taking the leap of faith...

 

          While life lately has been worse then a roller coaster, I am happy to say I've felt an everlasting peace in my heart. It was so comforting through these endless nights and long days. Today, I feel like I don't have anything to say, but in the same time, my heart bursts with words that can't wait to be said. Words of encouragement, of hope, excitement and great news!.. 

          After some "grown up" thinking, I have decided to re-list some of my cards in my etsy shop. I've decided to give it one more try. A better try. I am scared to put myself out there, and I'm oscillating between the fear that no one will like my cards, and the fear that I don't have good enough SEO and people won't find my shop. It might sound stupid and silly, but that's on my heart... I woke up this morning and decided to be brutally honest on today's post, and here I am. I know the road is long, and there are so many things I need to improve (like shop's banner, photos, maybe even description of the items, polices & procedures, card making techniques, marketing strategies, more items listed), so I ask for your patience and support. In the same time, I'd love to hear your honest opinions. 

I'm thanking you in advance, and I'll give you a hint: this "je t'aime" heart is part of a new design I'm working on. 

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"Solo" time. . .

          As the sun was invading our living room this Saturday, I decided that instead of having an extra half an hour of sleep, I'll spend some "solo time". This is a habit I created almost 10 years ago, when I met one of the sweetest girls on Earth, and she taught me the importance of taking time to be alone with God, to dive in His word, pray, stay still, listen to Him, observe Him in my life and all around me. She also confirmed the importance of keeping a journal, too(hence my gift of writing has improved over years - I have 4-5 journals from high school). Unfortunately, lately, I let things go out of control and kind of neglected those important "solo times". 

          But now, it was the perfect scene. A confused, scared girl coming before the almighty God in a quiet morning, while the rays of the sun were hugging me. As I was reading through Psalm 4, it was like God was whispering to my heart. I started writing in my dear journal. I poured it all in there. All my fears, my dreams, my questions. But above all, my prayer: "Lord, I want to be more like you. To be faithful to You, and only You." 

Note: Laura, thank you for teaching me how great solo time is!

Today, I link up with Gail:

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Celebrating August

        

        This month is full of meaning for me. There are quite a few (important) moments to celebrate. Looking back, I can only see God's hand making all things work for the better, just as He promised.   

          Five years ago, on August 9th, I landed with a heavy heart on JFK. I was in a country that everyone rushed to remind me I was going to call it my home. Forever (or at least till I die). And while my heart was longing to go back, my only prayer was "God, I trust You do the best of my life!". At times, the prayer was certain, then angry, other times even doubtful. But I have heard people saying to not trust your heart, so my only refuge was to rely on God. 

          Two years later, and too many hard moments to count after, on August 6th 2010, I left US to "go home"! For 6 months. To get married. It was an epic moment for me. I thought the trip from 2 years ago was rough. I guess my limit was not reached yet. Besides the fact that I was getting married, everything was not as I thought so. I've never admitted it until now. It got to the point that even getting married was hard(don't get me wrong, I don't regret it, in contrary I love my hubby and our life together). It was then when I started to understand why God says "Your home is in Heaven, live accordingly!". 

          Today, August 23rd, 2013 marks 6 years and 8 months since we started dating. Six years of growing together, getting to know each other, and loving each other. It was great, and sweet and bitter and tough but it is worth every minute. There are moments when we thrive, and times when we struggle, but  knowing that no matter what happens, at the end of the day, I go to bed next to the person who loves me the best beyond all of my imperfections, that's what I call awesomeness!

          In the spirit of celebration, I have decided to bring back some cards in my shop later tonight. So, keep an eye open on instagram and facebook, because I'll post when the cards will be available. 

Do you have any reasons to celebrate this month?...

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Newly discovered washi love - one (or many) DIY idea(s)

This keeping the schedule thing is pretty hard when you have a husband like mine... We've been married for almost 3 years and we are still working on a balance between my schedule freak atitude and his oh so spontaneous ideas. 

I wanted to share with you last week how to do washi tape labels. I guess later is better than never, right? It's an easy idea of diy ( it takes literally 2 minutes to do it). All you need is a cleaned glass jar, some washi tape and a sharpie (can be a black one or coordinated). I used whatever I had in hand and it came out unexpectedly pretty. Your imagination is the limit. 

How to do it? Take 1 (2 or how many you'll need) strip(s) of washi tape, write whatever you need with the sharpie, stick it on your glass jar. That's it. Now comes the fun part: where will you use your creative labels? To make some cute happy mail for a pen pal? For labeling glasses at a party? For some pretty organizing storage? I want to see/hear all your pretty ideas!

 So you read my post and suddenly fell in love with washi tape, but it's late, none of the closest craft stores are opened and you really want to use it now. In that case, or any other case that might be, here's a tutorial how to make your own washi tape. Pretty sweet, isn't it?

Update:  My apologies for totally forgetting to mention here the crazy awesome digital washi tape from a vegas girl at heart that I used in my photo above. Yes, there are very talented people out there who make these available for us:

for free

via

to buy.

via

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Mrs. Onion, the teacher

         One afternoon this week while I was cooking, I needed an onion. So I took the best looking onion from the pantry, peeled it and cut it in half. I was surprised to see that the onion was bad inside (this is the second time this happens when buying onions from this store). I felt how the blood rushed through my veins and almost went out of door to go complain about terrible products (that are advertised as "fresh from local farmers"). It was too late that day, but I was determined to use as much as I can out of that onion, so I peeled off the center that was all rotten. The moment I've seen whatever was left from the onion, was like a revelation. I felt like God had whispered in my ears: "That's how you used to be too, Vio." I was all cute and pretty outside, but on the inside, I was rotten and selfish, and had no patience, and full of envy and maybe even some pride. If someone would've seen me on the street, they'd thought what a great life I had, while I was so empty on the inside. Full, but empty. Only when I cleaned up and took all the bad out I've realized how empty I was. Only then I discovered God's grace and love can't fill up a dirty place. Only when I was honest with me I discovered all the crap I was hiding in my heart, my mind and my life. 

         And on that moment, in my little kitchen, I forgot about all my fury on that store for false advertisement, and thanked God for not letting me be an empty person. For giving me value. For naming me His child. And for using the most random times and ways to speak my language. It's like He makes sure we fully understand what He wants to tell us.

    What was that random thing this week that helped you see things in another perspective?