A photo album for my brother

I was looking through old things and found quite a few photos of my brother when he was little. And some embarrassing teenager ones (terrible hair cuts and outfits). So I thought it would only be fair to send them to him. But, instead of just posting the photos, I thought I better put them in an album, because it is way nicer to look at them that way.

I only had one old album from the 80s, with tacky palm trees. So I whipped up a quick album cover whilst I watched some podcasts. I often craft with podcasts from TED or Etsy. This way I feel like I have an excuse to spend my free time in a productive way.

A photo of my gorgeous mum taken by my dad and my favourite needle case (used to be a matches case from a fancy bar in London), the Japanese mouse pad, some embroidery work that I need to frame and those MEN/WOMAN signs my brother sent me and I haven't hung up yet due to earthquakes.

Super quick job, all you need is pinking scissors, embroidery floss & needle, nice felt and a strip of... how do you call this in English? I can never remember... 

Detail of the embroidery, nothing fancy but it represents 'roots' (as this album is to help my brother remember his roots, with photos of childhood)

Love this photo at the bottom, my brother is dressed as a tooth brush and I am the gift pack. At the school fair... we usually always had really funky outfits and won a few prices but this one was super improvised, last minute before heading to school. I love the tooth brush idea!

Bev's birthday

Since I am in New Zealand I have inherited a new mum. As my own mum is so far away, I want to feel like I have something as close as possible to her. And Bev fits the bill perfectly. She is very generous (she gave me her engagement ring!!), patient and caring.

She also cooks yummy food and deserts and always has the house full of gorgeous flowers.



She even made this incredibly beautiful bouquet last weekend!


I feel very comfortable here and I wanted to show her that by making something special for her birthday. I really thought long and hard about what to make. And the winning idea was to decorate a plain top that she could use in this coming winter. So I bought a long sleeve grey top (she loves grey), a piece of ribbon and a box of nice sparkly beads. And made this.

I also decided to make my own embroided Happy Birthday card because I couldn't decide amongst the hundreds I saw in the shops. I hang it in the bathroom as I knew that' d be the first place she'd visit in the morning so it'd be her 1st surprise of the day! hehe


And this is something I forgot to blog about, the table mats I made for her for Xmas (she really likes black & white motifs). It was a fun project and I learnt a few things whilst I made it.

Vintage findings

Passed by a Salvation Army shop and got myself a couple of bargains. Did you know they do sales in these kind of places too?! I bought a piece of knit cloth big enough to make a short summer dress or a nice top and 1 intricate doily in coffee colour, that I could use to decorate an open back top.


I've been now around 3 months in New Zealand. We still don't have a place to live so we are staying with my fiance's parents. Until I am properly settled I am trying to keep up my crafting skills making small projects. I have been discovering all the local shops but also getting lots of material from Bev (future mother in law) and Judy (future auntie).


Seems like in New Zealand everyone is very creative and crafty. Most people know how to sew, do embroidery, knit, cook & bake, etc... Bev showed me some work her mother had done. And I found a few beatiful pieces.

(remember to click on the photos to view the detail in a bigger size)

Judy was emptying her mother's house so I inherited her "Glory box" or "La caja del ajuar" like we'd say in Spanish. As well as a big lot of doilies. This box was made by Judy's father (who has already passed away). He made it for his wife and they have a romantic story about his time on the war... coming to see his beloved lady and making this box for her. I much rather inherit something like this than buy a brand new one!



I've found so many interesting things one can do with doilies that I may give it a try. If you asked me 10 years ago, I'd have thought doilies are the ugliest things on Earth. However today I appreciate the craft that goes behind them.

Bag and some other bits and pieces

(see my fabric combinations)

I have finally invested in a few cheap remnants (some as little as $2!!) to get back into making bags. I have plans to make a few but this is the first one I finished. I have got the fabric already cut for another 6. And I've finally bought eyelets and cool buttons to give them a better finished look. It is so exciting!!

This bag matches the grass and landscape of NZ, all in green tones
(hard to capture with the camera)

I decided that I should add some embroidery to some of the bags, this is my first embroidery piece, hopefully it will come out alright!!

Reorganising Bev's sewing boxes I found these gorgeous vintage needle sets which she got when she was a kid. I thought they were the coolest thing, esp the cowboys one (despite it being very boy-ish), with the 3D effect!!

This is just to make you jealous, I named it the "Chocolate Bomb", sooo yummy! with marzipan, which is something I don't usually like but it worked well here. Bev got it for me, no wonder I gained weight!! (Had my health check done and I'm 3 kg overweight, oops!)

Vintage Embroidery inspiration

Lately I have got into embroidery. Well, so far I haven't done any but I am learning and reading lots about it. I went to visit my auntie and she showed me a few table cloths she made when she was young. I really like this piece because it is modern looking and it could work in 2 colours too.

Detail - click to zoom

Then, my good friend Nati invited me to join her and her mother (Manolita) to learn how to embroider "Yugoslavian stisch". Figure out! Yugoslavia isn't a country anymore so this must come from a looooong time ago.

Again, I really like this style of embroidery because it looks pretty modern and you could do this in many different colour shades. It is simple but cute.