Three Kitchen Fairies

Tissue Box Cozy Tutorial

 
Where to start?? Ok, I finished my tutorial!!  Because this SAHM business takes most of my time, I worked on this tutorial maybe an hour a day. It took me nearly a moth!! I would say I feel accomplished but I won’t say it until you tell me what do you think.

 
As silly as it may sound, let me tell you that I do love the writing of it. I enjoyed the creative process, the making something of my own to share with you. Those silent hours drawing, sewing, and making notes are so precious to me. I see many, many tutorials and patterns coming this way. I searched through my notebooks ,and I found more than 10 ideas to work on!

I debated a lot about how I would make this tutorial available to you, and it’s going to be a freebie. The only thing I would ask you in return is that you let me know if you ever make this Tissue box cozy, or your opinion on what I can make better next time I write one of these tuts.

 
Personally I need more than two of these cozies at home, they can be also given as a "get well" gift, or an end of the school year gift for your favorite school staff. This tutorial was written based on the large Kleenex box size. If you have a different size box your can skip the patchwork steps and decorate your box with appliqué or embroidery.

You can download you tutorial here.

Enjoy!!

Sticky tape.

 
 
Little by little, taking baby steps, I'm finding my way around Photoshop Elements. This is a new-to-me program. I always thought that there was a reason  I didn't go for graphic design in college. The reason is that I feel intimidated by those editing programs. And now here I am, trying to figure things out. I got bored of the same picture routine, and I needed to try something new. I'm glad I got started on this photoshop thingy, I'm actually having fun! 

I tried and tried, and nothing happened! Finally, I asked a talented girl about this tape thingy in her pictures. She answered my questions, and encouraged me to keep trying... and ta-da!! I finally got it!! She actually wrote a clip art tutorial to share with us, isn't she sweet?? Thank you Ishtar!!

One more...

 

Can you tell I'm excited?? I'm over the moon with my new skill! Now, I want to know how to make sticky notes...

Last weekend our little one received her First Holy Communion . We're so happy for her, and she was very proud of herself. All of the sudden she stopped being a little baby-ish girl to become a more mature, and secure little person. She was allowed to learn her catechesis from me here at home. Which was a real blessing after such a terribly cold winter. It also was a big responsibility for me to make sure we finished all the materials and to make sure she understood what First Communion is all about. I can say I feel very accomplished...

Without being light on the concept of receiving communion for the first time, I want to say that it was also the perfect occasion to dress her up. I myself made her dress. Fairly simple, but still girly and sweet. I owe you the whole dress picture, for some dumb reason I don't have a good picture of the whole dress... but what I liked the most about her attire was the headpiece by Hitomi, a dear friend's Etsy store.

 

It's such a delicate and elegant headpiece with handmade cold porcelain flowers in different sizes and organza leaves, truly special. My girl loved it, she looked like... a fairy, don't you think??

Please take a minute to visit my friend's store, and keep her in mind for you next special event.

 

For Mother's Day

 

My mother and I have a very special relationship. A relationship that took us years to tune up. To my own terms I always think that we grew up together. She taught me that the only unfixable thing is death. She made me incredibly tough, and fearless. She used to challenged each one of the statements and principals I now live by. I guess that was her way of checking if everything was in place… She gave me my freedom at a very young age. At that time I thought that she didn’t care, that she was too busy to baby sit me, silly me. Now, I see her shaking with fear when letting go of my younger siblings, the ones that came to her life at a more reasonable age; and I realize that it shouldn’t have been much different from when she gave me my wings. Poor woman, dealing with this ‘dare devil’… Nowadays, we have a very adult relationship, full of acceptance: acceptance of who we are , and acceptance of our stories. I want to believe that she likes who I am now: my low key style, my mothering ways, and my decisions no matter how crazy they sound. On my defense I want to say, that I understand that my mom did whatever she thought was the best for me. How do I get to this conclusion? Because that’s what I would do for my children, the best I can humanly do.

I made these potholders for her for Mother’s day. Do you like them ma!?!? It was Hope’s tutorial at Going Sew Crazy. They look tricky but once you make your first one done, the next one is easy peasy. I hope you had a wonderful Mother's day.

 

The story of stuff.

This isn't my usual post about the craft, the recipe, or the random stuff I do during the weekend. Today share this video by Annie Leonard with you because I want  to show you another one of my interests. I have many passions: my art, my crafts, my family, music, cooking, but also the environment. I believe in sustainable living, repurposing of material, clean air, and anything that makes a healthier life.  I hope to someday my family and I can return to the basics of living and fully develop a much more spiritual life in touch with nature and with God.  My husband and I realize that we can not only teach our girls about being "nice" to each other. In this discombobulated moments in history, we have to let them know how things happen, raise awareness about our planet, and its people: he always says to our girls "To all our action there are always consequences." This video will be hard to understand for a 8 year old or younger child, but I think it's good enough for a 10 year old. This video is a good way to start with baby steps toward a better understanding of what happens with all the trash we dispose every day.  I know it takes baby steps but little by little we'll get there to live a better life.  I hope you like it as much as I do.