terracotta, suede, apricot, champagne, honeydew, moss, straw, capiz, onyx, and gold
June 2, 2012 § 3 Comments
They have something in common! They will all belong in our wedding ceremony and “desserts in the desert” picnic reception on the bluffs of the Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Hooray, it’s all coming together!
We didn’t just want a color scheme. We wanted items that are beautiful in their natural color, tactile in their form, and above all, significant in their purpose. Alas, we found a theme that meaningfully bridges our two unique cultures and our spectacular venue.
Given the earthy surroundings, there will be plenty of terracotta. These items were first to be purchased, as they are the focal point of our picnic. Conveniently, minimal crafting is required with our plans for these ready-made pots and saucers. However, I also picked up 5 pounds of self-hardening terracotta clay and have been busy sculpting away. More on my terracotta sculpting in another post!
The culture of the Grand Canyon considered (we are getting married in the lands owned by the Hualapai Indians), suede is a must! O.T. is a fan of camel suede (and not afraid to wear it in blazer form). I love camel suede just the same (and also wasn’t afraid to wear, with great frequency, a pair of camel suede pants in my college years). I struck luck when I found camel micro-suede on sale for $12/m. With even more amazing luck, I found a beautiful apricot sorbet shade of micro-suede on clearance for $4.75/m (I could not love it enough!). Lots of items will be made with these. Some are already done, which I will be showing soon!
What’s a picnic without straw mats? Equally important, straw is such a significant part of Philippine craft and export. But to bridge our cultures, these mats will don a Turkish persona! Big things (Turkish things) are about to happen to these modest dollar store mats.
The pride of Philippine craft, the capiz will make some appearances, too (thanks, Mom!!!). These flat, thin, opalescent shells will give a sparkling contrast to the terracotta, suede, and straw.
Of course, apricot, honeydew, and champagne are beautiful colors, but they’re meant to be eaten and drunk. This will be, afterall, a desserts-in-the-desert picnic! I have planned my best to use the apricot and honeydew in creative and edible ways (among a list of desserts I plan to develop and make, because I’m crazy like that). And to swallow it down? Champagne. O.T. and I are actually not much of drinkers, but our helicopter service happens to come with champagne — so who would refuse? I’m sure someone in our small party would be happy to drink it all down (namely, my brother)!
grand wedding plans
May 15, 2012 § 14 Comments
bad blogger. bad.
April 13, 2012 § 2 Comments
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?
February 28, 2012 § 33 Comments
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
January 9, 2012 § 6 Comments
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
January 8, 2012 § 3 Comments
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
January 8, 2012 § 4 Comments
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
January 5, 2012 § 9 Comments
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!
January 5, 2012 § 4 Comments
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!
thank you, instructables!
December 19, 2011 § Leave a Comment
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!
big bully, small person
November 22, 2011 § 21 Comments
Bullies come in all shapes and sizes and ages and colors and from all walks of life.
What many people overlook is that a bully is not often the rough and tough brute they are depicted to be.
Sometimes, their workings are not as apparent as one who shouts and shoves and shows explicit disrespect.
Most times, their approach can be covert. Conniving. Even convincing.
It took me a very long time to understand this — there was a bully at play in my office. And not an obvious bully, right? I’m talking about a person with charisma. A person so affable. Winsome. How can someone so…charming…truly mean harm?
Candyman
In my first few months of work, I was not a target. I was merely a witness to one person singlehandedly destroying the reputation of everyone else around him.
What was difficult to swallow is that his manner of approach is pleasant. BUT, strip the syrupy sweet delivery from all the gossip, underhanded comments, and malicious anecdotes and all you’re left with is distasteful manipulation of information.
Taking candy from a baby
After a while, I was no longer amused. He was not amused that I was no longer amused. One day, after a typical daily anecdote, I put flatly, “It’s not nice that you say all these negative things about so many people in and out of this office.” To which he replied:
My, you should be canonized (and not the kind they do to saints).
But I made it clear: “I think time could be better spent. And I’ve noticed work (and blame) get passed to me or others quite often”.
Oh, the aftermath — bully’s wrath!
Things were not so sweet anymore. Suddenly, certain individuals at the office became distant. I noticed projects were no longer being delegated to me. I was often left with nothing to do.
It was like this for months. I was rendered mute. Useless. Excluded. I could not imagine what was said about me to make things this way. But I know I didn’t imagine when, within earshot, he said to another:
It was the most undermined I had ever been.
