All that glitters is not gold

Stores are overflowing with sequins and other sassy shiners this holiday season. So if you're still stuck with a closet full of nothing on december 30th, a sequin dress is the easy way out. Get them at H&M, River Island or Asos and then splurge on some champagne!

Dress: River island - Shoes: Zara

happy thanksgiving!

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!

True Confession: Actually I think I am the only person in America who doesn't like Thanksgiving food and always ends up having cereal later because I'm hungry. Thanksgiving as a vegetarian isn't easy.



This year for the first time ever we'll be going to visit Paul's brother in Ohio for Thanksgiving. We're hoping this drive will not be as horrific as our drive home last year from Orlando. To attempt to avoid the worst of the traffic we're making a very short trip. Just up for Thanksgiving Day and right back.

The cat sitter will be all settled in with Stan and Mabel so they'll have their own company for the holiday!

Have a great holiday!

Style file: H&M spring

The H&M spring collection has got me drewling. Must. Have. Beige. Shoes. These items are all about unexpected shapes and details. And sandy shades with a pop of color is always a plus in my book. I can't wait to play around with those grey jogger inspired pants. They would be so chic with a pair of wedge booties and a blazer! And a very legitimate craving as I registered at a gym today... (Honestly, I'd rather go shopping to burn some calories!)

Collage made with pictures by Caroline

Rhea Penaflor

Rhea B. Peñaflor

• 1st Filipina journalist to become a European Journalism Institute Scholar (2009)

USEFUL LINKS

Peñaflor is the First-Filipino Journalist EJI Scholar

illustration friday: music

Here's my submission for this weeks illustration friday theme of "music"

A little too much to get done today to create something new for the topic but I have this piece that I created earlier that fits the theme. This is a photo of myself when I was little.When I created this I was thinking about my grade school violin lessons. I am terrible with music and practically tone deaf so it was a nightmare for me and all who listened to me play. To make matters worse, at my recital I got my bow knotted in my violin and I had to stand there while everyone else finished playing.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Extreme Poverty

The number of people suffering from extreme poverty is steady and slowly growing. A lot of efforts from the government and other non-government organizations (NGOs) to intervene and to eradicate poverty are already put into action. Yet, the situation of people suffering from extreme poverty is still the same and their number are continuously growing.

Why Extreme Poverty is still to be alleviated?

Maybe, what we need is to stand as ONE  "Stand Up, as a demonstration of our commitment in the fight against extreme poverty. It’s the easiest of actions, but when all of us do it together,  it’s a profound statement."

Can we rely on you? If not maybe you need to watch this video where "children mostly from 3rd world countries are dying every day from malnutrition, starvation, lack of medication and treatment, bad water, war and harsh living conditions, and most of all from broken hearts and hopelessness."

United Nations' Universal Children's Day is celebrated every November 20 of every year
and that is today.

and this post is dedicated to every child out there

who are suffering physically, mentally and spiritually due to Extreme Poverty.

new from my studio!

Here's a new 16x20 custom canvas order that I just finished up!

I had a great time working on this piece. Love the theme of everyone out for a bike ride! For more info about placing a custom artwork order using your photos, click here!

Back to black

Black never fails to be chique. So I opted for an all black look to get dressed in a few minutes and still have the instant glam this color provides.

ps. Excuse the crappy quality of the first picture. When you take a picture after 5 pm ( = almost dark nowadays) you have to stand really still for it to be sharp!

Leather jacket: zara exclusive - Dress: topshop - Belt: Asos - Boots and hosiery: h&m - Self added chains

BC - Victoria - Royal Museum - dp

BC - Victoria - Royal Museum - panasonic streaming cam
See HERE/Veja AQUI

Website: HERE/AQUI

Grand River, Ontario - underwater - DP

Grand River, Ontario - underwater streaming wmv cam
See HERE/Veja AQUI

New Foundland - DP

New Foundland - seals/focas - streaming cam
See HERE/Veja AQUI

Camera 2

New Foundland - Logy Bay Memorial University of Newfoundland. - DP

New Foundland - Logy Bay - streaming cam
Courtesy of Memorial University of Newfoundland.
See HERE/Veja AQUI

Timmins - Lake

Timmins - Gillies Lake - streaming cam
See HERE/Veja AQUI

Timmins is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada on the Mattagami River. At the time of the Canada 2006 Census, Timmins' population was 42,455. At 2,961.52 square kilometres (1,143 sq mi), Timmins was Canada's largest municipality in land area until 1995, when the regional municipality of Wood Buffalo, Alberta was created, although it remained the largest municipality in Ontario until 2001, when it was superseded by the newly amalgamated cities of Kawartha Lakes and Greater Sudbury. It is the 69th largest metropolitan area in Canada. The city's slogan is "The City with a Heart of Gold".

