Dora's 'Backpack' Envelopes

When my daughter celebrated her first birthday, we gave her a Dora-themed party. I made the invitations myself and shared it here last November. I received a lot of requests for Backpack's face template (that I asked my brother, a graphics artist, to vector and clean up for me) that I used and I have shared that template with everyone who asked. To make it easier, the template is now posted on my blog entry for easy access by anyone who needs it. 

Last Friday, I received a very sweet email from Nessa, one of the ladies who asked me for the template a couple of months ago. She used the template to make invitations for her daughter's first birthday too and shared her photos with me. Isn't that sweet?

Aside from the invites, Nessa DIY-ed other party elements too. Can you ladies say 'labor of love?' 

It totally made my day when I got her email. I love seeing projects inspired by something I posted here. It makes all the hours put into coming up with the concept and tutorial totally worth it when I know someone else aside from me gained from it :) So if you made something inspired by any of my tutorials, please feel free to share them with me. I would love to hear from you!

And thanks again Nessa, for sharing your pictures with me.

Cocktail Glass Candle Holders

You know those tall and elegant wood candle sticks that people always use for upcycling projects? I have always wanted one. Thing is, I don't know where to find them. I know there is a street in Manila where you can good antiques but I haven't had a chance to go yet. But I had an urgent need to redecorate (you will see why later) so I decided to improvise for now.

 I bought some cheap cocktail glasses:

The small ones are P30 ($0.70) and the bigger ones are P44 ($1)

Turn the bigger ones upside down and then glue the smaller ones on top and you get these:

Still not the candlesticks I wanted, but they will do. Add some vase fillers and small white candles and...

I have 2 beautiful decorative candles for less than P200 ($4)!

Now, let's go back to my urgent need to decorate. You see, the corner work area in our living room I prepared more than a year ago...

...has turned into this:

corner eyesore.

Notice those 2 white bottles? Those are the vodka bottles I posted last week. I already finished spray painting them white... but they are still a work in progress (as soon as I figure out what else to do with them). The 2 speakers are part of our home theater system, and the rest are Andrea's toys and other stuff around our house that found their way there. And can you find the laptop in all that mess? Right... it's right there under the table, on the chair.

To start, I cleared all the junk out of the table. Except for the speakers. My husband told me they have to stay there *sigh*. I took a cream lacy table runner (again, from my grandmother), a big white vase that my mother-in-law bought years ago, and my candle holders... put it all together and...

Better.

And if you're wondering about the work area concept? Well... this is really silly but I later found out that I can't get a good broadband signal from this corner of our house so turning this into a work area didn't really work.

I am linking up to the following link parties: (yey, link parties, I'm back!!)

Made by You Monday at Skip to My Lou | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | Around Tuit at Creating My Way To Success | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Craft-O-Maniac Monday at Craft-O-Maniac | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple | Inspire Me Mondays at Singing Three Little Birds | The DIY Showoff | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. | A Marvelous Mess at Marvelously Messy |  Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings | Tutorial Tuesday at Hope Studios | Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | Tuesday Party at Running with Glitter | Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts | Show Me What Ya Got at Not JUST a Housewife | We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado | Sugar & Spice at Seven Thirty Three | Show & Tell at Blue Cricket Design | Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Will See It Wednesday at Fabric Bows and More | Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts | Hoo's Got Talent at Night Owl Crafting | Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple | Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks | Thrilling Thursdays at Paisley Passions | A Crafty Soiree at Katie's Nesting Spot | Catch a Glimpse at A Glimpse Inside | Commercial Break Thursday at Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom | Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge | Finished on the 15th at FaveCrafts |

Turquoise Love

Hello again! After my 2-week hiatus, I finally had time to finish a couple of projects which I will be sharing with you this week. But before that... I want to share this...

It's been a long time since I did my nails. But last week, I found a bottle of nail polish in pretty turquoise at a bazaar and I liked it so much I decided to shirk a few chores last weekend to find time to do my nails. I did my toe nails too.

Uhm... Please don't look too closely... I did this myself so it's not perfect ;)

The color goes so well with these turquoise earrings which I got for only P20 (less than $0.50).

And the Anthro-Inspired Trimmed Necklace that I made a few months ago.

And since I'm loving turquoise today... here's a preview of another bird's nest necklace I made with 3 turquoise eggs for a friend.

I hope you all had a great weekend! I'll be sharing one of my new projects with you tomorrow!