welcome to S's room

I have finally managed to take some pictures of the nursery… It has been lots of fun to start working on his room, specially trying to display all the special things I got for him from my friends and family!

a little bumble bee hanging above his crib... my sister did this cutie (and the rest of the mobiles creatures)

S doesn’t know it but his room has a lot of “hand-made” things made especially for him, which is what I like most about his room! All those owls, mobiles and little details that remind me of my friends back in Vancouver (I miss you a lot guys!).

Here are some pictures I've been working on. I will post more pictures when the room is completely ready… it is still missing a couple of things… I want to print some family pictures, frame them and hang them over his crib… and I’m also working on a garland I want to put on his closet doors… and lots of other things that I will eventually do.

I love the colors of the bedding... what I like the most is that owl's hair!

my sister and I worked on this mobile... she did the stuffed animals... I did the display! (she's awesome!)

we found this amazing rug 2 weeks ago.. the colors work perfect with Cheryl's  painting!

Cheryl's mobile close-up

All kinds of owls for Santi! (thanks Cheryl... he loves the painting)

Cheryl sent me some pics of the process for the owls! How amazing!!! (she's so talented)

Cheryl's mobile and owls for the baby!

  

The baby shower owls and a special little guy Cailin made for Santi and I! (thanks Cailin!)

 For now I hope you like what I've been doing with his room!

** special thanks to everyone who has made Santi's room possible... thanks for taking the time to do such lovely things for him! I truly appreciate all your talent and hard work! xoxo** 

I've been entertained...

I don’t blog much during summers. I kind of prefer being outside, enjoying the sun and blue skies. But this summer has been quite different, now that the baby is here; I have been home a lot!!

I spend most of my days enjoying him, playing, trying to make him laugh and just having an amazing time as I get to know my little one!

I've been promising some pictures of his room, which I’ll post next week… but for now I want to share with you my sewing endeavors (if you can actually call them that!)

I don’t know how to sew but I’m trying to learn and do simple projects I can use around the house as I learn. My first project was a tag blankie for the baby inspired by my Simple Sewing for Baby (by Lotta Jansdotter) book and I also dared to do a little embroidery…

I think the results are quite good… it really helped that it is such a simple project that makes any beginner feel secure behind a sewing machine (they can be scary… I least I thought so). The thing I love most about this blankie is that it has become the baby’s favorite! He loves staring at the ribbons and putting them in his mouth… we carry it everywhere!

So this is my first completed sewing project so far!

(I know it is very simple but I’m learning… so yes, I’m proud of it!)

Two fabulous blog discoveries from last week

I have no idea what I was actually looking for when I came across Craft Snob… and I say I have no idea because it is clear to me that whatever I was looking for was not important at all! As soon as I entered this blog I totally forgot about everything else and was just so happy!

Obviously my first pick was the “knitting 101 with Elisa McLaughlin”… I already know how to knit, but the picture of that headband / cowl on the button was just fascinating to me… I read all of the 4 posts, downloaded the “it’s a cinch” pattern, looked for my smallest needles and started knitting! Two days later I had my own headband which I really want to wear but haven’t had the proper weather to be wearing such a warm headband…

Obviously I am now following Sara’s and Elisa’s blogs! 

my sweet tooth is kicking in

I have always been more inclined to salty food (and chocolate of course) … but since the last couple of months of my pregnancy I started developing an addiction for sweets! Obviously I blamed it all to the pregnancy and started eating tarts, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, you name it!

My baby will turn 3 months tomorrow and I have to confess that being pregnant had nothing to do with my love for sweets. I still have crazy cravings and eat a lot of chocolate and ice cream… thank God my metabolism is up to speed and you can’t really tell I eat so much sugar!

Another addiction of mine for the last couple of months is “pinning”… oh yes, I spend hours looking for inspiration and cool things on Pinterest, and since they came up with their mobile app I must confess my addiction has gotten worst.

I decided (about 5 days ago) that if I was going to be pinning so much I might as well try some of the things I’ve been keeping on my boards, specially my 3 favorite boards (cute little things, food and other goodies and loving handmade). Yesterday after two or three days of procrastination I finally started what I’m calling my “pinning adventure”. I’m choosing some of the most amazing stuff I’ve pinned into my boards and I’m following the tutorials and recipes from the original posts and see how they turn out. 

