congratulations to bevchen for winning the handmade happiness loot!
i made her a tote bag from a thick canvas fabric + cotton and linen fabric with a beautiful print of hydrangeas. this is my first tote with my new machine, and i'm pretty pleased with it! it measures 11.5" x 15.5" and the handle is 21.5" long.
i'm also sending her a pack of handmade paper goodies from my shop.
gefeliciteerd bevchen, i hope you'll enjoy your loot! thank you so much for joining in the contest! please email me your mailing address so i can send off your goodies!
so this is my christmas slash birthday present. these pictures were taken last january, the night i got my sewing machine.
our dining table has not seen much dinners since then. kj and i eat our dinner in front of the telly. *gasp* don't tell our mem.
excuse the wonkiness, i'm still learning the works. i finished a big lunchbag for kj, a journal pouch for me, and another pouch for kj's small electronics and headphone.
this is the lunchbag i made for him, and it's wide and big enough for his breadbox, fruitbox, a coffee mug, and a cup of yoghurt. a banana will fit in nicely on top too. it's made of sturdy canvas on the outside, and dotted cotton on the inside. it closes by folding the flaps to one side and tying with the ribbons from the same cotton fabric which i then sewed on the flap.
i finished all these the week we bought the machine. i've also done one big shopping bag for my mother-in-law with a patchwork of her initials, more wonky pouch bags, and a pretty tote bag for the birthday giveaway.
i have ditched off my big bags for good, because i left them in pilipinas ang bayan ko. i had wayyy too many important things to carry and there was just no room to squeeze them in anymore. the downside of that, i only have a small messenger bag here in dublin, which couldn't fit in my notebook on top of my daily must-haves like my gloves, hat and extra scarf. i'm one who is not comfortable listing my agenda on my mobile phone because i even barely use my mobile phone. i think i've used it to take discreet pictures more often than making calls or sending sms.
good thing for my to-do lists, i've stumbled across this recyclable personal organizer, the PocketMod, which you can personalize and print for free! you will only need one sheet of paper, your computer and your printer, and voila! a quick answer to my need!
you can make it a book with several features in one - shopping list, address book, conversion table, calendar for the day/week/month/year/whatever, morse code, 13 virtues of benjamin franklin, a page of grids, or lines, or music staff sheet, a food diary, even a page of soduko and tic tac toe! cool eh?! you would only need to print it on one page, so you can recycle unwanted office papers as long as they're blank at the back.
so, what're you waiting for? go now and make your own, and stash it on your purse! as for me, i've had my all-important conversions table and 2009 calendar plus a checklist of benjamin franklin's 13 virtues stashed in my messenger bag's pocket. let me know what ideas you can come up with your new pocketmod!
this is not a paid ad by the way. i just loooovvvveee it.
i got a new toy as a christmas-and-advance-birthday-present-in-one from my husband. i was soooo thrilled with it that i've been busy whipping this and that since we bought it in january.
this was one of my first projects, as i tried to get the feel and rhythm of working with the new machine. presenting my crochet hook holder in all its wonky glory!
i made the cover from a thick canvas fabric which i scored from a charity shop. i love felt and i love hearts, so i can't resist sewing on my trademark heartie.
i folded the bottom part to make a little pocket, and it can hold spare needles for my machine.
this is the page that holds my crochet hooks. the set of hooks by the way i got from jen through caryn's creative swap. they're from the susan bates line, and they're in lovely metallic colors. on the other side is a pocket holding my yarn needles. J, the girl with a curl, made something like this last year for her swap partner jen - the same jen the needle queen who gave me my crochet hooks! what a happy twist! ^-^
there's also a little pocket in the back cover and can fit in several button cards as well as a card of embroidery floss. i bought this check/polka dot linen fabric online from an etsy seller, matatabi. she sells japanese fabric goodness that are just soooo good to resist.
the book measures 8" x 7", with a big button and a loop to close. really useful to organize my crafting tools and sewing notions! i might whip up something like this for my shop too, by next month or so.
these birthday notecards are simple, light, no-frills, and yet sweet enough to inspire writing on warm thoughts and wishes.
keep a set of these cards to send your birthday greetings to friends and family. you can doodle in front of the card, and even on its blank back, there won't be rules to limit you.
keep a set of cards to send quick notes to friends, to cheer up a colleague, or even just to surprise your own mother. you can doodle in front of the card, and even on its blank back, there won't be rules to limit you.
on these sets :: ~ 4 hello notecards with a variation in flower designs and pastel colors (see pictures) ~ 4 handmade envelopes made from thick, brown linen sheet with scalloped flap edge ~ notecards measure approximately 5" x 4" with rounded corners ~ printed on off-white matte cardstock
i always pass by this big tree in the woods close to my home. i think it looks really grand and regal even without its leaves, so one wintry day, i took off my gloves from my freezing hands and snapped this photograph to pay tribute to my favorite leafless tree.
