tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42427411916807582612024-12-19T11:22:32.307+08:00A personal blog on arts and crafts, anything that taps our creativity. May include crochet, doodling, quotes, coloring, kiddie crafts.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-53875522197979659482017-08-17T14:38:00.000+08:002017-08-17T14:38:30.513+08:00

My youngest son recently celebrated his 3rd birthday. He had a birthday party at school with 27 kids (including my son) in attendance. As a thank you to all his classmates and fellow students, we gave them loot "bags" filled with biscuits, jellies, chocolates, and toys. Now, I'm the type of mom who would rather recycle magazine pages than spend money on plastic (or paper) bags that will

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-17773112143674668572017-01-27T15:55:00.001+08:002017-01-27T15:59:21.495+08:00

Petals to Picots published 25 Crochet Patterns to Spruce Up Your Home and the wire tea light holders caught my eye. I got a few wires stashed somewhere among my craft box and decided to try my luck in making some. I ended up making only ONE. I'm not even sure if I want to do more to make it a set. Why, you ask? Because it was tiring, difficult to manage, has no room for error, and confusing

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-20492499727156430912017-01-21T14:40:00.002+08:002017-01-23T13:38:56.466+08:00

My son loves to draw. We used to buy him drawing books but they are EXPENSIVE! And since he's only six years old, he does not fully utilize the drawing books. I cringe every time he asks for a new one or show me a page with a small drawing in the middle with lots of space surrounding it but he refuses to draw anything else on it. It's a waste of good paper. So what do I do? I don't want to spend

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-74293291878628534692017-01-06T16:44:00.000+08:002017-01-06T16:44:37.523+08:00

My 6-yo loves to drag my mother-in-law to arcades. One time, I saw that she used an old plastic container for the tokens. I think it was an old cotton swab container. So I decided to make her a coin purse as a gift for Christmas.  This is the purse that I made for her. I didn't use any available pattern for the purse it self, just freehanded it. I think I did it wrong because it wasn't

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-71100817754156057282017-01-02T12:25:00.000+08:002017-01-02T12:25:32.679+08:00

I was feeling crafty the other day while I was cleaning up my son's crayons and pencils. Plus my inability to resist recycling things got the better of me, so I made our own pen (pencil or crayon) holder. I know there are a lot of DIY guides for making pen holders, but I'm just damn proud of what I did. I used an empty container of Gerber's Graduates puff snack for the pen holder body and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-56617316673566466652016-12-30T14:47:00.001+08:002016-12-30T20:46:05.922+08:00

Ever since my son got a Mould and Paint: Safari kit from my sister (I'll post about this soon), I've been obsessed with buying similar kits. Today's crafting activity with the kiddo is Mould & Paint: Sea Life. This kit contains a mould, two packs of plaster powder, a strip of magnet with adhesive, two pins, five small tubs of paint, and a paint brush. The mould has six designs: a turtle,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-573121325867903892016-12-22T08:24:00.002+08:002016-12-22T12:55:28.643+08:00

I made this Boxy Fox Amigurumi to give as a gift to one of my book buddies. It was easy enough to follow, and fun to make! What I love the most about this pattern is that there is no need to sew most of the parts. In the pattern, this was supposed to be a big toy, but I used a small thread and hook to make it the right size for a key chain. I also didn't use safety eyes and nose, as I do not

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-55516733208751581092016-12-15T14:48:00.003+08:002016-12-15T14:50:08.181+08:00

I made this cowl as a token to my husband's Aunt in the US. I got the pattern on Ravelry (link to pattern) for free. It was really easy to make, it took me at most an hour to make this. I followed the length on the pattern, but soon found out that it was a tad bit smaller than I wanted, so I changed the position of the buttons. I will definitely make this again, probably in a different color and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-35268644019962286432016-12-02T16:50:00.002+08:002016-12-02T16:50:47.187+08:00

I made this rose pencil topper months ago. The rose that I used here was rolled and sewn. Although it's prettier and fuller, I cannot recreate it anymore. And if memory serves me right, I had a hard time sewing the tube, or the cylindrical body of the topper, to the rose itself.  So I searched for a no-sew rose pattern. This is the best that I've seen so far: No-sew Ruffle Rose

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-20156310722093064032016-11-16T16:17:00.002+08:002016-11-16T16:17:27.877+08:00

I saw a pattern for an octopus amigurumi on one of the crochet groups on Facebook, and I thought my kids would like it. I made a few modifications on the pattern, and re-written it for easier understanding. Like some of the commenter, I got a bit confused with the pattern and I just used my instincts so I can proceed. Luckily, I was right. Some said their octopus head looks like a brain. Haha!

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-25334384362713387212016-11-09T14:46:00.000+08:002016-11-09T14:46:05.633+08:00

Hi there! Today is my birthday! I made these oh-so-yummy chewy cookies yesterday just so I can enjoy munching on it today. This is a shortcut-recipe using a brownie mix. Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate Brownie Mix, to be exact, but you can use any brownie mix out there. I got the recipe from The Ultimate Shortcut Cookie Book, but I made a slight change. In the recipe, it uses half a pack of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-88714179702810205782016-11-01T14:53:00.003+08:002016-11-01T14:53:58.023+08:00

My 6-yo son is artistically inclined, so I dedicate a few hours a week to make art with him. I bought us how-to-draw books last weekend, so this week's art activity is drawing a toucan. The LO didn't finish his drawing because it's "ugly". He got a little bit frustrated because he was handling the pencil too hard, so I taught him how to use light strokes. He has now moved on to drawing flowers,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-82726918263195850262016-10-22T15:03:00.000+08:002016-10-22T15:14:09.302+08:00

