clothes pin craft: animals

I love wooden clothes pins and for P66.00 at Daiso I bought several bags. I have a couple of clothes pin craft ideas in mind and this is one of them.

With just a few pieces of clothes pins, card board (I used an empty pizza box), poster paint and glue you could create a whole zoo of animals!

home make over

hubby and i are giving the home a make-over. DIY, of course!

we've started painting the kitchen walls and cabinets. i've also finished making a hanging mirror frame for the living room.

well, that's just about what we have accoplished so far.

i have what seems like an endless list of things to do and i keep changing my mind as to what paint color we'll use for the

living room and hallway.  

our little toddler had been under the weather for the past few days so we had to set aside the paint brushes for a while. he's getting better now and i can't wait to get back to fixing the house up. you can only imagine how everything is in disarray!

hopefully we could finally finish the kitchen before the end of the week (fingers crossed). 

i also found a copy of this book at booksale for a fraction of the price at powerbooks. i've been meaning to get a copy of another book by anita kaushal but this one is just perfect!  even before we had alonzo i already knew that i wanted our future child to grow up in a "fun and happy" home over one that appeared spotless and the author/ designer embrasses this type to design phylisophy.

the book offers so many design ideas and i'm super inspired!

bulldog clip frame

Here's a non-traditional way to display your favorite photos and works of art. By simply sandwiching a photo between 2 pieces of glass secured by bull clips you already have an instant and modern looking frame.  

super easy! super cheap!

Appreciation Wreath

Most of the Christmas decor at my parents' house were damaged because of the Ondoy flood 2 years ago. Majority of the the ones that survived the flood were thrown away because they were already too old anyway.

I really wanted to make a couple of crafts for them to use as decorations last Christmas but I was totally preoccupied with all the paper cupcakes and other DIY stuff for Alonzo's 1st birthday. 

Last week, they started to put up the Christmas decors and I really felt so sorry about the lamentable wreath made of rafia (no offense, Mama).

This inspired me to make what I'll call an appreciation wreath.

 I thought, wouldn't it be a great idea to hang photos of the year's events that you are grateful for? What a symbolic way to celebrate and revere the year's blessings.  

Materials you'll need:

1. wreath

(I intended to get the styro ones but those weren't available at

National Bookstore so I got these instead)

2. several of your favorite photos

(I suggest that you have them printed in black and white or sepia)

3. ribbon

4. a couple of trimmings
such as Christmas balls, holly or fake berries 

5. glue gun

Procedure:
step 1: wrap ribbon around wreath and secure (I used a glue gun)

step 2: cut about 2  feet of ribbon and use it to make a

knot around wreath
(this will be used to hang the wreath)

step 3: arrange photos around wreath and glue

(I didn't like the idea of using glue since I want to re-use the wreath each year and just keep changing the photos. 
I planned on experimenting with paper clips keep my photos in place but the material of the wreath made it hard to work with.
With a Styrofoam wreath it should be pretty easy) 


step 4: insert trimmings all over your wreath
(either use a glue gun or just poke them through)

The photos that we chose were those from Alonzo's first birthday, 
his first Easter egg hunt,
first haircut,
the birth and baptism of his cousin, Kata,
cousin Paco's first birthday,
Alonzo at playhouse,
Alonzo playing with the neighborhood kids
and some of our favorite photos of Alonzo     


Maybe when Alonzo is older he could help out and choose the photos himself. I also wanted to display more photos but the wreath wasn't huge enough! 

alonzo's music playlist

I remember when I was little my yaya would put me to sleep for my afternoon nap -- amidst resistance, countless alibis and stalling techniques on my part. My yaya turn on the radio and together we'd listen to songs by Karen Carpenter, Bread, Bee Gees and Imelda Papil!

When I was pregnant we received a couple of CD-DVD's to play and for Alonzo to listen to as pasalubong from my mom.

Although we haven't exposed our son to any form of television (we're not even planning on playing the DVD’s anytime soon)

He has been listening to the CD's for the longest time.

He's been listening to "Mozart and Friends Sleepy Time"

since he was about 7 months. He listens to it for his daytime nap, afternoon nap (right now Alonzo is transitioning to

having just 1 nap in the day) and in the evening. 

We even play it in the car!

Before that, it was just me singing him songs to sleep. 
I sang whatever songs that would come to mind but it was mostly "You Are My Sunshine", "Over the Rainbow", and religious songs such as "Anima Christi", "You Are Near" and "Lead Me Lord".

I have also come up with a couple to silly songs that I randomly  "composed". I’m no Ryan Cayabyab but I'm pretty proud of my songs! The ones that I like the most are "Binky Baby Boy", "We Don't Like Garbage" and "Drink the Milky Milky of the Baby".

