La Mer de Reve Brooches

After much contemplation (not to mention temptation), I puchased my first and second set of washi tapes during the past weeks. The first one was from Hey Kessy, one of the leading online sellers of washi tapes. They have unique and vast variety of designs to choose from. Then I went to National Bookstore where I chanced upon ultra slim washi tapes at 6mm width! No doubt I had to buy them.

And here are the results of my growing addiction. The illustrations are hand-drawn and colored, then dabbed with washi here and there and a bit of Mod Podge. Et voila! Handmade brooches! These'll be in the shop soon so watch out!

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My First Mail Swap



cute stamped package

Sorry for the lack of posts, Christmas has been crazy with all the things to do at my day job, gift buying, and inter-island trips. Last December I joined a mail swap hosted by Hey Kessy, the theme was Christmas. This is my first time to join such so I didn't quite know what to put in the package. To be honest I forgot to take photos of the handmade Christmas-y stuff i made for my swap partner (this Christmas season has been the busiest by far!), but I managed to take photos of the loot I got from Joyce of Monsterella Plush Art.

 

some stuff from the Monsterella shop, moustache eye mask and cutie plushie keychain



handmade gift tags made with washi, felt and stickers



more gift tags!



personalized postcard

Joyce and I have been exchanging emails lately, and we're planning on doing a personalized mail swap (meaning on a lower scale, haha!). I'll be updating you soon on this. :)

soon on La Mer de Reve

 these are upcoming pieces on La Mer de Reve. all are hand-drawn and colored on watercolor paper, with textured glossy finish.

and i was able to obtain more goodies online. thank goodness there are more and more emerging craft suppliers here, and with shipping too! i'm so excited to get on with my next project!

sneak-a-peek: new project

It's a long weekend here in the Philippines, with All Saints' Day and Dia de los Muertos (yes they are festivities here). That means more time for crafting! Yay! Here are sneak peeks on what I've been up to. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

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rubber stamps



guilty of crafting!

 well i haven't been totally busy during my weekends/holidays, i was able to squeeze in some rubber (eraser) stamps during my breaks.

red fox stamps (Le Renard Rouge)

i got my stamp carving tools at the Deovir online store, thank God they have one and that they are reasonably priced (have to make it a point to visit their real shop soon). the erasers i got from stationery deptartments of different stores, and let me tell you not all erasers are alike. i like the harder ones because they are easier to work with, rather than the elastic ones. i only have one stamp pad, an old school one from National Bookstore. hopefully i can be able to get more brilliantly colored ones (any suggestions?) or try watercolor as ink. 


folksy name stamp; í have to work on my fonts!

at first i found carving to be taxing as the eraser i got was to flexible and didn't always turn out the way i want to. when i got the hang of it (and a change of eraser), i found it very therapeutic, it's as if time stops for me. now i'm addicted (when i have time), and have been hoarding erasers whenever i go to the stationery section of stores. now on to my next project!

all photos taken via Instagram

Calligraphy Crafternoon

Tablea Cheesecake and my dipping pen are having a swell time

or should i call it an afternoon of calligraphy and sweets...? well regardless of the title, Vins and i definitely enjoyed Alessandra's session of intro to calligraphy. 

we got to Pino / Pipino just in time to ogle at the calligraphy paraphernalia from Scribe. they were so tempting... but we're on a strict budget. after all, i already got a dipping pen, so that's enough for practice. and on to my first attempt at calligraphy.

a twisted gothic alphabet

i never had a beautiful neat penmanship. mine's more like a scrawl. plus the weight of my alloy dipping pen did make my first try a challenge. 

though i'm happy to say i did manage... somewhat.

our beautiful attendance, penned by Fozzy, we're not worthy!

our finished seatworks

some of my favorites

and another

all in all, the experience was very overwhelming and at the same time immensely enjoyable as we got to learn a new craft, something which i can hopefully pass on to my son (to be honest i quite envy French children, they start training writing with a fountain pen at Kindergarten!).

new totes

designed new totes this week, experimenting with scribbles

scribbled stag

scribbled butterfly

logo at the back

both are available in my etsy shop already.

crafts galore

image from 123rf.com

wondering which project to take on next? visit etsy blog for a list of how-to's here. honestly, i can't decide on which one to start with!

caterpillar and a chewed-up mushroom

last weekend, i introduced my son to origami. yes, it was long overdue but better late than never(enter reason here). he has a how-to-origami book given to him before but it was only that day when we were able to use it. so first, we did a caterpillar, whose face was a tad to difficult even for me. my son volunteered to do the body which was simple, i just had to do a few editing with the folds. and here you have it! a caterpillar with a too-big head!

up next are the mushrooms which my son has been dying to try. he chose black paper (i don't have the faintest idea why), and folded away with help from mommy of course. i wasn't able to take a photo of the mushroom in its original state, instead i got this

a chewed up mushroom! when i wasn't looking i could hear my son pretending to eat the mushroom. i wasn't aware that he literally chewed it until i found it on the table all soggy! honestly, i was torn on what to react, to be angry or to just laugh because it really was funny. at least he did not ingest the paper.

while my son was chewing his mushroom  i was working on these

Isis

Anpu, royal guard of Isis

Mars Ultor, a bit faint since i used 2H pencil

so that's it for now. i shall be taking thurs and fri of since they are holidays here in the Philippines. Happy Easter everyone!

finally

i have finally finished designing the shirt for my niece! it has a hummingbird+flower print, with crotched collar, all by me!

details, details! thank you, laundry marker

i also made my sis-in-law of The Happy Tummy Kitchen a tote bearing an anime cupcake.

front

backside

hope you enjoyed them! :)

new craft?



 finally go to learn a new craft over the past two weekends. last weekend, i bought a crochet needle and a spool of yarn. i also managed to find a a book with crochet basics and patterns, and a bargain at that! however, my inept ability to understand needlecraft i was not able to get any further than the basic chain stitch.

luckily, my mom still remembers how to crochet (thank GOD! i was about to give-up on it already). and with the steady visuals she provided me (okay, she had to slow down crocheting so i can catch up), i was able to grasp what i could not with the book. and so here it is, the product of my (and my mom's) labor... drum roll please...

i know, i know. not much, huh? still i spent almost all day doing this! thank you, mom. it's as if i received an heirloom gift. :)

crazy robots

the sentinels of my son's toys

prior to my son's rambles about making origami, he did some robots he calls 'crazy can robots' (but they're jars morelike). these are the sentinels of the baywindow where his toys are. they're cute, it's  as though they each have personalities,  and i like the idea that my son recycled things to make these.

Addiction

i am currently hooked on etsy! i just love the quirky and one of kind stuff they have over there. here's a sneak peek into my tastes upon taking their Taste Test.
also, i'm thinking of setting up shop on etsy, but this i will have to contemplate on first.