A Christmas present

I wanted to make something personalized for Ella to give to her on Christmas morning. So, I made this pillow with a drawing of herself on it. The size didn't turn out how I expected, I'm so bad measuring. I guess it's now a pillow for dolls.   

And here is Ella on Christmas morning.

Ella's 5 years old pictures

Yesterday I took some of Ella's latest drawings to put them up on her wall. Her gallery of drawings and paintings was a little outdated.

Ella's 3 years old paintings.

I arranged them...

And this is how it looks now, with some of her current drawings.

Now her gallery is updated.

Bye bye!!!

A picture frame pin cushion

Having the sewing machine now I needed to equip myself with materials and sewing tools. I thought that maybe I would be needing a pin cushion but I never really liked the tomato ones. So I took this one dollar picture frame I bought a long time ago and never used, until now. 

Then I put some fabric in the frame, just like putting a picture but leaving some extra fabric in the back so the frame could press it. 

Next I stuffed it with polyester fibers that I found in the garage and I was done.  

Here it is. And the best of it is that is very sturdy and works very well.

A present from mom

As you know I finally got a sewing machine, a gift from mom. I thought which other best way to thank her than making her something. I made her this headband that probably looks good in the picture but it actually needs improvement on the back. Anyways, it feels good to learn in the process of making things. Next time I'll make it better recognizing what my mistakes were. 

Mom wearing her headband.

Ella lost her first tooth

Today we were playing apples to apples at Abuelita's house, when suddenly Ella looked at me and said:  "Mom, it's coming off"! And then she just pulled her tooth out. The "wiggly tooth" had been loose for days. 

Its so small! and we can see the other tooth coming. She is very happy and says she wants to put her tooth under her pillow. 

Late Halloween

Halloween came and left. For Halloween Ella was Alice in Wonderland. I wanted so much to make her costume, or at least try to make it, hopefully next year I will. 

Now I'm sure it will be easier for me to sew since mom bought me a sewing machine! Yes! My first project was a headband for my mom herself as a thank you gift. Ill post a picture when she wears it. So many things had happened but such a short time to post.

What we have been doing

It has been a while since I could write anything in our blog. Between some work, Ella's school, errands and... well... life, I haven't got the chance to post an entry. Sometimes it gets busy. 

Here are some pictures of our days!

"Three dolls and an elephant". Playing with Ella. 

School has beeen great! She is excited and ready to go every day!

Kindergarten

The day before Ella's first day of school, I must confess I was a little worried, I didn't know what her reaction was going to be at the moment of leaving her in a place she didn't know with people she didn't know either. 

Well... everything turned out great, for me and for her, cause seeing her so eager to go to school and so excited made me feel more calmed.  

 Butterfly greeting.

Her teacher is great, and her classroom is super cute, with frogs all over! (Not real frogs).

Outdoor space in process

Some of you might remember how the walls of our terrace looked a couple of weeks ago. They were painted the same color of our house exterior, some kind of dark gray. Well, a few days ago we painted the walls with a lighter color, it was about time that such a small space got to look a little bigger and definitely much brighter.

The only problem right now is that we are all out of paint and the terrace looks like a construction site, not a very welcoming space right now. 

Silly chalk doormat to make fun of the disaster.

Photographer friends

We love photography, and we are always taking pictures, but I came to realize that we didn't have updated formal family photos. Those when you take a photo session in different locations and dress up with your favorite outfit. We did take family pictures some years ago in Dominican Republic, by other friends who are also great in everything they do. Milton and Ivel from Ivolucion, but Ella grows so fast and changes so much, we needed new ones.

Thanks to one of our great photographer friends, who at the same time is a great person/friend, we finally got our new family photos. Alexis from Alex Mirabal Photography, promised some months ago to take our pictures and he did. Thank you Alexis, you're a great photographer and a great friend!

Goooooals!!!!!

