Finger Puppets

This is just me and hubby being silly....

 

  Happy weekend everyone!



DIY Tassel

I'm thinking of attaching little tassels at the corners of the throw pillows that I intend to make (hopefully soon). My mom has a couple of tassels around but not only are they too large but they are also too fancy for my taste. Well, a little DIY is sometimes (if not most of the time) better than a trip to the fabric store is what I usually say. 

 

To make one (or more) just follow these 4 easy steps.

 

 

One of Mama's maborloloy tassels
 

Crochet thread is all you'll need!

 

Step 1: Wind thread around your fingers until you get the desired thickness or fullness (I wound it 30 times) and cut off end.

Step 2:  Insert a shorter piece of thread through the loop and tie to make a tight knot.
 

 
Step 3: Wind another piece of thread around one end to form the tassel "head" and secure with a tight knot. Cut off ends of the thread.

 
Step 4: Cut the bottom ends of the loop and trim

 

Easy peasy!

Roasted Chicken with Rosemary and Dalanghita

A few years after getting married, my niece, Abi, gave hubby and I a perfect opportunity (or excuse) to start an herb garden. They were all assigned in home economics class a certain herb to plant and to present later at the end of the semester. She couldn't remember specifically which herb she was assigned to grow so her mom in haste to leave the Manila Seedling compound bought any type of herb she could identify. To our surprise, hubby and I were assigned by our (then) 8 year old niece the task of making sure her herb (whichever it was) grew and lived long enough until her presentation in class. How could we refuse?! In an instant, we had an herb garden to nurture. Perhaps the easiest herb to maintain, based on our experience, is rosemary. It's basically very adaptable and is practically low maintenance. Just make sure you don't over water and that it is planted on a pot that drains well to prevent its root from rotting.

 

Anyway, here's a classic rosemary chicken recipe that I tweaked a bit. Instead of the usual lemons called for in this recipe I used our very own dalanghita.

Ingredients:  
1 whole chicken
salt and pepper
olive oil 
4 dalanghita fruits, quartered
rosemary sprigs

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Season chicken inside and out with salt and pepper.
Place half of sliced dalanghita and sprigs of rosemary inside the cavity of the chicken.
Squeeze juice out of remaining dalanghita and massage over chicken. Lightly oil chicken with olive oil.
use toothpicks to close up chicken.
Wrap chicken with dalagnhita rinds and more sprigs of rosemary in foil and place over a shallow baking dish.
Bake chicken approximately 1 hour (depending on size). Unfold foil and bake for another 30 minutes to let chicken brown. Allow chicken to  stand for about 10 minutes to allow its juices to set.

 

Enjoy! 

Simple Grocery Cut Outs

I used to exchange (or barter) little grocery item cut outs from old magazines with Girlie before classes and during recess in prep. These were all neatly placed inside origami envelopes which we also made. This "transaction" of some sort was done before we both discovered Sanrio and before we both got hooked on collecting stationery. By the way, Girlie is my pre-school to high school classmate, car pool mate and later school bus mate...our dad's were also officemates.

Basically, she's the oldest close friend that I have. I remember we used to fight over a tiny Johnson and Johnson cotton swab cut out  -- apparently what we considered the most valuable item. hahaha!

 

Anyway, because I've been quite busy lately I promised to work on some projects I have in mind as soon as all the stuff from work and grad school gets settled.

 

I have an endless list of projects that I wish to start on

(sew new throw pillows for the living room, repaint the batibot chairs hubby and I salvaged from the backyard of the old house in Nueva Ecija, repurpose Mama's old curtain rod moulding into mini shelves, etc...). 

 

The extended weekend (yesterday, today and the holiday tomorrow) seem to be the perfect time to get crafty! Unfortunately, the weather does not seem to permit us to do any of our painting plans while Alonzo has either been following me around or asking me to be one of his "customers" in his pretend restaurant since yesterday. 

 

 



 

This is all the I have come up with. I secretly cut out food and grocery item photos from a grocery catalog and pasted them over card board while Alonzo busied himself "cooking" imaginary dishes for me.  

 

Not exactly getting my craft on, so to speak. But let me consider this as my mini tribute to Girlie, our good old times as kids and our friendship.

 

Cheers!

Repurposing Old Socks

Hello! I hope everything is fine and well in spite of the stormy weather. It seems that the 3-day weekend has been extended because of the rains. The school where I teach has announced that classes (and work) are cancelled for the day.

Yipee!

 

My students shamelessly proclaimed their joy while I had to hide my smile as I made the announcement to class earlier in the day. I'll be taking advantage of the extra day to prepare for my thesis proposal set at the end of the week (gulp).

 

But before I get to that let me share a little something about how we repurpose old socks in our household.       

 

 

Old socks could be used to clean, wipe and dry furniture, fixtures, windows, vases, etc...  

 

They may also be used to keep individual jewelry items inside old mittens, socks or booties. Not only are these a great way to store your precious trinkets, they also help protect the gems from scratches.

Be safe and have a great day!
Wish me luck on my thesis proposal!!!

 

 

 

DIY Owl Wall Decal

The tree wall decal that I created last year along our hallways has been a favorite detail in our home -- especially among moms and kids. After all, if you browse through popular decorating magazines you may notice that almost every issue features a room with wall decals.

Yes, wall decals are all the rage. And, why not? They are fun, readily available and could be easily changed on a moment’s whim.  They could be quite pricey, though. Depending on the size and design it could set you back a couple of hundred pesos.

But this should not stop you from embellishing your walls. You could create your own customized decal and believe it or not, it probably may not cost you a single peso.

All you’ll need are scraps of fabric, corn starch, a little bit of your time and imagination. 

 

 

Before hubby and I got married, we gave his old room as little make over by painting the walls green and by adding a few decorative shelves. We co-sleep with our son so our room now looks like a child's room and although we have been sleeping in the playroom since early this year I thought it would still be a great idea to add a few decals to our green wall.  

 

Step 1: Think of a design. Sketch it on a piece of paper. 

 

 

Step 2: Draw individual segments of your design and cut to make your pattern

 

Step 3: Trace your pattern on to pieces of fabric and cut

 

 

The fabrics don’t have to match. Experiment with different patterns, print and color combinations.

 

Step 6: Wipe wall surface with a damp cloth.

 

Step 7: Dip fabric in home-made paste

 

Step 8: Attach to wall. This will work for walls made of both concrete and wood.

 

Step 9: Squeeze off excess paste and smooth out fabric with a damp cloth.

 

While the paste has not yet dried there is a tendency for the fabric underneath to show through

 

 This lessens or disappears as it dries.

 

If you need to reposition, lift or peel each segment of fabric off. If the paste has already dried simply dab the fabric with a damp cloth to moisten. It will easily come off. 

 

To make home-made paste:

Dissolve 3 tablespoons of cornstarch to ½ cup of water.

Thicken this mixture over low heat and let it cool.