MISTI Dupe

When I saw the MISTI stamping tool on youtube, I was really amazed by it! I mean the one who invented it is a genius! Finally a tool that solves a problem in stamping, doubling or shadowing of the image when you try to stamp it again.

Unfortunately, this amazing tool is not available in the Philippines.  So I searched for a dupe and I found this.  This idea is not mine, I saw this in youtube from another crafter.  But hey, this is something I could find here.

This tool actually cost me only Php 100.

The materials you will need:

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Achieving the Dream: Take Me Back to Michael's

Since med school days, I've always wanted to be able to visit this store.  I came to know about it since grade school days, I've watched American craft shows and this store is always mentioned to where you can get your materials and supplies.

As a kid, I've always wished there's something like this one in the Philippines, actually there was one before, I think the name was Craft World, I would go to Robinson's Galleria and SM Megamall just to go to that store.  Sadly it closed down already.

Actually I did not dream of going to Michael's until med school days.  I mean, in gradeschool and high school days, I never fully posted or put into words that I wanted to visit Michael's store.  My desire to visit the place started 2012, med school days.  I posted in social media that I wanted to visit it someday and I wanted something like this in the Philippines.

So last May 2018, when I visited San Francisco, I made it a point to include this in my itinerary.  We checked in a hotel in Union Square, and the branch closest was in Emeryville.  So using Moovit app and uber, we were able to reach this place.

I was really happy and with a feeling of accomplishment when I reached the storefront.  And when I entered the store, OMG! I was in Craft Heaven!!!!  I never thought there were so much types of crafts in the world.  Everything is just there! It's "THE ONE"-stop shop for your craft needs.

There's just this overwhelming joy I can't fully explain.  I bought lots of paper crafts there.  I would have bought some needle-felting also if only I did not restrain myself.  If only I was not worried of having our luggages overweight, I would have bought some craft tools as well.

Below is a picture of my Michael's Haul:

I loved that there were soccer-related stuffs there, I just hoarded!!!  Right now, I haven't used all of it, little by little, tinitipid since it was a really long way there and my 1st time shopping there.

Bucket list checked.

Hope I can achieve more of my dreams.  Dreams are not just for the your younger self, not just in the Disney movies and cartoons.  Even if you're already in Med school you can still dream and even if it took me 6 years I was able to achieve it nevertheless.  And this feeling of achievement is just irreplaceable.

Never stop dreaming, never stop believing.

Creative Journaling

I've been journaling since I was in college, actually I think even as early as high school.  I love buying cute notebooks and I write my diary using different colored pens.  There was actually a point in time when I went into depression and thanks to our college guidance counselor, she suggested journaling as a way for one to get out of depression.  I also had a dream journal. During that time wherein I would write what happened in my dream and would interpret them.

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Otterly Beautiful Day - Shaker Card

I'm starting my birthday month with spreading happiness.  Hope I can have the time to push this through.  February was a sad month for me.  I guess I just have to counteract this negativity for some time.

Starting with very cute otters!  This was my first time to use Copic Markers, I think I have to have some learning curve using these markers, even knowing about the proper paper.

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The Little Prince Themed Party

We were invited to a themed birthday party.  I love themed parties because there's an artistic and crafty aspect to it.

This post is to give inspirations to others who are planning to have a "The Little Prince" Themed party.  Elements here may give you an idea on how to decorate your party.

Let's begin with the room decorations:

When I hear the little prince theme, I thought the color scheme will be majority green.  But I was surprised to see blue themed party.  And it turned out well actually, maybe better.

The centerstage backpiece was really great! I especially love the glittery effect.  It made the stage really extravagant!

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Trying to be Audrey Hepburn

In our last PUA Midyear Convention, there was a theme for the fellowship night.  Since the PUA is celebrating its 60th anniversary, the theme was "1960s".  I searched the net and searched for inspirations:

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Closet Costume: Mime

And so I went to another party and I only discovered that the party had a 'theme' 1 day before the party.  No time to make special costumes, not even have a time to rent some costume online.

I attended for the first time a christmas party from another institution besides UST, this was Cardinal Santos Surgery Christmas Party and it was titled: "Cirque du Surg".  Carnival was the theme of the christmas party.

Looking at carnival costumes, I would really love to be a ringmaster or a showgirl with all the glitters, sequins, wig and makeup! But with less than 24 hrs to prepare, I had to do with what I have in my closet.

