Ballet Class

My sweet little girls who love to twirl and sing together are finally in ballet class together. They love dressing up, driving too and being in their class. And when they get back home, they quickly teach their big brother all he needs to know to lift them, twirl them and be their "prince" to dance with :)


Some absolutely adorable photos I'm sure I will cherish forever!

Djembe Drum

I've thought for a while that my daughter Valencia might have a talent in music. She can dance and sing a routine after seeing a movie or tv show. She is amazing at remembering words to songs from the radio in the car. So I found this absolutely amazing website called Palumba and went right to their music section and found this Djembe Drum. It was beautiful ,natural & handmade. Everything I wanted it to be. It is a great value and shipped very fast.

We received it only 3 or 4 days after ordering so we were surprised to get it this day. We had our rainbow fort all set up outside while grilling and the kids played some beautiful music for us with their xylophone, djembe drum and their claps.
Getting a hang of the sounds......
Tuning with the xylophone........
Stretching her fingers..............

she astounded me with her creativity in how to play it. We've never seen someone play it but she jumped right in by stretching her fingers. (Have no idea where she got that?) and began to tap the sides and then clap.
Like I said ......must be talent.
I can't wait to try out some more products from Palumba. She's already asking for the Lyre.

(Girls beautiful bright dresses are from Delany's Den)

Dying Playsilks

This is a look into our first go at dying these wonderful Habotai Scarves (Playsilks)
Playsilks are gorgeous natural "toys" for imaginative play...including dancing , wind socks, flags, capes,skirts, blankets, tableclothes, window coverings and wall art.

Above; we created a fort on the deck with wood beams , a bright handmade quilt by our Great great grandma Leota and our new playsilks. The hanging playsilks you see on this fort were used and hammocks for the kids stuffed animals and also serves as some great entertainment blowing in the wind.

We started by covering the table with a $1.50 large plastic roll from Home Depot. We re-use this one cover for all of our major art projects.

Before sitting the kids down I prepared our dye which is just containers of water with 5-10 drops of food coloring. I gave each of the children a paint brush and a little spoon to decorate their scarves.
I let each of the kids decorate one 35 by 35 inch silk My husband and I dyed the large silks. We used a 35x84 and 35x108
After thoroughly spooning all of the dye we wanted on the scarves in the desired design we rung them out in a separate large bowl and placed them in large quart size ziplock bags and placed in the microwave for 2 minutes, then let sit on the counter for 5 minutes to cool down.
The silks were still a bit damp, so we hung them to air dry on hangers overnight and fluffed in the dryer in the morning.

We celebrated our first successful silks dying session by making some homemade cookies.



And here is the gorgeous finished product. The colors are vibrant and lovely and I am completely addicted. I want to make curtains, bed spreads & canopies. I will definitely be having another round of silk dying in the near future. Feel free to suggest new techniques, dyes and of course you can e-mail me for tips :) at YourAngil@Hotmail.com
Ms. Valencia's amazing rainbow birdie dress is handmade by a wonderful Etsy seller
Delany's Den. Valoria's green dress in this photo is also one of her creations. I highly recommend her outfits for everyday wear but are especially perfect for professional photo shoots! I love the bright fabrics!


(Can you tell they've had "How to sit like a lady" lessons recently?) Adorable!
A few more shots of this beautiful dress in action :)

Happy Playsilk coloring!!!

Refreshment

Love is the greatest refreshment in life ~ Pablo Picasso

When I am so tired and excited and busy all at the same time. I remember that I can refresh myself with more oxygen, water and love. A very simple few things to get by.
Taking some deep breathes while looking out into this doesn't hurt either.


My weeks are busy with keeping a home clean for showings to sell our house , Kindergarten, Girls Dance classes, the Gym, My husband and my business.
Every week, something new refreshes me so I don't fall into the mundane life. One of my favorite tricks is to plan one special activity day each week to really look forward too. Last week my creative juices were refreshed by something so small. I needed to create some rose garlands for a wedding. This time I added pearl headed stamens to the centers. Just by looking into the rainbow colors of stamens I was mentally refreshed and inspired to create many colorful tissue paper bubble petal flowers. (Which will be for sale next week in my shop)


Here is another variation of the crepe paper rose I am working on. Trying to get better at this technique of cutting out, curling and attaching each individual petal. Coming soon on the blog are technique tutorial posts on coffee dying and crepe paper roses.


I feel very refreshed that my son's ear tube surgery went excellent. I'm so grateful he had no discomfort at all!
Life is all better~!

Spring Crepe Paper Roses

There are so many reasons I love spring, but right at the top of my list is that it's time for Wedding Orders! Garlands of paper roses to hang from an ancient tree at a France wedding, 200 spring colored roses for centerpieces at a New York wedding. I love seeing what themes brides have come up with and what great ideas they have for projects I can make for them :)
Here are the beautifully colored crepe paper roses requested so far this year.
With so much practice of adding stems to the rose flower heads I am now offering stemmed crepe paper roses in my shop. In many different colors.