let there be light*

(*ang corny ng title, i know!)

since i ended 2012 as a domestic diva (with the help of my amazing cleaning lady), i've been trying to keep my house in tiptop shape despite marathon cooking sessions, purging sprees, and my short stint as a vegetable dealer. so far, i've been pretty for the first four days of the new year, and, as a way of embracing my inner martha, i told myself i was going to spend the first saturday of the year doing errands.

well, not real errands, but you know, the let's-pretend-i'm-domesticated-but-all-i-really-want-to-do-is-shop-so-i-will-look-for-house-stuff kind of errands. and thanks to KR, i chanced upon these:

{lamp number one}

{lamp number two}

for quite some time now, i had my heart set on this lamp with a glass base from SM, but since i divorced henry sy, i've avoided my ex-favorite mall like the plague. and, while it was on my christmas wish list, my friend wisely picked the ottoman + 2-gallon drink container, both of which are getting way more mileage than what i would've gotten from the lamp.

i guess i ought to blame that lunch we had at a co-worker's beautiful condo unit.

{photo collage from @dred_fabian's instagram feed}

the hour and a half we spent there was so inspiring that it jolted me once more back into martha stewart territory. it began with me and my boss running over to get the last two pieces of the louis ghost chair (and bringing it back to the office, walking through a very crowded mall + walkway) that same afternoon. and then today, i totally junked my puny (they were too tiny for the place) lamps and replaced them with these beauties.

there was way too much eye candy from today's trip, and my credit card thanks me that i exhibited fiscal restraint when i decided not to buy some of the other stuff that were on my cart as well. i guess it's a good thing that i'm saving up for two major items (not to mention a trip this month!), otherwise, i would've come home with more than two gorgeous lamps - i had my eyes (and heart!) set on a number of candle holders, this gorgeous artichoke vase, polka dot plates, and several serving dishes.

so not a good idea, right? especially after i had just purged a whole lot of stuff from my kitchen!

i AM going to go back ... after putting up the lamps and re-organizing some parts of my home (again!) i realized that i do need some of the stuff i saw over there. or maybe not. but then again, i am a girl who really loves to shop. sometimes, i don't really need a reason except that i want to. ☺

a crafty christmas

{look, ma! i made this!}

considering that i was the girl who would've flunked high school had it not been for her mom's inner craftiness (my mom "re-did" all my projects when i was asleep!) i'm surprising myself with all the DIY that's been coming out of me lately. i could blame the internet - pinterest most of all - for making me desire to spend my days just wielding my glue gun and putting things together. i, the girl whose sole job used to be to cut tape while my mom wrapped gifts, now has a ginormous box of craft supplies.

as one lawyer at work put it, maybe i had just missed my calling.

but all the teasing aside, i actually do enjoy making things with my hands and have channeled all the mommy hormones that usually come out at this age crafting things that i never imagined. so when i saw this on apartment therapy, i knew a trip to divisoria was in order to i can get the necessary supplies at a reasonable cost.

of course, going to divi in the middle of december is nothing short of crazy - most of the stores which had tons and tons of christmas balls last november had sold out already, and the balls that i did manage to find had very few colors to choose from. i was quite ready to give up and just make a multi-colored wreath until i unearthed a huge stash of light pink balls and a couple of silver ones in the same size. three boxes of small hot pink balls later, i was in business. my christmas ball wreath was so going to be made!

when i got home, it dawned upon me that my wreath was too big and my balls too few (i blame future sister in law for preventing me from getting more balls - as all the internet tutorials had warned, the problem always is thinking you have too much only to realize you have too few!) so i had to visit bazillions of national bookstore branches to find a styro wreath form (out of stock everywhere!!!) until i settled on a flat round styro from SM which i later fashioned into a wreath form. while watching some show i can't remember now, i glued and glued and glued balls until i finally completed my wreath. it was a bit lopsided at first but i think it's less noticeable now. and as you can very well see from the pic, it's gracing my front door, a way of telling my neighbors that while i may not be the world's best gardener (i have a black thumb and i refuse to spend time outside, hahaha!), i do make amazing christmas wreaths. 

