Stuff

 
I'm planning on moving soon from my condo to an even smaller place and that has forced me to assess all the stuff I have. And, boy, do I have a lot of stuff.

So lately I'm busy going on a purging binge and, as advised by numerous home organizers, segregating things into piles of "keep", "throw", "sell" or "donate/give away". Surprisingly, my "keep" pile only has less than ten items as of now (besides what I am still using at the moment). Majority of them end up on the "sell" pile which tells a lot, doesn't it?

I'm still not finished but I can already feel the change. I am more relaxed and feel like my head is getting clearer. It's like how when you're vacationing at a hotel and you get a good rest because you aren't constantly surrounded by your stuff that, in the back your mind, you have to do.

Less stuff = less worrying about all the unimportant stuff and more focus on the important stuff.

Any cleaning and purging tips you want to share?

Meg

A while

It's been a while since I've written on this blog. Or written anything, for that matter. At some point I wondered why am I writing a blog in the first place. It's not as if there is something special that I needed to say or share to the public. I wasn't some expert on a subject that my blog could focus on. I was all over the place with posts about fashion then film then music then whatever.

So, yes, my last post was 2012 and here I am starting up again.

What would be different? I'm not sure, but I hope it would be different. Two years have passed and it would be depressing if I am still the same person I was then. I contemplated on deleting the whole blog, and maybe I still will, but right now I think I'll keep it to see how I was then and how I am now and who I will be and the changes in between.

Meg

Holiday Homemade Gift #4: Lavender Sachets

I almost forgot about these because they were so easy to do it didn't feel like work!

Making lavender sachets barely takes time at all when you have all the materials on hand. It's perfect for putting a dent on that fabric stash which, if you're like me, is more like a pile rather than a stash. The dried lavender buds were a little hard to find, but fortunately I found someone selling them online. I think you can find them from soap-makers or candle-makers too.

There are a different options on how to make them, but I opted for the simpler route which was to use my pinking shears. I was worried about fraying so I put a little fray-stopper on the edges.

Put a festive ribbon and tag and you have the perfect stocking stuffer! Bonus: it leaves the stocking smelling good, too!

The artful dabbler,

Meg

Romantic Book Clutch

About two days before my friend's wedding, I was faced with a dilemma: to buy or to make a clutch bag for the wedding. The first choice will be expensive - about Php 500 at least if I buy from Landmark and I was covetously eying this glittery thing from Kate Spade. If I do DIY, I will be pressed for time and there was no guarantee it will turn out well.

Eventually I decided to go the DIY route, telling myself if it fails I can always buy a ready made one with time to spare. Now the question was - what design should I do?

There are a lot of DIY clutches peppering Pinterest, but one of the most popular is the book clutch. I love the idea because I'm a bookworm myself. Kate Spade also has her version but sadly it's not available here in the Philippines.

Most tutorials suggest using an old hardcover for the project, and I did see one months before at a used bookstore which had this beautiful green and gold cover. I regret now that I didn't buy it then. A part of me cringes at the thought of defacing books, though, so I got an idea of using this bag/diary that I saw in National Bookstore. It's for kids and costs only about a Php 100. It's pretty cute - I actually gave something like this to my goddaughter for her birthday. The bag part is perfect, since it was already a bag shape, with a hidden magnet for closure.

I cut the excess board to get the book shape. It occurred to me later how easier it was if I would have separated the "box" from the cover instead of trying to retain the shape in the first place.

For the cover, I scoured Pinterest and finally came upon this site - the University of Rochester. They have a collection of absolutely beautiful vintage book bindings. I picked one and did some trial and error to get the right size for my book clutch cover. I printed it out and mod-podged it. I do recommend printing a bit larger so you can sort of wrap it with a bit at the back.

For the sides, I found a picture of book textures and did some experimenting with the size on that too. I mod-podged it to the sides so it would look like a real book.

Before I put it all back together again, I put in a black ribbon on both sides for the tie closure. I put some black felt paper (which I already had) to serve as the lining on both the inside of the cover and the box before gluing all the parts back together.

And voila! I had my book clutch for the wedding. I got lots of compliments over it. I personally love it because it was DIY, cheap, unique and most of all - sort of romantic with the cupid on the title and, well, books are kind of a romantic notion now, aren't they? It's all about e-books nowadays.

I flirted with the idea of putting some dimensional glaze over it, but I was afraid it wouldn't dry on time. Still thinking if I should do it, though. Maybe on another clutch.

