Crafty Pinoy

Aside from collecting papers, I also like ribbons—all kinds of ribbons!

I bought this gold ribbon from JR Fabric in New Farmers Plaza for the simple reason that I thought it looked pretty and I might eventually find some use for it. I was buying silver ribbons at that time for the home-made invitations my sister and I were making for my wedding, but the gold one just looked so pretty.

I’ve actually already made use of this gold ribbon already: prettying up gifts to friends and relatives, as well as decorating our home for Christmas.

A roll costs about Php250 (that’s about US$6) last year when I bought it. It might be cheaper in Divisoria though, but I haven’t really looked there yet.

If you’d like to know where I got my ribbons, here’s the contact info of the shop where I bought it:

JR Fabric
New Farmers Plaza Upper Ground Level
Araneta Center
Cubao, Quezon City
Tel. 911-1411

Here’s a cool way to spice up your wedding stuff:

I used these personalized ribbons for a previous wedding invitations client. You can have them made in Divisoria (sorry, I already forgot the name of the store) at around $6 per roll. The price varies depending on the type and size of ribbon that you want.

Thing is, you’ll have to get at least five rolls since they’ll be custom-made. Well, you can always use the ribbons for decorating gifts if you can’t use all five rolls right?

I’ve been meaning to blog this after my trip to Bohol and Cebu last April, but I guess I’ve just been too busy with work. Take a look at this shot I took of a souvenir shop in Cebu:

I can’t remember exactly where the we saw these souvenirs (it’s been more than a month since the trip), it was in an old fort in Mactan. I would have gotten a bead bracelet (I’m quite fond of wearing those), but it was a tad bit expensive for me. Tourist prices don’t really come in cheap, and I probably could get something similar in Divisoria or some tiangge in Greenhills. I did get my dad a Bohol souvenir key chain though (it’s quite similar to the ones on the picture, but instead of Cebuano icons and text, it was a shell keychain with a “Bohol” engraving).

You can get these key chains and bracelets from souvenir shops scattered in Bohol and Cebu (especially within the peripheries of tourist spots). They’re not very extravagant gifts, but if you just want to bring home something that will remind you of your trip, I think these will do.

You only need three things to do this: gold brass spray paint, wooden rounded sticks, and old newspapers.

Rounded sticks usually come in its natural color. You can get them already golden, but of course, it’ll be more expensive (besides, I don’t know where to get those! hehe). If you’re going to need to make a lot of gold scroll sticks—like you’re going to use them for scroll invitations or scroll calendar give-aways—it’s best that you get the plain wooden ones and just paint them yourself. The little difference that a peso makes can lower the cost of production significantly. So again, yeah. You can get natural rounded sticks in Divisoria as well (at Julie T. Go Native Store at 793 Illaya Street in Binondo, Manila, to be more specific). But if you’re going to make only a few, you might be better off getting the more expensive, already-golden wooden rods.

The process is simple, and a bit self-explanatory. Spread out old newspapers outdoors (in your garden perhaps) on a bench, lay out the sticks with the edges hanging a bit, then spray on the paint. Let them dry for a bit and then spray on the other edge. You don’t necessarily have to coat the entire stick with paint unless the invitation or calendar design you’ll make needs the golden sticks to show.

Simple? Try it then!

I run a small novelty invitations and souvenirs business with my sister, and we’re always on the lookout for cool new ideas. We stumbled upon Madella’s Fossilized Flowers in an exhibit at the Gateway Mall.

I totally forgot what these fossilized flowers came from. And before you ask, no these weren’t made of paper, but of real dried leaves. The leaves are dried and then wrapped around a Styrofoam ball stuck on thin branch. The price for each of these flowers ranges from P3 ($0.06) to P10 ($0.20).

Some people use these flowers as decor, but I find them too dull to decorate our home (no need to water them, but still). These fossilized flowers make great wedding souvenirs though—tie them up with some fancy ribbon with a tag, and you’ll have something pretty to give your guests. They cost pretty cheap, but how would they know?

If you’re into scrapbooking, there’s a great chance that you’ve seen this material (and probably even made use of it). But the ones you’ve probably bought are the teeny-weeny pieces that come in little packages (not to mention quite expensive). I don’t do scrapbooking much (I’m not exactly an avid fan), but I’ve used the abaca mat quite often in my art works.

I get my abaca mat at P100 (approximately $2) from Divisoria. I forgot how many yards that is, but it definitely beats buying those puny pieces from a scrapbooking specialty store.

Abaca, by the way, is a species of the banana plant and can be found here in the Philippines, Borneo and Sumatra. This mat is only one way of how the abaca fibers can be woven and used.

I am. You are. Why? Because you’re reading this blog, which is basically all about arts and crafts. Crafty Pinoy is different from the usual arts and crafts blog you’ll see all over the Internet—it’s about arts and crafts, but specifically focuses on arts and crafts here in the Philippines.

By the way, I’m Gail Dela Cruz - Villanueva, your resident Crafty Pinoy author. You’ll be seeing a lot of me here blabbing about all things artsy (Pinoy artsy, that is). My parents (who are both Fine Arts graduates) made the summers of my childhood years artistically memorable. Every summer we had a mini arts and crafts course (so wouldn’t get bored and harness our artsy skills at the same time), and I can say that I’ve learned a lot. Now, I want to share what I’ve learned.

Go on. Bookmark this blog and let’s start having fun!