Bloom

I had made a handful of wedding items before but nothing as special as crafting for my own sisters' weddings. The first half of this year was filled with beautiful surprises. Two of my sisters and their partners decided to marry just months apart. The wedding-loving girl in me was of course thrilled but the short prep time almost drove me insane. My best friends are doing their wedding preps too and they allocated a year for wedding preps. A year!! So I was like, "Seriously?? Y'all getting married just months apart?" But it didn't turned out so bad because one of them had a simple civil wedding so they just had me design there e-invite.

They wanted their love story in one picture.

It was our eldest sister's wedding that took a lot of elbow grease. It was a garden wedding and navy blue and pink was the theme. As much as I wanted to customize everything (and I mean everything) we trimmed the list down to items I can manage to do. I had bigger dreams though, we had to trim down along the way or else I'll be cramming something minutes before the wedding... a thought my youngest sister loves making fun of. So here are the artworks created in celebration for those beautiful occasions. Hope you'll love them too. :)

Printed by Happy Prints

Welcome sign

Moss covered ring pillow

Moss covered Coin Pillow 

Seat plan

Menu card

Menu card

Place cards

Wish cards, cage and sign

Photo layout

Cake topper

Cheers to weddings and marriages! 


Credits to 4i Photovid for the wonderful photos.

Bring the Rain

so much hurt and preservation
like a tendril round my soul
so much painful information
no clear way on how to hold it

when everything in me is tightening
curling in around this ache
I will lay my heart wide open
like the surface of a lake
wide open like a lake

standing at this waters edge
looking in at God's own heart
I've no idea where to begin
to swallow up the way things are

everything in me is drawing in
closing in around this pain
I will lay my heart wide open
like the surface of a lake
wide open like a lake

bring the wind and bring the thunder
bring the rain till I am tried
when it's over bring me stillness
let my face reflect the sky
and all the grace and all the wonder
of a peace that I can't fake
wide open like a lake

everything in me is tightening
curling in around this ache
I am fighting to stay open
I am fighting to stay open
open open oh wide open
open like a lake

-"Like A Lake", Sara Groves

Paint Splashed Wedding

Now is the best time to be wed. No, not because of the sunny weather. This isn't an indecent proposal either... lol. Now is the time when colors have entered the wedding scene. We have said goodbye to the white-only motif... and hello to yellow, mint and gold to name a few. An array of wedding themes have blossomed too. Rustic, nautical, shabby chic, retro, vintage and the list goes on. Same goes with invitations, as they are getting crazier by the minute as more personality and style are infused by adventurous couples of today.
Here's another project c/o The Goldfish Pool. Design and layout by moi, with loads of help/critique/encouragement from mother Abba. Lol. Fun times. ^_^

Monogram created by the bride. ^_^

Main invite

Lovin' the map. <3

Looking forward to more projects! Visit http://thegoldfishpool.blogspot.com/.

Mini Luggage #1

Inspired by an old friend's miniatures and a friend's love for travel, I created my first mini luggage. 

I used the plastic case of a deck of cards.

Beach party inside!

Mini bikini, sun hat, lotion, shades and passport. And mini buntings! 

The shades were made with paper clip and the bikini with fabric tape.

Had to put last minute details on the passport with a metallic pen.

I enjoyed making it and very happy that my friend, Belle, loved it too. Hope to make some more soon. :)

Thanks to Lene Dee Dragon for the inspiration and Abba for the fabric tapes. :)

Simasen! Konichiwa!

My cousin, Ate Glady, is back from Japan! Me soooo happy for my loots! ^_^ OMG

Thick and fibrous handmade papers 

A bundle of plain washi

Bookmarks she made. She sells them at her boutique in Japan!

Awesome patterns! 

Scraps of washi with beautiful prints <3

Beautiful details!