The artful dabbler,

 Meg

Gifted

"It is better to give than to receive." 

Yeah, probably true. But it does feel nice to receive some gifts, yeah?

So this past Christmas, I received some awesome gifts. I love that the people who gave them knew my taste - which was basically art and kawaii stuff. Give me something I can draw with and something cute and I will love it. Bonus points if they're both artsy and cute.

So here's to an artful 2014!

The Artful Dabbler,

Meg

Holiday Handmade Gift #3: Clay Ring Plate

(Not their rings - just used random rings as example)

As I've mentioned before, a friend of mine got married a few days ago. So as a Christmas present, I decided to make her something that she could use for the ceremony as well as for after.

I saw this ring plate in Pinterest and thought it was easy to do so I went for it. I had to look for some air-dry clay because I had no experience with that medium so I didn't want to experiment with oven-bake clay for this one. Most of the stores I went to only had the oven-bake one and the air-dry were out of stock. It was just chance that I went by Hobbes and Landes in Rockwell and found some.

Next I bought the alphabet stamps from Invitation House. There are a lot of stamps on sale everywhere right now, but I wanted this specific style. I used a vintage plate I bought at a second hand store as the mold for the size and an Arizona bottle as a rolling pin. 

It was supposed to be a plain round plate but when I put the clay in a punch bowl to get the hollow curve, the edges slightly folded. I just went with it because it ended up looking like a seashell and since they were going to have their wedding by the beach, I thought it was serendipitous. The ribbon was just something I already had, which was fortunate because I think it went really well and gave a seaside feel.

I had some extra clay left so I made a couple of small plates. Still don't know what to do with them, though.

They used it during their wedding and can be seen on their wedding video, so I'm really glad that I did this project. I still have about half a bar of unused clay that I would love to get my hands on so I'm on the lookout for projects.

Meg

Holiday Homemade Gift #2: Bottlecap Magnets

I know, I know... it's a super late post. It's been a busy couple of weeks with the holidays and my friend's wedding just soon after. I've been DIY-ing left and right but didn't find the time to post.

One of the gifts that I was able to make were these bottlecap magnets. I'm proud of this one because I used recycled materials. The bottlecaps were from a small canteen we run and had them save some for me. The magnets I had lying around because from the time I bought them at the Daiso (Japan Home Center) store... just because I thought I might need them - a couple of years after. And the picture inserts were from an old calendar which I still kept because the fairy pictures were too cute to throw away.

Basically all I needed was the 3D crystal lacquer which I bought at Shmily's in Rockwell and the heavy-duty glue from Ace Hardware.

And the white organza pouches I also had lying around in the house. Yeah, I know. I could run a craft store here.

It turned out pretty, but I think the magnets were too strong and they kept on sticking to one another and some of the pictures were damaged as a result. But other than that - they look great. I have one of them on my refrigerator right now.

It feels good getting rid of some of my craft stash and recycling to give as pretty gifts at the same time!

Meg

Holiday Homemade Gift #1: Glitter Jars

I've always wanted to give homemade gifts but, well, events happen and you end up buying something overpriced from a store a week (or days!) before. Well, this year... is sort of the same. Most of my gifts are still store-bought, but I did find some time for little projects.

One such project is for my friend who is really into makeup now. I saw this project in Pinterest and thought they were so glam and pretty and perfect for holding her makeup brushes. I had some jars, ribbon, and the mod podge already so all I needed was the glitter.

One note about the glitter... It is a headache to buy glitter during Christmastime. I swear. I don't know if the stores just secreted away the small containers of glitter and only put out the big, more expensive containers so they will sell or glitters are really just on high demand this time. So, note to self: buy glitter before December hits.

Back to the project... I think that I need to use more glitter and less mod podge because I ended up having lots of the mixture dripping down so the jars aren't as covered as I wanted them to.

I love this project not because it's handmade, but it reuses an empty mayo jar. And how many jars do we use up a year? Let's make them all pretty!

I'm still working on something right now so I'll post them once they're finished.

Meg

Jumper Joy

Well, since I'm in a naming mood...

I'm renaming the chambray jump-skirt into Jumper Joy. Hee.

And it totally fits with this little girl's mood. :)

 Meg

The Little Tuckling Dress

I mentioned it a while ago but I made a dress for a little girl back when I first started and it was the first garment that I ever made. I also mentioned that I don't have photo evidence of that, but maybe it was for the best since there were still a lot of flaws in the making of that dress.

However, being the perfectionist, stubborn person that I am, I decided to make another one of that dress - and remembered to take pictures this time.

