It's been a month.

My goooooooshhhhhh. I missed blogging!!!

I had been uninspired to write lately... Well, basically, because I have nothing interesting to write about? I had been preoccupied with coming up with the best birthday gift ever, overthinking my I-don't-know-what-we-are-and-where-we-stand kind of relationship (which I prefer not to really talk about right now. Maybe later?), processing my papers for THE 'drastic and biggest decision' I have ever made and problem at work (which I will talk about later. You have to scroll down. Haha.). Since I missed doing it and I had been on hiatus for about 3 months, I also kept my hands busy with creating accessories (and the remaining wedding stuff my friend asked me to do for her, which you will see in my entry next to this one).

These are my recent 'creation.' So far, 6 necklaces were already sold. :)

With that, I was able to get back on track in my business again. I released my 9th collection by October and my 10th by the following month. I haven't officially released my collection for December though but the items are all set already.

Most of the items were already sold though. But you can check out my Facebook page to see what items are still available. :)

I had also been quite busy with my fashion class. As it is about to end, we have quite a lot of projects. One of the recent projects we had was to design something for a client. The theme given to me and my partner was a drag queen costume. My partner wanted a 1920's, flapper, Great Gatsby-themed costume. This was what I came up with.

The gold and silver detailing didn't look as 'sparkly' as I want it to look like though. Any part of the outfit that is in yellow is supposed to look like gold. I have to buy that metallic watercolor palette next time!

The next project we had was a bridal entourage! This was the inspiration that I have in mind. More on peaches and corals with touch of green. I wanted to have a unique motif.

This was the color palette and the color combinations on the dresses that I came up with. I wanted nothing too bright or too pale. Something subtle. I wanted colors that give off a fresh, happy, relaxed vibe.

In my designs, I focused more on drapings, pleatings and ruchings rather than embellishments. I placed the embellishments on the bride's gown instead. Upstaging the bride is a no-no and rude in whatsoever way. :)

Quite unfortunate for me, I don't think I got the actual colors when I rendered my sketches. I wasn't able to appreciate my work that much. I felt like I ruined my designs when I put color on them. Hahahaha. 

But I must say, I'm proud of my bridal gown design. It's not that bad at all! Haha! :)

For our final project, we were asked to make a portfolio. Of course, every portfolio starts with an inspiration. Hence, we made our own moodboard.

I am thinking of an Arabic/Indian/Moroccan-inspired collection, as you can see in my moodboard. Since I am a sucker for colors and anything bright, I was immediately attracted to the bright fabrics I saw in a magazine. Personally I love drapes and embellishments so it will definitely be seen in my designs. And yes, that 'coming soon' statement is really a part of my moodboard. I'm referring to myself. Hahahaha. When I showed this to my instructor, it's actually the first thing she noticed. I can probably use it to name my whole collection, why not.

I'll show you more of our homeworks.

Flats: Skirts, Necklines, Sleeves, Collars

And of course, my first attempt in watercolor rendering!

Another good opportunity came along my way as well! I was asked by a Mai Flores, the person behind The Budget Biyahera, to be a sponsor for The 1st Grand Eyeball of Filipino Bloggers Worldwide event.

Jana Kathryn's on the poster, have you seen it? :)

Here were the items that I gave to Mai as part of the giveaways for that event.

I revamped and recreated one of my old designs.

I mentioned earlier that I will also share a little something about my work. Well, here's what happened: I left. I was supposed to be lifted off from my volunteer status and be permanently hired by September. But that didn't happen due to some internal problem. I am fine with it actually, since I already had plans on leaving work by mid-December. It was just sort of unfair for my part because they should have told me earlier. I could have had another job. I kept on asking about it but my boss was on leave at that time. I know her staff weren't supposed to be the ones to tell me what I needed to know. In fairness to my boss though, she tried to fight for my employment slot. It's just that they really have to resort to budget cuts rather than cutting people off. Yes, I can still stay and work for them as a volunteer but I have decided to actually leave for good. I'd rather stay home, spend more time with my family and work on my business as I am about to leave soon anyway.

Speaking of leaving, I received my health examinations list from the embassy today. The email arrived on the day that I expected it and I already planned to have my medical examination by the end of this week. But I had that time of the month this morning so I had to move it for next week. Ho-hum.

And that's a wrap, guys! That's all for now, y'all. :D

Saturday Favorites 031-033: Fully Loaded

Finally! I am back! With revenge! Haha! Just kidding. :) 

After my last entry and being out of the hospital, I had to spend pretty much of my time at work, attending to personal stuff that was put on hold and just resting (and sleeping a lot!) until I regained my immune system back.

Anyway, here's what I had been up to, mostly, during my hiatus.

3 October 2012

October is Breast Cancer month. It's a time to celebrate strength, courage and hope and to commemorate our breast cancer patients who passed away. We had a fiesta-themed event for our patients. A part of the program was the Zumba to get the patients moving and grooving. I can't help my feet and I just had to join them. It was my first Zumba experience. It was so much fun! Oh, how I missed dancing!

Cheers for better and more years for our patients! :D 

6 October 2012

It was the consensus of our group to spend time outside our workplace every first Saturday of the month. This was our second 'getaway' since we went to Enchanted Kingdom. We went to Redbox to torture our vocal cords. We were supposed to do Laser Tag but we learned that we would be spending more than we thought we would. We would be paying around Php150 to180-ish, if I'm not mistaken, for only 15 minutes worth of fun. We would pay the same amount for another 15 minutes.  

