Celebrating 40

And the day arrived like thunder on a summer's day (it came without warning and left just as quickly). I woke up to find that the boys had actually given the day a bit of a thought (pheeww).

They went to Hema to get some decorations, and not on my orders.

They bought an almond cake from the De Bakkerswinkel and then proceeded with the decorations. I've never been so happy about a cake, like I was when I saw this one. My wedding cake? I hated that one.

And they sang Happy Birthday (like 4 times, out of tune of course), and kissed and hugged me, and I was deliriously happy (as you can see). And then, that was it. What more can you do on a birthday? Oh, and that halo around my head was not deliberate.

We had a nice breakfast, and a nice lunch (but we usually do, everyday). No fireworks or fussing about anything. Just perfect... for me.

Can you spot the diaper on the table? So typical of us. Well, I guess that is life, and this is mine. 40 amazing years!!

I want to take this opportunity here, to thank you all for your amazing birthday wishes, and for those who sent cards or packages, know that you made my day that more perfect. THANK YOU!!

Hope you have a very happy day (it doesn't have to be your birthday right?)
Giova.

Tea Tag Bunting

So after my sister was enjoying the snow, I was here in Florida enjoying the sun, and a little bit of crafting too.

I love tea; the flavors, smells, and tags! One of the many teas that I enjoy is Yogi Tea. Besides the normal flavors that tea comes in, they also have teas for all moods and ailments. Each tea bag comes with little quotes on the tags. I've been collecting them for a while knowing that I would come up with an idea of what to do with them soon; I guess I was inspired by Christmas and the always beautiful buntings by my sister. 

So this is the bunting I came up with using tea tags. I think they're really nice with encouraging and inspiring words to put anywhere around your studio and house. 

What you need is: Washi-tape(there are so many out there, but I went with the green stripes one), colorful thread, scissors, the tea tags, and voila. Just frame the tea tags with the washi-tape, place the thread in the middle of the back side (use more washi-tape), and then hang in your favorite spot. It is quite a simple project but it adds a little touch of color and inspiration to the space you decide to hang the bunting on!

Mine is now hanging below my plant and my sister's in now on her bedside table. Some inspiring words to last us all throughout 2013!!

Happy making!
Giannina.

Handmade Blog Cards

I'm running out of the cards I made for the blog back in May. If you haven't seen them, they're here. So for the new ones I have been dabbling in the art of stamping with the cutest stamps my sister got for me in Berlin in the nicest store. She wrote about Yonkel Ork here. The ones I made before were done with washi tapes and I thought they were pretty, but way too time consuming. I much rather be embroidering for that matter.

So, since I'm leaving for London tomorrow for the Renegade Craft Fair, I thought I take with me some of the new cards. Another fair, another weekend, hooray!! So what do you think? Do you like them?

Wishing you an early relaxing and happy weekend!
See you on Monday with news about the fair!

Giova

More on Buntings!

Oh buntings how we love thee! To tell you the truth, its because of my sister that I got fascinated by this beautiful strings with flags. The ones she has at home are quite festive but the ones she makes are AMAZING!!! Those really inspire me! So I think that after getting acquainted with these beautiful buntings, I (we) started finding them everywhere!

We basically made it a point of whenever spotting them taking an instagram picture and using our #onebuntingaway tag!
I'm always happy when I find them: in London, they are very popular and chic! I also found a few while in Berlin and now and again I'll spot some here (Miami) but they are always in car sale lots haha!
Anyway, wherever they may be they'll bring a smile to my face because of the colors and how the wind will play with them...I guess they've become a part of my daily life!

So if you happen to spot buntings on your way, remember to tag them! My sister and I would love to see them!
Wishing you a bunting filled day!

Giannina.

Bunting LOVE

It is no secret that in this blog there is quite a lot of bunting love. A friend from grad school came to visit last week and as soon as she walked in the door, the first thing she said was; "wow, you do have a lot of buntings!"
So I'll show you some of the corners of my house, and let me tell you, this is not all! So far my house looks like we are going to have a party soon, but we aren't, and everyone seems OK about it.

