Unique Easter Egg Ideas

I know Easter eggs are usually painted and decorated in pastel colors. For those of you who are bored of the expected colors and designs, here are a couple of ideas that you might love.

 

If you are a serious egg hunter, these camouflage Easter eggs will certainly be a challenge to look for.

However, if you feel that animal print or camo isn’t your style but still want to be unique, you could make your Easter eggs resemble Russian or Japanese dolls. 

Hope you like them.

Have a blessed holy week and happy Easter everyone!

 



DIY Wall Decor

I really wanted to inject a few touches of color to our living room and several posts at Pinterest about covering plywood boards with fabric caught my eye. Instead of wood, however, I used empty box covers. Remember my post about using empty boxes as shelves? This wall decor project actually came before that (another late post, I know!). 

 

 

On separate occasions, I was able to spot lovely but inexpensive fabrics at Uniwide. I didn't know what to do with them at first but later decided to use them for our wall decor. 

 

Fabrics from Uniwide

I was super excited to get on with this project that I didn't stop to take photos (sorry about that) but the procedure is pretty simple.

 

All you'll need are the following materials:

box covers

fabric

large enough to cover the front and sides of the box cover)

glue

 

Step 1: Lay fabric on a flat surface (right side down)

 

Step 2: Position box cover the fabric

(for geometrical patterned fabric make sure that the box lies at the center of the design)

 

Step 3: Fold edges of the fabric toward the sides and into into the inner or underside of the box cover and glue in place.

 

Make sure that the fabric is taut over the box cover but also be careful that it isn't stretched too much that it distorts the pattern.

 

Step 4: Miter or fold the corners of the fabric at an angle.

 

 

You may do this on any corner of the box cover, however, they are least noticeable on the upper and lower sides so this is where I prefer to place them.   

The 2 floral fabrics are from Cotton Depot and costs P120 per meter while the geometrical patterned fabrics are purchased from Uniwide for only P70 per meter. 

 

Simple Joys

I have not been able to accompany our little guy to the parent-child program at playhouse for the past months. My teaching load this semester have been keeping me busy and have made me feeling extremely guilty. Hubby has been going with Alonzo and I would always enviously listen to the amusing anecdotes he tells me about what has happened at playhouse that day. While at work, I would secretly imagine what Alonzo would be already doing at playhouse, the toys that he would be playing, the snack that they would be having, the songs that they would be singing, etc.. I keep wondering whether he would help Tita Sheila prepare their snack, will he share the toys with his friends, will he remind Tita Josie that it is already time to pack away (he usually does because snack follow shortly after that!).

A new block at playhouse started the first Saturday of February and my schedule was unbelievably free that day! It was my turn to take Alonzo while hubby took a day off.

It was the same, old playhouse that I remember and have missed terribly. It seems, however, that Alonzo is more and more becoming independent. After taking of his outdoor shoes and hanging his towel he went straight to the toys.

playing "drums and cymbals"
out of inverted baskets and bowls



sorting

It was Alonzo's last day at playhouse at few weeks ago. It was the last day of the parent-child block before summer sessions and just like last year we'll be taking a break until June. I was quite sad about not being able to be with Alonzo on his last day. I also could not help get a little sentimental. Alonzo will be too old for the next parent-child program this coming June and so he'll be on the day care program. That would definitely be a bitter sweet moment.

How to Wash Dishes and Save Water at the Same Time

One of the things I remember most about Lola Neneng, my paternal grandmother, was how she would teach me how to wash the dishes the proper way. She was a principal and supervisor of the home-economics department of a university in our province and was really very strict when it came to anything related to housekeeping matters. I will not deny that as a child, I often felt tormented whenever she would literally hover over and supervise each move I made as I washed and cleaned each tableware item.

An article that I wrote for Yahoo! She is, kind of my little way, of giving tribute to my grandmother for her patience and persistence in teaching us everything that she knows.

Lola,I tweaked your technique a little! I really think more water is saved by NOT filling the tub or basin with water :) 

Stencilled Little Boy's Undies

It's been months since Alonzo finally agreed to use the potty. 

For a while I deliberated on whether I should take on this project of stenciling on my toddler's underpants. "Seriously?", hubby blurted out after suggesting the idea. 

But I simply couldn't help myself.

 

 

Since then he has been giving me a stay-out-of-my-underware-drawer-look. Paranoid much?

Alonzo's 3rd Birthday

A few weeks before Alonzo's birthday I asked him what he wanted to get and, without any thought his immediate answer was, "balloons!". "Okay", I thought, that would be easy and for a couple of seconds my mind began to conceptualize an "Up" birthday party theme.

The birthday balloon surprise idea, which I had planned way before also seemed to fall right in with his simple wish.

My thoughts were disrupted when Alonzo began telling me that he wanted all his balloons to be purple in color. "Huh?, when did he start to like purple?", I asked myself. Apparently, purple IS his current favorite color!   

I had to scratch the "Up" theme and had to think of something that would go well with the color purple. Barney was a definite "no" -- he creeps the hell out of me.      

 

 

For lack of any ideas (I was literally stumped!) I decided to just work around with the purple color in mind: purple balloons, purple bunting, ube or blueberry cheesecake, grape juice, ube wafer sticks and mamon. I toyed with the idea of using purple pancit noodles but decide to stick to the all-time-favorites such as pinoy style spaghetti, hotdogs and cheese sticks. Hubby warned that it is better to go with the usual favorites than experient on something just for the sake of sticking to a theme.

 

 

That makes sense but I did try to incorporate as much "purple" a I could though.

 

 

These are DIY toothpick flags that I literally made on the last minute.

 

 I planned on using the chalkboard to write on welcome sign but decided to just use it to indicate Alonzo's age.

 

 

I scoured grocery stores for purple straws (I didn't have the time nor the energy to go to divisoria). The ones that I found were all multicolored so I counted EACH pack to see which one had the most number of purple straws!

To add a little fun to the plain and boring paper cups I used black duct tape to make these little bowties. To make stick duct tape over sticker paper and cut into shape. I found that this method works better than by simply cutting the duct tape into a bowtie shape (or any shape for that matter). Unpeel sticker paper backing and stick over paper cup. Voila!   

 

 

The party hat was recycled from a cousin's birthday party last December :)

 

 

The party set up was at my parents' open garage. The weather wasn't in our favor that day as it started to drizzle so we had to move everything back inside. Nevertheless, the birthday boy was happy and everyone had fun!