Chocolate creations

dipped treasures

One of the many things I learned from my late Mom was chocolate molding. Last Christmas, the chocolates were not molded into wreaths and Santas, but used as dip for breadsticks, pretzels, marshmallows, dried fruit, cookies, merengue, and other 'dippables.' Then, more chocolate was used for drizzling. Then off they went in bronze tin cans, ordered by friends and family who gave them to friends and family as well.

Note:
You may be seeing quite a bit of work done in the past, I guess the blogging is getting in the way of creating new stuff :-)

What's your job? :-)

I got this email today:

******* My First and Last Job ********
My first job was working in an orange juice factory, but I got canned... couldn't concentrate. Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just couldn't hack it, so they gave me the ax. After that I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn't suited for it. Next I tried working in a muffler factory but that was exhausting. Next was a job in a shoe factory; I tried but I just didn't fit in. I became a professional fisherman, but discovered that I couldn't live on my net income. I managed to get a good job working for a pool maintenance company, but the work was just too draining. So then I got a job in a gymnasium , but they said I wasn't fit for the job. I finally got a job as a historian until I realized there was no future in it.
SO I RETIRED, AND I FOUND I AM A PERFECT FIT FOR THE JOB!

The real jewels

Stayed up Thursday night creating bead earrings I offered to give as party favors to a friend who was celebrating her birthday the next day. Finished the earrings early Friday night, slept for a bit, started the cards and rushed off to a meeting. Got home with about an hour left to finish the cards. Too bad I was too much in a rush to take photos of the stuff. I mounted each pair on a shiny, bronze board, folded it in half and wrote this line in calligraphy in front: Friends are jewels we wear in our hearts...

Watch closer

bead watch detail

Glass beads work best. They look delicate and classy. Combine glass beads with plastic or acrylic ones to stretch your budget. Just make sure the faux glass doesn't look too faux. Warning: fragile. Do not to drop or your heart will break.

Watch me

bead watch, created july 2004

I created this watch after getting inspired by a necklace in a Bead & Button magazine. I found some adorable green glass leaf beads, got a few more glass beads in different shapes plus a watch face from a crafts supply store, used more beads from my old stock, and I had a fabulous new watch to wear to a meeting the next day! It is very important to have a color pallette or a color concept in mind as you start. Greens, pinks and purples worked really well together for this piece.

I've got glass

glass bead bracelet, created july 2004

Blues and greens and a sprinkling of pink. This bracelet is perfect with white shirts and jeans, as it commands attention. I wore it to lunch one day and my friends were trying to compute its value! :-)

Coming soon: An autumn mate

Code Red

premier issue, created March-June 2004

After slaving in an advertising agency for many years, I looked back at the many roads not taken. On one of them was a sign that said 'Magazine Editor, straight ahead.' I braved the unknown (but somehow familiar) territory, got rid of all my excess baggage, and brought along only the important stuff: insight, strategy, focus, big and out-of-the-box ideas.

Code Red was born in July. It's a quarterly, 2-in-1 magazine. There's a section for parents of teens. Flip it over and you'll find the youth section. Open it up and you'll see that both covers form one image of a family engaged in a tug o' war.

Initially available to students of Don Bosco, Code Red will soon make an appearance in leading magazine stands in the Metro, and hopefully in homes of families who care about keeping their values intact.

On the first day, I created a blog

I've been bloghopping so much these past few weeks that I got soooo INGGIT! (...somehow there are words that can never be translated to another language without losing their nuance, texture, feel, appeal. In other words, hindi SWAK.)

This blog will be home to what I do. But I'd like to believe that I don't just do. I create. With a passion that burns, sometimes flickers, but never dies.

I create:
Advertising campaigns. Event concepts. Audio visuals. Live show scripts. Brochures. Flyers. Powerpoint presentations. Magazine articles. Movie screenplays. Calligraphic wedding invitations. Gift baskets.

Bead bracelets, necklaces and earrings. Chocolate lollipops. Wreaths by the season. Various crafts. Gift wrapping masterpieces. Scrapbooks. Homeroom letters to co-parents. Garage sale posters. Once-in-a-blue-moon kitchen adventures.

All my many passions are stored in soft copy in the hard disk of my heart, lining each cavity, shielding it from the cholesterol accumulated from years of eating bulalo. ("Why do you eat the 'utak' [bone marrow] of the bulalo?", my daughter asks. "Sinisipsip mo ba ang kaalaman ng baka?")

See these passions unfold right here...