grand wedding plans

Finally.  PLANS.  Plans as small and grand as small and grand can be.  Plans that absolutely make me the happiest bride-to-be!

It took a while to get here, as you’ve known.  A lot of options, opinions, and operatics (that, mostly from me).  Now all is clear (dare I throw the word, opacified?).  O.T. and Iwill be getting married at the bottom of the Grand Canyon on the 3rd of July!  It will be small — our parents and my brother only.  And it will be kept that way — the only way to the bottom is by helicopter and O.T. and I have arranged for two private helicopters to take us and our small party there, along with a minister and photographer.

It’s miles away from the San Francisco City Hall wedding I initially wanted, isn’t it?  I’m glad we got here.  The process was worthwhile though prolonged.  Nothing was making anyone happy.  The prospect of City Hall dampened most of everyone’s celebratory mood.  But the grand plans expected of us were not catered to us, and definitely not to me.  I don’t care, never cared, for the big party and will not be throwing one.  One day in March, O.T. suggested we get hitched in Las Vegas, where we met for the second time after our serendipitous meeting in San Francisco.   Then it hit me — we can get married in the Grand Canyon!  Afterall, our first road trip together was to the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas back in 2008.  It all makes sense.  And this is so much more exciting than City Hall!

 

For the first time in our year-long engagement, EVERYTHING makes sense.  The past month has been one big happy DIY brainstorm.  And what’s great is O.T. is letting me do my thing (which, to a chronic crafter like me, is a relief!).   I’ve started to make all the little items that will make our wedding the best the Grand Canyon did see!

Over the next 7 weeks, I will be posting all the tutorials of our wedding DIY, in unfinished pieces, of course — you will see the big picture when it is all put together in July!

It’s crafting time!

canadian living may 2012 issue: mother’s day topiary

Ok, my April issue unveiling may have been a little late.  But the Canadian Living May issue just came out last week with my latest contribution:

There is still time to head out to the newsstands to pick up a copy so you can make this daisy topiary from egg cartons for Mother’s Day or simply for spring!   I will update with the link when the article is available online.

easter egg pockets for canadian living april 2012 issue

Happy belated Easter!  Nope, I didn’t let this Easter pass without a craft from me.  But I have been so far behind, I didn’t tell you sooner!  Or can I just say I am a year early?

I made paper Easter egg pockets for Canadian Living‘s April issue this year.  Hope you can make it next year!  There’s definitely a lot of time to make these by then…

The direct link to the craft is here.

So sorry I am late!

bad blogger. bad.

Slap on the wrist.  Make that two.  I have two hands for typing afterall.  Apparently, I’ve been blogging since the early 1980′s at the age of 2… 

Updates are to follow!  I want to share the verdict about the wedding once it’s written in stone — hoping to have it booked by next week.  I have my fingers crossed! There better be no blotches in the fine print, otherwise my super fantastic wedding of a lifetime will have to be put back to the drawing table.

Thank you SO much for all of your support and thoughtful replies and wonderful emails since my last post.  I have started to reply to comments from the previous post, but my eyes are now drooping.  1:00 am here and I am driving a whopping 750 km to New York tomorrow afternoon directly from the office (not the first time I’m doing this crazy solo drive since I last blogged).  I will continue with my replies when I’m back from New York.

Have a great weekend and enjoy my catch-up crafts coming right up!

hello. is this mic on?

Lately, I’ve been feeling that I’m not being heard.  But I’ve been speechless, maybe that explains why.  Time to speak up!  Hello?  I’m here!  Maybe you can listen.  I’d love for you to listen.  Please sit back, this might take a while…

So, how do I even begin to crack a seven week unannounced crafting sabbatical?  I feel that so much has happened in seven weeks at the same time that I feel nothing has happened in seven weeks (nothing productive that I can quantify).  In fact, significant things have happened, just perhaps without the outcome I would have preferred.  That includes one incident so bizarre that those of you who have followed my serendipitous adventures will continue to wonder “Why do things like this always happen to her!?!”.  Trust me, I wonder the same thing often.  I swear I don’t know how I frequently manage to catch myself in circumstances of low probability, but I seem to.

