Mystery Bundle

Let's have some fun! 

I have been obsessed by watching "scoop" store packing orders with a theme or around a specific color. 

It looks so fun and what a treat as a customer to receive something handpicked from the seller inventory just for you? 

 I would like to bring that experience for my customer, so I thought to offer crochet mystery bundles: 4-5 handmade items from me for a flat rate of $20, handpicked and coordinated just for you. No digging through multiple listings of multiple items, emailing back and forth to double check availability and what not: just pick a theme or a color and let me treat you!

Crochet Mystery Bundle

Right now, I have several themes available, like Seasonal packages (Like Christmas or Easter), a SPA dedicate bundle, or animal themed. But literally the sky is the limit, you can mix and match, make special requests or try you luck and order a random assortment. 

 I promise, it will be worth your while! 

So, who is first?

I am a foodie!

Good thing I didn't make a resolution about posting every day, as I would have already failed at it!

 That said, I was showing off some of the presents I made with my own hands, and now it is time to show off some of the wonderful gifts I received.

One thing you need to know about me is that I love food (and it shows on my waistline!) and people that love me are fully aware how to shower me with things I like.

My friend from Germany, send me a lot of pasta and sweet straight from Italy (where I come from)

My lovely students also love to show me their appreciation with food. Not pictured are Christmas crack, fudge and Italian panettone as they were gone (in my belly!) before I could take pictures. But I took pictures of the dark chocolate Lindt Lindor and a box of Italian treats that I am leaving for a special occasion

So, in case you are wondering what you get me for next year.....enjoy the next few posts full of ideas!

What did you get for Christmas?

Gifts I made

 I always enjoyed crocheting. Around the holidays it becomes stressful though. The pressure is on for gift giving and your body engine light is on for rest and unwind. But the doctor said I needed to make time to slow down and meditate and do something I enjoy, so off I went into the quest of doing something I loved but was also useful and productive because my brain cannot simply accept the idea of doing things just for fun.

I started with these lovely Christmas stars to give out to students as they brought me sweet Christmas gifts and literally made tons of them, so I started to use them as gift toppers as well. I wish I could remember where I got the pattern from, but it doesn't look like I saved it, which makes me sad as I want to make more even though I have plenty of them left. they were very well received, but if I had to do make them again, I'd probably double them and sew 2 of them together to give them a sturdier look. They also came out slightly bigger that I'd like.

Then I found this lovely tree potholder pattern, and I just fell in love with the simple both high end look. So here is a picture of a very happy friend that enjoyed her gift very much!

Halfway through making those, I realized I was running out of time and still have a few to make, so I switched to candy canes potholders.

These went way faster, and they were just as enjoyable and really helped me to get in the holiday spirit. I still have a few leftovers as I ended up making way too many as usual.

I love that everything I made was red, green and white, the traditional Christmas colors and made with eco-friendly cotton. Very different from the cupcakes I have been known for years back.

For the stars I went crazy and instead experimented with a lot of different colors and materials because why not?

But don't be fooled, these are not the only things I made and gifted. Some things are still in the making, and some others are still traveling, so I will definitely be posting more.

What about you? Are you a crafter of some kind? What did you make? Care to share? Go ahead and entertain me!

Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Valentine's day last Friday. I surely did! The day began with sweet gifts: 

One of my student gifted me the rose, hubby gave me the chocolate red rose and the kids made the "Love" art at school. 

Me and my daughter enjoyed a Valentine dance at her school, it was fun! 

At night, me and hubby went to dinner, a real date without kids....YAY! 

Well, just because we had no children with us, it didn't mean that we couldn't act like it, right? 

What about you?

 

Christmas presents.

I'm enjoying watching on Facebook and reading through blog about the wonderful gifts my friends and family got and I think it's time to make my very own post about it.

Telling the truth, there is very little material things that I wanted this Christmas season, which is weird as I'm a person that loves to put my hands on the latest gadget (and if Santa is reading this, a Kindle or better yet an iPad, will come handy in the next months!) 

But right before Christmas I had a job interview and there was NOTHING, nothing I wanted more, than the job! 

I tried to keep my feet on the ground, but I couldn't help thinking how wonderful it would be to have the news about me getting the job?? What better way to celebrate for the holidays?? 

Well, I didn't have to wonder much, because my wish came true! 

