The Tale of Two Wedding Receptions

I'm not talking about the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. This wedding I'm going to talk about happened the day before the Royal Wedding. Read on... 

Since the day Benjo and I got back from our pilgrimage, I haven't completely adjusted to my normal schedule, haven't caught up with the laundry, barely even touched any of my business  and crafting backlogs and... I haven't lost any of the fats I gained after 13 days of eating pasta and drinking wine everyday. I was so frustrated and overwhelmed that I mindlessly just survived each minute taking care of the boys, the home, the life ... never ending chores, parent-teacher meeting, case conferences, and eating some more! Haiyooo!

I was at that emotional and mental state when Cathy my friend, asked me to make some wedding giveaways for our friend Evev and Tito who were to be married in two days! Are you kidding me? Two days ah? I said NO. Partly because I was really not in a good shape and partly because I really didn't have time.  But we all know that even in an hour, if I really wanted to do it, I could just drop surfing my instagram and do it right. hahaha.  That's the advantage if you are that gut-level with a friend. You can say no trusting that they'll understand. And she did. But then I felt guilty afterwards. hihi. 

The next day. Cathy was still very busy with the wedding details. Cakes. Giveaways. She was very active in our group chat following up with the bride about everything. And managed to settle things smoothly with very little help from the self-absorbed, fat, hormonic me. lol.  And then we found out that the cakes and the giveaways were not really needed because THERE IS A CAKE. and THERE ARE GIVEAWAYS..... ALREADY! Hmmmn... what to do with double everything?

I felt for Cathy... I admired her enthusiasm,  touched by the love she has for our friend  and somehow found myself feeling the normal feelings of a true friend ... So I rolled up my sleeves, forgot about the less than 24 hrs timetable,  and proposed a DOUBLE CELEBRATION! The original reception hosted by the organizers and another one which would be a SURPRISE for the bride!










We witnessed a simple, lovely wedding and fantastic  reception  with three other couples and their families and friends which we enjoyed so much ... and then we had an after party at my place. Cathy and I had to prepare all these before we go to the wedding venue. We couldn't have done any of these without our dear husbands' support.


I only had 2 dessert plates so I had to run to the nearest mall to buy four more and buy whatever fresh flowers were available. Happy with what I found!


By the time I was setting this up, I had no idea what food we were gonna serve. I just wanted everything to be pretty and wedding-ish :)


I had to rely on what's in my stash and nothing could make me dance for joy at that moment than finding this gold crepe paper!  And of course, that was a perfect time to bring out those coordinating throw pillows --- one of which I just saw while buying the plates, can you believe I even had time for that?


...simple calligraphy using gold Pentel brush pen




... remember I said no to make the giveaways? I think God made me say no (justify pa more hahaha!) because Cathy found these online and they are adorable! She packed some sweet treats inside and assembled each and every box by hand.




The cake.  Cathy ordered a plain white cake in fondant and I decorated it with fresh flowers. First time to do this, I had to search "how to..." from pinterest :D





... to finish the whole set up, I added our personal gifts for the couple. I hope they like it.



 This is us. Having a mini fine dining over moscato and --- since we didn't have time to cook --- FOOD PANDA! hahaha! It was such a cute party I must say. We started by playing the video montage Cathy made, a prayer and then we didn't plan what to do next but it sure was fun! If you don't zoom in to what we were eating, you wouldn't really know those were onion rings, chicken wings and potato wedges. hahhaha.






You know what they say, "What you do in love is done well"? It's true. I feel that we did well. Look at those smiles! Cheers Tito and Evev! We are very very happy you said "I DO" again. This time in front of God and the church. Love you guys! Bless the Lord for this day! Bless the Lord always!

To Cathy, success Mare! I'm glad I got the chance to turn things around after I said no to you at first. Mwah! Fist bump! Haha! 

Charades

This handmade gift I made for my friend, Anna, is inspired of that time when we had lunch at their place a few days after Christmas, her family and mine played CHARADES and laughed and shouted like there was no tomorrow. It's such a happy memory that both our families will never forget, for sure. 

So now that they are going back to the US for good, I wanted to give her something to remind her of our friendship... something the family can play with. And when they do, they will remember us. 

These are boxes are made using my Sizzix Bigshot machine and the Sizzix Mini Recipe Box & Cards Thinlits Die Set by Where Women Cook. 

Each box contains the family's favorite food, movies or memorable family events. (I asked Anna to give me a list of these things, and she trusts me enough to give the list to me without asking why. Only a true friend would do that.) I would then write all things on the mini cards and keep them in the cards accordingly. Here's how I made this Charades boxes... 

I usually start by deciding on which paper to use. I love this Poolside Paper collection from Crate Paper for its happy & cool theme. So I made my Sizzix sandwich that's made of Sizzix magnetic Platform + Sizzix standard cutting pad +paper + thinlits box die facing down + cutting pad. I then rolled the sandwich trough the machine to have these box die-cuts, scored and ready to be folded and assembled. 

Here are the boxes.. ready to be made and embellished! 

This thinlits die set comes with a decorative die which you can use to embellish the box. I die-cut 3 pieces of the patterned paper and anothe 3 pieces in yellow as a mat, using the same steps I mentioned above when I cut the box. 