Bitin pa nga kami! We had to cut our songs up to the chorus to make way for the tons of songs we lined up. Oh well, next time. :D

7 October 2012

Takbo! Breast Friends Run 2012

All of us, except the one in stripes in the photo above, spent the night at Karlen's (the one in green) after we damaged our throats. So I am now introducing my workmates to you. Haha. Since we were all together that night, it was expected that we would be pulling an all-nighter just to talk. Sleeping wasn't really part of the plan. Nevertheless, we slept at around 1.30 in the morning and woke up two hours later. We actually had no intention of sleeping yet at that time, if not only for this event. 

Jamie's missing in this photo. :l She hadn't come back  yet when we finished the run. She ran 10K, anyway.

I can't believe I was able to run 5k with only two hours of sleep. I even had an energy to go home, take a bath, fix a few things and dance after that. Talk about adrenaline rush! I was even surprised that I had no amount of muscle pain or whatsoever in my body by the next day. Probably with all the brisk walking that I do going to work and home?

10 October 2012

I'm back to business as well! :D JK is up and running again. I wasn't able to meet my supplier and create accessories since I was confined (and even before that due to... some personal stuff? HAHA. Someone was keeping me preoccupied. I was distracted. Haha!). But now I'm back and as of the moment, most of my items were sold already. If interested, just wait for my November collection instead. :)

My new set of weapons AKA rings. :) I know I can subtly and effortlessly lift my finger/s to attack bad people around. In case of emergency, you know. :p Hahaha.

I also had dinner with my missed college friends! :D There were big news from each of us that night! Up to now, I still haven't received our photos from Mara's phone though.

17 October 2012

I think I mentioned a few months ago that there was something I had been interested in trying to do. Something drastic, you may call it, I guess. I opened it up to my family, they listened and of course, they were unsure about it. But they wanted me to try. Nothing was definite until the day I passed my IELTS exam. We had been planning concretely about since I submitted my applications. When I got this, I'm just too excited! Even my family! 

No, I'm still not going to reveal what the fuss is all about. But I think you have a clue already. Let's wait for a few more days or months. When everything's deadly sure by then. :)

20 October 2012

Homework: Stylized Fashion Canon with own design of clothing

HA! FINALLY! I LEARNED HOW TO SKETCH DECENTLY! :D I'm so proud of myself. Hahaha!

Cocktail - Corporate - Sportswear

This two has got to be my favorite: Long Gown - Casual

Backtrack to see how I sketch before.

Improvement, right? :D

Ashlyn's 7th Birthday

Ashlyn is the niece of one of our workmates. The little girl invited us to her party! :) I adore this girl! She thinks I'm pretty and keeps on telling me I look like her mom. Haha! :D She even told me to do her make-up on her graduation. Obviously, she thinks I have the 'skills' when we were playing around with everyone's make-up kit one time.

And those were the highlights of the three weeks that had passed. :)

Gosh, days seem to pass by faster than the regular lately, did you notice? November is coming up next week! Why is it that when the holiday season is coming up, days had to move fast? It seems like it wants the holiday season to start immediately and stop as fast as it started. Days after the holidays and the other regular days are just too loooong to bear. Boo. Just saying. 

Saturday Favorites 023

Week's worth of photodump. :)

Release of 8th collection

If you want to order or view the collection, click HERE

Lipsticks are my go-to 'instant-face-booster'. I have always been a fan since I turned 18 (make-ups are a big no-no in high school. At least here in our school, in our country. So I resorted to lip glosses and balms back then.), when we were encouraged to wear light make-up during hospital duty (for our instructors to note the difference between the patient and the student nurse. HAHA!). Lucky for me, all my lipsticks were given to me as a gift or as a random purchase by my mom or aunts that I need not to shop for them on rampage. 

Bottomline: For the record, this is the first lipstick I purchased with my own money. Haha!

Meet-up with Krini a few days before she leave for Australia! I'll see you soon!

Induction of New Trustees for our foundation, Philippine Foundation for Breast Care, Inc.

Paper load of English handouts, essays, review materials.

Saturday Favorites 022

Finishing last few items for the 8th collection to be out next week. Here is a preview:

These three below are made-to-order. 

I'm hooked on these shows! I mentioned here once that I am a fan of the PLL series, which I had been watching since it came out. The Lying Game and Ringer are not really new shows. They were shown in the US last year. I got to see a trailer of both shows on TV and I was interested. Jane by Design and Girls are a bit new. It was my cousin who told me about Jane by Design while I saw a newspaper article about Girls, when the writer expressed how she can relate to the characters.

I must say, the show Girls is funny. Although some scenes might not be applicable to our culture and may find it offensive for some, it gives you a sense of reality that this is what's going on to girls who are transitioning to the adult life. They keep on figuring out what they want, how would they accomplish or achieve what they want. It also tackles about relationships and sex. It's a light mini-series that can actually remind you of the Sex and the City minus the glamour and more of a real-life setting. The characters from Girls are young and are just starting their own lives so I think anyone in their 20s can somehow relate.