And the fairies are born!

What a productive day!
I am so proud of the girls, they worked very hard and were able to finish making their fairies. We talked about their powers and also named them. Each girl introduced their fairy and explained their super power. Olivia is the Helping Fairy, Margaret is the Healing Friendly Fairy, Anne and  Emily Elizabeth are the Loving Fairies, and Pixie Dust is the Sharing Fairy. We really enjoyed listening to all the introductions and we were polite and said "nice to meet you!" to each one of them.

The afternoon was awesome sauce! We learned cross stitch and backstitch and made beautiful cards. Though we poked our fingers a few times, we all laughed and had fun.

The power of pixie dust!

There is so much to share today! We are so excited to present the actual Heartfelt Craft Shop. It's been opened 2 days, we've had 3 classes already and I hope the campers are as happy as we are!

We have been happy-busy crafting, learning manners, we've made a powerful fairy wand, a magical tooth fairy pouch with the morning fairies. And in the afternoon we made beautiful handmade cards.

Fatima, my daughter, has been an amazing helper and we have been so lucky to have my niece, Camilla, visiting from Nicaragua and being a fairy helper!

I believe in fairies! Just like Wendy from Peter Pan kept saying. The power of pixie dust, lots of work, and great moms that trusted their girls to Fatima and I have made this fun summer camp possible. Thanks to all!

I leave you now with some pictures and I am off to the next session.

See you soon!

This is a note and gift we mailed to our campers. Hope they liked it!

 Look at the shop! Se pretty! Sew happy!

 

Our plans for the week.

Our plan for the day, see how busy we are!

Powerful fairy wands.

Happy fairies!

Magical tooth fairy pouch.

Please Spring, go away!

Finally, Spring is here! Though I am loving the weather and the fact that my toes are finally not cold all day, I have to say I want Spring to end! Call me crazy, but you'll see. 

The heartfelt craft shop actually has a heart-what a tongue twister!

We want to provide a healthy space to discover creative abilities, develop skills, confidence and DIY capacity. We want to encourage and celebrate creativity + inspiration + wishes + dreams + good manners + friendships. We want to have fun!

This is my we have created the heartfelt craft shop, a home based shop that offers summer camp sessions for girls ages 6 to 12. Sessions are 3 hours long, all materials are included, snack and water bottle will be provided daily, and sessions are of up to 10 girls.

Fatima and I are the mother-daughter dynamic duo that will share all their craft-artistic knowledge at the heartfelt craft shop during this summer.

We will have 6 sessions in 4 weeks - talk about a busy summer! Registration is open until June 6th but space is limited and spaces are filling quickly. Please contact us for more information and for signing up.

Week 1-

Fairy dust camp- All fairies welcome! We will create our own fairy world while learning some basic hand sewing techniques. We will make a magic wand, crowns, tooth fairy pouch, and our very own fairies! We will take this opportunity to remind the girls about using the magic words through etiquette expert Emily Post's book: Emily's Everyday Manners.

Date: July 7-11

Ages: 6-8

Time: 9a.m.-12 p.m.

Available spots: 5 

Heartfelt cards camp- Handmade cards are the best! Making them is fun and the recipient values the creativity, effort, and thoughtfulness. We will make one of a kind, limited edition cards with different materials and techniques. We will learn quilling, stitching, doodling while we make cards for every occasion. We will also learn to write thank you notes using Emily Post's Guide to Good Manners.

Date: July 7- 11

Ages: 9-12

Time: 2-5 p.m.

Available spots: 5

Week 2-

I am a chef camp- This is a one of a kinds cooking camp...no dirty dishes and no crumbs! We will enjoy preparing tasty looking felt pasta, tacos, veggies, many different sweet treats. Campers will learn hand sewing, embroidery and other crafting techniques. Since it's all about fun and eating, what a better way to complete the fun that learning table manners through Emily Post's Table Manners for Kids. Delicious!

Date: July 14-18

Ages: 8-11

Time: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Available spots: 4

Love to sew camp- Calling all sewing lovers! We will learn sewing machine basics, how to use it, thread it, and load the bobbin. It will we fun learning to use basic patterns, cutting fabric, exploring by hand stitches, sewing buttons, and hems. We will make several simple projects starting with our very own sewing kits.

