Retiring Stamps
I haven’t had much time to stamp lately, but I’m still sad to see the list of SU’s retiring stamps. They must go to make room for the new ones in the catalog release on July 1st! I’m excited to see what’s in the upcoming catty because the new “in-colors” will be released along with a ton of new products. SU is also moving to a single catalog per year instead of two, so stamps will be hanging around for a little longer. Yay!
Here is a link to the list of retiring stamps from the Spring/Summer catty (stamps available through June 30th): Going, going, gone
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Christina’s Bridal Shower Invitations
Summer is wedding season and it’s keeping me quite busy with creative projects. Christina, my FSIL (or future sister in law for the non-wedding obsessed), is getting married to my little brother this fall. All of the bridesmaids decided to host a ultra fab Hawaiian themed bridal shower for her. Since I’m widely known for my paper obsession, I was commissioned to make the invitations. I picked some fun and spunky colors, representative of the cheerful Hawaiian islands. I designed a quick invitation on Illustrator and printed it on my Gocco, inspired by Miss Gloss on Weddingbee who kindly shared her font resources. Coral envelopes were made from scratch out of sheets of 8.5″ x 11″ card stock. I texturized them using a Sizzix embossing plant and my Sizzix machine. Those cute little blue flowers were cut and embossed out of turquoise paper using a Sizzix embosslit die (they emboss and cut a shape out in one pass through the machine).
Tutorial on the coral pocket to come! I’ll share the photos for now. 
The Husbin Needs Your Help
Hello dear readers. I need your help! The Husbin asked me to ask blogland for a little help on his statistics project. He needs your input on a question:
Loading ...Hubs promised I could get an iPhone if I get enough people to respond, so your assistance is much appreciated! (Although he’ll probably cave and get me an iPhone anyway. LoL) Thank you!
A Month of Firsts
Hello, blog world!
It has been a while since my last post, and I just want to sincerely thank you guys for your well wishes and support for me and my family. Seriously. You made my day/week/month. Things were hard, but have since gotten better, so hopefully I can start blogging regularly again.
Along with the sad events that life has brought, there have also been some exciting events recently too. May has been a month of “firsts” for me, most of which have kept me away from writing. I went to the first funeral that I was old enough to remember attending. I held my first stamp class (more on that soon!). And… for the first time ever, I was a second shooter for a wedding. On Sunday, I visited Palmdale, California with my talented friend and budding photographer, Phoebe Joy, to shoot Jenny and Gustavo’s wedding. Gosh, I have so much to say about that experience. But, for now, I’ll just share that I had a blast, despite the fact that my muscles are achingly SORE from lugging around loads of equipment. I had a ton of fun, realized that photography is something I want to explore, and confirmed that I have MUCH to learn. I feel very, very blessed and grateful that I can pursue this wonderful, intimidating craft with a friend.
Congrats to Jenny and Gustavo! And to Phoebe, thanks for letting this inexperienced gal tag along with you.
Two Funerals and a Wedding
In one week, I went from here (funeral #1):
To here:
Back to here (funeral #2):
Needless to say, it has been a long and hard few weeks. I hope to update soon. Miss you all.
-Kel
Poa Poa
Yesterday, I learned the sad news that my Poa Poa (grandmother on my mom’s side) unexpectedly passed away. Although there was a huge communication barrier between us (she spoke a dialect of Chinese that I didn’t really understand), I always knew that she was proud of her grandchildren. After all, she was the first to bring her family–my mom, my uncles, and aunts–to America to seek a better life. And a better life she gave them. Our family is a true life rags-to-riches story. One day I hope I get a chance to document my family history. It’s amazing and much more interesting than my own life.
I’ll always remember how Poa Poa would grab my arm affectionately during family dinners and tell me in Chinese that I was too skinny. “Eat more,” she’d say, “eat more.” That was one of the few phrases I understood in Tai San, her native dialect. Then, she would point me in the direction of a huge spread of roasted duck, chow mein, and pork buns. Poa Poa would spend hours in her kitchen wrapping sticky rice dumplings filled with pork for all of us. She’d make piles and piles of them–so much we could never eat them all. But, making food was her way of contributing to her family. And when my cousin would bring his two adorable daughters to our family parties, Poa Poa would point in their direction and tell me that I needed to hurry and have some kids too. I always laughed her comments off, but now I wish she could’ve seen her future great grand babies.
Poa Poa, I hope that you know I love you and you will be dearly missed.
Simple Joys
Hello, hello!
These last few days have been beautiful, and hot, hot, HOT. 85 degrees in SF is as common as snow in July, especially in the Sunset district where Hubs and I live. Last night, we opted not to eat in and instead took a long walk to a delicious Chinese hole in the wall restaurant about a mile from our house. I love walking with the Hubs. It’s true quality time for us because we have no TVs, computers, or video games to distract us. It’s just us and our shoes as they hit the warm pavement.
After a satisfyingly salty bowl of beef noodles and black bean chicken, we stopped by a yogurt shop to reward ourselves for “working out.” As we slurped our melted treats on the stroll back to the Sunset House, I listened to Andrew as he chatted about his day. And, I couldn’t help by think, at that very moment, there was nowhere else I wanted to be or nothing else that would make me more content. Not a new condo, not a dream job, or even a winning lottery ticket. All of those would be meaningless without someone to share them with.
Life is truly about the simple joys of loving and being loved.
Recipe (all supplies SU unless noted): Cheers to You stamp set, kiwi kiss, whisper white, pacific point, summer sun cardstock, basic black ink, Sizzix tag die, oval punch, good morning sunshine designer paper, kiwi kiss ribbon, colored pencils
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