For the Crafty Mamis

When I have the time, I am a super crafty chica. But finding the time is often hard. That doesn't stop me, though, from buying supplies that I might "one day" use and I am always excited to find sites that provide endless inspiration such as PimpStitch, the Crafty Crow, and, of course, the CraftyChica (have you seen her Valentine Heart Bottle?) I LOVE flickr - whenever I can get my dial-up to work fast enough (yes, still working on getting satellite...someday!) anyway, my favorites section is a mile wide.

Recently, I have gleefully stumbled upon not one but two yummy crafties. The first is YouCanMakeThis.com. ¡Oy! You should see my wishlist on this site. It's a little out of control. I need to go through and organize it and decide which pattern to buy first. I started out like the lead contender in a hot dog eating contest, gulping down everything I saw. Fortunately, I have since regained my self-control and so now I need to go back and sort out the mess. This site is a super goldmine for mamis who are sewing divas.

And my next little surprise for my fellow crafty mamis is this adorable embroidery pattern by Jenny B Harris's store, Loopsies on etsy. This is the Lucia, A Spanish Doll pattern from her Pretty Maids - All in a Row collection. She actually has many other dolls - Irish, Portuguese, Greek, Italian, etc -but this is the one that I purchased this weekend. Whenever I find time to get her done, I'll be sure to post a picture so you can see. I'm thinking she will make a lovely little portrait for my daughter's room. I bought some beautifully colored threads a few months ago that will be perfect for this mamacita. I just have to decide what kind of fabric to use as a base. If you'd like to download your own pattern, you can check out her fun store here.

Seeing these sweet little designs really does inspire me and it re-ignites the urge to create something that is "hecho de mano." What about you? What is your little weakness?

~Monica

Hola! Soy...

¡Hola, Hola!
Mi nombre es Claudia Marchán, I've been invited my Monica to contribute to this amazing blog. I'm quite flattered to be honest, I never thought anybody would be interested in my latin mami endeavors. So let me start out by introducing myself, I am married to an international man of mystery which whom I just celebrated our eleventh wedding anniversary last week! We are proud parents of two adventurous (traviesos...ahem!)boys, 6 and 2. I was born in the US but raised in Mexico until the age of eleven. My parents brought me back to the US in 1987 to learn my ingles and I've stayed here since. I have only visited Mexico once! Yes, believe it or not. But I dream of Mexico all the time and hopefully I will visit soon.

I am currently a stay at home mom, I must say that as much as I love staying at home to take care of my babies and do all the house work and running errands and... yeah, all of that! I still crave having a 9-5 job and being around adults. But then I think about the time when my oldest son was born and I had to go back to work and I would sit at my desk missing him and feeling so guilty... it is then that I forget about that craving. Coming from a latin home I was always told by my mom and my sisters to stay home with my babies and is not that I didn't want to, we just couldn't afford it at the time. So now I'm enjoying every single minute of it!

I think I have always been creative, one way or another. So in December of 2006, after being at home with my boys for six months I began looking for a creative outlet which led me back to embroidery. I used to embroider as a little girl with mi mamá, mi abuelita y mis hermanas. I remember I would get so excited just looking at the vibrant colored floss and the different kind of designs on the tortilla napkins just waiting to be embroider. It was like coloring with a needle and floss! Shortly after getting back to embroidery I found floresita's blog and her embroidery group on flickr. I continued to do research and finally found Etsy! Which later led me to open my little shop Stitchado and the rest is history!... jajaja! ok, maybe not.

If you like to find out more about me (in case I missed anything...ja!), you can read this interview of me at the Feeling Stitchy blog or you could just visit my very own blog and read more about my shenanigans!

I look forward to adding my little "granito de arena" to this awesome blog!
Till next time!
-Claudia