My new hobby - needle and wet felting

Hey guys! Just wanted to drop by and show you some things close up from my Etsy shop and just random felted items I've made over the past half a year. 

In the beginning of this year I re-discovered needle felting and fell in love. I also gave wet felting a try. Both techniques are equally fun but needle felting is my favorite. It gives result faster and for inpatient people like me it just works best :) And there's something about the needle pocking through soft wool for long periods of time..it's almost therapeutic for me ha!

So far I've made few tiny animal sculptures, baby mobile, cat/dog bed, unique looking creatures designs of which I've come up on my own and seamless dog sweaters. Check them out:

If you would like me to custom make something special for you I would be delighted to. Just comment on her with your email address so we can chat. Check out my Etsy shop Nina Mara Designs where I sell "felted fellas" aka weird cute looking monsters :)

I'm back after almost a YEAR! What?!

Ridiculous, I know! But sh*t  life gets in the way. This past year has been filled with life altering events. I'm going to try and do this short and in chronological order.

But first: Ethan is now 2 years and 3 months, I am 29 O_o will be 30 this December..saywhaaaat! 

1. Trip to Ukraine in August 2013.

The flight was a nightmare. Remember how I was hoping the flight would be fine, also how anxious I was to meet my friends and family. Well, meeting my people was the least anxious part of the trip. Flying solo with a 18 months old toddler who was having meltdowns every 30 mins on a delayed 10 hour flight...was not! At one point I cried, I drank wine, I bribed Ethan with all sorts of snacks, toys and cartoons (which worked only for 10 minutes)..I slept an hour in 24 hours, I was hungry, tired, hot and sweaty...but in the end it was all worth it.

2. Around January 2014 we started looking into buying a house. We lost 1st house, almost bought 2nd one that had a ton of major issues that owner didn't want to fix but the 3rd one was a charm. We live in it since May 1st. It couldn't be more perfect for us. We are truly blessed.

3. The saddest news of the past year is my father-in-law's passing. Just few weeks after we moved out of Ian's parents house into our own, his dad died suddenly of a hart attack. It was a shock...but then it wasn't. The man had heart problems for years, had a quadruple bypass few years ago, he never cared for himself properly, drank, kept everything a secret (and i mean everything) never let anyone help with his problems to decrease the amount of stress he was under. We all know stress in combination with alcohol killed him. He was the kindest person I have ever met. Lots of so-called friends took advantage of that but he didn't care. He'd always put everyone else first. It breaks my heart to pieces to know that Ethan will never see him again and his other grandpa is million miles away. I grew up very close to both set of my grandparents and it's horrible to know that Ethan is not going to have that. Gordon traveled all over the world when he was young, but his most favorite place was Ireland. He went there 15 times! So we are all quite sure that's where his spirit is right now :)

4. I finally passed my drivers test and now am able to drive on my own. Right after I got my licence and we let all our friends know, parents of our friend who passed 2 year ago called Ian and told him they are giving us Nate's car. For those of you who just found my blog - Nate was Ian's best friend. He shot himself 2 years ago. Ian remained very close to Nate's parents. Now we not only have 2 cars, but a huge part of Nate is always with us. 

5.Since the new year had started I have been very inspired to go back and try wet and needle felting. I bought all the supplies about 3 years ago and when I tried it for the 1st time I did not like it one bit. Something pushed me to give it a shot again and now I've created these felted fellas that I am selling on Etsy. Look to the right there is a link. I've fallen in love with needle felting. It is almost magical what can come out of a chunk of shapeless piece of wool if you poke it with a needle haha! It is safe to say it is by far my favorite type of craft.  

this is an example of what else I can felt other than my little monsters

6. My parents will be flying here this winter to celebrate American Christmas, my 30th birthday and New Years with us in our own house..woohoo!

7. Last but not least...it's kinda a biggie for me - I feel inspired to take photos again! Already had a photoshoot last weekend. 3 more have been planned. 

Last shoot I did in 2013 - Trash the Dress

I think I covered all of the high lights of the last year since went MIA of ya'll. Hopefully my next post will be earlier than 2015 ha!

Have a great week.

Favorite 13 - Stockholm street style looks I've missed

I'm getting better at this now - shuffling between motherhood,  big house endless chores, cooking and even fitting some blogging action.  Safe to say we are settled and it feels good. Grandparents are ecstatic that they get to see Ethan every day. I just wish my parents would have an opportunity to be with him as much as Ian's parents. Maybe one day...

