Is it too much to ask for a cool and unique camera case?

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That’s my boring camera case. I know! What’s with the flying hearts? I’m sorry to disappoint you guys but that’s my camera case alright! I got that from Best Buy about three years ago.

I carry a point-and-shoot camera wherever I go and I’ve been wanting to have a new case since the one I got is utterly horrendous, haha!

I stumbled upon these unique camera cases by Hine and they’re utterly adorable!

I just had to make them. Sorry guys but I don’t have a step-by-step tutorial as this is my  first try and it’s not perfect. But that’s the beauty of handmade stuff. Every single item is unique, with its missed stitches and all :)

However, I”ll show you a few pictures that I took and hopefully you could figure out how to put them together.

You will need:

  • 12 ” x 2 3/4 ” felt and another one exactly the same size but of different color for the lining (this measurement is just right for my Canon)
  • for the sides, 2 pieces of 4″ x 1 ” felt fabric
  • buttons
  • needle and thread
  • scraps of felt

You will need two of these for both sides of the case. Attach the buttons.

You will also need some circle felt fabrics. Make running stitches to attach them together.

I attached the felt circles first, then the small rectangles. I used running stitches for these.

I just stitched them all using a blanket stitch. Aren’t those buttons just perfect?

I used a button and a cord to close instead of a velcro.

My point-and-shoot Canon camera now has the coolest CAMERA case!

Now, is it too much to ask for a cool and unique camera case or what?

Statement Boutonnieres

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I’ve been thinking about some new ideas to work on for the wedding site. I do that when I’m not doing anything or just completely bored. My husband always reminds me that I have this “analysis paralysis” thing going on with me. He may be right. Some days you see just tinkering with my bead stash or felt. Most days though I seem to be stuck in an idea..Seems like everything’s all up in the air for me. That’s how it feels, haha!

This afternoon, I got pretty bored and crafty!

I noticed that the weddings are always about the bride and the groom is always stuck with the boring tux, barong tagalog for Filipinos or a suit. Then there’s the usual fresh flower boutonniere. Just that!

I thought I’d make something for the groom: Statement Boutonnieres! (I just made that up :) ) Something that would be personalized and fun, not boring.

Only for the grooms with a sense of style and individuality

The one pictured above are for those who are pretty good with the guitar. This is a miniature guitar and I added some felt flowers.

This one is made of puso (hanging rice) that is distinctly Cebuano. I just found this really cute colored puso and added some felt flowers.

These are a couple of the boutonnieres I made today. They are about an inch wide and just barely 2 inches in length. They’re so tiny and so cute!

If you are getting married, I suggest you try your hand at making personalized, statement boutonnieres. After all, you are marrying  a man with style, right?

P.S. Please do visit my facebook page Marryl & Lauren  for personalized wedding cords, boutonnieres, hair accesories and more.

Of Ice Candy and Childhod Memories

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Note: This post is for my brothers in the US. I sent you the plastic bags. It’s time for you to make some ice candy! For my Mama, thank you for making the best ice candies! Advance Happy Mother’s Day, Ma!

I’m sorry if I’ve been slacking with my posts and I haven’t said hello to all of you for I think over a week now. Don’t worry, everything’s pretty good in this side of the world. In fact, I had the best week with my brother, Gierad, who came home from Michigan, for just a week :) It was a busy week, alright! Yes, he was in a hurry to go back to the US to participate and compete in the CHI 2012 at Austin, Texas this Saturday, May 5-10, 2012. CHI 2012 is the premier international conference of experts on Computer-Human Interaction. If you want to be amazed at what he does, click on his website here. Have fun in Austin, Rad!

The last time I saw him or the whole family was back in October of 2010. I still remember it was his birthday and the family’s house-warming. Wow, that’s almost two years ago! I think a visit to my family in the US is due pretty soon, eh?

Being with my brother even for just a week brought back memories of childhood. When we think about childhood, Filipinos can’t help but think about summer days and ice candies.