i did wonder if it was going to hold up - i keep having visions of waking up one morning with pink and silver balls all over my entryway - but so far, it's been up for several days with no balls falling off or the wreath getting distorted. i've been sooooo proud of my handiwork that i've sent pictures of it to family and friends, with the full expectation that they're going to oooh and aaaahhhh over it (i haven't been disappointed yet - i guess everyone around me is polite!). and yes, because i'm makapal like that, i've offered to make similar wreaths for people in the future. 

now if only i can make it to divi and buy an even bigger stash of christmas balls....

it's easy to refuse a visit from the ex when you've got a project brewing

last saturday, i was finally able to set-up my pinterest account. and together with pinning away, i loved looking at other people's boards and getting more inspiration from them.

one of the boards i love - understandably - belongs to sherry of younghouselove. as i was going over her boards, i saw this:

{inspiration downloaded from here}

now, while i dabble in crafts here and there, i'm not exactly the type of person who'd create art (or some permutation thereof) to fill in a blank wall. i am comfortable with blank walls. blanks walls aren't scary. but then i saw this and was just inspired to fill the wall facing my bed with giant letters spelling out a lovely quote (and reminder to myself ☺). since we had just made lovely glitter letters spelling out my boss' name for a contest (see glitter letters here), i figured, i'd make this out of glitter letters.

since i couldn't get the image out of my mind, i made the pic my desktop wallpaper. but, as i looked at the picture more, i realized that the beauty of it came from the variety of papers used + the lack of uniformity and perfection, so i started gathering my supplies and started working on my own sign.

{leftover scrapbooking stuff. i don't scrapbook, but i love the supplies}

i didn't mind that it was nearing midnight already. i figured, if this thing didn't work out i would have (1) lost my scrapbooking supplies and (2) i'd have an excuse to buy glitters + cardboard + glue when i go out sunday and start all over again.

since i'd at least need a "guide" to determine the size of the letters, i cut out a famous amos box i had lying around and made a rectangle. my letters should more or less be this size.

it wasn't long before i got really busy. at some point, i realized the overhead light wasn't enough so i got a lamp to further illuminate my working space (a.k.a. my dining table)

{love that pair of scissors}

the first couple of letters were complicated ... not shape-wise (especially since the printed circle was the last piece of a notecard set that i particularly loved. the project was a nice way of "immortalizing" the notecard set.) but more like since i was getting the hang of working with letters again. prior to working on the glitter letters for my boss, the last time i made letters was way back in college when i was studying to become an elementary school teacher.

{first four letters, two of which i scrapped in the end}

an hour (or more ... much more -- i had lost track of time already) later, i had all the letters i needed. yards and yards of curling ribbon + stringing the letters in the proper order + fighting tired eyes, i had this:

{my version}

i had actually pulled it off. for some reason, the version i saw online still makes my heart flutter more (but i do love the fact i was able to do something close to it at least) but i figured, i could have the sign up for as long as i want, and i could take it down anytime without feeling bad since this was virtually zero investment on my part as i had in store everything i needed for the project.

and about that title, well, here's a little side story:

my ex lives a block away from my house but miraculously, we don't really bump into each other at all. while he'd call once in a while, i eventually changed all of my numbers so there was a year or so where he had zero ways of contacting me. one day, about a month an a half ago, i saw him as i was on my way home and he dropped by the house. he'd text every so often to ask if he could come over, and i'd say yes -- for reasons i don't even understand. all he'd do would be to (1) ask if i had food; (2) steal my mint chocolates; and (3) sleep on my couch. an hour or so later, he'd wake up, say goodbye, and i won't hear from him at all until the next time he feels like repeating the cycle. last night, he asked if he could come over. i was so engrossed in this project that i pretended that i told him i was about to sleep so he can't come over anymore.

hmmm... maybe the best way to rid myself of the impulse yes is to make more crafts?

while bebeng was raging outside my window ...

considering that (1) i was crazy tired from the previous day's outing and (2) there was a storm raging outside, my best option would've been to stay beneath the blankets and devour the pile of books on my bedside table.

but maybe cause i was sick and tired of losing my place on my book, and maybe cause i had these leather strips i bought from national bookstore that i don't know what to do with, i came up with the *brilliant* (if i may say so myself) of creating bookmarks.

