The M Chart

Busy day!

2013-05-21T14:16:00.000-07:00

Uff!... Having one day off is bliss now! And yes I it was fruiful!

Marília had Sports Day a School and we all had a chance to run a bit :) Daddy helped a lot and we all had so much fun!

After Sports Day, Marília was very tired but she still wanted to "something with Mummy" so we had a small crafts session. These two princesses were our work:

While she finally went for a nap with Daddy I had the chance to dehidrate my basil leaves...

And finish my lotion bars:

After her nap, Marília was full of energy and so we had to work a bit more together. We prepared a lovely strawberry mousse (even though she enjoyed preparing it, she didn't like the result... oh, well, more for mummy and daddy:)

And so this was our day. Mummy still found time to make some changes in a t-shirt, but that is for another post.

I love my life :)

The garden

2013-05-07T07:15:00.001-07:00

Hello! I am always disappearing lately, I know... but it is for a good reason, I am now working full-time, which makes it more difficult to have time to run life, let alone blog! However I will try to post some pics whenever possible.

Last Sunday morning we went to Sant Anton Garden again and we loved it!

We even saw a bee collecting polen from a flower! How cool, uh!

Hope you enjoy our pics!

Play dough and healthy food

2013-03-21T15:47:00.002-07:00

It is so cool when we learn while having fun!

Getting to know you and me...

2012-11-09T11:49:00.001-08:00

I was tagged by the Bryallen of The Frugal Graduate in a getting-to-know-you kind of game, so I thought I'd fill it in so you can get to know more of me (and give some news as I've been so away lately...).

The rules of the game are to link to the person who tagged you, post eleven random facts about yourself, answer the questions posed by the tagger, then write eleven questions of your own to ask to eleven unwitting taggees with under 200 followers.

11 random facts about me:

I have a University degree in Portuguese and English Language and Literature.
I took 8 years to get it...
I wear glasses since I was 9.
I lived in 7 different houses and 3 countries in the past 4 years.
I am too sensitive and it gives me problems.
I used to write a lot of poetry and I won a contest while in University.
I had so many different jobs I don't even remember some!
I worked as an au-pair in Switzerland a few years ago and I still miss my girls.
I was raised by my godparents, but my sisters and brother all lived their lives with my parents (and still do).
My first name is Carla and I hate it.
My biggest dream is to give my daughter a house.

Here are the questions Bryallen asked me:
1. If you were the prime minister/president for the day, what would you change?

I would lower all the salaries of all the politics to half or less.

2. Do you have a nickname? What is it?

No. But my husband calls me Bebé (baby in English).

3. Why do you blog?

Before it was because I had so many ideas and I wanted to record everything. Also to record Marília's growth. Now it is just a habit (a good one).

4. What was the last film you saw and was it any good?

Eat, Pray, Love. It was less than I was expecting...

5. What is your favourite thing about yourself?

My work capacity. I can go non stop til the task is finished. (and still unemployed, can you believe?)

6. What was the first CD/tape/record/mp3 (whatever it was) you ever bought?

Nirvana I think...

7. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

I would go to India.

8. How do you get to work?

I don't...

9. How would you spend your last day on Earth?

Watching my daughter and hubby.

10. What was your first job?

I was a sales girl in a shoe shop.

11. Where is your favourite place?

My bed.

Now I am going to skip the last steps cause I am not tagging anyone. Last time I did it almost no-one did it so... better keep clear!

Thanks Bryallen, I enjoyed it!

Croissants...

2012-11-09T05:08:00.003-08:00

...with Nutella!

Hello? Who knew this was so simple and sooooo cheap? 10 mini chocolate croissants for €1,20???

Puff pastry, Nutella and 15 minutes on the oven. Perfect for a lazy afternoon.

And yummi! Win win I would say!

Marília's birthday party

2012-10-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

My girl (off with the baby thing, she is BIG now) turned 4 last 25th of September:)

With some financial gimnastics we made it happen: a proper Birthday Party!!!

With Hello Kitty!

Lots of girls (also boys but these where too busy playing to take pics).

And an Aurora costume as she wanted.

Making her dreams come true fills my heart with joy!

The President's Garden and the best photographer ever!

