Beading Supplies - Create Fashionable Accessories From Excess Supplies

These necklaces used to be trash among my beading supplies before. They're excess pieces which I didn't know what to do before. But since I started this hobby again, my creative juices, as well as my sense of inspiration and motivation to create and/or reconstruct pieces just keep on flowing.

I couldn't sleep last night so here are the necklaces I did:

These are made of leather strings. At both ends of the string, I attached some semi-precious stones. This style is quite versatile because you can wrap it around your neck, any way you want, to get the desired effect that can match your clothes.

~~~oOo~~~

For this one below, I also used a leather string. The center piece was actually a center piece for one of my old shoes. before I threw away those shoes of mine, I took out the center piece and used it to make a unique necklace piece instead. ^_^ It's fun turning trash into something pretty.

~~~oOo~~~

For this one below, I again used the remainder of my leather strings and just put various semi-precious stones and glass beads as pendant.The strings don't have locks in them, meaning, they're free flowing and you can tie them anyway you want to.

~~~oOo~~~

This one below used to be much longer and it was missing a lot of beads. I reconstructed it by cutting and re-attaching the wire, making sure that the pearls are placed symmetrically. Now, I can use it once more.

~~~oOo~~~

This one below is another broken necklace which has a missing pendant. I added a lobster claw clasp and hook at both ends and added a Carnelian piece of gemstone as pendant. Carnelian helps energize the blood, prevents lower back problems and diseases in the reproductive organs, kidneys, lungs, liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. It also enhances creativity and concentration, plus it brings about prosperity.

~~~oOo~~~

I've had this bronze pendant with studded stones since forever, plus these bluish ivory and bronze earrings I never wear. I just figured, maybe I can used some ribbons to form a necklace, that can match the color of the earrings. I'm not yet done with the locks because I was already quite sleepy by then. So in the mean time, I tied both ends with safety pins instead. Quite avant garde, I think. ^_^

Making something beautiful out of supposed trash or excess crafts and beading supplies can really be fun. Now that I think about it, I also have a few real silver and pearl pieces that need repair as well. I hope to get my hands on them soon.

Til my next post. ^_^

Jewelry Beads - Restarting An Old Hobby

Howdy!

I told you I'll be back sooner. When June started, I felt kind of pressured with the fact that it's already the middle of the year, and so far, I have only accomplished a few things on my new year's resolutions list. It's a good thing that I have been studying about beading at work and it inspired me to to once again create jewelry beads like I did before! Yup, I used to make and sell my own creations from 2004-2006. Then life happened and I got too busy doing other things. But now, I really feel like letting my creative juices flow once again. I know I'm a little bit rusty. In fact, when I restructured some old pieces I have and made some new ones, my hands were a bit shaky while I was handling the long nose and other beading supplies and tools. But I don't mind. Practice makes perfect and in so doing, it helps me feel a lot happier and more relaxed.

Let me show you the two sets I did so far:

This golden butterfly jewelry beads set is made up of tiny glass beads, mother of pearl and a thin, hard, golden butterfly foil (I don't exactly know what it's called but it can be bought at Simple Joy crafts store). The earrings have additional magnetic beads at the bottom to add weight when worn.



This second set of jewelry beads set is made up of semi-precious stones namely:

• Agate - This is a micro crystalline kind of quartz silica. It is one of the ancient stones in recorded history. It brings physical balance, strength, healing, protects the wearer against bad dreams and reduces stress.
• Amazonite - This is also called the Lucky Hope Stone or the "Amazon stone". It is a green types of of microcline feldspar. It helps calm the nervous system, brings about creativity and improves physical stamina (which I need because there are still other projects I want to accomplish before the year ends).
• Goldstone - This is a kind of glass created with copper or copper salts in the presence of a reduced flame. It helps add vitality and energy.
• Herkimer Diamond - This name is actually quite misleading. It is double-terminated quartz crystals. It was first discovered in the exposed outcrops of the town of Dolostone at Little Falls in Herkimer County, New York as well as the Mohawk River Valley. It helps release physical stress and tension and discharges toxicity from your system.
• Unakite - This is also called epidote, which came from the Greek epidosis, which means "growing together". It is a combination of green epidote and red jasper that were solidly bound together. It is used to draw off negative energy, tends to lift your spirits when you are not feeling happy, and helps you to see the positive things in your life, to name a few.

I also included some oval glass beads for the bracelet and multicolored coconut beads for the necklace.


