Wearing Handmade Wednesday: MTcoffinz Underground!

Another Wednesday has come around, and that means yet another entry of Wearing Handmade Wednesday is ready here!




I already showed off my MTcoffinz Underground's Skull Nurse scarf, but since Jinx is releasing new embroidery designs all the time, I was bound to go back to her shop. And so, when I saw her Patronus Stag design for scarves, I decided to ask if she could adapt it for fingerless gloves and in purple. And so my awesome Purple Patronus gloves were born! They're so warm and comfy & just plain cool!


And if you're wondering what the heck a Patronus is... this lil geek recommends that you go read the Harry Potter series, or alternatively, go watch "The Prisoner of Azkaban", but trust me, books are always better than their movies! ;)

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!

Friends Photos for Friday!

Hanging out with friends is always a lot of fun, and when you love taking photos and your friends get a kick of posing for you, you end up with a lot of photos!


Last Sunday I met with some of my best friends to hang out and see Al's new apartment, right in the middle of Madrid's town centre! It's a small apartment, but the view and situation more than make up for the size of it!


We had an improvised photo shoot on the common upside terrace of the block, and here are a few of the many shots I took (camera trigger happy!).


















Have a great weekend, the blog will be back on Monday, with a feature on my Rocky Van Gory camera bag! ;)

Wearing Handmade Wednesday: Julian Bean Accessories!!

Hello everyone! Today is that day of the week so it's time for Wearing Handmade Wednesday again!

My sis-in-law wearing my Cranberry Julian Bean slouch hat!

During our gift giving celebration & dinner in Jan 5th (the official day is Jan 6th, but in my family we do it our way) my sis-in-law saw my cranberry Julian Bean beanie hat, and liked it so much that she tried it own and decided to ask me for one for herself!


I still need to talk to her about what colour she wants it to be, and what colour she wants to button, cause she said she wanted just one accent button, like this one. That's the best thing about the Julian Bean beanie hats, you can choose to make it, exactly as you want it, one button or two, and she has 24 colours of yarn to choose from! I'm actually waiting for my 3rd hat to arrive in the mail any day now, and this one is a button-less one!


And in case you'd wonder, yes, it's yours truly in the first pic of the beanie hat listing! ;)

Shopping Handmade: Esther's Birthday & Holiday Decorations!

Monday is here, and with it, back to work for me!


Today, I wanted to show off a wonderful custom doll that the very talented Ana from Camamiel created for my friend Esther!


I've shown off Camamiel's amazing dolls before, cause I own three of her lovely nurse dolls, Escarlatina, Cholera & Influenza! And I knew my friends from uni (and fellow nurses) would love them as much as I do, so I got the idea of getting one nurse doll custom made for my friend Esther's birthday gift!




Since Esther practices martial arts and loves everything Japanese, I asked Ana to make a mix of a samurai/ninja nurse, and she created the cute and dangerous Bambú! A really nice nurse, wearing a kimono and all ready to fight her way through in dangerous places to attend her patients!


After my return from my trip to India, and Esther's trip to Japan, we had our yearly meet up of DUE-PAC's (our group's nickname since Uni!) since Náyade had come from Italy for the Holidays as usual. We met up at Pilu's house for Japanese food, tiramisu and tea! Esther loved Bambú, as I knew she would! And so did Náyade and Pilu! You don't get many cute nurse dolls, and even less Samurai nurses!

Bambú and the Kokeshi doll that Esther brought for me from Japan became instant friends!

And, I also wanted to show off the amazing Holiday ornaments I got from Camamiel's shop! I got a pair of her Pixielves that are still hanging around the house (I'll have to eventually take them down) and also she sent me a totally adorable Gingerbread Nurse ornament!










As you can see, Ana has something cute for everyone in her shop, and I'm already plotting the next custom nurse doll for Náyade's b-day! ;)

Illustrated Ink!!

