Birthday Celebration

"A single rose can be my garden...a single friend, my world."  - Leo Buscaglia

Here I am with my best friend in the whole world, Esther---celebrating her birthday.  Of course, we always like to go out and eat before we do anything else.

Esther and I clicked right from the beginning.  Her sense of humor and cheery disposition always keeps me laughing and in good spirits.
 

We give each other courage---like making and selling crafts together, going to Hawaii, going skiing--or attempting to, going to concerts---Paul McCartney is my favorite concert to date, trying new foods, we even got our first real job together.

We have been through it all---my marriage---the birth of my daughter, etc., and yet, although we may spend less time together, it seems like no time has passed.  We laugh and talk about old times and share what is going on in our lives.

I don't know what my life would have been like without Esther. Thanks Esther for sharing your life with me.

Your best friend always,

Tish (aka Leticia)

Commitment

Today, I am committing to really delve into the creative tiny whispers of my heart.  

I am enrolled in Kelly Rae Roberts class, Flying Lessons. One thing Kelly Rae Roberts mentioned is that commitment to your heart whispers, really plays a huge part in making your dream come true.  But you have to notice and listen to your heart to see what brings you joy, excites you, and lights you up with passion.

I always wanted to have a creative business based on my passion and love of art, crafts and painting but never really committed to making it part of my life.  I stopped when it got too hard or the critic in my head stopped me from pursuing my dream further.  Fear also played a major obstacle too.

I am finding that I have to get mentally aligned with my dream.  This is when I take inspired action and my dream doesn't seem too hard or out of reach. 

So hear I go.  Wish me luck.  I have a feeling I am going to need it:)

Leticia 

Lifting the Veil

Have you often wondered why you've been doing something for so long, then one day you open up to a new way of doing something.  Something that makes it so much easier.  Wondering why you didn't think of it before?

It has happened to me a couple of times.  The solution was right in front of me and I did not see it.  Did I see the solution because I was ready or was it because I finally opened up to a new paradigm?

All too often, I make my life harder than it is.  I built up a barrier, a filter that sometimes keeps me from living a life of flow.

Is it the past coming into the present that confuses me from seeing the simple & easy truth in front of me?  I may never know except to accept what is and meditate on it.  Meditation sometime helps me lift the veil of the lie and see the truth.

I wish you a life of simplicity, beauty & truth.  We deserve it:)

Leticia

My Beautiful Day

"Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old."

I was reading a post by Janice Hoffman called A Beautiful Day - Project.  I took the time to find out what a beautiful day in my life would look like.  I wrote down 10 things then created an image of it.  I found all 10 things could be boiled down to what you see here.

What would a beautiful day in your life look like?  I would love to know.

Leticia

Free Blog Templates

"Giving opens the way for receiving."  Florence Scovel Shinn

I'm trying to revamp my blog and discovered http://vintagemadeforyou.blogspot.com/.  It has so many wonderful templates for bloggers and Facebook.  The style of their templates remind me of vintage with a french flair.

Check out their website and see if it is useful to you.

Leticia

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.

Lao Tzu

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/giving.html#KHwjkVVMDKKGgUpC.99

I heard the Mermaids Singing

It's time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad and I'd much rather say hello.  Hello to a new adventure.  - Ernie Harwell 

Fort Photo by Marisa Parra

Hello everyone.  I know it has been a while.  I sometimes get wrapped up in my life and let something important go by the wayside.  Does that ever happen to you?

I wanted to share a link to an inspiring and beautiful work of art called "I heard the Mermaids Singing" by Emily from Inside a Black Apple blog.  I just love her work and wanted to share it with all of you.

Take care.
Leticia

What did you find on your bed on Valentine's Day?

I hope you found one of my handmade pillows:)

Handmade pillow by Birthing Angels Crafts - Photo by Marisa Parra

Each pillow is made of printed cotton and linen.  The linen side is where I get my creativity going and create a great image that is ironed onto the fabric (I usually add one of my favorite quotes to the image too).  For the final finish, I love using dingle berries to surround each pillow. 

