Paper, Music, Magic

Lisa Hannigan: a new face for me. Loving her music and videos,
... and fun!
(for the title add: "... and Some Paint!")

I have to thank Content in a Cottage for sending me Lisa Hannigan's way, as well always being a sure source of many pleasures: delightful snippets — pictures, sayings, ideas... and Webster and Piggy.

The Last of Christmas

Today is Reis Magos/Epiphany, the day to take down the Christmas decorations.
Amazingly, I actually managed to!

The last few days I've been enjoying the lighted tree, the Christmas votive candles... the smell of the evergreen in my living room. As I was so late in setting up, the joy of seeing these was even greater. I was even a little sad, but a happy sad... another Christmas come and gone. Enjoyed, now that the rush&tiredness are over and just memory.
I'm awaiting some more photos that Son¹ took and has to send me. I'll post them here when they do come in...

The New Year we spent with some friends at their farm in the southeast part of the state, about three hours' drive away. We had a lovely time: very food oriented! What to cook, who(s) to cook it, the cooking, then the eating!
All repeated the next day!
This interspersed with good conversation and napping. I actually had to asked forgiveness from my hostess... I was taking very long naps; I think I may even have gotten some of my sleep debt paid!

The new little house, a guest cottage with two suites,
that we inaugurated. It is set up the hill in the orchard.
The materials were reused from another little house
that had been on the property.

Click to enlarge 
The view from the veranda of the guest cottage,
looking towards the valley.

The red flowers' sisters that edge the drive can be seen.

The evening of January 1st we had...

Pizza!

A pizza fest in their home-pizzaria!
What a great way to start the new year! 

Sorry, what between sleepiness and pizza-hunger,

I didn't take pictures of the baked pizzas.

via

Hubby made a coulis of jaboticabas brought from Son² girlfriend's fazenda. This at the end of their season in November, but it has kept well in the fridge. Jaboticabas are a native fruit to our state, and the coulis has beautiful deep, dark reddish-violet color and a tart taste. It is especially beautiful over vanilla ice cream. Yumm!

I washed and boiled some small jars and put some of the coulis in one. 
Then I made a quick label. The writing, made with a thin-tipped marker and color pencils, blurred as I had glued the label onto the jar with the very cold coulis already in it—the condensation attacked!
The effect came out not too bad... I can pretend it's a certain vintageness from ageing in a cellar.

I managed to find a ribbon in my mess atelier, and so, a gift for our hosts, who much admire Hubby's cooking talents.

Not reorganizing my shelves!

Today, as part of the Sept. 7th holiday, I had planned to clean out the shelves in the living room in order to change their places.

Before starting I checked in my webworld as usual, and can't remember how now, came across The Adventures of Elizabeth, Elizabeth Maxson's blog.

I read a few posts, but then just had to go to the beginning and read them all! There went the shelves&moving!

I enjoy "decorating", art, and craft blogs, especially those with before-and-after pictures (lovely photos, she is also a great photographer). She has those plus loads of good ideas and great tips. As in all the blogs I especially enjoy, what kept me interested was her story: she welcomes us into her real world, and not just the glamour of a talented designer/craftswoman/boutique-owner's experience. Her humanity touched me; her rising above her difficulties, and sharing the gifts of insight she gained from them.
I actually was moved enough to actually write a comment, something I don't usually do, as sad to say, this still a place where my old shyness comes over me.

Or maybe it's just that she also loves the movie Fargo, which coincidendently I just saw again, again, last night.

Well, now back to my world.
*sigh* Is there still time to work on the shelves?
Since it is a holiday, I guess not.
I'll just have to console myself by watching my novelinha and having some pizza for dinner. After all, Hubby is in Germany, working but, I'm sure, sacrificing himself to some alt Bier, poor thing. Sons² and ³ are on holiday trip or with girfriend.

Poor, poor me. I guess I'll just have to have a glass of wine with that pizza.

*I just did a Google check to see if I wrote beer correctly in German (I did) and came across How to say "beer" in several languages, good for a quick laugh and some yeast&hops culture. I'm so glad to know that beer in:

       •  Corellian: Lum (in case you find yourself in the Star Wars universe)
and that
       •  English (old): Beor (in case you drunkenly invent a time machine)

Dreamily Debrina

From roses&cottages through crafts&vintage, music and onwards, my feet — my mouse, that is, — brought me down the Road to the dreamily beautiful art of Debbie Price-Ewen at Debrina's Diary.

I love the textured collage-craft feel of her work.

And... *si-i-i-igh*... envy her very neat studio! Suffering from a serious case of studio-envy!
Mine is always resorting to its Mr. Hyde persona, turning into a stuff-deposit room.
Let me be inspired by her example!

Debrina's very neat studio... and nice sunset view!

