Paperless Post Christmas Party

 My Paperless Post Experience ♥ 

#bellecaracollaboration

Do you miss snail mail envelopes arriving in your mail? Do you miss the excitement of opening up an envelope awaiting eagerly to see what surprise awaits? Is it a party invitation? Is a milestone being shared in your family? Is it good news from a friend? Paperless Post gives you all of these beautiful experiences right from the comfort of your very own bed (I literally just came home from work!). 

After you sign up using your email address or Facebook login details - welcome to a never ending world of gorgeous designs. To kick start your journey you will be gifted with 25 coins for signing up (you can purchase more at a later stage if you wish) which can be used to access EXTRA features (for example envelope liners and specially designed stamps). There are so so many pretty designs (cards, invitations and flyers) that are free or worth a few coins and genres to choose from (holiday, birthday, wedding, parties, professional and cards). I literally spent an hour just looking at all the gorgeous designs for the perfect one for my piano and violin student's end of year holiday Christmas concert. So trust me when I say there are plenty of festive holiday designs ready for you to customise. 

Oh my goodness! Isn't Paperless Post just adorable? Look how darling the design I finally chose is. When you customise designs you have a huge choice of colours and fonts and additional extras.
If you are feeling a little apprehensive about using technology to create something so significant to get a party rolling - don't be! There are always handy tips guiding you and help not too far away if needed.

Paperless Post has a handy IOS app that can be used on any Apple device (sorry Samsung and other users I feel your pain - I have an Android phone!). In the land of Apple it is so convenient to just chip away on my iPad adding in details of my event.

At this point, can you even name a better customised online designer that reflects your personal style? I know after like 10 years of shopping around the web and trialling different products that do similar things Paperless Post has definitely remained a favourite. It is just something about those beautiful designs and ease of customisation! 

I personally adore how you (as the host) receive notifications to say the people you have invited have RSVP'd and answered your RSVP questions or posted a message. You can even see if your gusts have viewed the invites. The magic of Paperless Post never ends and therefore makes for an exciting way to plan events!

And there you have it - elegant technologies (computer program or on iOS) combined with a vast array of expressive and decadent designs to celebrate your most important life occasions with a little sprinkle of old school snail mail.

Happy party planning, B xx ♥ 

2018

Aquarium of Western Australia ♥ 

Being the queen of the art of procrastination comes the lack of content on my blog. I have finally bitten the bullet and am writing my first post in along time. I know I have made resolutions over the years to write more and such but for those of you who know me know that I love to procrastinate. And when I want something to be perfect and I don't think I can commit to doing something perfectly, no matter how much I love it I will procrastinate it. I'm not technologically savvy and my goals for this blog fell through early on with the lack of help and my ability to invest money and time into it. However, New Years Resolutions can happen a month late right? 2018 is going to showcase my version of imperfectly perfect posts (no photoshopping makeovers here - I never paid attention in ICT in school and I prefer to wonder at the world's raw beauty vs. an altered beauty) sharing my creative and colourful adventures around the world, with bucket list destinations, travel ideas and tips, feminine outfits, and little creative bits and pieces.

Love always, B xx ♥ 

Smile

What have you always dreamed about since you were a young child? ♥ 

Have you ever wondered what the word chronic means? Or has it never phased you? When you see someone smile what do you think? Do you judge them? Do you ignore them? Do you smile back? Do you wonder what is hidden behind that smile? Invisible chronic illnesses exist. While chronic autoimmune illnesses may be hushed and not commonly known as breast cancer, lunch cancer, and all the others which now having amazing recovery results due to years of funding and research - they exist. Have you ever heard of IBS? Or IBD? IBD stands for Inflammatory Bowel Disease and umbrellas Crohns and Ulcerative Colitis and is just one of those many invisible illnesses not commonly know about. It needs more funding, research, donations to help those that are fighting daily battles with their bodies eating themselves. That's what an autoimmune disease is. In my case it is internal bleeding of my large intestine defined as Ulcerative Colitis. Internal bleeding is absolutely no fun. 