2012-10-14T02:49:00.005-07:00

Before Marília turned 4 we had the pleasure to visit the Presiden's Gardens (mind you, I am really talking about the President of Malta:). Not only we had the pleasure to enjoy that lovely place, we had the company of Angela Zacarias, a lovely portuguese girl that we met already here in Malta. Not only is she beautiful, patient with Marília, kind and sweet (not to mention her crafts abilities that are really awesome), she is also a MAGIC photographer!

She offered herself to take some pictures of Marília and... we had great surprises! Wanna take a look?

Photo: © Angela Zacarias

Pretty amazing, don't you agree?

Summer

2012-09-01T15:52:00.001-07:00

When the sun is high on the sky and we can't leave the house...

We do face....

And body painting...

We build high LEGO towers...

We let the PLAYMOBIL's have a circle meeting.

But when the Sun is still going up...

We hit the beach!

And enjoy the Mediterranean Sea!

Yeah!

Teacher's gift

2012-07-16T13:02:00.003-07:00

So we had to say goodbye to Miss Georgette, Marília's teacher, who completely gained my heart.

Here is the gift I made for her:

It's a small basket adorned with some flowers made from cupcake paper, a picture of our princess, 3 soaps and a lotion bar, all made by me. I hope she liked it:)

Bye-bye Kinder 1

2012-06-29T14:47:00.001-07:00

Although the school year isn't over til next week, parents stopped taking kids to school this week (it's too hot to pick them up at 12h00). So, Marília had to say goodbye to her beloved teacher and friends.

What a year!
9 months ago my baby didn't speak a word of English, now she can keep a conversation (and a good one:).

9 months ago she didn't even know Malti was a language, today she speaks more than I do and understands a lot more than I will probably do if I don't get some lessons...

9 months ago she was a stranger, she was the foreign kid... Today she is well adapted and is just one more kid in the school.

Win, win, I can say!

Also, she had an amazing teacher, that was completely devoted to the kids. She made loads of crafts throughout the year and she sent the last ones in this beautiful envelope:

This is her :)

Here is the best friends ever (pic taken at school by the teacher... how sweet!)

This is grandmother (nanna) and grandfather (nanno).

And mum and dad:)

There are a lot more that I will try to post here before Marília feels like "playing" with them, ahah!

Thank you, Miss Camilleri for teaching so much to my princess!

Homemade Play Dough

2012-06-24T08:42:00.001-07:00

Although I could have been much more creative, I had little stuff to use (no colours, no cream tartar...), I made a very simple Play Dough for Marília and she had a blast playing with it.

Here's the proof:

This one is me...

This one is Marília when she was a baby (?)

And these are Daddy and a Clown...

Looks like we have an artist at home ;)

I have been awarded:)

2012-06-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

Alison, the sweet blogger from Heavenly Handmades awarded me with the Sunshine award, how cool, uh?!

I try to shine, but I know I don't really shine as much as I would like to... but if she feels I am up to the prize, I will happily take it! THANK YOU Alison!

Here are the details:

The Sunshine Award is given by bloggers to bloggers. The recipients of the Sunshine Award are "Bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere."

The way the award works is this:

Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them.
Answer 10 questions about yourself.
Select 10 of your favorite bloggers, link their blogs to your post and let them know they've been awarded the Sunshine Award!
Don't forget to copy and paste the award on your blog!

10 Questions:

Favourite Colour? Yellow (like the sun, hehe).

Favourite Animal? Cat.

Favourite Number? 7 (the Magic number:)

Favourite Drink? Water (no, it is not dull Alison!)

Facebook or Twitter? Facebook.

Good Book or Good Movie? Both.

My Passion? Wow... this one is difficult... I love my family, my crafts, my soaps, can't name one only!

Giving or Getting Presents? Both, but I loooooooove to see people's faces when I gift them!

Favourite Day? The day my husband is off work:)

Favourite Flowers? Carnations, for all their meaning in the history of my country, Portugal.

Now, 10 blogs to pass this on to....

Tabouleh

40 and Loving It

Tiaras and Bowties

The Frugal Graduate

All Things Random and Beautiful

Well, I will stay with 5 only... unfortunately I haven't been blogging that much lately and these are the only bloggers I still get in touch with, so... SORRY! But five is better than none, so...

Thanks again Alison! Xo!

Dancing queen...

2012-06-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

...no, no, no, dancing fairy princess like Hollie (from Ben and Hollie's Little kingdom)! Than's what she wanted to be like today, so, we made it happen!