Now that I've once again started making and wearing jewelry beads, it's no wonder that I feel happier and more relaxed as of late. These jewelry beads are not just used to enhance the getup of the wearer, but they also aid in bringing about wellness.

Ciao for now! I wanna make more jewelry beads which I will share with you on my next post. ^_^

Wishing for the Moon this June

Wow, I've already reached half of this year and yet, I still haven't done a lot of the things that I have placed on my resolution list when 2010 started. Let's see what I wrote on my list last January:

• 1. Soap Making
• 2. Level 2 of Drums
• 3. Baking
• 4. Guitar playing (must memorize 4 songs)
• 5. Painting
• 6. Candle Making
• 7. Spa Making
• 8. Scuba Diving
• 9. Wind Surfing
• 10. Surfing
• 11. Making Beaded Accessories
• 12. Driving
• 13. Biking
• 14. Play Keyboards (must memorize 2 songs)
• 15. Tarot Card Reading
• 16. Cooking My Own Dishes
• 17. Reading My Books
  

It's all been about work, work and more work since last month but I'm not complaining much. I am happy that somehow, I am compensated for a job that I enjoy doing... that somehow, despite the many financial obligations Peter and I have been facing as of late, we're still able to manage them all.

Like Peter said, it just so happened that these obligations came in one big wave (house and car mortgages, MRI & Fire insurance, registration of 2 cars, sky high electricity bills, unexpected Nikon D40 repair, life/health/personal accident insurances plus the usual credit card and utility bills). That's more than Php100k down the drain in one go. I guess this is what being a mature adult is all about --- the fact that we can make some simple sacrifices in the hopes of big returns in the future (Yup, 2.5 more years for the car and 7 more years for the house! And come August, I shall be getting one of my insurance claims. Yes!)

And even if we haven't been traveling much these days, even if we haven't been spending on simple luxuries, even if we're just always at home watching DVDs, cooking our own food, spending quality time together... we're still happy, healthy and content most of the time. I think these are the things that matter the most.

On another note, I have been more active on blogging these days. To wit:

• I overhauled my fashion site and included Hollywood celebrity news and gossips in it.
• I am a very much active baby wiccan as of late. I always do tarot card readings, spells, and further enhance my psychic development which I share to my readers.
• I manage to update my travel blog almost everyday.
• I manage to also update my food blog more regularly than before (at least once a week).

And because I am back to my meditation practices, and regularly read my self-help books, I also plan to squeeze into my busy schedule a little time to update my self-help and bookwoorm blogs as well.

What else did I miss?


The only time we got out of the house last month was when we went to Enchanted Kingdom Biki Water World to cover the Crocs event. I had fun watching the fashion show and I was so awed by the magic tricks performed by a magician afterward.


What else...

Oh, Peter and I will be celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary on June 8! We didn't plan anything special. Both of us will be working on that day. And I'm still not sure if we will go ahead with our Dumaguete trip scheduled for June 10-15 coz Peter may not have enough vacation leaves to cover the trip plus we're a bit reluctant to spend money. The plane tickets have already been paid for last March. It's the hotel and other travel expenses that I'm really worried about. Hopefully, after I do some financial check-up, some funds will be left for that trip. If not, well, it's not the end of the world. And hopefully, the weather will cooperate too. It's been raining hard these days. Though I very much welcome the cold and rainy weather, it is not conducive for traveling.

I guess that's pretty much it for now. I'll try to do some beaded jewelry today plus play with my drums and guitar. And maybe try to do a jar of body scrub too! ^_^

Ciao for now! Update you again next month. Or perhaps sooner. ^_^

Labor Day Everyday This May

Isn't it obvious? It's the middle... no scrap that... I mean it's already past the middle of the month before I finally managed to have the time to write here.

It's all been work. The last time I vacationed was on April 17-21 when we explored the very scenic spots of Legaspi, Donsol and Caramoan. I will blog about that before the year ends for sure. Teehee. I do miss traveling though. Let me share with you some photos I was tagged at during our trip:

At Lignon Hill for our Ziplining Adventure. At the back is the perfect view of Mayon Volcano.

Swimming with the Butanding whale shark in Donsol...so amazing!!!

At Pitogo Bay with the Survivor's Viewing Deck


Was this the Tinago Cove? I don't remember anymore. ^_^

We even caught a video of us swimming with the Butanding in Donsol!

But I am happy where I am right now - at home and in front of my computer pretty much ALL THE TIME.

So anyway, I got a couple of online gigs going and as usual I seldom sleep. If I do, I just take short naps or 2-3 hour sleep breaks.