Then this came to the picture:

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Closet Costume: Gatsby

There's a trend to making themed parties here in the Philippines, not only children, but adults as well will be dressing up to parties.  One of my favorite costumes or theme is the Great Gatsby.  I love this theme because of its flexibility and it's all about the Accessory, and they look really great in pictures!

Let's be practical, there are some people who will not be willing to spend a lot of money to buy a costume to be used only one night or one party.  But you wouldn't want to be left out in the themed party right? So there should be a compromise between practicality and being true to the theme.

PS: I'll be tackling the female costume only here.

Let's first take a look what do gatsby-inspired costumes look like

Let's break this down, these are the basics:

• The great gatsby has a general theme of: black, white, gold, silver.  You can use the other colors but generally these colors center on this theme.
• Like I said before, this theme is all about accessory/props: feathers and pearls.
• Makeup: Red Lipstick

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Doctor's Guide to Organizing an Appreciation Party

Whenever doctors have an event, we're challenged to do some event planning, which is not our forte, well, that's why we're doctors and not event planners... But we are usually on a tight budget, so we can't hire an event planner to make our lives easier and oftentimes, we have no choice but to do the organizing ourselves.

This is a resident's guide, since I'm still a resident and I would like to share what I've learned in becoming one of the organizing committee in a mini Appreciation Night.

Disclaimer: Things written here are product of collaboration of all the ideas of residents and consultants and not all of my own...

Two important things in any event are: MONEY & TIME, and more often than not, we don't have much of both. We'll just do what we can with what we have.

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Poison Ivy Armband & Legband Tutorial

Another part of Poison Ivy Costume DIY
You can check the Socks Boot Cover Tutorial & the Headdress Tutorial to know how I made those accessory and you can check the overall look in here

Now let's start with my very childish introduction:
Of course Uma Thurman's version of Poison Ivy Costume wouldn't be complete without the glitters!!!!

I don't have time to put on body glitter, so I decided to make an armband and legband (if that's what it's called) instead.

Materials:
Green felt fabric (hard)
Paper & Pencil
Green & Gold glitters
PVA Glue
Elastics
Sewing Kit

Step 1 - Measure your arm width and your leg width and cut the appropriate elastic length.  Sew the two ends together to form a ring. Draw different sizes of leaves into your paper.

Step 2 - Cut these patterns and use them as guide to cut your felt fabric shapes.  Cut many shapes using the different sizes of leaves.

Step 3 - Place some glue onto your felt fabric and pour glitters over them!!  Allow to dry

Step 4 - Glue the pieces onto the elastics.  Remember to use only drops of glue, do not glue the entire elastic and just place the leaves on top, this will harden the elastic and it will not be elastic anymore. 

And you're done!

Poison Ivy Headdress

This is a part of Poison Ivy Cosplay tutorial series. You can check how I made the boot cover using in this page: Socks Boot Cover Tutorial
The arm band and leg band can be found here: Arm Band & Leg Band Tutorial
The overall look can be found here: Poison Ivy Cosplay

Let's first look at our inspiration for the headdress:

The version played by Uma Thurman is one of my favorite versions of Poison Ivy Costume.

Materials needed (I bought everything in Dangwa, except for pliers and glue gun):
red headband
plastic leaves
fake fabric red roses
wire
pliers
glue gun
Fake red crystals / sequin flowers

Step 1 - Remove all the rose buds from the fake flower stem.  Remove also some small leaves from the leaf bouquet.

Step 2 - Using your hot glue, glue the roses into your red headband.
Step 3 - Wrap the wire of your crystals and sequin flowers in between the roses.

Step 4 - Glue in the plastic leaves.  

Step 5 - You're Done!!!!

Here's a picture when worn.

Things to Consider in Planning Costume Party for Doctors

Recently I got a glimpse of what it is like to be a part of event planning service.  Not in a professional sense, but a part of an organizing committee for an intimate party.

There are lots of things I learned from this experience and I would like to share what I learned, and I think this will help event planners as well.

1. Consider the characteristics of your target audience/participants/guests

Guests play a major role in any event.  Consider their personalities in your event.  Doctors in general are very busy people, and when I mean busy, really busy.  Surgeons for example may start their surgeries as early as 6:00am, they also have to take care of their patients in their clinics.  So when they say their busy, they're not lying.  Some may have time to as late as 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm. So if you're an event planner, you have to be in constant communication with the doctor in charge of the event and ajdust to their schedule also.  When I was just a medical student, I don't understand why doctors are always late in some events, well sometimes, they're 'pasaway' but oftentimes, it really is because they're attending to a patient.

