Would you like a Cup of Tea?

On a chill afternoon like today what I need is a Cup of hot Tea. I like it with sugar and lemon.. I know.. different from the British tradition. They put sugar and milk and drink it at any hour of the day.. even if the famous "High Tea" is served between 5 pm and 7 pm. I have British blood flowing in my veins, that's why I like speaking about them and their traditions and I love their Literature and Poetry. They serve their tea accompanied with pastries, little sandwiches (such as cucumber or egg sandwiches) and cookies. My version today is a toasted slice of bread with spreaded Nutella. mmmh so delicious! 

Well, I hope you have a great afternoon as well! And please, enjoy this beautiful Sonnet from William Shakespeare.. the number 116.. my favorite...♥

MY LADYBUG GIVEAWAY!!!

Hi everybody!!!! I just want to let you know that I'm part of a great Giveaway!! This last month I have sponsored a beautiful blog called DondaLee's . She's offering beautiful items for free to one lucky person that will participate! Just follow her directions here:

http://dondalees.com/2012/02/group-sponsor-giveaway.html

Among the prizes there is my CHERRY CUPCAKE Ladybug Cozy!!..

..I also need to say that it's a giveaway for all USA residents.. I'm sorry for all my Italian friends!! :(  

I understand that the cost for the shipping would be too much 

(ALL the prizes will be won by one person only)... 

Anyway, I thought it would be something nice to share for all the Americans who follow me!!! 

Please participate!! 

♥♥♥

...first Spring's flowers...

Spring is here!!! Well, at least today in California looked like Primavera... my children spent the whole day outside.. I joined them and I took my camera out to immortalize the very first flowers in my yard.. so pretty!! what do you think??

Great Giveaway!!!

There is great opportunity to win $20 gift card at AcuteDesigns , a beautiful shop on Etsy!! Just click on the link below, Jessica will explain everything:

jessicaNdesigns: Sponsor Spotlight & Giveaway with Gina of Acute De...: I am delighted to "know" Gina of Acute Designs! She is so sweet, talented & inspiring! I follow her blog & adore her shop ! And today, we g...

Free Business Cards!!

I'm so excited right now!! I just ordered 50 business cards for FREE!! Thanks to Elettrarossa's blog, I found out that the printing company "Moo.com" is having a special offer for all the Etsy sellers... you can make and order of personalized business cards featuring the items from your shop.. on the back you can write your name, the name of your shop, email.. whatever you want. You will pay only the shipping (only $5 in my case). I think it's a great opportunity, I was waiting for an offer like this to start using business cards. I just had to share it with you!!

Just click on this link:

http://us.moo.com/partner/etsy-business-cards/  (I don't know how long it will last!)

If for whatever reason it doesn't work anymore, you can use this link to have a discount:  http://www.moo.com/share/fm99ph

Another thing that made me happy today was my first video posted on You Tube! I don't know if it will bring more people to my shop {I hope so}... but I had a lot of fun in making it! 

Date Night ♥

I hope everybody had a great Valentine's Day... I know I did!! Instead of going to a fancy restaurant that we cannot afford, my husband {being a great cook} decided to cook for me last night!! We had a "Date-Night" at home.

I had the kids eat their dinner while watching a movie {it never happens, so it was special for them}.. I have made them a pizza shaped as a heart!! It came out really good.. ;)

And while they were eating and having fun... my husband cooked a delicious meal for the 2 of us! 

• Bruschetta (pron. BROO-SKE-TTA)
• N.Y strip Steak with Porcini Mushroom sauce
• Creamy Polenta
• Sauté Spinach
• Strawberry pastry with strawberry ice-cream
• Glass of Spumante ♥

I enjoyed every bite!! :)

My hometown: Lecce, Italy.

What to do on a California gloomy and rainy afternoon? I just think of the beautifully Sunny Italy!! Well, it's actually very snowy right now! But I'm not there at the moment, so I cannot really picture the snow... everytime I go {which is ALAS very rare} it's summer time! My thoughts go back to my beautiful town: Lecce. It's located deep down in the heel of the "boot" (you know Italy is shaped like a boot, right?).

I used to take the longest walks, which is something normal to do, in the Old Town. Some of the streets are so narrow and contorted, but always cheery, thanks to all the Barocco decorations on all the old buildings and Churches.

