so long 2012

I usually post a "looking back and looking ahead" blog a few days before the new year starts but last december til january were our busy months so I had to put it off.

Well, I finally have some time to spare so here I am to bombard this post with reflections, ka-corny-hans and all other mushy-gushy stuff.

Looking back.

...i got married

I got married to a wonderful man on May 12, 2012. It was just a civil wedding. I take that back, I shouldn't say "just a civil wedding" because that wedding shouldn't be taken lightly. Because one, it's official and binding and two, May 12 is the date we'll be celebrating our wedding anniversary and not the January 19, 2013, which I'll talk about later on this blog (or on another blog).

It was a life altering moment. Not only did I change my name (which is a pain in the butt, by the way, because of all the paper works and as of this writing i'm still waiting for the immigration office here to change the name on my greencard to my married name *sigh*) but also because I wake up every morning now knowing that I now have a lifetime boyfriend, partner in crime (lol), side kick, a fan, travel buddy, etc. I now have a husband! I am now someone's "Mrs", wife, spouse, bana, jowa, etc. It's a nice feeling. It's a nice feeling to know that there's someone who wants to spend the rest of his life with you. That now there's someone who will do things with you and will always be with you.

Don't get me wrong, I still value independence. The thought of having to depend on someone to make me happy, or to do stuff or whatever is still making me uncomfortable. I pride myself for being able to do whatever I want without having to depend on anyone. But it still is nice to know that now I have someone who'll always have my back. That now there's this someone who helped me stay put. It's a nice wonderful feeling knowing that I'm no longer alone. That the waiting for the right man is over because he already came and married me.

I know, like any other marriages, it won't always be a bed of roses. That we will have our ups and downs or maybe some occassional flying plates (lol) but what is important is eventually we'll have each other "housebroken". Eventually we'll learn what makes us tick, what our pet peeves are. That thru all those fights and "tampos" we'll learn to know how to make compromises and we'll learn to adjust old habits and lifestyle accordingly. After all, we are still two differnt entities with different culture, upbringing, life experience and how we react and handle situations are different but it would be up to us how we should handle our differences.

The good thing is we do get along so well that we often joke to each other that we're like two peas in the same pod, so hopefully the adjustment wouldn't be that much.

...had to quit my job

I also had to quit my job of 4 years in preparation for my getting married. No, B isn't my boss, it's just less complicated if I quit my job and because we fight a lot at work, lol. We do competing products at work and the competition between us is too great (we're both very competitive).

I've been wishing to find a job in the city again and was lucky to have found one. I'm a city girl through and through and I love seeing buildings. I love taking the train. I love people-watching. I love walking. Parking in the city is pricey so I don't bring my car to work and I just take the trains and do a lot of walking from within the city. 

Unfortunately, my city gig is a contractual job and it was over after 7 months and had to look for another job. The other thing is waking up too early in the morning and the long commute is getting into me. I'm not enjoying the city job anymore. So I thought it's time to look for a job closer to home. My contractual gig let me go end of July but I was starting my job search a month before that.

...i went back home

I also went to the Philippines for a week while I was job hunting to take care of some of the wedding details and boy, I'm sure glad I did that. We only have 3 weeks available vacation leaves and if it weren't for that trip we would be wasting 2 weeks doing wedding-preps stuff instead of using those days travelling and showing off my beautiful Philippines to the hubby and sister-in-law and the hubby's best man. So that worked out great.

When I came back from the Philippines, I still don't have a job. I was actually starting to feel a little worried because even though my phone was ringing non-stop because of back to back phone interviews I'm still finding it hard to get the job I want. It's either I am not what they're looking for, or I don't like what I'll be doing if I accept the offer, or I don't like the project, or the pay is too low, or the office is too far. There's just always something wrong. But eventually, I found just the perfect job in a perfect location. A week after I came back from my quick Philippines trip, that's when I got a call from "U". They did a phone interview, then an in-person interview and then they offered me a job a week after and I accepted it. It's 8 miles from home and about 4 miles from the hubby's job (my other previous job). Which means I can call the hubby up to have lunch together when the mood strikes me. I've been with this company for 6 months now and I can see myself staying for a long time. Oh, and yeah, it's a permanent full time position.

Looking forward.