Timmins é uma cidade do Canadá, no norte da província de Ontário, e às margens do Rio Mattagami. Com 2,961.52 Km quadrados, Timmins é a segunda maior cidade do país em área, só perdendo para Sudbury. Sua população é de 43,686 habitantes (do censo nacional de 2001). A cantora Shania Twain foi criada em Timmins.

Timmins

Timmins - City Hall - streaming cam
See HERE/Veja AQUI

Grand Bend Yacht Club - dp

Grand Bend Yacht Club - 30 sec/auto
http://www.gbyc.ca/WebCam/index.shtml

Quebec - Radio Studio - dp

Quebec - Radio Studio - 5 sec/auto
http://www.fm93.com/webcam.php?Id=1

Fredericton - Westmorland Street Bridge - dp

Fredericton - Westmorland Street Bridge - axis streaming cam
See HERE/Veja AQUI

Fredericton - Officers' Square - DP

Fredericton - New Brunswick’s Capital City - Officers' Square - sony streaming cam
See HERE/Veja AQUI

Fredericton - DP

Fredericton - New Brunswick’s Capital City - streaming cam
City Hall: See Here/Veja AQUI

Mississauga - main square - DP

Mississauga - main square - axis streaming cam
See HERE/Veja AQUI

Toronto - city overview

Toronto - city overview [Ritz Carlton skycrawler (183 meter)]- axis streaming cam
See HERE/Veja AQUI

Montreal - Downtown 2 - DP

Montreal - Downtown 2
Courtesy of The Montreal Marriott Chateau Champlain
See HERE/Veja AQUI

Canada - Montreal - DP

Canada - Montreal - streaming cam
See HERE/Veja AQUI

Montreal - Downtown - DP

Montreal - Downtown - streaming cam
See HERE/Veja AQUI

Halifax Stanfield International - dp

Halifax Stanfield International - 6 sec/F5
http://www.hiaa.ca/schedules/airside.html

BC - Invermere

BC - Invermere - street view - 60 sec/auto
http://www.invermere.com/webcams/downtown.php

Lakeside Pub - 15 sec/auto
http://www.invermere.com/webcams/lakeside.php

Fairmont Riverside - 20 sec/auto
http://www.invermere.com/webcams/riverside.php

Downtown Radium - 15 sec/auto
http://www.invermere.com/webcams/radiumhotsprings.php

That's bananas!

Getting Rachel Zoe slang out of my vocabulary after watching the entire second season in one weekend is rather challenging, yet nessecary. Because answering that's bananas to any given question is just out of control. At own risk, here's the link to season 2. I die!

www.youtube.com/user/JixXxJiTVseries#p/c/84856364A45A51FC

I ♥ Choo

Wet palms, nerves running, fingers aching. Just one night untill Jimmy Choo for H&M hits the stores! Which items will you be hunting down? I made quite an elaborate wishlist so... See ya online at 10 exact!

Get your hands on it

I got my hands on the coveted silver Chanel nail polish - literally. Since it's fall I'm layering garments all the time and decided to do the same thing for my nails. Applying this silver polish over a black one really gives a nice, deep color. The outfit is something I wore to university on a random day. Didn't intend to get repetitive with the stripes, but I do wear items more than once of course ;)

Leather jacket: Zara exclusive - Jeans: Acne - Ankle boots: h&m - T: h&m

Florida here we come!

Tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at the crack of dawn, Paul and I will be loading up the car for a 14 hour drive to Orlando FL. The cat sitter will be here taking care of the kitties so we won't have to worry about Stan and Mabel!

I'm teaching at the Daytona Beach Art League on Saturday. Space still available!

I'll be updating via Twitter as we travel and while we're away! see you next week!

Daydreaming

Sometimes I get carried away thinking about free shopping sprees. In these daydreams I try on piles and piles of fashion goods and get to take everything with me. In a minor extent, this happend yesterday. I traveled al the way back to antwerp to spent the Louis gift voucher and after putting down a little extra cash, I brought home black Acne skinnies and a flowy Acne blouse with elongated back. It's is the ultimate staple piece. So off to another daydream now; outfit possibilities with my new blouse...

Blouse: Acne - Jeans: Acne - Bag: Guess - Necklace: River Island - Ankle boots: h&m

when it rains it pours!

Just when everything is going along smoothly, life likes to throw a speed bump (or two) your way to see if you're awake. It is safe to say I am definitely awake now!

We've had two developments this week that I am going to post about in hopes that someone reading this might have a connection or contact. It's all about six degrees of separation right!

