Author Archives: Marryl All Write

About Marryl All Write

I'm an educator, a self-proclaimed crafter, cook and an aspiring entrepreneur. I've recently been introduced to real tantrums by my three-year old daughter. I get inspirations from the little surprises of everyday life.

Mary’s Crystal Green Wedding Cord

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This wedding cord is not my usual order-pay-make-ship kind of wedding cord. It has a story. This was my first crystal green wedding cord that I made a few months back for a client from Canada. It took quite longer to finish this than I had anticipated. The crystals and other materials I had in mind were not readily available and I had to wait for it to be delivered to Cebu.

That and some family emergencies (God or the universe surely has his way of surprising us this year!) got this project on hold. I was very fortunate to have a very patient client who had foresight and ordered this months ahead of her wedding date. Thank you Mary for making me part of your special day.

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I used good quality rondelles and teardrop crystals. It took me a while to find just the perfect beads and accents. If I used acrylics and just any green accents, I’d have finished this in a day or two but I will never be satisfied + I wouldn’t dare ship it to Canada. No way!

Here’s the thing: I make these wedding essentials first not to make money, but the opportunity to do what I love and that is creating and making something lovely – handmade. The money is icing on the cake. Also, I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of my client’s special day and that in itself is a gift.

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For weeks I hunted for green embellishments. I finally found a leather embellishment and some green, gold/light brown accents that I thought were perfect.

And because my client from Canada was very patient and kind, I thought it’d be just right to give her a discount and I did.  At the end of the day, it’s still the opportunity to be part of someone else’s special day and the opportunity to be creative. It’s a gift.

p.s. Thanks Mary for letting me do your wedding cord. I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed making them. Congratulations and best wishes. Please send me pictures of your big day.

Crab Fried Rice

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The husband has been bugging me to make Crab Fried Rice and I thought I’ll share with you my quick and easy recipe.

You will need:

  • 1 1/2 cup day-old cooked rice
  • 1 cup cooked crab meat
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 tbsp Fish sauce or Patismansi (fish sauce with Philippine Lemon)
  • 1-2 cloves of chopped garlic
  • 1/4 cup chopped spring onions & carrots (optional)
  • pepper to taste
  • canola or olive oil

Use rice that’s been cooked ahead instead of newly cooked steaming hot rice from the rice cooker which will yield a mushy fried rice. The drier rice will yield a fluffy fried rice.

Most crab meat from the grocery are pre-cooked but taste it to determine how much fish sauce you will need later. Using a very hot wok or pan, pour oil and sauté the garlic and crab meat quickly. Right before I add in the rice, quickly stir in the carrots, half of the fish sauce and pepper  for a few seconds. If you’re in the Philippines or have a Filipino or oriental store nearby, try to find Patismansi. It has a better taste than ordinary fish sauce.

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Add in the rice and stir. Make room at the side of the wok to scramble the egg (chefs do it in the middle of the wok. I can’t seem to do that trick + I’m not a chef , tee hee!).  Add a drizzle of oil and crack the egg. Scramble the egg and slowly incorporate the egg to the fried rice. Work your way from the outside and gradually stir in some rice. The first time I did this, I incorporated the egg altogether with the rice even if it was not well scrambled. It was a disaster! If you don’t feel comfortable doing this trick, you can always scramble the egg separately and add it in the fried rice.

Add the remaining fish sauce and season with pepper to taste.  Turn off heat and stir in the green onions. You may garnish with a few more spring onions or cilantro leaves.

Super quick and easy Crab Fried Rice.

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Last-Minute DIY Projects

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After a series of seven days of workshops, we capped off the orientation for the new hires with a really cool activity. It was a birthday party-inspired Culminating activity. Instead of the usual and very formal (and boring) activities to formally welcome them, we thought of doing this instead. However, we only had a couple of hours to set up and half a day to plan. What can you do with half a day of prep? Scramble ;-)

I’ve been notorious for doing last-minute DIYs lately. I seem to find myself in situations that require me to be resourceful and efficient.

I thought of making some really easy DIY projects for this birthday party-themed activity:

1. Lollipop Topiary

2. Candy Tower

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Since it was children’s party-inspired, we had candies, lollipops, cupcakes, etc. We used baking cups and filled it with lots of candies and arranged it on the Candy Tower. The Candy Tower was a very easy project and since it was made on the 11th hour, I had no choice but to use whatever was available in my craft supplies. I only had gift wrapping paper to cover the sides and bottom. Couldn’t even find my pinking shears so I just made crude scallops on the edges. But I think it came out pretty.

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I had a lot of birthday party decorations sitting in my tiny craft room. This was strawberry shortcake and Dora themed-decorations that I bought from Party City in Baltimore. I kept them and was put to good use yesterday.

Our team did a really great job preparing everything from the AVP to the food, loots, decorations and our most awesome dance number (wink *wink).

The Paper Pompoms were very last-minute but tied everything together for the theme.

A birthday party won’t be complete without loot bags. It was a simple Dora paper bag that we cut to look like t-shirts and we had the participant’s faces on to a superhero caricature of themselves. How cool is that?

Who says office workshops and culminating activities have to be so boring?

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Organizing Jewelry-making Tools with Vintage Tins

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The husband’s law books has taken over the tiny craft / office room (sob! sob!). Thus, I find myself beading and crafting in any space I can find around the house. Sometimes in front of the TV, on the dining table most days or even outside the house in the late afternoons.  I have to carry my supplies all over the house and it’s a mess, to say the least.

Ok, I hate to admit this but I have become quite the craft supplies hoarder. Over the years, I’ve learned new and interesting crafts and have collected quite a number of craft supplies. They have in fact taken a life of their own with my craft organizers overflowing with stuff. Yikes!

Organizing and decorating has become a bit of a challenge. Recently, I’ve been looking for something to help me organize my jewelery-making pliers. I’ve seen a lot of inspirations on Pinterest and almost tried installing the magnetic knife strips but thought I didn’t want something permanent like that on the wall. The organizer racks or bench are very pricey online. Some retail as much as $300! it’s not only pricey, I’m not too keen on the industrial design of these racks. I wanted something I could carry around, but it has to be pretty.  It should be something that can be an organizer but pretty as a decoration as well (and not cost me $300!) .

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Here’s my idea: Vintage-inspired Tins!

I like the versatility of these cans. I can use them as decorations and organizers all together.

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What do you guys think? What other ideas can you think of to organize jewelry-making pliers?