custom painted toms pt 3

back in the beginning, when i kinda wanted to start an etsy shop and the whole paint your shoes things came about, i painted these awesome TOMS for a dear friend of mine (Hi Mel!) she confessed she still wears them and that makes my heart happy. i appreciate it. 

they have actually become quite popular on the internetz and over the summer, i was contacted by a lovely family that just so happened to live in the Houston area and asked me to replicate them.

i said sure, no problem. give me a couple of weeks...

and then #wittyhousereno came about and it was 4 weeks later that i was able to finish them. and so finally, here i present to you the most colorful TOMs shoes ever....

they're pretty close to the real thing...at least from what i photographed from the original pair. i had to improvise one entire side because apparently i forgot to photograph it. ha!

and below are so WIP shots.

and here's my client with her shoes. needless to say, she absolutely loved them. 

i have a pair of white shoes personally. i've had them since spring. i still don't know what to paint on them.... polka dots? triangles? i don't know...what would you paint on them?

hope you guys have a fantastic weekend! i'll be back soon to post some other shoes i've recently painted. 

xoxo

PS. PLEASE do not use any of these images without giving proper credit (linking back to this post). If you have any questions on how to go about doing that, email me because i care: sanlynet at gmail dot you know what....

give her some bling

Hey guys! i don't know if you noticed something new about baby in my last post. she did a whole lot of new these past two weeks, so maybe you did.

she learned to wiggle across the floor. laugh out loud (the cutest belly laugh by the way). she learned to eat solids and she just turned 7 months.

but she also got something new and sparkly. 

  did you notice? 

yep. miss elena got her ears pierced!!! 

but here's the thing: did you know there are heated debates online (i'm sure there are also some in real life) about piercing little girls ears? WOW. i had no idea! 

the most commonly phrase i've read is, 'it's their body and they should decide if they want pierced ears or not'. sound familiar, doesn't it? yeah....we live in a feministic era.

some of you may know of my hispanic background. having been born and raised in Durango, Mexico where it is culturally acceptable and encouraged to pierce baby's ears as soon as they slide out their mothers uterus. seriously!!!

i  had my done at 6 weeks old. and guess what? i don't remember it. i don't remember the sharp pointed earrings. i don't remember the pain. i don't remember feeling betrayed because i didn't get to choose to have them pierced. 

but i remember, that as i grew up, i always wore earrings and i had to choose which ones i wanted to wear for the day (or i could leave them in all week) and to me, that was fun. i can't wait until Elena gets to pick which ones she wants to wear. but meanwhile, i'll do the picking just like i pick her outfits and which foods she eats and what toys she plays with.

for me, piercing Elena's ears wasn't about beautifying her. she didn't need it. look at her. and it hasn't stopped people from confusing her as a boy even though she normally wears a headband (because i try to stay away from pink) it was partly because i love earrings and because she's my girl. my one and only.
we girls have to stick together, right?! and if we can do that with some earring shopping, then let's do it.
let's bond, baby.

but really, if you really must wait for your baby to choose whether or not to have them pierced, there are Poppy Drops and those look like a ton of FUN. i kinda want to give them a try!

and just for the record, even with my ears pierced at a young age, i remember wearing these sticker-like earrings and having a blast at choosing which pair to wear. 

it doesn't matter---we just want the bling!

ps. please don't send me horror stories of piercing baby's ears. i respect your opinion of waiting to pierce your baby's ears and you should respect my decision to do so as well. :) have a happy blessed day!

favorites

i've been trying to be more intentional. to have a purpose to everything i do. and especially the way i mother my kiddos. the way i wife my husband and the way i treat others in general. the back of my mind right now is going major filing. like tossing out old memories that either cause me pain or are just not worth ever remembering again. so that finally, i can have a little peace.
i sometimes get so overwhelmed, kinda like oh-my-god!-the-world-is-crushing-me-we-are-all-going-to-hell moments and i stupidly succumb to those pitiful emotions....until finally husband pulls me out of that pit and reminds me that what we have is the most special, most wonderful thing we will ever have and to not ever lose sight of it.
you know those sayings, focus on the now. stop and smell the roses, and so forth. so yeah, i've been doing that.
i've also have been trying to get back into the swing of blogging? trying is the key word now. i still blame my iphone. i want to browse this blog and see us grow up. so that i don't forget the important things.
i ordered a hard cover book full of pictures from this year from Shutterfly because it was about time, Lynet. and when it comes it, i will be touching our memories. i can't just stuff everything into the harddrive and never do anything with it! what would be the point of capturing memories, then? so i finally had to do it.
and i hope my staying up late to finish it is worth it.
but meanwhile, for the little things, i wanted to share these photos from the past couple of weeks. because really, they might be unimportant to the world, but they are my everything.

gary took the picture above. he can nail it or fail miserably at taking pictures. i think he nailed it. and yes, my boys run around in their chones a lot. 

check my crafty self out! i actually began cross-stitching again (it's been since 7th grade?) i can't say that i like it because this was not a purchased pattern. i had to print out my grid paper. made my marks & design. erased it. made changes. count endless tiny squares (my eyesight is on a decline, i can tell *sobs*) and never get a good full block of time to finish it because you know, i have 3 needy kids. i'm giving this away as a gift because i do not frequently burst out into song. i am in love with how it turned out though...yayme!