-------
ON MONDAY WE LEARNED:
Our renter in our home in Orlando is breaking her lease to move to another city. If you or anyone you know may be interested in renting it, please contact our Property Manager, Kim Cochrane kc@leasingorlando.com. And here is a link to the house listing +photos. it's a really cute house in MetroWest. All new appliances, new AC, security system, laminate floors. All lawn care included in the rent! Pets OK too!!

ON THURSDAY WE WERE TOLD:
That we are now a statistic of the recession. My husband Paul, who works as a web editor at The Guardian in the DC office, was told the the entire DC bureau will be closing.

So I am putting this out there -- If you hear of any positions in "web content editing/production" (doesn't have to be in the news industry) please pass them along to us. Here's a link to Paul's Linkedin profile and resume and here's my email. We are willing to move again if we need to but would love to find something in the DC/VA/MD area. We only just got here a year ago!
-------

And that's been our crazy week!! I believe that sometimes you just have throw the word out there and you never know who might read this who can help!

We were Enumerators

This is the story of the unsung heroes of DSWD - the Enumerators for National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR).  A Project of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in order to build a database of Household Informations of "who and where" the poor families in the Philippines are.  And eventually, the information generated by the assessment will be used by DSWD and other government agencies to design and develop social welfare programs.

The primary role and function of the Enumerators is to make personal visits to the households covered by the NHTS-PR and administer the Household Assessment Forms while conducting an actual interview.

In order to attain what the NHTS-PR tag-line is saying which is "Talaan ng Sambahayan! Sigurado, Kumpleto, Totoo!" and literally in english "List of Households! Sure, Complete, True!", the Enumerators will be deployed to different sitios, barangays, municipalities and cities.

The Enumerators must go to far-flung communities to interview and to assess households of poor families. And if necessary, they will climb mountains, cross the rivers, defying personal safety in "hot spots area", braving all weather conditions just to make sure that our poor brothers and sisters will be included in the NHTS-PR database.

Below are some of the pictures taken while The Enumerators, the unsung Heroes,  are at work:

Stripe away

Although stripes have never really gone out of style, they're now bigger than ever. And it's not without reason. A striped tee is the perfect go-to item for when you don't feel like pondering on an outfit. And they're available at a broad range of price points. So I say, stripe away! I got this shirt a while back at h&m for just 10 euro's and love the low shoulder. Another low key shoot thanks to the weather, sigh..

striped shirt: h&m - padded biker leggings - h&m trend - necklace: river island - boots: graffiti

it's holiday time!

November is here and the holidays will be here before you know it!

I couldn't believe it when I looked on my calendar this morning, only 5 more weeks of art making time before Christmas! All my custom orders ship the week of December 14th to make sure they get there in time. The clock is ticking! Every year, I'm like one of Santa's elves working away in my workshop to make sure everything gets finished on schedule.

Here's a 16x20 custom canvas order that I just finished up, what a fun piece this was to work on. Even the dog gets to go skiing. Love that!

Orders placed now will be first in line for the holidays so now's the time to place your custom artwork order so we can make sure it arrives before Santa does!

I have four personalized custom artwork options available, ranging from fully-customizable to semi-custom and for any budget too! Prices start at just $75 for paper sketches and only $25 for custom magnetic paper dolls. ho ho ho!

I'm on Craft Cast

My Craft Cast Interview is now live! Click HERE to listen!

It's always a treat to chat with Alison at Craft Cast. In this interview we cover a variety of topics from art to pets to crafting products and all the stuff in between!

Listen in and get the details on how to win exciting things! We are giving away a few goodies from my Claudine Hellmuth Studio product line, and also a copy of my latest book, The Scrapbooker’s Creativity Kit. Make sure to listen to the podcast to find out how to win!

Dot com

It's not always the big things that make you happy. It doesn't take the perfect job, the perfect wardrobe, the perfect relationship and so on. Yesterday I slept in, grabbed coffee with my boyfriend, went for dinner and a movie. It made me feel great to have nothing to do and absolutely nowhere to go.

The movie I watched is New York, I love you and it's a must see for sure! Fragments of people's lives in the big city, that you can't really grasp because you don't know their backgrounds. Just as in real life. Today I wanted to shoot my panneled faux leather pants. Because of the rain I couldn't do that outside, so my boyfriend took these in my bedroom. (wouldn't wear these shoes out anymore, too cold!)

Meet maison Anna Heylen

These pictures were taken during the Antwerp fashion weekend on a visit to Maison Anna Heylen, a belgium design house, situated in a breathtaking building from 1904 (black walls, definately a decoration diy!). It has a champagne bar, a store, rooms to receive clients and more. Getting a small tour there was very inspiring. On the last picture you see some of the dolls Anna made, 'just to keep her hands busy'. They are so interesting, a little odd even, wearing unique creations in size xxxxxxxxxs.