Today I had a bit of time to look through some street style photos on Carolinesmode.com. I've mentioned this site before. I used to check it every day like a morning paper haha So it was great to dive in into a fashion world again. Here are 13 favorite looks from the past two-three months that I haven't seen until today

20 days until the trip to Ukraine

.....and I'm freaking out. Unfortunately we had to cancel Ian's ticket and I'm flying with Ethan alone O_o It's nerve wrecking to say the least. I've researched some helpful tips about flying with toddler and even though every one is different I keeping my fingers crossed that Ethan will make this flight somewhat okey. 

We have been living at the house for a month now. The worst part of it is limited or no access to internet. And it really really sucks. I can't keep up with all my favorite blogs and with my own blogging, don't know what's happening in the fashion and art/crafts world. I haven't been on Pinterest for so long...I think I'm going through a withdraw lol 

Of course Ethan is having a time of his life in our new home and everywhere around it. We are slowly getting back on track with juicing and eating plant base "diet". The summer has been very rainy which is fine because when it's hot it's HOT Though we do not owe a pool we have the stream which is a perfect destination for hot days like today. Me and Ethan will be going to put our feet in the water to cool us down in a little bit. 

I have not had any time to do any DIY projects since we moved. Pretty much impossible to have some time to myself. House is large, Ethan is on the go every hour of every day, gotta follow him around all the time. Very rare naps are usually filled with things I need to do around the house. I did fit in a tiny painting for practice. It's tiny but it took me two weeks to finish it. One time I sat down for the whole 2 minutes to paint ha! 

Ian's new job is a blessing. He never has to work on the weekend, he gets paid holidays and the people there are the kindest, respectful and appreciative of him. He comes home happy, smiley and not grumpy whatsoever. We get to spend more time together as a family, which is just fabulous. This change was just what we needed.

Ethan is growing too fast, he says words now, learns things too fast..we can't keep up. So independent and so smart. I just can't wait for my parents enjoy his company for the whole two weeks. There will be lots of pictures. 

I've been quite overwhelmed with shopping lists, making sure I'm not forgetting anything I need to take with me, things to do before we go and just the fact that I'll be alone when I would need my husband the most. Trying hard to think about the end result and how exciting this experience will be. 

Alrighty, for now I'm done just want to share few pictures and gotta run have fun with my 16 mo old boy. 

Can't get over the fact how beautiful the land is. And it's ours...well my in-law's, even after living here for a year I still appreciate the nature, probably even more now since I have Ethan and I can show it all to him, teach him to appreciate it as well. 

Oh and I can not forget to share my best thrift find I've found so far - black high waisted shorts and sky blue with white polka dots button up shirt and all for $10 Feeling Lucky. I'm getting better at this :D

We finally moved

Moving is hard!..No! I think it's the biggest pain in the behind ever, especially when you are moving into the place that is twice as small and you have a toddler that is trying to adjust to a new environment. Schedules are all screwed up, we have been eating crap because no time to cook...not even go grocery shopping properly. And it all feels like a big rush. Which it is. We had to leave that apartment fast. Now we are  trying to unpack and it is even more stressful since there is no more empty space to put our stuff in. Crazy house! I have no energy and no motivation. I haven't been this tired and stressed in a long time. I avoid mirrors lol because I look like poo.

The best and important part of it all is that Ethan is having a blast in the new house, outside running like crazy, getting dirty and having fun with grandma and grandpa.

I'm happy to see him so happy, busy and involved in so many activities his finding to do for himself. Such a big independent boy. Keep meaning to write him a little letter but no time for that either...so little time and so much to do.

So far we moved pretty much everything here into the house, set our room up somewhat and Ethan's room is very functional. Decor is the last thing on my mind so his room is a combination of all sorts of things, styles and colors. Our room looks more like there's at least a color scheme, which is greys, whites, blacks, browns and very tamed lavender/greyish. I'm sure eventually I'll have ideas for new DIY projects and there will be time to decorate and make it feel "ours" but so far we just want to finish up fixing things and putting stuff away, unpacking what we need and getting ready for the trip to Ukraine. By the way, which will be happening in less than two months. I'm getting anxious every day...flying for so many hours with a toddler on the lap doesn't sound like fun to me. 

Ok, i'll have to leave this wonderful blog-land for who knows how long. I hope you guys won't give up on me too quick and will keep an eye out for updates and future projects.

Favorite 13 - ZARA May Lookbook

Zara is one of my favorite brands, too bad I haven't bought a thing from them. All i do is just visit their web site once in a while to drool over new items. Today is one of those days...lets drool together :)

Love the color scheme and those prints! Please get in my closet :)

Photos via zara.com