Christmas/Holidays is now officially over in Spain too, we've got our presents yesterday on the 6th, overindulged in Roscón de Reyes (if you have no idea what it is, here's what wikipedia says about it) and now it's time to take the decorations down, the lights off the streets, and start thinking about the plans for the New Year!


I have a few entries I should have done before, but between the holidays in India with G, the 5 days stuck in London, I have a bit of a backlog of posts, but I'll be catching up on the coming weeks!


Today, I'm gonna be giving the spotlight to the very awesome & talented Leila from Illustrated Ink! For my regular readers the name might sound familiar, cause I've already featured some brilliant custom work she did for me to give as gifts here.


Leila is a full time artist, that paints lovely originals, draw wonderful illustrations, and gives new lives to ugly old vintage pieces she finds, all in her unique mix of Day of the Dead and Old School tattoo style!


After loving the pieces she created for my friends, I knew I needed to get some her art for myself, so after much pondering and trying to choose (her Etsy shop is filled with loads of amazing pieces, from prints, to painted wall decorations, to some pull toys, to paper dolls... all sort of wonderful things!) I decided to go for two of her prints: the Day of the Dead Siempre cat print and the Day of the Dead Amigos dog print, not only cause they're perfect for any animal lover but also because she donates part of the profit from those prints to the Humane Society! And to complete my order, I went for one of her unique Vintage Style lockets, with her Day of the Dead Hello Kitty illustration! Truly a wonderful piece!





Both the prints have really vivid colours, and I'll be sure to frame & hang them once I get a place of my own!






I'm completely in love with the locket! As I'm sure many of you know I'm a huge Hello Kitty lover, and this necklace just combines that with my love for handmade, so it's a total win-win! And the size of the locket is perfect for my taste too! Not too big, but also not too small, and you can clearly see the image since it's enclosed in a dome that magnifies the image!















Leila also sent me a few postcards with some of her art, including one with the Day of the Dead Hello Kitty, and the colours are just fantastic! So alive and vibrant!




If you are looking for some art that is out of the ordinary, you must check Leila's! I'm sure you'll find something you'll love! She's even created a Pin Up Nurse Paper doll!

Wearing Handmade Wednesday: Oveja Negra!

Brrr, hello everyone! Even if it's not too horrible cold here in Spain, and there's no snow (as I got on my layover in London), it is winter, so it's cold! And today is a wintery Wearing Handmade Wednesday edition!


Today it's the start of my Christmas holidays, you might think it's a bit odd, but since Jan 6th is our day for giving presents, the Holidays are not over yet! And after working through Christmas Day and New Year's Eve, now it's my time to enjoy the time off, get presents and eat Roscón de Reyes!

My Riona jacket from Oveja Negra!

Here you can see my lovely hand knitted coat that came all the way from Argentina! Rosario is the lady behind Oveja Negra, and the one that designs and knits the coats and jackets you can find in her Etsy shop! My Riona coat might not be ideal for very cold weather, but for sunny days in winter, and for fall and early spring days, it's lovely!

Shopping Handmade: Gaurav's Birthday!!

Hello everyone!


2011 has been around for quite a bit, and it's the first Monday of the year! Instead of a recipe, I wanted to show off something that I got for the bf's birthday!


Aside from his EyeScream scarf and a RIPT Apparel SW tee, I asked the very talented Sheika of OMGCow aka Sheikasaurus Rex for a custom oil painting of the both of us together! Sheika is a fantastic artist, that painted our portrait without us ever posing for her, just out of photos, and on top of her uni workload and with an injured arm! She did a brilliant job, and we are painted as seen in a camera visor, which reflects our love for photography!


If you want to check more of Sheika's art you can check her semi-daily autobiographic comic OMGCow, and also check her Etsy shop and sign up for her newsletter! (you can get awesome free e-comics!).




You can see us two posing with our ink & canvas doppelgangers! Gaurav loved the super cute idea, we're both quite cheesy, so getting this was the perfect present! We've already decided we'll get another done, but we'll pose for it, maybe for when we get married?