Go green

Got an empty large oatmeal container? Use it to store loose items or small materials around your house.
Just cover it with fabric scrap or a decorative paper, and now you've got a pretty holder.
I use mine to store my thread.
In my post "Nice way to reuse an old container" in Oct/10 you can find another idea to recycle your contaneir.

Stitches

When Giulia turned two I wanted to give her something personalized and made by myself. I'm always making things for her but have never done anything for her bathroom. So I had the idea to stitch her name on a towel and add a pair of bows to give it a girlish touch.
Stitching is so relaxing. Usually I sit on the floor with Giulia. While she's playing with her Legos I'm next to her stitching and both of us have some fun.

Need a ride?!

No doubt New York's a very inspirational place, you don't need to walk far to find a piece of art. The other day I was strolling around Soho and came across this bike.
I was wondering how this artist came up with such a great idea? Instead of putting this bike in the trash, it cleverly became an artistic statement.
I love NY!!!

Let's sew?!

I never thought I'd enjoy sewing this much. After years of hearing my mom saying: -You should know how to sew! You're a fashion designer!
Although she was right, the truth was I always had people to put together my creations and never needed to  do it myself. But since Giulia was born, I've had this strong desire to sew some cute clothes for her and last month I finally decided to take my mom's advice and signed up for a sewing class. Guess what? I loved it!
So far I've made a skirt, an envelope pillow, and a lacy scarf.
Mom, I hope you're proud of me :-)

My first painting

My lovely hubby and I recently celebrated our 7th aniversary. It's amazing how fast time goes by. In these 7 years together, so many things have happened, -we moved houses 3 times, lived in 2 different countries, traveled around the world, and the best of all - we had our precious 2 year old daughter Giulia.
Ok, life is beautiful, let's talk about the gift.
I really wanted to give him something meaningful. So, I started thinking about our story, how we met each other, and then...Bing!...How about a painting?!
See below my first adventure in painting .
I couldn't be happier with the result. Especially because he loved it!!!

Collage of newspaper and acrylic paint 

Fabric Flower Vase

How about making a lovely flower vase while chatting with an adorable friend? This project took my craftmate Carol and I two afternoons, but probably without our kids around, it would've been much faster. We had to stop many times because they were hungry, thirsty, fighting for the same toy, because the movie had ended, etc.

Our next project will be a flower mobile to match this vase.

Stay tuned!!!

NYC: My Inspiration

My window view was my inspiration to create my first mosaic project .
I bought lots of books to drum up an idea of what I would draw to start my piece, but nothing appealed me. One day I was looking through my window and was thoroughly enjoying my view, so then the idea popped into my mind... a NYC Skyline... The perfect picture!!!

As I was working on my mosaic, I had wished that the piece of wood was bigger to fill it with some more details about the city.
This mosaic will always be a sweet memory of my time in NYC.

TIP: If you live in New York and want to learn about mosaics. I recommend the studio where I learned it.
Unicorn Art Studio
150 West 28th Street, Suite 1402
New York, NY, 10001
(212) 741-9346