Bittersweet Week {Hello and Goodbye}

Yep I finally did it. I took the leap of faith I needed to take and I retired early from my government accounting job.

Today was my last day :(

And just as I was doubting myself for my decision, I got an email wanting to book a wedding with me in the fall :)

 {copyright Patricia Martinez Photography}

Isn't it something when we start to doubt ourselves only to have little reminders that we are not alone?

That maybe there IS someone out there watching us and making sure we live up to our potential.

And that makes me feel a whole LOT better.

So this week the kids finally got out of school and summer is officially here!

It was bittersweet for our little guy as he bid farewell to his elementary school.

We will begin homeschooling him in the fall and I will blog about this entirely new adventure.

Our big guy, well he bid adieu to to middle school and is now a REALLY big guy going to high school.

We are also getting ready to send the little guy to Camp Huawni and he is very excited!!

It'll be nice to be able to run around and just be a kid.

Hurray no electronics!

This mom is happy :)

 {copyright Patricia Martinez Photography}

And as for me: Well I am planning on keeping myself busy with home projects and building up my photography business and we'll see where this journey takes us.

 {copyright Patricia Martinez Photography}

So if you need some family or wedding pics contact me.

 I have lots of time now ;)

Patty

McKinney Photographer Blog

Patricia Martinez Photography

Pin It

Make Pretty Flower Cabochon Earrings

Well hello there my sweet peeps!

It has been a CRAZY week here in our household.

Why are the last few weeks of the school year this way?

It seems like the teachers are trying to cram in as much as possible before the

kids get out for the summer.

Last minute projects, outdoor concerts, band competitions, end of year parties.

Whew!

It makes me tired just writing about it.

It's gotten to the point that my craftin' has taken a

back seat to every day life.

And that just isn't ok with me. Know what I mean?

:)

So, here we are on a weeknight and I have been perusing the latest fashion magazines for ideas on how to pose my 

clients for my photography business.

You can see my portfolio at Patricia Martinez Photography

and my blog at McKinney Children's Photographer.

I love looking at all the new fashions especially the jewelry.

I saw a very pretty pair of earrings that are all the rage but the price tag would drive my husband into a rage if I were to buy them!

What's a girl to do then?

Make them herself :)

So here's what you'll need:

Pair of turquoise colored flower cabochon buttons

Super glue (clear)

earring backs (I chose posts, you can get the clip on kind if you want)

blingy strips-"cup chain strands" I used the thicker ones. (mine had a little circle hoop that was useful to glue to the back of the cabochon)

You can find all this at your local crafts store. I bought my supplies at Hobby Lobby.

First I prepared a good clean work surface where I could see clearly what I was doing and protected my table.

Then I took the blingy part and super glued it to the back of the cabochon.

I held it tight for about 15 seconds. 

Then I let it sit for another 5 minutes.

It took me a good 4 tries to get them to stick!! 

I don't know if it's just this glue or what but it wasn't 

sticking together. 

Finally I got it to hold and I added another 

drop of the glue to the back of the cabochon where I put my earring back (post).

Let it sit while you do the next one.

After letting them cure for about an hour you can now wear your pretty new earrings!

See, now wasn't that simple?

And so pretty too.

I plan to make some more as soon as I find some coral colored ones. 

Won't these look fab with pretty summer outfits?

Well, gotta go now. 

I have to finalize the paperwork for my little guy who is off to 

Camp Huawni

next month already!

Yikes! He is SUPER excited.

If you want to check out a summer camp in beautiful East Texas go to their page and look around.

I'll be back tomorrow with another pretty {EZ} jewelry project.

Hasta mañana :)

Patty


linking up to :
Cowgirl Up Party
Under the Table and Dreaming
Between Naps on the Porch

Skip to My Lou

Pin It

Every Thing But The Kitchen Sink! {Organization}

Well here we are at the middle of yet another week and it sure

is getting hot in here! 

