Christmas Macarons in a Gold Leaf Rim Wine Goblets {DIY}

I have not been making macaron in a while so I was facing troubles in making these macarons. After 5 times trying and wasted 10 eggs and failed I finally was able to make these Christmas pretty little macarons. I could not believe that I used to make these macarons with my eyes closed {well not really} but just like 1, 2, 3 and voila....out of the oven my pretty macarons. Not this time ! I guess baking macaron is not like baking chocolate cookies. You have to keep on practicing, once you stopped making it; it will be like start to learn on 'how to bake macarons' all over again. Well, at least that's what was happening to me.

I have been shopping at Goodwill in Delray, Florida for these pretty little wine goblets. I particularly looked for the ones that has a nice looking stem; kind a vintage and rare. They were only 1 or 2 similar one on the rack. But I did not care if they were all different because I like them when they are all not the same. I hand carried these wine goblets in the airplane to our home in New York. And I thought I could make some thing pretty out of these pretty dainty wine goblets.

Well guess what ! I gold leaf them ! And thought it would be pretty to put Christmas macarons red and green in them. An inspiration for Christmas food decor.

These are how they look like after gold leaving them. They were just regular plain wine goblet before. {I forget to take pictures to see the before and after}

The step by step.

What you need ;

~ An area or table cover with newspaper or table cloth to protect the furniture.

~ Gold leaf adhesive size "Monaliza" brand.

~ A pack of gold leaf "Art Minds" available at any art store.

~ Brush 1 inch size

~ Small brush to apply the gold leaf adhesive size

~ Tweezer 

~ A glass dish, wine goblet, or anything you want to gold leaf on. {here I have a glass dish that I want to put dot patterns on the top part of the bowl.}

First clean and dry the outer surface of your {let's say} glass bowl. Shake the adhesive size bottle before using it. Then dip the tip of the small brush in to the adhesive size, with the glass dish in your left hand start painting a motif. The adhesive size will look white like thin  milk but it dries very quickly (about 5 to 10 minutes) and because the surface of the glass is clear you will not see the applied size motifs but when the milky adhesive start to disappear and became clear and sticky then put the gold leaf on the painted area. {see below picture} tap it with your finger so that the gold leaf will cover all area that you painted on with adhesive size before. The gold leaf will stick to the adhesive size motifs. When you cover the whole area of adhesive with gold leaf then take your big brush and brush the whole surface in circular motion. The part that does not have adhesive size will comes off like a gold dust. Be sure to brush all motifs so that you will get a nice gold leaf motifs. That's all there is to it !

I have applied adhesive size of dot motifs on this dish below {but you can not see it because it has dried and clear looking}

I applied the gold leaf on the painted area and tap it with a finger. I can only suggest that you work per section until you finished with the whole edge rim of the dish. It is easier that way.

Then brush it off in a circular motion. Do you see the small particle of gold leaf falls off? Those are the part that does not stick on the adhesive. The part that stick to the adhesive size will create a pattern just like you did with the painted adhesive size.

I am finished gold leaving this dish.

I love how these wine goblets and the dish looks like now !

So what is your Christmas decor DIY this year ?

Thank you for stopping by !

Christmas Gift Wraps {DIY}

I always love hand made gift wraps. I remember when I was a small child I was always excited and asked my mother that I am the one who should wrap the presents but of course she won't let me because I can not do a neat job as she did. So I can only watched her doing it. Now thinking back I too has becoming like her; crafty and neat ! How I wish she is here with me to witness these gift wraps that I created. She will be thrilled to create one as well.

"Mom, these are for you. You are not here with me but I am thinking of you !"

What you need.

~ Any plain paper

~ Varieties acrylic water base color. I am using American craft acrylic paint available at Michaels and Acrylic artist colors.

~ Scissor

~ Brush

~ Martha Stewart rubber cling stamps {Christmas motifs}

~ Tape

~ Small cup of water

~ Small paint palette or plate to apply the paint on the brush.

Choose a working area to work this project on or you can use news paper on the table so you won't get the paint all over the furniture. Then take the plain paper cut into sizes as the size of your gift boxes to wrap. Do as many as your gifts boxes are. Then squeeze just a small amount of paint on to the plate. Take your brush just dip the tip on the water {be very careful as you do not want the brush too wet it will not make a nice pattern as it will look blotchy with lots of water} With your brush take generous amount of paint and brush on the stamp. Gently press the stamp on the paper. You might want to have a testing paper just for you to get the right paint to be able to get a nice clear pattern first. Do as many patterns and colors as you like. {As picture below} Let it dry for 10 minutes then wrap all of your gift boxes.