A lots of beautiful things will be happening in the next month....I will be going back to school to take some courses. I got my temporary teaching certificate and will take tests to make it a professional certificate. In the meanwhile, I accepted a job as an ESOL teacher to an High School down town. 

Yes, there will be some more driving and some schedule adjustment to go, some running around and some going crazy at times, but I will be finally earn a salary rather than be paid hourly and the salary start at 5 times more what I was making so far! 

What's an ESOL teacher you might ask? ESOL stands for English for Speakers of Other Languages. I will be teaching basic English skills to students that, like me, came to the States from other countries and have a hard time getting to understand how everything works here in America.

I don't have words to describe how happy excited and a little bit scared I am!
But I'm ready, bring it on!

After Christmas sale!

Now that we have opened all the gifts and ate all the food (I will have a blog post about my Christmas up soon) it's time to treat yourself with a little After Christmas Sale! 

You deserve it! After running around to make sure that everybody in your family had they perfect Christmas: now it's your turn! 

 

So for today only, visit my Zibbet shop and find something you love at 50% off! 

All you have to do is sending me a message telling me what you'd like to purchase and I will take half-off for you! 

 

Happy After Christmas sale!!!

 

Giveaway win: toaster from Luxe In A City

I love entering giveaways, but I never in a million years I thought I will win the giveaway on Luxe In A City for a gorgeous Magimix Vision Toaster!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

But I did!!! 

I was very excited when Roxanne, the co-founder of Luxe In A City contacted me about it and even more so as the package was delivered very quickly!

 I was also very surprised as the box was huge, much bigger that I expected for a toaster. But I couldn't help my self by opening it and using it right away......that's right, we had breakfast for dinner just so I could test the toaster out.

 

The set up was pretty straight forward, basically you just plug the power cord in the outlet. Then you select the function you want to use by pressing a button at the bottom of the machine with the program you wish to use. you have a choice to use to toast bread, like I did and to select the timer.

This toaster also has the ability to defrost frozen slices of bread which for me it a big plus as I always freeze leftover bread!
 The last function is to toast bagels, that I have yet to explore, but I'm sure I will soon.

Easy peasy, insert the bread slices in the opening at the top, scroll down the little level on the side (very smooth too) and voila'! The glass window allows you to see your bread getting toasted with a bright red light so you can play with the timer if the bread toasts too much or too little.

When the timer is up, a cheerful bell sound will let you know and the slices will pop right up for you to grab and eat.....see for yourself!!

 

 Peanut butter and jelly toast in the morning just became yummier, easier and fun!

If I really have to find one thing to complain about it would be that the instructions came only in French, Spanish and German, no English. But as I said, it was pretty easy to figure it out, so it wasn't a biggie for me!

 

Oath ceremony: February 22nd 2013

If you follow my blog, you already know that I was working towards my citizenship this past months and after some bumps on the road (like this!), finally the day came: February 22nd I officially became an American citizen!! 

 And I promised to share, so here are the pictures. Please be kind, I look rough! That's what happened when you drive for 2 hours in pouring rain freaking out about not making it in time for the big day!!

  

The first shot is when they passed the mic around and asked me my name and where I was coming from. Let me tell you: MOST.EMBARRASSING.MOMENT.EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate talking in front a big mass of people and the place was packed. Plus I hate talking in the mic. UGH! 

  Unfortunately I don't have a clear shot of me actually reciting the oath of allegiance, but after the ceremony (that lasted about 4-5 hours!!!), I took a shot with the judges presiding while I'm holding the so coveted certificate of citizenship. 

 I must admit I'm really proud of myself for finally made the decision and go through the process. Wasn't easy task, but was worth it and I think it gave me some more confidence in doing more things more myself (but that's for another blog posts!) 

I also want to take the time and thank 2 very special online friends that supported me in this process. I talked about my friend Kayla at The Eclectic Element very often, she's very near and dear to me and she sent me the sweetest little package. But I want you to go look for yourself, in this lovely blog post the she dedicated to me: I'm American 

I love love love the scarf, I put it on to go at work the next day!!! Here it is!  

And the bracelet is simply adorable! I like especially the symbolism in it: it of course have red,white and blue beads to symbolize the American flag, plus some black beads for the Black history in the country (Martin Luther King Junior), a cross charm for our freedom of religion (some country are not so lucky, you know?) and a red heart for the love that moves everything in the universe. And, of course, it has "I'm American" hand stamped on it and I love it even more knowing that it's one of the first hand stamped pieced of Kayla. What an honor!!! LOVE.IT!  

