Buttoned Up for a Giveaway

I love feeling different textures.

My Nonna used to have this jar of buttons, and I remember dipping my hand in and grabbing fistfuls of buttons and letting them run through my fingers. I loved the way the little disks would sound as they cascaded back into the jar. When you think about it, Buttons are such a marvelous invention. They really are quite underrated by most.


What holds your suit jacket together?
What keeps everything from falling out of some of your purses?
What can also make a great fashion statement?

Buttons. It's all about the Mighty Button.

Someone who recognizes the beauty of the Button is Tasha from MixMasha. In her truely lovely Etsy store, you'll find an enchanting assortment of button brooches. I absolutely love the idea of a button brooch, and Tasha executes them perfectly. Each one is so delicately formed, they are like mini works of art.

Being a Button Enthusiast, it was her love for the humble button that inspired Tasha to create these beauties. Along with drawing inspiration from pretty color combinations, art and design, buttons really play the Leading Role in her creations. Tasha lives in Melbourne (a city rich in culture), Australia, and is surrounded by different communities of people and artists and stories. Seeing this type of variety every day really inspires her (along with all the diverse yummy cuisine!).

Like me, Tasha loves cooking and watching Cooking Shows on TV. Along with her food, she loves laughing loudly, and exploring art and craft markets. She especially loves the the desserts of her city. When she described them to me, she made me want to go back to Australia! "I love anything sweet! Homemade Pavlova with my family, Baklava from Brunswick, Gelato from Carlton, Portuguese Tarts from Fitzroy, Donuts from Collingwood... the list goes on!"

One of you readers will score a Cluster Brooch from the lovely Tasha, who is so sweet to share her one ov her lovely brooches with us. To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment here telling me:
1. which Cluster Brooch you would like from her store if you won, and
2. tell me about what you find beautiful in a button

I will announce the winner on Sunday.

Welcome Fall!

There's something lovely about the sound of leaves crunching underfoot, don't you think?

Fall is here and I love all the things that go along with it - the colors, the food, the clothing. It's the season where I start to drink lots of hot chocolate and apple cider.
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Fall seems like a season that focuses a lot on family for some reason. Spring is the friendly season, Summer the playful season, Winter the Romantic Season. But I don't know what it is for sure that makes me link Autumn with Family. Maybe because we start to snuggle up a little more as the weather cools down? I don't know - but I love it. Bring on the homemade pies, the pumpkin soup and the all the other yummy Fall goodness!



What are your favorite things about Fall?

(The winner of the Neawear Giveaway is Cindy. Congrats!)

The Limited

Most things on this earth are limited.

I find that Limited is beautiful. Simple things like limited slices of cake. We always want more, but if we had an infinite supply, it wouldn't be as special. I never thought I would say this, but I am glad that cake is limited.



When I was little, I always wanted the rides on the carousel to be unlimited. It would normally stop after about ten 15 or so laps around, but I never wanted it to end. But we all know I would have eventually gotten bored of it and cried out to my parents to yank me off. The thing about 'the limited' is that it makes us treasure it more. Like those last hours of daylight. Like the last days of Summer.


What are the limited things that you celebrate?

(PS. My latest Handmade News article is up right here. Come check it out and leave me a vote and comment!)

An Acorn Giveaway

When I was little, I used to love going to visit my Grandma.

She had a lovely house, with noisy wooden floors that echoed whenever I ran across it (which was often). I remember her street would have Block Parties all the time, and all the neighbors would know that we were Bruna's grandchildren. I call my grandma Nonna, which is Italian for Grandma. And like many Italian Grandma's, she had lots of delicious herbs and vegetables sprouting from her abundant garden.

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Nonna also had a lovely collection of old Italian jewelry. She had moved to Australia to escape the war, and had brought very few possessions, but I do remember a few pieces of jewelry that I would sneak peeks at. I love looking at old jewelry. The intricacy, the patterns, the textures, and the stories that go along with them. I visited my Nonna back in Australia about 6 years ago, and we took a long walk along the Sydney Harbour and she told me all about her life in Italy.

When I am old, I want beautiful jewelry that I can pass on to my Grandchildren. I want to go places wearing it, experience things with it on me - I want it be part of my story. And a store that has just the jewelry I would love to pass on is Neawear.



