Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  

This fabulous season makes my heart melt!  I love the cold so I

can wear my hats and gloves and sweaters, I love the crafts and 
the lights inspired in this season, I love cooking and 
eating and baking muffins, cookies and to come 
up with new inventions I  like inventing new unexpected
ways of hot drinks, one has to vary the flavors in 
the mornings, like this one... I mixed almond milk with cinnamon 
sticks and boiled, then added a spoon of vanilla extract 
and honey and it was delicious, I tasted it to see what was needed 
and if you like this kind of stuff you should try it, the next morning 
I added some oatmeal milk to see if I can make it thicker and was
successful! It was like atole like I wanted! 
I love the consistency of atoles, In Mexico is a big tradition but 
I want to try healthier options doing 

this but the thickening part is hard to get, any other healthy ideas? 
If you have them, please share!

I also want to share this other part of me, I also make music as some of you know
and this time I made a Christmas song and the best part is that is in English!
Some of you have asked me to do this and so I thought of doing it this time,
I hope you like it!  We are an independent band and we create everything
at home, it´s a lot of work but it is all made with our heart and soul!
So here it is, enjoy!!

"Angels of the light" by Livelula

Here is the direct link to the video



OK, the artful part of this post is next, I created a few digital collage sheets 
which I love to make and now I have tons of them!  So this time I am 
giving you a few of them as my Christmas gift to you!  

I hope you enjoy them!  You can use them in your art 
journals, as tags, as cards as shown, or as your favorite artsy play!  
Just click on the images you like and save to your computer and 
print in your favorite paper! I used photoshop to add some interesting 
effects and make different flavors of the same image!

 Usually I like to start with a charcoal easy sketch, seal it and start adding coats of paint, in this post, I share what kind of paints and palette I use!

I am finally starting to feel more loosen when I paint, it´s amazing how long has taken me, I don´t know if is the same for you but now I enjoy painting even more! I can´t wait to share all this new stuff in my future online class, which I hope to start very soon, it´s hard to decide between some vacations or doing it but I promise it will be soon!

Notice how I used movement on my brush strokes, they are pasted with direction so you can use this for adding movement to your paintings!

The stars in the dress were added as a collage element, it´s a transparent paper so when you add it with medium it shows the colors bellow it, I love it, is my favorite and I have been using it a lot!  I painted the same idea twice and finished  better the last one, is the one I used for the collage sheets for you!

Enjoy your christmas gifts! ;)

Right click and save!

And here it is this other image!

Of course, all images are for your personal use only! 

May you be bright and shine as the star you are!

Merry Christmas and thank you for being part of my life,

you are treasured!!  

Love...Moni.

Freebie Halloween Digital Collage Sheet!

Hello sweets! I was making this cute card and 

I thought why not sharing this with my 

blogger friends?

It`s fun to make the treats with a touch 

of extra cutness I hope you like it!

 Simply download the page and print, cut circles,

cut pieces of black cardstock to make the hat and

use some stars to emmbellish it!  look bellow!

This digital collage sheet is made entirely by me

 and you are allowed to use it for your personal 

projects, I appreciate you not sharing it on the web 

or anyway  digitally! You can post a link to this site

so your friends enjoy of it as well!

I have more over  digital collage sheets over my 

Etsy if you want  to take a look!

Now use some worrds from a book or cut some paper

to write some spooky words, super easy!  

Now use your witch in your projects, make cute cards to give 

with tricks and treat or give them as thank you notes after 

Halloween parties, or in some scrapbook displays!

You can invite children to make them with you!

I hope you enjoy this and that you have a 

great Halloween!  

The Day of the Dead

The day of the dead 

November 2nd

is very popular around the world, 

we Mexicans are used to see death as a part of life, 

we consider it is a cycle, we grow up with this day 

a  c e l e b r a t i o n  d a y,

 it`s a little mixed up with Halloween now due to 

the proximity with the USA and so

the children learned to go out for their trick or treat 

as well but we call it "calaverita", we set up 

our altars with flowers and food, and dedicate

this day to remeber our loved ones that have

gone before us, I made this 

spread for that coming day, maybe I`ll attach 

some photos of that day on it!! 

I`ve carved some skulls and made beautiful cards with it as well

as the altered book page!

In here you can see my paper doll skull, you can find a tutorial in the 

right column! I`ve used my own skull design, I just Love

to make fun characters!

My brother who is also learning to carve and has been doing some 

awesome works, like this Frankenstein!

 I`ve been making tiny paintings, this is made with my tehuanas

skull doll, the rest is painted with some carved stamps!

And couldn`t resist making some cards!!

This is fun, all hand made! Can you believe it?

This are some more tiny paintings, they are too cute

to be scarry and a lot of fun to make!

I hope you enjoy my whimsical spooky characters and that

they bring you a smile to your face, that`s the intention behind all this! ;D

Enjoy life!

Flowers, Flowers, Flowers!

