Little Artists

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." 

Pablo Picasso

***

My youngest niece, Ava, coloring with crayons. 

My niece, Arielle, drawing with me and creating Valentine's art.

Arielle drawing a big heart for her Mama.

Coloring in action.

Love this sweetie!

Asia, whom I call my Little Shadow, and I. 

Lucas got messy with Mommy's spray inks, paints and stencils.

Josiah also got to create his very first mixed media page using spray inks, paints, and stencils. 

***

I enjoy creating with my kids and nieces. It gives me a sense of purpose and fulfillment to why I love being an artist. I not only enjoy being creative, but I also discovered that I enjoy teaching art as well. Hopefully, this journey will lead me one day to teach the youth to explore their creative gifts and grow as their own individual artists. It's a lot to hope for, but I believe deep down that it's where my destiny truly lies.

xoxo,

Love Day Recap

Love Day Recap

I know it's a week later and Valentine's Day has come and gone, but I just wanted to share a recap of the highlights of last week and to serve as a reminder to myself of how special it was.

I Heart Cheesecake | Discovered this lovely bakery in San Carlos, CA called Zest Bakery. All their goods are either gluten free and/or vegan. Love that!!!

 This one is a Blueberry Cheesecake. Delicious!!!

My first time trying a Vegan Chocolate Cupcake + the verdict is out of this world. I am definitely going back for these....

My own homemade, fresh baked, Chocolate Chip Cookies....Shaped in a heart of course :)

Picked up my youngest, Lucas, from Kindergarten and was excited to find him all covered up in this heart shaped paper decorated by him.

I decided to make handmade cards for my boys with a handwritten message of how much they mean to me. It's the beginning of a new tradition....

Josiah, who is now reading like a pro, reads it aloud. Such a sweet moment....

My oldest with his first Valentine's Card from Mommy 

Lucas, my youngest baby, doesn't quite know how to read yet, but as I read it to him, I saw his eyes light up with joy to hear my words of affirmation and love for him.

Lucas hugs his card.

***

Happy 83rd Birthday Great Lola

Another year to celebrate this woman that is who we call 'Lola' which means grandmother in Filipino. She is 83 years old and is still full of so much life, love, and faith. We no longer live in the same home, but there is no distance in our love for her. We visit her every week, cherishing her presence as much as we can and bringing her joy through my boys, her great grandchildren, which helps to keep her living life to the fullest.

Lolo (grandfather) is 90 years old, but don't be fooled because he has the energy and strength of a 20 year old. He still has his license and drives around wherever he pleases. All those morning oatmeal and banana breakfasts, soups with vegetables and fish, definitely has a lot to do with it. This photo is special because Lucas and Lolo have such a special bond. He always hugs him close and says that he wants Lucas to stay with him...

For Lola's birthday, Lucas gave his "heart" to his great grandmother and he is showing her that he knows how to spell his name. 

Lola with her great grandkids + my niece Arielle.

Every little kiss I can get from my kids is a gift that I cherish. I love being my kids' Mom and will never take these little moments for granted.

Lucas, is starting to learn how to write and this precious note is hanging on my fridge. I think I'm going to frame this for sure.....

***

As for my husband and I, we didn't have any time together alone since it was on a weekday and we wanted to spend it with Lola for her birthday. But, we do have a date night planned very soon. :)

Hope your Valentine's Day was special! 

xoxo,

He{Art) QOTD : Beautiful People

Beautiful people do not just happen....

Beauty is skin deep as the saying goes, but reading this made me think a little more about what that saying truly means. It's goes deeper than just beneath the surface... I firmly believe that true beauty comes from deep down in the corners of your heart. I have alway admired beautiful people on the outside, but it's those who have really impacted me with their life stories, their sufferings and the ability to rise up and fight, who I've come to admire and appreciate the most about a person. Having said that, I hope I can reflect that beauty of compassion, love, and humility as I face my own trials and triumphs. Some of the most beautiful people I know have been very instrumental in helping me understand that life is a journey, it's an ongoing process where we go through many cycles of seasons and changes and sometimes we are meant to be broken in order to put our lives back together again... So next time you are struggling or going through a difficult time in your life, remember that its building your character and molding you into something beautiful... I hope this quote will be a continuous reminder that TRUE BEAUTY lies deep within each and everyone one of us...

