Friday Feature: Camamiel!

Well, my blogging hasn't really gone back into full force, but at least, I'm trying to update weekly, and hopefully I'll eventually get back into my 3 posts a week routine!

Today, the first of my days off at work for the holidays, I wanted to make a special Friday Feature! 

I might have mentioned Deb from On Cupcake Moon before, and how we have become taste twins, and how thanks to our common taste for awesome handmade goodies and shops we have connected and became great friends, and I actually can't wait to meet her in person (hopefully next year, twin!).

So, this year I wanted to make her a special Xmas gift, since I know we both love unique things, and after seeing her buying one of Camamiel's Xmas Angels, I thought that a fantastic gift would be a Camamiel mini-Deb! 

 Deb and her Camamiel's mini-Deb!

And we did it! We based the doll on a cartoon of herself that Deb draw, with her kitty, and Ana Camamiel did an absolutely astounding job making sure the doll was a faithful reproduction even to the Rocky The Zombie tee she's wearing!


And Deb absolutely loved it!! So, yeah, further proof that buying handmade is absolutely the best way to go for gift giving!!

Friday Feature: Rocky The Zombie's Pirates for a b-day theme!

Hello everyone! Happy Friday, and happy 2011-is-almost-over-can-you-believe-that? day! ;)

I'm not feeling particularly reflective today, I've been rather more productive! I got up early for a day off, at 8 am to go to the spa for a Chocotherapy treatment at 9 (goodness, it was absolutely amazing! I could have eaten myself!), so when I got home, I had a lot of time ahead of myself, and thought that I felt like baking! So I made a batch of carrot cake cupcakes with the recipe for the Carrot Cake from the Primrose Bakery Cookbook and also, a batch of savoury cupcakes from Alma's Cupcakes blog: Brie & Dried Figs Cupcakes, for tomorrow's dinner. They're in a tupperware now, so they'll be fresh and ready to be eaten as starters for NYE's dinner! I work 3 to 10 pm tomorrow, and I wouldn't have had the time to make them otherwise.

My, am I a bit verbose today? Ok, time I get on with what this blog entry should be about! Friday Feature to show off how to incorporate handmade into birthday themes!

When I went to India this latest time, in October it was RD's b-day, and the theme for his b-day party was Pirates! His fave cartoons are "Jake And the Neverland Pirates" so it wasn't too surprising that RD would choose pirates as theme. As I told my G's sister, if I would have know that with a bit of advance, I could have got invites and decorations from On Cupcake Moon, cause Deb has a great pirate theme! And she can make the invites, the banners, the thank you cards, cupcake wrappers, cupcake toppers and even centerpieces, confetti and napkin rings! Since we didn't, we had to make do with what we could find in two party shops in Gurgaon.

We found quite a loot, including some gold doubloons, pirate balloons, cups, plates and some tiny things as favours/return gifts... aaand some pirate patches for the adults! Aaaaarrr! Also, since both G & me had some very pirate-y t-shirts from Rocky The Zombie, that'd be our uniform for the party!

We also had to plan some activities for all the kiddos that would be attending RD's b-day, and since the kids would be from 2-3 year-old toddlers to 10 year old older kids, we decided a treasure hunt would be great, and also some colouring. I thought that the Rocky The Zombie pirate designs would be great for the kids to colour, so I asked Rhi if she wouldn't mind sending them over, so we made a few copies, along with some images of the pirates from Jake & the Neverland Pirates.


Since on the day of the b-day G & me arrived late, when the party was under way, I didn't get any shots of the kids doing the colouring, but I'm thinking that I'd love to get any of the kids in G's family a colouring book all made out of Rocky The Zombie designs!

All in all, the party was a success, though I seriously think I won't invite as many kiddos if we ever have kids and make b-day parties for them... 30 kiddos was crazy to manage!

Shopping Handmade: Pilu's birthday, or how to buy handmade for a nurse!

Hey there! Today is Friday, and I've decided to bring back an old feature of mine, called Shopping Handmade, where I show off what handmade goodies I've bought as gifts for people, and how much they love them!

For today is the early gifts for Pilu's b-day, since I'm actually leaving for India on her b-day, and I have the days after today quite super busy! So after working night shift, I've met up with her and Esther, and I've ended up feeling like a hobbit! Wonder why?, not size related!, but I had breakfast (with Esther) and then I had second breakfast! (with Pilu). Somehow I managed to miss Elevensies there tho...

Let's start with the showing off!

As Pilu is in love with Zombie Pirate, I knew I had to get her a RockyTheZombie tee, and the new "Pirates in a Boat" print was too awesome to pass up, so I got her that one, and she is completely in love!!

