My pretty red shoes

Last night was my husband's work Christmas Party, and we had a great time. I wore a little black dress that I absolutely love and have been wanting to wear again since my brother-in-law's wedding, but this time I did it right and ROCKED some seriously dramatic Red shoes. Its all about the shoes ladies!!

Anywho, I won the first raffle of the night and took home a GPS, but since we already have two I decided to take it back to the store for some store credit. :O) hehe

I had a really good time (thats not taking into consideration the horrible stomach ache I got in the middle of the event)Today I woke up with a sewing bug! So, I will be making Sori and Bella's aprons today. I will take the weekend to make the ballerinas for cheila, DK, Giana and so forth.

CANT WAIT!

OOoooh FROST!

I just stepped outside of my house to find crunchy, glimmering grass! It smells like ice outside and the air tastes sweet; I hate the cold, but love the changes it brings. Come on in Mrs. Winter!

I finally finished my nephews' pictures for Christmas, and I must pat myself on the back for a job well done. They are just too cute! My husband even smirked that he cant wait until we are making some for OUR kids soon. You know that got me all Giddy!

I named them:

Zumo, The Lion

RaYAS, THE Zebra

what do you think?

Christmas is knocking on my door

I LOVE TO DECORATE FOR CHRISTMAS! I have been waiting all year for this moment, the moment were you get all of your christmas decorations out and start to make your home merry and bright. I love the way everything looks, It is very cheerful and lit up.

My husband, or the grinch, as I like to call him even got into the christmas spirit and decided to put up 3 whole ornaments (all special ones) and that made me a very happy woman.

so, I am officially in the hot cocoa, candy canes, presents and ligths kinda mood and I just cant wait. Though this is a pretty poor christmas (financially,) it is a very exciting one too due to the fact that I am making the best presents ever by taking time to make something special for each person I love. Is there anything better? I dont think so!

well..here is a little glimpse of my own little christmas wonderland. ENjoY!

Fantabulous Dinner!

It was a great Thanksgiving, and I am very proud of ME! I found some great recipes, followed through and the results spoke for themselves...Empty Plates! I had/have a lot to be thankful for this thanksgiving. I am thankful for my family (my brother came to spend Turkey day with me), my new friends, my old ones and most importantly how much my husband and I have grown together this year. Its amazing how fast things change and how much happier you can be when you accept the wonderful things life has given you. I am very thankful and very blessed.

My hubby kept on thanking me for a job well done and for being such a great host to our group of 14. We gave thanks before having our dinner and each took a turn saying why we were thankful and my husband said he was most thankful for me and that made my day, my week and I think even the rest of my year. I love this man.

Well, I didnt take that many pics because we were having such a nice time that we completely overlooked the camera. But, i do have a few pics that I will add to this post as soon as my camera battery loads.


Hope you all had a very loving, filling and thankful thanksgiving!

btw, WENT TO JOANN's Black Friday morning after only 4 hours of sleep and got a hold of great cuddle flannel fabrics for 28$...It was only 1.49$ per yard and I just couldnt pass that up, so I saved (according to my receipt) 99$ IM SOOOO EXCITED!!!

Cant wait to post pics of the burp cloths, bibs and taggies that I am planning to make with my gorgeous finds!! :O)

here they are: the Mumm fabric with big flowers and the paisley are for Nursing Covers for my sis in law and my cousin

Woo Hoo for Turkey Day!

I am super thrilled for Thanksgiving, for the first time I get to host Thanksgiving dinner at my place and I am completely ecstatic. My husband came home about 5 days ago from work and says to me that this year he is craving a traditional American menu for Turkey day and I WAS SIMPLY THRILLED. I mean, I LOVE my Spanish food but we are going to cook a traditional spanish holiday menu for Christmas and again for New years' Eve so I NEED A BREAK! I found this fantastic sounding recipe for stuffing on www.Allrecipes.com and I cant wait to make it along with this Double layer Pumpkin Cheesecake which I am making ahead of time today.

I just finished seasoning and buttering up my Turkey and Im going to try the paperbag method. I have heard lots of great things about it.

we invited some friends and they are bringing a pineapple and cherry ham and some yams. Someone else is bringing over some liquor to make some Turkey day Caipirinhias (brazilian drink that my hubby loves)

Well, HAVE A HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!! Show me your turkey day menu pics. :O)
Anyway, I will definitely post some pics of my very first TURKEY DAY!