So now onto the W5:

1. Where have I been?

Everywhere but home.  Out of the past seven weeks, I was able to indulge in two Sundays of being at home.  Apart from that, I’ve gone to see O.T. in New York several weekends.  I’ve gone to see my parents in Michigan one weekend.  There have been Saturdays where I have done my part-time job or worked overtime at my full-time job.  I am home only on weeknights after work, for four short hours of being awake (but not wakeful).  Can I tell you a secret?  Instead of planning my crafts and writing blogs as I used to, my mind withers to a numb and dumb state of reading makeupalley and watching beauty vloggers on youtube.  Seriously and shamefully.  But can I use the excuse that I do so for research in case I muster up the wherewithal to become a youtube DIY guru myself one day?  Anyway, to follow those four short hours of being awake are seven hours of total sleepy oblivion in bed.  Then another day begins, capped with the same nightly routine.  Is this what they call mental burnout?  Which leads me to…

2. Woman’s Work

Since January 5th, my daily routine was disturbed by my brother who has connived me into carpooling to work.  He found a new job about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of my job and I am now responsible for him getting to and from his job on a daily basis, at the cost of my gas, and at the cost of me waking up and leaving for work an extra hour earlier in the morning and getting home at night an extra hour and a half later.  My quality of life has dwindled to nothing.  It’s amazing what an additional 2.5 hours of commuting can do to your mental state.  I already had a total of 1.5 hours of commuting before my brother’s commute also became my responsibility.  As of January 5th, I have been commuting a total of 4 hours a day.  I am away from home from 6:50 am to 6:30 pm.  Nearly twelve hours of my day wasted with four hours of unproductivity!!!  To add to my distress, my brother believes this is necessary because it saves him the cost of gas!  And yes, he has a car of his own, which happens to require premium gas and has shiny rims that can’t drive on snow.  Is there something wrong here?  Again, is this mic on?!?   My brother, among others, isn’t hearing me.

All this extra commuting to work has left me to with lots of time to speculate: HOW IN THE WORLD DO WORKING MOMS DO IT?  Especially blogging moms who have a full-time office job outside of home.  I’m yet-to-be-married, I have a full-time job, I have a weekend job, I have some freelance assignments, and I have a blog.  Something had to give.  I hate that the blog has been sacrificed.  And I am without a husband and kids (yet) who need my undivided care and attention.  Seriously, someone please tell me how working moms do it!  Because in a couple of short years, that may be me.

3. What exactly I do for Work?

Gayla asked what I do at my full-time job and I realize I haven’t explained this at length.  I work in a civil engineering consulting firm (small/mid-size of about 100 employees) where we design municipal subdivisions.  I am one of two coordinators who sorts out all utility designs of our projects.  That means, for the subdivisions we are designing, I have to determine the feasibility of the placement of utilities (hydro cables, transformers, street lights, gasmains, telecommunications cables and pedestals).  I don’t want to put you to sleep.  To sum it up, my job requires a lot of back-and-forth prodding of utility companies, and a heck of a lot of conflict resolution which can really sour some days, and wee bits of computer drafting which is the zen part of my job that I most enjoy.

Things have gotten much better at work since I spoke up in the fall about workplace bullying, thanks for asking!  I may have gained the best retribution — the trust and confidence of co-workers who are eager to work with me because of my eagerness and diligence, no matter how new I am at my post.

Is resolving utility design conflicts what I’ve always dreamed of doing?  Is it anyone’s dream?  Perhaps for few.  To me, I see the value in the experience I’m gaining at work and want to learn as much as I can for professional growth.  In my silence these past seven weeks, I’ve also come to accept that maybe what we dream of doing is not what we end up doing…

4. What if it all means something?

Most of you have probably read a couple of serendipitous circumstances I’ve experienced, such as how I met O.T. and the dysfunctional GPS that led me to Martha Stewart’s building where I’ve always dreamed of being employed as a crafter.  You’ve also read that I have twice applied for a full-time crafting position at Martha Stewart.

Two weeks ago, on the Greyhound from Toronto to New York, a “random” girl had chosen the seat beside mine.  She had a familiar face, but I thought nothing of it at first, assuming maybe we met through friends of friends back in university a decade ago.  I sat through that red-eye bus ride, aloof or asleep.  Out of the blue, in the last hour of the ride, my mind produced her face on a mental roster — I know her face and I think I know who she is!

