Friday, April 30, 2010

My favorite apple pie



Everybody shares their favorite recipes around, but I'm always shy, since everything looks much more delicious than my recipes, LOL!

But today I shoo my shyness away to share - wow, sounds like a tongue twister... - my favorite appel pie - excuse my bad English in recipes, I make a mess on kitchen terms!

3 apples
3 tablespoon of sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon in powder
200g of butter
3 cups of grounded cornstarch cookies
1 can of condensed milk
4 yolks
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 can of buttermilk
Cinammon in powder

Peel and chop the apples in cubes without seeds. Simmer them with sugar, stirring until getting a purée. Add cinnamon in powder, stir and reserve.

Heat the butter and add the grounded cookies. Simmer, stirring well for 3 minutes. Reserve.

Prepare the cream: take to the oven the condensed milk and yolks, stirring until geting a bit firm. Put out fire and add vanilla and buttermilk.

Line the bottom and sides of a cake pan with the cookies mix, pressing to firm it well. Spread on it the apple purée and cover with the cream. Sprinkle with cinnamon in powder.

Keep it in the fridge until time to serve. If you could translate this messy recipe description and give it a try, you'll see it's delicious!

PS: The photo is not mine, but it looks like it. I'll post some photos when things are ready!

Blessed Beltane for you!



Wishing you all a beautiful Beltane, full of light and fun! On our corner, we'll celebrate our Samhain.
>> Update: The grocery just delivered the ingredients for the Samhain meals, I'll busy myself in the kitchen tonight!

Kisses from us!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Persephone



Ah, showing-off-a-bit time. LOL! I had this awesome Etsy order for a Persephone, and I loved creating this Goddess! It's challenging for her double life, on Earth and on the Underworld. She ended up like this:



The list of Goddesses is growing... Now I have a Thor God to create, and a Poseidon almost ready too.
Witchyrafting, witchycrafting!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

While Beltane is on your way, Samhain is almost here



It's always very fun to see everybody getting ready for sabbaths on the opposite hemisphere, antipode.

Lucas is planning a big Samhain for us here... At least in terms of food! He wants baked apples with cinnamon& sugar, and apple pie, brigadeiros - Brazilian chocolate truffles... And he wants my family to join it. Oh gods... Sometimes he forgets not everyone undertands our religion. But nothing like a good old talk to put everything in the right perspective.

What I know is that I'll make his goodies, I'll prepare our altars with the Samhain clothes, and photos of sweet relatives that have passed away. I'll light candles, I'll pray with him, and we'll honour our bloved ones. Of course Lucas can't wait to decorate his altar with all the stuff we've got at The Play of Light and Shadow's Halloween giveaway:



It's going to be a good day. It's more introspective for me, but I don't forget the ludic side that Lucas loves in every sabbath...

The house of my dreams!



Guys, you have to see this... I was cleaning my old Laposte email page - I don't do that since I moved back to my mom's! - that had literally tons of disorganized emails, a lot to trash, read messages to send to proper files, etc, when I stumbled upon an email I sent to myself times ago not to forget this address - I was living in Minas back then with no computer so I had to do it this way.

The story of this house, built by the owner with the help of his father and friends, it's incredible, with respect and low-impact to the environment. I swear if I could I'd have one just like that, so Lord of the Rings! I'm in love with it again!

ABC Wednesday - O is for O Rappa



O Rappa is one of my favorite Brazilian bands - I'm sure you don't them... - with a great singer and awesome compositions. Their lyrics have a very strong social impact, talking about poverty, hard-working people, slum communities, specially Rio's. They make an amazing mix of rock, reggae, samba, MPB and hip-hop. This song, É Dia de Feira, or I's Fair Day, makes me want to dance and sing along.


For more O posts, visit the ABC page, and join the fun!

Thank you

Once again, thank you guys for the awesome support when I need it. It's really hard to deal with the loss of my sister, close as we were. But sharing it here makes things, if not easier, at least more bearable.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Dedê



On April 27th, 2008, as some of you know, my oldest sweet sister Mª Evangelina, known by everyone as Dedê, died from brain cancer at the age of 53, after a battle that lasted a few months but seemed like forever. She moved from Roraima - Brazil's far north state - to Rio for treatment in November 12nd, 2007, and died five months later. I don't wish this to my enemy if I had one all the process she's been through. To watch one of the most important people of my life suffering such intense, daily pain was the worst. When she died it was a relief to me, because she was finally in peace - I couldn't stand any longer to watch her becoming so weak and full of pain everyday. Her awful illness and death was devastating to all of us, but mom had the deepest scar, only truly relieved after Lucas' amazing dream.

