I am in love...

with these pretties...

 

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Things I'm thankful for...

There are so many things in life to be grateful for but we tend to focus on the things that aren't going right because it seems easier, it comes so naturally that it has already been part of our lives. If you're not this way then I want to be you! I do appreciate many things but there are times when I feel down and sad but things are about to change.

Everyday, I will be posting about things I am thankful for. Just to remind myself how beautiful life really is, if only we open our eyes and heart and see the good in life, not the bad.

I encourage you to do the same way if you have your own blog or a journal. Before blogging was invented, I've always had diaries.  On it I've written nothing but complaints and bad things that has happened.
There were so many things to be thankful for and I focused on the bad ones.So now, I am taking this opportunity to be grateful. Life is good!

Today I am thankful that...


1.I had two cream puffs and I believe I didn't gain a pound :)

2.I am thankful that every time I ask my daughter to get me a piece of bread, a slice of cake or a muffin, she gets the most beautiful plate we have. These antique golden, ornate plate...

When I asked her why she always serve my food on the plate, she said "because I know you'd love it".awww. And she's so right.
3. I am thankful that I was able to clean my mister's closet and kept all the things he no longer wears. Now, there's space and I hope he doesn't look for anything that is no longer there. :)
4. I am thankful that my toddler loves to sit on my lap and hugs me... Like all the time. Like right now, as I type.
5. I am thankful that you are here, that you found me and that you are reading this. Whoever you are, what are you grateful for?

Goodnight world! I hope you come back here again.

yumminess

Tonight, my mister and I went to our once a week coffee date but this time we dropped by Bear Papa's to get 2 dozen cream puffs! I've tried this many years ago but now they have more branches and 2 near where we live. Lucky!
These cream puffs were originally from Japan. I love that they aren't too sweet. I noticed that Japanese desserts/pastries are not too sweet. And they often use all natural, high quality ingredients.

via google

You can taste the freshness at every bite

via here

via here

via google

we also bought eclairs

I ate two tonight. I'll have one for breakfast with my double chocolate coffee!
 Find if there's one near you.
visit website

first day of school

Today was the girl's first day at school. And of course, I had to take pictures!

They were very excited to go back and see their friends again.
My twin girls are in Junior High! (i am still in denial) and my youngest girl is in 6th grade.

For breakfast, I made omelette, homemade french toast and maple syrup sausages

(red plates are from Pottery Barn)

For lunch, I made crispy chicken sandwich with organic veggies in onion buns.

And, now they're home. Time to prepare dinner.
That was fast  :)

Movie Friday

The movie that I want you to see this weekend (through the comfort of your own home) is

LEAP YEAR

This movie is not your ordinary chick flick. Specially if you can relate to the story. This movie is just so beautiful, you must see it! This movie is perfect for women who are currently unhappy with their relationships or are looking (or waiting) for Mr. Right.
Love is real. You just have to be patient and not take matters into your own hands. It will happen, in it's own time.

tape strips from puglypixel.com

 Falling in love is awesome if the one you fell in love with feels exactly the same way.
Have a Happy Weekend everyone!

Wedding Shoes

I created this slice of heaven this morning. And I can't wait to share it with all of you.

Oh, so Marie!Vintage satin shoes,embellished with all vintage materials.All hand sewn.

Find them here

In the zone...

Today I will be making lots of new stuff and finish sprucing up my website that I've recently closed down.
I am extremely inspired and in a very creative mood. I am loving it. 

photo taken by me

I am more creative when the weather is colder. I am lazier when the weather is warm. I find that odd, don't you? I mean it should be the other way around, right?

photo taken by me

I am also taking lots of photos recently and I am so happy that I'm able to share them with all of you.

photo taken by me

I wish you all a creative weekend and a weekend full of well,...love.
( I will be back later for Movie Friday)

As we bid summer goodbye

The news broke my heart but his song will always lift my spirits up.

