Masquerade...

Whew...what a whirlwind of a day...

sometimes, just wearing a mask can make you feel just a lil' bit better...

Was a pirate for the lil' ones' Halloween Celebration at school...All that makeup and the eyepatch, surely hid all the flaws+feelings of the day. I had the chance to pretend to be a PIRATE...'oh ye mateys, arrrrh...' that was a great tension reliever...

Anyway, here are some of the things going on:

First, Happiest of Hallow's Eve to all of you! Was it a fantastic day or what?!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous for such a fun day of romping around

the neighborhood for some sweets.

Lil' munchkins totally enjoyed every minute of the day...

Still editing some of the great pics of their day. Will post later.

Also, working on some sweet photos regarding this . hopefully will be able to download some nice pics of all the great items I received from the fantasmagorique swap...every item was created with such love and thoroughly loved, loved, loved participating in this swap!

Secondly,I have been feverishly working on wrapping my lil' goodies that I'm sending to a sweet kindred soule. What an amazing person I was given... this individual has such a fierce mind. The thoughts that are shared in their blog is quite fascinating. You see, I'm participating in Sofia Barao's "Autumn Swap" I had a blast picking out some really wonderful treasures for the theme which is to 'search for comfort'. We were sent a name of a partner. And the name of the partner must be kept a secret until they receive our parcel. We had to send these types of items to help brighten their Cold+Autumn Days:

1) Comfort Drink

2) Comfort Food

3)Comfort for the Soule and

4) Comfort Surprise...

(We are to post pics of our lil' gifts but unfortunately my camera was being uncooperative...so I will try to post them again tomorrow for all to see...so here are some hints:

1) Comfort Drink=something delectable that can leave a cute mustache on your face and something creamy you can pick up with your lil' fingers + use just about with everything;

2)Comfort Food=something quite rich with a dash of sweetness + a 'Frenchie' type name and something that almost everyone adores + you can make it for morning, noon and night...;

3) Comfort for the Soule- a collection of a few things that this person truly adores and

4) Comfort Surprise=something that can keep you absolutely toasty+warm on a Cold, rainy, gloomy Autumn day...if there's room in the box, I'm creating another lil' surprise to put a smile on someone's face)

I know these hints are so vague but once my camera's functioning a bit better, I will post sneak peeks of these lil' treasures...

These lil' gifts will be on their merry way and hopefully will get to my amazing partner early next week...

Thirdly, been also working like a mad dog on my 'Sweet Marie' pages for the itty bitty book club swap due tomorrow...as hostess...I have a few more days to complete them-whew...Everyone's pages are absolutely delicious and I can't wait to send a copy to Somerset for the call to all "Marie Antoinette" art...will post pics soon...

Now, I hate to end on a sad note but...During all of these wonderful projects/events, my family just learned of a terrible situation + we will be enduring some personal+painful times . I don't like to burden this sweet blog+all of the beautiful readers with such dreariness but I feel I need to mention this, since it will probably influence a lot of what I'm doing in my life in the next year or two. All I have to remember is to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative...so please bear with me as I go through this part of my life...

on this note, I bid you a sweet goodnight...

bonne nuit...

xoxo jo;)

My October Loves

one of my October loves...

hope you're enjoying your weekend!

xoxo jo;)

Pink Inspiration~Caterpillar by day...Butterfly by night...~ Coco Chanel

about a month ago, my sweet sis, mary ann called me to tell me about a wonderful movie that was coming on. she knows how much i adore anything and everything French. she also knows that we're going through some hardtimes=esp. when you're trying to start a business venture.

well, lifetime aired that fabulous movie about the one and only 'coco chanel'. it was a phenomenal story about a poor French girl who through the hardship of life, never gave up on her dreams. Her passionate drive to be unique, simple and comfortable is one of the many qualities that have made her one of the most influential women in the world. coco's fantastic creativity have inspired so many people in the fashion industry but i also believe she had a huge part in molding the way we think not only about clothes but how women can think, do and be whatever they truly want to be, if they set their minds to it. i believe coco truly is an icon that will live on forever in many hearts.

just imagine, it all started when she was a little girl learning how to sew from her poor + sick/dying mother. this movie also touched on parts of learning about love, true love and being true to yourself about who you are and what you want to accomplish. this movie also showed how the struggles of your life can actually help you become successful.

i simply adored this movie.

coco's simple ideas transformed so many facets of the fashion industry and also the women's reformation movement. i can relate to so many parts of coco's life.

