Live, Love and Be Creative

Skillshare class: Paper Fashion Update

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 20:02:00 +0000

Hi everyone,

It has been a long two weeks since I started my skillshare class: Paper fashion: Illustrating your runway look. I really enjoyed this class and in fact, I encountered so many amazing and talented classmates. Of course, our teacher Katie Rodgers, she is just so terrific! I learned so much through my class.

Here are some of the progress from sketching to watercolor and to the final pieces that I have posted in my skillshare project section. The class is 3 more days left - so if you want to enroll, you can still join. :)

First we created mood board for our runway look. I chose some classic look from the 1920s to present. You can view my mood board at the project section or pinterest board.

Here are my sketches progress -----

I'll post something soon on my watercolor progress. I'm almost done with all of my watercolors. Next it would be applying glitter and pen.

Live, love and be creative!

Ira

Skillshare, an Online Tool Resource of Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 16:22:00 +0000

Skillshare is an amazing online resource to learn pretty much about anything from expert people like you and me. We all are good at something. Skillshare opens up that opportunity for experts to share their knowledge in a form of online class. It is a global learning community where you can learn real-world skills from real people (that is their motto).

Classes are varies from art, fashion, design, coding, cooking, writing, etc. To enroll, you simply just need to sign up and pay the class fee. The class is very affordable - usually from FREE to $50 (the most expensive I've seen).

I am taking this class from this amazing fashion illustration designer, Katie Rodgers at Paper fashion. The class is called Illustrating your favorite Runway Looks. Her work is amazing!

The thing about creativity is that - the more you learn and the more resources you have, it will add to your creativity in unexpected ways. Next time you decide to learn something new, check out Skillshare and you will be surprise what you will find.

Live, love and be creative,

Ira.

Activity Resource Books for Parents and Children

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:00:00 +0000

For moms out there, we are all guilty of letting our kids watch too much TV and let the TV babysits them while we are doing other things. The truth is, kids are much better learner when they explore it by themselves. When they learn, listen, and do give much more experience that are more precious for them. But reality is that we are busy cleaning, cooking, working, preparing clothes for the next day, packing lunch, doing laundry and many other things that sometimes we'd rather do than play with our kids.

Parents, we need to equip ourselves with resources. Today, I wanted to share with you several books that can help you get creative and enough resource to fill in those TV time with meaningful and fun activities.

Art Lab book for Kids (of all ages)

"Susan Schwake's Art Lab for Kids is a well-thought-out guide, making it easy to introduce art into children's lives. Simple, clear explanations of technique, combined with inspiration from established artists, will enable children to feel successful and encouraged to explore art as a form of expression." - Rebecca Emberley, best-selling children's book author and illustrator - Amazon recommendations

When I took a glance at this book, as an artist myself, I was amazed that this book has a lot of different techniques of art that we can teach our kids. It's not just doodle drawings, but more of method of the art they are making. I personally love this book.

Another book was also published mixed media by Carla Sonheim, which is also worth checking out.

For those of you who have toddlers in the home, this book is absolutely a great book. I recommend you to get it and get yourself resourseful with the information inside.

The Toddler's busy book: 365 creative games and activities to keep your 1 1/2 to 3 year old busy.

Snippet from Amazon: ...stimulate a child’s natural curiosity with entertaining math, language, and motor-skills activities, encourage a child’s physical, mental, and emotional growth, celebrate holidays and other occasions with special projects and activities, and keep toddlers occupied during long car trips or while running errands. The Toddler's Busy Book is written with warmth and sprinkled with humor and insight.

Trish Kuffner, the author also published several books that might interest you as well. They are all available to purchase online.

Remember creative parents produce creative kids. :)

Live, love and be creative.

Ira.

The Neon trend

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:30:00 +0000

Neon has been around for a long time. At one point it was very popular in the 80's, where in one out of three American would own something that has neon color. Neon made a comeback in the past year or earlier. In fashion, card making, and accented items.

Here's a fun neon party that was put together by a founder of Hello!Lucky for their two years old. See detail more on their link.

Party supplies: neon balloons / plastic animal masks / neon duct tape / neon play-doh / neon shutter shades / neon food coloring (for the cake)

Neon DIY has also been rising and it really made a difference to add that extra pop of color. See below DIY Thank you plant for teachers from Hellobee.

