The One When I Was MIA

I know I've been MIA for some time now. I was busy with life, you see. In particular, I was busy getting...

Read that right. I'm officially hitched, officially hypenated. The picture above was our plasma display at our wedding reception.

I'm still caught up with last-minute work requirements before I officially leave my current job to begin a new one and also with sprucing up our humble abode.

Kinda off-tangent but I loved the idea of Prince William and Kate Middleton releasing an official wedding photo...

And because I'm still over the moon (not to mention feeling royalty!), I leave you with ours...

Hahahaha! I know, right?!?!? It was a wedding gift which we loved to bits! Real wedding photos soon, I promise!

The One About the Mother's Day Topiary

This year, I wanted to veer away from the usual greeting card as my students' gifts to their moms for Mother's Day. Not that there's anything wrong with greeting cards. I just wanted to do something different...

So we made tissue paper topiaries.

You start with a styrofoam ball and glue crumpled tissue paper all over it. Prior to gluing tissue paper, I inserted a chopstick in the ball so the kids can hold it easily.

For the "pots," I used paper cups with foam inside to pierce the chopstick through then hid it with crumpled green tissue paper. Very similar to this.

They even decorated the topiary with decorative punch outs which they simply pinned down into the ball (great fine motor skills activity, by the way) with sewing pins.


Happy Mother's Day crafting!

The One About Cafe Juanita

My family and I had my post-birthday celebration at Cafe Juanita, a place that has been piquing our interest since it drew raves in the blogosphere for some time now. I knew it primarily served Filipino food. Thing is, Hon-some and I don't really fancy Filipino restaurants. As he says, "If you really want to eat really good Filipino food, you don't go out; you stay in because nothing beats a homecooked meal." Makes sense.

However, my family has been wanting to try Cafe Juanita and so one sunny Sunday, we trooped over to the restaurant to try out their lunch buffet (but of course!).

The restaurant's interiors...

...and the food!

Molo soup (yum!)


Filipino salad (I loved the grilled eggplants!)


First main course (I loved the knotted string beans!)


Second main course (Hehehe!)

Halo-halo

The food was soooo good that I almost threw Hon-some's theory out of the window! Kidding! Seriously, though, if you're too tired to cook at home and are hungry for really good Filipino food, Cafe Juanita may just hit the spot for you. :)

Picture-Perfect Thursday: Keep Calm and Carry On

Have you chanced upon at least one parody of Britain's World War II propaganda slogan? The internet is brimming with these parody posters and I'm still amused by all of it. For today, I'm posting some of my favorites.

This is the original slogan:

Now here are some of the parodies:

This speaks to me. :)

Great for a nursery! :)

Ehem...

And another "ehem..."

Hope floats...

This shirt is by Spoofs and The Tshirt Project. Funny! Find it here.

This is perfect when I walk down the aisle. Afterwards...

Woohooooooooooo!!!!

I found a website where you can create your own parody poster. Right here. I tried it and this is what I came up with:

What parody would you make? Share! :)

Save for the "Keep Calm and Carry Lang" shirt image and my "Gorgeous" one, I forgot where I found the rest. Sheesh...

The One About the Easter Craft

Here's a late post (teehee!!!) on a charming Easter craft. Great as a giveaway on your next Easter egg hunt!

I got these cupcake wrappers here and here.

I then wrapped them around some small paper cups. They won't exactly fit but they'll be snug enough.

I cut a sheet scrapbook paper into strips. I was amused with prints-on-prints at this time.

I used tape (or double-sided tape) to attach the strips onto the cupcake wrappers to make small baskets.

Inside the baskets, I stuffed cut up styrofoam. You can also use florist's foam (floral foam? flower foam?).

Then I scrunched up sheets of green tissue paper. Another great idea would be to shred the tissue paper using a paper shredder to make "green grass."

Then I stuck a bunny-shaped lollipop onto the foam and placed some chocolate eggs (Easter eggs) in the basket.

Nice! It makes for a great spring craft as well!

Happy crafting! :)

Picture-Perfect Thursday: Between Real and Unreal

I saw these insanely genius "real and unreal" art installations over at Anthology. They're made by an artist named Nils Nova.

They're perfect wall dividers! Hahaha!

Have a great Thursday! :)

The One About the Teacher's Stash

Last year, I made this for my teacher-friends in the "queenly South" where I used to teach. This year, I decided to make a more useful gift for them.

I got some plastic containers (the ones with dividers) and made labels for each.

Each container followed a color scheme: a base color + black + silver.

I filled the box with what I believe to be some of a teacher's necessities in the classroom: paper clips, binder clips, push pins, and chocolates (hard to work with a grumbling tummy!).

This was initially my favorite scheme: white + black + silver...

But then I saw a pack of Hershey's Cookies and Creme Kisses in our house and loved the blue wrapping. I loved how the blue Kisses looked so nice with the yellow paper clips and push pins!

They went conveniently well in the blue container too, especially when I ran out of the silver-wrapped Kisses!


It's so easy to put together and more importantly, teachers would love something like this! Especially if it's one who is overworked, underpaid, and wallowing in dirty school politics *wink*. Hahaha! Happy crafting!