These are japanese postcards that I got here.

 The first bunting I ever made!

I even have a folder on Pinterest with the same name, check it out for amazing inspiration!

Happy Sunday & Happy Pinnings!
Giova

A Bunting Explanation

You may have noticed that we left for a bit. Two weeks to be exact. Two wonderful weeks of vacationing and doing nothing in particular, but then again some days were quite magical (more on this soon)! We disconnected, relaxed (more me than my sister), went to the ocean, ate, saw new and not so new things, and the days went by pretty much in that order.
So before we get into all that we saw, ate and did, we wanted to explain something. Recently many friends have been asking why the name, "One Bunting Away". What it means?
Well, we picked it rather quickly, mostly because I had made a sketch of a map and a bunting going from Brooklyn to Amsterdam. It simply stayed with us (the sketch and the name). Since most of the times we are not in the same city we like to think that we are just one bunting away from each other, and not many, many miles away. And also because we LOVE buntings!!
If we kept thinking about a name we would probably still be thinking about it.
...
Habran notado que nos hemos ausentado por un tiempo, dos semanas para ser exactos. Dos maravillosas semanas de vacaciones y de hacer nada en particular, asi y todo vivimos algunos dias llenos de magia (esperen pronto mas acerca de ellos)! Nos desconectamos, relajamos (yo mas que mi hermana), fuimos al mar, comimos, vimos cosas nuevas y otras no tan nuevas, y los dias pasaron mas o menos en este orden.
Antes de contarles todo lo que vimos comimos e hicimos quisiera explicarles algo, recientemente varios amigos han estado preguntando sobre el origen y significado del nombre del Blog "One Bunting Away".
Lo escogimos mas bien rápido, surgio del bosquejo que hicimos donde unas "banderitas" (bunting es el nombre de estas "banderitas" en ingles) se atravesaban de Amsterdam a Brooklyn (como se ve en el blog). La mayoria de las veces estamos en ciudades diferentes y nos gusta pensar que estamos separadas por una tira de banderitas y no por miles de kilometros. Y tambien nos encantan las banderitas!!
Creo que si hubieramos pensado mas sobre el nombre todavia estariamos decidiendo. 

Again an ocean separates us so we are happy to be back blogging. A bit rusty (I think), after all that time away from the computer, but with exciting things to share with you!
So how many buntings away are you from your loved ones, or are you lucky enough to have them close by?
...
Otra vez un oceano nos separa y estamos felices de volver al Blog. Un poco fuera de forma despues de este tiempo alejadas del computador pero con muchas cosas para compartir!
Cuantas banderitas los separan de las personas que mas quieren, o tienen la suerte de tenerlos cerca?

Giova & Gianni

Dottie About You

Last Christmas... I gave you my heart but... See, you can never start a sentence with last Christmas because you'll start singing that song whether you like it or not (I love it btw).
Well, this past Christmas I made the greatest, most amazing, inspiring discovery of all. You know the kind that makes your heart beat faster, and puts a smile on your face?
I came upon the wonderful world of Dottie Angel through her book. It is the book that has changed my life!! It took some 38 years to find it, but I did! And I'm so grateful, happy and excited! Now, if someone ever comes and ask me, "what book has changed your life?" I know what to answer!
So, I read the book, and looked at it, and read some more, and looked again, and decided to enroll in a crochet class, and since then I've never been the same. Then sewing, and embroidery and fabrics, and garlands and all things "granny chic" and buntings (I've had a serious weakness for them for a really long time).
The only place I've yet to put my foot in, is a thrift store (that's a difficult one for me). But maybe when her next book "Granny Chic" comes out (which I can't wait), I'll be ready for that step.
For now, I'm still learning, but I will be forever grateful to Dottie for showing me the way!

My wonderful husband surprised me with a Dottie Angel apron (love it!!)

My first Dottie inspired bunting with my favorite word!

Last Christmas I didn't give my heart  away, but got it stolen by a book instead!
I hope you find the book that changes your life, if you still haven't found it yet!
Giova