Can you imagine a beautiful young child going through that? Because I can't, and I struggle with it at 22. Especially when on my teaching practicums. My blog is an escape for me to create my perfect world, and bridge together my creativity from the comfort of my bed generally. What have you always dreamed about since you were a young child? I have always dreamed of wearing high heels, playing the piano, speaking Italian, living in Italy, travelling the world, getting married, and having twins. While I don't have the ability to control my inability to have children, who I will marry and whether they'll accept me broken and all, I have the ability to adopt, and to do many other things in life. Throughout my blog you will see snippets of my creativity, feminine outfit posts, times I have taken on challenges, travel ideas and tips, and plenty of photographs that show you what is achievable with Ulcerative Colitis when I am not hiding from the world in my room, huddled under my blanket, cuddling my teddy, attached to my heat pack, in my super duper trooper low days. There's a story hidden behind each person's smile. And this is just mine, B xx ♥ 

Best Holiday Bag

"you don't have to carry a designer bag that costs more than a car to look cool" 

anonymous.

I am in love with designer travel bags, but I just can't justify the price of them. Can you?  Bag: It took me some months to find this beautiful strong, bag but I eventually did (thanks to mum's help!) from Fossil. I was looking for something neutral to go with everything and not too frilly so it could be dressed up and down, something to carry the essentials and of course my dsrl. Camera: Did you imagine my dslr was hiding in there? I think this bag did a great job in that regards. Weight: for the most time this bag wasn't heavy at all - only when it came to super duperly hot days and walking around Rome and the Vatican City on foot did it get just that little bit heavy. Price: While this bag is slightly more expensive than your usual everyday bag, it isn't as expensive as your Prada's and Givenchy's. It is made out of a sturdy leather, which will last you for many more holidays to come. Opinion: Definitely a great holiday bag in my opinion!

Happy Bag Shopping! B xx

Typography

With uni finishing early in November and my holiday to Africa and Dubai [my personal nicknames Afreeka and Dubaihai] my summer holidays have flown by and we are already one week away from the third month of 2015. Where did Christmas and New Years go? I hope all of you special cookies had a lovely few weeks celebrating with special ones and doing memorable and exciting magical things bringing in the new year. How time flies! I have a beautiful little travel diary to show you so check back soon to be amazed just like I was.

A little summer story from me.. early on in my summer holidays I decided I was going to stop idling writing, painting and drawing words and lists on spare paper, bank statements and sticky notes and start creating pretty lists. And so my typography journey began, one brush stroke at a time! B xx

Rose Petals

sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory ♥

dr. suess

I have spent today drifting, daydreaming, and reflecting on how different 2014 and has been to the last three years of my life in a creative arts environment. I have my regrets and my achievements, and my goals in striving to follow my dreams but the one thing I can't understand is time. Can you believe Christmas is in a week? My sister thought I was crazy when I casually said it in a conversation yesterday till she realised I was right. While I have achieved so much in this last year doing something completely new and exciting, I still miss being surrounded by music, having the time to practice, learning mountains of repertoire, and playing pieces I thought I could never pull off! Sigh, time is still ticking.. what are your reflections about 2014? B, xx

P.S Promise these are the last of my music photoshoot photos! 

Postcards from Europe

my sister's idea of a caption:

"i thrw mi hands up in da air symtyms sngng ayooooo"

I'd only ever heard, seen photos and paintings, read books, watched movies and listened to music that was associated with Europe but nothing could have prepared me for seeing things like the streets of Barcelona, the canals of Amsterdam, the beautiful Austrian Alps and Rhine Valley scenery, the Colosseum and Vatican City, the gondolas in Venice, the beautiful little city of Florence, the Eiffel tower in Paris and let's not forget the shopping, gelato and macarons (yes I have a sweet-tooth!) It is so hard not to fall in love with each city I visited had its own special charm. So, if you didn't see my photos on Instagram (@littlebxx) then prepare for quite a few travel posts which is only a fraction of the photographic evidence I have of my trip to Europe. They say a picture is worth a thousand words right? Happy living through my travels. 

