How my family copes

My family deals with grief by making things.

On the left is a photo of the postcard and stamp I made when I heard about my aunt’s death. The postcard was one of the four cards I made that was displayed with my aunt’s photos.

The flowers were designed by another aunt (under the art direction of my mother, as she likes to say). The signs were some of the few things I hastily calligraphed on the day of her wake.

It’s been a month since her hospitalization, and almost 3 weeks since she passed. I’m still trying to process the fact that we won’t be spending the holidays with her this year.:(

Rest in peace, Auntie. We love you.

Happy Birthday, Little Steps!

To my dearest cousin,

Because sending snail mail across the pond is difficult from my side, I am posting my greeting on my blog. It’s been a while since the last time we celebrated your birthday (and mine) together. When you come for a visit, we will make up for all those missed celebrations. 🙂 I miss you more than I thought I would (haha 😉 ).

May you be blessed with even more love, happiness, and good fortune this year. Happy birthday!

Send my love to S and T.

Love,
Lye

On the Pursuit of Happiness

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

― Marcel Proust

I had an absolutely terrible morning.

After waking up early to a racket created by our two dogs, this morning was filled with one disappointment after another. From chores to major life events, everything was a big let-down.

It is hard to work (or do anything, really) when you are sad and upset. It is especially difficult to teach with a heavy heart because kids do not learn anything from a teacher that’s dull and lifeless. I could barely muster the energy to leave my room, let alone go to work. I had to think of something to cheer me up. Fast.

Stamping makes me happy. My recent foray into the world of hand carving has cemented this into fact. I enjoy the process of creating, and stamping is the only activity so far that fulfills my need for instant craft gratification.

Armed with my hand carved stamps and stamp pads, I decided to make thank you note cards for all my officemates. Making the cards helped greatly improve my mood. Not only did stamping give me instant happiness, writing down things I am thankful for made me realize how loved and blessed I am despite of today’s disappointments.

Notecards made from index cards and decorated using handcarved eraser stamps

What do you do to make yourself feel happy on a bad day?

Meet My Crafting Buddy

I had 2 projects lined up for the first 2 days of February — decorate the office’s bulletin board and prepare prizes for a friend’s bridal shower. I had ample time to prepare, and I even put together inspiration boards on Pinterest. But the last two weeks of January were surprisingly busy, and I was only able to prepare for these projects 2 days before they were due.

Enter Adobe Illustrator, aka my dirty little “crafting” secret. I use this program to brainstorm layouts and draw templates that can be printed out and cut.

PROJECT #1: BULLETIN BOARD

I work at a reading clinic, and we take turns in decorating the bulletin board in the waiting area. My colleague and I wanted to combine the ideas of LOVE because it’s February and READING because we’re reading clinicians. Also: research shows that children who read with parents get better grades.

Bulletin board concept that I laid out in between classes

The words “someone you” and “LOVE” are reflected in their mirror image to hide the outlines from the front.

bulletin board templates

My co-teacher Nat helped me in cutting the words and hearts. Thanks, Nat!

The finished product:

The children put heart-shaped PostIts over the books they wanted to read with a loved one.

PROJECT #2: BRIDAL SHOWER

My husband and I made a poster for Mara and Sheng‘s underwear drive for monsoon flood victims. I used the panties I drew to make panty buntings for a friend’s bridal shower.

The panties spelled out “HERE COMES THE BRIDE” and were printed on sea foam green, lilac, and powder blue papers.

I also traced the template over wrapping paper to make “lacy” panties.

Finished product:

I hung the panties on lilac-colored yarn using wooden clothespins. The panty buntings went well with the existing decor of the venue.

I was also able to design and print labels for the prizes and favors.

Anti-dengue citronella sprays and soaps never looked so classy.

Thanks to my best friend AI, these projects each took just under 2 hours to complete.

What do you do to make arts and crafts projects easier?

On Having A “Signature” Gift Wrap Style

Friends and family know how much I love gift wrapping. The process of brainstorming and gathering odds and ends to put together into a pretty package relaxes me. This activity also allows me to indulge in my guilty pleasure of …

Change Would Do You Good

I am not in the habit of making New Year’s resolutions. I don’t believe in making promises I won’t be able to fulfill. It’s already a challenge to achieve my life goals. Why would I want to complicate my life even further with unnecessary undertakings?

This year, however, feels different. Three weeks in, 2013 is already shaping up to be a very promising year for me and my husband. All the excitement and anticipation make me feel bold enough to publicly declare my resolutions.

This year, I intend to:

Craft resolutions for 2013. (Friends, I know the scrapbook is way overdue. We’ve been married for 2 years already No need to reiterate.)

These resolutions will help me in maintaining this blog, too.

What are your New year’s resolutions?

An Introduction

In a perfect world, we have ample time to do things we enjoy. Like reading books. Watching movies. Hanging out with friends.

Crafting is a hobby I discovered in the latter part of my x number of years on earth. I crafted on and off since elementary school, usually for art projects that were included in school requirements. My passion for making pretty things was ignited when I started preparing for my wedding a little over two years ago.

Unfortunately, adult life gets in the way. My full-time employee status keeps me from dabbling in nothing more than little craft projects after work hours.

With the handmade movement gaining ground and the crafting community expanding everyday, I think it is high time to take this hobby seriously. Do I want to pursue this full-time? Yes, that is the goal. But the timing is not right, and there are still so many crafting techniques I have to learn.

Maybe I will reach my goal sooner rather than later. But for now, I’ll stick to crafting after an 8-hour work day. 🙂

craftereight aka Lyra

-Lyra