Ice candy is a favorite summer treat for Filipinos. As the name suggests, ice candy is sweet frozen juice or mixture poured into a thin, small plastic bag. When ready, you bite off either end of the plastic and nibble on the sweet ice. Every so often I turn it upside down and drink the melted ice candy. You will know when you had your fill when your teeth start to hurt.

I remember Mama making ice candy when I was little. She usually had mangoes and milk to flavor the ice candy. There was also Milo and peanuts that was another favorite in the neighborhood. Either my mama would make them for us or we would ask for some coins or, if we get lucky, find coins around the house and buy from our neighbors. You would know if a neighbor is selling ice candy: they will have a handwritten sign in front of the house  that says “Ice Candy for Sale”.

And because I am working on creating happy childhood memories for my four-year-old daughter I thought It’d be fun if we make ice candy together. Making it is really simple, no recipe required but you do need two things: a 1 3/4″ bag and a funnel. I’m not sure if you could find this thin plastic bag in your area though.

Mango Ice Candy

You will need:

  • 1 ripe mango, sliced into small cubes
  • evaporated milk/full cream milk (depending on how creamy you want it)
  • sugar to taste
  • 2 tbsps mango juice (powder) If you’re in the Philippines, see if you can find the Oishi brand
  • 1 1/2 cups of water

Just combine the mangoes and the milk in a bowl.

If you can find the sweetest and ripest mangoes, this mixture smells so good. Add the water, sugar and about 2 tbsps of mango juice powder.

You will need the 1 3/4 x 10″ plastic bag.

Using a funnel, pour in the mixture to the plastic bag, leaving about 2 inches at the top so you can still twist and tie a knot. Above is my  daughter holding the ice candy with the funnel. Below is the nanny holding and demonstrating the twist and tie. I am of course the photographer :)

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Those are the best  mango ice candy! Why don’t you try making these simple treats and create memories with your children.

My First Attempt At Sugar Flowers – Bucket List Checked!

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The past couple of days was another milestone for me (Tee! Hee!). I had the pleasure of taking Chef Jesuit Paul Nugas’ class on “Life-like, Life-sized Sugar Paste Flowers”.  Chef Jess trained at The Heny Sison Culinary School, Enderun Extension Colleges and The Academy of Pastry Arts in Malaysia.

I’m not really good at baking or not even a flower kind of girl but lately I find myself drawn to sugar flowers. I’ve even included this on my bucket list and I’m very proud of myself for having checked that off already! **curtsey**curtsey**

It was my first time to attend his class and I must say Chef Jess did a very fine job sharing  his expertise on making sugar paste flowers. He showed us step-by-step how to make each flower.

I didn’t say though that I’m pretty good at it, not even close. Aarrghh! In fact, I wasn’t able to do the cymbidium orchid and I was hoping I would’ve tried doing it. Yes, that’s right! I think we were asked to make six flowers but this slow woman finished only five of those in that two-day class. I probably took so much time kneading, looking at the petals, curling the sides and feeling like a little girl amused by the ball tool. How cool are those gumpaste tools?

I was rolling and pinching and in the middle of all that rolling I must’ve pinched myself and thought I was actually doing it, haha!

Another item on my bucket list checked off! The last couple of days went really well, meeting new friends and best of all, discovering or more like affirm something about myself: that I truly am The Slow Woman and is suffering from what my husband calls ‘analysis paralysis’ :)

I hope you guys had a great weekend!

’til next post!

Marryl

P.S. Chef Jess, if you’re reading this, I just want to say thank you for doing an impressive job teaching a slow woman like me how to make sugar flowers. I tell you, teaching me requires a great amount of skill, haha! Seriously, you’ve been very accommodating and I wish to join your other classes pretty soon. Hugs and kisses from Cebu :)

Pearl and Crystal Hair Vines

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This afternoon, I tried my hand on making hair vines to see if I still remember how to do it. I found some swarovski and fresh water pearls in my stash and used a 26-gauge wire.

