Happy Birthday to Bayleaf Studio! Here it is… my very first post.

I thought I’d start with one of my birthday cake cards to celebrate this occasion and say hello. For weeks, months even, I’ve been thinking about this blog. Now, sitting in front of the computer with the thing all ready for me, there’s nothing. Can’t think of a thing that remotely sounds interesting. So, let’s try for something…

With this blog I’d like to explore and share my love for knitting, cooking, paper goods and sewing. Almost anything handmade, really, works for me. Love it all.

I haven’t been knitting for so long, it’s been only 5 or 6 years. After a few days of trying to get a proper cast on and a decent row of the same size stitches, it was like I had been doing it all my life. Now I knit nonstop and have designed some of my own hand knits, available on my etsy shop.

Cooking, on the other hand, I have been doing for quite a while, having grown up in a traditional Portuguese home where the vast majority of our meals were home cooked and everyone helped out.

The image in this post is one of my handmade note cards. Part of the work I do is to design stationery, invitations, announcements and Christmas and Holiday cards. The cards came out of me having worked for 10 years in the graphic arts industry in front of a computer. I enjoyed the work, but it wasn’t rewarding in an artistic way. There was a need to make things with my hands. The note cards came out of that need.

For now, that is that. A little about me and what I do. Hopefully the photos will look pretty and there won’t be too many typos.