The embellishments

For this the sky is the limit. You can use pretty much anything as long as it is small or it would be nice if the size of the embellishment is in balance with the size of the box. And oh, what ever you think is pretty. Here I have; vintage flower, Christmas ornaments I bought from Michaels for USD 0.90, rhinestone embellishment I bought at Michaels for jewelry making, vintage ribbon, vintage trimmings, and cords to tie the box together.

Do you have a home made gift wrap that you did recently ? I love to see them.

Thank you so much for stopping by !

Christmas Tree Paper Ornament {DIY}

There is nothing like Christmas celebration. Family and friend gather together amongst lovely Christmas decoration home exchanging gifts with laughter and smiles. I love Christmas; even though I am not Christian I can feel the spirit of Christmas in the air during this time of the year. 

Today I am making a small {or I should say}  mini Christmas tree in our home. I do not expect a big Christmas present under the tree. I told Steven that it only fits for a 'small package'. He laughed ! Of course I am joking. 

So here is my mini Christmas tree in our home.

The nice thing about this ornament is you can write a memoir on the paper or in the back of a pattern paper. You can do it with your children as fun craft project and ask them to write everything about what is the most beautiful moment during that particular year. Fold it, embellish it and hang it on the Christmas tree. Over the years you can open them and read together what you have written in the past. I do not have young kids, otherwise I would do this project with them. Definitely !

Here is the step by step.

What you need;

~ A paper {here I am using gold gift wrap paper}You can use any paper you want.

~ Beads with hole big enough for your cord to go through it

~ Pinking shear scissor

~ Paper glue

~ Regular scissor

~ Cords

Well, that is my mini Christmas tree...!

Thank you for reading!

And if I don't see you again here; WISHING YOU A HAPPY HOLIDAY Everyone !!

Old Gold Victorian Frames and {yes thrifted !}

One of design element I noticed from pinning so many interior pin boards is that the old gold Victorian frames really makes a stunning statements when you know how to display it. When we first moved into our Florida condo, the first thing I looked was picture frames in Goodwill or other thrift stores. I have been painting so I want all rooms decorated with my art. To have it done in a professional picture frame store would  cost me a lot so I scour thrift stores in our area just to collect picture frames. During those times I stumbled upon old Victorian  picture frames. I was drawn to it because the gold is not as bright as the new one and I like things that are a little worn down eaten by time. So this kind of picture frame always in the look out when I go to thrift stores. I have not found a big size one yet but I found a few of the smaller ones. I tent to accumulate things a lot but they will come in handy when you about to decor a room.

I always love gold elements in an interior but must be displayed sparingly and just enough as an accent. Otherwise the room will look like Mary Antoinette bedroom. And I love mixing things like old and new, traditional and non traditional.

As an artist it is important for my art to be framed  by the right picture frame. A group or a single art in a room can lift up the whole ambiance of  room itself. For me, this is the most exciting design project when  decorate a living room, bedroom or bathroom.

This picture frame on the left found at Goodwill. There were 2 of them and now I am sorry that I only bought one. It is waiting for the right picture art and the right place. 

You probably have seen our Florida living room gallery wall in the past. Those two on the left bought at Salvation Army.

A few  examples of what I really like in order to create  drama in a room by displaying  Victorian golden frame picture (s).

Please cherish your grandma Victorian picture frames. It is not only a family heirloom but one could also create a beauty & elegance from the past into the now. 

Thank you for reading !

2 Nights of Fun in Miami, Florida

After been staying in Delray Florida for little over a month {since Hurricane Sandy} I must admit that I miss home in New York.

But I must admit that I really had a wonderful time doing, cooking, taking pictures, blogging, furniture makeover, small shopping for crafts that I made while here, picking up treasures a long the way at thrift stores. My husband 'Steven' went back to New York  for about 10 days so it was a little strange in this house by myself. The reason was that I am suppose to do a furniture makeover, thinking that he is not going to be around and free from going out with friends here and there. And yes, I did the two end table make over. Oh, I am so happy about it since it turned out to be pretty ! This is my first furniture makeover and I was not so sure about it before. But now I want to stay longer to do more furniture makeover, but in a few days will be going back to New York. I guess this will be pending and will continue styling, taking pictures when we come back here in Florida again sometime early January 2013. I am so excited about this project.

Few days a go we took a break from everything and went to Miami {is only about 50 minutes by car from here} I love Miami. I love the diversity of people, the art deco architecture, the food, the city of Miami by the water as we were driving around is just spectacular and so beautiful. 

The highlight as usual was South Beach, Espanola Way, Collins Avenue and our favorite Cuban restaurant at Calle Ocho "Versailles." I love my meal; Ropa Vieja with sweet fried banana and ate lots of ceviche. 

