1st Anniversary Giveaway {Vintage Cake Stand + Medallion Tassle Necklace + Macarons} IS NOW CLOSED

I am very happy to announce that I have been blogging for little over a year now. It has been a bittersweet journey since I published my first post up until now. I have learned so much about myself and I was able to express my deepest feeling of sad, joy , happy and  creativity  for the past year. I never knew that I would be blogging this far; as I remember how frustrated I was creating this blog from scratch. I did not hire any website designer, as I did not know where this blog is going to take me. 

At the beginning my intention of blogging was  to record my passion about art,  journals and vintage finds; but one thing lead to another it became what it is now. I know I love home decor, fashion then I discovered photography as I realized I want to record  better quality photos. 

Some where in the past I have recorded my illness and surgery. At the time, I was not sure if I want to post the sad story but I want to be true about who I am; I am glad I did!

I know and as far as the design of this blog; I still need to make it to look better. In the future I am thinking to hire a website designer to make it more organize, better looking blog like any professional blog out there. But I am very happy the way it is so far !

As my appreciation to your support; I am hosting a giveaway that starts this coming Saturday, Oct. 13th, 2012. It will end by Oct. 20th, 2012.

The giveaway are,

1. Vintage cake stand that I hand picked and created myself.

2. Rhinestone medallion pendant with golden tassle necklace that re-designed out of vintage and new material.

3. I love baking French macarons! And you will be receiving my French macarons. The flavor will be varied depends on the availability by the end of the giveaway.

 

the deet:

1. 1 point for following on Facebook, or

2. 1 point for following on Twitter, or

3. 2 points for signing in Google Friend 

4. This is a  must ! Leave in a comment in the bottom of this post mentioning about which of the 3 above  you followed. This is because there is no way I will know what you have done unless you mentioned it. And it will make it easy for me. For this, I thank you so much !

(Note: You can do all of those three for the total point of 4. Points means the number of name appear on the list. If you followed all three that means the number of your name will appear is, 4 times.)

5. Please be 18 years or older!

6. For US residents only !

Giveaway will start Oct. 13th, 2012 at 12:30 am EST and will end Oct. 20th, 2012 at 12:30 am EST.

1 winner will be chosen. A real email address  required and will not be made public or used for other purposes.

 The winner will be contacted the same day through email and must reply with home address within 4 days. Failure to reply after 3 days; we will draw another winner.

Best of luck !

Natural Scent For Your Home {DIY}

I have always love the smell of burning scented candles when at home. But I never tried the scents that you can make your own and comes from your own kitchen. What I like about it is that these are the scents that is nice lingering around your home during fall season.

Today I did that DIY scents that came from my kitchen. In the future I will try other spices to create different scents.

I used star anise, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg powder {I do not have whole nutmegs} and slices of lemon.

Put all ingredients in a pot and put some water and boil. To my surprise the star anise reminds me to my mother's home cooking when I was growing up; I think it was a 'beef' dish.

I put the boiling spices into a mini ceramic fondue pot {available here} and put it in the living room. After quite sometime in the mini fondue pot the scent became soften.

Then I tried different ingredients that I happened to have at the moment. This time I am using lemon slices, rosemary and vanilla. I think I love this scent much better.

Thank you for stopping by !

Home Decor Journal/Collage October 2012 {Into the Blues}

I decided each month I will post home decor journal/collage art in the future. This is a good way to keep update with my journal/collage art. The theme will be differ each month. It can be home decor, art, fashion, drawing or just a simple collage. I love the process of making these journals; from accumulating bits and pieces to assembling them into a complete visual art.

Today's theme is "Into the Blues." Blue is my favorite color.

I love the bedroom set, especially the table lamp aqua color.

Do you see the bunting ? I made it out of 'washi tape.'

Thank you for stopping by !

Fall Decor {Hand Painted Pine Cones + DIY}

I am little hesitant when it comes to decorate home during fall winter time. Perhaps it is because 'orange reddish' aren't my favorite colors. But I was inspired by  few  bloggers whom did a beautiful job on decorating their home during this season. So I  had simple idea to paint pine cones with colors that are not orange and red; {well there is a little orange and red but I added midnight blue and pale mint grey colors}. I grouped and placed them in milk glass jars that I bought very inexpensive at a flea market while a go {here}. Then I added two stems of 'antique hydrengea' each placed in a milk glass bud vase. The florist told me it is the flower for the fall season.