 The beginning of spring is a few days away and what better than smelling

the flowers this season abundantly gives us?

Once I`ve read that each flower has it`s own star that rules her,

I don`t understand it but I love the idea!  Each star has a daughter flower

that nurtures and accompanies in her journey to this world!

That`s my kind of story!

I like this journal page a lot! So I plan to make it a painting and I want to

make it large!  I usually make small works and that`s only because I have a

small studio and I can barely fit in there but I have to make it work some how, 

this will be worth it!

Ain't this so cute?   I love whimsical caracters, they make me smile and

it`s so much fun to make them, I will be offering a class about it this next

summer and I will bring the news soon!

I have tones of small paper flowers for my diverse projects, and some just jump 

in the many vases were I store my brushes, they love to visit them!

My sweet turtles, they are hand made by Mexican crafters and the cute little

head moves when you touch them!  I collect all kinds of small objects which 

are my favorites, books, crafts, boxes, etc!

I take a walk almost every day so I stretch my legs and do some exercise and 

sometimes I take my camera with me, this time I saw many cute flowers around!

May you be blooming as beautiful as a flower!

Magic fairy!

 Fairies are magical, they are something that make me believe in

another dimension, I like to think they are real and that their world

is beautiful and only a few lucky ones are able to see them once in a

while, of course I hope to be one someday! ;D

 Painting this artist canvas was very entertaining yesterday, I tried using

 one of my digital collage sheets for this one and to my surprise I love the way it 

came out! 

I`ve painted this fairy a few years a go and is still one of my favorite girls I`ve

painted, the colors used on the background makes her pop a lot! 

I`ve added a coat of glossy barnish to protect her and now she just looks fantastic!

I love shinny stuff, can`t really say why!

She`s now looking for a new home! If you like her and are interested, please 

visit Hands and Heart Shop!

I`ve made a couple of cute tiny cards as well with the same fairy, this are 2.5" x 2.5"!  

I am also in the card making mood, it`s so addictive and fun!

Although making them so small like this ones is a lot of work and takes it`s time, I

love them this size, although you can`t tell because of the photo...

You can purchase the wonderful collage sheet kit including this fairy here!  

I am sure she will bring you hours of magical inspiration for you to create wonders!

♫♫♫♫ I hope you are smiling in your heart! ♫♫♫♫

What keeps you going?

We all need a boost  of inspiration to keep us motivated, at least I sure do!

Maybe that`s why I really open my self to life, to what`s around me, to be 

able to absorb the magic of things and use that when I am working on some

painting or in my music, the last thing that impressed me big time was a

 documentary about the universe on the Discovery channel of course! 

 I`ve seen many, I love them and every time they make me feel

tiny and humble and I even feel a strange vertigo!   There is so much going on 

out there and it`s amazing how I forget about it and get immersed in my life,

 that`s why I watch this documentaries, they remind me of the big holes 

swallowing what`s around them, of huge stars being born and dying to become

beautiful dust of colors, the other planets and it`s new photos, it is 

overwhelming and fascinating to me! 

It is amazing to realize all that and then look back at my life and see that it`s

truly a huge gift to be here, enjoying of little and big things, learning and growing,

eating chocolate, sharing with my loved ones, missing my mom and sister who live 

very far from me, watching my cat purr and the cold weather,  so many details, so

many wonders that I take in my heart!  All this while the big bang starts to slow down...

We really are magical beings, amazing Intelligence and Love created all this

 beautiful scenario for us to play and enjoy of it, we have all we need 

to be great, although we all ready are!

What keeps you going? What is that special thing in your life that you

consider important? What are those unique likes that make you 

different and special?  I truly hope you have many tiny things and many

important things that make your life special and beautiful!

For new inspiration I`ve made some new digital elements

 for you to download and use in your artwork, journal or what your creativity wishes!

They are for sale in my new shop and I will be adding new ones as I go, 

I also will be adding a few of your favorites and those that had been 

best sellers, I hope you enjoy creating with them!

May your life be magical!

Spooky tags and a gift for you!

Hello sweets! I have a fun gift for you!

This digital download with an original

skull painted by me for a spooky

creation! Please right click, save and print
for your personal use!

Then check the little tags tutorial bellow

for some inspiration! ;D

I`ve cutted the skull shapes out and used a flower punch

on some pink paper...they look so cute already!

Then I`ve used another punch to cut some big flowers as the tags!

Use spooky colors!

And used another punch for circles, if you don`t have these you can use

regular tags that are already made or hand cut the shapes!

I`ve added a cute hat and the flowers in different sections

to add variety, then punched holes and attached eyelets!

You can change tehe eyelets for some that are made out 

of paper or simply leave it as it is!

You can add a cute ribbon and attach around

 the gift bags filled with some treats!

Hand write a sentiment and voila!

Celebrate life! 

and make someone happy this Halloween!

I hope you enjoy this!