Something I found on Pinterest that I actually made

This month was my girl´s 15th birthday and I used Pinterest to keep the ideas for her party organized. Here is a tutorial on how to make Pinterest boards. I started with just one for the party and then moved things around to keep decorations and food separated.

Tatiana wanted an Asian themed party so the first choice we had to make was the style:

a) traditional: in red, black, white with touches of gold
b) panda: all black and white with touches of green for bamboo
c) kawaii: bright colours

We went to Chinatown in Belgrano to see what was on offer there. Sooooo many cute little shops with everything from paper lamps to food.
If you know my daughter, you will have guessed she chose bright pop style and you´d be right. :)

bubblegum pink, apple green and turquoise paper lamps

      With the style decided we perused the boards with the search with things like: "birthday party japanese style", "birthday party chinese style", "asian party", "japanese decorations" and such.
One of the decorations that got my eye was this one from The WannaBe Southern Belle . As we have one bare wall in the diningroom it was perfect for us.
We bought crepe paper with the colours of the rainbow

Yes, I know that blue and green are in the "wrong" place but it looked prettier. ;)

Without unwinding the paper cut each paper each 6cm (a bit over 2 inches) to have a long band 6cm wide.

Tape the bands to the wall with masking tape and cover the ends with fluffly clouds cut out of white printing paper. I coloured the edges with a light blue ink pad.

On the day of the party Tati wore her chinese red silk dress with golden dragons ...

and we put some chinese food on the table mixed with some local food, for all tatstes.

 

Bonus: we put the rest of the bands to separate the kitchen from the daily diningroom.

Tell me: have you ever found a project on Pinterest that you have actually made? 

Patagonia Argentina, this is where I am at right now

One of my favourite views in the world. This is lake Gutierrez with lake Nahuel Huapi on the far left. 
We are spending some days in a log cabin in the Patagonia, staying in Villa Catedral which is a neighbourhood of  San Carlos de Bariloche a city in the province of Río Negro, Argentina, situated in the foothills of the Andes.

This is where I´m planning my Daily Life on the Go project. A year of photography prompts.

I´m also making lists of exciting plans, cool books to read and awesome places to visit this year.
Next: how to plan a creative project. Coming soon!

June 2013 summary / July plans Show and tell

For Creative Every Day challenge 2013 by Leah Piken Kolidas, I´m taking at least a picture a day for the whole year. This is my fourth time around with the Pic-a-day project and at the end of each month I make a mosaic of the month´s pictures and also summarize it in numbers for the My month in numbers feature by Julie Kirk.  Here are some inspirational instructions on how to go about it. 

I´ve taken 179 of the 181 possible pictures for 2013 so far, here are the 30 that I chose for June from the 133 I will be keeping: CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO MAKE IT BIGGER

My numbers for this month:
* Reorganizing cabinets with baskets: 2 old ones for the paint cans and 3 new ones for the bathroom.

* Three painted rooms: 1 toilette, 1 kitchen and 1 attic.

hubbie painting

before and after in the kitchen

Yes! That´s me! Taking wallpaper off

bookcase painted white

The work included 8 kilogrammes of paper and 10 litres of paint so far.

On the home front but not decorationwise: 5 visits with a total of 14 guests. 

On line numbers: 2 guest posts

~  Tracey Fletcher King painted my mug for her "cuppa with friends" series.

~ I wrote 1 crafting post with a recycled bin for Sarah from Esellek.

Plans for July:

+  We will receive 1 exchange student from Germany who will stay with us for 2 months.
+ Therefore I will take a gazillion (that´s a very BIG number ;) ) pictures of our adventures and post 1 daily blog post as part of the Ultimate Blog Challenge 

What do you wish to tend?

Every Wednesday I participate in Jamie Ridler Studios´ Wishcasting Wednesday practice. Knowing what I wish for helps me guide my actions.

Today Jamie asks "What do you wish to tend?". You can participate too by joining the Linky party at Jamie´s prompt post.

I wish to tend:

* FAMILY

This picture was taken yesterday April 9th 2013 on my mother´s (undiclosed) th birthday. :D I invited her for lunch and then we had tea and cake with my hubbie and kids. {My dad passed away a decade ago and I¨m an only child}. They are the focus of my life.

* FRIENDS

Two of my closest friends have birthdays today. I know! What are the odds? I´m getting my female friends together, making unofficial, informal women circles at every opportunity. Great magic happen when women gather.

*HOME

If you wish to join this year´s decluttering and organizing crew click here!

This month we are taking care of the bathrooms and toilettes and this week I give you daily doable tasks in this blog post. For daily tips on both the practical and the spiritual process you can also follow my Facebook page. 
PS: I know this isn´t my bathroom but it is what I was working on last night. I only left the address book and four copies of the kids health insurance id as the school asks for them each time they are taken for a visit tour. 