Next, I adhered the accents to the boxes and added the Prima crystals. And now, to label the boxes, I picked a sticker sheet from October Afternoon. To make sure that the alphas are centered, I first stick it to a clear ruler ...

... and then transfer it to where it should be. I just saw this trick from the internet years ago and it has always been so useful!

Now that the boxes are ready, I can write the items on the cards! 

Charades game, prettified, is ready! :) 

Supplies: 

Sizzix Bigshot machine

Sizzix Mini Recipe Box & Cards 

paper - Crate Paper, Poolside

crystals - Prima

Christmas Tea Party | Sizzix

Head over to Sizzix Blog for my post about this Christmas Tea Party I hosted for former colleagues. I made some cute details using dies from Where Women Cook line. 

When I was working at Made With Love, I would often be too engrossed with designing in the workshop that I didn't really had long conversations with most of these pretty young girls (take note: young! they are like half my age! gosh!) but lately, I had the chance to get to know them more when they invited me to join and sponsor their monthly scrapbooking challenge! 

It was nice having you at my happy place Mabel, Amira, Yolanda, Shiying,  Jeanny, Kwee Mei! Rene hope you will be able to join next time :)

More moments and details in the photos below. Get your magnifying glass to be able to see. Lol!

Up next: WEDDING! See you! =)

HUGS

I just turned 39 yesterday and although it's a new day now,  I still feel the birthday vibe and these cards I made for Robin's Nest speak volumes of how I want to do right this moment..  I want to give everyone  some BIG BIG HUGS! *A special warm hug for my youngest sis who needs it very much right now*

Check out my DT post today at Robin's Nest blog where I shared how I came up with these minimalist greeting cards. 

And here's sharing with you a peek at my unplanned but super duper happy birthday yesterday ... 

Balloons were my boys' surprise for me... puddings in cups were brought by a friend, Mona who came over to greet me (true friends come even if you don't invite them! haha! Luv u Mon! I'm really touched and I'm very grateful for our friendship!), cake was not part of the plan but Miguel never stopped asking me to make one, so. 

I wished for nothing. Well not really nothing. I just wanted a carefree day with my boys in clean and good smelling house,  Skype with family, a peaceful heart and deeper faith. I got it all and more! Wait. Our house wasn't that clean lol! A house will never be that squeaky clean when you have two growing rascals I guess. 

Highlights of my day (and the days before too!) for memory keeping... 

• delicious homemade chorizo breakfast 
• Skype with in-laws
• Skype with parents
• chats with siblings 
• nephew Abe's drawing for me
• my boys' surprise balloons and birthday poster complete with "lights off" effects haha! Thanks Mae!
• hubby dear's prank (in fairness! i like it BB hehehe)
• Sister's honoring (sniff. gotta read it when I feel so useless and down)
• Father's testimony (surprised... a lot of revelations on how he felt when I was a growing young adult hehehe)
• JJ's surprise gift :)
• keeping in touch with friends I have missed a lot
• a time spent with a great friend Mona (and Leila too!) thanks for bringing the yummy cuppies and the candles! 
• bike trip with kids, planned by Miguel, that was cut short due to thunder and lightning LOL! 
• rosary with BB 

Thank you my Father in Heaven for my life.  Thank you Papang and Mamang. My family, friends and community. It was one of my best birthdays ever. And because I believe that everyday should be treated as birthday, with His grace, I intend to make each of my days  just like that. Stress-free, less complicated, but with meaning. Is it possible? It depends if I keep myself guarded with the temptations and chaos of this world. It's a daily battle that I can only win with Him by my side :) 

Project Life - Week 19 & 20

Slowly... 

But surely doing it and I have no plans of stopping :) I'm just frustrated with how to take nice and crisp photos of my projects (that's the one thing discouraging me from blogging, to be honest. I badly need to know how to take and edit photos!) Anyway, that's my week 19 & 20! I don't wanna apologise for being late. Because I want to believe, in projec-lifing, there is no deadline. Ha!

... close ups of my very favorite things! Crafting & being with crafty friends. #blessed. 

See you again soon... probably with my 21st week :)

Eat Play Love. Cafe.

Have you heard of Eat Play Love Cafe? It's a new craft cafe along Aliwal St. that I and my scrappy friends checked out. I love it there! The place is so cozy, full of cute and fun stuff to play with, food is good and affordable. Thanks to Nur, Rui and Aida for tagging me along that day!

Eating my waffle felt like I was in my grandma's kitchen. I ate on this exact plate when I was a kid. Oh I miss my Lola.

And this cup? We had this at home back in college (where is it now by the way? I better ask my mother!) Was it just me or this really has the powers to make water taste better? lol. 

Some other cool stuff that caught my fancy...

Rui enjoying her milk tea & deciding whether she'll shrink some plastics or adopt a monster  haha! ...

The cafe's main attraction aren't those vintage and cute stuff I found but this... 

A craft area for kids and adults! How fun is that. You only pay $5.00 for two hours of unlimited arts and crafts fun using the supplies in this area. I must bring the boys here soon!

And the fun (and photo taking) continues...

It was such a perfect place to get in touch with my Made With Love ex-colleagues whom I haven't seen  since my last day of work. That meeting ignited our scrappy mojo so we decided to meet again (and hopefully scrap together) soon... yay!