I’m sure this will make me a better crafter/cook! (you can find my boards here http://pinterest.com/carmendlp/)

Having said this, I finally jumped into my cooking groove and prepared Nutella Meringues (seriously people… Nutella is the MOST addictive thing ever… since I bought some for the meringues, I have had Nutella and toast for breakfast -and sometimes lunch- every single day!)

The recipe is SUPER easy and the instructions are very clear (I’m kind of a control freak and need to do everything perfectly and find it is much easier to try new things when the instructions are easy to follow). I originally found the recipe on Pinterest and was directed then to http://creampuffsinvenice.ca/  just in case you’re feeling curious.

Here are some pics of how my Nutella Meringues turned out!

I’m going to do some more during the week to practice more on my presentation skills… I kind of like the way they look but I would like to perfect them a little bit!

Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions if you have any ideas of how to improve my "meringue skills", I always appreciate feedback!

Stripe Mania party @decor8

Many of you may not know this but one of my favorite blogs is decor8... and I also follow Holly on pinterest and for the last couple of days I have been seeing all this pictures of people wearing stripes going into one of her boards called "stripe mania"

So I got a little curious and decided to have a look at her blog and see what I've been missing and came across with #stripemania  virtual party!... Seriously, I just have to be in it! I love stripes!!!!

So I asked the hubby to be my photographer for the day and here are the pictures we came up with!

(oh yes, I forgot to let you know that Pekka decided she should be joining the party, guess she left little space for us to participate!)

don't you love stripes?

back to blogging

So… the baby is finally here!

On March 28 we welcomed a gorgeous little boy to our family, and since that day it has been non-stop activity for me!

We had our baby in Vancouver, B.C. and 15 days later moved to Mississauga, ON. (my husband got a job here so we had to leave Vancouver which has been really hard!) and let me tell you this: being a first time mom and trying to decorate/arrange a new household is not as easy as I thought it would be… specially with all the sleep deprivation going on!

Between motherhood and our home, I had to give up blogging and crafting and pretty much everything else (which I happily did… I love to have “nothing” to do but stare at our little boy!)  but now that the baby and I have established a routine, and my house isn’t packed with boxes anymore, I decided it was time to get back to blogging.

For my back-to-blogging post I decided to share with all of you (assuming there is someone reading this!) a ripple blanket I did for the baby!

Here are some pics of the process and the final results! 

as always Pekka was my supporter all the way through the end!

I loved working on this pattern… it was a little hard to get started because I kept getting distracted and didn’t keep the count… but once I had the two first rows ready it was actually very nice and relaxing! As for the colors, I went with teal and white since we chose not to know the sex of the baby… those 2 colors work great for a girl or a boy.

Oh well, I hope you enjoy! I’m very happy to be back!

I know this girl from New Zealand... and she designed this lamp!

As I’ve said before… design is everywhere and everything is design!

When I started working at designhouse and Marimekko I met Monique, a wonderful girl from New Zealand that was living in Vancouver with her fiancee (now husband!!!!!)Scott.

Monique is also a designer and we kind of understood each other’s obsession for chairs! so, when she moved back to New Zealand I asked her to share with design glimpse some of her work… specially her Lotus Lamp!

I’m completely in love with the lamp, it’s like having an art installation at home… I love great design and specially design that looks as beautiful as this lamp!

I asked Monique to tell us a little bit about the lamp, and if you happen to have any questions or a particular interest on her work you can also contact her at mcfurnituredesign@hotmail.com .

Monique, would you mind telling me more about the lamp? When did you come up with the design? What inspired you?

OK, so I designed the lamp in late 2005 and actually exhibited it at a store called the Urban Lounge when it was still a hand cut prototype.  Not long afterwards I was accepted to exhibit them at The 2006 Australian International Furniture Fair in Sydney in an up and coming designers section of the show called "The Edge".

The lamp was featured in Urbis (a NZ design mag) and Australian House and Garden Magazine.  

Then I left NZ to go travelling and put everything on hold.  I had hoped to try and get some Canadian stockists but my original bracket inside it doesn't fit many light fittings in North America, so now that I am back home and designing again I will work out a new North American bracket.  

I have no idea what inspired my lamp it sort of came out of nowhere, I did want to design something flat packed and easy to take to exhibitions overseas, and all of my work is quite multifunctional either you can use it for an entirely different purpose or you can change it around.

Currently the Lotus lamp is on display at Statements Gallery in Napier New Zealand along with my most recent design the Library Chair.

