DIY Room & Linen Aromatherapy Spray

It's about time for me to mention my friend Sylvia. We easily go back a decade and longer and she's always full of interesting conversation and ideas. I initially became interested in the natural products and essential oil soy candles with her introduction. She recently brought me a house warming gift that she made herself and I am going to share this with my readers today.

DIY Needle Felting 2

Needle felting is a great & (what's even better?) easy way to express your creativity with crafts! As I had broken my needle last time (please refer to my previous posting on needle felting: http://natalieskirakira.blogspot.com/2014/11/diy-needle-felting.html?m=1), I made a visit to Michaels to buy a felting needle. The funny looking Mr. Broccoli is from Ikea by the way. I came up with the idea to make a mini broccoli from it - not that creative afteral I guess...tee hee!

Early Birthday Present

The last day of November is my birthday. Living alone as a student from a foreign country for years made me dislike my birthday. Although I have great friends who would always celebrate and share precious memories on my birthday, there was always this one spot that felt empty: my family (don't get me wrong beautifuls! I am always thankful of your friendships!)

As I married my lovely handsome darling in the year of 2012, that missing piece has patched up because now I am always with my husband and Richie by my side. To be honest, my husband was never a romantic type. As you may all know by now, I seek romance in everything I see and feel (even when I eat). I was often let down by his insensitivity or sometimes even shocked! But over the years he has picked up some of my traits and today I felt like I am the one who is actually lacking romance.  This is what "Romantic Ryan J." did today.

"Hint 1 - 1st floor or 2nd floor?"

On his letter he wrote several hints of where he hid the gift. It reminded me of the movie "Gone Girl" where the psychotic wife left hints to lead Ben Afflect to cellar full of gifts. Yikes..!

After several hints later, I found my gift inside the suitcase side table I posted about a few days ago.  (Refer to: http://natalieskirakira.blogspot.ca/2014/11/the-should-i-do-areas.html for details!) 

The "what should I do?!" Spaces

A year and a half ago, Ryan and I lived in a small apartment in Burnaby. I couldn't emotionally attatch myself to the apartment because at the time we got married, 8 of our family members were cramped inside the three bedroom apartment - the family's renovation/home construction schedule some how overlapped each others...

It wasn't chaotic as it may sound; I actually enjoyed spending time with all the family members. However, as they left one by one, Ryan and I felt like that to live in a 1300sqft apartment paying for the strata fee seemed wasteful.  The strata cost was about $500-600/month which is close to monthly payment for $150,000.00 mortgage. As soon as we sold the place, we chose to move to a single family home where we don't have to worry about strata fees and possible future babies.

As the house we are living right now is our first ever home, I am in love with each and every space of it. Although I am not an expert home staging person, I try my best to decorate our home with love and care. When I finally figured out what to do with the two ambiguous spaces with a few articles, I have grown affection towards our home.

A space under our staircase wasn't an easy one; nothing looked good. I tried plants, chairs, and even indoor fountains but none of them satisfied me.

I finally found this unique side table from Craigslist for $110. The lady who sold this attatched metal legs to an old suitcase and coloured it in white. The height of it was a little low, so I got another suitcase and stacked it on top. 

I also got a round rug from Ikea for $10.

A picture of the Eiffel tower and a lamp was added to create a chic, warm look. 

And of course these cute little figures I bought in South Korea a long time 

DIY Needle Felting

From our last visit to Circle Craft Christmas Market (click here to be redirected for the posting on Circle Craft Christmas market 2014) - we had purchased 2 diy needle felting kits to try. We wanted to ensure this be a doable project, and Shima from Him Creations reassured us that even 7 year olds can complete this without any problem. 

Without further adieu, meet our outcomes! :-) 

Please read more for a review of our past 2 hours!

Etsy Holiday Pop-up Shop

Vancouver is full of good surprises during Christmas season - especially for a person who loves cute, romantic things to celebrate the holiday!