When she awoke, I began small talk about New York and the purpose of my trip, hoping to open up a conversation on the purpose of hers.  Fast forward through the small talk and I blatantly asked her if she worked at Martha Stewart because I have seen her on the site and in the magazine.  Indeed.  I was speaking to the Associate Editor of the Crafts Dept. at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

Am I glad she chose the seat beside mine.  If it had been the other way around, I would’ve looked even more like the creep I already felt I was.  She looked at me with such bafflement that I was able to recognize her.  How could I not?  I have attempted to snag a job at Martha Stewart twice, and read the Crafts Dept. blog and profiles of the crafters I aspire to be.

Well, apparently, I have not read enough about Martha Stewart…There was mega downsizing at the end of 2011.  I was informed that a number of the editorial staff are now laid off and only contracted for freelance, given the future of print media.  It made me sad.  Aboveall, it made me wonder what the heck just happened!?!

Did this just happen?!?  How did this happen?!?  Me — a Martha employee-hopeful and devoted crafts blogger, on a Greyhound to New York.  The girl seated next to me — an Associate Editor at Martha Stewart (and a Canadian might I add!).  And the conclusion I’m getting from this random, bizarre experience is: Martha is NOT hiring and in fact firing?  I cannot wrap my head around this.  It MUST mean something.

I did not let the circumstance pass without soliciting contact information, though in hindsight I regret I may have been insensitive about the general situation.  I pried for her opinions on how I could create a successful portfolio to land a job there, meanwhile I was unwilling to face the fact that the jobs of many people have been lost.

5. Weddings and Wars

This is a sensitive issue for me.  O.T. flew the in-laws into New York from Istanbul for four weeks from mid-Jan to mid-Feb.  Understand that we have little to no communication because of the language barrier but I do put forth a lot of effort to speak the little Turkish that I know.

I do not know how to put it in words.  Apparently (by suggestion of a wise waiter at a restaurant who witnessed a venting session between me and a friend suffering from an identical situation), the words are summed up by the title of a Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda movie.  Yeah.  I gotta get my hands on that movie.

To cap this long update on my recent life — last Wednesday, I was given an update that O.T.’s mom, now back in Istanbul, found a wedding venue for our apparent July 7th wedding.  And what about the City Hall wedding I wanted in America?  Does it matter what I want?  Apparently, none of this is for me anyway.  So to make this “my” choice, I was asked to agree or disagree to a July 7th wedding in Istanbul in a venue I have never stepped foot in to celebrate “the most important day of my life” with a number of people on someone else’s guest list.  Really, if I agree, this whole ordeal would then be “my” choice, right?

Hello!  Is this mic on?!?  You must understand now how I’ve bitten my tongue.

canadian living february 2012 issue: valentine candy heart boxes

On Friday, as my co-workers and I spent our lunch hour wandering the aisles of a nearby Walmart, I spotted the February issue of Canadian Living Magazine already out on newsstands!

I did my rounds of grocery shopping on Saturday and, indeed, the issue is available everywhere magazines are sold in Canada.  So if you’re in Canada, please head over to your closest newsstands to pick up a copy and turn to pages 66-67.   For those of you beyond our Canadian borders, you can find the article at canadianliving.com. (I will update once the craft is available for viewing online).

Here it is!  Treat boxes in the likeness of candy hearts for you to make for your sweetheart this Valentine’s!

Am I giddy!  My first print publication.  Well, my “first”, unless considered are my monthly column for our local Parish newspaper at the age of 13 and my dreadful illustrations in the high school newspaper, but they simply won’t (shan’t) count.  So yes, this is my first print publication.  Ever.  And of the year.  I am so blessed.  I didn’t imagine when I started this blog not so long ago that my first print publication would be a two-page spread in a national magazine.

I cannot wait to share with you other publications to follow in 2012 (and, praying for a bit of luck, beyond).  I could not have more gratitude for the opportunities being given.  Thank you!

NYE in NYC

After Christmas with the folks in quiet suburban Michigan, I was so eager to loudly ring in the new year last weekend at the world-famous countdown in Times Square, now that O.T. has officially moved to the Hudson Valley in New York.  Well, this is an experience only worth attempting once — and the operative word is “attempt”.

