Shopping Handmade: Náyade's Birthday!

Hi there!


As I said on yesterday's blog, during my lunch with friends I gave to two of them their b-day presents, Esther's presents were a lil belated, and Náyade's are a lil early, but since she lives in Italy and her b-day is in February, I don't know when will I be able to give them to her, and I don't trust the Italian post!


So, there she was opening her b-day presents almost like they were her Christmas ones! ;)





I got her a super cute Moo Cow iPhone pouch from the amazing Allie from alliebeans that she loves to bits! She loves everything cow-related, cow-print (much like the amazing Sheika from OMGcow!) and since her iPhone is at the doc (being repaired) she decided to start using it for her camera!









Her second present is a set of sample sized, anti-aging, facial care from SkinJourney. Since she's the first one of us to turn 30 next year (February being her month) I decided to get her this set. I'm already using a pair of SkinJourney's serums that I love, and will be reviewing on the Two Girls blog some time next year (hey, it's just tomorrow now!).




She liked the idea a lot, and was reading the recommendations for use of each of the different products. I just need to hear from her how she likes everything! ;)





Happy New Year everyone!! I hope you'll have a great time celebrating today!!
I'll have a quiet New Year's Eve, dinner with the family and maybe movie night after eating the grapes at midnight! (Spanish tradition).

I'll see you in 2010 with a new blog entry! =D

Shopping Handmade: Esther's Birthday

Finally, I'm on holidays!


And to start the time off properly, I had lunch with my fellow nurses & friends since nursing school (that makes us friends for over 9 years) and had a great time!


I also took the change to hand out some b-day presents for two of said friends, the first of them being Esther, whose birthday was on the 19th this month, but since we always have issues with our schedules, only now we had managed to meet!


As usual, I turned to Etsy looking for something unique and amazing that would match her interests, and would not be whatever typical stuff you can find in any mall.


She has a huge love for writing, and always keeps diaries and agendas with mementos for special occasions, and I thought that a handmade journal would be perfect, so I turned to a shop I had been stalking for a loooong time: Kreativlink. I got lucky and found an awesome Horus journal that is perfect for Esther since she's a huge lover of all Egyptian things like myself!






She absolutely loves it, and commented on how the size is perfect for always taking it with her, and how it's almost too great to actually write on it!






Her second gift I had to think over a lil more, but since she's a huge lover of all things cute, and also a huge lover of all things Japanese since she started studying martial arts a pair of years ago, I got her this amazingly cute Geisha pillow from MyMimi, that can be used as a mini-pillow, decorative or stress-reliever!








I think she was pretty pleased with her loot, and I was really happy to once again managed to shop handmade and score with it!

Sunday Shots: Week 37 (Monday Edition)

Hi there!


Yup, once again Sunday Shots are late, and once again, it is entirely my fault, but I can promise you that since I'm gonna be on holiday for 5 days, from Wednesday on, I'll be updating the blog for often, and I'll have Sunday Shots ready for Sunday this week!


Last week I finally got a wireless remote shutter for my camera, so now I can take pics of myself without having to set up the timer and running from the back of the camera to the front! And that's exactly what I'm showing off on my shot.


Both G & I decided to go a bit artsy on our edits of the photos this week:






Hope you all had great holidays and are getting ready to welcome the New Year!

Pins & Cards by LiPeony!

It's Wednesday, and even if you can't believe it, I'm back to post a new blog entry!


Today I've discovered how much of a good idea switching to shooting RAW and using Lightroom was... I had intended to dedicate the afternoon to pic-taking since I have quite a bunch of things to photograph for blogging, but since my mum reminded me we had the Christmas foods shopping to finish, all the natural light was gone when we came back home.


I decided to switch on the light and start shooting, since I can now tweak the white balance settings and the like, and even with the not too good conditions, I have to say I managed some really nice shots!


I really wanted to show off some super cute stuff I got from LiPeony today and a pair of weeks ago, and if you are regular readers, maybe the name would sound familiar (I got a set of super cute and fun bookmarks from her, Mark the bookmark!).