Sometimes I still find unreal that she's no longer here, she who was like a second mother - as if my awesome mom was not enough! She was that oldest sister that was an example for me, always with a sweet word when I was a child, and a wise word when I was a teen dealing with the new world of being a young girl full of love and despair like all teens. She was always there for me, always. That's why it's so hard - I said earlier that I feel like being divided in two, the normal one who laughs and enjoys living, and the other one who mourns and misses her. But, as I use to say, I feel deeply honoured for having her in my life, for sharing these years of sisterhood with mutual deep love, kindness and support. I'll lit my candle for her, and I do know that her soul is being healed from her pains, and she's becoming a bright light. Someday we will meet again.

A five-day weekend

We had a huge weekend... With two national holidays on Wednesday and on Friday. So schools took Thursday off in betwen the two holidas. That's why our weekend was so long! Luckly the weather helped and we could enjoy the days. Lucas is easy to please - which is great for buckless me! We had fun on Earth Day, played in our favorite park, even shuttlecock playing - this is his new fav game outside.

We made crazy drawings outside home under the sun, Lucas rided his scooter, and weeven had a long talk about good and bad behaviour - because it's very rare, but once in a while Lucas throws his tantrums. After this talk, he commited himself to breath deeply before reacting negatively, and see how better it is not to be mad at little things. It worked so well I want to hug him all the time- and I do! Maybe he's growing up too fast... He said he simply enjoys more when having fun and being kind to everybody than to feel his face getting all angry-wrinkled.

Today we walked to the park, but had to return soon, because his feet had blists! First time it happens, but the sun was hot and he was wearing his Spiderman sandals, feet got sweaty and blists came. At home, he was barefoot the rest of the day. We made "together" my favorite comfort cake, cornmeal cake. It was so soft it almost melted in the mouth. But talking about recipes, you should try Brian's banana-praline muffins! I have a similar recipe on the cake version.

I had time to craft for my Etsy orders and tomorrow I'll start a custom Persephone. I had a hard time deciding how to represent Her, but I found my own solution, I'll post a photo here when She's done.

So that's it! Tomorrow life gets back to normal... I wish everybody a great week. Please keep your thoughts with Bridgett's sweet kids, they still need all good vibes!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Monochrome Weekly



On Earth Day Lucas took this fun photo of a stray dog we befriended a long time ago at a street close to ours. She lives in a fenced area as a good guardian, and it's a lovely buddy. We always have a treat in the bag for her. Here she looks like smiling a vampire smile!

For more Mono photos, visit the main page, hosted by Aileni, and join the fun!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Our Earth Day


It was a sunny lovely day, and Lucas wanted to go to the Imperial Museum's ancient garden, the best place here to celebrate this date. There he hugged a big tree, draw a pentagram on the birds' water place, took photos of the Sun, hidden fishes, flowers, and I took some photos of his sweet face. Yes, the beautiful Nature photos were obviously - points out the proud mom - taken by my little witch.

We took a walk at the main park, where he once more got mesmerized by the fountain, and ran like crazy around it as he always do, full of energy and life.

On the way back home, we gave eatable sticks to two dogs we know and Lucas "adopted": the black Pretinha, who lives in that fenced desert terrain as a guardian, and brown Johnny, who lives in a garage where cars are fixed. Both are old friends and love our visits. While Lucas can't have his own doggie, they help him to be patient about it.

We ended up eating huge healthy sandwiches at Subway - but of course he couldn't resist adding a little Ruffles bag to the order...

It was really a perfect day, Lucas was all happy honouring Gaia and enjoying the beautiful day, as I knew it would be. I'll light a candle before sleeping just to thank the gods for this.

Wish you all a wonderful Friday!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

ABC Wednesday - N is for... Nydia? Nah... Nature!

So tempting... Okay here's a photo of myself when I was four:



Now that I showed off a bit, let's go to what really matters: N is for Nature! Tomorrow is Earth Day and what's better than a couple of simple, sweet Nature photos taken by Lucas for ABC today? We'll have fun tomorrow outside enjoying the beautiful day that will surely be.


The mountain in front of my middle brother's house...


Lucas' little bean plant...


The sun from behind mom's little tree...

