Succulent Love

The new house (which i will blog about soon), has a huge balcony that is perfect for a sort of indoor/outdoor garden. It doesn't have soil where in I can just stick plants and they'll grow, so I needed plants in pots. Growing plants in pots is a bit scary as they need to be cared for carefully compared to plants that just randomly grow on actual soil - or so I thought.

Good thing we, Daene and I went to the succulent workshop organized by Femi! I've always wanted to have plants around the house but wasn't really sure what kind of plants and how to take care of them. We were taught that succulents are very low maintenance indoor plants. They can thrive on their own and needs minimal to 0 care. Some actually prefers to be ignored! My kind of plants! It was very informative and we got to take home our own gardening tools. Here are some snapshots from the workshop:

How cute is this succulent buffet

I went home with my succulent dish and started not taking care of it. As discussed in the workshop, it only needs to be watered once a week, so that's what I did.

After a few weeks I noticed new sprouts in my succulents and decided, "Hey, I can actually grow plants"! So I went plant shopping and I may be growing a succulent forest already! Here are my babies so far:

 

Those are actually shoe racks that I turned into pot holders 

My dish was starting to get a bit crowded so I went ahead and started propagation using leaf and stem cutting methods, which we also learned from the workshop:

My leaf cuttings are already growing roots! I can't wait for the new leaves to grow so that I can place them in cute pots

Since my garden is growing, I decided to do some DIY planters to accomodate the baby plants and beautify our outdoor space some more.

I had this teapot lying around the house, so I figured I'll just put a plant on it. It looks super cute with it's zebra cactus hair style, puffy cheeks and gold ribbon!

 Also, just recently, we watched Guardians of the Galaxy and I really love love that movie! So, I created a GOTG themed succulent set with my two favorite guardians Groot and Rocket (that box thing is supposed to be a jukebox and it somehow looks like a pig lol!)

 

That's all for now and hope you enjoyed this post! '',

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Coffee Sleeves: 30 minute DIY project

I've been meaning to make coffee sleeves for the longest time!I had a few trials before I was able to figure out how to really do it.

Materials:
Fabric
Colored buttons
Elastics

Cut your fabric in rectangular shapes: 10.5 inches long and around 4 inches wide

Using a taylor's chalk, trace the pattern to mark where you will need to sew, Make sure that one side of the fabric is facing up and the other is facing down

Sew the fabric following the pattern you just created in step 2

Cut 2 inches of elastic, create a loop and sew it on one side between the 2 fabrics. Make sure that the loop is on the inside up to this point. Leave at least 1.5 inches open so that you can insert fiber later on to make the sleeve thicker. Cut the excess fabric but retain at least half an inch 

Reverse the fabric so that it will look like this

Sew a button on the other end

I used different prints on this one for a 2 in 1 effect (you need to put a button on each side too)

A sleeve took me around 30 minutes to complete! Fast, easy and cheap! Now you know what you're getting for Christmas ^^,

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Midori Inspired Traveler's Notebook: DIY

Midori Traveler's notebook is popular among planner and leather craft addicts (pictures are from Pinterest). Some people don't just use it for it's primary purpose which is to document one's travel experience, they use it as a planner too!

Aside from the simplicity of the notebook itself, the Midori system is also very useful, basic but useful - very Japanese. You can check the site on how the system works.

Upon buying, you'll get the leather cover, 3 notebooks and 2 elastics. This retails for around 1700php. For a leather product, this is already ok. However, I just can't spend on another notebook. I have several unused notebooks at home. So, I figured I just need to create one for myself. Just to beat the bug and not be forced to buy one.

Below is how I made my own Midori inspired traveler's notebook a.k.a as Fauxdori:

Materials:

Leather

colored paper

printed craft paper

elastics

First off, cut your leather

Add holes on the side for the main elastic

Now make your own notebook inserts using colored papers as the main pad and printed craft paper as notebook cover

Cut the elastics (got these from National bookstore)

Compile the notebooks in the leather cover following the midori system or you can design your own system! 

Usually people who own this notebook, put a notebook charm just to personalize it more - so I did too 

There you go, my very own fauxdori! Can't wait to use this for my future travels!

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Planner Tour

There is such a thing as planner tour - according to me

I've been bitten by the planner bug. I was this close to buying a filofax, but I just can't justify why. It's a bit expensive for my planner standards.

I tried to make my own but was a bit frustrated with my first attempt. Given that I have the lowest of EQs, I need to have the planner that will make me happy and will stop me from buying a filofax. Below is a product of weeks of planning the planner ^^

This what my planner used to look like

 

Got this is for 200 bucks from the stationary section of a local department store. I've been to almost all bookstores in Manila but none of them has a planner that fits my taste - this was the closest.

It was fine on its own but it was to serious. I started decorating it but still something was missing. I still wanted to get a filofax. Then I thought, maybe it needs to undergo a major transformation. 

Transformation begins:

This is what my planner looks like now ^^

It was love at first sight with this print! Got it really cheap too (check my post on divi hauls for all the other fabric I got). I sew the edges just to give it a clean look. I then glued the fabric to the planner because it's impossible to sew. Good thing the original planner cover is also fabric based. So happy with how the cover turned out! 

Now for what the inside looks like

I have post its and ribbon paper clips for page markers. Those are moumou stickers that I keep inside the clear mini envelope for sticker emergencies and yeah, for some reason, I need to always have a coaster with me. How cute is that mug coaster? I have like 12 of those! different designs ofcourse.The fluffy cloud I made here, looks so adorable. 

Here is a dashboard for more post its

The week section looks like this: 

I added a little charm, from my Divi haul again

I also made a make-shift organizer for my planner stuff

I am so inlove with my planner and because of the effort it took to beautify her, I wouldn't trade her for an expensive one, for now ^^

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Lippy Pouch

I like changing bags every 2 weeks.  I have a lot and I think it's unfair if they're not equally used. Sometimes my bag of the week is so big that it can fit my entire house, sometimes it can only fit, a wallet, keys, phone and hand sanitizer. 

Whenever I change bags, some things need to be sacrificed. Like, I can't bring my Kindle anymore because it wouldn't fit. Or may entire make up kit - for the same reason. 

Recently, I've been fond of using lipstick - primarily because it adds color to my pale face (was not really a fan of make up until recently). I didn't know this was possible, but I can no longer leave the house without bringing my favorite lippy. If I use my huge bag, it will take forever for me to find it. If I use my small bag, it mixes with everything else that I can't spot it easily - it should have it's own case. 

So, i made a lippy pouch with another scrap leather, thread and gold eyelet

I added gold eyelets so that I can see the pouch easily should it mix with the rest of my stuff

Done! 

Fits my 2 favorite lippies perfectly! 

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