** thanks Monique for sharing with design glimpse!!! please keep me updated with your projects and feel free to keep sharing :)

LoveCake's 1st anniversary!!!

LoveCake is turning 1!!!! 

... And since Lindsey is celebrating this month, LoveCake will be hosting some pretty amazing giveaways and of course I couldn't miss the opportunity to share with all of you this amazing blog!

So I asked Lindsey to share with us a little bit of her blogging, crafting and life experiences as the creator of LoveCake!

** Thanks Lindsey for taking the time and being part of design glimpse! I hope you enjoy the post! **

Behind LoveCake there is ... a 26 year old woman, mom & wife who is embracing her creative self again while navigating the land of raising a toddler, Master E and being a great wife to a supportive hubby.

My expectations of LoveCake ... Hmm... It's hard to say because one minute I felt like I wasn't going to ask much of this blog and the next I was thinking it could be something really fantastic. But it had to always be something that would evolve and grow and feel like me throughout.. I wanted it to be my blank "blog canvas". So, to me that meant that if I wanted to bring awareness to bullying { like I did in my 4th or 5th post } or talk about how some days I'll be getting out of my pj's and brushing my teeth just as my husband comes home from work, I could. It's a no guilt, frilly around the edges, fluffy in the center, sweet and salty kinda blog. 

LoveCake's 1st year in a paragraph... I think I summed it up above. However, I will add that there were days it was hard to find something to blog about or I just didn't want to. LoveCake luckily was kind to me and adapted to how I felt... it was still there if I spent 3 weeks tending to a teething boy and suffering sleepless nights. And thankfully, it didn't ask me to blog about it.. 

What's next for LoveCake... LOTS of giveaways this month. I've also started a little range of felt hair pins - super adorable. And I'm hoping to incorporate more of my artwork into LoveCake's etsy shop and I'd love to do some guest blogging. Any takers? Ha. More cooking/craft tutorials... cake decorating...maybe even a little party planning…

I feel so lucky to have reconnected with an old friend from school. That's the power of blogs and social networking. Carmen and I go all the way back to grade 8 and it's pretty awesome that 10+ years later we find ourselves blogging and becoming moms! Happy 1st LoveCake and Happy Motherhood Carmen!! XXOO

ps. don't forget to enter LoveCake's giveaway! 

http://lovecake.ca/2011/03/10/1stitch2stitch-giveaway/

Cheryl made a mobile for the baby!

As you know… a couple of weeks ago I had a baby shower! and got lots of beautiful, nice, cute little things for the baby!

One of the gifts was a mobile my friend Cheryl did. With all my handmade, craftiness loving I asked her if it would be ok for me to post something on the blog about her creation! She sent me some pictures of the process and pictures of the baby’s view and everything!

She also did a super cute origami tag for the gift with a paper full of owls! I loved it!!

So thanks Cher for taking the time and creating this amazing mobile!!!

baby shower crafts

I sent my friend Maya the little owls I drew for the shower and she designed the invites!!

It’s been a long long time since I last blogged… and I have missed blogging like crazy! But I guess that when you’re about to have a baby, leave your job, start getting everything together to move to another city and just try to survive it all it is hard to find time, sit down and well, blog.

So, having said that… I had my baby shower last weekend and decided to embrace the “handmade” and designed, cut and sewed the favors for my guests! (I must confess I got LOTS of help from my mom!)

I also did some pom poms… which I must confess were really simple but only if you have very and I mean VERY good scissors!! If you don’t have a good pair of scissors I would suggest buying them… just for peace of mind!

The theme I’ve chosen for the baby’s nursery is OWLS, so the baby shower was all about owls as well.

They seem to be everywhere lately but I must confess I do not like birds… I don’t know why but I’ve never liked them… until I got pregnant and became totally fascinated by this cute little creatures!

I took some pictures of the “handmade” process and finalized products… I hope you like them! I truly enjoyed being so crafty!! It made me smile!

I'm not a pastel person so the baby shower stuff had to be bright and bold!

We found this cute little ribbon for the favor bags!

Loved how they looked on their little baskets!

Owls and pom poms.

Oh!!! And Marga (my cousin) did some owl pop cakes… they were a success!!! Hmmm… I think there’s still one left!

Owl pop cakes and favor bags!

Thank you notes I did for my friends!
(Maya, Marga and my mom (Leonor) were the ones who organized the whole thing! so they deserve to have their thank you notes on the blog!!)