Monday, April 29, 2013

The One About Knit Love

On May 11th, I will be attending this...


Knitting has been in my craft bucket list for too long now so when I learned that Craft MNL is holding a class, I immediately signed up for the class.  I am especially excited about this particular class because the teacher will be from Ricefield Collective.


The story of Ricefield Collective really tugged my heartstrings when I first read about it.  Meredith Ramirez-Talusan from the US went to the village of Uhaj, Ifugao to do research for her dissertation.  There she met Jean, an Ifugao farmer, and she learned about their need for consistent income as their work as farmers do not give them enough to live on.  Jean and the other Ifugaos were already contemplating on leaving the village and move to overcrowded Manila (or abroad), hoping for a better life.


Amazingly, an idea brewed in Meredith's head.  She taught Jean and other Ifugao women to knit sweaters, hats, and coffee cozies and planned on selling them abroad.  This way, Meredith is hoping that this venture will create a better and sustainable livelihood for the villagers of Ifugao.  This summer, Meredith will be coming back to the mountains to teach them more knitting skills.  But before she does that, she and a friend of hers, Anna Maltz, will be conducting a knitting workshop at Craft MNL.


Eeeeeee!  I'm excited!

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Wednesday Nugget


Hooray for all my mess!!!

Even in my classroom, I always justify my students' mess as the result of all the learning that's taking place.  If my classroom were spic and span, I'd get worried if my students were ever learning anything.

Happy midweek!!!

Monday, April 22, 2013

The One About the Wedding Crafts


Hon-some and I attended a wedding two Saturdays ago in Tagaytay.  I was a bridesmaid.  And the bride asked me to get my crafty hands to work by creating the fascinators of the bridesmaids and the boutonnieres of the groom and groomsmen following the vintage theme of the wedding and the color scheme of blush and gray.

I started making samples of the boutonniere last year.  I first wrote about them here.  Here's how the wedding boutonniere has evolved:


 This was one of the first two samples I made.  Early on, I knew I wanted to use skeleton keys but then I didn't have any back then.  Nor did I know where to find some.


Sample 2


 Luckily, my friend in Singapore found some in a craft store there, leading me to making these.  But the bride and groom wanted silver leaves so...


This was the final design. :)


The groom's boutonniere had to be a bit distinct so I whipped out my resin-making kit and made a pendant.






I used the groom's initial on the pendant.  I would have wanted to use "G" to stand for groom and his bride's initial but...I wasn't the bride and had to follow as requested :)


Here's the groom wearing it.

For the bridesmaids...

 
 The bride wanted a small and unobtrusive fascinator.  This was my first sample and the it got a thumbs-up right away from the bride!  It was also the most fun to make!




 The bride and the groom and the bridesmaids and the groomsmen and...my creations. :)


Happy crafting! :)












Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Wednesday Nugget: Wake Up to a Productive Day


Are you a morning person like I am?  I love waking up early and working by 7:30 am, even on weekends.  By noon, I usually have half of my to-do list ticked off.  In the afternoons when I don't have work, I usually curl up with a good book or practice calligraphy.

I stumbled on this and figured it'd be nice to share...




Happy midweek, lovelies!  Be productive!  :)

Monday, April 15, 2013

Weekend Tidbits: Arnold+Ginger


 Arnold+Ginger Got Hitched
Date:  April 13, 2013
Ceremony:  Chapel on the Hill
Dinner Reception:  Sonya's Garden, Tagaytay








 Hoarded bags of cheese hopia before dinner started!  Hehehe!










 











Our casita in Hotel Dominique after the wedding




Friday, April 12, 2013

The One About Summer Crafting with Kids



I had a weeklong break before I got back into the grind of teaching once again (in case you're wondering, yup, I'm back in an international school so my summer would have to wait until June).  I had tons of stuff to keep myself busy with but I made time to teach new crafts to young children.


I taught Hon-some's nephews and niece how to make glass pendants using the settings and the resin-making kit I got from a craft fair.  I had to do pretty much all the mixing just to be safe for the kids but they themselves applied the mixture onto the settings.



Here's what they came up with:

 




On another day, we got crafty in the kitchen!  I taught kids how to make rainbow cupcakes with white chocolate ganache frosting and sprinkles!
















In between crafts, we went out for some super-hyped liquid nitrogen ice cream!




How's your summer coming along?  Get crafty! :)

Thursday, April 4, 2013

The One About My Crafternoon with Anne


Met up with my crafty friend, Anne, at Chocolate Kiss the other day. :)


 The company
(bad lighting but great corner for crafting!)


Cups of coffee and cake


One of the crafts Anne taught me how to make:  kusudana flowers!



 And a page corner bookmark at its basic state.  Soon, we'll practice decorating it!


 The mess



We should do this more often, Anne! :)


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Wednesday Nugget




Wala lang.  Ang sarap lang maging teacher! :)