She has all sort of cute things in her shop, from prints & ACEOS to cards and felt pins!


On my latest orders I've got myself some ACEOS, cards and super cute felt pins, and those are the ones I want to show off!:


Her cards are hand stamped and drawn, with the cutest alien robots! There are lots of different designs, but I fell in love with these two:


Alien Robot Love




Party Chicks



Aren't they super cute?


But, if we are talking cute, her hand-sewn felt pins are on the top of cuteness! She has a lot of animals, and even some Holiday-related ones, like a lil snowman and a gingerbread man!


I got greedy and got myself three:






Red panda




Giant panda




& Mr Penguin!




I thought of maybe sharing them, but I'm not sure if I can part with them, so maybe I'll just get more as gifts! ;)


Tomorrow I plan to take pics with natural light since there are no errands to run, and the cooking of Christmas dinner will be once the daylight is gone, by 6 pm over here. Hopefully, it'll mean another blog entry!

Sunday Shots: Week 36 (Tuesday Edition)

Hi there!

Well, here I am and here are Sunday Shots, though a pair of days later!

Here's Gaurav as the not-so-abominable SnowIndian!:




And here's my shot, not as good as I've liked it, but that's all I could manage so far, I promise this week's shot will be better!:



And hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with another blog entry!

Shopping Handmade: Secret Santa for work

Hi there everyone!


I'm guessing you must be wondering... "Where the heck are Sunday Shots!?" well, they are in the making, I have to say that for the most part it's my fault, I haven't been too inspired this past week, nor was I today, so maybe later today or tomorrow they'll be up!


Last Friday was work's Christmas dinner and Secret Santa gift exchange! I got a super cute Hello Kitty set of pj's (huge Hello Kitty fan here, so that was a big score!), and the person receiving my Etsy & handmade purchased gift loved it too!


I got a gift set of bath & body goodies from DressGreen, that included body cream, lipbalm, hand cream (travel size) and perfume oil, all packed up super cute in a take out box!




And here's Mayte, my co-worker and lucky owner of those goodies now!



And I know I've been promising this for the past two weeks, but I'm hoping I'll blog a bit more this week!

Two Girls And A Bar of Soap GREAT Self Inflicted Giveaway!

In need of some pampering for yourself and looking for awesome B&B goodies? Look no more and head over my other blog: Two Girls And A Bar of Soap and enter the amazing giveaway that the amazing Heather from Self-Inflicted DIY is sponsoring!

http://twogirlsandabarofsoap.blogspot.com/2009/12/super-holiday-giveaway-self-inflicted.html

You can win an amazing set of vegan B&B goodies, tried, tested and approved by our own Brooke!

And since I can't enter the giveaway, I've already gone are purchased a few of her awesome soapies, that I can't wait to get & try!

Sunday Shots: Week 35

Hi there!


How's the weekend going? Hope you all are enjoying it, if you don't have to work! I, for one, am having the weekend off, which is a rare occasion and I'm enjoying it doing a pair of things that I love, taking photos and reading!


Last night I finished "Murder In The Orient Express" and before than "The God of Small Things", today I plan to tackle some Sherlock Holmes (in preparation for the Holmes movie to come) and also to write some Christmas cards for family & friends.


Yesterday we both managed to finish our Sunday Shots, quite ahead of schedule! Both of them with sort of a common theme, though not exactly!


Gaurav's shot showing him thoroughly enjoying the snow:





Mine's showing off the gorgeous resin snowflake that miss Marykitten of BlackKittenAccesories sent me!:




Hopefully more blog entries to come next week since it's not so work-filled like the last!

Sunday Shots: Week 34

What a week!


Finally Sunday, and I haven't really had the energy or motivation to do much... The week has been pretty busy at work, I've been getting a good number of packages in the mail (YAY!) and today I've been getting ready to send a pair of packages with presents for the family abroad, as well as the Christmas cards!


I'm hoping to take a few more pics tomorrow, since I have the day off (remember what I say about no Monday blues for nurses?) ;) and since I've decided to make the switch to shooting RAW and developing the photos on Lightroom, my editing process will slow down till I get the hang of it.