i adored her simple clothes, her simple hats, her taste in paint, furniture, simple ideas and her simple yet classy ways. even her very first shoppe was simply divine!

she truly didn't care what anyone thought. she was in a class all by herself.

her passionate drive to create comfort for women and her unwavering ambition to try, try, try again until you succeed, has fostered such magnificent determination to accomplish your dreams!

there are so many wonderful parts in the movie. but what helped me inspire my 'pink itty bitty page' (aside from my sister's recommendation to do this) was this one part where her neice (i think this was her best friend's daughter) had this gaudy black evening gown. coco looked at a window and saw cream/ivory curtains hanging on the window. she asked someone to bring it down and she draped it on her neice, tore off the sleeves off the gaudy designer dress and viola...coco said, " caterpillar by day...butterfly by night..." her niece looked exquisite with such a simple change of accessory. this is just one of the MANY quotes in the movie that inspire GREATNESS!!!

i wish i could've met coco.

what a teacher she's been for our world.

will there ever be someone like her again?

...maybe...

but for now...she's such a UNIQUE soule that will live on for eternity

in so many kindred spirits (esp. mine and my sis'!!!)

if you get a chance...go see this. rent it. buy it.

(when it comes out, i read somewhere by early next year...i was so fortunate to tape it!!! YAY!

i could watch + watch this continuously!!!)

thank you lifetime for airing this movie...

it is such a timeless story that can ring true for so many hearts in today's world.

anyway, whew...sorry for the long explanation...

these are my pink pages that i am contributing to my sis' flickr group.

made 26 lil' itty bitty pink pages.

because my love of France and the inspirational story of coco chanel (which has overwhelmed my heart + soule), i wanted to create a page that invokes hope, faith, the beauty of miracles and the endless possibilities of life.

October is the month designated to raise awareness for Breast Cancer. it just so happens that my sis' itty bitty book club was holding a 'pink' itty bitty book swap. coco's words just rang so true for me that this is what spoke to my heart:

the pink eiffel tower is one of my recent completed commissioned work and i mailed it off to the East Coast. it's for a lil' gal's b-day. they're going to put the eiffel tower on top of a cake...i'm hoping they send me a picture....to add to my scrapbook pages... it's a better design and i had fun creating it for my client. the box is a little gift box i made to slide open and you can put your card, a gift certificate or a lil' surprise in there for the celebrant.

recap:

~watch 'Coco Chanel' when it comes out on lifetime again

~never give up, always work hard and remember,

learn from your failures and success will be yours

~'caterpillar by day...butterfly by night...' (Coco Chanel)

bonne nuit

xoxo jo;)

Bzzzzzzzzy...

wow...where did the time go? so sorry for being mia...
i know it's not a very good excuse...but life sure has been bzzzzzzzzy!

been working on several projects and just completed a commissioned piece...whew...
running around with the lil' ones, their studies, their extra-curricular activities, all of our commitments and this thing called LIFE have prevented me from posting anything
onto my sweet lil' blog.
i surely don't know how everyone does it. but all i know is that i'm going to work harder at my end (hmmm...we'll see...i say this now and something else will pop up...
so Murphy Lawish, eh?!)...
i'm truly sorry and will try to do better in the next couple of days, weeks, months...as there are lots of stories to tell + lots of pics to show...for now i leave you with a lil' sneak peek of our past weeks...more to come later!
bonne nuit
xoxo jo ;)
commissioned work
going to the east coast
pink itty bitty swap 08
lil munchkins take on the world of Tae Kwon Do!

NEWS FLASH>>>Philippa Gregory is coming to town...

i'm utterly ecstatic that Philippa Gregory will be coming to our lil' village...tomorrow at our library!!! She is one of my most favouritest author ever...I fell totally in love with 'The Other Boleyn Girl' without even ever seeing the movie...the book had me in a trance and I envisioned Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson in every page...exquisitely written, provacatively captivating to my soule...I literally thought I was in the same room with the characters...so believable...so much passion in each word...I love history and enjoyed reading what it would've been like during King Henry VIII's time...I absolutely love Philippa Gregory and I can't wait to see her, meet here, purchase her books and maybe if I'm lucky get her autograph in my books...

image with hand signature found
here http://www.flickr.com/photos/freshfiction/sets/72157604046136192/

oh, i can't wait if this one turns into a classic movie...i can't wait to READ this one...i'll make sure to take tons of pics and let you know all about it next week...

Happy Friday to be...Bonne Nuit...

xoxo jo ;)