Friday, July 30, 2010

Indy and her Fabulously Fierce Pets collar!

Wednesday was my day off this week, so I decided to get some social life, and meet my friend Pilu's new puppy, Indy!


We decided she'd pick me up at the train station and then we'd drive to their new house, spend some time playing around with Indy, and then we'd go to the Japanese restaurant for some sushi!


Since at some point we had planned to get Pilu a puppy ourselves (us as in the group from uni) but her brother and niece took the lead, so I thought it'd be a good idea to bring a lil present for the puppy! So, I got Indy a super cute set of collar & leash from Fabulously Fierce Pets!




Pilu loved it even more than Indy did, cause as soon as she saw it, she took Indy's old collar off, and put on the new one! It's purple & camo, and looks great with Indy's golden cinnamon coat!






Indy wasn't too much in the mood for getting some pics taken at first, she's a bit camera shy! But after we took her to play around in her favourite park next to their house, she decided to play model for the camera for a bit and she's a total cutie!!










After all that playing, Indy was tired and thirsty, so we went back home, gave her fresh water and let her take a nap, while we went to the Japanese restaurant.




We had a great lunch! Some miso soup, some really yummy sushi, and for dessert, green tea ice cream and green tea truffles! Both were delicious, and even if the truffles do look a bit like moss... damn they're a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!




After lunch, we went for some nice tea at home, and to play more with miss Indy! All in all, quite a great day!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Ever Designs!!

Last Sunday I finally went to see Eclipse, the third Twilight movie, and I have to say I liked it a lot! I had waited a bit cause I wanted to avoid the crowds, and the screaming teenager Twi-hards... For New Moon I went on Saturday evening of release week, and it was too crowded for my taste AND there were too many screaming teenagers for my taste... But this time, luckily I avoided all that!


And curiously enough, on Monday itself I got my new gorgeous bracelet from Ever Designs! You might be wondering why I might think that curious. Well, Noriane, Ever Designs' owner & designer is also a Twilight fan, and she has created many amazing jewellry pieces inspired in the Twilight books, and I own quite a few of them from when Noriane sold in Etsy under the name "Noriane's Bijoux: Twilight Impressions".


Noriane stopped selling on Etsy after some issues with Summit Entertainment, apparently they don't like artists being inspired by Twilight, and she now has her own website, with the new name, and has some new brilliant pieces, but also all the old favourites!


The bracelet that arrived on Monday is one of the new designs, the Aqua Violet Bouquet bracelet, and it's as gorgeous as I've grown used to expect from Noriane's jewellry!






Not only her jewellry is amazing, but also, her packages are always a treat, all jewellry in satin black pouches, and this time, I even got a gorgeous sun catcher and a microfiber cloth to clean my jewellry!










She's now added a new bracelet to her collection, the Purple Dream bracelet, that I will be adding to my collection (I own quite a few of hers) for my birthday, that she first made as a custom for a friend of mine. And that you can see here!


Whether you like Twilight or not, I can assure you that you will love Ever Designs' jewellry!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Camamiel: Dolls & Art!! Escarlatina the Nurse!

Hello there!


It's Monday again, and I'm working night shift, but I'm having a slightly lighter week than previous, getting a few more days off, so I'll have a bit more time to blog, and to have some more social life!


I've been a bit over-worked and a bit burnt out at work for the past few months, very much in need of vacation, and feeling like I really needed a break... And then, out of the blue, Deb from On Cupcake Moon linked me to an absolutely CUTE nurse felt doll she had seen in one of her favourite Etsy shops: Camamiel! And that she said, reminded her of me!


Camamiel's owner and artist behind the cuteness, Ana, actually lives in Madrid, the same province than I do! I was so surprised I hadn't found her shop, being local and all, in Etsy!


She has the cutest postcards, felt brooches and the most fabulous felt dolls I've ever seen! And one of them, is the cutest nurse you've ever see! Escarlatina is a super nice nurse, understanding and kind! And just reading her Etsy listing made me remember why I love being a nurse so much, and why my work is important!


So, I obviously had to buy Escarlatina, and bring her home with me! I still haven't taken her to work, cause we've been pretty busy as of late, and I'm not sure how good an idea would be bringing my little friend with me, but I still plan to, at some point!


When Escarlatina arrived (fastest shipping ever, of course, I'm more used to packages coming from overseas or Europe, not from Spain itself!) the package not only had a super cute label and stickers, but it was also super well protected, with hard cardboard, to ensure Escarlatina was well protected!










I also got a pair of pins I'll be adding to some of my bags, but also some lovely postcards featuring some other of Camamiel's lovely dolls and art!