2. So if you're planning for a themed party.....

These doctors will not have time to buy the props.  If your budget will permit it, you have to provide the props/costumes for all your participants.

During planning for a theme, think of costumes that are easy to find or already part of their wardrobe.  Like a "Gatsby" themed party, wherein you know that the doctors have black suit already in their wardrobe since they use these in their conventions.

You'll have less chance of succeeding if your theme involves taking time to look and buy for the props and costumes.

3. Offer them to buy their costumes

Since doctors don't have time, and if you can't avoid to have a theme that requires a lot of time to prepare the costume, you can offer your service to look for their costume and I'm sure they're more than happy to pay you for your services.

4. Consider your time frame to prepare for the event

Event planning is not one of the strengths of the doctors, so more often than not, you'll be given so little time in preparing for the event.  This could range from 1 week to days to prepare for it.

5.  Shy guests

Most doctors are shy when in comes to these kinds of stuffs, they're not used to dancing in public, not used to singing in public and they may see games as embarrassing.

6. Elegance and Sophistication

Most doctors prefer the simple elegant and sophisticated themes than wacky themes.

7. Music

Most doctors are at least in their 30s and above, so the type of music should be taken into consideration, music during their generation will gain more acceptance than current trending music.

Pig Sliding Card

When you receive anything handmade, you get this feeling of 'special-ness'? (I think this word doesn't exist, hahaha).  Don't you? That I believe is the power that handmade has vs the commercial products.  But I've always believed that to get this maximum effect of handmade gifts, the person receiving it must be capable of appreciating handmade.  Not all people can appreciate handmade gifts, do you agree?

I think my thyroid hormones are giving me hope already, since I can make something crafty already.  I was depressed and weak the past few days and unable to make anything crafty or artsy.  

This project is inspired by Stamparadise. I don't have the stamps available here, so I just used my computer to make the template, and traced the outline w/ waterproof ink since I used watercolor pencils for my color and Faber Castel Gelatos

Materials used:

Watercolor paper

Faber Castel Gelatos

Faber Castel Watercolor Pencils

Cutter

Scissors

Wet wipes

Printer

Adobe Photoshop CS6

Unipin Pin Pen 0.01 mm Black

Sakura Pigma Micron Pen 01 Black

Butterfly foil stickers (From National Bookstore)

Here's the Card in action:

Aren't the pigs so adorable??

If you want to have a copy of the template, just comment down below, I can email the file to you.

Ribbon Wands - Tutorial

We'll be performing ribbon dance and I have to make some props.  Ribbon wands of course! What's a ribbon dance w/o ribbon wands?

Materials:

• Long silk ribbon
• Dowels - I bought mine from @binondopabili (Instagram account)
• Washi Tape or Masking Tape
• Scissors
• Lighter

Step 1 - I heated the ends of my ribbon to avoid having frizz mess.

Step 2 - Attach 1 end perpendicular (upright) to the end of the dowel stick.

Step 3 - Secure the end with wash tape or masking tape.

And you're done!

Socks Boot Cover Tutorial

I'll be doing a cosplay soon for an event.  I've been looking for green boots for the look of the character.  But unfortunately, the 2nd hand shoes in OLX are too big for my size, plus I'm not used to wearing boots, so I'm not sure if my feet can tolerate wearing one.

I went to 2 malls, Robinsons Magnolia & SM San Lazaro, no shoes to match the look.  There are green high heels but my feet can't tolerate them... They really HURT! How on earth do people and actresses run in those things?!

I then thought of why not boot covers? Since they're popular to cosplayers, as alternative for their shoes.  You can wear your own high heels which has been proven to be comfortable for you and plus, they're cheap and easy to make.

I asked around Facebook & online shops, how much will it cost me to have one made.  They answered Php 1500.  Expensive! I might as well buy a new pair of boots!

Anyways here is a 'cheat', on how to make boot cover:

Materials:

• A pair of thick socks
• Scissors
• Your high heels/boots

Step 1 - Insert the socks into your shoe.

Step 2 - Cut a small hole at the heel part of the shoe over your socks.

Step 3 - Slide the heel into the hole you've created.

Step 4 - Do the same with the other pair.

And you're done!

Summary:

To see the overall Poison Ivy Look: Poison Ivy Cosplay
To see the respective DIYs in the series: Poison Ivy Arm Band & Legband Tutorial, Poison Ivy Headdress Tutorial

Craft Fail - customized WIFI skin

Learning is a process of success & failures. I think it's time I also place my failures here, so that other crafters may learn from my mistakes.

