Design & Style: DIY Wedding Hairstyles

Don't you just love it when you recommend a resource to a friend and he/she actually uses it? I asked my sister to take a look at this hairstyle book and a few days later, she sent me a link of these hairstyle pics that she did herself.

Neither my sister nor I is good at styling hair so I was pretty amazed at what she came up with within a few minutes of giving the instructions on the book a try. She told me it was actually easy and the only tools she used are a comb and some bobby pins. The lower left pic (called the Sweeping Twist) is my favorite. I might just use it on her wedding!

Design & Style: My Sister's Wedding Suite (A Sneak Peek!)

I started designing my sister's wedding suite a few weeks ago. Check out the draft above (dates shown are prior to change).

My secret sauce for my creative process for this project are my husband's inputs and comments. My sister wanted something FUN and I initially thought of a circles and swirls patterns but my husband came up with this brilliant paper plane theme. Nel & Ramil met abroad and the idea's just perfect.  I can wait to finalize the details and see all of these designs printed! 

Design and Style: ListLab's New Collection Sneak Peek!

I've had many requests for printable binder sets in portrait orientation over my ListLab Etsy shop. Finally, they're in the works! Here's a sneak peak of one of the floral themes I'm working on. I just woke up one morning inspired to go crazy with flowers and plants icons for the headers. I'm crossing my fingers I can release the complete collection before the year ends!

Design & Style: Curly Girl Must-Haves

I am one happy, curly girl. I wasn't always glad like this about my curls before (you know it comes with free frizz) when I was still clueless on how to manage it properly. I came across with the THE book for us curly girls and my love affair with my curls got SO much better. Tell you what, the secret is simply to give those curls lotsa moisture and lotsa TLC. Absolutely no fine-tooth comb and hard towel rubbing allowed!

I have rounded up my 10 favorite curly hair products that worked for me:

Design and Style: DIY Mineral Makeup

Hi, folks! I made make-up this afternoon, yay! :)

It's been a while since I touched this stuff from my previous biz. I'm meeting my sister in UAE soon and I thought to pack some for her. It's actually pretty easy to make powder foundations, correctors, blushes, bronzers and eyeshadows once you have all the tools and ingredients with you. 

Free Stuff: Messy Desktop Wallpaper

Click image to enlarge

Do you love saving files on your desktop? I do. Yep, I do it all the time. Looove dumping files on the desktop! I thought that if I find it too hard to file my documents neatly in folders like my husband does, maybe there's a way I could "clean up" my desktop somehow. I quickly made a desktop wallpaper after breakfast today and came up with a partitioned design with sections for home, personal, work & biz, blog & tech, inspirations & play. Ah, my desktop looks so much better now. Here's how it looks like in action:

If you want this for your desktop too, you can click the download button below. This fits a 1280x800 screen and the layout is ideal for a Mac with bottom icons but if your screen has a different resolution, let me know and I'll consider that when I update this post or on my next wallpaper freebie post. Stay safe on this rainy morning, everyone!

Design and Style: Let's Go Fonts Shopping!

Image from www.myfonts.com

My latest shopping addiction is not shoes or clothes. (Actually ever since I learned minimalism, I stopped craving for those things.) Anyway, my latest indulgence is F-O-N-T-S shopping. Premium fonts can get too pricey but as always, they are so worth it as proven by my clients' satisfaction. Fonts can make or break a design. Sometimes, my work/craft/hobby calls for a particular type of font that no matter how many I already have, I just need to have the perfect one. My Fonts and Fontshop are my usual go-to places for fonts shopping. You can type a particular word or phrase to test/preview the fonts instantly and they have galleries showcasing samples on how to use the fonts. Sometimes I visit these sites, especially My Fonts, just to immerse myself in visual inspiration.

Design and Style: Moo Meets Rhema

I love Moo as a company, as a brand and as a product. They're consistent with their quality, top-notch design, efficiency and fun factor. Most of all, you can't find their Printifinity option anywhere else. A Moo package never fails to put a smile on my face even I haven't open the thing yet. They are that good!

Recently, me and my friend, Ella, agreed that our Rhema Cards Project will be made by Moo. If you're excited about it like us or just plain intrigued, check out our preview HERE. 

Streamlined Life: On Getting Educated + Spotlight on Lynda

Just because I posted a certificate picture does not mean that this is is a brag post. This is an ohmigod-I-was-able-to-finish-this kind of post. I am just happy. I just had to share it with you.