I still cook and clean the house, and do the laundry and other chores. That's basically my only chances to do any physical exercises this month. On weekends, I spend time on our hammocks and read some of my books. We rarely go out, eat out, or do anything outside of the house. I'm not complaining though. One of my jobs is pretty stimulating that I can't seem to keep myself away from my computer. And the good thing about it is that I am able to apply some of the things I learn on my blogs.

And speaking of my blogs, I am updating them now more than usual. It's just the travelogues that are taking so much time because of all the info and photo arrangement I have to do. And since my other PC crashed, I don't have the paint program that lets me view the photos in 20% size so it's pretty hard to organize the photos on the blog, but I am coping.

I haven't forgotten all the lists I made at the start of this year though. Hopefully, next month, I get to tackle some of those.

So ciao for now! Update you again next month!

A Fool For April

Yeah... April is turning out to be one fun summer month and the heat is making me soooo lazy to do any work. I stopped doing two of my jobs and I'm thinking of whether to give up this third one. I just feel like bumming at the beach, or lounging at home so I can catch up on blogging about my travels, reading my books, doing my spells and  what-not. I guess March burnt me out so much  that half of what I planned to do like windsurf, visit Bolinao again,  and discover all the other lakes in San Pablo did not materialize. The only trip we did last month was our weekend of sunbathing  and shopping in Subic and our Anilao snorkeling day trip which I haven't even blogged about yet. Well, at least, I had my bathroom tiles changed and we now have a brand new front yard. Yipee! At least the money we worked so hard for went to something lasting, practical, and  productive for a change. ^_^

Sunset at Dampalitan Beach where we camped last weekend.

So, what's in store for me this month? Honestly, as long as summer is here, I want to concentrate on summer stuff like camping (we've only used our brand new Coleman tent once when we were in Dampalitan beach last weekend in Padre Burgos... we have to use it more often), more beach hopping, windsurfing & snorkeling, and finally  exploring all those other lakes in San Pablo, Laguna. In between trips, I want to finish reading all those new books I bought from Readers' Digest, and finish all those DVD series we bought early this year (Supernatural Season 5,  Dexter Season 5, Medium Season 5, Fringe Seasons 1&2, House Seasons 5&6, Grey's Anatomy Seasons 5&6, Vampire Diaries Season 1) and several other movie DVDs. In short, I just want to chill and relax this summer. I guess this is one of the perks of working from home. You can quit any time you want and find another job when you feel like it. ^_^ Of course, my drums, guitar and Peter's keyboards are always at hand to keep me company. I started playing other songs aside from This Is Me and Alone but I haven't got the time to memorize them yet. I'll let you know.

Our Coleman tent is the best!

Lastly, I hope to start making beaded necklaces, bracelets and earrings again. They're the perfect accessories for my beach trips this month. We've already been to the white beaches of Padre Burgos in Quezon last Holy Week, and we plan to camp at Potipot Island in Zambales this coming weekend, then head to Sorsogon to swim with the Butandings and explore the Caramon Peninsula on April 17-21. On the final weekend of April, we hope to windsurf again and finally check out Sampaloc Lake in San Pablo. I guess it's a good plan.

I'll check in on you again next month. Enjoy your summer!

The Heat is On!

The heat is definitely on! And the only thing that I look forward to every week are our adventure weekend out of town trips when we finally hang out at the beach, discover new places, do some windsurfing, frolic in the waters, and hopefully begin surfing again and take scuba diving lessons.

I was not joking when I said in my last post that I work so hard. My gosh, I am literally living every weekday, from our bed to my work station. I seldom get out of my office, and when I do, it's because I feel so stressed and tired, and that's the only time I go down to clean the house a bit (coz it  relaxes my mind), do a batch of laundry (it's all automatic anyway), prepare a super quick meal,  or spend around 5-10 minutes playing with  drums and my guitar (yes, I'm still playing Alone and This is Me, the only two songs I have memorized), or tinker with our keyboards which I am still getting used to. And thank God for lunch and dinner breaks, I can watch my favorite TV series one episode at a time. (Right now, I just started with Desperate Housewives Season 6)... All to relieve pressure and anxiety that I sometimes experience when I feel so overwhelmed with my virtual tasks. Could I really do this? Could I really hack 3 virtual jobs for a long time? I am grateful though for being a virtual assistant. I still think it's the best job in the world coz you can have the best of both worlds. And it does make you earn lots of money if you know where to look and how to use your time.