In the main square, called Piazza Sant'Oronzo, it's where people usually meet late in the evening to start all the social nocturnal activities... especially walking through the town while talking, eating a gelato and saying hi to all the passers-by. :) St. Oronzo is the Patron Saint of the town, his statue is elevated high on top of an ancient roman pillar, he guards and protects the whole city from up there. 

What I miss the most is the morning breakfast: a cup of Cappuccino with a cornetto (a type of croissant filled with delicious pastry cream, or chocolate cream), typical from Lecce. mmmmm... so good!!!! Here's a picture from one of the most famous cafes:

And last but absolutely NOT least........ the Sea!!!! Mare. There is no words to describe it.. just look at the pictures. I REALLY miss my Sea, especially my beach. :) 

Enjoy!!

my Cherry Cupcake ♥

Deep in my thoughts.. in my mind that never stops thinking, creating, imagining something new to make.. a little Ladybug found a deliciously pink cupcake. It was love at first sight!! She crawled on top of the icing and ate the cherry, which became her clever disguise.. trying not to be noticed. :)
This is the story behind my new cozy: the CHERRY CUPCAKE LADYBUG. Bring it to Starbucks and it will make everybody turn their heads because of her cuteness!! ♥ I love the cotton I used for this cozy, it's incredibly soft..and the color is just adorable. I cannot resist pink!! I bought that yarn thinking that I would have made something cute out of it... well, I really hope you like it too!!!

My Inspiration Board

Today I decided to participate to an "Inspiration Linky Party"...! The invitation came from "DondaLee's", one of my favorite blogs! Anyone can participate, we are simply sharing what are the things that inspire us the most and pin them on a virtual inspiration board. These are some of mine:

1. My morning Coffee. I cannot live without my caffe'latte* in the morning {*strong Italian espresso mixed with hot milk and sugar}, I've always had it.. it gives me all the energy I need and it's my moment of comfort and reflection, just me and my big mug. :)
2. Nature, especially flowers. I'm so blessed, I live in a tiny house surrounded by a huge yard, with grass, flowers, trees, vegetables, fruit... under the big blue sky of California! I have the whole of Nature at my house! It inspires me everyday.
3. Among the creatures of Nature..the one that I love the most is the Ladybug {or Ladybird...it depends if she lives in England or USA}. :) I find myself, almost everyday, telling my children...especially the boys...to be nice to the pretty ladybugs. ♥ You can find ladybugs all over my yard and my shop.
4. The color PINK and everything that is Princess looking, glittery, elegant and beautiful. 
5. Colorful Ribbons! I can never have enough!! I like especially the silky ones.. my Grandma used to collect them.. they make me think of her, and they are just so pretty! I use them for anything..

There is many other things that give me inspiration, I guess these were the first that came in mind. It would be nice to see also what inspires you!! Just leave a link in one of the comments or go visit DondaLee's beautiful blog!! She is also a big inspiration!!

my new Look!

I'm so excited for the NEW LOOK of my Blog!!! 

I did everything by myself.. thanks to a free tutorial that I found while browsing different blogs. It's from a blog called SHABBY BLOGS , I love their style and they let you choose the header, buttons, pages separators, background.. all for FREE!! Isn't it great?? I love free stuff!! They explain everything very well also. I was able to add different pages.. thing that I had been wondering how to do for a while..

I'm just so happy I had to share it with all of you!!! And if you need help with your blog.. go check it out!!

Beautiful Brand New Shop!!

I just came back from another trip to Denver, my husband's hometown. I love going to Denver.. one of the reasons is because all our friends live there! I was SO HAPPY to be able to spend a few days at my friend Christina's house.. to drink caffe' latte together every morning and stay up super late at night to sew and crochet while chit-chatting in an incredibly low voice not to wake all our babies up! :) And when I say late... I mean 3:00 - 3:30 am!! In the morning we were zombies that didn't regret at all the precious time spent together.

I helped her open her new shop on Etsy!! She's selling beautiful aprons, hot-pads and soon-to-come extra kitchen items! I want to share with you her incredible skill and I hope you'll go visit her shop. It's called Calico and Frills, because that's the style she likes and I'm sure you'll like it too! ♥

P.S. the beautiful model in her pictures is me!!! lol :)