School Portfolio

My daughter had already started preschool and one of our assigned tasks was to decorate their school portfolio and have it covered with plastic.  Since, I'm rather busy with other activities, I decided to use digital scrapbooking to decorate her portfolio.  I used an iPad application called, Scrap It HD, for doing the layout.  To give life and dimension to my project.  I reprinted some of the digital embellishments and cut it out and attached it on top of the same embellishments using a foam adhesive.  Nina's quite happy with her portfolio, and I had an enjoyable time of doing it for her.

There are lots of scrapbooking applications in both Android and Apple IOS.  It helps save time and money since scrap supplies are rather expensive.

I used my handmade cloud stamp to create a border for the layout.

Try it too!  Happy crafting! :)

Crocheted Stool Slipcover

Please check out my latest crochet project at my crochet blog, My Basket of Hooks and Yarns by 1craftsmittenmama. Happy crafting! :)

Happy Father's Day

My daughter got in the mood for cardmaking together with her cousins last June 15.  They were making cards for their father to celebrate Happy Father's Day on June 16th.  Nina was quietly and patiently collecting all the scraps of papers left by her cousins.  After a while she came to me and showed me her finished product.  My, I think she has the makings of a great abstract artist.  What do you think? :)

P.S.  I had to help her write the card greetings, she can't write yet. :)

New blog! What...?

Here I go again! I haven't utilized this blog to its full potential yet here I am puttng up another blog.  Well, this time it will be concentrated on crochet, knitting, sewing and embroidery.  I would like to share my experiences and challenges in a not so new craft but recently learned (crocheting and knitting).  I want to share how a newbie like me learn and "hopefully" master the art of yarns and threads and needles and hooks! Whew!

Anyways, I hope you'll join me there too. Here's the link:

http://1craftsmittenmama.wordpress.com/

Happy crafting! :)

Divisoria Haul 2013

Have you ever been to Divisoria after the Christmas Holiday rush? There's a huge difference I tell you. For one, it's not jam-packed with holiday shoppers rushing about to grab the cheapest gift they could find. Another thing, you get to see where you're going and you're feet is able to touch the ground instead of being literally lifted from the road. Imagine Quiapo day? Hmmm.... :)



Anyway, my friend Nona and I went to Divi one Saturday morning to shop for materials that I would use for my daughter's fairy costume. Nina decided that she will be the fairy, Vidia, one of Tinkerbell's fairy friends. So, off we go. My what I discovered, amazed me, the Divi malls, 168, is filled with wares that would make any crafter swoon. My head was swimming with the different deco and fabric tapes, Korean stamps, stationeries and much, much more. You won't notice them at first but when you take your time, they're definitely there. And it's much more cheaper than the wares sold in Multiply and Etsy.

Next time, I'll be posting the costumes that I made for Nina. Happy crafting! :)

Teacher's Day Treat Boxes

My hubby's neice, Vikka, was wondering what she can give as a treat for her teachers. Friday is Teacher's Day at her school. I thought I'd help her so I made her some treat boxes where she could put the yummy treats for the teachers.

I made the milk carton box following the tutorial at You Tube. Here's a link for you guys:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KUV6f3TEHnc

Though I made some adjustments with the measurements, the outcome was the same.

I used washi tapes from Hey Kessy to wrap around the boxes as embellishments.

The stamped bird was from my own handcarved rubber stamp.

The tag attached to the clothespins were made using some leftover red cardstocks and a black construction paper that looks like a small chalkboard. I attached some baker's twine also from Hey Kessy.

I really had fun making these treat boxes. I wonder what I'll be doing next week? Hmmm...:)

Happy crafting! :)

Beanie for my Hubby part 2

As promised, here is the finished product. He's camera-shy that's why Nina was the one who modeled it for him. Hehehe! :D

Beanie for my Hubby

My hubby's going abroad. Thought I'd make him some beanies to keep his head warm and cozy. I'm using the yarns that I got from an online shop called Yarn Source Manila. Ms. Kim, the owner, has some wonderful yarns and other sewing notions available at her Facebook and Multiply page. But if you would like to order, you should always visit her Facebook page very often. Her yarns go very, very fast!!! If you blink an eye, you might miss the yarns that you like. They sell like HOTCAKES! Anyway, back to my beanie. I'm using her lovely cotton yarns and worsted weight yarns. I combined it to make it bulky and I love how the colors mix.

That's why I love making handmade crafts. When you give it to someone, you know it comes from the heart because you gave your time, effort and creativity in making it. Which is also why I made a resolution that most of the gifts that I'll give must be handmade. Hmm... Better start early for Christmas!

Hope hubby likes it. I'll show you the finished product next time. Happy crafting! :)

DIY Envelopes and Stamping with Handcarved Rubbercuts

I was given the honor to be one of the "Ninangs" of the daughter of our dear friends Archie and Karen. I made her a gift envelope for my "pakimkim". The other gift envelopes is for my Mom and sister. The two envelopes with the bird stamp is for their son, Kaliv who is also celebrating his birthday tomorrow.

The envelopes were made using a 6x6 inches patterned papers. Using my Martha Stewart scoring board I scored the paper diagonally at 4 1/4 inches on two parallel side and 4 inches on the other two parallel sides.

After scoring, I cut out the small triangles in the middle of the intersecting lines. I rounded the corners using my photo corner punch. I then folded the score lines and applied adhesive to make the envelopes.

To seal my envelopes, I made a 2 1/2-inch circles using a circle cutter and stamped it with my handcarved rubber stamps. A inked all the edges and wrote our greetings for the kids. Even without the scoring board, this can be done by using a ruler and the tip of a dried out ballpoint pen. Happy crafting! :)

Stamping with Kids

My hubby's neices came over to our house today. Their mom, my sister-in-law is sick and needs to go to the hospital. To keep them occupied, out came my crafting tools. I decided to let them play with my handcarved rubber stamps. Yay! :D



I made them some homemade inkpads using non-toxic, washable paints that are safe for kids.


My daughter, Nina, is having lots of fun too! (She's the one with the blue apron) :)