Welcome 2008!

I'm posting from scratch here on my brother's computer by the beach ;)

Hope you are all enjoying the rest of the holidays with a happy new year celebration. I have been eating and sleeping a lot here the past 4 days. Hopefully, the daily walk by the beach has burned enough calories so I can still fit into my crocheted clothes :p.
Since I wasn't able to bring my own camera, I have to rely on the pics taken by my son - which I'll share soon as we get back home. Meantime, here's a photo of my two nieces in Australia, which I got from this computer.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Its called Christmas with a capital "C"...

Wishing everyone the joy of Christmas!

Purple Shrug

This is the 4th (!) shrug I made from my pattern: Shells and Flowers Shrug.
This is size small and I've modified the pattern a little to make it fit snugly.
I used 3 balls of size 10 cotton thread and 2mm Tulip aluminum hook. More details on Ravelry.

Holiday pictures

My son recently got himself a camera and designated himself as our family's official photographer. This also means that I need not use my camera that often for my projects, since I have my very own in-house photographer ;)
For practice, he has instantly taken some creative shots. Photo above shows our Christmas tree (which looks better with the effects...)
Shown below, the crocheted snowman that was in my Christmas decorations basket, and, my nephew and son with the holiday stuff toys they got as souvenir from Saisaki restaurant.
















And here's my current WIP, a shrug that I want to wear soon. Haven't worn a shrug in public, so we'll have to see if I can pull it through ;)

Photo Gallery

Recently, I have collected a few more photos of projects made from my patterns. I have taken the liberty of adding these to my photo gallery :)



Michele and Melanie's lip balm holders


Jennifer's twisted wrap


Kimberly's poinsettia coasters


Pewee's flower applique


And...oh so cute baby pics!


Flower frame by Manuela


Helmet hat by Riohnna

Gift wrapping tips - for crochet items

The other day, I saw on TV an artist sharing innovative ways of wrapping gifts. He is the well-known international artist, floral architect, Rachy Cuna.
I don't have any photos of what was shown on TV, but I saw that another blogger shared the picture below showing what was demonstrated by Rachy in another venue.



So pretty and interesting, but I might not be able to duplicate it. He used handmade paper, raffia, sinamay ribbon, gold paint, banana leaf, and many more, most of which can easily be bought cheap at Divisoria. I don't go there though, so if I buy materials at the mall, its not going to be cheap. Anyways, I got some tips from Rachy, and the inspiration to make gift-wrapping a challenge and a gift in itself.

Using materials that I already have, I came up with two gift-wrapping styles.

"Doily Wrap"
I used leftover handmade paper (use any size bigger than the item to be wrapped), abaca twine, and a tiny crocheted flower. I just rolled the paper together with the doily, tied it with twine, made a bow with the twine, added the little flower, and tied a small card:



"Peppermint Stick"This one shows how I wrapped a crochet hook.

Purse Keychain by Mary Jane Hall

Last week, I wanted to give to my 3 nieces visiting from Australia, a handmade gift that they will like. Just in time, these yarns arrived from my sis in London.



Lustre Fancy Yarn, distributed in UK by Wilkinson,
50% polyester, 50% acrylic.
It has a metallic look, so its hard to photograph. I loved working with it, its smooth and soft. (Though I had a hard time weaving in the ends with a large needle.)


These are the three keychain purses I made, I bought 2 pairs of fancy silver earrings, which I used to embellish the purse. I also bought 3 charm bracelets, to put in each of the purses, it was a nice gift!...but I think they liked the bracelets more :p



Yesterday, I made another one of the purse keychain, since I have one more of the earring to embellish it. I tried to get a good shot, but still...



So, I scanned it...

Selling on Etsy

I've been thinking of selling on Etsy for quite a long time, now finally I put up my shop! It took me the whole day to make a sort of banner, bio and profile :p Listing an item also takes a lot of time and effort, if you're doing it the first time. I only have one item listed for now and its my poinsettia pattern. I still have to decide what other items I'll be selling there.
One thing I just realized is that I'm going to incur more fees than what I had expected. Bank service charge is even higher than the Etsy fee! I think its a fixed fee per transaction, but I haven't checked. When I viewed my account online, it showed that amount paid to etsy.com NY is P44.14, while the service charge is P85.20 ($2.)!
However, I'm glad to know that I'm able to use my new debit card for paying, as I do not intend to get a credit card. I was sold on the usefulness of this card, since first of all it doesn't require a minimum maintaining balance. It looks like this, but now it has a Visa logo.

tagged with 8 random things meme

The past few weeks/months ago I had been tagged by some blogging friends: Kimberly, Gene, Yasmin, and Ashley. There could have been more, sorry I forgot. Its only now that I'm in the mood to do the meme. So I hope you're in the mood to read it ;)



Looking at my baby photo above (btw, the lady in the photo is not my mom, she was a hired baby-sitter.), I can think of some random things about me:
1. I would have chosen to live right there in Spain where I was born. (Not anymore as an adult, as I don't have any relative or friend there.)
2. I hate my thin hair.
3. I hate my ears, until lately when I don't care much about appearance :p
4. I hate my teeth. They are small and brittle :(
5. I was painfully shy growing up and for quite a long time after.
6. I am more often the quiet type of person, who needs a lot of space.
7. I hate being alone.
8. I contradict myself :p

Another year...

Anyone else noticed that little icon beside my profile pic on Ravelry?...it appeared yesterday ;)

Choker and Doily Crochet Patterns

Free Pattern - Flower Choker


click here for pdf pattern


Pattern for Sale - Poinsettia Flower Doily and Coaster


click here for more details

Same pattern, made with size 10 threads.

Photo Gallery

Lately, I have seen some more projects made from my designs. Thanks to all the wonderful photos shared online, and to those sent to me by email. Here are the most recent ones:
Gene and Hope's beret cap with brim:











Deneen's diagonal-striped pouch, matrix purse, and stylish sack bag.







Riohnna, Pearlin and Tina's mesh bags.



Riohnna's baby mittens and poinsettia doily!


And, the baby hats! These are from Tina (on the bear), Ashley (on the baby), Cathy (with blue flower) and mine is the one with the ribbon :)


I have yet to add some of these pics to my photo gallery.

Proud Mommy that I am

Let me just add this to my recent post about my teen son. I just found out about this banner on his high-school website. Last month, their table tennis team won in an inter-school tournament. There were also several sports teams that were champions in their respective fields. Their banners shared the spot on the heading of the main page ;)

Crochet for Christmas

...I am thinking I might still be able to come up with a Christmas pattern for sale. Since I already have the poinsettia coaster, I thought of making a matching doily.

Shining moment

Yesterday, my teen son (photo from last year) came home late in the afternoon with a very wide grin on his face. He didn't tell me sooner, since he wanted to surprise me with these:





Not one, but two!...medals for his contribution to the Filipino short documentary film competition in their senior year level. Their film won first place, and they had the best director too. He got the best in music and sound editing, and the best in film editing awards.