Please leave me a comment below if you are interested and I will contact you.

Leticia for
Birthing Angels Crafts

My Vintage Valentine

Since love grows within you, so beauty grows.  For love is the beauty of the soul.  - Saint Augustine 

Valentine vintage heart figurine.  Photo by Leticia Parra

Valentine's Day is just around the corner so it brought to mind people and things I love.  The most prominent love I have in my life is for my family.  I have a husband that has stayed with me through thick and thin, health and sickness and puts up with all my weird quirks.  I will love him forever.

My daughter which I have spoken of before in Life is a Strawberry Cake and A Smile has blessed me many thousand of times over with her humor, love and creativity.

As for things I love, my creativity is what I love the most.  Creativity has taken me down many paths and has opened me up to new ways of thinking, being and doing.  I seem to always be drawn to new expressions of crafts and art.  New ideas and ways of thinking.

I'll bet you have the same kind of love in your life that helps you to thrive.

Leticia 

A Smile

If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love.  - Maya Angelou

Vintage bear valentine on heart wreath.  Photo by Marisa Parra

Valentine's Day is just around the corner so it brings to mind the people you love that make your life fuller and richer.  My daughter is one such person.  She always has a hug for me each morning.  Shares my interests of vintage, crafts and art.  Loves me for all my faults and I have quite a few.  She is there for me when I need her such as taking this gorgeous photograph for me of the wreath she created for her bedroom door.  My life is so much more meaningful and grand because of her.  Love never ends.  I will always have a smile for my daughter.

Leticia
 

Are You Open?

There is a vintage store that I go to that carries wonderful furniture that has been redone to wonderful shabby chic colors of grey mixed with blue, white, green or pink.  As I was looking around, I was joyfully surprise to find a small basket that contained cute vintage plastic ducks that float on water.  The ducks came in colors of blue, yellow and pink.  Guess which color I chose?

Vintage floating plastic duck - Photo by Marisa Parra

The duck will look great floating in my fountain during the warm weather.

 Leticia

The Spirit of a Child

"The secret of genius is to carry the spirit

of the child into old age."

Unknown   

Image from Shabby Chic blogs.

I am drawn to cute.  I just found this little ceramic baby rabbit at the thrift store.

Cute Ceramic Baby Rabbit with Egg

Why am I drawn to cute???  As I ponder this question, I believe it is because it means the purity of our spirit.  Not letting the world spoil the perfection of who we are.  Being our authentic selves and loving our quirkiness.  Seeing the world through a child's eyes in wonder and amazement.   

Cuteness equates to joy in my mind and I will always try to foster the spirit of the child in me. 

Leticia

A Best Friend is Like a Comfy Pillow

"Things are never quite as scary when you have a best friend."  ~Bill Watterson


My best friend in all the world is Esther.  We give each other courage and have shared many first experiences together such as our first plane ride, skiing (bunny hills), creating and selling crafts, worked together (she had the car), cried together when we lost our parents, all of it.  Time may pass before we see or talk to each other---but when we come together, it is as if no time passed.  We feel comfortable being our authentic selves---no judgements just listening and accepting.  


When it came time to craft a gift for her, this comfy pillow came to mind.  I made it from linen and vintage fabric.  The vintage fabric had cute cowboys and cowgirls which inspired the front photo of a dog on a horseshoe (she loves Asta from the Thin Man movies).



The pillow came together perfectly and she loved it.  I loved making it too.  Maybe, making pillows will be my new forte;)

Vintage Prairie Pillow (front) - Photo by Marisa Parra

Vintage Prairie Pillow (back)

 Leticia

A New Doll for Baby Shower

Black Apple doll pattern - Photo by Marisa Parra

"The decision to have a child...is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body." -Elizabeth Stone 

I love making this doll---and made it for a friend of mine using a pattern shared by Emily Winfield Martin, from The Black Apple

I learned how to make a flower from yarn using a kit my daughter bought at a thrift shop.  She came out lovely.  I love this pattern because you can use any fabric for her dress---and find the perfect color that matches the baby's room.

