Not to Rub it in or anything!

Not to rub it in or anything but I'm really REALLY REALLY excited about going to Brasil in December. We are finalizing plain ticket purchases this week and so it's got me just dreaming about going back and what we will do.

It would have made it 5 years since we last visited in December. We took Christian when he was about 4 months old so he hasn't really experienced anything like this before. Carter hasn't been and no one has meet him yet and I'm actually nervous about taking him on such a long trip! He doesn't like watching tv so taking a small dvd player for him won't really help the 24 hour trip and he hates traveling in the car!

The trip is going to be a long one! We go from LA ( from my house to LA its about a 3 hour drive depending on the traffic) and from LA the plain stops in New York and then to Sao Paulo,Brasil. It's normally like a 13 hour trip but with all the stops etc and waiting time its going to be more than a 24 hour trip!

Im anxious, nervous, tierd just thinking about it but so EXCITED. I would rather go to somewhere like Brasil 100 times over than somewhere like France. Actually I don't even have any bone in my body that really ever wants to a place like France and I dont know why. Just I guess Im more of an exotic kind of girl?!

We will be leaving December 7 and coming back the 7 of January. A whole month of vacation!!!

Brasil is probably the funnest place to have new years celebration! They aren't big on Christmas (which I love :( .....I guess my putz houses and all the fun decor wont be coming out this year) but New Years is a huge event!

Almost everyone is on the beach for new years which makes it very crowded but fun and they all wear white which stands for peace, love, luck etc and they have the best fireworks I've ever seen! It's quite a sight!

As we speak Im looking for a white dress to wear for the coming of the new year.

In December its HOT HOT HOT!!! So while everyone back here is freezing with snow I'll be sitting in my beach chair, drinking a native drink called caipirinha getting a tan!!!! But Im not trying to rub it in or anything...haha!

Any requests for suvinears or postcards? Send me your addy!!!

I would like to show Christian the Favelas which is a slum ...just basically houses made out of everything and anything. He has soooooooooo much...more than I had when I was little and hes only 4. I want to make sure he grows up appreciative and really with a kind and giving heart!

We all know that Ill be doing lots of shopping!! This mall is by Ericsons dads house and its the biggest mall in South America...Ive been there a million times. The good thing about Brasilian fashion is that they get all the new fashion before the USA. So Ill be coming back with the new trends of 2010 summer while its still winter...plus ...its cheap and beautiful. Im also going to be shopping for world cup clothes. If you arent into soccer you should know that the world cup is next year in South Africa...and you should also know that Brasil is going to win...haha jk


The crazy new years crowd!

Guaruja beach!!! LOVE IT

This is what its going to look like on the beach!!


Ericson looking foward to playing soccer on the beach!!


Natural Coconut juice that you can buy cheaply on the beach! YUM


Favelas



ok now I have to go take a shower...the boys are sleeping and I just colored my hair...got to get the color out!
beijos

Swaps and Vintage Finds

I was in a Ornament Swap hosted by Kathleen aka The Buzy Bee and Geralyn sent me these ornaments.

She made this bird one out of a card box! Clever lady!

This one is a shiny star!

Sweetina was my partner for the vintage Christmas Stocking swap. She embellished this stocking for me...cute huh?

She sent me 2 hankies and lots of trim that I have alreay used hehe

I LOVE THIS! Beautiful hanging collage! Its beautiful and super glittery!

She sent me these vintage candles but they broke!!!! SO SAD!

She sent me this sweet vintage apron! Love the fabric! So cute

Love everything Girlie!!! Thanks so much!!! Cant wait till you post pics of your goodies!

Here are some of the things I found at our thrift store on Sat. They didn't have much of anything that jumped out at me but here are a couple things.

Vintage Sewing patterns. They didn't have any cute girl ones but had some boy/men patterns.

So 50's!

Love the little guy in the blue pjs face!


Vintage Santa Blowmold!

I'm in the process of cleaning the mess in the craft room and trust me its a HUGE job! But have lots of fun things to show you all !!!

Please remember to sign up for the Vintage Christmas Challenge!

You can find the details here and join the flickr group here

More fun stuff in my next post

XOXO

Christmas Challenge, Award and Tag

Christmas Challenge

As some of you know Im hosting a Christmas challenge. It should be really fun so check out the details here !!!

Here is the flickr group you can sign up for to add your pictures. Click here to go to the flickr group

Award

Jessica from Kids Napping? I'm Scrapping decided to give little old me an award! Isn't she sweet????
I get to pass this on to 5 creative people!!! Thank you Jessica for picking me :) I'm honored!!

Here are my picks:

1. Vintage Girl at Heart has a sweet blog ! I just came across her blog this week and am loving it! Here is one kreative projects I'm loving:

2.Diane at Saturday Finds is a great Insperation to me. She just has the greatest ideas and makes the funniest things!! I love these posies and bottle brush trees:

3. Jennifer from Rosey Little Things was my swap partner for the Vintage Pink Christmas Swap. She is a sweetie and super talented lady. Here is a peak at somethings she has made:

4. Kirsten from Simply Grove is a sweetie pie. I actually went to church with her for the year when I lived in Idaho. She is a super talented and modern interior decorator. Here are some corners of her house:

5. Last but not least I'm awarding this award to Holly from Girls at Heart! She just started her girly blog and is finding time for crafting! I'm encouraging her to do more because she is a wonderful and sweet talented woman!