Ciao B, xx

Fairy Floss

i love fairy floss and i love paris ♥

I have a few stories to tell you about my adventures traipsing around Europe. I've travelled around the world since I was four but nothing could have prepared me for visiting a tiny part of the world (have you seen those pictures that pop up everywhere that show a numerous amount of European countries fitting into Western Australia - who would have thought!) and experiencing a world of culture. Coming soon ♥

Dancing with Wanderlust

music is not just what i do, but apart of who i am ♥

photography by jeffrey's photography

I can't believe a year ago I made it through my piano recital 'Dancing with Wanderlust' and then received some of the craziest news that would change my life forever. This year has been a year of trying new things, doing everything I love and completing my first year of my masters degree while battling with this thing stronger than me. I can't wait to see what the future holds, but I would love to get littleb off the ground and running. I hope you guys stay around and watch!! 

Love, B xx

e-u-r-o-p-e

cinque terre ♥

photo by @garypeppergirl

I'm so excited to announce it's official (if you haven't already noticed from my instagram pictures @bellecara) - I have booked my flights to Europe although unfortunately not a one way ticket. I'm so excited and I can't wait to start packing and jetset out of my little Perth.

I have never been to Europe and only truly discovered it 2 years ago but since then I have wanted to go so so so badly. I always knew Europe existed but as silly as this sounds it was just that far out continent that I had no real interest in because I didn't know much about it.

When I was seven I start learning Italian in school and decided I wanted to learn more and take part in the exchange program to Italy when I got to Year 12 (but that didn't happen as I stopped learning Italian when I was 13). Of course, Europe is the foundation of classical music and so I've had about 15 years hearing and learning where composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Straus, Haydn, Chopin (the list could go on forever!) come from, died, where they worked, where they travelled, which famous European Kings and Queens they wrote special works for, music written for special locations eg. The Evening in Granada by Debussy or Music for the Royal Fireworks by Handel etc etc etc etc.

So in a nutshell.. I can't believe I will finally get to experience the beautiful European traditions and see buildings which are so old and beautiful and explore a whole new continent altogether. Fingers crossed the time flies till I'm on a plane!! Love B xx

New Romantics

{Dress: New Romantics, Alannah Hill. Bracelet: Fremantle Boutique. Necklace: Mimco. Wreath: DIY. Flowers: Alannah Hill}

se·ren·i·ty I love this word! And I think it sums up the pictures, and the atmosphere wonderfully. I have a few favourites - can you guess which pictures they are? Sweet dreams dolls! xx

This Little Light of Mine

Some bright sunshiney photos for you guys to wake up to! Happy Tuesday everyone. Much Love, B xx

Instagram Update: Holidays

Hello beautiful people! I'm so sorry I didn't keep to my promise of writing numerous posts and updating you on all my amazing summer adventures but I have been sick for the last two months and while dealing with that, preparing to graduate and have been tirelessly trying to decide what to do for the next two years of my life. I got into Masters of Early Childhood Education and Masters of Music Therapy yay yay!! 

This post, is to wish all of you beautiful people a belated Merry Christmas! Christmas is my favourite time of the year (besides spring being the prettiest season). Christmas is always a busy time for me because I play carols at my local nursing homes, and in church and time really does fly by! I am going to make amends and start spamming you all with wonderful photos and happy adventure stories.  I have so much to share here! (Or you can be updated through my little photo diary on instagram @littlebxx)

Wishing you all happy holidays!

Best wishes

Love B, xx

George

classical graduation recital preparation ♥

photography by jeffrey ong

So, I couldn't wait any longer but here is a teeny-tiny-itsy-bitsy sneak peek photo of my graduation recital photoshoot (which is also my favourite).

The irony for some may be, that I am actually a classical piano student. But, I have always liked violin more since I was younger, as there's more you can do with it in terms of groups and there is just one that I have to get used to. George. We've been through a lot and he has travelled around with me quite a bit. And yes, George is my violin.

Enjoy, more photos coming your ways! Ciao, B xx

P.s A lot means, one fine, hot summer's day about 5 years ago, I fainted in the first five minutes of my violin lesson on my violin, with my bow breaking the fall. It was a tad traumatic when I gained consciousness because I was so scared I had smashed my violin! But instruments are magical things.