Gifts + New Projects for 2014!

Christmas day is over and in a few days we are about to say goodbye to 2013. And so Daddy Allan and I decided to have a crochet break, not a complete break though. Since I am still working on new designs and items we would like to introduce in 2014. But before we have our break, Daddy finished first the gift wrapping.

Christmas gifts and giveaways

The Final MTO for 2013!

As promised, here's the final MTO that we have just finished!

Crochet Minion Hats and Ugg Boots

Grayscale Thursday: Imprisoned

“Unforgiveness denies the victim the possibility of parole
and leaves them stuck in the prison of what was,
incarcerating them in their trauma and
relinquishing the chance to escape beyond the pain.” 
-T.D. Jakes

Previously, I got a shot of this monkey with an eye contact.

During our visit at the Divine Mercy Shrine in Marilao, many were entertained by this monkey, not only kids but adults too. However, looking at the photo, I can see the sadness in their eyes while inside the cage trying to entertain and give joy to the audience.

Can you see the sadness too?

Up, Up and Away Wednesday: Divine Mercy Bell Tower

"When I admire the wonder of a sunset,
or the beauty of the moon,
my soul expands in worship of the Creator."
– Mahatma Gandhi

Chicken Kare-Kare

Experiments in the kitchen don't end.

I know how ox stripe tastes like. I already cooked pork kare-kare. Now, I used chicken as the main ingredient in this very Pinoy recipe. I haven’t tried cooking this dish from scratch since I am using the Mama Sita’s Kare-kare mix.

You will need:

½ kilo chicken

3 pieces eggplant, sliced diagonally to about 1” thick

1 medium-sized banana blossom (puso ng saging), chuncked

1 bundle pechay

1 bundle string beans, cut into 2 inches long

1 medium-sized onion, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 pack Mama Sita’s Kare-kare powder mix dissolved in 1 cup water

Here’s how to do it:

Sauté onion, garlic. Add chicken and continue sautéing until rendered. Add the mama sita’s kare-kare mix and additional 2 cups water. Simmer and add banana blossom, eggplant and string beans. Simmer until all the veggies are cooked. Add pechay and simmer for about 2 minutes.

Serve with sautéed shrimp paste.

Two Down, One More To Go!

After almost a month of working all night, finally done with 2 of the last three MTO batches. This is with the combine Mommy and Daddy crocheting effort!

Here's the 3rd to the last batch.

Crochet light pink doll booties with flower, light pink doll booties with ribbon bow, red ladybug doll booties and strawberry cake flower gladiator sandals.

Family Day Sunday: Black Background

Before I used to make the background in grayscale to enhance the subject. This time, I made it all black. The task is not that easy and needs lots of patience and control of your hands especially on the edges.

Sarciado with a Twist

Sarciado With a Twist

A recipe of Fish Sarciado was already posted here. One day Mommy recommends to put some twist out of curiosity. She suggests to use alamang or shrimp paste instead of salt or patis. To make it even healthier, I added malunggay leaves.

Yarn Organization 101

Ooops... I am no expert with organizing and please don't expect me to list down tips on how to =)

Let me just share what the best yarn organization we have made so far. At first we bought a 5-layer storage rack like this.

But since this is open, we need to put each spool of yarns into a plastic. Also, it started to get crowded as we purchase more and more lots of yarns. So it's never organized and most of the times, the yarns fell out of the rack. That's why we decided to buy a cabinet with pull out drawers. Unfortunately, it's only good for our Red Heart, Monaco, and Familia Acrylic yarns.

And so we looked for something that's a good storage for our precious yarns. Luckily, we have found storage boxes that are on sale so we purchased 3 big storage boxes.

Multi-function Storage Boxes

And we have discovered something pa about this kind of boxes. Have you wondered why the clear boxes are more expensive than the colored ones like these? We asked the promodizer why is that so and he said that the colored boxes are made form used/recycled materials that's why they are cheaper that the clear ones. This way we can help save the environment since we all know that plastic is non-biodegradable and the only way to avoid these to contribute to pollution is to recycle them.

Going back to the boxes, since these are not clear our problem will be how can we easily tell where's the yarn colors we are looking for, without opening all the boxes. That would be too tasky right? So what I did was I put each box a label indicating what yarn colors are inside.

Yarns in a box

Actually, the three boxes are so full and I'm thinking to buy another one so our precious yarns can breathe, hehe.

More yarns inside the boxes!

I am sure you'll agree that organizing save safe. Look!

So there you go. That's how our yarns are doing right now. Like what I have said, still need to buy more boxes because our yarn stash is growing. I really can't stop shopping for more, e. I am a certified crochet and yarn  addict e.

Up, Up and Away Wednesday: Electric Grid

"Know what yo want to do, hold the thought firmly,

and do everyday what should be done,

and every sunset will see you

that much nearer to your goal."

- Elbert Hubbard

Go on, keep moving and enjoy life. One day you will notice, you are just few steps away from your achieving your goals.

Crafty Things at Wellmanson

If you are a regular reader of Momaye's Diary, then you might already know that we went to Divisoria a week ago. We braved the heavy traffic and rain, but all is well since I have finally gone to the Wellmanson in Tabora.

Wellmanson is located at 855 Tabora Street, Divisoria, Manila. I have gone to Tabora so many times but this was the first time I saw Wellmanson. Well, maybe because only recently that I have known there's also a Wellmanson in Tabora. I thought their store is at Quiapo only.

source

Wellmanson is selling yarns, ribbons, buttons, fabrics, hair clips, needles, beads, and other sewing and handcrafting accessories. They are selling these at wholesale and retails prices. It's way cheaper than other craft sites I know. That's why I am so happy I found them there. And if other girls palpitate when they see bags, shoes, dress and the likes, ako naman my heart beats faster than usual when I see craft things and accessories, ribbons and yarns. Haha! No kidding, that is so true.

Anyway, sa dami ng mabibili I can't choose what to buy at first. I was like looking around and kept telling Daddy, "Dad, ang daming ganun o... O ayun ang dami." Haha. I don't know if the people notice how ignorante I was that day. And when my wisyo got back, here's what I bought.

Alligator clips (100 pcs @180 pesos), clips (100 pcs @90 pesos), small pearls (7 pesos per necklace), glue stick (2 pesos each), tapestry needles (40 pesos per pack), black beads (1 pack @40 pesos), ribbons (sale at @20 & 38 pesos each roll), and Familia acrylic yarns (10 pcs per pack @70 pesos)

So tell me who would have not palpitate when you these items. These are just few as compared to what you can buy there. I also saw pala accessories for bracelet making. That's why I told Daddy we will surely go back there one of these days (maybe next year). 

For all crafty people like me, Wellmanson is a place worth visiting for. Like them on Facebook.

Have a crafty day everyone!

Read also: Where to go in Divisoria?