The last few weeks have been oh-so-nice & cool

but we know the dreaded 100 degree hit will be here any minute

literally! 

We finally got our A/C fixed and so we think we 

are ready to tackle the dog days of summer.

 I have been crazy busy with work and wrapping things up there and growing my photography business!!

By the way have you checked out my photography website?

What?! You haven't? Well go on over there and see

what I've been up to

www.patriciamartinezphotography.com

 also my photo blog

www.mckinneyphotographer.blogspot.com

{recent engagement shoot}

{recent bluebonnet shoot}

As soon as I'm outta my current full time job I will be posting some cool tips and tricks over on my photo blog so you have to follow me there too :)

I'll have some cool giveaways there as well ;)

Speaking of giveaways, I have one in the works to start later this week so keep checking back to enter. 

And don't forget to share my blog with your friends.

I am keeping track of all my followers here, on facebook, twitter and pinterest so be sure to follow everywhere to get in on some extra entries.

Ok, now to the nitty gritty.

And I mean GRITTY.

Forever I have wanted to organize the cabinets under my kitchen sink.

And I finally got the nerve to tackle it.

First of all, let me tell you that you absolutely have to purge, purge, purge.

Take out anything that you haven't used in the last year.

Please.

I went in there and found junk I didn't know I had or why I had it.

I started off by taking everything out.

After trashing most of it, sorting the stuff that belongs out in the garage (that's another BIG project I need to work on )

and then finding out that we have a leak, I started to plan on 

how to put everything back together.

Now, let me tell you, try to use anything you have on hand to 

organize this dreaded space.

In my case I pulled out some cute pots and pails to contain certain things and then I just bought the 

hanging shelving at Home Depot and the sliding shelves

at WalMart. 

I think they were each $10. 

I also used a brightly colored vinyl table cloth that cost me around $4. I measured the inside of the space then cut it to size. This was to brighten it up a bit and also to catch any wetness until we can replace the leaky faucet.

Here are the before and afters:

AFTER:

shelves on the door with a little pot to hold my pot scrubbers

and you can see my homemade chalk paint in that bottom little jar.

 Big Difference

I mean that part of our home is never going to be a pretty place.

But at least now I don't cringe every time I open it.

Everything is within easy reach

I can SEE what I am looking for and

my cute little craft jars are easily found.

I have tons more organizing to do. 

And I have it all planned this summer {between photo shoots}

What have you been up to?

Please join me on my facebook page and

post your organization pics :)

I'd love to feature you in an upcoming blog post!!

Patty

linking to:

House of Hepworths

Pin It

Getting Closer to Camp Time!!!

On Saturday the little guy got something in the mail!!

His Camp Huawni list of things to pack!

YAY!

We are so excited! Did I say we? Yes, I did!

Remember way back at the beginning of the year when 

I was all afraid of sending my little guy away to camp?

Well now I am absolutely convinced he will thrive at this camp.

I have heard nothing but good things about it and the

people that run the camp are super awesome and

have put me very well at ease.

Did you know that the counselor to camper ratio there is

1 to 3. 

Yikes! and Wow!

One counselor to three campers. That's impressive.

Our little guy will be going there next month.

We are happily and excitedly going over some last minute things like:

Scheduling his physical and filling out medical forms

Going over the packing list and getting things in order

Making my Thirty One order for some cool camo totes he can take with him.

Ordering some name labels to put on all his clothes :)

He is going to have such a fun time!

I can't wait to share with you his letters home (they get to write us when they're at camp )

and see all the cool pics the counselors take of them having fun!!

If you are looking for a fun camp to send your child to during the summer

look up Camp Huawni here.

and you can also follow them on their facebook page 

I'll be back soon I promise!

Patty

 

*This post is sponsored by Camp Huawni. I have not been paid for this post but I may have received free product from the sponsor. All opinions and posts are mine.

 

Pin It

Pretty Flower Book Page Wreath

Well hello everyone!