~ write a postcard to send to your friends who love trees and nature ~ enclose it as an add-on surprise with your letters ~ pin it on your inspiration board
* postcard-size, 4.25" x 5.5" * grayscale print at the back * glossy print in front, matte at the back
* quote from kahlil gibran printed in front: Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness.
this bookmark will make a sweet present to someone you love, or even for yourself!
i love to sew by hand, and it's a diversion every time i feel burned out, frustrated or nervous. something about the slow pace of hand sewing that i find comforting, bringing me a sense of peace and calm. i've made lots of these bookmarks already, and most i've sent for friends' bedside books.
this handsewn bookmark :: ~15" long from both ends ~12" polyester ribbon with pink running stitch in the middle length ~felt heart is 1.5" wide and 1.25" long from bottom tip to peak ~felt flower with red button on rectangular red and pink felt, sewn back to back and measures 1.2" wide and 1.5" long
on top of my personal littlemsfirefly blog, this new blog is for my crafting projects, shop updates and all topics relating to arts and crafts - the subject i am most passionate about. feel free to contact me by leaving a comment here, or through my contact form on top of my header. i'd love to hear from you!
in a short while, i'm hitting the 30s and in a way, i feel sad saying goodbye to my twentysomething years. to mark the new milestone, here are 30 boring facts i'm not sure you might want to know about me...
my middle name is valentine
because i was born one sweet february night.
that day would remain my favorite time of the year to this moment.
i'm married to my soulmate, the love of my life, and everyday with him has always been better than the last...cliche that may sound, but oh so true!!!
i started sewing when i was in grade school, my doll's dresses made from my old clothes
my favorite subject then was home economics, all because of the sewing lessons
except for my mad sewing knack, i'd grow up the undomestic diva and failed all the meals i attempted to cook at home, leading to my being banned in the culinary department
my brothers were excellent in the kitchen, and as i thrived with their cooking, i also had to endure all their favorite movies. everything bloody and violent excited them, and not until i was in college, did i know that there are moviestars other than bruce lee, jean claude van damme, charles bronson, arnold schwarzenegger, and steven seagal.
i think it's a wonder i grew up a normal person, after all the violence i've seen and cringed at, and despite the ordeal i went through, i still love my brothers to bits.
i moved out of our house when i was 21, to work in the big city about a thousand mile away from home.
after two years, i had enough of the big city life, and decided to move back to my little hometown, where life was simpler, quieter, cheaper, and where family and friends are at my beck and call.
the last five years i had a busy and stressful banking job, which became a trial by fire, i consider it the most formative years of my adult life.
being a grown-up doesn't mean i've put away the little child in me. i am at peace with her, settled our issues together, and we have kept in touch every now and then.
a thought, a smell, a song, some random thing on the road can bring distinct memories of my past. strangely, the mind only remembers the good things vividly, tugging at the heart, and eventually at the corners of my mouth to bring about a little smile.
my husband and i knew each other since 1996. we lost touch for a few years, and in 2004, we crossed paths again. in 2005, he visited me in the philippines and met my family. in 2006, i visited him in holland and met his family.
before the end of 2006, he gave up his flat in amsterdam and moved to ireland for a much easier immigration route for me.
on 19 november 2007, we got married in general santos city in a small ceremony with our family and friends.
i arrived in ireland one cold, wet and windy (should-be) summer day of july 2008.
despite the gloomy weather, only feelings of gratefulness and happiness filled my entire being, from the tips of my frizzy hair to my cold toes.
we now make our home in a quiet town in the west dublin, so quiet in fact that some people have moved out.
with the help of my friends, i am slowly breaking off the mold of the undomestic diva. i can cook a mean dutch or irish meal for my husband now.
i am unemployed, and my main occupation at the moment is keeping myself and the husband healthy and happy.
when he's off to work, i sew, and craft and read blogs. when he's home, we cuddle in the couch and watch dvds. we are anti-socials and seldom go out. when we do, mostly we're riding our bicycles.
i call him kj (read: ka-yiy, from the dutch alphabet), and he has a thing over news reports. in the morning before he's off to work, we watch bbc breakfast. at six in the evening, we watch the irish news with rte. at dinnertime, we watch the dutch news with the nos journaal. i've never had this current events overload ever.
i miss my parents very much. i love them and i'm proud of them. my mom is an intelligent, practical, no non-sense woman, a workaholic who can type probably a hundred words per minute while chatting on the phone but who would drop everything she's doing at my first call of h-e-l-p. my dad is a free-spirit who taught us to see the humour of every situation, to learn to laugh at silly things, to see and understand in a child's perspective, to express ourselves through art. my mom can wipe away pain and tears in a tight hug. my dad can build a playhouse with his toolbox and woodscraps.
my mother-in-law plays the drums in a band in a little town in north holland. she edits some books written in her language. she studied to speak german and english. she skates, plays badminton, cycles, and walks in the woods for hours every week. she watches her diet and she's more than 70. my husband loves her very much, and i do too.
i dream. i've always believed in my dreams too.
ik spreek een kleine beetje nederlands.
without crafting, my life would be a total bore. i need to knit, sew, craft, doodle as they're the food of my soul. i love handmade things.
i have made wonderful friends online. they've made my life happier, sweeter and more meaningful than it already is. i am grateful from the bottom of my little red heart.
i made her a tote bag from a thick canvas fabric + cotton and linen fabric with a beautiful print of hydrangeas. this is my first tote with my new machine, and i'm pretty pleased with it! it measures 11.5" x 15.5" and the handle is 21.5" long.
i'm also sending her a pack of handmade paper goodies from my shop.
