washi tape organizer

All my art materials are stored in one big plastic box and I put them out every time I make the cards and any other crafts that I post in this blog. And every single time, I have to clean them up and put them back in the box. The hardest to organize are my washi tapes. According to www.hobbycraft.co.uk, washi tapes are decorative masking tapes originating from Japan that can be used to add pattern and color to almost any project.

What I do before is use a scotch tape to combine the sets together so I won't forget which ones go with which ones and put them all in a separate box. But whenever I put them in that same box, I am not satisfied with it at all as it looks so messy. So I came up with an idea of organizing them by using a paper tube. Here's a before and after picture of my washi tapes.

Washi Tape Organizer

folding hearts birthday card

After 10 days from my last post, I am definitely back!

We've had a quick trip to Edinburgh, Scotland two weekends ago and I took some rest this last week. It's a good excuse isn't it? Just a quick one on our trip. We were able to be there while the Fringe Festival is on-going. Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the world's largest art festival according to edfringe.com. Me and my husband are big fans of musical plays such as Les Miserables, Wicked (we love Wicked!), Rent: The Musical, and so on. So this is a festival very suitable for us! We were able to see Rent: The Musical and an improv comedy show but I enjoyed 'Rent' more of course! Ok, enough of our awesome trip as I might continue with all the places we saw and forget what this post is about. =) 

I call this the folding hearts card and because it's full of hearts and it's very pink, this card made it to my favorite list! 

I've made this for one of the first few friends I am glad to have here in the UK. She said she loves it, but I expect that already since she loves pink as well. 

Folding Hearts Birthday Card

ribbon flowers birthday card

I bought a lot of ribbons of different colours from a pound store near us and I thought of using them for our next card project. I used the ribbons to create flowers and its stems. We'll call this the ribbon flowers birthday card.

Ribbon Flowers Birthday Card

book fairy birthday card

This next card that I'm going to share with you is a very simple yet cute one! This card is perfect to be given to your friends who loves reading books. My husband calls this the book fairy birthday card.



Book Fairy Birthday Card



personalized desk organizers

To show you that this blog is not just about handcrafted cards, I thought of sharing with you other crafts that I do - DESK ORGANIZERS!

In 2014, when I was still back home in the Philippines, I saw all my office supplies on the two corners of my desk and I find them too cluttered. I fixed them on just one corner, but still I am not satisfied on how it looks. It's too messy for me. I wanted it to be neat but cute at the same time. And so my quest of finding desk organizers started. But with all the desk organizers that I have seen through online sites, they are either too expensive for just a simple organizer, or too simple/small that my pens, post-its and other office supplies won't fit. Then, I saw this box-in-a-box idea, and told myself,  "Why not make my own desk organizer?". A personalized one to fit on my desk and have space for all of my stuff. 

I inventoried my office supplies: planner, pink pens, pink markers, pink highlighters, pencils, pink tape dispenser, pink sharpener, calculator, post-its, staplers, calling cards, rulers and loads of my washi tapes or paper patterned tapes, etc. From this list, I did the measurements and I started to design how I wanted it to look like, where this or that should fit in. So when I finally decided what to do and was able to find the wrapper that I wanted for it, I started my project. Take note: I spent more or less Php300/£5  for this desk organizer.

I watched a video on Youtube on how to make boxes out of cardboards. It's quite tedious to do, but, it's a good one. It will make the boxes durable and will last longer. One day, I will create my new locker organizer for my new workplace and I will keep you guys posted to show the instructions for this box making. But for the mean time, here's the first desk organizer that I have made for myself:

Cello's Desk Organizer

portrait stencil card

I am soooo excited to share this special handmade card with you guys. This is the first portrait card that we made. My subject, one of my most beautiful friends who celebrated her special day this July. I say one of the most beautiful 'coz I don't want my other beautiful friends to be jealous! LOL. Here she is! A very fine and smart lady!

Portrait Stencil Card Step 1

amjay's 30th birthday craft

For my first ever post of instructional crafts, I will share the birthday banner making, LEGO themed gift wrapping, and a handmade explosion box card for my husband.

He celebrated his 30th birthday this July and I had so much plans in store for his birthday. Like a LEGO themed birthday party with birthday banners, party hats, loot bags and all. LOL. But only a portion has materialized. What I did instead is a simple banner, wrapped his gift (a LEGO set), and made him an explosion box card. Thus, the three parts of this post:

I. Birthday Banner 

For the birthday banner, here are the quick easy steps:

1) Cut out triangle shapes for the banner, you can pick the colour that will suit your theme. I used construction paper that I readily have for the banners.;

2) Cut out letters for the HAPPY BIRTHDAY and glue them on the banner cut-outs. For the letters, I used pastel coloured papers; and

3) Line them up and tape the ribbon at the top back side of the banner.

 Here's the final product, with the birthday boy of course!

Amjay's Birthday Banner