Date: July 14-18

Ages: 9-12

Time: 2-5 p.m.

Available spots: 7

Week 3-

 Accessorize yourself camp- We will get creative making a variety of fun accessories and wearable arts from different materials. We will make earrings, bracelets, necklaces, all kids of hair accessories and even an organizer! We will learn basic by hand stitches, and much more!

Date: July 21-25

Ages: 8-12

Time: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Available spots: 7

Week 4-

Felt sew happy camp- Aren't we crazy about felt? Yes! Campers will learn and use basic sewing and embroidery techniques to create amazing animals, pencil case, and other school accessories, key chains and finally, dun, duun, duuun...a beautiful felt mobile that'll make a great room decorating piece.

Date: July 28- August 1

Ages: 9-11

Time: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Available spots: 7

See why I want Spring to go away? Because I can't wait for Summer to start so we can begin our summer camp fun!

Faith + hope + a little bit of pixie dust

The summer camp is finally taking shape. We worked so hard planning each session and have come up with 6 different ones.  We are receiving a wonderful response from some lovely camper's moms and we could not be more excited to see our dream coming true one camper at a time.

We did not have school today because of a wonderful white dust called snow. I love waking up to a white day, it's so bright and magical. We don't have snow in my country -the coldest it ever gets is 75 degrees- so it's always amazing to see it fall + slowly fill the ground, the trees, the air.  I always imagine a world dusted with confectioners sugar. Wouldn't that be fantastic?

With the white inspiration, Fatima and I woke up thinking about our pixie dust camp, of Peter Pan, lovely Tinker Bell + the Lost boys.

 After doing some chores -a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do- we decided to do some of what we love... crafting, of course! Having some pixie dust in mind, some white dust at sight, we dedicated this day to all the fairies that will join us on July 7.

We started making the magic wand, we had a chance to dream of the things we would do if he had one. We would most definitely put more faith + love + hope in everybody's hearts. You would get some, too!

Our next project was a tooth fairy pouch. In my country we don't call it a tooth fairy but a tooth mouse (raton de los dientes) I can assure you that it really is so much cuter that what you have in mind! Anyways, I made one for Fatima when she was 4, a cute little white pique bag with the sweetest pink mouse you have seen. She was so excited! Still remember those blue eyes wide open + filled with excitement!  She convinced me to stick to the tooth fairy...she is so much more beautiful that the mouse. 

We could not decide which one we liked more, so here's the other one we made.

After that, we made the pom pom skirt and Fatima posed for the heartfelt craft shop in the snow!

I had fun with Fatima. We listened to music + we had a lunch break + we stopped for a while to make  

a toilet paper roll car with Juan Ignacio + we were choosing electives for high school + talking about dreams + wishes...I always tell Fatima that dreaming is free, so she should do it often, after all, if we don't dream, how will we know what we want to work for?

The plow was like the tic toc of a clock. I heard it pass so many times but it's taken a break + that is exactly what I will do. It's time to close the shop + go home - lucky me, it's just a door away.

Have a fantastic week!

Welcome to the world!

And the baby is here!

Please welcome The Heartfelt Craft Shop to the world of blogs!

Date Of Birth: February 26, 2014
Weight: Countless of ounces of dreams + love + ideas + hope
Place of Birth: My home in Vienna, VA
Mother: Blanca Munguia

I wonder...was it born Feb, 25 or was it born when I first had the dream of having a craft shop where all things were handmade with love? Perhaps this is just like marriage, you are married the minute you say YES! but it is formalized the day you get the blessing. In this case, it was born since I was little, when I was teaching my dolls + was crafting every minute I had.

Today, not so many years later, I have invited my wonderful daughter Fatima to join me in the "making come true" of this dream. She will be working hand in hand + heart in heart with me to turn this summer camp into a one of a kind experience for everyone, the campers + their parents + Fatima and I.

Officially, the doors of the craft shop will open July 7th at 9:00 am when our first summer camp starts. In the meantime, we are very busy preparing + planning + crafting like crazy + choosing a high school (I still can't believe it) + doing tons of homework + having so much fun.

I have never done a blog before. Not sure of many things yet. I do know that I want to share the adventures of the heartfelt craft shop + share my craft abilities + learn from you + keep in touch with you + have an amazing time with my daughter Fatima + share the amazing creations of our campers + more!