I try to have at least one crafting activity with my 6-yo son. He loves creating things, and I guess he's the one that really inspired me to start this blog. Anyway, I saw this video tutorial on Facebook: DIY Halloween Decor, and thought  that  my son would enjoy doing this with me. So today, we decided to make a vampire as our crafting activity this weekend. Now, don't

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-30948329043510194832016-10-14T21:29:00.001+08:002016-10-14T21:29:32.296+08:00

I love cooking for my family, which made me a recipe book hoarder. Every week, I try to cook dishes we haven't tried before. This week's trial dish is Lemon Thyme Chicken. But to be honest, the recipe I looked at didn't really use lemon nor did it use thyme. The recipe called for calamansi and tarragon, ingredients that I don't have on my pantry. So I made do with what's available and hoped that

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-60198581634195016472016-10-04T18:15:00.000+08:002016-10-10T14:32:04.353+08:00

I tried a couple of similar recipes, but this is by far the best I've cooked yet. And you know what the best part of this is? I didn't plan to cook it. We just had a few strips of sirloin left so I decided to look for a good beef recipe. I saw a recipe from Kawaling Pinoy but I ended up not using the recipe at all for two reasons: (1) I don't like using flour in sauces, and (2) I tried

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-80635096378669258302016-09-24T23:50:00.000+08:002016-09-24T23:50:04.103+08:00

I love reading. Reading helps me escape, feel, think, and learn. I'm the kind of reading who highlights (only on ebooks, not on paperbacks!) quotes that spoke to me or connected with me. And sometimes, I use those quotes to make fan arts. Here is something I made from One to Take. "I see her lovely wings extending as she takes flight, and my heart is left behind in my chest, hollow and dead."

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-33318192352567656752016-09-17T14:05:00.002+08:002016-09-17T19:22:13.439+08:00

My son loves to do origami. It was cute at first, we even encouraged him. But it came to a point where he's love for the art became wasteful. He depleted our supply of bond paper, his quiz pad for school, he even uses receipts to fold origami. So to solve this issue, we told him that he can only fold origami using a special origami paper, you know, the store-bought origami paper. The origami

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-54213842641321416162016-06-09T04:59:00.001+08:002016-09-17T19:23:37.614+08:00

I bought a bunch of shirts that I need to repurpose, and I thought, "Hey, maybe I can crochet something I can sew on the shirt." And voila, my very first t-shirt design. It's not perfect, both the cat applique and the sewing, but I'm proud of the outcome. As usual, I scoured the Internet for a pattern that I can use. I found a bunch of interesting patterns, but none that I can use. So I just

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-54655900365180517222016-05-20T22:34:00.000+08:002016-11-24T13:51:21.226+08:00

Continuing my obsession with coffee sleeves, I found this pattern on Ravelry (link: Open Heart Pocket Hot or Cold Drink Sleeve) and tested it out. Materials: Yarn, two colors - I used acrylic yarns, with the red yarn thicker than the cream one Hook - I used a 5 and a 5.5mm hook Tapestry needle Tips: Use a smaller hook and yarn for the heart pocket, unless you want the pocket

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-18657025772594403452016-05-11T08:33:00.003+08:002016-09-17T19:27:27.292+08:00

My current fetish right now: coffee sleeves. They are extremely helpful, especially when I buy frappuccinos. I already made a couple of coffee sleeves, refer to this post, but I wanted a larger coverage on the cup. So I scoured the Internet and found this pattern: Basket Weave Coffee Sleeve. So, this is what I made, but I made a couple of mistakes on this one. I'll expound on that one in a few.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-34105798195042534552016-04-21T15:43:00.003+08:002016-09-17T12:58:02.465+08:00

Found a pattern for a choker, but I made a bracelet instead. It's quick and easy to make once you get the hang of it. I made this in under 30 minutes, while watching the tube. Materials used: 8-ply yarn 5-mm hook tapestry needle button scissors Stitches used (US terms): chain (ch) puff stitch (ps or puff st) single crochet (sc) It took me a couple of tries before finally getting

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-69112789078665602162016-04-16T09:29:00.003+08:002016-09-17T12:58:02.510+08:00

I was looking for something to work on that was easy to do and takes no more than an hour to make to give as a thank you gift. I found this pattern (link) of a coffee sleeve. It was easy to make and the design was simple yet pleasing in the eyes. Stitches used in the pattern: chain (ch) single crochet (sc) single crochet 2 together (sc2tog) Guide in working the pattern: As stated

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-76266621475714547732016-04-09T14:42:00.000+08:002016-09-17T12:58:02.521+08:00

I made these beauties (and more!) for my sister. These bookmarks are the same as this one here, but with a thin wire on the branch and using a smaller hook. (Pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/little-owl-bookmark) So here's how I worked with the wire: 1. Curl the end of the wire, but don't close it yet. Leave a gap so you can insert it in one of the stitches. 2. Work

Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-75531508333572007062016-03-19T14:36:00.002+08:002016-09-17T12:58:02.517+08:00

My youngest son loves Pocoyo so I decided to make him a Pocoyo hat. I thought for sure he'd love it. No. He. Hates. It. Takes it off as soon as I've put it on him. So this Pocoyo hat that is pictured below? I never really finished it. I'll probably re-use the yarn and make another project. I used this pattern as my basis for the hat, adjusted the ear flaps, and added the back flap

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242741191680758261.post-6057366413001533972016-02-09T23:37:00.001+08:002016-09-17T12:58:02.495+08:00

First off, what is frogging? Frogging is when you rip out and undo your stitches. Rip it! Rip it! Rip it! Get it? I have undone a lot of rows on my previous works. It's tiring. It's annoying. It makes me want to leave the project unfinished. Then I got to thinking, what if I don't have to undo everything? See this picture below? This is a blanket that I'm working on right now. On the first row,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0