I was a little ambitious when I started this Illustrator class with a duration of 10hours & 37mins. I told myself that I can finish it in 2 days... but it took me 5 days. 10hours+ for 5 days! It wasn't easy. I had to attend to something else...had to take care of the baby... was distracted by the interwebs and too many times, I fell asleep (not the instructor's fault, promise). But I really wanted to finish it because I'll be   needing it for my shop and for some logos I am working on. I guess that's important, too, to visualize the real world use for whatever you are studying. So I did finish it. Thank you for grace.

Design & Style: Notebook Picks

I had notebook phases... cutie notebooks phase, kawaii notebooks phase, giant notebooks phase, tabbed notebooks phase and artista notebooks phase (I-am-joking.). Let's just call my current phase, "refined and minimalistic". I narrowed down the different notebooks I have to 4 most frequently used lovelies. 

1. Miquelrius waterproof notebook. This is one of my greatest discoveries last year. It was like finding gold for someone with hyperhidrosis a.k.a. sweaty palms like me. My lecture and drafting classes days would have never been the same if I had one of these in college. The notebook looks worn out because I bring it everywhere but I guarantee you it's sturdy and the smooth grid patterned paper feels unbelievably divine.

2. Moleskine travel notebook (København edition). Why Copenhagen? Someday, over piping hot Americano, I will let you know. Lovely thing. There are maps, icon-tabbed sheets and a fold to stash notes & other tiny stuff inside.

3. Copelle notebook from Venzi Collection. Most of my quick ideas are here and even some lines & plot inspiration/suggestion for the book my friend is writing right now. It has dotted pages and tear-out pages at the back. This gorgeous thing is a real steal for its very low price.

4. he leaves me. he leaves me not. spiral-bound notebook from the The Breathing Space shop. I got this on my last visit at Cubao Expo the week before my first flight to Dubai. The owner, I believe he was the owner, was gracious enough to tour me and Nel at his shop. I use this notebook's blank, white pages for idea outlines and some sketches.

What are your favorite notebooks?

Design & Style: Inspiration Board: My Home Office

I had been wanting to make a digital version of my vision/inspiration board for so long, but only recently did I figure out how to do just that. 

I wasn't expecting much when I listened to a guided meditation for my business vision but to my surprise it gave me images of a bright & cozy home office. Needless to say, I felt warm and fuzzy kind of happy when I opened my eyes. I'm trying to recreate what I saw in my mind on this inspiration board. I love seeing my clients' compiled images for their project vision. Now it's my turn to enjoy mine. 

I'm pretty excited to include a home office on our future house because it's my ideal place to work. I am 10x more productive when at home than in a corporate office setting.

Design & Style: Unearthing the College Journal Named Betty

I can't believe Jo kept Betty all these years! I thought we decided to burn it somewhere, haha! Betty is my, and college buddies Jo's and Shey's (with occasional contributors, Ding and Ella) college journal filled with our thoughts, emotions, experiences and ...immaturity (I guess, that's where the fun lies). Reading it gives us a glimpse how far we've come and how we haven't changed still. There were a lot to cringeing as I read it, oh yes, but there are sure a lot more laughter inside from timeless jokes and stories. I'm devouring every page!

Here's the juicy peek inside Betty's pages!

Design & Style: Cardboard Furniture

We all have statements that go something like, "If I have x, I'll do this." When I saw Foldschool's cardboard rocker 4 years ago, my line was, "If I have a child, I'll definitely do this." Well, somebody gotta keep her promise...

Design & Style: Minimalist Stairs

This stairs renovation I did was pretty special for me on so many levels. I got to try a new software while designing this. Also, I got to be with my baby while working. I especially like it when the client has a vision and taste for  a certain project and when the feedback response is quick and dynamic. This staircase has a softened minimalist look and a surprising resort feel to it.

Design & Style: The No Brainer Wardrobe

I had been searching for a book like this for so long. I have a lot of fashion and style books but I felt that what I really need this time is something concise and spot on. My closet had been aching for an overhaul because of my recent shift in lifestyle as a mom and I badly need to review my wardrobe.                                            

Hayley Morgan's ebook did not disappoint. I finished it in one sitting and applied what I learned on the same day (that's how excited I was!). It gave me a much needed permission to let go of the pieces that had never really worked for me. Besides, Kp will be more than happy to see my red top (see pic below) go (the neckline bothers him, haha!). There's also a chapter about Pinterest inspirations and it definitely made me look forward to my next shopping trip knowing that I'll be smarter in my choices this time. After my closet makeover, I sure had fewer clothes but that's perfectly fine because my wardrobe seems to be "breathing better" because I know each piece of clothing left is something that I actually use and something that makes me feel good.