don't open. it's a present

I got a package in the mail today. It says: Isabel Marques (Don't open, it's a present! Pedro)
My birthday is a week away and I have the best husband ever!

Tartine bread

The book arrived yesterday and it's beautiful. The main bread recipe, which the author calls Country Bread, is the starting point to all the other artisan bread recipes in the book. It's process is very meticulously described and based on ancient french breadmaking techniques before the industrialization of yeast. He calls it the perfect bread. All you need is high quality flour, water and salt. The secrete lies in the combination of a homemade starter, temperature, timings and pacients.

a sister's heart

Yesterday I went to pick up a special package from Luisa, my sister, and Bino, my soon to be brother-in-law. It's a silver heart, a contemporary work of the more traditional heart from Viana. It's so pretty! 

Minha linda irmãzinha, muito obrigada!! 

Postcard Swap

I decided to participate in a swap of handmade postcards promoted by iHanna. I was emailed 10 addresses and soon I'll be receiving another 10 postcards in the mail. I didn't quite know what to make but after my short experience illustrating História Primária, I decided to go with cut outs and old photos: I printed out the photos from this album and the lyrics to the Portuguese song Aldeia da Roupa Branca to go along. They are numbered from 1 to 10, according to the lyrics. Now off the post office to get stamps!

In the mail

Receiving postcards from Postcrossing is fun but opening the mailbox and receiving cards from people you know is amazing! Pedro and his dad went on a father/son adventure to Switzerland to visit family, site-see, travel and do tons of geocaching.

Ah... but the best part is that these cards came with chocolate...dark chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate with nuts, chocolate raisins... Aren´t I the lucky one?

In the mail

Just got home, opened my mailbox and ta-dá...  postcard from Christine. She wrote it in deutsch with a catchy opening phrase: "Just ask google!"

In the mail

I was in debt with postcrossing. Today I finally sent out the 5 cards: Finland, Spain, Vietnam, USA and Russia. Since we are commemorating the 100 years of the republic revolution, all the cards were replicas of vintage cards from the beginning of the 20th century. Considering that a great number of the population at this time was illiterate, the republicans used image based propaganda to spread the news about republican ideas and how the revolution was carried out. I really enjoy sending out these type of cards rather than boring scenery and views of Lisbon. I just hope the recipients enjoy them as much as I do.

In the mail

From Lamberto in Italy. A painting of a mountain village scenery in Montagne.

In the mail

As a recent postcrosser, I have received about 15 postcards from different parts of the world. The part I enjoy the most is discovering who will be the next person I send a card to.

When I speak of this to people, the first thing they ask is:

"Hum... so... you send postcards to people you don't know?"

"Exactly!!"

This card is one of my favorites. It's a handmade card from Erika Jean of a cotton field. She took the photo herself and stapled it to a shiney cardboard.

It's up on my wall!