For more N posts, visit the ABC page, and join the fun!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Birthdays and Free Books

OH... What a week! I spent most time feeling nauseated and tired due to this stupid flu plus migraine crisis. Thank the gods since yesterday I'm feeling much better - and now my mom and my brother got sick! But they'll be okay soon too, I'm sure, I'm spoiling them alright, against their will! LOL



My youngest, sweetest, cutest little niece Beatriz, became a 2-year-old lady on the 14th, and yesterday was her Birthday party. It was great I was already recovered so I could help my brother Delcio and my sis-in-law - the proud parents - with hot-dogs, popcorn and cake serving. I have the madre teresa syndrom: I have to help in family or friends parties, can't simply sit and be served. I guess I got it from my mom. The party was great, Beatriz was a cutiepie and everybody had lots of fun. Lucas ran up and down with a brand-new friend, and mixed all the yummy goodies - I just don't know how he didn't got sick! We all slept as soon as we got back home, happily exhausted...

Today was Day of the Book, and as our tradition, we went spreading Free Books on the main park. We ended up freeing 3 books - a Wicca book series' double copy, a Healing Love my mom wanted to share, and a Rosamund Pilcher's, sorry that I can't rememeber their titles! and a Donald Duck comics Lucas decided giving too. It was fun, Lucas "very much discreetly", according to his own words, left each book at a park bench, as you can see below, for instance:



And we watched for some time to see if anyone would grab them. While we were there, only one woman grabbed one of the books - enough to make Lucas all proud:



But wgot hungry and headed to MacDonalds for a snack, where my little witch played the bad boy... Just for the photo, of course. He looks cute even when trying to be bad...



He took a photo of me and an abstracte painting - he's been fascinated by this kind of art lately, gods know why:



On our way back home, we watched the benches with no books or comic, for Lucas' delight:



It was a good weekend, we kept our tradition, and had a lovely family time. Hope yours were as good as ours! Sorry for the long post!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Weekly Monochrome

I'm still feeling dizzy and nauseated, but seems like the flu will not take me like it wanted to, ha!



The photo above was taken by Lucas one of these days. It's my mom's decorative wall dishes and family paintings. The big one in the center with two men was sketched by my older brother Arnaldo: it's my father's father and his brother. We love this one, so joyful! Below it's my father's family shield, researched and drawn by my middle brother Delcio.

For more Mono photos, visit the main page, hosted by Aileni, and join the fun!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

One of those days...



Today was one of those days we should stay in bed... After a long night with a huge migraine attack and the flu back again= running nose, sneezing... I woke up early to take Lucas to the doctor for a revision. It's was good, she perscribed a homeophatic medicine to increase his immuno system. He must take it during the cold months of Autumn and Winter, from APril to September. And also another homeopathy one because three nights ago, he had an awful nightmare about some monsters, and since then he's feeling anguished before sleeping time, wanting to cry afraid of having the nightmare again. I had already talked about it with him, explaining there's nothing to fear, etc, but better than the medicine was the talk she had with him about it. Seems like a "profesional word" had a great effect to his mind. Tonight he didn't mention it and slept well like before.

I could barely get home so strong my migraine was, I couldn't take Lucas to school, and he lost an exam - mom can't walk distances yet, and my brother wasn't home. I felt terrible, but really couldn't leave home. I called the teacher and she'll give him the exam next Monday. As I said, a day to forget... Thank the gods he was okay and spent time amusing mom with his funny quotes and playing a little on the How to train your Dragon's site. All the time he would ask me if I needed anything, and brought me his SpongeBob glass with water, "in case I'm thirsty". So sweet!

By tomorrow it's better this flu be miles away from me!!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

ABC Wednesday - M is for Merlin

This legendary powerful wizard that lives in the Arthurian lores are one of my favorites. According to Wikipedia, "The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures. Geoffrey combined existing stories of Myrddin Wyllt (Merlinus Caledonensis), a North British madman with no connection to King Arthur, with tales of the Romano-British war leader Ambrosius Aurelianus to form the composite figure he called Merlin Ambrosius (Welsh: Myrddin Emrys).

Geoffrey's rendering of the character was immediately popular, especially in Wales; later writers expanded the account to produce a fuller image of the wizard. Merlin's traditional biography casts him as a cambion; born of a mortal woman, sired by an incubus, the non-human wellspring from whom he inherits his supernatural powers and abilities. Merlin matures to an ascendant sagehood and engineers the birth of Arthur through magic and intrigue. Later authors have Merlin serve as the king's advisor until he is bewitched and imprisoned by the Lady of the Lake.""