jonah's drawing from church completely impressed me because of the way he drew elena and his mommy. adorable. i heart him.

and jonah's little corner in my studio is so cute. so cute. he is way advanced in his pre-k which is awesome. i do not have to start at square 1!!! BUT. he has heard his brother countless times, week after week, how much he doesn't want to do school that he thinks he must do it also. we'll get through it. we must. 

side note: that octopus craft, is the cutest craft i have ever done. hands down (and yes, i'm patting myself on the back).

this was gary's and andrew's first day back. we enrolled him in kindergarten again. and he's been doing great. no more bus rides for him though and now it's car lines for me (i hate car line and hate is very strong, but appropriate, word). this is us (below) in the car line.

and awana's started back up. i snapped this pic of them having a tea party together. while every one else was playing duck duck goose. i heart them to the moon and back plus a bajillion. 

i scored a great fort-making kit at the local thrift store, and it wasn't missing any pieces! i was amazed. the boys immediately made a fort watched me make a fort and were in hog heaven. this thing is quite fun actually. but the palms of my hands were so sore from putting together the many forts all weekend, ha!

and it pretty much has been a week of firsts for this little girl (you know the sayin, it's all downhill from now or something like that?) 

because she's been walking forward in her walker like a champ. 

grabbed onto her crib railing like a champ. 

learned to suck through a straw and drink all my water like a champ. eats solids like a champ. 

poops like a champ (well, she had that figured out since she was born so it doesn't really count). 

and finally went outside and explored grass like a champ. i must note here that she did not whine and cry when she touched grass like her older brothers do. 

she is now 7 months old and the light of my world. 

so, that's it guys. these past few days have been looking like that....

i've been really trying to update my etsy shop too. did you guys see my pic of my studio on instagram? yeah, that's why it's been taking so long....

tell me, how has your week been? 

please connect with me because i desperately need some internet friendz.... :)  

oxox

bye bye summer

oh my gosh guys.

summer's over. 

i'm not upset by any means. thank the Lord for summer being over. 

as the kids grow each year, it's harder and harder to stop the whining. seems that with each year, they get better at it....and i 'cannot' wait til little girl starts doing it too.

i'm not gonna lie. this summer was hard. it was painful. mostly because of the #wittyhomereno but still, it had its painful moments anyways. there was also a lot that didn't get done and experienced. but with the bad, good comes too, right? there was lots of good moments. and i choose to dwell on the good ones. 

like when i purchased a new palette of watercolors and jonah painted the most beautiful flower just for me even though that annoying blood look-alike stain is still on my kitchen floor. 

or when i finally got to eat a fig (it had been years) and it brought back sweet memories from my grandparents gigantic fig tree in the house they had in mexico...i remember them being so juicy; stickiness just dripping through my fingers.

or the many mornings we were bombarded with kids before we got a chance to get the boogers out of our eyes...i already miss those mornings so much.

and how about all those random times the boys decided to change themselves into something else like Batman or a bunny if only for a few minutes...i don't know how many superman or batman costume trails i had to pickup.

the boys are amazing at legos. they build a lego cities full of amazing robots with all these shooter options i can't even pronounce. they spend hours in the play room just imagining the possibilities and when they bring me their creations, i am just beyond amazed at how their little brain thinks up this stuff.

the most satisfying part of this summer was watching the boys love their sister. they love her. they make her smile. they entertain her. they take care of her when i ask them. they sing silly songs to her. they kiss her head at night. they get grossed out at her drool and dirty diapers (who doesn't?) but i think she loves them more. 

i know when fall rolls around, summer will be a distant memory. no more kids on counters just begging to be on the counter-demanding their chocolate milk. tediously, i fix 4 separate drinks...four. every morning. i say four because hello! my coffee? we don't forget mama's coffee...

sidenote: because of #wittyhomereno, i have light in my house guys! my photos aren't grey or yellowed because of the lack of light like in the old apt.! and that, makes me oh so happy. hard work pays off. remember, focus on the good!

but back to reality. of course each day had its challenge(s)...

how long do i let the kids play on the xbox? why does this kid not get phonics? little girl driving me nuts because apparently i'm the only one she likes. why do all my chores seem to pile up all at once? oh and not to mention their constant need for being entertained. can i just get a little time for me? remember me? i'm a person too. 

my motherly self threw them outside most times when i was 'up to here'. but not for long. i, myself could relax outside. i love paying attention to my yard while i ignored comments like 'the grass is itchy, Mom could you carry me to the porch?' or something like 'mom, i'm sweaty hot, i need a drink to cool off' and they would escape inside to the coolness of the a/c to leave my sweaty grumpy butt behind.

a summer event should be to learn to ride bikes. but bike riding has been so challenging for this guy. he is scared to death of falling--losing his balance--and instantly freaks out. i keep trying to instill in him a sense of braveness, to be a tough guy, but he is so soft-hearted that at times, he melts my heart with his tenderness. he's just not that kind of kid. and that's ok too because when he wants a kiss just because or when he tells me i'm beautiful when i'm least expecting it, that's when i love him the most. 

and pretty much the only time they would enjoy being outside, was when the water was going. and that was alright with me. because summer. duh.

guys, summer is over. 

fall is coming. 

and december is right around that corner. 

days are long but years are short. gotta make the best of them. how about you, are you glad for the changing of seasons?