Janick is the owner of Neawear, and she creates such lovely jewelry. I want EVERYTHING in her store, it's all so delicate and delightful. And not only does Neawear have adornments for your wrist, neck and ears, but also for your wall! Each piece is carefully and meticulously crafted from her studio in Montreal - a city that Janick adores for it's multiculturalism, cafes and restaurants.

Textures, color and shapes are the muses that Janick follows. She is also inspired by Photography (as you can tell by her lovely shots of her products), graphic design, and even the rain! Among her favorite colors are brown and grey, which are represented well in her inventory, but hightlighted with lovely pops of turquoise, yellow and pink. And the other favorite of hers that i must mention is cheesecake. A great choice for her favorite dessert!


Janick is so generously giving away one of her Blue Acorn necklaces to a special winner! To enter this giveaway, leave a comment here telling me what story you would like your jewelry to tell. I will announce the winner on Sunday.

*Product Photos courtesy of Neawear

Life is a Musical

We won't always admit to it - but secretly, we all love a bit of drama, don't we?

Not the frustrating dramas that happen in life, but the little things that keep us on our toes. It makes life more colorful, more interesting. For example, I love a good musical or play. The color, the music, the emotion... it would be so boring if the two main characters fell in love without any obstacles. What would Romeo and Juliet be without the Montague/Capulet feuds?



Some people love going to concerts to see their favorite band perform live. Some would rather go see their favorite comedian telling jokes on stage. Others like to cheer for their favorite basketball team from their season seats. While all of those are awesome experiences - my favorite has always been a night out to the theatre. The whole experience of getting dressed up, finding your seats, and then watching a scene unfold before your very eyes... it's so unlike anything else.




I'm sorry that my photos aren't from actual musicals. But I like how they turned out, and they really represent how a night at the theatre makes me feel. What's your favorite form of entertainment?

(PS. The winner of the Peacock Shop giveaway is Phoenix, Congrats!)

Bits of Life in Boxes

This week we are in the process of moving.

Tuesday night, yesterday, and today I have been packing away bits of my life into boxes. Albums, plates, recipe books, things that represent me and Brian. Photos from when we first became friends, notes that he had sent me when we were long-distance dating. Two copies of many books, because we would both read the same book and talk about it together over the phone when we couldn't see each other.



Humans are funny. We need a lot to feel fulfilled. Animals move burrows, nests, homes all the time, and they do it all without a u-haul. I like that I have things that are important to me. A lot of people say "Simplify Your Life!" "Get Rid of all that Extra Stuff!". While I am not a packrat in a messy way, I do have things that I keep because they are important to me. And I like it that I have things that are special to me.

On a completely different note, my lovely aunt that I only just mentioned in my last post sent me a package that arrived yesterday. It was a box of chocolate! Two pounds of it! The only thing better than chocolate is UNEXPECTED chocolate! Aren't you jealous that I have an Aunt that sends me chocolate surprise gifts?



(PS - I am now a columnist for The Handmade News. It would mean a lot to me if you would stop by my first article and leave me some feedback in the comments there!)

A Peacock Giveaway

Who doesn't love a peacock?

Where my aunt lives in Southern California, there are gorgeous peacocks that roam the neighborhood. They strut around the houses, delighting any tourists that might be lost on their way to the Hollywood sign, navigating the streets of suburbia. She lives near an Arboretum, so I am guessing that this must be where the peacocks visit from.



I always find it interesting that it's the male peacocks that have the pretty feathers. I laugh when I imagine if that was the case with me and Brian. I imagine him wearing a pretty frilled dress, and a lovely hue of matching eye shadow (although he did let me put makeup on him for fun once when we started dating - I have pictures stashed somewhere to prove it, hahaha!). Somehow I don't think my aunt's neighbors would enjoy seeing Brian's pretty frills as much as the male peacock's.

A lovely store that I found on Etsy specializes in all things Peacock. The Peacock Shop is operated by Paula Kathlyn and is one of the loveliest shops in all of Etsyland. She has darling little hand-painted Peacock Tea Cups, along with goreous prints, and even precious little Baby Onesies. A lot of you know by now that I love tea cups, so naturally, I was immediately drawn to The Peacock Shop.



Paula first discovered Etsy through her mum, who had told her about all of it's fabulousness. First she was a buyer, but then when she discovered she was expecting a little bublet, she decided to start her own shop so that she could make some income at home. The Peacock Shop originally started with Baby Onesies, but after researching hand-painted ceramics, Paula introduced her lovely tea cups to her pretty inventory.

