Peeking on Project Metamorphosis I

With less than 3 weeks left for the end of the school year (and of all the academic projects and works which have been tormeting me to the marrow!), time to work on the new collection has been much smaller than I would want it to be. I know I've been a little quiet but I've never stopped playing with my brand new beads and golds and stones, even if slowly...

I am aiming to launch the new collection on June 8th (during the whole weekend). It's only a week away! ❤

Wishing everyone an awesome weekend! Sadly I'll spend mine finishing a landscape planning project for the Alto Douro Wine Region. It is a breathtaking place in the mountainous north of Portugal and listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. I may write about it here and post some pictures of my own another day soon. :)

Butterfly wishes,

Ana ❤

Enchantment and New Beginnings

Image found @ Tumblr. Source unknown.

"Luna has now moved into Gemini - so many of you may feel torn between catching up with friends & working. This is because the asteroid Athena (the archetype of the Golden Heroine) was conjunct the Sun over yesterday's new moon. The next two weeks as the moon waxes to full offer a magnified opportunity for abundance for those projects which are aligned with your deepest values...thanks to the recent new moon Solar eclipse in Taurus. So do take this fecund opportunity to set your conscious intent into the matrix of co-creation."

Call me superstitious or tell me it's only coincidences, but I am increasily amazed by astrology and ancient wisdom. And Tanishka Tantrica from The Moon Woman couldn't be more correct as she typed her most recent moon guidance. Her speech totally matches my today's mood.

This week, I'll have 3 different deadlines for my Master's: a territorial development group project, a landscape recovery individual project and a test for a subject which hasn't even hosted any theoretical lectures (what the hell am I supposed to study again?). Everything is going kind of  s l o w l y  because these are quite complex projects and, to make things even worse, my ADHD mode will sometimes kick in and I'll find myself trying to do everything at the same time - and screwing it all up. I'm going through a major struggle to focus on a single task and just get on with it all. How. Frustrating.

I had planned, together with my boyfriend and his mother, to visit a medieval faire this afternoon. Also, a friend is hosting a dinner for his birthday tonight. This morning right after I woke up, I found myself debating and trying to decide whether I should attend both appointments or stay home working. After a long moment of pure frustration, I've decided to skip the faire (which ends tomorrow), work as much as I can through the afternoon and call it a day with friends I haven't met in months. I hate having to cut on things I love to do because of college. It feels like it is the only thing I keep on doing lately.

On the other hand, my heart and the other half of my mind have been with Wilwarin Designs and the big change my small business is about to face. I'm super excited for the transformation and feeling really inspired to walk a path of uniqueness and self-expression. I will definitely work hard for this dream to turn lovely reality as the Maiden grows to awaken and bloom in abundance and fulfillment!

Sneak peek: it all begins with a clutter of young ideas...

Butterfly wishes,

Ana ❤

Back to College

Although it was nice to spend two entire weeks at home recovering from surgery and chilling, it is good to be finally back to real life - I'm not so happy about the routine, but oh well. Anyhoo... I'm only missing about 6 weeks of academic rushing until I finally get on summer vacation. Ah, Summer! I feel I can almost touch it!

I am also back to Wilwarin Designs at full force. Been taking care of more orders than I could expect (for my delight), however, my latest supply shipments are taking a really long time to arrive, which means that the new collection's launch might have to be delayed... I''ve got huge plans but so little time and so many obstacles. Sad face.

A little note: since tomorrow is a holiday in Portugal, this week's orders will only be sent out next Thursday (2nd May). Thanks! 

Butterfly wishes,

Ana ❤

Back to orders

Day 7 of my septoplasty surgery recovery: At last, I was able to sit for a few hours and finish taking care of pending orders. Between the ache and the difficulty to breathe, focusing on a task still troubles me a lot. But slowly, I'm trying to get back to normal life. My silicone plates are probably going to get removed tomorrow morning - I can't wait to feel my poor nose finally alleviated! In the meanwhile, my fingers hurt from so much braiding. :)

Some "made-to-order" requests in the making.

For the first time since I got home from the hospital, I went outside for a walk. The weather has been pretty amazing, but I could never enjoy the outdoors because of my nose bleeding. It had been painful to appreciate these Spring sunny days from behind the window. But then again, I am slowly getting back to day-to-day life.

Gratitude to everybody who's been patiently waiting for their orders to be shipped! This last week has been quite the mess but I'm planning to have all orders proccessed and left at the post office in the next couple of days. Thanks again!

Butterfly wishes,

Ana ♥

Finally, a real crafty session

To those who celebrate, I hope you've had a wonderful Easter with lots of family love and awesome food. I gladly have, although college work hasn't been missing either to consume my own soul. I have delivered two different projects yesterday, which I had been working on the entire Easter "vacation". But then, for the first time pretty much since September, I was able to sit on my table with the beads and filigrees without thinking about the long list of academic terrors I had to fulfill. I had missed it so much!