Escarlatina was a lil shy at the beginning, but since we both have loads in common, we soon became good friends and she has also become very good friends with the other nurse doll I got as a graduation present from one of my best friends.








In this case, not only this lovely piece of felt art is very well made, but it also has a more deep emotional connection with me... this little lovely doll have helped me get over a bit of slump of burnt out at work, and reminded me of how much I love my job!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Biting Gnome Boo Boo Bag & Burn Buster!

Hey there!


Last week I managed to keep up the blogging thanks to the "scheduled posts", a very handy tool of blogger. You write your entry, but choose date and hour for it to be published!


This week, I've been a bit busy, and even though I've been getting a good number of packages, and I've managed to take photos of a good bunch of them, but I've been a bit lagging in the blogging department, but I'm trying to get back into track, both with real time & scheduled posts!


One of the packages I got recently was from the talented Karyl from Biting Gnome Baubles! I've talked about Karyl's cards in a previous post here, but today I will talk about her Burn Busters (coffee and other hot beverages sleeves) and her BooBoo bags!







Her Burn Busters are made of either fleece or cotton with a felt backing, to protect your fingers from the heat of any hot beverage, and to help you go greener, not having to use those cardboard sleeves that you throw away! I got myself a super cute lime green with pink guitars fabric sleeve, with a sewn in pink felt heart!






She has quite a few different sleeves in her shop, for Twilight fans, for Harry Potter fans and for those who like cute things in general! If you like having your coffee on the go, a Burn Buster is a must for you!


Karyl's got the idea to create her BooBoo Bags cause she gets frequent headaches, and she likes to get something cold to help her feel better! She first started using flax seeds for the fillings, and those can be easily heated or cooled, and retain both heat & cold longer than other fillings, like rice. She uses super cute cotton fabrics, and I chose one of my favourite fabrics, the Alexander Henry skulls in pink!






I haven't used it on the heat, since luckily I haven't got any sore muscles as of late, but I have used mine cold to help with headaches, and the cold pack does feel nice and soothing! If you're prone to headaches, I'd recommend you get one! You can even pick a custom fabric!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Cupcaking Obession!

As some of you might have noticed, I've been pretty much obsessed with everything cupcakes & baking as of late (at least till this blasted heat wave arrived, cause now the thought of baking makes me sweat buckets!) so much that the bf joked that I had been possessed by Martha Stewart...


It all started with Tom's recipe for cupcakes, as well as my own back-to-baking with the lemon muffins... Then I saw Deb's recipe in her blog for S'mores Cupcakes that recommended foil lined liners for best results, so I turned to Etsy to look for cupcake foil liners... and I found all sort of goodness! Currently I've bought from two shops: Sweet Estelle and The Cupcake Social, and both have had super fast shipping and great customer service!


From Sweet Estelle:







From The Cupcake Social:











And outside of Etsy, I was looking for recipe books for cupcakes and other bakes, so I went to my usual online bookstore: The Book Depository (that has free worldwide shipping!) and got myself a book: GoodFood 101 Cupcakes & Small Bakes and also a set that includes frosting tips, a recipe book and a bunch of cupcake liners: Cupcake Kit!







Now, I'm just wishing the weather will cool off a lil bit so I feel like baking again, cause there are a bunch of things I want to try!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

My Little Pony, Custom Cranium Style!

This has been a blog entry for too long on the making! So much, that I have to ask forgiveness from Darien, the amazing artist behind Custom Cranium Osteo-Oddities, cause I promised her a blog entry a long time ago!


Darien not only makes the most amazing Snuff Stuffies from both discarded stuffed animals, and the bones of animals that died of natural causes or accidents, giving them both a second life, but she also tried her hand at painting My Little Ponies, and I fell in love with her pieces, and it was then when I got my first piece: the PiliPony! A gorgeous Day of the Dead style pony, and you can check its own blog entry here!


After that, I asked Darien for another two painted My Little Ponies, this time inspired by Iron Maiden's "Somewhere Back In Time" tour and all their Egyptian set up! Darien was as always more than willing to take on the task, and plunged into it, creating two amazing & unique pieces, and one lil mini-pony as a lovely surprise extra!




I can't say which of the two I'd choose as my favourite, since they're both painted with a great attention to detail! And I love that both have their eyes painted with the Eye of Horus!






Red-haired pony with a Royal Scarab on her hindquarters and Horus falcon in its forehead:








Blonde-haired pony with an Ankh on its back and a Cobra on its forehead!:






Tiny lil Pegasus pony!:








I now have 4 Ponies in my collection, and I foresee a few more in the future!