Happy 2011!

I've spent this week enjoying my home and my family. Sleeping with my baby and playing with my daughter. Chatting with my husband and watching movies. Eating candy and making cookies. Many of those things I can't do very often because I'm busy running the house and working, but this week Mr. Danita and I decided it was only for us. So I've been thinking and cleaning too. I think the end of the year it's the perfect time to get rid of the things that have been accumulating during all the months that passed, to make space for new things to come to our lives. Slowly, I've been getting rid of many things that I don't longer want or need. Room by room I've been meticulously cleaning and sorting, there are still lots to do but I take advantage of the little free time that I have to do this.

It may be silly for some that I spend my free time cleaning and organizing... but for me it's very important for my mental health and for my creativity. There was chaos in my home! With the baby and my daughter and the Holidays and the visitors this house slowly became a mess and I'm fixing it.

I started with the kitchen and followed with the family room... and now it's time to organize the studio! There are still a lot to do but at least I can walk around the room again... and I feel like painting again! (A feeling that sadly I had lost in the last few weeks).

While many will be in parties today celebrating the new year, I will be at home with my family watching a movie or playing Wii... no party hats this year and no special dinner... but with a sense of balance that I thought was gone.

My wish for you this new year is that it's full of health, peace, happiness and prosperity.
Happy 2011!

Merry Christmas!!

As we're preparing everything to enjoy our Christmas I took a moment to wish you the best of the times in company of the people you love. This is the first time that I won't spend Christmas with my parents and sisters and it's really sad but I get to enjoy the company of my husband and children and my dearest neighbors whom I'm lucky to call my friends. Many of us won't have our loved ones with us this Holiday Season but we'll have them in our hearts. I'm sure we will spend a lot of other Holidays together. Let's enjoy this one!

Merry Christmas!

Gift certificates...

In case you're still wondering what to get to that special person on Christmas, but you think it's too late to get it in the mail, why don't give a gift certificate? That way you get an instant gift and that special one gets to choose what to get ;)

The gift certificates are available here.

Sharing stitches and Free shipping!

I'm super happy today and I want to share with you the reason. A few months ago I was contacted by super talented Chrissie Grace to be part of her new book: Sharing Stitches.

This book is all about swaps and collaborations, you'll learn techniques in mixed media and fabric and also in how to host collaborations and organize your own art swaps.

It was an honor to be part of it. Thank you Chrissie and I wish you lots of success with this book.

Sharing stitches is already available in many bookstores. Get yours, you won't regret it!

To celebrate I'm offering free standard US shipping (and reduced international shipping) in everything on the store!!
Sounds like a good way to celebrate, right?

From the 5th day of Christmas...

Hello again. It's me. As you can see I'm still alive. Things are going pretty fast these days. My mom and dad are here helping me again (couldn't bear the thought of me burning down the house, apparently) and still there's much to do and so little time! So I apologize for not doing these as the past years, but here they are, the rest of the 12 days of Christmas ornaments, which I love and appreciate it and I think you will too.

So let's begin!

First, the 5th day of Christmas ornament was made by Melissa David and it's a beautiful mixed media angel that looks great in my tree.
Day 6, by Jackie Allison. A very clever mixture of elements that make this
a unique ornament.

Day 7 was the turn of Ruth Rae, a mini work of art on wood. This didn't make it to my tree, instead it went straight to my shelf making company to my wedding cake topper.

Day 8th is the turn of Kelly Snelling. I've been fighting for it everyday because my daughter loves dogs and she snatches from the tree every time that I hang it, and it's too precious to let her... maybe in my will...

On the 9th day of Christmas I got Lou's ornament. My tree is tiny, so this little house went straight to my treasure shelf as well...

The 10th day of Christmas was Joanna's turn... this was one I wanted to open since the beginning before my little one did, but we resist the temptation and it was worth the wait!

The 11 day was Maija's turn. Another little house in a very different style (this one I could hang in my tree!)

