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 :)

Happy B♥Day my Love!

Yes!! Today is my husband's birthday!..as well as my Mom's {but unfortunately she lives far far away from me}.. We celebrated with a HUGE lunch all cooked by me and served by our children! They had so much fun serving their Dad, pretending to be at a restaurant called "Mami's Kitchen". They were wearing their aprons and napkin folded on their arm.. They even wrote a Menu describing all the courses. Of course I directed this whole thing, I had a lot of fun too..especially cooking! I just love to cook. I'll share with you the dessert... Profiteroles! Et voila'!! The Puffs came out gorgeous!.. I followed a recipe from Martha Stewart's web-site.. then I filled them with pastry cream (= crema pasticcera) and covered them with a delicious chocolate sauce. YUM!!!
I know my husband had a great day and a big smile on his face. :)

Be My Valentine..

My vacation in Colorado is almost over. I will be back soon to sunny {but rainy at the same time} California. :)
While here I got inspired to create a new cozy for my shop.. for Valentine's Day, of course!!! It's the closest holiday, all the etsy shops and treasuries are already full of hearts and love themes.
I like this time of year, especially here in the States... not only because I'm a big fan of pink, red and hearts... In my country Valentine's Day is celebrated exclusively between boyfriend and girlfriend, while here everybody is involved! It's an occasion to show love and affection to the people close to you.. {am I right?}.. :)
I couldn't help but reading the history behind this day about Love. In Italy we call it "the Day of St. Valentine", it originally takes the name from a Saint who became a martyr in the ancient Rome. He was killed because he went against the Law by marrying christian couples. He gave his life for Love. So beautiful!
Well, to celebrate this feast I made a cute new item.. a Ladybug in Love cup cozy! I will share a picture with you, as well as a few other items among the many I like from different shops on etsy.




from the shop CreativePartyBanners



from gufobardo


from misala


from papernosh