DIY monograms

In line with my quest to redecorate R's room, I am doing a take two on making monograms using scrap cardboards.  I am planning to cover these letters with washi tape and either mount it on canvass or just directly stick or hang it on one side of his room.  

I decided on going the DIY route because I couldn't seem to find enough letters to complete his name.  Besides, it's much more fun doing it on your own and definitely cheaper.  

All you need are the following:

- scrap cardboard from your child's toys

- glue gun or masking tape

- white glue

- water

- scissors, Xacto knife or box knife

- strips of newspapers

- mixing bowl

- cutting board

- washi tape

Here's how to make your own monogram:

- Pick a desired font, print in a board paper and cut.

- Trace the letter on a cardboard. You will need to do this twice for the front and back panel.

- Cut some strips of cardboard (I made mine an inch) which you will use to put together the front and back panel.

- You can either use a masking tape or glue gun to glue the pieces together. I used masking tape because I was too lazy to heat the glue gun.

- make your own Mod lodge. Mix 1 part water and 1part glue in a bowl.

- Dip strips of newspaper into the mixture and use these to cover the letter.

- I just wanted to cover the edges, but you may go ahead and cover everything if you desire.

- Let it dry for at least half a day.  I used a hair dryer to speed the drying process.

Easy detox

The era of juicing has truly arrived.  Suddenly there's a lot of people going on juice diets and a handful of people have also started capitalizing on the newest craze in town.  I think it is good kind of craze and it is a good sign that more people are becoming health conscious.  Juicers do not come cheap and "subscribing" to those detox diet are also quite expensive.  For now, those two are not an option since I am currently a momma on a tight budget.  Having said that, I scoured the internet for some DIY detox drink which will not hurt my budget.  I found this recipe by thedenverhousewife which is not only good to my wallet, but is also so easy to prepare.  All you need are lemons, cucumber, mint, water, and a pitcher!  Now, how hard is that?

Here is the recipe:
12 cups water
2 lemons, sliced
1/2 cucumber, sliced
10 mint leaves

Wash the lemons, cucumber and mint.  Thinly slice the cucumber and lemon.

Put everything in a pitcher.

Pour water and let it steep overnight. Enjoy your detox water the next day!

Happy detoxing!

Going back to basics.

This year, my mantra is to go back to basics from my wardrobe to our bath essentials, and hopefully to my diet.  Modernization has indeed brought a lot of ideas and discoveries.  But sometimes with everything that's out there you just crave for what is simple and pure.  In short, you yearn for the basics.  

For the past few months, I have been suffering from major hair fall.  I am not sure if it was because I did not experience any hair fall after giving birth to my second boy, Vito nine months ago.  I have tried several commercial shampoos in the market claiming to reduce x% of hair fall to no avail.  Yes, I was desperate.  I realized that I should have listened to my mom who has been using natural and organic shampoos for the longest time and swear by it long ago.  After my epiphany I headed to the nearest Zen nutrients (lucky me they just opened a kiosk in SM Masinag) and Eco Store to buy my supply of these tried and tested products.  What I like about them is that they just smell so good,  not the artificial scent that I have been used to.  I always feel like I am at the spa whenever I use them.  These are actually the scents that I have been looking for all these years after my trip to The Mandala Spa in Boracay.  

I bought several shampoos because I read somewhere that you should change your shampoo every so often for maximum effect.  Two weeks into using Zen Nutrient's Gugo shampoo and conditioner and Ilog ni Maria, I have already seen great improvement I'm the amount of hair fall.  Yippee do!  

Now, I swear  I am never gonna get back to using commercial shampoo.

My natural and organic bath essentials.  From  L-R : Ilog ni Maria  P290, Zen nutrients 

    Gugo was around P215-P250 (sorry I forgot the exact price), Zen Nutreints Ylang Ylang Lemongrass body wash at P87 and Zen Nutreints Epsom salt with almonds at P110 at ZN's HQ inventory sale.

Of course, I also changed R shampoo and body wash.  Especially after I read that the brand that  we were using was caught in a controversy of 

               hiding harmful ingredients!  Human nature was also one of the pioneers that 

   Introduced natural products to the Philippine market.

Not part of my bath essential but this massage oil is the best smelling

 massage oil ever by Rituals!  Bought this from STU for only P210.

Photo by Seektheuniq.com

            

              

                          

                          

   

My Pinterest obsession.

Anyone addicted to Pinterest, raise your hand!   Pinterest for me is a life savior!  I refer to it for cooking, decorating, and dressing up.  I can spend hours pinning and salivating over  gorgeous home interiors and finding fashion inspiration.  

