Crocheted Flowers

The crocheted flower on this card is glued over a hand-cut butterfly shape I copied from the green one on the first row here. Not an exact shape, but I like how it turned out. :)

Funny how things change, though. I used to read Sweet Dreams pocketbooks during Home Ec class, and my embroidery and crochet projects were done by my mother. Well, I may start them for a bit, then she would finish them. I was that bad about these domestic-y things. I still am in a lot of ways. And what do I do now? I hand-stitch on paper and make crocheted flowers for my cards and scrapbook pages.

A few weeks ago, I was practising my crocheting skills (because there happened to be a crochet hook and a ball of string I both use for completely different reasons) which is just alright as it is, but there's one thing about it that I despise a lot: counting. I started this because I saw a card with crocheted flower and I thought, that looks so nice! At first, I didn't count my chains so I ended up with a variety of .... er... designs, if you can call it that. Shoved them into a drawer and forgot all about it. Then after a couple of months, I'd really wanted some of those on my niece's 7th birthday album that I'm working on so I decided to have a go at it again and... breathe.... count! Yay! I got to kindergarten, at last! So, below are a few of the flowers I did.

Now, don't expect anything more complicated than this. This is as complicated as I could get. :)

If you know me and you know my attitude towards crocheting, you'd think I would just buy ready-made stuff to remedy my want. But the thing is, I'm easily bored about these things, and I've known that since I was a kid. Therefore, I know that if I buy a package of them and wouldn't be able to use them in one go, I know that I won't use the leftovers anymore in other projects. Besides, I really, really don't want lots of unused things in my stash. I have an extremely small space and I don't want to cram it. It's already crammed as it is.

Same thing with alpha stickers or rub-ons. It's either I cut the letters out if I want dimension, or print what I want to say from the computer, or just write it by hand. It's more economical and besides, what do I do with the leftover Zs? If you prefer the stickers or rub-ons or stamps, it's ok because they are alright too. This is just a personal choice. I don't mind those extra time doing them because it's fun. It's creative fun!

June Update: Mulberry Paper

I love mulberry paper. It's thin. It's textured. And can be adhered very, very easily if a bit messy. But that's ok! I make sure that the surface to be adhered to is painted with white acrylic first so the softness of the color shows. These utility and patient card boxes for a dentist/friend are wrapped in light yellow and lavender mulberry paper, which are similar to her clinic's color scheme.

I tried cutting out paper flowers out of them too, and it turned out gorgeous. I love it. I think I'm going to experiment on different shapes and layers of flowers and butterflies in various colors. These are a couple of thank you cards for my friends, Linda and Katja, who are two of the most generous people I know. Love you, ladies! I'll send them out when I could get out. :)

Most Annoying Questions

1. When are you going to have a boyfriend (or girlfriend)? If you're single.
2. When are you getting married? If you're in a relationship.
3. When are you going to have a baby? If you're married and have no kids.
4. Why don't you have kids already? You're not getting any younger. If you're married for a few years and have no kids.

Well, it's none of your business. If ever you have any compulsion to ask any of the above questions, stop yourself because they are NEVER welcome.

It may be well-intentioned but still... DON'T. Just don't.

I want this... I mean, really, really want this....

(This photo is obviously not mine, but I hope one day I'll get to take a photo of my own copy.)

It's the Journal of Impossible Things by Prof. John Smith from 1913.

It's a journal full of drawings and thoughts about the Doctor from Prof. Smith's dreams, and it feels nostalgic, quaint, sad and full of memories. And for someone like me who does things with my hands including handmade journals, this is very, very appealing.

I'd love to have this. I mean, really.

Elmer Box Sets

These are the box sets I did for Gerry's comics, and I'm proud of them if only for those corners and how the lid and the bottom part fit the way they should. I forgot to take photos of the interior before we distributed these yesterday. I'll make it a point to take one from the next batch.

For details on these box sets, please see Gerry's blog here: http://gerry.alanguilan.com/archives/1332

And by the way, for those emailing me and asking if I accept orders for boxes of any kind, I don't do bulk orders. I do these things myself and it takes some time to finish each of them. These and the earlier ones are special orders customized to the need of my customers.

Hardbound Elmer

Gerry asked me if I could make hardbound compilations of Elmer to be included in a boxset for him to sell. So, this is how it come about so far.

For details on the boxset, visit Gerry Alanguilan's blog here: http://gerry.alanguilan.com/archives/1282

And now, for the box...

Souvenir and a Gift

Hello again.

This is a souvenir I did for Ed and Anne's wedding last December. I did 9 as giveaways for their principal sponsors. The book was handbound using 4" x 6" spiral notebook. The spine was sewn and the covers were made from a thick chipboard. I don't remember the thickness but it's definitely less than 1/8". The box was made from 4-ply Bristol board but they were wrapped with pink (their motif) Bazzill cardstock for the top part and white for the bottom part. It also has a beaded bookmark. I wrote the monogram in gold pen. Although, if there are two letters, do you still call it 'mono'? I really have no idea. I think I'll look into that.

This, on the other hand, is a gift for my goddaughter, Heaven, who was baptized on March 8, 2009. I hope she'd like it when she grows up. I know Honey, the mother and my friend, loves it. :)

Anyway, it's just a simple accordion album made from chipboard so it could stand if they'd like to display this. The layout is as bare as possible because the patterns are rather too busy as they are. On the other side of the accordion are baby and Christening poems and my message to her. I'd like to write the poems by hand myself but decided to print them out. I'm not scared of my handwriting. My hands are just shaking today... I wonder why.

I wish I had taken better photos. It was rather dark inside the church and I could have used flash but I'm scared of using flash because most of the time, they make the subjects flat and scary. I know, I still have a lot to learn about photography. Lots and lots and lots.

And speaking of handwriting, my friend suggests that I post some calligraphy samples here. I'll try to make some samples first to post.