I finally drew the line after he went into my emails when I was away on holiday. From my emails, he forwarded work I had pending, carefully weeding through the depths of my emails, shrewdly selecting the out-of-date and skipping over the more recent threads that actually show I’ve done my share of following-up. Despite all passing of the buck and all the blame that had happened for months, he worked on my pending work — and excluded me from the correspondence. Have I been thrust into a person’s showcase of my supposed incompetence? Is this Operation: Intimidation? Or Operation: Elimination? It’s hard to tell. But I wasn’t going to wait.
I went to the highest I can go to and I spoke up. I got moved cubicles. But it wasn’t over.
The day following my move, I was approached by a gentle, elderly man from our lottery group: “I’m sorry. I can’t accept your money in the lottery this week and won’t anymore. You are no longer in our group. I was told if you stay, others will leave the group.”
Point taken. Bullying is not just an epidemic among children. And it’s not just in the confines of the playground.
Sweet Revenge
For many months, I didn’t know the word to describe this person is “bully”. And that I was a target, among others. How could I be bullied? I am confident, assertive, diligent, and outgoing. Then I read about workplace bullying and the typical Jekyll and Hyde, charming/monstrous personality of a bully and their internal feelings of inadequacy which cause a person to bully and the types of targets they choose and why. Bullyonline.org is a very useful site which allowed me to recognize what was happening and to report it. The site’s header is “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, bully.” I couldn’t have said it better.
Like children, many witnesses and bystanders often say nothing, and are likely to side with the bully (as did the gentle man and others in the lottery group) for fear the target will be turned on them. But as adults, we should have the courage to stand up for ourselves and each other. It is the only way to get the message across.
I do my best to empathize with this person. Perhaps he behaves this way because he is unsatisfied with his job, or is unhappy about his personal life, or ashamed of his personal and professional shortcomings. Perhaps behavior such as this is compounded by years of regret. He is much, much older than I.
I know in me, he sees a person with hope and opportunities to be better, to do more, and to achieve my fullest potential. My brighter future is something that I have that he cannot take away. Sweet days are ahead!
a bit of birthday brooding
November 20, 2011 § 7 Comments
Three decades, two years, and a couple of weeks ago, I was born. A special occasion? Indeed, it was Halloween! Regrettably, Halloween is a scary time, as was my recent birthday. It was shamefully filled with shameless self-deprecation. Wasn’t it just a year ago when I started this blog, that I entered my champagne birthday, my 31st year on the 31st day of October, ecstatic about the things to come? How could I feel so different after an entire year of much creativity and productivity?
Well, the brooding bellowed on the evening of October 25th, six nights before my birthday. It was perhaps the most exciting day I have had this whole year (of course, second to O.T. proposing). I couldn’t believe that within a year of starting this blog, I have been gifted with so many opportunities to share my crafts ideas with you. That day, after my wee three minutes on TV, I actually stayed at Canadian Living for the remainder of the morning to take a peek behind the scenes of the magazine.
Coincidentally, the craft I designed for the 2012 Valentine’s issue was being photographed that morning and I stayed to watch the magic unfold in the studio. As I witnessed my craft get styled (superbly styled in ways I didn’t imagine nor could afford) and professionally photographed for my first print publication, I forgot about my life. I was in the hustle and bustle of creative people like me.
At noon I drove back to work, feeling a bottomless pit in my stomach knowing that my day-to-day reality is much different, knowing that I would revert back to my cubicle and into the palms of a bully, and knowing that my truest talents are not put to use at my job.
The rest of the day was a blur. But the night came, and I tossed and turned and I cried. Lamented. Bawled my eyes out until the point of no return when no chilled-in-the-fridge-cucumber-serum-depuffing-metal-ball-roller could save my baggy eyes from looking like they were stung by bees.
“How come there are people doing what they love for a living, day in and day out, and how come I’m not one of them?”. It played like a broken tape.
Oh, boo hoo to me.
I kept this glum outlook for a while. Right through my birthday. And up to the recent days.