What's your Neon crush?.. There are more to see that will inspire you to try these amazing neon colors.

Your everyday accessories: Source from pinterest

Source: Pinterest

Whatever your project is, when you add a little bit of neon, it will create a diference and surely lighten up your house, fashion style and party.

Live, love and be creative!

Ira.

President's Day: Similarities between Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy.

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 19:19:00 +0000

Some of you are celebrating a long weekend, because it is a President's Day this Monday. How are you spending your 3-days weekend?... I found this fun fact from a friend's post on facebook the other day. I thought it was pretty interesting - Let me know what your thoughts about facts: Similarities between Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy.

Have a history teacher explain this if they can.
Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.
Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.
Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost a child while living in the White House.
Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head.
Now it gets really weird.
Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.
Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.
Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.
John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.
Both assassins were known by their three names.
Both names are composed of fifteen letters.
Now hang on to your seat. Lincoln was shot at the theater named "Ford."
Kennedy was shot in a car called "Lincoln" made by "Ford."
Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.
And here's the "kicker":
A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland.
A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.
AND...................:
Lincoln was shot in a theater and the assassin ran to a warehouse...
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and the assassin ran to a theater...

Uplifting Quotes

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 14:00:00 +0000

I don't know how I manage spare time between taking care of a two years old, housework, full-time working, part time blogger, and Etsy owner. But somehow by God's grace I am doing it all. Our house sight is not always pretty looking. I am always striving to find ways that help improves the quality of life, either that be a better homemaker, better cook, and/or better wife/mom to my family.

Almost about a year ago, I made these quotes poster that I found encourage me and uplifting. One is by C.S Lewis.

The quote is taken from C.S Lewis book "Mere Christianity" - a short post on this quote is written here.

And the other is a commitment to our household, a bible verse: As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15. I love this bible verse the most. It reminds me to make that constant commitment in everything that we do.

How about you?... What quotes that you found interesting and strike you personally and that becomes your motto?

Live, love and be creative,

Ira

Valentine's Day Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 18:52:00 +0000

Happy Valentine's day everyone! Let us celebrate the day with lots of heart and inspirations. A few inspirations that will keep your creativity going:

1. DIY Love birds // 2.Vday Card Printables and Box // 3. Free Valentine Printable // 4. Can you feel the love (Twirling Betty) // 5. Heart Robot cookies by Bake 350 // 6. Skip to my Lou - Sprinkles to my cupcake packaging DIY 7. DIY Valentine Banner // 8. DIY Printables for school lunch

Crafting with Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 20:50:00 +0000

Hi everyone, I hope you would forgive me for not posting so much fun creative stuff at LLBC. I have been looking at so many creative things related to crafting with kids. In some I have tried the inspirations with my daughter, Lucy.

Here are some fun things we did creatively.

Jellyfish and mickey mouse necklace

We also did something fun related to the sea world, cut out a lot of different shape of sea creatures and have Lucy glued and decorated them with stickers.

The thing with kids is that you have to find something that will occupy their mind, in the same time fills them up with creativity, unlimited imaginations. I found this interesting hat making for Sanrio theme at Pinterest, and I copied the DIY and did something quick with Lucy. Frog and rabbit hats.

A little monster face that I found on paper source blog, interesting enough to create a monster face that flaps open and ready to eat you when you put your finger inside. This turned out to be a really fun game for Lucy.

Our infamous rabbit paper bag, super easy to make and fun to remember.

And this little guys cat and cow paper craft is something I saw in a really interesting blog somewhere, you can just trace, cut and fold, instantly you got your paper animal.

New activity that she enjoys is finger paints. She just loves to make a mess out of this. That's the thing about kids. They love to be messy! I took a potato and cut them in half, carve a little bit in the inside and we got an instant stampl

And maybe you can add a little glitter too!... She's using brush for the first time.

There are many things you can do with kids... beauty is not a guarantee and we are still working on that. But the creativity and imagination that we set the kids to think about are priceless.

Live, love, and be creative,

Ira.

FREE Graphics and Templates for Blog improvements.

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:59:00 +0000

You're probably not a crafty person or don't know anything about creating graphic for web. Don't be despair, you can download free templates/imageries from Smitten Blog - for FREE.

Smitten Blog provides free template that you can download and adapt the code to your blog without hassle. Here's one example, where you can get customized wallpaper just by downloading the script.

