For the hubster's birthday, I wanted to surprise him with something personal and made by my own hands. I've been planning this since last month, and as I was browsing through instagram, I came upon Ge Mapa's account. She is a Filipino artist who makes artworks from Washi Tape. Of course, during this time, I did not know who she was so I did a little research and found her little niche in the web: Washi Machine and her Washi Tape Portraits.

Anyway, I tried to make my own version but it does not even come close to her works. But my husband loved it, nonetheless.

Materials you'll need:

• Acrylic sheet or Acrylic Clipboard
• Washi Tapes (the more the merrier)
• Exacto Knife

So here's how I did it:

First, a little photoshop to edit his picture. You'd want to use the stamp effect, you can adjust its smoothness and lightness. Print it out and attach it to the back of your acrylic sheet or, in my case, an acrylic clipboard.


And then, start sticking washi tape and cutting along the edges of the photo.


And wallah!


I'm so glad he loved it, even though I still need a lot of practice. Some edges were not properly filled with washi, but hey, it's my first time. Here's to more washi portraits!

Bacolod Chk-n-BBQ House recently opened in Doha so we decided to try their famous Chicken Inasal. A 1 kilometer walk from home was all it took and we were ready to gulp on some inasal.

One thing I do everytime I come home for a vacation is get my hands on every nail polish bottle available in stores. For one, they are very affordable compared to well-known brands such as OPI and China Glaze. Local polishes from the Philippines have been very competitive as of late and I'm here to show you why.

Here's one brand that I've come to know since I was a kid (they have kid friendly polishes that are safe for children, too).

Bobbie Kaleidoscope Polish LEMON SOUFFLE

This polish is supposed to change colors when exposed to either heat or cold. Here is what it looks like on normal circumstances:



Now, here's what it looks like after I ran it through cold tap water (please excuse the water droplets, they change back quite quickly so I had no time to wipe my hands):



And here's what it looks like while it's changing back:



I have previously tried the other shades (review soon) of this product collection and this color has the least noticeable changes.

I bought this from Landmark Department Store at Trinoma Mall. It costs Php 79.75 (QR 6.60 / USD 1.80). They are also available in other department stores and drugstores all over the Philippines.

PROS:

CONS:

RATING: 3/4

We've had this lunch set a few years back, so I was surprised that it is still available when we went to Fridays for lunch. We were planning to use our Entertainer App for the said lunch but decided to go with this set instead.

Aside from the Christmas gifts we handed out last week to our friends during the thanksgiving celebration at Church, we also had to anticipate the unexpected. As of last year (2013), Raymond and I had prepared ourselves with goodie bags for those unexpected attendees at Church.

This year, we bought chocolate bars for the oldies;

We wanted to make it a little personal but since I am not one to cook or bake or do anything in the kitchen, I just downloaded some printable chocolate wrappers online.

You can browse different designs from the internet. I chose these simple ones from Intimate Weddings.



Of course, you can edit the text through PDF.

You can download the printable wrappers here:
Chocolate Wrapper Printable

They also have a tutorial on how to change the wrapper of your chocolate bar. I love this site, they have lots of free printables and tutorials you can use for any occasion, not just weddings.

And then there are the loot bags for the kiddos;

I got the bags from Crazy Party at Villagio Mall and just filled them up with chocolates and candies.

I am so looking forward to next year, until then, I'll be busy doing other projects that I hope I can share with you guys.