 

 

The white distressed tray was a 'DIY' {here}

The pine cones were bought at Michaels. I painted them using craft acrylic  paint; deep midnight blue, marmalade, sea glass and coral blush. I used artist brush to paint the pine cones. Just to warn you; this is a messy job ! I can only suggest that you use gloves when paint them and please use artist brush because the bristle can go deep inside the pine cones. As you can see I can not go deep enough to cover the who pine cones but it turned out to be beautiful with the original brownish darker color peek through on the inside.

So this will be my fall decoration so far. 

Thank you for stopping by !

Healthy Pumpkin Smoothie

~Recipe~

Healthy Pumpkin Smoothie

~ 1/2 cup pumpkin puree

~ 1/2 medium size banana

~ 3/4 cup fat-free Greek vanilla yogurt

~ 1 tbsp honey

~ 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

~ 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

~ 1/2 cup crushed ice

To give more umph I added;

~ pinch salt

~ 1/2 tsp brown sugar

~ 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

(Believe me; it tastes better after.)

Place first part ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth making sure the ice is completely crushed. Then add the second part. Stir well.

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Good luck Everyone !

Quinoa + Poached Salmon with Creamy Piccata Sauce

Tonight I had quinoa with salmon for dinner. Since hubby does not like 'quinoa', I made him a  different salmon dish. He loved it !

But mine was equally as delicious !

This dish has many surprising delicious tastes; bound together in one plate and just melt in your mouth when eating with the soft salmon meat. The dill was definitely  adds a special flavor; one can't go wrong with 'dill and salmon.' 

~Recipe~

Poached Salmon with Creamy Piccata Sauce

~ 1 pound center-cut salmon fillet, skinned (see Tip) and cut into 4 portions

~ 1 cup dry white wine, divided

~ 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

~ 1 large shallt, minced

~ 2 tablespoons lemon juice

~ 4 teaspoons capers, rinsed (mine did not have capers)

~ 1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream

~ 1/4 teaspoon salt

~ 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

1. Place salmon in a large skillet. Add 1/2 cup wine and enought water to just cover the salmon. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer, turn the salmon over, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. 2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallot and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the remaining 1/2 cup wine; boil until slightly reduced, about 1 minute. Stir in lemon juice and capers; cook 1 minute more. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream and salt. To serve top the salmon with the sauce and garnish with dill. Note: I like my quinoa with raisins. To do this, while warm add 1 teaspoon low fat butter and raisins in to cooked quinoa and mix well.

Tip: How to skin a salmon fillet; Place skin-side down. Starting at the tail end, slip a long knife between the fish flesh and the skin, holding down firmly with your other hand. Gently push the blade along  at a 30 degrees angle, separating the fillet from the skin without cutting through either.

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Thank you for stopping by !

Breakfast Delight {French Toasts + Apple Compote}

Today is one of those days;  dark and raining ! 

I woke up and on walked slowly to the kitchen and thought to myself; was I dreaming about French Toast last night ?

Yes ! French toast !

After cutting the apples, whisking the eggs, frying the toasts; found out that I ran out of Maple Syrup ! Ooops !

Said to myself, "not too worry!"

I cooked butter and brown sugar under low heat, put dash of cinnamon and nutmeg; voila...I got myself a delicious maple syrup substitute.

And ohh, so yummy !!

- Recipe -

French Toast & Apple Compote

~ half of an apple

~ 4 loafs of white bread
~ 1/4 cup of 1% milk

~ cinnamon

~ nutmeg

~ pinch of salt

~ 2 eggs

~ 3 tbsp low fat butter for syrup plus for frying the toasts and more for cooking the apple and toasts.

~ 1/2 tbsp brown sugar

1. Cut apple into bite size. 2. Heat butter and sautee the apple. 3. Add pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook until apple become soft and tender. Put a side. 4. Whisk eggs and milk and put pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg  {I like to put a little more of cinnamon and nutmeg because I love the taste of it. Use your own judgement on this.}  5. Add pinch of salt. 6. Take a new frying pan heat the butter and dip 2 loafs of bread in eggs and fry them. Cook them on both sides until golden brown. Put a side. 7. Using the same pan as the one from cooking the apple; put 3 tbsp of butter on a low heat, add brown sugar and pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg. Stirring well until all combined about 5 to 10 minutes. 8. Arrange french toast on a plate, apple compote and drizzling with butter brown sugar syrup.

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Thank you for reading !