As well as being Inspired by fabric, magazines, the blogosphere, and God's beautiful creation, Paula is most inspired when her head hits the pillow to go to bed. Isn't that typical? When she's ready to go to sleep - her brain switches on to creative mode. Her creativity thrives on the color blue. Her home is decorated blue, her favorite color to wear is blue, everything is blue! So of course, she has a natural affinity to our lovely royal blue peacock friends. But of course, in amongst all this blue has to be some brown - and that brown comes in the form of a chocolate brownie with vanilla bean icecream - her favorite dessert. I couldn't agree more!



Paula is the sweetest and is giving away one of her Brightly Painted Peacock Tea Cups to one of you guys. To enter, leave a comment here letting me know what your favorite color is, whether it be blue like Paula, or something completely different. I will announce the winner on Sunday.

Food Gawker

I am a Food Gawker. Some people are attracted to bright lights, others like shiny things. Food is what gets me.

And that, my friends, is why my favorite site this month has been Food Gawker. Not only do they showcase gorgeous, delicious-looking photographs of food, but they also link to the recipes for each delicious morsel. It's pretty much like the Beauty Pageant of Foods. Only pretty foods get accepted onto this site, so you know that everything on it has to look like something that just stepped off of the Restaurant Catwalk.

This weekend, we celebrated a Food Gawker Weekend. On Friday night, I made a quick and easy homemade Chocolate Mousse that I swiped off Food Gawker. Then on Saturday afternoon, Brian baked some Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Cupcakes from there. And then tonight, I whipped up a delicious Risotto - again, courtesy of my best friend Food Gawker.


So for those of you who have never heard of Food Gawker - aren't I your new best friend for introducing it to you? And for those of you who knew about this site - shame on you for not telling me about it! :)

(PS. The winner of the Quirky Beauty Giveaway is Renn. Yay!)

Just Like Mama

My Mum is an awesome cook. And I am not just saying that because she's my Mum and I am biased. She's actually known in her town for being a good cook.

Growing up, she would always make us amazing dishes to show us how much she loved us. Still to this day, whenever I go to visit, she makes some phenomenal concoction that belongs in a fancy food magazine. All my life, I had never been a fab cook. I liked to experiment a little, but I didn't really get into cooking and baking until this year after I got married. Now I find that I am just like my Mum - making yummy things to show Brian how much I love him.
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This weekend, I made Tiramisu Cupcakes. I found an awesome recipe here, and had all the ingredients I needed on hand.



It's funny because I never really thought of myself as a baker or a cook. I guess I am more like my Mum than I thought.

What have you picked up from your parents that surprises you?

This Time Last Year

I can't remember what it was like before now.

Next month, Brian and I will have been married one year, and I can't remember what it was like to live without him sharing the bed with me. I feel like we've been sharing the sheets for my whole life (in a good way). This time last year I was in a frenzied rush trying to finish up the wedding preparations and gathering up the last RSVP's. Brian was busy coordinating moving my furniture out to Houston in amongst all the Hurricane Ike flurry.

With this new Fall season, a lot of people I know are embarking on their new journey too. Fall Weddings are gorgeous, and the air is full of Bouquet talk, Cake questions, Music suggestions, and other Wedding Chatter.

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I remember one of my questions was whether or not to wear a veil. I had a very fitted dress, and while I loved the delicate and soft look of a veil, and the tradition behind it, I didn't think it would fit well with my dress. I searched high and lov for the perfect hair clip, but couldn't find anything I wanted, and ended up wearing a lovely fresh white orchid in my hair. But how typical - now that my wedding is almost a year behind me, I have found a LOVELY store I would have loved to have gotten my hair pretties from.


Quirky Beauty is a lovely Toronto-based Etsy store run by the inspiring and creative Dana. Dana is a Fashion Stylist, Painter and Illustrator, and her husband is a Wedding Photographer, so this combination of talent obviously lends itself well to a store that sells lovely wedding hair accessories. But their store isn't only for Wedding Pretties, they also have lovely necklaces and hair accessories for a night out on the town, or a casual get-together with friends. Either way - everything is gorgeous.


Each piece is meticulously hand-beaded with great attention to detail. I love the romantic femininity of each item, and how there's something for every personality-type in this store. Dana's inspiration is drawn from vintage fashion, British heritage (she is a major anglofile), family and textiles, and she prefers not to look at similar types of designer's work so that her vision and style are never influenced by anything but her own passions.