I'm the kind of person that makes a list for everything. Yesterday I made a very personal list of really important things and goals I would like to reach in my life, some kind of bucket list but with acts of kindness, like significantly helping people or the environment.

Of course, there's also that list of enjoyment, things we would like to do someday. Like, for Ramon and I traveling to places we always wanted to visit. And for Ella, well... ride a Hot air balloon (at least that's what she says). I guess is good to set yourself goals and is even better when you achieve them. 

Low budget bathroom decor

I just wanted to share this super low budget bathroom decoration that I personally love. Made with items found around the house. 

The movie collection

I  never found very useful the ceiling height built in storage that is constructed in most of the houses I've seen in this area. Ours is one of those houses and for a long time I wondered what to do with that space in the living room. Then my light bulb went on and I decided to put Ramon's large collection of movies. To my surprise the movies didn't fill the whole space but I believe that in a short time this collection will occupy the whole niche.

Our movie library.

Living on a budget

I have been tempted a couple of times to change the title of our blog to "Living on a budget" since we do everything spending the less possible but without compromising the things we love.

Besides going to the movies (which is something Ramon and I love to do), some frugal ways of entertainment for us could be taking a walk outside, being outdoors or visiting places where we don't need to spend a lot in order to have fun or pass a good time.

Recycled crafts and a little DIY help a lot to this budget living. Just feel good about everything you do, even if it doesn't involve dollar $ign$.

 Ella uses cardboard boxes for crafts and plays with them. After a while we recycle them.

We own many books but we also love to borrow from the Public Library. Is a good way to save some money.

Ella tried an orange

So, as you all know when it comes to food Ella is a very picky kid. She hardly eats anything and the worst thing is that she doesn't even want to try new foods. We have been working on this with her and there are a couple of new things she has tried and now loves. 

Today she tried an orange, which she used to like when she was little but just stopped eating them. 

The sliced orange always reminds me of bicycle wheels so I made her this bicycle to encourage her. At first was hard for her to tell it was a bike but then she noticed. 

Thank you again!

Last year, when my mom came to visit, she gave Ella this easel with blackboard as a present which at the beginning was fun for her because she could use it to draw, color, play charades but lately we have been finding it very useful too. Recently I have been giving Ella short lessons of reading and writing and the board came in very handy. 

I thanked my sister because she surprised me for mothers day with a box of flowers at my doorstep, but I have to thank her again because we were still enjoying these flowers until yesterday when they finally began to lose their petals, thanks again for those flowers Louie! 

And last but not least, I want to thank my mother in law because she finally found (in the Dominican Republic) the dining table for Ella's toy house. She and my mom have been looking for furniture and family members to complete Ella's toy house.

I'm known for repeating myself but I felt that these thank yous* where necessary. THANKS AGAIN!

Rainy days

It has been raining a lot lately here in our area and I feel that besides wearing my rain-boots the days are appropriate to drinking hot chocolate, and for some reason... draw, draw, draw! Is that or that I'm still going through the drawing tablet fever? 

Anyways, all this rain brings many positive things like plants ad flowers watered naturally. Our grass and outdoor plants are growing faster than in other seasons. I've had to trim all the small plants a couple of times because they have grown so much.

There is a small beehive in this climbing plant.

 I love rainy days! Not so much for the seasonal inhabitants in the garage. You must know which inhabitants I'm referring to...

Making a simple cover

Last month was Ramon and I's anniversary. When the day was starting he surprised me with a very cool gift, something that I wanted for a long time. It was a Bamboo tablet and pen to draw directly in the computer and not having to go through the process of scanning every drawing or sketch that I make.

This little gadget is very fragile so I wanted to make a sleeve for it, to keep it a little more protected. 

I bought three super cheap 9" by 12"  felt squares and sewed them together to make a cover. 

Not bad for a 2 dollar project!

Playdate

Being an only child, Ella has a very stretch relationship with Ramon and I. We do many things together, have special family time, do different activities and even play together. But despite our attention she also needs to spend time with children her age. She plays with her friends at school but at home she mostly plays by herself.