I have the trilogy Mary Stewart wrote about him, that I love: Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment. All great books well-written as expected for anything from this awesome author. He's also in Mists of Avalon, another wonderful series.

Lucas got this cute Merlin statue from a carioca friend many years ago, and it's proudly placed on his altar:



For more M posts, visit the ABC page, and join the fun!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Our Spontaneous Smileys are up!

Aawww... So cute! On Saturday Lucas and I went "smiley hunting", and we found some cool ones on the streets. I submitted them to the site, and today they're up! I'm happy that we humbly helped for the Operation Smile project. Lucas is sleeping right now, but tomorrow he'll be all proud!

These are our smileys:

Stoned - Incredibly, this was not manipulated by us, it was like that in front of a house's sidewalk, and Lucas was afraid someone would step on it!:



Crazy Gate:



Mud Lady - Lucas' favorite one:



Next weekend we'll have to find some more! Actually now we keep walking in the streets looking around, this is so addictive!

April 18th is the Free Book Day



Since Lucas was 2, I started this mom & son tradition. April 18th is Book Day in Brazil, I don't know in the rest of the world, and there's also this great movement, called Free Book Day, with many similar projects worldwide.

So we choose a book we no longer want, like a double copy, and after writting down the message: "Today is Book's Day, and I'm a Free Book. Take me with you, read my stories, and after you finished, leave me again somewhere so someone else will have the same pleasure you had by reading me", we go to a public space, and place it so anyone can grab it. We always keep a safe distance to watch without being caught to see how long it takes for the book to be grabbed. It is always taken!

We have already left it on his way to school, and on two kids' parks, in Rio, and at the main square in - arght - Minas

Of course, Lucas loves this. It's a playful way to make him learn about the importance of reading in people's lives, about letting go something we love - and I-do-love-my-books... This year we'll free a double copy of one of my Wicca series collection's book - and maybe a kids' book too. We chose the place too, the park where he plays almost every weekend. I only hope it doesn't rain!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

How to train your dragon



This afternoon I took Lucas to watch "How to train your dragon". While in the bus, I went playing with him pretending we were going to watch it so we would know what to do with the dragon we found and hid in mom's house's back area. I asked if he gave him food, and he said, "Oh no, I forgot! I hope he doesn't eat grandma!", and we went playing like that, creating all the crazy stuff about "our dragon", what if he smelled the food on the oven while we were out, etc. LOL

What a fun movie!! The characters are great, like from an Asterix story - I'm so in love with Night Fury! - the plot is cool, photography is breath-taking... - I just wished we had watched in 3D, but Petropolis doesn't have it. - Lucas only moved his hand to grab his popcorns, his eyes glued to the screen. The story has everything: adventure, funny moments, sweet parts, we loved it! I highly recommend it for everybody with or without kids! I'll try to get the book asap.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Healing vibes for a friend's little girl



I just read on Facebook that Autumn, our lovely friend Bridgett's sweet little daughter, ended her day up at the Urgent Care in Columbus. I don't know what happened, but sending healing, positive vibes her way would be great, people.

New Goddesses on spot

I decided creating specific Goddesses and Gods for my Etsy shop - 'bout time! I've always tended to make them related to the elements or witchy symbols, but lately I feel this urge to bring them from the Greek and Celtic pantheons, my favorite ones. Today I finished and listed Artemis in blue felt, one of her sacred colors, with Her bow & arrow:



I wish I had taken a better photo, but outside is all wet, with rain falling all the time, so I had to take it indoors, which is never the best! But if I waited until the rain stopped, I'd never list Her...

Now I just made the free-hand drawing for Brigit in deep yellow felt, with the triple moon, a fire, and a serpent. Tomorrow I'll start hand-embroidering Her. Can't wait to see how She'll end up!

I have a long row of Goddesses - and Gods - waiting to be born, and I wish I had clones of myself, so they would be ready faster! LOL

I hope everybody is having a great and safe weekend!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Monochrome Weekly - Witchy Cat

Lucas is a great photographer - sorry, I'm the proud mom! LOL - and I always carry my camera when we walk around the city, so he can record his findings, like this cute calico we sometimes meet in the mornings while going to the park:



For more Mono photos, visit the main page, hosted by Aileni.

... And another awesome giveaway

Willow, from A College Witch's Experience, is celebrating her 50th post by giving away some great witchy books! Run, you have until April 10th to join it!

This is so fun!