HOW TO MAKE A TUTU DRESS

This is no ordinary tutorial for a TUTU dress, this is THE post for THE best TUtu dress EVER! Every little girl deserves an absolutely magical moment all her own in a fairy princess tutu dress. To make this dress, you will need:



1) basic sewing utensils/sewing machine
2) about 15 yards of tulle (Im using 7.5 yds of eggplant, 7.5 yds of hot pink)
3) some matching flowers (for the front, variations include bows, broches)
4) elastic in the thickness of your choice (the amount needed will be the circumference around your little princess' chest -right under her armpits)
5) some satin ribbon for binding (Im using one in hot pink and one in plum, 1.5"wide)you can use just one color too
6) one spool of organza ribbon (im using hot pink in 5/8")
7) 2 small packettes of crystallized embellishments (those little flat backed diamond like thingies)
8)some fabric glue to adhere the crystals (should dry clear)

it might seem like a whole lot of stuff, but i had some great coupons and spent about 27$ in all, so dont fear it beats spending $100+ on one thats already made. But, if you dont want to work on it, you can always look on etsy for some pretty gorgeous ones already made. I am making this one for my friend's 2 year old's bday.

we are going to start by measuring your little girl's lenght from under her armpit to her ankles and then again around her chest, right under her armpits.

for heylies I got 18" around the chest and 22" long (she is a dainty little one)

(1) I cut the elastic to 16" long (I took the chest measurement and subtracted 2, because as you attach the tulle, the elastic will stretch)

(2) lay out the tulle and cut into strips about 3-4" wide and as long as your pit to ankle-in my case 22" long



(3) then I sew the edges of the elastic together, you can do this by hand or on the machine. (some people staple it, but i think this can be risky since a stappler can pull and then hurt the child)

(4) once we have all of our gazillion pieces cut out, you need to begin putting them around the elastic, alternating the colors. To do this, just make a simple knot around the elastic with the tulle itself.



(5)once you have attached all of your tulle and its nice and full, we will cut our organza ribbon into different length strips. (you will need about 12 strips, from 8" to 16") Then we will go around the tulle and randomly attach the ribbon with knots.

(6) once its all in place we will go ahead and sew it all in place with the sewing machine or by hand by stitching along the bottom of the elastic all around.



(8) once all of the tulle is in place and all sewn,take strips of organza and attach with little knots to the elastic. you need to grab your glue and and little embellishments and add one to each strip of organza (this entire step is selective)


(9) our next step is probably the hardest, we are going to braid the satin ribbons around the elastic so that is creates a very elegant and non-itchy dress. Do this by starting from the back side (the place where you stitched your elastic together). you are going to have to measure here to make sure that you have enough ribbon to hang evenly on both sides once you wrap. So, leave about 18" of hanging ribbon, and then go all the way around.



(10) we are going to attach the satin ribbon with a quick hand stich to the bottom of the elastic and just wrap around, through the tulle in order to cover it and create a braid look, if you are using two colors, just alternate.

(11) leave about 18" of excess ribbon hanging from the back, you should have four total pieces hanging (you can use just one color if you want) this is for the bow.

*Tip: dont forget to fray check the edges!
Our dress is done. Now we are going to EMBELLISH!

I bought some plum colored flowers that come in stems from walmart and they were like .50cents on sale. YAY! I took them off the stem and removed all of the plastic pieces carefully so as not to mess up the flower. Then I attached the pieces to eachother with a few hand stiches (you can use your machine too) with matching thread.



I took a piece of satin ribbon and measured around the neck of heylies to the front edge of the dress (so as to create a halter so the dress isnt contantly sliding). To attach this, I just wrapped around the edge and knotted into place then quick stitched it.

Then I attached the flowers in the arrangement of my choice to the very front of the dress, right over the halter.



Once this was all done, we only have one more step to go..

ADD THE LITTLE RHINESTONES....i put them sporadically throught with a small amount of glue.



VOILA!!! a dress fit for a princess!

"When you have a hundred reasons to give up..."

 "When you have a hundred reasons to give up..."

The dreaded question, “Who am I?” Philosophically speaking, I am the person that will say,  "When you have a hundred reasons to give up...you only need one to keep fighting." In my real life, that has applied numerous times. I don’t like to give up on the things that matter; however, oftentimes, I find that it is difficult for me to focus and finish what I start. I have stories, like most everyone in the world; I have good and bad stories, happy and sad stories, and painful and joyful stories. All of these stories have added to my life, and those I thought took away from it -the ones that hurt to the very core- well, they were the stories that have truly and deeply carved at my very soul to create me.

You see, I am a lover of people, life, smiles, simplicity, sunshine, warm weather, food, love, my kids, and my family (even though they are all nuts or drive me nuts, but hey the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree they say). Its not all love this, like that. I cry, I ache, I question myself, I doubt and albeit many have come to compliment my intelligence, I have never felt very bright. Self doubt, my fatal flaw, my hamartia.

According to the story of my life, some would say that I am a professional dreamer and eternal leaf in the wind kind of soul. I like many things, want to do many things, but seldom am passionate enough about 1 to see it through.

Growing up I always had two identities, my own and the rest of the world around me’s version of me. I am light skinned, with freckles, green eyes and born to Dominican parents in New Jersey. I have never had a strong Spanish accent, and to my Spanish counterparts, I sound like a “gringa”. There were many aspects of my latino culture I embraced and identified with, and many I didn’t. The same is also true for my American culture as well. Who I am is a little bit of everything. 