I usually request hubby to play these songs in the piano and also asked him to right down the notes.

Right now, not only does Alonzo want his music disks played he also demands that I sing to him at the same time! 

His favorite songs right now are "London Bridge", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "Apples and Bananas", "Bahay Kubo" and "Leron Leron Sinta". He even knows that lyrics and sings along sometimes. It drives me crazy sometimes when he wants to me sing medleys!

  I am hoping that whenever he hears any of these songs in the future it would bring back memories of his childhood and how I used to lull him to sleep.

What about you? What was your music playlist?

DIY "nutty" bracelet

I know that macrame isn't really my kind of thing but I find this bracelet really cool. It is so cool that I wish I could claim credit for the idea!
This DIY braided bracelet is from this equally cool site although I tweaked the procedure just a little bit to make it my own.

Here's what you'll need:

3 strands of canvas cord
 16- 18 hex bolts
metallic rubber band/ garter

step 1: wrap ends of each of the cord with tape to keep it from fraying
step 2: secure ends of your cord with a clip (or you could just put a huge soup can over the ends)

step 3: braid about an inch of the cord step 4: thread a bolt nut through the cord  (before crossing over your braid)

step 5: keep on going until all the bolts are braided

step 6: continue braiding until you run out of cord!

step 7: secure both ends of the bracelet by knoting a strip of metallic garter

  

 step 8: trim ends

This bracelt is long enough to wrap around the wrist two times but it is perfectly okay to make it shorter if thats what you want.
  

eggs 101

 It was because of my shameful kitchen encounter a couple of days ago that hubby handed me a copy of Rodale's Book of

Hints, Tips and Everyday Wisdom (a book which he apparently has had for the longest time but it was only recently -- no, literally just NOW, that he remembered to show/ give me!).

Alright, the copy may be from 1985 but it truly is a useful reference for just about every problem around the house and garden!

It is from this book that I learned the following directions for a no-fault hard cooked egg:

Step 1: place eggs in a pot and cover with COLD water

(this allows the eggs to cook gradually without cracking the shells) 

Step 2: bring to a rolling boil

Step 3: turn the heat off, leaving the eggs in the pot for about 17 minutes

(this allows the eggs to cook evenly without overcooking)

Step 4: cool the eggs by placing in a bowl of cold tap water for 5 minutes

Step 5: peel and serve

More egg tips:

To tell whether eggs are fresh or not, place them in a deep bowl of water. Throw away the ones that float!
The older an egg gets, it shrinks and air fills inside.   

To get more volume from beaten eggs, let them stand for about an hour at room temperature before beating them.

Adding a little vinegar to the water will help seal the egg, just in case an eggs cracks during boiling

Shaking the eggs a little just before placing it on a pot for boiling helps keep the yolks at the center of the egg

(a tip just in from hubby who admittedly learned this from either the Lifestyle Network or the Asian food Channel) 

You might also want to check out this noteworthy, not to mention photogenic site!

how not to boil an egg

I learned something interesting about myself a couple of days ago. It was decided that we’d be having egg sandwich for merienda and then this sudden, nagging realization hit me. Apparently I don’t know how to boil an egg! I admit I no professional but I’m not exactly clueless when it comes to cooking!
How it this possible?

Here’s what happened: I dropped the eggs when the water in the pan started to boil and used a ladle to slide the eggs one by one onto the pan. An egg falls off and lands onto the adjacent burner. Okay, I thought, this isn’t starting so well. Then, just as each egg plunges onto the boiling water, the shell cracks and releases parts…okay, most of its contents. 

After a couple of minutes of apprehension, I began to wonder if the eggs were already done – at least the parts that remained inside the shell. How can you tell? I’m not exactly a fan of soft boiled eggs. I asked my mom but it seems that she is as clueless as I am.    

All I all, the end product was good. The egg mixture was light, creamy, with just the right balance of salt and tang. I wouldn’t exactly call it gourmet but it wasn’t bad either considering the all turmoil / havoc that had occurred.

What can I say? I’m partly amused but I must confess I’m generally mortified. Needless to say, I will definitely try again to redeem myself and reclaim my shattered egg-o (pun intended).

re-using last years halloween costume

 while it took me several months last year plannig for alonzo's costume, this time, less than a month away from halloween i still haven't been able to come p with great ideas :(

apparently, plans for trick or treating at sta. elena also didn't push thorough :(

so we decided to just go through halloween with the little guy wearing last year's costume tagging along as we did some errands.  

of course, the day wouldn't be complete without the mandatory photo op!

our little barista rushing to make it in time for his shift!



rearrangnig packs of coffee beans

 

doing a short stint at the bar



flirting with a female barista

  

taking a break....
this little barista it too exhausted to even stand!