Guys, you have to see this... I was reading Lucas's favorite Brazilian kids magazine, Recreio, and an article was about this incredible site - I'm sorry if the rest of the world already knows about it, I'm slow! - called "Spontaneous Smiley", created by the photographer Ruth Kaiser. She's got tons of photos featuring exactly what the title says, smiles everywhere, and it became a movement!

You know, when you look at a wall and the cracks looks like a smiling face...


... Or when the bubbles in the kitchen sink have the same effect?

I loved this story she tells about the project:

"One day, as I was crouched with my camera in hand over spilled Soda on the sideawalk Smiley, a man came along and asked, 'What in the world are you taking a picture of?' I showed him the Smiley. He smiled. I smiled. He went on his way. About two minutes later, he came running back in my direction. 'Quick. Bring your camera. I found one.'"

This shows the spirit of the entire thing.


It's one of the sweetest ideas I've seen. When all around there are so many reasons not to smile, this woman brings this ludic idea to surface. The beautiful side is that for each smiley sent to the site, $1 is donate for Operation Smile until a cleft lip/palate surgery cost is reached, and a child's life is changed.

And anyone can submit their smiley photos to be featured! I'll start looking at things with a different eye from now on, with Lucas' precious help, obviously... Of course I have to join this fun!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

From my Treasure Box - Into the Dawn Designs



I thought it would be sweet to have a "logo" for my favorite Etsy shops posts, so I made the one above, and called it "Treasure Box", because that's what it is, my imaginary box where I pick my favorite Etsians to share!

The first items I've bought at Etsy, back in 2008, were from Into the Dawn Designs, from my friend Dawn, this talented and gifted witchy artist who knows everything about polymer clay. It became one of my favorite Etsians. I fell in love with her candle holders, and had to have one. Actually, I ended up with two! First, this Autumn Leaf candle holder:



And afterwards, this Green Leaf candle holder - I couldn't resist, Oak leaves all around, a tree I love and my surname in Portuguese - Carvalho.



I proudly have them at my altar, where they clearly belong. There are so many other awesome pieces of art, among jewelry, boxes, and journals, that it's really hard to decide what's best. Another must see I had to share!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

ABC Wednesday - L is for Lapis-lazuli

You guys thought I'd post about my little witch Lucas, right? LOL You already have a lot about my sweetie scrolling down the blog! So I decided for something different instead...



I have this lovely Lapis-lazuli stone for some years, and I use it into my pillow to help me sleep well and direct my weird dreams to a better way.

As well described in Llewellyn Worldwide, "many people are drawn to the mysterious deep blue of lapis lazuli, or lapis for short. It is one of the oldest “spiritual” stones, first mined 6,000 years ago in Afghanistan – the finest stones still come from that area. Its name comes from the Latin word lapis, meaning “stone” and the Arabic word azul, which means “blue.” In addition, it has been noted the Persian word lazhward means blue and could possibly be another origin of the name. But whatever its origin, lapis is a wonderful stone rich in folklore and metaphysical tradition.

It has been used in ornamental decoration for thousands of years. The Egyptians crushed it and used it to decorate their eyelids. It was also ground and used for paint. In Egypt lapis was used mainly by royalty and priests, and it is believed that the sapphire referred to in the Bible was actually lapis lazuli. Lapis is often worn as talismans and used in inlaid work and ornaments. The Romans believed it was an aphrodisiac.

Lapis is associated with the astrological signs of Sagittarius and Libra and the planets of Neptune and Venus. Reputed to be a stone for teachers, lapis has many useful magical properties. It has been referred to as a stone of awareness and wisdom and may be used to enhance creativity. Its gift of insight is useful in divination – it is useful to keep a small piece of lapis with Tarot decks – and lapis aids in understanding and psychic work. Other areas of use include the throat and brow charkas, overcoming depression and balancing yin and yang energies. Lapis is a protective stone, both from physical danger and psychic attacks.

It is probably most well-known metaphysically for its use to promote psychic awareness. It aids achieving meditative states such as trance and other altered states of consciousness."


For more L posts, visit the ABC page, and join the fun!

Lucas' altar at Post your Altar blog

As I told you earlier, Lucas' altar is featured here, so cool!

I'd love to see other friend's altars there too!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Little witch's thoughts...