We made the clever choice of taking the subway into Manhattan and arrived in Columbus Circle by 8:00 pm.  From here, there isn’t glaring evidence of the mess that is Manhattan on New Year’s Eve, until we turned the corner and started walking south along 8th Avenue…

Nearly all streets were closed.  Crowds were being corralled like cattle.  Seriously.  Our walk along 8th, from Columbus Circle to 53rd (where we missed a dinner reservation because the street access had closed), and redirecting ourselves back to 59th to be able to cross to 7th — took an hour, including a ten-minute pizza break to calm my nerves (p.s. New York City has the best pizza in America…so sorry, Chicago).

At 9:00 pm, the time we made it to 7th, we found our line of sight on Times Square.  We were sandwiched between the Wellington and Park Central Hotels at 56th.  With a crowd this large, this was the absolute closest we could be to Times Square — a whopping thirteen blocks away from the festivities and with three more hours to spare,  standing still like grazing cows, except without the open green pastures or the elbow room.

Maybe, the 7-footer man standing directly in my line of sight was the deal-breaker.  The view of his head, though shiny, was not an ideal replacement of the New Year’s ball.  O.T. and I decided on a recourse…

Back to 8th Avenue.  9:30 pm.  It wasn’t so bad.  The crowded coral on 8th had a huge TV screen with semi-audible sounds.  remiding us to “Don’t Stop Believin’”.  When I looked up, we were at the foot of the beautiful blue Dream Hotel, under a clear message.

O.T. and I left long before the clock struck midnight.  We were in his car, driving north on the Taconic, when the ball dropped and he honked the horn and flickered the lights and we could not be happier.

NYE in NYC provided me with early lessons in 2012.   Always be prepared.  If things don’t go as planned, it’s okay — take alternatives.  Always find some fun out of the journey (at the least, find a pizza joint).  At the end of the day, no matter how rough, the most significant are those you love.  And, always look up higher and dream (big, like New York City).

christmas with the folks and holiday handcrafted decor

Here we are — me with mom, dad, and my older brother — posing inside the Compuware building before gorging on meat at Texas de Brazil in downtown Detroit.  As you know, my parents are Michiganders and all holidays of the year are spent south of the Canadian border.

I also want to share with you pictures of the wonderful handcrafted treasures adorning my parents’ house during Christmas each year, and hope you will find some inspiration in these pieces for your own handmade decorations.

The craftiness of my culture is something I take much pride in.  At your next décor jaunt to, say, Pier One for example, if you take a good look you will discover that many of the “earthy” products are crafted in the Philippines.  Craft is a huge part of Philippine export and culture, specifically crafts made out of natural products such as wood and fibers.  My mom has traveled many trips to Manila only to haul back luggage filled with holiday handcrafted décor.

My parents’ nine-foot tall tree is peppered with a number of unique handmade ornaments, out of molded pulp and embellished with rhinestones and large opalescent red beads.  They remind me of fashion earrings, except about four times the size (I tried to wear them once for amusement, however, until oversize earrings reaching past the collarbone become fashionable, I will leave them on the tree).

My parents also have a spectacular Philippine-made crèche on their fireplace mantle.  Each character is up to 10 inches tall and carefully crafted using native fibers.  The material is similar to the decorative mesh bought at craft stores.  However, these fibers have finer lattice and are more pliable.  Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the three kings, and the angel all don garments sewn out of these fibers.  I love the added details, such as the ropes and tassels, and especially the fluffy feathers on the angel’s wings.

The set is a gift from my aunt who bought it at a craft show in Manila ten years ago.  The following year, my uncle found a near-identical Philippine-made crèche at a boutique at the tony Yorkville neighborhood here in Toronto.  He laughed after his sticker-shock — each character was being sold at $100 a piece, putting the whole set in the $700 mark.  My aunt paid only a fraction at the source in Manila.  If you are inspired, perhaps you can make your own this year!   Sew some decorative mesh for the garments and bake some polymer clay for the faces, hats, crowns, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and you have yourself a substantial project for 2012!

“digital” magnets for your new year affirmations and resolutions

Have you got a list started?  If not, now is the time to start.  In fact, now is my affirmation and resolution for 2012.