Smitten Blog also provides FREE graphic for your blog header. Example below for Garden Party theme.

However if you need to do a custom header and also background just for your blog, you can certainly pay a small fee of $195.

Happy Snow Day from Seattle

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 06:56:00 +0000

Seattle just had a snow storm last night. Today a lot of people don't go to work or school because of snow. At where I live the snow is about 7 inches. That's really a lot for Seattle! :)

I took Lucy out for her first snow. She looked super cute standing and watching white snow around her.

and here's the snow view from our window. I'm loving these scenes from my window! I wish I can see it everyday.

We still going to have two days of snow coming up. We will try to stay warm inside.

Ira.

Happy MLK Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:39:00 +0000

If you do have a day off, I hope you have a wonderful time off. I just wanted to bring up today is Martin Luther King's day. To celebrate this day, I would like to feature one thing today.

Have you watched 'The Help' or even read the book?... I watched it few weeks ago with my family. We really liked it. The setting happened around the same time as when Martin Luther King's revolution was happening.

The Help trailer from Youtube

Oh, and if you watched Golden Globe the other day, you would know that Octavia Spencer just won Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture!... That was really awesome! The fact that Golden Globe was happening close to MLK day, it was just the right time to celebrate it even more!

Happy MLK day everyone!

Ira

Fun Pinterest Boards

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:15:00 +0000

Hi Everyone,

It's Friday, oddly it's the thirteen as well!... but don't let that worry you at all. Today I am going to show you my Pinterest board. I have so much fun pinning lately. I have to share with you what I have been pinning. Come check out my Pinterest page.

Live Love and Be Creative Pinterest

What's so great about Pinterest is that, all the things that inspires me that I have seen on different blogs, just as long as they have pictures, I can pin them. All you have to do is drag the Pin It button to your browser's toolbar. These are collections of things that inspire me, or what I want to make one day or just simply to stare at, because they are so beautiful! :)

Live Love and Be Creative Pinterest

If you need an invite, just let me know, shoot me an email and I will send you one! Start pinning everyone!

Ira.

A Beautiful Mess Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:48:00 +0000

I just came across this beautiful blog full of DIY projects, fashion tutorial photography, beauty and decor ideas. You're going to love this blog as much as I do. It's called A Beautiful Mess Blog. I came across this site, from Pinterest. Have you ever gone to that site yet?... it's full of inspiring images more than you could ever imagine. If you need an invite, just let me know. I will invite you to become a member of Pinterest.

Here are a few DIY things that you can find from A Beautiful Mess Blog -
Canvas Transfer // 5 ways I display photos in my house // Make your own floral suitcase

Hope you have a nice Thursday,

Ira

Far Away Cousins.

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 23:46:00 +0000

This year, we're going to a warmer weather in Arizona to celebrate Thanksgiving. I can't wait to see my sister and her family. Her daughter Leah was born only a week later than Lucy. They both met for the first time in July (both were 6 months).

We did a fun picture sessions with the kids. It was so fun to see the two together. Now, the second they will meet again is when they both 10-months old. It will be interesting to see how they will interact among each other. Now, that both of them are crawling and very mobile, I am curious to see both of them interacting. I used my Canon XSI with EF 85mm f1.2L II USM lens that I borrowed from Glazers Camera.

and here's what happened at the end of the shoot that day,

Leah pulled Lucy's hair with her mischievous look:

and here's both of them too cute together:

Next week, I will be posting pictures of the two of them together! :) stay tuned! :)

By the way, off topic here, I found this great recipe that I'm planning to make next week. It's from Joy the Baker - my favorite blogger. She has step by step instructions and recipe to print. She makes it so easy to do. Her blog post boost my confident to make this to complete our Thanksgiving meal.

Until next week, I will post you more fun and inspiring ideas for Thanksgiving celebration. Hope you have a great weekend.

Live, love and be creative,

Ira.

Thanksgiving is near!

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:50:00 +0000

How wonderful it is to enter the Holiday season. I am so excited when I see everyone just get so pumped up to decorate their house and crafting away to make the season meaningful.

My friend, Rachel Hey from The Art Bunny Blog is from UK and there's no Thanksgiving in U.K. So, I thought I'd give her a little Thanksgiving inspired post, and how everyone here in the United States celebrate and getting ready for their Thanksgiving week, also just some post about Fall season crafts.

