Wild Spring flowers and making me happy!

Hello friends and Happy Thursday! Do you remember the Spring walk last post? I could not resist and collected some wild flowers in that warm shinning day! I do not know any of their names, but you can find these kind of wild flowers spread all over the fields. White, yellows are dominant but you can also find purples, pinkish hues. 

I used part of them for doing another floral mandala.
Do you want to see? I will show you next post!

photos: Maria Miranda

Spring walk in Trás-os-Montes. Come along with me!

Hello lovelies and happy Tuesday! Nature is so gorgeous this time of year! I had the chance to go for a quick walk in the northern interior Portuguese countryside and managed to take a few photographs. The hills in this time of the year can be greenish, yellow and purple. The fields are sprinkled with wild flowers and you can listen to hundreds of birds! So many this time of the year. It was a warm shinning day!

Come along with me in this walk...

I also found almonds trees after blossom and ate a baby almond (pick-up is usually at end of August-September). 

It was a very quick trip but a very joyful one!

photos: Maria Miranda

One photo per week: week 5

Hello lovelies and happy Friday! In the beginning of this year, I challenged myself for a photograph each week. While most the weeks I have taken one, I haven't posted them. I decided to keep going from the point left. And this week, the photograph is from the trees in our neighboord. Can you believe I did not notice these until this year?! I am waiting to see how they turn now during Spring time.

Wish you a long, joyful, relaxed weekend!

Braga, 2015

photos: Maria Miranda

14 Books that I love

Hello friends and happy Tuesday! How are you doing? Hope you had a long, relaxed weekend and embraced the week full of energy. Today, I created a new album in Pinterest featuring books that I Love and are in my bookshelf. Books are a huge part in my life since my childhood. Indeed, when I was a child I often (or pretty always) asked a book as a gift. Of course, most of the books read so far are in Portuguese, but I also read a few books in English and Spanish that I real like and decided to share with you. 

You can find books related to mindfulness, nutrition and cooking, work and productivity, sewing for home or clothes for the kids, decoration and styling and even science books very well written that anyone without a background in science can understand. I started with 14 books and expect to update the album on a regular basis and for sure I will include books in Portuguese and Spanish. This is something that I am thinking for a long time, there are so many more books that I want to include in this virtual shelf! 

What kind of books do you like to read?

Meanwhile, I am working in decluttering my craft workspace and giving it a more Spring mood. It seems that it is always an ongoing activity for me and that the table is always messy... this was how it looked more than one month ago. 

photos: Maria Miranda

Scents and Productivity: Fridays here!

Hello friends! Hope you are having a nice week. I am a big fan of essential oils and how to benefit from them. The very first I bought, a couple of years ago, was lavender essential oil. That time I only cared about the scent, not much about the relaxing properties of lavender. Then, I started to look for more on essential oils and how I could benefit from them; what characteristics do they have, how can  I use them in a practical way on the daily living. This week, I read an interesting article on  how scents and influence your productivity written by Amy-Mae Elliott.

Rosemary, jasmine, citrus, lavender and peppermint are the scents mentioned.  Here is the link for the article: http://mashable.com/2015/03/09/productivity-aromatherapy/

What is your favorite essential oil?

Have a great weekend!

photos: Maria Miranda

Floral mandalas, welcoming Spring and making me happy!

Hello lovelies and Happy Tuesday! I am participating again in the adventure of Creative Spring Online Course. It is a wonderful, inspiring way of celebrating spring in such a warm, creative global community! Last week, Stephanie proposed us to create a floral mandala. I thought it was a great idea. Camellias are everywhere here and, although, I was not vey found off I must admit they do beautiful fences during winter times. Still, there are flowers and little blooms. 

We went to the park for a walk and I noticed some flowers, blooms, leaves on the ground and picked some to make my first floral mandala. I took a canvas surface, placed the floral elements on the top, started to work from the center and let the imagination flow. I like very much how it turn out, in pink, red and white hues although it is not perfect at all.

Afterwards, I took some elements and glued the camellia petals on my collage journal (still, don't know if this going to work well) on the same type of arrangement. This week, I am planing to do another spring mandala.  Will you join?

photos: Maria Miranda

Welcoming Spring and making me happy!

Hello and Happy Friday! Could not believe when I noticed that today is already Friday. Did you saw the eclipse? We did. Amazing how Nature is! I started to make garlands to give the workplace a more festive spring look. I am doing three different types so far. Fabric, crochet and double sided card garlands. Never thought that cutting paper in shapes could be so relaxing. I totally forgot the world outside while doing these cuts. The first cuts are not so perfect, but that is not problematic, I keeping going and the last ones are much nicer.  The white roses are getting old and probably won't resist more than the next week. I have to think something to do with them. Any ideas besides potpourri? 

The crochet flowers are pieces of art that my Mom offered me, last year, for embellishing sewing projects. Aren't they lovely? So tiny and perfect? Love them!

Wish a very nice, long, relaxed weekend.

photos: Maria Miranda