{Instagram} January Photo Challenge Recap

Instagram Photo Challenge :: January 2012

Just a recap of my Instagrams for the monthly photo challenge that I'm following along. The challenges are curated by this wonderful lady, Chantelle, over at Fat Mum Slim. Not only am I doing this for myself, but I'm really enjoying the plethora of Instragram photos from people all over the globe as they share their takes on the daily challenges as well. What makes it even better is having a few of my close friends and family taking on the challenge as well.

Here is my month of January. If you're wondering how I created this mosaic, I used this wonderful site called Big Huge Labs (FREE to join by the way) that will create a mosaic of your photos depending on how many rows or columns you prefer. But first, I had all my photos uploaded to Flickr in a individual set and that is where I sourced my photos from. Then, I chose the option to save it to my computer and added the text through Photoshop which I'm sure you could do through any photo editing program. And VOILA! 

1. self portrait 2. breakfast 3. what I Adore 4. letterbox 5. something i wore 6. what makes me smile 7. favorite 8. my sky

9. daily routine 10. childhood 11. where i [used] to sleep 12. close up 13. in my bag 14. what i'm reading

15. happiness 16. morning 17. water 18. something bought 19. sweet 20. someone i love 21. reflections

22. shoes 23. something old 24. guilty pleasures 25. something i made 26. color 27. lunch 28. light

29. inside my fridge 30. nature 31. self portrait again

If you'd like to join in and follow me on Instagram, my username is under 'dahliaco'

A He{ART} Journal To Remember

After our recent move, it's funny how things turn up that were buried under so much clutter. As we are finally getting settled in our new home, I had to share this journal of mine. It's not your typical diary that was a written by one person. It belongs to both my husband and I. It is more like letters that we wrote to one another prior to our engagement. Our thoughts and feelings were poured out through words and inscriptions over a span of 3 years. Sometimes we added memorabilia or personal things like ticket stubs, sketches, colorings, stickers, etc.  It turns out, as I realize more now than before, that this may be my very first 'art journal' so to speak. Emotions that we felt often displayed the colors that it reflected like when we argued or when we were happy. It was also a place where we could express ourselves creatively, making our relationship grow in ways unimaginable. Even though we could talk and laugh for hours on end, this journal was a more intimate way of conversation through artistic expression such as poetry, lyrics, and colors. Very sacred, indeed. I hope this will always be part of our legacy to our children and the future generations of our family... It holds such a valuable purpose to teach that real love is not perfect, but it also keeps no record of wrongs and is not bound by material or worldly things, but by trust, honesty, and unconditional love that God has placed in us, especially with those who are close to our hearts...

***

I always had a deep fascination for butterflies, the beauty of transformation is astoundingly amazing.

A glimpse of our back to back letters to each other in our journal...

A drawing that I drew of my dream home by the ocean....

Pressed flowers that my hubby used to decorate one of his pages...

A rough sketch of a photo of us. It was my documentation of when he was seeing me off at the airport. I left for a month to Hawaii to visit my sister...

He drew my name, graffiti style...

Lots of color and writing....

We were down to the very last pages of this journal and this is where he proposed to me....

And of course I said... YES!!

And its been 8 years since we got married and we are living happily ever after.... 

This is our purpose: To Love Each Other So Other Purposes Will Be Fulfilled 

{Doodles Unleashed} Stylized Faces | SHE Knew...

Hello!

Gah... This last week, my son and I got sick with the flu :( Hence, my long absence and lack of motivation to create... But, thank goodness we are recovering and life is slowly getting back to normal.

Just want to briefly share my final project from the last two lessons of Traci Bautista's Doodle Unleashed workshop at Strathmore. It was definitely a fun class and enjoyed every minute of it! The last two lessons were about preparing and painting a stylized face on a doodled background. I must say, I am not the best at painting faces and feel like I have a lot to work on, but overall I thought I did pretty good for an amateur. :)

I totally forgot to take photos during the whole process of creating this page so I only have photos of the final outcome. I did follow along in Traci's videos using some of her techniques so if it's not too late for you to join the workshop, you can register and still see all the videos.  I hope this inspires you and if you like what you see, please leave me a comment! No harsh criticism, k? LOL.

{Doodles Unleashed Workshop}

Stylized Faces

 SHE KNEW....

 "She was stronger than She thought She was."

Flower power.

 "SHE finally knew who she was meant to BE."

EYES. 

 LIPS.

 FACE.

 Layers and layers...

TRANSFORMED.