Ta-da!

You know how sometimes clothing lines have names for specific dresses? Well, the book that I got the pattern from merely called this dress Front Tuck One-Piece (if my dwindling Japanese knowledge is correct). 

Kind of boring, right? I wanted to call it by the name of the little girl, but ultimately decided on: The Little Tuckling Dress.

*groan*

I don't know if I'll change my mind later, but right now - I'm pretty amused. LOL!

So there you have it, The Little Tuckling Dress made by yours truly...

Meg

Birthday Dress

I turned 30 today. 3-0. Yes. The idea has sort of sunk in, but really - there is no difference between who I am today and was yesterday.

I did want to do something special for this "landmark occasion" which was to make my own birthday dress. I had a design in mind and bought the fabric and supplies, but I haven't even started making it yet. I'm not going to reveal what it's going to look like now so you'll just have to wait when I finish it - hopefully before I turn 31.

Segueing for a moment... I'm finished with my beginner's sewing class! *applause, applause* I finished last Tuesday with the last project being a bias-cut dress. Not to be a perfectionist, which some Virgos like myself are reputed to be, but yes - there are still a lot of things I could have made better. It is wearable, as long as you don't notice the sort of uneven bottom and the bunched up zipper. That's why there are sweaters right? ;)

But I did make one dress from my class that I am a little proud of. It was Project 5 and was a lined dress. I fake-cried to my teacher when the seams matched as I sewed it. For the first time! It all lined up!

So since I wasn't able to make my ideal birthday dress, I decided to wear my Project 5 dress today.

My teacher's pattern was a size 6 and I'm (probably) a size 4 so the dress was a little big on me. I used a belt and covered it up with a denim jacket to complete the outfit.

Not too shabby, huh?

Sewing machine = 12,000

Sewing class = 11,000

Zipper = 12

Thread = 25

Fabric = 350

Telling people you made your own birthday dress = Priceless

*Prices are approximations only!

Meg

Chambray Jump-skirt

I had some leftover fabric from one of my sewing class projects and the size was just enough to make another kids dress. I looked through my growing collection of Japanese sewing magazines and decided on, what my limited Japanese knowledge told me, was a jump-skirt.

I've actually finished this a while back, but I only just got the picture of it being worn in Instagram. I wasn't there when it was worn so I couldn't instruct the father how to put it on. Thus...

One thing I was proud of in this project is the buttonhole which I successfully made using my sewing machine! I'm still not confident on making it again, but thankfully on this project I did it right. 

And, yes, I made the bias tape trim! High five! I'm still not sure I sewed it on properly but it's a big improvement from my earlier attempt when I didn't even know what bias meant. Whenever Yeshia (the little girl I gave my first dress to) wears the pink dress I automatically criticize it even though I made it. So many mistakes! I want to get it back from her and repair it but they said it was fine the way it was. So kind.

This project is relatively easy to do except for the top part which I am still not sure I got right. The instructions are in Japanese so I made the best out of understanding the illustrations. I also need to make the straps a little bit shorter and put pockets next time. At the time I gave up on the pockets because I thought it was too much work. But maybe it's okay too because without the pockets, the jump-skirt can be converted to a top when it becomes too small for the kid.

Still learning...

Meg

Bride & Groom T-Shirts

One of my friends is getting married early next year and we're all pretty excited about it. She's the first one among us who will be having an elaborate ceremony so there's a lot of planning going on the past few months, and more so in the coming months definitely.

On her list of things she wanted were Bride and Groom t-shirts which, I suppose, they are going to wear as they prepare for the wedding on the day itself or on the bachelorette/bachelor party.

I thought that this was a waste because you only get to wear it a few times and then what? It will be relegated to the back of the closet or worn inside the house.

So I decided to design something that they could wear that doesn't scream "BRIDE & GROOM T-SHIRTS" and wouldn't get old.

First, I made a monogram for them. It's really fortunate that they will have the same initials after getting married. They're literally sharing their names. How awesome is that?

I wanted a university-type of t-shirt - the ones that have the initials of the school and the year below it. I used the font Varsity for the monogram and Cooper for the year they will get married below.

For the back of the t-shirt, there's an option to put words like "bride", "groom", or even "Team Bride/Groom" to be used by everyone on the wedding party. Another idea would be to use different colors like pink for bride and blue for the groom t-shirt.

Here's a sample of the final design:

How cool would it be to wear this year after year until the t-shirt and the "est. 2014" becomes vintage?

Meg