SweetSimpleJoys

As promised, here’s the first batch of my first ever beaded accessories (in 3 installments).

While making them, I realized that as many as my materials seem, I still need to buy some more. And that I should make a list before I head back to Quiapo. I’ve been there twice only to find out, after I got home, that I forgot to buy some items that I made a mental note of.

“You should have a plan”, my hubby always say, “Don’t do or buy something on impulse.”

That’s me. When I buy materials, I buy them because they look beautiful to me. I’ll just figure out what to do with them later, which is when I will realize that I cannot execute the design I have in mind because I lack some materials.

Admittedly, I haven’t totally gotten rid of the impulsive shopper in me, especially when I’m shopping for beads. One of my current obsessions is to have every sample of every bead I can find in Quiapo. But that’s a little close to impossible because I don’t have the budget for that right now. So I better be wise with my next purchase, otherwise I’ll end up with a bunch of materials I can’t use right away.

But the good thing with beading is that there isn’t really a wrong material to someone who has creativity and resourcefulness. Although sometimes, it’s a lot easier and the product looks much better if you have everything you need rather than when you improvise.

Anyway, enough of the talk. Here are my beaded accessories. Excuse some unsharp photos because I didn’t use a proper camera to shoot them. But I’d be thrilled to know what you think about them, so please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

More to come on the 2nd and 3rd installments so do check back.

I’ve been dilly-dallying for the longest time on whether or not I should start the hobby of making beaded accessories. Do I actually have the time, having a full time work and about a gazillion other things that I want to do?

Well, it doesn’t matter now because after two trips to Villalobos St.–the ultimate beads and accessories hub in Quiapo, Manila, I am now fully-loaded with bead supplies. I will have to make time for this hobby and hopefully, I can create pieces that are good enough to sell so I can make money with it as well.

My collection is still incomplete but it’s a start. I took advantage of the recent storm and almost-a-week of brownout to finish a few accessories. I’ll share them with you later. I’m itching to make a new one. Hopefully, I’ll find time before the week ends.

Oh, I’m so excited about this!

For more than a year, this blog had experienced an identity crisis. It went from being a personal blog to a wedding blog to a freelancing blog. But now, I decided to revert to the original plan–the initial idea that I had in mind when I purchased this domain. That was to make this a craft/lifestyle blog.

The desire to create is an innate passion that I had in me eversince I can remember. I always had this love affair with anything that stoke my creativity (whether it is writing poems, making crafts, taking photos, designing a card, etc). And that old flame was rekindled when I got married early this year. I realized, while preparing for our wedding, that it was the perfect time to unleash the creative in me, because wedding is the best occasion for DIY crafts.

I had so many ideas in my head and I feared that I wouldn’t have enough time to execute them all. Unfortunately, I did run out of time and had a few DIY projects that did not make it to our wedding day. But hey, it’s not like wedding is the only time that I can create. And while I may no longer have the need for these DIY projects, I still have the desire to make and share them with you.

Hence, I am now relaunching SweetSimpleJoys–a blog about crafting and creating beautiful things with my own hands. A blog that I can be passionate about, because after all, I will be blogging about my passion.

This is it, pansit!

Judging from the number of times I updated this blog’s theme without posting new content, you could tell that I’m up to something. And indeed I am. The plan is to go back to the original plan–the original purpose for which SweetSimpleJoys was intended–a lifestyle/craft/creative pursuit blog. So overtime, all the freelance related posts here will be deleted to give way to more appropriate entries. But wait, there’s more! I am not going to totally abandon writing about being a freelancer. In fact, a new blog–DailyOnlineWork–is currently brewing here. I just narrowed the niche to a more specific topic–blogging about my experiences and learnings as a virtual assistant, as oppose to blogging about online freelancing in general. Who knows, some posts here might be resurrected there. So if you still want to follow my online freelancing adventures, head on to DailyOnlineWork.

In the meantime, I’m still gathering materials for the rebirth of SweetSimpleJoys. Hopefully, it’ll be soon!

Up now on the wedding blog:

Check out the complete instruction on how to do this DIY hair vine.