These last weeks she and her best friends have been having several playdates and it has been a lot of fun for them. They have snacks, watch movies, play games, enjoy themselves. Whether is in their house or ours, they end up having a blast!

For snacks they had jello and popcorn.

This was a circus tea, dress up, party.

Good eater

Ramon and I have been having a rough time lately trying to make Ella eat different things. She eats a very limited variety of foods and this is concerning us more every day. I love to see how other children eat almost everything, sometimes foods that even some adults wouldn't dare to try. Today I spent the day developing a design idea I had a while ago for a t-shirt. Its called "The good eater". These shirts will be worn by those kids that eat their broccoli, all ye celery eaters, those that can't stop munching and crunching!   

For testing I'm using transfer. First I designed the characters, then printed on transfer paper and finally ironed the design on the fabric. 

Here are three different designs for different ages.

Hopefully soon we will see Ella wearing her own "Good eater shirt".

A mother's love

Mothers day is approaching and everyone is talking about it. Moms play the leading part and act as main characters on this special day. But what about our co-stars? Our children who make cards, clean up, sneak out of the house with dad to find a little something for mom, they also play a very important role on this day. 

Mothers day is this Sunday, so happy mothers day to my dear Mom and Grandma and all the mom friends and family I know who are all great mothers! 

The afternoon snack

Usually after lunch most children expect an afternoon snack. Ella gets really hungry after 2:00 P.M, that's also when she feels more helpful in the kitchen and wants to be part of the process of  meal or snack preparation.  

Cookies made by Ella and Me.

She likes to bake cookies because she is in charge of most of the process and when they're done she feels very accomplished. We like to do this since we work together like a team and spend good quality time. Plus when the cookies are in the oven and almost done the entire house smells like a bakery.

Speaking of smells, another snack we love and gives the house a movie theater aroma is popcorn. We make it in our vintage popcorn machine which I love also as a prop in the kitchen.

Sewing for Ella

Well... I've finally sewn my first piece of clothing. I wanted to make outfits for Ella and I thought that a good way to start was making a skirt and a headband. 

Ella chose the butterflies and ladybugs fabric.

Not too bad for a beginner, although I had another idea in my head of how it was going to suit her but now I know the mistakes I shouldn't make for the next time. 

Pretty girl with a headband.

Another empty wall is dressed up!

We had two empty frames just waiting for their pictures but we finally selected, retouched and went out to print the ones we wanted. The best thing is that both pictures 11.5'' by 11.5'' cost us almost $3.00 dollars in total. What a bargain! The trick was that instead of a poster Ramon ordered them as two album pages which are much cheaper... smart guy!

That cute blouse doesn't fit me

Whether is that you love the pattern or it reminds you of a special occasion, sometimes is hard to get rid of old clothes we love. Here is a dress Ella used to wear when she was smaller, then it turned into a blouse and now it doesn't fit her at all. This dress was really special for us so we still wanted it to hang around the house. 

My solution was to turn it into a bag closing the bottom and sewing the shoulder straps together to make only one strap. Now Ella can use it to transport her books from the library or whatever thingamajig it occurs to her to carry in her bag. 

Easter egg hunt at home

Yesterday Ella and I painted Easter eggs. Thanks to our great friend Silvia who encouraged me to paint eggs with Ella and even provided me with a whole carton of eggs, half of them were empty shells ready to be painted. 

We had never done this before so they didn't come out so great. I had a litttle trouble holding the eggs without putting my fingers on the areas that were already painted but overall we think they came out great!

Thank you Silvia!

A hat for the Diana Mini

With leftover string from Ramon's hat I made a mini hat for my Diana Mini. The thing is that the lens cover the camera came with kept falling off, so I made this kind of hat to cover the lens. Is very practical and at the same time it looks nice and personalized. 

Good thing that the leftover string was blue, so it matches the camera.