However, upon closer inspection, so many wonderful things have happened to me in a year! And I know (fully comprehend) that life doesn’t happen overnight, sometimes not over three decades. But life happens as we go from day-to-day. I rest assured that I will do my best not to waste it. If not for the person I am now, then for the little girl born thirty two years ago who never dreamed of spending each and every single day waiting for the day to be able to do something she loves. I’ll do my best for her. And I think I’ve done my best so far. Baby steps!
bt tv clips + canadian living
November 20, 2011 § 8 Comments
Ok, so a month later, finally a recap of my first TV appearance!
I had the most wonderful experience at Canadian Living Magazine headquarters and Citytv Breakfast Television here in Toronto on October 25th! It was a very early morning, which started at 3:45 when my alarm sounded, after which I immediately threw hot rollers in my hair, and loaded my car with carved pumpkins. Arrival and set-up was 5:30. Make-up 6:00. And my super short three minutes of fame slated at 7:53 am.
This may sound odd to you — in the spring months I had actually visualized being on Breakfast Television and carving my butternut squashes. A premonition? “The Secret” come to life? Ok, I’m not here to prove nor disprove the law of attraction. However, back in the spring, I had a moment of reflection after a couple of friends urged me to pitch my crafts to the show. I supposed if I would pitch anything in the spring, it would have to be for something six months ahead, in the fall. I thought, if I were to make my first crafting appearance on live local TV, I’ll carve squashes.
As it goes, I didn’t bother with the pitch. Who cares about a random blogger carving anything on live television? The end to a reverie.
Then the bizarre twist of fate. While I was in California last month, I received an email. The short of it: Breakfast Television. Me. Carving Pumpkins. Here’s to you, universe — in my hands are the fate of pumpkins, not squashes! Seriously, though, what are the chances that my first television appearance would be to carve some autumnal gourd as I had earlier prophesized?
More importantly, you’re probably wondering — how do I get a random email request such as this?
I could not be more thankful to Canadian Living Magazine. I guess I have been silent here and not been revealing much about the work I do outside of this blog, until the work manifests itself in public. This year, I have had the greatest creative opportunity to work on crafts projects with Canadian Living Magazine. You’ve read the posts I wrote for The Craft Blog earlier this year. But, I have also been busy designing some fun crafts for the magazine’s print issues in 2012. The process is lengthy for print publication, and crafts ideas and articles go through a gestation period of sorts for about ten months before they are born into the world. In fact, this month of November, I was busily crafting for the April and May 2012 issues. Yep, despite my lull online, I’m not totally a slacker (not entirely, though I should totally pick up the pace on this blog)!
So, on with the show! We had four segments filmed live inside the Test Kitchen (where the magazine prepares all recipes in-house). I joined the three amazingly talented women: Austen Gilliland (Senior Editor and Craft Editor), Adell Shneer (Test Kitchen Manager), and Rheanna Kish (Food Specialist), and we each did a segment on creative Halloween ideas.
Of course, seeing that this is a month late, I just went to Breakfast Television’s site and wasn’t able to find the full episode that day. However, I found our individual video clips. I have no idea how to embed non-Youtube videos, so please click on each image to link to the video:
Click on image to link to video.
Adell had the first segment and concocted a cauliflower “brain” with dip. You totally have to try this recipe out. It is packed with cheese and absolutely delicious!
Click on image to link to video.
Me and my hair and, oh right, my pumpkins went for the second segment. I really did not anticipate a third of the segment would become about my hair! I wish there was time to explain the “convertible pumpkins” which let your children design and paint the features of the pumpkin. The features can then be placed on the pumpkins for funny faces during the day and removed to make jack-o-lanterns at night
Click on image to link to video.
Rheanna had the third segment and she made some yummy sweet-salty-spicy zombie popcorn. I could not have enough! Sweet. Salty. Spicy. You would be remiss not to try this recipe out!
Click on image to link to video.
The fourth clip of Austen doing creepy crafts is not available. Boo. It’s really too bad, she made awesome paper packaging for the popcorn! On a good note, I did a search and found this clip from last winter when she shared cool crafts ideas from the book, “Create, Update, Remake”. How timely — these are fantastic projects and gifts for winter and Christmas! Enjoy!
bits & bobs: breakfast television, birthdays, and bullies
November 10, 2011 § 10 Comments
I know I’ve been very quiet lately for a number of reasons, both amazing and not-so-amazing.
I haven’t had the chance to share with you the wonderful experience I had being on Breakfast Television here in Toronto with Canadian Living, and the hours that followed at the Canadian Living Magazine headquarters, two weeks ago. Amazing!!