Rachel, this post is for you.

Here in the U.S, we celebrate Thanksgiving. As for me, I love the idea of Giving Thanks, I think it should not be celebrated just once, but everyday. Here's a fun quote from One Happy Mama from her recent post: 30 days of gratitude day 17

Gratitude is when memory stored in the heart and not in the mind.

I think that is really true. You remember good things and collect them in your heart. I love that quote.

I am grateful for falling leaves and season change. Maya Made Blog post: Oak Stamp is cute. She made these stamps and print them on organic brown paper. She also suggested that you can print them on fabric too!.. what a great idea.

and few more falling leaves from Maya blog:

Food is a big part of Thanksgiving. The weather is getting colder, and all I want to do is stay at home and bake. Pumpkin is a big thing here during Fall season. But check out this fun craft from One Charming Party: Thanksgiving Place Card ideas - Faux Pumpkin Pie. How clever!

Okay, for real food - here's a good post from Bakerella - Pumpkin Pie Bites:

Food will not be the same without Turkey as well. Allrecipes has great ideas for Thanksgiving Turkey recipes. I love their how-to videos, they have all kinds of videos to show you how to thaw, brine, cook, smoke, carved turkeys.

Most important of all, Thanksgiving is alll about get together with friends and family!... Appreciate and love the people in your life.

Even though I did not grow up celebrating Thanksgiving, I wished that we have a giving thanks day in my country.

Here's one last inspiration graphic that you can actually download and frame at your living room as a reminder of the season. It is a Thanksgiving Subway Art by Eighteen25 blog.

Live, love, and be creative,

Ira

Fall Inspired Inspiration Board

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:06:00 +0000

You're going to love this wonderful Fall party decoration idea from Frog Prince Paperie. They are Thanksgiving Kid's Printable Party Pack - DIY Printable. Their design is very simple, yet festive and fun. I love the Fall and Thanksgiving approach on the table design.

You can also find them at their website and find lots of cool ideas for the season.

Their work was also featured in Southern Living magazine:

Find them at their Etsy Shop - with any holiday related or party related items.

Another fun Fall decoration this year that I saw from my google reader is Fall decoration for cakes and cupcakes by Andlespecialtysweets that you can purchase at her Etsy shop. She has AMAZING edible items. As you can see below image!

Another fun cake pops idea to start your Thanksgiving week by Laura's Party photos.

Talking about Cake Pops, you know the queen of cake pops don't you? Bakerella! This one is from 2008 Thanksgiving post: You'll want to Gobble this Right Up. It has step by step instructions on how to do those cake pops!

See you tomorrow for more Fall inspirations week!

Live, love and be creative,

Ira.

Holiday Season Approaching.

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:37:00 +0000

Sorry I've been missing in action lately. Holiday is approaching and everything gets so busy all of a sudden. Plus a sick baby and everyone in the house had to share germs. Lucy had a high fever these past weeks and before that me and Patrick had it too. It was just too crazy all of a sudden. We are now healed and better! There's always a reason to be grateful, health is one for sure in our family!

Now that the holiday season is approaching. Here are few things I'd like to share with you to inspire your days. This week, I'm going to give you a lot of entertaining ideas for Fall season and Thanksgiving. Be ready for that.

Free Thanksgiving printables by Simple As That - Rebecca Cooper

Tomorrow, let's talk about decorating ideas for Fall season.

Live, Love and be Creative,

Ira.

De-Cluttering My Home

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:54:00 +0000

Dear Lillie Blogspot

Last week, our home was so messy, from the bathroom, bedroom, living room and kitchen, there are stuff everywhere. Lucy's toys dominate our living room area, kitchen counter is full, I can barely find a place to cut my fruits and vegetables, not just that there is only one counter space area that we can use. Our kitchen is small.

Have you had those moments when you just have too much things in your house and can't find a place, a serene place where you can sit down and relax without having to think of when is this place going to be clean?

It's funny the messiness at our home also affects my days at work. At work, I stressed out so easily. I didn't know why I was so frustrated over little things that week. I looked around at my work table, I have a lot of tiny little things that I don't need, and I told myself that all this habit of cluttering a space starts to follow me wherever I go.