So I can not describe more other than I am going to post lots of pictures, of course ! You can see it for yourself. And if you plan a holiday, you might want to put 'Miami' as one of your holiday destination. You will not be disappointed. 

Have you ever seen a drink like that ? That is one serious drink. I wonder who could possibly drink that ! Obviously that Guy is having way too much fun with that drink. @South Beach

@South Beach - Miami

I spotted Chicken Empanadas on the street and can't help myself to indulge one.

The historic landmark of Miami; The Art Deco District @ South Beach

Steven and I was debating as the tour guide of the boat ride we took mentioned so  many number of celebrities living on this small islands at Biscayne Bay Miami. He thinks the tour guide made it up so to make it more interesting for tourist to go touring on the boat ride. But isn't that's the reason why they called it "Star Island?"

The wind was blowing so hard on this trip especially if you were close to the water and I happened to have this scarf so in the end it came very handy. 

I found this is a fun thing to do while sitting on the esplanade of Collins Avenue at Starbucks cafe watching people passing by and snapped their pictures. This place has to be the place where stylish people go for dining at the restaurants and shopping. These beautiful people were gorgeous and so well put together. I can't help taking a snapshots ! Steven warned me again and again that I must stop doing what I am doing but  deep inside I know they love that I took their pictures. I would not mind if I look that good, wouldn't you say ?

Then late afternoon we drove back home to Delray but oh, I had forgotten my hat left in the hotel room. Steven said it was too far away to go back to claim it. So I called the hotel, they said they never found it that I must call sometime later. I called again that night, still there is not hat. 2 days later I called again still no hat. I know it is only 'a hat'. But when you love it so much and it was a perfect one it's hard to let it go. Oh well, things happened even when you might not like it. Only lesson can be learned.

All and all, it was a lovely 2 nights trip in Miami.

Thank you for reading !

Enrolling E-course Blog {Design} Love - RedVelvet Shop

Hello,

I am in the middle of designing a new look of my blog;  'CuriositaEllya' right now. It has been little over a year since I have been blogging and if I remember correctly from reading a book about blogging; it says you need to change the outlook of your blog once in a while. So that readers will not get bored to see the same style again and again. 

Since my blog does not have a fancy button, navigation bar and basically followed template provided by Blogger; it's about time for me to take this blog to another level. And now that I am more serious about blogging, I think it makes a lot of sense to re-design the blog entirely. Initially I was going to hire a website designer but I stumbled upon Blog (Design) Love e-course from Red Velvet Shop  and after reading their brief description about the course I jumped right in. For only USD 34.00 that covers 20 sessions I think it's a bargain ! 

Currently I am at session 5 so I can not really say much about it. But from further reading I am excited to learn on how to make and create my own design buttons, navigation bar and other functions using html codes. I have been using Photoshop for many years so as you can see below it's a lot of fun for me to design header from picking colors, fonts, etc. This time I want the header to have images of my creations so I took a few pictures from blog postings in the past. I also want to embellish the image with words that suit my personality and my blog so I chose words; LIVE - LAUGH - LOVE - CURIOSITY - CREATE !

Here I was trying to see which color combo I like most. Finally I am settled with color combo no. 5 as you can see on the above header blog.

Well, so far that's about it ! Next I am going to create navigation bar and again I am  excited to choose the design, font, colors, etc. 

Thank you so much for reading !

A Sweet Short Post From Overseas {Australia}

My long time friend 'Ine' lives in 3 continents; Asia, Australia and Europe. At the moment she is in Perth, Australia. I envy her life moving and living in each continent every couple of months or so. We communicate through Facebook and few days a go she posted these pictures {the one with  Lemon Tart and a cup of tea}. Ine is one of my blog followers. When saw these pictures in Facebook, I asked her if she would not mind for me to post these pictures in my blog. And I asked her if she could provide me with her lemon tree pictures that grows in her home garden in Perth, Australia. She agreed and later I received this lemon picture.

Like myself, Ine is a vintage china lover. The last time I saw Ine she came to New York accompanied her husband travelling  for business. She took the opportunity to visit me {here}. 

I can not help myself but to share some of Ine's vintage china collection and how it seems that she enjoyed the Lazy Ellya's Lemon Tart that she got the recipe from my blog {here}. She said she was trying to take the tart out of the store bought tin pie but it broke. I would not know the difference anyway ! Good job Ine !

Here are those pictures ! These pictures were taken by Ine. I then processed them in Photoshop to create a collage as seen here.

I do hope you enjoy this short post !

Thank you Ine, once more time, your vintage cups are beautiful !

Thank you for reading and have a lovely week-end !