Summer Girls-LFO

Thanks for this song Rich Cronin.The song that would always bring back good memories.

Beautiful Clutter...

I'm in the process of stocking up my etsy shop. I just finished taking photos of the items that are going up today and I put them all on my wooden plate to get them ready for measuring. I saw how pretty they looked so I grabbed my camera and started taking photos of these pretties.

I am feeling so inspired. Are you?

I still believe in magic...

Remember my tiny buttons?
I found the perfect home for them

And my little three legged squirrel promised to take care of it.

Goodbye Summer

This week is the last week of my kiddo's summer vacation. Next Monday we will be back to reality. Early mornings and busy nights. I think I'm ready for that. The kids are quite excited to go back and hang out with their friends again. I think we'll have a little party before school starts, just to say goodbye to Summer one last time.
I love fall, it's my second favorite season, next to Winter. And I am so ready to wear my long coats and boots again.

my bedside table

My Mr. gave me a rose the other night. It sits so prettily next to my newly bought letter R from Anthropologie (on sale for $7.95).
The colors just blend beautifully, don't you think?

I used my carafe as a vase

It's the perfect photo to bid Summer goodbye.
Till next year...

How about you? are you ready for fall?

For all hardworkers out there

Happy (no) Labor Day to all of you!

I think these pictures are perfect for all you hardworkers out there!

My son who is turning 3 is quite addicted to youtube and playing games in Nick jr.. And last night, we saw him this way.

He has fallen asleep while in front of the computer and as I was taking photos of him, he was trying real hard to stay awake. Still grabbing on the mouse with his eyes closed.

His daddy is an IT programmer, so I guess it runs in the blood?

He can read, count and knows upper case and lower case letters and all that before he turned 3. He started reading when he just turned 2. He's an awesome kid. I'm a proud mama.

Here's a video of him reading, taken a couple of months ago.

click link

Happy Labor Day everyone!

Lovelies

I love this cat that I found 2 weeks ago. I don't even like cats. But this one took my breath away.

Isn't she pretty? And for only $3. Who can resist?

Wow I still can't believe it's already the 2nd of September! I'm in denial of how fast months are flying by. Before we know it, Christmas time would be knocking on our door. I'm quite excited for the Holidays, my sister and her family are coming over from Vancouver, Canada. We are also planning on having a family reunion. Would you believe,our whole clan (those we know) is only under 50?! Yes, very few huh?  I only have 4 male cousins and everyone else are females.Very weird I know.

Oh well, I hope the beginning of September is treating you well. I'm fine, if you ask me. I'm still learning how to speak French, keeping up with my goals before the year ends. And now, I am sitting on the couch and eating these

A good friend of mine brought me these goodies from Amsterdam. I love European chocolates. And I love good friends.

Craft Show Experience

My first ever craft show is finally over. It was a lot of work than I ever expected. I have learned a lot of things, a ton of do's and don'ts. And I will share them all here with you.

But first, let me write about how it went. There were 50 vendors, all of them from etsy. It was located at the German town in Huntington Beach. It was very secluded and no one would know that there was an event like that there because there were no signs in the streets. It was held indoors so no one can really see if they drove by. It was the promoter's first ever craft show event and naturally, a little foot traffic was expected but everyone remained optimistic.

Hours went by, I could count in my head how many people came through the doors. And everyone of them were clueless about the handmade lifestyle. I think, most of them didn't even know that the things on my table were mostly handmade. I should have told them but didn't.

We remained optimistic as hours went by but we can only hope for so long. Before I knew it, everyone was packing up way before closing time.

Some sellers bought from me. And we also shopped from other sellers. That was fun. There were a lot of great artists there and I had to stop myself from buying from each and everyone of them.

Lots of sellers were disappointed, some were vocal about it, some didn't say anything but you can see that they were quite disappointed. But what's beautiful about it was that everyone were so good to each other and helped out one another in giving out advice and even shared craft shows that were coming up. They didn't think twice in giving out the dates and locations and they spoke about them with so much enthusiasm. Thank you, you all know who you are.