This is a very forgiving craft and very versatile. It’s really just twisting and turning the wires. You might need to use your flat nose pliers when twisting some of the wires or putting them together. When you get to cutting and twisting the ends, it can hurt your fingers a bit if you just use your fingers.

Hair vines are getting to be very popular with modern brides because of its versatility. You can easily twist and turn it and look very elegant with an up-do.

I think my first try today was ok. will have to practice some more though.

Heather and Christian’s Wedding Cord

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I’ve been working on getting my online shop up and running again since I’ve closed shop last 2009 and left for the US. Sorry guys but this slow woman is taking forever to think. I have to finalize a lot of things including the logo. I hope it won’t take me til the end of the year to get that done.  For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, please read my ABOUT page. Part of my bucket list or Life list is to have my own online bridal shop named Marryl & Lauren. I (Marryl) make the handcrafted creations like wedding cords, hair vines, wedding ring pillows, etc. while my daughter, Lauren, provides the inspiration. I want it to carry the slogan “because Love is in the details.” What do you think of that?

Everything begins with a dream, right? So, everything is still up in the air right now.haha!

Meantime, I have been working on some wedding cords for some clients. This is Heather and Christian’s wedding cord in marine blue. Finally it’s done. I’m saying goodbye to this wedding cord this weekend as it’s flying to Baltimore, Maryland.

I hope they’ll like it as much as I enjoyed making it.

P.S. Don’t you just love that treasure chest?

The P100 Challenge: Churros Con Chocolate

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My husband found Tablea, conveniently next to Mochiko Mochi Ice cream.

For those of you who haven’t read my previous post, my hubby and I are up for a P100 Challenge - to amuse ourselves :) The goal is to find something interesting that’s under P100 or about $2.35.

Tablea Chocolate Cafe is one of those I’d like to call Cebuano ingenuity. It’s definitely a breath of fresh air to find something very local ( they make use of Philippine cacao beans) yet surprisingly very world-class. They try to find new ways of using tablea or that unsweetened tablets from pure cacao beans.

My husband ordered Churros Con Chocolate for Php95 or about $2.22. I have to say this is definitely a winner. My first taste of Churros was in high school at Le France cafe and since then, I’ve been searching for the best churros.

I think you get about 4-5 churros served with a rich Chokolate drink. Quite soft to the bite which is a good thing. If only it’s  a little bit bigger it’d be almost perfect. I think a good churro  is something that is moist and light in the inside and a crispy exterior that’s coated with sugar and cinnamon. Tablea’s churros come with a very rich chocolate dip, you can almost close your eyes as you savor this rich dessert..and then feel guilty, Mwahahaha :) Well not really. I think the chokolate is made from real cocoa beans that’s a good antioxidant (yeah, right!).

They sell batirols that brought back childhood memories back when my Mama used to make sikwate using a batirol. They look more like the batidors from Mexico with their patterns. Batirols or Batidors are actually wooden whisks used for making Tsokolate or a Hot chocolate drink using tablea.

The Churros Con Chocolate is at P95 so I think the husband won.

He said he had a lot of leftover chokolate and it’s a shame to be wasting such rich chocolate drink, he said it would be perfect with Puto! I wasn’t sure if he was just making excuses but he said I should definitely add this in my blog especially for my fellow Filipinos in the US and other parts of the world who miss Puto and Sikwate.

For an additional P25, you get puto and drizzle your leftover chokolate. In Cebu we call it sikwate. Puto and Sikwate is a popular Cebuano dish. Puto is sticky rice that’s perfect if paired with sikwate or warm Chocolate drink made from real cacao beans.

If you get the chance to go to the malls, try something interesting like Churros Con Chocolate. If you’re like y husband who will not let his warm chokolate go to waste, add in this really good puto and you can almost close your eyes and savor the richness of this chokolate…and then feel guilty :)

‘Til next challenge, Marryl!