So, I look up online how to de-clutter and create a space, a serene space where I can function well and not being frustrated over time. I came across California Closets video at Youtube.

Peter Walsh from California Closets mentioned that to start organizing your home is by creating a vision for a home and start asking yourself, "What do I want from this space, is my home giving me the thing that I want in terms of nurturing, warmth, motivation and focus." Then go from room to room and ask yourself, "does this item bring me closer to my vision or far away?"

After watching this video, I picked up everything that I know I don't need in my living room, put them in a laundry basket and store them temporarily in a different room. Once I do that, I started to see a better vision of what I want for my home. I put Lucy in her little bouncer, vacuumed the whole place, picked up and stored her toys away in a basket. Took away all of the things I didn't need and cleaned up the living room.

Once I vacuumed that area clean, I went to the main entrance, again, took everything that I didn't want in my console table, organized the shoes area and hide them in the closet. I wanted nothing else on my floor, no shoes, no trace of papers, and certainly no dust. Nothing on my console table except lamp and basket to put all of our keys. That's about it.

A few hours later, I found my home so clean, so free of clutter, all vacuumed and dust-free. My husband was happy with the new cleaned space. I also noticed that Lucy's attitude change towards the room. She was more playful, she can pretty much crawl everywhere she wants, nothing that is within her reach worried me - if she's going to get hurt or if she was going to pick up anything from the floor and eat them without my knowledge.

That week helped me see that uncluttered home really makes a difference in my day-to-day routine. I functioned better as a mom, providing what Lucy needs, my husband loved staying at a clean home. We just need to keep maintaining that kind of environment forever!

Isabella and Max Room Blogspot

“Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.”
- John Howard Payne (1791 - 1852)

Personalized Children Gifts

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:32:00 +0000

I was reading at One Happy Mama blog this morning and I really like her post about The Super Incredible Big Sister post, it was about a personalized book from I See Me, inc that she won for her daughter. A personalized story book just for her daughter that comes with a medal awards for being an awesome big sister! How sweet is that?

The Super Incredible Big Sister Book

Then I thought about Lucy, maybe she can have a personalized book when she turns one in January. She will really like that, I thought. Maybe a book about Fairy Tales?

Or perhaps this book - Who loves (your name)?

I once was told by a colleague of mine that she reads book to her daughter everyday, one book for when she turns one every night, two books for when she turns two every night, and three books for when she turns three every night, and so on... I think that is a great way to motivate your children to love to read.

I also found Frecklebox site from Living Social deal at one time of personalizing gifts for your children. They have huge collection of gifts collection such as lunch boxes, chore charts, folders, stickers, etc. They also have quite a collection of personalized books and lunch boxes that you can select from!.

Speaking of lunch boxes, I usually not a big fan of cutesy stuff, but last weekend, I just got Lucy this wonderful Pinguin insulated lunch bag from Amazon - from this creative company called SkipHop. They have really creative products. I was really happy when I got this in the mail, and Lucy seemed to like it as much as I do.

Happy Friday, I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Live, love and be Creative,

Ira

Fun Tutorial Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:18:00 +0000

This week's tutorial we will be exploring from other bloggers. Here are few tutorial that I found pretty fun. Check out their blog as well, they will inspire you a lot.

Fabric Design Tutorial:

Fabric Storage Box from Make it Love it Blog

Nap Mat Tutorial - Very clever by Sew like my mom

Stick Horse DIY - Light Blue Grey Blog

Back to School Tutorial:

Back to School Tutorial ~ Pretty paper covered book from Aesthetic Nest

Task Board Tutorial - Organizing idea from no big dill

Decorating Tutorial:

Playful Yarn Balls by Hostess Blog

Peony Paper Crepe - Dear Lillie

Accessories Tutorial

Working a Scarf - Julie Poppies Blog

Changeable Shoe Bows tutorial by Lemon Squeezy Home

Feather Barette or Clip - Oh Hello Friend and Papernstitch

Hope you're enjoying these tutorial!...

Live, love and be Creative,

Ira.

Winner for Felt Flower Headband for Toddler Girl

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:23:00 +0000

The winner giveaway for Felt Flower Headband for Toddler girl is #15 comment (randomly selected using Random.org) Tyler and Karissa who said: "I love dressing my little girl up! Thanks for doing the giveaway!"

Congratulations, Tyler and Karissa! I will be contacting you soon.