My pictures really don't do justice to this lovely gifts, so please, visit Kayla's blog for some eye candy! 

 Another friend, Gail, also warmed my heart with this lovely necklace!!  

How can I NOT wearing it proudly? I have America in my heart!

 

Merry Christmas to me Part 8

I have started to get some Christmas goodies in the mail from my dear friends, so I thought to start sharing them with you and make you drool! 

This gift is courtesy of a dear friend from the Trading Post and also an awesome customer: Karen from KG Krafts. 

Karen asked me a while back to make some cupcake key chains to give her customers and students from her brick and mortar shop and I happily obliged. 100 little cupcakes ready to be shipped! 

 Little did I know that she thought I did such a good job that she HAD TO send me a gift.....guess what???? A Scentsy cupcake warmer!!!

It lights up!!! 

I love it more that I can say and it's already spreading a wonderful peppermint scent into my bedroom! 

 

Merry Christmas to me Part 7

I have started to get some Christmas goodies in the mail from my dear friends, so I thought to start sharing them with you and make you drool! 

You do know how much I love my friends at the Trading post, not only for the goodies that I can trade for, but for all the love they send to me every day. 

 Each Christmas we do a Secret Santa gift exchange, meaning we create a list of people who want to participate and our organizer will match us randomly. 

I got to be the Secret Santa for Cindy at Seabreezejewels and I was delighted to send her my new product to test: reusable swiffer pads  

 My Secret Santa instead, was Nel from yesterdaytrunk that sent me some lovely vintage crochet magazine and instructional books and delicate napkins 

Merry Christmas to me Part 6

I have started to get some Christmas goodies in the mail from my dear friends, so I thought to start sharing them with you and make you drool! 

Do I need to say more??? 

I think Marie from My1SweetAngel knows me way too well!!! I love this pink cupcake ornament!

 And speaking of ornaments, let me show you something else I got! 

 My son Gabriel painted a wonderful red bubble for us 

And from the gift exchange at Grandma's house today I got this wonderful and sparkly dove

Merry Christmas to me Part 5

I have started to get some Christmas goodies in the mail from my dear friends, so I thought to start sharing them with you and make you drool! 

It's time to thank Sewnfromtheheart for sending me this lovely ribbon and all the supplies to make Autism Awareness ribbons. 

I do love how thoughtful Alicia was knowing that this is a cause very dear to me!

Merry Christmas to me Part 4

I have started to get some Christmas goodies in the mail from my dear friends, so I thought to start sharing them with you and make you drool! 

This time the package is courtesy of Alisuns that sent me not one but two beautiful and sparkly necklaces. I loved the details and the colors, they remind me of Christmas bubbles, so I'm happily wearing one of them for this holidays. 

Still, I was a little perplex on why she sent me two necklaces and not just one, so I had to ask her when I thanked her and her reasoning was that it was a mother and daughter set!! How delightful! I immediately shared the necklace with my precious daughter Michelle. 

Do you think she liked it?? I know that she LOVED it!!! 

But then again all of Alisuns jewelry is so lovely! I'm also enjoying a pair of snowman earrings that we traded for months ago. See for yourself! 

I've been featured!

Few days ago, I received an email in my inbox from Jill's stuff telling me that I was featured on her blog! 

She posted about her favorite Christmas ornaments and included my strawberry ornament in the list. 

I would appreciate if you go and take a pick to the list and show some love! 

 

 I don't know if the feature has anything to do with it, but it just so happened that after being notified of it I sold one of those strawberry ornaments to a sweet lady that wanted to give a little Christmas present to her grand daughter but couldn't afford much, but was so happy that she found a little strawberry for $5. I was so touched that she decided to spend those hard earned money with me, I know lots of folks are really struggling with money year around, let alone around the holidays. 

So Santa Clause delivered 2 strawberries instead of one....ooooops!

Merry Christmas to me Part 3

This time is for gifts from the work place! 

Gloves, reindeer sock (this person knows me well!), chocolate (oh YES, baby!) and of course a card. 

A plate full of lovely goodies from a sweet kindergarten!! YUM!! 

What did you get so far???