Here are my own do's and don'ts and other things I've learned that hopefully would help artists and crafters out there that are about to join a craft show or those that are new at this.


1. Join craft shows that are juried. These types of craft shows charges more per table but it's worth it. They are the ones who gets hundreds of foot traffic (even thousands).


2. It's better to join one big craft show a year than many small ones a year. It's less work. Less stress. More money per table but you will earn it all back and more.


3. Plan how your table will look like ahead of time. Elevate them on eye level. Use a lot of props. Make the most of your space. Use lights. Use a beautiful table cloth, no prints, the better. Prints can take the attention away from your products. I used dark lace and that was a distraction.

4. Choose a few of your best sellers. Don't bring everything you make. If I had known better, I would have brought only my bath and beauty products or only my framed prints and nothing else. Having so many different things can be quite over whelming. I thought I had a theme going on but for some reason, it didn't work out that way. A table can never be like a brick and mortar shop. Having different things can work well at a retail shop but it won't work at a craft show or even on an etsy shop.


5. Bring a receipt. Most buyers need one.
6. Bring quarters, dimes and a lot of dollar bills for change.
7. You should have a make shift cash register behind your table to keep organized.
8. Talk to prospective customers. Don't be shy. Suggest your items or whatever will look good on them. Be friendly. Compliment them. Entertain everyone without being pushy. And if you are selling perfumes like me, let them smell it. I didn't do that. 

9. Smile.
10. Try not to bring items that are tiny. Bring big ones that would catch their attention as they walk by. My stuff were so small that most of the older people that came by had to wear their eye glasses as they checked out my things.

11. Put freebies like candies/lollipops. I had free pins and none of them took one. Some of them said they were dangerous for kids. They were right.


12. Use paper bags. I did that but most of the vendors there were so vocal about their items being green and does not use any plastic materials but then they used really thick plastic for bags. 


13. Don't bring kids to your craft show. They'll get bored and they shop too much :) And they play with the things they bought that they end up promoting your competition. Funny, really.


14. Talk to your fellow vendors. You will learn a thing or two and might even start a new friendship.
15.Sleep well the night before. So you will look fresh on the day of the event and you will have lots of energy to market your product.

Advice for buyers:
1. Talk to vendors and please say hi when they say hi.

2. When kids admire the vendor's products please don't pull your kids away like we have some kind of disease. Say it nicely, I'm sure they would listen.
3. Smile when we smile.
4. A little thank you after looking or touching the items can do no harm ( I read this somewhere)
5. If you take a business card after we ask you to take one, that makes us really, really happy.

Advice for first time/new craft show organizers:
1. Talk to each and every vendor.And don't frequent the same vendors. 


2. Don't be shy when speaking on the microphone. Try to speak louder and make sure you ask people if they can hear you well. Try to get everyone's attention before making any announcement. If they don't stop what they're doing to listen then maybe they don't hear or understand anything. 


3. A well lit venue is a must. And a venue where the event is visible from the street. 


4. Promote, promote, promote, up to the very last minute. As a concert producer/promoter as myself, I know a lot about this. Make sure you put signs on the streets. Come up with an amazing, attractive poster to print or  send to vendors so they can spread the word online. The design of the poster can really help draw in customers and visitors. Make sure it's well designed, creative, artsy and hip.


5. Take photos of the event for your website or blog.


6. Music played on speakers is better than live music. Live music takes the attention from the sellers.

7. Wearing a name tag, or the same shirt/color for organizers and their friends who are helping out at the event does help. So we know where to go to if we need help.

I hope these helps.



My hubby and I went around and gave out business cards. He talked to almost all of them about their thoughts on the event and about their products. And we learned so much and we met so many great people. And that alone made everything worth it. No regrets really. Only lessons learned.
We then celebrated after with some good food.

It made everything better.

*All images are from the actual event.