Teacup Candles

Today I will be showing you how to make these cute teacup candles. It's a nice gift idea for someone who likes vintage things and scented candles. All you need are teacups, old candles, chop sticks, and a pot to melt the wax.

You don't have to buy a new expensive set of teacups for this project. I found these teacups in a thrift store near our house.

And I found these old candlesticks in our cupboard. Nobody uses them anyway. First, melt the old candlesticks in a pot or sauce pan.

Make sure to save the wick. Wind it around a pair of chopsticks and place it on top of the teacup. This will keep the wick stable while you are pouring the hot wax.

Add a few drops of essential oils if you want your candle to be scented. After pouring the hot wax, let it cool.

And when it's completely cool, light up your candle!

There you have it. I prefer using vanilla or coffee extract for a yummier scent. And you can even add food coloring to make it look like a real drink.

Let me know what you think of this cute DIY project. :)

Pom Pom Cake Toppers

Hello friends! Yesterday was my birthday and I wasn't really planning to have an extravagant celebration because it was also Good Friday. But I still asked my sister to bake a cake for me so I can at least blow my birthday cake on my birthday. Hehe.

And of course, my birthday cake has to have some personal touch which is why I made these yarn pom pom cake toppers.

For the cake, we just made it with regular vanilla batter with buttercream frosting. While that one's chilling in the fridge, we made the pom poms.

You can actually make yarn pom poms with a fork. If you want to learn how to make them, click here. There are tons of tutorials that you will find on Pinterest. It's very easy!

And then, you can stick your pom poms on wooden skewers with hot glue. But in my case, our bamboo skewers were too thin so I decided to use plastic drinking straws instead.

And here's a bouquet of pom poms for you! Cut the tip of the straw diagonally so you can easily insert them on the cake. Paper straws will also work if you have the thick and sturdy ones.

Take the cake out of your fridge and decorate it with your awesome pom poms! 

Your regular white frosted cake just got colorful. I like how white the birthday cake is. It's like a blank canvas. And then the cake topper is the subject of the painting. Haha.

Let me know what you guys think of this tutorial. :) Spruce up your plain birthday cake with easy DIY pom pom cake toppers.

I'm Back!!! + DIY Wireless Flower Crown

Hello people! I am alive! After a 10-month hiatus, I am finally posting something on this blog. I have been so busy with work but enough excuses, I'm here! :)

For my comeback post, I am going to share with you a tutorial on how to make a wireless flower crown. My sister demonstrated this awesome DIY project and this has been put on hold since December 2014. Oops!

Also, I am not familiar with flower names, so I will just describe the flowers by shape, size and color. I might have to read more about the types flowers if all of a sudden I become interested in flower arranging.

The flowers that we used here came from the bouquet that was given to our mother for her birthday. So first, grab the small white flowers and make one long bundle by braiding the small stems.

Next, connect the two ends by tucking them inside the braid. This will be the base of your flower crown. The next steps will basically be tucking flowers in your base crown.

Cut the yellow flowers from its stem, maybe just leave about one or two inches of the stem. Then start tucking! We made sure that the yellow flowers were evenly spaced so that there's more room for the other kinds of flowers.

Tuck, tuck tuck...

Now moving on to another type of flower.

And finally, the roses.

To make the flower crown look very dainty, we added a bow at the bottom. That also came from the bouquet. Haha!

And there you have it! Technically, it will take you about 5-10 minutes to make one flower crown. But since my sisters and I were chatting while making this, it probably took us half an hour to finish.

Here it is! A lovely flower crown with no wire needed. That is my sister wearing the crown. I think it looks good on her and it fits her maroon top.

Let me know what you think of this project. :) Expect more posts from me this year. It's good to be back!

Yarn-Wrapped Monogram

Hi guys! I am back with an easy tutorial on how to create a yarn-wrapped monogram for your room. Here's a vignette that you can try on your nightstand: 

Materials:
Cereal box
3 balls of yarn in different colors
Scissors
Pencil
Ruler
Tape

Step 1: Use your pencil and ruler to draft the letter on the back side of your cereal box.

Step 2: Cut out the letter. If you think it's flimsy, you can use thicker cardboard or you can also make your letters 3-dimensional.

Step 3: Prepare your yarn. Select three different colors that you like. For my monogram, I chose cool pastel colors.