No big lists for me this year.  No other word best encapsulates energy, exigency, and urgency as now.  No lofty goals.  No unmet expectations.  Now is critical.  If we can muster every bit of effort on what we are doing now, then everything to follow is a whopping sum of our best efforts and therefore the best outcome.  Work hard now, reap success to come.  Workout now, ripped biceps to come.  So make and do, and make do — now.  It is so simple!

And just as simple is the effort to make these digital magnets for your new year affirmations and resolutions, should you want to expand your list now (apart from “now”).

I spent $5 on five rolls of 1/2″ adhesive magnet strips at the dollar store, each roll being 24″ long.   With just $5 and a bit of glitter from my craft drawer, I was able to make fifty-five 2″ strips and ten 1″ strips to make a set of digital magnets that can make sufficient characters on the fridge or whiteboard.

Just cut the magnet strips into 2″ strips, then make a few 1″ strips.  Cut each end into a point.  Then peel the adhesive backing and dip into glitter for a glow.

Arrange on the fridge or whiteboard with words and phrases that will remind you of what’s most important this year!  Make those resolutions stick (if not for the remainder of the year, then at least on your fridge)!

pleased to meet you, twenty-twelve!

Happy New Year!  And a belated Merry Christmas!

I hope your holidays have been filled love, cheer, and heaps of handcrafted effects, and that the coming year will continue to bless you with all of the good stuff!

Where have I been?  Well, I skipped out of town to spend Christmas with the folks in Michigan from the 23rd to the 26th, then celebrated New Year with O.T. in New York from the 26th to the 1st.  Consecutive days of eating, sleeping, repeating!

Is it good to start the new year a wee bit exhausted?  I feel a little lethargic but eager to recover from my affliction (chocolate coma).  Let us use the holiday calories to redeem unlimited energy in 2012!

To kick off the year, coming right up: DIY digital magnets for your new year affirmations and resolutions!

paper sleeves and monograms for plastic containers

Despite all the fancy packaging choices at stores, giving away your holiday home-baked goods in plastic containers isn’t necessarily such a tacky thing (given the right accessory!).

With your favorite heavy stock cut and folded into a sleeve, your ordinary disposable plastic container is easily dressed as a pretty little package for giving away anytime, not just Christmas.  Punch out a monogram and make it more personal!

I first designed sleeves like these for Christmas favors way back in 2003.  That was the time I realized store-bought holiday tins and boxes (though printed and pretty) are three things: 1) lacking in personal touch; 2) pricey (if considering volume gift-giving); and 3) not exactly what I want.   Since then, and every year, I looked forward to making treats packaged in my own custom (most importantly: cost-effective!) designs which I gave away to family and friends in lieu of a Christmas card.  This style is most personal to me, out of all annual packages I’ve designed in the last 8 years because this is the project that inspired my need for custom Christmas packaging going forward.  It also happens to be the simplest.  Overtime on this blog, I would love to share with you each and every one of my past annual custom packages given to my family and friends and co-workers, however, I will start from the very beginning with this simple piece from 2003.

From the original batch in 2003.

My “Kuya” (“Big Brother” in Filipino) thoughtfully kept and preserved the original package I gave him (down to the bits of brownie stuck on the inside lid of the container — eeew!).  Seeing it after eight years is what inspired me to post this project on this blog.  But for the blog, I wanted to change it up to show some patterns I currently love: plaid, cane, and herringbone.

Of course, it would be a long search to find the exact blue shades of plaid, cane, and herringbone cardstock to match the containers, so I opted out of that challenge.  Instead, I quickly designed my own plaid, cane, and herringbone paper using none other than Microsoft Word (a hack job I often do…which leads me to the thought that perhaps one day in the coming year, I will have a little blog instruction on how to easily utilize MS Word as a design tool, if you do not want to spend the big bucks on Adobe’s sophisticated offerings).

You will need to measure your plastic container and cut and fold your stock accordingly.  I suggest a container no larger than 4″ in diameter, such as the ones I used, otherwise you will encounter the impossibility of fitting 12″ cardstock around it.

To remedy any gaps (due to lack of length of paper), overlap a tiny strip with a greeting for an added touch.

thank you, instructables!