And finally, the day 12th, Pilar's ornament, that was a perfect closure to this perfect swap.

Thanks so much again Kelly for all your effort in organizing this swap. I do enjoy it every time. And thanks too to the wonderful participating artists, each of you made my day every time that I opened an ornament and hung it on my tree.

New dolls!

So yesterday was soooo much better than the day before. It was calmer, with a more structured routine.. and besides that my husband took care of the baby while I get to make some stuff! I so needed that!

Kokeshi dolls will be listed in my shop today and the fabric ornaments will be for sale tomorrow at the PFATT Marketplace. Now off to feed the baby!

New handbags...

Today was one of those days when everything seems to go wrong... thankfully it's almost over. You see, it's my first day really alone with the baby and my daughter... and it's not as easy as I thought it would be. I burned the soup twice, I burned the spoon, the baby was crying and my toddler trying to pick him up while I tried to stop her and contain the fire... I looked like one of those characters in the TV series that get all crazy with many things burning at the same time, and it's funny when you're looking at it but not when it's happening to you. Still, I think I'll adjust soon, just have to find a way (and a new spoon).

On the business side of my life I was lucky enough to get this beautiful handbags just in time for the Holidays. As many of you know this is a collaboration between my talented cousin and me, and It's been a while since the last time she sent me some. They'll be in my Etsy shop tomorrow and they'll ship by priority mail so you have it soon and ready for the Holidays!

I'll be listing 2 original pieces as well:

"Best Friends" 12x12 mixed media on cradled panel
(a big one for my usual pieces)

"Celebration time" A 5x7 inches mixed media on wood.

Day 4th... A month already!

I'm celebrating today! My little baby boy it's 1 month old! I can't believe how fast he's growing, I'm trying to be with him as much as possible and even like that I feel that I'm missing something... just a few weeks ago his clothes didn't fit him (everything was too big) and now they're the right size... he's able to hold his head up and he's beginning to make those adorable baby sounds.. sniff sniff.. he's too precious for words!


Today it's also the 4th day of Christmas, and it's my turn. But first, let's take a look at the 3rd day:

The 3rd day was the turn of Sally Turlington, who is a super creative artist and she sent us these ornaments, that look like pouches filled with something puffy and then collaged with religious images. I can't guess what' the thing they have on top but she made a great job making these. I love mine Sally, thanks so much!

My Christmas tree is looking better every day!
And now my turn:

I used the fabric paper that I made for my class to make the pouches to put the ornament on and then stamped some tags with Santa and Rudolph.

The ornaments are little glass tiles embedded onto a metal frame with some of my images for Christmas, then I added a bell and matching garland. And if they want to they can wear them instead of hanging them in their trees. I hope you liked them!

So far, I'm loving the swap!

The twelve days of Christmas... 2010!

It's that time of the year again. I've been lucky to be part of the 12 days of Christmas swap organized by Deryn Mentock for third time and I couldn't be more excited.



This year is most special than the others because I got my Christmas gift earlier than expected (my beautiful baby boy!), so I made my ornaments ahead of time just in case and I'm glad I did because I couldn't miss this swap!

So let's begin...


In the first day of Christmas Crystal gave to me a beautiful acrylic and beeswax ornament, wich is really an interesting technique. Thank you Crystal! I love it!



And in the second day of Christmas, Deryn gave to me a very clever ornament, which I'll treasure forever (who would think you can make an ornament out of a spoon?!).

My daughter was specially interested in this one... she beg for the little reindeer (for her, every reindeer she sees is Rudolph, just paint the nose red and it's ready) So, double thank you for Deryn! One for the outside, and one for the inside ;)



And for the ones wondering how can I still manage to work while caring for the baby, I must confess that I get a lot of help from my husband... and also I'm more sleep deprived than usual, but I just can't go so much without painting. It keeps me sane.


I just finished these 4 pieces. I even made a large one (12x12) and will be listed very soon.
Now I'm off to feed the little one. I can't be away from him for too long ;)