And, oh, she danced and danced and danced...

More before and after

2012-06-03T13:54:00.002-07:00

Still on Enalys stuff... Remember the things she gave me?

I painted as well the ones missing in the pic above (plus 2 small terracota pots) and created these beauties:

Again, thanks Enalys, your helping my flat become a home sweet home:)

Soaps

2012-05-29T13:55:00.001-07:00

My soaps are ready, beautifully packed (I say so, do you?) and they are going to stay home... no shops available to sell them...

Lets see what happens!

Before and after

2012-05-29T13:39:00.003-07:00

My friend Enalys, knowing how much I love crafts, gave me some stuff she wasn't using in her house (by the way, she has a beautiful, traditional Maltese house. One day I want one like hers, hehe).

But the things were gold and my living room was asking for grey...

Before...

After

Although you can't really tell by the picture, the pieces came out really nice. But I don't know what to put inside... maybe candles? What do you think?

There are still more pieces to show, but I run out of paint so I need a few more days...

Thanks Enalys!!!

New table?

2012-05-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

Not really... Just a contact paper wonder, hehe!

The table is quite damaged, so I just covered it in contact paper. Because it was short, I couldn't cover it all in a row, so I just made an artistic thing, ah!

It does the job, so I am happy:)

and the day arrived...

2012-05-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

The fairy waited and waited...

Until finally the day arrived!

Her best fairy friend came over to play:)

(isn't this friend the most beautiful girl in the fairy world?)

They shared the fairy wings...

Had a lot of fun...

And dressed up leaving the bedroom in caos...

But, being so beautiful, who can be angry with these two?

Thai and Marília

My sweet little fairies:)

Tutus and fairy tales

2012-05-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

There was once a little girl that lived in an Island far far away...

She loved all things pink, happy and magic:

She loved flowers...

And her ballerina tutu...

The second one is for her bestfriend Thai, because Marília loves her so much, she always asks for everything doubled: one for her and one for Thai... and so mummy made two no-sew tutus (because mummy doesn't know how to sew properly it all has to be easy peasy:)

DIY Paper Cut Lamp

2012-05-16T13:31:00.002-07:00

Following a very easy tutorial found here I made this DIY Paper Cut Lamp for Marília's bedroom:

I like it, but I think I should have done smaller cuts... Anyway, whenever I feel like it I can make a new one. The paper is 50 cents each, so... a lamp for 1€ seems quite affordable to change every now and then:)

Growing daughters...

2012-05-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

Leave behind small stockings! And what to do with them when they are to cute to waste?

Beautiful cans!

Now I have a can for pens, another for brushes, other for flowers...

They are well and beautifully displayed in my crafts room. Yes, I do have a room for that matter now and I am happy:) More pics will be available soon!

Heart

2012-05-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

I am a bit emotional lately... well, I am always, I know... but I just started to realise this is just who I am and I should better stick to it! Better emotional than a bi***, right? LOOOOL

So, I am again on my "heart craftisness", lol!

Here is an ornament I made to hang in a door knob. It was done with wire and beads.

Here it is hanged in the door (sorry about the horrible pic...)

One more to embelish my sweet little home!

Flowers in the fridge

2012-05-13T13:22:00.001-07:00

Everybody knows living in rented houses isn't exactly like buying everything you want brand new... you have to work with what is available in the house... So, this flat had a fridge... quite rusty... and stickers... ugly stickers!

I wasn't even capable of taking a picture to the "before"... Here is what I created this time:

Yes, contact paper does wonders...

Do you like it? I really love my fridge right now!

My stuff

2012-05-03T14:18:00.001-07:00

Yep, this is my stuff right now, and I love it!

Soaps and more :)

Beeswax soap.

Lip balm.

Coffee scrub.

Beeswax and olive oil soap.

Happy happy me :)

Nice people, nice soaps

2012-04-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

There is still people who give me hope and those are a treasure I keep in my heart.

But I also like to gift them, so I gave a few soaps to a very very special lady that always has nice words and advice to give.

When I gave her the soaps I said: "It's coffee, orange, milk and honey soaps." and she answered: "Oh, so I'll have a hole breakfast!"

AHAHAHAHAHAHA

She is so cute and she made me laugh... I needed it:)