{prepped and packaged to be given as gifts to friends}

a bit of a backstory --

a couple of christmasses ago, i fell in love with these charm bracelets from rustan's. i can't remember what exactly it is they're called but each bracelet had a theme and the charms all related to that theme. being the wonderful friend that he is, the martian got me two: the "i wish i had more shoes" and the "i wish i had more bags". fast forward to a couple of months ago when i was cleaning up - it could be the heat, or the fact that they bracelets weren't exactly new anymore, but the elastic that was holding the various elements of the bracelet gave, and then all the charms, links, and what-nots were all over the place. i gathered them in a box, not really knowing what to do with them, and whether i would actually do anything with them at all, and figured that one day, i'll deal with them.

call it divine inspiration, but that rainy sunday morning, i figured out what to do with the loose charms and the leather strips from national bookstore:

bookmarks.

{this slipper charm happens to be my favorite of the bunch,

so this stays with me}

i'd like to think they're better than the usual strips of cardboard one slips in between the pages, and waaaaaaaaaaaay better than the bus tickets i use to mark my place most of the time these days. plus, i'd like to think that the fact i had repurposed my beloved charm bracelet into something not only useful but very pretty is a big deal, at least for me. of course, i may just be biased -- much the same way i'm biased with my cooking, and i'm biased with my taste in stuff.

but if you agree, it wouldn't hurt if you could boost my ego and leave a comment below ☺

edit: good thing i took a pic of the slipper charm ... i lost it on my way to work this morning. sadness.

watch your back, martha, i'm out to get you.

not. hahaha.

but seriously, yesterday's demand to finish a VA decision draft and a pleading due tomorrow notwithstanding, i still managed to sneak a thirty-minute trip to ace hardware and the home section of SM department store to get stuff for my house. and, a little more than P500 pesos later, i came out of the mall (with the guards almost forcing me to leave) triumphant and ready to attack my home improvement tasks once more.

see, i got so many good things for my P500:

• extra toilet seat cover (for less than P60) in case the new one gets dirty and ugly
• two small pillows (for P79.75 each) for the two wonderful chairs from my kiddie sala set (my version of vintage, mwahaha)
• kitchen wall clock (for P129.75) because not only are the number of the old wall clock not visible, it was also not working anymore
• extra universal adaptor (for P40, on sale), cause you never know when you'll need one, and i've learned to hate transferring from one appliance to another
• 3M commando (for P169.75) for those wayward plugs and cords, and to make sure that the lamp's switch isn't somewhere where i can't find it
• replacement feet for the ironing board (for P29.75)

am i just finding yet another reason to spend? i don't think so. i guess after my mom's visit (where i saw the house through another person's eyes) coupled with numerous home improvement blogs that i've been reading has woken up my sleeping (or was it more like dead) Martha genes and has converted me into this person who has found a revived passion for her home.

now, i do understand that buying a couple of rubber feet for the ironing board and finding a way to manage the cords at home does not make me a martha. but, come on, don't you think that the fact that i've found lovely spots for my crafts basket (oh yes, i have one!) and the fact that i've invited people over for dinner the other week without pressure from them (which is usually the case, hahaha) means only one thing: that i've gone a long, long way from the girl who has instructed her friends not to enter her home at all.

good job, martha, este, rosa.

i am looking forward to yet another trip to dapitan arcade where, unlike the previous trip, i have a working list of stuff i'll need for the revamped home. i'm also keeping my fingers crossed that one day, my brother will empty out the room he previously occupied so i can make use of it, but that's going to be next to impossible (the secret, rosa, the secret!!!) still, it doesn't matter. i've so many tiny (and cool) projects in my head that by the time i can afford a bathroom re-tiling, a house re-painting, a kisame repair, and re-piping, i'd be ready for visitors to drop by the house on any given day, my mother included.