I hope your week has been fabulous so far :)

For a good long while I have been keeping my eye out on these beautiful book page wreaths and wanting to try my hand at making one of them.

So for this tutorial I decided to finally make one but add a fun 

twist to it-adding paper flowers to the center.

So here's what you'll need:

18 inch straw wreath or foam (I find the straw ones are cheaper)

An old book with pages that are at least large enough to make a good sized cone (mine were about 6X8)

hot glue and glue gun (lots of sticks!)

Glue stick

Piece of cardboard from a box

Paper flowers

If you have a Cricut, I used the Flower Shoppe cartridge

embellishments 

The first thing I did was to make the cones from the book pages. I used a good glue stick for this to glue the cones together.

You'll need to make lots of cones!

Second,  I took a piece of a cardboard box that just happened to have a white side to it and traced a circle around to have it fit snuggly inside the wreath form (this is where your flowers will go).

 After the cones were done, I glued them onto the back of the wreath one by one, (at first I used my Mighty Mend It glue but it did not hold very well against the plastic, so then I just reinforced that with floral pins as you see here)

 

 After all the back ones are glued, I turned the wreath over (carefully) and started gluing the cones to the front of the wreath. I let them set a few minutes then came back and did another layer. Repeat to make the wreath fuller.

In between layers, I went to my Cricut and cut out the different paper flowers and assembled them. I added a pearl embellishment to each to "class" them up a bit.

If you don't have an electronic cutter you can make these out of paper or fabric. There are a ton of tutorials on pinterest and I have pinned some tutes here:

PAPER FLOWERS

 

When your cones are all set on your wreath, you will take the cardboard circle you cut out and carefully set it on top of the wreath opening. You may or may not want to cover the cone tips depending on the look you want. I wanted my wreath to have a clean look at the inner edge so I opted to cover the tips with the circle. 

If you don't have a white cardboard box, you can simply cover the circle with more book pages :)

 I then arranged my flowers to see how I wanted them to look then I started hot gluing them.

Tie a ribbon through the wreath and hang.

{hanging in its temporary place}

Overall this wreath was made over the course of 4 nights. 

I made the cones in one night while watching T.V. then I would just fill it in when I had time at night when the kids were asleep :)

I really like the look of fullness and the touch of subtle color the flowers give it

I can't wait to hang it over my mantle.

Patty

linking up here:

House of Hepworths
Fireflies and Jellybeans
Somewhat Simple

Pin It

Small and Simple Pleasures

Today I went shopping at the dollar store.

Today I experienced a small and simple pleasure.

You see, before I suffered my sah or bleeding stroke, I just couldn't stand the scent of lavender.

I hated it.

But since then, things have sort of rearranged themselves in my brain.

Funny how that happens.

The brain is a wondrous thing.

Now, my brain craves this scent.

It calms me and makes me happy :)

So I was pleasantly surprised when I went

down the wrong aisle and happened upon this:

::lavender:: 

I just had to get me one!

(I also threw in the oatmeal and almond one)

Total heaven scent! (get it, scent ;))

When I got back to my office I left the bags in my car and when I got in it after work my car smelled like these two soaps.

Ahhhh, clean and relaxing :)

I loved it.

Let me show you what else I found:

these cute little blue bottles!

Only $2

They will be perfect for my summer decorations

that will go along swimmingly with my beachy theme that will be brought out again.

I also bought two bigger bottles 

and this cute little basket with liner only $2 for it!

 all in all 

I enjoyed my lunch trip to the dollar store

it's the little things you know

I'll be back tomorrow to show you an organization project I've been working on and a cute teacher gift!

Patty

Pin It

Book Page Wreath Guest Post

Well hey there everyone!!

I am back to let you know that I am guest posting today over at the CSI Project (Create Something Inspiring)

It's a really cool blog where many bloggers come together

to learn about making fun things!

Check  out my post on how I made a book page wreath and added paper flowers for a fun twist :)

You can find my book page wreath here. 

 So head on over there and check it out!

Patty

Pin It