My Sunday Shot this week was not the one I had intended at first but something I managed to take after my camera scare today and my first Lightroom edit! And G's shot is a good reflection of the highlight of the week in Winsconsin!






And I leave you with these, hopefully some more blog entries next week!

Alliebeans!!

Happy Cyber Monday everyone!


One of the best things of being a nurse is not getting the Monday blues, since we work night shift, weekends and all, Monday can be our day off, and sometimes we can't wait for it to arrive!


Today I've been sort of productive, I'm guessing I could have been more so if I hadn't gone to sleep at 5 am, but I really wanted to finish 501st by Karen Traviss, and now I just can't wait till the next book! But anyways, I managed to take quite a good portion of the photos for this blog entry, and edit all the ones that I'll end up using, and I'm writing this blog entry, so I guess that counts as productive?


I stumbled onto Allie's shop via twitter I believe, saw a link, checked her shop, and knew I had to get something at some point!


I decided to get myself one of her signature pouches, the Porta-Pouch, in denim with a super cute hedgie appliqué! Not only is super cute & well made, but I've also discovered it's the best companion for an amateur photographer gal like me! You just get your ID, cards and some cash in it, and you can slip it inside your photo bag, taking very little space, and having all essentials with you! And even in my tiny bowler bag (that can fit my E-620, one lens attached to the body, two more lenses, my porta-pouch, my lenspen and my card-reader) it fits perfectly!








During my last trip in the US, Gaurav's sister & her hubby got me an iPod nano as b-day present (I've always wanted one, but kept postponing buying one cause of this and that...) so I was very excited about it and also knew it needed a lil cozy to protect it from scratches and bumps. Since Allie has some very cool phone cozies for iPhones in her shop, I thought of asking her if she could make me one iPod nano sized one! She was very glad to help me, and came up with a super cute pouch, in my favourite fabric from her shop, the Yoga Cats!










Also while staying in Wisconsin she had her Halloween Sale, and also listed a few more goodies in the Yoga Cats fabric, and since I can't resist it, I went and bought a whole bunch of things: Porta-Pouch, Cosmetics medium bag and Sneezy pouch, aside from one of Batty sneezy pouch that was on sale. I asked her to ship it directly to Spain since I was leaving WI soon. She shipped it the day before Halloween, and I have no idea what adventures the naughty cats got themselves into, but they arrived only last week! Allie had included a Yoga Cats fabric covered mirror as a lil extra, and that's super cute too!














Once I arrived home, aside from waiting for my Yoga cats to arrive, I also indulged myself in some more pouch buying, I got a super cute Moo Cow iPhone pouch for my friend Nayade that loves all things cow! and a lil baby box pouch (also part of the Halloween sale) that is small but sturdy enough to use as my tampon pouch! Both pouches managed to somehow arrive before the Yoga Cats, and I can't wait to give my friend her Moo Cow pouch that I've kept in Allie's original packaging; it was too cute not to use it!






If you've fallen in love with Allie's super cute pouches, she's having a 15% off SALE for Black Friday & Cyber Monday!

Sunday Shots: Week 33

Sunday again!


And as usual, back come the Sunday Shots! I've managed to get mine done at the very last minute, cause I was too busy this week with work, and this weekend having some social life!


But here are both Gaurav's and mine shots! A lil winter-y themed btw.






I'm hoping to write a pair more blogs next week!

A lil Saturday update! A Kreativ Blogger Award

*waves*


Feels so good to be home, relaxing on the sofa (thinking of going to sleep soon), after having a great time out with my friend Pilu.


We went for lunch at an Italian, had some absolutely yummy foods, with a bottle of wine, and then went to see New Moon! I liked the movie, I think the Vulturi were very well cast! And as I said, I liked the movie, but all the teenager girls screaming at the screen for Jacob or Edward is not the way I like watching movies. I guess my anti-social-ness comes out cause I don't like the traffic and crowds of malls on Saturday.