*MY ON LINE PRESENCE

There is a whole wide world out there and I¨m wishing to connect, inspire and be inspired by many cool net citizens. :)
You can find me here at my blog and also on Facebook. 

Time management

Some days don´t go as planned. Take for example today. I had the kids juice bottles ready, their snacks in tupperwares, their lunch cooked and ready to pack. Simple. Quick.
Well, "somebody" was bored this morning.

Breakfast was slightly late and therefore the lunch packing was a bit rushed. I was lucky I had preprepared most of it, so I could pack it in a breeze!
In case you are wondering who the bored family member was, here she is:

Blog post numbers

I like numbers. Not Math, mind you. Just numbers. I like taking pictures like

10.10.10 at 10:10

11.11.11 at 11:11

 

09.09.09 at 09:09

Today while I was writing BJ Lantz interview for the blog (she´ll be my guest later this month. You´ll love her studio!) I noticed that I had just surpassed my blog post #1300 so I looked back in my archives and discovered that it took me six years to write 1000 blog posts and then only one a half for the following 300.
I´m so enjoying all these digital connections!

My family in 2005 when I started blogging

My family now: one blogger, two YouTubers and three Facebook fan pages in between us

What is your love wish?

Most of us wear our Sunday best on line. All tidy and smiling. But I know we all have other areas, where we doubt, cringe, whine and grumble. Moments when we might kick a canvas across the room because it is not fulfilling our vision or laser beam the dog with our eyes because it howls letting us know its need to go out just when we are about to finish the recorded interview.
The B side of our lives.

Why do I talk about this? Beacuse when I first read Jamie´s prompt for today´s Wishcasting Wednesdays I thought I was already covered.

I have an awesome husband, two wonderful kids, a lovely mom, a sweet extended family and a ton of fun friends who made my impromptu cyber birthday partyyesterday a true success.

Cake time! Many friends were present through my laptop!

That´s it, right? What else can I wish for?

No, it´s not. I wish for a life I can love. A me I can love.
A me finally out of this sea of doubt, indecision and paralysis. A me I can consider worthy. A productive me.

I know there is only a way to get my wish and that is producing, putting action into my words.
Delivering, even if it means failing.
Choosing, even when it means making mistakes.
Offering my gifts, even when they can get rejected (ooooooouuuuccchhhh).

For years I gave up things for Lent. At Easter time I was tired, frazzled and totally ready to get back to what I had given up. This year I will be doing something different: instead of giving up, I´m taking up. I´m doing more, I will be of service to others intentionally, taking myself out of my comfort zone (and I love my comfort zone).

Put those two together and you will have lots of news here: my signature decluttering and organizing programme starting on March 4th, guest bloggers, a newsletter (there, I said it), an e-book (and again) and more!

Before I just faint out of sheer panic, I invite you to like my Facebook page for daily tips and fun facts and suscribe to this blog for in depth posts. *grin*

As you wish for yourself, I wish for you also.

Week 04 2013. Last Patagonia batch of pics

For Creative Every Day challenge 2013 by Leah Piken Kolidas, I´m taking at least a picture a day for the whole year. This is my fourth time around with the Pic-a-day project and at the end of each month I make a mosaic of the month´s pictures and also summarize it in numbers for the My month in numbers feature by Julie Kirk. I´ve taken 027 out of the possible 027 pictures for 2013 so far.

Each week I make a cover page for it and I also invite an artist to make a piece (any size, any technique) for the week´s number which I will publish on Fridays.

Weeks available if you want to play along and be published here: 05, 07, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48 and 49.   


Monday, January 21st (021/021): lake Guillelmo, about 30km from San Carlos de Bariloche.

Tuesday, January 22nd (022/022): I told you last week that my cousin, his wife, his 3 kids, his sister-in-law, brother-in-law and niece are staying in Bariloche for their summer holidays too. We met for different activities like an afternoon at the lake. 

 Wednesday, January 23rd (023/023): a picture for my mom´s peace of mind. We have LOTS of sunscreen. ;) 

Thursday, January 24th (024/024): lunch at the Fundo, in Colonia Suiza (Swiss colony). Best fondues around the area. :)

Friday, January 25th (025/025): for our last day in Bariloche Daniel decided to run up the mountain to the Refugio Frey. 

 Saturday, January 26th (026/026): back on the road. We stayed at the Lihuel Calel hotel in Santa Rosa, La Pampa province.

Sunday, January 27th (027/027): second day on the motorway. We met my cousin Pablo and his family for lunch in Chivilcoy, Buenos Aires province.

Bonus pictures for the week:

My cousin´s wife and her sis

Tati entertaining the kids