I decided to embark on the madness that is blogging precisely because I believe many people might find themselves with the same thoughts, questions, curiosities, insecurities as I do, but have no voice. 

ON A BABY PLAN!

My husband and I have decided on a baby plan. YOu might be like "What?!" well, we sat down and discussed when would be the best time to start trying for a family. SO, we came up with this plan because i want to stay home with the baby for a year and with grad school and his moving up quick at work, it just seems like a lot, But a baby is the most important thing. So, we are going to SAVE SAVE SAVE $$$$. That means that I have to get a fulltime job with some steady income. WILL DO! My pay as a substitute teacher isnt cutting it right now. I have also been working real hard at home learning to sew some pretty cute things. I have to put together some tutorials. I am trying to perfect a couple of pieces because Im thinking this would be a good source of side income. :) I cant wait to post some pics of the toddler aprons, bibs, mini burp cloths, and taggies i have made along with some super cute ballerina ragdolls.

ok, after a long day of school, cleaning, crafting and lounging around I am ready to hit the sack! Nite nite!!

Today is the day...

today is the day that i pledge to make my blog a GREAT BLOG!!!

I am going to make it beautiful, make it inviting and make it one those blogs that you cant help, but visit. I WILL BE A BLOGGIN-VIXEN!! lol well, ok maybe not a bloggin vixen, but a darn good blogger.

these pasts weeks at home have been great, my husband and I seem to be learning how to work with eachother and understand eachother better. I am happy. It feels like something has suddenly clicked at home and the pieces fit. My husband and I have had our small arguments, but they havent escalated to anything more than a few minutes of bikering and I am so proud of him for keeping my feelings in mind and I am so proud of me for remembering that I must learn to let things go if I wish to be happy. he is a great man and he has a great wife and I know that if we keep on putting forth the level of effort, empathy and consideration that we have been putting forth we will achieve great things as a family. I love my husband.

some new things I have made

Here are some of the new things I have kept myself busy with this month. I made 4 aprons for my nieces, some bibs and mini burp cloths for my flea market stock and some pretty ballerina ragdolls using the black apple pattern and instructions, the ballerina part was entirely my idea.

good weekend

this was a really good weekend, went out with some friends to the Neptune Festival and had a fabulous dinner at Catch31. We had a few drinks, laughed a little and overall had a good time. Then today my husband invited some friends over and I cooked for them, then we played some Wii and had a pretty nice time, but I AM EXHAUSTED!

My nephew turned 3 today and when I asked him how old he is his reply is "10" i said no your not, you are "3" and he goes " I KNOW, BUT I WANT TO BE 10" so we all laughed and had a good time. I made him a cute painting of a Giraffe for his room and a frame with his name to match. Then i bought him some Mega blocks made of wood and some flashcards and stuff just so he has lots of things to open and enjoy himself.

here are some pics of the Giraffe and frame.

Its Raining, Its pouring, the Old man is snoring...

I Finally slept good last night, probably because I know that my husband comes home tomorrow night. When he isnt here I cant sleep, I think the bed feels too big and empty. its been raining all morning and its nice to have a day like that once in a while, Im gonna go and rent sex in the city or maybe ill make something.

Im gonna go and make myself some breakfast, maybe a nice big breakfast as a treat.

THRIFT STORE JUNKIE!

ok, I miss my husband! he drives me bonkers when he is home, but when he isnt here this place feels insanely empty and dull. He sent me some beautiful flowers last week for no reason at all. We are working on us and he is putting lots of effort into making me happy and us work. YAY!! I feel happy. I hope it stays that way..we are so different that sometimes I feel that it works against us, yet everyone that meets us says that it works in our benefit. I suppose thats true for lots of couples.



I love anything thrift store and yard sale...I wish I had a partner in crime to check these places out with :O( .It's so much more fun to go with another thrift junkie to share your finds with.

I found this thrift store (JCOC THRIFT) near my place that is really great. They carry inexpensive and vintage children's books. I have found some awesome finds there; they have the best sales and prices ever.


The grinch book is from 1957 and I also have "madeline's rescue" from 1955 with original watercolor painting. The little Golden books are all first prints of their particular stories.

I also bought an abslide for my husband (who loves to excersize while he watches tv) for 1.00$ (hehe) and a couple of baby books for him and myself for .45cents each (in brand new condition might I add)




What I want to find is some fun and funky fabric and maybe some vintage pieces that i can use as embellishments. I want to make one of those nursing covers next. So far, I am learning a little bit more each time I sew. I also want to make little bra markers for breast feeding. They are basically litle hooks or something you clip on the breast that you last breastfed from so that you remember to alternate next time. I have SERIOUS ISSUES understanding patterns, CANT MAKE SENSE OF THEM AT ALL! its like my brain cannot comprehend the madness SO I just make up my own. lol