I just listed in my Etsy shop where you will see more photos of it. Wow, this one was so fun but at the same time a lot of work. The botton was something else to work it, because I don't have an industrial sewing machine ( something for really heavy duty stuff) so I had to give my heart to it and sew by hand all around with that huge tapestry needle and yarn. Not easy as it seems. The interface is thick and my fingers got hurt!

Are you still there?

First of all I would like to say hello and welcome to new readers! 

I was taking a break in California with my kids and husband. It was a good trip and the last time I saw the sea it was in Brazil 4 years ago! I really like the beach and my children were amazed and so happy about it. If we could, we would move to somewhere not so far from the coast but we don't have millions of dollars. I liked Irvine city, seems to be a great place to live. I like where we are living right now too and I am grateful that we found a nice house, that is close to a good school and although is located in Arizona, we don't have severe summers like in Phoenix. Perhaps we will have flights from here to Los Angeles for a reasonable price soon so we can go back there sometimes.

The water was cold but who cares? Nothing could bother us. I had water up to my chest and all those waves could not scary me. I love swimming at the beach, but seeing a guy fishing a baby shark (catch and release) got me thinking for a bit...ooops, sharks??!! We saw big ones at the Aquarium, a cool place to visit with kids. At least less crowded. 

Well, it's summer time. We should not have gone to Disneyland. We thought that the kids would love that place. They are not big fans of Disney characters (me neither), I knew that but, maybe they would enjoy all those rides but hey, stand in line for like one hour and wish, wish upon the blue sky and hot sun and your dreams might not come true, sorry! And your only dream is to have that park just for you, right? Have you been there in the Summer time? I am not complaining, it's just the reality! In my humble opinion I think they should not allow so much people in the park at the same time. Hell, never ever again. The kids did not like it and we are glad that we did not buy tickets for all those days!  We rushed to the beach and nothing better and more relaxing than that! Next time we might choose Lego Land... or not.

I also loved playing with my camera, making silhouettes of my family and shooting the sunset.

I am uploading more images to my Flickr account. Go see them! 

Colorful crocheted laces are not easy to find around here, where I live. I was thinking about put in practise some ideas and I decided to dye some yards of cotton crocheted laces. Easy process, but we must stay by the stove and keep stirring for about 15 minutes. Do not boil, just keep water hot, like simmering. A small pan, 3 or 4 cups of water and 2 teaspoons of Rit Dye (color of your choice). I dyed 2 yards of each color. I should do the math, based in the instructions on the package of the product, but...I wasn't feeling like doing it, I just guessed. Don't forget to add some salt, to fix the color. 

I think the colors got really darker than what is shown on their color chart...not sure why...maybe because I should use the right amount of water + dye. In the end, I liked it. 

* I call these crocheted laces because they look crocheted to me, but I have no idea if they were really crocheted...maybe not. Here is a link for some information on laces. There are some techniques that scared me out a bit. Have you ever seen the process of bobbin lace? If you have time to kill and like textiles, visit the Virtual Museum of Textile Arts.

Well, we are off to Califoria tomorrow and I am still packing to go! I will take a blogging brake for about 10 days. I think I will have lots of photos next time. 

See you soon and enjoy the summer!

This is a post to share a bit of my thrift findings for my home. I was never skeptical about good thriftings. there is always something that will enlight our home decorations, don't you think? Plus, we end paying less and therefore we save some bucks for other things.

For our kitchen I have found this set of red vintage style table and stools to fill in that spot beside the freezer. I also love those toys on top of the freezer. They were sold for less than 10 dollars after Christmas at Michaels. We just need to be in the right place at the right time, hu? With a little bit of patience, we can decorate a beautiful home for much less...if we are not too materialistic or do not care much for expensive stuff...we do all right, agree?

Hubby says: "Can you do something less colorful, less floral? I mean it's nice what you make, but I think people like plain, one or two colors stuff."

Me: "Well, but this is me, hubby. I already had this thinking of making plain things, but these colorful results are part of my personality and my culture, I guess. I know I can do something plain, but I won't be happy with it. I know there are a lot of people that would never wear a red shirt. But I do. I like it bold. I like it strong. I wanna do what I like and sorry, I can't please all the people".

This conversation we had several weeks ago...to be or not to be so colorful? I prefer to be. If you like it, stay with me. If you don't...say bye. The sun shines for everyone.

My comment box remains closed and I am thinking about reopen it...maybe not. I have good reasons to not let people to comment here, I prefer e-mails at the moment.

And today I took the kids to the community pool. Warm day, when the sun is not hidden behind the clouds. My skin is a bit red. Love this, but with lots of sunscreen, please! 

I heard that Hancock Fabrics is closing several shops in the country and the one in town is one of them. they had a huge sale and lots of stuff were sold for almost nothing. I got lots of Waverly samples like these below for 50 cents each...

Remember those clothespin dolls I was making? I just put them in a box, unfinished. Yeah, I did. I just discovered that I don't like messing with small things. My fingers get nervous and I lost my patience with them. Besides, I don't really like dolls. Sometimes, I do. It depends...I am so afraid of those Blythes. I see them everywhere on Flickr. I totally understand those that like them, but they put me off a bit...they really make my hair to stand up!

And this (below) I started last night...Will you guess what is this? You don't need to. If you wait, you will see. Hopefully it will work perfectly. Burlap is so very cool to work with...love it.

They gave her a name which I like. It's Molly, my mannequin. Perfect to hang my clothes and photograph my handmade bags and brooches...I don't like to be a model to show things I make and I dislike using a tripod, so this mannequin is just great! It's not heavy and I can move it around easily. 

And the bag was renamed Amelia. It's gonna be back in the shop soon. I wanted to redo the lenght of the handles as I thought they were a bit too long.

And I made a brooch with scraps of embroidered linen, cotton and a covered button...

Last, just because I am happy about it and I know it's too silly to report that, but I will just because...I finally found the perfect bra size for me!!! After over 6 years living in The US, I am happy to know that Victoria's Secret sells 38 A bras. The sales girl told me they are new and it's not even in the catalog yet...and they just had half dozen in a forgotten drawer. Yay, I don't feel like an alien anymore!!!

My handmade space featured on Modish...

Many thanks to Jena, It's a honor to be on Modish!