Leticia

How to Catch Your Dreams

I have been in this body for a while but still feel like a kid at heart and that is why I love this quote.  I have had many dreams that I did not pursue (too scared) and I still have many dreams.  This time, I am catching some dreams---and how do you catch your dreams?  Two words---take action.  Yes, it is sometimes scary.  Yes, you may feel uncomfortable and feel foolish---but that is what life if for---to live your dreams.

Take baby steps or a big leap---it does not matter because you will learn along the way.  Don't wait for perfection, do it now and refine it along the way---that way you have no excuses but are living your dream.

Love your life by living your dream.
Leticia

Before I Was Myself, You Made Me, Me - A Poem to My Mom

Before I was myself you made me, me
With love and patience, discipline and tears,
Then bit by bit stepped back to set me free,

Allowing me to sail upon my sea,
Though well within the headlands of your fears.

Before I was myself you made me, me

With dreams enough of what I was to be
And hopes that would be sculpted by the years,
Then bit by bit stepped back to set me free,

Relinquishing your powers gradually
To let me shape myself among my peers.

Before I was myself you made me, me,

And being good and wise, you gracefully
As dancers when the last sweet cadence nears
Bit by bit stepped back to set me free.

For love inspires learning naturally:
The mind assents to what the heart reveres.
And so it was through love you made me, me
By slowly stepping back to set me free.

Author - Unknown 

Although she is no longer with me, I feel her presence and wanted to dedicate this beautiful poem to her.  My life was not easy but it was easier with her in my life.

Leticia

Love in a Bottle

If some lives form a perfect circle, others take shape in ways we cannot predict or always understand.

 Loss has been a part of my journey. But it has also shown me what is precious. 

So has a love for which I can only be grateful. 

Vintage bottle. Photo by Marisa Parra

My sister Gloria found this beautiful vintage bottle and was inspired to add some beautiful heart trinkets---so I called it Love in a Bottle.  This would be a beautiful gift for someone you love or for yourself.  If interested, please email me at birthingangelscrafts@yahoo.com.  We accept Paypal.


Leticia

 

Art and the lion with the lamb

Only in art will the lion lie down with the lamb, and the rose grow without thorn.
- Martin Amis

Photo by Marisa Parra of Vintage Lamb Vase

I love all things cute and vintage.  This lamb vase is one of the cutest I've seen.  My daughter found it (she loves cute vintage things too), at one of the local thrift shops. I just had to share it with you. 


Well, back to work.  I'm working on a cute stuffed doll for a friend of mine.  I will show you a photo once I am done.


Leticia

Dance is like the soul expressing joy

In life, as in the dance, grace glides on blistered feet.- Alice Abrams

Photo by Marisa Parra of vintage ballerina figurine

I still remember the fourth grade school outing.  We were usually treated to the beautiful music of symphonies playing but this time, my class was treated to a ballet as well.  I don't remember all the details but I do remember the beautiful ballerina that graced the stage.  I watched with captivated eyes, every move she made.  She seemed to glide through each move with ease.

I always had a hidden desire to be a ballerina.  Dance to me seems like the soul expressing joy.

My sister found this vintage ballerina figurine at a cute shop called Ivy's Porch.  I asked her if I could share it with all of you and she agreed. 

Leticia 

Easter Greetings

The Easter feeling does not end,
It signals a new beginning of nature, spring
And a
Brand new life of friendship.
Happy Easter

Photo by Marisa Parra

Leticia

Vintage Chick Item for Sale

"He who searches for pearls, must dive below."  - John Dryden

Photo by Marisa Parra

I find that all wisdom, creativity and guidance is already inside of me---all I have to do is stop and listen---then I remember.  My play on words (Vintage Chic) inspired me to create this Vintage Chick craft. 

The bottle and pearls were finds I incorporated into this craft item. 

This item is available for sale.  Please contact me on birthingangelscrafts@yahoo.com.  We take Paypal.
Leticia