I made a customized wifi device skin last 2012(Customized WIFI Skin).With the advent of 4g and LTE internet, I bought another 4G compatible device, which did not last long since my senior resident lost it when he borrowed it.  So time to use again my old wifi device.

Now comes how the skin survived the times...

The vinyl sticker is still intact, it still protects the wifi device, but the print already melted. Probably from the heat of the battery when turned on.

Lessons learned: 

Can't use inkjet printer ink, to skins that will be placed to devices that produce heat.

Til the next craft project!

Conquering Fear: Watercolor Pen

When I was a kid, my favorite materials for coloring are: colored pencils > crayons > poster paint > oil pastels.

Watercolor well, it didn't work out. I hated the brush included in the kit, when I was a kid I didn't like the mess I make in my paper when I try the watercolors, and the colors were light.

Then as I was in my 3rd year residency (urology 1st year), adult-coloring is a trend. Then I discovered the water pen. 

To whoever invented the water pen, BLESS YOU!!! You should win an award for your contribution to the arts & craft world. I can was able to color w/ watercolors at last!

This was colored with pure watercolors only! Isn't it great?!

I'll try out more!

Philippine Urology Residency Induction Series

2015 was the year I start as a first year resident in Urology.  I'm in the straight program of UST Urology.  This training program consists of 2 years of general surgery residency then 4 years of urology proper.

When you're 1st year, you're again back to the bottom of the hierarchy.  So you get to undergo a series of induction 'ceremonies'.  For Urology 1st year, this consists of 3 in total for your first year, and another one for your 2nd year.

So let's start with the first one.

This is the PURA (Philippine Urology Residents Association) Induction.  Here they welcome you as a new member of the PURA.  I personally think PURA is a great idea.  If you want to get in touch with other urology residents of other institutions, you just tap into PURA and you're sure to get good results.

For 2015, the theme of the PURA induction is BURLESQUE.  So you have to give a video presentation to introduce yourselves and at the induction night, you have to give a presentation relating to the theme.  There's a video of the presentation which I will not post in public hahaha. It's one of those times you wouldn't want others to see it.  And yes, we had a burlesque theme dance routine, music, and yes again, I took my clothes off literally one by one (but not up to completely off). It was nice that all my seniors were there to support us. I have a batch mate, Ivan (with nickname Yvon) who is in the rightmost of the picture.

The 2nd induction ceremony is from NKTI's Talent Show, they call it Talentadong Uro.  But this year is different, they adapted the Your Face Sounds Familiar format and called it Uro Face Sounds Familiar. This was hard, since none of my talents are in the category of singing or dancing.  But hey, this is like cosplay, you get to dress up and act like someone else.  I consulted my most trusted hairstylist and he said, I should be Vilma Santos since we're both petite and of fair complexion.

For the performance I was able to check youtube and found this Caronia ad by Vilma Santos.  The steps were easy to learn and the performance was short. 

Another great point of this was that I was able to insert some craft project into it.  Her hairpiece, the orange flower, I made my own to match with my costume.

Here's my finished get-up

I won 3rd place in this competition.  Yup, there's a video also of the presentation, which I will not post in public. Hahaha!

For the 3rd and last for the year 2015, it's the Mr & Ms Urology Pageant.  This is the most grand of all induction series.  You'll spend some money and this is to my surprise with legit pageant format.

Of course not always do we have a Female Urology resident, so in the pageant I was the only legitimate Ms Urology.  In other institutions where they have male urology resident, they look for their own partners, either a professional dancer, a beautiful nurse, a co-resident, an intern, a junior intern, etc.

What I love with this pageant was that the theme for the year was "Victorian". It was always been my dream to wear a victorian inspired dress.  And I was given the opportunity for this event.  I was giddy like a child when I was able to wear the balloon dress.

This was our costume for the photoshoot

And then for the pageant proper, this consisted of 4 parts. 1st was the Victorian Dress.

This was my most favourite of all the costume.

The 2nd part was the talent portion.  We did synchronised swimming. =D. No pictures, for this part sorry.

For the 3rd part, it was the formal dress part.

The 4th part was the swimsuit part.  For the first time ever in my life, I wore a two piece bikini.  It was new for me... and I'm not very comfortable with it.

No close-up for this part of the competition.  Of course judging from the tall and lean other contestants, I lost in this competition.  But, my thinking during that time was... Let's get this over with, I'm really tired.  Kudos to the professional models, walking on runway in very high heels is quite tiring.

This year's last induction series will be the body painting contest.  Again, it's artsy so I can't wait for it =D.