An Upcycled T-shirt

My daughter got a nice pair of floral jeans from grandma lately and I wanted her to wear them right away. 

But when I was trying to find a shirt that matched these cute floral pants, only an old fuchsia shirt with this tiny discoloration was the best choice...and the tiny discoloration, though tiny, was right smack in the middle of it. 

Tiny but annoying discoloration.

What to do?!  Upcycle!

I had some felt fabric on-hand so I decided to make a flower cut-out out of the felt to sew it on, right where the discoloration was.

First, I had my daughter put on the shirt, got my sewing chalk and marked the center of the shirt  (that's when I realized the discoloration was slightly off-center. It pays to check and re-check!).

Then I snipped a 2”x 2” square out of purple felt fabric.  From the square, I drew a flower with a pen and cut it up.  I drew a circle onto the fuchsia felt fabric and stuck it onto the center of the purple flower cut-out. 

With my beginner skillz, I stitched up the circumference of the fuchsia circle to sew the whole flower onto the shirt.  Then I secured the tips of each purple petal with a knot. 

Here's a close-up of the stitching and knot on each petal:

 And this is what it looks like on the underside:

A bit sloppy but I'm glad it can't be seen when she's wearing it.

So tada, old fuchsia shirt looks brand new again! 

What about you - what would you do to upcycle a shirt? = )

Paper-hunting in Spain, Italy and France

Sometime in May of 2012, we were blessed to have gone on a Mediterranean cruise with the family.  We visited the beautiful and historic ports of Spain, Italy and France.

While enjoying the sights, I was on paper-hunt mode, keeping an eye out for shops that sold crafts and stationery.

In Barcelona, I found one (ONE!!!) pad of stationery with a print of Picasso’s paintings in Art Montfalcon, a century-old curio shop worth visiting for unique souvenir items mostly designed by local artists.  There were a couple of pretty notebooks with Gaudi artwork on their covers but I was on a hunt for notepads or notecards...I gave the note pad as a gift to a very close friend so I don’t have a photo of it.  Here’s an image of the Picasso painting though:

Really artsy and wanted to keep one for myself but it was the last piece.

In Florence, my sister-in-law pointed to the little souvenir kiosks that lined the piazzas and told me that it was where she found the exquisite, gold-lined notecards she had given to me a few years back.  I grabbed the chance to scour the kiosks and was ecstatic to find what I was looking for!

In France, one of our stops was a half-day bus tour around the city of Marseilles.  The whole city of Marseilles was under construction (as it was being groomed to be the next cultural capital of France).  Museums, sidewalks, roads were being fixed.  Here are a couple of photos: the magnificent Palaise Longchamp which was also under construction (No water running down from the center of this grand structure which would’ve been a breathtaking view) and Notre Dame de la Garde, a basilica with a golden statue of Mary towering over all of Marseilles as protectress of the city. 

Palaise Longchamp under renovation, May 2012

Notre Dame de la Garde, May 2012

After taking in the sights, we had a 15-minute pit stop at a mall - Galeries Lafayette in Centre Bourse. Since my daughter was asleep on my lap, I opted to stay and wait on the bus.  When my dear hubby returned, he was grinning from ear to ear, like he hit the jackpot!   He found what I had been looking for– a major craft shop named Loisirs et Creation. 

I cut out this portion of the paper bag as a souvenir!  Dorky, huh?  My friends would understand. 

The craft store carried embellishments, fabric, ribbons and scrapbooking materials but he made a run for the paper shelves and grabbed the ones with the best designs.  Really sweet of him, don’t you think?

These are some of the 12x12 papers he purchased in a jiffy (I photo-collaged them to show the coordinating patterns on the back):

I am certain there are more of these shops scattered around these major tourist destinations…and I hope to come back someday to conquer them!  Till the next Euro paper-hunt!

Pretty Gift Paper

I wonder who among you from Manila can relate to this post.

Over the past couple of years, I have found it difficult to find pretty store-bought gift paper. ( Of course, DIY wrapping paper tops my list!).  The ones I often come across have overwhelmingly loud prints in tacky fonts that shout “Especially for you” or “For your birthday!”  (Things that make you go “hmmm.”)

Gone are the black and white Tickles wrappers that I loved as a high-schooler in the 90’s.  

So when there are no other alternatives, I just opt to buy plain old cartolina or felt paper and spruce up the gift with a pretty ribbon and gift tag.

And when I stumble upon pretty gift paper, I get reeeeeeeally excited and grab some right away.

Here are some pretty gift wrappers I’ve scored over the years.  I indicated where I got them if you’re wondering where to find the perfect wrappers to prettify your gifts.

1.       Elephant-print gift wrapper.  I found this in a Greenbelt 3 shop in Makati.   (I cannot remember the name of the shop but it was on the ground floor near Firma). 

2.       Lili and Nana gift wrappers from Fully Booked in Rockwell Power Plant Mall, Makati.

3.       Wrap Shop gift wrap with pearly sheen from the Wrap Shop also in Rockwell Power Plant Mall.

4.       Printcafe wrappers from Printcafe in Festival Mall, Alabang.  They also have cute notebooks and stationery in these prints.  My co-teachers introduced me to this shop when they gave me these lovely papers for my birthday (they know what makes me happy!).

5.       Copper, brown and bronze paper from my fave local market district in Manila – Divisoria (not for the faint-hearted or squeamish!  Haha!).  Divisoria has these holes-in-the-wall that carry tons of gift paper.  They usually sell them for a minimum order of 25 sheets per print at a very low cost.  Most below Php10.00.

6.       Pinstriped gift wrappers also from Divisoria.  What I love about this wrapper is its versatility.  It alternates white and transparent strips so you can first wrap a box in any color of tissue or Japanese Paper, then wrap it again with this pinstriped wrapper and you get a gift in alternating stripes in white and the color of your choice.  

Other pretty gift wrapper sources that I rely on are Rinadesign shops by Rina Albert-Llamas (thank God she also designs wrapping paper)...

And some of the Fiesta Greetings gift wrappers (available at Office Warehouse and some Books for Less stores). 

What about you?  Where do you get pretty gift paper?  I'm really curious. =)

Thanks for dropping by!  Happy, happy Easter, everyone!