6 Things

Holly from Girls At Heart Tagged me this week and Im just getting around to doing it.

1. I love the smell of rubbing alchol. Don't know why? I like the smell of Windex too !

2. I hate onions or the smell of onions! I hate almost every vegtable except salad or something like corn!

3. My sister and I would lie that one or the other had a bad dream so we could sleep together when we were little. We were really close! Since we were adopted and in Brasil all we had were eachother and we were always shifted around and dropped off at different places. The only thing we could count on is eachother! Now she is married and got married under a hard situation and we don't get alont very well. It's really sad!

4. I've meet my birthmom and she has a boy and a girl who are about 8 and 9.

5. When I was pregnant with Christian I wanted mustard and lime on everything. Before I was pregnant with him I HATED MUSTARD but now I like it. Ill eat lime on everything...it's kindda wierd.

6. I can't eat spicy food. My husband can't either...Everyone thinks because we are from Brasil we like that stuff. Brasilian don't eat spicy food! Also....we don't speak Spanish. haha

Ok, I've noticed something...these are all about food. Maybe its because I just woke up and quickly came on here to do a post and didn't eat breakfast! haha

I have lots of stuff to share with you guys!!!Let me get a chance to take picks! I have swap packages, vintage finds and soem tid bits!!!

XOXO

freaky pinecone dudes, pretty paper, and DIY house

Have you ever seen these little vintage pinecone ornaments? They aren't exactly my taste but if they are yours you can find them here.

Well, Oodles and Oodles (she has a wonderful blog) shows us how to make a better version of these pinecone dudes with vintage glass ornaments and vintage picks! I love how they turned out on her blog and will have to give them a try!

Heather Bullard gives us some fancy ideas for wrapping some gifts! I love this one !!! This gift is wrapped with vintage sewing paper! Love the color!

Watch how to make this flower here on youtube.

For the past couple weeks I have gone into my local craft store looking for the little paper mache houses that I love to paint and embellish!!! But for about 3 weeks they haven't had any in! So I decided I would find a place on the net with a great template and I did. It's a fun project and you can make it with household items!

Big Indoor Trains shows us how and has a printable template for the little houses and even the church!

Well, Im off to bed and will be getting up early to go to the thrift store and to mail off some packages!!! Everyone have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo

Ornaments and Peacocks

Here are a couple things happening in my neck of the woods. I made some of these things last night and wanted to share them with you. My son has now woken up so I need to wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and announce the winners of the candles in a little bit once Christian wakes up to pick the winner!

Santa spoon ornament or magnet

Vintage bottle brush, vintage lace, vintage music paper, vintage Santa

Bird Nest Spoon ornament or magnet

I used millinery flowers, lace, glitter bird, beads for the eggs

Newest Santa wall hanging. Made on canvas. I used vintage trims, scrapbook paper, glitter, vintage Santa image from an 1950s mag, garland, vintage lamppost, tree, Santa and some other things.

Cute vintage Santa

Vintage tree and lamp

Snow and Peace tag

19030's children page used, glitter, lace

Snowflakes Tag

Cute vintage lace and page from an 1930's children's book.

Cake Tag

I used vintage lace, vintage pages from an old Dick and Jane book, glitter and vintage millinery flower.

Snowman Tag
I love this one!!!!! From a 30's child's book! Cute little vintage snowman pick was added for the 3D look.

Reindeer tag

I used rose scrapbook paper, vintage reindeer paper from a 1950 Christmas ideal magazine. Vintage lace, glitter, garland and flower

The star ornament I'm trying to get a better picture of!

The 110 year old music paper and sparkly star. I'm trying to get a better pic of it!

Snowman ornament made out of cupcake foil! Turned out so CUTE!

I had a very nice surprise from Marie a couple weeks ago. I left a message on her blog about how I love peacock feathers (she raises peacocks) and she emailed me and told me she would send me some!!!

I decided to put them in my vase in the kitchen. I think it looks great with the sunflowers and autumn decor!! Thank you Marie!!!! LOVE THEM!

I bought a package of pine cones last weekend and let Christian spray them with glitter spray. Then I applied some Martha Stewart glitter to them. I love how they look! It was a fast, cheap and nice project!

This week I got another surprise from a sweetie pie from down under! Clare is from Australia (I want to go to Australia so bad). She made me one of these little angels and sent me the instructions on how to stitch the little soccer star! So sweet! I would have posted a picture of what my little angel looks like but Christian took it off to somewhere. He liked it just as much as I did and now I cant find it. When I do I will post a pic. I'm going to put it on the tree this year and then hang it on my inspiration board in my craft studio so I can always look at it! Visit Clare's Craftroom and see all the goodies on her blog!