Printable June Calendar

Happy 1st of June - when we celebrate Children's Day in Romania! Merry merry day to all your children - and to your inner child! For the first summer month, I've prepared a printable June calendar featuring another sweet girl. Her dress is the rainbow and her kite is a giant ice cream :)) Don't ask me about the green hair and the Chinese straw hat - it just came out this way! Click here to download the printable June calendar in A4 format. This printable is provided for personal, non-commercial use only. Enjoy!  

And because I've been a bad, bad girl, please click here if you're wondering what happened to the May calendar girl. I guess she just got lost in my hectic schedule, poor soul! She is a must if you need the full collection. With her cloud skirt and daisy hair, it's a real shame she didn't get published at the right time... Need I say it again? This printable is provided for personal, non-commercial use only. Enjoy! 

For those of you who just have to have the whole gang, click on the small images below to download the printable calendars for the previous months.
 

My Top 3 Favorite Summer Things

Summer is officially ending today and I need to say a proper goodbye to my favorite season. If I had to make a list of the 3 best things about summer, this is what it would look like. Number zero is: the hot weather under the sun (and of course there is no way to illustrate that, except for a picture from inside my oven:))). Number one: go to the market in the morning, buy plenty of fruit, then go to the office and stuff my belly. Belly aches late in the evening included.

Second on my list: swimming in the sea! Or in a big lake. Or in a river. Or in a plastic pool. Swimming gives me incredible joy. I feel like a kid again and every time is just like the first time.

Number three: lying in the grass, under the trees. I wish I had a wallpaper like that on my bedroom ceiling. And a tent to sleep in. And a bunch of wild bears to sleep with (in a pile!)

Raspberries

These must be the last raspberries of this summer. Fresh from the top of the mountains, where the weather is cold and the wild bears run free from one raspberry bush to another. I don't normally post anything food related, but it just so happens that raspberries are my favorite fruit ever. Of course, my grandma had an entire section of the backyard filled with scratchy bushes and annoying nettles. I would go in there with a little bowl... to pick some berries, grandma! And I would come out empty handed, stung and very, very satisfied.

So this is the way they should be remembered: savory, optimistic, with a fresh unmistakable aroma and full of sweetness. I might just put some in a plastic bag and freeze them for winter :)

On The Road Again

I'm back, dear friends, and let me start by thanking you for all your good thoughts. I had a wonderful time! The weather was great, the company was awesome, we went swimming every day and I totally slipped into "vacation" mode. So much so, that I was too lazy to take any pics, after the first few hours on the road. But we crossed the beautiful Carpathian Mountains, so it would be a shame not to post the pics from when I was still in "action" mode.

                  

The evening sun sets over the river Mures, doubling the daily dose of clouds in the water.

As you can see, the trees were larger than life. They would make wonderful Christmas trees, wouldn't they?

And the little yellow tractor is working like a busy bee over the water. The colors were great together and the heavy architectural bridge was the perfect frame for it. Back to civilization!

PS: And the best part of this trip was on the road back home, as the interior design addict in me couldn't resist and bought a splendid traditional rug in Fall colors. Awesome :)

Free Printable: Summer Gift Tags

Hello, everyone! My trip to the seaside keeps inspiring me to do little summery projects. I've been playing with watercolors for a while and I came up with an entire gift tag line. My designs celebrate sweet memories from the summer vacation. I went with indigo straw umbrellas on turquoise and red lollipops on a light aqua background. After a while, I also drew a yellow tag for each of the designs.

I'm offering these little summery gift tags, hoping that they will bring you joy. You may choose the one you desire: the folded card, the round tag or the classical shape. Each of these have got plenty of space to write down the name of the happy recipient (well, maybe except the blue round ones, which are just for show).

Feel free to get it from here. Click on the "arrow" icon from the bottom right corner in order to download the .pdf file. Be patient, the file is quite big and it may take a few minutes to download completely! If for any reason it doesn't work, click here: https://www.box.com/s/063af59a6fadffcd4fd6  

If you have any questions, just let me know. This printable is provided for personal, non-commercial use only. Enjoy!

A million thanks to Christina's Adventures and Petite Hermine for featuring the free printable summer gift tags!

The Heavenly Retreat

So you've seen the beautiful sea on my previous post and you thought "Lucky duck, it doesn't get better than this!" but the truth is that between the splashing / sunbathing sessions we stayed HERE. The heavenly garden. It was a secret retreat drowning in a sea of flowers, with a beautiful orchard in the back. We had a sour cherry tree, a peach tree and an apple tree right above our heads (and a falling tree hit me in the head :))) but it was worth it).

My definition of Heaven on Earth: a tiny little house hiding under a giant willow tree, ready for tea and stories in the hot afternoon. In case you're wondering, that is a trophy pike's head mounted on a bungalow wall. Pikes are ferocious predators and a delicacy when cooked by a Romanian local chef. My aunt Maricica made this dish in my childhood and I'm drooling just when I think of it.

Shell garlands everywhere, that was a must for a seaside retreat. There was so much greenery that one could easily forget where they were, on the hot windy sea shore. Then there was the case of the curious trees I've never met before and their wonderful pink flowers. I've tried my best to capture them, but unfortunately my camera and I had a slight disagreement concerning the definition of "focus" and "clarity". Oh well...

And this is the hardest past of my blogging side: I'm desperately trying to squeeze a gazillion pics into a not-so-long and not-too-boring post. So maybe a couple more and I'm done :)

Linking up to Funky Junk Interiors

Origami Boat Garland

My return from the seaside holiday seems fruitful and full of inspiration. At the seashore, there were lots of boats. New boats, old boats, sandy boats, golden boats. Their charming silhouettes, fragile and sturdy at the same time, are sailing through my mind whenever I close my eyes or I just look at the sky. So what better thing to do other than a cheerful garland of origami boats!

I will not insult anybody by posting a tutorial on how to make an origami boat, even a toddler can make one. I took photos of the different stages from the making of... just for fun. First, you make your helmet shape, then you TWIST it on one side and suddenly your whole perspective changes. Just when you think you couldn't possibly have more fun, you twist it over on the side, again, then gently unfold the corners, like they were petals from the most delicate of flowers!

And the turqoise thread is the perfect compliment for my beachy origami papers. I chose a thich yarn, in order to add contrast to the composition. There's one trick I've got to share: make a simple knot under each origami boat, keeping the same distance, so that the boat won't slip away.

I almost forgot: I am a cheat and I stole the idea from my friend, Francesca from Xgioco. Mille baci, Fra!

And thank you so much, Petite Hermine, Little Inspiration, Here's To Handy Andy, Romance On A Dime and C.R.A.F.T. for featuring the origami garland!