masquerade...

we had a fabulous time at our friends masquerade wedding anniversary party. here's a photo of the mask i've put together.



had a nice black mask which i overlayed it with purple lace (to match my outfit and to add a little color). i used fabric glue to glue the lace on the mask. and added a couple of peacock feathers with a purple gem stone, which i used a glue gun to put together.



my outfit for the party...i liked how my mask turned out. simple...but not too simple ^_^.

DIY - money lei

it's wedding season and i finally made a lei for the season, for the wedding money dance. i was super excited to make it even though i procrastinated (for good reasons) so i ended up making this lei the night before the wedding. i went to Michael's right after work to get a few supplies. some of the supplies i bought i thought i might need, which i i didn't end up using, like the extra wire and some tape, which i already had plenty at home. i'd rather buy too much and return what's not used than start on a project and can't finish because you're missing one critical material/supply. JMS picked out the flowers to be used while i picked out the ribbon. i like to use their wedding colors for the ribbons, etc this way it'll match them.

one of my favorite tool that i used to make this lei was the bone folder. super handy. and one very crucial element to make the lei a success is to use brand, new crisp dollar bills. i ended up using about $10/lei...not bad. i made 2 lei's one for the bride and one for the groom.


(most) masterials used


fold money like a fan and tape together


add flower


add ribbons and put together. (not my favorite part of the process)

unfortunately after all the hard work we ended up not using the lei because they didn't have the money dance. they decided not to have it last minute. i was so excited to show off my arts & crafts skills too. i did tell my friend what i've done so i'll still give it to her so she can at least see my labor of love and she can keep it as a little present.

we have another wedding to attend this coming august so i'll be making another one. so excited to make it and will post up pictures of it. (i should do this as little side business for weddings, graduations, etc...hehehe). this is very time consuming to make especially since i'm some what a perfectionist so i take my time making these.

it's a true labor of love.

(i'll have better detailed photo of the process next time since this was done last minute.)

< DIY > - photo explosion box

about a year ago, i made this picture box as a wedding anniversary to one of my dear friends. it's one of my favorite projects that i've done. the apt was a mess for a few days, but well worth it. i loved how it turned out. i wish i would have taken more photos of the the inside and the process of it.

i got this idea from one of my crafty friends. i'll post up the explosion box that my friend made for me within the next few days. i have to take some photos of it first.


the display case is semi-custom made. i bought a baseball display case from michaels. the cover for it didn't fit, so i went to tap plastics and had them cut up acrylic clear plastic and i glued it together.


i got the colors from her wedding colors. i saved the invitations, etc and brought it all with me to michaels and tried to match it as close as possible. and the top portion of the cover (their initials), was from her wedding invitation.


the photos that i used was mostly photos that my guy took. he got some good shots :).



i think this project was the project that brought back my inspiration in art, design, etc. i'm glad i took pictures of this before i gave it away. just brings back joy.

and now i'm on the hunt for my next "crafty" project.

< DIY > - old to renew

over the weekend i decided to paint one of my frames that i've had for more than 10 years. i received it as a gift from one of my cousins. i was going to toss the frame and just buy a new frame for the photo that's currently in there, but i decided i should just paint it white to give it more of an updated look, since i didn't really want to recut the photo especially since it's currently in a heart shape and it'll be hard to find a frame that will match the exact dimension of the photo. so painting the frame white was the next best thing.

and i thought it looks a lot better now. it goes well with my new white small frame that i got at Michaels. a simple coat of paint can come a long way.

{update}...here's a photo of the frame next to some other frames... the black frame behind it, i plan on replacing. i'm thinking of looking for another white frame...for some reason lately i've been drawn to white frames. i need a frame large enough to hide the outlet behind.

(see our lovely beta fish, "tuyo".)