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