Lookie what came in the mail today!  A package containing a Nikon Coolpix, an adorable T-shirt and matching patch.  I have instructables.com to thank for the wonderful prize I was awarded for my entry into one of their Halloween Contests.

Remember the wearable gory brain I made with caulking and a fitted cap and wrote for Craft for Halloween?  Well, I entered it into the Instructables Halloween Photos Challenge and won Second Place.  Yay!  Many, many thanks!

 If you want to have your mind blown away, you ought to check out the projects over at Instructables.  I get lost in a pool of creativity every time I poke around over there.  Lots of superdupertalented crafters!

paper clip christmas cards

So I thought (we all thought) my paper clip Christmas crafts were done with.  But I realized I hadn’t crafted a single Christmas card for the blog this season.  Gasp!  Is Christmas ten days away?  

Given my recent posts, paper clips were right here within reach and this was just too easy.  I happen to have a huge tub of colored paper clips with perfect shades for Christmas shapes.

These cards can be easily crafted by little hands.  Just dab the paper clips on some glue and design away.

macaron moment at ladurée in nyc

I haven’t been toParis.  I could’ve been had I accepted my parents’ generous offer to have a family trip a decade ago, but I declined because I wanted to take summer courses on Late Baroque art and architecture here in Toronto.  So off they went, mom, dad, and brother, to celebrate mom’s 50th in Europe and to see, in the flesh, the very places and art works I was studying in my books.  Go figure.  Sigh.  Going to Paris on dad’s dime is an opportunity long gone.  But I digress. Paris has come to us in 2011.  Here it is, Ladurée‘s first and only North American branch opened in New York City late this summer.

I was in New York over the weekend to give O.T. emotional support as he signed a rental agreement on a new apartment in  Hudson Valley, home to IBM’s headquarters and many campuses.  As of Monday next week, he will be designing computer chips for IBM after several years of doing so for AMD.  It is a very stressful time for him and a little sojourn was in order.  A macaron moment!  We spent a couple of hours in Manhattan for one purpose only: to indulge in macarons.  Ok, fine, I admit.  This was really more of my thing, but I was happy he conceded.

I love macarons, as I’ve recently attested through creating my own plaster macaron ornaments.

I was armed with $150 and managed to afford one box of 24 macarons and three boxes of 6 macarons as gifts, and a bag of 4 macarons for O.T. and I to snack on, leaving me $13 under budget.  Yes, $137 gets you less than four dozen macarons at Ladurée, which may be hard to stomach, despite being able to scoff down a teeny macaron in two bites.

As for the taste of the macarons, I hate to say this, La Bamboche and Ruelo in  Toronto are still my favorite, considering the exotic and innovative macarons they serve such as green tea-sesame, rose-lychee, mango-green tea, and yuzu, among other delightful flavors.

But isn’t Ladurée’s packaging so pretty?  With less than four dozen macarons, perhaps I paid more for the packaging than I did the sweets.  I love the details, down to the custom-cut wax paper that lines the boxes and the golden seal that secures said wax paper (in the box of 24) and the elegant slip of paper listing all the flavors available.

It’s an indulgence indeed and one I could only excuse now that it is Christmas.

chalkboard christmas cone

For a while I felt chalkboard crafts have grown tired, but I just couldn’t resist another!  It’s been a while since my last (the 3-D chalkboard cake I made for Craft was back in July).  What I also couldn’t resist (the carrot Easter basket I made for Canadian Living‘s The Craft Blog glares at me daily as it hangs by the doorway to my craft room) is another project using a dollar store safety cone…

So here it is, a chalkboard Christmas tree born out of a love affair between chalkboard spray paint and an orange safety cone.  And a couple of sprays of primer (you don’t want to skip priming!).

This project has actually been sitting on newspapers on the floor for the past week, dried and unattended for days.  I was so wrapped up in researching (nightly; obsessively) my own Christmas present to myself, erm, to Paper, Plate, and Plane (i.e. a new camera!), that I forgot all about it.  Then this morning, amidst packing my lunch for work and packing my clothes for an upcoming weekend in NYC with O.T., I remembered it was incomplete.  I hastily scribbled some designs before leaving for work.  As much as I would’ve wanted to spend time on them, I couldn’t.  But if and when you make one for yourself or your kids or grandkids, I wish you many hours of doodling merriment!