Next, Pilu finally got her mini-Pilu from Camamiel, and now she's the proud owner of a nurse doll, wonderfully crafted, that looks like her, and even has a mini-Indy!!





Both mini-Pilu and mini-Indy are too cute for words! And Pilu is now super happy cause she finally has her Camamiel alter-go! Working with Ana from Camamiel is always a joy, and even more when I know her creations are gonna be loved and cherished, like all the nurse dolls I've gifted so far have been!

Ana was so nice to even send me a postcard of a photo of mini-Pilu & mini-Indy as a happy b-day card for Pilu, and she loved it!!

And last, but clearly not least, Catalepsia, a nurse paper doll, also from Camamiel! Pilu was trying to decide if she's gonna get her to decorate her car, her locker at work, or her reading room at home!

Now, it's time for me to take a lil nap, and then decide what bag to take as my carry-on luggage this time! Have a great Friday!

Rocky Van Gory camera bag!!!

Hello everyone!


We're again at the beginning of a new week, in the sometimes dreaded Monday. Not for me, since I'm happily having it off after working night shift!


Today, I'm finally working a long overdue blog entry about an amazing collaboration between two amazingly talented ladies that I love to bits: Rhiannon from Rocky The Zombie and Brooke from Brooke Van Gory designs!


For every photographer, and even more for every female photographer, there's this hunt for the right kinda bag, that you can take around without it being too obviously a camera bag but with enough space for everything you'd want to carry around, and that will protect your camera! And in my case, you have to add more space in there, so I can use it as carry on luggage!


The search for the perfect bag to take my camera and gadgets and carry on luggage was over when I saw Brooke working on camera bags (branching out from her awesome purses and diaper bags) and when Brooke & Rhi got their heads together and started working on bags with Rhi's amazing lil zombies hand painted or screened onto them!





After much thought and pondering, I decided to go with the Zombie with Cupcake design, and both ladies got onto work! Bag was made with two of my fave colours, Royal Blue & Black, and the zombie design was screened on silver ink. Super cute! Brooke gave it an adjustable strap made out of a car seat belt, so it's very tough and durable! And being able to wear it messenger style is really convenient when you have to go through airports and trains (and even more when you get stuck in London for 5 days and have to drag around hand luggage and suitcase everywhere!).








I'd totally recommend that if you're looking for a cool, durable bag with loads of packing space maybe it be a camera bag, or a purse or a diaper bag, go check Brooke's shop on Artfire to see what styles she offers and check her facebook fan page to check her previous bags, and of course, don't forget to go check Rhiannon's Etsy or Artfire shop for even more cute Zombie goodness!

My faithful Rocky Van Gory bag in Reading's B&B during my "trapped in the UK, blame the snow" stint!

Shopping Handmade: Pilu's Birthday with home baked cupcakes!

Friday is here, once again, and this blog entry is dedicated to last Friday and my friend Pilu's lil birthday celebration and gifts, all done the handmade way!


I had promised Pilu I'd make her the delicious Mojito cupcakes from Heaven is a Cupcake blog, so on Thursday evening I got onto baking them, and they came out looking pretty yummy! I used the "Happy Birthday" liners I got from the Cupcake Social, and once again went with some shortcuts for the recipe, using Mojito mix instead o white rum & lime & peppermint extract, and for the frosting, I used the Flying Bird Botanical's Lavender Mint cacao, it really gave them a lovely minty flavour!




I was waiting for some bakery boxes I had ordered from Paradise Cupcakes, and they luckily arrived on Friday, so I could pack up a dozen frosted cupcakes without them being squished or arrive looking all wonky.






I used a bit of ribbon from my last SugarKitty corsets order and a HK as a panda sticker to give it the final touch. And yes, I am aware cupcakes are not corsets, but hey it was the only ribbon I had handy!




My parents drop me at Guadalajara's train station on their way to the cottage, where Pilu picked me up (thankfully I didn't have to take the train with two bags of presents, two boxes full of cupcakes and a handbag) and we drove to order some sushi to take, and two Sapporo beers for the birthday lunch!




We returned to Pilu's house with our loot and set up table to eat our veggies tempura, small sushi & maki set and the restaurant special, salmon & tuna tempura maki! Miss Indy, Pilu's doggie was hoping she'd get a bit of food, but sushi & beer is not for doggies!











What she did get was a new Fabulously Fierce Pets collar, cause her old one is too small for her now, she's grown quite a bit in the two months I haven't seen her! She's such a gorgeous and loveable puppy! I also got Pilu a pair of leash bags, and she absolutely loved them! They're perfect to keep treats for the doggies when walking them, or for keeping your phone & keys if you have no pockets!