Lots of things happend in 2012. Lots of changes. Lots of getting used to. Lots of new experiences. So how about 2013? 2013 would be full of adventures. More exciting things will happen. I can just feel it.

I want to end this post by saying: Let's pat ourselves on the back again, like we did last year, for having the guts to go where we want to go and to be what we want to be. Even if that's not the case that's fine. We have another year, another chance, so let's just continue trying.

Hello 2013.

Read More

How to Make Your Own Brooquet

I have been contemplating for months and months and months now whether or not I'll share my videos on how to make the brooch bouquet. Nope, it's not because I'm feeling selfish it's just that for the longest time I was planning to do another video because of my wrong pronunciations, lol. But what the heck, here are the videos!


 Part 1:

    
     


Part 2:

  



Now for part 3, i got lazy but basically you just wrap the stem with ribbon and then I followed this blog (just scroll down to the bottom):


http://www.fancypantsweddings.com/how-to-design-a-brooch-bouquet


I also found a bouquet stem's cover (the faux pearl you're seeing on the brooch bouquet's handle, don't know what's that called, actually, lol)  from michaels and I used that as additional accent. Here's my finished brooch bouquet. I used it for my civil wedding  last May 12, 2012 and will also be using it for our church wedding on January next year.

i used it for our beach civil wedding

I used 50+ brooches on my brooch bouquet.

I got my brooches from ebay.com and flea markets and took me a year to collect them. Why a year? I was looking for certain colors and certain types. Also, I had to make sure I don't buy a brooche that's above my budget because believe me, those brooches can go as high as $30/pc on ebay, that's 1,200 pesos already!  So my advise is don't get carried away and be patient. Also, factor in the shipping cost. My favorite item to bid on are brooches being sold in bulk because it saves me on shipping.

I guess that's it! Enjoy.

Update:

i used it again for our church wedding in the Philippines

Read More

wishing upon a star – 2012

like what i do when the ber month arrives, i list down my bday/christmas wishlist... but first let's revisit my last year's..
0. macbook pro (but i got this already a few weeks ago {dec 2011} as an early bday/christmas gift)1. airbrush makeup system.<-- bought it myself and i love it!
2. YMCA 1 year membership<-- dont need it
3. Lightroom 3 for mac<-- got it as late christmas gift
4. mac mouse<-- got it
5. iphone 4s case <-- got it
6. issey miyake perfume<-- got it
7. that photoshop actions im eyeing on.
8. and maybe giftcards from dress barn or macys or charlotte russe

not bad...


 for this year i want... hmmm

1. broadway show (wicked or lion king or jersey boys)
2. harry potter land (florida)
3. ikea gift card
4. flower seeds
5. lil bob

Read More

Our DIY "Message In a Bottle" Wedding Invitation

We decided to DIY our wedding invitation for the civil wedding because we're going to have an intimate wedding with just less than 50 guests and thought  it would be manageable. It ended up being a major task and took us a month to finish even if we just need to make 23 pieces of invitations. I won't recommend this if you have 100 guests, well, not unless you have a knack for torturing yourself, lol. But I must say, after our guests received theirs and they started calling us/texting us to tell us how impressed they were and raving that it's the most unique wedding invitations they have ever received, it was all worth it in the end....

 Anyway, so here's how we pulled this off.

 We divided this into phases. First phase is putting the sand and tiny shells in (which is what I volunteered the h2b to do, lol). Second phase is adding the accent ribbon on the bottle. Third phase is the actual invitation (printed, rolled and placed into the bottle, and added medium-sized and large shells). Last phase is the box, including the final touches like the accent ribbon and the tag.

 Here's what you'll need:

roll of rafia, the bottles and unassembled boxes (right)

For the first phase.
1. Bottles (I ordered my bottles from coloredsand.com, look for "message bottles")
2. Tiny shells  from A.C. Moore and medium and large shells from walmart.
3. Sand (got mine cheap from Joann's fabric shop). I also added some Cape May sand into the mixture (Cape May is where our wedding will be held).
4. Plastic spoon and paper funnel (for pouring sand into the bottle).

