent some one-on-one time in the kitchen. Nothing fancy, I seriously just wanted to use my table top! :p

A while back I attended a card making workshop at Scrap N' Yap. I've always wanted to go to a workshop. I always keep my eye out on the workshops at Paper Source and always hear folks going to conventions and other types of workshops. This particular workshop I attended was for $25.00. It would be a little over 2 hours of card making. Little did I know what was in store for me that day!





Other than truly knowing how to emboss. I learned the different techniques of coloring, along with piecing together different objects and different textures to use.. I also learned different types of layering in which I use in my own crafting now. I even bought a chalk pallet and different inks from Amazon because I was so inspired! The workshop lasted for more than 3 hours, I guess time truly flies when having fun.

I can't wait to attend another one. Hopefully before the Holidays roll in I can attend a workshop and learn more!

After labor day passing, Summer is officially coming to an end. It's really hard to get into an Autumn/Fall mood when the weather is still in the high 80's and 90's. I'm hoping within a few weeks it will cool down. As for now while the weather is 97 degrees, I ventured into Downtown for some Ice Cream to cool off. Oh boy it was worth the 10 minute traffic free drive! :)

After finding out the parking meter's won't working (free parking!). I headed over to Grand Central Market. After eating a chinese breakfast, I wanted something sweet so what better way to fill my sweet cravings with McConnell's. This entire time, I thought McConnell's was only located in far distances like Santa Barbara and Ventura, little did I know they opened one up in Downtown LA three months ago!

{Photo shown above} I had a small two scoops of: Turkish Coffee & Summer Fruit Cobbler, and D had the Eureka Lemon & Marionberries. The Summer Fruit Cobbler tasted like a raspberry cheese cake. There's so many other flavors I want to try out, more reason to come back! Until next time. XO

Along with bunting for L's dorm, I gifted her a few other things, such as mason jars to put her pencils and paper clips in, candles, and note pads. L mentioned to me that she wanted to bring tea along with her so she can drink it in the evening and in the fall when it cools down. What better way than putting together a little tea set with tea bags for her!


Gifting tea bags or tea leaves is always my go to. When gifting tea I always stick to the popular teas: Green tea, Sleepy time, and Chamomile. I always have a bunch on hand so I just take out my tea collection and go from there. I also have a lovely collection of tea themed rubber stamps gifted by family and friends so I put the one her sister gave me to use! The tag, is something I have template of as well and quickly cut from. The teapot and cup set was actually from an antique store I purchased a while back. I've noticed my tea cups are pretty much all in pairs and with a saucer so I wanted to give this little set a lovely home and what better way than L's dorm.

She was thrilled when I brought this out for her as she didn't have a mug nor any tea with her on her first night. I can't wait for it to be a bit cooler so I can give her the holiday ones! I'm sure she'll love them! XO

Earlier this week, I was helping Leanna move into her dorm {I'm getting old!}. L has really similar taste to mine, she's a little more rustic and loves neutral and calm tones. Her sister and I helped her pick out a few things for her dorm, we went to various places to get bedding, necessities, and dorm decor. The decor we picked out on the other hand wasn't more so bright patterns and colors as you would see at Target. It just so happens that the bedding she chose was one of the same patterns I use for my bed. I wanted to craft something up for her that would spruce up her dorm. What better way than bunting!

Out of the whole summer here in California we only received a handful of gloomy days. Even if the skies are gloomy, the heat doesn't seem to disappear. The sound of afternoon tea with the 3-4 courses and endless cups of hot tea doesn't seem to fit our hot summer. I enjoy it so much, that regardless the weather I still continue to attend afternoon tea. One Sunday it happened to be gloomy, I took my oldest god daughter out The Four Seasons Tea Room, for her birthday.

It was quite lovely as her sister and her Mother (to whom is one of my closer cousins) attended as well. We sat by a huge window that had a view of the garden and gloomy skies. We enjoyed their Buckingham Palace tea, along with Egg, Chicken, and Cucumber tea sandwiches. Not to mention the Freshly Baked Scones, Shortbread, and Lemon bars are my favorite!

Everyone I know seems to be ending their Summer and going back to school. It's finally hitting me that Summer is coming to an end. I'm going to try to fit in a few more beach trips and possibly the LA County Fair {I've never been!}. On the other hand, I'm excited for fall and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will possibly cool down and I can explore and attend more tea rooms in late September and so on!

I've always been very punctual and considerate when meeting new people in meetings and interviews or in general! My mentality has always been to "make a everlasting impression" regardless who it may be. As much as I craft, I do have a great amount of stationary from Anthropologie, Target, and Little Mom and Pop Shops. This past month has been filled with meeting folks, various meetings, and interviews. I took out my little stack of cards from Target and put them to use!

Along with stationary and cards, I always keep stamps on hand. I'm such a big writing/mailing out gal and have always had a love for sending/receiving actual mail. These $1 Target cards come in handy and are so thoughtful and cute! I hope that everyone received their thank you cards and that it added a little spark or light in their day. There's always a small feeling of excitement when receiving an unexpected treat, especially in the mail! XO

For a lot of folks Summer is coming to an end. In previous years, I would take advantage of the seasons and spend a great deal of time at beaches and parks, and hosts little picnics for lunch or an early dinner. This time around, I was fortunate enough to spend time with cousins which is so rare as our schedules are never on the same page. We took a little drive to Newport Beach and brought out my new vintage picnic basket.


We went after 4pm, so it wouldn't be too hot. It was breezy and the sun hit the water and our skins just right! Prior to the beach I bought a handful of Iced Tea's and headed over to a Banh Mi place close to home and ordered wrapped vietnamese sandwiches. We spent a few hours catching up, playing in the water, enjoying the sunset, and eating dinner. It was such a great way to bond, and a cheap way to spend time with one another. I hope I can fit in another picnic before fall rolls in!