Sunday, May 20, 2012

And away they go.

Hmmm.  My first sale on Etsy.
And off they go.

My first set of handpainted cake toppers go to a lovely Filipino couple in New Jersey.  Just to make it extra-special, I sewed two pouches (loving my sewing machine!) for these two to be kept in.  And because it took me a while to put everything together, I'm slipping into the package this lovely brooch/bracelet made of canvas, cotton lace and pearl.

I'm a fan of multi-functional jewelry.

I first prototyped this type of brooch/bracelet when I was designing something with my older sister in mind.  She's allergic to metals (though she seems to be okay with gold--quite the high-end allergy, if you don't consider fabric, wood and other non-metal alternatives)--her skin gets all red and blistery when in contact with them.  So to minimize metal contact, I prepared a bracelet with a strap made of wooden beads, topped with a canvas flower, that when detached from the strap can be used as a brooch.  There's still a bit of metal contact (the brooch clasp), but at least it isn't all that much.

So for Meliza, who ordered the cake toppers off of my Etsy shop, I made the bracelet/brooch above.  My first prototype of this kind had a smaller flower, but a friend suggested having a bigger one, creating more of a statement piece.

Personalized pouches.  Love.


And here are the heat transfer-printed pouch bags I made with my trusty sewing machine!

And off they go tomorrow on yet another adventure.  Awww.  I got kind of attached to this cake topper couple.  Sniff.  They'll be lovely additions though to someone's wedding memories, which I think is a beautiful thing.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Craft Soiree!

A sampling of the awesome crafters that converged at Pipino over a week ago.

A belated, belated post.  As I'm getting the hang of managing my workload, my need to make stuff, and organizing workshops (plus a little work-life balance), I suppose a little documentation via more consistent posts here wouldn't hurt.  :-)

The weekend before last saw about 17 crafters converge at Pipino Vegetarian Restaurant for Life After Breakfast's first craft soiree!  :-)  It was wonderful!  The food, the vibe, meeting different crafters and marveling at all of the cool stuff everyone else does!  I think that fateful event sowed the seeds for future collaborations.  Exciting stuff.

It was also like Christmas!  Everyone brought something to exchange, so we came home with tote bags full of goodies!  Drumroll, please.

A delight for the eyes and for the tummy!

Okay, the item on the left never made it to my tote bag, because I ate it right away.  Um, I ate both of them.  Right away.  Hehe.  Thus, a picture pre-consumption.  This was a red velvet cupcake from Macy's Fields!  It was yummy.  The items on the right all came in a happily wrapped package prepared by Lorra of Stars for Dreams.  A notebook she drew on herself, a postcard and a bookmark she designed!


Prettiness all around.
The item to the left is a silver clay charm with my initial on it, handcrafted by Alessa herself.  Yay, we might be having silver clay workshops at Craft MNL, too!  Watch out for that.  The folder-full of lovely stationery on the right flew all the way in from Davao, in the artistic hands of April, who is behind Artisan Paperie.


A friendly reminder, and a load of friendly loot!

Wiji of the Curious Studio hand-lettered the postcards she gave away that afternoon, while the stash on the right is (1) an assortment of rings and a moustache necklace from Nikki of Junk Studio,  (2) a handmade wallet by Pat (whose demo of 20-ways-to-wear-a-skirt I sorely missed), (3) a coffee cozy by Kaye, (4) tiny clay charms by Anna, (5) a cute cross-stitch kit from DMC, (6) a box sample (with earrings inside) from Kilusan, a box manufacturing company based in Makati, (7) a pair of earrings from dyosaimma.  Numbers below for those without links.  


Different materials, different skills.  All craft.
The assortment on the left begins with (1) an acrylic cutout pendant from Wiji also, (2) a felt toy kit from Beam of Artwine (love her felt bouquets, too!), (3) washi tape and funky cotton rope from Mansy, (4) a pretty friendship bracelet from Mikko (I also bought the Friendship Bracelet book too!), and (5) more washi tapes from Joanne of the Quaint Desk!  And on the right, a screenprinted surfer girl tote bag from Noelle (with printed goodies inside), and personalized crayons from Koko!

Whew.  That was a feast for the eyes, for the tummy, and for every craft-gratifying pore muscle I've got.  

I strung up the buntings from Quaint Desk at Craft MNL!  And here's Nikki and Alessa.

We also had bracelet-making with DMC after the craft exchange!  Although my creation ended up being NOT a bracelet...

...but mismatched earrings!  These later evolved with rivets.

I was also happy to see some of the crafters wearing the little fishie earrings I made (perhaps because I wasn't able to package them properly too, boohoo).  But it was nice seeing the fish floating about.


I must admit though that Koko's dimple steals the show.

Yay!  Here's to more craft gatherings!  :-)  This handmade adventure just got bigger.

*****

Kilusan Box Mfg. Company
+63917.8486880


dyosaimma
+63917.5863408




Friday, May 4, 2012

Fish-inspired!

Fish-inspired.

The past couple of weeks have been crazy busy with the my regular communications design load and the opening workshops at Craft MNL.

So there went my NaPoWriMo attempt.  :-(  I'll still be posting poems nevertheless.

This Saturday, I'm really excited for the craft soiree organized by Alessa!  We're supposed to bring 15 craft items to give away, and at first I was totally torn between heat transfer prints and flower accessories.  In the end, the fish won out!  Palm-leaf weaving inspired, these little fish are fun accessories.  Will still be sneaking in crafting more of these in between deadlines!