Miss Indy modeling one of the leash bags!

After lunch, it was time for the presents, while we made room in our tummies for the cupcakes! I got her a ComfortRead pillow from Inverness Studios, and she absolutely loved it! She's as much as a bookworm as I am, and I knew she'd love the idea of having something to rest & hold the book while reading in bed or on the sofa, and with the pocket to keep the bookmark, no more fumbling around for it! And can also be used as a travel pillow, cause it has a handle.




Since she's a huge tea lover like myself, I got her two tea kits from Purpose Design, a chai tea kit, and a herbal tea kit. Both are amazing, and smell great!




I also got her a RockyTheZombie t-shirt, I knew she loved Rhi's shop cause she had seen my t-shirts and loved them, and even signed up for Etsy to buy a RTZ baby tee for a friend's baby boy, so I just got her a Zombie Kitty tee in green, her favourite colour! She absolutely loved it, and I think I might have got her hooked for good to RTZ...




She also loved her b-day card, custom made for me by the talented Deb of On Cupcake Moon with Miss Cinnamon in them, and that I hand stamped with my Skull And Cross Buns cupcake stamp!


After all the gifts, we moved to the kitchen and decided to prepare some nice & spicy Chai tea to go with the cupcakes, with her new kit that includes the recipe! I prefer to throw all the spices & tea directly in the milk and boil it all till the colour & smell is right, so that's what we did, we overdid it a bit on the sugar, but otherwise, it was really yummy!






Once the tea was ready, we went onto devour the cupcakes, which Pilu really loved, cause she ate three right away! I ate two, and poor Alberto, Pilu's boyfriend arrived in time to eat the last one of the box! Luckily for him, there was another box!








After we enjoyed a tea with cupcakes and chit chat, we decided to go for a walk with Indy, since the day was great & sunny, without being hot, a lovely early autumn day! The perfect ending for a very nice day & a great way to burn those cupcakes down! ;)

Friends and family for a Friday, always some handmade around!

Friday again! And once again, not the beginning of the weekend for me, I had my weekend Monday and Tuesday, the wonders of a nurse's schedule!


Here I am again, going to share a few photos from G's trip to Spain, more specifically the ones of him meeting up my parents, my bro, sis-in-law, nephews and my friends!


As I picked G from the airport, I drove us straight to my parent's cottage, since we were celebrating my mum's b-day that night with a BBQ and tiramisu for dessert! G not only got to meet my family there (except my youngest nephew) but also two of my best friends, Gema & Emilio, that came down for the celebration and meeting!

G with Gema and Emilio

Gaurav, Gema and myself

We had a fantastic dinner, but since G's Spanish is not too good yet, I had to double as translator for him and everyone, since English fluency is not big around here...


G also got to meet Miss Cinnamon, but for some strange reason she wasn't too fond of him, she started barking at him and wouldn't come near me when G was around... My spoiled lil pup... She had to be the first doggie ever not to like G on sight... all my dad's dogs instantly loved him!

Miss Cinnamon being all sulky

We stayed at the cottage for a few days, and G fell in love with it, I'm so happy and relieved he does! I love staying there, it's so peaceful and just plain great... and I'm so glad he thinks the same!





He also enjoyed the whole home grown veggies and fruit, he even had some veggies for dinner! And also loved cucumbers & tomatoes salad with olive oil and vinegar, simple, but the taste of the veggies is great, fresh out of the garden!






My parents grow cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and also have plum trees, almond trees and fig trees! They also love taking walks in the country and gather and dry their own Rock Tea (not from the same family of your regular black, red or green tea), and G fell in love with all this!










Even though we would have spent all days at the cottage, we were meeting again with Gema and Emilio at their house on Wednesday and also with Alberto (Emi's brother) and David for dinner. We had a great time, and since David is also fluent in English, I wasn't the only translator in the dinner table! Around midnight we were ready to leave, and a bit sleepy, so we thought that before the drive we'd have some coffee, and even though it was a really tasty coffee, it was a BIG mistake, cause we ended up having a sleepless night, awake till around 7 am!

From left to right: Gema, Emilio, David, Alberto, yours truly & Gaurav

After our weekend away at Valencia, for the Maiden concert, we had another family dinner, at my bro's house, so G could see their house, meet Nana (their doggie) and Alex (my younger nephew) and say his farewells, since the next day he was flying back to India.

Gaurav with my nephews, Alex & Joel

Gaurav and Nana, friends at first sight!

A full family portrait! And me & my sis-in-law wearing some RockyTheZombie!