I also celebrated my birthday on Halloween and O.T. came up for a surprise visit for five days. Perhaps I should write a post one day about how we survive our east coast-west coast relationship. Oh, correction — survived! O.T. was just last week scooped up by IBM to design their computer chips in their offices outside of New York. Well, okay, a far suburb, but nonetheless a reasonable hour and a half driving distance to Manhattan (and a seven and a half hour driving distance from T.O. — still miles better than a seven and half hour flight including transfer). He is moving east next month! Exciting!!
But it hasn’t been a perfect picture for me. I have had some struggles over several months which I haven’t been able to openly share with you due to its personal nature. However after a lot of contemplation, I believe it is a significant subject that deserves recognition and discussion. I have experienced bullying by an individual at the workplace. It took time to recognize and identify what was happening. It took a good friend to point out flatly “You’re being bullied at your work”, to which I replied “Who? Me? Bullied? No. Really? Oh. Really.” It took strength and courage to acknowledge, report, and overcome. Everyday is another day to grow positively and move forward. Let me say this: bullying among children is no different than bullying among adults. Adults may be presumed to have stronger emotional ability to cope as victims (or that adults have solid emotional maturity not to be bullies in the first place). However, take away the playground and replace it with cubicles, take your bully and age him by several decades, take the accomplices, the bystanders, and the targets and put a few years on them too, and it’s still the same scenario. I would like to offer my experiences to shed another speck of light on the topic of workplace bullying to help those who are targets and encourage bystanders to have a voice. Workplace bullying should not be taken lightly and should receive more public recognition.
So I will share my thoughts on Breakfast Television, birthdays, and bullies in my upcoming posts…
happy birthday, paper, plate, and plane! and announcing our giveaway winner…
October 3, 2011 § 2 Comments
Yay, today marks the first year of this blog! Looking back, I don’t know whatever propelled me get it started. Perhaps because my wedding stationery business at the time wasn’t allowing me to explore my highest creative calling. Perhaps because I always wanted to be a professional crafter, but so few and far between are the opportunities to become one. Perhaps because wasting good ideas by keeping them to myself would become a lifelong regret. So here I am today after having blogged 146 posts, welcomed nearly half a million page views from around the world, written guest posts and online articles, and contributed ideas and articles to Canadian and American print publications for the upcoming, even more exciting year of 2012 — all done in the past twelve months, along with the past seven months of juggling a full-time job working in a cubicle and a rewarding part-time job working with children. Whew! It’s been amazing because you are here — visiting, reading, recreating, passing the ideas along, and allowing me to have this creative outlet.
You motivate me to continue this journey. THANK YOU for sticking around! I hope you’ve been enjoying visiting, reading, recreating, and passing these ideas along, and that you continue to do so. I hope I’ve given you a wee bit of inspiration through this blog, as you have reassured me that giving inspiration is exactly what I am meant to be doing in this lifetime.
Let’s look back at the 10 most visited ideas in paper, plate, and plane’s first year:
ONE: KEYS TO MY HEART
TWO: NO-FUSS PAPER ROSES
THREE: HEART WALL LAMP
FOUR: FOIL PIE PAN ROSE TOPIARY
FIVE: EASTER EGG CARTON CHICKS
SIX: CARROT CAKE POPS
SEVEN: ROLLED PAPER ORNAMENTS
EIGHT: HIGH HEEL TREAT BOX
NINE: ROLLED PAPER CHESS SET
TEN: FLORAL STAMPED CLAY BANGLES
My Personal Faves
The rolled paper chess set I designed for O.T.’s birthday is definitely my most personal favorite. But here are another 5 creations that have personal meaning for me, or took a bit more thought to conceive/create, or a combination of both:
ADVENT CALENDAR LEGO-INSPIRED TREAT BOXES
CALLA LILY TUILE COOKIE WITH LEMON RICOTTA
I pray the muses stay by my side so that I may conceive and create a more prolific set of ideas on this blog in its second year. Stay tuned.
Giveaway Winner
And…drumroll…who won the $32 giveaway pile of crafty materials?
Comment #22 is from Betty in Barcelona! Congratulations, Betty! I will be emailing you shortly.
Thank you all for participating in the giveaway! And thank you for the fondest birthday wishes! Turning another year older ain’t so bad! Besides, it’s not til the end of the month. I’ll relish being this young until then. :)
Happy creating!
♥ Jeromina