Along with finishing custom requests, it is now time to start preparing my Summer collection. I am going for a totally different approach this year and I can't wait to show it to you all. I am having lots of fun with gold, pastel colors and delicate tribal chic. That's all I can tell for now. :))

Also, it's been exactly a month since I've moved to a new home and a slightly new lifestyle. It was surprisingly easy to get used to it and leave those 20 years in the old home behind... but I still have a lot to do, finishing organizing my new bedroom; especially because it is so much smaller than the one I was used to, plus the walls are still pink (not a pinky girl this one...) and my Master's devours pretty much all my time! But after the walls are repainted it will be much easier to tidy all my craft supplies up and thus, to manage Wilwarin Designs. I should take the next weekend to do so.

Misha has become accustomed to the new home pretty quickly and is almost a (quite charming) grown-up now. :)

Preparing for a new season - Part II

Finally my college semester has officialy ended! After many busy nights and weekends, public presentations and other college madness, it is time to embrace Wilwarin Designs and my milllion plans for it. Yesterday was my first day of winter academic vacation, thus my first day of crafting in a very long time... Misha has also been castrated yesterday morning and spent the day at the vet, which means I was able to "garnish" my crafting table at will, without having to deal with a four-legged crazy one constantly messing around. :D

I've decided to focus on two, perhaps three, main concepts/collections for this Spring/Summer season. I cannot tell any details about them even if I wanted to because they're still in a very initial phase of sketching and planning. Of course, that means I am open to any suggestions or requests from all of you, so if there is anything you would like to see at Wilwarin's shop this Summer, be it a trend or color palette, feel free to contact me or leave a comment in this post!

I'll bring more news really soon, maybe today, even! Stay tuned in this lovely wednesday. ;)

Welcome Fall! (plus Apple Mabon Bread recipe)

"With the feast of Mabon, the fall Equinox, we acknowledge the balance of light and dark, life and death, growth and rot. We honor all those things that enable our world to grow and restore itself. On this holy tide, we hail the hunter and the hunted, the predator and the prey, the plough and the scythe, the blessings of growth and of decay. We honor our resources, and the frugality and careful planning of every ancestor whose careful household management got their families safely through the cold constraints of winter. Mabon is a time of remembrance and of culling away, of honoring what we have, what we need, but also what we can provide to others. It is a time to look clearly at where we are weak in spirit, where we are strong, and where we stand somewhere in between, a time to take stock of our portion of gratitude and blessings for the coming season."

~from Patheos.com, author unknown~

So this is it, Autumn has arrived! I'm a little too tired for blogging right now so I've decided to just leave this small yet wonderful excerpt for one to meditate on - which is better than anything I could try to write right now, really. I've had a very busy day with many college issues to manage. But still, I've had a little time for some crafting and even a little kitchen magick! :)

My first this year's Autumnal creations...

And my first attempt at the called Apple Mabon Bread; perhaps I should have added more apples and not so much honey... maybe a little too wet, still, it is delicious! :) Here's the recipe by CharmingPixieFlora right below for you to try it as well:

I'm now off to eat some of my sweet bread, sip on some ginger ale and meditate on what I'm thankful for... what about you; how are you greeting Fall? :)

Preparing for a new season

Ahoy!

Autumn is almost knocking on our door and I know lots of you can't wait to drink some delicious homemade apple cider and jump on crunchy leaves. Even I, a Summer creature, am really looking forward to it. Well, I've never tried to make apple cider myself but that's one of my goals for the next couple of months! :)

As the new season of the year takes place, so does a new season of my life. Finally, after a whole year waiting, I'll be starting my Master's on Landscape Architecture in less than a week. I must confess I'm a little nervous because it's been such a long time, but on the other hand I'm really looking forward to it and to learn more. Of course, and sadly, there won't be so much free time for crafting, so I've been spending a good part of my time organising my supplies and Wilwarin Designs itself (also as I wait for the rest of my brand new Autumn supplies to arrive).

Sneak peek... Boho charms, marine pendants and Autumnal woodland goodies... I love love LOVE gilder's paste so much and I wish I could afford more colors!

I have five new frequent customers, as well - as I like to call them. They're all really shy but oh-so-lovely. And they also have... whiskers! :) A young cat happened to give birth to a litter of four beautiful baby kittens near my home and, since we have the habbit of leaving some of our meal leftovers (safe food, of course) everyday in our yard for street cats, they slowly started sneaking around. It's been a couple of months since we saw them for the first time, however they've always been too fearful to let us get any close. They are quite used to our presence nowadays, but still won't trust us as I'd like them to. It's actually funny because they have the courage to stand right on our porch, even with the door open, staring at us as if asking for their meal, but will run like little rockets to the safety of the bushes everytime we step into the yard with a dish of cat feed or meat. They really like our little garden, although. :) Today they've spent pretty much the entire day sleeping and playing around the garden, while I did some cleaning, listened to Wicca radio and took sips of delicious forest fruit handmade tea.

Mama Kitty on the top (she's a really pretty tuxedo cat) and two of her babies sleeping on the grass. This was the closest I could get, afraid that otherwise I would disturb them :) 

The four baby kitties sleeping on top of each others behind our orange tree and belladonna lilies... it was so damn cute to watch.

The babies (well, they're not really babies anymore) are two black kitties, a grey tabby and a grey tuxedo. These last two make me believe that my missing cat, Simba, happens to be the father of the litter, since he used to be the only grey cat in the zone (he is/was a long haired grey tabby). Maybe that's why I felt so attached to them the moment I saw them. I miss my cat so much.