Washified Kraft Notebooks

I am a fan of handmade stuff. As much as I can, whenever I try to give something to my friends, I always make it a point to put my personal touch on it.

As most of my high school girl friends enjoy writing on notebooks and journals, I decided to give them washi-fied kraft journals last Christmas. I had to ask each of them about their favorite colors, and from there, I had to select washi tape rolls whose designs complement each other, and at the same time, matched the favorite colors of my friends. It was pretty easy to create the washi-fied journals, and the experience of being able to come up with a gift that's a "labor of love" is something fulfilling. Luckily, my friends liked the journal. I had to remind them that I'm still a novice in the handmade movement so that they'll cut me some slack. I'm just glad that my friends were very appreciative. :)

For the details: the plain kraft journals/notebooks were ordered from Papemelroti; the washi tapes were purchased from PaperblushPh. 

The Frustrated Typography Artist

Since I was a kid, I've been resigned to the fact that drawing portraits, sceneries, and even still life was not my cup of tea. However, since my childhood days, I have always been fascinated with awesome typography.

Merriam-Webster defines typography as "the style, arrangement, and appearance of printed letters on a page". Typography is more commonly known as "lettering". 

As I've said I have always been a frustrated typography artist. I like the way letters are styled and written on paper. And since I can't find any school which offers a crash course on typography, I just rely on checking sample typography works on the net, and try to practice on my spare time. Practicing typography has also been a good stress-relieving activity for me. I have posted below some of my attempts at typography. Hope I can find to pursue and enhance this interest. :)

Papercut and Washified Bookmarks

This is a post-Christmas post. I was just too busy that time with work and with my craft give-aways that I was not able to blog about it. Anyway last Christmas, my former officemates/girl friends and I had sort of a reunion get-together. After several months of not seeing each other (some of us - like me - moved on to another company), we decided to get together last Christmas for a reunion. It was nothing big. We had take-out food, some good old board games (we are an avid fan of these games), as well as reminiscing moments of the times we were still in that old office.

As I love those friends very much, I really had to make something for them for the holidays - it may not be that expensive, but at least something with my personal touch on it, and a simple reminder that I remembered them. So, I prepared the personalized papercut bookmarks decorated with washi tapes.

As I'm an avid fan of papercutting and washi tapes, I took the occasion to share this passion with my friends. I sketched their names on the bookmarks to make it personalized, carved their names and the design using papercutting techniques, and decorated the top part of the bookmarks with washi tapes. To make the bookmarks appear laminated, I bought some cold laminating film from Bee Happy Crafts and carefully pressed the bookmarks in between the laminating film. The washi tapes were bought from different sources (PaperBlushPh, Bee Happy Crafts, Washi Works, and Hey Kessy). The papercutting skills, I learned them by attending a Papercutting + Washi workshop also from Hey Kessy.