My good friend who is well aware of my craze for cute things told me about Etsy Holiday Pop-up Store at 434 Columbia Street in Vancouver. A pop-up shop is a store that opens for a short term providing exclusive products to the customers to introduce the brand. Etsy being an online shop, and hence I don't get to see the actual products before I make a purchase, I thought this would be a great opportunity to see the products and local Etsy shop owners.

Homemade Lemon Tea (Nat's Attempt)

I thoroughly enjoyed Viv's homemade lemon tea and decided to try it myself. After all, we all need that squeeze of vitamin C! My first batch was of 3* 500ml containers. Realizing this is actually fun and the feeling of accomplishment this brought me, I decided to turn my evening into lemon tea factory to gift my colleagues and other important people in my life.
For Vivian's original post on how to make homemade lemon tea, please follow the link: http://natalieskirakira.blogspot.ca/2014/11/easy-recipe-diy-lemon-tea.html :-) !!

Read more after the jump!

Etsy: Custom Portrait

It is always hard to buy a gift for my mother. Since I am living so far away from her, want to give her something unusual and special. This year, I loved the custom painting I got for my anniversay so much so I thought I should give my mom a portrait as well.

My mom has lots of unique paintings decorating her wall already from contemporary artists. So instead of going with oil painting, giving her a classic water color painting with some wit would be a perfect addition to her collection. 

When I was hunting for my own, I have added "The Bazaar Studio" into my favorites list already, thinking I should get a portrait done from her in the future. 

Easy Recipe: DIY Lemon Tea

My husband recently caught a cold and I am not a believer of cold medicine. Don't get me wrong, I am not a cruel wife! ;-p There are more than hundreds of different kinds of viruses that cause cold so it is impossible to have a medicine that can actually cure the sickness. Rather than curing, cold medicines simply help you feel less painful/irritated while being Ill. That is why I think it is more important to eat well and drink lots in order to speed up recovery and there is nothing better than a cup of warm honey lemon tea.

Label Maker!

Quite frankly, labels are tacky. They are definitely handy but unbelievably out of style - - except for this one style that I adore. I love using my DYMO label maker which gives the somewhat an edgy industrial look to whatever object I own. It is great way of labeling your homemade goods as well. More photos & product information can be found after the jump!

Watercolor Painting

We occasionally like to put our artists faces on for no particular reason. Ryan and I woke up super early this Sunday, both excited for our daily project of painting. Working in financial district, we were both feeling our creativity has lost its grip and the mundane routine was driving us crazy. Last inspiration was from Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Mesmerized in the unique pastel color tones and the brush strokes what almost seems too casual and not planned, we thought - why not? Here are the outcomes:

We used 2 x 2 canvases bought from Michaels. We had some brushes from our last art project (i.e. our DIY wedding props) and Ryan's Mom - who used to be a high school art teacher - donated us with the set of watercolors. More photos after the jump!

My Wedding Day

My wedding took place in May this year. As a bride-to-be I was checking for the weather starting 2 months in advance, especially we were going to get married under a big tree outside by Jericho Beach in Vancouver (Brock House). BUT Noooo...we were blessed with true Vancouver wedding where it was sunny everyday and it decided to pour down on my wedding day only. It was brilliantly sunshiny the day after, of course. Despite my worries, I think it added more colors to it and made it more romantic!

DIY Homemade Candle

I got the idea of making my own candle after learning that my favorite store bought candles may not be the healthiest and smartest choices. And it's easy to make & also is a great gifting idea!

Etsy: Custom Painting

Hello there, this is Vivian.

Today I wanted to share my first Etsy experience.

Are you familiar with Etsy?

"Etsy is an online marketplace where people around the world connect to buy and sell unique goods. Our mission is to re-imagine commerce in ways that build a more fulfilling and lasting world."

-etsy.com

Natalie

Hi,

I'm Natalie. I'm affectionate, emotional, somewhat reserved, and foolishly romantic. I consider myself a tad bit traveled and decided to make a blog to document my past and exciting future adventures to come!

A few of my friends will be joining me in this exciting project to add rich flavors down the road.

Welcome!