World Of Michael Trent

For me, one of the best things about living here is the Mercado Municipal. Every major city has one.   If you love food, or love to cook, this is the place for you.  One stop shopping.  Fresh fruits, fresh fish, fresh spices, fresh meats, you name it.  Most of the local restaurants will get a lot of their ingredients at one of these markets.   The mercado municipals in large cities, like São Paulo City or Rio, are enormous.  Others, like the one we went to in Campinas yesterday, are about the size of a Costco.  The market in Campinas was opened in 1908 and is the oldest "shopping center" in Campinas, has 143 shops, 98 in the main building and 45 stalls in the outer buildings.  Where the fishmongers are now is the platform next to where the railroad tracks used to be. Dried beans and more dried beans. Every type of bean you can think of. Sausage, bacon, dried meats. You name it, they have it.   Every spice you can think...

Last week I got a message from my friend, Jen del Muro - the brains behind, and owner of Reverse Confetti .  (Psst, it's an amazing rubber stamp/die company - check it out!). Anyway, she told me that her kids (Nic and Ellie) were going crazy over the World Cup and asked if I would be able to pick up a few things for them.  Duh!  Of course I can.   So I went shopping.  Was able to find some t-shirts, stickers, bandannas, and water bottles, and packaged them all up in a box. But then I thought, "they need StenDoodled World Cup Soccer Cards"!!  So I made two - Nic's is on the left at top and Ellie's is on the right.   And now you can make some too if you want - easy and fast!! Step by Step for Ellie's Card : (For Nic's card, scroll down) Step 1 .  Download and print the soccer ball. I use Picasa and I printed two at 5"x 7" on an 8.5" x 11" piece of cardstock.  You may need to use the "Shrink To Fit" butto...

I just had to share these photos on my blog. I have a thing for pigs. Dunno why, but I do. While bike riding the other day I finally had a chance to take photos of this pig (hog?). There is a family in town that got a small pig one year.  Their idea was to fatten her up until it was time to kill her for their many months of dinners.  But, they fell in love with her and could not go through with it.  So, the piggie lives there with a bunch of their dogs.  Sleeps all day and at times has a rope leash on her.   She is just too cute and I wanted to share. Hugs  ~Michael

When I was first approached to be part of the StencilGirl/Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge blog hop, I just laughed out loud!  Me?  A craft hoarder?  Duh!  Not only have I been hoarding craft supplies for over 20 years but when I moved here to Brasil from New York City, I took it all with me.  And then I started to hoard Brasilian craft supplies. Okay, I admit it - I AM A CRAFT HOARDER!     For this blog hop, the artists had only two rules - use StencilGirl stencils and then to dig through our craft hoard and use whatever we wanted to use.  I grabbed stencils (duh) sprays, pastes, paints, makeup sponges, lots and lots of BLING, you name it.  Heck, I even grabbed my bag of keyboard letters and some fake eyelashes that were in the hoard.  Told ya, I am a craft hoarder. There is something very freeing about just using stuff from my hoard and making a piece of art.  I did not do much thinking here.  I did know what st...

BREAKING NEWS!!! Starting on Monday (June 16th) - an amazing WEEK LONG Blog Hop with StencilGirl Products and the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge Blog!! 2 Teams Amazing Inspiration Great Giveaways!!