Steph 4: Bundle up the three strings and tie a knot at the end. Pull the bundle until you get about 7 yards in length (or how long you want it) then trim it.

Step 5: Just wrap the ends of the letters first so they don't look awkward. Cut 3 inch pieces of yarn and use masking tape to secure them.


Step 6: And also use masking tape to secure the starting point of the bundle of yarn that you will be using to wrap the letter. Don't worry, you will cover the tape when we're done.

 Step 7: And then, start wrapping the letter! And watch the latest episode of Game of Thrones while you are doing this. If the bundle of yarn runs out, make another bundle and tie the new one to the old one just to make it continuous.

Step 8: The middle part probably looks weird and loose when the wrapping is horizontal. So you can just go back and wrap it again, but this time vertically.

Step 9: When you are done wrapping your letter, just tie a knot and trim the end.

Step 10: Look at your work of art and slowly clap your hands. If you want to hang this, you can glue a small piece of picture hook/hanger at the back.

And there you have it! Easy-peasy yarn-wrapped monogram.

Instagram Pillows

Hey all! I had the opportunity to create a project for MyHome Magazine and I'm so excited to share it with you guys! I made Instagram Pillows out of T-shirt and heat transfer paper.

Materials needed for this project:
- plain shirt
- printed shirt
- heat transfer paper
- scissors
- tape measure
- pencil
- thread and needle
First, print your image on the glossy side of the heat transfer paper. If your image has text, use a photo editing program to mirror the image, so it will come out correctly when transferred on the fabric.


With your pencil and tape measure, mark an 18" x 18" square (or follow the size of your pillow) on the blank side of the plain shirt. Do this step for the printed shirt as well. The printed shirt will be the back side of your pillow.


Carefully cut out the square on your shirt. After cutting the squares, place the printed fabric over the white fabric, right side facing each other.

Sew the sides of the fabric together using backstitch. Using a sewing machine will be handy for this step. You can also add a zipper or buttons on one side of the square.

Put the shirts on a flat surface and smooth out any wrinkles. Insert a piece of paper in between the two shirts. Place the transfer paper on where you want the image to be on the shirt. When the iron is set at the desired temperature, apply pressure on the shirt from the outside going inwards.

Once everything is evenly ironed, wait for it to cool for about two minutes and then gently peel off one corner of the transfer paper. After this, insert the pillow into your new pillowcase.

And that's it! Here are some tips that you may want to take note of:
- Working with transfer paper is tricky so you got to read the instructions included in the pack of transfer paper. If you are not confident on working with transfer paper, try practicing with a small piece of cloth.
- Add about 1/2"-1" allowance when you cut the fabric. T-shirt fabric is stretchy, that's why if you cut it too small, it's forgivable. But if your fabric isn't so elastic, then you might want to add allowance.

La Pomme by Apol Lejano-Massebieau

Last weekend I visited La Pomme, the shop owned by Apol Lejano-Massebieau, and did an interview with her for Katha Magazine. The article will be on the next issue which will come out this March. I met her during the Rockwell Holiday Bazaar, remember the lavender pillow? That's from La Pomme. Apol just opened her shop last week at The Collective, Makati. 

Here's the photo of the store front, with her photo bombing in the background :)

What's inside her store? You will see fancy soft toys like these chic handmade dolls.

Here's a close up of the fashionable dolls. I especially love the doll with the turban.

I saw Apol's world famous apples, as seen on Design*Sponge and Apartment Therapy...

...and other whimsical objects, like the swan, panda bear, mushrooms and more.

Apol also has workshops where you can learn how to sew a simple toy. Do drop by her shop during the said days below. No matter how old or young you are, she will patiently teach you how to sew. She even taught her daughter how to sew at the age of 2!

But this Friday, Apol will be having a special Valentine sewing workshop for the date-less called "Huwag Umuwing Luhaan" (Don't Go Home In Tears). If you're not doing anything on Friday, then why not go to the shop and learn how to sew? Apol might teach you how to sew a boyfriend pillow! :)

Here's the map to the shop. It's just along Malugay Street in Makati. I usually come from MRT Magallanes Station, ride a jeep going to PRC and get off at Malugay Street (near Petron Gas Station) and then I just walk to The Collective. Her shop is beside Wabi Sabi.