Handmade jewelry

I have been quietly working on some beaded necklaces for some time now.  I love beads, always have, because they are so organic and bohemian. My favorite pieces of jewelry are necklaces and bracelets.  I have learned to create unique pieces that maybe one day I can sell.  Some are more minimalist, others more boho-looking.  This is a sneak peek of what I have been working on:

 

Would you buy these necklaces? Anyway, I have fun making them, and will gift them to my girlfriends and family.

Around here

I have also been preparing for our daughter's baptism to be celebrated the week before the holidays in our hometown of Miami. This is a sneak peek of what's to come.

Looking around the house the other day I found this cute vintage children's magazine from Parent's Magazine.  This little volume is from 1967 and it's packed with children's activities, stories and even puppet making.  It's so unbelievable that this used to entertain children for hours.  And some kids eagerly collected them.  I wish we could go back to those simpler times.  And lately, while I'm crafting away here at home, I'm hooked to Netflix watching an old time teenager favorite show, The Wonder Years.  It never gets old.  My favorite episodes are the ones that center around Kevin's family, the Arnolds.  So nostalgic!

Two things I love from my mother's Miami home are the collection of antique and modern glass bottles that sit on a built in shelf in the family room, and the solid teak table in the same room.  

And finally, Emilu's hair is growing.  She's now a year and seven months!  Just mind-blowing, if you ask me.  Here she is on the bathroom floor playing with my makeup while I'm in the bathroom. After you have kids, there's no privacy bathroom time anymore!

Three crafts

These are three crafts I'm currently working on. They are simple, easy and budget friendly. 

burlap table runner

a magazine prism

a jewelry branch

DIY ombre paper mobile

I have been thinking on a craft using the ombre technique, so trendy right now, and finally came up with a cute one to share.  It's so easy, and fun, and if you don't have a scallop punch, you can use any other one.  In fact, it would look as fancy in any other shape. For the tutorial, keep reading.

Welcoming Autumn {in my own special way}

Image via

The shorter days are bringing cooler weather. A chill is in the air. What is it about Autumn we love so much?  The bountiful feasts and seasonal food favorites?  Or the changing guard of color and shades of the outdoors giving our spirits a much needed recharge?  We get excited because Fall represents so many renewing energies.  Celebrations are planned around the globe, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and the Festival of Lights, and  we gather with loved ones to share our blessings.  We get crafty around the house, our closets get a makeover, and our kitchens get infused with the aromas of the season.

Photo by James Jordan

Autumn officially starts with the equinox, which this year enters around Sept. 22 in the Northern Hemisphere.  It's a day of balance, when the day and night are closest in length. At the equinoxes, the sun appears overhead at noon as seen from Earth’s equator, the moment when the sun crosses the celestial equator.  In fact, you might notice the arc of the sun across the sky each day now well into the Winter, because it's shifting toward the south. From now on, Nature begins its yearly withdrawal and rest in preparation for Winter. Birds and butterflies are migrating southward, too, along with the path of the sun. This arc is one of the signposts for wildlife to head to warmer climates. 

Image via

This year I'm feeling more attuned with the seasons and want to celebrate the beginning of Autumn by aligning myself more with Nature.  It's how people lived in the past.  I started by bringing a little  Fall into the house. I hung a canvas bag filled with green, red and orange eucalyptus branches in the hallway, infusing a nice fresh piney scent around the house.  I'm planning on celebrating the Moon Goddess (and Goddess of the Harvest) by creating a corn husk doll (more on that later). Also, I'll be eating some pomegranate seeds and sharing them with Emilu in honor of Persephone, the virgin goddess who is abducted by Hades (her husband) to the underworld, leaving her mother Demeter to grieve her absence during Autumn and Winter. But here's a few things we can all do to celebrate the Fall:

• Give thanks: Look around you now and reflect on the past blessings bestowed on you and your loved ones. If you feel inclined, you can bestow gifts on Mother Nature (the Moon Goddess or Goddess of the Harvest) by pouring some wine on the ground, or feeding the birds seeds, even recycling, if you never do.

• Seek balance:  Create balance in your life now.  Pay attention to your thoughts and your feelings.  If you are outgoing and love to be among people, seek time alone, to reflect, to plan, to feed your soul.  If you are the opposite, call a friend, or write her a letter.  

• Create and nurture:  Just like Mother Nature, this is a time to withdraw and rest.  But if you look closely you can begin to nurture yourself and those around you.  This time is perfect to create new projects, concentrating and nurturing a seed that will blossom once Spring makes its entrance. We have more or less six months to nurture our projects. See, Nature is already working with us!

Image via

DIY nursery banner

I'm making a few changes to our bedroom, which we are still sharing with Emilu.  By moving the crib to the opposite side of the room and flanking it with two sets of wall shelves, there was an empty space above it, which I thought could use some dressing, but it had to compliment the shelves and crib bedding, as well as making look cohesive. I settled on a simple banner, here's how I made it:

 The final resting place is just below the wall shelving, I think it looks better there, don't you think?

Kids Zone: Papercraft alphabet

Are you good with paper crafts? I have yet to try them. And this would be the perfect first time project. It might look intimidating, but I'm up for a challenge: 26 paper craft templates for each letter of the alphabet in cute shapes. Isn't this fun? Here's where the magic happens (and it's free!)
 

Source: digitprop.com via Patricia on Pinterest

Inspiration: Organizing with pegboards

Happy Monday to you! For some reason, come Mondays and I'm ready to tackle almost anything. The energy level is high and my organizing spirits are soaring. Appropriately, I started browsing your my Pinterest boards and I found these lovely pegboard ideas to organize and display almost anything.  Julia Child was a genius when she thought of them for her kitchen. 

Sources: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

DIY: Just do it

You know that procrastinator vein we all have? Well, as of lately mine was getting thicker until I decided it was enough.  Enough of having all these projects in my mind, and not doing something about it.  Until I stopped thinking, and got to doing.  I mean, what's the point of all those pins on Pinterest if you don't put them to work?  I tend to collect things, so it wasn't my intention to start collecting pins as well.  One project a day for a whole week. And guess what?  I did it!


Day 1:  Open shelving in the dining room nook
Day 2:  Washi tape decorating 
Day 3:  Scalloped pendant light for the dining room nook
Day 4:  Ombre beaded necklace
Day 5:  Martha Stewart vanilla cake with chocolate frosting
How about you friends, any projects lately?