I dream of my own home someday.  As early as now, I have been collecting pegs for that.  If you check out my Home inspiration board, you will notice that I am partial to neutral and muted colors.  My sense of style is eclectic ranging from rustic, modern, shabby chic and Asian.  I love the mixture of different styles all rolled into one pretty space.  

Here are some of my favorite pegs:

     Living room pegs.  Neutrals with a punch of color and patterns.

              Prints and patterns. The possibilities are endless.

 I am obsessed with vignettes.  It just makes things more beautiful to look at.

I tell you, I can spend hours pinning.  I hope one day all these pegs will become a reality.

Starting the New year right.

 One of the things that I want to be consistent with beginning this year is to have a weekly meal plan.  We have attempted this several times last year and when we start to deviate from the 'plan,' we tend to slip off the track.  I also do not like it whenever our helper will ask us, "Ano ang  lulutuin? (What will I cook?)"  Clearly she has also ran out of things to cook and is asking for some reinforcement.  Sometimes, I would quickly scour the net for recipes when she asks, but most of the time, I would just ask her to cook what she knows, which is the usual (adobo, sinigang, paksiw, tinola, ihaw, fried, etc). 

Honestly, planning a meal is not easy.  You want a balanced meal throughout the week and definitely variety.  We are also cutting back on frying food and take out is the super last option.  

One of my aunts has been implementing this in her household and this gets rid of the stress of impromptu planning.  It also helps in budgeting and keeps grocery shopping organized.  Adding variety to your menu will also broaden your knowledge on the different recipes available.  In my case, all the cooking books will be out into good use.  I am also planning to enroll our helper and myself to several sessions at 25 Mushrooms kitchen in keeping with this goal.

To kick off this quest on having a weekly meal plan, I made a weekly calendar, a grocery list and a recipe keeper for easier reference.  Not at all difficult! What follows is the more tedious task of planning the week ahead!  Good luck to me and I sure need to work hard on keeping the ball rolling and make it part of my weekly routine.

               Weekly meal plan, grocery list and recipe keeper all done in a flash!

                                        My go to recipe books for this month.

I finally did it!

Thanks to the prodding and faith of my SIL.  I finally took the plunge and did my first (dummy) fondant cake for my adorable niece's first birthday party.  Wow that was two years in the making from the time that I attended lessons at Heny Sison which I posted here.  The reason why I have been avoiding making fondant is because it really is tedious and tiring to deal with.  But I have rediscovered the excitement of conceptualizing the design and seeing the finished product.  I definitely need more practice, but I give myself a pat on the back for finally taking the plunge.

I did the desserts buffet which consisted of Mini choc chip cookies, mallows, gummy hearts, cake pops and assorted candies.  All DIY!  Styling was by SanFo Treats. 

Dessert Buffet.

My cake pops!

I scoured for jars at home and only bought one apothecary jar.

Here is my pride and joy, hahah!  

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! As usual, the holidays went by so fast.  Before I knew it, our helper was already keeping all the Christmas decors on the second of January!  Honestly I was pretty upset that she was such in a hurry to keep away all the decors because I wanted R to feel and enjoy the holidays longer.  But, there's no use in stressing over that so I just let it be.  It was probably also a good thing since R kept on removing the decors every single day.

I canot dey that the year that has passed was a year of trials for me and my family with the loss of our second child Vito.  While the pain will forever remain, I am blessed that I have a very supportive family  that really helped me get through it.  I am also thankful to my friends who went out of their way to comfort me.  There were those who I have not seen or spoken to for ages, but went out of their way to extend their condolences and even shared their  experiences.   Truly, God finds ways to heal you. And for that I am eternally grateful.  The tragedy undoubtedly caused a setback in my life.  But I knew my husband and R were there, just waiting for me to step out of what seemed like the darkest two weeks of my life.

Inevitably, life goes on.  I had to pull myself to be back on track. I kept and gave away things that reminded me of my pregnancy.  I busied myself.   Six weeks into postpartum, I accompanied my son to his summer school three time a week for three weeks.  I also enrolled myself to a three day make up class, which is part of my bucket list.  We went to Tagaytay a couple of times and brought R to the beach.  More than anything, I just wanted to be with my family and hold them close.

This 2014 I wish to travel more with my boys and explore new places.  My hubby and R loves the water so hopefully we will be able to visit the beach more.  I am also contemplating on going back to work pretty soon.  I pray that  I will find a job that will not interfere too much on my family life.  But more than anything, all I wish for this year (and the following years) are good health and safety for my family.  Happy New Year to all!