Sometimes (or better, all the time!) Lucas takes me by surprise with his thoughts... Everyday there's something different. Last night he came with this. We were talking about family, kids - he started the conversation stating how absurd it is for him that priests and nuns can't get married and raise a family. Then he was silent for a while, and said, "you know mom, sometimes I think about it, of not having my own kids." I asked why, and he replied, "ah, it too demanding, and what if I tell my kid not to do something, he says okay, and then does it anyway? And what if he gets hurt?" My jaw dropped but I calmly replied that that's what parents are for, to guide kids so they avoid some problems, but there's no way of avoiding getting hurt sometimes, it's part of life. Again he was silent (and I thought, this is going to be one of those long nights LOL!), and said, "yes, you're right. Besides, how anyone would know when I die, if I don't have a family??" I had to laugh... Things are getting complex!

Featured at Post your Altar blog

So cool! I've got my altar featured at this awesome blog. Soon it will be Lucas'.

Can't wait other witches' lovely settings!

Easter



Lucas had a blast yesterday when he woke up! He jumped out of bed saying out loud about how the Bunny made a big mess in the bedroom's floor and left him lots of goodies, LOL!

He spent all day offering his chocolats to my family, so sweet! My sister and my three brothers came with their families to have lunch, we were 13! It was wonderful and fun, as always. A great time together with good food and good talk. Every time I looked Lucas was eating one of the many chocolat eggs he won from everybody, and I tried to control him not to have trouble later - actually before sleeping he was feeling sick, of course... But woke up alright, and today, no chocolate! I sent for his school's snack coconut water and salty biscuits to help cleaning his organism. It was a great day!

I hope you guys had a beautiful Easter/weekend as well!

Suzie the Foodie's Anniversary Giveaway!



I had to share, you don't want to miss this! My awesome friend Suzie is promoting a wonderful giveaway to celebrate her Foodie blog's 1st Anniversary!! There are lots of great prizes and it's super-easy to join it, check it out!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Spreading the word is always good. If you can, take your time and read this post at Into the Dawn. It's important. Kisses!

... While he was sleeping...



It's past midnight, and Lucas just slept after a fun dinner party at my sister's, he's exhausted (... and so am I...)!

Only then I could prepare his Bunny nest with the goodies my relatives and myself bought for him, made a trail of bunny paws with flour and spread M&Ms along it, as I do every year. Couldn't resist taking a photo! I can't wait to see his smiling face when he wakes up...

I wish you all a wonderful Easter with your family and friends, with love from the other side of the world!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Just a happy afternoon





We went to the park, and Lucas played as always as if it was the end of the world. Just a calm, happy and full of smiles afternoon. Now he's making nests for the birds outside with his little cousin Maria Clara, and counting the minutes for Easter to come.

Thank you everybody who so kindly sent me words of advice. They will surely help me a lot when time comes to tell Lucas the truth about myths that surround his life. And it's wonderful to see the sweet souls that always seem to be around here when I need! :o)

Monochrome Weekly

My brother Evaldo, who's a photographer and old times lover, sent me several ancient photos of my father's family, and there are some goodies I'll share here at Mono, bear with me! :o)



This is the entrance of my father's farm, taken around 1930. I love it. I just wished I knew who took this one!

For more Mono photos, visit the main page, hosted by Aileni.

Getting my hands busy

**Warning: This is a long post, full of photos!**

Can you bear with me a "little bit" of showing off?? I got so happy with the results of this, I had to share! :o)

The last days were challenging to me at my Etsy. A wonderful and generous costumer decided she wanted several Goddesses and Gods of mine, and asked me to create specific deities. I love when this happens, once before I also had another beautiful and great costumer who did the same, at that time she wanted a complete Sabbath Kore, it was exciting to create them too! Specially because I end up learning more.

One was completely unknown to me, the Luna Moth. When I researched, I learned about this lovely and gorgeous little creature, and I tried to make the embroidery as similar the original as possible:



Then there was the Dog Goddess, in honour of her pets, and I made this cute one (Lucas loved it!) using the felt color she asked:



She grabbed my Witches' Brew Goddess the minute I listed it, LOL - I want to make another one using a different felt color now:



Then there were the Stag Goddess and God, I wish we had these animals here in Brazil *sigh*:




Pan was another delight to create, with his pipe to seduce whatever he wanted:


And at last, Hecate. Such adorable and strong aspect of the Goddess, I learned to love her a bit more:



All my costumer are always too generous in their feedback and words, I feel energized by their vibes. This time it was not different!

Now I'm working to create some ideas that's been haunting my mind. Among them a Greenman, that is almost ready, and a Phoenix to see if it will look good on felt. Since all my hand-embroideries are directly made on the cloth at freehand, I never know how they will get until the threads start crossing it!

Thanks for bearing this long blustering post! Now I'll get back to my humble self again... :o))