It's just that with 3 jobs, sacrifies were indeed made on my part and I am getting used to it. I am getting used to not blogging every now and then; I am getting used to not checking my social networks every 5 minutes, I am getting used to the solitude I have when I'm fully focused on my jobs, and I am getting used to feeling more at peace. I didn't realize that I can consider all those social networking stuff as  clutter in my life. When I really had to make a decision, they were the first things to go. My life has been more calm since. Coz while some have been helpful, many of them have been  very distracting that I didn't realize before how much of my time was used (or maybe wasted) just updating and commenting on facebook, twitter, plurk, myspace, friendster, etc.   Anyway, these are just my thoughts for now since I have never been this busy before to the point that I couldn't even get up to buy myself some drinking water supply from our neighbor. Thank God for my husband who thinks of me when I can't even think of myself.

Anyway, I just needed to share my thoughts. I am looking forward to a  series of happy weekends with my hubby this summer. This weekend, we're hoping to do the two rides we weren't able to do two weeks ago: Superman and Silver Surfer rides at Treetop Adventure, then head to Dungaree beach in Subic. Two weeks ago, it was All Hands Beach we checked out and it was nice too. I'll do a post on that on my travel blog soon. Come Sunday, we plan to do a bit of windsurfing again then look for the other lakes in San Pablo.

Happy weekend, everyone and have a great summer!

Work Hard, Play Harder, Love the Hardest

Growing up as the eldest of three siblings, and with responsibilities beyond my age, I learned how to be efficient so I can still devote some time with activities that make me happy. I remember, when I  was just a kid, making stationery and origami during the rainy season made me feel so happy. When the sun  was out, I played tex, or football, or tumbang preso, or taguan, or shato with my friends. I was such a boyish little girl. I had more guy friends than girl friends. Go figure. Anyway, I digress. I just thought of these memories coz I'm still trying to make sense of the way I am currently living my life.

The second week of February was quite challenging for me. Like I told you before, I accepted another full time job. Now, why the heck did I do that when I was already living a beautiful life?  I work hard, I play harder and I love the hardest. I guess it has something to do with my being efficient and more productive. You see, if I'm not busy with my job or tinkering with my personal projects, I spend hours just checking my social networks, emails, blogging and watching DVDs. Sure they bring me joy but then again, I'd rather exploit all my resources making a living out of something I love rather than doing what I love but wasting my energy, time and not earning money from it. Besides, I want to fund my new water sports activity, which is windsurfing,  without using our savings. Plus, I still have plans of conquering my trauma in surfing and my fear of scuba diving so I might as well earn as much as I can so I can use my additional income to fund my new and old hobbies. ^_^ Then all my hard work won't be for nothing. Like what Peter's boss told him once, "I'll rest when I'm dead." Hehehe.

Windsurfing at Lake Caliraya

That being said, I am thankful for my jobs, the sleepless days and nights when I also  try to squeeze in my other projects, and our wonderful weekends full of fun and adventure! (We got a couple of trips planned this summer. See my travel blog) And despite everything, I was still able to accomplish the following last week:

Practice, perseverance, and visualization... these are the keys to perfecting any craft.

• I started with my windsurfing lessons last Saturday, yay!
• I got to play with my guitar and drums (see videos I placed on my sidebar). I'm such an amateur but I don't care. I just studied on my own and look, I can play some tunes!
• I continued reading my books.
• I consulted with my Tarot cards and I was able to make readings for some friends.
• My hubby helped me with the laundry
• I was still able to clean the house.
• I was able to blog.

The things that were taken from my schedule were:

• about 30 minutes of meditation
• about an hour of workout.... no more time to bike and exercise
• no more time to cook
• therefore, no more time for the other things I said I'd do!

Hmmmm...

Let me just get the hang of my new working schedule and I promise myself to make time even when there seems to be none.

This is my plan:

• Meditate while stretching and exercising after I wake up each morning. Kahit 10 minutes lang.
• Consult with my Tarot cards after breakfast.
• Read a few pages of my books for  5 minutes each hour.  
• Prepare easy dishes during my lunch break and while waiting for the food, I can play some tunes. I should start tinkering with our keyboards soon!
• Ask Peter to water the plants before he leaves the house in the morning and to fix our bed every morning too.
• Simple cleaning of the house in the morning and in the afternoon.
• Bike ride for only  a few minutes after 6 pm.
• Watch videos while I do my 2nd and 3rd jobs late at night and at dawn to keep me awake.
• Play  a bit of Wii boxing and/or Soulcalibur and No More Heroes for a few minutes to jolt me from slumber in case I feel very sleepy. 
• And on those weekends when we are not traveling, I will start making spa products and beaded accessories. 

Ok, that's it for now. I think I'm quite happy with what I came up with. Carpe diem, folks!