Crochet Jewelry

My good-bestest friend from college days, Mariangela Sorbilli, is making gorgeous crochet jewelry-plus.
(the mystery of why she missing from msn answered!!!)

Here are some photos:

I don't know if/how she is selling them, but more can be seen here.
Enjoy!

Tea & Ladybugs

Today I haven't been able to do any whatevering for the "20 minutes"...
so far, at least.

BUT, in the spirit of doing something enjoyable that I haven't done in a looong time, I made myself some tea.
I believe I haven't made any since moving...
I mean some nice black tea, that I have been avoiding as it tends to keep me awake at nights. I do drink tea all the time, but herbal, and in a practical way... in a plain glass.
To make it a special treat, I used the rose mug my sister gave for my birthday last year.
I did have to make the tea in my old hideous teapot, and being hideous of course Does Not Break!
I used as a cosy, and to hide it, a dishtowel I got a few years ago in the town of Araxá, where there is a lot of sewing handicrafts. I just couldn't resist the ladybugs. So fat and roly-poly.
 

I do wish I hasd a scrumptious cupcake to go with it, and not the cloth kind either!

She did it!

By george, she did it!

That is, I did it!
I sewed/darned my shorts!!!
(Sort-A-Sew™ and Sort-A-Darn™ are my trademarks!)

I have to explain: I'm not a sewing person.
I learned some stiches as a child (a ve-e-ery grubby sampler which followed me in my moves for years), which I have already long forgotten how to do.
When about fourteen or so, I taught myself some embroidery, and embroidered a drawing I had made as a gift for my friend's mother (I framed it... the back was an unbelievable mess).
Ah, yes! There was Home Ec when thirteen: a green jumpsuit, and a dress with miles of very-slipery-cloth self belting, that the teacher had to finish as it was Too Much for me. Those were the days of the minis and micros: micro-short jumpsuit and a minidress, with those godawfulll trillion miles of "ribbon" ties.
I actually wore them quite a bit!

So, since the last millenium, my sewing basically consist of sewing back on fallen buttons (a bloodbath, as always pricking my fingers), sewing the inner seams of  my trousers, pants for us in US, and sort-a-darning/sewing of little holes that decide to appear in well loved garments. Sewing , therefore is a major psychological undertaking, if not in practice.

When I finished yesterday, I felt happy, and so saintly!
There are no pictures, as with the very hot,  HOT  h o t  weather, I've been using them direct. From the fixin' they went directly in the washin'.

So, Fiona, thank you for the 20 minutes... if nothing else, I got my shorts back!

But I'm already thinking of what I'll do today!


PS And thank you, Fiona and Gerry, for the comments... they are also inspiring!

Not punk, nor punk....

Neither of the punks!
Came down with a full-blown case of the flu!
Summer flu... which should be a contradiction of terms.

Yesterday, finally awoke feeling a human being again. To be sure, a weary, noseblowing, coughing being.
Better if a coffee bean.   haha... humor also severely affected.

In the meanwhile, all the stuff taken from study, piled neatly, and not so neatly, is  s t i l l  in the living room, as well as the half-opened shelving packages.
Shall I put in another *sigh* here? I do sigh a lot.   *sigh* for this, too.
Tomorrow I hope to be up to finishing the org-orgy, started last week. Today, I see I'm still a bit low. (NOT another *sigh*!)

Yesterday, I finaly made it to the comp, and visited some lovely blogs, that make one feel even less-abled-bodied, as all very crafty, and making-of-things.
I found Attic24, where Lucy is going through those not-unmixed-joys of the first month of a new baby. (Babies made also in these crafty blogs!)

I especially enjoyed looking through Laundry Etc, with her many recipes for jams.

Today, I found SilverPebble. And discovered through her the existence of metal clay! Something exciting to think about, and perhaps the means to get those pendants out of imagination and into reality.

The last blog of yesterday, and the first of today, Marmalade Rose, gave me a boost, and is really inspiring — to do 20 minutes a day of your craft/art/whatever.
Plus, she has the most delicous non-fattening pastry!

images © MarmaladeRose

20 minutes a day is something reasonable, possible, even in a end-of-flu nothing-in-its-place state.
Not quite my art, or craft, but right after lunch, I AM going to sew my beloved shorts, coming undone at the seams!

Off to a late lunch now.

Great find: Posy!

Off and on, checking out helpfull blogging sites, and gaining ideias and info about making a new template, or at least, a new background. I don't know if I'll go with my orignal ideia of a rose floral patchwork... or what.

On my searches for my recent obsessions:
cottages, roses, miniatures, skies, ... ,
I've como across some inspiring blogs.

A favorite is Posy , Jane's blog from Devon.
From her's onwards, a whole world of mother-of-three (coincidence) creative, crafting, home-loving women's blogs. Enough to make one learn how to sew after all these years!