Thank you everyone for participating!

Live, love and be creative,

Ira.

Free Sewing Pattern

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 21:17:00 +0000

If you're always interested in learning how to sew but can't create pattern, here's a blog that provides free sewing pattern daily. At Free Sewing Patter daily Blogspot, you will find many fun projects such as iPad Slipcover and Baby kimono.

You can also find free sewing pattern from All Free Sewing. They have varieties of projects that you can find from dining, home decoration things, down to quilt.

Here are few examples of pattern you can make: Frilled Pillow Cushion and Retro Apron.

Daily Craft Sewing section also has varieties of different sewing pattern from beginner/simple sewing to more difficult/advanced. Here's one example of the super simple and yet it's a fun project for babies hanging toys - bird watcher mobile.

But if you need to find more sewing projects, you can always trust these talented ladies for sewing inspirations:

Made // Make It Love It // Sir Bubbadoo // Ruffles and Stuff // See Kate Sew // Craftiness is not Optional

// Aesthetic Nest // Skip to my Lou // The Long Thread // Simply Modern Mom // Sew Much Ado // Stumbles and Stiches // The Purl Bee // Stop Staring and Start Sewing

and the list goes on and on....

Have a great weekend everyone!

Live, love and be creative,

Ira.

Thread Bangle How-To

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:19:00 +0000

I have few bangles that is made out of glass, and they are easily breakable. I thought it's time to do a jewelry makeover. Let's learn how to make thread bangles.

All you need for the materials are:
Individuals bangles or the thick plastic bangle (you can put them together)
Embroidery thread
Ribbon.

First, you just need to create a loop to your bangles and start covering them with embroidery thread.

At the end of it, make a loop and tie a knot to tighten the strings.

Add a piece of ribbon to cover the area where you tied the knot and make a nice bow knot there as an accent. If you don't wish to do this, you can also glue the end of the thread at the back side of the bangle.

You can share your ideas, photos of what you decide to do with your bangle below.

Live, Love and Be Creative,

Ira.

Decorating with Maps Inspiration Boards

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:24:00 +0000

Recently I just had a trip to Vancouver, Canada. It was such a wonderful break from all of the routine things. It was also Lucy's first international trip with mommy and daddy. The beauty of it, we didn't need to fly, just drive three hours north and we got into the border of Canada.

When we stopped by at the visitor center, they gave us free maps of downtown Vancouver and Richmond. Boy, that map really helps us get through to a lot of places. On the way back to Seattle, we stopped by at the visitor center again and get two new maps of Vancouver for my scrap booking purposes. With that, came the idea of decorating with maps for homes inspiration board.

Upcycled Vancouver Maps Heart shape by 42things

So if you have lots of old maps, don't throw them away just yet, you can use them to decorate your home or simply use them as scrapbook purposes.

01. Decorating Frames by inthewabe blog
02. Find your way home by littlewhitedog Etsy
03. Map coaster by Martha Stewart
04. Map Lamps by Artshades
05. Map Scrapbooks by Martha Stewart
06. Family Photos Throw Pillows by BHG
07. Bon Voyage Hoop
08. The Places we've been by Terrordome Etsy

Hope this inspiration board will inspires you.

Live, love and be creative,

Ira

Summer Giveaway: Wool Felt Flower Headbands for Baby Infant Toddler Girl [CLOSED]

noreply@blogger.com (Ira) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 03:59:00 +0000

This giveaway is now closed. thank you for participating.

This week's is the last week of our Summer Facebook Giveaway. Since I love creating flower pieces, I thought it would be fun to giveaway a Wool Felt Flower Headbands for Baby Infant Toddler from a cool Etsy shop - Bloomz.

To win this, it's simple. Here's what you need to do.

1. Leave a comment on this blog (only to US residents mailing address). Leave your email address. If you don't want your email to be show in the search engine, simply type your email address as follow: example (at) domain (dot) com

*Extra Entries*

2. Like us on Facebook, and share about this giveaway on your Facebook wall and leave a separate comment below

3. Blog or Tweet about this, and leave a separate comment below

TWO winners will be picked via random.org

Giveaway ends Sunday 9/18/11 at Midnight (Pacific Time).

Winners will be announced on Monday, 9/19/11.

Live, Love, and Be Creative,

Ira