 I wish I could go to Japan someday. For now, staring at these lovely papers will do. <3 Thanks again, Ate Glady! ^_^

Love in many folds

February came with much love and excitement. Zen & Khea were united on February 2, 2013. Zen is the brother and only sibling of my college friend, Iona. On the previous post, I showed you the table centerpiece we made for the wedding of Iona and her beau, Ed. Three years later, it was Zen's turn, and I was fortunate to become part of it. Japanese orchestra was the theme, Khea is a musician and a teacher and Zen...was named Zen hahaha, that should explain it.

I was tasked to make a sample of an origami (I always have to Google the right spelling for this..)  boutonniere. Origami has long been my hobby, one of my first loves in art. I share this interest with my college friends thus the birth of Washi Wear (which was also on the previous post). Sadly, we had to stop production, but plans of reviving it is still there. Going back to the boutonnieres, making tiny ones took a lot of time so Iona chose to go for bigger ones (see Zen's boutonniere). During the bridal shower, she was helped by Khea's sister, Jam (my new found soulmate, because both of us wants a Tarzan themed wedding) and Atty. Cha (the maid "of your honor", as Boombee would call her). I wish I could post a picture but I can't find one, but I can assure you that no Magic Mike was harmed during the shower. Lol.

Photo by Emprez Rivera

There were lots of things unique in their wedding. The bouquet, for one, is the bride's violin adorned with flowers. The couple's term of endearment is 'hunny bunny' so they requested for bunnies instead of flowers for their bridal car. And voila! With styro balls, rubber foam, ribbons, wire, and a bit of elbow grease, I made the bunny couple on a swing surrounded with sakura branches and origami cranes.

Photo by Vito Arnel Villanueva

I wish Boombee was there during the cramming day, but she had to do the laundry (haha..too much information ba, Boom?) But she came on the wedding day, of course! She's the make up artist! Boom's Beauty and The Bee has been buzzing for quite some time now and I was happy to see her in action.
A lot of manpower was needed that day, and we didn't run out of it. Both families' nanay, tatay, ate, kuya, tito, tita, cousins and friends contributed to the celebration. Witnessing the union of not only the man and the woman but more so their entire families was a wonderful experience. It was a reminder that a wedding can't be measured by the beauty of the decors, the length of the buffet table, nor the number of beads on her gown, but the love of two people, so great it joined two families and strangers together. (Wow. This ended too mushy.. lol)

Thank you Iona, Emprez and Khea for the pictures!

Pass The Glue

I love working with my college buds. I think I miss it so much that the first title I had in mind for this blog was "Pass The Glue". Thinking it over, it started to sound like a scrapbooking club or something that has to do with working with other artsy people. The things I'll feature here won't always be collabs so I scrapped the idea. Working in groups gives more benefits for me. Questions like, "Is the color to bright?" and "Is my font too small?" can take so much of my time when I try to figure it out alone. Truly, we are designed to share life with others. Gen. 2:18. 

I had the best classmates in college. They're the best critics, they tell me what's nice or what's wrong with my work and vice versa... the best thing? We do that without drama. Kung balbon, balbon! Walang paligoy-ligoy. 

balbon

/bal-bon/

Adjective

In english, hairy.

In Ma'am Rita's language, ugly, slouchy work

Ma'am Rita, like all of our professors in college, taught us that no good design comes out of 'I don't want to hurt your feelings' type of critiques. Listening to others is essential to (design) growth. I think that kind of upbringing we got from our 'parents' at the university made us good partners and encouragers of each other. From 'rakets' when were young...

Sorry, Sir Mel! This is the only picture that has you in it!

..business ventures after college..

..to the wedding of our very own, Iona (aka Mama Ions) ^_^

...and recently, the wedding of Iona's brother, Zen and her beautiful wife, Khea. (Pictures are on the next post)

Being based in different areas, we have all gone in separate ways. We got friends living from north to south. Working apart from them is also a blessing, I'm sure they would agree on this too. There are things you won't learn in your 'comfort zone'... but I feel that in no time we'll all be back to work together again. And it won't be too long 'til we hear "pass the greccooo!" :)

Thank you Jinel, Boombee and Andrea for the pictures.