Another great thing about Quirky Beauty is that being in Toronto, Dana is able to source a lot of her materials locally. According to Dana, it's a great city for fashion and art and culture. In addition to a Little India and a Little Korea, it has TWO Chinatowns! From the way Dana describes this city, it makes me really want to go!

Among her favorites are colors like Tomato-red, Navy Blue, Olive Green and as for her favorite dessert - CHERRY CHEESECAKE!!!

Dana is generously giving away one of her lovely hair accessories to one of you guys! To enter this giveaway, please leave me a comment here letting me know what you were doing this time last year, and also which of these three items you would want if you won: 1, 2, 3.

(photographs taken from Quirky Beauty)

What We Leave Behind

What was life like for the generations before us?

I have had this on my mind this weekend because we went to the Museum of Natural History yesterday. I know that we have books and other documentation of what life was like in other periods of history, but I wonder what it would feel like to live in those times before us? All we have to go by are these items left behind - are they an accurate representation of what it was like back then? It seems like everyday life is so easy for us compared to the generations before us.

We can see fossils, relics, and other various footprints from the past - and it makes me wonder what our generation will leave behind. I really hope that it's something amazing, something valuable, something to be proud of. I hope that the generations that come after us will see us as a generation that loved and gave and cared. I want the exhibits in the museums that come after us show that we were happy, and loved family, and loved life, and learned from our ancestors. It would be wonderful if each specimen could show that we gave everything we could to make life better for those that came after us.



I also want to give a warm welcome to all my new sponsors! Please stop by and see them all, their lovely links are along the right side.
(PS - the winner of the Stamping Studio Giveaway is Chelsey. Congrats!)

Playground Talk

"Tag, you're It!" --- "Ew, Girl Germs!" ---- "Ready, Set, Go!"

Don't you just love listening to what children say? Playground talk is so cute, I love to hear how children interact with one another.



It's also fun to hear what their aspirations are at that age. What do they want to be when they grow up? Where do they want to celebrate their next birthday? Their answers are always so limitless - I love that. The mind of a child is so beautiful.



Mum tells me when I was little I wanted to be a Ballerina, and I remember my sister wanted to be an Ambulance Driver.

What did you want to be?

(PS. Check out my latest giveaway at Oh Hello Friend, and also don't forget about the Stamp Studio giveaway over here).

The Butterfly Circus

We all have moments when we feel like we are trapped in a cocoon. We feel like our issues or shortcomings consume us, and that we aren't able to go after the things that we dream for ourselves. We all want to be a beautiful butterfly.


I have a friend who constantly inspires me. He shows me through his every day life that God has blessed me with so much. Looking at his life, I realize that I can't complain about anything. He shows me that I am a butterfly. His story inspires THOUSANDS, even hundreds of thousands of people across the world. He is now making his acting debut in an absolutely beautiful short film called The Butterfly Circus. I encourage you to check it out. You will know in the first 5 minutes who my friend is in the movie. Click on the picture below to find the movie.


People who encourage beauty are my heroes. Whether it be through some big, grand statement, or small little gestures - everything we do has the potential to effect lives around us. A beautiful cause that not only encourages beauty, but shares it is Cards For Heroes. People can create lovely cards to send to our troops, and thank them for their beautiful selfless acts to protect us. A simple card can make a world of difference to someone that needs encouragement. Someone who totally understands that is Melissa Baldwin from the Stamping Studio.

Melissa loves to create cards and gifts for other people using rubber stamps, and while working for another company selling stamps, she was invited to be a guest on the Carol Duvall Show a few times. Shortly after this she really felt that God wanted her to start her own company - and then the Stamping Studio was born. Melissa's store has a huge array of lovely stamps to choose from, and included among the many collections are some of my own. Some of my illustrations are now available as rubber stamps!



Friends, scrapbooking, papercrafts and cooking are some of the things that inspire Melissa on a daily basis. Her entire family is keen on cooking, even her three sons! Just from talking with Melissa, I can see that family is so important to her, she has such a big heart. Her encouragement and support even extends to me - she really makes me feel like a butterfly whenever we speak. And on top of all this, Melissa and I share the same heartbeat. The Chocolate Heartbeat, hehehehe. Chocolate along with her yummy Banana Pudding are her favorite desserts!

For your chance to win THREE stamp sets of my illustrations, please leave a comment here letting me know what makes you feel like a butterfly. I will announce the winner on Sunday.