For phase 2.
1. Ribbons (I got lucky and found a ribbon on sale at Joann's fabric shop that looks weddingish)  2. Sticker ribbons for hiding the overlapped ends of ribbon #1 (got mine from michaels, martha stewart has some interesting patterns)
3. Motif ribbon (bought a turquoise blue from michaels)
4. Glue (that can work for both fabric and glass) 5. A lot of patience. Putting glue on bottles and fabric isn't my favorite thing in the world, let me tell you that, lol.



  For phase 3.

1. Paper of your choice. I used a handmade paper from michaels, which,  by the way, is a daunting task by itself because i had to go to several michaels branch because not all branches carry the paper we need and if they do they would just have, like, 10-15 of them (i need atleast 23 but i tried to get more in case of printing errors).
2. Rafia ribbon for keeping the scroll in place.
3. Nautical theme charms (got mine from etsy.com, look for happysupplies)  






For phase 4.

the plain box before gluing in the wrapper

1. Boxes ( also got them from coloredsand.com)
2. Ribbon for tying the boxes shut.Although, this is really optional. You can actually just tuck in the the cover inside (see right image). 3. Gift tags, to write in the name of your recipients.

rolls of exotic wrapper ($3 each and each  piece makes 6 boxes)

4. Any interesting wrapper. I was lucky to find one from artistcraftsman  (they have the most amazing exotic wrapper collections!) which is just a block away from where I work. Just cut the wrapper into the shape of your box then glue the wrapper in place.




 For the steps I think everything is pretty much self explanatory. Or if you still want to see the detailed steps it's the same as our DIY WYB message-in-a-bottle necklace (click me), the only additional steps would be for the accent ribbons on the bottle and making the boxes for the bottle.




 And oh, here's our finished product (the picture has our monogram sticker but I decided not to put them anymore because it makes the box looks busy):

Read More

Vintage Spool DIY WYB (Paris themed)

In my previous blog, I showed my beach themed, message in a bottle DIY WYB . I used that for our civil beach wedding female entourage WYB. Here's another one I made for my other set of female entourage.

Because our church wedding theme in the Philippines is about travelling and because we are adding some Parisian elements to it I figured I should do a WYB that's kinda dramatic. And that inspired this project (click photo above for better view).

Our church wedding's motif in the Philippines, by the way, is peach and yellow that's why there's a peach tiny flower and yellow ribbon around that WYB and ofcourse I have the Eiffel Tower charms (bought it from etsy.com, look for happysupplies).

Now, I am going to share how I did this. First, the materials you need.

1. Vintage spool.
2. Paris rubber stamp (you can get one from amazon).
3. Yellow ribbon (or any other ribbon color of your choice).
4. Lace that's 1/2 inch wide. I used up just less than a yard for my 7 spools.
5. Tiny flowers of your choice.
6. Eiffel tower charms.
7. Black and red stamp pad (or any color you want).
8. Cream colored fabric (or any other fabric you want as long as it's plain).
9. Alphabet rubber stamps
10. Needle and thread.
11. Fabric glue.

 Now for the steps.

1. Remove the stickers on the spool. Dab it with wet cloth if there are still some difficult to remove residue left.
2. Let the spool dry then bring out your Paris rubber stamp and stamp both sides of the spool base.

3. Measure the width of the body of the spool and cut your fabric accordingly.  How long your fabric would be would depend on how long the name of the recipient is or how big or small the alphabet rubber stamp you have. I would advise you to do at least one mock-up spool WYB before you start this project in full throttle.
4. Stamp one side of your fabric using your Paris rubber stamp.

5. Then flip the fabric and start stamping that other side with the name of your recipient and the role you want him/her in.
6. Glue the end of the fabric on the spool. Make sure the part you glue in is the end of the sentence/question part. I just think it's logical if your recipient sees his/her name first while she unscrolls the spool.
7. Then measure the circumference of the spool and cut your lace accordingly. You would need 2 of that lace per spool. One for the top and another for the bottom.
8. Sew the lace in.
9. Hook your charm on the ribbon of your choice then wrap the ribbon around the spool and tie it on the spool securely.
10. Insert the tiny flower.
11. That's it your done! It's up to you how you want to package this. What I did is I bought those cheap organza cream pouch, put the spool in.

As for the shipping part (in my case my entourage are in the Philippines but I am in the U.S) I got myself a bubble wrap lined enveloped and placed the organza pouch with the spool inside.

Here's my finished product.

And here is where I got that inspiration (i love etsy.com!):

Read More