Yesterday I got a very cool award from my very talented friend, Miss Sheika, who is an amazing artist, so I'm truly honoured to be given a Kreativ Blogger award! You really need to check her blog for her amazing weekly comic entries!




As usual, all awards have their rules!:

- Put the award with message on your Blog.
- Leave a message and link to the one you got it from.
- Tell us 7 things about you we didn’t know.
- Choose 7 other bloggers who you want to give this award,
- Link to them and let them know you gave them the award!

7 things about me that you might or might not know:

- English is my second language, but I was attracted to learning the language when I was 3 and wanted to watch Muzzy, a green fuzzy alien cartoon that was in English!

- I've always loved to travel, and now I make two (or three) long international (and intercontinental) trips a year to spend time with my bf.

- I have shopping issues, I tend to shop to compensate emotional haggard so when I'm feeling particularly crappy about missing the bf, or work was been too tolling... I go a bit crazy on Etsy or buying books.

- I love books, buying them, reading them, hoarding them! I want to have a HUGE library in my dream house.

- I'm extremely ecclectic with my taste in music, I can like Iron Maiden and Kylie Minogue at the same time!

- I have a bit of an irrational attraction for all things Pagan (think ancient Celtic & all sorts of Mythology) for an atheist.

And my Seven Bloggers I want to give this award to are:

- by_Rheea
- Cotton And Cloud
- Fabulously Fierce
- Hollyrocks
- Meekiyu's Dream
- RockerByeBaby
- MorganStreet Handmade Soap

And now I'm gonna hope for G to sign in on Skype before I go to sleep to make my day complete!

Stocking up on Holiday cards!

Hi there!


Finally, it's Friday! (Black Friday for all you lot in the US, happy shopping!) And although I have to work tonight (something I'm not entirely looking forward) after that, I'm gonna be having a bunch of days of (finally!) so I'm hoping I'll have enough time to relax, have some social life (on Saturday is lunch & New Moon with bff) and take loads of photos and write a few blog entries!


This year I have decided to start my shopping early, and though for a general consensus many atheists like me don't celebrate Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa/Solstice, I for one, don't care about the religious background, but I do love the excuse for buying presents for the people I care for and getting together to enjoy yummy food! So I've already started my gift shopping, I'm still waiting for some packages to arrive here before I can send a package with all my Christmas gifts to the US for G's nieces.


What other shopping I decided to start on early is Holiday cards! This year I had decided I'd only get handmade cards, and that's what I did! I found three shops with amazing cards and I did my shopping there! Dollgift, UniqueGrabs and Enfin LaVoila!





My first purchase was from fellow blogger and amazing artist Rheea, on her Dollgift shop on Etsy. I saw a few sneak peeks on her blog posts, and I knew that I was gonna be getting a set of her cards as soon they were available! So I snagged a set, and when they arrived, pretty fast, all the way from Singapore, I was in awe at how super cute her packaging is and even more at how cute and sturdy her cards are! I'll probably be sending these to G's family both in the US & India.






Next came indulging the geek in me! I had been watching UniqueGrabs' shop for quite a while, cause they have all sort of geeky cute b-day cards with characters from SW, LOTR, Twilight and many other movies (even My Fair Lady!), and when I saw their special of Holiday cards with the Kreepy Kids version of SW characters... I knew I had to get them! They're really colourful and cute and most of all, GEEKY! Mr G is gonna be getting one, and so will those friends of mine that like SW and know English!






And finally, I have family & friends that don't speak English, but also deserve holiday cards, and I still wanted them to be handmade... what to do? Well, doing my usual perusing on Etsy of my favourite shops, I checked EnFin LaVoila's shop and ta da! problem solved! Right there on her shop announcement was the solution to my problem! She can make her cards in any other European language you want, cause she has an European keyboard with all the accents she may need! So I contacted her, and she was super fast on making two sets of six cards on each of the two designs I chose! Now, my friends & family will have some super quirky & cute cards in Spanish!






So here they are! Showing off my super cute and unique Holiday cards, like them? Go get yourself some! Handmade cards for the win!