Merry Christmas!

 

It's been over two months since my last post and believe me, I have missed it soooo much!
For over three years we had a project dear to our hearts, finding our dream home. We had been blessed we our cozy townhouse, home to our family for almost 13 years, for both our kids that is the only home they knew, but we wanted to expand a little bit. Earlier this year we decided it was time again to start the search and before the summer ended we were pre-approved and the search officially started in August, by September we found it, it was love at first sight!, me made an offer and the roller coaster ride was on...only God and my dear husband could keep my sanity for those weeks and the weeks after. The closing on Halloween day and the move on Thanksgiving weekend...we have many people to thank and to be grateful about, thanks to each one of our friends and family that supported us mentally (that was the hardest part :), and physically...the day of the move we had 17 helping bodies, 17 angels carrying our lives and things to our new home. Like my son said, we have a house and now we have to make it a home. That day of the move, the "homing" process began (I just made up a word...jajaja).

I must say I have missed my crafting duties very much, looking at blogs and making lists of future projects kept my crafting mojo alive. Vicariously living through my crafter's fellows, what an inspiration you are!! Thanks to all the love ones that supported us through this process, without you we couldn't be where we are today...THANKS from the bottom of our hearts!!! I promise pictures very soon.

Going back to crafting and making stuff, Pao and I have been busy with hamma bead! or Perler beads. Such an easy project that brings so much satisfaction!

Pao made some hair bows for her friends at school, a bumble bee for her spelling bee teacher, and Christmas lights for the tree!!!



See if you can find them on the tree.

Wrist warmers - Work in progress

A couple of months ago I bought yarn at Michael’s sale event for $0.99, the colors is what attracted me the most (and the price, couldn’t pass on a deal like this!).

I loved the mix of greens and purples, kind of reminded me of a mystical forest with fairies and beautiful wild flowers.

At the time didn’t know what I would make with it…I just liked it and bought it, I really struggle buying stuff I don’t need, trying to be frugal and mindful of my expenses but I can’t say I regret it…

I started knitting a pair of wrist warmers and fell in love, every row knitted and purled revealed shades of green and purple in the most wonderful harmony, I felt like a little girl in a candy store or in my case in a yarn store, not knowing what to choose. I didn’t want to stop, each row brought me more joy…I was soooo happy…

 

 

 

 

 

Now back to the important stuff, cast 33 stitches with yarn Amazing - Wild Flowers - Medium, Lion Brand Yarns and knitting needles 4 mm.

Happy Birthday dear Mily!!

Today is my dear friend Mily’s birthday from Mily CooperPhotography! She takes the most adorable pictures to young and old, small and big, she has a way to capture special moments with her lens.

Below (new born pictures) are some examples of her work (I made the blanket…sooooo exciting), for more beautiful pictures or to schedule a session visit Mily Cooper Photography, she lives in Los Angeles CA with her dear husband and beautiful children Sophia and Benny (and Trevor, the family fox :)

 I made this tiny blanket wrap for her newborn sessions, hopefully she could wrap something with it J (I ran out of yarn a little too soon)

 

 

 

 

My intention was to crochet a baby beanie (in my defense, this is my FIRST attempt) but ended up being too big for a baby. I hope Sophia enjoys it!!!

Here is Paola modeling …



 

Mily Cooper Photography

Marta and Armando First Wedding Anniversary

My dear friend Marta and her husband Armando inspired me to create this little butterfly display, I have always wanted to make something with butterfly cutouts and this project allowed us (Pao and I) to enjoy ourselves and to create a memory for their special day: First Wedding Anniversary.

Martita (as I called her cariñosamente) was so wonderful to take the pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The materials are very simple, scrapbook paper, magazine soap opera pages (a Corin Tellado story works perfect),metallic silver acrylic paint (to cover/hide some of the words in the magazine pages), a couple glitter stickers (optional), hot glue gun to adhere the butterflies in place, and a shadow box frame, ohhh, and your handy dandy butterfly punch!!!

 

I picked scrap book paper that matched Marta and Armando’s wedding theme, beige, white, black and sparkle, for the third row of butterflies I used their Menu printout, your could use a wedding invitation or something related to the person your are making the frame for.

Crochet Banner with Roses

August: Cuba, Crochet, and birthday

It has been more than a month since my last post, August took us by surprise, it is always like that, maybe it has to do with the end of summer vacation, and our annual trip to Cuba, or the fact that is my birthday month…
 

Well, let ‘start at the beginning, (or almost)  Saturday August 2^nd , 4:30 am Miami International Airport, our flight gets delayed 14 hours and arrives to Holguin, Cuba at 11:00pm, a couple of hours later we arrive at my in-laws in Velasco, after an hour long treacherous car ride with the richest taxi cab driver of Holguin (he owns a three story house, with a pull table on the second floor and a pool on the third…we don’t know his name but he takes us to his house at 1:00am in the morning to get diesel…we think we are getting robbed  and get ready to scream and throw stones at him…all of this with my 9 year old daughter and 15 year old son in the back sit. We get the diesel and we are on the road again, but not for long, we stop again at a gas station next to a liquor store flooding with patrons typical of that hour and place…we get ready again, Nestor steps out of the car and we try to guess who is the taxi cab driver talking to, is he planning where he will take us next? Why aren’t we driving to my in laws, is this the end of the road…literally…an hour later we are home, safe and sound, with our family waiting for us, no one went home, cousins, aunts and uncles, all stayed, camped out at my in-laws waiting for our arrival…what a nice surprise!!

 

 

In Holguin everything has a different pace, slower much slower, Sunday went by in a wink with many visitors, all sorts of family and friends, on Monday we visited la loma de la cruz or the mountain of the cross in Holguin city, 476 steps, very steep steps, very nice view of the city, just don’t do the climb at noon…like we did…it was scorching hot… by Tuesday we were in Guardalavaca, a beach area an hour and a half away from Velasco. We stayed at Brisas Guardalavaca, an all-inclusive resort with all the amenities we are so used to, hot water, air conditioned, cable tv, etc.

Overall a very nice visit, Maria and Mando are in relatively good health, Paola had a blast spending time with her cousins, Nesty was a little bored but got to spend time with his grandparents.

And I got to add more shells to my collection!!!

 

 

I got some time to crochet, I made a hair band for Leyanit, and one for Jesica, and flowers !!! purple crochet flowers…in these amazing shades of purple, violet, lilac, oh I love the colors !!!

After Cuba, came the end of vacation and the first day of school…I can’t  believe it, we are back in school…

 Finally, my birthday, let’s just say I am very blessed with a wonderful group of friends, I felt very special and loved receiving all their warm wishes of a happy birthday. I thank God for another birthday, for another chance to do things better

Note for travelers, I was able to pass my metal crochet without any issues through US Security screening, I enjoyed crocheting at the airport while we waited for the plane. It is funny how people look at you, like you are performing an inconceivable and archaic trade, something  reserved for grandmothers from a different century..jajaja…maybe someday not that far away, more people will benefit from this occupational therapy that makes me SOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy J