Stop capturing and start living!

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had an amazing Easter. Mine was ok. Not much. It was cold, rainy and windy, more like Christmas than Easter, if you ask me. Nevertheless, we took a rest, spent some time with family and friends and ate... A LOT!!!

Today I wanted to share with you a different thought. Because life is running fast, faster than what it used to, digital technology has invaded in every aspect of our lives and we usually get so caught up in capturing the moment (with our cell phones, cameras or whatever) than actually living it to the fullest. This video explains it perfectly, without saying a word.

It has happened to me way too many times and just realizing it makes me a little sad. We are so anxious for capturing the moment of a nice view, a great concert, a beautiful museum, an interesting event, precious moments with our families and friends - which all of these are great - but are we actually living all these things? I mean, do we let ourselves feel all the emotions that we should feel and be carried away of these moments?

Because in the end, what are we left with? Thousands of pictures, all locked up in noumerous hard drives, evidence of momeries that we haven't actually lived, felt or tasted, or at least not as much as we could have.

So, next time, when you are in front of an amazing event that you want to capture, just put your camera aside for a while, be present, feel the moment, take it all in and keep the memory inside your head. Photos can wait. They may not be showing "the perfect moment", that "perfect click", but later they can be the motive to recall the event, but you must have felt something in the first place in order for this memory to actually have a meaning, right? Because, like Maya Angelou said:

"I've leaned that people will forget what you said,

people will forget what you did,

but people will never forget how you made them FEEL."

So, are you living in the moment or not?

LOST MEMORIES (French, English Subtitles) from Francois Ferracci on Vimeo.

Σήμερα ήθελα να μοιραστώ μαζί σας μια διαφορετική σκέψη. Επειδή η ζωή τρέχει γρήγορα, πιο γρήγορα από ό,τι στο παρελθόν, η ψηφιακή τεχνολογία έχει εισβάλει για τα καλά σε κάθε πτυχή της ζωής μας και εμείς είμαστε συνήθως περισσότερο απασχολημένοι με το να προσπαθούμε να αποθανατίσουμε τη στιγμή (με τα κινητά μας τηλέφωνα, φωτογραφικές μηχανές ή οτιδήποτε άλλο) παρά με το να τη ζήσουμε στο έπακρο. Αυτό το βίντεο τα εξηγεί όλα χωρίς να λέει κουβέντα.

Μου έχει συμβεί κι εμένα πάρα πολλές φορές και μόλις το συνειδητοποιώ πραγματικά με στεναχωρεί. Αγχωνόμαστε τόσο για να συλλάβουμε τη στιγμή, μια υπέροχη θέα, μια ωραία συναυλία, ένα όμορφο μουσείο, μια ενδιαφέρουσα εκδήλωση, πολύτιμες στιγμές με τις οικογένειες και τους φίλους μας - τα οποία όλα αυτά είναι υπέροχα - αλλά στην πραγματικότητα τα ζούμε όλα αυτά τα πράγματα; Θέλω να πω, αφήνουμε τον εαυτό μας να αισθανθεί όλα αυτά τα συναισθήματα που θα πρέπει να νιώσει και να παρασυρθεί από αυτές τις στιγμές;

Γιατί στο τέλος, τι μας μένει; Χιλιάδες φωτογραφίες, κλειδωμένες μέσα σε αμέτρητους σκληρούς δίσκους, αποδεικτικά στοιχεία αναμνήσεων που στην πραγματικότητα δεν ζήσαμε, νιώσαμε ή γευτήκαμε, τουλάχιστον όχι τόσο όσο θα μπορούσαμε.
Γι'αυτό την επόμενη φορά που θα βρεθείτε μπροστά σε ένα σημαντικό γεγονός που θα θέλετε να αποθανατίσετε, αφήστε την φωτογραφική σας για λίγο στην άκρη, να είστε παρόντες, νιώστε τη στιγμή, αφήστε τη να σας πλημμυρίσει για να κρατήσετε την ανάμνηση μέσα σας. Οι φωτογραφίες μπορούν να περιμένουν. Μπορεί να μην δείχνουν "την τέλεια στιγμή", αυτό το "τέλειο κλικ", αλλά αργότερα μπορούν να γίνουν η αφορμή για να θυμηθείτε αυτό το γεγονός, αλλά θα πρέπει να έχετε νιώσει κάτι έτσι κι αλλιώς για να έχει και αυτή η ανάμνηση νόημα, σωστά; Γιατί όπως είπε και η Maya Angelou:

