DIY Papel Picado Banners

Yesterday I mentioned that I am making some Mexican "papel picado" banners to decorate my BBQ party on Sunday.

Today I've decided to post a little video I made of how to do this very easy and fun way to cheer up a place with this paper banners.

Here are some that I made recently as a test, are they nice??? Love the colors and how much they bright up the kitchen!

All you need to create these wonderful banners is: Tissue Paper (different colors), scissors, glue and string.

Here's my little "tutorial" video that will give you and idea of how to do some cuts.



I would suggest to make each banner and store them inside some heavy books so the get "flat" for a few days before you glue them and put them up.

There are lots of different cuts you can create, some give a look of a kaleidoscope. To make "kaleidoscope" looking ones instead of folding straight, do a triangle fold on each side and then cut all around.

My advice is to be creative and cut whichever way you want, I am sure as long as you don't cut the part to glue the string you can create very amazing designs, have fun!!!

Happy Weekend!!!

FoTo FrIdAy

I took a lot of pictures while in Florida last week but it's hard to share all of them, so I've created a couple of "collages" to include as much as possible.

My first event while there was the Miami Boat Show, lots of boats, boat parts, boat accessories, boat apparel... well, almost anything related to water and boating... mostly I took pictures of boats!

click photo to enlarge

Then there was the Coconut Grove Art Festival, here are some pictures...

click photo to enlarge

I had a great time but a very busy one as well... Today I am off so I am enjoying a 3 day long weekend, I am happy to inform that I am almost over my little "cold" so I am feeling up to enjoying the weekend.

On Sunday we are having a BBQ party to celebrate my birthday #34, lots of food, drinks and friends over, it should be lots of fun.

Today I am finishing making some Mexican Papel Picado banners to decorate the back deck and give it a very "festive" look, of course my papel picado is not a professional one but I think it still looks nice.

example of Papel Picado banners

I will share some tips on how to make them soon as I think it's a neat way to do some crafts and decorate a summer party or even a very boring room.

Have a great weekend!!!

messages from the heart

Yesterday was a very nice day, low key, relaxing and specially cause I was able to get the much needed rest to continue with my busy week. I decided to take a sick day and stay at home and I think that was a good decision.

I receive many calls from my family and got some very amazing messages through facebook and blogger; all of them made my day and much more special one. Here are the most special messages of the day;

My good friend Gonzalo wrote: "Sol, Happy Birthday! I will always associate you with pretty memories, great times laughing, fun party time, delicious food, funny jokes, and the specially feeling to know that miles and year do not make a difference in our life and friendship, you will always be one of my favorite human beings!!! Happy Birthday Sol, love you very much until you are at least 120!!!"

Natalia wrote:"Happy Birthday girl!!! Hope you spend your day in an incredible way, that many years come in company of those who love you. I give thanks to life that gave me your friendship, one that I intend to keep for life. Blessings Sol!

My high school friend Gaby wrote: "May your day be filled with sunshine and the night filled with stars that will shine only for you this special day. Happy Birthday, that this year you will receive much love, good health, joy and blessings that you deserve. Big hugs!

How wonderful is to start another year with such wonderful sentiments coming from all sorts of people, some I see frequently and other not as frequent as I would like, for days like these technology gets my vote of approval all the way!

Have a wonderful day!!!

34 reasons to smile

Oh, what a joy! On a beautiful Wednesday morning just like today but 34 years ago, I first saw the light of day.

Today I am celebrating yet another year of life, and I am glad to say that it's been quite a journey.

So far in these 34 years I've done as best as possible, enjoying every day and every minute of it, surrounded by wonderful people and always holding hands with God.

But I am definitely not lucky but very, very blessed with a wonderful family that I've always taken care of me from the beginning, gave me love, education, trust and specially confidence to always be myself and follow my dreams. My parents also gave me the gift of traveling, through them and their support I was able to travel to many wonderful places and experience life through the eyes of different cultures.

Having a family is not being the only blessing I have in my life, I've always have some very amazing and loyal friends, good bosses and just people that have come and gone, but left very important footprints in my heart and soul.

Later on in life a found a wonderful place to live and an amazing loving man that keeps me company, loves me, cares for me and makes me feel like the happiest woman in the world, I love him dearly!

Now I have this wonderful space to share my thoughts, with wonderful people that come and go, comment and the interaction with them and their blogs make my life even more enjoyable, thanks for those that stop by!

So with that said, who needs presents, right??? But, in case you've already sent me your, not to worry I will still take it!!!

Happy Birthday to me... enjoy my day!!!

my own balancing act

picture not related to post, just another one I took at the show and wanted to share!

As I mentioned yesterday I am back after 5 very busy days of none stop work, working at the MIA boat show, on my feet all day, then setting up the booth for the art show and then selling as much as possible.

Now being back feels great cause I am out of the craziness of a big city, specially the traffic in MIA that is crazy as can be, makes you appreciate even more living in a small Caribbean island, where the only reason there's bad traffic is, because at times we only have one lane to get to places. In MIA (as I'm sure happens in many other big cities), the case is most time while driving in the highway/freeway, you sometimes sit in traffic among 4 or 5 lanes of stopped cars, that's just too much for me.

Also I am happy to be back with my husband and dogs, I missed them every day. I also missed my house, my bed, my pillows and just about everything else in my life...

I have to add up that today and yesterday I've not being feeling very well at all. I feel a weird combination in between worn out, exhausted and getting a cold.

Today I feel as if I'm walking on a tight suspended rope, with a big deep and dark pit underneath my feet and all I am trying to do is balance on my hands; two gallery events, work and sales. I see myself walking away from my lovely comfy bed (where I should be resting) and walking towards Friday when I finally get a day off. Will I make it to the other end or would I fall into exhaustion and sickness? Hope to make it there...

I am doing everything possible to battle getting sick, I bought a 1/2 gallon of OJ and drink it all at work yesterday, drinking echinacea tea for my immune system and lots of water... Now I just need to hang in there for two more days and with a birthday in between, wish me luck!

Happy Tuesday to all!

home is where I am...

I'm back home since last night. Back to work today, wishing I had the day off specially because it's going to be another busy week for me.

Florida was good, lots of work, busy time but fun as well. The Miami Boat Show for one day this year was pretty nice, then the art show at the Coconut Grove Arts Festival was one of a kind experience. WOW, all I am going to say today is that we live in a crazy world filled with pretty crazy people... anyway it was fun!

I have lots of pictures to share but first need to actually have time to relax, take my time to decide which ones... but I promise to make the best out my time and share them soon!

Main entrance to the Festival with the featured artist poster (Guy Harvey-My boss)

Have a great week, mine will be very busy but I'll be in touch!