Our apartment

Right now we're in the process of buying a house and we're very excited. The only thing that saddens us is saying good bye to the old apartment. Somehow we've managed to create (with a low budget) a cozy home.  Well, we don't have a degree in interior design but we follow our heart.



(Top) Ramon, (bottom) Ella.

We love the fact that we decided to have our own art throughout the entire apartment, except for the three Klimt reproductions, (Klimt is one of my favorite painters). Also, we like to display most of the crafts Ella and I do together (that is if the final result looks good). I also like to use natural elements for decoration, a little bit of nature inside. The best of all is that everything we've done here we have planned it together.  

The enduring scrapbook papers

Four years ago I bought a package of scrapbook paper with different patterns and colors. The purpose was to make Ella's birth scrapbook but there were way too many papers and I didn't know what to do with the rest of them. So I saved them for future scrapbooks but I ended up using them for many different things.

   

Ella's room garland.

- I made cards.

- Used it as wrapping paper.

- I used it for making the garland that decorates Ella's room.

- Also for lining and covering Ella's DIY nightstand.

In short, those scrapbook papers are not only for making scrapbooks, they are multi-use!

Nighttime notes

I've always been fascinated by dreams. I think is fun to write down some of the most puzzling ones. Also, when I'm half asleep, I get all this crazy, good ideas, but I'm too lazy to turn on the computer, wait for it to come up and then start writing.



On my nightstand there's also a picture taken by two great friends and signed by loved ones in my country.

That is why on my nightstand, next to my bed there's always something to write in, just in case I forget something important I had to do when I'm already in bed, or if a good idea comes up, is so frustrating when I forget it. Is something like the notepad you always hang out with but in this case is a note pad next to your bed for that moment between asleep and awake.

Make it your style

Sometimes you receive gifts that are not exactly your style, things you'll probably never use because they don't represent who you are or simply you don't like them that much, it happens.
I truly believe that if you receive a gift that you don't like but you want to keep if you make it a little more your style, then you should go for it!
That's what happened to our little lamp here:



I painted the base with white spray paint and also removed the beads, they were a little old fashioned. I recovered the shade with a scrap of fabric that I bought at the craft store in the fabric leftovers department (very affordable). And I didn't even had to sew, I used tacky glue! I never did anything like this before and being so bad for crafts I can't believe I did it.

Vivid birthday memories

Friday was a great day, it was Ella's birthday! Yay!!! She had a simple party with her family and she really enjoyed it. Of course we took lots of pictures of the birthday girl. 

Is good to remember your birthdays, even the 1st one. I remember some of my birthday parties and something that really helped me remember were the pictures.



Ella with some of her birthday presents.

TIP: Take pictures of her presents, the party decorations, the cake and even food. Make videos too (then they grow and you'll be kicking yourself for not taking enough pictures). 

Another thing you can't forget, and I do sometimes, is to put the date on the back of the photographs. It even would be nice to write something funny that happened or how the weather was that day...something to remember.



Time for bed

I just came to realize that these last months we're not so bleary-eyed, and the reason is that our dear beloved child is sleeping through the whole night. She used to wake up around 2:00 a.m. not because of (monsters in the closet) but it seems she needed some company, after all, she doesn't like to be alone.   

I guess her "time for bed" routine really works, it even helps her WANT to go to bed. She's always ready to get her glass of water and put it on her night table, she chooses her story book and we read it together. And then, time for a song.

She's reading The Sneetches, one of her favorites.

It's also very important to be consistent and respect the schedule. Make it a routine everyday, at least it works for me! 

Make an inspiration board

If you like to create you need to be mentally stimulated, which means you will need to be inspired. Well, I wanted to help the right side of my brain a little by creating this inspiration board!!!
You just need a corkboard or a magnetic board and make a collage of the things that inspire you. Things that help your creativity depending on the project you are working on that time. You can also leave things that inspire you in general, it works for me. Most of the time I get ideas for projects inspired in things that are not related to what I'm working on.

My inspiration board is a simple corkboard covered with a fabric that I fell in love with (is my favorite color and is very graphic). I pinched photos of happy moments, some of  our daughter's paintings, and other things. Rignt now we are selecting room colors for a future home and the paint chips are also in the inspiration board to help us take a better look at the colors.

Take note

Wether you're blogging or not, is always good to hang out with a note pad in your bag. They always come in handy when you need to take a quick note. They're very useful if you get inspired all of a sudden in the middle of a waiting line at the doctors office.

I have several years using mine and I still find blank pages to fill. If you notice, is actually an agenda of 2007, a gift from a very good friend. I take it with me everywhere.

By the way, I should be getting a new one, this one is almost full.

This is who we are

We are a small family but BIG in love. We love music, movies, design, decorating and even crafts (which were not very good at but at least we try).
Our youngest member is a very creative little one. She loves to paint, and color, make jigsaw puzzles, read story books and often you might surprise her singing.

We're very enthusiastic to share with you  a little of our life. So "join us in this journey".... sounds too cliche, but seriously, take a peek and if you like it visit us often.