"Έχω μάθει πως οι άνθρωποι μπορεί να ξεχάσουν τι είπες,

μπορεί να ξεχάσουν τι έκανες,  αλλά

δεν πρόκειται ποτέ να ξεχάσουν πώς τους έκανες να ΝΙΩΣΟΥΝ."

Λοιπόν, εσείς ζείτε τη στιγμή ή όχι;

(source)

Oh, Summer...

Summer days are just going by and it won't be long until they'll over, so all you have to do is try to make and keep as many sweet memories as possible to keep you warm on these long, cold winter nights. ;-).

Imagine as if you had a bottle and you'd fill it up with all the beautiful things about summer that you'd want to remember forever.

What would you keep?

Οι μέρες του καλοκαιριού περνάνε και πολύ σύντομα θα τελειώσουν, γι'αυτό θα πρέπει να δημιουργήσετε και να κρατήσετε όσες περισσότερες όμορφες αναμνήσεις μπορείτε για να σας ζεσταίνουν τις μεγάλες, κρύες νύχτες του χειμώνα. ;-)

Φανταστείτε να είχατε ένα μπουκάλι όπου θα το γεμίζατε με όλα τα όμορφα πράγματα του καλοκαιριού που θα θέλατε να θυμάστε για πάντα.

Τι θα κρατούσατε;

(source)

Big Surprise Revealed

Do you remember the pre-announcement of my big surprise here? Yes, I know, it took me way to long to actually announce it. Well, better late than never, right? The big secret that I've been meaning to tell you is that me and my friend Annie are starting a business together. We are going to make Wishing Books for Weddings, Baptisms, Birthdays and Events, Wedding and Baptism favors and invitations and anything else handmade. Unfortunately, we have fallen a little behind on schedule but we are working on the small details until we are finally totally ready. First of all we have come up with a logo for our "company".

"Make Your Wish" , because that's what we want people to do. A little "blue eye charm", because in Greece is a symbol of good luck and keeps away the evil. The "horse petal", an international symbol for good luck! Finally "the frog Prince", symbol of the fairytale of our childhood, represents magic and making wishes come true.

The second plan includes me and my friend Afrodite's mother, my "mommy" too. I'm helping her to open her Etsy Shop. She's making some amazing knitted and crochet stuff but also all kinds of other accessories. She's the one that taught me how to crochet in the first place! We are also thinking of attending to as many Seasonal Fairs as possible (here in Corfu are often organized this kind of Craft Fairs and Bazaars from the English community).

We are so excited about all these and we hope

that it's going to be a success.

Make Your Wish for us!

Etsy shop Update

My Etsy Shop's Listings are updated. I've created a whole bunch of cute little notebooks based on the tutorial that I've shown you here. I really love them! They are perfect for journaling, keeping little notes, a mini photo album or... just for fun! They are cute and adorable to carry around.

Go and take a look here.

I also accept custom orders for different color schemes,

themes, different inside colors or more pages.


Aren't they cute?

Our Story Booklet

I haven't made anything special for my bo-boy for a really long time. Or at least, that's how long it seems to me. I'm starting falling in love with Scrapbooking more seriously this time, meaning I'm trying to do it more "professionaly".  So, the other day as I was staring a small cardboard box that I had around from a delivery, I've started pilling its layers off, just for fun and I came up with this idea.

I decided to make a little booklet full of photos

of me and my little love.

I've used some random pictures of us, fancy decorative tape,

some stamps and some cute flower embellishments that

I've made with cupcake paper wrappers.

In the end I've punched two little holes on the side

and tied all pages with a piece of yarn.

Cute, isn't it?